Okay, hello one and all! Welcome to my twisted story. As a forewarning, this story has some dark moments and may be a trigger to some people. I try to balance it out with some humor, but let me know how I do.

This story is set right after the events in Captain America: Civil War. Any characters you recognize do not belong to me (unfortunately).

This is not beta'ed, so any mistakes you notice I apologize for ahead of time.

One last thing, please let me know how you feel about the story as it progresses. Having feedback is really my sole motivation for continuing so the more you share with me, the faster my updates will be, scout's honor.

So that's it, away we go!

Chapter 1:

"Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong."

-Lao-Tzu

There was this silence that resonated over the city during the early hours of the morning, and this morning was no different. Boston was a lot of things, some good and others not so much, but it was at this hour, when the troubled slept soundly and the few that were awake could enjoy the tranquility the morning produced, that was sacred. As the sun crested over the horizon, the first rays of sunshine entered a small apartment deep in a small sector of Boston, known as Chinatown. They splayed across the face of an elderly Japanese man, lightly waking him up.

With a quiet groan, the man sat up and slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed, quickly sliding his feet into a pair of slippers to ward off the cold of the fall morning air. After a few moments of preparation, the man was able to push himself up off the bed and begin his morning routine. He grabbed a worn cloth off his bedside table and made quick work of his long white hair, pulling it into a ponytail that rested low on his back. He took a comb and cautiously worked through his beard, lightly removing the knots and leaving it bright and shining. He then began his warm up for the day, stretching out his joints and muscles. As he moved, he threw furtive glances across the one bedroom apartment towards a piece of cloth hanging from the ceiling. Every so often, the cloth would move as the inhabitant behind it would shift in their sleep, an occasional grunt or groan accompanying the movements.

After a few more minutes of warming up, the man's ministrations came to a close, and as he finished he grabbed his robe off the bedpost and began shuffling his way over to the kitchen. He gently sat himself down at the table and sat in silence for a beat, his face changing from one of inner peace to slight annoyance and impatience. Eventually, his impatience won and his voice rang out, disrupting the silence that had settled over the apartment.

"Sui?"

Silence.

"Sui?"

"Uhhhhhhh?"

"Sui?!"

A loud thump resonated throughout the small apartment, followed by some mumbled expletives. The old man rolled his eyes as there were a few more seconds filled with rustling and grumbling before a woman pulled back the cloth acting as a door and stepped out into the chilled apartment, furiously attempting to tame her wild afro with a thick headband.

"You know, Masuta Haru, most people need to sleep. Matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say most of us actually LIKE sleep." She grouched as she made her way into the kitchen, pulling out a tea kettle and two mugs.

Masuta Haru humphed and folded his arms into his sleeves. "The poor sleep soundly, for sleeping people can't fall down."

The woman rolled her eyes as she replied, "It's too early for your proverbs, let a girl wake up before you start spouting your ancient Japanese wisdom." After placing a few tea leaves in the kettle the woman shuffled over to the sink and turned the water on. As the water pooled from the tap, it collected itself into a small ball, and when the ball reached the size Sui deemed acceptable, she used the edge of the kettle to switch the sink off, then stared at the ball for a few seconds, a crinkle in her brow forming as she concentrated. As the water heated up, steam began to rise, and after a few more seconds of this, Sui smiled in satisfaction and with a flick of her wrist, thrust the water into the kettle. Placing it next to the two mugs on a tray, she brought it over to the table.

As she positioned a mug in front of Master Haru, he answered, "Then let me give you one even your sleep deprived brain can comprehend: the early bird gets the worm."

Sui smirked as she filled her master's cup with piping hot tea, then proceeded to do the same for herself. "And if the bird doesn't want the worm?"

Haru took a sip of tea then regarded his student as she settled down in the chair across from him at the table. "Then the bird will starve and die a slow, agonizing death."

Sui's laughter filled the small apartment, and though Haru fought to keep a stoic expression, a small smile graced his face as he took another sip from his mug.

When Sui finally regained her composure, she grabbed her cup and took a large gulp of the now cooling liquid. "There you go again, Masuta Haru. Always taking things to the extreme. What'd you use to do, sky dive and drink moonshine for a living?"

