"I understand why you're telling me this, Raven, but what exactly do you expect me to do with this information? The Raft is the most secure prison on the planet." Daken dismissed Mystique. She had come to him about circulating rumors that a mercenary called Black Tiger, who'd only been on the scene for a few years now, was hired to break Romulus out of the Raft. If it was someone with more experience he would've been more concerned, but it wasn't.

"This is a file I've comprised of all Black Tiger's known endeavors." Mystique handed the folder to Daken, and he began to look through it. "It's not much. She's very good at remaining out of the spotlight, but based on what's there, she's obviously very skilled. So skilled in fact, I suspect she's actually been active for a very long time, just not always as Black Tiger. I have my suspicions on past codenames she's used, but nothing I can confirm yet."

This was not good. Based on what little was in the file, it looked like Black Tiger might actually have a chance at breaking Romulus out. "Do you know when she's planning on making her move?"

"No, but I'll do what I can to find out."

"No need." Daken closed the folder and stood up. "You've already given me everything I need to find her."

"You're sure you don't need any help."

"I've never needed help from anyone."

From the file, Daken was able to glean a bit about Black Tiger's skillset, and more importantly he found that she mostly took assassination jobs. He had enough connections in the criminal underground to figure out based on that where Black Tiger was most likely to show up before The Raft job. He was confident he could kill her before she even had the chance to start it.

After a day of investigation, Daken found that someone had hired Black Tiger to assassinate the CEO of some company while he was staying in his cabin in Alaska. Daken didn't know too much about the details of the job Black Tiger was taking, but all he needed was the location and time.

Alaska was very beautiful, and Daken considered vacationing here some time, but for now he had to focus on the task at hand. He didn't have much time to take in the scenery, so he made his way to the cabin immediately after getting off the plane. As soon as he made it within a few hundred meters of the cabin he was shot with an arrow to the neck. He pulled it out while looking in the direction it came from to see someone in a tree that was too far away for them to have heard his approach with normal hearing.

Found her.

He ran toward her then stopped when he felt a sudden wave of vertigo. He was poisoned. He stopped for a moment to let his healing factor flush the poison out while still keeping his eye on Black Tiger who had turned her attention back to the cabin. She must have thought she took him out. Good.

Daken was much stealthier with his approach this time. Now that he knew Black Tiger had super hearing he could account for that. He watched as she took her shot to kill her target. As she jumped down from the tree he could better see her black and red costume. The main part of it was a long coat that had fur lined collar, it also appeared to be sleeveless but there was a black long-sleeved shirt underneath with black leather bracers over her arms and red gloves under that. Her mask covered her whole face with red lenses hiding her eyes and a hood hiding everything else.

If Daken wasn't trying to to kill her he would have asked for the name of her designer.

Daken remained hidden in some bushes until she turned away from him to leave the forest. He popped his claws then lunged at her. She turned around just in time to fire another arrow at him before he got close enough to attack.

She glanced at his claws then started running. Apparently, she knew better than to fight a wolverine.

Daken pulled the arrow out but it didn't slow him down. Even if this one was poisoned like the last one, he'd been exposed to it once and with his healing factor that was enough to build enough of a resistance that it barely registered.

Unfortunately, resistance to poison was not resistance to arrows, and as Black Tiger was running, she continued to fire arrows at a very quick rate, with each one hitting a major artery. After Black Tiger ran out of arrows, Daken pulled the last arrow out of his brachial artery. He still needed a moment to let his blood regenerate before he could continue to pursue her.

That few second delay turned out to be enough for Black Tiger to get away. Now Daken was going to have to confront her on The Raft. At least he now knew something about her that no one else knew, she had powers. Enhanced hearing, speed and agility that he noticed, based on that she was either bitten by a radioactive tiger, or much more likely she was a feral mutant like him. Which meant her other senses were probably equally enhanced, and she might have some physical features that were animal like, but that was all he could confidently guess about her mutation. Nothing else about feral mutations were universal, not even healing factors. Still it was something. At least next time he would be more prepared to fight her.

When he got home he called Mystique. "Have you found anything on Black Tiger's past identities?"

"Yes, before she was Black Tiger I believe she was Red Death. I can't entirely be sure though because all reports say Red Death was killed by The Punisher, very thoroughly."

"What makes you think they're the same person then?"

"They both mostly took assassination jobs, and they have similar skill sets, archery, knife throwing, same fighting style etcetera. I know you wouldn't be asking about this unless you've run into a roadblock. What happened?"

"Nothing." Daken didn't want to admit that he basically lost a fight back there. "Did Red Death have any powers? Any indication of having enhanced senses, speed, or agility?"

"A few instances here and there that would indicate that she might've had those powers."

"That's good enough for now. Any reports on her physical appearance?"

"Her costume covered everything, but she was very tall, around 6'3 or 6'4 by most estimations."

"Email me anything you have on Red Death, and keep me up to date on any other past identities she may have used."

"Okay. Are you sure nothing happened?"

"Raven, I just changed my mind. Nothing has to happen for me to change my mind, okay." He hung up then realized that blowing up like that kind of revealed that something did happen, but he knew Mystique would drop the issue after that, so he didn't care.

Now he knew Black Tiger probably had a healing factor, but he still had no way of knowing when she was going to go for The Raft. Based on how much that last job of hers payed, she probably took it to pay for the equipment she was going to need to do The Raft job. Based on that Daken figured it would take her about a week to get ready. He still needed an exact time if he was going to do anything though.

He did have her scent now, so maybe he could try to find her before she went on that job. No, he didn't even know where to start with that, so it would take too long. His only option was to confront Black Tiger on The Raft. After doing a lot of digging he found an associate of hers that he was able to get the information from.

