Percy's P.O.V.
He enjoyed being around Avengers Tower. That was a fact. He got to spy on Natasha, he was earning tons of money, and he had access to a lot of resources. He was able to move through the tower freely, and nobody but his sister missed him if he disappeared. The only thing that was annoying was having to maintain his cover all the time, but that part wasn't hard. Currently he was moving through the vents of the tower, having found that they were useful in allowing him to move around unnoticed. The tower was structured so that every Avenger had their own floor, although some were still uninhabited. But the vents were part of one system, so he could go anywhere via them.
Percy paused by a vent in the living room of Bruce Banner's floor, catching sight of his sister's red hair. He silently removed the vent cover, and poked his head through, trying to get a better look at the scene. He could see his sister and Bruce sitting in comfortable silence, watching some old black and white movie.
"Hey. Here's looking at you, kid." the man onscreen said, tenderly cupping the chin of the woman facing him. Percy realized that they were watching Casablanca, as that was one of the most iconic lines from the movie. He turned his attention towards his sister, who was looking over at Bruce. He seemed to be quite taken with the movie, and Percy had no doubt that the movie was one of the man's favorites. The son of the sea glanced back at Natasha, who looked as emotionless as ever. But Percy could see the curiosity about the man burning in her eyes, the desire to get to know him shining clear as day to the green-eyed demigod. He smiled inwardly, and disappeared back into the vents, replacing the cover silently.
A couple nights later, Percy noticed the two leaving the tower together. They were dressed casually, and he wondered where they were going. Bruce got into the driver's seat of a convertible, and Natasha rode shotgun. He tailed them from the rooftops, following them until they got to an honest-to-gods drive in movie theater. He looked around, and found that it was an old movie marathon. Feeling slightly stalkerish, he sat in a nearby tree, and watched the duo watch the movie. Halfway through the movie, he had an idea. He concentrated as hard as he could, and thought of creating a mini hurricane, the smallest one he'd ever created. The winds picked up, and Natasha shivered. Percy smiled in satisfaction as Bruce took off his jacket and wrapped it around Natasha's bare shoulders in one of the most cliche moves he'd ever seen. Natasha looked rather surprised, but Bruce had turned back to the movie as if nothing had happened. Percy watched his sister's lips part, almost like she was going to say something, but she closed her mouth and furrowed her brow. He could tell that she was still trying to figure Bruce out. Percy dissolved into mist and went back to the tower.
Two days passed, and Percy found himself walking past Banner's lab. He glanced in and almost did a double take. There was Natasha, sitting on a table, wearing a sports bra and leggings, with Bruce examining her back. He had known that Bruce was good with medical things, given the nature of Percy's entry to his current job, but most of the team went to SHIELD medical for treatment. Apparently not Natasha. She sat still as the doctor carefully took care of the wound on her back. Then, the man stepped back and said something. Percy couldn't hear what he was saying, but Natasha smiled genuinely at him, and hopped off the table, pulling on her shirt. Neither noticed him looking through the window. It became an common occurrence for Percy to see Natasha getting a wound fixed up in Bruce's lab, or just hanging out with the scientist.
Soon, Natasha could almost always be found near Bruce. Tony had gone to Malibu to spend time with Pepper, so the two had no other possible company. One day, he gave Natasha an interesting idea.
"Why don't I take you two to camp? It might be a nice getway." he suggested. Natasha blinked.
"Getaway?" she asked.
"Yeah. You can totally show all the demigods up, and Bruce can work with his brothers and sisters. It would be good for the both of you." he coaxed. Natasha nodded.
"Alright. It'll be nice to meet everyone." Percy smiled.
"Great. So, are we telling Bruce who I really am?" he questioned. Natasha's face turned thoughtful.
'I can do that." she replied. So, Natasha went to retrieve Bruce from his lab, and they explained their sibling relationship to the scientist.
"But you cannot tell anybody. This is one of my most closely guarded secrets. Clint doesn't know, Fury doesn't know, the only people who know are the three of us." Natasha said seriously. Bruce looked surprised.
"You trust me with that big of a secret?" he asked.
