Here we are again! I hope you had some nice days after Easter and started well in the month of May. After a few exhausting days back at the university, I finally managed to convince myself to finish the next chapter.
I hope you are already excited, how it will continue! Have fun with Chapter 36!

There would always be things to keep quiet about. Her supposed death, her return. They were only a tiny part in a long chain of events. Cassie didn't know if Jacqui remains silent about her actions.
She didn't know anything, because she kept her part of the agreement:
She won't turn around. She won't look back on what couldn't be undone.
And she would make the best of what lay ahead of her. But it was just disorientation.

Jacqui's mysterious necklace dangled against her sternum alongside with her dog tag. She wanted more information and above all its purpose.
Mileena had quickly solved the mystery of the secret key and opened a portal on the outskirts of Las Vegas. But it had left them in the middle of an icy wasteland. It was already too late to turn around.
As Cassie fought the frosty wind, she brittle her head. What had Jacqui said to her before she fled? Where should she search? And what the hell is this place? She just couldn't remember.

She paused and stood with her back to the snow front. So, it was a lot more bearable. Despite the scarf and mask, her facial injury was a single ordeal. No skin, no fine hair and no subcutaneous fat could protect her sensitive muscles.
Cassie had to stop for the seventh time in the last half-mile before she lost sight of Mileena.
Tarkatans were anything but weatherproof and the injured leg didn't make the march easier.
Although the cold relieved the pain, it didn't dispel the stiffness of the limbs.
Even Mileena's bad breath seemed to dissipate in the cold, as she groaned with a white cloud of mist from the gaps in her teeth and caught up again.

"Should I carry you again?" Cassie asked, but without a trace of enthusiasm in her voice.
Her friend looked down at her leg. A large bruise had spread over her thigh and some blood streaks adorned her skin. But the cold fortunately saved the tissue from a strong swelling.
Besides, Mileena seemed embarrassed anyway to be carried like a small child.
"No need for it." she growled. She vigorously hit her own fist on the cheek, whereupon several small icicles broke off from her long sharp teeth. "I can walk."

Cassie turned away from her and shuffled her feet in the snow. "Then move your ass before it freezes in the wind." she muttered irritably.
Mileena flinched at her aggressive words. That Cage has a big mouth was nothing out of the ordinary, but she noticed that something was different with her.

"What's wrong with you, Cassandra?" Cassie stubbornly avoided her gaze. "Nothing." she mumbled dully. She raised an eyebrow. "Don't lie to me. You like to think I'm stupid, but I'm not always."
Suddenly Cassie spun around as if she was about to give her a clamp.

"That shouldn't have happened, ok? This whole plan backfired!" she exclaimed angrily.
She thought of Briggs. Of course, she wasn't wrong and Mileena knew that she had contributed unintentionally to the unfortunate initial situation.

But she thought of Jacqui's last message to her, as Cassie's protector. Take care of her and continue the mission.
"You found Black. And you've squeezed out information from him. You did, right?" she checked.
It didn't seem to soothe Cassie.
"Maybe. But that doesn't help Jacqui now. That's all my fault that she was arrested! If only I didn't involve her!" Frustrated, she stared at her hands as if reflecting on her previous actions. "If only that wouldn't have happened to me." she muttered.
Then she drove back to her and started another attack.

"Why didn't you just stay up there?" Now Mileena was a little bit attached to her behavior. She shot back bitingly and purposefully.
"I saved your buts, kid!" She squinted. "And yours already a second time."
Cassie frowned angrily. Of course, she was right. If it weren't so damned unfair, they wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere in the cold and a continuing plan in intangible proximity. She would like to stick her head in one of those snowdrifts and scream.
But that wouldn't help her either. Nobody could right now.

Mileena left the soldier to her self-pity. There was still a long way to go before they could come down to earth again. The unknowable mountains occupied her more at this moment.

"I don't like this here." she grumbled. She felt a soft crack under her soles. She walked a little slower, aware of her surroundings, while Cassie struggled unblinkingly through the snow. It had to be 80 cm by now. Moving the wounded leg cost her an unimaginable effort with each step.
She saw irregularities appear in the snow. Strange dents where the snow seemed to slip in the depths.
It certainly wasn't wrong to avoid it.
Outworlders aren't familiar with snow and were anything but adapted to the climate.
A Tarkatan just didn't belong in the ice-cold mountains.

