Adam and the Infinity returned to Earth, leaving Frank on Xandar to handle the Mercenary business as well as overseeing construction of the embassy, business office, shopping center and refit station.
During his journey back, Adam was brought up to speed on the Earth and what has been going on during his absence. He was beginning to get the feeling something or someone was trying to interfere with his own plans.
He just couldn't think on who, in the MCU it was mainly HYDRA that caused most issues up until the arrival of Thanos. The Ten Rings, AIM and the Hand also had caused issues but Adam knew they wouldn't be able to bring Vampires.
Adam wasn't surprised on the mutants, after all mutants were in the MCU, just not many are shown, so he figured it had to do with something that happened amongst the mutants, so whatever was hiding them was no longer in effect or something of that nature.
Although vampire attacks were being reported world wide now, they were very uncommon, also by the time the UNSC forces arrived at reported locations, the only thing they found were signs of battle and sometimes human corpses drained of their blood.
'Blade, it has to be him taking out vampires in the US but Europe is another story. If I remember correctly Dracula should be in Latvaria, where Doom is, or at least near him. I may have to go meet with the Ancient One, the key to defeating vampires for good is within Kamar Taj, the Darkhold.' Adam thought to himself as the Infinity shuttled thru the slip stream heading to Earth.
The Darkhold, an ancient mystical book filled with evil spells, written on indestructible parchment made of flesh, written by an Elder Evil God by the name of Chthon. He had escaped to Earth after being attacked by Demogorge the God Eater, after he wrote down all his knowledge into the Darkhold he left it on the Earth, then escaped the pursuit of Demogorge into another dimension.
Chthon left the Darkhold on Earth to act as a conduit for him between Earth's realm and his own, with the purpose of opening a doorway from Earth to his own dimension.
In ancient times, back when Atlantis was still above the waves, a group of people who called themselves the Darkholders, had utilized a spell within the book to create the first Vampire, Varnae. It was during their battle with Kull of Valusia, who originated from Atlantis and was the greatest king of his era, until Conan the Cimmerian appeared some eight thousand years later, Varnae was mortally wounded by Kull and to survive Varnae consumed one of the Darkholders that tried to command him and created the next vampire accidentally, but this showed him he could create warriors that shared a bit of his power.
After Atlantis was sunk below the waves he hibernated for a long time, eventually coming out and attacking the world, he had run-ins with Conan, Red Sonja and Zula, and was beaten back. He re-emerged sporadically thru the ages, becoming known by many names, in Babylonia he was known as Baal, the Tcho people knew him as Tsathoggua and worshipped him, the Native Americans called him Croatoan. He even had a run in with Thor and was beaten back when he attacked a Viking settlement in the Americas.
Eventually tired of his long existence, Varnae found Vlad the Impaler and chose him as his successor as lord of Earths vampires, he forced Vlad to drink his blood and imparted him all his supernatural powers, once done he committed suicide by walking into direct sunlight. Thus from that day forward Vlad the Impaler gained a new name, Dracula.
Using his new found powers and abilities, Dracula decimated the attacking Ottoman Empire that was invading his lands. Dracula then began building a vast network of loyal servants, cultists and even brides, minions who would assist him and resurrect him should he be killed.
Adam knew the history of vampires, he also knew someone like Dracula couldn't be truly killed. Adam knew even Varnae wasn't truly dead, the powers granted to him, and in turn to Dracula as well, came from the Darkhold, so even Varnae could still be resurrected using the pages from the Darkhold.
'So I need to either get my hands on the Darkhold or the Book of Vishanti, which is the counter to the Darkhold, both books contain the incantation of the Montesi Formula. That incantation can destroy vampires completely. I wonder what happened, if I remember correctly all vampires were banished to another dimension by the Sorcerer Supreme, I know Stephen Strange also banished them again using a modified version of the Montesi Formula since he didn't want to kill all vampires, since not all fed on and killed humans. Their banishment into another dimension had sparked the creation of the Underworld universe, they had been banished to another universe which already had vampires. Dracula and his followers were then discriminated against by the local vampires, they didn't consider him pure blooded since he wasn't from the line of Corvin. This forced Dracula out of his ancestral home in Europe and forced him and his covens to America. So the question is what to do with the vampires now, banishing them again won't solve anything, just create problems in another world. Maybe I should recruit them, offer to find a new world like I did with the Skrull, I could make a vampire legion within the UNSC, similar to what I did with the Widows.' Adam thought to himself as he began using the holotable to do a thorough search across the globe to see how many vampires were worldwide.
As the scans began, Eve's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "We are arriving back within the Earths solar system, is there any arrangements you would like me to set up?"
Pondering for a moment, Adam finally decided on a plan, "Yes, call a meeting with Peggy and Fury, I need to update them on Xandar and begin to reinforce our position within the system. Frank will need help on Xandar, he can't be leading the Mercenary groups and coordinating our projects efficiently, so we need to send some personnel to assist on the planet. Have my ship ready and notify Natasha and Yelena to meet me on my ship, we have someone to go see after our meeting, I have no idea how this will turn out so send notification to the rest of the SPARTAN's on Earth to meet at our New York Branch HQ." Adam said as he watched for the scan to complete.
