Tomorrow Begins Now
Chapter 4
Yin/Yang
The walk back seemed longer than the walk from the Lin Kuei temple. Subzero, Robin, and Flash returned back to the temple in relief knowing their mission was a success. Once in the temple they all took a seat at the table where the map was.
"Now that we have the amulet, what do we do with it?" Flash asked.
"We'll wait it out here for awhile, and then we'll give it to Rayden." Subzero said.
"Who's Raiden?" Flash asked.
"He is a thunder god; he can take the amulet to a more secure place." Subzero replied.
"That's nice to know, but I really don't think that us staying here is a really good idea." Robin said.
"And why is that?" Flash asked just starting to get relaxed.
"I'm assuming Scorpion knows where this place is, and I wouldn't put it past Deathstroke to find it as well." Robin replied.
"Wait a minute, Deathstroke was there and you didn't tell us!" Flash yelled.
"Who's Deathstroke?" Subzero asked.
"He's an assassin, highly skilled." Robin answered.
"Robin's right, I don't think it would be wise to stay here." Subzero said.
Robin pulled a small device out of his utility belt as it began beeping.
"I have Superman on radar, he's quite some miles away but we should be able to reach him in a few hours." Robin said.
"Alright then it is settled, we will regroup with this Superman guy." Subzero said as the three of them left the temple.
Hal awoke that morning to hear a knock at the door. He quickly got in his suite as he opened the door to see Wonder Woman.
"Batman's gone." Wonder Woman said.
Hal then looked over at the bed Batman slept in and saw that he was indeed missing.
"So where is he?" Hal asked as he turned back around.
"Shang Tsung said he went in search for Robin early this morning." Wonder Woman replied.
"It's not like Bruce to run off without saying anything." Green Lantern said.
"No kidding." Wonder Woman agreed.
The two of them walked out to the front of the temple where they saw Shang Tsung standing by the edge.
"I hope you both enjoyed your sleep, in Batman's absence I hope you two are still up for the task." Shang Tsung said.
"It won't be a problem." Wonder Woman assured.
"Good, then we will head out." Shang Tsung said.
"Where to?" Hal asked.
"Word has caught my attention that a demon who goes by the name Subzero has taken the amulet." Shang Tsung said.
"Who is Subzero, and what is this amulet you're talking about?" Green Lantern asked.
"Subzero is the leader of a clan called Lin Kuei, who has the ability to freeze." Shang Tsung said.
"Nothing we can't handle." Wonder Woman said.
"You must be careful; he can control people as well. I also heard he has taken over a few of your friends, Robin and Flash." Shang Tsung said.
"How do you know that?" Hal asked.
"Word spread to me of this, as soon as I told Batman he went in search of him." Shang Tsung said.
"That doesn't sound good." Hal said.
"Just remember if you see them, attack them, they have no compassion under his control." Shang Tsung said in a convincing voice.
"We're not here to hurt our friends." Wonder Woman replied.
"And I don't want you to, but if it comes down to it you must." Shang Tsung said.
"I don't think it will." Hal said as he rubbed his ring.
"So tell us more about the amulet he posses." Wonder Woman said.
"Oh yes, the amulet is an ancient artifact that has been passed down in my family. In the right hands it brings good and piece to both of our worlds. But in the wrong hands, well you know what can happen." Shang Tsung said.
"Sounds bad, we better stop this guy." Green Lantern said as his ring lit up.
"Good, we better get going." Shang Tsung said.
"Where are they now?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I think the best place to check would be the Lin Kuei head quarters." Shang Tsung said.
Miles away Kitana and Superman meet back up at the area filled with large rocks.
"Any luck?" Superman asked.
"No." Kitana replied.
"Great, they have to be around here somewhere." Superman said as he is about to fly off.
Kitana puts a hand on his shoulder as he turned around to face her. Kitana grabs his hands and leads him to one of the rocks where they sit down.
"I know you really want to find your friends, but sometimes you have to let go." Kitana said.
"But what if their still out there, alive?" Superman asked with a low tone.
"If Flash and Robin are as good as you say then you must trust that they will find their own way." Kitana said.
Superman sat in silence for another minute or so.
"Your right, were done looking. I'm pretty sure their ok." Superman said.
"I'm pretty sure we are to."
Kitana and Superman looked over to see Robin kneeling over a large rock with Subzero leaned up against it with his arms crossed. Flash came running in a second later.
