Back to Death's Threshold
Abbott Penn, North Yard
Torque left the E-Block and went back to the North Yard. He readied his tommy-gun and looked around for more clues. Immediately, the clanking sounds of those slayers came down from the wall. Quickly, he ran backwards with his tommy-gun aimed at the wall. Torque pulled the trigger and opened fire as a trail of bullets hit the wall.
Few slayers were knocked down. But soon they got back to their feet. They ran faster and faster at Torque, who took off the empty magazine and quickly placed another magazine in its place. One slayer lunged at Torque, who aimed the barrel of the tommy-gun point blank. Without wincing, Torque pulled the trigger sending bullets through the slayer's head as it splattered into pieces. He continued through the North Yard while taking out the other slayers.
This was totally unreal. Torque started to get visions in his head. They were very horrific visions. It seemed that these visions were puzzles to an age old story. He continued back through the North Yard and back towards the Death House. Torque noticed another dead CO. His head was sliced clean off from the neck. He held a tommy-gun in his hand.
Without a moment's hesitation, Torque took the weapon from the guard. This time, Torque was holding two tommy-guns. At that moment, two inmates ran out from the Death House. They were in the typical yellow prison suits. Both of them were African-American.
"Kill them niggers..." said a voice in Torque's head.
"No, they can help you... Let them live," said a woman's voice. To Torque, the voice sounded very familiar. Torque was placed the tommy-guns down while massaging his temples. He popped in another Xombium pill to make the pain go away.
"Uhhhh..." Torque groaned.
"Yo, it's the man!"
"That you Torque?"
Torque remained silent. The 2 inmates approached. Afterwards, Torque picked up both the tommy-guns.
"Damn, I knew you'd make it out alive."
"This place is crazier than a motherfucker. Shit... They conducted all sorts of shit on the others..." said the other inmate.
"We need to get out of here," said the first one.
"Follow me," said the second one. The two inmates ran back towards E-Block. It was a bitch going back through the North Yard. More of those slayers came to attack. The 2 inmates took to the hiding as Torque effortlessly dispatched them with the tommy-guns.
"Damn..."
"That was some serious shit, Torque."
"C'mon," said the 2nd inmate as he climbed up the ladder. Both Torque and the other inmate quickly followed. In a matter of minutes, they were back to the entrance to E-Block.
"Back to E-Block?"
"Yeah... E-Block's full of those creepies... I have a bad feeling about this," said the 2nd inmate.
"You're gonna take point, right?" the 1st inmate asked Torque.
Torque remained silent as he kicked open the door to E-Block. The 3 of them proceeded back inside.
Abbott Penn, E-Block
The 3 of them went back inside. They looked around the cell-block once again. Same scene. Several dead people laying around. Including the ones that were killed by Shang Tsung. One of them decided to inspect a puddle of blood.
"Damn... This blood seems to be moving," said the 1st inmate. At that moment, a mainliner jumped out. "Whoa, what the fuck?!" The thing latched on and attempted to jab a syringe into his neck. They looked very hideous.
"Fuck!!!" yelled the 2nd inmate.
These looked very hideous. 6 syringes were stuck to their backs. Plus syringes were sticking out from their eye sockets. It truly was a horrid sight.
"Get the fuck off me!" yelled the 1st inmate as he managed to throw the mainliner to the floor. Torque wasted no time as he fired both tommy-guns at the mainliner. Quickly, it vanished to the ground.
"Yo, behind you!" yelled the 1st inmate.
The mainliner appeared from the other side and latched onto Torque. Immediately, Torque threw it to the ground and kicked it repeatedly. It was squirming and shrieking in extreme pain. Seemed to be in pain while it moved.
"Die you motherfucker!" Torque yelled.
He jumped back and fired both tommy-guns at the thing. It burst into a puddle of acid blood. The blood slightly ate through the ground.
"Damn, there's another one!" said the 2nd inmate.
Torque turned around and fired at the other mainliner. It jumped at him but soon fell dead after eating bullets. The 3 of them looked around the cell block for stuff they could use. Without saying a word, Torque tossed the 2 inmates his handguns.
"Damn... Now you're talking."
"T-thanks Torque."
"W-what's that sound?" asked the 2nd inmate. He gripped his gun and slowly approached where the sounds were coming from. "Who's in there?" he asked.
"G-go away..." said a frightened voice.
The 2nd inmate shined his light. Inside was a terrified inmate. He was also of African-American descent. But, he seemed much older. About in his 60s. The man also grew a mustache and a beard.
"You okay, pops?" the 2nd inmate asked.
"T-they're gonna get us..."
