I too left the lab then, deciding to confront the other elephant in the room; Loki. I could feel a touch of anger building in me as walked down to where his cell was. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to say to him, other than give him hell for telling everyone my secret, especially seen as it was likely to come back to haunt me in the future I could tell. There was also something going on between him and Kilah, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I needed to know what his game was.

I entered the room and found the two of them engrossed in a game of pool. I sighed and rolled my eyes as they looked up at the door opening. "I want to speak with him." I said, hoping that my face showed no emotion even though I knew Kilah would tell something was up.

"Sure." She said, "Once we've finished this game."

"Now, Akilah." I said. She noticed my tone and instantly stood up straight, waiting to hear what I had to say to him. "Alone."

"I must say, this is unexpected." Loki said after Kilah had left. I walked around the room and turned off the video link and my com, thinking this conversation better kept just between us with what Tony was up to.

I raised my eyebrows. "I thought you'd planned for everything?" I asked.

"The presence of a half breed child is certainly not one of those things." He replied, a frown on his face. "Especially not one such as yourself."

"Glad I could keep you on your toes; I'm sure my mother would approve."

"Indeed."

I walked back round to stand near the door, taking my eyes off the cage for a few seconds. When I looked back up, I saw a slight orange shimmer around him and then came face to face with a half transparent orangey version of him on the walkway in front of me. Barely missing a step, I walked straight through it and sat down in a chair facing him. His expression was priceless, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing slightly.

"Don't bother," I said, a smirk on my face, "I can see straight through your illusions."

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"Three reasons." I replied. "One, to annoy you for revealing my secret and bringing that headache on me."

"I didn't know they weren't informed." Was his defence.

"But it worked out well for you? I know your game; pushing the team further apart. That's another reason I'm here, to tell you to stop it this instant. There's no point. Every step you take to separate us, I'll move us closer by two. You can't win."

"And the last?"

"Whatever game you're playing with Akilah has to stop. Now."

"I don't know what you mean." He said, an innocent smile on his face.

"I saw how you acted in Germany; you were being defensive of her." I replied. "Look, she's practically my sister and she's had a bad time of it until now, and I won't let her get hurt again." I paused, reading his expression. "But you knew that."

"Knew what?"

"You know about her past; she told you. Though I highly doubt she told you everything."

"And what makes you think I know anything about her?"

"You didn't bat an eyelid when I said her past was bad." I replied.

He smiled defeatedly at me and sat down on his bed. "Go on; what don't I know?"

"She told you we met just before her father was kidnapped, right?" he nodded. "And you know about her memory lose?" again he nodded. "Well, we actually met years before that…"

April 6th, 2007

I was 10 at the time, and had been with my gang for about 4 years. They'd taken me under their wing after I'd tried to rob their leader, Conan. His second, Marc, had taken a particular liking to me, treating me like a little sister and teaching me to fight. I was a good boon for them, a good pickpocket and lookout, as well as being enough of a freak to scare some of the rival gangs. If you believed the rumours, by the time I was 9 people believed I was used by the gang to make people they didn't like disappear. Load of rubbish, of course, but it was good for business.

Anyway, Marc decided to attend an underground tournament being held nearby. He also thought that it would be a good idea for me to come with him. He said that it was because I knew a lot and could help him if needed or run back to the others should something go wrong. I think it was to scare some of his opponents.

Marc knocked on the door of the arranged place and I was surprised when it was opened almost straight away. The guy on the other side of the door was muscular, with light brown hair and deep blue eyes. He was alright looking and I wouldn't have pictured this as his scene, but there you go. He seemed slightly surprised to see that I was there with Marc, but he said nothing about it.

"Watching or taking part?" He asked.

"Take part" Marc answered. When the guy gave a questioning look at me he added, "She's here to watch." He nodded and then proceeded to lead us through a house and to a basement.

As we walked through, I spotted a bow lying around. "Nice bow" I commented to the guy. He nodded without turning around, obviously thinking I knew nothing on the subject.

The basement where the tournament was being held was bigger than I thought it would be. There were already a quite a few people there, many of them from rival gangs. I left Marc to put his name on the list of participants, while I surveyed the area and looked to find the quickest ways out in case of trouble.

"Stay near the door." Marc ordered as he came back to me. I was going to do that anyway, but I couldn't be bothered to tell him that. I was slightly disappointed thought that I wouldn't get a clear view of the fights, but I'd find a way to get people to move out of my way.

"You have your knife on you?" He asked.

"Three" I replied with a smile, which he returned.

Considering that this was an underground fight, it was pretty uneventful. Yes, the only weapon you weren't allowed was a gun, but not many of the fighters could actually use a weapon. Marc on the other hand had three weapons on him, all of which he could use; a pocket knife and twin sai. The only other people I could see with any sort of skill were a girl of about 16 and a woman with red hair. They both seemed able to best opponents twice their size with relative ease. One thing I did notice though about the woman was that she was constantly hanging around one of the doors when she wasn't fighting.

It got to a point where there were only three people left in the competition; the 16 year old, the red head and Marc. The three of them were called forward and drew straws to see who would verse who. Marc and the girl ended up having to verse. Now I pushed my way forward to watch. Both of them were skilled, so I knew this was going to be a good fight.

