Steve shrugged. "Then we'll keep dealing with it," he said, calm but for a brief flash of gold across his eyes.

Tony made a brief, noncommittal sound, but didn't argue. He would defend his haven for as long as it took.

A few weeks later, most everyone was out of the house and at the trial. Chloe had opted to stay home, as had Athena, and Clint. They weren't needed at the trial, after all. Chloe lounged around the house as a cat, content to just lounge and flop across their feet.

Athena was on the couch with a book, content to stay there with Chloe across her legs and feet. It was a quiet enough day, and they had the news on in the background so they could keep track of the trial.

Chloe lifted her head near sunset when she heard others outside. Her ears flickered uneasily; the rest of the group was staying in town for the duration of the trial, a few more days at least, and they weren't expecting guests. So she had no idea who was approaching the house. She stood, her tail flicking uneasily, and padded towards the back door.

Clint noticed her behavior first.

"Chloe?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

Chloe growled at the back door, her tail whipping back and forth. Something was definitely wrong.

Clint got up to go investigate. Athena got up as well, concerned, and followed.

Chloe waited for Clint to open the back door for her before she darted outside to do a patrol. She snarled when she smelled intruders, three of them, and instantly went searching for them, her hackles raised. She was very displeased with this.

Clint followed her outside. He'd seen Natasha like this before, and it was never a good thing.

Chloe found the first one before any of them spotted her, and there was a brief spat of snarling from her and the wolf. She got the wolf temporarily disabled and went in search of the next one, passing Clint in a rush.

Clint heard the scuffle. When he saw the wolf, he snarled and kept following Chloe. He could at least watch her back.

"Stay inside!" he shouted at Athena.

The other wolf heard her coming, and met her head-on. The two snarled and fought, tumbling over each other and trying to best each other. The wolf was larger, but Chloe was faster.

Clint saw the third wolf about to take Chloe from behind and tackled him. He could at least keep the were busy until Chloe was done with the other one.

Chloe disabled that one and snarled, tackling the other were away from Clint. She was bleeding already and slowing down, but she'd be damned if she let the last wolf hurt Clint.

Clint helped her take the last one out, and then gave her a chance to catch her breath.

"Are you alright?" he asked, checking her over visually. He could see her bleeding, and waited for the opportunity to get her inside so he could help her.

Chloe hissed a little, still puffed up and favoring one leg. She checked the wolf to make sure he was going to stay down before she limped over to the other wolves to make sure they'd also stay down. She wasn't relaxing until she knew their territory was safe.

Clint followed her, letting her check on things. Natasha could be the same way, so he just kept an eye on Chloe to make sure she didn't keel over. Once he let her check, he tried again.

"Let's get inside so I can look at that for you," he said. "I'm not Bruce, but I can patch you up well enough until he gets back."

Chloe let him guide her inside, walking slower now. She wasn't quite about to keel over, but she wasn't doing well either.

"What happened?" Athena asked as soon as they got back into the house. "I called Bruce and Tony, told them something was going on, they're on their way back, but what exactly happened?"

"Three werewolves," Clint said, making sure Chloe got back to the lab/infirmary alright. "How soon will they be back?"

"Soon as they can," Athena said. "Bruce estimated about twenty minutes or so, once they get out of the courthouse."

"Great." Clint started working on patching Chloe up, at least enough to get her to last until Bruce could get home. "Make sure everything is locked down tight for the moment."

"On it," Athena said, darting around to check doors and windows. Nobody but Tony was getting into the house for the moment.

Chloe growled at Clint a little but let him at least wrap up her wounds for now. But she was still too aggravated to settle down.