Chapter Two
The doppelgänger searched through each makeshift hut for at the very least, pants, destroying what meagre possessions the Tarkatan hordes when he found nothing. There had to be someone, somewhere with a similar build to him. It was then he remembered the wall he had rested against as he pulled himself back together and left the last hovel.
He focused his vision on the wall as it began to fall away and reveal to him the citadel behind it. The bazaar appeared to hum with people going about their daily business and while he considered flying over it he figured that given his current predicament it might have been more conspicuous to do so. He sought a path through the citadel, finding on behind the the stalls of the bazaar and leapt over the wall.
He sped past the stalls toward the large palace, racing through the halls absent-mindedly before stopping at what appeared to be a man's bedroom. He shut the door behind himself and scanned the room for a wardrobe when his eyes fell to a large wooden chest at the foot of the bed. Crushing the padlock keeping its contents safe the doppelgänger flipped open the lid and rummaged through it, pulling out a white tunic with a red trim and a pair of black pants.
He closed the chest then proceeded to try the clothes on, surprised by how comfortable they were in comparison to the Boy Scout's uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. His relief, however, had been short lived as he felt the tip of a blade against the back of his neck.
'Please.' He attempted to reason with the person he assumed was attached to it. 'I just needed some clothes...' Before he could finish he was spun around and lifted high into the air coming face to face with the apparent owner of his newly commandeered clothes. Through his almost comically long fangs the man exclaimed. 'Stealing an officer's personal effects is a capital offence, Edenian.'
'I...'
'It matters not. We'll see how you fare in the emperor's arena tomorrow morning.' The man interrupted before dragging him all the way to the dungeons.
She had been following him for weeks now, the assassin known to many in the circles she travelled in as Deathstroke the Terminator. While no one ever really seemed to know anything about him, the one thing that always came up in her research was his time with the military where he was a Colonel by the name of Slade Wilson. He was a decorated officer with countless confirmed kills under his belt but something had happened that made him choose the lowly work of a mercenary.
Mileena hated mercenaries and in all the centuries she had lived she had seen more than her fair share. She noted that while assassins, regardless of ideology, believed in something a mercenary would kill their own mother if they were paid enough and it made her sick to her stomach. These days to think on her life as an assassin and the darkness it brought her also made her a little nauseous.
It had never been her goal to become an assassin. She had led her realm's army into battle as their general and even as Edenia fell to the tyrannical emperor she fought to save it but it all changed after her mother and father died. Shao Kahn had forced Mileena and her older twin into servitude as his personal assassins, even using his dark magic to erase her sister's memories but she had been stronger.
She hadn't known if it was the years she spent at the head of her father's army or if there was just something inside her that made her more willing to fight but she had escaped. It was after a failed attempt on the emperor's life that she had been captured and sent away never to be thought of again. In the millennia that passed she thought on those she had killed on Shao Kahn's command and only hoped her current position and the light that was now in her life would make up for it all.
Deathstroke dangled the man whose ankle he held off the edge of the building, seemingly oblivious to his screams for mercy. Periodically he would pull the man up and question him some more and she decided that this would be the time to make her move. Until then she focused him to see what she could glean from his thoughts. There had to be something she could use.
Suddenly shaking her from her digging a voice filled her head. It was raspy and deep and not at all foreign to her although a month ago she might have wondered how it could be possible being that only she had that particular gift. But she had been working on something that would make communication between them impossible to detect. With the help of both Queen Industries and Wayne Enterprises' WayneTech she had created a device that allowed people to communicate via telepathy and this had been the first field test.
Are you in position? The voice asked internally. Mileena nodded and glancing through her binoculars once more she replied. Just waiting for the right moment. I'd prefer not to have any loss of life here and I know that's what will happen if I strike too soon. She heard a small laugh escape his thoughts and smiled. Despite the air of fear and mystery he projected on the criminals of Gotham City he really wasn't all that threatening. Just remember that if he falls there's someone to catch him. The voice reminded her.
She turned her head, waving to the dark, caped figure on the roof across the street. For someone who wasn't a team player, he certainly had everyone's back when they needed him. And he wasn't the only one. Mileena hadn't been a part of their team she had seen nothing more than a ragtag group of misfits that not only seemed to clash in terms of how they went about things but also as people. It had been a virtual melting pot of the "special" and the ordinary and she found she had purpose for the first time in a very long time.
