Appearances
Featured Characters:
- Iron Man (Tony Stark)
- Akira Akatsuki
- Blade (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Pepper Potts
- Jocasta
- The Avengers:
- Hulk (Bruce Banner)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- Thor
- Wasp (Janet van Dyne)
Villains:
- Baron Blood (First appearance)
- Celebrity Five (Mentioned)
- Okuma Jubei
- Jessica Shannon (under Baron Blood’s control)
- Hikaru Akatsuki (under Baron Blood’s control)
- Chris Taylor (under Baron Blood’s control)
- Edward Grant (under Baron Blood’s control)
- Loki (Mentioned)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Museum
Items:
- DISK
Synopsis
At night, in a graveyard, the vampire hunter Blade fights off a group of vampires working for Baron Blood. He defeats them all, though the last vampire swears his master will avenge them.
At the Avengers Base, Jocasta completes her work on the Dimension Gate for today. Akira is anxious to see the device work. Iron Man tells Akira that research takes time. Besides, he has scheduled other plans for tonight; he takes the kids to a museum to see some real dinosaur skeletons. Since he’s the owner of the museum, the kids have the place to themselves. Hikaru notices how cheerful Akira is when Iron Man tells him more about the dinosaurs, and recalls how their father never had much time for them. Jessica’s attention is drawn to a large gemstone called the Rainbow Teardrop, which is the top exhibit of the museum. The stone is said to contain mysterious powers, and has thus frequently been the target of thieves, but Iron Man assures everyone that nobody can get past the museum’s high-tech security system.
Suddenly, the lights go out and the group hears somebody scream for help. They split up to investigate, with Akira and Ed going one way, and Hikaru, Jessica and Chris another. Ed can’t keep up with Akira and stays behind. Ed is attacked by a vampire. Outside the museum, Blade arrives. Akira hears Ed and the others scream as they are one by one attacked, but before he can react he and Iron Man find themselves face to face with Okuma Jubei. He has disabled the alarm system and taken the Rainbow Teardrop for Loki. He has brought the vampires with him, and right now a group of them is about to attack Akira. Iron Man orders Akira to D-smash him, when suddenly Ed reappears and explains what kind of enemy they are up against. However, Ed has been turned into a vampire himelf by baron Blood. So have Hikaru, Jessica and Chris. Baron Blood himself also shows up.
Baron Blood also attempts to make Akira a vampire, when Blade breaks into the museum. He tells Akira that his friends are beyond saving, and he isn’t going to stand down just because Baron Blood has them under his control. Baron Blood orders Chris, Jessica, Ed and Hikaru to fight Baron Blood. Akira tries to keep Blade from attacking his friends, so Blade switches techniques and uses a lighter to trigger the sprinkler installation, which he has rigged with Holy Water. Akira can only watch how is friends suffer just as much as the vampires.
Akira D-smashes Iron Man, who destroys the sprinklers. Baron Blood orders Okuma to teleport himself and the kids away, leaving only the regular vampires behind to fight Blade and Iron Man. Ìron Man first takes Akira to safety, then joins Blade in his battle. He soon finds out that his regular weapons won’t work on vampires, and is even pinned down by a group of him. Fortunately, his armor prevents them from biting him. Akira throws Iron Man a silver sword, which is effective against the vampires.
With the vampires defeated, Blade, Iron Man and Akira return to the Avengers’ base to discuss their next course of action. Blade tells about his history, how his mother was bitten by a vampire while expecting him, and thus made him the perfect vampire hunter he is now. Still, Akira won’t let Blade kill his brother or friends. Iron Man points out that the kids did not have bitemarks on their necks, or developed fangs, and thus doubts if they have truly been turned into vampires. He theorizes that they are merely under Baron Blood’s influence and only believe themselves to be vampires. According to Iron Man, the holy water working on them was just the placebo effect. Blade tells them they need to defeat Baron Blood to undo the spell. He wonders though why Baron Blood didn’t bite the kids when he had the chance. Iron Man theorizes that it is because of their biocodes.