About a week after the entire mess at the Expo, Romanoff somehow managed to sneak into the Tower. Rosie had been expecting it, so she wasn't too surprised when the lights flickered and security cameras in the main Living Area shut down. She merely set aside the laptop she had in her hands and waited for the woman to show up.

"Romanoff."

"I would return the greeting, but I don't know your name." The woman melted out of the shadows.

"That might have worked on me before you took down Happy, y'know? You compromised your cover for nothing. Did Tony really piss you off that much?"

She got an amused smile in return.

"But hey, I can forgive. It's Rosanna Carter, if you really wanted to know."

The spy nodded, before settling down on the couch opposite to her. "I couldn't find anything on you in the S.H.I.E.L.D database." It was a statement, not a question.

"It's thanks to my mom's efforts, actually. For whatever reason, she decided that me living in a home that wasn't very nurturing was better than S.H.I.E.L.D or her best friends knowing about me."

What the heck, she figured, Tony trusted the spy, so maybe she should too. Either way, Romanoff would be a good ally to have. Rosie had dug a little deeper into the woman's files and found old mission reports, quite a few of which were from missions where she'd partnered with her mom. "You knew her; my mom, I mean. Marlene Carter?"

That was the first time Romanoff's face showed some emotion. Her eyebrow twitched ever so slightly and her mouth opened an infinitesimal amount in shock which Rosie caught. "Yeah, that's the expression everyone else had. Mom somehow faked my death when I was just a few days old. I think I was four or something when she died - hardly remember her."

"Any ideas on why she would hide you from S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Rosie shifted uncomfortably. "A few, all of which freak me out a little. Best case is that she was afraid I'd gotten her powers or something and wanted to get me out from under S.H.I.E.L.D's fist. Worst case, there was someone after her and she faked my death to protect me, but ended up losing her life a few years later."

"So, how did you end up with Stark?"

Here goes nothing. "You ever heard about Arnold Woods? He was a big-shot lawyer at SI until a couple of years ago, when he got arrested-"

"For organizing a plot to kidnap Stark and steal the designs to his tech. He also suppressed reports about a car chase across the city."

"Yeah, that was because those kidnappers got pissed at him for double-crossing them and had the bright idea of taking a hostage to ensure the cops' co-operation."

Romanoff's eyes narrowed. "That was you, wasn't it?" she asked. "The attempted murder was you as well."

"Uh-huh. He figured I'd outlived my usefulness when I didn't get Mom's powers and decided I was in the way of his career. Tried to strangle me in my hospital bed."

"Stark saved your life. I didn't think anyone would let him take care of a kid."

Rosie laughed, "Everyone buys into his media persona too much to actually see the man underneath. Nah, it was his best friend that got custody. Mom had apparently been quite close to him and he was my Godfather. 'Uncle Rhodey' became 'Dad' when we finalized the adoption."

Romanoff fell silent for a few minutes, studying her. "You saw through my cover the very first day, didn't you?"

"You were trying too hard to keep your emotions under control and the fighting skills were way too good," Rosie shrugged. "I recognised a couple from the stuff my mentor teaches me. She said they were standard moves most S.H.I.E.L.D agents used."

"Sharon?"

"Mentor? Nah, she's not in town enough. It's Yuki Chang."

Her companion's eyebrows nearly reached her hairline. "Agent Chang."

"Didn't see that coming?"

She got a small smile, which seemed quite genuine albeit rather rare from what she'd guessed about the spy. "No, I did not. I assume you were holding back the day we fought. There was no way Chang will let any of her students be so sloppy."

"A little, but I know you were holding back a lot."

Romanoff gave her an assessing look. "You mind if I take over from Chang?"

That was unexpected. "Are you serious?"

"Your mother was a good woman. Saved my life more times than I can count. Figured I'd atleast teach the kid she went to so much pains to hide the proper way to protect herself."

"If you get Dad to agree, I'm in."

The older woman got up to left, pausing at the door to ask, "You weren't scared when I showed up."

"Nope," Rosie grinned, pulling back the sleeve of her oversized sweater to show the spy the device mounted on her wrist. "Portable taser. I could have made you drool into the carpet any time I wanted."

