"Tomas, are you alright?" Kuai Liang asked as he went to his friend and helped him to his feet.
"I'm fine," the other replied as he looked down at the perfect cut in his thick gray armor. "An inch to the left, however, and I'd be carved up like a Christmas goose." He scowled. "You see what I mean? They're all she-devils. You should have killed her. She ruined my tunic," he grumbled as he ran his hand over the damage.
"I'm not starting an inter-dimensional incident just yet, and certainly not for her," he said.
"Spoil sport."
"Come on," he said impatiently as he resumed his course along the path. He made sure there was a generous amount of room between him and the trees. "I will not rest until I find Shang Tsung."
"Be realistic," Tomas admonished. "My pr̆ítel, we have no way of knowing how big Outworld is. If it's even close to as big as Earth, this could be like finding a needle in the haystack."
"Which I did," the other cut in.
His friend laughed. "I forgot all about that!" He continued chuckling.
"It wasn't funny, Tomas."
"Well, what did you expect? You beat up Sektor for stealing the candy Xiao-Ping gave to you. You can't just beat up the Grandmaster's son and hope to get away with it. And nothing cures a bad temper like spending three days rolling around in a ton of hay." Tomas nudged him playfully. "When you finally found the needle, you came out of the barn smelling like a yak."
"I lost count of how many baths I had to take to get that smell off me."
"What are you talking about? You still smell like a yak."
"Better than what you smell like," he shot back.
Tomas raised his eye brows, both amused and impressed. "Nice one, Kuai Liang, but you're still a rank amateur next to me."
The Cryomancer started to counter, but suddenly the hair on his neck stood on end. He stopped dead in his tracks and scanned his surroundings as best he could in the darkness. Tomas, also sensing something was wrong, squinted his eyes and glanced around. To their left, the living forest full of man-eating trees stood in ancient silence, waiting for their next unfortunate victim. To their right, a sheer rock wall towered at least thirty feet above them. The eternal night was still.
And then a tidal wave exploded from the shadows beneath the cliff face, caught the two fugitive warriors, and swept them towards the carnivorous trees. Kuai Liang, reacting quickly, gripped Tomas' tunic with one hand while forming a long ice dagger in the other, and plunged it into the ground to stop their momentum. His muscles stretched and burned as the water, as powerful as the ocean tides, swirled past them harmlessly into the forest. Sputtering and choking, the Cryomancer lifted his soaked head in time to see Hydro stepping into view.
"Oh, my God," Tomas mumbled as he staggered to his feet. "They found us."
On cue, more Lin Kuei slipped from the shadows and surrounded them, backing them up ever closer to the tree line. They, however, were no longer human. Covered from head to toe in shiny armor in various colors, and wearing helmets with wires streaming from their crowns like ponytails, it was obvious what had happened to them. Like Hydro, they were now fully automated. They were cyber-ninjas.
"It didn't take them long to automate them," the Cryomancer muttered in amazement and horror. Indeed, it had only been two days since they'd fled the Temple.
"Sub-Zero. Smoke," Hydro began in a voice that sounded like his own British one, but was now synthesized and formal. "You will return to the Lin Kuei Temple to await your transformation." His voice was dispassionate, matter-of-fact, soulless. No different than a computer.
"Any bright ideas?" Tomas whispered to his friend as the other Lin Kuei crowded towards them.
"Run," the other whispered, backing up slowly. "We run into the forest."
"That's a terrible idea," he criticized.
"I never said it was a good idea," he retorted.
"Well, as always, I'm happy to be a part of this plan!" he cried softly as he mystically formed a large smoke bomb with his hand and threw it at the center of the ring. Black, blinding smoke hissed as it grew and spread through the darkness like India ink. Then he darted through two hungry trees while his former comrades continued their approach, seemingly unaffected by his trick. Sub-Zero followed in fast pursuit, turning around just long enough to send a jet of icy energy at the tree line, then watched for a short moment as a wall of ice expanded and grew in the cyber-ninjas' way.
"That won't hold them forever!" he yelled ahead to his friend.
"But hopefully it gives us a head start!" the other called back.
Then, a brilliant orange and white fire exploded immediately in front of Smoke, launching him high into the air with an agonized scream. The shock wave reached Sub-Zero a split second later and knocked him backwards into one of the carnivorous trees. Dazed, he heard it groan in pleasure as it started nibbling on his blue tunic, pulling him backwards. With a disgusted grunt, he faced his palms backwards and angrily streamed his blue-white powers directly into the monstrous tree's mouth. He heard it gurgle and gasp in surprise as it released him and then rapidly froze to death.
