Chapter 3

A day had passed since Black Panther had brought Luna to the Mansion and the twelve-year-old seemed to be settling in well. She was walking down another hallway after breakfast when she saw a room that was filled with computer screens and advanced tech. Curious, she entered the room, glancing around.

"Hello, Luna."

The girl jumped in surprise and just barely held back a yelp as she looked around, getting into a defensive position as she looked to see who was in the room with her.

"My apologies. It was not my intent to startle you," the voice spoke again.

Seeing no one, Luna slowly straightened. "Who's there?" She asked warily.

"I am J.A.R.V.I.S.," the voice said. "The computers and systems you see in front of you."

The girl's eyes widened. "An AI?" She asked, recalling her parents worked with some artificial intelligence once on their research sometime ago.

"Yes," J.A.R.V.I.S. said, sounding pleased that the girl had caught on so fast. "How are you settling in, Luna?"

"Pretty good, thank you," she said with a nod. She glanced around at the keyboards and other tech around her. "Are you like an advanced AI?" She asked.

"I am one of the most advanced artificial intelligence on the planet Earth," he said, sounding a bit smug.

Luna quietly huffed in amusement. Modest, isn't he? She asked herself before noticing a warning icon appeared. "What's that?" She asked.

"There seems to be something trying to get past my firewalls," the computer said before both heard something sparking.

Growing even more curious, Luna kneeled down under the consoles. "Let me see," she said and the panels slid open as she took a look inside. "Hmm, the wires and everything else look okay. Maybe you've got a circuit problem."

"It does seem to be attacking at my circuits," J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Luna stood up and gently tapped another panel, which opened at once and she saw the problem. "This yellow wire looks out of place," she said.

"I do agree it's not part of my systems," the computer said. "It seems to be what is called 'piggybacking'."

The girl saw something on the wire and her eyes widened. "Oh, no," she said softly. "J.A.R.V.I.S., hang on a moment."

She glanced around and to her relief, there was an old computer nearby. "Okay, let's see if I remember what my mom did to get a virus out of the systems once," she muttered softly before her fingers flew over the keyboard, pressing on certain keys. "Alright J.A.R.V.I.S., let me in and put up your firewalls to the max."

"What are you going to do?" He asked as he did what she had asked him to do.

"I'm going to eject this virus," she said as she hit a final key before setting the computer aside and going over to the open panel, pulling out the wire that didn't belong as the virus traveled to the old computer. Seconds later, the screen on the old computer began to flash and the screen looked like a painting gone bad. "J.A.R.V.I.S., eject me out!" She said urgently.

The AI did so and the old computer went black, having been shut off the moment the plug was pulled. "Ah, that feels better," he said. "Thank you, Luna."

"Hold your applause," she said seriously. "I'm not done yet."

Moments later, she found what she was looking for, a small microchip that was trying to scurry away like a spider, but she caught it and held it between her fingers as if she was going to break it in half, which is what she did. The delicate circuitry sparked once before going dead. "Okay, now I'm done," she said.

"What was that exactly?" The AI asked.

"A weak attempt at a virus program," Luna replied. "My foster father from the recent home I fled was fooling around with creating viruses, but he thankfully wasn't good at making them, so this was a weak attempt by him." She turned the now-destroyed microchip over and nodded. "Both the wire and microchip have the same number, a 3."

"A rather unusual number to be a calling card," J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"He did that because it's part of a number some people are afraid of," the girl said. "The number thirteen."

"I believe I see your point," he said. "Still, thank you."

"No problem," she said before growing curious. "Hey J.A.R.V.I.S., what can you tell me about the Avengers?"

For the next two hours, the AI went though the files on the Avengers, giving Luna the basics of each hero. The girl listened carefully and nodded when he was done. "J.A.R.V.I.S., have the Avengers ever lied to each other? Or betrayed each other's trust?"

The computer was quiet for a bit. "When some alien invaders came to masquerade as Captain America, the bonds of trust and friendship were tested and for a while, no one trusted anyone, not until recently." He said.

She recalled that. "Has anyone joined the Avengers recently?" She asked.

"The Vision is the one hero to have joined recently."

Luna nodded, now getting an idea as to where the microchip came from. The abusive man that was her foster father must have put it on her to keep track of her, but with her not being around computers before coming to the Mansion, he hadn't had a computer to try and hack in to, which was another skill he wasn't good at. "J.A.R.V.I.S., keep your sensors alert for any more microchips like that," she said before getting up and going to head out. She paused and turned. "By the way, where would the training room be?"

"Turn right as you head out and go straight down the hall. Take the third right you come to and it'll be the fourth door on your right," he said.

"Thank you," she said, heading out.

Thor had just arrived back from patrol with Hawkeye and both reported that all was well. "Any word on the police still looking for Luna?" Tony asked.

"They said the case is still open, but I think they're being tight-lipped about it otherwise, especially with her former foster parents still claiming she stole from them," Hawkeye said.

Captain America shook his head. "The police found the 'stolen' jewelry, so why are those two still trying to get the police to arrest Luna?" He asked.

Tony sighed. "We might have to ask Luna," he said as they looked at him incredulously. "Hear me out. We know the kid didn't steal from them, but she lived with them before she ran away. She would have learned how they work and what their activities are to have figured out the best way to escape."

"He is right," Thor said. "But Luna is still wary, though she and Wasp seem to have become friends."

Vision came into the room. "I have news," he said. "Luna found a rather weak virus in J.A.R.V.I.S.' systems."

Tony stood up abruptly at hearing that. "J.A.R.V.I.S., you okay, buddy?" He asked.

