Queen of Procrastination
This Christmas...
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That was when they heard the explosion.
Jeremy "Jumping Jimmy" Higgins threw his dinner tray away and dove to the ground in instinctive reflex. Years in the Army had drilled into him that particular fast reaction when it concerned explosions. His squadmates emulated his example, quickly making a mess of their respective dinners.
Little Al, not to be confused with the bloodsucking 'Big Al' as he was called by the troops, and Chet were sprawled in the night's special of spaghetti, tomato sauce on their khakis, while Jackie had crushed his cheesecake. Jimmy himself felt the coldness of ice tea seeping into his shirt when he heard the sudden whine and clang of steel slamming down hard and fast.
Jim looked to the window and saw the descending steel shutter which plunged the canteen into sudden darkness. Moments later, the red emergency lights activated which gave the surroundings a crimson tinge. The PA system crackled and the cultured voice of a young woman spoke like the voice of God.
"All combat personnel please report to assigned positions. Non-combat personnel please relocate to the assigned bunkers."
Hellsing Squad B, 'The Running Dogs', were up and running in less than ten seconds.
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...all hell is about to break loose...
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"All combat personnel please report to assigned positions. Non-combat personnel please relocate to the assigned bunkers."
Janice Tomlinson depressed the announcement and turned nervously to her new friend, Lisa Keyes.
"And where do we go?" Her voice had lost the self-assurance and held a slight quaver to it. It was her first day on the job and though she knew it was going to be exciting, she didn't thing it was going to be _this_ exciting. Duty watch at the Hellsing Institute seemed to be a nice little promotion from her secretarial job with MI6's Double O department and so far nothing had proven her wrong, what with the nice working environment and friendly people, though she had heard rumors they had real nutters working out here. Well, that was up till the explosions and the mansion being shut up tighter than MI6 HQ on Ultraviolet.
"We go to the new command center!" Lisa was obviously not sharing her own trepidation. The pony-tailed brunette pulled her up from the chair and groped the wall for something.
"What?! Command center?! Where's that? And what the hell are you doing?! What in-"
Lisa had found what she had been searching for and the wall suddenly folded back into itself in some obscure geomatric manner that made Janice's eyes hurt.
"Old secret passageway. Dame Integra pressed it into service when she came back from prison. Leads straight to Bunker 01."
"How did it do that?"
"Better not ask. Knowing the Helsings, it probably involved human sacrifice or something. Anyway, come on!"
"Where?!"
"Bunker 01! It's a new thingy they put in a few months ago. Going there's new protocol for us commo girls after the last time the mansion got hit."
Lisa was pulling her hand but Janice held firm.
"Last time!? Is this a regular thing?"
"Nah. Just occasionally. We better go before the zombie shocktroopers get here."
"Zombies!?" This was getting more surreal by the minute.
"Yeah. They got Evie the last time and I don't plan to lose another shift partner this soon." Lisa tugged at her and the small woman managed to pull her into the dark corridor.
"Let's go!"
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...presenting the final parts of...
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"Let's go!"
Sergeant Makepeace bellowed in the armory as his troops proceeded to suit up. Silver-plated mesh neck guards and padded kinetic-impact resin armor was hurriedly put on as each squad's appointed two-man team checked the Hellsing Arms-issued standard high-caliber assault rifles. A pair were belting on the newly-issued Lancefire flamethrowers.
Pulling a swich on the wall, certain parts of the room's walls bended, folded and crumpled away to reveal tunnels. That disturbing butler fellow, Walter, had once told him that these were originally boltholes for the manor's original occupants. Damn strange people, those Helsings must have been to dig tunnels like these.
Reconstruction of the manor had given them a chance to exploit these tunnels. Now, they led to covered bunkers, located strategically to hinder enemy evidence towards the main manor itself. Literally impossible to get into from the outside, the defensive positions afforded perfect killpoints all along the estate. The tunnels were also lined with enough explosives to send everyone to kingdom come, just in case worst comes to worst.
"Well, boys, time to earn our pay. Let's show those leeches that the same trick won't work twice."
Makepeace gave his boys a salute and smiled at the masked faces, knowing that they shared his wolfish grin.
"Kill the bastards."
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Under the Shadow of Hell
a fanfic on Hellsing and a few others by Elsa Bibat