Mortal Kombat X: Revisited
AN: Mortal Kombat and its various merchandise and tie-ins are owned by Netherrealm Studios and Warner Bros.
The sun's rays cast upon what are the ruined remains of New York City. Streets were filled with debris from damaged or completely destroyed buildings. Corpses of civilians strewn inside buildings and roads, with surviving first-responders carting off their own along with any civilians they can find while the New York National Guard and the various members of the United States Armed Forces try to restore order amongst the anarchic scene. Signs of Ninja Mime and Time Splitters completely defaced or toppled, claw marks over the mostly intact signs.
A green portal opens up next to where the helmet of an extraterrestrial warlord lies, cracked and covered in grime. The pale, white-skinned humanoid steps out of the portal and picks up the tattered mask. "Your plan worked to perfection, Lord Shinnok," spoke the man.
"Shao Kahn was blinded by rage," answered a energy-distorted humanoid wearing a hat that evokes the horns of a fallen angel. "How easily he was convinced that the Elder Gods would ignore his merging of the realms."
"Yet the Thunder God still lives," cautioned the pale man while his emotions were hidden by the black markings covering the skin around his eyes.
"No Matter," dismissed Shinnok, former Elder God turned dark lord of the Netherrealm. As he looked upon the ruins of the destroyed city, an evil smirk formed upon his withered face. "Neither Earthrealm nor Outworld can now withstand the NetherRealm's onslaught. It is time," his face looking out upon the ruined remains.
"Soon I will be free." Turning to the man he knew as his faithful subordinate and sorcerer, Quan Chi, his eyes glowed orange with malicious power and his face twisted with a smile that can only convey malevolence. "Earthrealm, and Outworld shall be ours!"
"And what of our new soldiers," Quan Chi asked, "what shall we do we do them?"
"Have the new recruits prepared for the coming invasion," Shinnok answered calmly, the evil grin even wider than before. "Do whatever is necessary to prove their service to me."
Quan Chi reciprocated the smile. "I know exactly who can gauge their readiness, Lord Shinnok."
As the two continued to watch the chaos of the ruined city, another figure watches from afar. Hidden in shadow, a metal clank can be heard occasionally as his tassle hits his helmet.
"How interesting, perhaps his plans can be used to my advantage…"
Thunder rumbles and echoes across the distorted remains of a church as a cage of lightning forms out of nowhere. More electricity forms inside the enlarged lightning structure before the lightning dissipated, revealing a man wearing a tattered suit and conical hat. His eyes glowed with lightning, yet his expression is somber and weary. Walking about the strewn corpses of both friend and foe he searches the battleground for survivors, one of particular importance.
His search isn't long, as he spots the battered frame of a robot. Parts of its frame were dented heavily, some parts completely shattered or malfunctioning. The bright yellow color of the frame has now faded into a dirt-smeared dull orange. And the visors where the eyes would normally be were completely cracked.
As the figure is about to pick up the battered robot, the sound of a missile being launched interrupts his action. The thunder god teleported to safety as the missile zooms past where his head was previously before detonating against a cracked portion of the church's pillar, blowing the middle portion of the column off. The figure reformed in the same spot, now facing the rocket's operator.
"Sektor," the man addressed the blood-red robot that stood mere feet away from him.
"You will not take Unit LK-4D4," the unit replied. "He is to be taken for maintenance and reprogramming. You will not interfere, thunder god or not."
"Your serious lack of judgment will cost you dearly," the thunder god spoke as his eyes went from sky blue to a navy hue as lightning coursed through his hands.
The red robotic frame rushed towards the thunder-wielding man, having leaped forwards for a jump kick. As his opponent warned him, his attack cost him dearly as the figure grabbed the automaton's attacking leg and coursed lightning into the entire frame. Thousands if not millions of volts surged through the frame's body; at one point, one would perchance see a glowing skeleton underneath the robot's armor. The attack no longer in play, the man drops the cyborg down onto the cracked floor and kicks the head of the now charred and malfunctional suit.
"Now Sektor, you have learned a valuable lesson: never cross me again," the figure warned. "If you wish to not heed my words, I'll be more than happy to remind you again. Next time however, you will address me as Lord Raiden." When he was sure the cyborg was deactivated, or at least unconscious, he picked up the dirty-orange robot and placed him on his shoulders. Raising his left hand, the cage of lightning builds up again completely engulfing the thunder god and his non-moving captive. In an explosive flash the lightning cage dissipates, with Raiden and the cyborg gone leaving only a charred and blackened spot of where he was standing the only evidence of his presence.
Deep in the bowels and caverns of the Netherrealm, a resurrection of sorts was taking place. As two figures, a gray armored ninja and a man with metal arms holds a blue cyborg's outstreched arms as the cyborg tries to break free.
"No, Smoke!" yelled the panicked cyborg as he continues to struggle in vain. "Why are you doing this?"
