Under A Panther's Watch

Chapter 1

"Get her!"

"Where is she?!"

"Don't loose her!"

"She's gone! She just disappeared!"

"Chief's not going to like this."

The policemen searched the alleyways, but found no trace of the person they were pursuing. "How can a child escape us that fast?" One asked. "We were right on her tail."

"Maybe she's got instincts like a cat," one officer said, slightly joking.

What that officer didn't know was that his joke was actually quite true. A lanky figure was watching from the shadows of the roof, smiling as the police looked around before giving up. "Well, just keep an eye out for her," the lead officer said. "She'll turn up sooner or later."

One officer paused. "You know, call me crazy, but I don't think that child stole from her foster family as they claimed," he said. "I'm not just saying this because I'm a father myself, but something about the bedroom scene just seemed...staged."

"I got that feeling myself," said a policewoman. "And I think I saw some of the jewelry the woman claimed was stolen sticking out from under the bed."

"From what we know, Luna didn't steal from her other foster homes," said another policewoman. "She just ran away from them."

"Quite a record too," said another policeman. "Fifteen homes in the span of two years."

"Sixteen, if you count this one," said the lead officer before sighing. "That kid's been through a lot."

Nodding sympathetically, all the officers headed away and the lanky figure breathed a sigh of relief, coming out of the shadows and looking around. She spotted a light down further in the alleyway and underneath it was a barrel full of water. Going over to it, the figure looked at her reflection in the water. What she saw made her sigh.

There were bruises on her face and neck from where she had been slapped and the foster father had tried to strangle her, but she had fought back like a cat, getting free and escaping the abusive home. Ever since her parents had died four years ago and then her grandmother two years ago, she had been in abusive foster homes and had run away from every one of them.

She gazed at her reflection again. Her eyes were golden brown and glowed in the moonlight, hence the reason her parents had named her Luna. At twelve years old, she was tall for her age and had dark red, almost brown hair that reached her shoulders, but she often kept it pulled back into a French braid. Gazing again at her bruised face and neck, she sighed again.

"I'm never going back," she said aloud. "I didn't steal anything and I won't go back to that awful place."

Feeling better, she smiled and checked to be sure her black backpack was on her back and that she had her climbing claws safely inside. The climbing claws were the reason she fooled the police because she could climb very fast, a trait she picked up from her parents who had loved climbing as a hobby. She learned the best and fastest ways to climb without making a sound or leaving very little evidence of where she had been.

Her stomach suddenly growled and she reached into her bag, pulling out a granola bar. "Well, better than nothing," she said softly as she began eating it, unaware that she had caught someone's eye.

Black Panther was patrolling and had already sent word back to Tony that all was clear when he spotted the girl as she hid from the police. Curious, he moved quietly closer and listened as she spoke. He waited until she was done eating her granola bar and had stood up.

"Well, best find a place to sleep," she said to herself. "Hopefully a spot where the police won't find me."

The black-suited hero felt it was best to speak up right then. "Hello," he said.