Kenshi stood there in disbelief. It had been six months since he heard anything form Hanzo, and now he was standing in front of him. Kenshi asked again, "Hanzo, is that you?" Hanzo just stood there, silent. Kenshi stepped towards Hanzo, asking, "Where have you been? We-"

He was cut off as Hanzo rushed him. Kenshi sensed this, and ducked in time. Hanzo, or his alter ego now, Scorpion, spun around quickly, backhanding Kenshi. The swordsman glasses flew off of his face, shattering on the ground, revealing his almost white eyes. There was still a blue tint into them, showing his eyes were once blue before his blinding. Kenshi was spun around once, and then punched in the chest. He held the spot in pain, while Scorpion brought his knee to Kenshi's face. Kenshi was thrown back from the blow, landing against the wall. Scorpion teleported beside Kenshi, punching him in the gut twice before roundhouse kicking him further into the wall. Kenshi coughed up blood.

Scorpion grabbed a tuff of Kenshi's hair slamming his head into Kenshi's. The swordsman's head was slammed back into the wall, while Scorpion backed up. He got into a fighting stance for a quick moment before charging Kenshi. Fortunately, Kenshi was able to get unstuck from the wall, jumping off and tackling Scorpion. After they both fell to the ground, Kenshi quickly rolled off, standing back up, wiping the blood from his mouth. Scorpion did a kip up, his back to Kenshi. The swordsman said, "What are you doing, Hanzo? Don't you remember me?"

Scorpion quickly spun around again, sending his kunai towards Kenshi. He dodged it yet again, letting it embed into the wall behind him. Kenshi kept his head towards his opponent in front of him. Scorpion once again disappeared once again, causing Kenshi's senses to go on high alert. He began walking around, hand going towards his sword still in it's scabbard.

An increase in heat alerted him to Scorpion's reappearance behind him, and he sent the Sento blade towards the increase of heat, but it was blocked by Scorpion's own blade. It was different form his former katana, now it had several point along the blade, as well as a stinger like bulb at the end of the hilt. Sparks flew in several directions at the initial impact, not fazing either man. The just tried to overpower the other. Kenshi gritted his teeth, pushing forward, while Scorpion had his eyes narrowed, not making a sound.

Kenshi, in a rather dirtier trick, kicked Scorpion's feet out from under him. Scorpion's eyes widened as he fell to the ground. Kenshi kicked the fallen sword away, placing his back in it's scabbard. Scorpion, on the ground, looked up at Kenshi. The swordsman, while not attacking, was in a fighting stance. Scorpion kipped up again, with Kenshi stepping back to avoid getting kicked. For a single moment they stood there. Once was sweating, blood trickling down his mouth, and a black eye forming. The other was standing rigid, not doing anything. Scorpion held his hand out, as if waiting for something to appear in hand. His sword that Kenshi kicked away disappeared in flames, reappearing in his hand. Kenshi sensed this, pulling his sword out again. The then rushed towards each other, blades meeting in sparks. There was no power struggle, they just ran, swinging their swords at each other.

Kenshi swung left, right, down, up, and diagonally from the top right to the lower left. Scoprion blocked them all, countering with his own attack. He slashed left and right, then stabbed towards Kenshi. Kenshi blocked the slashes, and backing up before the stab could rip his intestines apart. Kenshi and Scorpion rushed each other again, blades clashing. Kenshi swung around, bringing his blade with him. He was able to cut Scorpion across the back, leaving a deep cut. However, blood did not ooze out, but instead lava. Scorpion turned around, knocking the Sento out of Kenshi's hand. The swordsman telekinetically pushed Scorpion back, lunging for his sword. Scorpion was only deterred for a moment before throwing his sword towards Kenshi. Kenshi sensed the flying sword, barely able to disturb it's path with his telekinesis before grabbing his sword. Scorpion stepped towards Kenshi, arms to his side, ready to fight once again.

