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There was some staring. Mostly from Stephen and Diana since they were the ones to cause it, and the little girl hides her hands behind her back sheepishly.
"I'm sorry. It was an accident." She says quietly and the tiger in front of her grumbles softly as it lays down.
Diana and Stephen had been practicing her magic again, and since it was just the two of them, the sorcerer didn't bother with the mirror dimension. She wasn't going to practice anything harmful or destructive so he didn't see the harm. When she was about to send a spell at Stephen though, Scott and Quill came onto the family floor. The celestial ran into something, and when whatever it was fell, the sound of breaking glass startled Diana and she accidentally sent her spell at the couple.
Now Quill was a tiger, and Scott was a fox.
Athena was actually visibly confused but thankfully wasn't threatened by the new animals, so Stephen assumed that Quill and Scott still smelt like themselves. As long as they didn't try to suddenly attack Stephen or Diana, Athena would not attack. Quill just took to sighing and getting settled on the ground in the living room, and Scott laid next to him until Stephen came up with a reversal spell.
Weird was usual in the tower nowadays.
"I'm sorry Mommy."
Stephen looks down at Diana and gently pats her head with a smile. "No harm done. Like you said, it was an accident and I'll be able to fix it. We should probably call it a day though."
"Okay."
The Sorcerer Supreme moves his hands intricately as he forms the reversal spell, but when he sends it at his team members, the spell only evaporates. Stephen sighs and opens a gateway to the lake house, and the motions to it as he looks at the two new animals. The spell that Wong used on him and the kids to turn them back to humans from wolves didn't work on Quill and Scott, so he would have to look into it. For now though, it was probably better for the two to stay at the cabin. The tower was not a place for a six hundred pound tiger. Quill already almost knocked over a few things just trying to lay down.
"Come on. You'll have to stay at the lake house until I find a way to undo this." The doctor explains. Diana grabs the table that Quill accidentally brushes against to hold it still, and Scott hops through the gateway with the tiger close behind. "I'll be right back. If your father gets home before I do, just explain what happened."
"Okay." The little girl responds.
Stephen walks through the gateway and it closes behind him after Athena charges through it to follow him, and watches in amusement as Scott makes use of the pet door Tony had installed for the wolf. Quill on the other hand stops at the bottom of the patio steps, and knowing there's no possible way he can get through the tiny door, he looks over at Stephen.
"There should be enough room in the living room for you, but that's just to sleep. Assuming I can't fix this tonight." Stephen says as he passes the tiger and opens the door for Quill after Athena also makes use of the pet door. "If that's the case, you'll either have to hunt or I'll have to order an emergency supply of meat. This is all private property so no one will see you."
Quill growls gently as he carefully makes his way into the house and over to the most open area of the living room, and is about to lay down when they see Scott trying to drag a pillow meant for the pets over to the open space. It was one of the bigger and heavier pillows meant for Athena, so the fox was having some trouble with it until Quill took mercy on him and helped him drag it over the rest of the way. Scott waits patiently as the tiger settles part of himself into it, and as soon as Quill is comfortable, the fox wiggles himself between the tiger's front paws and under his head. Stephen raises an eyebrow when Scott rests his head on one of the giant paws he's lying between, and then shakes his head.
"You know, under normal circumstances, he would be eating you right now." Stephen tells the fox and the tiger chuffs. "Not like that. Honestly…" He sighs out.
Stephen leaves them to their nap and promises to return to either turn them back into humans or feed them dinner, and portals out of the lake house and to the Sanctum. After hours of study and a quick explanation of the current predicament to Wong, he unfortunately had to return to the cabin without a reversal spell. His fellow sorcerer had told him that he would have to tweak the spell that he used to change Stephen and the children back to humans because not only had Diana cast the spell, but Quill and Scott were not wolves. Stephen's daughter casting the spell apparently made a difference since she was born from magic.
