Chapter 6

Black Panther was getting concerned about Luna. He had noticed that a day after they had gotten Cleo away from Kraven, the girl had seemed happy, but then her mood seemed to go downhill. It worried him to the point that on the second evening he had noticed her seeming down, he went to talk to her.

"Luna?" He called out gently.

The twelve-year-old looked up from a book she had been reading, or at least trying to read. "Yes, Black Panther?" She asked curiously.

Cleo, who was beside her, lifted her head up as the black-suited hero approached. He held out a hand for the cat to sniff and she nuzzled his hand, purring. Taking that to mean she was alright with him being around her and Luna, he sat down beside the girl. "Are you feeling well, young one?" He asked.

"I'm fine," she said, but her face said otherwise.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Luna, if something is bothering you, you can come talk to me," he said before he realized something. "Is the idea of me adopting you worrying you?"

"No," she said, shaking her head before looking up at him. "Although, I am curious as to why you want to adopt me. Aunt Wasp said you felt you couldn't abandon me since you're a protector."

Black Panther chuckled. "That is true, and in a way, I guess I see you as a young cub, much like how Cleo does," he said, reaching over to give Cleo a chin scratch, to which the large cat purred even louder and one of her back feet kicked in the air, making Luna giggle.

"She's always done that," she said. "She loves chin scratches."

The black-suited hero chuckled again before looking serious. "Luna, can you be honest with me?" He asked. She nodded. "How do you like it here?"

Luna was quiet for a bit before taking a deep breath. "I really like it here," she admitted. "None of you have tried to hurt me and you all were really concerned when we learned I had panther and lion DNA in me."

"Because we're worried that your former foster father might try something," he said.

She looked up at him. "If he did ever manage to kidnap me, would you all go after him to rescue me?" She asked.

"Yes," he said instantly. "And I would give him something to remember. It is not wise to invoke a panther's wrath."

The twelve-year-old year old nodded before sighing a little. "I just hope you can catch him and put him away soon," she said. "I heard he's still trying to get the police to arrest me for theft."

"He is, but the police know you didn't steal anything," Black Panther said. "We'll catch him and when we do, he'll be put in jail far away from here where he'll never bother you again or come after you again."

"That would be nice," she admitted before looking up at him. "And...I think I'd rather have you as a dad than him."

The black-suited hero smiled at that. "Hopefully the paperwork will go through soon and you will officially be my daughter," he said.

Luna smiled a bit before looking worried. "Will I have to call you 'Dad' right away?" She asked.

Black Panther chuckled, not taking offense as he knew the girl was asking a valid question. "You can call me that when you're ready to," he said.

Seeming relieved that he had said that, she looked down before sighing and standing up. "I better get to the training room. I need to work on climbing the walls faster," she said before heading out. Cleo lifted her head and gave a questioning purr.

"I know," Black Panther said with a nod. "Something else is bugging her."

He was right.

Luna climbed the walls in the training room, but her heart wasn't really into it. She frowned as she tried to focus on climbing faster, but she just couldn't get into it, sighing as she just kept climbing, not really paying attention, but rather moving by instinct.

Vision, who had been passing by, paused at hearing Luna's turmoiled thoughts and he entered, feeling the young girl's jumbled emotions hit him as he spotted her climbing up the walls. He floated upwards and was soon next to her. "Luna," he said, making her look at him. "Are you alright?"

Though he could tell she wasn't, he knew that the situation was delicate, plus he wanted to get Luna to open up to him. He saw her sigh and she motioned downward to the floor, leaping and using her walls to help control her descent while the android hero floated down and they were soon standing on the floor. Luna looked up at him.

"I'm...still trying to come to terms about the cat DNA in me," she admitted, hugging herself. "Not only that, I'm worried about Venus. I miss her."

Vision could feel and see just how much turmoil the twelve-year-old was feeling and he moved closer, gently pulling her into a hug, keeping his hold light so that she could pull away if she wanted to. To his surprise, she just wrapped her arms around him as tears filled her eyes. Sensing that she needed comfort, he gently wrapped part of his cape around her, holding her gently. She not only tightened her hold on him, but also rested her head against his shoulder. Taking this as a sign of trust, the android hero was quiet, deciding to wait until the girl decided to speak.

After a few moments, Luna looked up at him, a few tears escaping her eyes. "I just don't know what to do," she admitted. "I...I thought I was normal."

Vision nodded gently. "You went from feeling you were normal to now realizing you are special," he said, deciding to put it delicately.

She snorted. "Special. That's just another word for mutant," she said.

"I didn't mean it like that," the android hero said gently.

She sighed. "I know," she said. "It's just the truth and now the man I was hoping to never worry about again is after me, I'm not fully human, and...I just really don't know what to feel right now."

Vision began rubbing Luna's back to help soothe her. "We'll find Venus," he said reassuringly. "And your parents no doubt had a good reason for integrating cat DNA into your own DNA. Perhaps they wanted you to have a special connection with Cleo and Venus."

She shrugged, still uncertain before bursting into giggles as the android began tickling her. "Hulk mentioned how you were quite ticklish when he caught you the other day in training," he said with a smirk as he tickled her lowermost ribs, recalling that the green hero had mentioned that Luna couldn't stand being tickled there.

He found it to be true as she squealed and tried to get away, but he had her. "Well, well, looks like my associate was right about your tickle spot," he said as he continued tickling her.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHEHEHEHEHEHEHEN IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI SEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIM AGAIN, HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE'S SOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO GONNA GEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHET IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!" Luna squealed out, laughing as Vision again focused on those lowermost ribs, his fingers tickling her rapidly and leaving her in a constant stream of laughter and giggles.

Miss Marvel, who had been searching for Vision, smiled as she found him tickling Luna and smirked. "Hey, Vision," she said.

"Miss Marvel," he said with a nod, smiling at her. "Care to join me?"

"Thought you'd never ask," she said. "From what I hear, Luna could use every ounce of happiness right now."

"You got that right."

Luna squirmed to get away, but when both began tickling her ribs all over and her sides, she laughed her hardest, unable to stop them, but after a bit, the two stopped and the young girl let out a few more giggles before sitting up. "Feeling better, kid?" Miss Marvel asked.

"Yes," the twelve-year-old said, smiling.

"Good, because I've got some good news," the female hero said with a smile, noting how Luna perked up at that. "I think we've located Venus."

"For real?" The young girl asked, hope in her voice.

"Yes. Tony's working on a way to find out for sure."

Luna could have danced for joy at hearing that and Vision smiled, glad to see the child was doing better.

And he hoped too that they had indeed found Venus, but only time would tell.

Well, looks like Luna and Cleo just might be reunited with Venus, if it is her that Tony has found. :)

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GoldGuardian2418