A/N: I want to extend a big thank you to Steelcode and to WindAuthor for reminding me of the people of Wakanda and Black Panther's sister, Shuri. :)


Chapter 9

With the adoption being official, Black Panther decided it was time to bring Luna to his village and introduce her to the people of Wakanda and to his sister, Shuri. He hoped that Luna would be accepted, though he had a feeling she would be. The people of Wakanda respected him and his sister and would surely respect his new daughter.

Luna was currently packing to go with her new father to see the village where he was king and to meet her new aunt, but she was a bit scared. Vision, sensing her fear, came in to see her. "Luna, are you alright?" He asked.

"Honestly, I'm scared," she said. "I mean, Aunt Wasp said I'd become royalty when Dad adopted me, but to now go see the village and the people and Dad's sister, well...,"

"You're afraid they won't like you?" He said gently.

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, look at me. They'll know I'm not related to Dad by blood. What if they don't accept me? What if...What if my new aunt decides she doesn't want anything to do with me?"

Vision smiled. "Luna, the people of Wakanda are very nice," he said. "And they respect Black Panther very much. They'll no doubt show you the same respect. And I believe your father has already told your aunt about you."

Luna's shoulders drooped. "Now I'm really scared," she said, sitting on her bed. "What if I don't make a good impression? What if I embarrass Dad?"

Venus and Cleo, sensing the girl's emotions going into a spiral, got up from their spot by the window and went over to Luna, purring and rubbing their heads against her lower legs. Unconsciously, she began petting them, beginning to calm down as she did so. Black Widow, who heard the last two questions, came in and smiled.

"Just be yourself, Luna," she said gently. "I'm sure you'll make a good first impression and I doubt you could ever embarrass your father."

The twelve-year-old sighed. "I hope you're right, Aunt Natasha," she said.

"Miss Luna, the Quinjet is ready to go and your father is waiting for you," J.A.R.V.I.S. said right then, making her jump a bit before she sighed and grabbed her suitcase, looking at Cleo and Venus, petting their heads.

"You two be good while I'm gone," she said to them and they purred, nuzzling her hands. She hugged them before sighing again and hugging Vision and Natasha. "Well, wish me luck," she said.

"Good luck," Vision said with a smile.

"And relax," Natasha said gently.


Thanks to the Quinjet being really fast, Black Panther and Luna landed in Wakanda in about an hour. The girl looked out the window and took a deep breath, feeling nervous already. Her father had changed into his tribal king robes and she went into the quarters section of the jet and changed into the same dress she had worn when they had gone to rescue Venus. Slipping her feet into her shoes, she sighed. "Well, better get this over with," she said to herself before stepping out, seeing her father was ready to step off the jet. He smiled and held out his arm to his daughter, who took it as they descended from the jet.

Luna was surprised to see how many people were gathered around and they bowed in respect to their king, murmuring happy greetings. "Thank you, my people," he said with a smile before motioning them to rise. "My people, I have recently become a father. Beside me is my new daughter, Luna."

There were gasps of surprise and Luna took a step forward, curtseying politely before taking a step back to stand by her father again. A lady then came forward and she smiled at them. "Welcome home, brother," she said, hugging him.

"Thank you, my sister," he said, hugging her back.

Luna swallowed hard, seeing this was her aunt, which meant she was a princess too. When Shuri looked at her, the twelve-year-old curtsied to her politely, but stayed quiet, unsure of what to say.

"This is her, T'Challa?" The woman asked.

"Yes, Shuri. This is my daughter, Luna," he said.

She nodded. "Come, we need to speak, brother," she said.

Shuri led them to the hut where T'Challa turned to his daughter. "You can rest or explore the village while I talk to your aunt, but don't go beyond the village gate," he said.

She nodded. "Yes, Dad," she said.

As the two adults headed into a room to talk privately, Luna headed out, deciding to learn more about the village. She began to feel a bit out of place as she walked and everyone was looking at her. Just then, an elderly lady tripped and fell, the basket of fruit that was on her head falling too and scattering fruit everywhere. Luna rushed over to her. "Are you alright?" She asked, helping the elderly lady up.

"Yes," she said. "But the fruit."

"I'll get them," the twelve-year-old girl said and quickly set about, gathering up the fruit and bringing it back to the basket. Everyone watched as she did so and the elderly lady picked up the basket.

