Lay off The Fangs!

Taking down the fifteen guards was a piece of cake. We decided to divide ourselves after taking down the 2 mutants guarding the container, easy picking for Arachnid and IF. They didn't even use their abilities before getting knocked out. I threw in a sleep gas pellet to make them faint. Don't want them to panic.

After making sure the outside is alright, I threw some sleep, fear and dizzy gas pellets in the AC system of the villa, and we activated our filtration system. Both of them were strong enough to shrug it off, but it's better to be on the safe side. It worked well as both Lester's got knocked out with a guard of their as well. One went under the effect of fear gas and started screaming, while the other started having a little headache. I knocked both of them out by a mental force.

The Vincent's and their guards were unaffected though. I didn't stop now and used a magical search on them.... Oh shit!

Right as I realized what they were, they leapt at us. Both Arachnid and IF knocked 2 each out, while I easily kicked away one, who was followed by Cruor, who attacked me with a burst of speed, which surprised bot IF and Arc, but I ducked under it's claws, and uppercut him with mixing holy energy with the electricity, sending him crashing into the wall. Ichor was seeing the whole thing with a amused smile, but frowned a bit seeing his son getting swatted. His reaction would have been different if he would have sensed the holy energy though.

"I was hoping when you would show up. When I learned of someone looking into us, I knew it was because of the Frankenstein. You stopped our food supply you know." He said with a amused smile, while Cruor slowly stood upholding his jaw in surprise. "That... actually hurt?" His expression changed from surprise to fascination. "Interesting, I can't wait to eat your flesh."

Their words left both IF and Arc in confusion and disgust. "Dude! That's cannibalism. You're disgusting." He said taking a step back.

"Actually, it is not for them arc." I said, keeping an eye on them, when I sensed multiple beings approaching this place surrounding it. Should have scanned the nearby places as well.

"Wait, don't tell me they are human eating aliens." Arc said widening his eyes.

"No... they're Vampires." I said shocking both Arc and IF, while both father and son grinned maniacally showing their fangs.

"I'm surprised by your knowledge, but it doesn't matter. You should have come here knowing it beforehand. Now you will become our food.

"I don't think so" I said and threw two X shaped shuriken's, yes I switched the batarangs. They went ahead and burst with UV light, eradicating the 5 guards while damaging those two. I had stronger ones, but I needed to leave them alive for now. The once just outside got affected as well, giving Oracle time to shoot some UV-blasts to the bigger groups evaporating them through the Nightowl.

I bought IF and Arc out handed them a Silver-adamantium sword. "Silver weapons are their weakness, we need to kill them fast." I said and we leapt into action. Oracle noted 50 vampires surrounding the villa but her blasts only left 17 of them. We easily handled 12 of them while the five other's tried to stall us, giving Ichor and Cruor a chance to escape. They didn't stand a chance but before Arc could follow them, I held his shoulder stopping him.

"Enigma? They're escaping." He said.

"Let them, we have a more important issue at hand. We will discuss things at the base later." I said and got Oracle to contact the NYPD.

*2 hours Later*

"... I really doubt they have escaped from you, so why was their only the Lester's?" Captain Stacy asked me through the transmitter.

"Honestly, I want to tell you, but I have doubt you'll believe me, plus your superiors may not like you knowing that either." I said drinking my tea.

"And when has that ever stopped you before?" He replied back.

"*sigh* Fine. the dealers are actually vampires and buy human's as blood bags for them. As for your superiors? Many govt. officials as well as department's get money from the vast wealth Vampires have collected in their lifetime to keep them under wraps." I said. And as predicted, he had black lines on his head hearing me.

He closed his eyes thinking about it and finally said, "I should listen to my wife and retire."

"Don't forget to send a party invite to me." I quipped, getting a deadpan face from him.

"Just tell me what the police should do? If what you said is true then there are chances the president himself may order to cease any investigation. And to keep their relation with vampires as it is, they might order NYPD to hunt you as well." He said.

"Keep the officers out of this. I don't think someone who has never seen a monster would like to see a person turn into ashes. It'll just give them trauma. And you are partially right about that. It seems that the vampires are growing restless and want to come forth and make their presence known, while the officials are trying to hide it. They may use the police to keep pressure on them to stay put and keep supplying money." I told him. We finally decided to keep this under wraps and let the Defenders deal with it.

I went back to the meeting hall and found everyone seated with miles telling them what happened.

Peter turned to me and said, "Now we're fighting vampires of all things. Next what? Werewolves?"

I looked at him and said, "Shut your mouth. We already have a bat problem, don't jinx another on us." Saying that I sat down, while Spidey was cursing about Vampires and then Werewolves being real.

"So I guess Miles already told you about our encounter?" I asked and they nodded. "Good, first the fighting capabilities, well, they can't fight under the sun. Or should I say, low leveled ones can't. The upper levels are weakened by sun, but can walk freely. Don't let them bite you, that's a given. Right now, a high level Vampire can barely reach to our strength, but their numbers are too many for a fist fight. Good news is, we can play smart. I had plans to make an armored version of suit for everyone, so these are some basic elements from them I will be adding to your current ones to help combat these Vampires. I will tell everyone's suits and their functions tomorrow. Anything else?" I finished and asked.

