He recalled it as if it were yesterday, though it had been some months back. As Yumiko wrung her hands and Wulf noted it all with cool professionalism not quite covering concern, the one sitting in judgement sighed a bit and continued praying. She'd come to the faith late, embracing it and her upgrading as she was prepared to be another Paladin, another supernatural specialist.
That had gone very well, and the passive, almost fanatic need to be guided and protected when not on duty actually suited her more in the group not meant to exist, the Iscariot Section XIII. He'd noted her issues of attraction, but never commented, since she maintained celibacy and put her fiercely suppressed sexual frustration into the work.
Her clashes with the opposition over in Great Britain were tremendous fun to watch, of course, as she'd relished in displaying as much respect and hatred towards the younger midian as the elder Paladin did towards Alucard. Her past history of having been thrown out of the Academy by Ranma before she was made a vampire was truly ironic. It made for great fights, all right. thought the Archbishop. But of course, it had to come to a end. And the means and cause were.. extraordinary, even for Iscariot.
He looked at her calmly and sternly, not trusting his ability to not send a incorrect message and thus schooling his features imperiously. When the Millenium came with their derived vampires and their 'ethos' of war for war's own sake, Iscariot had been called in, but the orders were kept secret. When Iscariot's newly acquired army went to town on London's few survivors, it was obvious that somebody had ideas of crushing the Protestant church even at the cost of innocent souls.
And she didn't falter when she realised it, did she? he noted. No, the young and very determined Sister Magdalene (legal name Seras Victoria) went right to work in doing the other function of Iscariot, one certain now-dead assholes should have remembered. Namely being the plausibly deniable scourge to keep the holy Church on the straight and true. And being in Iscariot doesn't make one immune, does it? The Archbishop sighed. It'd be a pain to do this, a annoyance, really, but all things being taken into account, it was the only truly correct path. That it was secretly a order of His Holiness himself didn't even signify, save that it meant that was how things were going to be, regardless. All the better it was just. But I'm going to miss it so. Oh well, I should be able to get back out in the field if I play the game correctly.
Archbishop Alexander Anderson decided that enough time for contemplation had passed, and so moved on before his pause stretched into possible dalliance. This was, after all, serious business. "Sister Magdelene. You are before the only judgement that matters. This is the will of the Pontiff, and it will be explained, then exercised. You are ready?"
Magdelene nodded. She was frightened a bit, but bore up well enough that the main principals of Iscariot took note of it. They each approved. "Yes, Your Eminence. I await the judgement of Father Church." She fell silent after that, that apparently all she felt needed saying.
"Very well, then. The deeds are known, but I repeat them for clarity and for the hidden record. During the war instigated by the National Socialist creatures calling themselves Millenium, Iscariot was gathered into a army in its own right and sent to war. During this time, Archbishop Enrico Maxwell had it in his mind to expand the mission into a new Inquisition, his diary stating plainly the intent to destroy Hellsing Institution and the Protestant Church in its entirety then place Great Britain under Catholic protection." He paused to make sure the others understood all this. Yumie was in command at that time, and Heinkel was busy, so details might have been missed.
Seeing they understood, he then continued "This was in direct violation of the treaty long since worked out with the Protestant church and the British government, of course. Further, Archbishop Maxwell's orders directly cost innocent lives and doomed souls that could have been saved to a damned existence as ghouls. The observations of Iscariot troopers and testimony of London survivors confirm this beyond any refutation. Which brings us to the actions of Sister Magdelene when she realised what was happening."
Anderson looked directly into Magdelene's eyes as he pressed on. "I was of course as caught up in it all as the others, mostly alongside the Hellsing commander, Sir Hellsing herself. Had I had the time to see and act, however, I would have done precisely what Sister Magdelene did: Make her way to Archbishop Maxwell, completely wipe him from the face of the Earth, and pass along false orders in his name to correct the situation. Which she did." He forestalled any comment from the visibly emotional Magdelene by adding "And I would expect much what I am about to hand you, Sister. I too recall that we of Iscariot are the pruners of Father Church as well as its divine hit squad, and I am well informed that Archbishop Maxwell's supporting Millenium until we could remove them ourselves was facetious in the extreme. As the late Archbishop's diary stated, Hitler was never excommunicated, but that was only due to the Church's confusion in getting its house in order. The fact that Vatican City was at that time surrounded by angry Italian Catholics and even angrier Allied troops didn't exactly mitigate matters. Archbishop Maxwell's actions have been condemned by His Holiness himself, and Enrico Maxwell shall be stricken anathema as a direct result. However, the fact remains that a Sister assassinated a Archbishop. Given the circumstances His Holiness had to weight, there was only one course of action to take. Prepare yourself."
