I am back again. I am very sorry that I had to delay the next chapter for so long. The semester is on the home stretch, and not all exams are written yet.
I have already spent several nights sleeping on the laptop. But after some delays, I finally managed to finish chapter 37. It's unintentionally the longest chapter yet. Greetings go out to Julio71971 who motivated me in the hardest time of exam-frustration and to all those who had feverishly on this chapter. I wish you much fun.
It was still hard to believe, but the duo again became a trio. This time with male reinforcement.
After the strong avalanche, it was finally quiet on the mountain, only the storm had not settled yet.
With the scarf firmly on her face, she followed the dark figure of her team-mate Takeda, who safely led her out of the dangerous glacier zone. Without him, she and Mileena probably wouldn't have survived their mountain trip.
"How did you find us after all?" She asked after finally leaving the deadly area behind. Takeda had to shout a bit louder to drown out the blizzard.
"Probably not a complete coincidence," he admitted. "I sensed that the portal was activated via the amulet. Since I couldn't explain why Jacqui wanted to go to the clan due these weather conditions, I went on the search. And then suddenly there was this big cat.
Normally, the animals' thoughts are unknowable to me, but I saw something human in this fearless predator. I thought I was crazy when it turned out you had the gift of animality." He shook himself. "What happened during the time?" He mumbled. "Why are you fraternized with Mileena? We both saw her die before our feet."
She sighed. "It's a long story. But for short: I had to get free of my own thoughts, I think. Well, it suddenly turned out that there was another resident on Shang Tsung's island when I stranded there. I suppose I would never have returned alive to Earthrealm without her."
"She didn't try to kill you?" He asked suspiciously. "Well, not directly." she admitted. It was no mystery to her, that he was the next one who doesn't trust Mileena. He will know better soon enough. "I was as confused as you are now. But what does it matter? I'm back in buisness. And I am glad that I found you. Jacqui recently said that you were traveling with Master Hasashi and are not on duty?"
"It was a relief to stay away from the SF for a few days. But had nothing to do with Gregory, because ... oh." He broke off briefly, as if he had said something embarrassing. "I'm sorry, but you cannot know that ..."
"I'm already aware that General Mama Blade had to get a replacement for me, thanks." she said shortly. Takeda still thought it was unpleasant. "I'm really sorry for you, Cass."
She raised an eyebrow. "What can you do for it?" She replied a little sharply. "I cannot change it anyway."
"You could." he said. "Really, Cassie! Why are you entrenching yourself here in the Himalayas? There is no reason for you to hide. When you return ... "
"I can't." she said. "You know that." He walked a little slower until he was at the same time with her. "You mean, I could know it. But I want to hear it from your mouth, not from your thoughts."
She blew up her cheeks angrily. "I have to continue my mission. Besides, I have Mileena on the cheek. The SF would only recruit her as a bioweapon unless they shoot her right away. "
He seemed surprised. "And General Blade? She would ... "
"My mom would never forgive me for what I did to her with my "death"."
"How do you know that?" Takeda insisted. It started to annoy her slowly but surely. "I know how she's ticking. I do not need telepathic skills for that. "She did not want to talk about her mother any longer. The more she responded, the more she realized how much she wished to go home. But she had to replace it for the benefit of all people.
Quickly she turned to Mileena. "How's your leg doing?" She asked, just to stop the conversation with her teammate. "Dead frozen." she replied soberly. "Just as I am."
"We are as good as there." Takeda shouted encouragingly. "The clan settlement is in the valley behind this hill."
The fire gardens were not as beautiful in winter as Cassie had remembered them last summer, but she hadn't believed in seeing the headquarters of Shirai Ryu in her life again anyway.
Dawn was already starting as they passed the Warrior village.
"Where are they?" Cassie asked, turning to each side.
"Sunset training." Takeda replied. "I'll get you to my house quickly before the others leave the dojo."
She raised an eyebrow. "Your house?" The young warrior laughed. "You'll see, Cass. I've been promoted."
He had his last stay with three other clan brothers and only consisted of cots and a battered TV.
The TV was still there, only the new property he now occupied was overwhelming.
The snow was slowly melting from her clothes as Cassie looked around in amazement in his new house.
