I've wrapped up a few stories, so I hope I can do a better job updating this one as I do realize it's probably my most popular story. Thanks for sticking with it. I wrote this in the limited point of view again, but this time, it's focusing on Black Widow's point of view. Of course, no one in the story will know exactly who she is for a long time.

Chapter 10: The Assistant

*****Two Days Later*****

The Black Widow had not been happy when her boss had given her this assignment babysitting Tony Stark, who had foolishly declared his superhero identity to the world.

"You want me to do what?" she asked Nick Fury, leader of SHIELD.

"Stark has to be monitored closely. He says he's going to build a suit for our government, but he could change his mind. He could be influenced by forces that are not American," Nick said. "His uncle was a near disaster."

"Was the guy his actual uncle or just a close family friend?" Natasha asked.

"Does it matter? The end result was that someone close to Tony Stark gave dangerous weapons to our enemies," Nick said. "The World Council agrees that Tony must be kept under close monitoring. We thought it'd take a while to find an angle, but he's recently started hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. He's put up an ad for an assistant who can double as a bodyguard."

"So I don't have to pretend to be Miss Helpless?" she asked, glad of the fact.

"No," Fury said. "You do, however, have to become indispensable to him. How do you feel about teenagers?"

"I don't feel anything for teenagers," she said. "Why would I? I was never really one myself."

"Stark's CEO and girlfriend, Pepper Potts, has a daughter who she gave up for adoption," Fury explained. "Suddenly, Stark is all about teenagers. He's been seen with a half a dozen of them."

"So I have to wrangle teenagers, too?" she asked.

Fury handed her some folders. "Read their files. They're an interesting bunch. The two redheads are Bonafide geniuses. The blonde is a borderline delinquent while the last girl is a rich princess, who seems at odds with the others—her boyfriend especially," Fury said. "It's strange that Stark would devote so much time and attention to teenagers that aren't related to Ms. Potts."

Natasha was intrigued and began flipping through the folders—at least she wouldn't be bored.

Now that she'd spent the past two days with Stark and his group of teenagers, she was very confused.

All of them except for Cordelia had too much situational awareness. However, even Cordelia didn't have the air of a spoiled careless teenager. The day after the Expo, she went over some basic self-defense with all of them but Buffy. The group had various looks of amusement and incredulity when she suggested they get Buffy for a lesson.

"Buffy doesn't need lessons on self-defense," Xander said with a grin.

"She's little-miss slay-gal," Cordelia said.

Everyone gave Cordelia various looks of annoyance at her words, so she quickly added, "I mean she slays at fighting already."

When they looked relieved, Natasha was intrigued. I wonder if the girl really is a fighting savant like Stark said?

What was stranger, though, was how well all of them did for their first lesson. Cordelia was a cheerleader, so it wasn't overly surprising that she was a natural. Xander, too, seemed somewhat athletic. However, Willow was a bookworm, and Oz said the only exercise he ever did was running and playing his guitar. They both were unusually good at dodging hits.

When she finally got a chance to work with Buffy the first day, she had a feeling that Buffy was holding back, measuring her. It was odd.

"So how long have you been fighting?" Natasha asked her after their first hour working out together. They'd done some warm-up, and Buffy had showed her how she'd already mastered Tai Chi. Nat wasn't sure the boyfriend taught me response was true, but she didn't show any disbelief on her face.

"Since I was fifteen," Buffy said. "My school in Los Angeles had a gang problem, and I had started training when they crashed a school dance. Somehow, I got blamed for it as I had fought them off, and they set fire to the gym in retaliation."

"That's not good, but I'm glad you weren't hurt," she said. She was sure Buffy wasn't telling her everything, but it was true that schools would often look for a fall guy if they wanted to blame someone for damages to a school. "Did the gang members go to your school?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, but since I was the one who confronted them, others assumed I knew them and had brought them there," she explained.

