"WHO KILLED HER?"

"Emperor, I don't know but-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR EXCUSES, TARKATAN!" The Emperor of Outworld, Shao Khan, was furious.

Someone not involved with the Earthrealm-Outworld tournament had killed his daughter, and this meant that somebody was here who was not invited. He was currently taking his anger out on the informant of the incident. Once done, he turned his attention to Baraka, the general of the Tarkatan army.

"Go to the Living Forest. Find their spot of battle, sniff out this human filth, and exterminate him."

Baraka nodded and ordered his underlings to follow him out of the fortress. As he watched him leave, Khan glanced at the informant. He was still standing in the same spot, shaking from the Emperor's outburst.

"Leave my sight before I regret letting you live, informant."

The informant scampered away leaving the Emperor to his own devices.

– – –

Ezio was confused beyond belief. He had just killed the puttana who had attacked him out of nowhere, and escaped that cursed forest. Now, he was in a clearing—or at least that was what he thought until he almost walked himself off a cliff. Luckily, there were bridges that crossed these crevasses. They were not sturdy by any means, but Ezio managed to cross without problems. At the other side of the ravine, he spotted a hut. There seemed to be no one inside, but just to be safe, he peered through the window.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze saw the scariest creature that he had ever seen. The...thing...had no hair. There were spikes protruding from its arms, and there were prominent cuts near the wrists of it. While Ezio was debating what they were, a blade extended from one of the cuts, and the creature cut a slab of meat with it. Ezio managed to hold back the vomit.

Slowly, Ezio moved his wrist to the point where his Hidden Gun was pointing at the creature. Then, just as slowly, Ezio moved his other hand to the trigger, and pulled. The resulting explosion was much too loud for the assassin's tastes, but gunpowder will do that. Thankfully, there wasn't another hut like this one in his immediate sight, so Ezio was sure he would not be detected.

The thing was dead, that much was certain. There was a large amount of blood on the floor, and a hole where the bullet had entered the creature's back. Ezio walked inside the hut, and, to be sure, checked the creature's pulse. There was none. Satisfied, the Assassin closed the orange eyes of his victim.

"Requiescat in pace."

Kneeling over the deceased creature, he took in its features. He had already observed the arms, now he focused on the face. Its eyes had been orange, and had pupils similar to a cat's. Its teeth were sharp and jagged, protruding from its mouth. Its tongue was thin, and Ezio wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't talk or had extreme difficulties in doing so. Its ears were pointed, and they were small. Very small. The Assassin took in every single one of these features so he could spot another should he need to.

After searching the hut for anything valuable—of which he found nothing—Ezio left the hut. After walking for a time, he stumbled upon a vast city, covering a large area of the cliff. In what Ezio assumed to be the gate, there was a human posted to guard it. The guard was a bella donna, dressed in rather revealing body armor. She seemed bored, and Ezio was determined to persuade this one.

"Mi scusi, signorina, but do you know where I could find a man of authority?"

The guard gave Ezio a look over. "Right through these gates, sir. But I wouldn't bother ourEmperor at the moment."

"And why would that be?"

"He is holding a tournament at the moment, and he is extremely busy."

He walked towards the guard and lowered his voice, "But surely, madonna, you could make an exception?"

"What do you mean?"

"La signora,I simply want to talk to your Emperor to discuss my leave of this place." The Assassin took the chin of the guard into his thumb and index finger.

The guard blushed, and this was a sign that Ezio's seduction was doing it magic. 'Molto bene.'

"I-I don't know, sir. I'm not sure if it is in my...my..." She faltered as the Seduttore di Firenze looked into her eyes almost lustfully.

"Will you let me in, il mio amore?"

"I...I..." Words left her and she nodded.

"Grazie." Ezio left after kissing her lightly on the lips.

– – –

As Baraka entered the Living Forest, he ordered his minions to spread out, just in case Ezio had decided to stay here. In the meantime, Baraka himself found the main spot of battle through Kitana's scent. He had sniffed around for a while, attempting to pick up any new scents that he did not recognize from any of the other combatant's blood. The main problem was the sheer amount of blood that was on the floor; it would have confused even the keenest Tarkatan to insanity. Luckily for his squad, however, Baraka was pretty much already at that point.

Exhausted, the Tarkatan General sat on the floor of the forest, ears focused on finding any sound that came from the vines of the living trees. This was the closest that Baraka had ever come to failing one of the Emperor's assignments. This was the hardest of all of them—until he spotted a particularly fresh pool of blood.

At least, it was a bit fresher than the other, dryer pools that he was used to finding here. To top it all off, not only was it the intruder's, the scent was new.

Baraka called his squad back to him almost immediately.

– – –

Lucy: How's he doing?

Rebecca: He's fine, Lucy. I've only said that exact thing for the past hour.

Shaun: Are you sure that the vitality machine is working, Rebecca? For all we know, it could be malfunctioning and Desmond could be dreaming up his version of Paradise.

Rebecca: Yes, I'm sure, Shaun.(to self)Note to self: Check the vitality machine.

Lucy: Shaun, who would think this as paradise?

Shaun: You know as well as I do that his mind is a bit, shall we say, out of whack.

Lucy: That may be true, but the only person I can think of that would even consider this paradise is Clay(Subject 16).

Shaun: Well...Okay, you win. But if he isn't dreaming it, and he isn't imagining it, what in the world is the Animus generating?

(there's a lapse in the conversation)

Rebecca: Maybe it isn't in this world...

Shaun: Desmond's not the only one to have gone insane on us, apparently.

Rebecca: Think about it, Shaun. The Animus is only generating what the ancestor experiences. The last recorded time he was in Italy, he was in that Vault, being talked to by Minerva. She could have transported Ezio to this plane of existence to test him or something.(looks at the viewing monitor)And besides, where on this earth would Ezio find a monster like that?(points at Tarkatan)

A/N: Here's the second chapter. I realized I should continue this story after all of the positive feedback it received. Grazie, readers, and have a nice day.