AN: And here we have Mileena and Izuku's first encounter! Time to see how good, or how trash, I am at writing romance!

Chapter 3: The (Not really) Monster

With rain falling heavily around the island, the next few matches would be taking place in the indoor arena. In front of the remaining Kombatants, Shang Tsung sat on a throne, looking over his allies and enemies alike.

"Kombatants! I present this latest creation of Shao Khan. He is many warriors, their souls fused into one being. Behold...Ermac!"

And with that, Ermac unleashed a wave of power that blew over the audience. The screams of the haunted souls echoed throughout the room.

Show off. Izuku thought. He turned to Liu Kang. "You sure about this?"

Liu Kang nodded. "I am sure. I've had enough of standing on the sidelines. This is my fight, too, Izuku."

"Liu Kang! You are the sole Earthrealm warrior that has not fought yet in the tournament."

Liu Kang walked up to the ring, nodding to Shang Tsung. "I am ready." he stated calmly.

"We are many. You are one. We will destroy you."

And with that proclamation, Ermac teleported in a flash of green light and tried to attack Liu Kang's blind spot. Liu Kang, realizing what was about to happen, blocked Ermac's attack and threw a counterjab at Ermac's jaw. Ermac shook his head, and then attempted to sweep Liu Kang's leg. Liu Kang quickly jumped up, before he hit Ermac with a midair hook punch. Landing on the ground, Liu Kang then followed through with a right jab, a punch to the diaphragm, and an axe kick, sending Ermac flying into the air. Liu Kang further extended Ermac's airtime with an uppercut to Ermac's back. Jumping into the air, Liu Kang used his Bicycle Kick technique to further stun the monster, keeping him in the air before Liu Kang delivered a brutal spinning backflip kick to Ermac's head. As Ermac pushed himself from the ground into the air with his magic, Liu Kang quickly descended onto the ground, before narrowly dodging a giant green sphere that Ermac threw at him. Liu Kang took advantage of the small opening Ermac gave him, doing a windmill kick to Ermac's face. Dazed, Ermac couldn't defend himself from the brutal uppercut that Liu Kang threw at him, fracturing his jaw. Liu Kang then followed through with a brutal kick to Ermac's face, further breaking the warrior's jaw. As Ermac shakily got up, Liu Kang rushed at him with a flying sidekick. Too weakened by his previous injuries, Ermac could not bring his guard up in time to block the attack. Flying across the arena, Ermac finally lost consciousness.

"Earthrealm will never fall into your master's hands!" Liu Kang roared, the adrenaline rush leaving him almost breathless.

Izuku was stunned. Before he knew it, he started clapping. Johnny Cage shook his head, before joining in. Soon, Sonya, Jax, Kung Lao, and some Shaman man joined in, applauding the Shaolin Monk. Liu Kang blushed in embarrassment, looking downwards.

"You son of a bitch! And here I was all worried about you!" Izuku shouted.

"You've been holding back on me, brother!"

"That Shang Tsung asshole may as well give up now, cuz he's got Monk Dude, Mask Dude, and Johnny Cage coming in to take! Him! OUT! WHOOO!"

As Izuku and his friends celebrated Liu Kang's victory, Izuku could feel a pair of eyes piercing his back. Izuku turned around. Glaring at him was a beautiful woman, wearing extremely revealing purple clothing (could that even be considered clothing? Because fucking hell, that outfit wasn't really covering much of…anything), purple eyeliner and a matching purple veil. Her orange eyes stared at him with unfathomable hatred. Izuku, in response, merely smirked underneath his mask and turned around, before flipping her off as he walked out of the arena.

P.O.V Switch - Mileena

Mileena turned to Shang Tsung, as her sister was talking with the old sorcerer.

"He is a greater threat than anticipated. I will insure he does not reach the final challenge."

Mileena laughed, clapping her hands. "Oooh, that sounds like fun! Maybe I should do the same with that repulsive little human in the mask! He doesn't seem very nice."

Shang Tsung nodded at them both. Both of the Earthrealm warriors were a grave threat. Both of them had no abilities to speak of, and yet, they had ended up taking down their opponents the fastest out of all the other Kombatants. Mileena laughed. She'd been hungering for Kombat the entire time. Now, she finally had her chance to unleash that hunger.