"Make yourself at home." Takeda said. "I have my bedroom up there." He pointed to a wooden staircase that led to the attic, then back to the large room in front of them. "Kitchen, bathroom. It is all there. And the big sofa." He led her over to his own fitted kitchen, only Mileena limping halfway down the path to the large fireplace, whose fire provided a cozy warmth.
Takeda ignored her and shoved two pizza boxes at Cassie. "They are probably already a bit cold, but still completely edible. I hope so." He glanced sideways at Mileena, who had curled up in front of the open fire.
"Don't worry." Cassie mollified him. "She won't eat us."
"If you say so." He yawned loudly. "I'm going upstairs now. And you need rest. "
She couldn't help but hug him again. "Thank you Tak. I don't know what I would have done without you." He briefly returned her hug. "That's obvious, Cass." he muttered. "I'm glad if I can contribute. Good night."
Takeda broke away from her and vanished in the direction of the stairs. Cassie grabbed one of the pizza boxes and shambled over to the fireplace, where she dropped beside Mileena.
"Are you feeling better?" She asked tentatively. She blinked something. "Not so cold, but." She stretched out her injured leg. Now that the icy wind didn't cool it, the swelling was on the rise again. "Let me see." Carefully, she unwrapped the wet bandage and removed the compress from the wound. It was swollen by the moisture and foamy wound fluid leaked from the bullet hole.
"We have to let it dry up tonight." she finally said. "Does it hurt bad?"
"As if someone was threshing my thigh with a hammer." she pressed through half-closed lips. But a solution was in sight. "Wait here." Cassie jumped up and hurried into the bathroom. She had to tear open some doors and drawers before she found the medicine. After some digging, she found a vial of Ibuprofen tablets. She was undecided. Do half-Tarkatans tolerate the drug? However, since Mileena ate almost everything, she took the pills and hurried back to the fireplace. She unscrewed the lid and pressed the container into her hand.
"Here, that helps." she said. Mileena eyed the tablets briefly, then she suddenly put the edge to her lips and dumped the entire contents into her throat.
"Damn it, Mileena, not all in at once!" She screamed, startled. "Hm?" Mileena didn't seem to have understood the situation yet. Cassie urgently needed tutoring. "You take a maximum of one pill! A whole glass will kill you!" She grabbed her a bit ungently at the back of her head. "Come on. Spit it out!"
Frustrated, the woman spat the already loosened tablets back into the glass. Cassie quickly closed the lid and shook it slightly. Thick saliva threads run down the inside. Better not put them back in the shelf.
Mileena was still unhappy. "That tastes disgusting." she grumbled and drove like a cat with her tongue over the own arm several times. "And it's not helping."
"Don't complain about anything, numpty." Cassie pointed out. "It takes a few minutes for the effect to occur. Better you get rid of your wet clothes before you fetch a cold. "
She went back to the bathroom at the laundry basket. Because they didn't have anything, except what they carried on the body. Takeda shouldn't mind if she borrowed his boxer shorts and T-shirts.
She wasn't for long in the bathroom but when she came back, Mileena was already sitting in underwear on the carpet, rocking herself in half sleep. That was quicker than she thought.
"Are you getting drunk?" She joked, throwing the T-shirt on her head. "Hm." She murmured. Cassie left her to herself and dropped onto the sofa between the blankets.
It was a feeling of security, but the more she let herself sink in, the more she remembered the person she had last shared a bed in Las Vegas with. It had only been a day and already her life had turned upside down again.
Her eyes burned slightly as she imagined where Jacqui was now. Did they absolve her? Or did she end the night in a cell labeled as a criminal? And all this just to protect her freedom. For it, her best friend had given up her own.
And now there was Takeda, another of her closest friends. How far would she go before she endangered him? Because alone she had no chance.
The blanket next to her moved as Mileena, in her T-shirt and dinosaur-printed boxer shorts, lying down next to her on the edge of the sofa and immediately closing her eyes.
Before she knew it, Cassie had her upper body on her back.
"Hey." she complained grudgingly in half asleep. "You're affectionate today, you know." The soldier ignored her and turned to the side instead. So many thoughts went through her mind.
"I'm afraid that more people will risk their freedom for me." she just muttered quietly. Mileena opened one eye but didn't look at her.
