Mortal Krisis: Earthrealm

by Scriptomancer

This is the first in a series of interconnected events which culminate in a cross-dimensional battle royale of epic proportions. Set after the events of Armageddon, it speculates what leads to the franchise reboot scheduled to be released in April.

Mortal Krisis

Prologue

After Edenian Armageddon. . .

Spirit Plane

Realm-between-realms

Blood. Shrieking. Cries of battle. Fallen warriors. Death.

The warfare was tumultuous, inescapable. Souls great and small fled mortal existence to the hereafter. Some went to the Heavens, but most were consumed by the ever-expanding maw of darkness which lead to the Nether-realm.

Nightwolf shivered. He had traversed that realm before he had attained ultimate shamanic power as a living ghost, and even though he was more powerful than any ancestor before him, he had no desire to return.

Death. Its stench was overpowering, the ephemeral stink of suffering and dying disturbing his thoughts.

Fragments. More battles transpiring in the horizon. Some before, some behind.

Future time. This battle, devastating and bloody, was small. Greater battles loomed ahead. And a final battle before. . . darkness.

Nightwolf gasped. This battle would transpire between realms! This was more than Mortal Kombat: it was a Mortal Krisis.

One year later. . .

Chamber of Assembly

The Heavens

Kang stood proud. The assembly of deities were at his back, seated amphitheater style, as he waited for the Elders to recognize him. They were as giant faces within a polygon, their differing faces a prism of colors. When lightning struck the dais before him, Kang flinched. He knew not the identity of this Elder God, though his lightning reminded him of his former mentor, Raiden, whom he had dragged here in pieces. For reasons not entirely known to him, Kang was given the blessing of the Elder Gods to replace Raiden as Protector of Earthrealm. He had come to give account for what had transpired in the year hence.

"Lord Kang," said the Elder. "Approach the dais."

Kang stepped forward and bowed his head. "My Honored Elder," he said, not knowing what else to say.

The Elder God paused, his gossamer face unreadable. He looked to the other incorporeal Elders around the dais before continuing. "For one year, you have taken the task of protecting the Earthrealm. A position we granted because the necessity of Mortal Kombat had been deemed a thing of the past after Armageddon's outcome and Outworld's dissolution into smaller realms with independent inhabitants . A tentative peace descended upon all realms with no claims from one realm against another. Recite for the divine assembly the events that unfurled under your watch and care which precipitated the present crisis."

Book One: Earthrealm Crisis

Temple of Elements

Nepal, Asia

Earthrealm

Lord Raiden, Protector of Earthrealm, knelt upon the craggy precipice which once housed a glorious temple, contemplating the events following Armageddon in Edenia. It had been more than a place of honor for Earthrealm gods, but a storehouse of the Elder Gods. Within were many artifacts of vast worth to greedy mortals and immense power to deities. It was upon this very summit he had cast down the fallen Elder God Shinnok who had slain gods and mortals alike in his attempt to claim Earthrealm as his own eons ago.

A familiar presence came to him, though it was not as he had last felt it. It had somehow changed.

"Greetings, Liu Kang," he said incorporeally as he reformed his position from kneeling to standing in a flash of light.

"It's just Kang now," said the former champion of Earthrealm. "'Liu' is a family name. You took that from me when you made me your abomination."

"You look none the worse for wear," Raiden said dryly. "Earthrealm is better for it."

"Is it?" Kang challenged.

"It is!" Raiden shouted. "No more do Tarkatan warriors pillage your holy ground! No armies of Oni or Shokan beleaguer your cities! Earthrealm has seen its last Outworld Extermination Squad."

"It is true that Outworld does not presently threaten to invade us," Kang conceded, folding his arms behind his bare back, emphasizing the cross guard breastplate across his chest. "But what about the internal threats within Earthrealm? You have ignored Sektor's Tekunin Clan which has invaded and slaughtered entire regions. You permitted Edenian dragons to subvert our peoples into criminal syndicates, and given the rash actions my formerly soulless body committed by your will, global instability has allowed for the return of the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon."

"Daegon is exiled within the Netherrealm," Raiden muttered, as if only giving Kang his partial attention. "The Red Dragon is headless."

"Is this your excuse?" Kang scoffed. "I wonder what you told the Saurians after the War in the Heavens destroyed their home in Earthrealm."

Raiden turned to face Kang for the first time, his red eyes lit with lightning. "I did what had to be done to stop Shinnok. An Elder God cannot rule within the realms—so it has been decreed since the beginning!"

"And from where did Shinnok get the idea of ruling Earthrealm, Raiden?"

"I know not," Raiden whispered, his empty eyes seeing images long faded by time.

"Surely greed did not grip his heart without cause!" Kang pressed.

"I know not!" Raiden seethed, the crimson light of his gaze leveling out as his eyes narrowed.

"Do not lie to me, thunder god!" Kang cast an accusing finger at Raiden. "It was you! You boasted of Earthrealm's splendor! You proposed the primordial rules of Mortal Kombat! Shinnok invaded Earthrealm by your invitation!"

"You dare question me?" Raiden said slowly, his voice pealing with thunder.

"Yet it has not been you who has paid the price," Kang continued as if he had not heard. "I know the original name of Outworld."

Raiden gasped, his mind seized with fret. "Zaterra," he whispered.

"Yes," Kang said. "When the Saurians fled Earthrealm, they settled in a small world that would have prospered them for eons. Yet their leader learned from your example, Raiden. Onaga the Dragon King took your rules of Mortal Kombat to other lesser realms—Vaeternus, Hinpar, Koria, Shokan, Centauria, scores of others—before he was struck down by the treachery of Shao Kahn, who then nearly finished what you started in the extinction of the Saurians before laying siege against Edenia."

"I have been fighting to redeem my actions ever since," Raiden said in dejection, his anger having turned to shame.

"You have been fighting for your own sake," Kang said with a tone of gentleness in his voice that had not been there before. "You are darkened; the Light of the Heavens does not shine on you. You must see this, old friend. Come with me. The Elders can purify you."

Raiden made a wary smile that slowly became a grimace. "And if I do not?"

The once brown eyes of Kang ignited with fire, his black hair a blazing inferno. "Then the teacher shall become the student."

"It is only for your past service to Earthrealm that I shall ignore your insolence," Raiden said as electricity began to crackle throughout his body. "Leave my mountain and do not return."

