Here it is: the much awaited (or maybe not) continuation of "Secret Animal Adoption Squad". Thanks for all the name ideas y'all! I'm going with Maeve Jhana "Cream Puff" Udaku-Parker ('cuz Shuri and Peter are her adoptive parents) but I'll probably just call her Maeve.

And for the sake of convenience, I've moved this chapter so that it comes directly after 'Secret Animal Adoption Squad'. So don't get confused XD

Enjoy y'all!

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Tony squinted at the couch from his spot on the bar, and glanced back to his glass. It was half-full, but he was rather sure he'd only filled it halfway to begin with. Or perhaps he hadn't, but even so half a glass of wine shouldn't have been enough to make him hallucinate.

He cast a suspicious glance around the room, his gaze resting for a moment on first Wanda, and then Stephen. He was looking for Loki, but the mischievous Jotun was nowhere to be seen.

So then why had those pillows just fallen off the couch completely without reason?

Everyone in the Tower knew that Loki had been experimenting with invisibility spells. In fact, if anything around the Tower went missing at this point, the first person to go to was Loki. He'd look at you in a disinterested way, but his eyes sparkled with mischief. Especially if you asked where your gun was, or your favourite book. He'd frown innocently and describe it vaguely, before denying ever having seen it.

"You mean the book with the gold and brown cover, a bit on the old side? Big letters? Never seen it before."

"That sock? The blue one with the american flag on it? And your name written on the inside? No, what makes you think I know which sock you mean? I don't keep a catalogue of socks."

"Your favourite gun? I wasn't aware you had a favourite. But I mean, you have like a hundred. Which was it, the one with the smooth trigger and slightly bent barrel that you used in the Civil War? No, I don't think I know any gun like that."

And then later that day you'd feel something in your desk, at the back of a dark drawer, and pull out an invisible sock, or book, or gun. And as you'd swear, or scream, or shout, it would turn visible, and it didn't take much imagination to imagine Loki laughing.

So initially, Tony thought it was another of Loki's pranks. He'd succeeded in turning himself invisible, perhaps. Or the Trickster was just trying to mess with his mind. Wouldn't have been the first time that Tony had thrown a glass of good wine down the drain just because Loki had convinced him that he was hallucinating and drunk.

And besides, it was only a pillow.

He glanced over at Bruce. If anyone was going to start getting scared-y, it'd probably be Clint, but Bruce would get visibly nervous at out of place circumstances. That wasn't the case now - Bruce was completely relaxed, sipping from a mug of hot chocolate while discussing the relation between physics and magic with Wanda and Stephen.

Tony shook his head, shaking off all the bothersome thoughts and taking a sip of the wine.

As the taste touched his tongue, he knew this was his first sip of the night, but he forced the accompanying anxious thoughts out of his head and turned to face Peter.

"Where is Shuri?" he enquired, and he saw Peter's glance flash to the glass of wine in his hand before he answered, as if judging whether Tony was still sober.

"She's in her temporary lab, I think."

Tony nodded, taking another small sip of the wine and feeling slightly better already.

"When is she headed back for Wakanda?"

"Why?" Peter frowned, "Don't you like having her here?"

"No, no, that's not it," Tony reassured him quickly, "I'm just..."

He looked over Peter's shoulders, seeing the curtains swish in the wind. But there was no wind. The windows were closed.

"Just what?" Peter prompted.

"Just... curious..." Tony went on absentmindedly, putting down his glass and walking around Peter to inspect the curtains.

"Come out Loki, I know it's you," he muttered under his breath, half expecting Loki to materialize beside him.

"Da- Mr Stark... are you okay?" Peter enquired, tilting his head sideways like a curious puppy.

Tony pulled the curtains aside quickly, but saw nothing.

"But... they moved..." he muttered to himself.

A small smirk crossed Peter's lips, dissolving when Tony turned around to face him.

"Those curtain just moved."

Peter raised an eyebrow, trying his best to keep a straight face.

"Uhm... yeah, so?"

"They moved... all by themselves!"

Stephen, who had watched with amusement, decided to chime in.

"Stark, curtains are allowed to move. It is neither illegal, nor impossible."

"Maybe there was a draft," Bruce suggested, "the elevator just opened when the pizza guy came, and the door to your study is still open..."

