Author's Notes: My roommates been playing Grand Theft Auto 5 a lot lately, and I've been getting into it as well. Fun gameplay, cool missions and hilarious characters. In particular was Trevor, who's outrageous actions and bombastic habits counterpoint his terrifying psychosis, and his status as an opportunist in the desert reminded me somewhat of Mileena in Mortal Kombat X, outcast as a rebel by Kotal Kahn and trying to build an army to retaliate. So, I decided to do a crossover fic.
Basically, GTA5 concepts and map combined with MK characters. Mileena's out in the desert, eking out her existence, and we'll see where she goes from there.
Enjoy.
Sat down on the little step right by the door of her current establishment, Mileena is once again lost in old thoughts, old thoughts of how everything had changed. Here she is, stuck living in a miserable trailer in a miserable trailer park in the miserable desert that is the miserable outskirts of the big city sprawl of Los Realma. Here she is, lamenting the circumstances that have driven her here yet again.
It's been ten years since the ruthless mafia lord Shao Kahn, her own precious father, was murdered by that devil Raiden. Ten years since one of her father's own trusted men, the bastard Koa'tal, stole everything from her. Ten years since she was forced on the run when the very thugs her father once controlled came after her. Ooh, she went down kicking and screaming, using the remnants of her personal finances to try and fight back, tried to find allies in the old regime, but it didn't work.
It didn't work.
Left with no money, left with help from no-one but one other, Mileena was left with no choice but to abandon her pitiful excuse of a war on the self-proclaimed Kotal Kahn and flee the city. She'd fled across its innards, its outskirts, leading her enemies astray before finally retreating to the rural areas in the desert, far enough to keep out of trouble and close enough to get reliable news from the city. She'd eked out her meagre life her, managed to snag a place to stay, a place to work, even a few partners, but otherwise not much to write home about.
So, this was the legacy of the daughter of Kahn; usurped mere weeks into her rule, forced into hiding, left with nothing but whatever she could scavenge in the desert and dreams of striking back. Not a day goes by that she doesn't dream of returning to the city, of killing Kotal, of reclaiming her throne, of rebuilding her glory!
But as it stands, that'd be a day when the Elder Gods themselves came crashing from the sky. Kotal had everything her father had, every resource at his disposal, plus his pathetic little treaties with other factions, and she had nothing.
She sighs and pulls up her mask. There's no use lamenting the past right now; she had to go to work. Sullenly meandering around her trailer, she stops by the rusty shack behind it that she can barely call a garage and settles down atop her most loyal friend, a faded purple quad bike. The vehicle was cheaper to run and quick to pounce than other cars, despite the lack of protection from rain or whatever, and so far it had been running fine for almost six years.
She snorts a bit; a simple vehicle had proven more reliable to her than nearly all of her father's crew. Filthy traitorous beasts…
Regardless, she starts up the engine, slings on the faded purple helmet and heads off down the dusty road. Perhaps it was only fitting, but her best line of work down here was at the local strip club owned by a Mr Hotaru. During her days under Shao Kahn, she'd enjoyed being quite promiscuous, shameless even, always flirting with the people around her, always favouring outfits that didn't leave much to the imagination. And those habits seemed to serve her well down here; opportunities often came more easily to a woman of pragmatism, not integrity.
Of course, so long as she made enough money to pay for her trailer, her quad, food and all that, it didn't matter how she held herself. She reaches the club, a pretty impressive place all things considered down here, parks her quad and heads in to earn her keep.
Old man Hotaru ran an orderly business here. As an agent of the Seido Cults or whatever it was called, he valued order above all else, and thus all of his endeavours operated on the same principle. He kept things organised in folders inside of folders, everything straight down to the letter, to the second even, and when things went out of order… well, things tended to get broken.
But he paid well, treated her decently enough and she supposed it was fun to indulge herself a bit by showing off to adoring customers while working her undeniably enviable body. Nothing like the flashing lights and the gawking people to take her mind off of things for a bit.
"Purple." He states calmly as she steps into his office, a little ritual to let him know she was at work. His voice is always calm, his tone always measured, because everything he does must be ordered. "You're two minutes early. An improvement over the four minutes from Wednesday, but not quite to the schedule's preference."
She'd never told him her real name. It didn't pay well to give out one's real name when one was in hiding from Kotal's ever paranoid eye. Hotaru had never questioned it, and for that she was thankful, though somewhat unsure if he did in fact know her true identity. Given the lack of trouble she'd had throughout her years, she didn't think so, but you never knew.
"Bite me, Hotaru." She grunted, not at all caring for his order crap right now as she stalked off to the other door that led to the changing rooms.
"It's not me who will be biting tonight." He states, leading her to pause in her walk. His tone has changed slightly, a faint inflection of danger that can mean only one thing.
