Walking into a mall with Natasha and Steve at her side. They were dressed in civilian clothes. Natasha in a really cute striped hoodie under a olive green jacket that Percy thought made her really attractive. Far more than she already was. Steve was wearing a white t-shirt under a blue-grey hoodie. Percy, she was wearing what she normally wore when she wasn't busy with a mission from SHIELD. Standard baggie sweatpants and a NYU purple sweatshirt.
Natasha spoke to Steve specifically as they made their way through the mall. "First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk." Percy smiled at the spy as their hands had unconsciously found each other.
"If I run in these shoes, they're going to fall off." Steve replied. Looking over his shoulder constantly and making hard for Percy to not laugh at the man.
"If you keep looking over your shoulder like that, you're going to break your neck." Percy quipped with a smirk. Natasha chuckled softly.
"She's right, stop looking over your shoulder and making it obvious that someone is after us." Natasha spoke with a teasing smile.
Steve rolled his eyes at the two women. Their attitude already grating on his nerves.
They entered an Apple store to use one of the computers.
Plugging the drive into the laptop, Natasha informed both Percy and Steve to what she was doing as they kept an eye out for SHIELD agents. "The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are."
Steve looked down to the redhead for a second. "How much time do we have?"
Natasha spoke up, hacking into the drive. "Uh...about nine minutes from..." She pops the flash drive into a MacBook Pro "Now." Several SHIELD vehicles head their way. "Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."
Percy looked at her girl worriedly. "Can you override it?" The worry in her voice was very obvious.
Natasha gave her a reassuring smile. "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Rumlow and his team pull up outside the mall and head inside. Back at the Mac store, Steve, Natasha and Percy continue to try and find out what's on the flash drive. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."
Suddenly, an Apple employee came up to the three of them. "Can I help you guys with anything?"
Natasha reacted quickly, grabbing Percy's hand and pulling her into her chest. "Oh, no. My fiancé and my brother were helping me look at honeymoon locations." Percy smiled at the red head, leaning into her chest as Steve, once again couldn't lie to save his life.
"Right! They're getting married." He stood there awkwardly.
The employee took a deeper look at Steve. "You know, I have the exact same pair of glasses."
Natasha replied sarcastically, continuing to work on the flash drive. "Wow, you two are practically twins."
"Oh, no. Specimen." The employee stated, pointing at Steve's body. "If you need anything, I've been Aaron." He walked away after that.
"Who the hell even says "I've been." Anyways? Also that whole us getting married thing, that was cute." Percy kissed Natasha's cheek, squeezed her hand softly and rested her head on the assassin's shoulder as she finally pulled up a location.
Natasha looks up at Steve, drawing circles on Percy's wrist. "You know it?"
Steve kept his eyes on the location. Wheaton, New Jersey. "I used to. Let's go." Steve pulls the flash drive from the computer and they walk out of the store. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." Two agents come straight towards them.
Natasha grabbed Percy's hand and leaned into Steve's side. "Shut up and put your head down and put your arm around us. Pretend to laugh at something I said." They pushed their heads down, hiding them from the two SHIELD agents that were coming their way.
Getting on the escalator, Natasha noticed Rumlow coming their way on the opposite escalator.
She turns to Percy. "Kiss me." Percy blinked before wrapping her arms around Natasha's neck.
"Is there a reason as to why I need to kiss you? Not that I'm complaining but-"
She gets cut off by Natasha pulling her head down. Their lips pressing together roughly, Percy let out a subtle sound that was only noticeable by Natasha. Steve looked away from the couple as did Rumlow.
Natasha pulled away, out of breath and in love with the girl standing below her. Percy pressed a hand to her lips before turning around and grinning like an idiot.
"Still uncomfortable?" Natasha asked Steve, knowing full well that he wasn't caught up with same sex couples being somewhat ok for the year of 2014.
