A crisp, wintry breeze raced over Sub-Zero as he crouched on a high tree branch overlooking the Lin Kuei Temple, his binoculars studying every figure going in and out. There were some humans – servants and slaves – but mostly there were cyber-ninjas fitted with various colors of plate armor. He had yet to see Smoke, however.

He had been in that tree for hours, watching intently to identify patterns in behavior, but the longer he knelt there, the more his thoughts drifted to Anya. It had been so tempting to stay in bed with her – now that he finally had her he was addicted to her – but Tomas needed him now, so he had reluctantly wrenched himself away from her and found his way here. He was even more annoyed by Himavat's visit than she was for intruding on them in her room, even though he understood that time was of the essence and the Elder God wanted him to be successful in his mission. But that was neither here nor there now, he supposed. Now he was in a tree near the timberline of the Himalayas, and as the chill in the air bit at him unpleasantly, he remembered how warm her bed had been, and how she moved her hands over his skin to please him, and he started to long for the feel of her body...

"Hey, what are you doing, taking a nap?" a slightly mechanical voice cut through his thoughts. "You're gonna fall out of the tree!"

Immediately, Sub-Zero was at attention again, and he whipped his head around to face Kabal, who perched on a branch nearby. He had originally intended on coming on this mission alone, but when he told Jax what he planned to do, the Major insisted he take someone along for back-up. He thought Kabal would be a good choice, and Kuai Liang grudgingly admitted he was right. The man had once served the Black Dragon, an underground crime syndicate that worked closely with the Lin Kuei, the ones responsible for automating the assassins. If anyone knew how to handle the cyber-ninjas, it was him. Furthermore, he was an outstanding warrior with supernatural speed, courtesy of Shang Tsung. Even still, Sub-Zero wasn't happy with him. He disliked the way that the other always turned a licentious eye towards Anya, even though she was officially taken.

After Sub-Zero regained his balance, he said, "Thank you."

"Getting sleepy, or what?" Kabal asked him through his breathing apparatus.

"No," he replied.

The other man chuckled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. You just looked happier than a dog with two dicks."

Kuai Liang raised his eyebrow. "I don't understand what you mean by that."

"It means, genius, that you nearly fell from the tree. My guess is you were thinking about Anya. That soft hair and big, pretty eyes."

His nose wrinkled as he scowled, and he felt his mask shift accordingly. "That had nothing to do with the mission at hand, therefore you should not talk about it," he immediately replied and turned his back on him.

"Suit yourself," the other laughed softly. He paused for a minute. "I'm surprised you haven't asked her to marry you yet," he announced.

Kabal's remark stunned Sub-Zero so much that he whipped around once more, but as he did, he stumbled and had to catch himself on a branch to keep from falling to the ground. Smooth, he thought to himself as he found his footing. His partner snickered quietly. He glared at the man. "Excuse me?" he hissed.

"Oh, don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"That's none of your business, and no I haven't." That was the truth.

"Well, if I was you, I would," Kabal told him. "You know, before she realizes she can do better."

"You're not me," Sub-Zero snapped. "And you cluck like an old hen."

He crossed his arms. "That's one amazing girl you've got there. Don't know what she sees in you, though."

"Shut your mouth. You don't need to be thinking anything about her."

His partner smirked. "I think I touched a nerve there."

The Cryomancer narrowed his eyes and held up his clinched fist. "I'm about to touch some of yours."

Kabal threw up his hands deferentially. "Okay, man. Just saying."

Sub-Zero turned away again, his cheeks burning with anger and embarrassment. "And I'm saying that not all accidents are accidents," he replied dangerously.

They sat in silence after that, and at nightfall an hour later, Kuai Liang saw a dark figure march from the front gates. Even in the darkness, he recognized the black and slate gray armor. It was Smoke.

"Kabal, look," he pointed out. He wished the man had been trained in hand signs and animal calls like he had so they didn't have to talk to each other verbally. For one, they'd already made enough noise, and it was nothing short of a miracle that they'd gone undiscovered. And for two, he simply didn't want to hear the man speak. He still seethed in fury at him.

"I see him," his partner replied, peering through the binoculars as he straddled the thick branch. "It looks like he's scouting."

"He's walking the perimeter," Sub-Zero explained. "Guard duty."

"You definitely called it," Kabal whispered.

The Cryomancer had banked on that contingency. He'd always thought it'd be suicide for someone to try to break into the Temple, and especially now when all the assassins were indiscriminate killers without the burden of compassion to stay their hands, but even still Oniro had a strict routine. The Grandmaster was neurotic about security. He would not stop ordering his men to patrol his territory. That is why, before he and Kabal climbed their tree, they made a man-trap on the border of Lin Kuei territory.

