[2/20/18] So, I've decided to put a note in here for newcomers and re-readers.

For the newcomers - I should mention that these first few chapters are quite short compared to the length that they get to. Furthermore, I don't find them as interesting. I'm in the process of seeing whether I can revamp these a bit lol but idk - the first arc of this book (5 chapters) is very much just starting to weave the two universes together. I'm noticing that there's a lot more engagement on this chapter, but it decreases chapter by chapter - tbh idk if that's because this one is shorter and easier to reread, or if the attention drops off after reading this lol. If you have any questions, just ask - I'll probably respond. I'm trying to update faster nowadays, so there's that, as well.

For the re-readers - I want to thank you for your continued support, and I hope that you continue to enjoy this book!

I must say though- I'm highly entertained that many of you have commented on the date directly below this to mention your actual age. It's interesting to see that people of many different ages, although mostly close in number, are reading this.

Anyways, I, Spathi, welcome you to the world of SIEBB!

April 2004

Natasha's P.O.V.

Her footsteps echoed loudly as she sprinted down the halls of the underground complex. The mission should have been an easy one. Get in, retrieve a file, and get out. But intelligence had not known about the ridiculous amount of guards, the intricate security system, or the fact that a subterranean maze of halls lay below the aquarium.

The Black Widow rolled to her left as a guard lifted his gun. Jumping up, she popped open a nearby grate and slid into it, moving quickly through the air ducts. Once she found an exit, she burst through it, only to find herself facing six men armed with guns.

She had no time to jump back into the air ducts, so she launched herself at the nearest man, putting her hands on his shoulders and flipping over him to lock her legs around the next one, taking both to the ground.

Natasha mentally reviewed the weapons she had on her person: two throwing knives, a garrote, and one last taser disc, which was a small disc that generated electricity. She hadn't brought her electroshock cuffs because she was in an aquarium, and she didn't want to electrocute herself if she had to dive into water. She was starting to regret that decision a little bit.

"At least my taser discs are waterproof. I'll need to stock up again after this mission." she thought.

She whipped around, electrocuting the third man with the last taser disc and slamming one of her knives into the fourth man's arm. As she pulled out a garrote and turned towards the fifth man, the sixth pulled the trigger on his gun.

The sound resounded through the hallway, probably alerting more guards to her presence. She tried to jerk out of the way, but the bullet still went through her thigh.

Natasha swore, and wrapped her garrote around the guy she'd been planning to attack before she was shot. Her bullet wound stung, but she didn't have time to lose. She punched the sixth man in the face, flipped him over, and stabbed her second knife into his leg. He groaned, not even bothering to get back up.

The red-headed woman gathered her knives, cutting off a few long strips of cloth from the fallen guard's jacket. She used them to create a makeshift tourniquet and bandage for her wound.

She tied the last knot, and then assessed her work with a critical eye. It wasn't pretty but it would have to do. She stood, a little dizzy, and started running in a slightly awkward fashion.

Natasha quickly found herself very annoyed at whoever had designed the underground complex. The halls seemed endless - she had no idea where she was going. She steeled herself and kept running, searching for anything that would help her escape.

Finally, she noticed a ladder. She scrambled up the rungs as quickly as possible, finding herself in the aquarium.

Now, all she had to was make it to her extraction point.

She surveyed the room, noticing the crowds of people milling aimlessly around. She was going to have to be subtle - seeing a woman bleeding heavily from her leg tended to be a bit disturbing and kill the entire let's-have-a-fun-family-trip-to-the-aquarium vibe.

There was a catwalk above her that stretched all the way across the room, passing directly over the gigantic shark tank in the center. It seemed like a good option in terms of at least getting across the room she was in undetected. She took a deep breath, feeling a little dizzy.

"I'm almost out of here. I just need to last a few more minutes." she told herself, determinedly setting her jaw. Staying in the shadows, she slunk around the edge of the room and quickly ducked under a rope, heading over to the stairs leading to the top. She made her way up as quickly and quietly as possible, keeping her head down so she wasn't too visible. As she reached the top and started to crawl across, her S.H.I.E.L.D. ID card slipped out of her pocket into the water. She cursed mentally.