"Not exactly the words I would use." Percy said before Steve could answer. She looked up at the Jason Grace clone and grinned. Natasha chuckled at the young woman's antics, slipping her hand into her own as they got into a Chevy Silverado.
An hour later, as Steve was driving the three of them down to New Jersey. Percy was in the back asleep, Natasha sat up front in the passenger seat with Steve in the driver's seat.
"Where did Captain America learn to steal a car?" Natasha spoke up, quietly as to not wake the sleeping girl. She turned around to look at her and smiled softly.
"Nazi Germany. Take your feet off the dash. We didn't steal it, we're borrowing it." Natasha smirked, putting her feet down.
"What's going on between you and Jackson? I've seen you two close before but not this close. And the kissing? Is that a thing that couples do nowadays?" Natasha chuckled at the confused look on Steve's face.
"I'm not sure, I very clearly love the girl, but I'm terrified of how she's going to react when she finds out everything I've done. All the blood I've shed both for this country and against it." She felt tears brim at the edges of her eyes. Percy meant so much to the red head that she didn't know what she would do if Percy rejected her.
"Look, I may not be completely up to date on everything that's happened. But you'd be an idiot to not think that she loves you just as much as you love her. I've seen the way she looks at you. It's like you placed the stars in the sky for her. Look, as the leading authority on waiting too long, don't let her slip through your fingers. She's special and will give you the happy ending you absolutely deserve."
Natasha looked over at him, tears swelling in her eyes. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Who knew that a ninety five year old man would have such good love advice." She spoke, smirking at the expression crossed his face. "Seriously though, thank you Steve. I know we haven't gotten off on the right foot lately, but you accepting that I'm in love with Percy really means a lot to me."
The soldier just nodded his head, eyes flickering to the rear view mirror. Eyes glancing at Percy's sleeping form. "She ever tell you what she actually is? I'm still not sure." Natasha chuckled at the question.
"When you get a chance, go into my bag and pull out one of the books in there. It's books about her life, it'll tell you everything you need to know about her and what she's been through." Natasha replied vaguely, wanting to keep Percy's experience's as private as possible.
"So you're telling me that she's a book character in this world. Yet, where she comes from, we're a bunch of movies?" Steve asked incredulously, still not believing that she could be from another universe.
"Yeah, basically. She hasn't told me why she's here but she will in time." Steve looked into the mirror again, Percy had started to thrash in the back.
"Go wake her up, she's having a nightmare and we're here anyways." He pulled over, Natasha quickly unbuckling and opening the back door. She reached Percy's side and quickly woke her up.
"Hey hey it's ok. You're safe. I've got you." She reassured the younger woman. Wrapping her arms around her shoulders, pulling her into her side. Tears slowly falling down Percy's face. She buried her face into Natasha's shoulder.
"I-I'm sorry you had to see me like that." She sniffled, wiping her eyes, bloodshot red and her makeup slightly ruined. Natasha simply smiled down at her.
"It's ok, love. Like you told me, I'll always be there for you. It's how we roll now. You have my back and I have yours. We're the endgame, baby." Percy smiled softly at that.
"That's the first time you've called me a pet name." She leaned into her side, grasping onto Natasha's hand.
Natasha kissed her head. "Along with many more to come. You and I, we're going to get through this. Together." She lifted up Percy's chin and kissed her gently. The latter cupping Natasha's cheek, enjoying the feeling of being in the other's arms.
"Come on, Steve needs us." Percy got out of Natasha's arms and grabbed her hand to help her up. They made their way over to Steve who was waiting for them at the steel fence.
"You ok?" He looked over at Percy, who was to holding onto Natasha's hand.
She smiled softly, happy that he could put away whatever anger he had with them for now. "I'm doing better, old man. Let's go see what's on this drive." Natasha laughed, her girl was back and she couldn't be happier. Even Steve couldn't help but chuckle at the younger girl.