They shared a brief affectionate look before Haru replaced his stern mask, cleared his throat and stood up. "Doesn't matter how I got this way, it woke you up didn't it? Now I want you to finish your tea, clean up, and begin your warm up. Today we are going to be sparring, and as punishment for sleeping in tonight, no use of your chi."

Sui opened her mouth to protest, but at one stern look from Haru, she closed her mouth and sighed in defeat. Haru smirked and shuffled back towards his bed, his ears picking up Sui's quiet admission, "Early bird gets the worm my ass. Early bird gets an ass kicking is more like it."

-PAGE BREAK-

"You know, I might be wrong, but isn't the practice of Ninjutsu NOT supposed to use sparring as a means of training?"

Sui let out a hiss of pain as she gently eased her body into the tub. After finishing her chores and warm up routine, Sui had cleared the center of the room and waited patiently for her teacher to be ready. Haru, woken from his meditation by his student's movement of the furniture, had meandered his way to the makeshift fighting arena. With a fully relaxed posture and his arms crossed in his sleeves, he quickly assessed their designated training area and nodded his approval. They both bowed low, and afterwards Sui had assumed a fighting stance, a look of nervous anticipation on her face. Haru smirked and then had uttered a simple word that began what any onlooker would define as pure chaos: "Begin."

Three hours later, Master Haru has returned to his meditation, adorning a few scrapes and bruises but otherwise fine. He cracks one eye open as Sui calls to him. Re-closing his eye, he smirked at his student and replied, "You forget, young one, you are learning MY version of Ninjutsu, and you will be nothing if not prepared for anything the world can throw at you, for when you're thirsty, it's too late to think about digging a well."

"One day I'm gonna find the book you keep stealing these from and tell the author you keep plagiarising his stuff." She began to take stock of her injuries, feeling where the aches in her body were originating from. Other than the small cuts she adjourned on her face, there were a plethora of bruises discoloring her arms and legs. But the most tender being the one on the left side of her torso where she had caught a nasty kick from Master Haru. For an old man, he sure knew how to kick ass, she thought, inwardly smiling.

Haru chuckled and replied, "If you are able to go back in time and find every single ancient Japanese ancestor who first uttered those words, I'll gladly give myself up. But until then, stop your blabbering and focus your chi. The earlier you get to the injuries-"

"The easier they are to heal. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know the drill." Sui closed her eyes and furrowed her brow in concentration. Soon thereafter, the water in the tub began to glow, and as time went on, the battle wounds she had sustained began to fade until her milk chocolate brown skin was back to its even pigment. Once done, she slumped back against the tub, tired but exhilarated.

She began to wash away the grime and sweat from the morning as she continued, "You know, Masuta, I almost had you there a few times. If I could've used my chi at just the right moment, I would've bested you."

Master Haru opened his eyes and glared across the room. "Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay it's price, and you were not fully willing to fight without your chi. I've told you this many times, now you know for sure. There will be times when you are too exhausted, or the situation you're in cannot allow for the use of your inner power, and so you must train for it."

Sighing, Sui nodded her acknowledgement and finished washing her body. Haru closed his eyes again as she stepped out of the tub, drying herself off with just a flick of her wrist. She grabbed the clothes hanging on a chair and quickly dressed before she walked and joined her teacher on his side of the room.

"I'm sorry, Master. I do not mean to offend, honest. I don't want you to think I don't listen to you and appreciate your teachings, I truly do. You saved my life all those years ago, and I will forever be indebted to you." She bowed deeply, missing the soft look of love Masuta Haru gave her. He opened his mouth to respond, then quickly sat up straighter and strained his ears listening for something.

"What is it?" Sui gave her master a confused look, before glancing around and perking her ears up as well. After a beat, a tiny creak came from above them. Most would pass it off for a bird perching, or the house settling, but the two knew better.

In a flash, they were moving. Haru kicked the headboard of his bed, a display of assorted knives appearing not a moment later. In one swoop he had them all in hand and was pocketing them in his robes as he went about creating some form of cover. Moving at a speed almost unheard of for someone his age, he flipped his bed and wedged himself between the bed frame and the wall, facing the only door into the apartment. Knives at the ready, he waited in anticipation for what he knew would take only moments to come bursting through the door.

