A/N ~ Yo! It's ya girl, Lawlipop! It's been three long and stressful years of school, but I've finally graduated from high school! Woop! I really missed writing since I haven't had all that much time for it since the end of freshman year. Here's a new chapter as a little thank you for waiting so patiently! It's a little sort, as it's meant to be a way for me to get my feet wet again, but I think I've improved a little bit in my writing throughout the years. Enjoy! :)

"You're Catholic?"

Danny nodded. "Yes, I hope that won't be a problem?"

The Iron Maiden stared at Danny, still conflicted.

"If it helps to know, I don't bother with that age old rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. My mother's side of my family was Lutheran, and I never had any problems with them."

Sir Integra's resolve shined through as she asked, "Have you ever been in contact with someone named Enrico Maxwell?"

"No." Danny shook his head. "The name doesn't ring any bells."

"Have you ever heard of the Iscariot, the Vatican's thirteenth division?"

"I have. It's hard not to when they butt into other peoples' business so often."

Danny had quite a few rows with numerous religious groups back in his home world before everything had gone to Hell, the Vatican being a very prominent one. The agents of Iscariot had chased him relentlessly for several decades after Danny debuted on the international stage. All in all, they reminded the Ghost King of the Guys In White; driven, fanatical, and unmoving in their objectives. However, unlike the GIW, the Iscariot were a whole lot more competent in their pursuit.

A smirk tilted over Integra's countenance. "They do have a nasty habit of doing that, don't they?"

"I say they take joy out of irritating people, though I suppose that's the standard when it comes to people you hate," Danny snickered.

"No kidding, we get gag gifts from them every Christmas."

"Really? You're serious?"

"Dead serious. They send us wine blessed by a Catholic priest, Catholic crosses, and prayers every Christmas without fail."

"Wow, that's just petty," Danny laughed, "It reminds me of all the Bibles they gave me every New Years Eve because they thought I wasn't praying enough."

"Not praying enough?"

"Apparently not." Danny snorted out of humor. "I'm Catholic, but nobody could ever say I'm a good one."

"Then why all the advertisement?" Alucard's smooth timbre echoed through the room, the vampire himself phasing up through the floor.

The half ghost shrugged, not caring to go into specifics. "Something to hold onto when shit hits the fan; weapons should the situation call for it. Take your pick."

Sir Integra raised a blonde brow. "Weapons? Those little things on your scarf?"

Danny grinned at her, plucking one of his pins off said scarf. Gripping opposite ends, he twisted the pin apart to reveal a socket in the top piece of the cross, which he locked the bottom tip of the second cross piece into. A short yet no less sharp stake is extended out of the open end of the cross as it is twisted together once more. Triumphant, Danny sets the silver pin-stake on her desk.

"How's that for a surprise?" Danny smirked. "No one ever thinks to remove my pins."

Alucard whistled appreciatively. "My apologies for doubting you, little hunter. I wouldn't have ever seen that coming."

"Apology accepted." Danny nodded at him. "And I'd sure hope you wouldn't. I'd have been dead a long time ago if the past seven vampires and two werewolves I killed with them actually thought to take them off me."

Sir Integra picked up the pin-shaped stake and examined it. "It is a bit on the short side, but, with the element of surprise, you wouldn't have any problems getting a quick hit in if you were close enough. You could definitely take their eyesight out of the equation with this. Do you have any more? They would really come in handy..."

Black hair danced as Danny shook his head. "I don't, but I can make some given the right materials."

"And those would be? Silver obviously, but what else?"

"Ectoranium, though whatever suites your needs more can be substituted in."

"Ecto-" Sir Integra did a double take, eyeing the stake-pin on her desk. "Ectoranium... You are aware of what it can do, aren't you?"

"That it can completely and utterly lay waste to a human's body via radiation? Yes, I'm well aware."

"Then why use it?" Alucard questioned, a barely-there frown marring his features. "Why use it if it harms you just as much as it does your enemies, if not more so?"

"Because not only does it not harm me, but silver is what tempers the radiation." Danny grinned, bitter and triumphant in turns.

Steel blue eyes narrowed at the black-haired youth. "How so?"

"I've been exposed to it since I was very young." Danny waved a hand nonchalantly. "Our parents wore protective clothing, but that says nothing of myself or my sister. We never did take the same precautions yet we were completely fine."

He put a hand to his chin in thought. "Looking back on that, that either says something about our parents or me and Jazz, or possibly even both. No point on dwelling on it for long though."

"Anyway, when combined at extremely hot temperatures, silver and ectoranium bond on a microscopic scale. However, it's pertinent that the mixture is quickly cooled in subzero temperatures or the radiation will persist even after the ectoranium is combined with the silver."

"Did you figure that out or...?" Sir Hellsing trailed off.

Danny shook his head. "No, my parents did. As scientists, their curiosity knew no bounds; come short of Hell or High Water, if it aided them in their twisted discoveries, they'd find any and every way to use it."