"Quite possible. But maybe you'll realize how many friends you have who would actual risk their lives for you." Her eyes darkened. "Who would ever have done that for me."
Cassie didn't answer. It wouldn't be right to say that she would be willing to risk her life for her. Not as long as she didn't have her own under control.
She was still clutching something she always kept close to her. The notebook. She opened it and squinted in the light of the dying fire. The last entry was probably over 40 years ago. Until she decided to continue it. Her notes were barely legible, but the story still echoed in her mind.
It was time to start it from its true origins.
"The oldest person in the world was 122 years old, according to Wikipedia. But that's bullshit. Leatherface is still alive. According to my calculation, he would now be around 190 years old. The legends are true, but they seem unrealistic, as well as the likelihood of finding a witness.
But there is him. Black must be the same age, but at most he looks like he was in his early 40s. He would never tell me how he did it. Does it matter for this mission? Perhaps. But he revealed something fundamental to me that neither my grandfather nor my ancestors of that time knew. Black is the author of the myth, this legend. He was friends with Leatherface. They were like brothers, he and a boy named Thomas Hewitt.
I am now probably the only person who has ever experienced his story.
With Hewitt something seemed to be wrong even as a child. Black reported states that were hallucinogenic. To have thoughts of murder as a child is totally crazy.
He killed his first victim at the age of 13, at an age when I had played Gameboy on the playground with my friends. He did not do it with a hammer, a firearm or a knife. He dissected the manager of his parents with a chainsaw. Was it the same that would torn my gut more than 150 years later?
His family seemed to control him. No one knew the Hewitt clan, not even Black. Pork butcher. But did they also have people on their conscience?
Black took him away from his home, emigrated, trying to build a new life.
He hoped it would heal his best friend in a certain way. But he seemed to carry a cruel legacy. Drayton. Drayton's chilli. The words of a madman. But I fancy that I had heard it myself when he tried to slaughter me.
But Black insisted that not even Hewitt himself knew what his messages meant. It sounds demonic. Probably that's what it is when I think of his girlfriend.
She was described in detail to me. I thought every time: is he talking about me? A woman named Magdalena Cassandra Crane. It's not just almost like me. My Blade-ancestor had also mentioned her in these documents. Nobody could tell me who she really was. But it was clear to me. She might not cause my attack, but she was the bomb of the chain reaction of events.
She disfigured her partner and fled. It not only made Thomas outwardly a monster. He didn't seem to be the same anymore. Was this love so great that he outlived his normal lifespan? Would he never have given up until he found me there, in my base? I cannot say it.
Erron Black is certainly not my BFF. I don't know him, but since losing his best friend, his past life, he seems to have confided in no one else. He lived a life as an outcast, as a mercenary and for many employers.
He knows no good and no evil. It lasts a long time. Why did he invent the legend and put it in front of the Blade-clan? Why did he tell me his story? Maybe he went through the same fate as me. We looked for both answers and didn't get them.
I trust his words. Whatever happened in the night of Ivanhoe. Magdalena is the key to everything. Black killed her or, as he said, freed her from corruption. It makes everything even more mysterious.
Her body is gone. Her soul is gone. Nevertheless, I will find her. She was collected. 1000 souls and no way out."
1000 souls.
1000 souls.
Again and again she wrote one and the same word line by line until she reached the bottom of the paper. 1000 times written and 1000 times nothing happened. Frustrated, Cassie threw the pen behind her and turned on her back. Mileena's back under her head lifted and fell gently as she slumbered undisturbed.
Cassie crossed her arms over her stomach, staring impassively at the ceiling. She was supposed to be sleeping, but the matter did not leave her peace while the events raged in her head.
"What use are 1000 souls if I don't know what to do." she mumbled. The darkness gave her no clue. No vision of Raiden giving her a direction. Only Mileena suddenly started talking in her sleep. Cassie turns on her side again and studies her face. She had her head dug in the elbow and eyes closed tight. In fact, the drooling in her sleep, she didn't seem to have under control.
She watched intently as her jaws moved slightly as she mumbled something incomprehensible. Not even a translation app could decipher her words now.
Was it just a dream? Or nightmares, just like hers? She remembered Sonya telling how she had been screaming in her sleep night after night, demolishing the walls and beating her fists bloody. Only a mother could obviously feel what her child was going through, as unattainable as she was in the dream world. Even a mother like Sonya Blade.