At the same time, Sui had sprinted back to the bathroom section of the apartment, flipping the tub and collecting the water in the air as she jumped behind her newfound cover. Positioning herself properly, she was facing the only window in the apartment, thus the only other entrance into their home. She took a section of the water and spread it over the floor, just as the glass in the window shattered as three flashbangs in quick succession were thrown into the apartment.

Both teacher and student ducked and covered their eyes just in time to avoid being overtly disabled by the nonlethal grenades, training both had gone through allowing them to keep their control and focus on their respective weapons of choice. Not a full second later, soldiers came bursting through both entrances, and in no time at all havoc erupted.

Sui made quick work of the water she had placed on the floor, swiftly freezing it to remove the soldiers' footing. Simultaneously, she forged two whips with the water she still had hovering above her head. In brisk succession, she slashed the whips at each soldier's hands, viciously ripping their weapons away and scattering them around the apartment. Each squad member now had to make the choice between risking continuously falling over in a poor attempt to retrieve their weapons, or continue their shaky assault without one in hand.

As the attack carried on, many lost their right to decide as Haru's knives hit mark after mark. It seemed as if all of them had a homing beacon attached to them, each one finding the soft spots in the soldiers' armor.

Within seconds, the task force had lost half of their members, and appeared to be having second thoughts about attacking this seemingly outnumbered duo. That is, until an unheard order was called, forcing all surviving members to put their gas masks on and drop to the ground. Haru and Sui shared a look of recognition and moved to duck back behind their cover but it was of no use. Gas canisters were thrown into the room, the cloudy substance filling the air in seconds. Sui took one last breath of fresh air and held it. It took all her mental discipline to keep the water frozen on the floor and the water whips in her hands. She took a second to gather herself and strategize just how both her and Haru would be escaping from this room before they ran out of oxygen. She popped her head up with the intent of locating her teacher, and her heart stopped at what she found.

In the time it took for her to gather herself, the soldiers had regained their footing and were currently surrounding her cover, and with a tentative glance across the room, she found Haru in a similar situation.

"Drop the water, unfreeze the floor, and put your hands up before I put two in your skull." A gruff voice growled out to her right. She turned slowly to appraise her aggressor. Just by looking at him and how the men reacted to him, she could tell he was the leader of the crew. He towered over Sui's crouched frame, and as she appraised him, he lifted his gas mask off and glared right back. Between the scars, scruff, and tattoos littering his face, everything about this man exuded danger. She looked into his eyes, and inwardly shivered, for she had never seen such coldness in a human's eyes before. Temporarily, she contemplated just taking these men out, only the leader and two more actually had their weapons trained on her, and with a little maneuvering of their squadmates, she was sure she could make some human shields…

A grunt sounded from the other side of the room and Sui instantly dropped back into reality. Master Haru was also looking down the end of a barrel of a gun, and though he was a Master, there was only so much unarmed combat he could do before he would be gunned down. All at once, the fight left Sui, and as she put her hands up and rose to her full height, the ice on the floor melted and the whips fell to the ground with a splash.

With a triumphant smirk, the leader grabbed Sui's shoulder roughly and shoved his gun into her back, walking her to the center of the room, once a mock fighting arena, now a real battle ground; dead bodies littered the floor and seeped pools of blood that glinted in the daylight. The irony was not lost on Sui; it was a beautiful fall day in Boston, the sun was shining through the shattered window and she could just make out the oranges, yellows, and reds adjoining the trees outside. Yet all that beauty and sunshine only highlighted the carnage before her.

Haru was also roughly thrown into the center of the room, all the strength and ferocity he had so confidently displayed earlier was gone, and his body crumpled to floor, his clean robe saturated with blood in seconds. Sui made a noise of protest and went to go help her teacher only to be stopped by the cocking of a gun and a harsh yank of her hair.

