The conference room felt smaller than usual with everyone crammed inside. David stood at the head of the table, Marcus beside him with a laptop queued to security footage that would change everything. Through the windows, Brooklyn stretched out in late afternoon light , ordinary people going about their lives, completely unaware that the man who'd built half their neighborhood could manipulate matter with his mind.
Sofia arrived last, balancing three coffee cups and a energy drink. "Sorry, sorry. Traffic was , " She stopped mid-sentence, reading the room. "Oh. This is one of those meetings."
"Sit," Marcus said. Not unkind, but the military edge was there.
James already had his arms crossed, CFO face fully engaged. Sarah kept fidgeting with her pen. Patricia sat perfectly still in that way that meant she was processing everything at triple speed. Isabella and Elena had claimed spots together, hands almost touching on the table. Tyler looked like he wanted to sink through his chair and disappear into the foundation below.
David had rehearsed this. Practiced what he'd say, how he'd explain. All that prep evaporated the moment he opened his mouth.
"Three days ago, six armed men tried to kill me at the Red Hook site." He gestured to Marcus. "Show them."
The security footage rolled. Grainy but clear enough. David walking the perimeter, checking measurements. The van screeching up. Men pouring out, weapons raised. What happened next looked like a movie with a massive special effects budget.
Concrete flowing like water. Steel bending into impossible curves. A man lifted off his feet and slammed into a wall that shouldn't have moved. David's hand pressed against a support beam, and the entire scaffolding structure twisted itself into a cage around three attackers. The ground rippled. A barrier formed from nothing , no, not nothing. From particles too small to see, suspended in air and hardened into something that stopped bullets cold.
The footage cut out when David shattered every camera within fifty feet.
Silence filled the conference room like a physical presence.
Sofia spoke first, naturally. "Holy shit. You're a bender. Like Avatar but with buildings instead of elements. Can you do the cool hand motions? Please tell me you do the hand motions."
"Sofia," James said quietly. Then louder, to David: "How long?"
"Since I woke up here. Three years, two months, seventeen days."
"You've been hiding this the entire time." Not a question. James's jaw worked like he was chewing glass. "Everything we've built, every decision we've made, and you've been sitting on powers that could , " He gestured vaguely at the frozen screen. "That."
"Yes."
"Why?" Sarah's voice cracked slightly. "David, we trusted you. We've followed you into situations that could have gotten us killed. And you never thought to mention that you're basically a superhero?"
David had expected anger. Anticipated betrayal, accusations, maybe someone walking out. What he hadn't prepared for was the genuine hurt in Sarah's tone, the way Isabella's hand had moved to cover her mouth, or the fact that Tyler wouldn't meet his eyes.
"I needed to be sure." The words sounded weak even to him. "Sure that I could control it. That it wouldn't corrupt the mission or make us targets. That people wouldn't see the Foundation as just another enhanced individual's personal project."
"Targets." Patricia leaned forward, every inch the tactical analyst. "You said six men. Professional?"
"Former military. Coordinated. Well-equipped." Marcus pulled up another file. "We traced the van to a shell company. Three layers deep before the trail goes cold, but the pattern matches Meridian's network."
"Hydra sent a hit squad after you," Elena said slowly, "because they found out about your powers?"
"Maybe. Or because the Foundation is disrupting their operations. Or because I've been too visible since the invasion." David rubbed his face. "I don't know. That's the problem with foreknowledge that's already proven unreliable. I can't tell what's a reaction to my existence and what would have happened anyway."
Sofia had pulled out her tablet, fingers flying. "Okay, backing up. You manipulate physical matter. Buildings, specifically?"
"Structures I've designed work best. Materials I'm familiar with. But yeah, anything physical and architectural."
"Range?"
"Don't know exactly. Definitely the whole building I'm standing in. Farther if I push it."
"Limitations?"
"Mental exhaustion. Physical strain if I do too much. Works best with direct contact but I can manage some distance." David demonstrated, and the water in everyone's cups rippled in perfect synchronization. Isabella gasped. "Stop showing off," he added to himself, and the water stilled.