"Who the hell thought it was a good idea for this tac suit to have open pockets?" she wondered. But she didn't dwell on it for too long - she needed to get out of this mission alive first.

She was almost halfway across the room when two men with guns appeared. The weapons weren't obvious to anyone with an untrained eye, but Natasha could see their faint outline underneath both of the men's jackets.

She watched the men as they split up, looking for her in the crowd. She blew out a shaky breath, and continued to move across the catwalk.

"Just a little further." she thought, her vision starting to get a little hazy. She blinked and shook her head, clearing the fog a little.

"Stay awake." she commanded herself. There was only twenty feet left until she reached the end of the catwalk, where she could se a door marked Rooftop Access. But it seemed that nothing was going to go right for her on this mission.

Her foot got caught in a crevice, and she struggled to pull it free. By the time she had, the men had climbed onto a lower catwalk spanning the shark tank and were approaching a class.

She was trapped. There was no way that she could get to the door before the men caught up to her. Natasha clenched her jaw, running possible combat strategies in her head. She was confident that she could defeat them, but she'd have to make a scene. Also, it would probably (definitely) worsen her injury.

Below her, the two men asked a young green-eyed boy to pull a lever that was just out of their reach due to the people on the catwalk.

"See our friend up there? She's hurt real bad, and because of it, she's acting a bit crazy. She keeps attacking us when we get too close - I think her injury might be infected, causing her to hallucinate." one of the men said loudly. The teacher with the group of students nodded sympathetically.

Natasha realized she was screwed. Once the boy pulled that lever, those men would be able to get her. Fighting would just confirm their story in the eyes of bystanders, who would either try to restrain her, get a security guard, or just stop her from leaving. She'd end up being escorted out by the duo, and then they'd take her somewhere and either kill or torture her. It would probably be the latter, if she was being honest. Worse, the amount of blood she lost was making her head swim, so by the time she was being carried off to wherever they wanted to take her, she'd be in no shape to put up a good fight.

"Kid, I know you can't actually hear my thoughts, but if anyone's listening, I hope they tell you not to pull that damned lever. Please, let there be a miracle that keeps you from doing it." she pleaded silently.

The young boy looked up at her, dressed in civilian clothes, injured, and probably looking a bit desperate. Natasha's eyes locked with his, and something flickered in those sea-green depths.

The boy shrugged.

"I'll pull it. This one?" he said nonchalantly, pulling a completely different lever than the one the two men indicated. One of the men tried to stop him, but it was too late.

The lower catwalk bent in two, dumping everyone on it into the water. The children were all screaming, and the teacher was frantically trying to get the class to relax. The two men pursuing her were flailing around wildly. They seemed to be having trouble swimming for some reason. Meanwhile, the sharks circled around their feet.

The boy who'd just saved her life seemed rather unaffected, calmly gazing up at her and treading water with ease.

"Go!" his eyes seemed to say. Natasha nodded at him in thanks, and went. She made her way across the last twenty feet of the catwalk, and wrenched open the door leading to the roof. As she exited the room she heard the teacher yell in fury.

"Perseus Alexios Jackson! What were you thinking? You were supposed to pull the-" the teacher screeched as the door swung shut, cutting her off.

Natasha filed the boy's name away in her min as she quickly climbed the stairs to the roof, where the extraction point was. Her leg was screaming in pain, but she ignored it, a sudden burst of energy allowing her to bound up the last few steps and throw herself through the door. She burst outside, the bright daylight blinding as she took a few more steps and collapsed to the floor. She dimly noticed a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter hovering high above her head.

As her vision started to go dark, she realized that she owed this Perseus Alexios Jackson a debt.

Natasha took her debts very seriously.

"I'm going to change that kid's life." she decided.

Then, she blacked out.

Percy's P.O.V.

