"He refused to reveal any information." Natasha Romanoff put down the phone. "I don't understand. If you consider him an enemy, why would you believe he'd reveal any intelligence to us?"
"If you considered him an enemy, you wouldn't be standing beneath this camera, making that call in front of me." Nick Fury's words made Bruce Banner nervous, but he still chose to trust the mysterious King of Agents for the moment. His past experiences had taught him that Nick Fury was not the kind of man who would betray him. He told himself that he was safe here, that he would not be attacked. Natasha Romanoff's presence gave him a strong sense of security. "His omniscience is the dark cloud hanging over our heads. We cannot oppose him on the level of information. What surprises me is why you would still work for him in the face of such a threat."
"Because of where Tony Stark was found."
The female spy looked into the hospital room.
Beyond the corridor windows lay downtown Houston. Half the city had now fallen into darkness, while red and blue lights spilled from the edges of buildings made of reinforced concrete and glass curtain walls. News helicopters still circled above the city, their blinking navigation lights like starlight floating in the air. Panic spread through the city. Local police had deployed every available force to prevent riots, and heavily armed SWAT officers patrolled the urban districts in wheeled riot-control vehicles. Yet clusters of fire burned in the slums where order was needed most. Sporadic gunfire lingered overhead on that sweltering autumn night like the tide, like an invisible, transparent beast constantly expanding and shrinking before returning once again with murder and violence. Firelight and the few remaining lights reflected patches of grayish-red mildew across