Mileena was the opposite. She knew her past, and yet she doesn't. During the day showed a side that she had rediscovered only with her rebirth. But what dreams did she discover at night? She noticed that the longer she watched her sleep, the harder her own eyes became. She closed her eyelids.
If there's a way to somehow look into your little brain and know what's going on there inside.
It was as if a previously non-existent light had risen. Cassie suddenly opened her eyes.
Maybe there was this one possibility already! You just needed someone who could do the impossible. And she had already found one whose ways had miraculously crossed with her in the icy wasteland of the Himalayas. Now everything made sense. Now she knew that Takeda could play a crucial role in this mission.
Excited, she pulled her arms behind her head and accidentally pushed her elbow into the ribs of her sleeping friend. Her murmur became a sleepy growl, then dug her head further into the crook of her arm.
Cassie smiled insidiously. "Sweet dreams, Lenny. Tomorrow, let us dance. In our minds."
Brilliant light streamed through the windows, tickling her eyes. By the time Cassie's eyelids lifted, another day had actually dawned. With relish, she turned on her stomach and dug her head deep into the pillows again. She had not slept so well in days. No nightly car rides, no escape, no nightmares.
She stretched extensively, having the whole sofa for herself now. Mileena had already made off again. Cassie, too, now peeled off the blankets and stretched her joints, especially her knee, that under her scars was more plastic and metal screws than cartilage, thanks to Leatherface. But she tried not to think of that.
Suspected of finding her friend in the kitchen, Cassie went first there, yawning all the way. No trace of a tarkatan anywhere. But she seemed to have already found the food while she was still asleep. Her foot hit the ground against a tinny object.
She stared down, picked it up and smelled the can. Worst idea ever. "Uargh!" The smell of fermented Baltic herring burned her nose hair all the way to the sinuses. Luckily, she hadn't had breakfast yet; she would otherwise have vomited it right back. That this Tarkatan woman could even eat something like that. But her overwhelming hunger seemed to have a creative impact on her taste buds. But why it should surprise her, after swallowing rats in one go? "You can be really disturbing, Mileena." she murmured, throwing the stinking tin into the sink, right next to an eroded tuna and other empty canned food.
The kitchen was a mess. She could only hope that Takeda had not gotten up or had already left for practice. Another slobbered full-sized fish lay across the stove. Disgusted, Cassie grabbed the slimy thing by the tail. She hated fish over everything. She hated Takeda for not having anything but fish in all variations, from raw to rotten. Should she ever see Jacqui again, she should speak a serious word with her boyfriend.
After Mileena had vigorously clogged the kitchen drain and plundered the trash cans, she made her way to the bathroom with the fish overruns to get rid of the first stains from the kitchen in another way.
But when she opened the bathroom door the next shock was already waiting for her. As if somebody had blown a wale carcass in the bathtub. At least as far as the fishy smell and the red-brown spots on the white tiles were concerned. And in the middle of this mess, balancing with one leg in the sink and completely filthy ...
"What will it be when it's done?" Cassie shouted still standing at the door. Mileena was so shocked that she almost slipped on the floor. With the last of her strength, she managed to hold onto the shower curtain, but her sharp fingernails left big holes in it. Mileena had already proved in Las Vegas that she and shower curtains didn't harmonize.
"What does it look like?" She snapped back. Only now did Cassie see the large canister with the inscription "Povidone-iodine, 10%" standing on the floor next to the toilet. What at first looked like she had had an accident shaving her legs was an even stupider action to disinfect her wound. She looked skeptically at the tool with which she was drilling in her shot hole. "Are you using Takeda's toothbrush?!" She prompted with a raised eyebrow.
Mileena shrugged. "Oh really? Well, you can clean it again." Completely uninhibited, she opened the toilet lid and put the toothbrush a few times in the water, before she put it yellowish-faded and as neatly as never back in the mirror cabinet. "You see? All shiny and new."
"Ah, sure." She shook her head. "How do you even know what you're using as a disinfectant?" Cassie's eyes fell on a second canister, however, which contained highly alkaline pipe cleaner. If she had rubbed her under the skin, then good bye. Mileena's yellow eyes narrowed. "I know what iodine is and how to handle it. Or do you think I'm imbecile?"