The trip through the aquarium had been pretty fun. It would have been amazing if the fish would stop talking to him. He was pretty sure it was the fish anyways. No one else was around, and none of the kids in his class would ever call him "milord". Neither would the teacher or tour guide. But the fish ended up being helpful. As the class stopped in the middle of the catwalk over a large tank, Percy heard the fish say something odd.

"There's a lady up there who is bleeding, milord. The two men who are approaching have guns. They won't hurt you, but they want to hurt her." This was said in a chorus of voices and Percy barely managed to understand them. Once he did, he froze.

"She's hurt?" he asked in his head.

"Yeah, we can practically smell it." the sharks below him replied. The boy blinked in surprise.

"Smell- like her blood? They can smell her blood??" he thought, eyes wide.

"Oh- that's- yeah, that's definitely hurt." he replied. The sharks and fish murmured in agreement.

When the men came over and asked him to pull the lever, he looked up at the lady the fish and sharks had mentioned. Her face was blank, and her eyes looked steadily back at him. But there was something urgent hidden behind her solemn gaze. And from what he could see of her injury, she was hurt pretty bad. Also, the smiles on the two men's faces seemed forced. He didn't like that at all.

So he made his decision and pulled a lever labeled Lower Catwalk. When everyone on the catwalk plunged into the water, he ignored the screaming of his class, his panicking teacher, the spluttering tour guide, the sharks, and the fish. He hoped that the two men would have trouble swimming. They deserved it.

At that thought, there was a slight tug in his gut that he ignored.

Percy looked back up at the lady, and hoped she got his mental message to run. It seemed she did, because she crawled across the catwalk and disappeared through a door. He watched her go, barely hearing his teacher scolding him. He noticed an ID card with the lady's picture floating in the water. It said S.H.I.E.L.D. on one side. On the other, it read: Natasha Alianovna Romanoff; aka the Black Widow. Level 6 clearance. Age 22. He hoped that Natasha would be okay.

Later on, after he was expelled, he told his mom what had happened. She said she was proud of him for doing what he had. And that justified what he had done in his mind. Percy was happy that he had helped Natasha Romanoff, even if he got expelled in the process. Smelly Gabe, however, was not happy about it.

"You got yourself expelled? You ungrateful brat. How many times do I have to find you a new school? Idiot boy." Smelly Gabe complained when Sally went to work a couple days later. He shoved Percy into a wall. Seconds later, the doorbell rang.

"Go answer it, boy." Smelly Gabe snarled. Percy went over to the door and opened it to find Natasha from the aquarium.

"You're Perseus Alexios Jackson, right?" she asked in a kind tone. Percy nodded.

"People call me Percy. And you're Natasha Alianovna Romanoff from S.H.I.E.L.D. Is your hip okay?" he replied, pronouncing her name carefully. Natasha looked shocked.

"Yes, although I'd like to know how you know that. And yes, I've recovered from my injury." she said.

"You heal fast! And you dropped your ID card. Hold on, let me get it." he explained. He ran to his room, retrieved the ID card, and handed it to Natasha, who pocketed it with a smile.

"Thanks, kid. Are your parents around?" she questioned. Percy's face fell a bit.

"Just my step-dad. My mom's at work, and my dad got lost at sea before I was born." Natasha nodded understandingly.

"Will he mind if I take you to see your mom at work? I've got a question to ask her." she asked.

"No, he won't. I'll just tell him that I'm going and we can head over. By the way, my mom works in a place called Sweet on America in Grand Central Station." Percy replied. Usually he wouldn't go anywhere with a random person, but he was pretty sure that he could trust Natasha. He went and told Gabe he was leaving, who answered with a pig-like grunt. Natasha led him over to a sleek black car, and told him that he could ride shotgun. They drove over to Grand Central Station, and went into the candy shop.

"Mom!" Percy exclaimed as he caught sight of Sally.

"Percy! What are you doing here? And how did you get here?" she said, surprised.

"Natasha brought me here!" he replied, hugging his mother tightly. Sally noticed Natasha.

"Hi, my name is Sally Jackson." she said a bit warily. Natasha smiled at her.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff, and I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Your son helped me out of a tight spot a couple days ago, and I wanted to pay him back for saving my life." she responded. Percy could tell that his mother had absolutely no idea what to say to that.