Kenshi held his sword to his side, ready to battle as well. Scorpion narrowed his eyes. Kenshi took in a deep inhale, and exhaled. They both charged at each other. Kenshi swung down on Scorpion, who dodged it. Scorpion punched Kenshi across the face, loosening a few teeth. Kenshi slammed the hilt of his sword onto Scorpion skull, fracturing it. Scorpion staggered back, holding his head in pain. Yet he didn't fall. Kenshi raised an eyebrow, but soon went back to attacking Scorpion. Scorpion took out his kunai, blocking the swings of Kenshi's sword. The two combatants went like this for a few minutes, Kenshi looking like he had the upper hand. But Scorpion had a different idea. After a brief, about four seconds, power struggle, Scorpion kicked Kenshi in the gut, sending him back. The Shirai Ryu assassin took this opportunity to disappear in flames.

Kenshi stood ready for when Scorpion returned. Except he never did. A few minutes passed, and Kenshi was still alone. Kenshi place his sword back in his scabbard cautiously, still unsure if Scorpion was truly gone. He picked up his phone he had dropped, thankfully still operating, and pressed a few buttons. Once the person on the other line picked up, he said, "I need you to pick me up."

Unknown location,

Scorpion appeared in a burst of flames, kneeling down. He looked up at Quan Chi, who was standing over him. Scorpion shook his head, the only confirmation Quan Chi needed that he had failed. "Shang Tsung will not be pleased," noted Quan Chi. He stroke his chin, thinking to himself. "On the other hand, he might be pleased you didn't kill him." Quan Chi motioned for Scorpion to stand, which he did, and walked over to his desk.

He sat down in his chair while Scorpion stood next to him, awaiting his next orders. "Scorpion, I want you to go to the Lin Kuei temple. Tell them I will need their assistance sooner than planned." Scorpion disappeared in flames, leaving several burning papers on Quan Chi's desk. The pale man looked as the papers burned up, and said, "I really should rethink his method of transportation."

The Lin Kuei temple in Asia,

Smoke made his way through a corridor, able to sneak past most of the guards, thankfully. He had gotten the proper schematics for the temple a few weeks ago, only needing to get to the temple to free his friend. Hopefully. He wasn't expecting anything spectacular to happen. He was expecting to at least find out if Kuai Liang lived. He made his way into the correct room, opening it to reveal two scientist too focused on their work to notice the door open. Smoke carefully made his was over to one of them, smoke bomb in hand. He place his custom mask over his mouth, dropping the bomb. It went off quietly, catching the two men by surprise.

After short scuffle, Smoke had knocked the two scientist out cold. He stood over the machinery they were working on. He looked away in discuss. What showed was a blue robotic body, although not complete. Panels were missing, grey skin was showing, and an entire hand was still revealed. Smoke was about to detach the machine from the monitors, but realized that, whoever it was, would kill them if he did. He looked at the helmeted face, two metal prongs coming out, and wires coming out of the back of it's head. Smoke detached several levers, allowing to remove it. He did it slowly, a little clumsily, and dropped it at what he saw. He was right. Kuai Liang was here. But it was not the Kuai Liang he knew.

This... monstrosity was built around his corpse, skin grey, skull showing, and hair gone. Smoke stumbled back, terrified at what had happened to his best friend. He shook his head, unable to process what he was looking at. Numerous thoughts were running through his head. How had they gotten him? Why had they turned him into this... thing? How was he going to bring him back? But he already knew the answer. He wasn't. There was nothing he could do for Kuai Liang. Absolutely nothing.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Smoke spun around to see the old man standing behind him. Smoke hissed out a name. "Oniro."

"Tomas. How it disappoints me to see you back here. Why would you come back when you escape? Don't you know that we would kill you?" Oniro was alone, walking around Kuai Liang's body. Smoke didn't take his eyes off of his former Grandmaster. "I expect so much more from you. So much." Oniro ran his hand across Kuai Liang's armored chest.

Smoke asked, "Why?"

"'Why?'" Oniro looked up at the ceiling. "I did it because you're all weak. Everyone of you needs to be replaced by the next generation. Robotics, for example, is the next generation."

"Taking away our free will, our instinct is the next generation?" Smoke shook his head. "You're insane, Oniro. I can't believe I ever believed in the Lin Kuei."