Walking down to the beach, she saw the masked human writing something down. He stopped his writing, putting the pen in his jacket. "Well, this is unexpected." He turned around. "Hmm. Well, of all the people Shang Tsung could choose to assassinate me, could be worse. I would've preferred the green one, though. Green's a great color. " he asked, as he closed the book with one hand.

Mileena giggled. "Are you lost, little human?"

The human merely chuckled. "Little? Ouch. That hurts, you know. That really hurts."

(Play Yakuza 4 - Smile Venomously)

The two circled around each other. "I'm afraid that Shang Tsung wants you dead! How considerate of him, to give me a new dance partner."

"Cute, but I don't dance.". And with that, the human opened fire with his weapon. Mileena teleported to the human's blind side. The human, perhaps anticipating her move, grabbed her leg as she came out of her teleport and threw her to the ground. As she rolled from the ground into a fighting stance, she glared at the masked insect in front of her. She threw her sais at the human in front of her, and as he was distracted by dodging them, Mileena rolled over the man's legs, sweeping him off his feet. As the man quickly got up, Mileena pounced on him, crossing her legs onto the man's chest and placing her arms on his shoulders, intending on biting out his jugular. Her veil off, she went for his throat, only for the human to headbutt her in the mouth. Dazed, Mileena couldn't hold onto the human and was thrown off. The human further capitalized on Mileena's weakened state by stomping on her face. Hopping up, he stomped on her face and chest, before jumping into the air and coming down with an elbow to her throat.

The world was spinning around Mileena, but she refused to give up. Teleporting away, Mileena shook her head to clear her thoughts. Rage started to curdle in her mind. How dare this human hurt her like this?! How dare he go against her family?! Anger clouding her senses, Mileena rushed to her opponent. The human didn't move an inch as Mileena got closer with her sais. As she thrusted them towards the insect in front of her, the man dodged, grabbing her right arm. Trying to stab the human with her free hand, Mileena couldn't defend herself as the man viciously brung her arm to his knee. Mileena, hearing various cracks from her (probably broken) arm, screamed in pain. The man took advantage by smashing his fist into her face. Mileena could only gasp weakly as the man picked up one of her sais from the ground. In her haste to finally go out and fight someone, she had gravely underestimated her opponent. Now, her right arm was broken, the human had taken a sai from her, and to add insult to injury, the human barely had a scratch on him.

I can't lose. I can't disappoint my sister!

Mileena shakily got up, In a last ditch effort, Mileena charged, her right arm unwilling to follow her commands, but her left arm still capable of aiming a sai at the man's chest. The human stopped her hand from reaching her destination by blocking her strike with one hand, Grabbing ahold of her arm with his other hand, the human threw Mileena over his shoulder to the ground again, taking her other sai from her hand.

"For my own safety, I'll hold on to this.", he said, slipping the other sai in his jacket, before pulling out his own weapon. Hearing a "click", Mileena looked upwards to see the human's weapon aimed right at her face.

Mileena trembled. She had failed. She had failed her father and her sister both. And now, she was going to die.

She wanted to hurl insults, to deliver a threat that her family would avenge her, but she couldn't. Her voice was refusing to speak. Mileena instead curled up and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

P.O.V Switch - Izuku

Izuku aimed his gun at the pink clad assassin. It would be pathetically easy. One squeeze of the trigger, and she'd never bother anyone again. Hell, it wasn't like he hadn't taken a life before! He'd killed Overhaul without hesitation, as the man was begging for his life!

So why was it then, that when the assassin curled up into herself, closing her eyes in resignation, that Izuku couldn't find it in himself to push his finger a further half inch?

Flashback to a few hours ago

Liu Kang was meditating, trying to focus his chi, while Izuku was cleaning his blades and his pistol. Izuku noticed Liu Kang was giving a distasteful look towards his weapons.

"Mind telling me why you're looking at my weapons like it just punched your grandmother?"

Liu Kang shook his head. "Forgive me, I just find them a bit… distasteful."

Izuku turned around. "And why's that?"

Liu Kang sighed. "You know that I was raised by the Shaolin, yes?"

Izuku nodded. Liu Kang pressed forward. "We were taught the martial arts for peace and harmony. That our fists were meant to be used to defend, not to attack. Above all else, however, we were taught to believe that all life is sacred, and we should strive to never seriously harm an attacker."

