Our routine continued much the same for the first couple of weeks. Eventually Axel was able to talk me into going over to meet the rest of his friends. Apparently Marc wanted to spend more than 5 minutes with me and the others were curious about 'the mysterious girl that had both Axel and Marc all worked up'.

I found myself leaning against the back of the couch in the three bedroom apartment at the Sergeant Jasper, talking to Axel about some of the Wildlife Warrior work I had done overseas when the unmistakable smell of vodka hit my nose. We had been so lost in conversation that neither of us had heard Raven enter the apartment.

"Who's the bird?" Raven grunted at Axel while giving me the once over. He scrunched his eyebrows together and muttered in Russian under his breath. I didn't quite catch what he said, but it sounded like he was scrutinizing my outfit.

"Raven, this is Andy," Axel said coolly, hitting Raven with an ice-cold stare. "My new intern at the aquarium and Dr Roberts niece. I told you about her a few weeks ago, when she started at the aquarium."

Raven thought on this information for a moment before turning to me, commenting, "your parents named you Andy? Isn't that a man's name?" with a hint of disgust in his tone.

I sighed inwardly at his comment. I knew he meant nothing by it, but this wasn't even close to the first time someone had asked me that. Uncle's words came into my thoughts at that moment. He wanted me to get close to them. He wanted me to trust them, and hoped that in doing so, they would trust me too. He wanted me to be more than Andy the intern. I was to become Andy, the best friend and, hopefully, the saviour.

I stopped staring at the knees of Raven's pants, lifting my eyes to meet his. He was expecting a response to what I had thought was a rhetorical question. I hope they are ready to hear this, I thought. Was I ready to share it?

"Actually", I started, getting his full attention, "I have no idea the name my mother gave me. No one does. The man that had considered himself my father only ever called me kid, punk, or if he was in a particularly bad mood, little bitch. Andy is the nickname I got when Dr Roberts team adopted me. Given I didn't know my own name, and refused to talk at all, they called me Alexandria, as that is where they found me."

I extended my hand in greeting, ready to comply with yet another societal expectation that I picked up in etiquette training. While a handshake was considered polite when meeting a new person, it was considered rude for a man to offer his hand to a woman to initiate the handshake. "Pleased to meet you" I added, with a forced smile.

Raven seemed satisfied at the information I had just shared with him. His smile broadened as he stepped forward and took my hand. For a second I thought all was well and we had gotten off to a great start! It had been easier than I expected to share that information with them.

In the next moment, everything changed. Raven had hoisted me over his shoulder, misjudging my weight, with my thighs landing on his shoulder, instead of my hips. It only took a second for him to adjust his grip and avoid dropping me. My position was a small advantage as I panicked and went into fight mode; my instincts took over.

Her eyes, Axel thought to himself, they'd changed from their usual happy grey-blue to a fierce, storm cloud grey. It only took a moment more for him to recover enough from the shock to reprimand Raven for this behaviour.

I had shifted into a position to be able to free myself from Raven's grip when I heard Axel clear his throat and yell at Raven. "Raven!" he bellowed. "You can't jus..."

That was all the distraction I had needed. I slammed my elbow down into Raven's back, around where I thought his kidney should be. I needed to have my feet back on the ground now and didn't have time to talk my way off this handsome Russian's shoulder. Not that I would have admitted it to anyone that asked, but I was terrified.

I must have hit my target because his grip loosened enough for me to slide off his shoulder, toward the floor. I had my hands out ready to catch myself and as soon as I felt the apartment floor beneath my fingertips I tucked into a roll, spotting Raven holding his side briefly before finding my feet.

Running on adrenaline and instinct alone, my hours of training kicked in as I pivoted to once again face Raven, standing slightly to the side on the balls of my feet, open palms protecting my face, head tilted forward, eyes never leaving the now angry 'professional Russian'. I willed myself to remember defence only.

Axel stood there, mouth hanging open, knowing he should do something to stop Raven from his next move, but he was too shocked that tiny, little Andy, the woman that barely came up to his shoulders, had just outclassed Raven, getting herself off his shoulder in seconds and without him realising is was about to happen. He made a mental note to have a word to Raven about this situation later, both the appalling lack of judgement picking her up like that and the fact that she just out manoeuvred him, easily. Even in his drunken state, he should have known better!

