"It's brutal..." Tony Stark commented as he watched Mobius crash against the telekinetic barrier, his lips twitching slightly. The mask on Mobius's face had been forcefully torn off by Robert, marring his features with blood and gore, and now, new injuries were added before the old ones could heal.
However, Tony felt no sympathy for Mobius. Before their encounter with General Bart, Tony had been pursuing Mobius, who, even in a bar, treated other vampires as mere blood food. The crimson power was uniquely Mobius's, unaffected by General Bart.
Now, seeing Mobius's vampire-like form, Tony was certain he was no good; he looked just like the vampires Mobius preyed upon in the bar...
Although Tony didn't understand why a vampire would drink the blood of other vampires, it didn't stop him from preparing to confront Mobius. The mecha, unable to penetrate the telekinetic barrier, was ready outside, waiting to strike should Mobius manage to escape.
"Vampires... I wonder if he really fears those things..." Robert pondered as he watched the severely injured Mobius fall to the ground.
Robert had previously encountered a werewolf, Clark's stepfather Luke, who was also the leader of their kind. Unfortunately, Luke's strength was somewhat lacking; honestly, Robert doubted Luke could even beat the comedic werewolf character briefly seen in the Dragon Ball universe.
Now, seeing Mobius, Robert was certain that the vampire from Dragon Ball wouldn't stand a chance against him. However, he wanted to test if this vampire shared the same weaknesses as traditional ones.
"Buzz!" Without any garlic on hand, Robert conjured a massive cross out of energy, causing Tony to look on in confusion.
Seeing the cross, the recovering Mobius also paused, unsure whether to pretend to fear the cross to appease the powerful being or risk being tied to it.
Previously, Mobius had limited contact with other vampires, so he was somewhat ignorant of their nature. However, after being threatened by General Bart's mask, Mobius had killed several vampires and knew that the legendary weaknesses were real.
Garlic was manageable; vampires found it repulsive but it didn't physically harm them. However, things like crosses, holy water, silver, and sunlight could cause real damage.
It seemed that anything feared by creatures of darkness was feared by vampires. The fact that vampires hadn't been driven to extinction spoke to their resilience.
Unlike those traditional vampires, Mobius represented a new breed. He had once feared sharing their weaknesses, but as a product of modern science, aside from disliking sunlight, nothing else posed a real threat to him.
Even his aversion to sunlight was more a basic instinctual repulsion, akin to a vampire's dislike for garlic. Mobius had tested it; sunlight didn't harm him, even if he found himself under it.
"Are you testing to see if vampires fear crosses?" Tony finally caught up with Robert's thought process, somewhat speechless. With Robert's power, handling Mobius should be effortless, so why the need for testing?
"This vampire isn't very powerful, but that doesn't mean all vampires are weak. What if there are stronger vampires in this world?" Robert shrugged, disappointed as he withdrew the cross. "Seems like vampires fearing these things is just an urban legend. If we encounter a powerful vampire in the future, we'll have to fight for real, which is fine..."
"Wait! Actually, those weaknesses do exist in vampires, just like in the legends..." Mobius, still recovering, hastily interjected, fearing Robert might finish him off there and then. He really didn't want to die!
"They? Aren't you a vampire? If you say otherwise, no one would believe you. Are you some kind of bat spirit?" Neither Tony nor Robert believed him. After all, they had seen Mobius sucking the blood out of other vampires, turning them into dried corpses. How could he possibly claim otherwise?
"I am indeed a vampire, and I don't deny it," Mobius said with a mix of resolve, melancholy, and disdain. "But I am different from those vampires. They are just inferior dark creatures with all the typical weaknesses. I became like this due to an accident during a scientific experiment. My evolution is only parallel to theirs; we are not the same species!"
"Scientifically created vampires?!" Before Robert could respond, Tony, eyes lighting up, turned eagerly to Mobius. While mythological vampires didn't interest him much, a vampire born from scientific experiments definitely piqued his curiosity.
"If what you say is true, doesn't that mean your form of vampire is more perfect than the mythological ones?"
"Uh, I hadn't thought about that..." Mobius was taken aback by Tony's question, unsure how to respond. "Because of that mask, I had to deal with those vampires. I don't really know much about them..."