They made their way to the ammunition's bunker, which according to Steve was breaking multiple laws. Inside, they found a bunch of desks.
"Is this SHIELD?" Natasha spoke up, keeping an arm around Percy's waist. The Demigod grabbing her water bottle and emptying the plastic container quickly.
Steve looked around nostalgically. "Maybe where it started." They enter a room where they find old framed portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy and Col. Chester Phillips.
"Right, you mind telling me who these people are? I'm really confused right now." Natasha looked over at Percy with a smirk. Steve looked at her annoyed. She was unknowingly disrespecting the people that helped turn him into the Super Soldier.
"Go on, I'll tell what's need to know." Natasha told Steve. He nodded and walked away.
"I feel like he's mad at me for some reason." She pouted, smiling softly as Natasha grabbed her hand.
"Come on. Over here, he was Howard Stark. Father of-."
"Tony, right? That makes so much sense." Percy interrupted quickly. Blushing a cherry red at interrupting her woman. Natasha chuckled and kissed her head.
"That's right. Over here." She pointed to the photo of Colonel Phillips. "That's Colonel Phillips. He helped train Steve into the soldier that we know today."
"And the girl?" Percy looked at her questioningly.
"Margaret "Peggy" Carter. One of the founders of SHIELD. And Steve's old flame." Percy winced at that.
"Remind me to apologize to the guy when we see him next." She looked down ashamed of how brash she had acted. She then flinched when she felt fingers caress her chin. They lifted her head to so she was looking at Natasha.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know. Besides, you're still technically a kid. Granted, you've fought through more wars than he has. But Steve takes subjects like Peggy very seriously. All you need to do is apologize and he will know that you mean it, ok?" She nodded her head, wrapping her arms around Natasha's neck.
"What did I do to deserve you?" She muttered into Natasha's neck. The older woman chuckled, wrapping her arms around the waist of the younger woman.
"What did I do to deserve you? Is what should be asked. You're this amazing woman, who takes no shit from anyone. You're kind, you take great care of any kids you meet on the street and you have a pure heart. I love you because you are all of these things and many more. So lift your chin, Warrior. For it is your time now." She kissed Percy softly, they pulled away with large smiles on both of their faces.
Percy walked over to Steve. "Hey uh, I'm sorry for what I said back there. I didn't know what was going on and-." She gets cut off by Steve enveloping her in a bone crushing hug.
"It's alright kid, I get it. This is all new for me too. I've realized that you're far newer to this than I am. You hardly know anything about my past. Hell, you didn't get to actually meet any of the team until after New York. When we're finished here, I'll get Nat and the rest of the team together and we can formally get to know you and everyone else." He rubbed her back softly, Percy wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling softly.
"Thank you." Two simple words and Steve knew what Percy was talking about. It was clear to Steve that she never had the greatest childhood. He could see her flinching constantly when someone snuck up behind her and touched her without announcing their presence.
He placed her back on the ground and she went back to Natasha who had a small smile across her lips as she watched the two reconnect.
Looking towards where the bookshelf was, Steve spoke up. "If you're already working in a secret office..." He pushes the books shelf and slides open to reveal an elevator behind it. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?" They go down the elevator which takes them to a room with old looking computers.
They enter a large area filled with old computers and large screens. Natasha walked forward, dragging Percy along with her. "This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient." Suddenly Natasha notices a small flash drive port, she places the flash drive in it which then activates the ancient computer in the room.
The computer speaks to them. "Initiate System?"
Natasha types on the keyboard. "Y-E-S, spells yes" Natasha smiles as the old computer starts to cranks up. "Shall we play a game?" Looking to Steve. "It's from a movie that..."
Steve interrupts her. "I know, I saw it." Suddenly, the three people in the room hear an accented voice.
"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1991. Jackson, Perseus Achilles. Born 1993." They see an old camera moving above them as it analyzes them. Percy slides her hand out of Natasha's and grips onto her pen in her pocket. Her instincts going crazy.
