.

Kai watched as Tony gave the presentation on his newest technology, which was a jump into the future as always. She didn't blend into the crowd (a group of reporters and middle-aged business men) but she stuck close to Pepper.

"You know, I think that you really have changed for the better, Kai." Pepper whispered to her.

"Yeah. I'd say my social skills are improving. I haven't beaten anyone to death with a chair today."

"What about yesterday?" Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow and glancing over her at her. A smirk tugged at Kai's lips.

"Yesterday was a bad day; we don't talk about yesterday." Kai told her in a hushed voice. Of course she was joking, but Pepper gave her a weird look. It had been a year, an entire year, since SHIELD dumped her. She was nineteen now. She could hardly believe that she had come to New York, bleeding and lost, when she was seventeen. In the past year, she had become more of a Stark than a Grace. SHIELD watched her, sure, but that meant that Hydra hadn't tried anything. It was a nice trade, in her opinion. Pepper was talking about sending her to college, but Kai was against it. She wasn't that normal yet. Kai glanced around the crowd. Off to the side, by the door, was a man in a suit. The outline of his gun underneath his jacket was evident. There was no security hired today (Happy thought he could handle anything that happened; Pepper and Tony were sure that Kai could do even better) and Kai frowned. SHIELD didn't watch her in Stark Towers; this was the place where she was home free, no agent from any secret organizations. She leaned in to whisper to Pepper.

"I'll by right back."

"Okay." Kai pulled her phone out of her pocket and pretended to look at something on the screen as she made her way towards the door. Or, more accurately, towards the man in the suit. As she passed him, Kai pretended to accidentally bump into him.

"Oh, sorry." She told him.

"Not a problem, ma'am." She walked out the door, holding his gun. As it turns out, pick-pocketing wasn't a skill you easily forgot. A second later, the man ran out after her, obviously having discovered his missing gun. She held it up for him to see.

"Actually, it was a problem. For you, at least." She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, pressing the muzzle of the gun between his shoulder blades. Kai forced him into the alley, a slightly more private place. Then she shoved him away, letting him turn to look at her as she continued to point the gun at him.

"Are you working with SHIELD?"

"Yes." He answered hesitantly.

"Hhmm… You know, you aren't supposed to watch me inside Stark Towers. But you weren't watching me, were you?" She asked.

"Whoa, down girl." Kai froze at the sound of a familiar voice. She, slowly, turned towards Clint. He grabbed the gun from her and she didn't fight back. Clint handed the gun back to the agent.

"Back to your post." He nodded towards the building and the agent hurried off, looking slightly relieved.

"So it takes me interrogating a SHIELD agent for you to swoop in, huh, Clint?" Kai asked him. Swoop in. Ha, bird joke, she congratulated herself on the subtly of that one, but Clint didn't look amused.

"Actually, I had already planned on checking in on you today." He told her.

"I'm flattered. Why is that guy here?"

"Just security for Stark. Does he have a thing against bodyguards?"

"He has Happy." Clint didn't look impressed; not surprising.

"He has me and that's kind of the same thing. And am I your most important mission now days?"

"Did your father tell you anything about the Avengers Initiative?" Clint asked.

"Nothing. Not surprising; we haven't had many daddy-daughter talks involving secret spy organizations. I'll put it on the to-do list, though." Kai returned.

"Look, there's something going on. We're hoping it works out good, but if it does go south… There's a program, the Avengers Initiative. Bringing a group of people with skills together, see if they can become something more."

"And you're telling me this… why?"

"Because you're part of it, whether you know about it or not."

"I thought that no one liked me."

"This isn't about grouping together like-able people, Kai."

"I still don't understand why you're telling me this now, Clint."

"Like I said, SHIELD is messing with something. Something… Powerful."

"You mean, bad?"

"Probably." Clint admitted. Kai nodded knowingly.

"Well, let SHIELD handle it."

"We are. But if we can't, Fury's going to bring in The Avengers." He explained. Kai rolled her eyes.

"You're being very vague, you know that?"

"I was going to be guarding that powerful object, but I came to warn you that something is about to go down instead."

"So who's guarding that powerful object?"

"Natasha Romanoff."

"The girl that you trained, the slightly older version of me?"

"That would be the one." Clint and Kai had discussed Natasha briefly before. Kai had a feeling that, if she ever met the woman, they were either going to get along really well or they were going to try and kill each other; there wasn't going to be an in-between. Kai was opening her mouth to respond, but Clint put his hand to the radio in his ear to listen to something and she bit her tongue. After a second, Clint looked back at her.

"I have to go."

"Problem?" She asked, perhaps a little too smugly.

"Powerful objects tend to cause problems. Like large blonde men coming to get them back." He told her.

"You know, I think that I vaguely remember something like that happening once." Kai joked.

"I have to go. Just… Remember that SHIELD may be paying you a visit."

"They don't trust me, Clint. Whether I'm a like-able person or not, they don't want me back."

"You won't be a SHIELD agent. And if this goes as south as it might… they won't care about what you've done in the past."

"Careful or you'll get me rooting for this to go south." She warned.

"It might have just gone there. I'll see you around."

"Don't wait a year this time."

"I'll do my best." He agreed. She gave him a quick hug before he hurried off. Then, sighing to herself, Kai headed back into Stark Towers.

After sundown, Kai headed onto the sidewalk outside Stark Towers for her evening run. She had found that running was much more enjoyable when her life didn't depend on it. Not carrying a heavy backpack and thinking 'I am going to have to kill someone' was helpful too. Kai put her ear-buds in, glancing around. No SHIELD agents that she could see and normally, considering how long her life had depended on her observational skills, she could spot them right away. She frowned. Did they seriously pull all their agents away? What was going on that was that serious? She shook her head. She wasn't a SHIELD agent anymore; it didn't matter. She pressed 'play' on her Ipod and set off at a steady sprint.