"Your friend belongs to the Netherrealm, I'm afraid," answered Quan Chi. "And so do you. Your soul is resilient, having survived the Cyber Initiative." His mouth then turned into a twisted smile. "My army needs resilient souls for the coming war."
As the sorcerer's hands glowed with a purple aura, the cyborg tried to break free once more. "I am not your slave!" His defiance rewarded him with being flung down on the hard, volcanic rock that makes up most of the Netherrealm.
"Of course you're not my slave, Sub-Zero," Quan Chi replied sarcastically, "You are my puppet! So, puppet, lets test the limits of your resilience."
As Quan Chi's aura around his hands went from purple to a yellowish-green hue, so did the aura around the cyborg's arms. "No! What are you do-"
"All that hardware is clumsy on you," Quan Chi sneered. "You can't trust technology all the time. As for me, I place my faith in tradition." As Quan Chi finished his taunt, Sub-Zero's cybernetic body exploded into countless parts of gore, machinery, and plastics. His hands going back to a purple aura, that same aura glowed around the various pieces of flesh that once made up Sub-Zero's human body. "Blood," Quan Chi chanted as the various pieces of Sub-Zero's body began to reform.
"...and sorcery," the Oni sorcerer finished as the magic aura began to replace whatever flesh and organs were taken from the cyromancer's body.
"Aw, much better," said the sorcerer as he looked upon his fine work. "Now, Kuai Liang. Tell me, whom do you serve?"
"Quan Chi," answered the cyromancer, no longer encased in the suit of metal, plastic, and circuitry. Instead, his remade nude fleshy body stood in front of the Oni sorcerer. His eyes glowed with a venomous orange, proving the necromancer's mind control worked.
"Good," Quan Chi sneered, as his already huge smug grin threatened to rip his cheeks apart. "Now, I have provided you with you with a new uniform. As soon as you are ready, you will wait with the rest of your compatriots. You are about to face your first trial of kombat in the Netherrealm."
"Yes, sorcerer," Sub-Zero compliantly answered as he walked off into the darkened chamber with his friend and a muscular black man with the spiky metal arms flanking him.
"Now, who is next?" As the next enslaved soul stood before him, Quan Chi's grin now reached the point where his mouth could easily be mistaken for a cutting line. "Ah, the Grand Champion of Mortal Kombat. I am gratefully honored by your presence."
"As am I, sorcerer," the Shaolin monk answered though his tone was more sarcastic and bitter.
"Now, now, Liu Kang," the sorcerer scolded, "it was Raiden who sent you here, not me, remember? He was the one who killed you because he wanted to see you suffer. But I promise you, champion. You will get your chance at vengeance against the thunder god."
As Quan Chi's hands began to glow a purple aura around them, the sorcerer continued. "And this time, you will have the love of your life to help you. Princess Kitana will assist you, along with all your other friends. And of course you have my troops to call upon should they…not succeed in their endeavors."
"Do not mock me or her, Quan Chi!" the fallen champion's spirit roared in anger, fists clenched and ready to uppercut the oni warlorck's jaw. "How dare you use us for your twisted plans!"
"No, no, Liu Kang," the sorcerer answered in the most blatantly smug manner possible, "now why would I do that?" As he blasted the monk's soul with the purple aura, flesh began to form on the spirit's legs.
"I'm simply trying to help give you back your body and dignity, don't you see?" Quan Chi taunted playfully. Liu Kang's arms, then his torso followed by his organs and skin. And when his head had finished reforming, his eyes glowered with the same hateful orange glow as Kuai Liang's.
After looking at his handiwork, sorcerer spoke again. "Now, Liu Kang, you and Princess Kitana are special. I do not need to use my magic as much on you and her, unlike your other friends. So long as you follow my orders, you will have your revenge against Raiden. Do we have a deal, young champion?"
Liu Kang took a minute of silence, still wary of the oni's intentions but intrigued by the proposition of getting justice against the god that sent them there.
"On that, we do," the monk finally agreed as his hand reached the ashy white sorcerer's hand to begrudgingly shake. "What is that you wish of me, master?"
"Go and get dressed," the sorcerer commanded. "Once you're done, you will wait with the rest of your friends in the chambers. All of you will face your first test in the Netherrealm…"
"Bring me, Baraka," the pink-clad wild-haired empress ordered. "NOW!"
As the spear-wielding soldiers hurriedly rushed out of the chamber to avoid her wrath, Milenna chuckled like a four year-old human child. "Ah, it is good to be the queen."
"Kahnum Milenna," a deep voice interrupted her reveling.
"What of our troops in Earthrealm, Ko'tal?"
"They are still retreating," the male figure answered, wearing his people's traditional warskirt and armored vest. "Earthrealm may have many nations, but since Shao Kahn's invasion many have come together into a common alliance. If I may, Empress, we should order a ceasefire with Earthrrealm's strongest nation an-"
"I will not hear of it again, my warchief," Milenna warned. "Raiden and the Elder Gods killed my father! They will pay and suffer because they killed Shao Kahn! Now, gather your people and head to Sun Do! They have yet to provide their quota of tributes."