A dark, sour grin split Danny's face. "I think they're best described by their motto, 'When we catch it, we'll tear it apart molecule by molecule!'."

"Well, isn't that a frightening concept." Walter commented as he stepped through the large ornate wooden doors into Sir Integra's office with a tray of beverages.

Danny sighed as the butler set the tray on a corner of the large desk before Integra. "What was even scarier was watching them make due on those words. They firmly believed whatever they caught could feel neither pain nor emotions. It never occured to them that if something or someone was screaming in agony on their dissection table or crying out of despair in the various cages that lined the basement walls that what they were doing absolutely terrified their subjects out of their wits and hurt them beyond measure. They adamently refused to even think that any of the so-called monsters they studied could possess any sort of ability to feel anything in any capacity."

"You said they were scientists," Sir Integra pulled out a cigar, cutting off the end and having Walter light it for her. "But all of this you're telling us sounds more like torture than any sort of humane hands-on research."

Danny ran a hand through his bangs, holding the hair out of his face before letting it fall and speaking, "Because that is precisely what it was, Sir Integra. Pure and simple."

"What was it that they hunted?" Alucard queried, providing Danny with a much appreciated change of topic.

"Ghosts." Danny grinned at the vampire slyly.

Sir Integra allowed a brow to raise in incredulity, Walter following not far behind her. Alucard made his opinion known with a small chuckle.

"Ghosts?" Alucard snorted. "In all my years of existence, I've yet to encounter a ghost that could do anything more than blink into sight for a few moments. How could they possibly get their grubby hands on a ghost, much less torture one?"

Danny's grin grew sharp, the confidently smug expression not at all pleasant to see on such a childish face. "They opened a portal to Purgatory."

Everything and everyone went silent. Eyes had slightly widened and mouthes had fallen agape.

Integra Hellsing coughed into her fist and pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "If you'd excuse me, could you say that again?"

"They opened a portal to Purgatory." The Ghost King repeated himself resolutely.

Shuffling through his satchel, he pulled out a clipped together set of Polaroid photos and a tightly rolled-up tupe of blue papers in a glass canister. Yanking the paper clip off the pictures, he laid them in front of Sir Integra and pulled the cap off the canister to tip out the blueprints inside. Unfurling the blue sheets over her desk as Alucard and Walter looked over her shoulders, he turned the papers so the Iron Maiden could see the details of Madeline and Jack Fenton's greatest invention. The Ghost Portal.

The blonde woman could only stare in astonishment and disbelief at all before her. "They... they actually managed to tear a rip between the living world and the afterlife?"

"The evidence speaks for itself, I believe."

"I don't know what to say, Ms. Nightingale. It looks so... " Walter faltered, trying to find a word to describe the images of the Ghost Zone he was looking at.

Danny supplied one for him. "Unnatural?"

"Ah, yes... unnatural."

"Fitting for the realm of the dead, though." Alucard admitted thoughtfully.

The half-ghost smiled at him, and what a genuine, gentle smile it was. "It is, isn't it? That the world on the flipside isn't natural to any human perspective is fitting."

"The beautiful nighttime view outside your window is natural, alive." Danny walked up to the aforementioned window and stopped beside Sir Integra's desk, gazing out at the peaceful scenery before shooting a grin at the strong-willed woman. "I think it makes sense that the dead live in a world so unnatural. After all, anything that lives after death is not natural."

A/N ~ Thank you to everyone who faved, followed, and reviewed since the last update! It really means a lot to me that you've stuck with this all this time, so thanks again.

Reviews!

Danny Fowl the Ranger(1+2): I'm always happy to know my work is appreciated! Here's the chapter you've been waiting on for so long; I hope you like it!

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Ghost iv: Seras will be in the story. I trust that won't be a problem?

chadtayor020: I've read your series and have to say it's awesome. Thanks for reading mine. Let's hope I can keep this going 'til it's truly finished!

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ZeroExia: There is so much potential for the two series. I hope you enjoy TWC as well as you do SS!

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Guest4: Here is more! (Integra calling Danny a he was actually a bit of an oopsy on my part, and I never have figured out how to edit things on this site.)

Taeh: Thank you! :)

TheJewel-huntress: I have continued it! I hope you like it! (Please forgive me, your username is coming out wonky whenever I save this chapter.)

Defender of the Pen Alexis: This is it, the third chapter! I'm glad you liked my idea to have Danny grow his hair out, I was a bit iffy about it when I first wrote it in. As for Anderson, well, you'll just have to wait and see. (Sorry about the mistake with Integra, I meant for her to say 'woman', not 'man'. I need to fix that, but it seems I have to edit it outside of the website and upload it as a completely new chapter.)

tanithlipsky: Thanks! :)

P.S! ~ I'm SweetThief15 on AO3, and I've cross-posted this fic over there! There have been some changes made to the first two chapters that I've yet to make on them here, so you might want to check them out.