You know, you should tell everyone else where he is. Another voice chided. Mileena sighed exasperatedly and replied. Now is really not the time Oliver. Besides, maybe he needs it so he can fulfil his destiny. She might have been right but something still felt a little off about it all. At the very least he had a right to say goodbye to his loved ones. Maybe you're right but all they've done so far is hold him back. You've seen it yourself. While he's around them he can't see the bigger picture.
At least let his mother see him. She shut her eyes and attempted to block out the voice in her head despite how right he was. She stopped for a moment then opening up the line of communication again she thought. I'll let him decide. You can't argue with me on that. Now, can we please get to the business at hand. The target is ready, time to make my move.
Mileena stepped back to give herself enough running distance before speeding up to the ledge and clearing it, landing on the adjacent rooftop with a roll. She pulled herself off the tar coating the roof and made her presence known as a distraction. 'Slade Wilson, I would have thought that corporate thuggery was above...' She paused for a moment then with a sigh she continued. 'My mistake, I thought you were a decorated officer of the military but I see now that you're not much more than a whore who is willing to sell himself to the highest bidder.'
Slade let go of his intended victim and stalked towards her, a handgun pointed in her face. 'You have five seconds to tell me who you are or I swear I'll splatter your brain all over this rooftop.'
'Someone like you who served their country and was betrayed.' She replied in a bizarre parody of fear. Why, if she had clearly been in control was she so frightened. The figure on the rooftop aimed his grappling gun at a nearby point only to be stopped. Bruce, she's been doing this since before either of us were even born. She probably knows more about strategy than you will ever learn. Trust her.
He held back but continued to watch the scene play out before him. 'I know how it feels to believe in something and have it all taken away but this... this is wrong and you know it.' Was she trying to talk him down? It was as if she were on some kind of suicide mission, or wanted to put the operation in jeopardy on purpose. He'd had enough, and then he saw it.
Deathstroke moved in closer and at an alarming speed she grabbed his arm and forced him to the tar, resting her knee on his spine as she removed the clip from his gun. Got him. I'll see you two back at Watchtower. And with that she disappeared with the masked assassin in a swirl of energy.
Bruce had been wrong about Mileena but then he had often been proven wrong by this team. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd spent too much time with Gotham's criminal underbelly as The Batman and that distrust in a person's capacity for good had begun to infect his way of thinking. After all, she had helped to create something that was not only revolutionary in its design but had the ability to help them. She also hadn't taken this new piece of technology to Lex Luthor so he could exploit it... Mileena was one of them.
He paced back and forth inside his cell while he examined every possible way out. of all the things in life that he was sure he hated, being locked up was one of them. It only made him more mad at the Boy Scout. He'd been able to live his life as a free man while the doppelgänger had spent the better part of its life either being subjected to horrific experiments or trapped in the Phantom Zone. The less time he had to spend in some jail who knows where, the better.
Given his current situation, he was almost certain that just ripping off the door and walking out wasn't an option. The windows were too small to escape from so they were out. He even considered his first thought once more only involving the deaths of anyone who got in his way. There had to be a way out of this. He continued his frantic pacing as he ran through every possible scenario in his mind then suddenly he heard footsteps off in the distance and a female voice barking orders.
The guards that were standing at the door of his cell filed out only to be replaced by a tall, athletic looking woman wearing an outfit that left almost nothing to the imagination. His eyes ran appreciatively over her shapely tanned hips to her impossibly perky breasts. He marvelled at how they managed to stay inside her top considering the cut of it and how big they were and hoped that they might fall out. He continued eyeing the strange woman standing in front of his cell, his eyes falling on the pink veil covering the lower half of her face.
He could tell from her eyes that she was one of them. Like the other Tarkatans her eyes were a deep yellow with only a sliver of a pupil but somehow it didn't matter because despite this she was somehow different to them. He skin looked softer and she wasn't covered in the same bony spikes that he had seen on the others. She was perfect except for that one minor detail and he assumed that the veil was in place to hide it.
