"Yes."
"Body!"
Joruno Bruno, suspended in mid-air, couldn't stop once he started explaining some of the things he knew.
Actually, he didn't know much.
"After Andrew Chloe died, indeed there was a cop who chased after him."
"Andor Yager!"
"He did catch up."
"In the beginning, we also suspected Andor, so on the third day after the incident, Bruce and I followed Andor to a warehouse outside the city."
"The two gunmen who shot Andrew Chloe were there."
"Andor was devoutly kneeling on the ground."
"Because..."
At this point, Joruno seemed to be lost in memory, his eyes becoming somewhat obsessed: "Bruce and I saw the Holy Mark behind those two."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
He thought about it for a moment and instantly understood what Joruno meant by the Holy Mark.
It was likely the scars from the Birdmen cutting off their wings.
Indeed!
Joruno continued to speak.
"Later, Bruce and I were discovered."
"But the envoys of the Lord didn't blame us, and told us that the apocalypse was coming, and they were here as pioneers to guide humanity."
"..."
"Bruce and I followed orders and made this case look like a gang shooting."
"But Amy Chloe was too hard to deal with."
"To fulfill the envoys' instruction, Bruce and Andor had to go personally to warn Amy Chloe."
"Their warning was effective."
"Amy Chloe no longer came to the district to cause trouble."
"Bruce and Andor faked their own deaths according to orders, and I secretly transported Andrew Chloe's body away and let the two take it."
"..."
At this point, Joruno's angry eyes glared at Hawk: "That's all I know, now, spare my son and grandson."
Hawk calmly looked at Joruno.
Next second.
He turned and disappeared from the room.
Joruno, still suspended in mid-air, was slightly stunned. Just as he was about to speak, suddenly, a heart-wrenching pain erupted.
Then—
Bang!
The entire house exploded along with Joruno.
When Hawk returned to New York S.H.I.E.L.D., Gwen and George had already arrived.
George was curiously sizing up the huge, secret facility built beneath Times Square, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.
What a sight.
He was a veteran New Yorker, yet he had no idea there was such a massive secret agency beneath Times Square.
Hawk appeared silently.
But as soon as Hawk appeared, Gwen noticed him immediately.
Hawk glanced at Gwen and then looked at George.
"Is Andrew Chloe's body at the Twenty-First District?"
"... Yes."
George snapped back to reality and looked at Hawk.
"What's the matter?"
"Did you do the DNA test?"
"The body has been kept..."
George frowned, realized something, and looked at Hawk: "You're saying that's not Andrew Chloe's body?"
Hawk's expression remained calm.
"Joruno just confessed that after Bruce and Andor faked their deaths, he replaced the body and transported it to Paris."
"What?"
George was shocked.
Sharon had ordered people to go to the Twenty-First District's forensic office to retrieve the body labeled Joruno Chloe's.
Anyway, they already had Hawk's DNA data.
This was also recovered from the data at Hydra Base under the Atlantic Ocean.
So...
Doing a DNA comparison was easy.
Gwen frowned: "What do they want Mr. Chloe's body for? Cloning?"
After handling the arrangements, Sharon walked over: "I've already sent people to retrieve the body."
Gwen looked at Hawk.
Hawk also frowned, thinking of a possibility.
But...
Hawk raised his head to look at Sharon: "Where's Blade?"
He initially had no impression when Kovinus mentioned it, but after hearing Joruno say that Andrew's body was replaced, he remembered some scenes from Blade Warrior 2.
Speaking of Blade Warrior's old man.
Whistler.
Wasn't he killed by vampires in the first movie, and then returned in the second as a vampire?
Though Andrew Chloe was moved a year later before being transported away.
But!
The so-called Blood God Envoys weren't truly vampires, who knows what magical tools they obtained while executing Yahweh's assigned task.
Hawk was deep in thought.
Next second.
Once Sharon reported Blade's current location, he turned again and disappeared from the scene.
As always.
He wasn't a detective, he didn't need any evidence, just suspicion was enough.
Inside Blade's warehouse.
The Blood Pack Squad from Kovennus Castle also arrived at Blade Warrior's hideout after nightfall, intending to ally with Blade to deal with a terrifying creature.
The Reapers.
These beings were mutated from vampires, stronger and more ferocious than ordinary vampires, and they fed on the blood of both vampires and humans.