When the time came, Daken took a speed boat to get to the Raft, and the power was out when he arrived. Judging by her scent Black Tiger had only been there for a few minutes. Even with the power off that wasn't enough time to make it through all of the security and get to Romulus's cell, so Daken still had plenty of time. As he made his way through the facility the guards he passed all had knife wounds, and based on the way their bodies were strewn about, and the smell of fresh gunpowder, only a few of them managed to get any shots off, but those few managed to hit her. Unfortunately, that wouldn't help him since her healing factor meant any injuries she received in that fight would have finished healing by now.

When he caught up to her, she was prying open elevator doors with her bare arms. Strength could be added to list. He'd have to be careful about that. He popped his claws and slowly approached her. Once the doors were open he made his move, but she turned just as he stabbed her. She grabbed his wrist with a death grip then leaned back and fell down the elevator shaft, taking Daken with her. On the way down, she pulled Daken's claws out of her chest then kicked him away before flipping over to land. Daken landing right after her without issue.

Black Tiger looked at the floor they were on in a way that appeared dissatisfied. It was hard to tell with the mask. She pulled out a knife, ignored Daken, and went to cut the cables, but before the knife could even get close to them, Daken kicked it out of her hand. Her attention was now fully on him.

She went for his throat, but he stabbed her wrist and redirected her arm; he used his other claws to stab her shoulder joint, rendering that arm temporarily useless. She kneed him in the stomach in retaliation and pulled her wrist off his claws.

As she reached to grab the knife again, Daken swung around on the cable to gain momentum and kick her with enough force to slam her into the wall. At this point her shoulder had healed. She forced herself off the wall only to meet with Daken's claws when she turned around. She used the knife to cut his hand off then she tossed it away as she went for the cable again. Daken quickly grabbed his hand and reattached it, but not in time to stop Black Tiger.

The elevator fell and Daken and Black Tiger followed. The elevator slammed into the ground, and both landed just fine. Black Tiger ripped the hatch at the top of the elevator off and jumped in. Daken was a bit pissed that Black Tiger's default seemed to be ignoring him, but he took advantage of it when he jumped into the elevator making sure to land on her and pin her to ground.

"You're persistent." She growled, her voice slightly distorted by the mask.

"So, it can talk." Daken replied with a smirk.

As she got up, not even bothered by Daken's weight, Daken started stabbing her repeatedly through her lungs. The pain didn't seem to bother her, but her troubled breathing did and she fell back to her knees. She pulled something off her belt, but Daken couldn't tell what it was right away.

"Let's see which of us heals faster." She pulled the pin on what Daken now saw was a grenade then threw it straight up. When it went off, Daken took the brunt of the damage, keeping him from doing much as Black Tiger pried the door open.

Daken recovered and ran out into the hall after her. When he got close to her, he dropped down and slid along the floor while slashing at her ankles. He got up as she fell. He sheathed his claws, and when she got up, he pinned her to the wall with his fist under her chin. "If you make even the slightest movement, I pop my claws into your brain. I don't know if that'll kill you or not, but I do know it'll stop you. Now, I don't normally do this, but I'm giving you a chance to surrender."

Black Tiger remained silent.

"You're going back to giving me the silent treatment now? Come on it can't be that hard to form sentences."

"I'm thinking."

"What's there to think about? The choice it obvious."

In the blink of an eye, she pushed him off her. "I was wondering who's faster."

Daken didn't pop his claws in time to do brain damage, but he did damage her mask enough for the bottom half to fall off. What was beneath it was a bit shocking. She had her teeth bared in the same way many animals would bare their teeth as a warning, and her canines were very sharp and very familiar looking. Daken knew of only one person that she could be related to with teeth like that. "You have got be kidding me."

Black Tiger smirked in response to that. "That's what I thought when I first saw your claws."

Daken hated the idea of basically continuing the feud their fathers had started over a century ago, but considering the circumstances, he didn't have much of a choice. She did have a choice though, one she'd already proven she wasn't going to give up on because of the circumstances, so it didn't surprise him when she pulled out two more knives, stabbed his feet, then continued toward her goal.

Daken pulled the knives out and threw them at Black Tiger's knees. As she pulled them out, Daken jumped at her and stabbed her in the back of the head, something he shouldn't have hesitated on earlier.

When Black Tiger fell over, Daken got up and noticed just how close she was to reaching Romulus's cell. That's what he gets for showing mercy. His enemies get way too close to their goals for comfort. He was never letting that happen again.

The power came back on and gas started flowing in from the vents. Daken blacked out. When he woke up he was in a cell on one of the higher floors, in the cell across from him was Black Tiger, her mask now fully removed and her hood down, but her dark hair had fallen in her face. Not that what she looked like even mattered. SHIELD would have to be stupid to release someone that just tried to breakout one of their most dangerous prisoners. That just left the question of what they planned to do with him.

"They're not going to let you out."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"You're still a criminal. Stopping me doesn't change that."

"Well, obviously. I'm sure I can still make some kind of deal to get out of here."

Black Tiger brushed hair out of the left side of her face revealing a red eye with slit pupils and black sclera. She glanced over at the camera watching the two of them. "You know the only difference between you and your father, is that he's managed to convince people that he's changed, that anyone he still kills had to die for the greater good, that he's somehow better than everyone else despite his actions."

"He's a hypocrite. I already knew that. What's your point?"

"You're not listening."

Daken glanced over at the camera. The guards were listening in on them, so Black Tiger couldn't be straightforward with what she was saying. He went over what she said in his head a few times over. She was giving him advice on how to convince SHIELD to let him out. Make them think he was turning over a new leaf to become a hero. He could do that; playing hero for a while could be fun.

He heard footsteps coming down the hall. The agents were probably about to question them. "Quick question, before we're interrogated, can I get the name of your designer?"