Oniro walked over to Smoke. "So you once believed in our cause? The true cause? What did we do wrong with you, Tomas? We treated you well since you were ten."

"No. You kidnapped me, dragged me here, beat me to near death on several occasions, and then trained me twenty-four/seven. That wasn't being 'treated well.' That was torture."

"So, you would not come back?"

"Never."

Oniro sighed. "I tried, Tomas. I truly did."

The door burst open to show two robotic figures. One yellow, the other red. Smoke back up from them, cautious. Oniro shouted, "Sektor! Cyrax!" The two robots looked towards their master. "Attack."

Cyrax transformed his hand into a buzzsaw, charging Smoke. The former Lin Kuei assassin jumped back, avoiding the saw before it could tear into his chest. Smoke tossed a smoke bomb at the three, disappearing in the confusion. After Oniro had finished and Cyrax and Sektor had been able to see through the smoke, they saw that Smoke had in fact disappeared. Sektor turned towards Oniro, in a monotone voice, and asked, "What shall we do, Master?"

Oniro stroked his beard. "Find him. Even if he leaves the country. I want his head. No exceptions."

Cyrax turned to the other Lin Kuei cyborgs, and spoke two words. "Operation; Devastation."

Cage's apartment,

Johnny saw Stryker walk in with a bruised Kenshi. Johnny cracked a joke while looking over his shoulder, sitting on the couch. "What happened to you? Slipped and fell?"

Kenshi shot Johnny a look, who took it in stride. "Hey, thanks for getting rid of my look, by the way. I was about to sue, you know."

Stryker finally said, "Shut up, Cage."

"Woah, last names," said Johnny. He put his drink on the coffee table, and asked, "What's up?"

"Remember that Hanzo guy?" told Kenshi.

Johnny shook his head, saying, "Doesn't ring a bell."

"From the tournament. Six months ago."

Johnny scratched his head. "I remember that, but I don't remember a Hanzo guy. Was it the guy with the bladed hat?"

"No."

"The ninja?"

"Which one?"

"The grey one."

"No."

"The golden one?"

"Yes. Finally."

"What happened?" asked Johnny, propping his feet up on the table.

Stryker replied, "Apparently, and this is simply from Kenshi, he attacked him."

"Kenshi attacked the ninja?"

"What? No. Hanzo attacked Kenshi."

"Oh. Continue."

"The reason this is significant, Cage," stated Kenshi, "is that he hasn't been seen since that tournament. Now he just pops up out of nowhere, attacks me, and then leaves, all of this without saying a single word. I don't know about you two, but that's just strange."

Stryker offered, "Too be fair, we only knew him personally for about a week. Although we do know more about him then Romeo did about Juliet."

Johnny looked towards Stryker under his sunglasses. "Last time I checked, this wasn't a poorly written love story."

"Woah," Kenshi said with faux suprise. "You mean to tell me that Johnny Cage can... read?"

"Har Har Har," Johnny laughed. "I'll have you know that I did go to a public school. And are you really one to talk?"

Kenshi crossed his arms. "The only reason I don't read is because I'm blind. I'm personally surprised you haven't considering you wear sunglasses all the time."

"Shut up. Anyway, what should we do about, uh, Hanzo, right? Yeah, Hanzo. What are we gonna do about him?" asked Johnny.

Stryker shrugged, but Kenshi narrowed his eyes, and said, "We go to the station, find Shang Tsung, and have him tell us what he knows about this."

Johnny shrugged as well, got up, and said, "Let's go."

Shang Tsung sat back down in his cell. He looked at the male officer who escorted him. The officer said, "Hope ya feel comfortable, Mr. Tsung. You're gonna be here for a long time."

A smirk on his face, Shang Tsung said, "Oh, I doubt that."

The officer mumbled, "Yeah, sure," tossed the keys into the air, caught them, and than repeated for several more minutes.

Once he knew the officer had left, Shang Tsung sat up, and walked over to the mirror. Oh, everything was coming to fruition.

Sonya walked into Jax's office, and said, "Well, we're almost ready to leave."