"Nah. We ain't gonna let that happen," replied the 2nd inmate. "C'mon. If you stay here. They're gonna get you anyway."
"What's going on?" asked the 1st inmate as he approached. Torque went back upstairs to inspect the 2nd floor of the cells. At that moment, two other inmates stepped out. One of them was of Hispanic descent. The other was caucasian.
"Torque?" asked the Hispanic inmate.
"Estaban?" Torque asked.
"I knew you'd make it out... This place has gone to fucking Hell, homes..." Estaban said to Torque.
"Yeah, it has..." Torque said. He wasn't scared about the situation at all. But, he wanted to know why the hell he's been getting all these visions and such. Torque was a very important part to the puzzle.
"Me and Hendrix hid out, homes. This was this whacked out guy going by the name of Shang Tsung... He said he appeared here out from this other place. Fucker's insane. He's talking all this shit about Outworld..." Estaban added.
"Tell me more..." Torque said.
"I don't think he has anything to do with this shit. But, he's here some reason... He said he wants to take this place over."
"Damn, he didn't sound human," Hendrix said.
"Guy said he took souls... He took Jake's soul. Now look at his body... It's nothing but a bag of bones," Estaban said.
"Yo, we ready to bounce?" asked the 1st inmate.
"Smalls, that you?" asked Hendrix.
"That's Hendrix," said the 2nd inmate.
"Marcel?" Hendrix asked.
"Yeah... You still alive, Hendrix?" asked the 2nd inmate revealing himself to be Marcel.
"Alive and kicking... We need to get the hell off this fucking island," Hendrix said.
"C'mon..." Torque said.
The 3 of them proceeded down the stairs to meet up with the other 3 inmates. They met the older inmate who was referred to as 'Pops'. 6 so far ready to escape this place. But, it would be easier said than done.
"Torque?" asked Pops.
"Yeah..." Torque said.
"Kill them..." said the voice in his head.
"No, don't," said the female voice.
The 6 of them walked through the other side. A few dead COs laid there. Hendrix, Estaban, and Pops quickly stripped the corpses of whatever weapons, ammo, and items they had. They continued down as a CO crawled through another doorway. His legs were missing.
"Fuck!" yelled Hendrix.
"Uggghhh... Damn... Dying... Fucking-A..." said the CO. He looked up to see 6 inmates standing there fully armed. "Uggghhhhh... Just my luck. Heh... Ironic. This place is haunted. Full of awful and terrible shit..."
The CO collasped on the floor and died. Torque approached the lifeless CO and inspected the body. Inside was a pack of Xombium. He also had a spare pistol on him. Taking the pistol, Torque holstered it for later use.
All 6 of them continued looking around the rest of the E-Block. Corpses of inmates and COs laid strewn across the dimly lit hallway. There were some clanging sounds coming from a distance. In that direction, three inmates came running for their lives.
"Fuck!"
"They're getting closer!"
The three inmates were in the sights of the 6 of them. Several slayers came crawling on the ceiling of the E-Block hallway. They continued as the clung on with their arms and kicked forward. One of them impaled one of the inmates in the back and out the chest. It used the leg blades to rip through the inmates body.
Blood spewed out as the inmate let out a blood curdling scream before dying. The 6 inmates quickly aimed up and opened fire. Slayers dropped from the floor but rose back up. Torque managed to blow the heads off several slayers.
"Damn, where do they keep coming from?"
Abbott Penn, Rec Yard
Shang Tsung, Kano, and the new recruits continued throughout the recreation yard of this horrid prison. The 5 of them proceeded to navigate through this area. Suddenly, the 5 of them found themselves under attack by about 6 COs.
"Inmates, get 'em!" yelled one CO.
They immediately got into a fire fight with the COs. Kano, and the other 3 took cover as they fired at the COs. The COs were shocked to see that Groves had joined them.
"Groves?"
"Why'd you go renegade?"
"I-I chose the winning team! We're going to get out of here," Groves said as he fired a few rounds wounding one of the COs.
"Shit, Groves has flipped his lid!"
"I knew Groves couldn't cut it here!"
The COs continued to fire at the group. Only one CO was wounded. He kept firing while finding cover. However, he ran out of ammo. The man cowered in fear as Shang Tsung had approached him.
"W-what do you want?" went the wounded CO.
"I've come to take your soul..." he replied with a glow in his eyes.
"Y-you're not human, are you?!" the wonded CO asked in fear.
"Your pathetic body serves no use to me. But your soul is of great value..." Shang Tsung said as he grabbed the wounded CO and lifted him off his feet. The other COs stopped firing and witnessed what was happening.
"The fuck is going on?"