"Oh no, certainly not me." she mumbled. Only now did Mileena notice the fish in her hand. "Sorry, I think I've eaten them all." Mileena apologized quickly.
"What a pity, the sight had made me so hungry for a decent breakfast." Cassie replied with obvious irony. She threw the first fish into the toilet with a loud splash, the second she slapped into Mileena's oversized racks.
"So, now that you have your mouth full and a real lady doesn't talk with her mouth full." She had to resist a laugh. "Well, you shouldn't talk now anyway, fish-face. Cause I have a little task for you."
The sharp whip cut through the air with the speed of a jet. With one hit Takeda first struck his dummy's arms and with a swipe decapitate it.
"Hm, he's good." Mileena hissed. From a safe distance, she and Cassie watch the young warrior making a whole series of training dummies into slices in the neighboring dojo. Cassie had to admit how good he had become and how the hell she had managed to overwhelm him in the mountains. That brought her back to the actual plan.
"I can understand if he's one size too big for you." Cassie said. She had to incite her, and it seemed to work. "The kid?" She snapped. "That's not a challenge for me." Cassie poked her ribs. "Then show me, if you are still able to fight with your fish fat."
"What? Now?"
"Right now!" Another voice called. They both jumped when Takeda turned to face them. Mileena seemed to be speechless for a moment. "But how could you...?" She stuttered. Takeda was strangely calm. "... notice that you've watched me train for 13 minutes and 34 seconds?" He tapped his forehead. "I can read minds, remember?"
"But not from an Outworlder!" She shouted in shock. He sighed. "Who tells such a shit?" He went into a fighting position. "But you can try to convince me otherwise, Ms. Ex-Empress." He had caught her on a sore spot. And that was very good. Cassie's heart began to pound. Takeda might be a telepath, but he still didn't seem to understand her intentions. But now it all came down to his cunning.
Mileena got ready to attack like a trained fighting dog. It came to a last challenging change of perspective, then the fury jumped with a battle cry towards Takeda.
But before she could carry out her attack, it was already clear that she had made a fatal mistake. Fatal gastight overweight. But who was stupid enough to eat rotten herring for breakfast?
Mileena's first attack came so slowly that the warrior lightly raised his arm and blocked the strike without difficulty. "What was that?" He provoked. "You fight like the tuna that's just stagnating in your stomach."
"Your provocations won't save you, little boy!" She hissed. Suddenly she grabbed her leg as if the injury was too overpowering. Takeda eased his attack, believing she was unable to continue this fight. A bad mistake.
Instead of her leg, she had suddenly grabbed her sai and whirled it around. Takeda screamed and stumbled back with his hands in front of his face. As he lowered his hand, Cassie saw with a queasy feeling that she had split his nostrils in a perfect blow.
"Hey, that was fake!" He snapped. She chuckled. "Do I look like fake?" He growled angrily at this superiority. "Come on, Tak!" Cassie called to him. "Stop fighting like a girl!" She just came to her point. "Turn off her lights! I mean her thoughts!"
He did as he did with the warder on the ship when Kotal Kahn locked the hole team into the tiny cells. Back then, the young man tipped over easily on his eye contact to less than two meters distance.
But no matter how much Takeda pierced her with his forefinger on his forehead: Mileena was like titanium. "Is there any reason you're staring at me right now?" She asked, rocking her hips lightly.
"Certainly not because of that." Takeda growled, closing her eyes and opening them again. "Why it's not working?" Even Cassie could do nothing but shrug her shoulders.
"I already told you it doesn't work for people from Outworld." Mileena laughed mischievously. She suddenly teleported through the floor in a jet of pink mist. Before her opponent could react, her foot hit him from high above in the middle of the forehead and pushed him on the back. With both knees on his shoulder blades she pushed him to the ground, while she came closer and closer to his face. "Looks like I won." Her teeth were now a fraction of his bleeding nose. "Because I always get what I want!"
"Thanks," Takeda said with a grin. "You've read my mind." Before Mileena knew what was happening, he had pulled his right arm out from under her leg. He thrust his arm forward and cupped her forehead with his fist. Mileena flinched, as if a taser had been pressed into her face. Her whole upper body cramped once, then she tilted to the side like a stone and didn't move anymore.