"If it's okay with you, then I'd like to train your son. I was thinking self-defense, maybe a few languages, and some other useful skills? It's up to you." Natasha continued. Sally smiled.

"Oh, that would be wonderful. Percy's father did have a few enemies, and I'm afraid that when Percy gets older, he might be in danger." Sally replied. Percy was shocked.

"Did Mom actually just agree to let some random lady give me fighting lessons? Why? Wait did she just say enemies?" he thought. He opened his mouth to ask his mother what she meant by that, but closed it again soon after, realizing that it wasn't the best time to ask her. He glanced over at Natasha, who showed no reaction to those words.

"Alright, then. I can start the lessons today, if he likes. Due to my job, I might not be able to schedule regular sessions, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Natasha said, turning to Percy.

"That would be cool! Thanks, Natasha! Bye Mom!" Percy said excitedly, although he was actually feeling quite a bit of whiplash from the quick turn of events. He decided to just go with the flow- after all, that's what he was good at.

Sally waved goodbye as the agent led Percy out of the shop. They got into Natasha's black car, and drove off.

After a little while, they pulled up at the curb of what appeared to be a rather ordinary looking building. The red-haired woman switched off the engine, and turned to him.

"Okay. Due to my job being extremely dangerous, I use different identities. The name you saw on my ID card is my true one, but while we are out in public, I'm not going to use that. Alright? That's so that even if my face is recognized, my true name won't be exposed. For your safety, we'll have to come up with one for you too." she said. Percy nodded, and thought for a second.

"What about something related to my middle name? You know, Alexios?"he asked. Natasha turned to look at him appraisingly.

"That would work. Like me, you don't look like you're from a specific country. That's good. And Alexios is a root for a lot of names from different countries. There's Alexei, Alexander, Alex, Alejo, Elek, and so on. Which one do you like?" Percy thought for a second.

"I guess Alexei?" he said, unsure. Natasha laughed.

"Looks like we'll start with Russian, then. And hand to hand combat. Welcome to my house." They got out of the car, and went into Natasha's nicely furnished house. They entered the living room, and sat on the couch. Natasha pulled out a laptop, and started typing. Percy looked on in interest.

"Right now, I'm essentially creating a new person. I do this with all my aliases. Your alias is Alexei Romanoff, my adoptive younger brother. Not much is known about you. I'm creating a Russian passport for you as well." Natasha informed him.

"I'm just a kid you're teaching. Why do I need an entirely new identity?" Percy wondered.

"Kid, I've got a lot of enemies. If they ever get wind of you, I'd rather they think that the person they're trying to hunt down is some kid only I know instead of Sally Jackson's son. This way, you, your family, and any friends that you make are safe. Also, I'm going to bury all information about your alias, so that nobody realizes he - actually you under my protection and training - exists. Percy Jackson will remain exactly as he is, completely unaffiliated with me, and as safe as he can get. Alexei Romanoff, however - he's my top secret little brother. If anyone ever discovers his existence, at least he's protected because he's officially a person, which means he has rights. And also, as his older sister, if anything bad happens, I can assume guardianship of him. But still, hanging out with me can be pretty dangerous, so I'd like to make sure that Percy Jackson doesn't." Natasha explained.

"So, you're going to teach me Russian? How long will that take?" Percy asked. Natasha smiled.

"Most adults take around 10 months of constant exposure to learn languages as complicated as Russian. You're only 10 years old, so I think it will take you less. And learning certain languages make it a lot easier to pick up other ones. But in order to teach you, I'll need to meet with you a lot." she replied. Natasha closed her laptop, and led Percy through her house. Soon, Percy found himself standing in a gym.

"Before I start teaching you how to fight, we'll need to build your strength, flexibility, and endurance. So, I'm going to teach you how to stretch, and then we'll go from there. By the way, I'll be calling you Alexei a lot to train you to respond to that name. Ready?" Natasha asked.

"Ready!" Percy replied. And the two began the first lesson of many.