"Thank you, my dear," she said. "Would you help an old woman to walk to her hut?"

Luna took her hand and walked with her and they were soon at her hut. "Come in, dear," she said. "Would you like to help me sort out the fruit?"

Happy to have something to do, the girl agreed. "How do you like it here in Wakanda?" The lady asked.

The twelve-year-old was quiet for a moment. "Honestly, I...I kind of feel out of place," she admitted. "I guess I'm still getting used to being T'Challa's daughter and a princess."

The lady chuckled. "I suppose that is a little daunting," she said as Luna handed her some apples. "What do you think of the village?"

"It's...interesting," the girl said, hesitating a bit. "I've never been to a village before, so it's all new to me."

A young girl came in and went up to the woman and said something in their native language, to which the old woman responded and the young girl looked at Luna before bowing to her. "Thank you for helping my great grandma," she said.

"You're welcome," Luna said, smiling at the young girl, who looked to be no more than nine years old.

A couple other women came in and spoke to the elderly woman while the twelve-year-old continued sorting the fruit. After a bit, one woman touched her shoulder and Luna looked up at her. "You're very strange," the woman said.

The girl blinked. "I am?" She asked.

"Yes," she said. "You're not like us."

Luna winced at hearing that. "Now, my daughter, watch your tongue around the princess," the elderly woman said.

"Princess Shuri is the princess, grandmother," the woman said. "This child is no princess."

The twelve-year-old felt it was best to leave and with a curtsey, she left the hut, feeling much like a scolded child. As she was walking, another woman approached her and the girl braced herself for another rejection. "Why did you help the elderly one?" The lady asked, sounding curious.

Luna looked at her. "Because it was the right thing to do," she said. "Before they died, my parents taught me to respect my elders and to help them if they needed it."

The lady seemed pleased with her answer and looked curious. "Have you ever weaved a basket before?" She asked.

The twelve-year-old shook her head. "No, I haven't," she said.

"We can show you, if you'd like."

Luna nodded. "Thank you. I'd like to learn," she said.

The lady guided her to a circle of women who were weaving baskets and showed her how to get started and how to weave the reeds together. Catching on fast, Luna found herself relaxing and enjoying the activity. Some younger children came up and were watching as she finished weaving one basket and started on another. Just then, a cheer went up and everyone looked up. "What's going on?" The twelve-year-old asked.

"The men have returned from a good hunt," one of the ladies said. "A banquet in honor of our king and of our newest princess."

As some ladies went to greet the men, Luna stayed with the weavers and continued weaving baskets. Someone came up to her and she looked up to see it was a young man and he was watching her. "White girl is weaving baskets?" He asked. "Why?"

"I wanted to know how to," she told him.

"Be mindful of your tongue," the lady beside her said. "She is Princess Luna, daughter of our king."

"False daughter," he said. "She shouldn't be here."

Luna's shoulders drooped again and she set aside the basket she had just finished before standing up and walking away, hearing something said in the native tongue, but she didn't turn around. She just went back to her father's hut and sat down with a sigh, tears running down her face.


In the private room, Shuri nodded as she listened to T'Challa. "She has been through much for her young age," the woman said.

T'Challa paused when he heard something and turned to look, pushing aside the blanket to see his daughter was sitting on a cot and she was crying. "Luna, what happened?" He asked, kneeling down in front of her.

She looked up at him and sniffled. "Dad, I think it might be best if I go back home," she said sadly.

He had a feeling he knew what had happened. "Did someone say something to you?" He asked.

She bit her lip, not wanting to tell him, but then Shuri sat beside her. "Please tell us, dear," she said gently.

Luna felt more tears come to her eyes before she sighed. "One lady said I wasn't like the rest of them and that I'm no princess and a young man asked me why a white girl would weave baskets and I told him I wanted to learn how and when the lady who was teaching me told him I was your daughter, he called me a false daughter and said I shouldn't be here," she said.

T'Challa didn't like hearing that someone had been rude to his daughter. "I shall go and speak to the village," he said. "Shuri, will you stay with Luna while I do so?"

"Of course, brother," the woman said.

T'Challa then left and Shuri looked at Luna, who looked miserable. "Luna, you shouldn't listen to those people," she said. "What they said wasn't right."

