The cell Kitana was held in could have been worse, all things considered. Many holding cells in Shao Kahn's expansive dungeon were barely large enough to stand in. This one had room to move in. It was, she supposed, a luxury afforded to her as a Princess of Outworld, even one in significant trouble. There was a small, barred window, which overlooked one of her father's favorite features, the eloquently named Pit. It consisted simply of a narrow stone bridge spanning over a wide chasm filled mostly with large metal spikes. Here and there, paths had been left open in order for the Emperor's servants to clear out bodies, a necessity as it could become quite full. Dropping various kinds of offenders into the Pit was the Emperor's favorite method of execution.

While Kitana hadn't joined the party which had competed in the last Mortal Kombat tournament to be held in Earthrealm, she was told that the sorcerer Shang Tsung, one of Shao Kahn's most trusted emissaries, and the man who had orchestrated the long winning streak which had nearly won him Earthrealm itself, had included a smaller version of the Pit in his own fortress. Of course she had also been told that that fortress had collapsed into the ocean after the winning streak had been broken, only a few years ago.

"For once, I'm not jealous when you get a new room."

Kitana was shaken from her solitude by a woman dressed entirely in pink. She wore a skirt with long slits up both sides, a low cut top, and a veil which covered her mouth. In spite of how much of her body was on display, it was this veil which garnered the most attention. There were countless rumors as to why she wore it everywhere. Oddly, one of the most fantastical, and most frequently dismissed, was the truth, and in the presence of her sister, Mileena was happy to show it off.

She removed the veil after speaking. Kitana looked alarmed, not at the site, but at the fact that her sister had snuck into the prison so quietly. It wasn't generally her style. The mouth so frequently hidden was nothing new to her. Mileena's disturbing smile was wider than a normal person's, and full of massive, pointed teeth, displaying the bizarre secret of her creation.

"Nothing to say, sister?" Mileena taunted, pressing close to the door of Kitana's cell.

Kitana looked away. She had, for ages, tried to accept this thing that was made to share so much with her. Mileena was not a true "sister", sharing any true mutual parents. Rather, she had been created, with a drop of Kitana's blood and a strand of her hair, by Shang Tsung. She had been an ill-advised creation meant to placate the Tarkatans, one of many races conquered by Shao Kahn, and one of the deadliest. Mileena was what some would call a "clone" of Kitana, but the sharp mouth of a Tarkatan, and with the bloodlust that was so thoroughly associated with their warriors.

"Father says I can't follow along to see your execution. It's a shame," Mileena said. "I was hoping our eyes could meet right at the moment you were shoved into the Pit, but alas, you aren't even dying there. I suppose Father doesn't want to see your corpse rotting after the deed is done. He really is broken up about this, but you've just become such a troublemaker. He can't have people finding out that the princess has been cavorting about the ruins of an old realm with that old harlot that's been giving the emperor so much trouble."

"She is my mother, Mileena," Kitana muttered. "She was the Queen of Edenia, and later Empress of Outworld, albeit not by choice. And being my mother, she is still yours."

"She didn't birth me," Mileena said, sounding suddenly defensive. "And I have too many biological fathers to count. Then again, from what I've been told about Sindel, the same could probably be said for you."

Kitana growled, and clenched her fists.

"Ah, there's the anger," Mileena laughed. "You used to be so calm and level-headed. It really isn't a good sign when I'm the mature one."

Heavy footsteps signaled another person approaching. Mileena looked behind her.

"Another visitor! Come to help me scold our errant Princess, Baraka?" Mileena said, leaving the cell door.

"Shut up," Baraka snapped. "You shouldn't be down here, Mileena."

"I do love it when you get so aggressive." Mileena laughed again, and walked away.

Baraka slammed the door behind her, then approached Kitana's cell door. He glared inside, and crossed his arms. He kept his mouth shut tight, not showing off his teeth like Mileena. A true Tarkatan, Baraka resented his race's features being treated like marks of disfigurement.

"A lecture from you, too?" Kitana asked.

"I've been your bodyguard for a long time, Princess," Baraka said. "I'm supposed to keep you out of trouble. I don't appreciate you making that so difficult."