Natasha while keeping an eye on Percy, her own instincts going wild. "It's some kind of a recording."
The computer interjected. "I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The computer screen shows an old photo of Dr. Arnim Zola.
"I'm confused, isn't this guy supposed to be like very dead?" Percy asked, her thumb resting on the cap of Riptide. Waiting to be unleashed.
Natasha looked just as confused. "Do you know this thing?"
Steve kept his eyes on the screen. "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Percy rolled her eyes.
"Yet, he's right here dummy. Obviously something happened that's keeping him alive." Percy didn't understand why her instincts were telling her to run.
"The Demigod is right, you are currently standing in my brain." Percy flinched at being revealed to Steve like that. She wanted to tell him when they weren't playing with their lives on the line.
Steve would have been angry, but upon seeing Percy flinch like that. Only meant that she kept it a secret for a reason. So he decided that he would wait, he had already told the girl that he cared for her like a little sister.
Natasha grabbed her hand and started whispering in her ear to calm her down.
Steve looked away from the two women and towards Zola. "How did you get here?" He only wanted Percy to be able to trust him.
Zola answered, not caring for how distraught the young woman was. "Invited."
Natasha still had an arm wrapped around Percy when she answered. "It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." She rubbed Percy's back before getting a nod from the shaken woman.
Zola taunted them further. "They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."
Steve was in denial. "HYDRA died with the Red Skull."
Percy's eyes widened, the flashbacks of having to fight an actual Hydra hitting her full force. She stumbled into Natasha before uncapping Riptide and holding it threateningly towards Zola.
"Alright, jackass. I'm only going to say this once. Shut the fuck up and tell us what you're plotting." Percy demanded, forcing back the traumatic memories of fighting a Hydra when she was thirteen.
"It's ok. I've got you, love. You're safe. Nothing can hurt you while I'm here." Natasha grabbed her hand and slowly lowered her sword, kissing her head and rubbing circles over the back of her hand. Steve grit his teeth at the sight, he turned back to Zola.
Zola spoke again, taunting the Demigod more. "Cut off one head, two more shall take it's place."
Steve flexed his fingers angrily. "Prove it."
"Accessing archive." The computer screen shows them old footage of Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, of the original SHIELD founders. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."
Percy finally got a hold of her emotions again. Gods, she was going to need a bath when this was all done. She stood up and glared at Zola.
"You want to tell me why you sent the Soldier after me?! Cause it's really not funny." Steve looked at her in shock. The man that had caught his shield had been sent after her as well.
"Of course, for years HYDRA had suspicions that there was a existing Multiverse. HYDRA grabbed you in your sleep in the year 2011 in your universe and dragged you here to be our puppet. Unfortunately, you were too good. So HYDRA made you an enemy of the organization. Unfortunately, your death will be as equal as your life. An equal sum of zero." If Zola had a body, he would have been smirking evilly.
Percy stumbled into Natasha. "So I wasn't sent here on a quest by the Fate's. You sent me here to kill me!! Do you even know who I fucking am?" She raised her right arm into the air, exposing her legion tattoo. "I AM THE DAUGHTER OF POSEIDON: GOD OF THE SEAS AND EARTHQUAKES. THE PRAETOR OF THE TWELFTH LEGION OF ROME. I LED THE BATTLE AGAINST MY GRANDFATHER KRONOS IN MANHATTAN. I HELD UP THE WEIGHT OF THE SKY WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN. I WALKED THROUGH LITERAL HELL TO STOP GAEA. AND GUESS WHAT MOTHERFUCKER?!! WE WON." She took a deep breath. "So you can beat me down and tell me that it's useless to fight. But when you try and steal me away from the people I love. You'll have hell to pay." She glared at Zola, she walked over to Natasha and buried her face into her shoulder. The older woman looking extremely proud of her for standing up to Zola.
