Skarlet had decided something; she didn't like the heat. She was in the armory, and burning fires and molten metal surrounded her. The heat was so intense that it stung her super-humanly sensitive body. Even the dungeon environment was more comfortable than this. The screech of a metal hoist rang her ears, and then the sizzle of boiling water. She approached the man like creature hammering a piece of metal into a blade. He looked very similar to the two that had come to see her with Shang Tsung, but he was a different one. He hammered a few times before turning to her, like he just suddenly noticed she was there.

"I'm here for my weapons." Skarlet told him.

He just stared at her with his helmet, silent. Skarlet furrowed her brow slightly, not sure whether the man was slow or deaf.

"The weapons for Skarlet." She tried again.

The blacksmith seemed to get the picture, and he pulled a rolled up piece of leather out from under his workbench. He dropped it in her arms and returned to his work, looking like he forgot she was there. Skarlet, with the rough hide under her arm, swiftly left the heat of the armory behind. Whilst traveling to the portal chamber, she took deep breaths of the much cooler, cleaner air. The trickles of sweat on her arms, legs, back, chest and head felt like tickling fingers running along her body. When she entered the portal chamber, she sat on her knees and started to unroll the leather. She found five blades and two fine leather holsters. Two of the blades we very thin, and short, only maybe as long as her forearm. It was very light, and it had no hilt, she could have released the grip just a little and it would have slipped through her fingers. In fact, she did, and caught the blade instead. She just applied enough pressure to hold it. She took it in her other hand and found a tiny slice in her finger, so thin that she barely felt it, and anyone else may not have. It's twin was identical in every way, and holding both of them felt comfortably deadly, she felt powerful with such modest weapons. She took one of the holsters and wrapped it around her waist, tucking it under her thong. She slid each of the two black scabbards into their place on the back of the holster. The twin blades slid smoothly into the scabbards, making a sharp shing. The blades formed an x-shape on the spot just above the bend of her ass. Skarlet swayed her hips forward and back, side to side, testing the feel of wearing the blades. It felt good, not hindering her movements.

The second holster was circular. It was too large to fit on her arm, so she concluded that it went on her leg. She slipped it up her boot and to her thigh. It felt like the other holster, fine leather, like skin upon her skin, sliding higher up her thigh. She took one of the trio of the other blades, kunai. They were shorter than her knives, but thicker, and heavier. The edge was just as sharp, and the edge was on both sides of the blade, as opposed to just the side of her knives. She tucked it into one of the three spaces in the holster on her thigh, and then she placed the other two into their spots as well. These kunai didn't have scabbards, they stuck out the back slightly with their sharp points. She brought up her leg, first sliding her knee up close to her body and then extending her leg upwards, almost above her head. Bringing it back down, she moved her hands up and down her thigh. The kunai felt a little more noticeable than her knives, but she could hardly complain.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of her head stood up. She thought she was alone in the room, and she hadn't heard or smelt anyone else. She grabbed one of her knives and quickly turned around, drawing it. Her free hand found a shoulder to grab, but her knife stopped short of slicing a throat when green energy surrounded her hand. She grunted and pressed harder, but her hand wouldn't move. Her adrenaline and killer instinct pushed her to pull on the enemy's shoulder, bringing them to the blade.

"Skarlet!" A number of people said.

Thinking that perhaps there were more enemies, Skarlet looked up. Ermac had a surprised and slightly strained look. Skarlet's eyes widened and she realized it was just him, and she relaxed herself, lowering her knife.

"We didn't mean to startle you." Ermac told her.

"I didn't know you were in here." Skarlet said.

"We...just arrived."

That was a lie. Ermac had actually been waiting in here before she arrived. Skarlet had been so preoccupied with her weapons that she didn't notice him in the shadows. He had watched her examine the weapons with a professional's eye, and watched as she, tested, the holsters she was wearing. A certain level of, interest, stirred in him, at least until she almost killed him again.

"You are very subtle, Ermac."

Skarlet hadn't smelt or heard him. He wore heavy clothing, but things such as sweat, stench, and breath she could barely notice, if at all. She noticed Ermac look at her other hand, which was still on his shoulder. Her blood flowed quickly, strongly, and it wasn't just because of her adrenaline from a possible fight. Ermac's touch gave her an almost euphoric sensation, and her already extreme sensitivity was stimulated to a greater level, spreading from her hand to her entire body. Though she couldn't know it herself, it was with some reluctance that she slowly slid her hand off his shoulder.

"Emperor Shao Kahn commands that we work together on our mission, yes?" Skarlet asked.

"Yes, but we are also expected to evaluate your performance."

"Evaluate?"

"Indeed. Shang Tsung insists that you have yet to be used to your full potential, and he and the emperor are eager to learn what we will have to report."

Skarlet blinked her red eyes, thinking. The thought that the emperor was dissatisfied with her gave her a bad feeling, she didn't want the emperor disappointed.

"I am eager to please the emperor, and I am ready to leave whenever you are Ermac." Skarlet said determinedly.

"Very good. Come, we have been given the power to open portals temporarily."

Ermac focused his power and opened the vortex like portal. The sounds from what was on the other side came through mangled and warped.

"We must step through to reach our destination."

Ermac stepped up to it, but waited because Skarlet was hesitating.

"Skarlet?" He asked.

Skarlet took a cautious step towards it. She felt her senses leaving her; her eyesight got slightly less colorful and clear, she smelt less, and hearing got less acute. Worst of all, she felt like she was numbing.

"This portal makes me feel odd." Skarlet told Ermac.

"Odd?"

"I, I can't explain."

Ermac thought she sounded almost afraid. This moved something in him, and he felt an overwhelming impulse to comfort and console Skarlet. To protect her. Almost repeating the end of their first encounter, he offered his hand to her. Skarlet looked at his hand, then at him. Also just like their first encounter, his glow reflected in her red eyes while she became lost in his illuminated green eyes.