"Raiden," Kang pleaded, "do not bring it to this. Come willingly."

For a moment, it appeared Raiden was considering Kang's words, only to vanish. He appeared behind Kang and seized him.

"You may have stolen godly essence from that Edenian Elemental," Raiden sneered as he sent searing electric current through Kang, "but do not presume to overpower me yourself."

"That is a contest that shall await another day."

Raiden was distracted and so did not sense the arrival of another presence, but he could not mistake the immobilizing ice that soon encased him up to his neck. "Kuai Liang," he spat as venom.

The blue clad warrior chuckled coarsely, his bright blue eyes incandescent. "Addressing me by my mortal name does not free you of your bondage."

"I thank you, Sub-Zero," Kang said.

Sub-Zero nodded, his mouth a thin line. "What shall we do now?"

"That. . . I am not sure." Kang looked about. "I had hoped the gateway to the Heavens would be made known to us once we set foot upon this mountain."

Raiden laughed. "Fools! I defeated Shinnok himself! False gods are no threat to me! I will send you to the Netherrealm in pieces!"

The frozen boulder surrounding Raiden exploded in a cascade of icy shards as he disappeared. Sub-Zero halted the shards mid-air as Kang unleashed a fiery tornado that consumed them. With Raiden nowhere in sight, Kang and Sub-Zero turned back-to-back to ward off a certain counterattack. Raiden's war cry came from above, too quickly for either warrior to evade. The thunder god rammed his two former allies through the rock face, sending them careening down a dark crevice.

Kang became a living flame, casting light upon the depths to which they were falling and revealed the ruins of an inner sanctum. A clap of air marked where he vanished. Sub-Zero sighed against the darkness which enveloped him once more. He summoned a pillar of ice to rise up and catch him. From his vantage point, he saw a speck of fire appear in the distance near a bolt of lightning—Kang seemed to have located Raiden, or vice versa. Abandoning his pillar, Sub-Zero froze himself solid and shattered, the fragments hurtling themselves toward the distant elemental clash.

The air filled with fire as Kang launched a barrage of kicks and flaming punches against Raiden. The thunder god seemed to be everywhere at once, deflecting blows or evading them entirely, only to strike Kang's blind spots. Kang was a raging inferno, pressing his attacks, burning away the fabric along Raiden's forearms. Screaming curses from long dead languages, Raiden flew straight toward Kang's flaming torso. Upon impact, his body became an orb of lightning that exploded with an echoing thunder clap.

"The ingratitude!" Raiden bellowed as he kicked a prostrate Kang in the ribs. "I relinquished my Elder God status for you mortals!" He took Kang by the hair and chopped him across the temple. "I have done nothing but give of myself. You know nothing of the affairs of deities."

"I know that you are fallen," Kang said into the dusty marble floor near his face. With regathered resolve, he pushed himself from the ground and pirouetted on his shoulders, his feet a whirlwind of fire that knocked Raiden off his feet. The thunder god roared in anger as he unmade himself and was reformed standing upright. "You will have to do better than—"

A hailstorm of piercing ice shards ripped through Raiden like a shotgun blast. Sub-Zero reformed himself from the fragments and immediately froze Raiden's torso in a solid block of glacial ice.

Kang stood prepared for Raiden to move, but the thunder god appeared quite incapacitated. "I had him," Kang said.

"Of course," Sub-Zero said as the block of ice levitated to one side in a cloud of freezing mist. "I'll grab the legs."

Six months later. . .

Charred Mountain,

Krimson Forest, Southeast Asia

Earthrealm

The setting sun beat down upon the rocky cliffs, its red rays sapping the strength of the sole climber, its heat burning into his skin like laser beams. He would not give up. The heat of the rock face likewise singed his fingertips as he scaled the cliff as fast as his winded lungs would permit. Twice he had slipped and nearly fell to his death, but the top was within sight. He would not give up. When his fingers finally crested the edge of the cliff side, pebbles from overhead announced the footsteps of someone waiting for him.

"Looks like our fearless leader made it to the top."

"Outta' the way, mate," Kano said as he hauled himself up. He was greeted by six motley thugs. Rojak, a clansman whom Kano had rescued from Outworld, slapped him on the back. The next was Jarek, his dark and brooding protege, who had first supported his return to the Black Dragon.

In Kano's absence, it appeared that Kabal, though apparently disabled save for his breathing apparatus, had taken leadership of the syndicate. When Kano was transported by Taven, Edenia's protector god, back to Earthrealm after the Battle of Armageddon in Edenia, Jarek insisted that the only true leader of the Black Dragon had returned. However, Kabal would not be denied his due—it was he who had rebuilt the syndicate after the merciless manhunt conducted by both the Special Forces and Red Dragon had brought them down to nothing, while Kano had been off pursuing his fortunes in Outworld.

Kobra and Kira were loyal to Kabal, the only leader they had known, but Rojak, Jarek and the silent Tremor—a former Lin Kuei assassin—supported Kano as long-standing Black Dragon members, though they had been absent for some time themselves.

It was agreed upon that if Kano was to reclaim his rightful leadership, he would have to prove his worth. It was, after all, only due to his failure in the service of Shao Kahn and stumbling on Rojak that he had even returned to Earthrealm.

The Black Dragon members argued, fought one another, and swore profusely, but in the end it was decided that Kano would traverse the globe to take vengeance upon those who had waged war against the syndicate.

Mavado, the only remaining lieutenant of the Red Dragon, had returned to the desolated ruins of their compound. Having narrowly escaped the self-destructing fury of the dragon Caro which had virtually leveled the entire mountain, Mavado made his way to Edenia, only to watch his grandmaster, Daegon, son of the Edenian Protector God Argus, fall to the Forces of Light.

Being hunted by the Special Forces, Kano's sources claimed that Mavado had taken refuge in the only location he cared to revisit: Charred Mountain. The Black Dragon had descended upon the ruined fortress, ready to defeat an army. With no subordinates to aid him, Mavado was quickly captured. Kabal protested that Kano would not have succeeded without the aid of the others, a claim which Mavado ardently supported. The sole surviving member of the Red Dragon challenged Kano to battle at the summit of Charred Mountain.

Knowing Kano could not refuse, Kabal not only lead the way to the utility elevator, he insisted Kano find his own way to the top.

