A/N: Alright! Here we are, chapter 5. Just a little trivia, while I'd like to think I'm quite witty in real life but sometimes while I'm writing the quips and remarks I'll be sitting there thinking 'now what would he say?'
I hope you enjoy!
22 A.M.K.
"Get the novices out of here and prepare anyone higher than that rank for battle." Viper turned from Karanba and approached Jacqui. "Ready your friends, I'd wager you four can match Mileena in a battle."
Jacqui ran off and once more Viper was alone. "Impeccable timing as always, Mileena." In truth, he never held the disdain his friends had harbored for the former empress of Outworld. Unfortunately, compassion was not the most important thing to him as of now; his students were.
Viper foraged in a chest that lay at a corner of his room, inside he found many things but only 3 would be of use now. He pulled out a Kirehashi blade and unsheathing it he could see it had not lost its edge. One of the other items was a jar of tarkatan essence, the orange liquid would drive the majority of Mileena's army crazy if it was to be used correctly. Lastly, he pulled out a small glass ball containing a black liquid.
The saurian jogged through the hallway that lay between his room and the staircase, he jumped down the empty spiral that was surrounded by the steps and landed to see his students taking up arms.
"Master Viper, we're here." Cassie walked over while cocking her pistol, behind her were Kung Jin, Takeda, and Jacqui. "Any suggestions?" She finished.
"You're the leader of your group aren't you?" Viper gave her a reassuring smile before moving towards the rest of his students.
"With the exception of the novices, we number two thousand." The saurian found Karanba among the rest of his students and, dispelling the thoughts in his head, gave him another command.
"Take the archers to the top of the building and then rejoin us down here." The tarkatan nodded and moved out of sight. Unsheathing the Kirehashi, Viper rallied the rest of the students around him. The archers numbered five hundred among them, leaving an army of one thousand and five hundred kombatants to face Mileena.
"Half of them will hold at the bridge, and the other half can flank the rebels with me." Viper called one of them to the front: a feline girl whose name was Talula. He separated the assassins into two groups and then turned back to the girl.
"Talula, take this group out to the bridge and 'parlay' with Mileena."
"Very well, Master." She marched away, taking the assassins that were in the front room with her, off to find more.
"The rest of you, come with me." Viper gathered them around him and found the back exit. Most visitors weren't aware another way out existed, but when Cassie found and joined them, an exception was made.
The route led to a dense swamp that lay below the academy. The only way back up was a pass that ran along the rock formations below the building itself. After being lead a safe distance behind their 'visitor's' army, Viper called another student forward, Mukade. This one had the trademark signs of being a Seidan: white hair that was tied into a knot at the back of his head, pale eyes that were naturally occurring, and an olive complexion. Either way, he received the orders to wait for a sign and then to ambush Mileena whether she tried to escape or stand and fight.
One of the items he had pulled out of the chest would be useful now. The small glass ball containing what appeared to be oil was actually a device that would allow for a shadowy, and quite frankly, limited teleport. Crushing it in his hand, Viper found himself near the roof of his building and near Karanba himself.
"Salutations." He said as a quick greeting towards his tarkatan ally.
"Master, the archers are ready for your signal." Viper nodded swiftly before readying an amethyst seal in his hand. Walking over to the edge of the roof, he dropped it, the purple sparkle of the gem quickly spread across the broad bridge. In the place of the seal was a paint like substance colored a dark orchid.
Tarkatans started dropping within three seconds of the sign, accompanying the ambush, arrows started raining into the general cluster of fighting.
Viper jumped down onto the bridge and began to battle the enemies that were foolish enough to face him.
"Where is Mileena?" It was odd, the former khanum of Outworld was bloodthirsty. She should've been there but in her stead, a ball of yellow flame.
"Tanya." Viper, dodged to the side and prepared for another attack but instead the yellow-clad woman walked up to him with another familiar face.
"Oh… and Rain," he thought, "Is everyone but Mileena here?"
Tanya was short, with glowing orange tattoos on her arms and mid-section. The most interesting part of her appearance though was her pale and seemingly lifeless eyes. Rain was by far the better-looking of the two; he was not nearly as tall as Viper himself, but he was of a good height. His skin was somewhat of a copper tone, and his eyes were a frightening but beautiful shade of brown.
"Stand down, Viper." Tanya spoke, she stepped over the bodies of the enemies surrounding them.
"Honored that you decided to 'grace' me with your presence, Tanya." Viper expected a sly response from her, as per usual.
"As am I, for your remembrance." Tanya mocked a bow before looking up at him quickly, her sickly eyes were nearly unbearable.