"I am well, Tony Stark," the AI said. "Luna looked into my systems and found the 'piggyback' wire that was trying to deliver the virus, but it was a weak one and she tricked the flow of data to go into an old computer. She also found a microchip that she recognized to be made by her former foster father. She said he dabbled in creating viruses, but wasn't good at doing so."

"Probably a good thing for us," Hawkeye said. "But how did that get past your security systems?"

"It is possible that the microchip, which was no bigger than a small spider, was hiding on Luna and sneaked by undetected."

"Could they have been searching for Luna?" Tony asked.

"Quite possible," Thor said.

"If so, then Luna is in grave danger," Vision said.

"Which may be why she's so wary," Captain America said. "She is unsure about trusting that she's safe here, but she must feel somewhat safe if she didn't run when Wasp took her shopping."

"Or she could be figuring out how to escape," Tony said with a sigh. "J.A.R.V.I.S., has Luna made any attempts to escape?"

"No," the AI replied. "She hasn't. She did ask where the training room was and is in there right now."

Thor grew thoughtful. "I'm curious to see what skills she has," he said before heading out.

"Wait up, big guy," Hawkeye said, following him.

Luna dodged another laser that was really a beam of light, the setting have been set to that so that if she did get hit, it wouldn't hurt. She climbed up a wall before doing a backflip to avoid another shot, landing on her feet just as the lasers stopped and she stood up, nodding.

"Not bad," came a voice that made her jump and she looked up to see who had entered the room.

"Hawkeye," she said without preamble before noticing the other hero beside him. "Thor. Can I help you both?"

"We were curious to see what skills you have," Thor said. "You seemed to be agile to have held your own against the lasers."

"Thanks," she said. "But lasers are predictable. I need a challenger that isn't predictable."

She then perked up. "Thor, you control thunder and Hawkeye, you have arrows that can do various things, right?"

"Yes?" Hawkeye said.

She nodded. "Would you two be up for sparring?" She asked.

Thor looked intrigued at the idea. "Alright," he said. "Though, two against one isn't exactly fair."

Luna smirked. "I escaped from a squad of police the night Black Panther found me, remember?"

Both chuckled, seeing the kid had guts. "Alright," he said. "Let's see what you got."

Half-an-hour later, both heroes were astounded to see that Luna had not only dodged lightning shots and arrows, but the girl didn't even look tired. "You have a strong endurance?" Thor asked her.

She nodded. "Usually I do, but the night Black Panther captured me, I had gone two days without eating anything but candy that I managed to smuggle and a day of not getting enough sleep," she said. "The day he found me was the day I had escaped from that foster home."

Hawkeye looked at her. "J.A.R.V.I.S. told us about you finding that virus in his system and you recognized the tech," he said. "Any reason your abusive foster father would be trying to find you?"

Luna shrugged. "Best guess, he either wants more money or he wants to impress some big men that look for the best cyber hackers or virus makers," she said. "He always talked about doing big stuff like that."

"Did he by chance mention any names?" Thor asked.

The twelve-year-old shook her head. "No, he never did," she said. "But he would brag about making a virus that would put even the best virus makers to shame."

"Looks like he's not even there yet if the virus was weak and you were able to eject it from J.A.R.V.I.S.' systems," Hawkeye said.

"Which is good," she said. "Cause I'm never going back there." She then paused. "You know, he has heard rumors about me having cat DNA in me."

Both heroes looked surprised at that. "But ye don't resemble a cat," Thor said before looking a little sheepish. "Forgive me. That was out of line."

Luna smiled. "It's okay," she said. "And I don't resemble a cat because I don't have cat DNA in me."

"Wonder who started that crazy rumor," Hawkeye said.

"Probably because my parents worked with cats," the girl said. "My folks were big on studying cats. Their whole focus was on cats, even after I was born." She smiled. "Believe it or not, I was raised beside some baby lions and panthers. The mothers had been raised by my parents."

Both heroes were wide-eyed at that and Luna managed to hide a giggle at their expressions. "It's true," she said. "My folks learned from the mother lion and mother panther about raising young and the mother cats accepted me as one of their clan. I even learned how to sneak around, escape, and even climb like them."

"That would explain how you're so agile at dodging shots or getting out of tight spots," Hawkeye said.

Thor smiled before looking curious. "Luna, Tony said that your parents and grandmother had passed away," he said gently.

She nodded, looking down for a moment before looking back up at them. "A man that wanted my parents to work for him didn't take it kindly when they turned down his offer," she said. "That night after dinner, my parents gave the mother cats and their cubs to an old friend who is a zookeeper and he promised to keep them safe. They then got me to the airport and put me on a plane to my grandmother's house. The plane was a private one that was piloted by a good friend of theirs and he got me to New York."

She paused before tears began to sting her eyes and she took a deep breath. "Two days after I arrived at my grandmother's, we got word that my parents were dead. My grandmother fell ill not long after and she died two years ago."

Both heroes looked at her sympathetically and Thor moved closer at seeing Luna was trying not to let her tears fall. Gently, he pulled her into a hug. She suddenly clung to him as a few tears fell. Hawkeye came closer and placed a hand gently on the kid's shoulder. "We're sorry, Luna," he said softly.

"Aye," Thor said just as softly.

She nodded and looked at them both, slightly pulling back from Thor and he let her, but she gave them both grateful looks. "Thanks for listening," she said softly.

They both nodded, none of them noticing Black Panther was watching.

The black-suited hero realized that the wounds Luna bore were deep, but he could see that she was beginning to trust them. And it seemed she had two new sparring partners too. Nodding, he moved away quietly, promising to himself that he wouldn't let those former foster parents get Luna.

After all, a father panther was protective of their clan just as a mother panther was protective of her young.

Looks like Luna is doing better and hopefully Thor is right about anyone being foolish to try and break into the Mansion. :)

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