Before he went back to the cabin, Stephen went back to the tower to explain the situation to Tony (in detail), and to ask other team members to try and keep their schedules open in case they needed someone to stay at the cabin with Quill and Scott. It wasn't that those two couldn't take care of themselves, he just wanted someone available in case something happened or to let Quill outside. Tony would rather not have to constantly replace his door if the tiger needed to get out.
Stephen asks Victor to order more meat for the tower as he grabs the entire supply from their fridge and opens a gateway back to the inside of the cabin. He leaves out enough for Quill, Scott, and Athena, put the rest in the fridge, and then feeds his wolf before getting the attention of the other two. They were exactly where he left them, only they were relaxing with the tv on instead of asleep. Stephen assumed that Scott had to find the remote and paw at it since they couldn't talk and ask FRIDAY for help.
That was an amusing image, and sure enough, when Stephen moved closer, the remote was sitting on the floor nearby.
"Dinner outside you two." The sorcerer announces and Scott gets out from his spot under the tiger's head to stretch and yawn.
Quill heaves himself to his feet and yawns with a loud groan before following Scott and Stephen outside, and the sorcerer tosses them both some meat. Well, mostly Quill, but Stephen was positive that the tiger would eat slowly until Scott got his fill, and then polish off the rest. Sure enough, when the fox was full, he sat back and Quill finished off the rest of the meat. It had been quite a bit, but Stephen was only feeding them enough to hold them over. Not the forty plus pounds tigers usually eat.
These were different circumstances after all.
"I'll be staying here tonight." Stephen tells them as he sits by the fire pit and throws a couple of logs into it previous to lighting a fire with his magic. "Stretch your legs while you can Quill...and please don't eat Gerald."
A huff was all Stephen got in response before Quill wandered away to prowl the property, and every once in a while when the sorcerer looked up from the book he was studying, he caught the fox weaving himself between the tiger's legs and under him. It was an unusual sight for normal people, but for Stephen he hardly blinked. He's most definitely seen weirder things than a tiger protecting what would usually be food. Stephen was almost tempted to bring someone who worked with and studied animals for a living just to see the confusion on their faces when they saw Quill and Scott.
Athena of course joined him after she finished her dinner, and they both enjoyed the fire until Quill and Scott came back from their walk. Those two enjoyed the fire with them for another half hour until Stephen finally decided to call it a night and extinguished the fire with one of his spells, and they all went back inside. Athena didn't mind that Quill and Scott were using one of her pillows since she would be able to sleep upstairs with her master in the bedroom, and Stephen was almost sure she knew that it was only temporary anyway.
It was also possible that she knew not to pick a fight with a tiger.
The next morning, Stephen fed himself and all of the animals (including Gerald), and he and Athena left through a gateway after letting Quill and Scott outside for the day. They were only left alone for a few minutes when another portal opened, and Bucky stepped through with Natasha. They both snigger at the couple's predicament and the soldier holds his hands up toward the tiger when he growls in warning.
"We all know you would laugh if it was someone else so calm down." Bucky placates the beast before he and Nat sit at the table on the patio with a pack of cards.
The tiger lays on his side in the sun and chuffs quietly as the fox curls up against him, and the two humans occasionally look over at them as they play multiple different card games.
"Scott seems more...skittish as a fox." Nat ponders as she watches the smaller animal's ears flick periodically.
"Can you blame him. He's smart. He knows he's considered dinner to bigger animals and there are a few out here. He's going to rely on Quill a lot, especially since Quill is at the top of that food chain."
She shrugs. "I would say he could have stayed at the tower, but those two don't stay apart as long as they can help it."
"They're lucky that Cassie has school and that they can rely on the rest of us to keep an eye on her until Stephen fixes this." Bucky puts his cards down and stretches as he watches Scott get up and wander off toward the trees. Quill only lifted his head for a few moments to watch him go before laying back down. "Hungry?"
"I could use a sandwich." Natasha confirms and throws her cards onto the small table.