"Let's go," he whispered.

Both men silently climbed out of the tree and slipped into the forest towards the trap. Sub-Zero knew, having walked the perimeter several times before when he still lived here, that the path would lead Smoke to him. He just needed to be there to stun him once he arrived.

Their trap was simple, but efficient. Having had no time to dig a hole, when they first arrived in the Himalayas, Sub-Zero and Kabal found a natural pit that the Cryomancer was very familiar with. It plunged ten feet into the earth, was formed on all sides by rocks, and impossible to get out of without help. He knew that from hard experience, having fallen in as a child. Several animal skeletons littered the leafy bottom, victims of this naturally occurring trap. Smoke knew this hole as well, but since his automation, he'd had a decided downgrade in his instinct and common sense, so Sub-Zero hoped he could trick his friend into falling in. He and Kabal stretched a roll of wicker across it and decorated it with a thin cover of moss and dead leaves in order to hide it. He prayed with all his heart that it would work.

Not long after the two found it in the darkness and took cover behind a mound of boulders nearby, they heard mechanical footsteps approach. Neither one dared peek at the figure for fear of being noticed, so they were forced to listen instead. Sub-Zero's heart pounded in his chest as he held his breath, waiting for something to happen. Within seconds, a loud snap cut through the moonlit night, and it was abruptly followed by the sound of heavy metal crashing loudly on the rocks.

Yes! he triumphantly yelled to himself.

Thankful that his mask and cowl concealed his unstoppable grin, he motioned for Kabal to follow him the moment the noise died down. Sub-Zero hadn't heard the sounds of cyber-ninjas approaching to investigate, but even still, he crept from his hiding spot quietly, keeping to the darkness the best he could. When he reached the edge of the trap, he saw a dazed figure masked in shadows struggling to stand. Quickly, he leaped into the pit behind the man, clamped his ice-charged fist on his neck and shoulder between thick slabs of armor, and pumped his powers into his body. As expected, the cyber-ninja toppled to the leaves like a sack of potatoes.

But a stray beam of moonlight illuminated his helmet, and Sub-Zero saw nothing but bright yellow.

"No!" he grunted in frustration, not caring who heard him at this point.

"What? What is it?" Kabal called down as he lowered a rope. "Did you get him?"

"It's Cyrax," he growled. He punched the rock wall with his fist. Thankfully, his new gauntlets and wrist braces protected his knuckles, or they would have shattered at his outburst. Why did Fate keep teasing him like this? It should've been Smoke!

"Well, send him up. Maybe we can ninja some intel from his CPU."

Sub-Zero scoffed and then wrapped the rope around his old comrade. Kabal promptly pulled him up before throwing the rope back down and retrieving his partner as well. Then the ex-operative went to work hacking into the computer built beneath Cyrax's yellow armor and into his rib cage. In moments, he'd pulled up recent video footage of their captive interacting with their prey. On the tiny screen, they saw Smoke approach Cyrax.

He said: "The Grandmaster has now ordered that you will patrol until dawn. This supersedes his previous order to patrol until 0200 hours. Return to the Temple at 0500 hours for maintenance." Then he turned and left as quickly as he came.

"So Chuckles, here, was the one on guard duty," Kabal said as he punched more buttons.

Sub-Zero rubbed his eyes. "Yes." He looked at the monitor. "So what's he doing, then? Or does Cyrax know?"

"Well, this is just a log of Cyrax's activities today. Nothing about Smoke's whereabouts."

He sighed. "Then we'll just have to go inside and look for him the old-fashioned way."

Kabal clacked away at the keyboard and turned Cyrax off like a giant toy. "I hope you know a way in. I don't think they're gonna greet us with open arms at the front door."

"No, they won't," Sub-Zero agreed. "Thankfully, I do know a way in and out. Though, you probably won't like it that much."

"I'll like it better than being killed on the spot," he replied as both got to their feet and dragged Cyrax's body to the trees. They hid him in a bush and then carefully covered him with more branches and leaves so no one else found him. He may not have been the guy Sub-Zero wanted to save, but at least they could return him to Jax's base to find out if the cyber-ninjas could be saved.

Then Kuai Liang led Kabal to a stream a short distance from the Temple's imposing wall. A large pipe just barely large enough for a fully grown man to walk through jutted from a stone flattop and fed the man-made stream dirty water. As expected, no one guarded it. Why would they? Only a fool with a death wish would try to sneak inside.