A much bigger smile smile flashed across Romanoff's face. "Good instincts. You can call me Nat or Tasha."

"And I'm Rosie."

Nat gave her a two-fingered salute before leaving.

------------------------------

Natasha did manage to convince her dad to let her have lessons. Training with Natasha was much more intense than what she'd had with Yuki. Rosie was smaller than the majority of the adult population and she'd never be able to beat anyone due to sheer strength. She would have to count on being fast enough and good enough to dodge or block their attacks and then retaliate.

Even a couple of blows landing on her would put her out of the fight, so her main focus was on building muscle while staying as lean and flexible as possible which wasn't too hard since she'd already had quite a lot of practice from her Taekwondo classes when she was younger. Natasha's fighting style was similar and she was more than capable of holding her own against dozens of opponents. Rosie knew she'd never get to that level, but she was going to try as best as she could.

Training sessions extended into strategy sessions and then conversations and eating food together. Quite soon, Agent Romanoff became Tasha and then Tasha became Auntie Tasha. Auntie Tasha was delighted when she found out that Rosie was quite competent with fighting sticks, having handled something similar in her Taekwondo classes. That meant she could immediately begin teaching Rosie to use electrified batons which were much more effective defensive weapons than a modified taser.

With her physical training going well, Rosie welcomed her time in Tony's lab where he let her tinker with his stuff and taught her ridiculously difficult concepts in record time. They very quickly realised that while she enjoyed mechanics, her skill with a computer was almost as good as Tony's already. He rather jokingly suggested that she apply for MIT, which she did.

To her shock, Rosie got the acceptance letter a week later. She was the second youngest student to ever attend MIT and the youngest ever female student, only being a few months older than Tony was when he had gone there. Her dad hadn't been very enthusiastic about it, having seen first-hand how badly Tony had been bullied at college, but he relented when he realised how important it was to Rosie. Tony was rather hesitant as well and it took her pointing out that she was neither as famous nor rich as he had been when he'd gone to college for him to agree.

She didn't make a lot of friends, considering that everyone else was at least four years older than her, but she became pretty close to her roommate Suzanne Wilson. Suzanne spoke a lot about her older brother Sam who was a war veteran, and Rosie made the connection a few weeks later when she saw a picture of the man. It was the same guy whose sessions she had attended at the VA! Suzanne was majoring in Aerospace Engineering, while Rosie chose Computer Science.

Rosie was left alone at first by the other students, but when she quickly established herself as being the smartest in her class, the bullying began. At first, she ignored the utterly juvenile teasing and name-calling, choosing to stay close to Suzanne. Even when it started to get physical and she started getting pushed around, punched and even kicked, Rosie ignored them. She was more than capable of handling herself if needed, but she knew from experience that pushing back against a bully was a bad idea.

The last blow came when a boy named Josh tried to forcibly make a move on Suzanne. Rosie, who was right beside her, realised what was happening and she blocked his arm and twisted it. He growled threateningly. "Please, be my guest. I have enough CCTV evidence of your gang picking on me to get the whole lot of you suspended for at least a month," she made her eyes big and innocent-looking. "I was just acting in self-defence, Professor. Promise." He quickly backed off, knowing she had won this round.

"Let's see if you're this cocky when off-campus. If you can beat me at hand-to-hand, I'll leave you alone for the rest of your time here, and I'll tell my friends to do so as well. If I win, you delete all of that CCTV footage right in front of my eyes."

"Fine. When and where do you want to fight?" Rosie asked, realising that if she beat him up enough, she could scare off the other bullies as well. "Friday evening, after classes, in the parking lot behind the closed restaurant. You know it?"

"I do." Rosie could practically hear him underestimating her. Most of their year turned up at the fight which was off-campus in a nearby parking lot, everyone placing bets on how badly Rosie would get beaten. No one except for Suzanne believed that a sixteen year old who was five feet three inches tall would last even a minute against a football player a foot taller and five years older than her.

Suzanne had scolded her when she had first heard of the fight, but when Rosie told her that she had black belts in two types of martial arts, she gave her a smile and replied with, "Give him hell from me."

