Nick Fury is my Uncle -COMPLETED-

Chapter Eleven: The List

Chapter Eleven:

The List

*****

Natasha Romanoff: [all arguing in the lab] Are you really that dense? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats.

Bruce Banner: Captain America is on threat watch?

Natasha Romanoff: We ALL are!

Tony Stark: [to Rogers] You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?

Steve Rogers: I swear, Stark, one more wisecrack out of you...

Tony Stark: Verbal threat! Threatening! I'm being threatened!

****

The conference room was like nothing I had ever seen before. There were chairs and a table, yes, but everything was made to be functional, not pretty. The floor was dark carpet and the table was long and plain. The chairs weren’t comfy swivel chairs but straight-backed wooden ones.

This was meant to be a place where you couldn’t get comfortable.

Just as Rhodes had said, we were in the back of the room and my uncle had not even acknowledged me yet. There were several important looking people I didn’t recognize.

Rhodes pointed out a tall powerfully built man with thinning hair as Hastings. There were about ten people present when Fury began, including the two agents standing watch by the entrance and me and Rhodes. Every person there had a security badge and a file labeled with a big red TOP SECRET on the front. There was the sound of rustling paper as Fury started to talk.

“We’ve got a grave situation on our hands. Ryder Hasbrook, Subject 23, is gone, presumably kidnapped by the same people who got into our system.

“You all are familiar with the tests Ryder was a part of, and equally aware of his prominence as the most promising subject. You also know of the setbacks and difficulties we had with all test subjects, but especially Ryder.”

At the words ‘subject 23’ I sat up straight.

“As a refresher, this is Project Delphi and its aim was to create a stronger strain of human, like but also unlike what was done with Captain America. This is also on The List.”

I wasn’t sure what the feeling inside me was, shock or something else. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to process it. S.H.I.E.L.D had been conducting top-secret enhancement tests on one of my friends. I went back in my mind, trying to pinpoint anything about Ryder that hinted at the fact that he was being molded into a…a…a what? A hero? That didn’t seem right.

I leaned over to Rhodes. "What's the List?"

"The tippy-top secrets," she answered under her breath, "The biggest, baddest, most dangerous secrets S.H.I.E.L.D has. The Avengers were on the list."

Just then, my thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the conference room burst open, and two people walked in. I recognized one as Dr. Banner, whom I had met yesterday.

The other was a sandy-haired man in his twenties. He was tall, with broad shoulders and muscled arms.

Everyone stopped and turned to stare at the intruders. Dr. Banner looked like her belonged. He was wearing a pair of dress slacks and a dress shirt with a loosely secured tie. The other man was in a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and hiking boots.

“Speak of the devil,” said Fury in greeting. “Dr. Banner, Steve, take a seat. Agent Li, get them the copy of the file, please,” he said to the agent standing nearby. He turned back to the two men, “You can update yourselves,” he said and returned back to his topic.