Tony reluctantly accepted Bruce's theory, but kept his eyes open for more oddities as he grabbed a slice of pizza, leaving his glass of wine on the bar for the moment.

"Why are you so suspicious anyway?" Stephen enquired, "Romanoff was just like that earlier, snapping at me if anything so much as rustled."

"Nat's always like that," Clint shrugged.

"I think everyone is annoyed because of Loki's recent pranks," Wanda clarified.

"Ahhh, Mr Laufeyson is at it again?" Stephen nodded, but he seemed more amused than anything else, "what has he come up with this time?"

"Invisibility-ARGHGHHH!!"

Tony jumped up when the door to his study slammed shut, and this time they all heard a distinct laughter in the background.

"PIETRO!" Wanda scolded, and the next second the speedster was standing behind Bruce innocently.

"Did you miss me??"

Stephen paused, squinting at Pietro as though he was having some sort of flashback.

Wanda opened her mouth to continue reprimanding her brother, but at that moment the elevator door opened and Bucky and Sam arrived, heavily quarreling.

"But if Moriarty did have a brother, wouldn't Sherlock have deduced that?" Sam enquired.

"Not necessarily," Bucky countered, "Remember, he couldn't deduce Irene either."

"Yeah but Moriarty is different," Sam protested, "he's..."

He trailed off when he realized that everyone was staring at them.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked uncomfortably, expecting a prank of some sort.

"Um... no, nothing," Bruce answered.

Clint grabbed the last slice of pizza quickly.

That way Bucky and Sam don't need to argue about it.

He grinned at Tony, who was still looking nervous.

"He's here and he's laughing at us all, I swear," Tony muttered as he took a small bite out of his pizza, still talking about Loki.

Suddenly Peter seemed to realize something, and he glanced around the room, searching for something. He moved over to Clint subtly.

"Where's Maeve?" he hissed into Clint's ear. Clint grinned, pointing to the small black panther cub perched on the back of the couch. She was eyeing the pizza in Tony's hand with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"This'll be great," Clint chuckled to himself, sitting down on the bar.

Maeve jumped off the couch, and several pairs of eyes followed her as she made her way across to Tony.

"What are you staring at?" Sam whispered to Clint, and Peter remembered with a smile that Sam couldn't see Maeve.

Nor could Tony.

Maeve had her amber eyes locked onto the slice of pizza, and slowly raised herself onto her hind legs, putting her fluffy front paws onto Tony's leg.

Tony pulled back his leg quickly while simultaneously making a wild grab for the invisible creature. He lost in balance in the process, dropping the pizza slice onto the floor and landing with a loud CRASH.

"Mr Stark!" Peter yelped in surprise.

Clint tried his best to hide a grin as Maeve slipped past Tony, grabbing the slice of pizza in her mouth and darting under the couch.

"Did you slip?" Bucky asked with a completely straight face, and Tony let out a snarl.

"This is Loki's doing, I swear," he grumbled, feeling around the floor in an attempt to find whatever he'd felt against his leg.

"Did my dearest brother decide to wreak havoc on you all again?" Thor enquired, stepping into the room with a deep laugh, Loki right behind him.

"I'm your only brother, brother mine," Loki remarked with a roll of his eyes, "and besides, I have better things to do than to annoy mortals."

He turned to face Strange and Wanda.

"Could one of you help me with those Sling Rings of yours? I was thinking that maybe a basic invisibility spell could dim the light that the portals give off, making them much more effective for stealth missions."

Strange and Wanda both got up, deciding that it would be safer to get a little further away from Tony.

"What about just absorbing the light?" Bruce suggested, and Loki raised his eyebrows in impressed surprise.

"Worth a shot," he nodded, "why don't you come with us, Bruce?"

Bruce hesitated.

"Tony?"

Tony had given up on trying to find the invisible critter, and he met Bruce's gaze with a sigh.

"If you want to go, go," he dismissed Bruce, switching his gaze to Loki with a glare.

"I know you're behind this," he grumbled.

"I'm not denying it, am I?" Loki countered, subtly winking at Peter and Clint.

Tony just growled, and Maeve took advantage of his distraction by clambering onto the couch, settling next to Thor with what remained of the pizza (a single slice of salami).