"Ugh, what is that?" Kabal asked, flinching at the odor.

"Sewage," he replied simply. "When we were children, Tomas and I sometimes used this pipe to sneak in and out of the Temple at night. It goes to a boiler room in the lowest level."

"You first," the other said drily.

Sub-Zero shrugged and climbed into the drain. It was much smaller than he remembered, but then again, the last time he'd trekked through the long tube was when he was ten or so. He was no longer that scrawny runt of yesteryear.

The pipe smelled worse than ever, so he held his breath frequently as he balanced his way along the curved walls. He tried to keep his feet out of the water in order to avoid making noise, so he walked with a foot on either side of the filthy stream, waddling slowly forward. Several rats scurried around his feet, and he heard Kabal whimper as they squeaked past.

"You're not afraid of some rats, are you?" he chided.

"They're vermin," his partner replied. "They carry rabies, and plague, and God knows what else."

"Face them," he began, "and if you die, you die. But fearing them gives them greater power."

He heard Kabal inhale a tense breath behind him. "Whatever, man. I just don't like them."

He chuckled softly, but said nothing more on the subject as he stepped through the pipe. A few minutes later, they reached the end. A large grate with thin metal bars blocked their path, but Kuai Liang yanked on the bottom edge where the wood had slightly rotted away and swung it up easily. He faintly smiled at the memory of Tomas and him discovering this defect as they went on a hunt to find secret passages one day, and how from that point on, they pretty much came and went as they pleased. Nobody ever found out about it, evidently, or made the necessary repairs.

Sub-Zero climbed through with Kabal in tow, still simpering about the rats that squirmed past him. A short, boxy tunnel led them to the boiler room, and they emerged in a cramped, hot space full of wafting steam and more pipes. Cobwebs fell from the ceiling like curtains, and water soaked the floor. It hadn't changed at all in the last fifteen years, he noticed.

It seemed self-explanatory that silence was critical now, but the Cryomancer, still annoyed with Kabal for his remarks about Anya, decided to dish out a little insult of his own. So he looked back at him and held his index finger to his mask where his mouth was, indicating the need for quiet. Behind his clear goggles, his partner narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side as if to say, "Really?" Message received. Sub-Zero couldn't stifle his grin as he made a simple hand gesture indicating that Kabal should follow him, then turned and crept softly from the room.

As he crossed the threshold, he spotted a young Tibetan woman, a slave named Kamala, scurrying down the corridor in the opposite direction. He frowned. That's unusual, he thought to himself as he receded into the shadows and watched her disappear into a large room at the end of the hall. When he still lived in the Temple, that particular room had been empty, barren save for the dust and cobwebs that decorated it. In fact, he never remembered a time in his life when it was actually used for something. But even stranger was the woman; none of the slaves were permitted down here in the basement level. Sub-Zero's curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to follow her.

He waited for a moment to ensure no one followed her, and when he was certain it was clear, he darted from the safety of the shadows and through the dark corridor, careful to make no sound as he ran. Behind him, Kabal was slightly noisy with heavier footfalls, at least to the Cryomancer's ears, but it was at a tolerable level. They reached the old, stone archway and wooden door within moments, noting that it was slightly ajar, and both men slipped inside.

The room was segmented in such a way that when they entered, they found themselves in something of a small mudroom with an adjacent door leading to the main chamber. Dimly lit by candelabras, the anteroom was constructed from brick that had seen better days, and had a decidedly medieval dungeon feel to it. Sub-Zero had feared this room as a child because Tomas said it was haunted, but even though he still felt an irrational hint of trepidation about it, he silently motioned for Kabal to latch the door behind them. The man obliged. As it slid shut softly, both were startled by a shrill cry that vanished as quickly as it came. Kabal immediately drew his hook-swords, and the Cryomancer summoned his powers to his fists. What in the world was that? he wondered, jumpy.

The source of the sound was on the other side of the door, he knew. Inhaling deeply, he gripped the ring-shaped handle on the second door and pushed it in. Inside, the dust and cobwebs were gone, but several stainless steel tables had replaced them. Mounted on top of the tables, Sub-Zero noticed, were eight small, plastic boxes that contained tiny, wriggling forms inside them. He flashed a wayward glance at Kabal, who had the same puzzled expression on his face that must've been on his as well. Wordlessly, he crept to one of the boxes and peeled back the woolly cloths. It was a baby.

