Nick Fury is my Uncle -COMPLETED-

Chapter Six: Uh-ho

Steve Rogers: Stark, we need a plan of attack!

Tony Stark: I have a plan: attack.

From the Avengers

*************************************************************************************************************************

Chapter Six: Uh-ho

I threw myself back hastily, aware now of the enormity of what I was doing.

I had done mouth-to-mouth on the boy I had a crush on. While I was doing it, all I had been thinking was about saving his life. Nothing else had entered my mind, not the threat of losing him, not the fear of what was going to happen to me, not even a fluttering feeling when I had been administering breaths.

Ryder moaned lowly. I crawled forward. His eyes were still closed. Getting over my embarrassment, I decided it was still safe. I slapped him soundly across the face, and my hand came away smeared with blood. The pain should get him up, at least.

I was right. Ryder’s eyes flew open. “What was that?” he sounded angry, alert, and very much alive.

“A wake up call,” I said.

He stared at me for a second. Relief spread across his bloodied features. “I’m me? I’m back?”

I nodded.

Ryder grinned and then his mouth went slack with shock. Before I could do anything, he was on his hands and knees, coughing violently. Blood sprayed the autumn foliage.

I leapt to my feet, but Ryder was already sitting up again, wiping his arm across his face. It did little to help, altering his appearance to that of a grotesque stage actor who had smeared their make-up.

He touched his face gingerly. Then he reached for the hem of the black t-shirt I had put on that morning, and lifted it up. I steeled myself, and I was right to do so.

A deep, jagged wound ran from just below his ribs horizontally over his torso, perhaps from flying glass. The cut was so deep I imagined I could see the served muscle, and I glanced away, shuddering.  I wondered if in doing the chest compressions, I had done more damage.

“I need help,” stated Ryder, looking woozy. “I’ve lost too much blood.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, “But I decided that the hospital was too risky.”

Ryder ignored me and tugged off his t-shirt and jacket and then pressed the soft cotton material of the shirt against his wound. “I’ve got to apply pressure,” he said.

The rest of his body was like a grisly work of abstract art. He was covered in long scrapes, ugly bruises, and several minor cuts. I wondered if I looked the same way. “We should be glad it was only this bad,” he said, catching me staring.

Then he pointed upward and I glanced up the hill. The car had flipped the guardrail and had rolled several times before its progress had been halted by a tangle of thick bushes. He was right, I decided, it could’ve been a lot worse.

“I died.”

I looked at him, startled by the outburst. Was this caused by blood loss? Or maybe he had hit his head too hard. “No. You were unconscious,” I said slowly.

“My heart stopped. I died,” he seemed agitated.  I could hear his breathing from where I was, harsh and rattling. “I tried to…Oh, God…” he closed his eyes.

I couldn’t decide what to do. “Are…are you okay?” it was the stupidest question in the world to ask but I couldn’t think of anything else.

“Did I have a pulse?” demanded Ryder, as if I’d said nothing.

“No.”

Ryder started muttering to himself, his gaze fixed at a random part of the ground. “So I miraculously came back to life? Started breathing? My heart just started beating?”

I took a shaky breath. “I administered CPR.”

“You’re trained?” asked Ryder.

“No,” I said, “I didn’t even have the remotest idea how to perform the procedure.”

“Huh,” said Ryder. “But you did it anyway.” He was frowning deeply.

“Yes. In fact, I think I did it perfectly,” I said.

“You didn’t just do Hands Only CPR did you?” he asked.

Somehow knowing what he meant, I shook my head again. “I had not the remotest idea what I was doing.” I repeated.

“But you did it perfectly,” he said something else under his breath. “He’ll know.” All of a sudden his vision cleared. “We’ve got to get to S.H.I.E.L.D.”

There was the squealing of tires on the road above, the sound of slammed doors, and loud voices. Ryder moved faster than he should’ve been able to, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me backward, into the deeper brush.

Somehow, he had gotten a hold of the switchblade I had used to free him from his seatbelt. He flicked it open. There was a dangerous look in his eyes.

“I didn’t expect them to come this soon,” he murmured. His voice grew harder. “I’ll kill them.” And he would, despite the fact that he was shirtless, bleeding, and recently back from a near-death experience. I remembered the bright flash from the barrel of the gun. He would kill them all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Why did Agent Hastings tell us to use these again?” asked Agent Rhodes, unlocking the safety on her gun.

Agent Evans shrugged. “The order came straight from Fury. I didn’t ask questions.”

“Ryder Hasbrook is on our side, though,” said Rhodes doubtfully, studying her weapon.

“Hastings didn’t seem to think so,” said Evans. "Taking him out is our priority."

"What about the girl?" asked Rhodes.

Evans shook his head, "Hastings gave the impression that bringing down Hasbrook is more important."

He opened the car door and stepped out into the afternoon light.

Rhodes released a deep breath and followed after him.

*********************************************************************

Please vote and comment! I appreciate it.

Yeah, I'm brain dead today. There's nothing else. Maybe next time.

Oh yeah, Help! I have absolutely zero knowledge of celebrities and I can't figure out who to cast for Ryder. Anybody have any ideas?