In which Midget is actually just like his human
Tony sipped his morning coffee. Midget rubbed around his legs.
"Morning buddy," Tony smiled down at the cat. The cat looked up and mewed at him. Midget leapt up onto the counter. Muscled rippled under his glossy black fur. The name Midget really didn't fit him anymore. The cat stood at a foot tall, and weighted about 13 lbs, and he was all muscle, in short he was much bigger than the average cat, "You hungry?"
Midget licked his lips and mewed.
"Alright then," Tony said a pulled down a can of cat food. Midget bumped his head against Tony's hand, a gesture of gratitude.
Midget let loud deep purrs rumble through his throat; he ignored the food that had been placed before him, and instead rubbed his head against his human's chest . The man sighed. Midget stopped rubbing, and took slight step back. He stared up into his human's eyes.
"I wish you could come with me," His human spoke with a fond smile.
Where was he going? He couldn't leave.
"You'll be fine here at the compound buddy," Tony stroked Midget's head, "The rest of the Avengers are going to watch you while me and Pepper go to a meeting."
Midget verbalized his confusion. Tony normally took him to meetings. Why was this one any different?
"I'd take you with me, but it is over seas and trust me you don't want to have to go through the whole quarantine mess. It's no fun."
Midget wasn't worried about what ever quarantine was. He was concerned for his human. What if he had an anxiety attack? Midget wouldn't be able to protect him from it. That made him uncomfortable. Midget shifted his paws nervously. His human smiled understandingly. Midget was never really sure how the man knew what he was thinking.
"I'll be fine."
That was exactly what Midget had been looking to hear from his human.
Midget was bored. He wanted his human back. He rose from his place on the window cill. He was going to go explore, and maybe he would even go outside.
To Midget's great surprise the door to outside was propped open. He looked around to make sure no one was around, and slipped outside. He had always been more of an indoor kind of cat, but outside was rather nice. He sniffed the air. All kinds of new scents flooded his nose. He didn't know where to start. He caught a whiff of meat being roasted. That was tempting, but he wasn't hungry, plus right now he wanted an adventure... Then the smell hit him. Another cat... Multiple cats. Midget's hackles rose. No other cat should be on his turf, and yes, this was his. Anything that belonged to his human was by default his. Midget decided he would go see to the intruders.
It didn't take Midget long to find the two cats. There was something else with them. The smell of fear was thick in the air.
The two other cats had a small bird trapped between them. An instinct deep inside Midget told him it was food, but a different instinct drowned out the first. An instinct that made him feel protective. He had only ever had this feeling about his human.
The scent of pleasure rose from the other two cats. It made him sick. Midget hissed. The two cats stopped what they were doing, and turned to face him. They didn't hiss back, just twitched their tails.
go away. this is our catch.
Midget rose to his full height.
Get lost this is my turf.
The two cats glared up at him, and squared their shoulders.
we don't smell you anywhere.
Midget lashed his tail violently.
Get out of here, and leave the bird.
The two cats glanced at each other, and then hissed.
No. This is our toy. Go find your own.
Midget was done going easy on these two punks. He let a deep growl rumble out of his throat. It was the first time he had growled.
Leave.
The hackles on the two cats rose, and their claws slid out.
No.
Midget's ears went back, his hackles rose, his tail fluffed, he slid out his claws and he hissed.
You asked for this.
He leapt at the two cats who hissed in dismay. He threw his shoulder into the first one, and it fell back. The other hissed and lashed out with its claws. Midget screeched and tackled his attacker. The cat he had shouldered hopped up and flead. Midget let the second one up, and it followed its friend.
Midget chased them a little ways and then returned to the small bird. It only had a few feathers. It was fledgling. Midget twitched his tail angrily.
He sniffed the bird, and it let out a panicked chirp. Midget drew back a little. It was obviously scared of him. He gave it a small comforting lick, and this time it chirped happily instead of in fear. The stench of fear dissipated from the air as Midget licked it comfortingly a few more times. Once he had cleaned the blood from it, he sat back and examined the bird. It had a broken wing, and bite mark that was leaking small amounts blood.
Midget was not okay with this.
How could he help this poor little creature?
His human was who would have taken the bird to, but his human was a away... Who would take care of it?
Clint. Clint liked birds.
Midget purred in satisfaction, and gently lifted the bird with his mouth, he was careful not to injure it farther. Midget moved quickly across the field to the compound. He found the door still propped open. He slipped inside and made his way down the hallways of the compound.
Where was Clint?
Midget sniffed the air. He was close.
"Hey Midget! Put that bird down!" Clint sounded angry.
That wasn't right. Why was the man mad at him?
Oh right! Clint probably thought that he had hurt the bird. Midget set the bird down, and gave it a lick. He needed to show Clint that he was trying to help it. The bird let out a happy chirp. Clint's frown faded.
Good. He figured it out.
Clint knelt down in front of the little bird sitting at Tony's cat's feet.
"Aw poor little guy," Clint ran his finger gently down the birds feathers. Poor little bird. He would take him to Bruce. Surely one his PhDs could help the little bird.
"Hey Bruce, Midget brought me a hurt bird, can you help him?" Clint asked poking his head into the lab. Bruce looked up from his work.
"Yeah, sure bring it here," the doctor waved Clint in. Midget brushed against his heels. Clint couldn't help but smile. Midget was a good cat. Bruce looked from Clint to the bird, and then down to Midget, and started laughing.
Clint frowned.
"What is so funny about this?" Clint demanded.
"Tony's cat..." Bruce wheezed, "You don't see it???"
Clint looked down at the muscular black cat, and shook his head.
"What?"
"That cat... My goodness! people say owners look like their pets..." Bruce gasped through laughs, "But that cat is literally his owner!"
"Oh!" Clint got it, and had to laugh to. The cat was just like Tony. He had gone out and adopted the first sad soul he had come across. Clint was glad Tony was such a good influence on his cat. He couldn't wait to tease Tony about it later.