"Yes, because I trust you in general. Come on, Percy's going to take us to camp." she responded, tugging on his arm. She looked rather excited, and Bruce chuckled a little. Percy guessed that he was rather amused at the normally serious assassin's expression. He waved the duo over, and grabbed on to their arms. He vapor traveled to the entrance of Camp Half-Blood. He looked down at the camp, and grinned. It appeared that the Romans were there to visit. As he led the two down the path towards the Big House, demigods stopped what they were doing and turned towards them. Several familiar faces approached them. Percy grinned at his friends. To his surprise, Leo and Calypso were there as well. "When did they get here?" he wondered.
"What's up, guys?" he exclaimed. Annabeth stormed towards him. She judo flipped him, but Percy landed easily on his feet.
"It's been months, Seaweed Brain! Months since you disappeared into the mortal world! Where have you been?" she yelled, grey eyes flashing angrily. Percy laughed, and Annabeth slashed at him with her dagger, screaming in frustration. Percy evaded her wild swings easily, hands up to defend himself.
"Hey, wise girl. Chillax. I was working security at Avengers Tower." he explained. Annabeth stopped and stared at him.
"You were at Avengers Tower? The architecture is amazing! Did you meet Tony Stark? What about the other Avengers?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah. He tried to kill me. And in terms of Avengers, I brought two with me. They're demigods!" he replied, gesturing towards Natasha and Bruce, who looked amused.
"You brought the Black Widow and the Hulk?? What?? Holy Styx!!! The name's Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme! And all the ladies love Leo!! Especially this girl right here!" Leo yelled, slinging an arm around Calypso. Natasha turned towards Percy.
"Why is there a mini-Tony Stark freaking out?"she asked Percy in French. Piper laughed, while everyone else looked confused.
"I don't think Percy speaks French." the daughter of Aphrodite pointed out. Annabeth frowned.
"Actually-" Percy cut across her.
"What do you mean, Piper? I can speak French. And to answer your question, Leo's weird that way." he said. Natasha nodded in understanding, Piper's mouth dropped open, and Annabeth smirked.
"On our second quest, you were speaking French with that friend of yours that lived in New York! You also shot that guy in the eye with a paintball gun!" Everybody looked at Percy at that statement.
"You did what?" Frank asked. Percy smirked.
"I'm going to need some targets. Make them far, just for fun." Frank turned into a bird and flew off. Jason followed.
"Isn't your marksmanship terrible?" Nico asked.
"That's not quite accurate, my friend." Percy replied in Italian. He savored Nico's shocked look, and then glanced at the targets Jason and Frank were setting up, all the way across camp. He looked at Natasha, who was playing with the arrow necklace Clint had given her. He knew that she had linked her guns to them.
"Do you mind?" he asked in Russian. Natasha activated her necklace, and everybody stared in shock at the guns that materialized.
"Not at all." she responded.
"How many languages do you speak? And how many does she speak?" Jason questioned in Latin, landing softly on the ground. Percy and Natasha glanced at each other.
"A lot. That's all I can say." they responded simultaneously in Latin. Natasha handed him the guns. Percy sized up his targets, and then sprung into a backflip, firing both guns several times. He didn't miss a single target. Then, he turned to Piper.
"I heard that Jason had a haircut while I was in Tartarus. Did you like it?" he asked innocently.
"I guess... why?" Piper replied uncertainly. Percy smiled evilly and turned towards the son of Jupiter. Jason's eyes wided in horror.
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. You are not-" Percy fired. Just over Jason's left ear, there was now a smoking groove. Jason touched it gently, eyes wide in shock.
"Dude. Seriously?" Jason asked. Everybody else's eyes were wide in shock.
"Natasha's still a better shot then me, though. Which makes sense, but she's terrifying with a gun." Percy said nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just shot some hair off of his friend's head. He handed the guns back to Natasha, who stored them into her necklace. The demigods seemed to notice the two Avengers.
"So, whose children are you?" Hazel asked. Natasha opened her mouth to respond, but a flash of light over Bruce's head caught everyone's attention. Percy saw a flaming hammer over Bruce's, and two crossed spears over Natasha's.
"Well, I guess the gods have decided to answer for us." Bruce remarked. Leo wasted no time in dragging him off to Bunker 9, Calypso following them.
