May 2005
Percy's P.O.V.
11 year old Percy was bored. That was a fact. He sighed as he trailed after his class. He scanned the area like Natasha had taught him to, watching for threats. He continued plodding along, ignoring everything the tour guide said. He didn't want to be on the Saratoga Battlefield, but he had to be. His ADHD was making it hard to focus and Natasha was on a mission, which made it worse. He was worrying over her instead of paying attention. His eyes caught a flash of red hair, and his eyes widened.
"Bozhe moi." He muttered, his eyes widening in panic. He had become fluent in Russian after around 8 months, and was learning French. He couldn't read the languages, due to his dyslexia, but he could speak and understand them fluently. The reason for his panic was currently running for her life through the trees at the edge of the battlefield as several huge men chased after her. She was dressed in civilian clothes. He couldn't really tell, as she was rather far, but Natasha seemed to be injured. Her gait was unsteady, and he watched as she stumbled and fell. The men started to gain on her as she struggled to her feet. She passed by his school bus and he couldn't take it. He ran over to a cannon, and struck the flint and steel together, causing it to spark. There was a loud boom as a cannonball hurtled towards the bus, blowing it up. Percy watched Natasha duck into the tree line and start climbing a tall tree while the men turned to look at the explosion. Natasha looked in his direction. So did everyone on the field. He cringed slightly and hunched his shoulders. His teacher marched up to him and started yelling at him. But he ignored it, watching as the men went back the way they came, and Natasha climbed down from her tree, hurrying off to who knows where. Percy realized that he would probably be expelled again. "Smelly Gabe is going to be so mad. At least Natasha's safe." he thought.
Natasha's P.O.V.
The mission was going terribly. Her incompetent team that she had been testing tripped the alarms, missed most of their shots, and then left her behind as they hopped in a truck and drove off. Those idiots were not ready for field work. Then, she had sprained her leg jumping off a building while dodging several bullets. Coulson had stopped her from bringing her weapons so that the team could take shots instead. Natasha promised herself that she would make them suffer later.
She tripped as her injured leg gave out. She cursed and scrambled to her feet. She ran past a school bus, which she noticed had the name of Percy's school on it. She had only gotten about 300 feet past it when it exploded.
She looked behind her and saw that the men chasing her were looking at the explosion, which covered her location in smoke. She took the opportunity to climb a tree and conceal herself in the branches. Natasha turned her gaze towards the battlefield, where she could see Percy standing next to a still smoking cannon looking back at her. She sighed. "Did he really blow up his school bus to help me?" she thought. She watched the men look for her once the smoke had cleared. Giving up, they went back to base. Natasha descended from the tree and started heading back to SHIELD headquarters, hailing a taxi on the way. She stalked through the door of the debriefing room to see Agent Coulson and the team of idiots sitting around a table. The team's handler was there as well. Clint was also in the room, to her surprise.
"Agent Romanoff! Perhaps I should have allowed you to bring your weapons." Coulson said. Natasha glared at the team, who shrunk down in their seats.
"I wouldn't have needed them if I had actually been in the getaway truck before it departed. Instead, a friend blew up a school bus to create a distraction." she replied flatly. The team looked terrified, Coulson had raised an eyebrow, the handler looked concerned and Clint looked highly amused.
"A school bus?" Coulson repeated.
"No one was hurt, so don't worry about that." Natasha said. They finished the debriefing, and Natasha spent that time glaring at the team. Once they were finished, Clint came up to her.
"You have a friend that blows up school buses for you?" he asked.
"Yes. With a cannon. On the Saratoga battlefield. We'll need to replace the bus, by the way." she responded. She and Clint made small talk for a bit before she left, saying she had some things to do. She drove to Percy's house, from where she picked Percy up and drove over to her house.
"You blew up a school bus." she said in Russian.
"Yes. But I wasn't exactly aiming for it." he replied.
"Well, that's the next thing I'll teach you. Aiming. With a gun." she said.
"Really?" Percy said, switching to English.
"Yes, really." Natasha replied.
