Chapter 1544 - Looking for the Joker

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Nick Fury was standing here now only because SHIELD’s director had to get justice for the “heroic sacrifices” of Agent Garrett and Agent Ward.

He knew that the two dead guys were Hydra, yet he still had to applaud them.

But the Joker had just slapped SHIELD in the face, and Fury could only look like he had a common enemy with his subordinates.

Thinking about the details in the report, however, he pondered again: It was hard to say if Garrett and Ward were truly dead. Maybe Garrett had sensed something beforehand, and immediately faked his death to escape?

Nobody was better at faking death than the director.

Nick Fury’s body had already appeared twice in front of the enemy, and he was still standing here!

This director was full of tricks. Standing next to him, Hill operated the virtual screen to check the information on the new case, and she gradually frowned.

Ever since she became a special agent, the Joker was the only enemy she felt helpless against.

It wasn’t because the other party was powerful, but because she didn’t know what he wanted.

She read the information on the new case again.

‘The first victim was Ham Drake. He was 69 years old and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

The second victim was his son, Lindsay Drake. He was 35 years old and the mayor of New Bedford.

The survivor was the wife of the first victim and the mother of the second victim, Mary Drake. She was 61 years old and was a member of the board for many charity foundations.

To put it simply, this was the typical upper-class family.

The Drake family had branched out to engage in business and politics in a few nearby states. It was doing pretty well and was considered the local power in the region.

They couldn’t step onto a higher playing field for the time being, but they could work toward becoming state legislators or governors.

‘What was strange was that there was no news in Massachusetts about the deaths of the father and son.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, had gotten a lot of calls in half a day, all of them hinting that he shouldn’t “make a mess.”

Those who were closer to him bluntly told him that if certain things belonging to Senator Drake fell into his hands, it would be best for him to destroy them.

Nick Fury knew what that meant.

The Joker had broadcasted live to SHIELD once more. The organization was anxious to fight back, and of course was the first to arrive.

After the Joker disappeared again, the agents examined the crime scene before finally allowing New Bedford’s local police to take over.

There had to be a lot of things Senator Drake had which couldn’t be exposed.

Some people immediately suspected that SHIELD, as the first to arrive, had obtained them.

After all, the SHIELD agents had moved a lot of evidence; who knew what it was?

Even as a national special agency, the CIA’s movements in America were strictly limited, to say nothing of SHIELD, which couldn’t become involved in the political games in America.

Once an agency got involved, it was a dangerous sign.

Nick Fury made it clear that SHIELD hadn’t obtained anything they shouldn’t have, and his target was the murderer, Joker.

This matter ended there.

Nick Fury said that he didn’t have any illicit materials.

As for whether that meant he got them, then destroyed them, or he got them and said he destroyed them when he didn’t, It didn’t matter.

However, if he dared leak these materials, what awaited him would be non-stop reprisals.

But Nick Fury wasn’t lying.

Naturally, all that illicit information… was with Luke.

Senator Drake had always been on Luke’s blacklist. Previously, Luke didn’t have both a suitable alias and the opportunity to kill scum like this who stood at the peak of power.

It just so happened that his new identity needed “props,” and New York was right next to Massachusetts.

After looking at the distance on the map, this was the first person Luke approached.

This was a lead he had picked up way back in Paris.

Later, after a gradual investigation by the multifaceted system and several dead ends, the system looked onto Senator Drake as the real buyer for the girls.

A few days ago, Luke saw Senator Drake up close. The man’s name was so red it was almost black in the list of good and evil, so naturally, he became Luke’s target.

Hill looked at the photos.

To be honest, she felt that the Joker’s crime scenes were much more “civilized” than Jack Bode’s.

She even had the faint feeling that the Joker was putting on a show with his kills.

Jack was just a wild beast who vented his emotions and enjoyed the thrill of killing.

Stumped for a moment, Hill flipped to another photo.

It was a photo of the survivor, Mary, when she was rescued. There was a long strip of paper on the bodies of the two dead men next to her.

Hill knew that it contained the victims’ past experiences.

After reading the paper, Nick Fury classified it as top secret and didn’t hand it over to the forensic investigators, nor did he leave behind any sort of image evidence for the behavioral analysts.

‘When Hill recalled the “threatening” phone calls from the other politicians, she guessed that nothing good was written on the strip of paper.

By the same logic, Nick Fury also confiscated and sealed up the list of Garrett and Ward’s “crimes.”

However, the only survivor, Mary, didn’t have anything else on her… for example, like a dark red handkerchief.

This handkerchief was the only “personal” item left behind by the Joker, and SHIELD had analyzed it many times.

The handkerchief was made from a fabric which came from an old textile factory in Europe. Although the factory output wasn’t large, there was enough fabric of the same color to make 100,000 handkerchiefs a year.

Also, the factory was well-known for this traditional handicraft, and hadn’t upgraded their machines in years, which meant that SHIELD would have to look at fabric sales for at least the last few years.

SHIELD couldn’t invest that much manpower into investigating this lead, and could only let the computer program handle it first.

Luke had wiped Hill’s mouth with the handkerchief, which left a deep impression on her.

At that moment, she noticed that there was no dark red handkerchief on Mary.

Thinking quickly, she pulled up the video of Joker’s live broadcast; the dark red handkerchief that had been folded into the shape of a petal was still in his chest pocket.

Nick Fury turned around at that moment and frowned when he saw that grotesque smile on her screen. “Agent Hill.”

Hill jerked. “Huh?”

Nick Fury said, “The only reason I didn’t make you take time off is because you promised me you were fine. Let me confirm again: Do you really not want to take a break?”

Hill quickly shook her head. “No, sir.”

Nick Fury stared at her for a moment before he nodded. “Okay, but don’t focus on this case anymore. I have something else for you.”

Hill couldn’t help but glance at the grotesque smile on the virtual screen — it seemed to grow even wider.

She waved her hand, and the image was dispelled.