This shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did, considering that I had suspected something like this after hearing all of the strange comments everyone made about me, but something in me was so shocked that I suddenly felt sick. So it was true. I'd possessed these strange abilities of mine for a long time, and they weren't a result of the explosion. In fact, it was probably due to my abilities that I even survived the explosion in the first place. But something caused me to forget them, and I had a strong feeling it was something my father did.

"How?" I asked slowly, quietly, trying desperately to pull up a memory of my abilities from before. I wasn't successful.

"You were born with them. The way we've heard it, your mother was struck by lightning when you were in the womb. There hasn't been any real evidence that the lightning truly was what caused it, though. Many have thought maybe you were a mutant, and Professor Xavier should be called. Some insist that it was the lighting. Some assume you're inhuman. But no one is quite sure."

"What do you think?"

"I think you're very special. And deserve to be treated as such. When I heard about you, I openly volunteered to be your case worker. No one was really sure about it until your first incident. Then everyone seemed happy to put me on the case."

"Incident?" I swallowed. Kathrine nodded her head slowly.

"You had a few stability issues. Parts of you that you couldn't control. You put one of your father's paid workers in the hospital after getting upset. SHIELD decided it was best for me to step in then."

"I put them in the hospital?" I began to feel even sicker as I asked. Kathrine looked at me sympathetically.

"It was an accident. Not your fault."

"What exactly are your abilities, Kathrine?" I asked. I wanted the attention off of me for a moment so that I could try to collect my thoughts, though they were shooting in every direction with no hope of being contained. Things were spinning. The room itself almost seemed to spin, too. It made sense, and I felt the truth of what she'd been saying in my core, though I'd gone all this time thinking that I wasn't special, that I had nothing going for me. When had I forgotten? How had I forgotten? I remembered times where I didn't have these strange abilities, times where I couldn't see the odd, floating auras that shifted around people, but were none of those real?

Kathrine shifted her eyes down for a moment.

"Minor mind control. I believe that's what they have me listed as," she said.

"Naomi mentioned that. But does that mean you—"

"Yes. I was the one who took away your memories. At the time we all thought it best. An opportunity arose and we took it." Hearing her confess this so blatantly jarred something inside of me, though I kept my composure as best I could.

"What opportunity?" I said through clenched teeth, my heart skipping and shuddering against my chest.

"A few years ago there was an invasion on the Earth by a race known as the Chitauri. You may remember that. You were in New York at the time, with your father. He fought with us to bring you along. He insisted that you would be okay when we expressed our concern for having you in the city. Eventually, he won the battle. So, you were in the wrong place when the invasion happened. You were pretty badly damaged in the battle—we were a little busy at the time, so no one is really sure what happened to you exactly. Your father flew you back to Japan pretty quickly. He told us that this was the perfect opportunity to make you normal. He had something he designed that was supposed to stunt your abilities, which apparently you were too strong for when you were healthy. He put that in your chest, a chip of some sort, or perhaps an encasing. It was made of a very special metal, one that he had apparently configured specifically to combat your abilities. How he managed that, I am unsure. I'm no scientist." I thought back to the bracelet Naomi had, realizing that must have been of the same material. Placing a hand over my chest, I tried to imagine such a thing implanted inside of me.

"He called me in a few days after he put it in and had me wipe your memories. He wanted it so that you wouldn't feel your abilities or be able to use them at all, but he also wanted to make sure you didn't miss them. It was a perfect plan. And it was working wonderfully until your home suddenly went up in flames." She turned her eyes to me, a somewhat amused look on her face. "You did that, didn't you?"

"I was tired," I mumbled, feeling numb from all of the information. She laughed under her breath, faintly.

"The explosion damaged the device he put in place of your heart. That's how you could suddenly feel your abilities again."

"That's why I thought the explosion caused them. I had no prior memory of them because of what you took away."

"That's correct."

"So this thing in my chest—can it be removed? What happens if we take it out?" I placed a hand over the sweater, over the spot where I knew one of my large, ugly scars was located. That was how it had gotten there, then—I'd been injured by the outside world and my father set out to fix it. I had to wonder, though, if he'd tried to hide my abilities for his sake or mine. It was likely that my abilities scared and threatened him, threatened his power, and he wanted them gone so that I could never rebel.

"If it is successfully removed…there's a possibility you'll fully regenerate and be much stronger than you are now. Which could be dangerous," Kathrine said.

"Is that why they sent Naomi to be with us at the base? To subdue me if I got out of control?" I thought back to Naomi showing up out of the blue, the secret meetings they had without me, how at first she seemed very cautious of me. She'd said herself that she was there to make sure I was adjusting, but really she'd been there to watch, to take me out with tools she knew would work.