Running towards her, Marc faked a right blow, but then brought up his left hand to punch her in the side. She saw this coming and ducked under his right arm, caught it and popped his shoulder out, then danced back to circle him. Marc popped his shoulder back in place and then brought out his sai.

Careful Marc!

"You're gonna pay for that." Marc said, swinging his Sais.

"Whatever, old man" She replied, backing up further. Like he would fall for that! He walked forward, slashing the air with his Sais to intimidate her. What happened next I don't think either me or Marc expected.

The girl jumped onto his arm and up over his head to land behind him having taken his pocket knife. The girl then attempted to buckle his knees, but ended up going sprawling as Marc kicked her. I could see as she got up that she was searching for his next move, but Mac was too skilled to give that away. I did notice however him change his grip on his sai, meaning he was going to throw one.

No, you're not that good a shot. Better to keep it!

The girl must have seen this as well and the next second went skidding under his legs. She did something then that made Marc lose his grip on his sai, before kicking his legs from under him. As he went down, the girl picked up his sai before walking towards me. She stood there for a moment studying me as I tried to see how Marc was. I watched as he got up behind her and started to run at her, clearly intending to tackle her to the floor. She must have noticed my eyes flicker because she turned to the side and tripped him.

I ran forward to help him up as she walked away for the ring. "You're lucky I can't kill you." I muttered, watching her move through the room.

I went with Marc to a side room that was used as a recovery room. I didn't trust these people, which is what had kept me alive that long. I noticed as I walked in that the girls was over by a mirror with her top off, either getting changed or checking her injuries. Marc sat on the other side of the room and allowed me to take a look at his shoulder.

It wasn't too bad, especially seen as it had gone back into place nicely. Unfortunately, it still needed binding to make sure. That meant going near the girl as the bandages where on the cabinet next to her. The girl was just putting her top back on having bound her side. I sent death glares her way as I reached for the bandages.

"Good fight" I muttered by way of congratulations.

"Thanks" she replied. I turned to go, but something stopped me. I turned back to around and studied the girl closer. She had dark brown eyes and hair to match, but she no longer looked 16.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"10" she replied.

"Well then, that was defiantly a goof fight. I'm Kenna" I said. She didn't answer, and a grunt drew my attention to the other side of the room. "Well, good luck."

"K Stark and that's it." She finally replied before leaving.

I went back over to Marc and quickly bound his shoulder before following her out. I didn't look Marc in the eye. As I walked out, I saw the guy who had let us in talking with a guy in a long black coat. From the way they both stood and my experience from the streets, I could tell that both were armed and that the new guy had a higher rank. Feds!

I quickly turned around and walked back to Marc. "This is a set up. You need to bounce!" I said.

"What?"

"There were two men talking outside who looked like feds. Both men have guns." I explained. "Back door looked clear if you go now. I'll stay behind so that they don't know you're gone."

Marc got up, checked the cost was clear and slipped away. I waited a minute before following him out of the door. As I left, I looked over to where the girl 'Stark' had left her bag. Walking back over, I took Marc's sai from the bag and tucked them into my waist band. Going out for the third time, I saw that the men had finished talking and were now watching the fight.

Noticing me coming out of the room, the first guy turned to look at me. I returned the stare, fiddling with my bracelet. As I walked away to push through the crowd, I saw him turn and say something to the other man, who turned his head to look my way, but I was already amongst the crowd.

I only half watched the fight in front of me. The Stark girl was fighting the woman, and though I had thought them to be equals, it appears the woman was quickly getting the upper hand. While keeping myself turned towards them and feigning interest, I kept my eye on the two feds I'd spotted earlier. I scanned the rest of the crowd. Sure enough, now I looked closer I could see other faces that weren't around earlier; more agents. Great, I'd have to either sneak out quietly now, or wait for whatever chaos they'd initiate.

I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts as something came hurtling towards me from the centre ring. The girl was being propelled backwards towards me. I quickly dodged, but grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me to stop her falling. I steadied her, and she gave me a grateful nod. However, before releasing her to return to the fight, on instinct I grabbed the sai at my belt and handed them back to her. She glared at me first, realising that I'd taken them, but then took them and launched herself at the woman.

My attention now stayed with the fight. The girl was getting a real beating, even with her new weapons. Every move she made was countered almost perfectly by the woman. As a consequence, she was getting quite beat up. Her nose had been broken, her left shoulder dislocated, besides some awful bruising to her ribs made worse since the fight with Marc. It appeared that she was beginning to realise this as well, as after one final attempt to land blows she turned to look for an escape.

She ran a little way into the crowed off to my right, but something made her stop dead. I followed her eyeline and found a woman that looked remarkably like her. The hair was darker, the eyes the same shade of brown, the same jawline. She appeared sad to see the girl, disappointed even, but I also noted her air of authority and stance; she was with the feds.

With everyone's attention now on Stark and the woman, I saw the two men from earlier and the feds closing in, I decided to make my escape.

