Meanwhile, at the RAFT…

Clutching his ears to block out the sounds of the creature roaring out in rage in the restraints, the lead physician continued to order the others to keep the wendigo bound in its gurney. The creature was fully awake now and getting stronger by the minute. It had managed to chew through its bridal half an hour ago and was now roaring out with such rage and intensity it drove everyone in the tight space nearly deaf.

“GET THAT THING TIED DOWN, NOW!”

The five SHIELD guards present practically held the beast down with the full strength of their arms to keep the wendigo in place, yet it was like a group of toddlers trying to hold down a bear as it struggled and nearly sent two of the men across the cell just from it shirking back and forth in its gurney. Prepping a syringe full of sedatives, the lead physician had no idea if it would work, but so far the rest of the sedatives that had been pumped into the creature’s bloodstream no longer worked; whether it had developed an immunity or was now far too agitated to be calmed down, he knew the only chance now was to terminate the subject before it could escape. He had made sure the syringe was filled with enough poisons to stop the heart of a blue whale, even this monster could not withstand that.

“DOC! HURRY UP!” Cried out the one guard, his back to the floor and his arms and legs wrapped around the beast’s arm while the rest of the SHIELD crew tried to keep the Wendigo down while the medical staff tightened the failing straps. No longer waiting on finesse, the doctor brought the needle over and slammed it into the roaring beast’s chest, depressing the plunger to deliver the entire volume of the liquid into its heart.

The moment he did, the monster’s eyes fluttered, its limbs going slack and the cell finally grew silent while the readings from the heart monitor dropped from a series of beeps to an almost slow chime. Separating from the Wendigo, the guards and physicians checked each other for injuries after the stressful event.

“Get that thing strapped tight, I don’t care if its dead or not, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Yes sir…” Watching the others inspect the straps and belts keeping the Wendigo contained, the lead doctor sighed and collapsed into his chair, pulling free a handkerchief to wipe his sweating brow. He was starting to agree with Director Fury’s assessment of the more unstable oddities the RAFT contained. He was about to turn and document the outburst, one of many he had documented lately, when he heard the heart monitor beep. Looking over his shoulder, the monitor continued to show a flat-line. Shaking his head, he went back to writing his report while the others tightened the straps, then he heard it again. Confused, he sat up from his stool and moved over to the monitor to read it fully. The heart rate was almost nonexistent… But the other vitals were still up; metabolism was showing stable, blood pressure… Those should have gone down to zero too.

“What in…” Then he saw it; the heart monitor blipped before going flat-line again. It was not dead; it was playing possum! Darting his head to look back at the other physicians finishing up their inspection of the Wendigo’s ‘corpse’, one of them leaned down to check the beast’s straps around its neck. “GET AWAY FROM THERE!!!”

Looking up in confusion, the woman blinked back in confusion, oblivious to the Wendigo opening its red eyes and biting her wrist just as she lingered over the strap. Reeling back and screaming while clutching her wound, the rest of the guards and physicians fell into a panic when the Wendigo renewed his struggles to escape. Crouching to check on the woman, one of the SHIELD guards looked over her injuries and blinked in surprise when the wound suddenly began to heal. “Are you okay?” Turning her head to look up at him, the guard reared back in shock when she stared back at him with blood red eyes and sneering fangs. He never had the chance to raise his gun when she lunged for him and bit down on his neck.

Collapsing to the floor and kicking himself back until he was against the corner of the cell, the lead physician watched in horror at the pandemonium unfolding right in front of him. Two of the guards tried to pry her off the man, just as she began to grow and burst out the back of her lab coat when she surged over a foot taller and continued to grow. With a roar she sent the one guard across the room before pulling the other close and biting down on his shoulder. The guard she attacked earlier going into convulsions as he swelled larger and his uniform burst at the seams, failing to contain his transformation.

By then the others huddled across the opposite side of the cell and the remaining three guards opened fire on the newly formed wendigo roaring back at them. The bullets bouncing off her tough hide just as her victim stood up and pried off the tatters of his clothes and lunged for his former comrades, ignoring their screams as the two attacked and tore at the scientists and SHIELD officers. Looking back to the injured guard, he too began to grow, bursting out of his boots and clothes before darting his attention to the others and joining them.

Clutching his hands to his ears, the chief whimpered and tried to drown out the sounds of the men and women screaming as they were torn apart and devoured, his attention falling back to the Wendigo in the gurney, now free and getting up to stand at its feet. Looking back at the trio of Wendigo eating their fill, the beast breathed in deeply and looked down at its clawed hands, smiling a fanged smirk as it clenched its claws into fists and back, then turned its attention to the man cowering in the corner. Unlike the others who had gone feral and mindless, this creature slowly walked over to the lead physician and crouched to see him eye to eye. Already the man had wet his pants in terror and shielded himself with his hands in a futile effort to protect himself. Looking down at the empty syringe on the floor, the beast plucked it delicately in its hand and sniffed at its contents.

“Very clever mortal… Blowfish poison? A bit drastic but then again you DID try everything to contain and sedate me.”

Blinking his eyes in surprise, the man had no idea how to react, even when THIS wendigo brought its claw out to pluck his name tag off his lab coat pocket, inspecting the picture and words with an almost bemused look on its feline face. “Doctor Samuel Henrys; biochemist expert, understandable… I was not expecting you mortals to use witchdoctors to supplicate me after all.”

