Caged beasts...

Stepping through the security in each hallway of the raft, Nick Fury made his way past the series of guards and prison cells to the cell containing their latest prisoner. He received the call just a few minutes ago and quickly made it to the RAFT outside of the New York bay. About halfway down the hallway he was confronted by one of the SHIELD medical staff who frantically joined the man in stride with a frantic look on his face while waving a clip board in his hand.

“Give me an update doctor, what have you got for me?”

“We don’t understand it Director, right now the creature has enough anesthetic pumping through its system to knock out a humpback whale, it worked so far until the last couple of days where it just… started to wear off.” Going over the clip board in his hand, the middle-aged physician rummaged through hourly reports of the creature’s containment. “We’ve increased the dosage which has shown some improvement, but the subject remains cognizant.”

Leaning down to look into the ocular scanner, Nick Fury heard the chime and approval before stepping aside to let the doctor do the same, the chime going off again and the cell doors open to show the Wendigo SHIELD has had in containment growling and struggling limply in its bindings. The bindings and chains still held; the beast still strapped in the gurney at the center of the cell. But now, his blood red eyes were open and glaring at everything that moved, growling, and gnawing on the bridal strap around its mouth. It barely had the strength to pull at its restraints but even then they creaked and groaned in protest when the Wendigo caught the sight of the two men enter its cell to join the three other doctors checking its vitals.

Heading over to a bundle of papers rolling off a vitals monitor, the doctor pulled up specific points recorded of the creature and showed them to Nick Fury. “We don’t understand it, but there have been strange bouts of increased strength and vitality that increase for brief moments before dying off, during those times the… Wendigo here managed to struggle awake, we’ve been checking its bindings every hour to make sure there are no strains or frays but so far its contained.”

Looking over the graph paper, Nicholas Fury read how on the intervals pointed out to him of where the creature’s vitals would skyrocket before ebbing back down again. Moving over to look the creature eye to eye, Fury found the thing looking back at him with dilated eyes; unfocused, but awake, growling in his presence and sleepily trying to struggle free. “Can it still be contained?”

“On the short term? We have it properly contained, but on the long term we don’t know, not until we can…”

Just then the vitals monitor beeped more rapidly, the Wendigo’s eyes becoming more focused as it began to look around and try to struggle against its bonds. Stepping back immediately, Fury listened as the straight jacket and straps to audibly creak and groan. “KNOCK this son of a bitch out NOW!”

Frantically heading to the IV drip next to the growling monster, the lead physician increased the dosage of anesthesia pumping into its veins, checking over his shoulder listening to the Wendigo growl and roar with the bridle in its mouth before its struggling slowed and its eyes grew tired and listless. Eventually slumping back down and lolling its head against the head rest.

When it looked like the creature was very much put into a morphine induced coma, the rest of the staff of researchers and doctors sighed a gasp of air, scrambling over his vitals in the printout that was scribbling vitals during the entire spike.

“Doctor…” Barked Nick Fury, watching the man and others go over their findings and pointing back at the contained Wendigo in the gurney. “KEEP that thing contained! I don’t care how you do it, just DO it!”

Storming out of the cell, Fury left the physicians to go over their findings, several showing disbeliefs at what they were looking at. “This doesn’t make any sense, where is it getting these surges of energy from?”

*

Fluttering her eyes, Susan moaned in delight after biting into her third beef burrito, her fries totally left abandoned to cool at the side of her food tray while she took another bite. Even in the food court she garnered attention as several people passed by to watch the pale amazon woman eat a family meal of beef burritos all by herself. Her heightened hearing picked up some whispers among the conversations from everyone nearby, her ears almost twitching to focus on them.

“Damn… Where the hell does it all go?”

“Last time I saw a woman eat that much; my wife was having twins.”

“DAMN! That woman is built like a brick shithouse!”

She ignored them all, mostly, growling into finishing another bite and bundling the wrapping paper in her hand to add to the small pile nearby and start on another burrito. Even now she was starving, all the time, but each bite she took ebbed the ache in her stomach just a little bit. If anything right now, the chorus of chatter from the food court was starting to get to her, maybe it was the hunger, maybe something else, right now she just wanted to finish her meal and head back to finish her work out. Maybe then she could get her mind off what has been stressing her out. When she reached for another burrito from her tray, she was a little irritated to find she had already finished her meal.

With a frown, Susan looked over her tray and found only the serving of fries and a complementary salad, sneering at them before picking up her tray and bringing it all to the garbage before heading back to the gym.