The girl looked at her. "What did I do to make them dislike me?" She asked.

"I doubt you did anything to make them dislike you," the woman said gently. "They were just being ignorant."

Luna didn't feel any better and Shuri had an idea. "Come," she said, standing up. "I need to finish making the necklaces for the celebration tonight. You can help me if you'd like."

A bit hesitant, the twelve-year-old nodded after a moment and followed her aunt into another room and it wasn't long before they were making the necklaces, the young girl again starting to feel better as she then looked over at her aunt, who looked up and smiled at her. "T'Challa told me a lot about you, Luna," she said. "I was so excited to hear you were coming for a visit."

Luna looked at her. "Why?" She asked curiously.

"Because I was excited to meet my new niece," Shuri said, still smiling before looking curious. "Didn't you want to meet me?"

The young girl sighed a little. "Yes, but...I was scared you wouldn't like me or accept me," she said.

Shuri set down the necklace she was working on and went over to the child, hugging her gently. "Luna, when T'Challa said he had adopted you, I accepted you right then and there," she said. "Because I was now an aunt and I had an niece at last. I've been wanting to be an aunt for so long."

Luna returned the hug, looking at her aunt before sighing again. "You really accept me?" She asked. "Even though I'm white and I'm not blood related to Dad."

"Yes," the woman said with a smile. "Because I don't judge and I don't care if you're not my niece by blood. You're my niece by family standards and that won't change."

Luna now felt better and smiled up at her aunt. "Thanks...Aunt Shuri," she said.

The woman felt happiness fill her that the child accepted her too and they went back to making necklaces. By the time they finished. T'Challa came back and he nodded, hugging his daughter. "I spoke to the village and you shouldn't be having anyone speaking against you again," he said.

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Thanks, Dad," she said. "Aunt Shuri showed me how to make necklaces for tonight."

"And the feast is almost ready," he said.

That evening, Luna was shocked at how large the feast was and she sat down by her father, deciding to keep quiet unless she was spoken to. T'Challa gave permission for the feast to start and the girl had to admit the food was delicious. The elderly lady from earlier came up to her and bowed politely.

"Forgive my intrusion, child. I wish to give you something," she said, presenting a beautiful cloth to the girl. "A dress that I made myself."

Luna was touched by the gift and nodded to the elderly woman. "Thank you for such a lovely gift," she said.

T'Challa smiled, pleased when he saw that and throughout the feast, many thoughtful gifts were given to Luna, who thanked each person graciously. The two that had spoken so rudely to her earlier came forward and the woman bowed before her while the man stood behind the woman, but bowed in respect.

"Anyone who seeks to learn is wise," he said.

"And one who helped the elderly is not only wise, but a good person too," the woman said.

The twelve-year-old realized the two were asking for forgiveness and she wondered what to say before it hit her and she looked at the two, standing up as she felt it was proper for what she was about to say. Everyone fell silent at this and Luna took a deep breath. "Thank you for your kind words," she said graciously to them. "And I forgive you both."

Shuri and T'Challa both smiled at this, pleased with Luna's gracious repsonse to the apologies.

The rest of their stay went quick as the village accepted Luna as a new princess and the girl learned more about her second home. When it was time to go, she felt sad and hugged her aunt. "I hope we'll return again soon," she said.

Shuri nodded with a smile. "I'll be looking forward to it," she said.

Luna hugged her again. "Thank you, Aunt Shuri," she said, looking at the bracelet that her aunt had made for her. It had blue beads and three charms on it, a lion, a panther, and a moon. Saying goodbye one more time, Black Panther and Luna headed home and the black-suited hero turned to his daughter.

"How did you like Wakanda?" He asked.

She smiled. "It feels like a second home to me," he admitted.

"Good," he said with a smile.


A few months later...

Black Panther snarled as he faced off against Doctor Octopus, who seemed to have an advantage with his robotic arms. "You should know better than to attack someone with more arms than you, Black Panther," the doctor said with a smirk.

The black-suited hero smirked. "And you should know...panthers hunt in packs," he said.

Claws slashed through the doctor's mechanical arms as a figure seemed to glide over the arms and barely touch them with their feet, jumping to a wall and using the momentum to jump back into the fight and land on Doctor Octopus' back, claws slashing into wires and metal.