"I'm so proud of you, love." Natasha kissed her head and grabbed her hand. Steve was once again shocked. This poor kid didn't even have a childhood. She had been fighting for her life since she was a child. He wanted nothing more then to walk over to her and wrap her in a hug. He decided against that, the girl needed Natasha right now.
Natasha glared at Zola for hurting her girl. "That's impossible. SHIELD would have stopped you." She rubbed her thumb over Percy's hand.
Zola continued to monologue. "Accidents will happen." The computer screen shows them HYDRA had killed Howard and Maria Stark making it look like a car accident along with the recent death of Fury. "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum." In anger Steve suddenly smashes the computer screen. "As I was saying..."
Steve interrupted Zola still very angry. "What's on this drive?"
Zola was on a roll. "Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."
Natasha stood up, keeping an arm around Percy's shoulders. "What kind of algorithm? What does it do?"
Zola paused before speaking for a final time. "The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Suddenly the doors starts to close, Steve tries stops it by throwing his shield in between it but he's too late.
Natasha looked at her phone, quickly pulling Percy up. "Steve, Percy, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops." Percy quickly grabbed a second water bottle from her jacket.
"Who fired it?" Steve asked, throwing his shield at the doors as they closed.
Natasha looks up at him. "SHIELD."
Steve quickly opens a grate and leads the women into the hole. Covering the grate back up and covering them with the shield.
Percy kissed Natasha rather hard. "If I don't make it, know that I love you more than I have ever loved before." She steps in front of Steve and uses the water from her bottle to create a bubble around them.
"No! PERCY GET BACK HERE!" Natasha started openly crying. Steve had to hold her back. "Hey Steve," she looks back towards the soldier, "it's been good knowing you." She uses all of her power to hold the bubble up as the missile crashes into the building.
He covers Natasha with his shield, yelling out at the weight of the building falling on top of them.
Percy yells out loudly, unknowingly drawing in any excess water from the air that she could and started to push the debris away from the fugitives. Doing so caused her to pass out due to exhaustion.
Steve pushed the rubble off of himself and Natasha, who was still conscious. "Come on kid, where you at?" He started looking through the rubble.
"Steve! She's over here!" Natasha called out, a hundred yards from where Steve was.
"Oh god!" Natasha covered her mouth in shock, Percy's left arm was completely crushed by the concrete. "Help me get her out, she's still alive!!" Steve quickly came over and lifted the large pieces of concrete. Allowing Natasha to pull her girlfriend out of the rubble.
Percy groaned at the movement, eyes fluttering open. "There's those beautiful eyes I fell in love with." She slurred.
"Oh thank god, you're alive!" Natasha slowly hugged Percy tightly. She then smacked Percy across the back of her head. "Why the FUCK would you do that!?!!" She began to cry, unusual for the usually emotionless assassin but after knowing Percy for as long as she has. She began to open up and express more emotion.
"For you. I told you, fatal flaw is personal loyalty. I'd do anything to ensure that you live." She reached into Natasha's hoodie pocket and pulled out a baggie of a golden brownie. She opened it and pulled out a piece before placing it into her mouth and chewing slowly, moaning at the taste of her mom's homemade cookies. The ambrosia healing any cuts that were on her body.
"What did you just eat? It better not have been drugs." Natasha was still furious with the younger girl.
"Relax, love. It's ambrosia, food of the Greek God's and medicine for demigod's. Unfortunately it couldn't heal my arm. So that'll have to go soon." Natasha breathed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"You're going to give me gray hairs and I'm not even thirty yet." She pulled Percy's good arm over her shoulder and helped her get to her feet.
Steve looked at the two women worried, he sighed in relief when he saw Percy standing. "You gonna be alright, kid? You nearly gave your girlfriend a heart attack." She grinned up at him.
"I'll be better once I've got a new arm." Percy said before wincing when Natasha smacked her on the back of the head.
