Mafia Hunt part 3

Alucard was - how should it be said - thrilled to see the woman in scarlet-clad armor again. He simply bypassed the rotting corpses in the warehouse's office and turned to his left as the dust from the insulation and drywall settled. Normally, he would be pleasantly surprised with the smell of blood wafting through the air or seeing a fallen disgrace of a vampire sprawled out on the floor with its eyes cocked to either side, mouth wide in its last attempts at screaming, muscles tense in the neck, fangs drying from the natural air as it passed through the hole in the wall or an open window. He would be delighted to see the blood trickling from the ceiling and land onto the floor or walking along the walls to reach the floor. However, all these lovely things were put on hold.

Coughing sounded as he watched two figures swat the remaining dust away from filling their lungs. The first figure to stand was Sloth. Her round, blood red helmet came into vision first as it gleamed in the moonlight. Her modern-medieval armor such as her pauldron and gauntlets and breastplate had blood from the vampires killed in the warehouse office on it, but most of it had dried and the deaths didn't seem to be her doing. It appeared as though the blood splashed onto her some kind of way. Her corset was an interesting midnight blue and had transparent sidings with mesh-mail along thin columns of the bodice. She also didn't wear leather pants like last time. Tonight, she was wearing a midnight blue leather panty bottom with a deep red train connected at her hips to cascade down to her golden-heeled boots. Rather than her two pistols being at her sides, Alucard noticed she had two golden assault rifles attached to her back by a green cord. The other figure, who she was helping to stand, was a man. He had a scarlet visor like Sloth that covered his eyes, but he didn't have a helmet and his honey-colored hair stood up in a spiky hairstyle. His armor covered more of his body than Sloth's own armor did, and a gold hammer and sickle symbol graced his whole upper torso. Not much else was gold on him with exception to his clawed gauntlets.

"You alright, kid?" Sloth asked in concern as she felt Adolph's hand tremble.

"Just in shock. I'm fine," he answered after coughing a bit more. "What the hell was that?"

"Someone came to visit," she replied, turning her head to Alucard. Of course, he was grinning at the two as he stood before them. She then said, "What is up with your face? Did you eat good pudding?"

"Don't play with me," Alucard responded sharply. No, not this time. He was not going to fall for the innuendo this time. They were going to fight, and it was going to be done properly. In fact, he asked, "Where's your phone?"

"Where's yours?" Sloth questioned.

"Lost it," Alucard lied.

"Hmph! Well," Sloth sighed, taking out her cellphone. She was certainly surprised by this. Why on Earth would this man need to make a call after breaking down a wall? She ignored her thoughts and handed him her phone, saying, "Here. You can use it, I guess. Do I need to step outside?"

"Yes," Alucard answered and within a few seconds he shot at the phone and destroyed it.

Sloth's jaw dropped as she looked into her now empty hand, phone in pieces after the one shot. Both Nazi descendants looked at the crushed phone with a comically jaw-dropping face, Adolph's being worried for Alucard now that Sloth was going to be pissed. She yelled out, "Dude, what the fuck!"

"This fight won't be like last time," Alucard responded, only showing one crimson eye behind his yellow tinted goggles. He continued, "We will finish this the way it was meant to be. No disruptions."

"You could've just said 'no cellphones during a match,' ya degenerate!" Sloth argued. "And what fight last time? How long ago did we get a jab in?"

"Oh, you don't remember?" Alucard questioned, grinning at this notion.

Sloth looked up for a brief second to see little bats fluttering like dark, misshapen butterflies towards their master. They looked an awful lot like cutouts you would pick up from a Halloween store and had red lining along the outline of the body's shapes. She looked back to Alucard and noticed one of his hands was touching the rim of his fedora hat, displaying a Satanic-like symbol on his glove. Black magic was never a good sign in a fight for her in her experience with fighting vampires. Fog was also rising from his feet, covering the lower half of his body. This man was no ordinary vampire like the ones she had just killed. No, he was something far more powerful.

