Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Old and New ❯ Chapter 11 - Trapped ( Chapter 11 )

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Old and New

Chapter 11 - Trapped

Alucard made his way down flight after flight of stairs. From what information Integra had given him, he guessed that the research center was far below the office building above him. Below the sewer level even.

It was a perfect place for vermin to hide.

He slowed his silent descent when he smelled the scent of humans. Two guards were directly below him.

That proved that this place was active, before this it was just speculation. He wondered briefly who Integra's informant had been.

He melted into the floor. He had descended upon one guard and snapped his neck before the other one turned. The second guard he dispatched likewise. There was no point in wasting his ammunition on these dogs.

***

Anderson met little resistance on his way down to the center. There had of course been guards and cameras. He took care of both with his blades.

He came across a guard station. There were two guards inside, one on the phone. "113, intruder on level-." His sentence went unfinished. The other guard turned as his partner fell over, a long blade sticking out from the back of his head.

"Humans who help the forces of darkness do not deserve to be called human." Anderson said, and the second guard fell.

***

"Okay." Pip said. "Our entrance should be somewhere here. See if you can find a hatch." He searched the floor. Seras looked around too. "Aha!" He said. He pulled up a mat that was half covering a grating. He pulled a crowbar from his case and began prying at the grate. He put all of his weight into the bar, but it didn't budge. "No good, its welded shut."

Seras grabbed the grate with two hands; she planted her feet and pulled. There was the sound of cracking concrete and the squeal of bending metal. And then the grating was in her hands; chunks of concrete still attached to it. She tossed it aside. It fell with a loud bang.

"Quiet, stupid." Pip hissed at her. "Someone might hear."

Seras looked sheepish. "Sorry." She said.

"Well, we can get down now." Pip said, he peered down the hole. He spotted a ladder attached to one side, descending into darkness. Seras moved to descend first. He put a hand up to stop her. "I'll go down first." He descended down the ladder till his waist was submerged underground. "When I get down a ways, hand the cases down to me." Seras nodded. He continued down the ladder.

Her cheeks reddened a little. Who knew what was down there? And he had chosen to go first, though she was the stronger. She was startled from her thoughts by a cry from Pip. She leaned over the hole. "Pip, are you okay?" she asked; her voice was high in fear.

"Yeah, I'm fine." His voice sounded a little strained. "Be careful when you go down, the fifteenth step is out. Hand me one of the cases."

She gently lowered one of the cases down to him. He took it from her. Then he dropped it to the ground below him. They did the same for the second one. He climbed the rest of the way down as she started her way. His shin throbbed. He had banged it against the wall when he had missed the step. He looked up at her. She was nearing that step now. "That's the step there, watch out." He called. He pushed from his mind roughly that while he looked up at her, he could see up her skirt.

Then she was beside him. He fumbled in the darkness for a glow stick. He cracked it and the tunnel they were in was lit dimly. Seras cracked her own, adding to the small light. Pip pulled out a map. "This is a part of the old sewer tunnels. The lab should be just a few more levels below us. According to this," he held his glow stick close to the map. "There should be an old pipe leading down there."

"Great." Seras said without enthusiasm. She looked around her nervously. "Um, you don't think, that- that there could be rats down here, do you?"

"I don't think so. Probably all dead of starvation." He turned his head to look back at her. "You're not scared of rats, are you?"

Seras shook her head quickly. Pip turned back, smiling to himself. "Some vampire."

Seras noticed that he favored his left knee slightly. She picked up both cases easily and followed him.

***

After searching through countless rooms Anderson found one door that looked very promising. It was large, heavy and steel. The lock was large and heavy.

The words: "PROJECT ADRIAN" was printed in red on the door.

Now, how to open it?

A card reader glowed on the left. Anderson reached into a pocket; he pulled out three ID cards that he had picked up off of the guards. He tried them all and none worked.

It seems that he would need a different card. Maybe the scientist, Dr. Aster, would have it.

***

After crawling through pipes and dank tunnels and being plagued by squeaks that sounded very much like rats, they made their way to the research laboratory.

Seras sighed in relief as she lowered herself from a ventilation shaft into a clean white corridor. She sighed as she looked down at herself in the bright fluorescent lighting. Her clothes and skin were covered with black and green streaks. She pushed her grimy hair out of her eyes. Well, a little dirt never hurt anyone. Still, she would be glad when she could get a chance to take a hot bath. Pip exited the shaft next, pulling his case with him. His appearance resembled her own.

"Where to next?" Seras asked. She hefted up her case.

"I don't have a map of this area. We'll have to search around. We have to find Dr. Aster. Once we dispatch him and check through the files, we can place the explosives, if we need to." They didn't have enough explosives to destroy the whole place, but enough to make sure it stopped running.

