A/N: This story has been revised. The plot has not changed, but the word use, descriptions, etc. have. I hope everyone enjoys the new changes. Many, many, many thanks to those of you have already reviewed the story. Your reviews are still very much appreciated. :) And everyone who reviews, thank you!
Sub-zero stands unwavering in the sand filled arena. An audience of bloodthirsty Outworld Tarkatans howling and screaming savagely generates no fear in the warrior. His obligation to revenge his brother is fulfilled; he feels no course of action to end Scorpion. "Finish him," Shao Kahn orders. The Outworld emperor's words hold no mercy or remorse for Quan Chi's fallen warrior. Indeed, no real emotion traces them except faint amusement. Words spoken from the immoral man bring no surprise to Sub-zero. He would assume no less from the ruler of Outrealm. "No," he answers. His voice is strong and spoken firmly. "I have fulfilled my duty."
For a few tense moments only the upset uproar of the Tarkatans can be heard. Breaking his cold gaze from Shao Kahn, Sub-zero turns to leave this foul place. This plan reworks itself when he is unexpectedly surrounding by silver cyborg ninjas. Painful electrical pulsations hit him just as he moves to defend himself. His body spasms involuntarily, and he is rendered utterly helpless. Yet, despite the great agony he knows they will not kill him. These heartless, thoughtless, soulless cyborgs want him among their ranks. They want to own and transform him, to make him act solely upon the order of the Lin Kuei without remorse.
The blue-black clad ninja catches sight of Cyrax and Sektor as they approach Shao Kahn. His view is limited, but from the starkly shown colors on their metal frames, it must be them. He can recognize Cyrax's mustard color and Sketors tainted red. Disgust contorts his face further as he watches them simultaneously bow in respect to Shao Kahn. Sektor then steps forward. In his deep slightly robotic voice he requests for Sub-zero, as supposedly promised.
The words rein anger onto Sub-zero. He had not come here to pawned back to Lin Kuei to be transformed into a cyborg; he had come to avenge his fallen brother. "No! You will not take me!" Sub-zero shouts, despite that he cannot even move. His eyes dart to the crowd of warriors that watch: all are heedless to his struggle. Foul bastards.
Before disappearing to be taken forever in the depths of a metallic body of whirring gears and mindless duties, Sub-zero catches a glance of Smoke. The closely befriended ninja is struggling through the crowd to assist him, but a blue and white clad man is stopping his efforts with a firm hand upon his shoulder. What words the man speaks are lost as the cyborgs and him vanish.
New surroundings and sounds quickly enclose Sub-zero. Large metallic enclosed pods sit vertically at the far end of the large metal room. Many surround them, each controlled by a dashboard of electrical controls.
Two cyborgs restrain his arms and drag him towards the closest pod. Blue-clad metal lies on a table next to it. Laid out so that all the components are seen as they would on a cyborg, only lacking a body to take their form. The lifeless mask laid there stares bleakly back at Sub-zero as he is pushed towards the pod.
Struggle is vital, but he is weak from the electrical gush in his body, and it still continues to jolt small spasms from him. As well, the cyborgs hold him securely. There is no escape from the fate that has been set before him it seems. Pushed inside the pod, Sub-zero feels metal bars latch him down at the legs and over his chest.
The pod is closed with light click. Darkness surrounds him, then suddenly blinding lights.
^Smoke pushes Raiden away angrily, sending the man stumbling backwards. The Thundergod had taken away his foremost opportunity to save his friend. No matter, Sub-zero's fate is not yet decided, and he will change it. Ignoring the Thundergod's words, he vanishes leaving a thin wisp of gray smoke in his wake.
A long bare hall is set before Smoke as he reforms from his teleportation. Cold and mindless like the cyborgs, it represents them well. And there is a certain eeriness that surrounds this place—it has the sense of malevolent things.