After the exhausting ordeal of climbing the mountainside, with dusk approaching, Kano bent over, catching his breath, taking in one and all. Tremor stood strongly, his eyes emotionless behind his Lin Kuei cowl. Jarek grinned wickedly, enjoying the occasion more than any man should. Kobra and Kira appeared confused, unsure of where their loyalties should lie. They continually looked for cues from Kabal, who stared straight at Kano from behind his face plate.

Mavado knelt in front of him, arms bound.

"Well?" Kabal said at last, his voice raspy and distorted through his respirator.

"I just climbed a bloody mountain," Kano gasped, standing upright for the first time. "Gimme' a minute, yeah?"

"You've already had one," Kabal said as he cut Mavado's bonds.

The Red Dragon agent leaped forward without hesitation. Deprived of his hookswords, Mavado shot past Rojak and closed in on Kano, spinning his fists and feet in windmill fashion, putting Kano off balance. A stomp of Mavado's foot exposed a switchblade in the heel of his boot. Unable to counter the series of blows, Kano received a gash across his forearm and shoulder. Mavado aimed his next kick for Kano's neck. He missed. The switchblade caught Kano's cheek, but broke off when it struck Kano's eye-plate.

Taking the opening, Kano seized Mavado's leg and dislocated it at the knee. Mavado grunted fiercely in pain, but managed to grip Kano's abdomen with his other leg as he somersaulted forward. Kano sailed through the air over his opponent, but landed in a tucked roll which brought him gracefully to his feet. Mavado, on the other hand, was balanced precariously on one foot.

"Come on!" he shouted at Kano.

The red-eyed Black Dragon sneered at his wounded foe. "What's wrong, eh? Got off on the wrong foot?"

Mavado snarled as he threw off his overcoat and flung it at Kano. Before it even reached the man, Mavado leaned onto his right hand, then his left, and swung his dead leg to the side as he brought his good leg straight down on the last position of Kano's head.

Before the foot could connect, a burning red laser beam cut through the coat and caught Mavado in the left elbow. It snapped at an unnatural angle, and this time Mavado let out a scream as he toppled onto his shoulder. Once more, he rose, clutching his nearly amputated arm to his chest, his face a mix of rage and suffering. Using his last reserves of strength, Mavado lunged into a savage yet weak roundhouse that missed Kano by several feet due to the flailing of his dead limbs. Kano began to laugh, but the switchblade sticking out of his shoulder turned his taunt into a cry of pain. Mavado smirked through his pain.

"Enough o' this!"

Enraged, Kano grabbed Mavado by the dark locks of his head and leered into his face. "My men say you're one heartless bastard." Kano plunged his fist deep into the man's chest. Mavado's mouth fell agape, but no scream would come. His face turned a pall gray as Kano ripped out his still-beating heart. "I say I make honest men out of 'em," Kano said, holding the organ over Mavado when the bested warrior dropped to his knees with eyes filled with surprise and agony. "Tell Daegon that Kano sent you." A swift knee to the face planted Mavado on the ground.

Turning to address his followers, Kano threw down the dead heart in the dirt and spread his arms in sweaty cheer. "Seems to me that our pesky Red Dragon nuisances are no more," he said.

"The Red Dragon wasn't our only enemy," Kabal challenged. "The Special Forces—"

"The Special Forces were manipulated by Daegon and Mavado," Kano interjected. "I heard 'em braggin' myself, and the proof is downside this here mountain."

"They still killed Black Dragon all the same," Kabal said. "Ain't that right, Jarek? Tremor?"

Neither men answered. Rojak's position couldn't be clearer.

"What about you, Kobra?" Kabal said, his cold, metal faceplate unable to mask the rising panic in his voice. "You have a vote as much as anyone. Sonya Blade and Jax Briggs must die, too, before Kano can claim leadership."

Kobra met the stern stares of the others. He looked at Mavado's corpse, then back at Kabal with a dark glint in his eye. "Didn't this guy take your number?"

Kabal jerked. "I have beaten him before."

"Not before he left you for dead. And after you caught up to him, you let him live," Kobra added. "And Kano killed him right quick after just climbing up a mountain." The cocky young fighter folded his arms and stepped back toward Kano.

Instead of replying, Kabal turned to Kira. "Kira, my first," Kabal said. "Call this bollocks for what it is! Are you going to let a man lead you who is too cowardly to assault those who have hunted us?"

Of all the others, Kira seemed best disposed toward Kabal's side. Yet after she studied the others, she spat on the ground. "If Kano is so weak, why don't you challenge him yourself?"

Jarek and Tremor shifted their bodyweight forward at that. Rojak snickered from behind Kano.

"Kira?" Kabal pleaded. "Kira!"

The spry assassin sauntered over to Kano and planted a resolute hand on her hip. "Sorry, sweetie."

The sight of Kano surrounded by the five most ruthless souls he had ever witnessed turned Kabal's stomach. They were his crew!

"Kill 'im."

Kobra and Kira looked at Kano in surprise, not believing what he had said. Jarek and Tremor, however, had taken their first steps before the words had cleared Kano's mouth. Jarek's lasso snapped through the air toward Kabal, but the exiled Black Dragon side-stepped in a blur. His hookswords snatched the lasso and pulled Jarek in the path of Tremor's fireball, which exploded near enough to them all that they were all momentarily blinded.

"Morons!" Kano shouted. The fact that he was still alive after Kabal's counterattack meant that the man had fled the scene.

Tremor recovered first. He looked at Kano and spoke for the first time. "Weak as he was, Kabal did have a point," said the former Lin Kuei. "Many of our numbers were killed by Major Briggs alone."

A smirk flashed across Kano's bloodied face. "Don't you worry about the major," he said smugly. "These days, he's singing a different tune."

Three months later. . .

Earthrealm Special Forces Forward Base

Outback, Southeastern Australia

Earthrealm

The holographic projector formed a 3-D image of Jax. Nude, the implants surrounding his arms extended across his midsection and pelvis before covering his legs from hip to sole. The top portion of his face was covered by a metallic visor that covered his forehead and crown. His square jaw protruded forcefully, off-setting the dark-lined visor that filtered his vision. After the holographic pixels assembled him, Jax sprang to life, grabbing other holographic images and tossing them about. Soldiers. None of them were left alive.

"As you can see, Lieutenant-Colonel Jaxon Briggs has defected to the Tekunin terrorists."