"Why did you let those two run?" Miles asked.

"Nano-Trackers. I left it on them when I threw the UV-grenades. Thanks to that, Queen was able to get quite a lot of information about their condition, and normal people that maybe involved with them." After I finished, Oracle loaded up the holograms and told them about what I spoke to Capt. Stacy, but in a greater detail.

After discussing about the people involved and how to handle, we were about to return to patrol when Spidey said, "Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that. Enigma, there is something weird that happened today."

"What?" I asked.

"I felt a mental tug as if someone is trying to read my mind, but every time I tried to search for locations I pinpointed, there was no one." He told me. That is troubling. I don't think Charles would be using Cerebro right now, and Jean was with Silk and Wanda, which leaves 4 suspects that I know of. Stryker's son, Mastermind who is currently under Essex, Emma Frost and Exodus, who should still be sealed. And all of them were trouble.

"Someone is trying to target us, and not for a good reason. Keep your Mental defenses active, we don't know what they want. Next time you spot someone, let Queen know and track them down. They could be using teleportation or illusion." I said in a serious voice. They nodded understanding it was a serious situation.

I decided to patrol with Nightowl today, with Jean tagging along. "Who do you think it is?" she asked.

"Right now I have four guesses, and neither of them are a good sign." I said and sighed. Here I was thinking sometime ago that Stryker's and other's moving should be fine. Oracle is currently tracking Blade, so we need to wait till the Nano-trackers extract more information. Also need to mind-read the normal ones involved with them.

I was thinking about what to do when Oracle said, "Enigma, we got a Black Cat crossing the road." She said as she pulled up the CCTV footage of Felecia swinging away with her prize she stole. She was now wearing blue contacts, with a black wig covered by a hood.

"Guess Felecia got herself a makeover." I said looking at the screen.

"Wait, That's FELECIA??" Jean screamed in the seat beside me. Oops.

"Yeah" I said.

"Why is she stealing?" she asked.

"Well, like we punch bad guys, she steals from bad guys. The difference is the one's we stop are either in middle of an act or we leave the proof of the raid behind, while she steals from those who are scot-free, making her image more of a thief than a robin hood." I said.

Jean thought for a second and said, "Why not bring her in with us?" She asked.

"That's not our call to make Jean. We knew each-other for a long time, when I just started this, I knew you had the drive to help other's, I just can't tell her to come join us if she doesn't have that drive. Unless she develops it and proves herself, I won't drag her with me." I said getting a nod from Jean, who still seemed to be thinking.

I just smiled at her and said, "Though no one said we can't drop by to say hi". She immediately cheered up thinking of pulling a prank on her friend.

*3rd POV*

Felecia had taken a break from her cat-burglary for a while. Her decision to just wear a mask was indeed stupid, but she rectified it. She had once met Silk of the Defenders, but she just gave her a warning to don't get caught and went away. Enigma had told them about her ways it seems, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

Right now she was running along rooftops when she heard something near her. She rolled forward and checked her bag, only to find it gone. 'Not again' She thought.

She looked around but found no one, until she heard a voice from above.

"Well, there are nothing more than a few diamonds and jades. Though costly, it doesn't really affect the one you stole from you know." A feminine voice spoke.

Black Cat looked up to find Phoenix checking out her loot for the night. She was startled seeing someone flying, but gained her reasoning quickly. "Well, unlike you guys, I have limits of what I can do." She said.

"Well, technically, you could have also stolen proof of his misdeeds or illegal properties and given that to the police. Wouldn't that harm them more?" Phoenix said. She was right, it was harder than stealing a few trinkets but would have harmed them more.

Phoenix floated her bag back to her and said, "You do want to help others, but in reality you are using those words to lie to yourself, aren't you?" She said shocking her. "What really drives you is the feeling of being powerless and you want to prove yourself. If you do this with a flimsy resolve, you will just get yourself killed Black Cat. Think what you really want and what you mean to those around you. All of the Defenders do what they do to prevent people like their close ones from getting harmed. What's your motivation?" She said that and flew away, leaving Felicia alone on the rooftop, looking down at her own hands wondering what is that she really wants?

*3rd POV end*

"You nearly made her question reality itself." I said to Jean after she returned.

"Well, I don't want her to die while doing this. I still don't understand why she started stealing in the first place" She said.

"Her father was the original Black Cat. It wouldn't be wrong to say he was the best thief in the world. Felicia idolized him and wanted to follow his footsteps, but she hasn't decided what she really wants." I told, bringing out the Shield files of Walter Hardy. She was really surprised about his escapades.

Felicia has to harden her resolve on what she wants to do. She still treats this like a game, and that will indeed cost her.

*Stay tuned for more..."