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The sky was dark, thick clouds blotting out the sun. It was early autumn, but the chill felt like winter.
Dan stood blank-eyed in the courtyard of the Valentine estate. Stark stood beside him, holding his shoulders, afraid the boy might collapse.
In front of him lay thirty-two mutilated corpses.
"…Why?"
Dan's voice was hoarse and broken, like his heart was being crushed in an invisible fist. Each breath felt like it might be his last.
"Dan… it's already happened…"
Tony's own mood was heavy, but he tried to comfort him. After all, Dan was only sixteen. He still had a whole life ahead.
"Why? Yesterday they were all right in front of us…"
Tears streamed down Dan's face, his voice choking so badly it was barely audible.
Among the bodies, he saw a face he knew all too well.
The nun.
Her expression was still just as gentle as when he saw her yesterday—but now her eyes were closed, never to open again.
She was gone. She had left Dan, left the place she'd protected her whole life, left the children she loved.
"Gran… ma…"
The word slipped out with difficulty—the word he had wanted to call her countless times, but never had. His memories from before he was reborn had always stopped him from calling the woman who'd pulled him from the trash heap by that name.
Now, he finally said it. But she would never hear it.
"Dan!"
Krim, the voice from his belt, wanted to comfort his partner but didn't know how. His sensors told him Dan's emotions were wildly unstable. A strange power was surging inside him, on the verge of breaking loose.
Plip—!
Raindrops fell. Then came a sudden downpour—the first rain of autumn, without warning.
Workers hurried to move the victims' bodies, but Dan just stood there in the yard, refusing to leave.
With no other choice, Tony stayed by his side, holding an umbrella over the boy who had just lost someone dear.
No one knew how long they stood there before Dan finally looked up. The emptiness in his eyes had been replaced by a glint of coldness.
"Tony."
"I'm here."
Tony's voice was soft.
"Who did this?"
Tony hesitated. He knew he shouldn't tell Dan. If he found out the truth now, in this state, the boy might do something reckless.
But not telling him felt even crueler.
In the end, he spoke.
"With the intel I dug up and what Eric's team gave me, I'm certain—it was a vampire sealed inside the orphanage chapel. Someone from Alanka's crew let him out."
"Alanka?"
"Yeah. But Dan, don't lose your head. After I pieced it all together, I found out Alanka's upper management cleared out ages ago. What's left now is just an empty shell—nothing but regular people inside. So don't do anything stupid. If you go after them now, the fallout will be… ugly."
"Heh."
Dan let out a low, cold chuckle. The smile he gave made Stark's chest tighten.
In his Queens villa, Dan was moving fast, suiting up. He headed into the lab, opened a long-forgotten hidden compartment, and revealed a stash of bizarre-looking weapons.
If Stark knew Rick, he would've recognized them instantly.
They weren't Rick's handiwork, though. Dan had built them back when he was training under his teacher—knockoffs, sure, but still packing serious punch.
He knew exactly how dangerous they were. That's why they'd been sealed away, meant only for future crises. But now… the situation had changed.
"Dan, I'm telling you, calm down. If the sister were here, she wouldn't want to see you like this."
Stark kept trying to talk him down.
"Even if you want revenge, you can't just rush in. Like I said, the Alanka Group's a hollow corpse now—you'd be hitting innocent civilians. You really want that on your conscience?"
"Buddy, breathe. You've got me. I'll help you. We find Nonika Alanka first, then we strike—no sooner."
Dan didn't say a word. He just strapped on each piece of gear, then pressed a button at the corner of the desk.
A huge silver screen slid down, lighting up with a map. A single red dot blinked on it.
"Oh, shit. How the hell did you—?"
Before Stark could finish, Dan pressed a key into his palm. His voice was calm.
"Keep this. If I don't come back, the house is yours. Everything's in here—my research, and the IXA you've been after."
Without another word, Dan left the lab, climbed into the Dolettron, and roared off.
"Dan!"
By the time Stark snapped out of it, the Dolettron was already gone.
"Shit! Fuck! He's lost it!"
Cursing under his breath, Stark pocketed the key.
"Jarvis, track Dan's location."
"Yes, sir."
Jarvis immediately tapped into the satellites, but it was like the Dolettron had vanished from the planet.
"Sorry, sir. No signal from Mr. Dan or the Dolettron."
Stark rubbed his face. He'd forgotten—Dan was a scientist too. He'd probably upgraded the Dolettron to block satellite scans completely.
Then a thought hit him.
"There's one more way…"
He called Eric. At this point, only Eric's knack for sensing vampires could help. If Eric found Nonika, he'd find Dan.
On a cliff edge, an ancient castle loomed, weathered by centuries.
Vlad wandered its halls, breathing in the familiar air.
"Still feels the same. Must've been… what, over a hundred years since I was last here?"
From the gates emerged a group led by Nonika Alanka.
They all bowed deeply. "Welcome home, Count."
Vlad chuckled. "Enough with the formality."
His eyes swept over Nonika. "You—newly turned, aren't you?"
"Yes, Count," she answered, bowing again. "Thanks to the Blood God's blessing, I've evolved into one of the great blood kin."
"Not bad. You're not just a fine vampire—you're an exceptional Ascendant. Now, tell me—while I was asleep, who took over my experiments?"
"It was Lord Feis, Count. But… he's passed."
"Feis? Hmph. A talented brat, back in the day. Shame he's dead. Come—let's visit my lab."
Deep beneath the castle lay a massive laboratory. Inside, a sword rested in a special containment unit. Beside it, a bat-like creature was chained inside a heavy iron cage.
The moment Vlad entered, the creature's eyes snapped open.
"....."