He stayed silent for a moment but soon knew what to say to throw at least one of them off. "It would seem that when it comes to consorts Tanya, you've forgotten how to count."
"How dare you speak to us that way!" Rain screamed as lightning sparked onto his forearms, but this was exactly what the saurian had wanted.
"I will teach you the humility afforded with your defo-" as the demigod continued in his declaration he failed to notice Viper drawing the tarkatan essence and throwing it at him. As the bottle broke against 'his excellency,' the saurian's attention turned, and in the next moments he grabbed the nape of Tanya's neck and smashed her face into the side wall of the bridge.
When Viper braced for what Rain had in store for him. He found that the demigod had teleported himself away, which was probably for the best; if he had stayed his own allies would've made a feast of him.
Tanya however, was not finished. Her naginata swung near Viper's face and when she had regained her composure, she threw another fireball at him. The saurian swiped his hands against the flames, and as soon as he had, they dissipated.
Tanya and he became locked in hand-to-hand combat after she sheathed her naginata. It was true, as his dossier stated: he knew earthrealmer martial arts. However, Viper preferred to use something unique to him: a fighting style that, because of the increased dexterity afforded by his tail, not even his dear friend Reptile knew how to use.
He began to bounce from one side of the bridge to the other, sparsely using his acid as part of his quick scratches against her un-armored body. After a few moments of claw strikes he slammed his tail into her face and sent her flying, but not before she had managed to make a small piercing in his scales with her kobu jutsu.
He was about to rush toward her and make sure she was really unable to continue fighting, but a mass of what seemed to be writhing bats the color of wine appeared before him. The swarm unwrapped itself like wings and revealed what was inside of them.
"Nitara… I didn't expect to ever see you again." She had baggy maroon sleeves while the rest of her outfit consisted of sparse parts of black leather studded with what seemed to be gold. Her hair was black streaked with gray, and she had skin similar to the color of most others that dwelled in Outworld. While he had noted the color of many people's eyes, whether he thought them to be beautiful or ugly, Nitara's were a part of a list that may have been titled 'spell-binding.' The sclera were black and in the place of irises were red rings, resembling the halo of an eclipse.
"And why is that, Viper?" She started, her voice near indifferent.
"Because I thought you better than to involve yourself in these foolish affairs. I thought you better than I."
"Mileena promised to make Vaeternus free once more… something Kotal refused to even attempt." Nitara's hands encompassed themselves in the same energy she had used to make her entrance. "Join us and Zaterra will be free as well."
"She speaks lies… no realm can ever be unmerged from Outworld."
Nitara laughed, "I would've expected you to hate Kotal… after what he did." Viper kept his cool although admittedly, the urge to suddenly jump onto the vampire and rip her to shreds had increased significantly.
And so he did, but not before speaking one last remark, "I don't hate Ko'atal, it'd be a waste of my energy."
Viper pressed his claws into a small section of Nitara's back, and feeling the bones and flesh shift he knew he had aimed correctly. Suddenly, her wings expanded and her neck was restrained by his scaly tail.
"Let's find out just how well you can fly…" Viper forced her to take off into the academy. In retaliation, her claws came swiping at his body but most of the time she completely missed the one vulnerable spot that Tanya had provided for her.
Most of the time.
Right as she was about to slam into a wall, her hands found the small wound and her claws pulled at the grooves between the surrounding scales.
Viper propelled himself off of her and, in the action of doing so, managed to send her into the red side of the entrance room.
He landed next to Nitara, and as she got up it was clear from her mannerisms that she had been hurt. They prepared for battle, she took out her kama, and Viper unsheathed his kirehashi. When their weapons connected, she unhooked one of them and tried to lodge the sickle's end into his wound. Instead, he dodged and sent his foot toward her stomach, his claws raking against her skin as he kicked himself off of her once more.
She went flying into the wall again, only this time her wings were folded. The idea of pouncing onto her and making sure she was incapacitated crossed his mind, but Viper knew that if the entrance of the academy stayed open for much longer Milenna's forces would enter. So he sprinted out and prepared to fend off any invaders that had wandered to close, but instead he was greeted by a burst of water and a dropkick from a demi-god in an annoyingly royal shade of purple.
"Great… Rain has returned." Viper thought as he bounced back to his standing position.
"Did the tarkatan essence wash off easy enough?" Rain's face, despite the gold brimmed mask he wore, was a storm as he answered.
"It washed off easier than your blood will." Rain enveloped Viper in a bubble, and for a few seconds the water was an effective trap. But the saurian refused to die, and as a way to escape, he filtered his acid into the water quicker than his adversary could react, eventually taking control of it. Bursting himself out of the encasing, he landed and fired vitriol out of his palms in sustained plumes, while in an attempt to protect himself his enemy had thrown his arms up.