Adolph, who was completely confused as to why the man shot the phone across the room, had then remembered something about that grin. His jaw managed to find its rightful place back on its hinges and he hummed in thought. The last time he had seen his mentor fight was a few moments ago, but this man clearly recalls fighting and it seems to him that it was recently. The turned looked at the man's grinning face, gasping as he saw bats fluttering towards him, and noticed his arms form the shape of a cross with his gun positioned along the horizontal branch. That gun! He was running to get help after Sloth kicked him and gave him a bit of an injury. Along the way, he thought he saw Sloth again but the person he found was actually a man...who looked just like...

This can't be good, Adolph thought.

"Let me give you a reminder then!" Alucard shouted, rushing at Sloth.

"Shit!" he swore, feeling Alucard's power drift like sharp winds over the bottom half of his face.

Sloth quickly untied one of the rifles off her back as she barrel-rolled away from Alucard. From there, it was simply a chase. Not wanting to get her apprentice hurt, Sloth quickly threw her shoulder out in front of her then thrusted her body into the wall adjacent to the one Alucard destroyed. As she ran with abnormal speed through the shipping area of the warehouse, she noticed her opponent running with her with equal speed as he simply grinned at her. Nothing about this fight triggered a memory of the man, but this did clarify she knew him from somewhere. His clothes were the most familiar to her, but she didn't know why. Alucard shot several rounds at the fleeting woman, making sure to keep up with the girl as she ran on the balls of her feet. He was beginning to feel a tad disappointed in her. Last time, she made sure to keep up with him and was on the verge of killing him when he raised his gun at the boy watching them. Perhaps that triggered her actual powers. The fact that she could create snakes from fragments of her power told him something about the girl. Stopping in his run, Alucard swiftly turned to shoot at Adolph three times with his .454 Casull and shot only twice at Sloth with the Jackal. Seeing this, Sloth stopped at the same time he did and fired a single round to Alucard's forehead, hitting him spot on, and then lunged at him - dodging both bullets with practically invisible movements - in a brutal tackle through the closed steel door close to the docks but along the last inch of greenery before the earth met the seas.

Both opponents landed on the ground, Alucard being dragged across the grass to feel the Earth grating against his back. Adolph, after successfully dodging the bullets himself, simply watched as his master became a football player within those few seconds of running from bullets. He then saw the bats surrounding the man and fluttering about his head and sides. Sloth had her rifle positioned for another round as the cold tip of the quadruple barrel touched the bridge of Alucard's nose, ignoring the fact that she was straddling the master vampire and was rather close to his "personal belongings." Alucard simply chuckled at their proximity and only cared about the gun in his face. Even though he had been shot, he still kept his guns pointed at Sloth's helmet. All he needed was for her to fire and BAM! No more pretty girl. Blood from the gunshot wound was snaking through the grass below as either opponent remained deathly still.

"So, there are vampires who hunt their own kind, I see," Sloth said, finger getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger.

"What of it?" Alucard hissed, eyes widening with a sick joy. "That's like calling the tea kettle black, isn't it, Sloth? Your powers do not belong to any human. I can't smell the blood of these bullshit punks on your breath or see the remnants of any meal on your reddened lips. You did not drink the blood of your enemies. Why? Blood is life and can make you stronger. No, it can make you the strongest! Do not think I simply identify you as a mere mortal. Embrace your darkness, walk these shadows with me, and fight with your true strength!"

Sloth grinned at Alucard's last words and said, "My true strength, vampire?" She shivered as she laughed aloud, rifle lowering from its previous position and her head thrown back. She looked to the sky's glittering stars, grinning eerily as a dark sense of joy rushed through her body, and said, "How long has it been since I've heard that sort of request? Months? Years? I must commend you, vampire. You got me to remember you, Alucard. Yes, you tried to kill Adolph before you prompted me to use my strength then. Funny how that triggered my memory."

"M-master!" a voice called from the distance.

"Master?" Adolph questioned.