"Take another step, and I kill the both of you." There was that voice again, like fingernails dragging down a blackboard. Oh how she'd like to make him eat those words. But protecting her masuta was and will always be first priority, so she kept her mouth shut and complied, watching Haru tenderly pick himself up with worried eyes. The leader beckoned to one of his lackeys with a gun to continue his vigil on Sui as he left to undoubtedly report to his superiors. She watched his movements critically just as Haru taught her; even when your opponent thinks you're beaten, watch for an opening, you never know when an opportunity might present itself.

"HQ, both targets are neutralized, requesting further instruction…" He turned around and regarded the scene in front of him, his gaze landing on Sui just a second longer as he listened to his ear piece. "Roger that. Will call with confirmation. Alpha out." He sighed as he strut back into the fray, taking his time to draw out what his next actions were going to be. As Sui's frustration grew, he worked his way over to where Haru had finally stood up. The leader gave her teacher a dismissive glance, then locked eyes with Sui, an evil grin growing on his face.

Too late, Sui realized what that meant. Panicking, her eyes locked with her master's, and his look of inner peace was destroyed as the leader pulled his weapon and shot Haru in the neck. Sui watched in horror as his body crumpled to the ground ,his blood mingling with the rest on the floor. She was only dimly aware of the movement around her. The leader pocketed his gun and strutted out of the apartment, contacting his superiors again to confirm the kill and request evac. Many of the remaining squad members grabbed their fallen brethren and followed his lead. But Sui could only focus on Haru. The gun in her back and the fist in her hair were the only tethers she had to remind herself of the dire situation she was in. As his life force slowly drained away, Sui watched in numb disbelief, the sounds of him suffocating on his own blood filled her ears. Second after second passed by, and the longer Haru struggled the more distraught Sui felt. At long last, his body gave up its fight, and with one final heave, he turned his head towards his student and Sui watched as the last of his life disappeared.

Sui froze, feeling pinned by the vacant look in his eyes. Those eyes that no matter what mood he was in or how much trouble and undue stress Sui caused, always held a warmth that could rival the sun's. But that warmth was gone, replaced by this emptiness that numbed her to the core. Her chi slowly dissipated, leaving her feeling hollow and incomplete, while her heart shattered into so many pieces it would take years to put it together again. She could feel herself sinking into this abyss, one that was clawing at her, pulling her down into its depths.

"Alright, get the bitch out here and up on the roof. ETA in five minutes." The leader's head appeared just long enough to bark his orders before he disappeared again, but it was enough. His voice brought Sui back from the abyss, snatching away her grief and replacing it with a boiling rage she had never experienced before. All at once her senses went from dulled to hyper aware, and her chi awakened with a vengeance. She could feel the water in everything, the pipes, the air, the plants, on the ground, and lastly, in the blood, both littered on the ground and within the soldiers left in the apartment.

Her vision was tinged in red, and her anger flowed into her chi, fueling it in preparation for the feat she was about to do. Mentally, she reached out to every last soldier left in the apartment. She followed the flow of their blood until it reached their hearts. As if her chi grew hands, she could feel herself enveloping the muscles, feeling the different beating patterns, taking the time to note their variety and difference in tempo. For a second, she stopped to consider what she was about to do, and how it went against everything Haru had taught her. Then, her eyes glanced down at her deceased teacher and all doubt fled her mind and nothing but rage filled her soul.

These men broke her heart irreplaceably, so it was only fair she returned the favor. Sui willed the blood within their hearts to obey her commands, and instantly her orders were answered. She felt their hearts constrict on themselves, then filling with blood, explode in their chests. Simultaneously all of her victims' bodies crumpled to the ground, blood spurting from their mouths, death coming swiftly and painfully. A grim look of satisfaction crossed her face as she surveyed her work, but as the macabre scene finally began to sink in, what was once satisfaction quickly turned into horror and shame. Tears filled her eyes as the exhaustion of her overworked chi and her emotional outburst combined and slammed into her, knocking her unconscious instantly.

Whoo, some heavy shit right off the bat, huh? Again, I apologize if this made anyone uncomfortable. But other than that slight unpleasantness, how'd I do? Please let me know if I should continue this story or if I should just drop my laptop in a lake and move to an isolated cabin far from civilization, never to show my face again. I have another chapter done already, but I won't upload it until I know people want me to continue. Thanks and have a great day!