May's POV
Here we were, in front of Stark Tower. I stepped out of Tony's car –and Jesus Christ, what a car- and walked into the shadow of the huge building in front of me. Only a couple of days ago I wanted to go see it, but my friends didn't want to go see it. 'It's just a tower' they said. Pfsh. Just a tower… *mutter mutter* However, I was worried about my friends. They didn't know where I was, they couldn't reach me, and oh no, my parents! They'd be worried sick! I had to reach them! I had to-
"May?" Tony's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You okay?"
I realised that I had stopped walking and was just staring at the tower, so I nodded and continued to follow him. We entered the building and walked into a big hall, filled with some seats, but otherwise completely empty. Except for one red haired woman.
She turned around to face us, saying: "Tony, good, you're ba-AAAAAAAHH!"
"Pepper," he said calmly, "It's okay-"
"Okay?!" she shrieked, "OKAY?! YOU'VE BROUGHT A PANTHER TO STARK TOWER, THAT IS NOT OKAY! Jesus, Tony, you're giving me a heart attack!"
"No, really, it's okay! Fury said that I had to take her in for a while-"
"Then tell Fury he's got a problem because WE ARE NOT KEEPING A PANTHER."
'Aww, c'mon, just give me a chance!' I thought. But of course, I understood that keeping a panther isn't the most attractive scenario. New mission: convince Pepper.
I slowly walked to her, and she immediately stiffened. It was like she was afraid that if she moved I'd bite her or something. So I kept my head low, and when I had reached her, I gently pushed my nose against her hand.
"T-Tony, what is she doing?" she asked quietly.
He smiled and said: "She's trying to tell you that she likes you. If you'd let me finish, I would have told you that she's actually a human, named May, but changed into a panther. She isn't dangerous, just don't call her a cat. Or kitty. Or oversized pet. She doesn't like that."
She finally looked at me, and said: "Human, huh?"
I nodded, and poked her hand with my nose again. She gently started to pet me what made me purr.
"See? Not dangerous."
"Yeah, okay, fine. Sorry." I nodded again, to let her know that it was no problem.
"Jarvis, where's the rest?" Tony suddenly asked.
"Mr. Odinson is currently in Asgard, Mr. Banner is in the lab, Miss Romanoff is currently sparring with Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barton is plundering your kitchen at the moment" a voice replied. My eyes widened. I had heard about the AI, but didn't know he actually existed. That was so cool!
However, Tony growled. "May, how about we pay Barton a visit?" he said as he walked towards the elevator. I nodded and followed him.
"BE NICE" Pepper said as Tony pushed the button to his floor.
"We will" he said back, and the doors closed. Once the elevator started to move, he said: "Oh, we are so not going to be nice."
'This is going to be fun' I thought. When we reached his floor he told me to be quiet, and I nodded. We sneaked to his kitchen, and across the table, I saw a man standing against the counter with his back turned to us. He was humming and eating something. When I sniffed, I recognised the scent as ice cream. Tony grinned at me and nodded in Clint's direction. I grinned internally, the mischief shining in my eyes and got low, ready to jump. Tony stepped back quietly, and I wiggled my but a little, the way I had seen panthers doing in documentaries. Then I jumped over the table towards the poor man, roaring as loud as I could. The reaction was so pretty it would have won a beauty contest.
He screamed like a little girl, turning around and accidentally throwing the ice cream in the air. I landed right in front of him, causing him to fall back onto the floor, the ice cream landing on his head only a second later. Meanwhile, Tony was laughing his ass off in the doorway.
I couldn't hold it anymore and started to laugh as well –in my very own panther way, of course- and he just started to yell.
"TONY, WHAT THE HELL?!" It just made the billionaire laugh more. "YOU BOUGHT A PANTHER?!"
"May, meet Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. Birdman, this is May. She was human, but turned into a panther for some strange, unknown reason. She's also staying with us for now. Fury's orders."
Clint growled. 'Oh boy, he hates me' I thought. Trying to control the damage, I helped him get up.
"Oh, so now you're playing nice, huh?" he scoffed as he got up.
"Don't blame her, you shouldn't be stealing my Ben and Jerry's."
"Oh, so splattering it across my head is so much better?"
"Yes" Tony said, and started to laugh again. 'Okay, this I know for sure: stay around Tony, and things will never get boring' I thought.
"Stop laughing" Clint said, and looked at me. "And to you: I am a master assassin. Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again." I shrugged. 'Fine.'
"Next stop: Banner. But I wouldn't want to scare him like that. I don't want my lab destroyed by the Hulk. And you" he said as he turned to Clint, "stay out of my kitchen."
He turned away and I followed him, just hearing Clint whispering: "As if the company in this place wasn't strange enough. Now we've got a panther. That's just great."