Jax nodded, sipped his coffee, turned a page of his newspaper, and said, "Good. So, I expect you to be gone in, say, a half hour?"

"Trying to get rid of me that quickly?" asked Sonya with a play smile on her face.

Jax chuckled to himself, and replied, "No, it's not that. I just need you to head out as quickly as you can. Shao Kahn isn't gonna capture himself."

Sonya lightly nodded, smiling at Jax. They were interrupted, however, by an explosion.

BOOM!

Jax and Sonya were thrown off their feet, landing on their sides. Jax got to his desk, pressing the communication button. "Alex! What the hell is going on?"

Alex's voice came through the intercom. "I don't know, sir! Something just exploded! I think-"

"It's a breakout," finished Sonya. She whipped out her pistol, holding it to the ground. "Sir, we should probably stop them."

Nodding, Jax said, "Alex, secure the prisoners. I'm going to stop these bastards. Sonya, you're with me. Move out."

Not waiting for a reply from Alex, and not really getting one, he and Sonya walked out of the office, seeing Alex and several others move towards the cells. An officer tossed Jax an assault rifle, Jax catching it with one hand. Sonya and Jax ran outside, seeing many men who looked like Baraka getting gunned down and slashing officers with their surgically implanted blades.

If there were only a few dozen they would be easy to handle, but there were at least a hundred. The numbers game played quite the part here. Every one gunned down, two more seemed to take his place. One shouted, "Beware the fury of the Tarkata!" He was quickly gunned down. Jax and Sonya were flanked by five officers, all firing short, controlled bursts into the crowd. The 'Tarkatans' differed in appearance, some white, some African American, some Hispanic, some Asian, but they all had the same piercings as Baraka, the same blades, and the same razor sharp teeth. One Tarkata jumped towards Jax, but one of the officers shot him in the head.

Jax thanked the officer, and turned his attention back towards the mob. "What do they want?"

"I don't know, sir," replied a redheaded, female officer. "They don't seem to be after anything! They're just atta-AGH!" A white Tarkata had been able to stab her through the chest, and kicked her off. He turned his attention towards Jax, but a bullet through the head put him down quickly.

Sonya ran over to check her pulse. There was none. If there was time to mourn, it would be later, but now they had to stay alive. Two officer mowed down five Tarkatas easily, but they were quickly torn apart. Jax, Sonya, and the two other officers, one of each gender, retreated further into the building.

The female officer asked, "What the hell are we gonna do?!" They were currently running as quick as they could, although they had to kill several for them not to catch up.

Jax curtly replied, "We go to Alex's location. She should be in a safe position. For now."

Alex and five officers were training their guns towards the only entrance to the cell block. They had heard the screams, the carnage, all of it not good. But they heard something that they didn't expect in this situation.

Laughter.

It was a quiet chuckle, but it was still chilling to the bone. They all turned around, seeing a pale white man standing behind them. He quietly said, "I believe I have an appointment to speak with Shang Tsung." He threw out his arms, green skulls firing towards the officers. Alex and two others managed to avoid them, but the rest weren't so lucky. They were blasted apart, blood splattering on everyone. Alex quickly whipped her pistol up, firing at Quan-Chi.

The necromancer simply waved his hand, the bullets flying in a different direction. Alex dropped her gun in shock, eyes wide, jaw dropped, backing up slowly. Quan-Chi stalked towards Alex, pushing a guard out of the way. He grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her off the ground to eye level. Her feet were a good foot off the ground. Banging on the door alerted the two, and Quan-Chi began putting more pressure on Alex's neck. She let out a quick cry, barely audible to the untrained ear. But Quan-Chi had a very trained ear.

Jax, Sonya, and the two officers burst in to see the sight. Qua-Chi turned his attention to the two, firing two skulls in their direction. Jax, Sonya, and the male officer dodged them, but the two skulls hit the female, completely obliterating her. Jax ran up to Quan-Chi, punching him twice in the face. The only effect that had was to make Quan-Chi flinch. The necromancer backhanded Jax into a wall, knocking him out cold.