Hotaru believes in order first and foremost, but second most was his belief in the need to cull now and then. And when he wanted someone culled, he made sure to direct them straight to his star attraction. Having a stripper with a maw of fangs had its benefits, and Mileena in turn couldn't argue against a free snack and an extra slap of pay on her check.
"Alright." She muttered, interested now. "You need to me to off someone?"
"An old friend of mine and a supporter of Kotal Kahn." Hotaru said, and the mention of the usurper has her hair bristling. "A man named Kal'el Aidou. He wishes to celebrate a promotion earned by financing the Kahn's international businesses, and what better way to celebrate than to visit out-of-turf strip clubs and see if he cannot score a lap dance. He's booked us for tonight, paid in advance, and as a gesture of good will, I have offered to grant him utmost priorities to my most valuable asset."
"Most valuable asset? I'm flattered you hold me in such regard, Hotaru. Why, I might even start to think you care for me for other reasons than the revenue I bring in." Mileena purred.
"What I care for is his death." Her manager replied. "Putting him down will serve as a subtle reminder to those who try and earn power via sycophancy instead of competence. You know the routine; give them a show, and let him take you to the backrooms. I will give his friends the necessary alcohols to keep them from questioning, while you dispose of him. Snack on whichever part you wish, but keep it clean and keep it quiet. His disappearance will be passed away as a drunken fool stumbling into the wilds, ravaged by some animal and we will carry on as per usual."
"Indeed he'll have an animal ravaging him." Mileena said darkly, before resuming her walk. One benefit of this job, apart from the occasional indulgence of old bloodlusts, was actually having nice clothes to wear. Skimpy clothes, clothes she couldn't take home with her, but nice clothes nonetheless. Hotaru kept a clean business, despite the occasional unclean assassination, and that was reflected in the lovely clothes he had to offer his workers.
Mileena opts for the bandage play tonight, arguably her most renowned performance and something that would really get the idiots worked up and desperate. That's how she preferred her prey; worked up, desperate, all too easy. She suits up, slinging the linen tantalisingly over herself before adding a few easily removable layers on top. A simple gig, but one that never failed to have people worked up. All she needed to do now was wait.
It doesn't take long for Hotaru's guest to arrive, settle in, get some drinks, and soon enough one of the other worker's is on the mic, and Mileena can hear her cheerfully squealing: "-Got a special treat tonight for the big man's big success! One of Hotaru's best, perhaps in fact the best, and a girl who'll have everyone begging for more! May I present to you, the insurmountable, the exquisite, the awe-inspiring Lady in Purple!"
Ooh, she's on. Her co-workers know how to introduce her, and she knows exactly how to back up their hype.
The spotlights come on, a bright flash that gleams through the gap in the curtains between her and the stage, and she makes her move. Slowly and surely, one sensual leg first, and then the rest of her comes into the open. She makes the spotlight hers, spreads arms wide, illuminating gleaming purple clothes that are enough to cover her and yet not enough as well.
Hotaru's guests are gathered by the end of the catwalk, the round podium complete with central pole, and they are excited to see her, all gasping and hollering in amazement. As they ought to be. She saunters slowly, deliberately, legs weaving in front of the other and hips tilting with each step. Her arms folded behind her, she maintains a mixture of innocence and sultriness, an alluring combination that had the fools drooling before she'd even begun.
It's a simple gig, her bandage play. Soon as she reaches the front, she idly leans against the pole and slowly draws her back down the length of it. On the apex of her raise, a hand drifts down to the purple garment clad to her thigh and teasingly unhooks it. It drapes down, exposing smooth toned muscle and white linen wrapped across it, and the guests shudder simultaneously.
Leaning back slightly, she swings herself across the pole and the motion has the loosened garment flying off and fluttering away. A taste of what was to come, and it had her observers squeaking in delight.
She keeps up the play, slinging a leg around the metal to lean herself backwards, pivoting around and flexing her torso outwards. They lean up, trying to catch a view, but she's gone too quick, already up by the pole again, eyes flickering in amusement. Keeping the swing going, she twirls back around and another piece of the attire is slid off.
Ooh, they're getting so excited now, whining and whimpering for her to go all the way, throwing out dollars in the hopes of earning her favour. She smirks under the mask; how easily the bugs come to the sundew. She keeps up the teasing, and slides off the slings on her left arm, accentuating its loss by curling the bare arm around the pole and teasingly slipping around it, raising a leg up to add to the tantalising.
Bit by bit, her outer outfit is shed, exposing the bandaged form underneath slowly and sweetly. All throughout it, she keeps an eye on her man; seems every time she loses a bit, he swigs down his drink. Good, good…
"I completed a challenge tower for this?!" One guy squeaks, flailing around in his chair and winding up falling backwards. She ignored him and the rest ignored him.
The last remnant of acceptable clothing, the purple skirt, is disdainfully tossed aside, and the only thing standing between the awestruck group and the raw beauty of their entertainer was linen tied around specific areas and a mask. Time for the finale.