The walls are jutting outwards slightly in a circular fashion and are made of thick metal in shade of dull charcoal gray. Above, the ceiling is vented with many even square holes. Behind the holes thick strands of wires can be seen that stretch to great lengths as they follow along the hallway. The floor is of a similar fashion to the ceiling, being vented. Many small yellowish lights radiate here.
Wisps of white smoke slither up from beneath the venting on the flooring, climbing upwards before being ripped apart by the crisp air.
Heedless to the possible threats, Smoke races down the hall. His footsteps echo off the metal walls as his feet hit on the hard floor. It is not stealth he desires in the slightest, purely swiftness.
The tunnel seems to go on forever, all the while with the feeling of faintly turn right, and then abruptly a large circular door is blocking the way. When Smoke pauses before it, he feels as though he had been running for an eternity despite that his steady breathing suggests he has not gone far at.
The ninja pauses in front of the doorway. A dashboard extends from the wall on the right side. From the looks of it, some type of number code insertion is required to gain access. Seems as he hasn't the faintest clue what the said code could be, Smoke turns to his only other fast option. Taking a deep breath he closes his eyes evenly. Focusing his inner energy he straights his posture and moves his left hand in front of him, flat and palm up. His right hand is then moved above the left with two fingers extended upwards.
Whispering a strand of words under his breath, Smoke traces a large circle on the door with the two extended fingers from his right hand, his body moving in a graceful motion to follow the fluent movement. When this is finalized he places his left hand on the center of the circle. He retracts his fisted right slowly while inhaling deeply before crashing it into the hard metal. He pulls back immediately.
Pain wells smartly within his knuckles in spite of his guard protection, but by the sounds his effort is successful and that is all that matters: the metal scrapes backwards and falls to the ground with a noise that seems tenfold amid the eerie silence.
Opening his slate gray eyes to view his triumph, a brief smile of satisfaction quirks Smoke's lips upward. Without second thought he swiftly enters through the makeshift hole. He sees a room brightly lite and filled with peculiar pods. Promptly his eyes fall upon four silver cyborgs that approach with inevitable hostility. It would be plausible to say they had detected his untimely entry when he destroyed their door. In any case, behind them he can see they are coming from the direction of the only pod with a closed lid. He rushes forward to kombat them, spurred by the assumption Sub-zero must be within that pod.
Throwing off the first cyborg's fists, Smoke disappears to materialize behind the temporarily confused ninja. Smacking his opponent on the back of its head to disorientate it, Smoke finishes it off with a chopping hit to its back, which immediately shatters its spinal cord. Despite that it is cyborg, it still is susceptible to bone fractures and, much like a human, will succumb to defeat if the proper ones are broken.
The rest of the cyborgs are finished with rapid success in similar ways. It is easier to disrupt their wiring, but difficult since most of it is well covered. Thus Smoke mostly falls back to breaking bones, despite the sting he must endure when the hard metal defends his blows.
With the cyborgs defeated, Smoke rushes to closed pod. He anxiously looks over the dashboard beside it. There he sees a confusing amount of buttons and switches, but fortunately a small lever covered beneath glass protection labeled 'Override' is familiar. Smashing the glass with his elbow, Smoke pulls the lever. A red light clicks and steadily glows beneath it to showing activation.
Soon afterwards the pod opens itself spilling out a waves of steam.
Inside, Sub-zero lies disoriented and close to unconsciousness. His clothes and mask are torn carelessly, and needles with green liquid tubes attached to them pierce his body's arteries in multiple places. Fortunately no serious transformation has taken place, and what is seen now is mere preparation.
Slate gray eyes lighten with relief, Smoke quickly jerks out the large needles. Sub-zero watches him with glazed eyes, oblivious to any pain the action might cause or that his Lin Kuei comrade is looming over him. That he is under the influence of the substance is apparent. Unlatching the hefty bars at hold Sub-zero down, Smoke pulls the blue-clad ninja out of the pod with a grunt. He holds Sub-zero's arm over his shoulder as means of support. The weight of his friend burdens and slows their movement, but Smoke will not abandon him so easily as Raiden had.