The holograms shut down. The long, athletic legs of Colonel Mikka Stone moved against her pressed skirt as she entered the debriefing room and stood at the head of the table.

"With all due respect, sir," Captain Sonya Blade said in a candidly disrespectful tone, "Colonel Briggs isn't in his right mind."

"Right," Stone said. "The Lieutenant-Colonel was brain-washed."

"But not irreparably!" Sonya shouted.

Stone held Sonya's gaze for a moment before speaking very quietly. "Major Blade, as the new commanding officer of the Earthrealm Special Forces Division, I must insist that you sit down so that the following orders I give are quite clear."

The room was dead silent until Sonya finally took her seat among her junior officers.

"Now," Stone said briskly, "given the nature of the Tekunin global assault, a defector the likes of Jackson Briggs is an immediate threat to our operations. Therefore, my express orders are that Briggs is to be shot on sight."

"The Special Forces Division doesn't issue kill-orders against fellow officers!" Sonya shouted as she jumped to her feet.

"You listen to me," Mikka said coldly as she leaned forward on the table. "If you don't believe your ears, then you play that footage one more time so you can believe your eyes: Jax is Tekunin. Respond accordingly."

Stone stood up straight and smoothed her uniform. "Now, recent reports show a rise in activity within known Tekunin production facilities." She tossed dossiers filled with pictures to Sonya and the three other officers. "The entire South Pacific is beyond our reach. Mainland China has taken heavy losses holding its line near Tibet, as with Russia to the north pushed back to Siberia. The Americans have pressed the flank from the Pacific, but the Tekunin fortification of the Japanese isles is iron-clad—this is honestly like World War II all over again."

"Or World War III live and in color," said Lieutenant Stryker, speaking up for the first time.

"Yes," Stone agreed. "Except that you may find war much different than urban police work."

"I was a United States Marine," Stryker shot back. "First to fight."

"I'm not here to discuss your ill-fated military career, Lieutenant," Stone said dismissively. "High Command has a mission of the highest importance. Major Blade shall lead a squad within the heart of Tekunin territory: Okinawa, Japan. Without any present civilian presence to speak of, a low-yield nuclear device will level the interior of the Tekunin's military-industrial complex and weaken their advance armies at the front lines."

"And just how are we supposed to penetrate that far into enemy territory?" Sonya asked. "My men are good, but that's just suicide."

"You will have inside help," Mikka replied evenly. "Local assets."

"What?" Sonya asked incredulously. "Who could possibly already be inside Tekunin territory that would be of any use for such an operation?"

The war room began to haze over, slowly at first, until the silhouette of an imposing man became clear through the murky air.

"Smoke," Sonya whispered. She turned to Mikka. "The Lin Kuei are our local assets?"

"Earthrealm Special Forces does not make use of criminal assassin guilds. Our local assets are farmers and refugees hiding within the forests and mountains of China." Mikka cleared her throat. "You have your orders. Move out."

At that moment. . .

Wu Shi Academy

Tibet, Asian continent

Earthrealm

In the midst of a sprawling rock garden suspended by great chains over a pool of water, those who thought to never meet again with the cause of Earthrealm's defense now nodded silent bows to one another.

"With the arrival of brother Kai, let us now declare the Elder Council of the White Lotus Society in session," said Johnny Cage, sporting a freshly shaven head. He was seated in a lotus position, eyes closed, humming to himself.

"You may open your eyes," said Shujinko. "Our meditation session ended an hour ago."

"Oh," Johnny said. "Very well." He leaned back and uncrossed his legs to sit on his haunches.

"Brothers, this is a grave time we have entered," said Nightwolf in his glowing form of a living ghost, "for the peace we thought to have achieved after vanquishing the Forces of Darkness in Edenia has proven to be an illusion."

"Tell the others what you have shared with me," Shujinko said.

Nightwolf nodded. "Mortal Kombat is transpiring now, as we speak, on an unknown scale."

"I don't see how it could be any worse than what we've faced up to this point," Kai put it, wearing a pensive scowl on his face.

"You defended Edenia from Shinnok's invasion, and you aided us in the Edenian Armageddon, triumphing both times," Nightwolf said, "but no one can be in more than one place at a time."

"Meaning. . . what precisely?" Kai asked, rubbing his chin.

"I have viewed but through a dark looking glass; the spirit world is not known for its clarity in matters of flesh and blood. What I do know is that the fragment realms of Outworld's dissolution are being consumed by wildfire."

"Wildfire," Johnny said cautiously. "Never heard of him."

"'Wildfire' isn't a person," Nightwolf snapped in exasperation. He sighed, exhaling ephemeral wisps from his phantasmal face. "The destruction I see in the spirit world is rampant, laying low entire realms."

"So someone wants to conquer all existence," Kai summarized. "I still do not see what is different from past conflicts. Point out where Earthrealm is affected, and we will settle this."

"Finally, you have arrived at the heart of the matter," Nightwolf said. "Earthrealm is to enter Mortal Kombat."

Kai's scowl deepened. "So be it." He assumed the lotus position while levitating mid-air. "I will await Lord Kang's summon." Kai vanished in a transcendental teleportation.

"Whoa!" Johnny blinked repeatedly.

"He did not hear the worst of it," Shujinko said.

"Shall I go after him?" Nightwolf said.

"No," Shujinko replied. "We have other allies who must be told; it is unjust to put their lives at risk for the impetulence of one."

"Seriously, did he just disappear?" Johnny asked.

"And when Lord Kang does not summon him?" Nightwolf asked, ignoring Johnny's outburst.

"Then he may very well be Earthrealm's last line of defense should we fail," Shujinko said gravely.

"When do I learn how to do that?" Johnny exclaimed.

Shujinko shook his head in frustration.

24 hours later. . .

Earthrealm Special Forces Aircraft Carrier, U.S.S. Kolombus

South of Taiwan, East China Sea

Earthrealm

Sonya stood at rapt attention in the map room of the carrier, studying the radar with a keen eye. Behind her with his feet propped on a console, Lieutenant Stryker folded his arms in uneasy acceptance. "I didn't think that this ninja could cloak a dinghy, much less an entire carrier."

Next to him an imposing warrior garbed in a gray and black cowl sat in a lotus position on the bulkhead floor. "Lin Kuei are not ninja," Smoke said, his voice gravelly and disembodied.

"Yeah, last I heard, you were a robot," Stryker quipped.