"You guy's are ok." Superman said in excitement.
"Sorry we took so long, we had to retrieve some amulet." Flash said slouching.
"What amulet?" Kitana asked.
"Shinnok's amulet, the boy wonder has it." Subzero said.
"So what are we going to do from here?" Flash asked.
"We are going to head to Edenia; I need to restore order to my lands." Kitana said.
"Subzero, what about Rayden?" Tim Drake asked.
"We'll recap and find him later, if not Scorpion or that Deathstroke guy might show up again." Subzero said.
"Deathstroke, he's in this realm to?" Superman asked.
"Apparently, I think more is going on then any of us know. If we can find Raiden I think he could help us answer some questions." Robin said.
"Kitana, how do we get to Edenia?" Superman asked.
"Stand back." She said.
Kitana put her hands out as she slowly began to make a portal that grew bigger and bigger. Electricity formed as air from all around them circulated.
"I gotta get this girls number." Flash said to himself.
The portal was done within the next few seconds.
"Nice." Flash said.
Kitana stepped through with Superman following.
"Last one in is a monkey with banana brains." Flash said as he raced in.
Subzero and Robin both shook their heads as they jumped in at the same time. When they got to the other side of the portal there was no doubt in there minds they were in a new realm. The area they landed in was in the plains.
"Hey this is a pretty nice place, just one question, where's all the people and construction?" Flash asked.
"My kingdom is about a mile to the North, we better get going." Kitana said.
"So Kitana, is that your full name?" Flash asked as he ran up next to her.
The whole way there Flash talked about pointless stuff to Kitana, while Superman and Robin had there own little conversation. Subzero just walked in silence behind everyone. When they arrived at the city, people were walking around doing there daily things. A few people glanced over at Subzero, Flash, and Robin wondering why they had masks on. They all followed Kitana as they came upon a large gate.
Kitana tried to slice the gate open but couldn't.
"Let me try." Superman said as he used his heat vision to melt the fence down which he did in a matter of seconds.
As they walked closer to the castle guards came out as they surrounded them.
"Put your hands in the air?" One of them yelled.
"We come in piece, we don't want any problems." Superman said trying to reason.
"Put your hands up Mr. S." One of them replied.
At that second Flash ran all over the place knocking all the guards out.
"That takes care of that." Flash said.
The next second they here someone clapping and laughing as a woman jumps down in front of Superman.
"That's my mother." Kitana said.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Flash." Wally said as he walked up to her only to be knocked to the ground by her hair.
"And I'm Sindel." She laughed.
"Kitana you could have told me she was a bady." Flash said as he got to his feet.
"She's under Khan's control, you four stay back I'll try and defeat her." Kitana said as she stepped forward.
"This should be interesting." Flash said.
Kitana raced over to Sindel as she pulled out her metal fans. Sindel let out a loud scream, Kitana was almost hit by it but jumped out of the way. Sindel used her hair and knocked Kitana's metal fans out of her hand. Kitana jumps to the side as she punches Sindel making her spin back.
Sindel yet again uses her hair as it wraps around Kitana's left wrist as she swings her to the ground. Before Kitana can recover Sindel begins to load up a scream, thinking quickly Kitana throws a black object over at Sindel. As soon as she screamed it broke the black object to pieces, but Sindel got electrified in the process.
"Hey Robin, that look like one of your birdrangs." Flash said.
"It was, when me and him were in close combat I took it just incase a latter encounter." Kitana said.
"How did you know it wouldn't be something that would kill?" Tim asked.
"I got to know you guy's more, and noticed you don't kill." Kitana said leaving Robin with a small smile on his face.
Kitana walked over to Sindel who slowly got up.
"Kitana, what are you doing here?" She asked in a confused tone.
"Nice try lady, we know you're still under this Khan guy's spell." Flash said.
"Now I remember, Shao Khan came and." Sindel said as she is cut off.
"It's ok now; all of us are here to help." Superman said.
"Kitana, who is this handsome man?" Sindel asked.
"His name is Superman, the one I told you I was going to get to help us." Kitana said.
"Great all the girls always like Superman, what about me; I'm the freaking fastest man alive." Flash said to himself.
"So where is Shao Khan now?" Robin asked.
"He has headed to Outworld, you must be careful." Sindel warned.
"No problem." Robin replied.