"Mini Stark has a lab that he's dragging Bruce into. I hope he never meets the real Stark." Natasha commented mentally as Frank led her away to Cabin 5. Percy was left with the rest of the seven, Reyna, Nico.
"We'll need to introduce them at dinner, or maybe the campfire." he said.
Hours later, all of the demigods were gathered around a roaring fire. Chiron, who had been informed of the two new demigods, announced them.
"Hail Natasha Romanoff, daughter of Mars Ultor, god of war and battle, protector and avenger of Rome. Hail Bruce Banner, son of Hephaestus, god of fire, the forge, and volcanoes, lord of craftsmen and smiths, and blacksmith of the gods." Chiron intoned, while everybody knelt.
"Who will speak for Natasha Romanoff?" a legionaire asked, and the Romans started muttering.
"I will speak for her, but she will not be getting the mark of the Legion." Percy calmly stated.
"And why is that?" Reyna asked. Percy sighed.
"Her job. She can't have a tattoo on her arm while she works for SHIELD and the Avengers. Can you imagine what would happen if people noticed it and started imitating it because they are her fans?" Percy reasoned, and Reyna nodded. The female praetor left the subject alone after that.
Later on, Percy watched Natasha and Bruce sit on the beach and look at the stars. He turned to Piper.
"They're going to end up together, right?" he whispered conspirationally. Piper grinned.
"I'm pretty sure. I can feel it." she replied. Percy smiled and said goodbye to his friends. He approached the two Avengers.
"Come on, guys. You'll need to rest up. We'll be leaving tomorrow night, and you have yet to try a lot of the camp's activities. Bruce, I'll drop you off at Bunker 9, and Natasha, I'll leave you at Bunker 5." The two Avengers obliged, and grabbed his hand. He vapor traveled to their respective Bunkers, and then retired to Bunker 3.
The next day, Percy had Bruce and Natasha try out the different activities in camp. Bruce was surprised to meet Tyson and Ms. O'Leary.
"Aren't people afraid of them because of what they are?" the scientist asked curiously.
"You mean because their races are classified as monsters? Fallaces sunt rerum species. The appearances of things are deceptive. That's a quote by Seneca. The more modern version is: Don't judge a book by it's cover. Tyson and Ms. O'Leary have proven that they are different. That they aren't monsters. They have proven that their intentions are pure, and that they don't want to hurt anybody. Sometimes Tyson can be a bit rough, or Ms. O'Leary gets a bit too excited. Injuries happen. But they feel guilty about it, and that's what separates them from the monsters. That's what allows us to consider them part of the family." Percy said seriously. Bruce was silent for a while, just thinking over Percy's words.
"You know, I said that Seneca quote to Tony at one point. As Natalie Rushman. I was pretty mad at him, because he was asking me whether there was anything real about me and trying to blow my cover. He also asked whether I could actually speak Latin. So I quoted Seneca. And when he asked what it meant, I told him that it meant that he could either drive himself home, or I could have him collected." Natasha mused. Percy burst out laughing.
"Did you really?" he wheezed. Natasha nodded, and Percy smiled widely.
"If I ever have a conversation with the guy, I'm going to throw that quote in there and see what the reaction is." he commented.
As they proceeded through the day, Percy found that Bruce was actually a lot stronger than he looked, and Natasha was pretty decent at archery.
"Clint." she explained when Percy raised an eyebrow at her. Percy shrugged. It was a pretty valid excuse. Percy glanced over to where Bruce had actually thrown Frank several yards away.
"So... are you going to tell Bruce about those files?" he whispered. Natasha's eyes were uncertain.
"I don't know, Lex. I don't think he'll take it well. If he could just accept himself..." she trailed off. Percy clapped her on the shoulder.
"It'll turn out alright, Tash. Don't worry about it. Trust me, like I trust you." he said. A smile flickered across Natasha's face, but it was gone quickly. She turned to watch Bruce learn how to dodge incoming projectiles. Percy noticed how she seemed to relax when watching the scientist, how it was like the burden of the sky had been lifted off of her shoulders.