"Alright,
based on your behavior, I take back what I said. You're not so perfect after all. Sucking blood is quite disgusting..." Tony shook his head softly. "But maybe it's a racial trait. I wonder if it can be improved? Since you turned into this through an experiment, is there a chance we can use experiments to revert you back, or at least rid you of your vampiric nature?"
"Can you help me?" Mobius looked at Tony with a mix of hope and surprise. He had thought he was a goner, but now it seemed there might be a chance for him to live on.
"You're thinking of handling him?" Robert looked at Tony curiously. He had been ready to dispose of Mobius, but it seemed Tony had plans to experiment on him.
"Is that possible?" Tony suddenly realized he wasn't the one in charge and looked awkwardly at Robert.
"I don't mind, but I don't have a way to restrict his powers. If he causes trouble and you don't have your suit, it might not end well..." Robert reminded Tony. As a test subject, it was fine, but they couldn't be careless, especially since Mobius had been seen drinking vampire blood right in front of them.
And with human corpses in that bar, whether killed by Mobius or not, there was no evidence. But if those people were killed by vampires, who were then killed by Mobius, it didn't seem to make much difference...
"You can confine me, lock me up, just don't kill me... I'll do whatever you want..." Once free of the mask's threat, Mobius's primary goal remained survival. He wasn't sure if he could live as long as traditional vampires, but he wanted to live as long as possible.
There are indeed people in the world who aren't afraid of death, but Mobius knew he wasn't one of them. At least for now, he hadn't come to terms with life and death. Perhaps one day, if he lived as long as a traditional vampire and experienced enough, he might come to terms with it.
"Is there really no way to suppress his powers?" Tony looked at Mobius. If he had his suit, Tony felt he wouldn't fear Mobius, but the issue was that he couldn't always wear his suit. Although there had been some progress with the nanosuit, it hadn't been perfected yet.
If Mobius attacked unexpectedly, draining his blood, Tony would have deep regrets.
But to give up on exploring the intersection of science and mysticism just because of this concern seemed too unsatisfactory for Tony, especially as his sense of crisis about other dimensions deepened. He didn't want to stand by helplessly should Earth face dangers in the future.
"There's no method, but you could try to hold on with strong willpower. Just have Jarvis contact me if things go south. As long as you're not dead, I can come to your rescue..." Robert spread his hands and chuckled.
"Hold on with strong willpower..." Tony's lips twitched again. He had to admit, while Robert was reliable in crucial moments, sometimes he really made Tony nervous.
"You've heard it, and from your earlier actions, it's clear you want to live, or you wouldn't have stopped struggling..." Tony, having regained his composure, turned to Mobius, who, though somewhat recovered, showed no signs of trying to escape.
"Moreover, the Saiyan found you before. If you really kill me, you won't escape his grasp. It'd be a life for a life, and that's no gain for you..."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't seek my own death!" Mobius quickly chuckled and nodded in agreement.
"Okay, one more thing, you've done experiments before, so you should know that sometimes, experiments aren't as wonderful as they're portrayed..." Tony breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously addressed Mobius.
"Don't worry, I was a biochemist before, and the mutation experiment was my own doing. I've also researched my condition, but I never found a solution and eventually gave up..." Mobius sighed softly, speaking in a low voice.
"If that's the case, then we should have a lot in common!" Tony's eyes lit up as he turned to Robert. "Shall we go back?"
"Let's go. Use your suit to confine him for now." Robert nodded, retracting the telekinetic barrier and calling to the magical base, "Guardian, take us back to the magic base, then to Tony's home..."
"What happened in the dark space? Why did Tony Stark come out looking so ragged? Not only is his suit gone, but his clothes are all torn up..." Since Constantine and the guardians had a clear view of what happened afterwards, they naturally wouldn't ask why Mobius was brought back.
Constantine was more curious about what happened in the dark space, as it seemed Tony Stark had endured a fierce battle there
...
"Nothing, just that my suit and the mask's consciousness nearly went down together..." Tony joked, quickly following Robert back through the portal to Stark's mansion.
"Jarvis, is the lab ready?" Once back, Tony felt considerably more relaxed.
"Ready, sir," Jarvis quickly replied, having prepared a brand new lab for Tony and Mobius to study Mobius's condition, hoping to understand the new-age vampire and possibly help him completely kick his blood-sucking habit and live as a human...
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