With a contemptuous smirk he attempted to see through the veil, his breath hitching as he saw her disfigured mouth. He had expected a mouth full of fangs but instead he found severely scarred and swollen lips that had looked like she'd been kissing a meat grinder. Their were fresh bruises and other stages of healing and he wondered who could have done something like that to her.
Suddenly he thought of Lana. If she could have used blue kryptonite on him to kill him then surely it wasn't above anyone to maul some woman to the point of mangling her face. He instantly felt a kinship with the woman but certainly not enough to be above using her or even killing her if it secured his freedom. She leaned against the bars of his cell, wrapping her fingers around the cold steel and stating. 'You aren't the Edenian the General spoke of although I see why he might be confused. You look just like him.'
'Edenian?' The doppelgänger asked, raising an eyebrow. Save the shorter hair he was a dead ringer for the Edenian prince who had once stolen her counterpart's heart and now served as an occasional lover her when he craved her. Red had never been his colour, although on this man it worked. 'I saw you beyond the citadel walls. You could break out of here and yet you haven't. Are you that keen to die?' He started at her with a bizarre mix of confusion and arousal. No one had ever been so forceful with him and he found that despite his mental protestation, his body had responded to it. He could see from her raised eyebrow that it wasn't entirely lost on her either and he smirked when she gave an impressed groan.
'I didn't want to call attention to myself.' He answered finally through ragged breaths. He felt her smile through the veil and approached the bars keeping them apart. He placed his hand over hers and felt her waver a little. 'Who are you?' She asked. He thought about it for a moment and realised that he hadn't really known who he was. The Boy Scout and his "policeman" friend had only referred to him as "Phantom" and wanting him to be someone else Lana had called him Clark but that wasn't who he was either.
He went back through his shared memories, smiling at the remembrance of Clark's red kryptonite fuelled bender in Metropolis. It had been the one time that the two had been truly alike and it was then that he found his name. He returned his attention to the stranger and replied. 'Kal... My name is Kal.' Kal could see from the look in her eyes that she understood him in a way that no one else could.
She slid her hand out of Kal's and disappeared into the floor, reappearing behind him. He turned around and watched her while she began to move back towards the cot. 'How do you know I won't try to kill you?' Kal asked, enthralled by her overt sexuality. He felt her smile again and as she opened the button on her top she said. 'Because I am your only way out of here.'
That was enough for him, in a flash Kal had her against a wall and assaulted her neck with kisses then nipping at her earlobe. 'I have to at least know your name.'
'Why does it matter?' She groaned, struggling to get closer to him as he reached for her breast. With a playful nip at her earlobe he whispered before leaning back to take in his handy work. 'Because I need to know what to scream while I'm fucking you.' Suddenly Mileena's hands were at the stolen tunic and as she pulled it open she slid her hands up his chest. he was gorgeous, that she couldn't deny and harder than any other man she had been with.
She had always worried in her dalliances with the Edenian whom he so resembled that if she lost control and bit him that he might bleed to death but he was so different and at the same time he looked just like him. She stared at his bare chest thinking of what she might do to it then as Kal cleared his throat her eyes snapped back to his and she replied. 'Oh... Mileena.'
Kal smiled his lopsided smile once more and lifted his hand to Mileena's veil. As he went to pull down the offending fabric to kiss her she slapped him across the face and pushed him away. 'You want me... The veil stays other wise I'm gone and I won't hesitate to kill you tomorrow.' Had he just heard her right. She was in his cell with him and she had let him maul her despite what he knew was hidden behind her swollen lips and yet she was to be his executioner? What kind of backwards world had he stepped into?
He pinned her to the door and hooked her hands around the bars above her head while he buried his face in Mileena's ample chest then lifting his head to look at her he assured her. 'I don't care about what's underneath. I want to see all of you.' Kal lifted his hand to remove her mask once more only this time she didn't fight him. He carefully took the veil from her and with his thumb on her bottom lip he examined her fangs... This he could work with.
Mileena's heart began to race when he didn't recoil from her in horror but replaced his thumb with his lips. She wanted desperately to bury her hands in his hair while he kissed her softly. No one had ever been so tender with her and it was a little starling at first. She ran through all her past conquests in her head as his tongue cautiously slid past her lips, making a mental note of each.