Calling upon flexibility beyond most people, Mileena all but coils herself around the pole, testing her arms strength as her legs curl like a scorpion's tail. With a smooth, she unwinds in a swift twirl that has her spinning down the length of the pole, spinning and spinning, before coming a stop right at the bottom with butt down, arm prepped, legs up and eyes gleaming.
The guests start clapping and hollering as she slides up to her feet, finishes off with a bow and saunters back down the catwalk. Out of her corner of her eye, she sees Hotaru's man staggering out of his chair and following after her. Clearly, he wasn't done with her. Good. She wasn't done with him.
"Beautiful woman." The man, Kal'el, slurs as she moves down the side stairs, stumbling over to greet her with eager enthusiasm. "The nice man said that you, ah, wouldn't mind seeing the back of this place with me! Said you didn't mind not walking straight for a while, hee hee hee."
Mileena's eyes flash alluringly as she sweetly wiggles her hips in response: "Did he now? Well, Hotaru knows what's best. How about I give you a tour of this place?"
"I'd rather tour you, sweetheart." The drunkard giggled, unashamedly slinging an arm around her shoulders as his other arm greedily feels across her chest. She just smirks under her mask and guides him backstage. A fair few private rooms back here, bright pink and pretty, perfect for private shows or quickies.
And perfect for a subtle little kill.
She guides him into the furthest one down the hall, teasingly rubbing his wiry arms as she motions him into one of the puffy purple sofas attached to the wall before sliding the curtains shut behind her.
Settling onto his lap, she purrs: "Hotaru says you're a promoted man. Care to tell me what else is rising up in here?"
"Ooh, I can tell you one thing, baby." He slurs, greedily reaching around with one hand to squeeze at her rear while the other moves up to her face. "You can rise things with the best of them. Lemme see what kind of mouth you got under there, hee hee, 'cause my friend downstairs loves him a nice mouth…"
He never sees it coming. One second he pulls down her mask, the next second his eyes widen in sudden terrified comprehension upon seeing the maw of fangs bordering her lips. He doesn't get to scream before she snaps forwards and clamps her maw over his throat, her hands grabbing his arms and pinning them to his side to prevent struggling. He chokes once, chokes twice and goes silent, before she rips the throat out and swallows it with relish.
The deed done, she hops off of the bleeding corpse and casually lifts aside the room's sole portrait (of a naked Kytinn, for some reason) and taps a quick number into the tiny keypad behind it. The sofa shifts slightly and flips around, sending the corpse toppling backwards down a hole. With that done, Mileena resets the sofa, replaces the painting and sets about cleaning up both herself and the room from blood splatters; no-one ever questioned cleaning supplies in a strip club's back room, after all. Cleaned up and beautified, she settles into the other sofa and waits patiently for her debrief.
Eventually, one of Hotaru's other workers and someone with a particularly close connection to the hybrid, enters the room; taller than Mileena, though just as curvaceous, and with hair as red as blood, she murmurs: "Culled?"
"Dead as can be." Mileena purred, standing up to meet her loyal friend, whom generously accepted the sultry embrace she wrapped her in. "They never fail to fail."
Skarlet nods in acceptance: "Good. Hotaru will be pleased. He will have your additional payments in the mail soon enough. You are done for the night."
"And you, Skarlet?" Mileena murmured sweetly, tenderly stroking her fellow female's back as she gazes deeply into her eyes. "Are you done for tonight also?"
"Apparently not. What do you desire?"
"I was thinking that you can ride back home with me instead of getting a taxi again." Mileena chortled, enjoying the faint smirk she coaxes from her loyal partner. "But I was thinking that, maybe before that, we could, I dunno, have a real show..."
Skarlet was the only one of Shao Kahn's old crew who knew anything of loyalty. When Mileena had fallen, been driven away, she had gone with her, always in her shadow. The two of them had made for a good team in their years, and Mileena supposed she could attribute most of her success to having the blood construct at her side. The old loyalty that had kept Skarlet close to Shao Kahn kept her close to Mileena.
And Mileena enjoyed rewarding loyalty.
Accepting her proposal with a sly smirk and sliding the curtain closed behind them, Skarlet allows Mileena to push her onto the sofa, lips moving to her neck in a decidedly less bloody but equally invigorating manner.
Of course, she doesn't spend the entirety of her day sulking in her trailer, playing with Skarlet or working the pole and killing people down at the club. A girl had to make some money, and while old Hotaru kept her and Skarlet's piggy bank fat enough to keep the bills off their ass and fuel in her quad, it never hurt to throw in a few extra pennies for something nice.
The desert was quite lawless compared to the city. Oh yeah, law enforcement was still in operation around here (albeit easy to keep off one's back with a few subtle payments), and the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei often sent new members down here to practice some noble vigilantism, but for the most part, the local gangs and drug dealers and opportunists tended to have free roam. Where there was money to be made, there were depraved animals aiming to make it in any way possible.
