Natasha was lounging on a grey suede couch, sprawled out like a cat in the sun. She barely even looked up after a quick glance to make sure it was me. Passing her, I walked to the kitchen to grab an apple and a few blue cookies.
With food in hand and school bag thrown somewhere, I went back out to the couch and pushed Nat's legs out of the way. "Unless your bones have vaporized, stop hogging the couch." I gruffly said. She just groaned quietly and barely shifted her legs. I rolled my eyes at her antics, but secretly I was happy. I had been with Nat enough to know she absolutely never acted like this, childish and unguarded. So seeing her so relaxed was heartwarming.
Taking a bite of my sour green apple, I scrunched my nose at the sudden taste, but after I threw a cookie into my mouth, the two flavors mixed beautifully. When I had finished my snack I checked to see if Nat was awake, but she had fallen asleep. Instead of being mean and depriving her of some much needed sleep, I told the AI to start brewing some coffee for Nat, then quietly crept to my room to grab a laptop and headphones. I went back out to the living room so when Nat woke up she could tell me why she was here. While I was waiting I tinkered around with a project for my Professor, Cora.
When I finished the project and Nat still hadn't moved I started on an idea I'd had for a while. Quinn was the AI I had created, but I hadn't created it as a complex system, rather just a placeholder. So today I decided to evolve it.
I started with safety parameters. For me this was a must, because I wasn't intending to just create a stagnant AI. No, I was creating a being that could learn and grow, but to keep Quinn from being the next Hal 9000, I needed to give it a base of unbreakable code. The first was that it could not harm myself, Nat or my mom, and any others I might one day think of as family. The second was that it could not kill or permanently maim without explicit statement from my family. It also could not open or share specific files without express permission from us three.
With these limitations firmly in place I started on the intelligence part of the AI. For the most part I left the personality blank, but gave it a strong ability to learn, so hopefully a personality would develop on it's own.
I was halfway through my base programing when Nat woke up. Instead of waking up alert and on edge, she slowly opened sleep tired eyes and snuggled into a throw pillow before deciding to actually wake up.
She stood up from the couch and got up on her toes to do a full body stretch, eyes scrunched closed and body stiff, before she relaxed and went in search of coffee. I let her go, knowing she was always grumpy when she woke up, and here where she didn't have a character to play, she wouldn't hold back.
After grabbing the already brewed coffee, she shambled back and plopped down onto the couch, nursing her drink like it was her lifeline. I set my laptop aside and waited patiently for her to regain her higher thinking skills. After two cups of hot coffee she was finally able to talk civilly.
"So Nat, as much as I love to see you, you don't usually drop by unannounced incase someone's following you. So what's up?"
Still sounding a bit tired, she replied "I have a mission and I'm going to need your help."
This was rather astonishing, and brought the whole of my attention to this conversation. Sure I had been on plenty of missions with Nat, but she had never said she actually needed my help. On every mission where I'd been brought along, the missions certainly weren't safe, but I had been an assistance, not a necessity. So I was understandably confused as to why Nat would need me.
Natasha apparently wasn't quite as tired as she looked, because she saw my confusion and quickly elaborated. "With you coming along with me so often on my solo missions, my supposed performance has risen and I've been getting sent on harder and harder assignments with less assistance."
Well, that was actually pretty understandable. Either of us alone were extremely effective, but the two of us together, especially when I was unknown, were downright deadly.
That was right, I was no stranger with death. As much as I tried to reduce the body count, there were some times when I had no other choice. I was a ten year old with a higher amount of kills than most Shield agents.
I regretted each and every life I took, but I never for a second regretted my reasons. Not even the first one.
Dimly I saw Nat slowly waving a hand in front of my face and heard her ask me something. Numbly I answered her, not even sure of what I said. Carefully she slid her larger hand underneath my own. Her light touch abruptly brought me out of my clouded world. I didn't even realize it, but I was shaking and my mind had slipped. The thought of our effectiveness had unknowingly triggered the start of a flashback.
With a shaky smile, I wordlessly thanked Nat and gave her permission for further contact. She returned the smile, marred only by sadness but thankfully no pity and wrapped me in her arms.
Natasha's POV
As I looked down at the still trembling body wrapped in my arms, I once again questioned my decision to bring Percy into my brutal world. She had kept her bright spark no matter how dark the situation, but the fact that she'd been changed was obvious to me.
She could never enter a room without glancing around, searching for potential threats and hidden enemies. She was always on guard, ready to face the next crisis and since being forced into a hero role as a demigod, her condition seemed to be worsening. Before, when she'd been in civilian mode she might have a flashback maybe once every month or so, but now they were a weekly occurrence. I was just thankful that either I'd been there or sally had. I was afraid to think of what might happen if Percy had to face one alone, or worse, with strangers.
