Susan Storm; The invisible Wendigo.

Walking through a stark corridor in the sub-levels of the raft, three men walked down the hallway of the supermax containment center; one devoted to containing the most dangerous of prisoners SHIELD had ever found and contained. Unlike other facilities, THIS one was designed for each specific inmate they kept watchful eye on. Almost every corridor was met with a pair of armed and armored guards, eyeing the trio of men as they passed each, their actions scrutinized as they made their way down to their destination.

Looking to the cells to the left of them, each was painstakingly designed and built to hold their prisoners. Emil Blonsky; the Abomination, sat glaring out the portcullis of his cell, his arms and legs bound in vibranium manacles and chains while the entire surface of his cell acted as a massive radiation collector, sapping the gamma out of him at all times. Even so, the creature lost none of its size, mass, or temper. A low growl escaping his lips when one of the visitors chanced to peep into his cell and regretted it. Next to that was the cell to Kletus Kassidy, Carnage. The psychopath had free range of his cell, containment by any kind of bindings were impossible. The three never noticed, but the interior of the sound proof cell was a riot of subharmonic noise, unnoticeable to the human ear, but the red symbiote permanently latched to the mass murderer squirmed and writhed, unable to concentrate long enough to take any form necessary to escape. If the man had anything worth say to the trio walking past his cell, they were unable to hear him.

“I’m glad you two decided to agree to SHIELD’s request in this matter.” Spoke up the man leading the other two behind him as they passed another cell. The SHIELD director looking over his shoulder with a harsh look when they approached the cell at the back of the hall, leading them to its door. “My superiors felt that OUR crew would be the best to deal with this… Personally? They don’t know shit!” Crouching to have the ocular scanner read his good eye, the locks and security systems turned green and the whirl of heavy locks unclipped before the two-foot-thick door creaked and groaned open for the three to enter. Stepping inside Director Nick Fury, Doctor Stephen Strange and Doctor Reed Richards looked up at the subject contained in the cell.

“THIS is…”

Surrounding the patient at the center of the cell, both doctors looked down in shock.

“This is the wendigo, or one of them anyway.”

Bound in a straight jacket comprised of an unfamiliar polymer and strapped in a gurney in the center of the room, its body chained and bound to all four corners of the cell, lay the Wendigo. Several IV tubes were stuck in its arm and neck pumping powerful sedatives into its bloodstream from a nearby series of fluid filled bags.

“This is highly unusual… I thought the Wendigo curse was only limited to the borders of Canada.” Wondered Reed, scratching his chin as he checked the massive creature over. If it were standing, it would have been well over 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Broad chested and solid with muscle rivalling that of the Hulk, its body was covered in thick white fur and long hair over its scalp that draped over its shoulders. Its bare hands and feet sported thick black claws not unlike those of a bear and a long prehensile tail that dangled at the side of the gurney. Although its face was still humanoid, there were traces of feline features there too; a flattened nose, black lips with fangs just poking out the bottom of the upper lip and long spaded ears. Some would have confused the creature for huge, muscled anthropomorphic lion man if not for the black horns growing out of the crown of the creature’s skull.

“It was, or at least THEY were.” Explained Doctor Strange as he stood opposite from the sedated monster, giving it the same studious attention as Reed was. “About a year ago there was an incident in Ontario; a at a meat processing plant that lead the killer to try and dispose of the body by tossing the corpse in the meat processor. In the span of 42 hours several towns had been cursed instantly after consuming the meat.”

“My goodness!”

“Indeed, a joint effort with SHIELD, Alpha Flight, the X-Men and Avengers were called in to contain the situation.” Explained Fury, circling the two as they studied the sedated wendigo between them. “Seems Cap had the right idea to lure them across the national border which lifted the curse… Until it didn’t.”

“That was because of the forest spirit Tanaraq.” Doctor Strange continued, stand up straight and reading the sedatives being injected into the creature. “He was the cause of the Wendigo curse, seems he took the opportunity on the matter and wanted to make himself a god, bending the rules to his own curse and made it a plague. Last I heard the rest of the spirits with the X-Men killed him.”

“And doing that turned everyone afflicted back to normal.”

“So…” Wondered Reed. “Why not THIS specimen?”

“That’s why YOU two are here, we ended up picking this one up in the woods of Adirandack Park after we got reports of missing pets and hunters during deer hunting season.” Moving over to tap a finger against the IV bags, the trio watched as the monster twitched, but remained sedated. “We’ve been pumping enough of this stuff in him to keep him out of it, funny really, he’s gone through enough to knock out a herd of elephants.”

His interest peaked, Doctor Strange turned to leave the cell where he was met by the guards outside. “With the defeat of Tanaraq, the curse should have been lifted, interesting, I will try to determine the cause of this anomaly.”

