Author's note: all information/characterization is derived from anime and some information web sites. Apologies for anything that contradicts canon. It will most likely remain that way.

Of Honor and Duty - a Hellsing Fanfiction

Part Five: The Willing Hostage

Integra stared at the man before her. He was imposing in height and breadth for a human; but then, there was something about him that hinted at more. She peered at him closely through her glasses as he drove their little car to their destination. Their flight had arrived no more than an hour ago and to be honest, she was more than surprised at not being met by a car and a driver at the airport.

Not for the first time, she wondered at her lack of protest, her lack of resistance to this little jaunt to Rome. Based on what Walter and Alucard had revealed to her, she was quite sure that had she been in her full faculties, this little trip would be a trifle less sedate than what it was so far. In fact, she was quite sure that this man, Anderson was his name, would have had his hands full trying to get Sir Integra to go to Rome with him based on that little story he had.

But, as she was getting tired of repeating to herself, she was not in her full faculties. And, for all she knew, this man might be telling the truth.

Maybe.

To be honest with herself, his tale sounded even less believable than Walter's or Alucard's. Except…except…she did not quite trust herself. She did not trust her judgments, her instincts. At the moment, she was working fully on her rational side and her rational side was hopelessly ill-equipped given her condition.

And so here she was, on her way to Rome, sharing a vehicle with a complete stranger. Under normal circumstances, she was quite certain that she would never trust a stranger to take her some place. Did not every parent instill the distrust of strangers to their children from a very young age?

However, at this time, stronger than her distrust was her curiosity. This man offered to show her a world different than that of Walter's or Alucard's. Those two had such a colored view of the world that she often wondered how much of it were hers and how much of it were solely theirs. She wanted…no, she craved to know something outside of their sphere. If she were perfectly honest with herself, it was the temptation of knowing something outside of Alucard that piqued her interest. That vampire had such a all too knowing manner; it had the probability of driving her insane sometime soon.

"Did you want to ask me something?" Anderson asked her, interrupting her thoughts as he gave her a measure look.

"No," she replied cautiously, "not yet."

He gave a small laugh. "That's alright," he acknowledged almost ruefully, "but do you mind if I ask you some then?"

She gave a shrug. What could he possibly want to know that a certified amnesiac could tell him?

"I will take that as a 'yes,'" he said at her continued silence, his eyes peering at her periodically from the road. "I must say that I was very surprised at you," he began after a pause. "I had expected more of a fight when I asked that you join me in this little trip."

She gave him a sideways glance. "Oh?" she answered, her voice as nonchalant as she could let it.

He nodded. "I didn't expect this to be this easy," he admitted. "I thought that you would at least send for someone to stop us." He was looking at her closely now, as if waiting for some telltale sign.

"I don't know what you mean," she finally answered, looking deliberately away. "Had I not wanted to be here, I wouldn't have needed to send someone to stop us." She paused, carefully weighing her next words. "I think I would have been able to manage the situation."

He gave a grunt. "Well, then," he began, "I guess the real question is why did you want to come with me in the first place." A small smile curved across his upper lip. "It couldn't have been my charm."

She gave an unladylike sound as she turned to him. "No," she agreed readily. "Your charm could have used some work." Again, she looked outside of her window. "I came out of curiosity," she finally said, after a long pause. "I am very interested to know what you and…Father Enrico Maxwell have to say for yourselves."

"Don't tell me that that Hellsing vampire had missed an opportunity to rail about the Iscariot," he said deliberately, disbelievingly. "I'm quite sure that we were one of your first lessons after your…incident."

A wry grin escaped her lips. "Perhaps," she conceded well enough. Walter and Alucard had been quite vocal of their opinions regarding the Iscariot. "If I were to believe even half of what they have told me," she began, refusing to name Walter or the vampire, "I would say that the Iscariot ranked slightly above, if not equal to those FREAKs we are so fond of terminating."

A smirk appeared on the corner of his mouth. "And do you believe all that those two have told you?" he asked impertinently.

She gave him a pointed look before turning away. She refused to answer that particular question. Let him take that as he will.

He laughed, clearly enjoying her discomfiture. "You have fire in you, Sir Hellsing, I would give you that," he told her.

She gave him a pensive look. "I am quite curious about one thing at this moment, though," she imparted.

He arched one of his brows at her, looking down at her from his driving.

"I am very curious to know," she let the words out slowly, "how the Iscariot happened to be quite well-informed of my condition, when even the Knights themselves—as you well know—are in the dark."

She saw his grip of the steering wheel tighten. Had she touched upon a sensitive spot? "I find it very interesting," she continued, "how very closely the Iscariot monitors the Hellsing Organization." She dropped her voice lower. "It makes me wonder if the same can be said vice versa." She let out a small chuckle. "What is that old adage? Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer?"

"A very wise saying to live by," he agreed. "As for how closely Hellsing watches over us," he paused, giving her an intent look, "don't you know, Sir…Integra?"

She gave a knowing smile. "Let's just say that I have a feeling that despite my acquiescence to this trip and the relatively small fuss regarding your…ahh…invitation, the Hellsing Organization at this time is searching for ways to extricate me from the Iscariot Organization's deceitful clutches."

He laughed. "That sounds right," he nodded. "It is something both our organizations have to accept. The flow of information will occur despite all our precautions. I am sure that at this time, Hellsing has found the mole that supplied the information regarding your health."

"You believe them to be that efficient?" she questioned, genuinely surprised at his show of unexpected regard towards Hellsing.