Still shocked and confused, Doctor Henrys looked over the monster’s broad shoulder and whimpered to find the trio of turned people had already finished devouring the others, leaving nothing but bloody stains, tattered clothes, and crunched bones in their wake. By then their transformations had completed and were now unrecognisable from their former selves. Hulking frames and stark white fur covered all but their bare chests and stomachs. Brandishing razor-sharp black claws, gnarled black horns swooping over their long white manes of hair over a foot long, and prehensile tails over seven feet in length snapped back and forth behind them. Sniffing the air with their feline noses, they licked their fanged chops and turned to the cowering doctor. He could see the wild hunger in their blood red eyes as they charged to make him their next meal… When they stopped just feet away to a gesture of the talking wendigo’s clawed hand, as if telling them to wait.

“W-what do you want?”

“OUT of course…” The Wendigo replied, looking back at the doctor and the scanner at the sealed door. “Tell me, how does that work?” He asked, pointing towards the device on the wall.

“It’s the controls to the cell door, its coded to my voice, ocular scan and handprint… It wont open without all three of those indicators.” He answered, still baffled how the creature was able to talk so fluently, before its capture and containment, it showed no signs of intelligence in any way.

Leaning back and scratching his chin in thought, the Wendigo frowned, snorting in disappointment, and made the doctor cringe and turn away from the heat and stink of its hot breath. “So that means I can’t get out if you are dead, how disappointing… Very well, I spare you.”

“What?” Surprised, Doctor Henrys found himself being grabbed by the scruff of his lab coat and hoisted back up to his feet with the same ease as if he weighed a feather. Gently nudged towards the lock where the screen chimed and lit up to his presence. “Open it… And I let you go alive.”

Shaking and hesitant, Henrys slowly turned to look over his shoulder to find the lead Wendigo looking down at him expectantly, the rest of the wendigo growled and drooled in anticipation. With a rise if his eyebrow and a slight gesture with his claw to indicate he had better get started, the doctor leaned down and peered into the ocular scanner and placed his hand on the pad. “Voice recognition required.” Stated the device in a metallic female voice. “Doctor Samuel Henrys.” A chime and ping sound went off just before the metallic cell door hissed and began to open with the heavy clunk of steel gears. When the door opened fully, the lead wendigo gently gripped the doctor’s shoulder and guided him out into the hall.

“W-who are you… Really?” He asked, darting his eyes all around him as they passed one cell after the other.

“An interesting question, good doctor.” Replied the creature, leaning down to hunch over behind the man and tap his own chin in thought. “This vessel had a name before I took his body, he was the one that caused my punishment to become an outbreak… And gave me quite the inspiration.”

“What do you mean?”

“What indeed, proselytism my good doctor, it would seem that with so many afflicted by my curse, their growing numbers empowered me beyond my limits; their hunger became my strength, so much so I was no longer bound by the northern lands, if I so chose, I could have conquered the world in an endless horde of my wendigo… And I will, once I’m out of course.”

Taking in what he was being informed and trying to ignore Cletus Kassidy’s laughter from his cell as they passed it by, the other inmates watched the procession of monsters follow the terrified doctor out of the heavy security wing. Stopped in their place when several SHIELD guards arrived suited with hulk buster gear and started barking commands for them to stop where they were. Sizing up the forces aiming their weapons on him and his hostage, the creature waved his hand and the trio of wendigo trailing behind him lunged forward and attacked. Closing his eyes and whimpering, he felt the Wendigo holding his lab coat tightly, preventing him from running off as he heard gunfire and screaming.

“My brothers and sisters of the North disagreed with my world view however, robbed me of my divinity, they thought me destroyed when the Alpha Flight and X-Men had done away with me… Fitting that I assume the vessel of he who caused this all in the first place.”

“W-what?”

Looking down at the man, the Wendigo rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Of course, my apologies for prattling on and not answering your question… I am Taranaq; the northern spirit of the beast.”

Shoved towards another identity pad near the exit, the doctor looked down to watch one of the wounded guards go into convulsions, his skin going pale white as he burst out of his clothes and armor, becoming another monster to join Taranaq’s pack of wendigo. Shivering, the man complied and opened the final door and led the monsters out of the RAFT by entering the service elevator to the surface. Kept close near the leader, Doctor Henrys looked around to find the wendigo sharing the space around him glared back at him with manic stares of hunger, the only thing keeping them from killing him was Taranaq himself.

As soon as the elevator stopped and opened, the scent of the sea blew in and Taranaq breathed in the scents, smiling. Stepping out, the horde of wendigo circled and guarded their leader as he causally made his way down the helicopter platform of the RAFT with his hostage well in hand. Most of the facility was under the waters of the bay, just outside of New York City which could be seen off in the distance. Seeing the city and the dusking sun, Taranaq smiled a fanged, toothy grin. “Ah, do you smell that my children? Fresh meat…” Looking down at the doctor shaking and being held in place by his massive claw, the leader of the wendigo took on a more civil air.

“And so, I conclude our deal, I shall let you live, just as I promised.”

Looking up in trepidation and the hungry leers of the now dozen or so wendigo surrounding him, Doctor Henrys darted his head around to find a boat to escape in and hope for the best. But before he could take a step off the platform to find out, he felt the same clawed hand grab hold of his arm and pull him back. Looking up in horror, the man gasped and cried out when Taranaq bit him on the shoulder, his fangs piercing deep into his skin before he was tossed back to the ground.

“WHY?!” The doctor cried out, clutching at his wound in horror and confusion.

“Our deal was you would be left alive, I never specified in what state.”

At that moment, the doctor was overwhelmed by mind-numbing hunger, the likes of which he never knew could be felt as he looked down at his hands and watched his fingernails grow black and thick, his skin turned chalk white and white fur sprouted from the back of his hand and crept up his arm. Amused with himself as he watched the doctor struggle against the changes, Tanaraq turned to look back at the shoreline and the city, smelling the salty air and the smell of human flesh just across the shores.

“Well, come now my children, its time to spread the gospel…”