Chapter 4
"Oh c'mon, goldilocks! You heard the doctors, I'm fine."
"No."
"Look, I have been more than fair. I have stayed confined in this prison of a bed and ate the mush they called food for days with no complaints." Sui paused for a second as the nurse collecting her plates off the end table scoffed and threw her an incredulous look. "No offense to you, Faraji. You guys took great care of me."
The nurse shook her head and smiled at her patient. "Not without some fighting from you might I add."
"She's right, Sui. Sometimes I think you called me in here just to complain." Steve smiled at the nurse as she left the room, then turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "I really think you should take it easy for just a little while. Your brain was without oxygen for almost a minute, there still could be some brain damage."
"Oh hush now. I feel perfectly fine and I'm going stir crazy just sitting here. I might as well join your training session." She quickly got out of the bed, electing to ignore Steve's complaints and his attempts to help her find her balance, instead depending on the end post as she waited for the room to stop spinning. Once she got her bearings, she looked at Steve and smirked at the frown adjourning his face. "Besides, it'd be better for you guys to have a real-life battle situation, and someone has to play the bad guy."
At that last comment, Steve's frown deepened and he didn't hesitate to voice his dissent. "You can't take all of us on your own, that's an unfair match-up."
"Oh no it's not, I got some tricks up my sleeve. Anyways, it'll give Sam a chance to size me up and find my weaknesses for when I 'inevitably try to kill all of you in your sleep'."
Steve's face reddened as he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "You heard that, huh?"
"Well it wasn't like he was making sure I didn't."
Steve lowered his head in shame as he remembered that day. Sam had been drinking, a new habit he had picked up as of late, and had slammed his way into the infirmary, ranting and raving about nonsense. From what Steve could pick up, most of it was about Sui and her presence in the palace. It took Steve an hour to wrestle Sam to his room, and another twenty minutes to get him to go to bed to sleep it off. He had then taken the time to remove any and all alcohol in his friend's quarters and instructed all dining and kitchen staff to notify him if Sam asked for a drink. Sure, it made things pretty tense between the two of them, but if that kept Sam from self-medicating his pain away, then Steve was happy.
"I'm sorry about that. I'll get him to apologize-"
Sui waved him off as she replied, "Don't worry about it. There's no point in apologizing if you're not actually sorry about something. Even though he was drunk, he meant what he said and in all honesty, not everything he said was wrong about me. I won't fault him for it, he's right not to fully trust me."
Steve thought about their conversation from last week and wanted nothing more than to discount her comments, but he thought better of it and held back. The last thing he wanted was to get into an argument he knew he wouldn't win, at least not yet. Besides, there was a more pressing debate that they were straying away from, and he noticed that as Sui was inching her way towards the door as if he wouldn't notice, that it was done purposely. He smiled as he stood up and in a few strides overtook her and blocked the doorway.
"Oh for fuck's sake Steve, would you get out of my way?"
"I really don't think this is a good idea-"
"Listen, if you want to get down and nasty by all means say the word, I'm sure that door locks." She smiled wide as his face colored red and he avoided eye contact. Embarrassing Steve had to be her new favorite pastime.
"That's not what it is at all! I just think some bed rest would do you some good-"
"Either you're with me, or you're against me, Steve. And I promise you, being against me will be the last decision you make."
His eyes shot up to her face as he recognized the threat from the night they were at the prison. Once he saw the playful glint in her eyes, he relaxed and returned her smile, his earlier embarrassment forgotten. "You're not going to stop are you?"
"Nope, so here's what's going to happen: you're either one, gonna let me out of this damn place, give me a change of clothes and let me into your team's training session, or two, I'm going to escape and terrorize the palace. I'm thinking placing jelly in everyone's shoes, replacing the sugar with salt in the kitchen, and to top it all off, maybe some dye in everyone's shampoo. It's completely up to you." She smiled up at him and crossed her arms as she awaited his answer.