Quan-Chi dropped Alex to the floor, who had fallen unconscious, and walked up to Shang Tsung. He turned around to face the remaining officers, and said, "Believe me, this has been fun, but I have things to do, people to kill. Good day to you all." He and Shang Tsung disappeared into green portals, leaving Sonya and the three remaining officers to look after their wounded.

Sonya shouted, "I need a medic!"

Kenshi, Stryker, and Johnny finally arrived in time to see every Tarkata disappear into green portals. Kenshi mumbled, "The hell?" They ran into the destroyed station, careful not to step on any of the deceased. After about five minutes of searching, they found someone. She was covered in blood, a large cut ran down her leg, but she was alive. Kenshi looked back to Stryker, and said, "Kurt, watch over her."

Stryker nodded, covering up the wound the best he could. Kenshi and Johnny left him, walking over the rubble. For once, Johnny didn't have a grin, he didn't crack a joke, he just frowned and walked. Kenshi was doing the same, although he wasn't looking around like Johnny. He was just walking ahead, nothing distracting him from his destination. Johnny asked, "Where are we going?" They turned a corner.

"The prison block. We need to see if any of them escaped," replied Kenshi.

"They probably did. What, with all of the people attacking." Kenshi abruptly stopped, motioning for Johnny to do the same. Johnny asked, "What is it?"

Kenshi turned his head towards Johnny, whispering, "We're not alone." He slowly took out his hidden pistol, Johnny taking off his sunglasses, ready for anything. "Duck."

Two Tarkatans jumped out of some rubble, tackling the two to the ground. Neither of them had their blades out, so they didn't have to worry about that. But they realized they were just as dangerous when one of them started throwing punches at Johnny's face, giving him a black eye. Kenshi was faring little better, just barely able to hold the man back with his arm. The slobber from the man's mouth dripping onto his face, reminding him of an incident with Repitle. The swordsman reached for his pistol, which had fallen from his hand during the surprise attack, but the man slammed a fist into Kenshi's chest.

Johnny was holding his hands close to his head, attempting to block the shots, but it was sadly unsuccessful. His head was slammed with the blows from the Tarkatan above him, rendering him unconscious in minutes. Kenshi turned his head over to the two, pushing the Tarkata off of him with a telekinetic push. He grabbed his gun, tackled the Tarkatan to the ground, shoved the gun under his chin, and fired. Brain matter flew all over the wall. Kenshi then backhanded the other Tarkatan with his fist, sending him into the wall.

He didn't stay down, as he kipped up immediately, popping out his blades. Kenshi evaded every slash easily. After a failed stab attempt from the Tarkata, Kenshi threw the blade into the stomach of the Tarkata, impaling him. Kenshi ran up to him, grabbing the hilt, yanking it out, and smashing it against the Tarkata's skull. Bone cracking under hilt, the skull shattered. Kenshi reared back, slashing the Tarakata in half vertically from the bottom. The two halves flopped to the ground uselessly, Kenshi holding the sword out.

"Very good, swordsman."

A chill, a short breath, and then Kenshi was on his back. He looked up, and saw the sorcerer, Shang Tsung, standing over him, flames dispersing from his right hand. "Tell me, how are things?"

Kenshi grimaced, kipped up, and lunged at Shang Tsung with an inhuman growl. Shang Tsung effortlessly dodged the attack, elbowing Kenshi in the lower back. Kenshi fell to the ground, dazed. Shang Tsung chuckled, walking slowly around Kenshi. The swordsman attempted to get up, but Shang Tsung slammed his foot against his back, sending him crashing down to the floor. Coughing up blood, Kenshi turned to his back.

Scorpion appeared in a burst of flames behind Shang Tsung. He had Stryker held by the neck, blood dripping down his nose and mouth, right eye blackened shut, and his left arm bleeding profusely. Kenshi could barely hear Stryker breathing. Whatever Scorpion did, it must have been quick, painful, and brutal. The hellspawn dropped Stryker to the ground, not even flinching. Shang Tsung kicked Stryker over to the downed swordsman, who stopped next to Kenshi.

