Shiller stood at the desk in the office of the Evidence and Technical Examination Departnt at the CIA’s Gotham Base, staring at the report in front of him. Natasha stood to the side, her arms folded on the table, waiting for Shiller’s conclusion.
"It’s true," Shiller said, "The wear marks from the 26 caras in the ballroom where the photo of you and the President was taken are 1.3 tis more than the caras in surrounding rooms within a week before the incident. This corroborates the conclusion you got from the psychiatrist—that the other party could not predict what would happen between you two, so they even adjusted the caras in every nook and cranny.
"If the murderer is an electronic lifeform, then everything makes sense," Natasha said. "No email information can be traced, no signs of activity, complete lack of understanding of human sexual psychology, and recognizing ... Could it be Ultron from so cosmos?"
"That’s not out of the realm of possibility," Shiller said, leaning on the desk with both hands. "The question is, how did he get here?"
"That’s the easy part," Natasha said. "All he needs to do is persuade a Battleworld player to bring over a sub-server. This kind of electronic lifeform spreads rapidly across the network like a cockroach."
"No, if that were the case, he wouldn’t target you, but would co after . I’m more notorious in Battleworld, and the person cooperating with him would certainly warn him about . Even if he doesn’t know who Moon Knight is, he would at least recognize by my face, so there’s no reason to ignore and target you."
Natasha frowned, not because she disagreed but because she believed Shiller made sense, which made the identity of the behind-the-scenes manipulator even more elusive.
"There’s another issue," Shiller said. "If the manipulator was determined to take photos of the two of you, he wouldn’t just use Wayne Enterprises’ caras."
"You an..."
"An electronic lifeform would better understand the importance of redundancy. Although 26 fixed caras in a ballroom seem plenty, there are still dead spots in the surveillance. He would likely avoid invading Batman’s private caras to minimize the risk of exposure. That leaves only one possibility—caras controlled by him were on people attending the party."
"Who could it be?" Natasha asked. "It can’t be because then I couldn’t be in front of the cara. It can’t be you or Moon Knight, and superpower users like Superman and Wonder Woman are unlikely either."
"Arkham Knight," Shiller said. "Even though he wasn’t fully equipped that day, he had a belt with a cara on it, and due to their previous adversarial relationship and the fact that Batman uses a different system, he might be using the ’Prophet’ system."
"’Prophet’? Whose code na is that?"
"Barbara Gordon," Shiller suddenly looked up and said, "Quick, send soone to the Clock Tower to protect Barbara Gordon!"
Shiller put on his jacket as quickly as possible but didn’t follow Natasha and the CIA agents out. Instead, he swiftly walked to the interrogation room. Arkham Knight was talking to the agent at the door.
"So I can leave now, right? Seriously, locked up here all these days just for this little thing, I’m almost thinking I really am a spy."
"Sorry, Mr. Todd. Until all major suspects are completely cleared, you must remain here to assist in the investigation. But now that the primary suspect has been released, you are naturally cleared as well. If you have any objections, you can sue or file a complaint with the relevant departnt, but I can’t give you any explanation outside of my duties."
"Alright, I won’t make it hard for you minions, but don’t let catch you causing trouble in Gotham..."
"Jason!"
Shiller’s voice made Arkham Knight jump back over two ters. He stood there shouting at Shiller, "Don’t move! Stay right there!"
Shiller had to stop a few ters away from him and then said, "The behind-the-scenes manipulator who sabotaged the diplomatic relations between Arica and Amazon and created a scandal between the President and Mrs. Romanoff is very likely an electronic lifeform capable of mobilizing electronic devices. On the day of the party, the equipnt you carried, which system were the caras on it from?"
This information was so overwhelming that Arkham Knight’s brain stalled for a mont, but he quickly responded and said, "’Prophet’! Barbara is in danger!"
Arkham Knight quickly ran out, while Shiller didn’t chase after him but instead pressed his earpiece and said, "Stop Jason Todd."
Arkham Knight barely made it downstairs before being stopped by heavily ard agents. He turned around to look at Shiller and said, "Let out, I need to find Barbara!"
"The CIA agents have already gone," Shiller quickly walked over to him and said, "Considering the behind-the-scenes manipulator’s previous thods, I have reason to suspect it’s a trap ant to lure you there. Now, go to the dical center to find Batman, leave the rest to us."
Arkham Knight clenched his hands into fists, standing still. As Shiller approached, he took two steps back. Shiller helplessly extended his hand towards him, which was holding a Bluetooth earpiece.
Arkham Knight cautiously approached a little, took the earpiece, and quickly darted back. Putting the earpiece to his ear, he heard the low voice of Arkham Batman:
"Co over, Jason, I have sothing to discuss with you."