Baraka had always been forceful with her in a way that she could never bring herself to enjoy. It had always been about dominance and showing her who was boss. His kisses, if she could call them that were always rough and usually left her covered in her own blood in the end. Rain barely even looked at her while he did his thing and in a way she pitied the princess if this was how he was when they "made love". He was gentle enough but she always wondered if he would sob for his beloved half way through and it was never about her.
If anything had been made clear to her about the two of them, it was that sex was almost never about her. But here was someone who appeared to be loving and attentive, even if it were inevitably for his own ends. It wasn't like she hadn't got the ball rolling for the same reason. She needed him. She had seen what he was able to do and he would be invaluable to her bid for the throne when the time came.
Clark had spent hours pouring over the article in front of him like he had every day since he awoke from his coma, staring into the eyes of the man who had once been his friend while he erased such a huge chapter of his life. This was all his fault, he just knew it but then he felt in the past 7 years that everything had been his fault. If it weren't for him Lana's parents wouldn't have died and it wouldn't have been so hard for him to tell her the truth. Were it not for his rejection of Lex, he might still have been a man worthy of his friendship. had he not traded Lana's life, his father would still be around.
His heart still hurt when he thought about her but in the time since he had found out about her and his clone, Clark had begun realise a few things that he had been denying almost all his life. He might have loved her in his way but anything he had felt was marred by years of deceit on both sides and a general mistrust that coloured everything between them. He realised that in the time he had been living in Mileena's apartment recuperating he didn't have to hide or hold his breath out of fear. Everything with Mileena felt normal.
Clark got up from his stool to refresh his cup of coffee when Mileena teleported into the living room, returning the sais on her back to a spot on the wall in the living room. As she turned to leave the room, Clark turned to look at his nurse maid, almost dropping the cup in his hand as he saw her dressed literally from head to toe in black leather and dark purple latex. He'd never been one to cast aspersions on people, after all, being from a different planet tended to make one a little more open minded but this was different from anything he was used to.
He couldn't deny though that she looked beautiful, even if she might have been a dominatrix but that simple idea made him concerned, jealous even and he didn't know why. As she untied the laces keeping her custom made mask in place Mileena smiled at him and joked, having been amused by his theory. 'Are you hoping I might tie you up and give you a spanking?' Before he could stop it the cup fell from his hand, spilling its contents all over the floor. He started to panic and tried to apologise when Mileena joined him in the kitchen and helped him clean the mess.
Clark helped Mileena up off the floor once they had finished, the two of them sharing a moment of silence that while it seemed awkward had also been completely comfortable to them. They were so close to each other the tension had been almost unbearable and Mileena couldn't help but blush as images flashed through her mind from Clark's of him picking her up and having his way with her on the kitchen counter.
Cautiously Clark moved in closer to Mileena then just as he was about to kiss her she pretended to clear her throat and motioned to the newspaper on the counter. 'You want to talk about it?' She asked, painfully aware of how close he was and what they both wanted. Clark shook himself from his thoughts and looked down at the paper before replying. 'I just feel like everything that has happened with Lex, Lana, my parents; all of it is my fault.'
'Did you tell Lex to kill his father?' She asked matter-of-factly as she pried herself from him. Clark shook his head and Mileena asked, continuing to make him see sense. 'Did you make Lana do all those things she did like stealing from Lex and cheating on you?'
'If I had been more open she...'
'She still would have cheated Kal-El. I don't know everything but I know what I saw in your mind. If you couldn't trust her and were I in your position, I certainly wouldn't have, then it never would have worked. Seeing the good in people certainly doesn't make the world's perils your fault and you need to realise that.' She paused for a moment and with a sigh she said. 'I'm going to change into something less cumbersome and then there is something I want you to see.'
Clark left the kitchen and approached the wall of Mileena's living room that held an array of weapons. All of them looked old but well cared for and then at the centre he noticed something he could have sworn he'd seen before; a longsword with an elaborately carved silver handle and a purple jewel at the centre of the hilt. Clark removed the familiar looking sword that took its pride of place on Mileena's living room wall and carefully began to unsheathe it, his eyes following the obscure symbols that ran down the middle of the silvery blade.