"In routing out human infestation?" he clarified. "Then unequivocally, yes, I believe them to be that efficient. In routing out the vermin that has permeated our society? In that department, your Hellsing Organization is quite hampered; hence, your inability to perform at your fullest capability. Then, there is your use of immoral use of the vampire whose very existence is an insult to what Hellsing should stand for." He shook his head.

She raised her brows. "What do you mean, we are hampered?" she asked him curiously, choosing to ignore his reference to Alucard. "In what way?"

He looked at her in askance. "You cannot mean to tell me that the Knights and sometimes even the Queen herself has caused difficulties in your organization? It is especially the case when it comes to the political aspirations of your Knights. What good are you if you divide your time between pacifying their petty jealousies and pursuing the FREAKs? To succeed against this evil, a single-mindedness is called for. And that, my dear, is something that you will always lack."

She treated him with a derisive laugh. "And you cannot mean to tell me that the Iscariot suffers from no such petty political squabbles. From what I know of Enrico Maxwell, his adeptness at this sort of thing is inborn. And let's not forget your encroachment of England. What is that if not the furthering of your own causes."

"Causes, yes," he conceded. "If by 'causes' you mean the termination of the unholy ones. The only reason we even stepped foot on your island is your inability to quickly and efficiently stamp down the rise of vermin."

"Really?" she asked, skeptical. "Are you so sure of Father Maxwell and his motives?"

He opened his mouth to say more, but paused midway.

"If that is the case," she pursued, "then what am I doing here?" She leaned closer to him. "If the only reason for your presence in England is the elimination of vampires, why am I receiving this invitation for a tête-a-tête with Father Maxwell? Surely, the knowledge of an amnesiac regarding the destruction of vampires is miniscule compared to that of Section XIII?"

She looked closely at his face, and the tightening of his jaw.

"That is something that will be discussed upon your arrival," he hedged, unable to meet her eyes. "For a supposed amnesiac," he added begrudgingly, "you seem quite well-versed in all of this."

Something in the pitch of his voice triggered warning bells in her subconscious. "You don't whole-heartedly approve of my being here, do you?" she prodded softly.

He shrugged. "What I approve and not approve of is none of your concern," he replied brusquely.

"Hmm," she murmured. "It makes your little story—no doubt concocted by Maxwell—even less believable than before," she observed. "I wonder what convinced you to go on ahead with Father Enrico Maxwell's plan, given your…strong feelings towards the Hellsing Organization."

He gave a disgusted sigh. "In this case," he replied, "ours is not to ask."

She gave him an inquiringly glance before looking away again. This trip to Rome was just getting interesting.

"There were not a lot of signs of struggle," Walter informed him with a bang of his hands on the table. "At most, a couple of severely injured men, including the driver, courtesy of the regenerator's weapon of choice."

"She wasn't forced," Alucard declared casually, as he leaned back against the wall of her office. Of that, he was quite certain. Despite the barrier erected between their minds ever since her recovery, he was certain that he would have known had she felt any danger to her well-being. The question foremost on his mind at this time was her reasons for allowing herself to be taken willingly by them. Had he not stressed the untrustworthiness of the Iscariot Organization? Furthermore, he was quite sure that Walter had done the exact same thing.

Why then did she go willingly?

"Not forced?" Walter looked at him incredulously. "You call severely injuring our men not forced?"

"I said that she wasn't forced," he replied, still perturbed. "The men were a different matter." His eyes closed behind his yellow lenses.

"What!" Walter gritted through his teeth, even more incredulous. "Sir Integra would never—"

He glanced up at the now steward of the Hellsing manor. "You are correct," he interrupted, "She would never have come willingly to them before." He paused. "But as we both know, my master is not quite as she once was."

He stared at the man he had known longer than any mortal in this earth at this time. Walter seemed defeated almost as he retreated into his own thoughts.

"Have I failed her?" the man asked himself softly. "I've tried to instill her own loyalties and duties these past few days in an effort to help her remember. I've shown her the accomplishments of her ancestors, all the sources of pride of the Hellsing name!"

"Except it is difficult to feel any sense of loyalty or duty on something she has no memory of," Alucard ineterrupted. "Or to feel affection on a long dead man from a painting." He looked up at Walter. "We know my master," he chided. "We should have expected this."

"Expected what?" Walter asked. "That she would fly the coup and join Iscariot?"

Alucard laughed mirthlessly. "Join Iscariot? Hardly. We should have expected that she would challenge our teachings," he clarified. The more he thought about it, the more his master's actions were slowly making some strange sort of sense. "She's like a child with her amnesia," he explained. "She was bound to rebel."

Walter gasped indignantly. "Sir Integra never rebelled as a child," he defended. "She knew her duty to her family and country!"

Alucard pushed himself against the wall and walked towards the retainer. "Then I believe it's about time she did, don't you? Without her sense of familial obligation, what's to stop her from finding out on her own whether what we taught her was truth?"

"Well," began Walter, at a loss, "what do you suggest we do?"

"Given the presence of that Judas priest, we know where she most likely is," he replied. "I'll go and fetch her."

"Just like that?" Walter asked, a tinged of smile threatening the corners of his mouth. "You'll just stroll quietly inside the Vatican fetch her home?"

Alucard shook his head. "I won't need to go the Vatican itself," he said. "I believe that she will call me when she's ready." He looked intently at the retainer. "She'll come home when she's ready. I will be there just in case there is any resistance from Section XIII regarding her decision."

Walter nodded when they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Walter called out. The sight of Peter Fargason greeted their eyes.

"We have the mole," he informed them without preamble, his face grave.

"See that proper justice is meted out on our culprit," suggested Walter.

"Perhaps," interjected Alucard, "I can be of help."

The two men looked at him speculatively. "Why yes," replied Walter. "Perhaps you can."

To be continued.