Rosie strode confidently into the middle of the crowd and faced the bigger boy. She had kept up her training, with either Natasha or Yuki coming over on the weekends and meeting at a secluded gym. She had even met Natasha's partner, Clint Barton a few times. He'd confided his biggest secret to her a few weeks ago, and she had helped him wipe any technological traces of his family from society, even going as far as hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D to delete their information from his file. In return, he'd started teaching her how to shoot a bow and once Rosie got the physics of it, she was getting quite good at it.

Josh glared down at her, drawing himself up to his full height, obviously trying to intimidate her. Rosie had had practice though. If Natasha Romanoff's deluxe-I'll-kill-you glare left her unfazed, a college kid wasn't going to have any effect. She let out an obnoxious yawn. "Are we ever gonna get started, or will you accept defeat, Josh?" She was using one of the tactics Natasha had taught her. 'While fighting a bigger opponent, rile them up as much as you can. Angry opponents make sloppy errors which you can take advantage of.'

Without a word, Josh charged, trying to ram her full force like he did on the football field. Rosie waited until the last second before nimbly skipping out of the way. This went on for a while, her dodging him like a matador would do while fighting an angry bull, till he began tiring. Rosie quickly saw an opening and ducked under his guard to give him a hard punch to the abdomen, before following it up with a jab to his sternum. This knocked the breath out of Josh, and Rosie took advantage of his hunched position to do a spinning kick to his face.

The assembled crowd gasped loudly as Josh staggered backwards, swinging his arms wildly, trying to hit her. Rosie grabbed his arm, and using it as a fulcrum, planted a foot on the ground and flipped him over her head. There was a pin-drop silence as everyone watched Josh hit the ground with a thud, his body flying over her head in a perfect arc. Rosie might look short and skinny, but years of martial arts, an awesome instructor and good technique could do wonders.

"Are you done?" Rosie asked him.

"I've not lost a single fight until now, and I'm not going to go easy on you anymore, midget." He sneered.

"I like to think that I'm closer to hell than you are," she smirked. "It would be my genuine pleasure to introduce your ugly mug to everyone there." Josh got up, and charged, but more cautiously this time. He kept his fists up and tried to land a blow on her. Rosie knew that if he landed even a single hit on her, it would turn the odds in his favor.

She blocked all of his sloppy punches and executed a locking technique her old Taekwondo instructor had taught her. She grabbed his wrist with one hand, and bent it backwards, twisting his arm in the process and forcing him to his knees. A punch to his nose caused him to let out a groan and slump to the floor in pain. "You can tap out now." She suggested in a fake-polite voice. He did.

Letting go of his arm, Rosie dusted herself off and turned her back to him before starting to walk away. Suddenly, she heard movement behind her, and a small shriek from someone in the audience. Whipping around, she saw Josh standing up and aiming a punch at her face. Startled, she forgot to hold herself back and ducked under his punch, before punching him in the jaw with full force. To her surprise, it ended up knocking him out.

She turned to the crowd, putting on a sweet smile. "Anyone else want to have a go?" The entire group of more than a hundred older students leant away from her as if scared that she'd decide to beat them up and more than half shook their heads. "Awesome, I'd like to go back to my dorm now. I've got studying to do." The mass of people parted like the Red Sea, everyone giving her a wide berth as she walked out of the parking lot with Suzanne at her side.

As soon as they got back to the dorm, the confident expression dropped off Rosie's face, and she collapsed on to her bed. "Holy shit, that was amazing! You're gonna become a legend now." Suzanne blurted out as soon as the door was shut behind them.

"Oh god why? I did it so that everyone would leave me alone." Rosie was slowly starting to panic, the cockiness ebbing out of her.

" You didn't have to do that for me, Rosie. I could have-"

"Of course I would. I don't make friends that easily, but when I do, I stay beside them no matter what happens. It sounds really pathetic, but you're pretty much my only friend right now."

"Why? Didn't you go to school?"