In the days since he had woken up, Clark and Mileena had spent countless hours discussing everything under the Earth's yellow sun. They spoke at length about Clark's abilities and the effect kryptonite had on him and Mileena's time with the Edenian army. He had felt that he had come to know her on a personal level that he was sure that not many had but it was this sword and the feeling that he had recognised it from somewhere that caught his attention the most.
He knew this sword but he didn't know where from or how and then it dawned on him... The temple in China where the stone that contributed to the creation of his Fortress of Solitude had been hidden. He remembered Lana coming at him with it after piercing his chest with a sai. That sai had been all that protected him from losing his head that day. In that moment of epiphany, Clark's heart sank. The sword and the sai... they had been identical and when he touched the former, memories came flooding back to him.
Clark had wondered that day if there had been someone watching out for him and now he knew. Before he could find the right words, Mileena gently slipped the antique weapon from his hands, both of them blushing as they gently brushed across his. Not looking up at him, Mileena said. 'You should be careful with this Kal-El, this sword is older than I am.'
'My name is Clark... Not Kal-El.' Clark replied, slightly offended for the first time since she had first called him by his true name. With a furtive smile she led him to the couch and asked. 'Why do you deny who you are? You bristle whenever I call you by your name, why?'
'Because that name has brought me and everyone else nothing but pain and suffering.' He answered succinctly. She could see the pain in his eyes but there had to be more to it. She sighed then asked as she sat down beside him. 'Isn't pain a part of life Kal...' She paused mid-sentence to correct herself. 'Sorry, Clark?'
'But you don't understand.'
'I understand more than you might think. I'm actually glad you felt drawn to this because I wanted to show you something.' With that she pulled the sword from its scabbard and held it for him to see clearly. 'My father gave me this sword the day I became a General in his armies just like his father and his father before that. I don't think I had ever seen my parents so proud of me as they were that day. My sister was to lead Edenia into a new era of peace and I was to be her aide in this.
And then Shao Kahn and his hordes invaded. I hadn't calculated just how many there would be so there weren't enough soldiers to fight them off. I saw everyone I loved die or be forced into slavery because of my bad judgement. I was sent here because of the mistake I made in trying to rectify the situation. Had it not been for my incompetence, no one would have to of died.' Clark meditated on Mileena's words, reliving her memories as if they were his own then staring up at her he said. 'But that wasn't your fault. You can't have known that that would happen.'
'Just like you could have known who Lex Luthor would turn out to be or that your homeworld would cause the death of Lana's parents. Whether you had been there or not that still would have happened, am I right?' Clark nodded then with a reassuring smile Mileena replied, her hand resting on his arm. 'Then don't beat yourself up about it. You aren't a god Clark and no one is expecting you to be. You have so much potential and you waste it on what might have been.'
'What's that supposed to mean?' Clark asked, suddenly incensed.
'You deny your Kryptonian heritage because you feel like it has hurt everyone. You let yourself stay in a doomed relationship with a woman who not only emasculated you but wanted you to be someone you aren't. She demanded things from you that she wasn't willing to give in return and for what? your undying allegiance to her? You blame yourself for your father's death but he didn't have to let his rage rule him that night. Every man is responsible for their own destiny Clark and it's time you saw that...'
Before she could continue, Clark's hands flew to her face as he kissed her more passionately than he had ever kissed anyone. As angry as he had been as she began to speak, he knew she was right and suddenly everything had become clear.
Mileena glanced down at her sleeping companion as he laid beside her on the cot, her insides still throbbed form the activities of the previous night's activities but it only made her smile. She had lost count of how many times that night he had brought her over the edge and almost made her lose all grasp on what little sanity she had left. There was still a slight pang of guilt at the thought of using him like she had but this way he would help her willingly instead of being threatened with death.
She glanced around at all the clothes that had been strewn across the cell floor and giggled hoarsely, accidentally waking Kal from his sleep. As he saw her naked breasts still standing at attention despite not being held up by anything he let out an appreciative sigh. She had an amazing body, even though her face was what most would consider ugly but in that night he had seen so many sides to her that none of the other stuff mattered.
