Every word he heard made his blood boil with anger, hatred, and many other feelings.
He just wanted to find a way to get back to Killgrave and give him more of what he had already given him.
'Damn. She suffers from Suspension Bridge syndrome. The trauma was the traumatic event, and since I am the first one to show her genuine affection, love, and concern, I innocently formed a bond with her. Jessica is confusing fear and anxiety with love, security, and protection. If I am not careful, I could end up turning her into someone obsessed with me. Damn.'
Listening to her, he could not help but feel a little guilty.
But he could not do anything. He had to let her go. He needed her to become the Jessica from the series. The world needs that Jessica, and with him here, he doubted she would ever become that woman.
"I am sorry, Detective." He gently struck her neck, making her faint.
He picked her up, positioned her on the bed, and covered her up. For a few seconds, he gazed at her and stroked her face.
"I am sorry, Jess, but I need you to be the other you." He took off his jacket and placed it on top of the sheet.
Before doing that, he had removed all the important items from the jacket.
"Goodbye."
'If I stay, she will be emotionally dependent on me and will do everything in her power to be useful to me. Just the thought of leaving would send her into an alarming state of depression, or she would do some very bad things to get my attention.'
Kissing her forehead, he took his bearings around the apartment.
Once outside, he approached the camouflaged car and went inside. He had not uncamouflaged it because it was morning and he did not want anyone to see the car. With the camouflaged vehicle, he headed home to do some things in his personal lab.
-----
When Jessica woke up, the first thing she saw was that she was in her apartment and that her savior was not there.
She also realized that she did not know his name, only his nickname from the video he had shown her and his face.
Then she remembered the words he said, which made her start to cry and tremble.
When she lay down, she saw her savior's jacket on top of the sheet, so she grabbed it and held it tightly.
While curling up in a fetal position on the bed, she repeated something over and over again through tears until she fell asleep.
She was so tired that she never heard the door of her apartment open, revealing a blonde woman who quickly closed the door and then searched the house for something, which she found once she entered the room where she was asleep.
Unbeknownst to Jessica, the blonde woman began to shed tears.
-----
Location: Unknown.
In an office, an elderly man was staring at his computer screen, watching a video that had been uploaded to social media along with reports about several people involved in shady dealings, including important figures, wealthy individuals, businesspeople, and so on.
His concentration was impressive, but not entirely so.
His reading ended when someone knocked on his office door. The man did not need to know who was behind the door to know who had knocked.
"Come in, Agent Hill," he said.
The aforementioned appeared from the door with her tablet in her hand along with a neutral expression, worthy of a great agent.
"I suppose, Agent, you have something interesting."
"Yes, sir. The video that appeared on social media isn't just a video. It's also an encrypted message that, once decrypted, redirects to another location. However, when we accessed it, it requested a password that we have not yet been able to determine. I wanted to show you what the agents have found so far."
Nick's computer screen displayed what Maria had mentioned. There was something else worth noting: the password prompt included a hint. When she read it, she was surprised.
Name of the Cat belonging to the former Air Force pilot who protects planets.
He was surprised that this subject knew about that incident, even more so given that it was a highly classified secret.
Now more than ever, Fury wanted to find this Red Hood. The only explanation he could think of was that the man had somehow hacked one of the government's most secure systems—a system supposedly protected by impenetrable security. Apparently, it was not as impenetrable as advertised.
He wondered how this person had managed to get into that computer, which was in a secret location known only to three people, and he was one of them. He would leave that detail for later. Now he would focus on what he had in front of him.
"Good work, Agent. You may leave. Anything that comes up, I want to be informed immediately," Fury said, receiving a nod from Maria before she left.
Once she was gone, Fury focused on the computer and keyboard in front of him. After a few seconds, he entered the requested password:
GOOSE.
He would never forget that damned Flerken.
He had nightmares about it more than once, though he would never say so, and he would die never saying it. Upon entering the code, he was taken to another address where a video appeared.
When he pressed ENTER, the video began to play. Red Hood appeared sitting at a desk with a completely black background.
"Hello, Nicholas Joseph Fury. As you probably already know, this is Red Hood.
"Now, the reason for this video. But before that, let's play a game.
"If you solve the following riddle, the video will continue and very valuable information will be revealed. Information so valuable that you would probably trade your remaining eye for it.
"So, let's begin.
"Tell me, what is it?
"It can be cruel, poetic, or blind, but when violence is absent, it unfolds?"
"Tick-tock, Fury. I'll see you in a few seconds."
"Oh, and if you fail, every secret SHIELD is keeping will be revealed to the world.
"Choose carefully."
Upon hearing this, he felt anger knowing that the link was not only that but a damned Trojan horse.
Surely the person must be messing with his security at that precise moment, or even when his agents had begun to investigate the video.
He cursed himself for being such an idiot, quickly typed the answer JUSTICE on the keyboard, and hoped it was the correct one or else SHIELD would be compromised.
Ding!
"Bravo, bravo. If you have made it this far, Nicky, but I must reveal that I never specified when SHIELD's secrets could be revealed, and even if I would, you should take better care of your ears, Nick."
Upon hearing how they had played a trick on him, he could not help but frown.
"As a reward we will do another riddle. How about that? Fun? Of course it is."
Fury had never liked riddles, not even as a child, and this lunatic had already given him two.
"But before we begin, be careful with your answer because the whereabouts of Agent Barton's family could be in danger if you fail."
When he heard how the man knew the whereabouts of Barton's family, it made his brow furrow.
He hated when people knew things about him and his agents, but he hated even more not knowing things, and this wretch seemed to know it by the way he was mocking him.
"Don't be angry, my friend, simply because you don't know everything."
"Sooner or later, we'll meet."
"And when we do, perhaps we can discuss many things."
"For example..."
"Project PEGASUS."