"You make it seem like you expect a fight." Eve said curiously, she wasn't expecting Adam would be bringing five SPARTAN soldiers to a meeting.
Releasing a deep sigh, Adam began rubbing his temples and replied, "I hope it doesn't come to that, but with the one I'm planning on meeting, it can go either way. She probably doesn't see me in a favorable light right now, after all I am pretty sure I ruined many of her own plans for the future. I can only hope she is only irritated at me, she isn't one to be hot-headed or quick to attack, but that's only if you aren't her enemy. She can be pretty brutal against her enemies, which is why many fear her, even amongst the universe and other realms, she is feared by many beings, Thanos and Mephisto being amongst the many who fear her. In case it comes to a fight, I want my strongest soldiers backing me up." Adam said as his eyes flickered with hesitation.
He was really not wanting this, not only within the cinematic universe but also in the comics, the Ancient One was an existence that far surpassed many others. No matter the universe or version, in the comics for the most part the Ancient One was a man but in some universes the Ancient One was a woman as well, the MCU used one of the female versions of the Ancient One, no matter which version though they were extremely powerful.
Long lived and experienced, the Ancient One was an existence that had seen many battles and was extremely talented in the Mystical Arts. Even Freya, Odin's wife, had taught the Ancient One Asgardian magic. Freya too was a Sorcerer Supreme at one point, defending Midgard from otherworldly threats, but after the Ancient One showed such promise, Freya made her the Earth's new Sorcerer Supreme and gave up her title. She wanted to spend time with her new born child Thor.
Adam knew if it came down to a fight he couldn't guarantee his life, or at least his remaining here in this dimension, like the vampires before him, she could easily send him to another universe, away from the Infinity and his soldiers. Although the UNSC could continue in his absence, it wouldn't be the same, he didn't want to give up his plans for dominance over the universe. His only saving grace was he held three infinity stones.
Although the Time Stone was one of the more dangerous stones, as shown by Stephen Strange when he was able to trap even Dormammu in a time loop, forcing him to concede with stopping his attack on the Earth, Adam felt confident in being able to overcome it with the three he was able to weld.
Although he wasn't as experienced in using the stones, because he was from the source universe originally, he did have a different outlook on the stones itself.
The Earth Adam originally came from was where the Marvel Universe, as well as many others, were originally created from, so Adam knew much of the magic and capabilities of the stones, originate from imagination. The powers and limitations on the stones themselves were powered by the imagination of its wielder.
It was why many believed the cinematic version of the infinity stones were weaker than their comic versions, but in fact they weren't. They were just limited by the imagination of the ones who wielded them within the Cinematic Universe.
Adam had thought the same thing since he knew the comics as well as the movies. In the comics the stones gave the welder many more abilities than what was seen in the movies. In fact in the comics Thanos was unbeatable when he gathered all the stones, he became omnipotent and omnipresent, it took him being tricked by Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer to battle the Avengers while turning off most of the abilities the stones automatically gave him, they had told him the only way to be truly accepted by the gauntlet was to win without using them, Thanos believed them and did just that, this gave them the window to remove the gauntlet and finally win.
There were multiple alternate endings to the comic version Infinity Wars, but they all ultimately ended about the same way, it took Adam Warlock and Silver Surfer to take out Infinity Gauntlet Thanos and end the Infinity War.
That shows how much weaker the MCU version of the infinity stones were, they didn't make Thanos as powerful as his comic version that had the gauntlet, he was just outright defeated the second time around without the help of Adam Warlock and Silver Surfer. With just the Avengers themselves, backed by Captain Marvel, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Wasp along with Black Panther and Wakanda were able to ultimately kill Thanos and end his reign of terror.
But, by Adam being aware of the true nature of the stones, his own thoughts on what the stones true capabilities, began to slowly unlock the stones in his own possession. The Mind Stone, Space Stone and Power Stone that he held were slowly becoming their true selves as he held them, becoming more like their comic counterpart. This was another reason that the universe Adam resided in became inaccessible by the TVA and Kang, the infinity stones are tied to the universe they are in, this is how there are multiple sets, one set per universe.
Adam however was unknowingly linking the infinity stones of the MCU with the source stones. Adam was tied to the source universe, it's where his soul originated from, so as his idea of what the stones were, he was unknowingly converting these lesser stones into the main ones, the ones that all other stones derive their powers from.
"We have just exited slipspace and have arrived at the main space station above Mars. Natasha and Yelena are en route to your ship and Fury is en route to the space station. Mrs Carter has been notified of the meeting and will be ready as soon as Fury arrives on the base." Eve then notified as Adam felt the ship leaving slipspace.
Taking another deep breath, Adam proceeded out of his office aboard the Infinity after he viewed the number shown on the results of the scans, he saw not only vampires but werewolves and mutants alike, millions of them world wide. Although it was a large number, compared to the billions of humans they were a small minority.
"We are in for some rough times..." Adam murmured to himself as he made his way to the hanger where his ship was docked.
Mutants were a troublesome lot, their abilities were no joking matter, there were many mutants that would easily be able to kill even a SPARTAN.