"Yes. Naomi is quick, and knows exactly where to hit someone to be able to shut them down. She's a great asset. They figured she could handle it if things got out of control."

"So, I'm a dangerous thing that no one can figure out and I need to be watched." I looked up at her, once again trying not to get emotional.

"It's not exactly like that, Annabelle. Now that you're here and the Avengers seem to want you around, we could do some work on you and make you feel more in control. We'll help you."

"Have I ever killed anyone?" I asked. I had a strange feeling in my gut that told me the answer, but I wanted to hear it from her lips.

She hesitated as I watched her, balling up my pants in my fists.

"…would you like your memories back? You'll have all your answers. That device I gave you before you left for the base was supposed to enlighten you."

"Like I said, it broke."

"Just like that?"

"Captain Rogers let it slip." I didn't mean to sound so hostile about it, but it came out of my mouth before I could stop it. It seemed that animosity was still there. It had been festering when we talked about Naomi, as well.

"Ah, yes, well. He does seem to want to keep you in the dark."

"But why—"

Tony flopped onto the couch next to me, crossing his arms. I'd been so absorbed that I hadn't seen him coming.

"Ladies."

"Stark," Kathrine replied. I ran a hand through my tangled hair, leaning back a bit. I felt like my head was going to explode from all of this information. It was so much, yet it all made so much sense to me. It was a comfortable yet overwhelming truth. My emotions were spiking in every direction. And now, finally, I was so close to getting my memories cleared—yet Tony had to show up and stunt the process. I almost wanted to throw him out, itching for that lost information. I wanted things to make sense. I wanted to know who I was.

"The suits are done, Annabelle. Best get out there and try yours on. One of the agents will show you the way. I'll stay here a bit and have a chat with Miss Zindel." He looked over at Kathrine, who narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I'm getting my memories back first," I said, looking at her as well. "Right?"

"Another time, kiddo. Go on," Tony asserted. I couldn't help but glare in his direction.

"That can wait."

"Look, Cap is going to blow up at me if I let you do this. So, another time—when you can't get me in trouble with mister McAngry-pants."

"He doesn't decide what I do. We're not even friends. I don't even know him. He has no say in my life," I snapped, turning again to Kathrine. "Please." She bit her lip. I felt like I was just barely holding off an emotional frenzy.

"Mr. Stark, please go stand in that corner," she ordered. Tony abruptly stood up and did as she said, resting his forehead against the wall. It was clear that saying Kathrine had 'minor' mind control was a complete understatement; Tony was as stubborn as stubborn gets, and she didn't even have to move a finger to make him do whatever she wanted. A bit of fear coursed through me as I realized this, but I stood before her anyway.

"I'm sorry for taking what was yours. You may decide that you want me to take the memories back, however, after you have experienced them. I won't. Do you understand?" She gave me a serious look. I let my eyes shut for a moment, taking a few seconds to think before nodding my head.

"I want this. I need them back. I need to know who I am."

"Then open your eyes and look at me." I did so, meeting those dark eyes of hers. Upon closer inspection they seemed to have a hint of dark red hidden in them, deep like blood. Though her eyes seemed so average all of the past times I had looked at her, they now seemed different. Extraordinary. Pools of dark color swirled around the black of her pupils. I was so mesmerized that I suddenly felt as if I never wanted to look away, just stare into her eyes forever. The rest of the room, even the rest of her face, became irrelevant. I felt like I was floating, hovering alone, in a place devoid of time or space, Kathrine's eyes being the only thing keeping me from drifting away completely. Then, like a rush of strong wind, memories flooded through my mind. They were suffocating, screams and whispers and music ringing through my ears all at once, a million different smells and sights bombarding my senses. I felt like I was being squeezed and thrown around, people yelling my name, pleading, crying. I heard my mother, singing something quietly in Russian; I heard my father laughing; I heard my heart beating a million beats a minute. Colors rushed past me, blinding me. I felt so detached from my body, like everything I knew and everything I was slipped right out from under me and flew away.

Then, just as quickly as everything had started, it ended. It was so abrupt that I lost my footing, falling back onto the hard floor. The simple room Kathrine and I had been talking in suddenly seemed so drastically different. Even Tony, still standing in the corner, seemed like a completely different person. My head ached, sweat dripping from my forehead, tears rolling down my cheeks. I felt a rush of color as Steve ran in, his hair a mess.

"Annabelle!" he yelled. But it was too late.