The trio enjoyed the rest of their day. When it was time to go, Percy bid goodbye to the campers, and vapor traveled the two Avengers back to the entrance of the tower. Bruce and Natasha headed up to Bruce's floor to watch movies like they usually did. And Percy decided to spend the night on Natasha's couch. He drifted off to sleep easily.
He woke several hours later to a feeling of terror coming from Natasha. He sighed as this happened a lot. He never told Natasha that he could feel it whenever she had a nightmare, neither had he told her he had figured out how to block their connection whenever he had one. So he feigned sleep as he heard his sister stumble out of her room and head down to the communal kitchen. He went down through the vents to monitor her, and was surprised to find Bruce Banner already sitting there, looking shaken. Percy remained in the vents, watching as Natasha exited the elevator and collapse at the kitchen table, her hands actually shaking. Bruce looked very concerned, and he immediately got up and made his sister a cup of tea. The doctor pushed the cup into her hands, but his sister didn't react.
"Natasha. Hey, look at me. Come on. Whatever you saw, it wasn't real. It was a nightmare. Come on, that's it. It's not real." the doctor coaxed, reaching out and gently gripping her hands.
"I killed him. I killed Lex. He trusted me. And I killed him." she muttered, staring into space. Percy's blood went cold. "She thinks she killed me?" he thought.
"Hey, now that's not true. This Lex, he's alive, I'm sure of it. Here, drink some tea." Bruce soothed, urging Natasha to snap out of it. Percy popped off the vent cover, making some noise so that he wouldn't startle Bruce. Bruce glanced up at him.
"Tash, I'm right here." Percy said in a low voice, approaching her slowly. Her eyes flashed gold, and Percy froze.
"Bruce, back away from her." he hissed out urgently.
"What? Why?" the scientist asked, confused. Suddenly, Natasha - no. The eidolon sprung at him, trying to wrap Natasha's fingers around his throat. Percy jumped in the air, using both of his feet to kick Natasha in the stomach, pushing her away from him. He tucked into a backflip, and landed on the kitchen table. The eidolon whirled on Bruce, who backpedaled, not wanting to accidentally bring his alter ego out. Percy grabbed Natasha from behind.
"I'm going to go fix this. Be right back!" he yelled as he vapor traveled away, focusing on Piper. He reformed right in front of the daughter of Aphrodite, who was sitting on her bed, reading. Percy's sudden appearance caused her to startle badly.
"What-" she cut herself off as she noticed Natasha's golden eyes. Percy was having a hard time keeping the spy's arms pinned behind her back, but he held fast.
"Eidolon, stop!" Piper commanded. Natasha's body stopped struggling.
"Leave her body, and swear on the River Styx never to inhabit anybody again." The eidolon hissed angrily. Piper repeated her command. Again, the eidolon resisted. Percy watched as Piper took a deep breath, and then said the command a third time, putting as much force behind it as possible. The eidolon relented, and Natasha collapsed, unconscious. Percy gave Piper a grateful smile.
"Thanks." he said. Piper waved him off.
"No problem, Jackson. Have a good night." she said, lying back on her bed. Percy grinned, saluted, and vapor traveled back to the tower's communal kitchen, where Bruce was waiting anxiously.
"Is she okay?" the doctor asked, concerned.
"She's fine." Percy replied.
"Here, give her to me. I'll take her back to her room. You should get some sleep. You look exhausted, kid." Bruce offered. Percy was pretty surprised at the proposition. The son of the sea was crashing on his sister's couch, after all. It wasn't exactly hard to put Natasha in her bed on the way there. But then again, the doctor didn't know that. Percy decided to let the scientist do it.
"Alright. Thanks, doc." he said, depositing his sister in the scientist's arms.
"Night." Bruce smiled at him, and Percy climbed into the vents. He made his way to Natasha's living room, and hid in the shadows. A couple minutes later, Bruce exited the elevator carrying Natasha in his arms. Percy watched the scientist carefully open the door to his sister's bedroom and go inside. Soon after, Bruce came back out of the room, shutting the door gently. Percy watched the scientist disappear into the elevator with a satisfied smile. "Bruce Banner's a good guy." he thought. "He's got some demons to face, but so does Natasha. They'll be able to help each other out a lot." And with that thought, Percy lay back on his sister's couch and relaxed. Seconds later, he was out like a light.