Perplexed, Cassie looked down at Mileena, who lay rigid as a statue on the ground, wide-eyed.
"What the hell did you do?" She asked horrified. Takeda raised an eyebrow and rubbed his hands. "Followed your order, mam?"
Again she turned to Mileena, who still didn't say anything. "She looks like shish kebab, only without the spit." She murmured.
"That's how it is when you overload the senses of other people." he admitted unimpressed.
"When will that stop?"
"When you wake her up."
"For real?" Cassie squatted and shook Mileena's shoulder. "Naptime is over!" She shouted in Mileena's ear. But the black-haired woman remained stiff as a buck. Time to bring the guns in. With two fingers she pecked in the yellow eyes. At least now she began to blink, but she was not fully awake yet.
There was one last chance. And though Mileena's eyes were already twitching nervously while she couldn't move any part of her body otherwise, she fanned wide and aimed at the zone, which even a half-tarkatan could become very uncomfortable when hit by a Cage with hardness of a jackhammer right in the bull's eye.
But just before she could haul her pubic bone into her semi-functioning brain with this last attack, Takeda had already waved his arms wildly and screamed. "For God's sake, Cassie!" She braked immediately to slow her blow. "What? I just want to wake her up." she defended her plan. Takeda put his hands over the face. "But not like that, Cass." He pleaded. "That hurts to watch! Please, can you do it ... more subtle?"
Cassie sighed and dropped her fist again. Her annoyed eyes met Mileena's wide-eyed eyes, which were in awe to burst out of her eye sockets. She didn't show mercy yet.
Instead of a fist between her legs she got a slap that threw the tarkatan through the dojo.
A furious outcry signaled that Mileena was now fully capable of action again.
As fast as she skidded across the floor, she rushed back and punched Cassie in the gut, almost knocking out the dinner. Cassie moaned and put her hands on her stomach. "Good morning…" she belched hoarsely. It seemed to drive Mileena's pulse to a maximum.
"Good morning?!" She shrieked. "If you hit me once more time, then I'll personally make sure that neither you nor that linnet over there will experience another morning!" Just the way she could stomp the floor with her wounded leg, the painkiller just had maximum effect. But Cassie had her right there where she wanted her to be. On her best rage-mode.
"Does that mean we're both getting into big trouble?" The soldier teased her. Takeda now seemed almost to be having a nervous breakdown. "What's that, Cass?" He hissed. "Is your terrific plan to let yourself get eat alive?" Meanwhile, Mileena went into a threatening attack position.
Her sense of being overloaded with Takeda only seemed to spur her on.
"Ladies first!" She growled. Cassie quickly stepped behind Takeda and pushed him forward. Mileena wouldn't kill her, but the bite on her forearm reminded her that woman could still teach hard lessons. "Boys before!"
Mileena's eyes narrowed as she now targeted the young warrior. "I don't care who will suffer first!" Takeda took a step back and hit his teammate. "Great, now you just made her mad!" He hissed. "Great plan anyway to bring a supposed-dead former empress into with you!" But Cassie just grinned and pushed him forward again. "I know what I'm doing! Go and defend yourself, Kenshi Junior!" He raised an eyebrow. "Again?"
"Yes, she can take that with ease! The woman is tougher than my chewing gum." Cassie encouraged him. He didn't seem convinced. "She will pick the flesh from my bones, alive." he mumbled. Then Mileena pounced towards his chest with her teeth bared.
Takeda once again thrust his arm forward and gripped her forehead firmly with his fingers. Her trajectory was instantly slowed down when she went down again. Cassie is watching the match with great interest. Mileena clawed on all fours, while the telepathic currents cut off her ability to act. It almost seemed as if she would be forced again in the next few seconds to the maximum sensory overload.
"No." she growled as her saliva dripped from her mouth. Her eyes went up in slow motion and they were bloodshot. "You don't get them a second time!"
And suddenly it was Takeda who cramped as he desperately tried to stay in control of Mileena. "What ..." He couldn't think clearly anymore. She now directed her own mind purposefully against his. It was Cassie's cue.
"Did you get a headache, Tak?" He turned to her; his face twisted. "Not… in the… least." He gasped. She winked briefly, then Cassie threw herself forward and took him with one arm into the sweatbox. "If that's so." she called in his ear. "You can have the two-for-one offer!"
