CHAPTER 20

"Are you ever going to tell me your name?" Sub-zero asked after one of their training sessions. Weeks had passed, and yet she still didn't know what his name was. The boy blinked at her. All right, he couldn't really be classified as a boy. He was young, probably a bit younger than she was.

"I thought you already knew." He said. Sub-zero smiled sheepishly.

"Er…no, I don't." He grinned at her.

"You could always guess."

Sub-zero looked thoughtful for a moment. She couldn't really remember what his name was.

"Hmm." She said. "Riku?" He shook his head.

"Nope."

"Ryoma? Ryoga?" He shook his head again. Sub-zero sighed. "Does your name even begin with an 'R'?" He laughed.

He chuckled. "Your guesses aren't even remotely close. My name is Hanzo." Sub-zero froze. The wall she had been trying to build between her and that memory was shattered. She tried to breathe properly, but her chest seemed to clench and unclench painfully.

"Hanzo." She repeated stiffly. He nodded, oblivious to her reaction. "Tell me more about your life." He tried to stand up, but the recently earned bruises prevented him from doing so. So, he settled for sitting up.

"Well, my name is Hanzo." Sub-zero inhaled sharply, his name was too close to his. "I came from Japan. My family was assassinated by a group of ninjas, and I was the only one left. I don't remember how I got here, in Arctika. All I remember is that I collapsed, and," he turned to Sub-zero smiling. "You let me in." he finished.

"I let you in?" she asked in bewilderment. He nodded.

"Well, I never really got to thank you, grandmaster. Your brother always seemed to hide you from me. I think he thought I was one of your creepy stalkers." He laughed at the memory. Sub-zero seemed to be deep in thought. "What is it, Grandmaster?"

"Oh nothing. So, who was it that killed your family in cold blood?"

"The ninjas who killed my family were the Shirai Ryu." Sub-zero stood there, astonished; as she let the words sink in.

"The Shirai Ryu killed your family?" her voice cracked. Impossible. Scorpion was a merciful person back then. He would never kill an entire family. Heck, he even restrained himself from killing her! Hanzo fumed. "Who told you that the Shirai Ryu killed your family?"

"A person." Sub-zero mentally smacked her forehead. If she didn't already know it was a person, she'd be stupid. "When I was looking for a place to stay, I came across this weird person. He was bald and he had tattoos all over his body. He had white skin and green eyes. Oh yeah, he was the one who directed me here…Now I remember." Of course. Quan Chi. Sub-zero laughed humorlessly. She shook her head.

"You should know better than to believe that person. Quan Chi." She spat his name. He was taken aback at the acerbity of her voice.

"But, he seemed to be right about everything!" he protested. He stood up, trying to ignore the pain of his body. "He guessed that they were wearing yellow and that their leader had a spear." Sub-zero frowned and sighed.

"That is one of the advantages of being a sorcerer. Since your memory was a bit murky, he decided to get in your mind and manipulate things. Maybe even a little bit."

"But…why would he do that?"

"Quan Chi wants both of our clans dead. He told that to you, in hopes that you would pass it on to me, and if I were the old Sub-zero, I would have led the attack without a moment's thought." She said. Her meeting with Scorpion had changed her views about the Shirai Ryu Clan. There it was again. She had thought of him. She gritted her teeth.

Hanzo refused to believe what she had told him. He nodded, but doubt was still plastered on his face. She sighed.

"Hanzo, go to the infirmary and the healer will take care of you there."

"Yes, Grandmaster." He was about to leave when Sub-zero remembered something.

"Oh! Yeah, Hanzo, I wanted to ask you…" she paused. "How old are you?" he chuckled.

He was about seven years younger than she was.

"Your age makes me feel really old." Sub-zero commented. Hanzo laughed at her and bid her good bye.

OoooooooO

Sub-zero sat in her study. She was ill at ease. There was something wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she definitely knew something was up. She stood up and paced her room. Then, someone knocked on her door. Well, it was more of pounding. She opened it, and the guard bowed.

"Sir! There is an intruder in the main hall!" he said, obviously panicked. How did an intruder get inside the well-protected base of the Lin Kuei? She scowled. She strode out the door quickly, the guard followed him.

"Secure every entrance and exit. I don't want any more intruders. I will deal with him myself." She said. She hastily ran to the main hall and saw a guy standing in the empty room. It was just him and her. Perfect.

"Finally, an empty room." She heard the intruder say. "Maybe I can-,"

"Rest?" she finished for him. He turned around and faced her. "Think again, intruder. You may have bested my Lin Kuei warriors, but you will not get past me!" He sighed.

"And you are?" he asked lamely.

"I am Sub-zero, Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, and you are trespassing! Fight!" she challenged him.

They've fought for what seemed like hours. The intruder was highly-skilled. She was getting tired, that was when she first noticed his tattoo.

"Your tattoo!" she exclaimed. It was the same pattern as the one on the door they had been trying to open for years.

"What about it?" he spat. He did not let his guard down. She relaxed her stance and explained.

"It resembles the image on the door behind you." He turned around. "Who are you? And why are you here?"

"This must be it!" he sounded relieved.

"This must be what?" There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"This temple was a shrine for my mother…" he paused. "Before you clan commandeered it." He added.

"I assure you, it had been abandoned long before we arrived." She defended. It was true. He seemed to comprehend.

"I realize that." He said in a friendly tone. "My name is Taven; I came here to retrieve something, a gift from my mother."

"Then tell me, where is this 'gift'?" Quote and quote.

"Most likely behind this vault door."

Sub-zero glanced at it.

"The door on the right was unlocked when we first arrived here; there was nothing inside. The door on the left has remained sealed, despite our best efforts to open it." She told him. She remembered they had tried every technique they knew, and still, they couldn't open the door.

"It looks like my brother has already been here to retrieve his gift." He said. "Strange. That means he's been awake for quite some time." He murmured to himself.

"I assume you have a key?" She asked, more that said. He raised his left hand.

"You could say that." And he placed his hand on the hand imprint on the door and voila! It opened. The small space contained an armor. Taven hastily put it on.

"You have your gift, now tell me, for what purpose would a sorceress leave her son such a powerful set of armor?"

"Apparently, I need it for my quest." Sub-zero looked at him expectantly. "Something big is supposed to happen, although I do not know what that something is yet." He frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"A warrior named 'Rain' mentioned something about saving the realms." Rain? Oh. How could she forget? Rain was the purple-clad ninja with the shawl. "And I've also been repeatedly attacked by assassins in red. I do not recognize their crest but it seems vaguely familiar…a dragon I believe! Do you know who they are?"

"I may." Sub-zero said testily. Suddenly, one of the Lin Kuei assassins entered the room and bowed.

"Grandmaster! More intruders! The East Entrance!" she quirked an eyebrow at Taven.

"Friends of yours?" He shrugged.

"They are dark warriors; yet they resemble our own Lin Kuei! Ugh…" The assassin was stabbed from behind. They were, indeed, dark warriors. They wore the same Lin Kuei uniform, except that it was black. She already knew who their leader was…Noob Saibot.

A/N: Anonymous reviews are always welcome! :)