Izuku shook his head. "Ok, you lost me there. Have you forgotten our situation, Liu Kang? We're surrounded by killers, criminals, freaks, and all kinds of people who'd get a kick out of watching us choke on our own blood. We're fighting to preserve our homeworld, and you're preaching to me about sparing people?"

"Perhaps that philosophy doesn't hold up that well in a situation like this, but these are teachings that my masters imparted on me. To not kill when I can maim, to not maim when I can injure, to not injure when I can hurt, and to not hurt when I can walk away. If all someone knows to do is to stab someone or brutalize them, then they cannot go through those levels of escalation."

Izuku scoffed. "I won't criticize your methods, Liu Kang, but I do hope you realize that in your first match today, you can't afford to show restraint."

Now

Izuku sighed. He pointed the gun down, away from the assassin. "Goddamnit, Liu Kang." he muttered, before putting the gun back into his holster.

The assassin opened her eyes, probably wondering why she wasn't dead yet. Shocked at the fact that Izuku was putting his weapon away, the woman's eyes narrowed. "What are you waiting for?! Do it!"

"Do what?" Izuku asked, kneeling down.

"Kill me."

"See, if you wanted me to kill you, you should've tried reverse psychology, or threatening my friends. Now that you've pretty much admitted that you want me to kill you, I'm not doing it."

"I came to kill you. I failed my father, my sister...My family" she muttered, dismayed.

Wonderful. Family drama.

The woman continued. "I have disgraced them. You must kill me."

Izuku sighed. "Jesus Christ, woman. Ok, if I tell everyone that you and I never met, and that you didn't lose spectacularly to me, will it get you to shut up about wanting me to kill you? You can pretend that you didn't disgrace anyone, if it means so much to you."

The assassin froze for a few moments, before meekly nodding. As Izuku turned around, he could faintly hear the woman saying "Thank you" to him.

Izuku turned around. "You wanna thank me? Don't tear out people's throats with your teeth. That shit's disgusting. Terrifying too, but mostly disgusting."

And with that statement, Izuku tossed the assassin her sais, before walking away.

P.O.V Switch - Mileena

Mileena could hardly believe it. The human had her dead to rights, and yet...he still spared her. He even went as far as stating that he wouldn't tell anyone about her loss to him.

I didn't even learn his name

Suddenly, a sinister chuckle sounded over the beach.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that. Shao Khan's second daughter failed to defeat a simple human! Oh, how disgraceful!"

Mileena's fist clenched over her sai. "Skarlet. Come out here, you pathetic leech!" she growled.

A pool of blood appeared, as a red haired woman with blades attached to her lower back stepped out.

"Tsk. Calm down, my dear Mileena. That beastial temper of yours won't do you any favors in Shao Khan's Court."

Mileena snarled. She knew she was in no position to fight, not now, but her left arm clasped her sai tightly. She started walking towards the red assassin.

Skarlet laughed. "Oh, Mileena. I admire your spirit, I truly do, but I'm afraid I won't fight you, not in this state."

Mileena stopped. "What do you want?" she growled. Skarlet merely chuckled, before stepping towards the half Tarkatan.

"I don't know, I think holding the threat of an embarrassing defeat to a human over the Second Princess of Outworld should be all I need in the court of our creator."
Mileena growled. "I was born, not created!"

Skarlet chuckled. "Are you sure about that?."

And with that, Skarlet disappeared once again, leaving Mileena feeling even more lost than she had been after her defeat.

AN: So yeah, Liu Kang kicked Ermac's ass pretty hard. I love Ermac, and I hope in this story, I can bring him to the former top tier he was in the old MK stories. Right now though, he had to face Liu Kang, the guy who ends up being the Champion of Earthrealm. So yeah. He was kinda screwed. We see the start of romance for the story's pairing. I hope I laid it out well enough, as this is my first time writing stuff like that without it being a one shot.

Yep! Skarlet's gonna be in this story as well. She'll become a more prominent character in the Mk II and MK III arcs of this story, but for now, she's just an observer.

On a final note, some guys have been asking me if this is "Dark Raiden.", and I wanted to clarify. In this story, Raiden isn't the mentor figure to the Earthrealm Kombatants like he was in the new games. Rather, he's just an asshole god who wants to prove his might against mortals, and he believes that fighting on the side of Outworld should fulfill that wish. He'll mellow out as the story goes on, but for now, he's just a really powerful bastard.