Chapter 4

Luna smiled as she walked down the hallway. It had been about a week since Black Panther had brought her to the Avengers Mansion and she really liked it there, having bonded with Wasp, Thor, Hawkeye, and J.A.R.V.I.S. She felt happy that they treated her like they had known her for a long time and she had had fun shopping with Wasp and sparring with Thor and Hawkeye. She decided to head for the training room to practice climbing faster. She entered the training room and stopped short at seeing a huge green person smashing the training robots into scrap metal. She stood to the side, not wanting to get in the way as she watched with a little fear and some awe as the robots were reduced to nothing.

Hulk sensed someone watching and turned to find the kid behind him. He saw her swallow hard as he approached and he paused. "You're the kid Black Panther saved," he said.

"Y-Yes," Luna said, stammering a little.

"Thor and Hawkeye say you're a good sparring partner," Hulk continued. "How about we spar?"

The girl's eyes widened. "Um, I don't know if I'd be able to keep up with you," she said.

Hulk chuckled. "You mean you're scared Hulk will hurt ya," he said, seeing right through her. "Nah, Hulk won't hurt ya, but Hulk want to see your technique."

Well, Luna decided that she could do that and just watch to make sure he didn't catch her. "Well, okay," she said before taking a deep breath and looking at him. "Don't go easy on me. I don't like easy challenges."

Hulk smirked. "Neither does Hulk," he said as he charged at her. The twelve-year-old ducked and moved to the side, avoiding him, but she knew she couldn't keep dodging. While generally a smaller opponent was faster against a bigger opponent, Luna knew Hulk was fast, no doubt due to training. One would think that being so huge Hulk would be slow, but anyone to think that would be a fool.

Luna dodged again, but Hulk almost caught her and he smirked. "Come on," he said. "Give Hulk a challenge."

She now smirked. "Okay, Hulk," she said. "See if you can catch a kitty."

With that, she got out her climbing claws and ran towards a wall, jumping up and springing off of it to land on the other wall and start climbing rapidly. Well, I did want to practice climbing faster, she thought to herself as she turned to see where Hulk was.

He was right behind her.

Luna let out a scream of shock when she saw that and squirmed as Hulk scooped her up and jumped to the floor, landing and lightly pinning the twelve-year-old girl to the floor. She squirmed harder, but he didn't budge. "Look at that. Hulk caught a kitty," he said with a grin.

She glared up at him. "Oh, it's on, green giant," she said. "Rematch."

He chuckled and let her up before they went at it again. Luna again climbed faster and at one point slid back down on purpose, surprising the Hulk who had leapt up to catch her again and she jumped to another wall, climbing up faster now before she got to the top and went to take another leap to another wall. She landed and was about to start climbing again when something grabbed her leg and gave a gentle, but firm tug, making her lose her grip and she fell back right into Hulk's arms. "Green giant, huh?" He asked before poking her side.

Luna squeaked and squirmed. "Let go!" She said, some more giggles escaping her when Hulk wiggled his fingers into her ribs, especially her lowermost rib. She squeaked. "No! Not there!"

Hulk grinned. "Did Hulk find kitty's weak spot?" He asked teasingly before focusing his wiggling fingers on that lower rib, to which Luna burst into laughter, squealing and giggling.

Black Panther, hearing the commotion as he was headed for the training room, looked inside to see Luna was trapped in Hulk's arms and the giant hero was tickling her. The black-suited hero chuckled as Luna squirmed to get free, but was unable to. Hulk paused the tickle torture, letting Luna catch her breath. "Well, does the kitty yield?" He asked her playfully.

She giggled. "Okay, okay," she said, conceding. "You're actually the first to catch me, beside Black Panther."

Hulk chuckled. "You gave Hulk a challenge," he said. "And earned Hulk's respect. Well done."

Luna smiled. "Hey, can we spar again sometime?" She asked.

He smiled. "You say the word and Hulk's there," he said, holding out a hand for a handshake.

"Deal," she said, shaking his hand.

A little bit later, she was about to head to her room to read when someone swung in and landed in front of her. She paused before grinning. "Spiderman!" She said happily.

He turned and smiled. "You must be the new girl I've heard so much about," he said. "Luna, right?"

"Yeah," she said before looking concerned. "Is that man that runs that newspaper still giving you grief?"

Spiderman shrugged. "I'm used to it," he said.