"Your soul is mine!" Shang Tsung said as he started to absorb the man's soul and life essence.
"Uck! Uck! Noooooooooooooooooo!" went the wounded CO as his body whithered away into a bony lifeless corpse.
"Useless," Shang Tsung said as he tossed the body aside.
"The fuck are you?!"
"The new ruler of this world, mate," said Kano.
"Whoa. That's Kano, leader of the Black Dragons."
"If you were smart, you'd put down your guns..." Kano said to the COs.
"Shoot them all!" yelled another CO.
Without effort, Shang Tsung made fireballs rise from the ground. The COs were hit and flew up into the air before hitting the hard ground. It would take them awhile to recover. However, it was more than enough time that Shang Tsung would need.
"Join me or surrender your soul..." Shang Tsung said grabbing one CO by the shirt.
"G-go fuck yourself..." replied the CO as he spat in Shang Tsung's face. He struggled to reach for his revolver.
"I shall take your soul," Shang said as the green essence left the CO's body. After taking those souls from the 2 COs, Shang Tsung started to get more visions telling him about this special mortal here at Carnate Island.
The 2nd CO laid there as a lifeless corpse. Shang Tsung moved on to the next recovering CO. He gazed into the man's eyes.
"Make your choice," Shang demanded.
"Go to Hell..." the next CO replied.
"Fine, then your soul is mine," Shang said as he did the same thing. Moments later, nothing left but a bony corpse. The remaining 3 COs stood there in fear. They didn't know what was going to happen.
"Die!" yelled another CO as he fired and wounded Shang Tsung in the leg.
"Bad move, mate!" Kano said as he knocked the CO to the ground with a side thrust kick. He picked up the CO and brought him to Shang Tsung. "Here you go, boss."
"Excellent... He'll serve as an example for those who oppose and refuse me," he said to the group. Looking into the CO's eyes, Shang Tsung did the same thing. "Now your soul is mine for all eternity..."
"Ugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh..." went the CO as he became a lifeless pile of bones.
"Now, you two..." Shang said tossing away the lifeless corpse.
"I swear alliegence to you..." said one CO.
"Whoa, what the hell are you doing?" asked the other.
"Don't judge me. They're not gonna come out and help us. Screw this... I'm joining the winning team. You in or you out?" he asked.
"This is a one-time offer," Shang Tsung said.
"I-I guess, I'm in..." said the 2nd CO.
"You've made the best choice, mate," Kano said slapping him on the back.
The group was now at 7. Shang would easily be able to make an Earth based army out of inmates and COs who just wanted to live. They proceeded through the recreational yard. Still, the place was extremely creepy.
They came across another slowly dying CO. Shang Tsung approached and kneeled down. He looked straight into his eyes.
"Damn... I don't wanna die like this," said the dying CO.
"I and Shang Tsung, and I can restore life to you if you want," Shang said.
"Y-yeah! Please, don't let me die! I'll do anything!" pleaded the CO.
"Do you swear your undying allegience to me?"
"Yes! I'll do it! Don't let me die!" the CO went on.
"Then so be it..." Shang Tsung said. He shot out some of the stolen life essence from his body and went inside the CO. His wounds healed. Same thing happened to Shang Tsung after taking a shot to the leg.
"Huh? I-I'm alive?" the CO went as he jumped up.
"I've held my end. Now it's your turn," Shang Tsung said.
"Yes... I swear my undying allegience to you, Shang Tsung," the CO went.
"If you fail me, I'll kill you and take your soul. Is that clear?" Shang Tsung said to the CO.
"Y-yeah, boss..."
"I need some more souls... Before I can open a portal between here and Outworld," Shang Tsung said.
It was now at 8 people. Shang Tsung led the way as they continued through the fenced areas of the recreational yard. Several bodies laid around. Some of the people were barely alive. Inmates and COs alike. Shang Tsung said the same thing to them.
Some refused. Shang Tsung simply took their souls. He could feel himself become much stronger. To the ones that swore loyalty, Shang Tsung healed them with the essence of life stolen from the ones that refused and that from those ugly monsters.
"The more souls I absorb, the more I learn of this person," Shang Tsung said.
"You know the name of that person, yet?" Kano asked.
"I need more souls to find out," Shang Tsung said. "This place serves me well. All those tormented souls of the past and present. Mine for the taking..." He proceeded through the recreational yard. They stopped at the entrance to the showers.
Shang Tsung kicked the door open and stepped through. The group followed him shortly. He needed to find more souls. The energy provided by the souls would be used to open a portal to the Outworld where his forces including Moloch and Drahmin would step through and assist in taking over of Carnate Island.