If Alucard could have chosen any time to punch the living crap out of his own fledgling, now would be one of those proper times. Seras had just completed her part of the mission, but neither she nor Integra heard from him since he left to take care of the head of the loan sharks on St. Mary's Island. She figured something was wrong when Alucard unleashed some of his powers. As the blonde got closer to her master, she took notice to him on the ground with a woman above him. The closer she got to her master, the slower her steps became as the woman was clearly recognizable from her scarlet-colored armor. When she finally stood before the two fighters in their awkward position, her eyes widened a bit and she dropped her Harkonnen. Sloth brought her head back down, erasing the grin off her face and rising to stand, and then proceeded to strap her golden rifle back onto her back. Angered by his opponent's retreat, Alucard latched onto the cuff of Sloth's armored breastplate and yanked her back down to his face.

"We're not finished here," Alucard hissed, annoyed.

"We never seem to be," Sloth replied, taking Alucard's hand into her own and pulling it off her cuff. She stood to her feet, pulling Alucard off the ground before releasing his hand from hers, and then folded her arms before saying, "Not now, vampire, but soon. There is someone else I promised to fight before you but mark my words when I say I will come for you and we will fight properly. On a barren wasteland, where no one will be hurt by the war we wage against each other, where these shithead vampires will not hurt another soul, where our apprentices nor any other disruption will stop us, where no god or religious crap will matter, where no one will restrict our battle abilities, is where we will fight our final battle."

With that, Sloth pivoted away and proceeded to walk towards Adolph just as he was running to her. The train of her red skirt flowed behind like crimson cloak as the wind blew through it. Once Adolph came to her, she placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered a "good job" to him. She ruffled his hair a bit, earning a soft smile from him, and then nodded to him to say that she was fine. From her right pocket strapped by leather brown belts around her waist, she pulled out a small remote control and pressed a button that activated a beeping noise. Adolph and Seras turned to see a car honking at them. It was a blue Mustang convertible with purple racing stripes along the hood, very shiny and relatively clean looking as it shined from the moon's soft white beams. Sloth pushed another button, which started the car's engine, and walked toward the vehicle as she replaced the remote in her pocket.

"We will end this one day, Alucard," Sloth said, waving a hand behind her. "Try stayin' alive 'til then for me. Kreuss!"

"Yes, master!" Adolph responded, turning sharply as his gaze left from watching Alucard standing back up again.

"We still have the other islands to check out. I need samples for my research."

Adolph gasped then smiled at this. His master really did care about people more than the mission. He ran ahead of her and walked backwards while saying, "Hey, master, why can't you just admit you want to save the other civilians, too, huh?"

"Shut up! You're noisy!"

Yes, vampire hunter Sloth, Alucard thought to himself as he watched the duo walk away to the car. We will end our fight on a beautiful battlefield.

"Police girl, we leave," Alucard said, walking back the way he and Seras had come.

"Yes, sir!" Seras said, trying not to repeat the master part.

______________________________________________

Integra rested herself on a soft loveseat and sipped the last few drops of her tea while Baron made use of the shower in the suite of Star Castle. Funny how a man of Baron's laidback demeanor would care to keep himself clean after dealing with the ghouls at the last house. Of course, blood does stain the best of clothes. She could sympathize with that on several fronts. It was not a fun job to scrub the shirt until the fabric was worn out trying to get the smell of blood out of a perfectly good button-up. She began to wonder what the new butler was thinking. This was not his first time killing ghouls by any means. Did he ever try to talk with someone about having to kill at some point in his life?

Her thoughts were silenced when she heard humming come from the bathroom. Baron stepped out into the bedroom in nothing more than a towel; evidently, he hadn't realized the door was open or forgot Integra existed. His entire head was covered in a white linen towel as he ruffled it through his wet, peppered gray hair. His skin was already dried. Integra knew staring at him was wrong, but she caught something of interest on Baron's body profile. He had a rather blunt scar on his entire side and healed bite mark beneath his arm pit. The ambush he mentioned he had experienced could've been fairly recently. However, if his daughter had protected them or defended them in the least, she could have killed the vampire who bit him. He hadn't yet turned into the thing that scarred his lovely flesh. While she gazed at his scars, her eyes wandered to the muscles in his arms, chest, and abs. He also had some thick legs. On the bed in the room were Baron's clothes, so he picked up one of the articles spread amongst the sheets and observed it to make sure it was clean. That was, of course, before he dropped it back down and looked ahead of him. Integra noticed his eyes were looking ahead and watched as he draped the towel over his shoulders then rake a hand through his hair to push it on his right side. His ears were pierced three times.