And then she heard it. Her left ear twitched attentively as a sound hit her eardrum. It came softly and purring, then suddenly faster and finally with a thunderous inferno.
"Cassie?" She called. She had already stopped and turned also worried to the mountain slope, from whose direction the sound came closer and closer.
Her eyes widened. "Avalanche!" She screamed in panic. Then Mileena saw a huge wave of snow, boulders and ice breaking over the edge of the mountain. Right on her.

"Jump, now!" She shouted. Then she got caught by the snow slip like a herd of wild horses and it tore her off the feet.

Cassie heard the warning just in time. With all her might, she pushed herself out of her stance and was carried away by the avalanche. She faintly remembered days past her training and what the coach had taught her.
"Swim with the avalanche or you're dead!" She closed her eyes and held her breath as she rowed wildly with her arms to keep from the heavy mass of snow. Once swallowed, that would be her certain death.

It only took a few seconds, but for the soldier it was like a torture for hours against snow and ice to fight.
Just as it emerged, the noise around her suddenly stopped. Everything was quiet, even the wind.

Trembling, Cassie rose from the snow and fingered her clothes. She had done it. But when she looked around, the blood in her veins just froze even more than it already was.
Pure chaos had erupted around her. In a wild confusion lay huge boulders and large fragments of ice.
Even worse. The avalanche had exposed huge crevasses, the next only a few feet away from her. If she had fallen in there, it would have been over.
Then she suddenly realized that someone was missing.

"Mileena?" She called loudly. There was no answer. Her heart tensed. She looked around to all sides, but it was hopeless.
"Oh no." She realized that the last warning call might have killed her. Surely, she lay there somewhere, hopelessly suffocated by the masses of snow or buried under a boulder and slain. Was that really her end?
Something stung her suddenly. She had to squash them hard against the glaring white of the snow. But there it was again. A pink flash of light. No more than 20 meters from her.
Carelessly Cassie jumped up and punched through the snowfield.
"Mileena, where are you?" She shrieked. She still had to be alive. As she fought her way to the sighting place, a dull sound came. Right under her feet.

Quickly she dropped to her knees and shoveled the snow aside with her bare hands until she hit something hard. She wiped with her sleeve. She stood on a solid ice surface. There was something moving under her. Her heart made a jump.

"Mileena, are you there?" She put her ear to the cold surface. A hollow thump sounded and another flash of light flashed. Then she finally heard her voice.
"I cannot understand you!" Oh, thank to the heavens! She was alive. She couldn't hear her either. Mileena's croak sounded strangely consumed. Which was probably due to her predicament.

"That's enough answer for me! Are you hurt?" She screamed as loud as she could against the thick ice.
"No. But I'm trapped. And I cannot hold onto the wall for much longer!" Then Cassie realized.
Mileena was torn into one of the crevasses. As if that wasn't bad enough, this block of ice, hard as concrete, blocked her way to freedom.
She wiped more snow aside, but the ice was huge. Too big to push it from the opening.

"I cannot move the ice plate!" She finally reported.
"Try the claws!" Did she really think that would help? But she had to try. A warm fur probably wasn't that wrong.

Only a short moments later she had rose up on four paws over the ice. With claws extended, she now hit the frozen surface. It hurt in all phalanges. But no matter how many times she tried, the few scratches she made were just not enough.
"No chance." She finally gasped. "Do you see another exit?" There was no answer.
"Mileena?" She asked again. But her blurred form under the ice had disappeared.
Now her worries grew again. Was she looking for another escape route? Or had she fallen dangerously deep into the crevasse?

She made a decision "I'm looking for another way out. Hold on!"
She didn't know if Mileena could still hear her. She just hoped she would made it.

A walk on four paws eased her as she jumped across the snowfield. Before that she memorized the place deep in her mind. Shouldn't she find Mileena later, that would mean her death sentence.
She turned to the sky with great concern. It was quiet, but another storm was brewing in the distance. He would bring more snow and bury everything alive.
Carefully, she balanced along the edges of the neighboring crevasses, but to her disappointment, each was spilled with snow and boulders and impassable for an escape tunnel. She needed a different plan.

She continued to walk uphill until she approached the cliffs. She didn't know what to do. Push a few stones from the slope? That could be fatal, for both of them.
She realized that she won't be able to do it on her own. But she was already struggling with another problem.

A particularly intense stream of air brushed her ear. Cassie curled her lips. She sensed the emerging danger even before she turned around.
But then a long blade just passed her head and pierced the rock with its red-hot shaft.

Instinctively, she rolled to the side, through the snow until she had contact with the paws on firm ground.
The young Cage jumped with a powerful set on the ledge and turned to all sides.
No sign of her attacker. Who was it? Where was he going? Her ears twitched wildly as Cassie tried to play with the direction of the wind.

