Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Cyrax
Prologue
A masked warrior dressed in blue stands victorious over another masked fighter, clad in yellow. "For my brother!" he declares over his fallen rival. He is standing in the midst of a grand coliseum, surrounded by thousands of bloodthirsty spectators cheering his triumph. At the center of the circular arena, a towering man sits upon a grotesque throne and watches over the bloodshed. A skull helmet adorns his head and he is joined by a bearded man dressed in oriental robes, a pale man with red markings covering his bleached skin, and a woman wearing a blue two-piece outfit, her face covered by a mask.
The blue-garbed man prepares an icy blast to finish his opponent off for good when suddenly; five gray robots materialize out of thin air around him. They immediately paralyze the blue-clothed warrior, allowing the fighter in yellow to escape from the arena in a fiery plume. After he departs, two more mechanized individuals appear before the man on the throne, one yellow and one red.
"Who now interrupts the emperor's tournament?" the bearded man standing to the right of the throne demands of these mysterious intruders. Three more individuals arrive at this time; one wears a mask and is dressed similarly to the man in blue but bearing a gray color scheme with wisps of smoke emerging from his person, another wearing a large straw hat and dressed in white robes, and another wearing sunglasses with a large tattoo reading 'Johnny' across his chest. "Sub-Zero? No!" the masked man cries upon seeing his comrade surrounded by the metallic captors. He feels compelled to intervene and rescue his friend but the man in the straw hat immediately bars his way. "You cannot save him!" he says, sternly. "Stay here or they will take you too." The masked man looks on helplessly with a pained glare in his eyes.
The red machine responds to the bearded man's inquisition. "We request that we may return him to our temple for judgment," he tells the emperor and his entourage. The one referred to as 'the emperor' is clearly not easily impressed. "And what do I gain from granting this bold request?" he asks, almost insulted that someone would have the audacity to flatly make a request of the ruler of this domain. "The Lin Kuei's loyalty and service," the yellow robot replies humbly. "Very well, he is yours," the emperor says dismissively. The two robots bow respectfully. "No! I will not be turned!" the one called 'Sub-Zero' cries out defiantly, now aware of what fate awaits him and why these mechanized warriors have sought him out. However, he is powerless to resist his captors and the machines simultaneously vanish with Sub-Zero in tow.
Who or what are these machines? Who do they serve and what purpose did they have? They are in fact machinations of the 'Lin Kuei', an elite society of assassins. However, the Lin Kuei has not always been composed of mechanized operatives…
"I'm not in the mood to train in the midst of this storm," a dark-skinned man said as he looked out across the stormy skies pouring down rain. He stood under a temple awning on the second floor that overlooked the drenched temple courtyard. He was tossing a clear globe up and down as he spoke. His voice had a slight African accentuation. The man's clothes consisted of black robes with a yellow trim while his hair was dreadlocked and tied at the top with his yellow headband.
"Oh come on, Cyrax. You lack zeal!" the man standing with him said with some boast in his voice. He was wearing gray robes and his long, white hair flowed freely in the strong winds. "Training in conditions like this builds fortitude!"
"Maybe for you, Smoke, but the rain only serves as a distraction for me…" Cyrax said indifferently. "I can't concentrate well when water's constantly splashing in my face."
As they continued to banter, the heavy doors leading inside the temple swung open and two masked men walked through and approached Cyrax and Smoke. "Cyrax, the Grandmaster requests an audience," one of them said to Cyrax. "He has a mission for you."
Cyrax and Smoke exchanged glances of understanding. Smoke gestured with his head, encouraging Cyrax to give a positive response to the request. "I would be honored," Cyrax informed the messengers. "Inform the Grandmaster I will be there shortly." Cyrax bowed honorably towards the two messengers and they returned in kind before turning on their heels and reentering the temple.
"It's not often the Grandmaster confronts the clansmen directly to issue a mission," Smoke said once the two men had gone. "This must be a high profile client."
"Perhaps…but a mission is a mission…makes no difference who you're working for," Cyrax replied dutifully. "I'll see you at dinner, Smoke," he said as he left to attend his meeting.