"As you wish, Milenna Kahnum," Kotal answered begrudgingly as he walked away from the empress. As he walked further into the halls of the imperial palace of the late Shao Kahn, his anger grew and boiled over, not realizing he had smashed a pillar with his fist, cracking the exterior but not weakening the strong architecture. "I know you are there, Reptile. Show yourself."
On cue, the figure appeared next to him. Clad in a green garb covered in bones and skulls, the reptilian humanoid spoke. "I wasss s'afraid you would repeat your ceassse-fire to her again."
"She does not see reason, Syzoth," Kotal replied in a disconcerting tone. "She wishes to follow her 'daddy's footsteps.' A 'daddy' who only saw her created because she would be useful, not because he actually cared for her as a daughter!" Another crack had appeared on the same pillar as he withdrew his fist once more.
"If I may, Kotal, perhapsss I should go to Z'Unkahrah in your stead," Reptile suggested. "You have given your people great trust in me."
"No, the rebellion is not ready," Kotal warned. "We must gather up more support before we supplant her rule. However, Milenna wants me to head to Sun Do to gather more troops…Syzoth, go to the Wastelands and find Baraka first before Milenna's guards do. I have an idea…"
Reptile looked at his companion, wondering what the warrior in blue warpaint was up to. "As you wish, Kotal."
"Yes, sir. Will do, sir."
As she hung up the phone, First Lieutenant Sonya Blade looked half tired and completely frustrated. Since Outworld's invasion orders from all over her chain of command came raging in like a tsunami, many of those orders contradicting the previous ones she got before hanging up the phone only to answer the phone a second later.
If anything, the confused and sometimes angry orders from her superiors only served to re-enact the nightmares from last night…
"Sonya?"
"What is it," she barked at the voice, "can't you see I'm busy here?"
"Ray-dude's here," the voice answered with a distressed shrug.
As she pushed herself from her desk her chair wheeling further away, she looked to see Raiden and the origin of the male voice.
"Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade," Raiden greeted still holding Cyrax's limp form.
"Raiden," she greeted back. "I see you got Cyrax. Put him in the engineering bay for now, we'll do the de-programming there."
"Wait a minute, can't you just zap the chip out of him?" Johnny questioned. "I mean, you know, fry the chip until it no longer works?"
"Frying the chip may risk killing him since it requires a high voltage," Sonya answered in a stern professional tone. "We'll have to manually de-activate the chip and remove it from his cranium. There also might be some other slaving programming at work as well."
"Very well Sonya Blade," agreed Raiden, "I shall put him in the engineering bay and keep watch in case he activates again."
As soon as Raiden had teleported out of her office, the lieutenant sighed. "What if this doesn't work, what if we can't get Cyrax back?"
"We have to try, Sonya," Johnny answered, devoid of any flirtatious or cassanova behavior. "He's the only one we got now, besides us. And Kenshi, but he's kind of doing his own thing right now."
"Do you, do you ever get flashbacks?" Sonya suddenly spoke. "After everything's that happened, I mean. Everyone who was on our side is gone, possibly could be turned against us if Raiden was telling the truth about this Netherrealm."
"Truth be told, I do," Johnny answered her in a somber tone. "I just don't dwell on them much. Nothing that can be done about it really, just got to accept it and move on."
"I can't just 'not dwell on it and move on,' Carlton," Sonya snapped. "This was an actual war, and a lot of people died! How can you just 'go with it' like nothing happened?"
"Hey, I didn't mean that! I'm just saying-" Johnny moved out of the way from Sonya's right cross. "I'm just saying, that there's nothing that can be done to make them go away," he finished, anticipating another fist from the lieutenant. When none came, he relaxed his arms a bit. "All we can do is do what needs to be done, and if we can bring our friends back, then that's awesome! But if we can't, then the mourning can come after everything's fine and dandy."
Sonya absorbed that bit for a moment, amazed that Johnny could say something comforting without going into womanizing pervert mode. "You're right, there's still work to be done," she answered after a minute of thinking and silence. "Come on, you're gonna help me bring back Cyrax to his senses."
Johnny's sunglasses fell off his face. "Wait, what!?"
AN: Here I am again, trying to revitalize this fic, again. I'm really running out of steam for stuff like this: work, video games, and general apathy prevent me from actually wanting to write/type. But the more I thought about MKX's story and how convoluted and stupid it sounded, I figured why not give this another chance.
During my first attempt, several of my co-authors suggested to use OCs to expand MK's roster and worldbuilding. While I liked and entertained the idea, I feel now that it may step on the toes of some of the other MK characters that could fulfill those roles (looking at Fujin, Rain, Kintaro, and so on). I may still add OCs to make organizations that already exist in canon much more...complete and rounded, but for now I'm sticking with characters that exist within the franchise (barring guest characters of course).