"Tomas!" he called as he started running towards his friend. Fire burned the moss and trees around them, illuminating the area but covering it with a dense layer of whitish smoke that stung his eyes. Even with the new light cutting through the darkness, though, it was difficult to see. Still, the Cryomancer quickly found his friend half-buried in a smoldering pile of wood and leaves.
Tomas was severely burned, his hair melted into his scalp and his face blackened and cracked. The concussive blast had split his skull, and blood streamed from the wound in small rivers. Kuai Liang looked down and saw his friend's fingers gnarled like the branches of an old, creepy tree, most, if not all, clearly dislocated. But the worst injury was to his left leg; with the calf half blown off by the explosion, the only thing keeping his lower leg attached was a thin, stringy bit of muscle and tendon connected to his knee. Blood drained out and pooled underneath his body in spite of being partially cauterized in places.
Kuai Liang's heart leaped into his throat, pounding uncontrollably, and he immediately pressed his hand on his pr̆ítel's thigh just above the wound, pumping a controlled amount of his ice into his friend. He knew that freezing the blood and tissue there was the only thing that would stop the hemorrhaging, but it would also numb what had to be excruciating pain. Then he put his other hand on his friend's head to try to stop the bleeding there, although he didn't dare freeze the tissues this time. It was just too dangerous. Tomas, barely conscious, groaned in labored breaths.
"Kuai Liang," he whispered, holding up his gnarled hand so his friend would grip it.
"Hang in there," he said, taking his outstretched hand into his own. "I'm going to get you help, Tomas, but I need you to stay with me."
"Run, my pr̆ítel," he croaked in a raspy voice before his eyes slowly closed. "Leave me."
"What did I tell you about being loyal to you?" he replied, feeling his throat tighten and choke out his own breath. The other didn't respond, and his breathing became shallower. "Tomas?" he said urgently as he shook his friend's shoulders. "Tomas?"
No, this was not happening. They hadn't come this far only to fail now. Angrily, he hoisted his friend up and flung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He knew the Lin Kuei was rapidly approaching, but he would be damned before he let them win. Tomas was heavy, but he staggered along through the burning trees, determined to escape. He scarcely noticed his pr̆ítel's blood streaming down his own body in steady currents.
And then, a blur of bright green sped at him and wrapped around him tightly, pulling him to the ground. Tomas fell limply onto a mossy mound with a thud and rolled face-first onto the forest floor. Kuai Liang, stuck like a caterpillar in a cocoon, flailed around but the net, which was made of some bizarre glowing material, bound him well. A moment later, another Lin Kuei cyber-ninja, this one bearing yellow armor, stepped into view. He tapped a button on his right wrist plate.
"Mission accomplished," he said in that dead, robotic voice. "Fugitives apprehended." Even though there was no soul in his voice, Kuai Liang heard the faintest trace of a Tswanan accent.
"Cyrax!" he snarled. It seemed the more he squirmed and struggled, the tighter the net became.
"I am unit LK-4D4," he replied. "You both will be brought back to the Lin Kuei Temple to complete your transformation." He knelt beside Tomas, rolled him onto his back, and plunged a tiny, pre-filled syringe into the unconscious warrior's neck. The Cryomancer couldn't be certain, but his friend seemed to go even more lax than before.
Kuai Liang thought of the explosion only moments ago. Amongst the Lin Kuei, only Cyrax's napalm bombs were powerful enough to do that kind of damage. Suddenly, vengeful rage filled him and he flopped around even harder, flexing his muscles and trying to wriggle his hands, which were twisted behind him so that his palms rubbed his back, free. "You did this!" he roared. "It was your bomb that did this to him! Cyrax!" With a howl, he yanked his right hand from his back so hard that a loud pop filled the air and an odd, sharp pain surged through his wrist, but still he could not move.
"Well done, unit LK-4D4," a new robotic voice said as heavy footsteps approached. Kuai Liang craned his neck around to see a red cyborg approaching.
"Sektor!" he roared as Cyrax bowed to the newcomer and then lifted Tomas off the ground, holding him in his arms like a rag doll.
"For the good of the Lin Kuei," the yellow cyborg said dispassionately before he walked away and disappeared through the trees.
"Tomas!" he called. "Tomas!"
"Silence!" the cyber-ninja commanded as he kicked Kuai Liang in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Blinding white pain bloomed through his belly, and he threatened to vomit on the ground.