The two walk inside and start making themselves sandwiches, and just as Bucky grabs some meat for Quill and Scott, he and Natasha exchange looks when they hear a high pitched yelp. They both had a sinking feeling that it belonged to Scott and didn't jump into action until an earth-shaking roar followed it moments later. They drop everything and run out the door, vaulting over the patio railing, and race in the direction the fox had wandered off in not five minutes ago. It didn't take long to find the couple, and the sight that met them had Natasha springing forward. Quill was standing over Scott protectively while baring his teeth and growling at the hunter pointing a rifle at the fox, and while Natasha went after the hunter to take him down, Bucky went over to the animals. It took a lot of convincing to get the tiger to move away from the fox, and when Quill did finally move, Bucky discovered the reason for Scott's yelp.
He was caught in a bear trap.
The hunter must have pounced the moment he got caught because there was evidence of Scott trying to wiggle his way out of it, and his leg and paw were covered in blood. In fact, Bucky was pretty sure he saw some things he shouldn't be able to.
"You're okay. You're safe now." The soldier attempts to soothe the panicking fox. "You have to stop moving so I can release this okay?"
Bucky winces when the fox whines pitifully and when Scott finally calms down to sit still long enough for the soldier to release the trap, Bucky does so and watches with sympathy as the fox backs away. Scott's animal instincts seemed to be overtaking his human ones at the moment and no one could blame him. He was just caught in a trap he couldn't escape from and held at gunpoint, and now he was desperate for safety. Which he fortunately still knew was with the tiger he was pressing himself against. The tiger that looked ready to eat the hunter that Natasha was currently pulling to his feet and keeping him compliant by pressing a blade to his neck.
"I have half a mind to let the tiger maul you." She threatens.
"I have a license--"
"Which is null and void on private property." Nat hisses. "Don't try to give me the lame excuse that you didn't know or that you thought this wasn't part of it. You are two miles in and I know for a fact that there are signs all around." She looks over at Scott when he whines again and starts to lick his wounded leg. "Don't let him do that, and call Mama Bear."
Bucky nods and pulls out his phone, thanking whatever god was watching that he had a signal, and calls Stephen as Natasha takes the hunter to the cabin. Quill growls in warning when the soldier stops the fox from licking his injury again and making him whimper, but the tiger does nothing to follow up. He knew Bucky wasn't trying to hurt Scott, but he was just being protective because that was exactly what Scott needed right now. To know he was safe.
The poor thing was still shaking like a leaf.
After getting ahold of the sorcerer and telling him what just transpired, Bucky hangs up. "He'll be here in just a minute. Let's get you back to the house."
He grimaces when Scott tries putting pressure on his right front paw (the injured leg), and he yelps in pain again as he holds his leg up off the ground. Before the soldier could do anything though, Quill growls softly and bends down to scruff the fox and carries him away to the cabin, leaving the soldier to follow. Bucky wanted to laugh at the look on the hunter's face (that was currently sitting tied to a chair that Nat was standing next to) when the man saw a tiger carrying a fox away instead of eating it, but refrained from doing so. He was more focused on getting his friends inside so Scott can be tended to.
Stephen steps through a portal the moment Bucky opens the door to let Quill inside, and the tiger gently deposits the fox at the sorcerer's feet. Scott tries a third time to lick his wounded leg and whines when Stephen stops him before grabbing a first aid kid from a smaller portal.
"You'll only make it worse if you do that." He reprimands softly as he kneels down. "I'm no veterinarian, but I can at least wrap your leg."
Bucky leaves the sorcerer to sanitize and wrap Scott's leg, and walks back over to the kitchen to finish making lunch for himself and Natasha. When he hears yelling, he looks outside and finds Tony laying into the hunter like nobody's business with Nat, and then looks over at Stephen again when the doctor stands up.
"I think he submit to his animal instincts for a few minutes back there." Bucky informs him and Stephen nods.
"I'm not surprised. Stressful situations can trigger moments like that. He's starting to come out of it."