"I did, but my father had strict rules and stuff, so I never could really invite people over or go to anyone else's house. They all assumed that I was being rude. Other thing was that I'm kinda scared of crowds... I spent most of my time in school sitting in the corner with the loners. They did make for good conversation, though. One of them even introduced me to martial arts. For some reason, all the teachers took a liking to me, and I was dubbed the teacher's favourite which did nothing to encourage people to talk to me."

"How did you come all the way here, then?" Suzanne sounded confused.

Rosie took a deep breath, debating on what to say. She decided to go with, "About a year and half ago, there was an um, incident, which I don't like to talk about much. It ended with my father going to prison. Since my mom died when I was four and her extended family doesn't stay in the country, I was sent to live with my Godfather. He was the one who bought me advanced books and got me the tech I needed when he realised that I was crazy good with computers."

"So you had no idea about computer programming two years ago?"

"I knew the basics which were taught in middle school, but nothing else. One of my dad's friends suggested applying here as a joke. Let me tell you, it wasn't a calm day in the house when I got the acceptance letter."

Suzanne laughed along with her, and did not question her anymore, which Rosie was grateful for. Maybe one day she'd be able to tell her friend the full story. But that explanation was enough to make their friendship even stronger.

One day, while Rosie was sitting in the Computer Lab and adding in some new features to MARLENE, one of her professors walked into the room. "Miss Carter! I must admit I didn't expect to see you here so early on a Sunday morning."

"Oh, I just wanted somewhere that had computers and was rather quiet. Do I have to leave?"

"Not at all. Might I see what you're working on?"

"O-of course, sir. This is my A.I, who I've named MARLENE. I needed to make improvements to the code. She's been glitching a little. Say hi, Marls."

"Hello, Mr. Adams. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"An A.I? Did you code this yourself, Miss Carter?"

"Most of it, but I had help with the difficult bits."

"That is quite astounding, especially at such a young age."

"Thank you sir."

"I have a suggestion for you, Miss Carter. I have seen that the current course work is failing to challenge your skills, and you are obviously quite ahead of your fellow classmates. At MIT, we do our best to help our students reach their full potential, and sometimes offer special tutoring to especially talented students separately. This often leads to the student finishing their studies earlier than their peers, sometimes even up to a year early. Would you like to receive such tutoring?"

Rosie didn't want to be singled out even more, but Suzanne was supposed to leave a year before she was scheduled to, and Rosie did not want to spend a full year alone, when she could graduate along with her friend. "Can I talk to my guardian before making a choice?" She asked.

"Of course. In fact, if you are able to prove that you can fully program an A.I from scratch, you might even be granted a degree right on the spot."

"I don't want the degree unless I'm sure that I have earned it, sir. I'll get back to you about those sessions by tomorrow." She told him before picking up her stuff and walking out of the room.

Rosie went back to her empty dorm room and locked the door, before calling Tony.

"Uncle Tony?"

"Rosie! How are you? How are the classes?"

"I'm fine. I actually called because I wanted to talk to you about class. You see, I was messing around with MARLENE in an empty Lab today and one of my professors walked in..." She told him what had happened. "So, do you think I should accept that offer?"

"That's what I did. I was able to skive a full year off my time there, and I'm quite sure you want to as well. It's not a pleasant experience when you're so much younger than the others, huh?"

"It's not been that bad after I beat Josh up. Everyone's so scared of me that they maintain three feet distance from me all the time. It does get kinda depressing after a while. I'm glad I have Suzanne, though."

Tony laughed, "I would have paid good money to see that fight. I mean, seriously, who else calls home and says 'I might have accidentally knocked out a guy who's a foot taller than me and seventy pounds heavier cause he was bullying my best friend'? That said, did ya go to any parties?"

"I've heard enough stories from Dad about all the crazy stuff you did back then and I'm happy to say I haven't done anything of that sort."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be proud or disappointed, but focus on your studies and I'm pretty sure you'll be out of there ASAP."

"I will. Tell Dad I said hi."

"Dum-E! Put that down-" The call was abruptly cut off.

Rosie laughed, having a pretty good idea of what was happening in Tony's lab with his motor-oil smoothie obsessed bots. She went out of her dorm to tell Professor Adams that she would like to join the tutoring sessions.