Chapter two is here! I hope you enjoy it...much thanks to DreamsAreMagical, who left a review along the lines of: "Stupid cliffhanger." DreamsAreMagical: Well, there's sort of a cliffhanger at the end of this one! Hopefully chapter three will be up by this weekend at the latest.

Chapter Two: ...And Ended With A Zoo

I groan and lift my...cat paw?! That's unusual...normally I wake up in the form of a dog. It helps me sleep best. I look up groggily…

The room is a mess. Oh wait, this isn't my room at the Avengers Facility, or my room at Stark Tower. This is the room the machine is in...the extremely dangerous machine. Through a haze of smoke I can make out another form slightly to my left. I get up and pad over, completely off-balance.

It's another cat, a little bit bigger than me. He's a dark brown color and has...a metal arm?

Oh no. This other cat is Bucky.

I nudge him with my paw. He stirs and rolls over, looking into my eyes. I crouch down, ready to pounce.

"Al...Alli?" he groans. It comes out as a meow, but I understand him perfectly.

"Oh, no," I say, my spirits falling.

"That machine...turned us into animals?" Bucky asks, shaking his head. "Wow. No wonder Stark wanted us to get it. How do we turn back?"

"I don't know," I admit.

"Can't you just shift into human form?" he asks, utterly bemused to why I hadn't thought of that.

"Oh, yeah," I mew, nodding sheepishly. I easily shift back into human form, sitting on the ground next to the chocolate-brown cat next to me.

"You can change back," he says.

"Yeah, I noticed," I grumbled.

"Can you understand me?" he asks.

"I can understand all animals," I tell him. "Trust me, some of that I don't want to hear."

"That's nice…" Bucky says.

I stand up. Bucky jumps at my leg.

"Ow!" I exclaim. "Bucky, if you haven't noticed, you have a metal paw." Bucky looks down and tries licking his paw. I sigh and scoop him up.

"Hey!" he protests, scratching at my arm feebly. I scritch him behind the ears and he purrs.

"Cats," I mutter, waving my arm to try and clear some of the smoke away. When I see the machine my spirits fall. It's completely destroyed.

"Now how are we going to turn you back?" I ask Bucky.

"I don't know," he says pointedly. His nose twitches. He jumps down from my arms and scampers into the smoke. I follow, being careful not to step on anything-or anyone. It appears all of the guards that were in here are lying on the floor. Maybe the others broke in and were trying to help? But where are they now?

My answer is found when we reach what Bucky was searching for. A Golden Retriever dog is laying on the ground, half-buried underneath Captain America's shield. Bucky nudges the dog with his head and I hear a chirp. I look up as a flurry of wings perches on my shoulder. It's a hawk-no, a falcon. A peregrine falcon, but it's red.

The falcon nips at my ear and caws.

"Hey, Alli," the bird says.

"Oh my God," I say, nearly laughing even in the direness of our situation. "Sam, you're an actual falcon."

"YES!" Sam screams in my ear. He flies to the ground and catches Steve's shield in his talons, trying to drag it off of the dog. Bucky paces the ground, meowing infrequently.

I help the falcon-Sam, the Falcon, the falcon-drag the shield off the dog. Bucky meows again and nudges the dog with his head. The dog stirs and looks up feebly.

"A-Alli?" it says. Then it completely flips out. It jumps up and start running in circles around me, Bucky, and Sam. It's bright golden fur is tinted with dust.

"BARK! BARK BARK!" the dog barks.

"Argh!" Bucky cries, jumping into my arms again. Sam perches on my shoulder as the dog keeps running.

I sigh.

"Down," I tell Sam and Bucky. They both hop down and huddle close to my legs as the dog runs faster. I shift into a dog, slightly larger than this Golden Retriever. A German Shephard, I believe.

"HEY!" I bark at the dog. The dog immediately ceases his running.

"Alli?" the dog asks in the voice of Steve Rogers. "Alli? Is that you? Where are we? What's going on? There's a cat and a bird behind you, Alli. Do you know that?"

"Steve, calm down," I say gently.