The Cryomancer didn't really know how to react to the sight, but he couldn't ignore the sudden, shocked knot tying up his stomach. He backed away in disbelief as Kabal took a look. His partner's eyes went wide in surprise, but Kuai Liang scarcely noticed because his eyes were wandering across all the squirming little bundles in the boxes. All of them were tiny, so he approximated their age at a couple of months old, tops. Where had all these infants come from? The youngest child ever kidnapped by the Lin Kuei was him, age two, and even then Oniro supposedly pitched a fit to An Zhi about that. Toddlers were messy. But babies? That was unprecedented.

So why did Oniro change his mind about infants now?

Kamala, he saw, had her back turned to the door and was hunched over one of the children at the back of the cold, damp room. From Sub-Zero's vantage point, he couldn't see what she was doing, but it didn't really matter. He wanted answers. He crept to her and then wrapped an arm around her, tightly clamping a hand over her mouth. As expected, she screamed, but he muffled her cries and whirled her around to face him. He didn't let go until she got a full look at him, recognized him, and calmed down. With his free hand, he held his finger to his mask, the universal sign to be quiet. Then he slid his hand off her mouth and pulled off his cowl and mask.

"Master Kuai Liang!" she whispered in Tibetan as tears streamed down her cheeks. "No! No! No! You escaped. Why did you return to this cursed place?" She threw herself into his arms with a soft wail.

He patted her back reassuringly for a long moment, then gripped her by the shoulders and shook her slightly. "Kamala, I'm not your master and you need to stop crying," he said, also in Tibetan. "You're going to attract their attention." But the slave woman continued to sob into his blue tunic anyway.

"You really have a way with women," Kabal whispered.

Sub-Zero looked over her head at the man and glared. "Be quiet," he barked at his partner.

"What's the deal with all these babies?" the other asked him, now changing the subject. "I knew the Lin Kuei Temple was like the orphanage from hell, but I've never heard of the clan taking kids this young."

"As far as I know, they never have before," the Cryomancer replied. He looked down at Kamala and said in her language, "Where did all these children come from?"

Finally, she released him and looked up at him with her damp, almond-shaped eyes. She pointed to the nearest box. Inside, a black baby with a thick puff of dark hair slept peacefully on his side. He had been wrapped tightly in a blanket made from yak fur. But the child wasn't what Kamala wanted him to see. Slid into a clear, plastic sheath that was taped to the box was an information card. Sub-Zero immediately slid it out and studied the words on it, all written in English, undoubtedly due to the Black Dragon's influence.

GATIMU
DOB: MAY 1
MOTHER: DECEASED
FATHER: BOMANI – CYRAX

A sickness like being punched in the gut exploded in Kuai Liang's body. It crept inside him, creepy and vile, and in a mild panic he pulled another placard card from one of the plastic bassinets.

BAYARD
DOB: MAY 4
MOTHER: DECEASED
FATHER: HALSEY – HYDRO

Rising panic filled Kuai Liang with each card he read, and he passed them to Kabal so quickly that his partner could scarcely keep up. He felt his breath shorten as he studied each child and their accompanying information.

QUON
DOB: MAY 7
MOTHER: DECEASED
FATHER: JIAO-LONG – SEKTOR

These were the cyber-ninjas'...children. He counted eight children total. He couldn't fathom that. They were all roughly three months old, which meant the mothers were all impregnated approximately the same time. Sub-Zero quickly did the math in his head and figured out that conception must've occurred last year at this time, when all hell was breaking loose in the world with Shao Kahn's invasion. When...the Cyber-Initiative first came into play.

"Kamala," he muttered uncertainly, "why did they do this?"

"I eavesdropped on the Grandmaster one day," she declared, her head sagging in humiliation. "He told the strange men with the black dragon on their clothes that he needed to ensure heirs to the Lin Kuei now that his assassins were physically unable to go into a woman and plant their seeds. Their leader said they could go around nature. They could take the seeds they needed and plant them in slave women by force."

Sub-Zero thought that what she described vaguely sounded like artificial insemination, and when he mentioned this to Kabal, the other agreed. "We had the means when I was there," he said. "Put the math right on the money, too."

"Indeed."

"Um, just one question." Kabal stared directly into Sub-Zero's eyes. "What happened to all the girl babies?"

"What do you mean?"

"Statistically, there are more female babies born in the world than male. It's highly likely that your old pals knocked up these poor women with at least a few girls. But have you seen any around here so far?"

Kabal had an interesting point, though Kuai Liang wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He looked back and Kamala. "What happened to the girls?" he asked her.

