Percy POV

"Mom, I'm home." I said as I entered my apartment.

My mom looked up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table and spotted Natasha next to me.

"Nat, your back?!"

"Sally, I would like to offer your son a job." Natasha said.

"A job?" My mother asked turning to face us.

"Yes. I don't have any specifics on what exactly he would be doing. Mostly he would just be doing various tasks to help my colleagues and I." Natasha said as she leaned against the doorway. "At least until he rises in the ranks a bit more."

"Um..." My mother turned to look at me in a silent question before turning back to Natasha. "If Percy wants to then I'm perfectly fine with it."

"Sure." I say as I take a seat next to my mom. "It sounds interesting enough."

"Well then, Percy, I will be back, let's say tomorrow? To pick you up for your first day of work."

We nodded and Natasha left.

"Hey mom?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"How did you meet Natasha?"

"Natasha? So that's the name she's going by."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I was born into the Soviet Union. Nat-Natasha and I, we were both part of a program. The-the Red Room. We were all young girls. We were being brainwashed, being turned into killers." My mother paused at my gasp of horror before continuing. " I never realized that we were being brainwashed. Not until I overheard the...tutors talking about...former students. They were talking about a girl who had graduated. Who they were...proud of. She had...killed her friend. So I escaped. I guess I'm selfish. I didn't even stop to think about the other girls, little Natalia who, as I remember, looked up to me. But I guess everything worked out. She escaped, eventually."