And where there were depraved animals aiming to make money, there was Mileena, aiming to hunt the hunters and see what trophies she might yet collect.
Tonight's hunt was rumours of a small-time drug courier preparing a transfer of some high quality methamphetamine. Such refined chemicals ought to net a nice price, and Mileena had no objection to scoring herself a high price. One of the contacts she had developed over the years, an old farmer closer to the city whom called himself Squire, had sent her the details about this, reasoning that her killing off the courier was better than letting them continue to spread their crap around. And oh did she intend to do so.
Setting off on her quad, with Skarlet clinging to her waist, she heads off to the location her contact had given her, some cove down by the Sea of Blood. Of course, it wasn't actually a sea of blood, it was just called that for the abundance of rhodophytes or whatever that enveloped the surface. Skarlet had been fairly disappointed with that clarification; as a being who took blood for strength, the lack of an entire sea full of it irked her.
Regardless, the duo patrol the sea's edge as they hunt around for their prey, eyes keen and blades sharp. One must always be aware of both the prey and possible obstacles.
And just along the road, down by a rocky outcrop by the beach's edge, she can see them now. Three of them, gathered by a black van, likely checking over everything before they headed off to deliver. As always, Squire's info was on point. Parking her quad in a hidden spot behind a large boulder and dismounting it, Mileena tells Skarlet to hang back and keep watch for intruders, before she settles on a casual approach down the beach, just a simple sweet girl taking a night-time walk.
Nothing suspicious, nothing dangerous. No-one suspects a lonely girl taking a night-time walk.
As she saunters past the van, one of them notices her and immediately reacts defensively, snapping at her: "What the hell are you doing here, lady?! Scram!"
She acts surprised and then reacts defensively, a simple walker who has had flak thrown at them for no reason: "Well excuse me, I don't see your name on this beach."
"Not about the beach, it's about our private matters." He retorts. "Get outta here!"
"Jerk." Mileena scoffs, turning around to do just that. "I should write a complaint about assholes like you, trying to take up space on a public beach just for yourselves."
"Now, now, let's not be hasty here!" The guy who had been in the van shouts out as Mileena's threat has the other two getting unnerved "Wait a sec, lady, ignore my idiot friend here, he's just being a prick."
Said prick sputters: "The fuck are you doing? We have to-"
Van guy ignores him and continues: "Listen, lady, maybe we can work something out here quickly. No need to call anyone. See, I got some wares here that could potentially interest you. You know, an apology for my friend's rudeness."
Mileena considers him, before stating sweetly: "Well, at least someone here knows how to make a girl feel good."
Appealing to the ego, always a reliable tactic. He practically puffs up at the compliment before offering: "Tell you what, lady, you don't make any reports and I'll give you a sneak peek at something that'd make a girl feel better than good."
Acting interested, Mileena saunters over to him, casting a disdainful look at the grumbling prick and the chortling third man as she did so. They clearly weren't as gullible as their leader, but it didn't matter; only one weak link was needed for a chain to snap.
"So, handsome, how do you mean to satisfy me?" She asks, and her tone lowers enough to make mere words seem absolutely appetising. He shudders just a little bit, before motioning her to peek into the back of the van. As she does so, he grabs a large bag sat inside and pulls it over the edge, before slowly zipping it open. And inside-
"Methamphetamine." The leader whispered dramatically as she gave a small coo of wonder. "And not just any meth; this shit is the cleanest and most powerful crap ever made in this desert. Can't tell you who made it, but I can guarantee that it's worthy every last penny."
"Is it really?" She asks, sounding absolutely amazed, as if she's found a man who could get her anything she wanted. "The best in the desert?"
"This shit here is as golden as it can get without being gold." He chortles, slinging an arm around her shoulders as if he's already secured her utmost devotion. "Just one little bit of this shit will have nirvana practically penetrating every last bit of you."
"Ooh, yes…" She purred, snuggling close to him. "I never had any objection to penetration myself..."
He's barely even enjoying her implications before she jams a Sai through his throat.
As he collapses, gurgling helplessly, she swiftly turns on the other two; they can barely react to the fact she just stabbed their superior, never mind to the pistol she grabs from the dying man's pocket and turns on them. One shot, one goes down with a hole through their head, and the next shot sees the other collapsing with a ruptured heart. Mileena smiles to herself as she pulls down her mask and blows the smoke away from the barrel. Her father always preferred more traditional weapons, emphasized by his faithful Wrath Hammer, and she herself adored her Sais, but it never hurt to learn how to work the modern killers.
Her magic recalls the blade in the sucker's throat and she happily cleans all of the blood of it with her tongue, remarking on the sweet taste, before she raids their cellphones and some letters to see where the drugs were meant to go. Deducing that they were to be delivered to some out-of-ways shack, she set about cleaning up her mess. Grabbing the bags stuffed with drugs, she runs it back to her quad before coming back to dump the corpses into the van, raiding their clothes for any money, guns and ammo they might have. This done, she cheerfully stabs a few holes in the vehicle's undercarriage, causing its fuel to start leaking out.