Luna sighed. "I wish someone would just gag him and tie him to his chair," she said.

The webslinger chuckled in amusement before looking at her. "Hey, odd question, but do you think you could help me with an experiment?" He said.

She looked at him. "What kind of experiment?" She asked.

"Well, it's with human blood," he explained. "I'm going to examine blood samples to look at my own DNA, but I need the DNA of someone who...well, hasn't been bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma rays or...,"

Luna held up a hand. "A human with normal DNA, right?" She asked with a smile.

Spiderman looked sheepish. "Sorry, I was trying to find something less offensive," he admitted.

"No offense taken," she said with a smile. "And I'd like to help out. My DNA hasn't been altered."

"Okay."

They went into the lab and Spiderman took a sample of Luna's blood, being very gentle, which the twelve-year-old was grateful for. He then took a sample of his own blood and put both samples under the microscope and turned on the magnifier so that they could both see. "Wow," Luna said, looking at the two samples. "That's kind of cool."

"Yeah," he said. "It's like another world."

He suddenly stopped as he noticed something odd in Luna's blood sample. "Luna, I thought you said your DNA hadn't been altered."

She gave him a confused look. "It hasn't been," she said before looking at the screen, knowing he saw something. "What do you see, Spidey?"

"Your DNA is altered by something," he said. "But...I can't tell what."

He began conducting a test, doing it twice, getting the same results. "J.A.R.V.I.S.," he said.

"Hello, Spiderman," came the AI's voice.

"Do a scan on Luna. I think her DNA has been altered."

Luna held still as the AI did a scan and the results came up in moments. "Luna's blood contains three types of DNA," he said. "Human, lion, and panther."

The girl looked at Spiderman. "Three types of DNA?" She asked in shock, sitting down. "But...how?"

The webslinger could see that the girl truly had had no idea. Black Panther came up to them. "What's going on?" He asked.

Luna looked up at him. "I have animal DNA in me," she said in shock.

He looked surprised and looked at Spiderman, who nodded. "She's got lion and panther DNA in her," he said.

Black Panther looked at Luna, who shrugged. "I have no idea why I'd have that in me," she admitted.

"Have you ever been sick that you can remember?" The webslinger asked.

She shook her head. "No," she said before looking thoughtful. "I wonder if the DNA is from Venus and Cleo."

"Who's Venus and Cleo?" Black Panther asked.

"The mother lion and mother panther that my folks had when I was little," she said. "I grew up alongside their cubs."

Spiderman looked a bit grim. "I hate to say this, but we have to tell the others," he said. "They need to know this."

Luna looked up. "You're right," she said. "Because I think that's one of the reasons my former foster father is looking for me. I thought it was just a rumor about me having cat DNA in me, but...it's apparently true."

When Tony heard that, he looked grim. "Okay, we're going to tighten our security here," he said and the other Avengers nodded. He turned to Luna. "Luna, I'm sorry, but until further notice, I suggest you don't leave the Mansion at all."

She nodded, but Captain America shook his head. "Tony, we can't keep her grounded here," he said. "It could be a long time before we catch her former foster father and it wouldn't be fair to her to be cooped up for so long."

Wasp nodded and got an idea. "How about this? If Luna wants to go out, two of us go with her," she said. "Double the protection."

Luna perked up, liking her aunt's idea. Tony gave it some thought before nodding. "Okay, but whoever is going with her lets the rest of us know, that way in case there's trouble, Luna will be safe and in case one gets hurt, the other can help out."

The others nodded, agreeing to the plan while Luna bowed her head, her mind still spinning over what Spiderman discovered. A hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to him. "Don't worry," he said. "We won't let that creep get you."

She sighed. "It's not that, Spidey," she admitted. "I just...I feel so...so...,"

"Unsure?" He supplied gently and she nodded. "I felt the same way after learning I had spider DNA in me and was learning about my powers. But you've got all of us to help you if you need it."

She gave him a grateful look. "Thanks," she said softly.

Black Panther nodded, but felt his own resolve harden. Luna's safety was now the top priority of the Avengers, especially him. He had put the adoption papers through to adopt the girl and this new discovery only made him hope the process would be over soon.

But he had a feeling, this was just the beginning.

Bet you guys didn't see that coming, hmm? :) But yes, Luna has lion and panther DNA in her.

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GoldGuardian2418