Spiderman swung in and began wrapping up the villain in his spider webbing, watching as the other hero who was a near-spitting image of Black Panther continued the odd dance, even grabbing a section of his webbing and swinging around to catch a stray mechanical arm and pin the villain down for good. He growled and glared at them while S.H.I.E.L.D. took him away.

Black Panther stood nearby and nodded as Spiderman and the other black-suited hero joined him. "Good work," he said.

"Thanks," said the webslinger before looking at the other hero. "And neat trick on grabbing the webbing like that."

"Thanks," the black-suited hero said, indicating it was a female. "Did you get the other guy? Chameleon, right?"

"Yeah, I got him," Spiderman said. "Believe it or not, he tried to imitate you, Moon Claw."

"Ugh," she said with a shudder. "There's only one Moon Claw in this town."

"That is for certain," said Black Panther.

"I agree," came an unfamiliar voice and they turned to see a figure clad in dark brown in a nearby alleyway. She had cat ears on her head that twitched as if hearing sounds all around and a long tail flicked around behind her. A brown eyemask that went from her nose to her forehead bought out her golden brown eyes and long darker brown hair while her claws retracted into her hands. "You've come far, Luna."

The new heroine looked at her in shock. "How...?" She asked.

"I've been watching you," the girl said with a smile. "I watch every hero in New York."

"You do?" Spiderman asked.

She nodded. "Who do you think convinced Jameson to stop the bad publicity on the Howling Commandos?"

The webslinger jolted in shock. "That was you?" He asked.

She nodded before looking at Luna and smiling again. "Your parents would be proud of you, Luna," she said.

Luna blinked. "You knew my parents?" She asked in shock.

The cat-like girl nodded. "Yes, I did," she said. "It was because of their research that I chose to become what I am. A humanoid cat."

"Their research?" Black Panther asked curiously.

She nodded. "Luna's parents studied everything they could about cats and how cat DNA could help humans in so many ways if the right combination was found," she said, smiling now. "They saved my life with it, otherwise I would have died from blood cancer."

Luna was shocked before seeing the humanoid cat girl smile and begin to walk away. "Wait!" She called out.

The dark-brown furred girl stopped. "Yes?" She asked curiously.

"Who are you?"

At the girl's question, the cat-like girl smiled. "You'll know soon enough," she said gently. "For now, good luck, daughter of the Black Panther."

She ducked into an alleyway and by the time Spiderman got to where she was, she was gone. "She vanished," he said in surprise, seeing claw marks on a nearby wall before noting something. "Looks like she grabbed onto the wall and took a giant leap."

"But who was she?" The younger heroine asked.

Black Panther was curious too. "Well, perhaps one day, we'll know who she is," he said before glancing to see it was getting late in the afternoon. "Come, let's get back to the Mansion."

Moon Claw nodded and looked at Spiderman, a gleam in her white eyes. "Race you, web head!" She said before bounding down the street and jumping up to get to the roofs of the buildings.

"You're on, cat girl!" He said, swinging after her while Black Panther watched, running behind them to keep an eye on them.

The heroine giggled as the webslinger caught up to her. "Hey, want to team up?" He asked her.

She giggled again before nodding. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready!" He said before doing a flip in the air and she raced ahead, leaping up into the air and holding out her arms as she did a little skydiving and he swung underneath her, his back to her, which allowed her to smoothly land on his back as they both skydived before Spiderman shot out a web line and it caught on a nearby building, giving the two some bounce and momentum as they flew through the air.

"Let's try not to crash into Vision this time!" Moon Claw called out over the rushing wind.

"Or Hulk!" He said in agreement. The last couple of times they had teamed up like this, they had crashed into the two heroes and while Vision had caught them both, they had thrown him back quite a bit and nearly took out a few windows of the Mansion. With Hulk, they had knocked into him with such velocity that they had actually knocked the big guy off his feet. He hadn't been too happy about that and it had taken both Natasha and Captain America to calm the big guy down.

They could now see the Mansion and saw Wasp, Vision, and Captain America outside. "Incoming!" The three heard and looked up in time to see Spiderman and Moon Claw swooping in. The heroine let go of the webslinger and did a double backflip in mid-air before landing lightly on her feet on the ground while the webslinger let go of the web line and did a backflip before landing in a crouched position on the edge of the Mansion roof. He jumped down to join the heroine on the ground.