Satisfied with her work, Mileena cheerfully skips away to her quad bike, where Skarlet is waiting. The blood construct reports no disturbances, of which Mileena is thankful for. She secures her package to the quad, mounts up with Skarlet behind her and starts up the engine, reversing back to a safe distance. With a mocking salute to the dead couriers, she pulls out her new pistol and takes a shot at the puddle of fuel building underneath the van. An instant flare of fire, and then-
BOOOOM!
The van and the corpses within are consumed by an impressive explosion that rattles her quad and whips their hair back, and she laughs merrily at the carnage before driving away into the night. Oh yes, for a betrayed daughter of Kahn tossed out into the wastes, she could still have some fun.
They don't keep any of the take for herself, given Mileena cares not for drugs and Skarlet had no need of them, but they ought to make them a tidy little profit. Driving along to the courier's intended customer's house, she hops off of the quad and grabs the bag, skipping up to the ragged shack's door and knocking on it.
Some woozy old man greets her, drunkenly complimenting her as he fishes out the money and spouting crap about training heroes or whatever. Poor fool's not even questioning why two random women are giving him the meth instead of whoever set him up, but so long as she got some money, it mattered not. The deal done, she hands him the bag and heads off, eagerly counting her stash of bills and giggling delightedly on finding out she's just made an easy three-thousand dollars, showing it off to an amused Skarlet. Plenty of money for them, and also some to send off to Squire as a way of thanking him for this opportunity.
She briefly wonders how some old drunk in a shack gets this kind of money, but decides she really doesn't care. On her quad, she drives them off into the night, a victorious hunter yet again.
Mileena is not entirely without friends out here. Of course, there was Skarlet, her eternally loyal friend, partner and lover, the one person who had stayed by her side since the coup ten years ago, the one person who was always there for her, at her home, her work and her hunts.
And there is Squire, a useful contact who knew the area well and often had a bounty or an opportunity for her to exploit. Granted, she'd never met the guy in person, barely spoke to him on the phone and had only even come across his number when some random girl she'd saved for a mugging had offered it to her, claiming him to be a cool guy.
That girl hadn't been lying; Squire had definitely made Mileena's life a lot easier with how he often had a take for her to snag. He never seemed interested in making a profit himself, mind you, but seemed more interested in culling the particularly lawless and cruel in the area. In that regard, Mileena supposed that he fancied himself as a white knight of sorts, some noble personality who targeted the cruel and manipulative, and she was the gleaming sword he would swing upon them.
Well, whatever suited him. Mileena had no objections to making extra coin.
But it wasn't just Squire or Skarlet who helped her out. She had another partner on her side, a fellow opportunistic scavenger who had no objection whatsoever to doing a bit of dirty work. And unlike Squire, this partner was a lot closer to her than merely a contact on the phone
Case in point; one morning, as Mileena grumbles sullenly at the sun filtering in through gaps in her shoddy curtains and attempts to bury herself under her blanket, there is a fervent knocking on her door, a rapid series of taps that rings through her tired head like a jackhammer applied directly to her skull. She groans in disappointment and hopes to drown it out under her pillow, but it persists, it persists and persists.
There's only one person who knocks on her door like that.
Grumbling to herself, she managed to holler: "Coming, coming…" and drag herself out of bed, or rather the bloody veil that's clung to her. Skarlet didn't need her own bed, what with being capable of reforming herself into other shapes, so she shared the sleeping space by way of becoming another blanket. Quite convenient, actually.
On coercing her to release her, Mileena tiredly stumbled to the fridge to grab a half-empty soda, chugged the lot down to perk her up a bit and then headed to the door. On opening it and taking a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight, she gets a hand over her eyes to shield them and looks down to see a diminutive figure standing on her porch, looking up at her with such a determined expression that you'd have thought she about to fist-fight a bear.
"Ferra." Mileena mumbled tiredly. "May I ask-"
"Not yet!" Ferra snapped, immediately extending her arms to the taller woman and flexing her fingers. "Up!"
Mileena obliged the demand, leaning down and scooping up the guest into her arms, holding her up so that their eyes were level with each other. For a moment, Ferra just stared intensely into tired amber eyes with cat-like slits, before she nodded in approval and planted a quick kiss on her lips, eternally unfazed by the maw of fangs around them.
Satisfied, Ferra dropped down from her arms and ran into the house despite the hybrid's surprise, telling her to wait for the second test, just as the porch started shaking and the titanic form of Torr blocked the sun from her open doorway.
Torr just glared at her for a moment, before he rumbled slightly, never one for speaking English, and extended a huge hand to her. Mileena gave a small nod and gently pressed her palm into his, allowing him to run his fingers over her much smaller hand for a moment, before she contracted her hand and tickled at his palm with her nails.