June 18th, 2009

A couple of years later, I met Kilah again. I was running my own patch by this point, just a couple of blocks my old gang didn't mind giving up. I had gained an even greater reputation by then too, so no one really tried to challenge me. I was a ghost, a hidden blade on the streets, a hunter, people kept their distance that knew my name.

I was patrolling one night, looking for some drunk guy as easy pickings, when I found a guy sprawled out in an alley on the edge of my turf. I approached cautiously, thinking he had just passed out from too much alcohol, but as the lighting changed I saw that he was in fact lying in a large pool of blood. I took a closer look then, careful not to disturb the scene and get myself in trouble. It looked like he'd been in a fight. His arms and legs were slashed in several places, and he'd been stabbed multiple times. However, the wounds were caused by no knife. They were distinctive, with three prongs. I knew only one weapon like that; sai.

I swore under my breath, quickly leaving the alley to head back home. There was no way I was getting involved in this. I knew who had done this, knew who the police would blame in her place. If I even caught the feintest hint of the police going after Marc, I was gonna hunt her down the throw her to them without the slightest bit of regret.

As I was just reaching the alley I slept in, I stopped suddenly. I could hear feint movement coming from about half way down. I crouched, my bow appearing in my hand before I silently peered around the corner. A lone figure, female, about 5" 2', lithe, pacing as if she was unsure what to do next, and dangerously close to my hidden sleeping place. I remained watching for a little longer to ensure she was alone, when suddenly she froze with her back to me. There was a tense moment as neither of us wanted to make the first move, before I stepped from behind the wall.

"You're on my turf; get out!" I called.

"Or what?"

"Or I shoot." I replied, aiming my bow steadily at the back of her head.

There was a long moment of silence, before she spun quickly and threw a knife at me. I jumped to the side, bow still drawn, and shot the knife out of the air. There was a ring of metal as it fell to the concrete, and I noticed it wasn't in fact a knife; it was a sai. I turned, hearing the woman running towards me. She had the other sai drawn in her hand, and I quickly dismissed my bow and drew my knife. I deflected her initial attack, dancing around her so I was in the ally with her at the entrance.

We stood facing each other then, sizing our opponents. It was the girl from the tournament; Stark. I recognised the sai anywhere, even if she now appeared much older. We were of course close in age, but something about the way she stood, the fire in her eyes, told me that a lot had changed for her in those few years. I wondered in the back of my mind if she remembered me at all.

"I don't want to fight you." She said

"Unless you leave, you're forcing my hand. I'm not having a murderer on my turf when the cops come sniffing around the body you left."

I watched as she set her jaw, before we both ran at each other. I dodged a slash at my stomach, twisting sideways to counter by slashing her arm. The girl carried on past me, and we both turned around to face each other again at the same time. Once again we came at each other, trading slashes, punches, kicks. After one particular series, we stood wrestling trying to rid the other of their weapon.

"Have we met?" she asked suddenly.

"April 6, 2007, the tournament." I replied.

"I don't remember fighting you…"

"You didn't; those are my sai."

"Ah." She breathed as I kicked her away. We stood watching each other for a moment again.

"You know, those sai are only gonna cause you trouble." I called.

"How so?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"It won't take long for the cops to work out the murder weapon. Sai are very distinctive and take a great deal of skill to use efficiently." I replied matter-of-factly. I saw her face drop, and it was my turn to for my head to tilt. "But you weren't thinking about that, were you? Can I ask you a question?"

"Do what you like, doesn't mean I'll answer."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you kill him?"

She paused for a moment, appearing both to consider if she should answer and troubled by it. "He tortured and killed my mother." She replied eventually.

I stood staring at her for a moment. Killed and tortured? That must have been what I'd seen in her, the pain of losing her mother. But there was more to this story than just that. Her fighting had improved considerably, suggesting that she'd been properly trained since the tournament. Even the way she held herself suggested some sort of position.

I sheathed my knife. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" I asked.

Her mouth fell open. "N-No" she stuttered, taken aback.

"This way." I said, turning and going to a sheet of corrugated iron leaning against a wall.

"You're gonna stop fighting, just like that?"

"I know what it is to be without a mother." I replied simply. "Now, do you want a safe place to sleep or what?"

She quickly got the picture and jogged over to me. "Akilah Stark," she said, extending her hand.

"Kenna"

"We met again a few months before her father got kidnapped. She didn't know who I was at all, vaguely remembered meeting me at the tournament. She taught me to read, helped my find out who I was.

"So yyou see, we go away back. She's the reason I'm a part of SHIELD, she's the reason I have a life and know my past. I owe her, and I'm not gonna let some Asgardian trickster mess with her, even the god of mischief himself." I finished.

"Is that all?" he asked, although I could see something in his eyes that I could quite work out.

"Not quite. I'm giving you a warning; if you ever hurt her, nowhere will be safe for you. I will hunt you down to the edges of the Nine Realms and beyond." I said, eyes burning. I saw surprise flash across his face as I went to turn the video back on along with my com, before turning to leave. "I'll let you both get back to your game."

I went to let off some steam in one of the training rooms, thinking over our conversation. However, I wasn't long until I was running through the corridors back to the lab. An alarm had gone off; Tony's decryption had finished…