"Enough," Sonya said with a disapproving look to Stryker. She looked back at the radar screen. "Ensign, how close?"

"Fifty nautical miles," the ensign replied.

Sonya nodded. She turned to Stryker. "Get the squad prepped. We disembark within the hour."

"Aye, ma'am," Stryker said as he hurried to follow orders.

Sonya and Stryker sat across from one another in the narrow confines of the Special Forces submersible deployed from the Kolombus. On either side of them were a pair of commandos similarly facing one another. The six-man squad was traveling underwater from the Tekunin front line of Taiwan to the heart of Tekunin territory in Okinawa.

"Why didn't Smoke join us?" Stryker asked. "I thought he was supposed to see us safely to the island."

"He's all around us," Sonya replied. "He's doing what he can to disrupt the Tekunin minefield."

"So. . ." Stryker thought aloud, "is he human or what? When Shao Kahn invaded my city, this guy looked like Robocop."

"I don't know," Sonya said evenly. "I won't pretend to understand the Lin Kuei. I just know to accept their help when offered and then get out of their way."

"Evil ninja assassins aren't known for their charity," Stryker said with brow raised. "Should we really be working alongside them?"

Sonya glared at Stryker. "Sub-Zero has performed indispensable service to our world. Show him the respect you would show me."

"Word on the street is that Sub-Zero isn't leading the Lin Kuei anymore." Stryker looked away. "I hear some impostor iceman runs the show now."

"And where did you hear that?" Sonya asked.

Stryker shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Let's focus on the mission."

When the submersible reached the shore, the Special Forces squad disembarked, leaving their transportation underwater and swam to shore. As they removed their airtanks, Smoke took form on the beach.

"This is where I must take leave," the mysterious warrior said. "Tell your leaders that the Lin Kuei have fulfilled our end of the bargain."

Billowing smoke filled the air before dissipating in the wind. The Lin Kuei warrior was nowhere in sight.

"That was awkward," Stryker said. "Do you know what bargain he was talking about?"

"No," Sonya said grimly. "Let's move. Stryker, bring up the rear. We're late for our next rendezvous."

Trotting a few miles inland, the Special Forces squad teetered on the brink of exhaustion due to the jutting hills and unforgiving terrain. Long past nightfall, Stryker was the first to hazard a question.

"Major, we're long past our rendezvous point, aren't we?" he said as he trotted from the rear.

"Affirmative, Liutenant," Sonya said without slowing her pace.

"So our local assets ditched us?" Stryker continued.

"Affirmative," Sonya confirmed, her irritation mounting.

"Then perhaps we can stop for the night, or at least take a break," Stryker suggested. "The men are dogged out."

"We keep moving," she said resolutely.

"Listen, Sonya," Stryker said in a lower, personal tone so the others couldn't hear. "I don't like being in Ninja Borg Country anymore than you do, but if we kill ourselves before we even get to the strike point, then who will complete the mission then?"

"It's not about the mission!" Sonya barked. "Jax might only be a distant commanding officer to you, but he's my partner-my mentor. While there's still breath in my body, I will not abandon him to the twisted plans of the Tekunin."

"Sir," interrupted one of the soldiers. "We have hostiles at 9 o'clock."

Sonya signaled as Stryker and the rest of the squad took up defensive positions along the trail. After but a moment, the thrashing of the underbrush was impossible to miss.

"They have to be around here somewhere," said a familiar voice. Sonya grimaced. She gave the hand signal to hold fire. When the travelers came upon them, Sonya slid from her hiding spot in the trees into the trail. The man coming her way jumped back in a start.

"Whoa, babe!" Johnny Cage said, throwing his arms up in reflex. "Where did—I didn't even see you!"

"What are you doing here, Johnny?" Sonya said, her voice thick with forced irritation. Part of her always enjoyed the juvenile antics of America's Action Hero.

"We're on a mission," Johnny said. "The first objective was to find you."

"Wait, who's 'we'?" Stryker asked. "Looks like you're all alone."

"Looks can be deceiving," said an old man who appeared as if from nowhere.

"Holy God, where did he come from?" Stryker exclaimed as he leveled his weapon at the newcomer.

"Fellow Warriors of Light, meet Shujinko, High Elder of the White Lotus Society," Johnny said. "He will lead us into battle."

"Battle?" Sonya said. "We're on a classified mission against the Tekunin. While I appreciate your help—"

"I fear the greater picture has escaped you," Shujinko said. "The Tekunin are a dangerous foe, but they are not the threat."

"Are you kidding?" Stryker said. "They've knocked the joined militaries of the entire world on their collective asses. This suicide mission just shows how desperate we are."

"My boy, if the Tekunin levied the bulk of its force against you, then this world would already be mechanized," Shujinko said.

"Oh yeah?" Stryker said. "Then why haven't they already done it?"

"Because Sektor and his Tekunin have represented Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat," Shujinko explained.

"Who's attacking us now?" Sonya asked. "The Forces of Darkness were defeated once and for all in Edenia."

"You mistake my meaning," Shujinko said slowly, "if you presume me to say that Sektor is defending Earthrealm."

"Hold on," Stryker interjected. "Are you saying that Sektor declared Mortal Kombat against another realm in Earth's name?"

Shujinko offered a grave, wry smirk. "That is precisely what I mean."

"So if Sektor loses," Sonya began.

"Then the rules of Mortal Kombat mean that the victorious realm could come here to challenge us," Johnny said. "That can't happen. That's why, as much as we hate it, the White Lotus Society must back up the Tekunin. We can't let the battle reach Earth. Again."

"What the hell could Sektor be after to split his forces between two fronts—between two realms?" Sonya was nonplussed.

"In my travels, I have encountered many warriors throughout the realms, but none with the utter insanity of this mechanical despot," Shujinko said. "I do not know what promise the realm of Zaterra holds for Tekunin interests, but that is where we must now go."

"Supposing you are correct, how are we supposed to get there? We're several clicks inside Okinawa," Sonya said.

"Transport has been already arranged," Shujinko said. Floodlights filled the forest, temporarily blinding the Special Forces squad. A grating, mechanized voice descended from the Tekunin aircraft hovering overhead.

"Surrender your weapons and you will not be harmed," it said as four other Tekunin warships took up flanking positions.

