-----
-----
"Got the analysis results? What's the situation?"
Erik walked into the lab and found Dan staring at the screen, brows furrowed.
"Well... based on what we've got so far, she seems to be human. But her genes contain something that neither I nor Mr. Belt can fully identify."
Hearing that, Erik frowned too.
"Could it be a Fang Vampire?"
"Not likely. I've analyzed Fang Vampire genomes before. Once someone turns, they're no longer human by any scientific standard."
Kurim spoke up from the side.
"Dan's right. If regular vampires are still somewhat genetically similar to humans, Fang Vampires are a whole different species. There's no way someone like her would still retain this much human DNA.
Besides, what's mixed into her genes—calling it 'genetic material' might be a stretch. It's more like... energy. But what kind of energy? We have no clue yet."
"So what do we do? Let her go, or keep watching?"
Kurim offered his view.
"If you ask me, we should keep her under observation for now. That energy inside her is weird, and we have no idea what kind of experiments the vampires did on her. If it was a virus or something... and she gets into a crowd... she could be a walking time bomb."
Dan thought for a bit.
"Maybe we should just ask her. Judging from her vital signs, she's only unconscious—she'll probably wake up soon."
"Alright. We'll keep an eye on her for a while longer."
The three agreed to observe her a bit more.
Just then, Stark's call came in.
"Stark? What's up?"
Tony's face popped up on screen—and he actually looked serious.
"Hey guys, you're gonna want to see this. Jarvis just pulled some new intel."
With a tap, he shared a file.
When they opened it—it was all vampire movement data.
"Looks like those night-crawling freaks are up to something again. From what I intercepted, our last attack really pissed them off. They've launched something called the 'Blood God Array.' Thoughts?"
Hearing that name, Erik's face immediately darkened.
They'd already gotten intel about the Blood God Array being restarted—but they didn't expect it to happen this fast. Clearly, the vampires were desperate.
Tony noticed Erik's reaction and raised an eyebrow.
"Dude, you okay? Got a stomachache or is this 'Blood God' thing that big of a deal?"
Dan jumped in first.
"Well, here's the deal—Erik destroyed this Blood God Plan once before."
He gave Tony a quick rundown of Erik's past. When he finished, Tony nodded in understanding.
"Ah... damn. Sorry, man—I didn't know you had history with this. But honestly, that makes me feel better. If you stopped it once, I'm sure you'll stop it again."
Dan arched an eyebrow.
"Hey Tony, you make it sound like you're not joining in this time?"
Tony rubbed his hands together and gave a sheepish nod.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna make it to the mission this time. There are some issues with Stark Industries and the Department of Defense that I need to handle personally. What's wrong, Dan? You losing confidence now that the genius Tony Stark won't be leading the team?"
Seeing that smug look on Stark's face again, Dan rolled his eyes.
"Heh, if anything, I'd lose confidence because you're joining. You think it's easy having to fight and babysit you at the same time?"
Stark shrugged, looking unfazed.
The three of them had fought side by side more than once, and the battles had brought them closer, so this kind of playful banter was nothing unusual.
Then Dan dropped the smile and asked seriously,"Tony, be real with me. Are you heading to Afghanistan?"
Tony looked confused, then shook his head."Nope. Why would you ask that?"
Dan let out a breath of relief. He'd been worried that the events of Iron Man 1 were about to kick off. And with the whole vampire mess still unresolved, things would get really complicated if that happened.
"It's nothing. It's just that things over there aren't exactly peaceful right now. If you can avoid going, then don't. With that little body of yours, you won't last two seconds if the terrorists start spraying bullets."
"What a joke. I'm a super genius scientist! You think I'd be scared of some backwater thugs?"
Dan smirked."Let's see if you're still talking tough when those 'backwater thugs' start using weapons your company made to carry out attacks."
After some random back-and-forth, Stark's tone suddenly turned serious.
"Alright, jokes aside. I believe in you guys. You've got what it takes to pull this off. But as your so-called leader, I still wanna give you a little support—just to remind you that even when I'm not around, I've still got your backs."
With that, Stark hung up the call, leaving Dan and Erik staring blankly at each other.
"This vain bastard… Since when was he our leader?"
Erik just shrugged. He had no idea either.
Just then, a car horn blared outside, grabbing their attention.
"Belt-san?"
Kurim, who'd been dormant, suddenly stirred."Not me. I didn't activate Dolatron."
Erik glanced at the security monitor and spotted something."Dan, there's a car outside."
"A car?"
They both headed out to the farm where their base was hidden. Sure enough, a sleek blue-and-white sports car was parked right there, sticking out like a sore thumb in the rundown surroundings.
Dan, sharp-eyed as always, noticed right away that the car's colors and design looked a lot like Ixa's.
Beep beep!"Mr. Erik, Mr. Dan—hello!"
As they approached, the car honked twice and the doors swung open. The interior was empty. The voice had come from the car's central system.
Looking at the sleek, high-tech design inside—classic Stark styling—Dan rubbed his temples and asked:
"Jarvis?"
"Yes, Mr. Dan. Just like Mr. Stark said, you really are a clever scientist."
So this was the support Stark had promised, huh?
"....."