"How was your mission, Mister Alucard?" Baron asked, digging into his ear.

"It wasn't a real mission. The head of the loan sharks was already dead," Alucard answered.

A knock on the door was heard, forcing Integra to peel her sights from vanGouge and turn to the disturbance. She said, "Come in."

"U-um," Seras started, poking her head into the room with only her eyes and nose visible. "Good evening, Sir Integra. Mission's done."

"So, I've heard," Integra responded. "What happened?"

"I found something most interesting tonight, Baron," Alucard said, grin fairly wide. He walked around the king-sized bed and only stopped when he was close enough to feel the warmth coming from Baron's skin after his shower. The man before him simply arched his eyebrows in suspicion and looked him in the eyes. One thing Alucard like about Baron was that he had balls to stare a master vampire in the face and not falter from fear. He then whispered softly enough for only him to hear, "You said your daughter works for Russian military, correct? What symbol does the facility represent themselves with?"

"Will you fire me if I tell you?" Baron questioned.

"Life in Hellsing would be rather dull should you leave. Your liveliness brightens the days," Alucard answered in a genuine sort of complimentary, appreciative tone.

Baron chuckled at this and said, "Ah, I see. Well, she hardly talks about her job in that aspect. It is meant to be a secret facility. However..., Russia has many flags, and, if it's a military flag, there's bound to be a symbol on it. I know of the Russian Armed Forces flag. It's largely red and gold. A double-headed eagle is the center of it."

"The symbol I saw was a sickle and hammer."

"Wow," Baron remarked, arching his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry, but that flag is more historical in value. The hammer and sickle were a banner of victory. It was used in 1945 to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union soldiers against Nazi Germany during World War II."

Alucard's eyes widened from this fact. His grin practically did the same as his eyes before he said, "Really?"

"Yes, the Soviet Union was a major part of the Allied powers, which consisted of the USA, Great Britain, China, and themselves, who were known for being an anti-Hitler coalition. The hammer and sickle are used on Victory Day from time to time," Baron informed.

This sparked Alucard's interest immensely. He then asked, "How long do you plan to stand there naked?"

"How long do you plan on talking to me while I'm naked?" Baron asked, grinning.

"Don't let Integra fire you," Alucard said, turning to leave the room and Baron. "Your quips would be greatly missed."

"So that's it, huh?" Integra questioned, watching Seras nod. She hummed in thought, drawing some conclusions. She then said, "This isn't the first time we've had mindless vampire attacks, but this is the first time we've had organized crime coupled with them. The tutor in that school was one form of organization, before that it was the captain of a fishing crew, and afterwards a nurse at a hospital. On top of that, what did you say to Baron, Alucard?"

"Nothing that would interest you, my master," Alucard replied, vaguely ignoring the topic. Well, it's not like Integra would care about him possibly meeting Baron's daughter again tonight.

"I heard you met this Sloth character again from Seras," Integra challenged, earning a curl of his upper lip in a puckering position. "What happened between you two?"

"We simply fought again, my master. Made a little vow to each other," Alucard responded, cryptically. "She is a vampire hunter also. She was the one who killed the head of the loan sharks before I came there."

"Then it's not just us who's getting involved with these attacks. There are other vampire hunting groups who are aware of something."

"Not everyone has your vast intelligence, Sir Integra," Baron said, entering the room fully-clothed. "I doubt other vampire hunters are aware of anything linked with these attacks, but I can't say everyone else is stupid either."

"This is just an assumption, but I think these attacks are planned for something. Notice the places being attacked: schools, hospitals, homes. Each place more public than the last. There is a force somewhere strategically placing these attacks one by one. They happen every day, and the vampires who follow this force work together in teams. Even if it's not a full team, it's a sneaky individual who can damn well cover up the mess as if nothing ever happened. If it's not a guerilla attack, it's a thought-out sketch. This is...probably the scariest kind of war declaration: an organized scare tactic made into a public dispute. When these attacks are quieted down in one area, they strike in another area."

"What is really going on here?" Seras whispered in question, earning a short silence from everyone in the room.