"Get off me, Cass!" He snapped. Before she knew it, a bright flash of light flashed behind her eyes. Takeda had his hands on her as well, but Cassie didn't let go of his throat despite her relentless twitching. And there it was again.
The smell of her own blood, her last screams. They echoed relentlessly through her inner ear.
"You cannot win this fight!" It was Takeda's voice, but in her mind's eye appeared the "face" of Leatherface, whose eyes pierced her skull with murderous lust.
She felt herself nearing fainting. He drilled deeper and deeper into her brain, settling at the center of her deepest fears. Her deepest fear: to meet the man again who had wiped out her life almost in tune with his chainsaw.
"That's not real." she thought. "You are nothing but a construct of my thoughts!"
The silhouette distorted oddly, but he was still there. The monster's eyes became cloudy. "It won't go away, Cass." It was Takeda again, talking to her in spirit. "I see your fears deep inside. You cannot suppress them!"
It made her angry. She had not gone this way, from Shang Tsung's island over two continents to be defeated again by her own fear. The enemy was waiting out there, but not in her head. "I have met death several times! I will not be beaten!" Her blood throbbed in her temples. "And together we will do it!"
There was another flash as the illusion broke before her eyes. Leatherface collapsed in a wave of red light. "Okay, that's enough!" Suddenly she felt something break from her head before she collapsed on the floor. Cassie opened her eyes trembling. Takeda had freed her from his mind games, as well as Mileena, crouching beside her.
Only now came the frantic headache, as if her skull had been twisted in a screw clamp ever closer, until her brain literally burst from the ears. But she was conscious. She had done it.
Takeda was still standing next to her, his hands resting on his knees, breathing heavily, as he looked at Cassie. His eyes were bright with surprise.
"Whatever you did." he said slowly. "You did in I way, I never know it before."
"What do you mean?" She asked confused. He offered her his hand and Cassie let him put her back on her feet. She was dizzy, but she kept her balance.
"I remember how you attacked me in the catacombs." he said. "You almost killed me in your delusion." She swallowed. Cassie had tried to repress it, but now she felt guilty for what she had done to him then. When it was already clear that nothing was normal in her life anymore.
"I had saved you, because the incoming unit would have shot you. I didn't need to penetrate deep into your thoughts. An impulse of my telepathy has already brought you down."
"I can barely remember. Suddenly everything was black." she mumbled.
"And there's the situation again." he continued indignantly. "I was once again forced to outsmart your thoughts. But they are strong. Very strong." He squinted. "You wanted me to attack both of you. Why?"
"That was her plan, not mine." Mileena croaked, still sitting on the floor. She was awake and alive, but looked like she was about to ... "I think I must ..." An unmistakable bubbling announced something sinister. Cassie squirmed to her friend. "Quick, get a bucket before ... eh, too late." She and Takeda jumped back a few steps as Mileena vomited across the carpet in a huge barrage. Fish leftovers, indefinable bones, fur, something that looks like pieces of a tin can and gastric juice were everywhere. It stank horribly.
"That's why I always trained with dad on an empty stomach." he coughed, holding his nose. "You'll survive." She stared bitterly at him, then fixed Cassie with her yellow eyes. "Tell him what you know, Cass. Once again, I don't believe in your absurd plans." Cassie returned her gaze with iron determination. "But you will." When she turned back to Takeda, she said. "Was it hard to turn off both of us at once?" He snorted. "Turn off? I have let you go early." Something he added defiantly. "It's a bit harder to focus on multiple souls at the same time."
"Well then," she said. "You even get four at once?"
"Like our whole team? Very tricky." He just shrugged.
"What about eight?" She asked.
"Eight? A challenge." he admitted. The moment of truth.
"And… you can get control over 1000 souls?" She pulled the corners of her mouth slightly upwards. "Yet another time?"
Maybe I have time during the holidays to create a few more chapters. After being asked several times: Dr. Kombat will hopefully make her comeback in the coming weeks. After my hard drive was destroyed and I lost all fanfiction data, I didn't have much time to reprocess the story-cases. But I try to take the time and implement the desired wishes. I wish you a nice week. MasterFran