Under A Panther's Watch

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.