Clapping his hands together, Shang Tsung said, "Well, to be honest, you all performed horribly. Based on last time, I'd figured you would've dealt with these two in several seconds."

"How?" whispered Kenshi, futilely trying to waken Stryker.

Shang Tsung laughed, slapping Scorpion playfully across the chest, who remained silent. "Well, those little things-" he motion towards the dead Tarakatas, "-helped break me out of prison, as well as a few... others." He nodded at Scorpion. He disappeared in a burst of flames. Shang Tsung turned his attention back towards Kenshi, and continued. "Now, I would've gladly killed you myself, but my partner decided it would've been better had I let these things do the dirty work. I find it so uncivilized." He walked around, stroking his beard. "Since he decided to take that pleasure, I sent his little errand boy on a little mission." He simply waved to Stryker. "It was sad. It only took a few minutes. I guess not everyone can be as gifted as you."

Kenshi, after several moments of hearing nothing out of rage, asked, "Why? What was the point of destroying the entire building? Why not have your partner-?"

"Because it wouldn't have been as fun. I loved seeing the destruction my underlings caused, it gave me pleasure." He stopped in front of Kenshi. "Now, I would've enjoyed it more had I been able to do it, but in my old age, that was out of the question." Shang Tsung grinned. "But, I want to give you an... offer."

Kenshi raised an eyebrow.

"What I propose would be beneficial to both of us. Join us."

Kenshi let out a slight chuckle. "What makes you think I'll join you?"

"I figured you'd need a little motivation. Here's the deal. If you join, I will persuade Shao Kahn to spare your pathetic friends."

Kenshi's eyes widened. "I'll give you some time to think about it," stated Shang Tsung. Scorpion reappeared in the room, grabbing Shang Tsung, and teleporting out. Kenshi, after some struggle, got to his feet, holding his arm. Kenshi just stood there in thought before moving towards Stryker.

Shang Tsung and Scorpion appeared before a cross-armed and grinning Quan-Chi. "So," started Quan-Chi, "how did it go?"

Shang Tsung patted some flames off of his shirt, caused by the teleporting Scorpion, and said, "About as well as planned. He'll be joining us within the week."

"Good." Scorpion walked over to Quan-Chi's side, not making a sound. "Now, about Shao Kahn-."

"Not here," interrupted Shang Tsung. "He has eyes everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. As far as I know, you could be one of his eyes and ears."

Quan-Chi simply stared at Shang Tsung blank-faced. "Whatever. Now, Scorpion, go to the temple. I want them here in an hour. No less." The hell spawn nodded silently, disappearing in fire.

An unknown location,

Smoke appeared out of some smoke, falling to the ground. He got to his hands and knees, coughing. He pulled off his mask, spat out some blood, and pulled down his hood to keep his long, white hair in place. Smoke threw his mask to the side, smiling to himself. He wiped off some grime on his face. It worked. He was home free. Wait. Where was he? This wasn't his intended destination. A hand was offered to him. It was a young hand, well-toned, unlike Oniro's. He took it.

He was hoisted up to his feet. He wobbled slightly, but he was able to stay up. He noticed how bright it was for the first time, as he covered his eyes.

"Too bright?" asked a voice. Smoke looked around.

"Who's there?"

"Oh, terribly sorry, I don't usually have visitors." He heard a clap, and the light dimmed. He saw that he was in a pastor, or so he thought. He saw that he was standing on clouds. He jumped back, startled. "You have nothing to worry about here. The ground is quite solid."

He looked ahead, and saw a young man, short black hair, a straw hat, and a white robe. The man had a blue shirt underneath the robe, and brown pants. Smoke asked once again, "Who are you?"

"What if I told you," started the man, "that I am the God of Thunder?"

Smoke eyes widened.

"Lord Raiden?"

A/N: Thought I forgot about him, didn't you? Fear not, he shall have more of a presence in this fic than the last one. Not much, but some.

Anyway, not much to add in this story, but what do you think will happen to Kenshi? Will he take to offer or reject to stay true to himself? Leave me your thoughts.

Spino, out.