"We're hoping so," Tony said with a little sigh. "Because if things don't end well, I'm going to be pissed."

Clint shrugged.

"Can't say we didn't warn them," he pointed out. "We did. Several times. And honestly, at this point, they should all know better than to mess with things like territory and home."

Tony grumbled his agreement. "If it doesn't end well, we'll find some other way." Because he could and would throw money at (and possibly a very angry lion) at this problem for as long as it took.

Clint nodded. He expected that.

"Speaking of, any word on that one your friend was going to send us?" he asked.

"Waiting until after the trial," Tony said. "We all agreed it's for the best."

Clint nodded.

"Makes sense," he said. "And we'll have time to make some space, too."

Tony nodded. "They're waiting for word that it's okay," he said. "We're keeping in touch through Zee."

"Good to know," Clint said. "With any luck, the trial won't go completely sideways and things will settle out."

"Oh I hope so," Tony grumbled. "I'm so ready for this to be done."

"You and the rest of us," Clint said. "We all want this to be done so things can go back to normal."

Tony nodded, grumped, and went back to tinkering with the defenses.

Clint let him, climbing back down the rafters and into the house proper. Quickly, he glanced around for Chloe.

Chloe was still out on the back porch, keeping watch. She was still bandaged up, but she wasn't relaxing.

Clint found her out there and sat down next to her.

"Anything?" he asked, glancing out over the grounds.

Chloe chuffed a quiet negative, glancing at him briefly before going back to perusing the grounds. Her tail flicked against his side.

"I don't think they're going to come back," Clint said, one hand going to scratch behind her ears. "You got them pretty good, and then Tony threw them out."

Chloe growled a little but let him scratch behind her ears. She didn't lean on him, but she did lean a little towards him.

Clint grinned and kept going. He'd stop if she wanted him to, but so far she hadn't indicated for him to stop.

Chloe slowly relaxed there, letting her guard back down. Things were okay. She could relax. She didn't have to guard the house single-handedly.

Clint practically saw her relax, and grinned a bit. Good. She needed to relax.

"I've got a lap, you know," he teased gently.

Chloe gave him a look, paused, and then decided to take him up on it. And flopped across his lap with a smug look.

Clint snickered when she did that and scratched behind her ears again.

"Comfy?" he asked.

Chloe rumbled an affirmative and relaxed there. Hey, he had offered, and now that she was able to relax again she was tired.

Clint just smiled a bit and let her stay there. He was comfortable enough, for the moment.

Chloe didn't fall asleep there, but she did relax. At least until she heard people moving inside. Then she got up again.