The Hand
From what Tristain knew about it, it was one of the major crime organizations in Marvel.
Their origins were Japanese and in simple words, they were a ninja organization trying to find ways to become immortal.
Other than the standard things that evil organizations are known for; the Hand was also known for creating mindless ninjas from potential candidates.
As for Colleen wing, she was one of the people who felt indebted to the Hand and her master who was one of the leaders of the evil organization.
'She later betrays her master and chooses Iron Fist over him.' Tristain thought about the information he knew about Colleen.
He assembled all the information he knew of her past, present and the upcoming future and pondered on whether he should approach her to learn martial arts.
Although he had no intention of making himself noticed by the Hand, he knew that it would be hard for him to find someone as good as her at martial arts.
There were other dojos and training centers he had found but he didn't know if they taught genuine martial arts and he didn't remember any of them from the comics or the MCU.
All of them promised 100 percent authenticity but compared to Chikara dojo they seemed lackluster.
His purpose was to fight crime and for that reason, it was necessary he learns from a genuine martial artist.
He decided Chikara dojo it was.
The rest of the day was nothing special for Tristain.
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After school, Tristain decided to take a train to Chinatown.
He texted his mom that he needed to complete an assignment and he will stay in the library till evening. He didn't want to worry the woman.
Chikara dojo was in a desolate area in Chinatown. While going through a bunch of ramen and antique shops, Tristain finally found the old dojo.
The sound of a train passing by could be heard as he walked along the stairs of the dojo. The stairs creaked as he stepped on them like old bones with no exercise.
'They really do dig the old ninja aesthetic.' He thought as he finally reached the first floors hallway.
He walked a few steps before the sound of students thrusting their swords through the air reached his ears.
He opened the rattling door and looked inside.
A few rows of students were practicing the sword. Overseeing them was an Asian woman with sharp eyes and a ponytail.
The woman looked at him as he entered the door, her eyes glancing at his school bag and then his face.
'Colleen wing. She doesn't really look that different from the Iron Fist show.' Tristain thought as he waited for the practice to end.
Tristain waited a few minutes as he didn't want to seem disrespectful and disrupt the exercise, then Colleen signaled the end of the practice.
"Let's end it here for today. Make sure to practice when you get time. And Mark, bring the fee tomorrow."
She said as all the students bowed a little and left through the door, brushing past Tristain in the process.
After they left, Colleen finally focused her attention on him.
"Who are you?"
"I saw an online advertisement about the dojo. I wish to learn."
"I don't mind teaching you, but you should at least should introduce yourself."
"Oh, my name is Tristain Mercer."
"Colleen wing."
She said and walked close to Tristain, assessing his body.
"Are you the master here?" He asked, trying to ignore her snake-like gaze. He guessed that she was checking if he had trained previously.
In the Iron fist series, she was mostly just an ally of him, and her capabilities were never explored.
"Yes, I'm the master here." She said with a nod. "If you want to learn here, you can do so. But before that, I must know why you wish to learn. If I'm satisfied with your answer, we can begin your registration."
"I just want to learn it to protect myself." Tristain lied, he didn't trust her.
"Everyone here says the same thing when they come to me. But the truth is often a little different. Many come here to fight their bullies or stop their family from hurting them. There are also those who just think it's a cool thing to learn."
Colleen stopped her sentence and walked one more step towards him. "Now I'm asking again, what made you want to learn martial arts?"
His mind raced for an answer while Colleen just faced him.
"Just two days ago, I was walking on the street when I saw a masked man running across the street. He had a gun."
Colleen raised an eyebrow at his story and nodded motioning for him to continue.
Tristain made a grave expression, like he was talking about a tragic event, "He collided with an old man and his gun fell on the street. I was close by and fortunately stopped him before it was too late."
"Good."
"Yeah, but what if I had frozen there? Not able to do anything. The old man would have died. Maybe I would have died..."
His acting was strong indeed.
"A good answer, we may start." She said taking out a form from a drawer.
"Take this form and fill it." Colleen handed him the paper. "We have batches running here and there's a system in place to start from the lowest to the highest. The level of martial arts taught will change with each level."
She explained as Tristain went through the form. Aside from the places to fill, there was detailed information on how the dojo worked.
It taught both hand to hand combat and kendo, though he didn't care much about swordsmanship as his fists were stronger than most blades.
As he went through the form, he noticed something about a scholarship. He immediately understood that it was the scholarship that the Hand grants to students.
After getting chosen for the scholarship, they are sent to a compound to become killers for the Hand.
It's like an introduction into a cult but you're clueless about it.' Tristain thought as he filled out the form.
The fees weren't much, and he would be able to manage it with his pocket money. As his parents were well off, he never had to worry about money.
"So, the classes will start tomorrow?" He asked, giving her the form while she nodded.
"Yes, be here at 4 PM. Don't be late. We have strict punishments for those who don't follow our code and one of them is to never be late."
"Understood."
Tristain didn't have much to do in the Chikara dojo after the registration. So, he went home after saying goodbye to Colleen.
//////////
In an archive room, a man with a black eye patch was looking at a particular video. It was footage that was taken from one of the cameras in Brooklyn.
The footage showed a young teenager crossing the street in a flash and striking a street criminal, breaking his jaw in the process.
The black eye patch man played the video again before he looked up at the man standing before him.
"What's his name?"
"Tristain Mercer. We have all of his information in our database, Director Fury." The man named Phil Coulson asked.
"Should we add him to our list?"
"No, first we observe him. We can't be sure just yet." Director Fury said, taking another look at Tristain's face.
He couldn't say anything with just this footage but if the teenager was really someone problematic, with powers that he shouldn't have. Then, there was no saying how much of a threat he would become.
"Add him to the list of potential candidates and monitor everything about him. We are getting close to our initiative."
"Affirmative" Agent Coulson said.