The Marvel Universe had vampires.
That much was obvious.
After all, Blade existed.
Drex Valen simply hadn't expected to run into one this early.
Especially not as an assassination target.
Holding Daken effortlessly by the throat, Drex studied him with growing curiosity.
"Silver and sunlight can't seriously be the only ways to kill you."
He didn't buy it.
There was always another weakness.
Usually several.
Daken snarled, struggling violently, but it was useless.
Drex's grip may as well have been forged from starship alloy.
For the first ti, fear flashed across Daken's face.
Because Drex's eyes...
Were beginning to glow red.
Instinct scread.
Predator eting apex predator.
Then the heat vision fired.
Scarlet solar energy engulfed Daken's face.
To Drex's surprise, the reaction was imdiate.
Daken didn't rely burn.
He disintegrated.
Reduced to ash in seconds.
Drex blinked.
"…Interesting."
Then realization clicked.
Heat vision wasn't ordinary heat.
It was concentrated yellow solar radiation, tabolized and weaponized through Kryptonian biology.
And if sunlight was lethal to vampires...
Then his heat vision was essentially weaponized miniature suns.
Useful.
Very useful.
Drex stepped out of the restroom.
And found absolute chaos.
Blood rained from the nightclub ceiling.
The sprinkler system had been replaced.
Not with water.
With human blood.
Crowds danced ecstatically beneath the crimson downpour, writhing in grotesque celebration.
Everywhere he looked...
Vampires.
Dozens of them.
Feeding.
Celebrating.
Indulging.
Drex paused.
Then ntally connected the dots.
Blade.
This was Blade territory.
Specifically...
That infamous bloodbath nightclub scenario.
Though tiline-wise, things seed slightly ahead of schedule.
No terrified human victim in sight.
Perhaps events were unfolding differently.
Unfortunately for the vampires...
Drex's presence changed everything.
The room gradually stilled as enhanced senses identified him.
Human.
Not prey.
Not kin.
A threat.
"A human!"
"Such a waste... he's gorgeous."
"Turn him!"
Several female vampires looked especially enthusiastic.
Drex sighed.
"New York really does have everything."
His eyes burned crimson again.
The ambient temperature spiked.
The feeding frenzy blinded them.
They charged.
Then the room beca a crematorium.
Heat vision swept across the dance floor like divine judgnt.
Vampires evaporated instantly.
Ash.
Screams.
Erasure.
No rcy.
No survival.
Drex moved through the slaughter with terrifying speed, repositioning faster than their enhanced reflexes could track.
Another sweep.
More ash.
A few surviving vampires desperately scrambled beneath overturned tables.
Drex casually kicked one aside.
The heavy furniture flew like cardboard.
"Go et the sun."
Their screams ended in solar annihilation.
Beauty.
Monstrosity.
Seduction.
Predation.
It made no difference.
Heat vision rendered them equally extinct.
Monts later...
The nightclub was silent.
Drex exited, mildly pleased.
Knowing vampires were so catastrophically vulnerable to his abilities opened interesting possibilities.
He almost hoped to find more.
So ti later...
A tall Black man in a long black coat and sunglasses entered the ruined nightclub.
Blade.
The Daywalker.
He surveyed the devastation with narrowed eyes.
Ash.
Blood.
Burn residue.
His expression shifted.
"...That's new."
Blade recognized dead vampires when he saw them.
And there were a lot of them.
He crouched, inspecting remains.
"Whoever did this really cleaned house."
He shrugged.
Then, because practical survival remained undefeated...
He started collecting valuables from the dead.
Watches.
Wallets.
Cash.
Vampire hunting wasn't exactly a lucrative profession.
At the New York Midnight Hotel, Drex's return generated another wave of astonishnt.
Daken had been an extraordinarily dangerous contract.
Hundreds of assassins from multiple organizations had already died attempting it.
Even Midnight Hotel had suffered significant losses.
And now?
White Devil had completed the mission.
Again.
His growing legend beca impossible to ignore.
Within the Dark Web leadership structure behind Midnight Hotel, discussions escalated rapidly.
Drex clearly preferred operating from Texas.
So...
Why not adapt?
A decision was made.
A brand-new Midnight Hotel branch would be established in Texas.
For Drex.
Or more accurately...
Because of Drex.
That level of influence for a relatively new assassin was extraordinary.
Back in Texas, Drex resud his primary long-term strategy.
Solar absorption.
Hours under the sun.
Hours under moonlight.
If Kryptonians could tan, he would've beco charcoal by now.
Instead...
He simply kept evolving.
He also used Skull Coins to accelerate construction of his private estate.
Midnight Hotel's logistical reach once again proved absurdly efficient.
Ti passed peacefully.
The mansion was completed.
The Texas Midnight Hotel officially opened.
Its new manager even personally visited Drex, understanding full well that his promotion existed largely because of White Devil's value.
Drex found the gesture amusing.
Dark Web leadership, at least, understood practical incentives.
Then ca the true breakthrough.
Flight.
At last.
After relentless solar absorption, Drex unlocked one of the cornerstone powers of Kryptonian supremacy.
Flight.
And beyond that...
Bioelectric aura.
The biological force field.
One of the most absurdly overpowered defensive chanisms in existence.
Now, rather than rely sunbathe on rooftops...
Drex spent much of his ti above the clouds.
Closer to direct solar radiation.
Far greater energy absorption.
Far faster growth.
He considered venturing beyond Earth's atmosphere, but caution prevailed.
Marvel's cosmic radiation was not sothing he intended to gamble with blindly.
Until he fully understood whether his biological field could filter unknown extraterrestrial hazards...
The upper atmosphere was enough.
Still...
Flying above cloud layers, staring down at the world below, overtaking passenger aircraft with casual speed...
It was intoxicating.
Drex finally understood sothing fundantal.
"Power truly is best when it belongs to oneself."
No institutions.
No governnts.
No armies.
No dependence.
Just personal supremacy.
That realization was almost philosophical.
Back on the ranch, Shelley was grilling beef.
A lot of beef.
Drex's appetite had beco borderline absurd.
For reasons he still didn't fully understand, his caloric intake had skyrocketed.
Perhaps accelerated biological evolution demanded supplental resources beyond solar radiation.
Whatever the cause...
Shelley watched in stunned silence as Drex consud an entire Angus cow in one sitting.
It was almost disturbing.
Almost.
While eating, Drex finalized his next major financial objective.
Stark Industries.
Not now.
Current stock was too expensive.
The ideal mont would co later:
When Tony Stark was kidnapped.
And especially...
When Tony returned and publicly shut down Stark's weapons division.
That event would crater stock prices.
And Drex intended to capitalize aggressively.
Buy low.
Hold.
Profit massively when Iron Man's public ergence transford Stark Industries forever.
Simple.
Elegant.
Potentially billions.
But first...
He needed more capital.
So Drex opened his Midnight Hotel black phone...
And casually accepted five separate assassination contracts, each worth over one million dollars.
The Dark Web administrators were stunned.
Even by White Devil standards...
That was audacious.
For Drex?
It was just another workweek.
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