"You!" Stryker said, leveling his gun at Shujinko. "You betrayed us! I'll—"

Shujinko placed his hand on the muzzle of Stryker's assault rifle and froze it solid. Stryker threw down the useless weapon. "The rest of you had better follow suit," the old man said.

In contrast to Stryker's outburst, Sonya's rage burned low and cool. She stared at Johnny in stunned disappointment.

"It's not what you think," Cage insisted.

Sonya shook her head, not buying it. "Anyone but you, Johnny." She wiped what may have been tears from her eyes.

"They will use force," Shujinko warned. "After the failure they had in peacefully rendezvousing with your other team several hours ago, I narrowly succeeded in persuading them to permit us to speak with you first. Come, all will be well."

"No." Sonya was livid. Irrational. "I will not. I will not allow this!" Her hand slowly reached around her hip to the sidearm holstered at the small of her back.

"If you do not surrender your weapons, you will die. We need you—Earthrealm needs you," Shujinko urged.

"I will not allow this!" Sonya screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Enough of this!" A booming voice bellowed from their midst as a glowing apparition took form. "You cannot imagine the strain I require to take form here during my observations in the spirit world, so understand that what I say is of the utmost importance."

"Nightwolf," Stryker said with alarm. "Are you. . . dead?"

"I am a living ghost," Nightwolf said. "I live in the spirit world that exists between realms, and it is I who first saw the events that are now unfolding."

"Wildfire," Johnny caged intoned ominously.

"Silence!" Nightwolf roared at Johnny. "I have told you many times to stop saying that word." He turned back to Sonya. "Sektor has made alliances that extend beyond my sight, but they are all evil. I will advise you as I advised the White Lotus: Unless the Forces of Light win Mortal Kombat, then all realms will become shrouded in darkness."

Conflict filled Sonya's face. After a moment's deliberation, she threw down her weapon belt and looked at Shujinko. "Fine. We'll come with you. But I hold you personally responsible, old man, for any doublecrosses."

"So much for this," Stryker said, dropping the nuclear device to the ground.

At that moment. . .

Chicago, North Side

United States of America, North American Continent

Earthrealm

The sparring ring rumbled after hours as the master trained his star pupil. A master of many arts, including Snake, Crane, and telekinesis, the warrior known as Mokap continued his life as if he had never traversed realms and waged epic battles against the forces of evil. Perhaps this denial was the reason for the lapse in vigilance which lead to the hell which broke loose in his humble dojo that day. Had he been more aware, perhaps destiny would have passed him by. Alas, that is not the story of Mokap, for he has an innate gift that fate could not ignore.

"Good one, Daniel," Mokap said, praising his student's technique. "Again."

Creeping along the ceiling, camoflagued against the drywall, barely visible to the naked eye, it struck.

Mokap gasped in horror as his student's head was ripped from his shoulders and lassoed up to the ceiling, where a hideous beast swallowed it whole. He externalized his terror and wrapped it around the monstrosity, slamming it through the ring. The monster hissed, jumped to its feet, and began slashing its claws toward Mokap.

The master of many arts never stood a chance. Mokap was quickly backed into a corner, wherein he simply vanished, the words, "Oh not again," on his lips.

The Saurian assailant looked to and fro for the human he had come to assassinate, but his search was interrupted by an explosion of fire.

"Accursed Saurians!" Lord Kang said as he held the invader in a merciless grip of fire. "You're the fifth one today." He noted an odd symbol on the Saurian's cowl. Must be a clan leader or some such. "One Chameleon or another makes no difference," Kang said. "The rules are broken—so be it." Lord Kang reduced it to cinder and ash.

A nearby disturbance drew his godly attention.

At that moment on a nearby rooftop. . .

"We've chased you across the globe, Kabal," said Jarek. He and Rojak had caught up with Kabal, and rather than wait for reinforcements, decided to engage. "There's nowhere you can run, nowhere to hide. The Black Dragon will kill you."

"What did you ever have against me, Jarek?" Kabal asked through his respirator. "I don't know what I did to earn your hatred, but hear me: if you attack, I will defend myself."

Rojak, Kano's lackey whom he saved from Outworld, made a sneak attack against Kabal. The masked warrior whirled about in an instant, his outstretched hooksword in hand. The seedy grin from Rojak's face turned red as blood trickled from his mouth. Slowly, almost reluctantly, his left shoulder began to slide away from his body, taking his paled head with it.

The respirator faceplate amplified the sound of Kabal's sigh. "Couldn't say I didn't give fair warning," he said. He looked once more to Jarek. "Go. Leave this place."

Jarek shook his head. "Rojak was a ponce. Never much cared for him, either. But he was Black Dragon. You've just sealed your fate, bru."

Dispensing with words, the two warriors rushed toward the center of the rooftop. Jarek's rope was in the air, swinging to and fro as the tall, dark man wrapped it about his limbs. When Kabal rushed him, Jarek released his rope in a wide arc that caught Kabal around the legs. The loop swung back around which Jarek caught in the crook of his elbow. Swinging it around his neck, Jarek pulled the leverage he had made and yanked Kabal off his feet. The masked man fell to the ground and lost his grip one one of his hookswords. Jarek wasted no time, and hopped onto Kabal's chest, pressing his knee into the man's ribs as he pulled a blade from his boot and spun it in the air to position it for a brutal stab. Kabal blocked the attack with his remaining hooksword, though Jarek's dagger became entangled on the hilt's prong.

The two kombatants wrestled with their blades, attempting to regain control of their weapons. Kabal grunted in frustration and threw his weight back while kicking his legs up, a maneuver which sent Jarek flying head over heels. Up on his feet in an instant, Kabal rushed faster than seemed possible to Jarek's prone form. Before Jarek could regain his feet, Kabal was on top of him, pressing his knee into Jarek's left kidney while impaling his right one with his hooksword. Jarek roared in pain, his rage fueled by the savage wound. He elbowed Kabal in the mask, cracking his elbow but knocking the faceplate loose. Kabal's scarred face was exposed, his split jawbone exposing his trachea to open air. A grotesque wheezing sound gurgled from Kabal's throat as the man fought desperately for air.

"Poor bastard," Jarek said as gritted his teeth, his face sweaty and cold from the blood loss. "Think I'll finish the job." A flick of his wrist produced a garrote of razor thin wire that was affixed to his arm with a wooden dowel on the free end. As smooth as silk, Jarek slid the wire over Kabal's head and pulled. A metallic clang met his ears as he realized Kabal's faceplate had not fully dislodged itself. Though it was not enough force to cut the wire straight through Kabal's flesh to his spine, Jarek knew that his opponent's weak windpipe could not hold up as well as a healthy trachea could, for even under circumstances a garrote was almost instantaneously lethal.