Wasp chuckled. "As least you two called out a warning this time," she said teasingly.

"Hey! We didn't see Vision until he suddenly appeared out of nowhere," Moon Claw said as they headed inside and she took off her mask, shaking out her red hair.

"What about when you two ran into Hulk?" Captain America asked teasingly.

"Luna was covering my eyes," Spiderman said.

"Because you got the bright idea to toss me up into the air without warning!" She retorted, trying not to laugh but failing at it. "So naturally, I made sure to hold on tight."

He chuckled. "Sure caught Hulk by surprise though," he said.

"True," Luna said in agreement. "But I thought for sure he was going to get us for that."

"He did, remember?" Spiderman told her. "You and I must have done a couple laps around the mansion before Black Widow and Cap got the big guy to calm down."

"Oh, yeah. I guess he did," she said as she remembered.

Black Panther came up behind them. "I see you two didn't crash into anyone," he said teasingly.

"Of course not, Dad," Luna said, looking innocent.

A friendly growl reached them and Venus and Cleo came bounding towards them. "AAH!" Spiderman yelped, jumping to the ceiling while the twelve-year-old girl giggled and kneeled down right before Cleo knocked her over and both the panther and lioness purred, making the girl giggle more.

"Okay, you two," she said playfully. "I'm getting a bit too old for this."

Black Panther chuckled. "They'll always see you as their little cub, Luna," he said.

Later on, Luna put away her heroine suit, which was all black like Black Panther's suit, but had no other markings on it save for the white eyes and her climbing claws that she had worked with forever now were not only her way of climbing, but also her weapon too. She now gazed in the mirror and smiled as she noticed the necklace with the cat paw pendant around her neck. It had been a gift from Black Panther on the very night that her former foster parents had been arrested and the adoption papers had gone through. She smiled as she looked now at her purple sparkly shirt and black jeans that she was wearing at the moment before a knock came at her door. "Come in," she called out.

Black Panther came in and he smiled at her. "I'm proud of you, little shadow," he said and she smiled. Because her outfit was close to his (he had designed it with both Wasp's and Tony's help) and she was always with him, 'little shadow' had become her nickname. "You've learned so much in just a few months."

"But I still have a lot to learn, Dad," she said.

"A good hero never stops learning," he said with a nod before seeing she was wearing the necklace he had given her. "It seems the cat paw was a good choice for your necklace."

She grinned. "Of course, because it reminds me of you," she said. "The hero that saved me and became my dad."

He chuckled. "It still seems like yesterday that I found you running from the police and then you ran from me until I caught you."

"You got lucky," she playfully retorted before hugging him. "But I guess I got lucky too, because you wouldn't give up on me and then you adopted me."

He nodded and she looked up at him. "Why did you want to adopt me right away?" She asked.

Black Panther knew she meant the other reason besides the fact that as a protector, he couldn't turn his back on a child. "When I saw you were hurt, my fatherly instincts took over and I felt protective of you," he said, one hand stroking her head. "I was angered to hear that someone as young as you had suffered abuse and I wanted to get you away from whoever had hurt you."

Luna nodded, knowing he was speaking the truth. "And I was so scared to even consider letting someone adopt me because of my experiences in foster homes," she said. "And to learn that a famous hero was looking to adopt me was a little...,"

"Overwhelming?" He supplied gently.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I thought you were just that you would adopt me to get me to trust you."

He shook his head. "I wasn't," he said before picking her up and holding her like a small child. She rested her head on his shoulder trustingly before hugging him again.

"Love you, Dad," she said.

"I love you too, my little one," he said.

Luna closed her eyes, feeling safe as she heard her father's heartbeat, with lulled her to sleep as she felt safe, knowing her father would always be watching over her and Black Panther carried her to her bed, tucking her in and kissing her forehead in affection, proud to have Luna for his daughter, just as she was proud to have him as her father.

On the roof of the mansion, the cat-like girl from earlier smiled as she heard the exchange and nodded. "Good luck, Luna," she said softly before leaping away into the night, her ears twitching and her tail upright as she flew through the air with the grace of a cat.


And that concludes "Under A Panther's Watch". Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, faved, and followed this story.

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