The clicking of small boulders made her eyes shoot up. In fact, through the haze, she saw a hooded figure, about ten feet above her.
Cassie felt the rock against her back, she was trapped. Something flashed in the hands of the unknown.
But she was prepared when the next sword was about to hit her head.

Cassie jumped out of her hiding place and landed on the rocky ledge to her left. Her claws scratched the granite like fingernails on a blackboard, but with all her strength she managed to keep her cat's body vertical.
Involuntarily, another scene came to her mind. How Braston at the casino tried to rip her off the slot machine. Unlike her unloved guard, she didn't have a broken arm. And it would repeat the event with a new result.

There was only one try. With a last battle cry, she reached out with the right paw and pushed it with extended claws over the edge.
Cassie couldn't see, but she felt her sharp claws digging through fabric into flesh.
She heard a surprised outcry. As she turned, the unknown lost his balance and tipped over the edge.

As he fell into the depths, his weight tore Cassie off the rock face.
Like a flash it hurt her toes painfully, as two claws wedged in the stone and were pulled out.
She lost the grip on his leg and dived into the depths together with the person.

There were certain advantages to being a cat. The thick fur protected against the icy wind, the hearing exceeded the human and most importantly: You always land on your feet.
Almost fleet-footed she put her four paws in the snow. Her weight made her sink a little, but she was safe and ready to attack.

Her aggressor had landed on the back and still gasped for air in the snow. Before he managed to straighten up, Cassie had already plunged onto the armored upper body and nailed him with bared teeth onto the ground.

A pair of brown eyes met her gaze as he tried in vain to push her powerful paws from his shoulders.
His pale face was too veiled to determine his identity. But this problem could be eliminated.
With a single clean stroke she tore the mask from his mouth and nose. She watches as it swirls in a snowdrift and disappears.
Then, with a growl, she turned back to the victim under her claws. But then the threatening sound in her throat stopped and she automatically loosened her grip in complete surprise.

"I think I went crazy!" She gasped, jumping off her upper body.
The warrior's eyes widened as he straightened and stumbled backward.
"But, how ..." He stared at the cougar. "How is that possible?"
He must have recognized her. Maybe the voice. The dog tag would also be a possibility. The human eyes might have betrayed her. Or he just knows, because a telepath like him can.

"It's true, Takeda." she finally said, straightening out of the snow, this time back in her human form.
She couldn't help but smiling. "But you'll have to practice before we fight each other again." she teased.
The young Chujin just shook his head in disbelief. It really was him. There she was, far from any human soul, and it was an absolute miracle to meet her teammate in the midst of a blizzard. He just seemed speechless just like her.

"I knew, something is wrong with that big cat!" Panting, he helped his teammate back on her feet. "Known or read, Takahashi?" He tapped the snow off the cloak. "Probably both, Cass. For a moment, I was sure I'd lost my mind."
She grinned. "At some point it would have hit you too." Carelessly she threw herself into her friend's arms. He hugged her back, relieved to find his best friend alive.
When he let her go, his big eyes were still full of concern. "Where have you been all this time? What happened?" She took a step back.

"Didn't Jacqui reach you? She said she would inform the whole team about my ... return." Takeda looked perplexed. "Master Hanzo and I were away for several weeks. I didn't have a phone with me." He waved his hand. "Not important." The young warrior glanced past Cassie into the gray nowhere. "Where's Jacqui?" Cassie bit her tongue, her lower lip too sensitive to pain. Takeda must have read her mind that something was wrong.
"Where's Jacqui, Cass?" He asked again. She hung her head. "She's not here, Tak. We had to leave her behind, in Las Vegas." He didn't seem to understand. "Left her behind? I don't understand…"

"She wanted to allow us to escape and had faced the police all alone. She gave me that." She reached under her jacket and pulled out the heart-shaped medallion. Takeda carefully took it in his hand.
"She gave you our amulet." he muttered. "I made it secret so she can always come to me when she feels lonely."

Cassie took the necklace off her neck and left it to her teammate. "Then I think it's best if you have it back with you." You dog. Should he read her mind? He seemed to know more, though.

Takeda suddenly touched his forehead. "You are not alone here, Cass." he said.
She looked at him in surprise. He looked nervous. "Quick, Cassie. Follow me! "He hurried off, through the snow toward the crash site where Mileena was still trapped under the ice.
She breathed with relief and followed him. She had already feared that she owed him many explanations. But she was happy too soon.