"This is why our buildings are impossible," James said flatly. "Why the structural engineering makes no sense. Why you can design things that shouldn't work and they do anyway."
"Partially. I'm still a good architect. But yes, I... enhance things. Make them stronger, more resilient. The Chitauri invasion would have been worse if I hadn't."
Tyler finally looked up, voice small. "The South Bronx building. When I asked why you were building a fortress. You said hope. But you already knew it would work because you'd make it work."
"Tyler , "
"No, it's fine." But his voice said it wasn't fine at all. "I just thought we were building something together. Turns out you were just... I don't know. Playing architect while having actual superpowers the whole time."
That one hurt. David had known it would, but knowing didn't help.
"The question," Patricia said, cutting through the tension with practiced efficiency, "is what we do now. David's powers are revealed to us. Presumably to whoever sent that hit squad. And possibly to others if they had surveillance we didn't catch."
"We contain it." Marcus pulled up another slide. "Limited disclosure. Team only. Stark and Banner already know , they were there during the Ultron incident. Coulson knows or suspects. But we keep it quiet otherwise."
"Why?" Isabella's hands had moved from her mouth to pressed flat against the table. "David, if you can do these things, if you're enhanced, why hide it? Think about what you could accomplish if people knew. The buildings you could create, the disasters you could prevent , "
"The target it would paint on everyone associated with me," David interrupted. "The scrutiny it would bring to the Foundation. The questions about every project we've ever built. Isabella, we're trying to create sustainable community infrastructure. The moment I'm public as enhanced, we become a superhero organization whether we want to or not."
"He's right." Sofia didn't look happy about agreeing. "Public enhanced status means federal oversight, mandatory registration if those Sokovia Accords ever pass, and constant surveillance. Not to mention every villain with a grudge would know exactly where to find him."
"So we lie," James said. "Continue lying, I mean. To our staff, our partners, everyone."
"Not lying. Omitting." Patricia's tone suggested she found the distinction meaningful. "David's architectural abilities are well-documented. His personal capabilities are his business. We simply don't volunteer information that wasn't requested."
"Semantics." But James nodded slowly. "Fine. I can work with semantics. But David, this changes the risk profile of everything we do. Insurance, liability, legal exposure , I need to know if there are other surprises waiting."
"Like what?"
"Like can you read minds? Teleport? Turn invisible? Shoot laser beams from your eyes?"
"No, no, no, and definitely no."
"Good. Because my actuarial tables don't cover most of that." James pulled out his phone, already typing. "I'll need to restructure some of our coverage. Quietly. Melissa in legal owes me a favor."
Sarah hadn't said much since her initial outburst. When she finally spoke, her scientist brain had clearly been working overtime. "The buildings hold too well. During the invasion, I watched structural damage that should have caused cascading failures. It didn't. You were holding them together."
"All eight thousand plus people we sheltered," David confirmed. "I was in the South Bronx building, but my attention was spread across every Foundation property. It nearly killed me. Marcus found me passed out in my office three hours after the portal closed."
"Jesus." Sarah looked genuinely shaken. "David, that's... the scale of that... do you understand what you did? The thermodynamic energy required to maintain structural integrity across that many buildings simultaneously?"
"I try not to think about it too hard. The math makes my head hurt."
"The math should make your head explode. You basically became a living load-bearing structure for half of Brooklyn and the Bronx." She laughed, slightly hysterical. "And you're sitting here worried about insurance liability."
"To be fair," Sofia chimed in, "insurance liability is pretty scary."
Elena had been quiet, watching everyone react. The community organizer in her was reading the room, David realized. Measuring the temperature. When she spoke, it was measured. "David, I understand why you hid this. Truly. But going forward, we need transparency within this group. All of us. Because if we're making decisions about the Foundation's future, we need complete information."
"Agreed," Patricia said immediately.
"Seconded," from James.
