The Soulguard, A Dragon Who Can See Spirits

Chapter 4

Noku, the new unofficial member of the Avengers family, grows at a fast pace. She was around the size of a large cat as a newborn, but now as a little under a month old, 24 days old to be specific, she is already about the size of an Siberian Husky. Wanda has transitioned her almost completely to solid foods, only giving infant formula occasionally to her. The nest of blankets has been abandoned, Noku now sleeping with Wanda on her bed. Wanda, however, is working on a room for Noku with the help of others. The bed is going to be too small for the two of them soon if Noku keeps growing as fast as she currently is. To help with Noku to not feel too restricted, Tony has made modifications to the doors of the compound. Most of the doors now open when Noku gets near them, this is controlled with JARVIS, who sees everything that goes on outside of the Avengers personal rooms. This makes it easier for Noku to move around the compound, not needing anyone to be with her to open the doors if she wanted to go outside to soak some sunlight to her fur. And that is what she is currently doing, with Natasha's supervision of course as she is still too young to be outside alone for long periods of time. She had been bored the whole morning and decided to go outside as the weather was warm and sunny. She laid down at the edge of a large grass field near the entrance of the compound, a spot where she would be easily noticed and where the sunlight would shine on her constantly. Natasha had followed Noku and taken a seat against a nearby tree, reading a book and occasionally glancing at Noku to make sure she was still there. The Avengers had learned early how Noku would search for the warm spots and stay in them for a long time. The young dragon loved warmth. A sudden movement from Noku caught Natasha's attention. She lowered the book, standing up and moving to stand next to Noku, who had risen to her feet, listening intently at the nearby edge of the field, just a little to the left of where Natasha was seated only moments before. Noku seemed nervous, scared of something. "What is it?" Natasha whispers, staring in the direction Noku is focused. "What do you hear?" She has not before witnessed Noku to behave like this, and because of that she is on high alert. Noku leans on Natasha's legs as a sign to move towards the compound while keeping a focus on the edge of the field. Natasha starts taking steps towards the compound, following Noku and keeping an eye out on the edge of the forest. They make it halfway to the entrance before JARVIS announces that an unidentified person is moving around in the nearby forest. Hearing the announcement Natasha glances at Noku, who is still keeping the focus on that one part of the field's edge, a bit less nervous than before. She gets inside the compound and lets out a breath, she would have had no idea that there was an intruder if Noku hadn't sensed them somehow. How did Noku know about the intruder before JARVIS? She watches how Noku leaves her at the door and is expectantly waiting for her at the start of a hallway towards the bedrooms, eager to be in the calming presence of her mother but not ready to go without the Russian following.

Natasha follows Noku and gets confused when they reach Wanda's room. A scarlet mist envelops the doorknob before the door opens, revealing Wanda working on reports at her desk with headphones on, not even turning to look at the pair. Natasha would have thought that Noku would enter the room but instead she sat at the doorway, waiting. Wanting Wanda to come with her. Wanda turns to look at them when she doesn't sense the pair moving but senses the fear swirling within the dragon and looks at Natasha confused. "What's the matter?" Wanda asks, taking off the headphones. Natasha shrugs and glances at Noku, who still sits there staring at Wanda. "I don't know. Noku has been like this since the thing outside. She wanted me to come here." This puzzled Wanda even more. 'A thing outside?' She thought to herself. "What happened outside? Did JARVIS inform us of something?" Wanda had not heard JARVIS and was starting to get worried and nervous. "I was outside with Noku just a minute ago and she sensed an intruder moving around the forest right behind me before JARVIS. She seemed scared and had me follow her inside while keeping laser focus on the treeline, most likely keeping track of the intruder with her hearing." Natasha explains and watches Noku closely. The dragon stared right at Wanda while her ears were listening closely to the noises around the compound. One direction earned more of her attention than the others. The direction of the forest. 'She has an incredibly good sense of direction even without sight.' Natasha thinks, moving towards a window that faces the forest. Noku however didn't let Natasha near the window, moving between Natasha and the window, nudging the two women further away from the glass. "Noku? What are you doing?" Wanda questions, taking a step towards the window to see what was making Noku behave like this. Noku let out a distressed chirp, trying to stop the Sokovian. The dragon didn't know how she could get Wanda to listen to her. She wasn't able to form words like humans could and she didn't know how to communicate with Wanda. Noku hears something moving towards them fast and leaps towards Wanda, knocking her to the ground. The Sokovian grunts at the impact and shields her face when she hears glass shattering. "Get up! We need to go, someone shot some kind of gas capsule in here and I don't know if it is poisonous!" Natasha yells while trying to drag Wanda out of the room. Just after Natasha had spoken, JARVIS informed that this had happened in other parts of the compound too. "Please, exit any rooms with windows and close the doors. Multiple windows have been broken with gas capsules." The gas, however, was starting to affect the two women, causing them to move more sluggishly. Luckily Noku was not affected and started to pull the two women out of the room, pushing the door closed when she had done so. Noku nudged the two on the ground with her snout, keeping them aware of their surroundings. After a short while, Natasha spoke up to the AI. "Is everyone safe and conscious?" "Yes, Miss Romanoff. It seems that everyone is safe and currently heading towards the gym underground." "Thank you, JARVIS." Natasha sat there for a second to make sure Wanda was alright, already planning to take a detour to the weapons room before heading to the windowless gym.