Steve shook his head and sighed concedingly. He knew it was a lost cause the moment he came into the room. "Fine, but you have to take it easy. The moment you feel dizzy or lightheaded you need to tell us. Promise?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Can I go now?"
He rolled his eyes and stepped to the side, holding the door open as a squealing Sui rushed out.
"I am so going to regret this."
-PAGE BREAK-
After a quick tour of the palace and its surrounding grounds, Steve ushered Sui into her quarters and told her to hurry up getting ready, training began in an hour. He paused for a second at the door, obviously intending on reasoning with her to sit this one out, but a swift question about whether nudity bothered him and her reaching for the back of her robe had him out of the room in record time. She chuckled to herself as she took stock of her surroundings.
The room was what she would have expected of any royal guest room. Just enough designs to relay the family's wealth, but not enough to be worth much of anything if the guest had sticky fingers. She went to the dresser and ruffled around the assortment of clothes until she found a suitable pair of leggings with a matching turtleneck. Not the most visually appealing outfit, but it allowed for movement and had a low chance of snagging on anything so it would have to do. Though she smiled as she thought how Steve might react to the leggings, they would do nothing to hide her pride and joy and she couldn't wait to see his face.
Still smiling, she ventured into the adjourning bathroom in her suite and in a few moments had the tub full of water and could not get into it fast enough. As she sunk into the warmth, she sighed happily and finally relaxed for the first time since she'd first woken up in Wakanda. There was no better feeling than to be surrounded by her element, in a controlled setting mind you. She cautiously called to the water and was overjoyed to feel it respond immediately. With a twist of her arms, she brought up a section of water and ran it through her hair, giving her thick curls a much needed wash before she focused on the rest of her body. As she washed, she also focused on keeping the water temperature the same, attempting to practice as much as she could in as little time and space as possible.
As she finished washing her body, her good mood dissipated as she allowed herself to turn over the facts of the last week. Masuta Haru was dead, she was kidnapped and brought to some secret government facility, then rescued by none other than Captain America and his merry bunch of friends, one of which hated her and wanted her gone as soon as possible. The feelings she had been suppressing finally came to the surface, and she brought her legs to her chest as she sobbed. She mourned her teacher, a man whose love truly knew no bounds, even though he knew everything about her past. He never judged her for it, even going so far as to attempt to heal her broken heart and soul in every way he knew how. But it was never enough, and eventually, Sui stopped allowing him to see the self-hate and the rage she had. She pretended to be healed, to have forgiven herself, but she had known she could never truly be whole again, and was at least grateful he hadn't been able to see her predictions come to fruition.
Other than his teachings of self-love and confidence, Haru had also took it upon himself to teach her everything he knew of Ninjutsu, the art of combat and espionage. He knew with her powers she would never be allowed to live a normal life, and thusly prepared her to protect herself and the ones she loved. She sobbed again as she remembered how she failed in that regard, vowing to never be in that situation again. Anyone she's ever loved, she's lost. Not anymore.
She scowled as she thought of the man responsible for her capture and her teacher's murder. The water boiled and sloshed around the tub as she closed her eyes and imagined his face. She didn't want to forget any details; anything could help when she began her search for him. But she wouldn't stop there. He obviously took pleasure from death, but he didn't make the call to kill Haru. That had come from his superiors, and Sui vowed not to rest until all of them paid for what they did. You will be avenged, Masuta, I promise you, she thought grimly. But she knew she needed help, and also knew just where to get it.
Steve and his friends had not only been at that prison for her rescue, they also made sure to steal as much information as possible and destroy the complex completely. She could understand the latter, it was obvious that part had been a personal mission for the team. But the gathering of information didn't have a vengeful purpose; they intended to use that for something, and Sui had a feeling that if she wanted information on that dick and his superiors, she had to ensure her place on this team. She had to dupe these people into thinking they could trust her explicitly, and she hated herself even more for it.
