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"I need a minute to breathe… What am I supposed to tell the board? Should I just say vampires are real?"
Pepper sank into a chair. Her mind was spinning. If the vampire scare from before felt like a bad dream, this was the nightmare continuing.
"No. We can't tell them about the vampires. That'll blow the whole thing wide open. If this leaks, the vampires won't be the first ones knocking at my door—it'll be our partners."
Tony said seriously. Now wasn't the time to expose everything. If he stirred things up too early, it'd only cause more problems.
"Then what should I tell the board?"
"What should you tell them?"
Tony stroked his goatee.
"Just say it was my decision. If they have a problem, tell them to come to me."
Pepper gave him a look. As if he'd actually meet with them. Yeah right.
"Tony, ever since you got back from that manor, you've changed a lot."
"Have I? Am I even more handsome now?"
Pepper rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Anyway, I've gotta go. The board is waiting for me."
Just thinking about them gave her a headache. Now she had to figure out a way to cover for Tony.
As she turned to leave, Tony suddenly looked at his blueprints and said out of nowhere:
"Hey Potts… if—if—something happens to me, go to Queens and find a young man named Dan."
"…What?"
Pepper turned back, totally puzzled.
"Nothing. Just remember what I said."
Back at the Riders' base, Erik and Dan had already organized all the intel.
Over the last few hunts, they had taken down a lot of secret vampire labs and gathered a ton of useful data. And after piecing it all together, they uncovered something terrifying:
The Blood God Plan—an ancient ritual meant to awaken a mythical Blood God.
"Erik, are you okay?"
Dan looked at Erik's strange expression.
Ever since they discovered the details of the Blood God Plan, Erik hadn't looked quite right.
"I'm fine."
Erik shook his head and kept sorting through the documents.
Dan didn't buy it. Judging from Erik's face, fine was the last thing he was.
He set the papers down, walked over, and clapped a hand on Erik's shoulder.
"Listen, man. We're partners, right? We've been through hell together. You don't need to hide anything from me. Whatever it is, we'll face it together."
Erik looked at Dan, then finally let out a long breath.
"The Blood God Formation… the Blood God Plan… I've destroyed it once before."
He sat down and began telling his story.
Dan quickly realized—this was the plot from the first Blade movie.
Back then, Blade and his mentor Whistler had been hunting vampires nonstop. One day, they stumbled across the Blood God Plan led by the vampire lord Deacon Frost. Blade himself was even used as a piece in that twisted plan.
"I really thought, after Frost died, that no one would ever try to bring this thing back. But… looks like I was too naive."
Thinking back on everything he'd been through, Erik was clearly in a rough place—his mentor, his mother… everything.
After hearing Erik's story, Dan finally understood. The Erik standing in front of him now was the post-Blade Erik. In other words, he wasn't a half-vampire anymore—he was a full vampire now. Dan couldn't help but respect how well he was able to resist the urge to drink human blood.
"Don't worry, man. You already messed up their plan once—doing it again shouldn't be a problem, right? Besides, this time you've got me backing you up."
"Yeah, and me too!"
A loud, unexpected voice echoed through the base, and in swaggered Tony Stark carrying a suitcase.
Dan's expression instantly changed.
"What are you doing here?"
Tony just shrugged.
"Hey, aren't we partners? I mean, this whole operation to take down Blood Lake is kinda a big deal. Of course I had to join in."
Erik immediately shut him down, dead serious.
"No way. You can't come. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? We're heading straight into a vampire nest. That's no place for regular humans."
"'Regular humans'—ouch, man. That's kinda hurtful. And come on, I'm not a regular human. I'm Tony Stark, genius extraordinaire, the unbeatable, unstoppable number-one brain of the universe. You really think I'm ordinary?"
While he hyped himself up, he turned to glance at Dan.
"Besides, if I, the genius Tony Stark, can't come… then how the hell does this high school kid get a pass?"
"Hey! What kind of deflection tactic is that?" Dan frowned, obviously annoyed.
"Dan isn't like you. Bottom line, you're not going. It's too dangerous."
Tony raised his hands in mock surrender.
"What, you think I won't just go on my own if you say no? It's not like I don't have the coordinates."
"Uh…"
Both Erik and Dan froze. They'd totally forgotten—Tony was the one who gave them the coordinates for Blood Lake in the first place. And sneaking off alone? Yeah, that definitely sounded like something Tony Stark would do.
Dan sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Forget it, Erik. Let him come with us. At least if he's with us, we can keep an eye on him. If he sneaks off on his own, he's just gonna make everything more complicated."
Erik looked like he was getting a headache, but eventually gave in with a reluctant nod.
"Ha! Smart choice, fellas. Don't worry, I came fully prepped. I won't slow you down one bit."
Tony laughed and opened up his suitcase, revealing a whole spread of high-tech weapons.
Dan was stunned. That tiny case had held all that? That wasn't a suitcase—that was a mobile arsenal.
"These are all anti-vampire weapons I designed myself. Sure, I might not be able to take on the Bloodborns, but your average bloodsucker? Pfft, piece of cake. With me clearing the grunts, you guys can focus on the real threats."
Dan just gave a helpless look. What could he say? As always—classic Tony Stark.
"Well then, let's move out."
"No problem. Want me to call the private jet?"
Tony asked, excited.
Dan shook his head and turned away.
"Mr. Belt!"
With a roar of engines, the floating car Drive Tron appeared in front of them.
Tony's good mood immediately soured.
"Damn it, a flying car?! Why didn't I think of that? No—wait—I did think of it, I just never got around to building it!"
"....."