Nothing Left

"Er, Stryker, your gun?"

He grabbed it and pointed it towards the stranger.

The man's tone was one of complete calm, he did not seem phased by the weapon being aimed at him.

"I have been searching for you, Kurtis Stryker".

Kara moved her hand on top of Stryker's and motioned for him to holster it.

Stryker did not back down though. She sighed.

"Well you found me! Who are you?"

Kara's hand became a little more forceful.

"He is no threat. I would tell you if he were".

She teleported away and appeared next to the man.

The man nodded to her, before responding.

"I am Nightwolf. Lord Raiden is gathering Earth's defenders. You are among them".

Kara shook his hand and introduced herself, before walking outside.

The SWAT man was completely clueless, and tried to piece this new information together with what had just occurred.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Nightwolf remained calm, and perfectly still. This slightly annoyed the still armed cop.

"Raiden leads Earth's defense against these Outworld invaders. He is our best hope for survival".

Stryker huffed and his hands subconsciously tightened on his gun.

"Yeah, well. "Earthrealm Defender" is about ten steps higher than my pay grade".

Nightwolf shook his head.

"I see you doubt yourself, even after your victories. Come".

Stryker realised that there was no point in having a stand off, well, a one sided stand off. And the city had gone to hell, so he just nodded, put his gun away and followed Nightwolf.

Meanwhile, Kara was outside, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

Raiden needed competent fighters, not incertitude, and incredulous ones.

The three met up outside, and Stryker had to do a double take.

The floor around where Kabal lay was charred and smoking, but he was no longer there.

There was no way he could have moved, not in that state. So where was he?

"What?"

He looked to Nightwolf, whose face moved slightly, to a look of concern.

"Where is he? Medevac hasn't been here".

Kara walked up beside him and smelt burning flesh. She wrinkled her nose and turned away.

The shaman had no idea who the cop was talking about, nor did Kara, but they were both more than a little worried now.

"Perhaps he has gone to find help".

Stryker felt the pit of anxiousness grow in his stomach when he thought of how Kabal looked.

"Naw. He was way too banged up. Someone took him".

After that, the atmosphere became tense, uncomfortable, and a heavily pregnant silence, seemingly never ending happened.

Kara dared to break the silence.

"Stryker, I am sorry about your friend, but we need to go. We cannot dawdle any longer. The tournament will begin shortly. If you need anything, show me where you live, and I shall create a portal for you to get there".

Stryker took out his PDA, which also contained a map, and directions to destinations. He typed in his address and the directions, and a picture came up on the screen. He showed it to Kara who closed her eyes, and focused on moving through the streets, with her mind.

Her hands moved up and created a portal, and sure enough, the cop could see his house through it. He stepped through with some degree of caution, but he threw that away and ran into his house.

After grabbing some clothes, and some more weapons, he was ready to come back through the portal, and travel to an unknown destination.

Raiden had created a portal which showed huge stone walls, and a large metal door at the far end of a long, stone path. He gestured for everyone to step through, and they did so.

Stryker lagged behind, as he was dragging his feet. Kara slowed down, which he mildly appreciated.

But in truth? He'd be better off being left alone.

"Just what the hell is going on here?"

Kara looked at him and there was no way she could hide the gravitas of his question on her face. She looked petrified.

"Well, in a nutshell...A sorcerer by the name of Shang Tsung runs a tournament called Mortal Kombat. It is where Earthrealm fighters battle against fighters from other realms. They are, Chaosrealm, Edenia, Netherrealm, here which is Outworld, and of course, Earthrealm. Outworld has nine consecutive victories against Earthrealm, and if they win again, then the emperor of Edenia, Shao Kahn, will rule over Earthrealm. And we do not want that. He is a vile, corrupt being. I will explain the rest later on, if you wish".

Stryker felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. His head felt like it would explode from the amount of knowledge.

Processing that, and what had happened was far too much for the cop.

He collapsed and his companions ran to his aid. They each picked him up and took an arm over their shoulder.

Kara felt his forehead and shook her head.

"No fever. I suppose this was all too much for him. We need to find the sleeping quarters, quickly".

She spotted the other kombatants following guards to a small cluster of buildings. She motioned to go over there and join them.

When they arrived at the room, Nightwolf and Kara put the still unconscious Stryker into one of the rooms. They put his belongings beside the bed, and lay him down.

Nightwolf left, and Kara healed some of the remaining bruises and scrapes.

She could feel the pain he was feeling, and he kept on seeing Kabal. He wished he could have done something, anything, to have stopped that from happening.

Even if he were loquacious, annoying and borderline rude, he still did not deserve to die like that.

But was he dead? His body would have been there if he was.

Someone had taken him, and that really pissed the cop off.

Whoever did that would pay.

Kara saw him whimper and she felt sorry for him. She put her hands above his head, and cleared it of the horrid images and thoughts, so he could sleep easier.

She left him, and went to get herself a room.

Kurtis hang on, just hang on in there...