He gave a sort of rumbling chuckle then, lightened up into a merry demeanour and wrapped her in a massive hug that had her gasping within seconds. Always so friendly, her next-door trailer neighbours were, and quite frankly some of the very, very few genuine friends she'd ever had.
Neither Ferra nor Torr were particularly trusting characters, mind you; given the state of living out here and the possibility of enemies around every corner, Mileena couldn't blame them. Hence whenever they came to see her or she came to see them, they always had her go over this little ritual with them; allow Torr to rub her hand and then rub his back, allow Ferra to assess her eyes for a moment and then give her a kiss. It helped them trust her, reassured them that she was no intruder, and in turn she found it helped her trust them a lot more.
As Torr released her and squeezed himself through the door and headed around to sit on her sofa, Mileena turned to Ferra, who was raiding her fridge for snacks, and huffed: "Do you mind not devouring everything in my fridge, Ferra?"
"Ferra hungry! Torr ate all the leftovers again!" The smaller half of the duo declared, already guzzling one down as she deemed herself satisfied and kicked the fridge door shut, dancing over with an armful of snacks to the sofa and cheerfully plopping down onto it. "Needed Milly to fill empty stomach!"
"So glad I could help." Mileena replied dryly, shutting the door and turning to face the duo with arms folded and expression a mix between amusement and pseudo-sternness. "But I'm lucky I can afford to feed myself, never mind you two on top of it."
Torr gave a sort of chuckling growl as Ferra rolled her eyes and declared: "Ooh, we know Milly like have lots-a moneys! That's why Ferra/Torr come see her! We know good way of getting moneys, and we need Milly's help to get the moneys!"
And this is why Ferra/Torr was another worthy ally of Mileena out here in this desert. Like her, they desired to make themselves a good profit, to keep themselves afloat, comfortable, and they had no objections whatsoever to sharing their successes with her. A reliable friend was to kill for out here, and she had to admit, they made for a good team.
Interested, Mileena moved to sit down next to Ferra, accepting the candy bar she gave her and asked: "Do you now? And what might that be?"
Ferra swallowed down her second candy, tossed a bar to Torr and cheerfully chattered: "Well, you know that we work at radio place, right?"
"Right. I listen to your channel all the time."
"While Torr do solo work, Ferra sneak around and find sneaky man talking on radio. They talk about a big truck filled with bang-bangs down by stinky motel. Sneaky gang men gonna drive it away and sell bang-bangs across big fence! But Ferra/Torr think that we need moneys more than sneaky gang men! So we gone take bang-bangs for we, sell bang-bangs and make moneys!"
"I've always admired your enthusiasm, Ferra." Mileena replied, and she wasn't lying. "Right then, if you're aiming to take down a truck loaded with weapons owned by a gang, I'll be more than happy to help risk my life. What do you need me to do?"
Ferra finished her last candy and chirped: "Truck not going for a while, so you got lots-a time to get ready! You go get changed, go get bang-bang and we come knock on door soon! We take Ferra/Torr's truck, and we leave no survivors!"
"As you say, Ferra/Torr. I'll see you in a bit then."
Giggling madly, the smaller half of the pair danced over to the larger half and hopped onto his shoulders, Torr standing up with a hefty stretch before lumbering past Mileena to the door, opening it up and squeezing out. Ferra hollered a goodbye to her as they shut it behind them, leaving Mileena to consider what was to come.
Stealing a truckload of guns was a step-up from her usual routine of intercepting couriers, hunting muggers or theft. Whoever had access to such a vehicle and its cargo ought to be part of one of the bigger gangs out here, and thus there was a potent risk to interfering with their businesses. But then, life was never without risks, and Ferra/Torr were much more ambitious than she currently was, desiring to one day be the 'big bossy' of the region.
She remembered when she was a 'big bossy'. Short-lived, but it was good while it lasted. She ought to have ambitions herself, really, instead of being content with murdering people in a strip club or hunting down drug dealers. But how could she, with the threat of someone figuring it to be her causing all the trouble and having Kotal's forces coming after her? Irritating, but a cold truth.
Well, whatever. Ferra/Torr had a score, might make her a bit less poor. No complaints. Better to follow than to be followed in this case.
From the bedroom, she hears Skarlet state: "Do you require me as well, Mileena?"
"Not today." Mileena replies, touched at her partner's loyalty. "It shouldn't be strenuous. Take care of the place, and try not to murder the mail man again."
"A mistake." Skarlet hums innocently, and Mileena just laughed.
Sometimes it was nice to be reminded she had friends. But enough sentiment; time to get ready.
Breakfast, a shower that couldn't tell whether it wanted to be hot or cold, some of her more hardy clothes, her mask, one of her cleaner pistols and her Sais ever bound to her, and she deemed herself ready to go. TV would distract her adequately enough until Ferra/Torr came back, even though it tended to be crappy re-runs of old cartoons, the same boring newsfeed, some stupid auditioning show, all that crap. Whatever, just anything to keep her entertained until-
Knocks on the door. Showtime.
