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Fury strode into SHIELD’s bio lab and made a beeline to the doctor standing by the observation window. He couldn’t hold back a sigh at what he saw in the containment area below.
"What do we have, doctor?" he asked.
"Standard animal transformation courtesy of Loki," Dr. Williams answered. "Based on previous encounters, they should all be back to normal within a few days."
Fury bit back another sigh. One of these days, he was going to pin Loki down and ask why he had such a kink for turning humans into various animals.
"Any outstanding concerns?"
"Not as far as we can tell," responded the doctor. "They’re all kittens and puppies, so there is no risk of any unplanned sexual encounters between them while in animal form."
Fury nodded. “Any idea why they’re mixed? Loki usually sticks to a single species at a time.”
"Our running theory is that Loki turned the Avengers all into cats first. When Agent Coulson and his team arrived to assist, they were transformed into the puppies."
Fury turned to the doctor with a raised eyebrow. “That’s a fairly precise theory. I know we didn’t have video on site during the transformations. Care to elaborate on how you reached your conclusion?”
"Uh…" the doctor blushed and pointed toward a corner of the room below. "We know the SHIELD backup team arrived behind the Avengers and we’re fairly certain those are Agents Barton and Coulson."
Fury followed where the doctor was pointing and a corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement.
"Very astute observation, doctor," Fury agreed. "Make sure someone gets that on video. They have an anniversary coming up."
The containment room below had been sectioned off into separate areas for the puppies and kittens. While the divider was easily scalable by any of the kittens, they seemed content to play amongst themselves as they climbed up and down the provided cat trees while the puppies romped in their area with a few rubber balls and chew toys. The exceptions to the species divide sat apart from all the others.
A small blanket had been pulled into a corner. On the blanket laid a black and white coated puppy with his arm wrapped protectively around a grey tabby kitten. The kitten was gently cleaning and grooming the parts of the puppy within reach using gentle swipes of his tongue while the puppy begrudgingly allowed it. The kitten soon grew tired and let out a huge yawn before letting his head droop down to the blanket and closing its eyes. The puppy nudged the sleeping kitten fondly, gave it a gentle lick of his own, and then laid his head down to sleep.
fin