He grabs the remaining meat out of the fridge and feeds it to the two once Quill brings Scott into the kitchen. The tiger begins to eat some of the meat, but when Scott makes no move to join him, he grumbles softly and nudges some of it toward the fox. Stephen watches carefully, and just when he's about to interfere, Scott slowly approaches the offered food and eats half of it before laying down with another whine. It was to be expected. Scott was hurting and the stress likely killed much of his appetite, but Stephen and Quill were glad that he ate something.
Quill finished what was left, and Bucky mops up the floor where the meat had sat while the tiger scruffs and carries Scott back to the pillow. Nobody said a word when the tiger gently groomed the smaller animal, not even Tony and Natasha when they finally came in after the authorities arrived and took away the hunter. They all knew Quill was just trying to comfort Scott and help him relax again, so they pretended not to notice while they ate their own lunch. Not even when the tiger started to purr.
That was what helped the fox fall asleep after all.
Stephen stayed at the cabin after that. The other three adults returned to the tower, and since Quill refused to leave Scott's side, it was a good thing Tony was rich because the sorcerer had to order a lot of meat to feed them and Athena. The tiger was not going to hunt. He was solely focused on protecting and comforting his fox.
The doctor also stayed so he could change the bandages on Scott's leg as often as needed, and that was for another couple of days. Quill took to carrying Scott everywhere the entire time anyway, which helped the healing process some, but there were still a couple of times the sorcerer had to stop Scott because his animal instincts took over and had him chewing on the bandages.
Stephen finally tweaked the spell to change his friends back into humans on the fourth day, and approached them after telling Athena to stay in the kitchen. "I believe I finished adjusting the spell, but Scott…" The fox looks up at him. "The change back may hurt you because of your injury."
As soon as he gets a quiet bark in response, Stephen casts the spell on them, and then immediately grabs the first aid kit when Scott yells out in pain. Like the past few days, Stephen uses magic in his hands to steady them while he tends to the thief's wrist and lower forearm, and firmly wraps the injury as gently as possible. As soon as he finishes, Quill wills his light into his hands and not only cradles his husband's wounded arm, but also the back of his neck. The scars there weren't with him as a fox, but now they were probably flaring with a vengeance. From Quill's constant scruffing or the fact that Scott temporarily didn't have them, Stephen didn't know.
"Shh...baby. Just relax. I've got you." Quill whispers.
"Shit." Scott curses before booking it to the nearby bathroom and both the celestial and the doctor grimace at the sound of retching. Not from disgust, but sympathy.
"Try and ease his pain. I'll make him some soup." Stephen says and Quill nods before disappearing into the bathroom.
Stephen didn't bother with homemade soup. He just heat up some canned chicken noodle, and set it on the coffee table in the living room as Scott and Quill exited the bathroom. The younger thief was a little pale, but at the very least he looked like he was in less pain while Quill led him to the living room and they sat on the couch. To Stephen's satisfaction, Scott was more than willing to eat and surprised the other two by eating everything the sorcerer had made him. He then fell asleep against the god's chest as soon as Quill laid back against the arm of the couch, and Stephen brings them a blanket which he lays over Scott once he realizes that Quill's hand are back to soothing the younger's arm and neck.
"A little color has already come back." Stephen observes quietly.
"The pain was just too much. As glad as I am that he didn't have to deal with the scars as a fox and that I could work with that, I hate that it caught up with him."
"It's a good thing he has you then." Stephen grabs the empty bowl off the coffee table. "I'm going to make myself some dinner. Any requests?"
"Is it weird that I want a salad?" Quill asks and Stephen snorts.
"Not with all the meat you ate. How does spaghetti and salad sound?"
"Perfect. Do you need help?"
"No. You worry about Scott and keep him comfortable." Stephen replies gently.
"Thanks Mama Bear."
"It's the least I can do after my daughter put you two into that situation."
"It was an accident. No big deal."
"Either way, we're practicing in the mirror dimension from now on."