She accepts Ferra's kiss, rubs hands with Torr and the minute leader of the trio declares them ready for action. Ferra/Torr's vehicle of choice is a hefty old pick-up truck, a rusty vehicle that despite appearances was more than capable of handling the weight of Torr and any cargo in its bay. She favoured her quad, but admitted to finding the truck characterful, what with all the markings and colours painted onto it by Ferra over the years.
Torr was in the driver's seat, Ferra riding shotgun and Mileena settled in the back. As Torr started up the engine and moved the truck out, Mileena leaned over to Ferra and said: "Remember, codenames only, Rodeo. Can't have anyone listening in, can we?"
"We remember, we no forget!" Ferra huffed, before turning her own question onto her partner-in-crime. "Hey Milly, you got squire guy on phone?"
"My phone's on me. Why do you ask?"
"We thinking, when we steal truck full of bang-bangs, we take bang-bangs on we truck, and Milly take bang-bang truck to squire guy and sell it to him! More moneys, more happy, right?"
"Well, he does always appreciate new metal in his life. I'll give him a call, see if he's up for it."
As a matter of fact, Squire was up for it. Replacement parts for farm machinery could be scavenged from a healthy truck, and he was never one for objection to such a convenience. Telling Mileena to head to the local chop shop and deliver the vehicle to a peep he'd plant there, he wished her luck and offered her a share of what money he might make from selling bits of it.
More money did make for more happiness indeed. Ferra/Torr were always so sweet to her.
The drive to the motel where this thing was going down didn't take long; for a big brute with a sack over his head, Torr drove quickly and with certain skill and area knowledge. The trio parked the truck down the road from the place, ready to assess the take.
"What's your plan then, oh wise leader?" Mileena purred, leaning forward over the seats for a better look.
Ferra smirked: "You see big truck at the back?" And she did, because there was indeed a big truck, a hefty flatbed, sat by the back of the motel. "That where sneaky gang men hiding bang-bangs! Ferra and Milly go in first, clear out bad men, then Torr bring truck round to get bang-bangs! We take them to make moneys, Milly go sell truck and make moneys and then we all have moneys!"
"Sounds like my kind of play. Let's go."
She and Ferra hopped out of the truck, leaving Torr to head off until he was needed, and headed off towards the motel. Deducing the need for a good vantage point, Mileena had Ferra jump onto her back before invoking old powers to teleport the duo to the motel's roof. Ferra whined a little about dizziness, but the two were set to assess the situation more thoroughly as they snuck over to the side of the roof where the truck was parked.
"Ooh." Ferra whispered, as the two peered down at the truck, its cargo stuffed in boxes and hidden under a tarp, and the group of shady men surrounding it. "See, Milly? They got bang-bangs! We need take them out nice and quick."
"Indeed we do. If you stay up here, Ferra, I can teleport down there and prepare an ambush; you start shooting them from up here, they turn to find you, I take them from behind. Between us, we ought to kill them off quickly enough before any of them have a chance to react or call for back-up."
"Good idea, Milly. You go port-port then, Ferra get ready!"
Mileena vanished in a flare of pink energy and Ferra chortled to herself as she pulled out her beloved SMG: "Ooh, Ferra love this part."
She waited just a moment, just long enough to see Mileena taking cover behind a nearby rock past the truck, before she prepped her gun, aimed down and unleashed hell. The men down below never saw it coming as a flurry of bullets descended upon them, taking out two of them before the rest had even fully comprehended their position.
Ferra cackled manically as she unloaded bullets into the surprised and panicking gangsters, taking down a few more of them: "Me pop you! And me pop you! And me pop all of you!"
The survivors took refuge behind the truck, hoping to prepare a retaliation. One of them grabbed out his phone, intending to call form some back-up, just in time for a Sai to impale his head. The others shouted out in shock at another attacker, in time for Mileena to roll in and unloaded her pistol upon them, taking out the survivors. Recalling her Sai, she declared: "Rodeo, I'm going to hunt down for any runners. You secure the truck!"
"Okie-dokie!" Ferra giggled, hopping down from the roof and using her claws to carve her way down to the ground level. As Mileena teleported off, Ferra cheerfully checked over the corpses, making sure to stab a few of them just in case. Satisfied with her work, she summoned Torr to move in, the larger half of their bond soon driving up to their score.
As he got out of his seat, he rumbled a brief question to which his partner responded: "Milly gone clean up! No sneaky gang men left alive! Now we have all the bang-bangs for ourselves! Hee ha ha ha!"
Torr chuckled along with her before he started on unloading the crates from the truck, idly peeling one open to confirm that, yes, there was a plethora of nicely polished weapons waiting for them, alongside ammo, some attachments, all the good stuff. Yes, this would make for a nice take indeed.
