Michaels made his way down the normal hallway, a small extension office to what would look like a simple government bureaucratic office, dedicated to multiple branches.
Sadly, the truth was that this was the APD: the Abnormal and Paranormal Defense, Japan’s start to the growing crisis of the strange attempting to gather a foothold. Aside from a reputable psychic (that no one knew was one Senshi of Time who used the office to take care of threats to Crystal Tokyo on a local level) and a few pencil pushers who could send contracts and assignments out to known devil hunters (at least the ones that made themselves known, like the Mano clan and until recently, the Mido clan). Though the groups were under no legal standing to take the cases assigned to them, they were well paid.
For Japan, the current policy was: let the locals deal with it. But whatever officials either wanted it that way, or went that way on the basis of tradition and disbelief in the need, were slowly losing control, or so some reports to Interpol were stating.
But the question was whether or not there was time for them to realize that a serious reorganization was needed.
Knocking on a door to one particular office, he spotted a rather tall man sitting behind the desk, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.
“What the Hell do you want, Michaels?” growled the guy. “I have enough to deal with without your daily blend of shit.”
“I take it the FREAKS are creating more trouble for you, Tai.”
The man known as Tai merely glared at him. “I am low on sleep and caffeine, so I’ll give you one minute to tell me what the Hell this little meeting of yours is really about.
Michaels smiled. “Well, I thought you would like these,” he said, offering two folders.
“If it’s the info on the FREAKS, we have that, including the fact that the Brits called in Hellsing.”
“Nope,” smirked Michaels, taking a seat in the one open chair, the other two in the cramped office on the side of the desk were filled with paperwork, files, and what looked like a half eaten plate of rice. “I got a tip from a local you may have your first two full time employees there.”
Tai glared at him. “You better be shitting me, you know we don’t have a budget for full timers, aside from the few they give us for the bureaucrats we have here. We had to practically beg for the funds for that damn psychic.”
“Oh, these two, you’ll want them on your team,” he said. “Unless of course, you want them signing on to Hellsing. Hell, I’m pretty sure the BPD would snatch them in a moment, if they knew who they were.”
“And they are?” asked Tai, looking at the files in question.
“The mysterious Phantom and the Lady in White,” he replied.
“Those are just rumors.”
“Nope, quite real,” said Michaels. “And the real kicker, they’re locals who are loyal to the good guys, and a new type of vamp that can walk in the daylight.”
Tai’s eyes shot wide open. “Michaels, if you’re fucking with me here, I swear to whatever deity you worship, I will gut you and sell you in the cafeteria.”
Michaels smirked. “Nope, got the info from a very reliable source.
“Granted, those files only carry their former human lives, before whatever changed them did,” said Michaels. “But they are not your standard vamp. From what I hear, they’ve been taking care of your FREAK problem near Nerima. But guessing from the paperwork I see,” he said, motioning to a stack that looked recent, if only because something else wasn’t piled on top of it, “I think their actions are causing you other problems to investigate.”
Tai nodded, looking over the file labeled ‘Tendo, Nabiki’. “If what I heard about them is true, then this is something we need. Healing injured victims to where the local hospitals can patch them up, and at least fourteen different scenes where FREAKS were left to dry in the sun,” he murmured. “Why isn’t Interpol trying to get them?”
“We prefer to fight our own fight,” he said. “Hellsing is what we have, and it serves its purpose quite well.”
Tai nodded, before pausing at the name on the second folder. “It was this one that turned you off, wasn’t it?”
“A little.
“Oh, and be discrete when you do approach them. I was told they’re still trying to pass themselves off as normal.”
“Trust me,” said Tai, rubbing his forehead as the expected trouble this could cause popped up in his head, “there is nothing ever normal in Nerima, especially when it concerns Mr. Saotome.”
Seras was not in a good mood, not at all.
“We found the tracking device, ma’am,” said one soldier, hand outstretched, and holding the small device. “It was buried about a foot down and under several rocks. It looks like it’s been there since yesterday.”
She nodded. That means he found it almost immediately after Master placed it on him. That is truly amazing. “Any signs of the query?”
“None,” said the soldier.
Seras nodded. “Damn, Master was hoping to meet them tonight.”
“Oh?” said a disembodied male voice.
The group turned quickly, guns raised towards the source of the voice, before a quick blur passed them, slicing their guns apart.
“Not very friendly, as you Ms. Seras,” said Nabiki, walking out from behind a retainer wall on the opposite side of the lot, her white trench coat blowing lightly in the wind.
“I would have to agree,” said the voice, before Ranma faded into view, his sword slowly being lowered back into its sheath.
I never saw him, or even sensed him. Seras’s eyes were opened wide, disbelief written on them.
“Well,” snorted Ranma, “either say something or we’re going. We don’t have time to show you how stupid you guys are being.”
She shook her head, clearing out the surprise she felt for what just happened. The male had just disabled her entire squad in under a second, with no loss of life. Beginning to see why this guy made her Master so excited about a fight, she began. “Our leader wishes to discuss with you the possibility of you working for Hellsing.”
“Oh,” said Nabiki.
Seras nodded.
“Where at?” asked Ranma. He didn’t quite trust these people enough to let them take them somewhere for this meeting.
“At our current base of operations.”
“Can you set up a web-chat?” asked Nabiki. “We’d rather not go somewhere that may be disadvantageous to our current situation of being alive and free.”
“I will see,” she said, heading back towards their van. “Will you wait here?”
“You have five minutes,” said Ranma.
She nodded, before resuming her course to the van, wondering who would be more upset with her: Integra for being asked to make contact this way, or her Master, for not finding the two Japanese living vampires first.
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(Posted Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:34)
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