"I'm sending you to Hill and you're sitting out the rest of this. I can't risk you dying on me." Percy opened her mouth to protest before closing it at the look on Natasha's face.
"Ok. But if you get hurt, I'm taking care of you this time." She leaned into Natasha's side, suddenly very exhausted. "Did the world just turn upside down?" She stumbled until Natasha sat her down in the forest behind the ruined camp.
"Rest, love. We'll get you to Maria and then you can get that arm fixed." Percy nodded before closing her eyes and immediately falling asleep.
"You gonna be alright, Nat?" Steve asked, he knew that the red head was on the verge of a breakdown.
She sighed heavily. "If this is what love is going to do to me, then so be it. She's been through so much and to learn that she was only sent to our world to die. She needs a break." Steve nodded his head in agreement before gently picking up the sleeping Demigod.
"Call Hill and tell her that we're dropping off Percy for immediate medical attention." Steve ordered, Natasha doing exactly that. Maria said that she would meet them at Sam's house.
After getting to Sam's house and gently placing Percy into Maria's van. The two former SHIELD agents went to get showers and cleaned up.
HIDDEN LOCATION
Percy woke up hours later to a doctor working on amputating her destroyed left arm. She simply looked at the doctor before closing her eyes again and leaning her head back onto the pillow.
Waking up again two hours later, she looked around for a second. Passing a bed that held the body of her supposedly dead Director. She looked back at him quickly before grinning.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Fury barked out a laugh at the Demigod.
"Shouldn't you have both arm's?" He snarked back, internally happy that his second favorite agent was still alive. "How the hell are you not dead? From what Hill told me, you had a completely shattered left arm along multiple fractures along your entire body."
Percy grinned, happy that the man wasn't mad that she was here. "Being the child of the God of the Sea's is truly a wonderful thing when you can create a bubble that surrounds both yourself and the people closest to you." Fury mockingly glared at her, he had a feeling that she wasn't human.
When he had gotten the final report of the battle of New York. He hid it well, but the shock of a seventh person that wasn't originally part of the Avengers Program had helped with the fight had stunned him rather hard. Not to mention the reports from his team about her falling from the sky and killing four Chitauri with a bronze sword quickly and efficiently gave him even more reasons to look into her file.
That's when he realized that she didn't even exist on this world. Thanks to Doctor Selvig, he was aware of the Multiverse theory. He had suspected that Percy wasn't from this world. So he quite illegally made her a file and citizenship in the US. He then hired her as a SHIELD agent to keep an eye on her and get her more training.
"You want to tell me what happened?" He didn't want to push her, but he needed to know why she was attacked.
Percy looked over at Fury, a hidden rage in her eyes. "I wasn't sent here by my Fate's to save this world. I was sent here by fucking HYDRA so they could control me and if I didn't cooperate, they would have sent the same man that nearly killed you after me." Fury hid it well, but he was pissed. He had thought that HYDRA had fallen when the Red Skull had back during World War II.
"So HYDRA was behind the attacks?" Fury questioned.
Percy stood up angrily, ignoring the doctor that was telling her to sit down. "They've been changing history since fucking SHIELD started. They sent the Winter Soldier after me. They sent him after you. And they're about to kill trillions of people with Project Insight. So you better pray to god that you aren't HYDRA." Fury looked at her and nodded his head.
"Good work agent, I'll have you know I had no idea about the Winter Soldier. Now get your ass back into that bed and wait for Rogers and Romanoff to return." Percy nodded her head, huffing angrily and walking back to her bed.
"Yes sir."
_____________________________________
Holy shit, I didn't think that I'd be giving Percy this much trauma this quickly but whatever. I thought it made for a better chapter.
Tell me what you think.
We're near the end of Winter Soldier. One more long ass chapter and we'll be heading into Age of Ultron.
I'll begin drafting it now.
See y'all very soon
Love you all 3000
Stay safe
Joe