OIWA Headquarters, Briefing Room
Cyrax, Kenshi, Jax, and Scryer stood there at attention. Sonya stood there and briefed them on the mission. Kenshi had a very uneasy feeling going through his stomach.
"Alright, as you guys know... This is going to be a very difficult and extremely dangerous mission. But as Raiden told us, the well-being of Earth depends on us. Raiden has went to find extra help. But the 6 of you will be the first ones to go to Carnate Island," said Sonya and added, "any questions?"
"Yeah, we going alone?" Jax asked.
"No, 2 platoons of soldiers will accompany you guys... You'll be dropped off in the recreational yards of Abbott. From there, you will find and eliminate Shang Tsung," Sonya said. "You'll each be getting a headpiece which lets you communicate back here at HQ. But, if things get hot, let me know..."
"Right," Kenshi said.
"How do you feel about this, Scryer?" Sonya asked.
"Just let me at them," he replied.
"Just be careful, no telling what's on that island," Sonya added. "For the time being, you can wait in the break room until the choppers are ready for take-off."
The 4 of them walked off from the briefing room. They headed towards the break room. Each of them had numerous uncertainties about this mission. Neither of them liked the feeling one bit.
"I'm getting bad vibes about this," Jax said.
"I hear you on that," replied Cyrax.
"Something doesn't feel right about this mission," Kenshi said.
"I'll have to agree," Scryer added.
"With the combined powers, you two can keep our asses safe," Jax said.
"Right..." Kenshi replied.
They walked down the hall and made a sharp left. Jax opened the door and stepped inside. The others followed shortly behind. Cyrax sat on the couch and watched TV. Kenshi and Scryer approached the vending machine.
"You're a psionic, too?" Scryer asked.
"No, I only have telekinetic powers that were taught to me," Kenshi replied.
"I see," he replied.
"Glad to have you on the team," Kenshi said with a smile.
"Thanks," Scryer returned.
Soon, Kung Lao and Bo' Rai Cho entered the room. They were currently guests of the OIWA. The 2 of them would be accompanying them on this mission. Both of them had their doubts.
"Having doubts, too?" Jax asked.
"Aren't you?" Kung Lao returned with another question.
"Yeah..." Jax said.
"I don't like this one bit," Kung Lao said.
"Join the group," Cyrax added in.
"Thanks," Kung Lao replied.
The 6 of them sat around the break room waiting for the signal. At the moment, Raiden was finding others to send out to Carnate Island.
Lin Kuei Temple
Sub-Zero stood there alone in his living quarters. He had on the dragon madallion that increased his powers significantly. It was several years back during Kahn's occupation of Earth that he and Sektor combatted each other for the medallion and the right to rule the Lin Kuei.
The ice ninja came out as the victor. Now, he takes the Lin Kuei into a different path. However, Sektor went to Japan and formed his own group known as the Tekunin. Tekunin's goal is to take over all of Japan. Raiden appeared right before Sub-Zero's eyes.
"Been awhile," Raiden said.
"Yes, it has," Sub-Zero replied. "What can I do for you?"
"There's a situation. Shang Tsung is back. Kung Lao, Bo' Rai Cho, Jax, Kenshi, Cyrax, and a new operative are the first ones being sent. Your assistance is needed," Raiden explained.
"I see," Sub-Zero replied.
"Shang Tsung is on Carnate Island. A place with an unspoken, sinister, and extremely powerful evil..."
"I see, when do I leave?" he asked.
"Right now. Find Smoke and Frost. You'll need their help," Raiden said.
"I'm not sure if Frost is ready to go back out again," Sub-Zero said.
"I know how you feel. But, this is a desperate situation."
"I'll call for them immediately," Sub-Zero said.
"Alright, I'll wait," Raiden said.
"What is Carnate Island?"
Raiden took some time to explain the evil of Carnate Island and the events that transpired within the last few centuries.
"I see. Something must be done immediately," Sub-Zero said. At that moment, Frost and Smoke stepped through.
"Lord Raiden," Smoke said. He looked human. Mostly, though. Almost all the robotic components have been removed. Smoke was mostly human. But, he was still a cyborg.
"I see you're human again, Smoke," Raiden said.
"I have Sub-Zero to thank," Smoke replied.
"Frost..." Raiden said. Frost remained silent. "We're going to make a few stops before going to the OIWA. First is the Shaolin Temple, I'm going to pick up Kai Lotus."
Time was running out. Shang Tsung was slowly building up his force comprised of inmates and now corrupt COs. At the same time, Torque was learning more about these visions he keeps having. The more souls Shang Tsung takes, the closer he learns about Torque's existence.