The Tarkatan warrior turned around and leaned his back against the door, his arms staying crossed.

Johnny Cage propped himself up on his hands and knees. He had been dropped off on a cold stone floor, and was trying, with limited success, not to vomit all over himself.

"I-" he sputtered out, before failing in his objective. "I really can't get used to that."

"A "thank you" would have worked," said the other person in the room. The voice sounded hollow, and the statement was followed by heavy breathing.

"Thanks, dude," Cage moaned. "I guess you didn't know that my ribcage was cracked when you grabbed me."

"Only two ribs are broken," said Cage's rescuer. "Nightwolf looked at you when I dropped you off."

"Wait, when did that happen?" Cage asked. "Because I really can't say I remember that."

"You've been unconscious for two hours. I brought you here, you whined a bit, and then the shock got to you."

"Kabal, where are we?" Cage asked of his rescuer. Kabal got up and helped Cage rest on his back. "Hell, where was I when you found me?"

"Technically, Kuatan, though we are a few miles above the city," Kabal answered. "The desert is a few miles from here. Everyone was separated when we passed through the portal, but you ended up the farthest away."

"So somebody screwed with the portal," Cage said, his voice lowering to a whisper as he felt a fresh stab of pain from his chest. "Raiden's got to be pissed."

"If you had arrived at the rendezvous point on time, you would have heard him warn us of the possibility," Kabal said.

"The rendezvous point was my house, dude. I didn't expect to be late." Through the discomfort, Cage forced a grin. "But Sonya was in the mood, and how could I say "no" to that?"

Kabal shook his head as he stood up.

"No, seriously, do you know what happens when you say "no" to her?" Cage asked. "Worse than Motaro. Where is she, anyway?"

"She's around," Kabal said. "She's been in and out. Now, if you don't mind, I need to speak to Liu Kang."

"Can't handle my greatness," Cage whispered. "Think you're so cool with your ponytail and your super-speed. Wish I could rock a ponytail like that."

Kabal took his place around the campfire, his turn checking on Cage finished.

"He's awake, if anyone cares," Kabal said, sitting down on a log. "And I know why he and Blade were late to the briefing when we left Earth."

Sonya Blade, sitting a few feet away, through a small rock at him.

"What did I miss?"

"I received a message from Raiden when we all reached the camp," said Liu Kang, a long-haired Chinese man standing up across from Kabal. "We'll be waiting for Sindel to find us here. Raiden expects her to find us shortly, though he insisted that she's waiting on something."

"We are going to sit here, in the middle of the home turf of a race of four-armed dragon-people, and wait for a thousand-year-old sorceress to feel like finding us?" asked another member of the group, Kurtis Stryker. He was sitting with his riot gear laid at his feet. He had made it a habit to bring it with him when he traveled with the Earthrealm Defenders. He also made it a habit of demanding they come up with a better name for their band of fighters, but nobody else seemed to care.

"I'm just saying," he started again, "somewhere beneath our feet are a bunch of big scary monsters which have tried to kill us multiple times."

"Raiden says this is where we're safe," Liu Kang answered, "then this is where we're safe. Now, it's late, and we all had a hard time finding this campsite."

"Except for me!" Stryker interjected.

"Except for Kurtis," Liu Kang groaned. "Can I suggest we all take the time to rest? I don't know how long we have to wait for Queen Sindel, but Stryker has a point. This is still dangerous territory."

After a few more minutes of idle chatter, the group from Earthrealm retired to the spots in their camp they had each claimed. Sonya Blade, the blonde, statuesque Special Forces agent, left to join Johnny Cage, her boyfriend since Raiden had begun assembling this group a few years prior. Liu Kang remained by the makeshift fire pit with his old friend Kung Lao, with whom he had trained in the Wu Shi Academy since adolescence, and Nightwolf, an American fighter descended from the Apache tribe. Stryker, along with Kabal and Jackson Briggs, once Sonya Blade's superior in their Special Forces unit, found spots by trees. Nobody saw where their last companion, the grey-clad ninja Smoke, had gone off to, but they were used to that from him.