They waited a moment, then two. One lone tear finally rolled down Magdelene's face. Then she nodded.
Anderson nodded in turn, and spoke firmly. "Sister Magdelene must die and all her past be erased. But the woman that saved the Church from disgrace must be rewarded. In reply to these needs, the Papal Bull is as follows. Seras Victoria!" She shook violently and then steadied at the sound of her given name. Anderson went on relentlessly "Seras Victoria, remove the garb of a nun. All of it. Now. You are sin and cannot be chaste."
Anderson knew that there was only one way to prevent his former charge from following the way out taken by the Section's namesake. So he watched and barked out orders on how to less chastely remove the devout garb, all the while schooling his reactions to her admittedly glorious body. He kept the pressure up as she told her "You are sin, put on the clothes of a sinful girl. Do this now, Seras." Heinkel mutely placed bits of rubber frippery the sinners laughingly called underwear before the stunned and blushing Seras, who mutely slid it on. Heinkel also noted the girl's acute awareness of her and Sister Yumiko's bodies, but didn't react to it. Such matters were her problem, not Heinkel's, so she just handed the miniskirt and snug deep-cleavage blouse over, followed by the stockings and the high heels. At least that maniac of a boss isn't having her do makeup! I'm really going to want a explanation for this one after she's gone..
As soon as the clothes were on, Anderson explained it fully. "You're sin, now, Sister Magdelene is going to be erased from Catholic record as are all dead Section XII members. You are told to live outside Catholic way, Seras, as you are hereby excommunicated. You cannot attend or take part in Catholic life, and are forever BARRED from Chastity, Poverty, and Mortification. You are to live in sin, and any attempt to atone for the deeds of Sister Magdelene will lead to persecution from this Section until you live in sin once more. Is that clear?" His voice was cold as ice, but Archbishop Anderson let his desire that she live on flare up in his eyes as he announced her fate.
Seras couldn't speak coherently, so she just nodded. That the man watched her naked was mortifying beyond belief, but her.. feelings stripping down like some whore before the girls! It was so confusing, the awful desire to.. to.. She shook herself and simply turned, heading out from Iscariot and Vatican City once and for all.
Once she left, the room was silent. But after a few minutes, Yumiko cried out "WHY did you do that, Your Eminence? She looked like she was going through fifteen kinds.." only to falter to a halt as Anderson held up a hand.
"I really do not have to explain this, but I will. Seras is a good woman, and a deeply stained sinner. we all are sinners. Yumiko. We sin in service of the Church, but sin we do. That is why Iscariot is what it is, and it is what we are called to do. Seras Victoria is what happens if we do not die or fall to darkness and get killed by our fellows." Yumiko shuddered and looked to Heinkel in search of support that the Archbishop was wrong, but just saw the jaded warrior nodding. Then Anderson detailed more with "Seras has been cast out, and her feelings of guilt and sin will mix with her obedience to her just fate to make her.. live. Although she can never again be pure, she can find a way to live with what she was, and must now be. Such is her penance. And I have done one more thing to push her down her path, which I didn't bother to inform her of."
Heinkel raised a eyebrow, then asked what she suspected was a cued question. "Annnnnd.. that is?"
The head of Iscariot allowed a small smile to rise to his face as he commented "I've insured that all her papers are in order, all her clothes as.. spectacular as the ones we gave her, and that the plane she's going to be guided to will exile her to the nation of Japan. Specifically into the neighborhood one Ranma Saotome has been assigned to work by our rivals in Hellsing Institution. It should be vastly entertaining to see how those two get along after all this."
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(Posted Wed, 11 May 2005 19:05)
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