Kitana introduced the rest of them.
"Before you all leave there is a prisoner in the Edenia dungeon, I'll get the key so you can get him out." Sindel said.
"No need." Robin said as he walked over to the dungeon.
"Don't worry Ms. He has pretty much every gadget you can think of." Flash said.
Robin came back a minute later with a man.
"I got him out, he say's his names Johnny Cage." Tim Drake said.
"Nice to meet you all, Robin told me a little about you two." Johnny Cage said.
"That's good to know; now we better head to Outworld." Subzero said.
"He's right; if this threat is so big we better hurry." Superman added.
"I will hold the fort here." Sindel said.
"Sounds good." Superman replied.
Kitana yet again opened up another portal.
In another realm all of the Lin Kuei warriors present at the head quarters were defeated by Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. But Subzero was nowhere to be found. Wonder Woman threw her Lasso around several of the warriors but none of them knew where Subzero had gone to.
"Great just great, this guy's harder to hunt down than a fly." Green Lantern said.
"These two are much more powerful than I thought they would be, maybe even better than the bat and bird." Shang Tsung thought to himself.
"Shang Tsung do you have any other idea's where he might be?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Not at the moment, I'll have my men go out and see if they have heard anything." Shang Tsung said.
There hiding in the trees above was Deathstroke.
"So it looks like they were smarter than I thought not to stay here, I'll find them." Deathstroke whispered.
Outworld
When they arrived there were clouds that looked like they were ready to pour out rain. There was nothing but land all over the place.
"Superman I need you to go and find Fujin, the god of wind." Kitana said.
"Where will I find him?" Superman asked.
"Fly up into the clouds above, somewhere up there you should be able to find his temple." Kitana said.
"I'll be back in no time." Superman said as he took flight.
"Flash, I want you to run up ahead and report back every thirty minutes if anyone is coming." Kitana directed.
"No Problem." Flash said as he zoomed off.
Kitana, Subzero, Robin, and Johnny Cage continued their journey as they walked on. They walked on for long periods as Flash would come back and fourth to report any on going activity. Something was wrong, somewhere inside Subzero told him. He felt like something was going to happen.
Subzero stopped walking as he slammed his foot to the ground. Everyone turned around to face him.
"Something's wrong." Subzero said.
"Yah, that Flash guy is five minutes late with his report." Johnny Cage said.
"It's not that, I feel like something is going to happen." Subzero said.
"I have that same feeling; you would think someone would have seen us being out in the open and all." Robin said in agreement.
"Are you sure?" Kitana asked.
"It's a guy thing if you know what I mean." Johnny Cage replied.
"You boys think too much, we better get going." Kitana said as she turned to keep walking.
As she began to walk a large needle was shot into her arm. She instantly fell to the ground. Robin jumped back as Subzero and Johnny Cage were shot. Then Tim felt a sharp pain on his shoulder, he through a bird tracking device onto Kitana before he fell unconscious like the rest.
"This is your news broadcaster from Bludhaven. There's big talk about the random disappearance of Gotham City's to crime fighters Batman and Robin. If they are trying to prove that Gotham needs them they have done a swell job, the crime rates have gone up 20 already, there are also other reports of Superman missing in Metropolis." The broadcaster says as the TV is shut off.
"Hey bro it's me again Dick, Tim where are you and Bruce? Is Superman with you guys? Hope to catch you later." Dick Grayson say's leaving a message.
"Where are those two, I think it's time I go investigate." Dick said as he looked over at his Nightwing suite.
Outworld
He slowly awoke with a sudden drossiness over him. Johnny Cage slowly lifted his head up as he felt his body chained to a wall. He then looked around a little more; there were prison cells all over the place. Across from his cell was Robin, Subzero was in the one to the right of him. Johnny then looked around not to see Flash or Kitana.
"Good news is they probably didn't capture Flash, the bad news is Kitana is missing." Johnny said.
"We noticed." Subzero said.
The rest of the prison cells were empty.
"Hey Robin you got any more fancy gadget's to get us out of here?" Johnny Cage asked.
Robin tilted his head. Johnny looked in that direction to see a guard with Robin's utility belt hanging over a pole.
"Great." Johnny muttered.
"Hold on a sec." Robin said as he felt around in his glove.
"Great, I have something that can get us out of here." Robin whispered.
