MARKUS X'S POV

As the two of us returned to Kahn's palace, I was beginning to feel a distinct lack of sleep. Mileena, on the other hand, seemed to be as active as ever, even moreso then usual as she twirled around and skipped with me down the halls to the throne room. As the doors opened, I was quite surprised at what I saw.

Skarlet was there, standing right next to Shao Kahn as the two of them examined my iPhone. They appeared to be using one of the apps I had downloaded, one in particular that a friend of mine had convinced me to get. Kahn's eyes glowed an intense red as he focused on slashing the zombies with his character's katana. Clearly frustrated with his lack of progress, he sneered before handing the iPhone back to Skarlet, who tossed it over to me.

"This device of your is most interesting... I assume it is similar to the weapons Kano sold to my minions?"

I nodded. "Yes, but it's not a weapon in and of itself. This is a highly advanced communication device capable of almost instantly connecting two people together. It also can be used for entertainment, filming, audio recording, photo editing, and other purposes." I smiled, my helmet under my arm. Though the inhabitants of Outworld seemed to be very proficient with sorcery and whatnot, their technology was truly medieval compared to that of Earthrealm. The desire of the Emperor to constantly conquer likely meant that technological advancement was not a priority for Outworlders, which would explain the swords, staffs, and other ancient weapons I had seen in the hands of these various warriors.

Gently wiping some of Skarlet's bloody essence off of my iPhone, I waited for Kahn to inevitably start the trial. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long, as he motioned with his warhammer towards the hemomancing ninja, who took center stage as she began to act as though she was an Earthrealmer.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kahn. I'm Ruby Fox, no relation to Megan. I was born in Chicago, Illinois, before moving to New York City for a modeling job. Between getting modeling gigs, I work at a homeless shelter, with another part-time job at a clothing store. My parents died in a car accident when I was little, so I was sent to the nearest orphanage, where I grew up."

Bowing to Shao Kahn in a very formal fashion, even I was impressed at how detailed and well-informed Skarlet was. Evidently, she was going to be quite successful at her infiltration.

"You have taught my newest creation well, warrior, but more challenges on the tower await."

Kahn motioned towards one of the figures next to him, and the ninja in black, simple attire stepped forward.

"For your next challenge, you will face Neksus, adopted son of the Lin Kuei Grandmaster and master of teleportation!"

To demonstrate his skills, Neksus stood perfectly still before disappearing instantaneously in a flash of light and reappearing to the right of where he originally stood. He then teleported to the left of where he was standing before returning to his original spot, pointing at me. "You will be my entrance to the Cyber Initiative!"

I motioned towards him. "Bring it, if you think you've got what it takes."

Neksus nodded and dashed towards me. I raised an arm to block, planning on starting the fight cautiously, but the Lin Kuei disappeared. I knew where he had teleported to the moment I was knocked to the ground from behind. Quickly rolling forward, I returned to a standing position, only to wind up being hit from both the front and back with a teleport kick. This reminded me of what Mileena had done during our first encounter, and I swiftly moved to counter it.

"You're a Lin Kuei? I guess this means you don't have a girlfriend..."

Momentarily distracted by my insult, I was able to take one of my Glocks and fire a couple of rounds at him. Though one round did hit him in the shoulder, the second missed as Neksus teleported away.

Scanning the immediate area, I did the best thing I could do: activating the mace spray in my gauntlet, I span around, spraying the irritant liquid in all directions nearby. A cry quickly pursuaded me to turn and, with an armored fist, blast Neksus in the jaw with a haymaker. As he stumbled back, I fired my taser barb at his neck, the penetrating shard of conductive metal causing the well-trained ninja to break into a fit of seizing up. Hurriedly making my way towards him, I wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed as hard as I could for a period of several seconds before the Lin Kuei fell at my feet, limp and unconscious.

"Guess I'm halfway there. What's next? A metrosexual ice-breathing superhuman? A demon summoned from the deepest pits of hell to seduce me? A trampoline kombat challenge?"

The Emperor glared at me with a gaze unmatched by any teacher, boss, or former drill sergeant I had ever seen."Your next challenge shall begin tomorrow, and now that you mention it, you will be facing demons. Four of them, to be exact. I suggest you begin to prepare."

Nodding, I left the throne room, Mileena following me as we returned to her quarters.

Taking the armor off, I smiled at my soon-to-be-girlfriend. "you know, that teleport kick Neksus did reminded me so much of our first fight..."

"Aw, Trojan, I love how close our relationship has gotten in the past couple of days!"

I merely shrugged. "They say outcasts form bonds with one another faster than normal people do. Guess this is an example."

Turning around, I noticed that Mileena had yet again removed her clothes in an attempt to either seduce me, or just plain be sexy. "I don't suppose that you'd be interested in giving me a back massage, would you?"

Dramatically bowing as I put on a clean and unstained kimono, I attempted to imitate the voice changer in my helmet. "By your command, mistress."


MILEENA'S POV

Relaxing my body, I shivered as the warm, soothing fingers of Trojan's hands ran across my back. With a gentle amount of force, he began to slowly knead and press down on my back with his fingertips. The feeling of smooth, warm flesh relieving the stress from my consistently taut muscles was almost too much to bear as I felt the tension in my back begin to dissipate.

Trojan then ran his palms up and down my back in series of strokes, intending to find the points on my back that likely would require a penetrating amount of force to crack. Finding a spot that he considered far too taut, he pressed down with his elbow, and I cried out in relief as the firm feeling was shattered into a silky wave of comfort.

Evidently, though, I was too loud, as one of the higher-ranking servants opened the door. Looking over me, she frowned. "I was expecting to see something else."

"Li Mei," I chuckled, "do you really think me to be so predictable?"

The servant, seemingly as young as myself, perhaps younger, said nothing as she walked out of the room, hoping to next time catch me and my playmate playing a very different game...