"I swear on all that is holy, Sektor, I will kill you if it's the last thing I do!" he growled when he recovered a few moments later.
"You are too weak," the other responded coldly.
The other Lin Kuei, including Hydro, gathered before Sektor, their leader, in two perfect lines. As he gave them orders to return to the Temple, Kuai Liang tried once again to wriggle his hands free, and once again he failed. His left hand rested in the small of his back with his fingers just barely outside his forearm, not exposed enough to freeze the net, and he grunted in frustration. Every second he couldn't get free was that much more time between him and Tomas. He was determined to save him. He couldn't let them automate his friend. His pr̆ítel had more soul, more spirit, than anyone he ever knew. He couldn't bear the thought of it all being extinguished like nothing.
The Cryomancer inhaled deeply as he tried to drown in all the fear, guilt, anger, grief, and concern like Himavat said he should, and when his heart was sufficiently full, he compressed it all into a single focal point in his mind's eye. Blessedly, as Himavat said it would, the ice sprang from his hand and shot completely through his right arm before cutting one of the ropes on the other side. He stifled his cries of pain as he twisted the sword enough to cut even more strands. Warm blood smeared his arm and his back, but his work went unnoticed by the preoccupied cyber-ninjas, and he felt the net start to give away. Then, after the crowd of drones marched away, Sektor returned his attention to his captive and lifted him to his feet, the break in the net still unnoticed. Human Sektor never would have missed that, but Kuai Liang wouldn't complain.
"It is time to go," he said in his monotone computer voice.
Reaching around with his dislocated wrist, stifling his grunts of pain, Sub-Zero ripped the loose net from his body and then swung the other arm around, gripped the handle jutting from it, and yanked it out with a wet slurp. "I will never yield," he growled at his enemy before he brought the sword down on Sektor's head, knocking him down in a shower of sparks. Then, clinging to his weapon, he sprinted towards the main path where he was certain Cyrax had headed with Smoke.
Only moments later, he burst from the forest in time to see Cyrax, still carrying Tomas as if he weighed nothing, disappear through a portal in the rock wall. He headed for it, but about ten feet before he could leap through, he was tackled from behind and knocked into the cliff face several yards from where he intended. The impact forced him to bite his tongue on accident, and sharp pain stunned his forehead and eye orbit. He tasted coppery blood in his mouth while goose-eggs formed on his head and face.
Then his assailants, the cyber-ninjas, gripped him by the shoulders and threw him backwards, forcing him to fall against a wall of different Lin Kuei automatons that propped him up. Hydro broke through their small circle and gripped Sub-Zero by the throat, holding him firmly in place while one of the others, a warrior with a taser built into his gauntlet, began to shock him. It was as if every nerve in his body vibrated uncontrollably and painfully, but just as he started to lose consciousness, something strange happened. The electric current arched and jumped to the Lin Kuei warriors all at once, not merely shocking them but electrocuting them. The faint smell of singed hair rose in the air, and they all stood in place, vibrating for a long second, before a shower of sparks exploded from them and they shorted out. Then they collapsed, either dead or unconscious, he couldn't tell. In the distance, a clap of thunder sounded.
Kuai Liang looked around, puzzled at this stroke of good fortune until he saw two men approaching from the nearby road. He took one look at them and prepared to fight, his cold powers already surging just beneath the surface of his skin. Though both men seemed friendly, he didn't believe it. This place, Outworld, was inherently hostile, and now alone, stripped of his companion's company and wisdom, he refused to take any chances.
One of the newcomers, a tall blond man wearing sunglasses and bearing a tattoo on his chest that read "Johnny" beneath his wife-beater shirt, walked confidently but not menacingly. Kuai Liang, however, was more intrigued by his companion, a seemingly wise-looking man wearing white robes with blue and gold insignia, a blue dragon amulet fastened to his chest, and a conical straw coolie hat. This person seemed to sense his distrust and raised his arms deferentially as they approached.
"We do not wish to fight you, Kuai Liang," the man said calmly.
Maybe it was his adrenaline rush fading, maybe it was the blood loss, or maybe it was that crushed feeling from having just lost his best friend, but the Cryomancer suddenly felt subdued when he heard the newcomer speak.
"Who are you?" he uneasily asked as he lowered his bloodied fists.
"I am Raiden," the man replied. "The God of Thunder and Lightning. And I want you to join my team of Earthrealm Champions."