"Calm down?" he asks indignantly. "Calm down?! I'm a dog, Alli! I can smell things and hear things and I have four freakin' legs!"

"Steve," I say. "Chill. The cat is Bucky and the falcon is Sam."

"Sam? Bucky? They're animals too? We're all animals, Alli!" Steve the dog's eyes grow wide as he sees the machine behind me.

"Alli, we're stuck like this forever!" he cries, then promptly starts running in circles again. Bucky hisses and draws closer to my side. Sam perches on my head.

"Steve, calm DOWN!" I bark. Steve freezes.

"I can't calm down, Alli, I can't!" he cries, and starts running again.

"BARK! BARK BARK!" he yells. But he's not talking and I'm not translating-he's literally saying 'bark'.

"BARK BARK BARK!" Steve cries. Bucky hisses again.

Sam hops down off my head and I shift into a cat.

"He's going crazy," Bucky hisses.

"You can say that again," I say, rolling my cat eyes.

"He's going crazy," Bucky repeats.

I laugh. "He'll calm down," I promise.

"He better," Bucky grumbles.

"Hey, sis," Sam says, knocking my paw with a talon-bump. "How's it going?"

"You're not at all concerned that you are a bird and we have no immediate way to turn you back?" I ask in disbelief.

"I can't understand you," Sam says. "All I hear is meows."

I sigh and morph into a falcon.

"You're not at all concerned that you are a bird and we have no immediate way to turn you back?" I repeat.

"Nope," he says. "I'm the Falcon, I'm a falcon. I can fly. How hard can it be?"

"Can you hunt?" I ask, raising my nonexistent falcon eyebrow.

"No…" Sam says uncertainly.

"Don't worry," I say cheerfully. "We'll find you some dead mice to eat."

Sam's eyes widen. "You'll what?!" he cries.

"Just kidding," I say. "I'm gonna calm Steve down."

"No mice," Sam whispers as I morph back into a dog.

"Steve!" I bark. "Steve!"
"BARK BARK!" Steve yells frantically.

"OREOS!" I yell. Steve freezes. His ears twitch.

"Oreos?" he asks. "Did you says Oreos?" I hate to resort to this, but normal Steve Rogers is in love with Oreos.

"Sit and I'll give you Oreos," I tell him. Steve sits. I shift back into human form and reach into my pocket. I pull something out, but hide it so Steve can't see what it is.

He trots over and eagerly laps the food up. Then he promptly collapses to the ground, unconscious. Bucky gives a meow of outrage and Sam shrieks.

"Calm down," I say. "It's those sleeping pill things. It was just one pill. He'll be fine in a few hours."

Bucky hisses at me regardless and curls up a few feet away from Steve. Sam pecks my foot and looks up at me hopefully.

"No, Sam, I do not actually have Oreos," I sigh. Sam looks down and pecks my foot again, hard, out of spite. I whack his bird head and he pecks me one last time before fluttering to perch near Bucky and Steve.

"Someone's missing…" I mutter, looking around. "Right." Natasha and Wanda. I'll have to pray they're still human, but stuck in the hallway.

"Stay here, guys," I command the boys. "I'm going to go look for Nat and Wanda."

Bucky yawns. Sam opens one eye and then settles down. Steve doesn't move.

"No offers to come with?" I ask sarcastically. Sam closes his eyes. Bucky rests his head on his paws. Steve still doesn't move.

"Okay, I get the picture," I say. "I'll be right back." I turn towards the smoke and mutter, "Hopefully."

It takes me almost five minutes to find the door not three feet away. This isn't going to work. Once I'm able to wrench the door open, the smoke floods into the hallway. I drop down into the form of a slim tiger. Down lower, most of the smoke has cleared and I'm able to see better. Using my enhanced sense of smell, I sniff out Nat. I can't pick up a scent for Wanda, though, which troubles me. Flies buzz around my ears. I flick them off and continue on my way.

I come upon the snake a few hallways down. It's coiled up into a spiral, resting peacefully. Did they leave it here as a trap for us? Hope it eats us whole? It's a giant boa constrictor, could eat a horse in one bite.