The new onset of snow had almost completely covered the crevasse again. But she found the place. Cassie dropped to her knees and frantically wiped the snow off the ice.
But she couldn't see Mileena.
"What are we going to do, Tak?" She asked. When she looked up at him, he had his eyes fixed on the massive ice wall. He seemed to think hard.

"I'll take care of this." he said. "You get out of the way when I blow the wall."
This statement almost made her lost her mind. "Blow the wall?!" She repeated uncertainly.
"The ice is massive enough to close the crevasse." he mumbled. "And destroy what's lurking down there, once and for all."

"What?!" She exclaimed. Takeda still didn't seem to understand.
"Damn Cassie!" He snapped. "I don't have to see her to know! Mileena has returned!"
What had become her normality was a shocking event for him.
"Let's eliminate her before she can attack us!"

Cassie dug her fingers into the cold slab of ice, not knowing what happened to Mileena, meters below her feet. "Sometimes I wish you really read my thoughts." she finally said. Takeda squinted. "I do. But your thoughts seem a bit crazy."

"I'm not crazy, you idiot!" She snapped back at him. "You cannot kill Mileena!"
"Then I'll leave her to nature!" Takeda growled. "Mileena is a traitor! Why should I help her?"
His brown eyes glared at her. "I may be a telepath, Cass. But what kind of a game do you play with me?"

She has been confronted with the same question before. When Jacqui made her acquaintance with Mileena after her sudden return, she became suspicious. But now it was different. Mileena was trapped under the ice. If Takeda refused to help her, she would freeze to death in the next few hours.

"I'll explain everything to you, Tak! But I implore you! Get her out of there!" She scratched the ice with her fingernails and turned around again. "She is still injured. She cannot do it alone!"
Please, she thought, with the pray in her mind that only he could read. Please.

He sighed. "Take a few steps back, Cass." She didn't move yet. The hardness in his eyes broke a little.
"It's ok." he said. "I won't hurt her."
Slowly, she rose from her position and walked behind her friend.
Takeda pulled a long blade from his cloak and aimed straight at the ground beneath his feet.
His Ronin-Sword cut through the thick sheets of ice like a knife through warm butter.

A warm breeze reached her face and took something of the unruly cold. The blade was so hot that it burned a big hole in the ice. Mileena's way was clear.
Cassie hurried forward and leaned over the hole. On the walls of the crevasse, she saw deep notches, marked by the sharp fingernails and the sais, when she tried to hold herself to the surface.
But she was no longer visible. Cassie got sick.

"Mileena!" She called into the depths of the cave. Her voice echoed in a long chorus. "Are you there?"
It took a few seconds, then she thought she saw a pair of amber eyes flash out of the darkness.
"Suck in your guts!" Mileena roared from the bottom. Cassie leaned deeper over the gap.
"What?" She screamed even louder.
"Get back!" A hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her away from the edge. Just in time. Like a fired bolt, something shot just past her head, followed by a magenta mist train.

There was a dull sound as Mileena, wrapped in her high-energy fog, hit the snow.
She straightened and shook the flakes from her hair like a wet dog. "Yuck, I hate snow!" She cursed, running her tongue over her teeth. Cassie hurried to her.

"Are you crazy, woman?" She scolded. "That could have gone in the eye!"
Mileena grinned mischievously. "Don't say, you start to care about me." She determined. Cassie pulled a pout. "Pah, care about you? Fangface!" She chuckled "Don't try to deny."

There was no denying. She was relieved that she was well. It was the second time that Mileena had risked her life for her. It wouldn't be the last time.

"Mileena, the former Empress." She looked up at Takeda, who now turned to raven-haired woman and studied her with a searching look. Mileena returned his look unimpressed.
"I beg you, little boy. Not so many formalities." She said casually. Takeda didn't answer, but his face relaxed. He was still a long way away from trusting her. But his senses shouldn't deceive him and show that under the skin and the sharp teeth was now a good core and no threat.

"I don't understand why the amulet brought you here." he finally said. It was no surprise. Cassie didn't know either. Why in the deepest mountains, in icy temperatures?
Black couldn't have meant this place to continue their search.
But now she was struck by dandruff. The only reason Jacqui had hung a heart-shaped amulet on her neck as her last act before her arrest.

"Probably, because you are our only hope."

Yes, Takeda is back! Still a pity that he didn't show up in MK 11 (only cameo), but now he can prove his qualities and help Cassie on her difficult mission.
I hope to see you again soon! Can we get the 15 fav and 20 followers? I am happy about everyone who is there and thanks to all the loyal readers!
Greetings from MasterFran