Whose arms do we fall into when there are none to catch us? Who's picture do we paint when all there is to find is a shadow? Always a brick wall to paint, always a reflection in the mud to step in, hoping the shadow you catch reflects the heart you lost.
Jacqui sat outside the wall of the city with Sub-Zero, Smoke, and Frost and a few others that felt no need, nor any welcoming force to enter Kotal Kahn's domain. The arid wasteland of purple hues that veiled the sky above sent a chill down her spine.
She watched Frost train with Sub-Zero. She had spunk, arrogance, and speed, but he was patient and efficient. If she could do it, she'd win, probably in half the time as Frost, but is it really her desire to best the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei?
"Jacqui." Sub-Zero called her out of the daze.
"Sergeant Briggs." She corrected.
"Not to me," he gestured her forward like a father might. "I want to make sure you are prepared for the fight."
"Oh I'm prepared." Unarmed, she gestured with her fingers like a gun, but he was unimpressed behind that cold mask.
"Steel won't stop energy, and a gun won't stop your soul from being devoured."
This gave her pause. She thought of Ermac, but never having fought him, she didn't quite grasp his comment and waved it off.
Still, she obeyed and squared off with him. He scrutinized her stance, very different and modern from his, which she expected him to judge harshly. Nothing came from the mask but chilled air as he gestured for her to start.
With a quick step drag, she closed the measure between them and went for a headlock takedown. Her arm locked around the frozen effigy of Sub-Zero and nearly stuck the bare spots of her flesh from the elbow down to the ice before it shattered beneath her.
He appeared behind her, unamused.
"You are not used to magic, soldier."
"You're not used to getting your ass kicked by a woman."
She lunged for him with a fist, a hard haymaker of a right that connected with his hand that grasped it cold in the air. He bent her elbow nearly to the point of cracking like the ice beneath her and used that power to tilt her body back, expose her core, and kick it with the flat top of his boot like a soccer ball. She launched back and fell to the ice and dirt.
"Americans. First you must let go of your arrogance, then you will begin to see the fight for what it is."
She looked up from the ground and a hand reached for her to support her ascent. She had thought to ignore it, to pull herself up by the boot straps as she always had to. Sub-Zero guided her up and dusted her off, he wouldn't test her any further.
"Thanks dad." She jested.
"You need to train more or you will die." His words were like a barrier. "We all do."
"I know."
"We'll train you, like one of the Lin Kuei." Smoke chimed in. "Guns will only get you so far, Sergeant Briggs."
Once the moon raised high over the city beyond the palace, she knew Fujin and Sonya wouldn't be far behind and the portal would open to Edenia. As an army they'd travel, but word had already spread that there was no support from Outworld in the war of armageddon.
If she could convince Kotal Kahn, to see it how she did, perhaps he'd change his mind.
Perhaps it was all an illusion.
Was the war as real as Sub-Zero would have her believe? Was the threat at the top of the pyramid as serious as Raiden repeated?
Would her father be there on the other side?