Siblings In Everything But Blood

Chapter 4: In Which Percy Is An Extraction Team

September 2011

Natasha's P.O.V.

Natasha plastered a sultry smile onto her face and stepped into chaos. This undercover job was annoying. Tony Stark was egotistic, flirted with her way too much, and could not figure out that he was in love with Pepper. He was also dying. But in order to complete her mission, she had to be a rather flirtatious PA named Natalie Rushman, who served as a distraction for Stark. Basically, she was forced to be eye candy for a genius playboy who happened to be a philanthropist and a billionaire. She wondered where Percy was. He was no longer missing, his mother had told her that. But she had yet to see him since the lesson when he gave her a knife, about a year ago.

As she made her way through the mess that was Tony's birthday party, she noticed that the owner of Dare Enterprises was present. She knew that his daughter was one of Percy's friends. Sure enough, she saw the red-headed girl with freckles standing over in the corner, looking rather bored. Next to her stood none other but Percy Jackson himself. He was wearing a dress shirt with short sleeves, which revealed an interesting tattoo on his inner left forearm. He was taller now, and leaner. Whenever drunk sons of rich people came over to leer at Rachel, he'd fix them with a terrifying glare that reminded Natasha of a wolf. She walked over to the duo. Percy raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Natalie Rushman, Mr. Stark's PA. I don't think I recognize you. Are you Ms. Dare's date?" she asked, curiosity lacing her tone. She detected a glint of amusement in Percy's sea green eyes.

"No, Ms. Rushman. My name is Alexei Romanoff, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ms. Dare's bodyguard." he replied smoothly with a light Russian accent. Rachel looked at him, shocked. Natasha smiled inwardly. She inclined her head, and melted into the crowd.

Two hours later, she found herself wearing a repulsor glove as Tony aimed her arm at an ice sculpture. She cursed inwardly. "Why did I tell him to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted? Curse him and his destructive tendencies!" she thought. Soon after, Tony was shooting bottles of alcohol out of the air. He threw a bottle of vodka towards where Natasha was leaning against a wall, alone in the shadows. Then, he fired. Shards of glass rained down on her, leaving cuts all over her face and arms. The vodka hit a second later, and she felt like she had been set on fire. She slumped against the wall, the blood loss making it hard to stay awake. The room spun dangerously, and she collapsed on the floor completely. She saw a person with concerned sea green eyes crouch next to her before darkness overtook her vision. "Percy." she thought. Black overtook her vision, and she was enshrouded in darkness.

Percy's P.O.V.

Percy had not been invited to the party. But Rachel needed a bodyguard and he had seen Natasha on the news as Tony Stark's new PA, so he asked Rachel if he could be her new bodyguard and found himself wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks, as well as polished shoes. He hoped he would enjoy himself. After going through Tartarus alone, he needed some serious R&R. He spotted Natasha, exchanged pleasantries under their aliases, and kept an eye on her, waiting for an opportunity to talk to her. Unfortunately, her alias seemed to be Stark's new woman of interest. So he continued watching, getting more concerned for her safety every minute that passed. Stark seemed rather destructive. His concern was justified when a bottle exploded over Natasha's head. Crimson liquid dropped down her arms and her face was streaked with red. Percy dashed over to her and crouched down just as she passed out. No one had noticed a thing, barring Rachel, who ran up to him.

"I told my dad that we were leaving, so where to? A hospital?" she asked quickly. Percy looked down at Natasha, wishing that she was a demigod. Nectar and ambrosia would fix this easily. He suddenly remembered that the gods owed him a wish from the second Gigantomachy. All the others had got what they wanted, but Percy had saved his wish. But before he went up to Olympus, he needed to heal Natasha.