Percy shivered in my arms, clinging to me with her considerable strength. As usual the only time she got cold was when she was dealing with a flashback and while blankets couldn't do much to physically warm her up, the comfort from being surrounded would help her. So being as gentle as possible, I carefully lifted her tiny body and carried her to her room. Doing my best to keep my arms securely around her, I pulled as many blankets as I could into a makeshift nest and buried the two of us.
Percy's shivering slowly abated and eventually she stopped trembling as well. After she regained control of her body, I soon felt my shoulder getting wet and heard Percy's quiet sobs. I let her cry, but knowing it helped her, I began humming a Russian lullaby that matched the breathing pattern we used when meditating.
It took a while, but she managed to match her breath to the song, with only the occasional hiccupping sob interrupting the pattern. As the minutes passed by her grip slowly relaxed and her breath fell out of the song's pattern and into one of sleep.
Still not letting go, I moved us so we were laying down comfortably and let Percy sleep.
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Percy's POV
I was waiting at the pier with Nat. The salty, briny smell of the ocean washing over me and comforting me in a way little else could. Rather than looking beautiful in the traditional way, the ocean was stormy, with wind tossed waves reflecting the boiling sky above.
We stood together in our disguises, I was female today and wearing a brown wig and hazel contacts. I made sure to slouch and look painfully bored. Nat was wearing a wavy, grey streaked, black wig and hazel contacts similar to mine. She wore padded clothes and stood stiffly, looking scared.
Today we were posing as a mother and daughter going on a boat ride. And while, yes we were going to be boarding a boat, we would switch to a submarine once we got into open waters.
Our ride soon came, a decent looking sailboat, manned by q middle-aged couple. Because the mission was incredibly classified, even to most agents, they were civilians Nat had hired, who thought that we were a rich family who were spoiling their daughter by renting a private sub. Still, they motioned us aboard with kind smiles and lead us to a warm cabin while telling us we could either go look outside or stay in the cabin.
Since I was pretending to be a spoiled rich kid I had to restrain myself and stay in with Nat.
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Once we had gotten far enough and the harbor was no longer visible, I ripped open a emergency panel which covered some of the ship's circuitry. I attached a wireless access point while Nat guarded the door. Using a prewritten program, I manually interfered with the ship's navigation and temporarily changed the coordinates, so that the location of shield's submarine would remain secret.
When we did reach the sub Natasha walked out to exchange the safety codes with the sub's captain, while I stayed hidden in the cabin. When they finished the man smiled and pretended they had just been confirming a few details and then opened the hatch. Nat came back into the cabin and grabbed a bag she had purposefully left. She gave me the hand signal to disappear, and I did just that.
I sauntered to the side of the boat, hidden from the sub's view, where the middle-aged couple were sitting. Rudely I told them "I'm getting on the sub, my mother needs you to help her find her earing."
Without even a thank you or a look back I continued to saunter until I was sure neither the sub, nor the couple could see me, then I dived into the sea without even a ripple to mark where I'd entered.
As usual the underwater world was absolutely lovely, but sadly I didn't have time to admire the view. Using my powers to propel me through the water I arrived next to the sub undetected. Now came the tricky part.
I had to use a power I was still working on perfecting. I had a success rate of 70%, but I would always feel uneasy unless it was 100.
The problem was that I needed to be invisible to sneak onboard and not just invisible to human eyes, but also to all of Shield's sensors. So to accomplish this with my still unmastered magic, I need to use multiple spells, from multiple sources. Which was impossible to any other, as the various aspects in the magic would interfere with each other. The only reason I could do it, was because I could use aspect-less energy.
Taking a deep breath, I started to chant and write the spells in the water. By having them float around me I only had to supply energy, rather than constantly concentrate or say them. I used a Norse spell cloak my temperature to the surround air, an adapted spell from my earthquake powers to mask any vibrations, and then an Egyptian spell to hide me from sight and sound.
With the spells floating in concert around me I carefully launched myself from the water, to the top of the sub. Taking care not to touch the captain I slid down the ladder and searched for a place to hide myself.
I found a secluded area, where it would be unlikely that anyone would brush against me, and there I hid.
Soon I sensed the sub starting to move through the water and settled in to wait.
Author's Note
I am taking a temporary hiatus until Friday the twenty eighth of July 2017, due to personal reasons. I am not intending to drop this story, I'm just taking a small break in order to make my story the best I possibly can.