"Just keep one thing in mind. You might hesitate to shoot someone. To kill someone. But if you know that they plan to hurt or kill someone else, if you are 100 percent sure that they have chosen to lead a life of evil, then take the shot. If not, then try to find another way." she continued. Percy nodded.
June 2006
Percy's P.O.V.
A year later, Percy was a terrifying shot with a gun. He could also speak Russian, French, and Spanish fluently. And his reflexes were good, as well as his physical condition. While he was at Yancy, Natasha would pick him up at night or on the weekends. Then, Ms. Dodds happened. Percy didn't say anything about her to Natasha, but the agent was probably able to sense that something was wrong. Next, the Minotaur happened, and Percy found out his father wasn't actually dead, and everything was pretty crazy. He had a feeling Natasha was probably worried for him.
At that moment, he was wrestling with the driver of a bus for control in the Lincoln tunnel. He steered the bus to the left and hoped that the furies were getting thrown into the windows. Then, Percy saw something interesting. Natasha was in a car chase in a convertible, and she was right next to him. She was dodging bullets but she was trapped. The Yankees cap had already fallen off, so he stuck his head out the side window, and yelled.
"Natasha!! Cut in front of the bus!!" he screamed. She looked at him, startled, and yelled back.
"Why are you wanted? And what are you doing?" she exclaimed.
"I met my dad's side of the family and his enemies!!! I'll explain more later!!" he replied.
Natasha gunned the engine, and shot forward. Percy steered the bus into the side of the tunnel, cutting Natasha's chasers off. He let the driver take control of the bus and headed to the back of the bus to face the furies.
Natasha's P.O.V.
When Percy showed up on her TV as a wanted person, Natasha freaked out a bit. She had become pretty attached to the kid, and thought of him as a younger brother. But then, she got sent on a mission, and she had to put her emotions in a little box in the back of her mind. And so, she infiltrated a small Hydra base and grabbed their experimental weapons and files. The car chase afterwards was more dangerous than expected. As she sped through the Lincoln Tunnel, she noticed a bus to her right start swerving. She was very surprised when Percy stuck his head out the window and yelled at her to cut in front of the bus. Shooting past him, she glanced back to see him steer the bus into the left side of the Lincoln Tunnel. She hoped he was okay, but she needed to get out of there. Natasha stepped on the gas and went back to SHIELD.
A couple days passed. Natasha watched the news for anything on Percy. What she did see made no sense. A hole in the St. Louis Arch, a sighting in a diner in Denver, and a picture snapped outside of the ruins of the bus he was driving, with claims that he had been attacking three old ladies. What was she supposed to make of that? Then, Natasha turned on the TV to find that Percy had apparently been kidnapped with two of his friends, and then dragged across the country on a "10 day odyssey of terror". Then, Percy had apparently stolen a rifle from the kidnapper and fought him on the beach, shotgun against rifle. Natasha internally cheered at that. The kidnapper had blown up five police cars by shooting an engine, and then disappeared. Natasha watched as Percy delivered a tearful thank you to the people of Los Angeles, and smirked as he said his step-father would like to give free appliances to everyone who called. Served that walrus of a man right.
Natasha was proud of Percy's acting. It was pretty good. She decided that would be the next thing she taught him. That as well as lying convincingly. She drove by Sally's house and found Percy, who told her that there was a camp where he was being trained in Greek, as well as taught some weaponry. He confirmed the story that the news channel had told, but she could tell that there was something he and his mother weren't telling her. She told him that she would find a time to teach him. He smiled and headed off to his camp.
By the end of the summer, he had returned to school, and she was teaching him again on the weekends. His step-father had disappeared, which Natasha didn't really worry too much about. They had started hand to hand combat and wrestling, as well as German. Percy was also getting better at acting, as well as lying, and affecting different accents. Natasha thought that he would make a great spy one day. He was good at noticing details, which his ADHD helped with. Natasha taught him to interpret these details. Percy had already been good at reading people, but now he could understand microexpressions, as well as get a feel for people's emotions. He was still struggling with picking out lies, though. At the end of the school year, Natasha left New York for a long undercover mission in Miami, proud of all the progress Percy had made.