They looked up and down the corridor they were in. Both directions looked the same. "This way." Pip said, picking at random. He carried his own case now. The stinging in his knee had ebbed.

Seras followed. She looked around. It was so quiet, too quiet. She had expected a busy place. She had expected more people. Maybe her master had taken care of the ones in this area. No, there were no bodies.

They opened doors at random, examining the rooms within. Some were normal looking rooms, some were empty, and some were used as storage. They found labs, but everything was neat and untouched.

They found a file room, finally something of use! They split up and searched through the papers. Some of the cases were locked, but Seras just pulled them open. She flipped through the papers, taking anything that might be of use.

Pip was daunted by one case; it had a very complex lock. It was a big steel case, marked PROJECT ADRIAN. "Seras." He called. She walked over to him, stuffing some more papers away. She placed everything into a folder and then placed that in her case. "Can you open this?" Pip asked her.

She looked the large case over; safe box was a better word for it than a case. It was made of heavy steel, and the lock looked like it belonged on a vault door. "I'll try." She grasped the lock in one hand and braced her other on the box. She pulled. The lock was a tough one, and stubborn. She pulled harder, straining her muscles. Just when she thought her strength would give out it came off. The door swung open.

Instantly the room was flooded in red light and a harsh alarm sounded. "Shit!" Pip cursed. "Let's get out of here."

Seras was reaching into the safe box. There was a metal briefcase inside. Her hand closed around the handle. "Forget that!" Pip cried, he grabbed her hand and hauled her to the door. A large metal partition descended from the ceiling. It covered the doorway, blocking their exit. Pip pounded on the obstacle. A thin pane of plexi-glass allowed him to see the hall. Seras pushed him out of the way and pounded on the door herself.

Suddenly there was someone on the other side, looking in at her. She reeled back in surprise. She recognized the brown hair and blue eyes of Dr. Aster, the scientist they were supposed to find. His eyes were an electric blue. That sinister look was there. She couldn't hear him, but she knew he was laughing at her.

Rage filled her. She didn't know why, but this man brought out her fury. She pounded her fist into the metal door, denting it. She heard a feral scream and knew it came from her own throat. She pulled out her handgun and fired at the glass. The bullet ricocheted off the glass and grazed her cheek, making a line of blood show.

Pip ducked. "Seras, watch it!" He yelled. But in her anger she didn't notice him. She screamed that feral scream again when she saw the scientist lean close to the glass. She pounded into it. He looked at her, unfazed. His eyes are not human, but monster. She knew it, but there was nothing about his eyes to tell her what it was exactly that made them a monster's. She just knew it.

He walked away from the glass, slowly and calmly. She kept pounding into the door, but didn't make the dent any bigger. Her anger ebbed away with her strength, and she sank to the floor.

***

Dr. Aster walked back to his office, whistling lightly. The two mice he had caught would be put to good use. He had been watching them on the monitors for some time, waiting to spring his trap. The girl was a vampire, he was sure of it. She would be very useful. The man, he could give the man to Adrian.

Adrian hadn't eaten since anything since Dr. Aster had caught that woman spying.

What to do about the priest though? They didn't have the ghouls to spare trying to take him down. What was he thinking? Adrian could take him out easily. Such foolish thoughts.

Upon arriving at his office he found someone already there. A man in a crimson coat and hat sat at his desk, apparently waiting for him. Dr. Aster tried to see who it was, but the hat shadowed his face. "You must be Dr. Aster." A deep voice flowed from the man.

"Who are you?" Anger made his voice harsh. "If it's information you want, you'll get nothing from me!"

"You do not know how much that pleases me." The deep voice said. The man pulled a large black gun from his coat. He fired it without hesitation, while Dr. Aster was still backing up.

Alucard was mildly surprised to see the man turn to ash. So, he had been vampire, how interesting. He stooped to inspect the scientist clothes, he found a small plastic ID card. He placed it in a pocket. It might turn out to be useful.

***

They surveyed their situation. There were not vents, no windows and Seras couldn't open the door. Seras sat down in a corner of the room. She felt so weak. She had done too much, opening the grate, the safe, and trying to open the door. She wasn't supposed to be that strong, but she had pushed her limits each time. And where a human could sleep and eat food to recover strength, there was only one thing she could do.

She shivered.

She wasn't in danger, just weak. Still as strong as a human.

Pip crouched down across from her. "Are you okay?" He asked.

She looked up into his face. "Just wondering how to get out of here, that's all."

"We could try the explosives on the door."

Seras shook her head. "This room is small, you might get hurt."

"What about Alucard? Have you tried reaching him?"

"I tried, he said that he would get to us when he found us."

Pip sighed. "Then we're trapped."

AN: Big stuff is coming along, Also those battle scenes everyone seems to love. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! ::does dance of overwhelming joy::