Arkham Knight swallowed hard, but had no choice but to head to the dical center. As he walked, he kept turning back and said, "You will guarantee Barbara’s safety, right?"
"We’ll do our best," Shiller said.
In fact, after Arkham Knight left, Shiller spoke to the person in the earpiece, "Stay alert, Barbara Gordon may not necessarily be a friend—the electronic lifeform can do what she can do."
Natasha had already rushed to the entrance of the Clock Tower Base. Hearing the words coming through the earpiece, she narrowed her eyes slightly and recalled the whole incident again. Apart from Greed’s conclusion, the other suspect profiles perfectly matched the image of a ’top-notch hacker.’ If Barbara Gordon is a hacker on par with Batman, then the untraceable email information and manipulated surveillance caras could very well be her doing.
Holding a gun in both hands, Natasha signaled her subordinates, and the assault team ca to the door and started breaking it down. The old door didn’t hold up for long and was knocked open in just two hits. After everyone rushed in, there was no one inside the base.
Having just finished raining, the room was slightly damp, and the calendar on the wall had stopped several months ago, with only so expired files on the table. The computer screen and the tower were cold to touch, unused for at least several hours, and there was no sign of Barbara Gordon.
Natasha circled the room but didn’t find anything unusual. Then she turned on her flashlight and started ticulously searching, finally finding a strand of red hair at the edge of the carpet. This was certainly not her hair; it was more likely Barbara Gordon’s.
Half an hour later, inside the tech departnt’s office, Shiller picked up the hair with gloved hands. At that mont, he suddenly had a flash of insight:
"Abidonis’s lover has red hair?"
Natasha and Shiller exchanged a glance.
Natasha turned to her subordinate and said, "Go and investigate Abidonis’s lover thoroughly, if possible, detain her."
The subordinate went out to execute the order but returned shortly after, saying, "All the information we received about Mr. Abidonis’s lover cos from Mrs. Abidonis. She said she saw her from a distance a few tis, but..."
"But what?"
"There’s no other information. Mr. Abidonis himself is dead, and none of his colleagues or friends have seen this mysterious lover. There’s no surveillance footage at Mrs. Abidonis’s claid sighting location either."
"Even though they’ve been involved for several years?"
"No," the subordinate said, "That mysterious red-haired lover is just one of his many lovers. Abidonis has other lovers, so the length of his affair doesn’t match the tiline of his relationship with the red-haired lover, making it impossible to confirm when their relationship started."
"Bang!" Natasha slamd the table and said, "Nothing can be confird; what are you all doing?"
The room fell silent, and the subordinate quickly tried to rectify the misleading information he previously reported by saying, "Barbara Gordon is a disabled person; her legs cannot walk normally, and she can only use a wheelchair. However, according to Mrs. Abidonis’s report, the red-haired lover can walk freely, showing no leg abnormalities."
Natasha did not respond; she was simply pondering: Mrs. Abidonis killed Abidonis and attacked her when she went to the cri scene, claiming it was because she resembled one of Abidonis’s lovers.
At first listening to this series of facts, people would naturally think that Mrs. Abidonis attacked out of hatred for her husband’s affair and jealousy of his lover.
But what if the motive wasn’t like that?
Mrs. Abidonis wanted to kill herself by mistaking her for the lover, but the real motive wasn’t related to love issues; there was another reason—she had an unavoidable reason to kill this lover.
Or, perhaps, the alleged lover relationship between Abidonis and the red-haired woman was fabricated by her. They might have t and seen by Mrs. Abidonis, but their relationship was not of lovers but rather sothing unntionable.
Even though Abidonis is dead, Mrs. Abidonis can’t reveal the truth and uses personal feelings as a cover-up for the facts.
This also aligns with their daughter’s words—their previous argunts weren’t about love but about certain interests. This red-haired woman might also be involved in their interest-related affairs.
Could it be Barbara Gordon?
"No, that’s not right," Shiller suddenly spoke, "It’s not Barbara Gordon."
"You can also read minds?" Natasha couldn’t help but ask since the above deductions were all thoughts in her mind, how did Shiller happen to answer her doubts?
"That’s not important," Shiller continued, "This so-called red-haired lover of Abidonis is not Barbara Gordon, but soone wants us to think she is."
"How could you tell?"
"Don’t rush," Shiller said, "Did your subordinates collect footprint samples inside the Clock Tower?"
Natasha nodded and said, "The tech departnt has been there, and the results should co soon."
Soon, the office door was knocked upon. The technician ca in with a report, saying, "We found six unfamiliar footprints on the scene, arranged in walking patterns, and the owner of the footprints is Barbara Gordon."
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