"It will be fine, we promise." Ermac assured her.

Skarlet took his hand. Both of them were energized by this mutual connection, Skarlet once again received the, joy, of his touch and Ermac's alien impulses were not only satisfied, but empowered. Ermac led her into the portal, and for a few moment's they were made formless, their very being was thrown across the realms.

Ermac had traveled via portal before, but this was the first time Skarlet had ever experienced anything of the like. It felt like her senses had left her for some other location, and she had followed them, having all her faculties shoved back into her. She was now out in the open, though structures that looked like they were made of stone and glass were everywhere. So much was happening, she smelt so much, heard so much, saw so much, felt so much. It was almost, too much.

"New target acquired!" Someone shouted.

Skarlet's hand went for one of her knives and she anticipated an opponent coming towards her. Instead, she saw several men and women dressed in blue clothing, and sparingly armored. They didn't even try to approach her, they kept their distance.

"Open fire!" one of them ordered.

Her incredibly keen eyes snapped to the flash of light from their hands. Where they magical? She managed to see something small come out of the light, incredibly fast. It zoomed past her head. She could hear the swish in her ear, and felt the air part away from the object and hit the side of her face.

Her only response to this new threat was to attack it viciously, and so she sprinted towards the attackers. More flashes of fire, more small objects speeding towards her, and then the air in front of her turned greenish, and then the small objects bounced away. Ermac walked in front of her, his outstretched hands glowing with green energy.

"Our foes fight with firearms, not swords." Ermac stated calmly.

The police officers looked even more panicked as Ermac advanced on them and his barrier swatted their bullets away like flies. Some of them started to take worried steps back, while a brave but ultimately foolish few tried to hold the line. Ermac swiped his hand across the air and turned his barrier into a wave of force. The officers were knocked off their feet violently. Ermac brought his other hand back and trusted it forward. Three of the many abandoned and destroyed cars that littered the streets were thrown forward. Some of the officers screamed in terror as the broken cars rolled over them, or crushed them as they fell from the air.

Ermac calmed his powers, sure that all the officers were dead. He turned to Skarlet, who's red eyes convened confusion.

"What was that? What magic do they command?" Skarlet asked.

Ermac scoffed at the notion of their 'magic'.

"It is no magic; we are in Earthrealm. Their strength is their inventiveness. You will find your fights here to be very different than in Outworld.." Skarlet's head snappedside attention in another direction suddenly.

Ermac curiously followed her focused stare. One of the officers had hidden and now she was running for her life. Ermac prepared to pursue but then Skarlet sprinted after the woman. Her speed was amazing, in the short time it took Ermac to start running, she had already cleared the bridge by a ways. Skarlet swiftly ran over debris and dead bodies, the back of the fleeing woman was getting closer to her. She ran atop another abandoned car and took a running leap into the air. She pulled out both of her knives midair, like razor sharp wings. With a thud she landed on the officer, stabbing her in the back. The woman was still alive, she was breathing, but it was strained. Skarlet stood up enough so that she could turn the woman over. When Skarlet had pounced on her, the woman had smashed her lip on the ground and it was now bleeding profusely. Skarlet placed one of her knives near the woman's throat, but she moved her head about, knocking it away. Skarlet used her free hand to hold her mouth and keep her head from moving. The woman protested, but it was obviously muffled. Skarlet felt the hot air being blown out her nose and onto her hand, the wetness of her lips, and the warm rejuvenating blood.

In full view of her victim, Skarlet placed the knife against her throat. The woman looked like she was trying desperately to make her eyes look down enough to see it. She was clearly afraid, she was probably hyperventilating, her chest expanded and contractedto hard it hit Skarlet's thighs. Skarlet cut her throat open, and the woman tried to push her off, but it was futile. The life left her eyes seemingly at the same rate her blood sprayed onto Skarlet's mid section. Once she was sure the woman was dead, Skarlet stood up and wiped the blood off her knife with her hand. Despite the ferocity of her kill, she herself kept a calm composure.

"Well done."

Skarlet turned to Ermac, who was walking towards her. Her calm composure was affected by his presence, and his approval. The fact that her kill was satisfactory made her, happy?She took her own enjoyment from the act, but Ermac's approval made it vastly better.

"You spoke as if these Earthrealm natives were powerful, but they are weaker then even the guards at the emperors palace without their weapons."

"Well we weren't sent here to fight this trash. A group of powerful warriors led by the thunder god Raiden are our main targets." Ermac told her.

"Then let's hunt them down!"

"They could be anywhere, the leader of the tarkatan invasion force, Baraka, has been in charge of searching for..." Suddenly a static noise was heard.

Both of them heard it coming from the dead woman that Skarlet had slain. Ermac pulled a communicator from the woman's corpse and listened.

"Attention all police forces, we are losing ground to the invaders. This is Kurtis Stryker, and I am giving the order for anyone that is able to make it back to the police station to do so immediately. I repeat, this is Kurtis Stryker, and we all units are to fall back at the rendezvous point at the police station.

I shouldn't have updated this so soon, but I'm clearly playing favorites and now I'm writing my stories out of order. This is officially my second favorite story to write. Anyway a few points: if it seems like I'm ogling Skarlet, evident by what I write, well it's because I am. I hope nobody is offended, but I'll be the first to say that there is no room for prudes. Also, if Skarlet seems sadistic, I'm doing that on purpose. Judging from her fatalities and moves, it seems to fit. Finally, all the time I take to describe both Skarlet and Ermac's feelings is relevant, and I'll show why in later chapters. This was a very Skarlet central chapter, I don't know if I'll make a pattern outta going between the two. Read, review, suggest, and enjoy.