When he managed to tear his eyes off Raven to look at Andy, he was tortured by what he saw. Her usual, friendly smile gone and her eyes were darker still. She was poised ready to fight, but clearly not wanting to. She looked trapped; haunted by something they couldn't see. She looked like she feared for her life. Axel found himself wondering if this was how things had started in New York...

In the time it had taken for Axel to assess the situation, Raven had righted himself and was glaring at Andy. The look on his face said he was not pleased that she had gotten herself off his shoulder and he was ready to try again, wether she was willing or not.

I had barely counted to 10 trying to calm my poor heart and assess the situation I was now in when Raven started powering toward me. Abandoning all plans of trying to talk my way out of the situation, I willed my instincts to take over again.

I was vaguely aware of the three new bodies in the room when Raven reached me. He was one step away from being able to grab me again when I moved one foot forward and crouched. I leant my shoulder forward into his shins as he took the last step, wrapped my hands around his ankles and powered up through my legs, pushing Ravens feet over my shoulder as I did. I kept moving and got myself to the nearest wall, resting my back against it to avoid any surprises.

I vaguely registered the sound of wood splitting as I moved, it was only when I looked around after reaching the wall and taking a few calming breaths that I realised I had just thrown Raven through their coffee table.

I became aware that all eyes in the room were now on me, making me feel even more uncomfortable. Raven was mumbling under his breath in Russian again, this time about getting slow in his old age. I don't know what he considers old, but he was only in his mid twenties.

Axel pulled himself together more quickly this time, and gave orders to the others in the room.

"Corey", he broke the silence and interrupted the awe that the other three boys had been feeling toward Andy. "Grab Andy and take her up to the roof. Now! Marc, Brandon, we need to get Raven into his bed and hope that hit was enough to keep him down for the night, so he can sleep it off. We also need to sweep this place for more alcohol. It is time Raven sobered up! His shit has gone on long enough!"

Axel turned to me and both his gaze and voice softened considerably. "We will be up as soon as the pizza gets here, I promise."

I didn't really hear what he had said and barely registered that there was a hand on my back guiding me out the door, toward the elevator.

Had I really just bested Raven? What was I thinking! Though apparently I hadn't been the only one surprised by it. I could hear Marc and Brandon talking about it, through the open apartment door, while Corey and I waited for the elevator.

"So that was Andy?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah."

"Spirited little warrior, isn't she?"

"Uh-huh."

"She hadn't even been here a full afternoon and already Raven tried pulling his man-handling bullshit on her! Is he stupid? Did he not read the reports Dr Roberts sent us through?"

"I don't know." Marc paused before adding, "Did you see the way she handled him, though? I have never seen anyone get the drop on him like that! Especially not a female as short as her! He is always one step ahead of everyone. She is one tough nut!"

The elevator arrived and Corey guided me on. I heard Marc musing out loud about where I had learnt to defend myself like that as the doors closed, blocking the sounds coming from the apartment.

It wasn't until the elevator started moving that I relaxed enough to think about what had just happened. I realised the severity of it all. I jeopardised my mission before it had really even started by attacking Raven. Why? Because I couldn't handle my feet not being on the ground? Idiot! I was starting to understand what Uncle Phil had been telling me every time he told me I was being too controlling of situations. If I wasn't in control, I felt trapped and had to fight my way out.

The realisation that I would have to tell Phil what had happened, why my mission could be over before I had actually had a chance to do any good for them, hit me and the shaking started. It was only slight at first, but by the time Corey and I exited the elevator at the roof, I was shaking so much I couldn't move.

"Are you cold?" Corey asked as he looked at me with concern, trying to work out what was wrong. He shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and offered it to me. I couldn't move, my voice wouldn't work to let me respond and I could barely breathe.

Corey must have realised the temperature wasn't the cause of my uncontrollable shaking. He placed his hands on my shoulders, trying to hold me steady, and lowered himself so that his eyes could meet mine without the need for me to look up. The concern in his cerulean blue eyes brought some of my voice back, albeit a squeak at best. "What did I just do?" was all I could manage to say.