As Torr stuffed crate after crate into the back of his truck, Ferra counted the rest of the load inside the gang's truck and muttered: "Not enough room for every bang-bang. What we do?"
"No worries there." The smooth voice of Mileena stated, as she came around the building and sauntered over to the duo, idly wiping the blood of her Sais. "When I take the truck to Squire, he can store the rest of them for you to pick up later."
Her diminutive friend perked up immediately, excitedly squealing: "Oooh, Milly do that for we? Milly is great! Okay, you take truck now, go go go, before sneaky gang men send more sneaky gang men!"
"As you say, Ferra. See you soon."
As the symbiotic pair hopped into their vehicle and made their escape, Mileena idly climbed into the cab of the truck, started it up and pulled off to the road. As she set off, she chuckled to herself over how easy this had been. To think, she'd gotten worried about messing with bigger and nastier enemies than herself, but here she was casually driving a truckload of stolen guns with nary a thing to be worried about.
Ferra/Torr weren't wrong to have their ambitions as just the three of them alone could be an effective invisible agent against other businesses, so to speak, and they were even greater when Skarlet came along. Mileena supposed she ought to get into that habit, that nice little mind-set of confidence in asserting oneself. She couldn't hide in Kotal's shadow forever. There had to come a point when she should attempt some kind of a comeback. Somehow.
There was always the risk, the risk of going too far and drawing in attention. But at the same time, the benefits of raising some greater business out here, her own faction even, might outweigh that fear. It was a 50/50 kind of thing, and she was still uncertain on which route she could take…
Well whatever, her drive was finished now. Squire's guy, in fact a nice young girl, was waiting by the chop shop, and as Mileena hopped out of the truck, she strode forward and snarked: "Wow. When my guy said you were bringing in a truck, I didn't think it was a gang vehicle stuffed with guns."
"I do what I do to survive." Mileena replied sweetly, idly looking the girl up and down. Attractive, certainly, and with a cool and professional demeanour to her. "Helping out friends in need, earning my keep, it's quite invigorating, actually."
"I'm sure it is. I can cover for redoing the truck and taking it to Squire, but he didn't say anything about the guns."
"It was just a favour I was hoping for. He can keep the truck, but my friends were after the guns. Could he pretty please hold onto them for my friends to pick up later?"
"Yeah sure, I guess. You've done pretty well for him, I've heard, so I imagine he'll be happy to accommodate."
"I should hope so, considering all the shameless animals I've put down for him." Mileena snorted, before turning from the conversation and preparing to start her trek back home. "See you later, pretty girl. Tell Squire thanks for helping me out with this."
"No worries. Thanks for getting him new metal."
Mileena waves goodbye and sets off as the girl preps the truck. She had a fair walk back, and a fair walk back meant plenty of time for thinking.
So then. Ten years, ten long years of hiding out, of making her ends meet no matter what and of lamenting the past. Exciting in some ways and dejecting in others. She had her opportunities, she had her regrets, she had friends and enemies, and she had a decision to make.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a silvery trinket shaped like a skull-like helmet; the last remnant she had of her beloved father. In a way, it was like carrying Shao Kahn himself in her pocket; he was dead, but his memory survived, burning through this metal like a demon not yet exorcised.
"Would you be proud, father?" She asked it softly, a question she's often asked to this little trinket. "Would you be proud of a daughter who's cowered in the desert for nearly a decade? Who's been hiding from Kotal like that coward of a sister? Doing nothing but working a strip club and stealing other people's shit in the night, never going further out of fear? Out of paranoia?"
She laughed dully: "Of course not. I'm a disgrace to your name. Kotal threw me into the wastes and I've done nothing to pay him back. Nothing to pay any of those treacherous freaks back. Nothing at all. You valued power of action above all else, you never backed down at all. And here I am, loitering in a trailer, whimpering like a neutered dog. Pathetic."
As she walks, she considers, and upon furthering considering, she mutters: "But maybe… I could try. Skarlet stands with me. Ferra/Torr have their ambitions. Squire has resources. Maybe if I… if I could muster my resolve, I could make something of this. I could do better. I could be better, and get my revenge. It's a long shot but… as the daughter of Kahn, am I not obligated to try? Ten years is a long time to wait. Hmm…"
It would be something to dwell on. She's dwelled on it many times, but at some point she had to truly decide; this life or an attempt on her enemies' lives? The decision set before, she needed an answer for it, a definite answer, a worthwhile answer, and soon.
Mileena chuckled dully to herself as she pocketed the trinket and walked down her lonely road.
Soon indeed.
Author's Notes: Alright then, there we go. A fun muse on the day in the life of an Edenian-Tarkatan hybrid foster-daughter of a ruthless warlord cast out of her riches and stuck in the wastes. Perhaps she may formulate a comeback yet, with her buddies Skarlet and Ferra-Torr at the side, but we'll see.
Few cameos around here, obviously Hotaru and a few others. See if you can spot them and guess who they might be.