I touch it with one paw, then spring back. The snake looks up wearily, moves its head back and forth-

-then springs at me, hissing. I bat its head down with one paw and hiss back.

The snake eyes me warily, debating on what to do. I almost laugh, because I know that look.

I morph into a python, about as large as this snake. "Natasha?" I ask.

The boa constrictor lets out a laugh. "Alli! You ssscared the heck out of me! Alssso, why am I a ssssnake?"

I sigh. "Long story short, we were all turned into animals," I tell her.

"Like, all of usss...or everyone in the warehoussse?" Nat asks. The flies I noticed before buzz quicker in the air around us.

I think back. I didn't see anyone in the room with the now destroyed machine…

"Oh my God," I whisper. "Everyone is an animal."

Nat coils back up and buries her head in the center of the coil. She lets out a long groan that comes out as a hiss.

"Do you know where Wanda is?" I ask cautiously. Nat's head shoots up.

"You don't know where Wanda isss?" she cries. "Oh no. Oh no. That'sss not good. She wasss right next to me. Oh no."

"It's okay," I say. I shift back into human form. "We'll find her." Nat snakes around my feet (no pun intended) and slithers down the hall. I run after her, trusting her to know where Wanda might have gone. As we go down hallway after hallway, I think.

If I bring them back to Stark Tower in this state, I'm dead. Like, literally dead. Tony will kill me for losing the machine, Rhodey and Clint will kill me for getting their friends turned into animals, and Vis would kill me by trying everything he can to turn them back and most likely be unsuccessful. I'm dead.

I'll have to sneak them in. Make up an excuse. Pray that they don't bug me about it. Yeah, that's it. As long as Wanda is as small of an animal as the others, it'll be-

-fine.

Lumbering around the corner is a giant, five hundred pound, pure white polar bear. Her eyes are red, and she does not look happy.

"W-wanda?" I ask. The bear growls cautiosuly.

Nat hisses at me. "Do sssomething," she says.

I shift into a polar bear, roughly the same size as Wanda.

"Wanda?" I ask again.

"Yes," the bear says in Wanda's accented voice. "What am I?"
"You're a polar bear," I say.

"And the snake?"

"Natasha," I reply. Wanda sighs.

"Hello," she says to Nat. Nat hisses and slithers up Wanda's legs until she's resting in between Wanda's shoulders. She raises her head and looks at me. They both do.

"O-o-kay," I say. "Now we find the boys."
"You haven't found them yet either?" Nat says indignantly.

"What did she say?" Wanda asks.
"Sorry, but I have to figure this out," I say. "Wanda, can you understand me?"

"Yes," Wanda says, nodding like I'm stupid.

"Nat, can you understand me?" I ask.

"What wasss that? All I hear isss growling," Nat says, blinking. Her tongue flicks out and then back in.

I morph into human. "Can you both understand me?"
"Yess," Wanda and Nat say in unison.

"And I can understand both of you…" I mutter. "Alright, I got this. You can all understand me when I'm the same animal as you and when I'm in human form, but you can't understand each other or if I'm a different animal. But I can understand all animals, so I can understand you regardless of what form I take."
Nat blinks. Wanda stares.

"Makes sense," Wanda shrugs, nearly throwing Nat off her back.

"Let's go get the boys," I say. Before either can reply, I say, "I left them in the other room. Steve was going crazy so I had to knock him out."
I turn and walk down the hallway, Wanda lumbering behind me. Nat rests on her head and shoulders, calm as can be. I'm very surprised they aren't flipping out more. Shock, I guess.

I make several wrong turns before I hear frantic meowing and several bird caws that lead us in the right direction. We burst into the center room to find the unconscious dog-Steve behind Bucky and Sam. Bucky is meowing as loud as he can. Sam is staggering around, dazed. In front of them, with his back to us, is a fully grown lion.

"Your friends are not coming," the lion says. "My guards are keeping them at bay." It speaks in the voice of the scientist that turned us into animals.

"Yeah, I don't think so," I tell him. I morph into a tiger, my preferred large cat, and spring at the lion.