Tim shifted his hands a little as a small gizmo slid out of his glove. He slowly began to pick the lock that held his chains together. After he was loose he slowly put the chains to the ground. Robin slowly looked over at the guard who was dead asleep. He quickly picked the lock which held his cage shut.
He then slowly made his way down the hall. When he approached the guard he stepped in a small puddle of water. His body froze, as a death chill went down his spine. The guard didn't awake. So he slowly reached over and grabbed his utility belt and staff. He was surprised to still see Shinnok's amulet connected to it.
As he snapped his belt on the guard awoke. Robin swung his staff hitting a pressure point in his neck knocking him out cold.
"Good Job Robin." Subzero said as Robin threw the guard into the cell and locked it.
Robin then freed Johnny Cage and Subzero using a laser pen gadget he had.
"I've got to get me some of those." Johnny said.
"We don't have time for talk, Subzero where do you think they took Kitana?" Robin asked.
"Didn't you place a tracker on her?" Subzero asked assuming he did.
"Yah, but I'm not getting a reading. They must have taken her to another realm." Robin replied.
"That's just great." Johnny Cage said.
"Any ideas where?" Robin asked yet again.
"We'll find her in time, first we need to find Flash and Superman." Subzero reminded.
"Wait a second." Robin said as he pulled something out of his utility belt.
"What's that?" Johnny asked as Robin pulled out a green slip of paper.
"Someone put it in my belt." Robin said as he opened the paper and read it.
"Riddle me this Bird Boy
I come in darkness, but fill the mind with light.
I bring pleasure, destruction, and sorrow, what I shall show you will often be unreachable. This journey of nothing, hopes, and where unthinkable disasters may occur.
What am I?"
"It's a riddle." Johnny said.
The three of them thought of what it could mean. The next second Tim snapped his fingers.
"It's the sides of life, dark and light." Robin began to explain.
"What do you mean?" Subzero asked.
"It's basically Yin and Yang, in other words whoever wrote this riddle was referring to our dreams." Robin said.
"Someone who knows you perhaps?" Subzero asked.
"If that is the case it can only be one person, The Riddler." Robin said.
"The Riddler, that sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon villain." Johnny Cage said.
"Names aren't everything; we better get out of here before security shows up." Robin said.
Subzero led the way as they exited the small building. When they got out there was nothing but land all over.
"Great, now where to begin?" Subzero said as wind began to blow from every direction around them.
The three of them put their arms up as dirt and what not is blown in their faces. Special lenses come down on Robin's mask as he looks up in the sky to see two objects floating down to them. He gives off a smirk to see one of them is Superman, and the other most likely being the wind god Fujin.
The wind stops in the next two seconds as Superman and Fujin land on the ground.
"What took you?" Subzero asked.
"We had been looking for you for awhile now, I saw you guy's in that building with my X-ray vision." Superman replied.
"Where's Kitana?" Fujin asked.
"Khan's men took her." Robin said.
"Did you guy's happen to see Flash around?" Johnny Cage asked.
"Yes, were supposed to meet up there in five, since we found you three we can head there now." Superman said.
Fujin and Superman took flight as Subzero, Robin, and Johnny followed them on foot. It only took them about five minutes to make it to the meeting place where Flash was waiting.
"Great you found them, where were they?" Flash asked.
"We were in some low budget prison, if you can even call it that." Subzero said.
"Do any of you have any ideas on where Kitana might be?" Superman asked.
"Robin's tracker can't pick anything up, but I'm willing to bet if we head to Shang Tsung palace we'll find something." Johnny Cage said.
"Alright, then it is settled we'll head to his palace." Superman said.
"Follow me; I know exactly where it is." Fujin said.
Superman grabbed Robin and Subzero, as Fujin grabbed Johnny Cage as they flew to the palace. They arrived within the next thirty minutes as they approached a large metal door.
"So, think we should knock?" Johnny Cage asked.
"Good idea." Superman said as he gave the door three hard punches knocking it down.
As they entered the Palace they could hear cheering in the distance. They followed these sounds as it led to an outside part of the Palace. There were large stands with people cheering. Thousands and thousands. This made Flash smile a bit.
"What's going on?" Robin asked.
"Fights." Subzero replied.
Suddenly the crowds became silent.
"I think were spotted." Flash said to himself.
"Welcome Earth's defenders." A man said from his throne chair.
"Shao Khan." Superman said.
To Be Continued