"I want in on the training sessions," Sofia added. "If David's doing superhero stuff, someone needs to document his power limits. For science. And safety. Mostly science."
"Absolutely not , "
"Too late, already decided. Marcus, you're helping. We'll need baselines, stress tests, maximum range calculations , "
Marcus actually cracked a smile. "You want to turn David into a lab rat."
"A very capable, structurally-manipulating lab rat. With proper documentation."
Despite everything, David felt something loosen in his chest. They were angry, yes. Hurt, definitely. But they were also problem-solving, adapting, moving forward. It was so perfectly on-brand for this team that he almost laughed.
Tyler still looked miserable though. David made a mental note to talk with him separately. The kid had abandonment issues a mile deep, and this revelation had probably triggered every one of them.
"One more thing," Marcus said, pulling up a final image. The mercenary team, close-ups of faces. "These men are professionals. Former military, probably private security that went black ops. Someone paid significant money to take David out. That means either Hydra has escalated, or we have a new enemy we haven't identified yet."
"Or both," James muttered.
"Sofia and I are tracking financial trails. But David, you need to be careful. Vary your routes. Don't go anywhere alone. And for the love of god, stop walking construction sites at night by yourself."
"I was checking the rebar placement , "
"Delegate. That's literally what Tyler's for."
Tyler perked up slightly at that. "I mean, he's not wrong. I could do night inspections. I'm there anyway half the time."
"See? Delegation. Try it sometime." Marcus closed the laptop. "Anything else we should know? Secret identical twin? Hidden family? Alien DNA?"
"No, no, and probably not." David paused. "Though I never actually checked the alien DNA thing."
"Not funny," Sarah said, but her lips twitched.
Isabella raised her hand like they were in grade school. "Question. Can you fix my apartment's bathroom? The tile's been loose for three months and my landlord's useless."
"That's not really , "
"Because if you can manipulate physical structures, seems like home repair would be easy. I'm just saying. Skills are skills."
"I'll add it to the list," David said dryly. Right between 'survive assassination attempts' and 'prevent Ultron 2.0.'
"Motion to adjourn," Patricia announced. "We've covered the major points. David's enhanced, we're keeping it quiet, and we all have follow-up tasks. James, you handle legal restructuring. Sofia and Marcus, continue the investigation. Everyone else, maintain operational security and normal routines."
"And group therapy," Isabella added. "Because we definitely need to process this as a team."
"I'm not doing therapy," Marcus said immediately.
"You absolutely are. We all are. This is a trust thing, Marcus. We work through trust things together."
"I've been working through trust things for three years. It's called the United States Army."
"And how'd that work out for you?"
Marcus opened his mouth. Closed it. "Fine. One session. But I'm not doing any feelings circles."
"We'll see about that." Isabella's smile was pure sunshine and determination.
People started gathering their things, conversations breaking into smaller groups. Sarah pulled David aside as others filtered out.
"I'm angry," she said quietly. "Really angry. But I also get it. The fear of being seen as just another enhanced person trying to play god with people's lives." She glanced at her hands. "I left Stark Industries because I didn't want my work weaponized. You kept your powers hidden for the same reason."
"Sarah , "
"Let me finish. I'm angry because you didn't trust us. But I also understand why trusting was hard. So I'm going to be angry for a little while, and then I'm going to get over it, and then we're going to figure out how to move forward. Okay?"
David nodded, throat tight. "Okay."
"But David? No more secrets. Not from us. We're your people. Act like it."
She left before he could respond.
Sofia lingered near the door, Tyler hovering behind her. "Hey," she said. "Kid wants to talk to you. I'll be in my office doing highly illegal financial forensics if anyone asks."
Then it was just David and Tyler in the conference room, afternoon light slanting through windows, and three years of mentorship suddenly feeling fragile.
"You want to yell at me?" David asked. "Now's your chance."
Tyler shook his head. "I don't want to yell. I just... when you found me, when you gave me this job, I thought it was because you saw something in me. Talent, potential, whatever. Now I'm wondering if you just needed someone expendable to do the grunt work while you saved your actual powers for important stuff."