That did make sense. Buffy's phone rang, interrupting. Natasha heard her say, "Hey, Matt. What's up?" Then she walked out of the training room.

Natasha wasn't sure how she felt about being so easily dismissed.

Now it was day two, and Tony had decided to join her training session with Buffy.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," she said.

"Call me, Tony," Tony said.

"Fine," she said, tilting her head in acknowledgment. Due to Tony's reputation with woman, she was working to keep things formal between them. The last thing she needed was him hitting on her and pissing off his girlfriend. However, Tony had been friendly but not flirty with her—so far.

"Okay, Buffy," Tony said to her. "I want you to really let loose with Natasha here. I want to see what you can do, and she needs to know what you can do if she is really train you."

"Are you sure? She's only human," Buffy said, glancing at Natasha with a frown.

What the hell is that supposed to me? Of course, I'm human! What else could I be?

Again, though, she showed nothing of her thoughts on her face. "I really do need to see how gifted you really are," she said.

"Don't worry, Buffy," Tony said. "She has signed a non-disclosure agreement. If she tells anyone anything about you, I will make sure she not only is sued, but I will have her arrested for exploitation of a minor."

Natasha arched an eyebrow. Strong words. What kind of secrets are they keeping? "I assure you that it is not necessary," she said. "I can be discreet."

"Okay," Buffy said, her reluctance obvious. "I can try to show you what I can do without hurting you too much."

"I have been training to fight much longer than your two years," Natasha said, beginning to find her attitude annoying. "I have two decades of experience as I was training in Russia as a child."

"Well, that's good," Buffy said. "Then let's see what you can do."

Her total confidence and arrogance really pissed Natasha off, so she decided to teach the girl a lesson.

Buffy, though, kept dodging every hit. Natasha moved faster, and Buffy still dodged. When Natasha tried to sweep her legs, Buffy jumped and grinned.

"That was a good try," Buffy said.

Natasha found her tone patronizing, and she faked a hit to the right while striking at with her left leg. The blow connected, and Buffy just flashed a smile of admiration.

"That was clever," Buffy said.

"I told you that I know how to fight," Natasha said coolly.

Buffy stopped smiling and nodded. "Okay," she said. Then it was like she stopped pretending and began to fight Natasha for real. She connected several hits to Natasha, and the power behind them hurt. Luckily, Natasha was versed in handling pain.

Natasha kept up Buffy's pace, and they bounced around the large training room. She managed to get two more hits in before Buffy kicked her in the stomach, knocking her off her feet and back.

Natasha realized something as she stood slowly to her feet. "You're inhuman," she said.

Buffy frowned. "That's really rude," she said. "I'm 100% human, and my blood would confirm that."

Natasha looked at Tony, who just shrugged and refrained from commenting. "A girl your size and build should not be able to kick someone my size and muscle build so easily," she said.

"You're not that much bigger than me," Buffy said with a lift of her chin.

"She's not inhuman," Tony finally spoke. "She is something else. I told you she was a savant."

Natasha decided not to press the issue and picked up two staffs and threw one to Buffy, who caught it easily. "Let's see how you do with a weapon," she said.

"Fine," Buffy said, swinging it and testing its balance. "I gotta make Giles get me one of these."

"I'll send him a dozen," Tony said, giving her a wink and grin.

"Who's Giles?" Natasha asked.

"He's my teacher back in Sunnydale," Buffy said. Then she moved forward to hit Natasha with the wooden staff.

Natasha didn't notice that their fighting had finally drew an audience as the noise had brought in Xander, who was walking by the room. He'd texted the others on the phones Tony had bought for each of them.

She was beginning to tire as the teenager showed no signs of fatigue and kept meeting her every blow. Finally, she decided to take Buffy's head off with the staff, but Buffy ducked, dodging the hit. However, Natasha anticipated that she would and bent down low, hitting her hard in the knees.

When Buffy hit the mat, her friends groaned. Cordelia, though, clapped.