"When they were born, the Grandmaster ordered Sektor to throw them over the cliff," the woman said, once more getting teary eyed. "There were twelve of them total."

"Well?" Kabal prodded.

"They're gone."

"What does that mean?"

He tensed as his heart lurched at the thought of those helpless babies dying such brutal deaths. It was arguably one of the most despicable things he'd ever heard of the Lin Kuei doing. "Oniro tossed them off the mountain to their deaths." His voice remained even and cool, but his heart was sad. He looked back to the slave. "And what about the mothers of these children? Where are they?"

Kamala sank her head. "They're dead as well. The moment they delivered, Sektor and his men killed them and took their bodies to the forest for the animals to eat. They brought the babies to me to take care of. I do what I can, Master, but it is hard to nurse them all, and the Grandmaster beats me often."

Kuai Liang translated, and his partner doubled over in disgust.

"For fuck's sake," Kabal started, "What does the Lin Kuei have against women? I've seen some pretty shitty stuff in my life, and I've heard of even worse, but this takes the cake."

"For once, you and I are in agreement," he wistfully sighed.

"So what, you guys have some serial killer founding father who had a hooker-slash-stripper mom performing the bad touch on him throughout his childhood?"

"That is not why the Lin Kuei is like that," Sub-Zero explained defensively. "Chinese culture is patriarchal. Women aren't seen as equal. They're seen as inferior. Therefore, girls have no real use, especially to the Lin Kuei. That's why there has never been a female assassin in our clan before."

"I can't believe this bullshit I'm listening to," Kabal snapped as he threw his hands up in exasperation. "This is the same bullshit I had to hear from my father growing up. Because of his Iranian Muslim bullshit, he always treated my mom and sister like shit." He paused and then stabbed his finger into the Cryomancer's chest. "If I find out you're treating Anya like she's not as good as you because she doesn't have a dick, you and me are gonna go a few rounds, pal."

"Stop right there," Sub-Zero glowered dangerously at his partner. His powers involuntarily surged through his fists. "She's not yours to protect, Kabal. She's mine. And if I have to remind you of that one more time, we will settle the matter with our fists. But it's a moot point anyway. I don't treat her that way. I know she's my better. So back off and remember where you're at."

That shut the man up for the moment, and he turned back to Kamala, who now threaded her hand through his and led both men to another plastic bassinet on the opposite side of the room. Inside, a long and thin baby stretched and pulled his blankets loose. He yawned, then gradually blinked his eyes open before looking up with bright, gray eyes. He had a thick shock of black hair on his head. Curiously, Kuai Liang slid the information card from its sheet.

ALEXANDER
DOB: MAY 2
MOTHER: DECEASED
FATHER: TOMAS – SMOKE

"What is it?" Kabal whispered as he looked over Sub-Zero's arm.

"It's Tomas' son," the Cryomancer replied, a hard lump forming in his throat.

His best friend had occasionally spoken about children, having always had a soft spot in his heart for them. He even mentioned a few times that he wanted the chance to be a husband and father someday. Perhaps it was because he was an orphan who never knew the love of a proper family, or perhaps it was because the Lin Kuei never afforded him a normal childhood, but either way it was something that always weighed heavily on the man's mind. It crushed Kuai Liang to know that Tomas had finally gotten his wish, and he didn't even have the soul to appreciate it.

Just one more reason to save him, he thought in renewed determination.

"We probably should go now," Kabal announced.

"We have to take these children back to the base," he replied.

"Are you kidding me? We're not even sure we're gonna get back to the base."

Sub-Zero ignored his partner and looked at Kamala. "Stay here," he ordered in Tibetan. "Don't tell anyone that we're here, do you understand?"

"Yes, Master Kuai Liang," she replied obediently.

"I'm not your master, Kamala," he stubbornly insisted before continuing. "Stay here. I'll be back soon. And when I come back, I'm going to take you and all these babies somewhere where you'll be safe."

"What do you mean to do?" she wanted to know.

"I'm going to find Tomas and take him somewhere safe too."

"But Master Tomas is dead," she argued. "That devil, the Grandmaster, destroyed him."

"I think I can help him," he explained. "But swear to me that you'll do as I say, Kamala."

"I swear," she nodded, weeping once more. "Please leave this place," she sobbed quietly. "If they capture you, they'll destroy you as well. You're a kind man, and a good man, and I can't bear the thought of you being a demon like the others are," she said.

"It'll be all right," he soothed as he patted her arm before he and Kabal slipped from the room in silence.