Kabal gasped and wheezed, unable to catch a breath. It would not take long for his brain to begin shutting down, for asphyxiation to set in. All he could hope for was Jarek's strength to wane as his internal bleeding intensified.

Coldness first set into Jarek's fingers, which numbly held their grip on the dowl. The certainty that he was going to die from bloodloss floated somewhere outside of Jarek's mind; the only thing that mattered was securing the strangulation of Kabal before his own life slipped away.

His armed began shaking under the strain of keeping the grip. Kabal's wrestling under the garrote was draining him. Jarek swore. His vision blurred. Just. . . a few. . . more. . . seconds.

When the grip slackened, Kabal pushed the cold, sweaty dying man off of him. Jarek moaned weakly, but put up no resistance. After coughing and hacking enough to dislocate a lung, Kabal finally replaced his mask over his face. After breathing deeply several times, Kabal looked over at Jarek. The corpse was already stiffening.

Victorious yet shaken, Kabal stumbled across the rooftop to retrieve his hookswords. After wiping them clean, he replaced them in the notches on his respirator pack.

"Those were the closest things I had to mates," said a dreary voice from across the rooftop. Kabal exhaled in incredulous disbelief. He turned to face the next challenger.

"I gave them fair warning," Kabal said, "not that I expect you to understand the meaning of such a concept, Kano."

The balding butcher's grin was offset by his unblinking, crimson cybernetic eye. "Why do you think I didn't just have them kill you where you stand?" he asked, pointing to Kira, Kobra, and Tremor taking position around Kabal.

"Listen, Kano," Kabal said, "I put no challenge to you; lead the damned organization, do whatever you want. I want no part in it now. How many men will you lose before you decide to move on with whatever you plan to do?"

Kano paused. "I, well. . ."

"Is that it?" Kabal said, gaining confidence. "This was your plan? Hunting me down like a dog? No grand caper? No ultimate heist? Maybe you can hold your own in a fight, but it sure looks like you've lost your mettle in other ways."

Kano's face turned as red as his eye. "Now you die!" he shouted, his wrath overcoming his humiliation. In a reflex that was quick as a bolt, Kano sent two butterfly knives in symmetrical, parallel trajectories spinning straight toward Kabal's heart.

An ignition of flame caught them in mid-flight, deflecting them harmlessly to the ground. "That's enough with you killing each other," said Lord Kang. "Your realm needs you."

Kira and Kobra jumped back in amazement, neither fleeing nor choosing to attack. Tremor stood impassively, waiting for Lord Kang to make the first move.

"What the blazes do you mean?" Kano said hesitantly, unsure of the recent developments in front of him.

"Blazes is right," Kang said. "The barrier between realms is weak, allowing for invading enemies to sneak past my gaze. I have been roaming to and fro searching them out and hunting them down. This is a losing war, for I am unable to stop the breach at its source—the Netherrealm."

"What makes you think we're going to help you?" Kano spat.

"Whether or not you choose to aid your realm is irrelevant to the fact that you all will descend to the Netherrealm this day. You may go there willingly under my blessing to close the breach, or you will suffer and die, right now, and your souls will find their torment with no hope of redemption."

"Why us?" Kabal asked, his voice even raspier due to being out of breath.

"You're evil," Kang said simply. "Pure souls cannot enter the Netherrealm, though an ally has recently made the attempt and failed. I shall send you five to the depths, and there you will fulfill a mission whose success will mean the salvation of Earthrealm as well as pardons for your crimes."

The five heartless criminals shot glares at one another, as if it was the failing of one or another among the Black Dragon which lead them to this ultimatum.

"It's not as if we have a choice," Kano said reluctantly, angrily. "We'll do it."

"Of course you had a choice," Kang said. "You have chosen wisely."

A maelstrom of fire became a swirling tempest in an endless spiral, a dark and foreboding portal to the darkest depths.

"After you," Kabal muttered to his reluctant companions.

One week later. . .

City Outskirts

Oasis

High Plain, Zaterra

After the unexpected meeting in the deep forests of Okinawa, Major Sonya Blade had committed her squad to Mortal Kombat. Her original mission had been to deliver a nuclear payload to the heart of the Tekunin military industrial complex—a mission she still considered doomed to failure—when two elders of the White Lotus Society had met them as ambassadors of the Tekunin. It seemed that Sektor was dissatisfied with unleashing his cyborg armies against the world, and so had invoked Mortal Kombat against Zaterra. Thus far, it appeared that the actual tournament on which the challenge was predicated had not taken place, thus rendering the dimensional barrier weakened. As a result, Tekunin foot soldiers and Saurian marauders had begun invading realms rather than actually fighting each other.

The time had come for the tournament, however. The remaining Earthrealm warriors remaining from the joint Special Forces task force, Tekunin warband, and White Lotus fellowship were few; the brother monks of the Shaolin, the Tekunin cyber-ninja, and the remainder of Sonya's squad had fallen in the tournament. After several days of fighting, Shujinko, Sonya, Stryker, and Cage alone survived, along with Grandmaster Sektor and his champion, Jax.

Zaterra's prime defender was its emperor: Onaga, founder and former emperor of Outworld before being struck down by Shao Kahn's treachery in ancient antiquity and resurrected in recent times by the Saurian remnant in Outworld. After his defeat by the Forces of Light, Onaga conceded and retreated to his original, humble beginnings within the ramshackle mud huts of Oasis, the one and only settlement in the all but barren realm of Zaterra.

Sonya found the resemblance to Outworld uncanny. She had been imprisoned there by Shang Tsung after the first tournament she had entered. It was also from where Johnny had rescued her, though it had cost him his life, earning a reluctant place in her steeled heart. After looking at it that way, Sonya marveled at just how many individuals she had met in her life who had suffered violent deaths only to return to life—herself included, as she had been killed and resurrected as Onaga's one-time puppet. She still did not recall precisely how that mess had been resolved.

The Saurian Matriarch had just given a speech in a language Sonya did not understand. With Earthrealm's remaining warriors on one side of the simple sand-filled arena and the Saurians on the other, the two kombatants stepped forward.