"Good job, new gal!" Cordelia called out.

"Not cool, Cor," Xander told her.

"Hey, a little humility is good for the soul," she said with a smirk.

Buffy got up, grinning. "That was great!" she said, not upset.

Natasha was surprised that the teenager, who was so confident, was taking her take down so gracefully.

"It's been too long since I've had a workout like that," Buffy said to Natasha. Then she gave Tony a beaming smile. "You're the best, Tony."

She bounced over and gave Tony a hug before leading her friends out the door.

Natasha went and grabbed a water. "Why do I have a feeling that Buffy wasn't at all tired?" she asked before taking a long drink.

"Because she probably wasn't," Tony said. "I've yet to see her tired or fatigued. Shopping with her should be an Olympic sport. She's the most incredible teenager that I've ever met. All those kids are extraordinary."

"You're not telling me everything," Natasha said.

"No, I'm not," he said. "But their secrets are their own, and we don't know you well enough to trust you with their secrets."

Natasha nodded. "That's fine," she said. "I can teach Buffy a bit, but mostly training with me will just keep her in fighting form."

"That's what she'll need when she goes back home," Tony said.

Natasha wondered at his grim look and couldn't resist asking, "Is her home worse than L.A?"

Tony nodded. "Yes," he said. "It's got a real problem. Her boyfriend was like an angel from what I heard. Then he fell into a bad crowd—drugs, I guess—and then became like a different person. He tried hurting Buffy over and over. Finally, he murdered one of her teachers—her mentor Rupert Giles was dating the woman. He kidnapped Rupert, tortured him. Then he sent friends after her friends. Willow was hospitalized, and Xander ended up with a broken arm. Her friend Kendra was murdered."

"You're joking," Natasha said. She'd only heard about the murder of Kendra that Buffy had initially been charged for. Of course, she knew Willow's hospitalization was what brought Pepper and Tony into her life.

"I'm not. When she found her friend's body, the idiot principal accused her of doing the deed when she'd only just come upon the scene in the library," Tony said. "It's only because all her friends verified who the killer was that I got them to drop the charges."

"That's rough," Natasha said. "Did they catch her boyfriend?"

Tony grimaced. "I got there too late," he said. "Buffy was sword fighting with him. He disarmed her and was about to take off her head when she caught the blade in her hand. Then she killed him with it."

Natasha was shocked and didn't try to hide it. "She had to kill her boyfriend in self-defense? That's horrible!"

"Yes, it was, so I've been trying to help her and the kids out. They were all traumatized by her boyfriend," Tony shared.

Natasha found his new interest in teenagers odd, but she didn't express her opinion. Instead, she said, "That's good of you."

"Well, I'm not normally like that," he said with a self-deprecating smile. "I love Pepper, though, and once I went with her to Sunnydale and met her daughter, I was just hooked."

Natasha smiled. Maybe that was true. He'd changed a lot since his own kidnapping.

"I'm going to take a shower," she said. He nodded as she left. Tony and her bout with Buffy had given her a lot to think about.

*****Three Days Later*****

Natasha was up late, writing her report on her first week with Tony and sending it to Fury. Then she heard a door shut and looked at the time. It was after one, so she opened her door to see who was up.

It was Buffy. Curious, she watched Buffy go down the hall, and she decided to follow her.

When Buffy headed to the elevator, Natasha debated on what to do.

Do I follow her? She's not my mission. However, she decided that since Buffy was a minor, she had some type of obligation to watch over the girl. Since Buffy had been through some recent tragedy, Natasha thought she might be acting out, so she probably should make sure she didn't get into any trouble.

She didn't wait for the elevator, but she hit the stairs, determined to track the young teen.

*****To Be Continued******

I hope you enjoyed an update. Remember, this is Buffy after just two years. I am not sure that she WOULD be better than the Black Widow at this point—maybe later on but not now. Reviews are GREAT and keep me motivated. Thanks!