Five minutes later, Cyrax found himself walking down a long hallway deep inside the temple, illuminated by flickering candles placed along the sides. The hallway was ornately decorated with complex sequins and gold trim lining the walls. He was being escorted by the two messengers from earlier. The trio reached the end of the hallway and stood before a large wooden door. Cyrax's escorts each pushed one side of the door open to grant him passage into the room beyond. Cyrax stepped through the doors and was standing inside a grand hall, facing a large throne. A red carpet was laid leading up to the throne, decorated with designs of dragons and tigers. Seated on the throne was a man dressed in black and red robes, the bottom half of his face covered with a red mask. To his left was another man with Asian features wearing black clothes with a red trim. His beard was groomed into a goatee and his black hair was tied into a topknot. All three men immediately dropped to their knees and lowered their heads.
"Grandmaster, we have brought Cyrax before you as requested," one of the escorts said, his eyes not making contact with the man on the throne.
"Thank you, your service is no longer needed," the Grandmaster replied from the throne. He dismissed the two escorts with a gesture from his hand and they stood up and exited the room. "Cyrax, at ease," he said to Cyrax. Cyrax stood up and placed his hands behind his back, facing the Grandmaster.
"It is an honor to be called before you, Grandmaster. What is the matter that brings me here?" he asked respectfully.
"Cyrax, you are one of our most skilled operatives. Your record is a paragon of accomplishment among your Lin Kuei brethren," the Grandmaster praised.
"I only act in service of the interests of the clan, Grandmaster," he replied modestly. "It is the clan that has bestowed much of this great craft unto me."
"Anyway, I trust you are familiar with my son," the Grandmaster continued. He gestured to the man standing at his left, who bowed towards Cyrax.
"Yes, Grandmaster, I am aware of your son's involvement with the clan," Cyrax said, glancing at the Grandmaster's son.
"We have received a client request and I would like to deploy you as a pair to complete the assignment," the Grandmaster said. "Sektor has already accepted the mission."
Cyrax paused and made eye contact the Grandmaster's son. "With all due respect, Grandmaster, I am usually paired with Tundra for most of my missions. I don't have any doubt in your son's field experience and capability but it is my understanding that he is more accustomed to working with Brother Lynen. It would be unwise to disrupt the closeness of the standard partnering."
"Yes, it is an understandable concern," the Grandmaster replied. "However both Tundra and Lynen are occupied with solo missions and the client has requested that this mission be carried out by a two-person cell. Due to the influence of this client, I would only want to deploy the most capable operatives I have at my disposal. That is why I have turned to you, Cyrax."
Cyrax contemplated the task asked of him briefly. "I have no further objections, Grandmaster," Cyrax responded after some thought. "I would be honored to work alongside Sektor if it is your will."
"Very well, you and Sektor shall deploy tomorrow night to the compound of Xi Shien," the Grandmaster said. "He is a secretive weapons dealer who operates with Europe and other areas of Asia. Our client is interested in a weapons system that he is developing and has requested we steal the blueprints for it. The Lin Kuei will provide you with schematics of the building for your infiltration."
Cyrax bowed towards the Grandmaster and then towards Sektor, who bowed in return. Cyrax turned around and left through the doors to the hall.
"Father, I still think it is not the best to pair me with someone so unfamiliar," Sektor said once Cyrax had left. "I don't trust that we will be…compatible…"
"We will let the mission decide that…" the Grandmaster said with finality.
(A/N: The title may only be temporary. I want the story to focus on Cyrax but as I envision it now, Sektor will have a large part in it as well. If eventually I feel like the story is falling too far away from Cyrax, I'll start thinking about a title change.
Technically, this story is supposed to take place in the new timeline started by Mortal Kombat (2011). However the fact that this is set before the tournament makes the point mostly moot since it's supposed to be everything onwards from MK1 that is different about the timeline. Still, there's some differences even before Raiden got his message from his future self that make this unique from the old timeline (such as the appearance of Kung Lao at the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament or, yes, Cyrax and Sektor's involvement prior to being transformed).
This story is meant to be my interpretation of the relationship between Cyrax and Sektor. The game doesn't really reveal how close they were before being transformed or how well they work together (since the first time they're seen interacting they're basically at each other's throats) so I'm going to make some of my own assumptions about how they viewed each other in this story.)