Jax was confident, his hulking mass brimming with muscular power and cybernetic finesse. Stepping forward into the arena, he placed his hands at the ready, poising himself for action.

If Jax was imposing, then Onaga was sheer intimidation live and in color. His wings fluttered as he swaggered into the arena, his stone gargoyle demeanor rippling with intent. Narrowed eyes met Jax's as a growl grunted from his wide mouth.

"The following match is to the death," said the Matriarch in slippery, broken English. "In the interest of finality and the saving of lives, as Matriarch of the Saurian civilization, I submit the challenge that this match shall decide the outcome of the tournament. Do the challengers agree?"

All eyes fell to Sektor who stood cowardly behind his Earthrealm cohort. The grandmaster eyed his champion cautiously, then studied Onaga. "Agreed," he said flatly.

Jax smirked beneath his visor. When the Matriarch stepped back and declared the start of the battle, Onaga leapt at Jax with snarling tenacity. In a swift, almost casual motion, Jax extended his arm which extended in a telescopic motion. His hand had molded together into a functional spearhead of sorts which caught Onaga through the chest in mid air. Hydraulic whining came from Jax's torso as servomechanisms struggled to prop up the enormous Dragon King. Holding his prey firmly in position, Jax's free arm metamorphosed into a short barrel .50 caliber machine gun. Ammunition poured out from the barking muzzle like sand through a sieve, shredding Onaga limb from limb. When just a mangled torso remained, Jax knelt down, cocked his hydraulic spear-arm down to his side, and lowered his head as the metal shaft dislodged itself in an explosive clap. Jax let his stubbed metal arm hang freely to his side as Onaga was carried high into the air on the single-use surface-to-air rocket that had once been Jax's right forearm. An explosion rocked the air high above as green and purple mist descended in a putrid rain. Onaga the Dragon King was no more.

The Saurian Matriarch bowed her head. "So it is," she said. She looked up, her reptilian eyes watering behind her veil. "In truth, our people have had little hope regardless of the outcome. Onaga was mad, though not in the beginning. His lust for conquest was born from the tragedy our people suffered in time immemorial to all but our eldest. When he was returned to us from beyond the grave, I had hoped he would take a new lease on life, but such was not the case. Having grown too cowardly to fight other realms, he instead renewed his tyranny upon his own people. We were tormented—until the cold men came." She indicated Sektor. "They challenged him to Mortal Kombat, seeing the utter weakness to which Onaga had brought us. With no other choice, Onaga accepted. It is in this light which I know make this pledge to Earthrealm: the Saurians shall not resist the merging of the realms, and once they are merged will not bring death to your people, if you pledge to receive us as free subjects. Earthrealm, after all, was our original home."

"I reject," Sektor said abruptly.

"And as a sign of our peace," the Matriarch continued, ignoring Sektor, "as Matriarch of the Saurians, even as your champion has taken the head of our leader, I ask only that my personal champion shall take the head of yours."

"Agreed!" Shujinko shouted before the words were out of her mouth.

Sektor was naturally defiant. "No! I am the champion! You can't interfere with the rules of Mortal Kombat!"

The few remaining Tekunin warriors rushed to his defense, but they were no match for the combined might of the White Lotus and the Special Forces. In but a moment, Sektor was alone, pinned to the ground, bent near in half by his very own champion.

"You turn on your master?" Sektor wheezed, his limbs and components twitching due to neurocybernetic misfires.

"You were never my master," Jax said, ripping off his implanted visor. Save for the torn skin on parts of his bald dome, he looked none the worse for wear. "At least not for long. Did you think your tech was beyond defect? I gave myself these before you even got hold of me," he said, raising his arm and a half in triumph. "I freed myself before we even came here; that's why I talked you into delaying the tournament. You saw the benefits of representing Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat as insurance that Lord Kang wouldn't destroy you himself, but I was just buying time until I could get a message to Command HQ. Looks like it was received." He looked at Sonya with a mix of shame and quiet pride.

"That was a dangerous game you played," Sonya said lowly in disbelief.

"Yeah, but it worked," Jax replied.

"Colonel Stone sent us to Okinawa with a nuke," Stryker put in. "We could have killed you."

Jax scowled. He offered a hesitant chuckle. "Well, looks like that wasn't in the cards." He turned back to Sektor, whom he had pinned to the ground with his iron boot. "Now it's time we finish this."

"I believe the Matriarch's terms were that her champion dispatch our 'leader'," Shujinko interjected, perhaps with a tone of amusement. A reptilian warrior in green garb approached, his eyes solemn, his flailing tongue vicious.

"Ah. Right." Jax tossed Sektor like a broken toy into the midst of the arena, where Reptile, the champion and consort to his Matriarch, rained corrosive acid on Sektor's metal casing.

Even Jax had to turn away at what happened next.

Present day. . .

Chamber of Assembly

The Heavens

With his account concluded, Kang stepped back from the dais and lowered his head, awaiting the word of his elders.

The representative Elder God turned to the giant faces on the dais, their discussion transcending communication into a harmony of emotive expression. After a moment of apparent deliberation, the corporeal elder turned back to Kang and the great assembly of deities.

"Kang, Lord Protector of Earthrealm, the Elder Council has given witness to your testimony. The following account shall be entered into the Record of the Heavens: Lord Kang interfered with the internal affairs of Earthrealm; Lord Kang failed to prevent the challenge of Mortal Kombat that Earthrealm levied against another realm; Lord Kang failed to prevent the merging of Zaterra with Earthrealm; Lord Kang personally commissioned a group of Earthrealm warriors to invade the Netherrealm, further destabilizing the barrier We had placed upon the infernal realm.

"Our deliberations agree that you have failed in your appointed task, Lord Kang, but our judgment is suspended until the conclusion of divine testimonies."

Kang swallowed. "It is with regret that my companion deity, Sub-Zero, was lost to Earthrealm when he attempted to remedy the Netherrealm breach himself. It was for this reason I commissioned the Black Dragon as I did."

The Elder representative extended his palm, casting Kang back into the assembly. "It was not any deities from Earthrealm that We summon to the dais. The Elder Council now calls the protector of the realm of Hinpar to give account of how the great krisis begun in Earthrealm has descended upon his fledgling realm."

Timorous yet ired, Bo' Rai Cho stepped forward from among his fellow deities. "Honored Elders, hear me today, for my tale is a dark one."