He's completely caught off guard for not just a tiger, but a polar bear and a snake as well. I swipe my claws down his face. Nat springs off Wanda and bites at his feet. Wanda catches him with blow after blow from her giant paws.

"Maybe next time make sure that your guards are useful animals and not flies," I tell him. He looks at me, confused, because he can't understand a word I'm saying. This is the intended effect. I rake my claws down his muzzle, and Nat bites his neck. He collapses to the ground, unconscious or dead I don't know and don't care.

"You okay?" I ask as I shift back into human form.

"Fine, fine," Sam says. His eyes roll back on forth and he falls onto one side. I see Bucky resist the temptation to spring at him. A cat, a dog, and a bird. Suddenly I regret the decision to leave the three of them alone. That could have ended very badly.

"We need to think up cover stories for all of you," I say. "I can easily sneak all of you in except Wanda."
"Go in at night," Nat suggests.

"What did she say?" Bucky asks. "Also, I'm assuming the polar bear is Wanda. Am I right?"
"Yes," I say.

"Okay. Cause she's moving the parts of the machine."

I whirl around and see the machine fall to the ground. The red magic seeps away. Wanda looks sheepish and sits down, shaking the floor.

"Okay, we'll go in at night," I say. "No, not night, because Vis is usually up, isn't he?" Wanda nods.

"When is the best time to sneak you in?" I ask her.

"He is usually in his room around four," she says. "And Stark gets up at five, so that is probably the best time."

"Alright," I say. "We sneak Wanda in at four-thirty…" I check my watch. Eleven at night. Wow...we were out for a long time.

"Which gives us five hours to get back," I say. "Our cover story is you're sick and very, very contagious, and you don't want to see anyone."
"Got it," Wanda says.

"You have… a bad cold," Bucky suggests. "No? No one? No one got that. Okay."
"Sam...I could say I was bringing you as a present for my brother. A rare, red falcon for the Falcon."
"Sounds good," Sam says.

"Nat," I say. "Can you sneak in on your own?"

"Yesss," Nat says. "I'll be fine."

"Great," I say, thinking. "Our cover story for you is that you went on another solo mission."

"Sssoundsss like me," Nat admits.

"Now for Steve," I say. "Um...he's a stray I found?"

"Sounds good to me," Bucky says. "And I could have the same cover story." I relay this news to the others.
"Yeah, but Rhodey is allergic," Sam points out. "Or is he? Maybe I'm thinking of something else…"

"Rhodey can get over his allergy," I say. "That's what we're gonna do."

"And why are the three of us gone?" Sam asks, gesturing to himself, Bucky, and Steve.

"Um...guys week out?" I ask. "Three best friends wanting to get to know each other better?"

Bucky shrugs. "Good enough," he says. "How are we gonna get back?"

"How are we going to get back?" Wanda asks at the same time.

"How we got here," I say. "Steve drove a car, didn't he? Thinking we were going to bring back a giant machine?"

Wanda nods.

"Let's go," she says. We make our way back to the outside of the warehouse. We drape Steve over Wanda's back. Sam flies overhead, Nat slithers, leading the way, and Bucky pads slightly behind. Every time his metal paw hits the ground it makes a soft clink.

We emerge the same way I assume the boys came in. Parked some distance away is a white van. The window are all blacked out, thankfully, and it has a giant sliding door. The only problem is, we don't have the keys.

"Here," Sam says. He flies up and breaks the window open with his beak.

"That works," I say, laughing. I reach in, careful not to get glass on my hand, and unlock the door. I open it and unlock the rest of the doors. I use the giant sliding door to get Wanda into the back. She curls up and stares out the back. We lay Steve next to her. Nat stays with them and coils up instantly. I climb into the driver's seat. Bucky takes shotgun, the tips of his ears barely reaching the glove box. Sam perches on the dashboard. I hotwire the car, something I learned from Sam and Rhodey a while back. I come up with my fingers covered in dirt. Bucky cat-snorts.

"Nice job," he says. The engine whirs to life and I shift the car into drive.

"Onwards to Stark Towers!" I announce. "Let's all pray we don't get caught!"