Barely able to wipe the smile from his face as he sat up, Kal blazed a trail of soft kisses along Mileena's shoulder until his lips met hers then with a groan as he ran his fingertips down her spine he said with a rasp that vibrated through Mileena's entire body. 'Mmmm. Last night was amazing.' She grinned that horrible grin as he broke off the kiss and nipped at his bottom lip then as she reached for her veil she replied. 'No man has ever done anything like that to me before. Even if you were using me, thank you.'
'You're welcome. I'm glad you were able to keep up with me.' He replied as he rested his forehead on hers. As much as he hated to admit it, this was very quickly becoming more than some selfish one night stand to get out of prison and whatever he faced in the arena later that day. She had opened him up in ways that Lana never had and yet there was still that lingering thought of his former love that left a bad taste in his mouth.
Kal kissed Mileena again and groaned when she bit his tongue just hard enough to draw blood but not hard enough to actually do any damage. Both of them moaned at the taste of blood filling their mouths with Kal pulling the rambunctious hybrid onto his lap. Slowly she pulled back and licked the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth before growling softly in his ear. 'Tasty.' Before they could go too far she lifted herself off of him and began to put her clothes back on, asking as she covered her face with her veil. 'So will you still take a fall for me?' He sighed at the last part of her question and as she threw his ill gotten pants at him he said, taking the bait. 'I would have thought that was made pretty clear last night.'
'I mean in the arena.' She clarified while trying to hide the blush that turned her normally tanned face a deep russet colour. 'I know.' He answered ambiguously as he got up from the cot and slid his arms around Mileena's waist. 'I just wanted to see that you were listening.' He took up his earlier assault on her neck and answered more seriously. 'I want to help you and if taking a fall means I can still be alive to do that then I will. I just wish we had more time.'
'I know.' Mileena said, lifting her veil to give him one last kiss before teleporting away.
'Now, remember what we discussed.' Mileena said, making sure that Kal didn't forget when to take a hit and when to hit her back as the elevator lifted them into Shao Kahn's arena. Already they could hear the crowd baying for blood and with a quick squeeze of his hand, Kal knew that everything would be alright. 'Just as long as we can have more of what we had last night...'
'You do what we talked about and I'm all yours.' She replied as she got into a fighting stance. Nervously Kal did the same and they waited as the emperor's voice boomed across the arena. "Round 1. FIGHT"
Mileena and Kal stalked each other as they silently agreed upon who would strike first then lunging at her, Kal through a punch that she caught and returned with a kick to the face that sent him toppling over. As he regained his balance, he smirked evilly at her and charged only for her to teleport behind him with a kick to the chest. This time she bounced off him only to curl into a ball and roll at him. As she came back up against him, Kal threw Mileena towards the the pit of spikes and she tumbled into an upright position.
He worried for a minute that she might change the game with the force of his throw only to be comforted by a short wink as she ran at him with alarming speed, throwing a punch which he blocked and countered to which she did the same. It had become a dance between them. She would strike and he would either dodge or counter just as he would, the two of them switching between their various abilities just to keep up. It was a form of foreplay for them which everyone in the stands and even the emperor himself seemed oblivious to.
As the two of them got close, Kal would whisper in her ear about the things he planned to do to her when they got away from the crowd while she explained to him in detail how he made her feel. He took the last punch and fell to the dirt, Shao Kahn declaring Mileena the victor before Kal got up and they repeated their efforts. Just as he had promised, Kal feigned wooziness and the emperor ordered as he pointed towards him. 'FINISH HIM.' Mileena ripped her veil from her face to give the crowd a cheap thrill then raced at Kal, biting hard into his neck and pretending to tear out a chunk of flesh. 'Mileena wins... Fatality.' The emperor called before waving the coffin makers in to cart Kal's motionless body away.
At the same time Mileena teleported to a point below the arena that she had seen many other bodies being carried and waited for them to come past her. It wasn't long until she saw them and as they got closer she attacked, stabbing one in the back with a sai and biting clean through the neck of the other. Kal pulled the sheet from himself once he was satisfied that the two men were dead and smirked at his new paramour, strangely aroused by the sight of her covered in blood. Mileena held out her hand for him and pulled him up into a deeply passionate kiss as she teleported away with him.