[1] Lions Inside | Tony Stark

seven

[Jade]

Jade woke up to the sound of someone walking into the house. She opened her eyes and saw Pepper coming through the door.

She stood up and stretched her body before sitting down, observing Pepper as she came closer and petted Jade on the head.

They both heard a sound coming from downstairs and they looked at each other before Jade took the lead down the stairs.

When they came down into the workshop they found Tony trying to get out of his suit.

"What's going on here?" Pepper asked and Tony waited a few seconds before looking at them. "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Jade let out a laugh that sounded more like a sneeze before she and Pepper saw the same thing. "Are those bullet holes?"

-

Soon after that Pepper left. Jade didn't know where she went and she didn't really question it either. Instead, she decided to spend some time with Tony.

He was fixing his suit and at the same time, he was testing how much Jade could actually understand him.

"Why don't you get me a wrench," Tony asked her and at first, she stood there, trying to remember what a wrench was. When she went over to the table with tools. She picked up the one that looked what she thought was a wrench.

She discovered she was right when Tony gave her a side-smile and patted her on her head, the compliments making her feel better.

"I guess you actually do understand more than most dogs." She responded with a tilt of her head and an affectionate lick on his hand.

They continued this for a while with Jade mostly getting the items wrong since she didn't even know what half of the things in Tony's workshop was.

Her ears twitch when she heard someone walk down the stairs. She turned around to see Pepper walking through the door.

"Hey. You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand?" Tony asked her after turning around to face Pepper. He proceeded to explain how he needed Pepper to go into his office.

Jade didn't fully understand why he wanted her to go, but it seemed really important to him. And it wasn't like she could stop either of them in this form anyways.

Jade zoned out a little from the conversation until Pepper put the USB on the counter. "Well, then, I quit."

Pepper turned around to walk away, but Jade stood in front of her until Tony spoke again. Jade understood that he had probably sold weapons and became shocked. This man in front of her wouldn't do that now so she guessed that something must've happened to him before she came.

"I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason," Tony said after sitting down and Jade knew she sometimes felt the same about herself. She went up and gave him a gentle push with her snout as a way to comfort him.

"I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right." Both Tony and Jade waited to see what Pepper would do before she walked back and picked up the USB. "You're all I have too, you know."

-

The rest of the day went by fast with Tony continuing to fix his suit and Jade taking her time to rest in case she would be needed for something. She barely even noticed that Tony went upstairs with only a pat on her head as a goodbye.

She turned around a little on the couch to go back to sleep when she heard a ringing noise. Her head shot up and her ears shifted in annoyance. She thought Tony had done something so she let out a bark in an attempt to make the noise stop.

The noise stopped but she didn't hear anything from Tony, only footsteps leaving the house. She didn't recognize them and since they didn't sound like Tony's she decided to investigate. She made her way up the stairs only to find Tony sitting on the couch. Her first thought was that he had fallen asleep, but when she saw that he had turned a sickly pale color she became worried.

When Tony stood up she ran to him and even though she wasn't a very big dog, she helped him keep his balance to the elevator. She ran down the stair to meet him and also noticed the sweat and the hole in his shirt where he had the -what she thought at least- the glowing battery that powered his suit and somehow helped him since he had to switch it a few weeks back.

Tony fell to the floor and Jade didn't know what to do, so she let out a whine in frustration. She wanted to help him, but at the same time, she didn't want to reveal herself as human. She tried to help him move faster but stopped when they were a bit closer and Tony pointed towards a table.

"Fetch." He wheezed out and Jade followed his finger with her gaze to find him pointing towards the old glowing battery that Pepper had out in a glass box. She ran to the table, only to find herself unable to reach up as the table kept moving when she tried to put her front paws on it. She let out another whine before the robot arm that Tony called Butterfingers picket it up and dropped it right beside Jade. The glass case broke and she picked up the battery in her mouth and went back to Tony with it. She put it in his outstretched hand and received a tired pat on her head and a 'good girl' in response before Tony put the cable inside his chest.

Jade hear someone open the front door and stood protectively in front of Tony and started growling. The person made their way down the stairs and ran into the workshop, but stopped when he saw Jade standing in his way. Tony nudged her with his foot and she backed down, sitting down beside Tony in case the other person would try something.

He turned Tony around before asking if he was okay. Tony grabbed onto him and asked, "Where's Pepper?" Jade herself had also become worried about the woman since she now knew that Obadiah had something to do with this.

"She's fine. She' with five agents. They're about to arrest Obadiah." The other person said but Tony didn't seem as sure. "That's not going to be enough."

-

Soon after that Tony had started to look a lot better than before and was putting on his suit. The other man looked at it in slight awe. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"Not bad, huh?" Tony said while he finished putting on his suit. He moved the car before standing where he had previously made a hole in the ceiling.

"Do you need me to do anything else?" The man asked and Tony put the metal over his face before answering. "Keep the skies clear."

He flew out through the hole and Jade let out a single bark as she watched him disappear from view. The man Tony had left behind looked at one of the suits that wasn't painted before deciding against wearing it. "Next time, baby." He said to himself before entering his car and leaving Jade alone in the house.

/

Another chapter is done! I am pretty sure that I'm going to finish Iron Man in the next chapter, but there will be one or two (don't know if there'll be more) chapters about what happens between Iron Man and Iron Man 2. And I'll also give myself a pat on the shoulder for making this chapter 1400 words long.

So, if you like this video: subscribe and hit that like button if you want to see more things like thi-

{Author gets pulled aside and someone wishers in her ear}

(whisper, whisper)

(whispers back) What do you mean this isn't YouTube? Can't they still subscribe and like this video?

(whisper, whisper)

(still whispering) This isn't a video?

(Clears throat before putting on an award-winning smile) If you like this chapter and the story you can do whatever you feel like: vote, comment or follow. Or (like many others) you can just keep reading and wonder why the author who's writing this is such a weirdo.

(whisper-yelling) And stay awesome!