When we stood in the elevator, Tony said: "But seriously, don't scare him, we don't want him to get angry. He's an awesome guy and stuff, but I wouldn't like to replace my lab. So I'll tell him, and call you when you can come in. It's not like he's about to break any second, but y'know, you're still a panther…" I nodded, and he smirked. "You're not that bad actually. You're pretty fun when you're not scaring the hell out of me."
Not it was my time to smirk. 'Aww, he likes me.' The elevator stopped, and we entered the lab.
"Stay here" he said, and walked further into the lab. I sat down, and waited. I could hear some voices on the other side of the lab, and a bit later Tony called me. I sat up and walked towards where the voice came from. Arriving there, Tony introduced me to the man he was sitting next to. "Bruce, this is May. May, meet Bruce Banner. My science bro."
I had an amused look on my face as I nodded to Bruce, and he nodded back.
"Nice to meet you" he said.
"Do you want to see the footage from when she met Clint?" Tony asked with a devilish grin.
"What did you do?" Bruce asked.
"Oh, you'll see" he said, and started the footage.
A minute later, Bruce was laughing with tears in his eyes. We all were, actually.
"What's so funny?" a woman's voice said. I turned around and saw a red head standing there. "Tony, is that a panther?" she asked unamused. "Does Pepper know you've bought one? Because she isn't going to like it."
"First of all" he started, "I didn't buy her. Fury said she has to stay here for a while. And then there's the fact that she isn't really a panther. She's a human, transformed into one."
She raised her eyebrow. "Really? A human transformed into a panther? And you expect me to believe that?"
"Yup. And her name is May, by the way."
"Bruce, do you honestly believe that?"
"Ehm, yeah. I mean, I was a bit sceptical about it at first, but you really should see the video of them introducing her to Clint. Priceless."
"You do that, while I'm going to introduce her to cap" Tony said, and the video started to play again while we walked towards the elevator.
"So, Captain America is next. I'm warning ya already, he can be a pain. But in the end, he's all right."
I nodded, and the elevator moved. When the doors opened, a scent of sweat immediately infiltrated my nose. 'Great' I thought, 'the sports section. Guess where you are not going to find me during the time I'm staying here. Or at any point in my life, in fact.'
"Hey capsicle! You down here?" Tony yelled through the oversized training room.
Walking into view, the super soldier answered: "Tony, how many time have I told you not to- JESUS CHRIST!" he yelped.
"Cap, meet May. May, meet Steve Rogers. Captain America, as you've probably already noticed. Steve, before you start to yell at me, this is not just a panther. She is –was- human, but got turned into, well, this" he said as gesturing to me. "Fury's still working on how all of this happened, but in the meantime, she's staying with us. So be nice."
"Seriously? That's the best excuse you could come up with to get a mascot?" he said as he folded his arms.
'Excuuuuuuuuuse me, but WHO are you calling a mascot?!' I thought, and growled.
"Don't- just don't call her that. I called her a large cat when we first met, and I can still hear the high tone in my ears" Tony sighed. 'Ehehe,, my bad…' "And if you don't believe me, you can always call Fury."
Steve looked at me, and sighed. "Well, I guess it's nice to meet you then" he said.
I nodded at him in return, and his eyes slightly widened in response. Then I looked up at Tony with questioning eyes. 'So, uhh, what now?'
He frowned at me for a second, and then he said, "Dunno, I guess you can pick your own floor now. Everyone has one, so why not you? I guess I'll just have to tinker at the doors a little, but it'll be fine then."
My eyes widened as he said so. 'I'll get my own floor?! Awesome!'
Meanwhile, Steve just asked: "How do you know what she was thinking?"
"It's not that hard" Tony explained, "she has very human facial expressions, even while being a panther. She laughs too y'know. In her own panther-ish way. It's adorable."
I glared at him. 'Do. Not. Call. Me. Adorable. I'm not. I'm a panther. Fear me.' But instead he just started to laugh. 'Ah hell no!' I thought, and jumped him, causing him to fall on his back. I stepped on him as soon as he touched the ground, focussing all of my weight on his shoulders so that he couldn't get back up. I growled a little, but that smirk just didn't come off his face.
"Aww, you're just too cute" he teased, scratching me underneath my chin.
'Stop it!' I thought, and shooed his hand away from me with my paw.
"Okay, that's enough you two" Steve interfered, and got me off of Tony. "And you told me to be nice."
He put me town as I continued to growl a little, and turned by back towards Tony. He just chuckled and said: "So, you wanna go see your own private floor now?" he asked tempting.
Damn. I really wanted to, but I was still in the middle of the process of being mad at him. So I glared at him, shortly nodded and walked past him towards the elevator as cocky as possible.
But in the process, I never stopped thinking: 'Call me adorable one more time and I will kick. Your. Ass.'