“And what of me? I would think that curses and spirits are a little outside of my field of expertise. Wouldn’t you?” Replied Reed Richards with a shrug, understanding the situation but unsure of why he was there. Stepping over to a small tray, Nick Fury brought a sealed container with three sharp teeth rattling inside when passed to Mr. Fantastic.

“We tried getting samples from this thing; hair, blood, we even pulled a couple teeth before they grew back. From what we learned from the Ontario fiasco, this curse was spread by bites after the initial outbreak, that’s never happened before, if its not related to the curse and if it can be reversed or prevented I’d like to see if that can be done with science AS WELL as magic.”

Picking up the container of samples, Reed Richards gave the container a sharp look before nodding to the SHIELD director. “Covering all your bases I see, alright then director, I’ll see what I can find and provide you with a report once I have something.” Looking back at the sedated creature before leaving with the guards circling the cell’s entrance, Reed made one last look to the Wendigo laying on the gurney. “By the way, were you able to identify who this was?”

“What’s the point? After the damage this thing has done, I’m more interested in how to get ride of it then who it used to be, besides…” Flicking the creature’s ear with his fingers and not even getting a flinch as a response, Director Fury continued. “If we ever did return him to normal, he’d HANG himself after learning who he killed and ate.”

Breathing in sharply, Reed bundled the samples under his arm and joined Doctor Strange in the hallway. “Always a pleasure speaking with you Director Fury…”

*

3 days later…

Sighing and leaning back into his seat, Reed Richards rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. He had run tests on the samples given to him by SHIELD for the better part of 72 hours since he arrived home, barely taking any time for himself to eat or sleep, and it was showing on his face; sporting a shaggier beard and rings under his eyes. Feeling a second pair of hands come up from behind him and gently massage his shoulders and neck, Reed smiled and opened one of his eyes to look up to find his wife Susan leaning over him with a warm smile.

“Hey there sleepy head, rough morning?” Cooed Susan as she playfully combed her fingers through Reed’s hair and beard.

“Morning? What time is it?” Sitting up, Reed looked around to find a clock to tell the time from. Giggling, Susan slowed her husband’s frantic actions, her smile never leaving her lips. “I’m kidding Reed, its 8 PM.”

Sighing, Reed slumped back down on his chair and exhaled, getting a peck on the forehead from Susan just as she moved to stand beside his chair and look over what he had been researching. Finding several vials and samples that Reed had already gone over and gave up on. “What did you find so far sweety?”

“That its all human tissue…”

Bundling up some of the reports he had already finished printing off, Reed showed his wife the results of his current research, scratching at his beard in frustration over the results he found over the last three days, or at least the LACK of results. Despite the state the samples were in when provided to Reed, all he had discovered were the fangs were human, the blood was human, and the fur was human. “This is why I hate magic; it defies natural science in favour of the unreal.”

“Did you at least find something useful?” Susan asked, closing the folder, and picking up one of the fangs Reed had been studying between her fingers.

“Only a name, at least I found out who our Wendigo is.” Typing a command on his computer, Reed brought up a news clipping for a missing persons report from the incident that year. “Richard Smith… 28 years of age, he was among the wendigo lured across the border by Captain America and placed in a medical tent with the others before the curse expanded and he and a few other patients turned again. It was believed when everyone turned back with the of Tanaraq, he returned to normal like the others… Apparently that was not the case.”

“So now SHIELD has in its custody a Wendigo OUTSIDE of Canada under heavy sedatives until… What? Have they bothered to tell this man’s family?”

“Pff… They consider him a lost cause and didn’t bother with identifying him.”

“Well that’s terrible… OUCH!” Dropping the fang between her fingers, Susan looked down at her thumb to find the fang had been sharp enough to draw blood.

“SUSAN! Are you okay?”

“Yeah… My fault shouldn’t have been playing with the damned thing.” Bringing her thumb to her mouth, Susan and Reed found the fang tip on the floor and returned it to the sampling case. Kissing her husband on the forehead again, Susan stood up and made to leave the lab. “I think you’ve been at this for a WHILE reed, come to bed, get some sleep.”

“Yeah… I think I’ll do that in a bit.”

Waving off her husband and turning the corner out of his lab, the Invisible Woman looked back down to her thumb, finding the injury had healed itself. Thinking nothing of the mild paper cut of a scratch Susan Storm made her way to the bedroom until she felt her stomach growl. Rubbing her middle, she looked down and turned her attention to the refrigerator across to the kitchen. Pursing her lips, Susan shrugged and made her way to open the fridge. “Guess a late night snack couldn’t hurt…”