Home Is Where the Heart Is
 

Anna stopped her car in front of the manor house, which sat at the front of a two and a half square mile property. The owner of which had contacted her to do some training.

"Well, this should be interesting, if nothing else," she said, her voice light as she turned off the car and got out. "You coming with or waiting to see what the verdict is?" Green eyes glanced at her companion.

Tessa looked up at the manor house and then back at Anna.

"You go on," she said. "I'll wait out here until you say it's okay." She knew sometimes people had this thing about shapeshifters, and Anna kind of needed this job. Besides, Tessa was just there as moral support. It wasn't like she'd been offered the lucrative job.

"Alright. Here, take the keys, just in case." Anna passed the keys back in the open window. "I should know soon if we're staying or going or what's going on, so I'll let you know as soon as I do."

Tessa nodded and accepted the keys.

"Good luck," she said.

"Thanks." Anna headed up to the front door and knocked, waiting patiently to be let in. If she landed this job, she'd be set for a while, both in terms of work and money.

If the person had been telling her the whole truth when he sent her a message, anyway.

The door opened, and a blonde, blue-eyed head poked out.

"Ah, you must be the one Tony said would show up today," the man said, opening the door more. "Come on inside. My name is Steve."

"Nice to meet you, Steve." Anna knew exactly who he was. The Avengers weren't exactly subtle or hidden, after all. But she didn't freak out, externally anyway, just let him lead the way inside.

She had not been expecting this, not at all.

"Tony is out back," Steve said, leading Anna through the house towards the back yard. "Did he actually explain what you're going to be doing here?"

"He said that there were a few animals that needed some training," Anna said carefully. "He didn't explain exactly what animals or what level of training was needed."

"Alright," Steve said. He wasn't surprised in the slightest, to be honest. Tony did things like that. "What animals do you have experience with?"

"I've worked with dragons, gryphons, hellhounds, kitsune, unicorns, pegasi..." Anna shrugged. "Probably a few more than that, and anything I haven't worked with I can figure out how to work with them."

"Okay," Steve said. "Good. There are a couple more around here that you didn't list, but for the most part, you should be alright."

Anna nodded. She was pretty sure she'd be fine. "Is there anyone else around at the moment?" she asked, because she could be subtle and not just ask if the rest of the Avengers were in-house.

"They should be," Steve replied, nodding. "Or they were, last time I checked. Tony and Clint are both out back, I believe." He gestured to the rather grandiose back doors.

Anna nodded and followed him outside, pausing on the balcony to look out back. The land sloped gently down away from the house, giving her an excellent view of quite possibly the most put together and best looking menagerie she'd ever seen.

But she could make it even better if she could train some of the animals so they wouldn't need the domed enclosures.

Off to one side of the immediate yard, someone had set up something of a shooting range. Tony stood near it, looking up at the roof of the manor.

"Come on, Barton, take the damn shot!" he called. "You said you could, now put your bow where your mouth is!"

"Patience," Clint called back, grinning. He could totally take the shot. "You in a rush to lose?" He took a breath and held it for a moment, focusing, before letting it out and loosing the arrow.

The arrow thudded into the center of the target. Anna blinked.

Tony blinked as well.

"How the hell?" he asked. "That target couldn't have been bigger than a goddamn dime from that distance, how did you make that shot?"

"Magic," Clint replied with an easy grin. "You've got company, by the way." He sat at the edge of the roof, looking down at them. Huh. Another part-fae. Well that was interesting. He didn't say anything immediately, though.

"Magic is not a viable reason, Barton," Tony said. He turned around. "You must be the trainer. You're here earlier than I expected."

"There wasn't as much traffic as I expected. I'm Anna. Nice to meet you." She nodded to him.

"Tony Stark, good to meet you, yadda yadda," Tony said. "You met Rodgers, the deranged pigeon on the roof is Clint Barton, and the others are around here somewhere, you'll meet them later. What can you work with? Hellhounds? Dragons? Kitsune?"

"Yes to all of those," Anna said. "I've also worked a lot with gryphons, and I've worked with some others."

"What about wyverns?" Tony asked. It was pretty much a formality; she was practically hired by now, now that he knew she could handle most of what was on the property.

"Those are easy," Anna said with a little snort. "Much less stubborn than dragons." Really, those were the easiest of the group to train, so far.