But that wasn't the scariest part.
The scariest part was that vampires bitten by the Reapers would quickly and painfully mutate into new Reapers.
This was why Kovennus sent the Blood Pack Squad to New York City.
Because if they didn't quickly eliminate the Reapers, the entire vampire race would face extinction, and once vampires were wiped out, the Reapers would turn uncontrollably towards humans, leading to a global catastrophe.
So——
When the Blood Pack Squad arrived in New York City, realizing they couldn't capture the Reapers alone, they thought of Blade Warrior.
Blade had recently found Whistler, who had turned into a vampire, in a vampire's lair.
Fortunately.
Whistler recovered again after being injected with a vampire cure serum.
At this moment, Blade, who was showing the restored warehouse to his old man Whistler after S.H.I.E.L.D. had renovated it during his disappearance, welcomed the Blood Pack Squad.
While Blade was wondering if this might be a vampire conspiracy.
Hawk silently appeared, glanced at Blade, then looked at the tense Blood Pack Squad and raised an eyebrow: "Looks like I came just in time."
As he spoke.
Snap!
Hawk snapped his fingers with his right hand, then, under Blade's gaze, walked up to an Asian vampire who looked remarkably like a martial arts star.
"Bruce and Andor, know where they are?"
"Who are you!"
The vampire codenamed Yeti tried to break free from Hawk's restraint.
Hawk said nothing, and with a thought, the Yeti suspended in mid-air exploded with a bang.
But the explosion didn't spread; at the moment of explosion, everything was frozen again.
But this was even more terrifying.
Blade's eyes behind his sunglasses twitched involuntarily.
Whistler also cried out inside, wondering where this fierce character came from.
Hawk then walked over to the only female vampire in the Blood Pack Squad, Nasha.
Just as he was about to ask a question.
Nearby, a bald and strong vampire looked at Hawk: "Wait a minute, whatever it is, come at me, I'm their captain."
Hawk's gaze shifted, landing on the bald vampire, then seemed to realize something.
"Reinhardt?"
"...That's me."
"Good."
Upon hearing this, Hawk smiled slightly, released Reinhardt's binding, and once Reinhardt landed, Hawk checked his watch and said to Reinhardt: "It's seven o'clock in the evening now, I'll give you two hours, in two hours, either you bring me the two people I want, or I'll kill all your men."
Reinhardt's expression changed.
Hawk glanced at Reinhardt.
Eye shock.
Boom!
Reinhardt flew backwards out of the warehouse, crashing into the scrap vehicle parts outside.
"Remember, you only have two hours!"
"Bring Bruce Jerry and Andor Yager to see me."
"Otherwise, I'll kill all your teammates."
"..."
Reinhardt quickly flashed out of the crater, glanced at Hawk in the warehouse, his eyes flickering, and with a swoosh, disappeared from sight.
Two hours.
The time left for him was not ample.
After Reinhardt left, Hawk chuckled, moved his right hand, and let the remaining two male and one female vampire, who were suspended in mid-air, land on the ground.
Seeing this, Blade opened his mouth slightly.
Just then.
Hawk's gaze shifted, and he reached out with his right hand towards the corner of the warehouse, then clenched it.
"Now that you're here, come out."
"..."
With a whooshing black shadow that followed, a vampire cloaked in what seemed like monk's robes was brought over to Hawk.
And just as this monk-robed figure was brought over, it seemed as though countless beast-like roars echoed around them.
Getting closer.
And closer.
Blade instinctively drew his sword.
"Something's coming."
"It's the Reapers!"
"Fuck, let me go, you're going to get us killed."
The Blood Pack Squad, familiar with fighting Reapers, changed their expressions upon hearing the roar, desperately trying to free themselves from their restraints, shouting angrily at Hawk.
At this moment.
Bam!
Before Hawk could get a good look at the incoming figure, the sound of shattering glass echoed, and the glass above the warehouse broke. Under the moonlight, a creature with severely pale, smooth, hairless skin, entirely black eyes, lacking pupils, with a jaw opening like petals to reveal a chrysanthemum-shaped ring of sharp teeth, leapt in from outside.
The next second.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
One by one, monsters, initially hiding god-knows where, seemed to attack like they'd taken the wrong medicine, flocking in from all directions.
These——
Were the vampire mutants.
The Reapers!
...