Thor smiled, petting the small panther cub, and Maeve almost disappeared under his big hands.

"I've been keeping Loki busy all afternoon, Stark," Thor explained patiently, "he hasn't had the time for any silly pranks."

Loki smirked, turning on his heel and striding out of the room with Wanda, Bruce and Stephen. Tony let out a soft hiss, and Maeve jumped up in surprise, looking around for the fellow feline.

Bucky sniggered, and Sam gave him a suspicious look.

"What is there to laugh at?" he enquired.

"Oh, you have no idea," Clint mumbled, hiding a smirk.

"You're right, I do have no idea," Sam grumbled.

"Um... Mr Stark?" Peter interrupted.

"Yes kid?" Tony enquired, getting to his feet again.

"I'm going to find Shuri to help her with her project. So um... I'll see you later?"

Tony nodded, visibly exhausted.

"Sure kid. I'm going to get some sleep, I think I'm hallucinating."

"And don't forget to drink water!" Peter added with an unusually serious tone of voice, "dehydration can induce hallucinations too."

Tony nodded again, walking to the kitchen to get some water. He was followed by Thor, who went to fetch some poptarts.

Peter quickly took a small packet out of his pocket, tearing it open and waving it in front of Maeve.

Maeve caught onto the smell of salmon within seconds, pouncing up and watching Peter's every move.

Peter smirked, slowly backing away from the couch an towards a closet, holding out the salmon for Maeve.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, and Bucky hissed at him to keep quiet.

Maeve sniffed the air experimentally, and then trotted after Peter.

Then they all heard footsteps as Tony came back with a glass of water.

"Peter, hide!" Clint ordered quickly, and Peter hid in the closet, dragging Maeve inside with him.

Tony walked into the living room, holding a glass half full (or half empty, depending on how you look at it) of water.

"What was that?" he frowned, "I think I heard something."

"It was Cli-" Sam began, but Bucky put his hand over Sam's mouth quickly.

"Are you sure you drank enough water?" he asked innocently, "because you're still delusional."

"Yeah," Clint nodded quickly, "you're hearing things that aren't there."

"Sleep is important," Pietro filled in, "maybe you should just take a nap, like you said."

Tony eyed the four of them suspiciously.

"Where's Peter?" he asked.

Bucky, Clint and Pietro answered at the same time.

"With Shuri!"

"In his room!"

"Working on his suit!"

"Working on his suit with Shuri, in his room," Clint combined all of them quickly, and Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Yeahhhh... I'll just... go to my room them."

He narrowed his eyes, and Clint waved goodbye while Pietro grinned. Sam let out a soft sound of indignation, and Bucky pinched his arm as punishment.

Tony closed the door behind him s-l-o-w-l-y.

Clint counted out ten seconds, waiting to see it he would come back.

Then Pietro opened the closet and Peter tumbled out, the protesting panther in his arms.

"He went to his room," Clint hissed, "if you're quick you can bring Maeve to Shuri now."

Peter nodded, slipping away with Maeve.

"Bye Maeve," Pietro smiled.

Bucky let go of Sam.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF PEREGRINE FALCONS IS GOING ON WITH YOU!?!" Sam hollered, and the three others hissed for him to be quiet.

"I think you're hallucinating too, Sam," Clint whispered, "maybe you should get some sleep."

Sam growled.

"I know you're up to something, and when I find out what..."

"Yeah, we know, you'll kill us all," Bucky rolled his eyes, "just get to bed, bird-boy."

Sam looked like he was going to protest further, but then gave in with a sigh.

"Whatever," he muttered under his breath, walking out of the room.

He slammed the door behind him, and the trio breathed out in relief.

"That panther is going to cause more trouble than the Civil War did," Clint predicted.

Pietro snorted.

"That's because the Civil War was stupid. The only good thing about it was that Wanda wasn't on the same team as that toaster."

"Hey," Bucky shrugged, "I'd call it stupid too, but if you think about it they were all fighting about me, so I'm just flattered really."

"Oh shut up, both of you," Clint chuckled, walking towards the door, "let's just go see if Peter made it all the way to Shuri's lab without losing the little critter."

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Do you guys want more chapters with Maeve? If you have ideas, I'm always open ;-)