"Tyler, no. God, no." David moved closer. "I hired you because you're brilliant. Because you see buildings the way I do, like living things instead of just structures. Your talent is real. Your work is essential. My powers don't change that."
"But you could do everything I do. Better and faster."
"I could manipulate materials, sure. But I can't envision the way you do. I can't problem-solve construction challenges with your instinct. And I definitely can't inspire crews the way you've learned to." David caught Tyler's eyes. "You're not expendable. You're not a placeholder. You're the future of what we're building here, powers or not."
Tyler's jaw worked. "You really mean that?"
"I wouldn't say it otherwise. Tyler, you're nineteen years old and already running operations that architects twice your age couldn't handle. You did that. Your skill, your work ethic, your talent. I just gave you the opportunity. You did everything else."
Some of the tension bled out of Tyler's shoulders. "Okay. Okay." He took a shaky breath. "It's just... I spent my whole life being told I wasn't worth anything. And you made me feel like I was. Like I mattered. Finding out you've been superhuman this whole time kind of made me question if any of it was real."
"It's real. All of it. And Tyler?" David hesitated, then figured what the hell, they were already being honest. "You matter more to me than the buildings. More than the powers. You're family. Actual family. The kind you choose. Got it?"
Tyler's eyes went suspiciously shiny. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it." He scrubbed at his face. "Okay. I'm good. We're good. But if you ever lie to me again, I'm telling Isabella, and she'll organize an intervention so comprehensive you'll wish those mercenaries had finished the job."
"Noted."
Tyler headed for the door, paused. "The thing you did with the concrete. That was pretty cool though."
"Sofia's already planning training montages. You can watch if you want."
"Obviously I want. I'm not missing that."
He left grinning, which David counted as a win.
Alone in the conference room, David pulled out his phone. Seven missed calls from Tony Stark. A text from Coulson that just said "We need to talk." And an email from Banner with the subject line "Heard you had an interesting week."
The secret was spreading, controlled but spreading. His team knew. Some Avengers knew. Hydra knew or suspected. How long before everyone knew? And when that happened, what would it mean for everything they'd built?
David looked out at Brooklyn, at the buildings standing strong in late light. His buildings. His work. But also the work of hundreds of people who'd poured literal blood and sweat into making them real. Tyler's buildings now too. The Foundation's buildings.
He'd spent three years hiding, convinced that secrecy was the same as safety. Maybe it was time to accept that true safety came from trust, from community, from people who had your back even when you screwed up.
His phone buzzed. Marcus, texting the group chat: "Training session tomorrow, 0600, warehouse in Red Hook. David's buying breakfast."
Sofia: "Documented training session. With measurements. And snacks."
James: "Bring liability waivers."
Patricia: "I'll coordinate security perimeter."
Isabella: "Group processing session afterward. Mandatory."
Tyler: "Can I invite the construction crew? They won't believe this."
Marcus: "Absolutely not."
Tyler: "Worth a shot."
Sarah: "I'm bringing medical equipment. Just in case."
Elena: "Someone's making a supply run to handle this properly. I'm texting a list."
David watched the messages roll in, his people organizing around him like they always did. Adapting. Problem-solving. Moving forward together.
Maybe he'd been wrong about a lot of things. But assembling this team? That he'd gotten right.
He typed a response: "Same coffee order as always. And Sofia, no measuring my skull while I'm sleeping."
Sofia: "YOU DO THAT ONE TIME..."
Marcus: "Wait, what?"
Sofia: "NOTHING FORGET I SAID ANYTHING."
David pocketed his phone and headed for the door. Outside, Brooklyn waited. Inside, his team was already planning their next move.
Three years of secrets, revealed in one afternoon. And somehow, impossibly, they were still here. Still his people. Still the Foundation.
He'd spent so long afraid of what would happen when they learned the truth. Turned out the truth was just the beginning of a different kind of building , one based on trust instead of mystery, collaboration instead of control.