The Soulguard, A Dragon Who Can See Spirits

Chapter 16

A few days later the snow had started to melt, causing puddles of mud to appear on the occasional dirt pathways around the compound's grounds. The Avengers had tried to tell the dragoness not to walk in the puddles as the mudwater had a tendency to seep into her fur, making it quite hard to clean up. Noku, while she listened mostly to what they said, sometimes found herself standing on the edge of a puddle, staring intently at the direction of the compound, listening if someone would notice her and come outside. Most of the time she gave up before anyone noticed her, but on an occasion she managed to lure people outside, grinning when they would yell for her to 'move away from the mud'. After getting yelled at for a second she would move away from the puddle and trot happily inside heading more often than not towards the gym. Today however, as she stands at the largest puddle she found with Haduwig, she didn't need to wait for long before a voice calls to her. "You know that you shouldn't do that, right Squish?" 'I know, but it is fun to do this.' Noku answers the Russian walking towards her. Natasha raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. "I am going to shave your fur off instead of washing it if you do what I think you are about to do." The dragoness dips her front paw in the puddle, wetting the tips of her toes in the muddy water. 'What am I going to do, Weakling?' Noku questions with a grin. "Noku, this is your last warning, do not step into the puddle." Natasha's voice is stern and Noku pauses, weighing her options. She could go ahead with her plan or she could obey Natasha. Making up her mind, Noku lowers her paw more into the puddle, making Natasha groan loudly. "I swear I am going to shave you, have fun explaining that to Wanda." "Explain what to Wanda?" A new voice joins the two. Natasha turns her head to see Tony walking towards her and Noku with Pepper close behind. "The fact that Noku is going to be shaved before tomorrow morning if she doesn't follow the orders she has received." Natasha says to Tony, the end of the sentence directed to the dragon.

Noku tilts her head and chirps to get Natasha's attention. It works as all three humans turn to her just in time to see the dragoness placing her whole paw into the puddle and slinging a pawful of mud towards the three. While Pepper is the luckiest and doesn't get hit, Tony and Natasha get splattered with drops of mud and water. "Noku!" Natasha yells infuriated and dashes after Noku, who leapt over the puddle and joyfully trots away just out of the Russian's reach. Looking at the two Tony sighs, irritated that his expensive suit got dirty and turns to Pepper. "I suppose we should head inside before she flings more mud around." Pepper says with a small smile, slightly amused by the sight of the dragon behaving so childishly. "Can't wait to explain a naked dragon to Little Witch..." Tony grumbles as he swipes a couple of muddy water drops from his face and turns to walk towards the compound. "I am sure Wanda won't get mad at you, we did just get back here." Pepper says and pats the man on the shoulder. "Yeah, we did, but she thinks of Noku as her child, Pepper! She would kill for her, so she won't be happy if Nat shaves her fur. Oh, she won't be happy at all." Tony stops in his tracks and grins, making Pepper look at him concerned. "Tony? Wha-" "Wanda doesn't need to know that we know that Nat threatened to shave Noku! So she won't get mad at us! I am a genius!" "Tony-" "Quickly now! We need to make sure she doesn't see us all muddy!" Tony says giddily, practically skipping his way to the compound while Pepper follows him with a shake of her head. "Overgrown child... Unbelievable..." She mutters under her breath, already asking for Tony's forgiveness in her mind as she is going to warn Wanda when she sees the Sokovian.

It takes Pepper far longer to come across the Sokovian witch than she would have liked. It was hours after she had noticed Natasha walking inside with a guilty looking dragon in tow, that she found Wanda making tea in the kitchen. "Wanda!" Pepper says, her face not having the small smile that the younger woman was accustomed to. "Pepper, hey! It has been a while." Wanda says happily but frowns when Pepper doesn't smile. "What's going on?" The Sokovian questions, a nagging feeling that Pepper is going to say something about Noku making itself known. "Well, earlier today when Tony and I arrived at the compound, we saw Nat and Noku outside-" "She didn't jump in the puddles again did she?" Wanda interrupts the woman with a sigh. "Not exactly, she did fling some water at Nat and Tony but that was pretty much it. It is just what Natasha said just before she did that." What did she say?" Wanda gets intrigued as Natasha often lets Noku out of trouble without lecturing the dragon. The Black Widow was getting soft. "She said something about shaving Noku's fur-" That was enough for Wanda. Her eyes widen as she lowers her steaming tea back to the table and runs out of the kitchen, screaming Natasha's name.