[1] Lions Inside | Tony Stark

ten

[Jade]

Jade ran towards Ryder and jumped at him, transforming into a lion mid-air, unsheathing her claws to try and grab him. But it was almost as if he knew what she was going to do because he stepped aside, making her land in front of Tony.

She looked towards Tony with dread but was surprised to see that he wasn't hurt at all. She looked back at Ryder while growling again, showing her sharp teeth to threaten him.

"Come on, never heard of a blank shot before?" Ryder said while having a smug smile on his face. "I only wanted all of us to be on the same level of understanding."

Ryder pointed the gun towards her while taking a few steps back to get more distance between them. "But unless you want to know if the next one's blank or not, I suggest that you move so I can get the information that I want."

Jade let out a roar in return and Ryder only let out a sigh in disappointment before aiming the gun at her right hind leg and pulled the trigger. The pain was so sudden she had to let out a cry in pain before falling down on the floor.

She turned back into a dog to see if the pain would lessen, but instead, she felt herself being kicked aside by Ryder as he walked towards Tony.

She knew it wasn't a normal bullet when the wound started to sting and she caught a whiff of burnt flesh from it. "Stings nice, doesn't it? Mistletoe does that to your kind." He said without looking at her.

Ryder walked closer to Tony, trying to interrogate him. He still had his gun pointed towards Tony and Jade had to face a dilemma.

She could either stay as an animal and try to stop Ryder or she could transform into a human and take his attention away from Tony.

Her choice was quickly made and she felt a burning sensation through her body from the bullet as she transformed into a human.

"Stop! Don't touch him!" Jade called out to Ryder, gaining the attention of both men. She saw Tony's eyes widen as he undoubtedly recognized her from the party.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show herself." Ryder said, but Jade only shot him a fierce glare.

"It's me that you want, not him," Jade said, her eyes never wandering to Tony in fear of what she would see.

"While that may be true, I also need something from him." Ryder turned back to Tony, trying to ignore Jade. While he turned away, she quickly put her fingers in the bullet hole and quickly pulled out the bullet while trying to make as little noise as possible.

She knew she had to distract Ryder long enough to let the wound heal before attacking him, so she searched her brain for any information she could use against him.

"You said that you wanted revenge. What did you mean?" She said to him, making his head whip towards her. A relentless glare rested on his face and she could see his jaw clenched in anger as he probably remembered something.

"You truly don't know, do you? How you managed to destroy my whole life." She was confused at his words, before a few months ago she had never seen him before.

"What are you talking about? How could I have ruined your life?"

He let out a humorless laugh towards her. "The day you escaped those hunters, you killed my parents and any future I could have had with them. But you didn't care, did you?!"

She felt her blood boil at his words. It was his parents that had murdered her whole family, and somehow he believed that she had killed them in revenge. "You know nothing of what happened that day." She growled out towards him. "My parents were killed and then my brother was killed for trying to protect us! I was eight then! I've been running for the rest of my life in fear that I would be killed too!"

"My parents were sent to get rid of the last shapeshifters only to report that they had been murdered by one they didn't even know existed." Ryders gun was now pointed towards her and tears welled in his eyes.

"None of us had done anything wrong! We were trying to live in peace when they came!" She couldn't understand why they had wanted to kill them, her parents hadn't hurt anybody.

"What's wrong is that you even existed to begin with. You're an abomination who shouldn't exist. And now I'm here to finish what my parents started a hundred years ago!" 

She could feel the wound slowly closing up, but she had run out of things to distract him with, but she guessed that Tony had picked up on her plan because he threw her a look before speaking up.

"Hang on a sec, a hundred years? Who are you exactly?" They knew Tony's plan had worked when he got Ryder's attention, but the attention of his gun soon followed.

"You can't still believe that I'm your cousin, can you? When was the last time you actually saw him? Think about it, do I even look anything like him?" Ryder's response seemed to hit Tony harder than Jade thought it would.

"And for your other question. I've been taking a long nap in the ice until the time I could take my revenge." He scoffed out as if he had made a joke only he understood. "I didn't exactly feel like being awake in case the chance would maybe come in my lifetime."

Jade could feel the wound almost closing up and she knew that she would have to act fast if she wanted to take Ryder down. She hesitated for a few moments before deciding what animal she should transform into.

She clearly caught Ryder by surprise when she jumped for his wrist and bit down, making a sickening crack come from it. Ryder fell down with Jade on top and widened his eyes as a honey badger had replaced the woman.

She continued to keep her jaws locked until she hears the gun drop onto the ground. She let him shake her off and he moved back, holding his wrist in his other hand. She transformed back into a human and picked up the gun, aiming it towards Ryder, the fear visible in his eyes.

"I'll let you keep your life if you leave now and never come back." She was trying her hardest not to reveal that she was bluffing and she guessed Ryder's fear helped her now because he listened and quickly ran out of the house.

When she couldn't hear him anymore she pulled out what was left of the bullets and threw the gun away. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized that both she and Tony were safe.

"What the hell just happened!?" Tony's voice rang out and she cursed herself before turning around, holding up her hands to show that she wasn't a threat.

"I can explain."

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Tada! Here is chapter ten for you.

I hope you enjoyed it and 'till we meet again: Stay Awesome!