Once Viper was finished he knew it was foolish to rely on the acid too much, Rain was a demi-god and a powerful one at that; not only could he control water and lightning but virtually all liquids. Not to mention that after being subjected to an intense blast of corrosive fluid that would've melted off anyone else's arms, his only seemed to be steaming from the burn.
Not a second later Viper dodged past two large streams and subsequently avoided another attempt to encase him in a bubble. Seeing an opening, the saurian swiftly closed the rest of the distance between them and sent his fist into Rain's mid-section before giving another into his nose. Right after the second strike Viper performed another, this time his foot, went to the cheek of the edenian prince, and shortly afterward his tail slammed into the same place.
Rain attempted to retaliate: his palm strike barely missing. Viper, not being one to let an opening go, sank his teeth into the flesh presented to him. They struggled for a minute before a hydro-powered kick bashed into the saurian's jaw and sent him further along the bridge.
He used his position to his advantage, however, and made a ring of acid from the scaly pads of his feet, kicking it towards Rain. His attack, as expected, had been taken control of, but the saurian solidified the liquid, which made the prince lose control as quickly as he had taken it. After some minor confusion, Viper jumped into the air. When he landed, nearly on top of his target, he clawed and bit at him in a frenzy. Rain had fallen, although it was not without a storm of his own.
"When it comes to godhood and pretention, you are quite pretentious Rain." He said in a final remark towards the edenian prince.
A few moments of ragged and inconsistent breathing followed.
"Ok… good… now… to find Mileena."
"Get away from him!" Karanba unsheathed his blades and came closer to the threat at the top of the tower.
Mileena had no response. The archers had their bows primed, but they weren't about to fire, not while her mouth drew ever closer to a student's neck. Karanba knew him: his name was Mukade, and he had joined the archers after the beginnings of the battle started.
Unfortunately, getting to his friend was easier said than done. Kollector, one of the naknada had his khanum protected. Their eyes were nearly the same color, orange and bright.
"What would Viper do?" Karanba mused. "Well… Kollector… he's a naknada, probably used to people using him to make fun."
If he was to distract them, it would have to be Mileena. Unless…
"Is he a part of your harem too? Like Reiko was?" Karanba smiled, letting his tongue hang out mockingly. It was possible that the only lover that Mileena had ever cared for was the former general.
"I will dull your tongue." There was venom in Mileena's voice, despite her mostly calm tone. Her companion however, as expected, seemed to have gotten used to hatred in his lifetime.
With that, it seemed an opportunity had giftwrapped itself for him.
"I was just wondering since… I had heard you loved it when people used your title, Mileena Khanum." Karanba stifled a laugh, but he knew, from Viper's constant reminders, he had to be cautious with how far he pushed people.
"You are unappreciative of the fortune you have been given." Kollector finally spoke, his 6 arms all came out now, in each of his hands was a weapon, 1 of which was a sphere of gold and 5 of which were an assortment of blades.
"None of you have experienced cold and hunger."
All of a sudden Mileena went flying from Mukade's side, and in her stead Viper became visible once more.
"Unfortunately Kollector, you are incorrect." Viper threw up his hands and arrows went flying, before the naknada could be hit he teleported, and Mileena had done the same. Their master, who had begun carrying Mukade, had jumped away from the line of fire. However, soon enough, a pink blast of energy grabbed hold of Viper and sent him off into the unknown.
"No!" Karanba yelled. He tried to run towards the blast, but the last thing that he saw was the body of his seidan friend being thrown back onto the roof before Viper had disappeared.
The Kollector's 6 weapons came flying at his face. Viper, in response, dodged back and forth before he swept the naknada's leg. Once he accomplished that, he spat out a stream of vitriol.
His target teleported once more; however, despite their speed, teleporters were quite predictable. He turned and sent his claw swiping at the blue-skinned creature behind him. Squaring off, the naknada shot his sphere at him. Viper caught it, and when the chain recoiled to its original position, the Kollector was sent barreling across the distance between them.
When he landed under the saurian's feet, he attempted to slash and stab his way out. If any wounds were made; however, they weren't substantial enough for Viper to stop his talons from slamming onto Kollector's face.
Once he had defeated his opponent, another thought occurred to him."Mileena's disappeared once more."
Viper, finally having an opportunity, looked around and noticed he was under the bridge to the academy.
"Shame to have to fight here… this place is so beautiful." His mind walked out of the memories he was about to travel back to.
"She must've teleported again." Viper regained his previous train of through as he placed his hands onto the rock that lead back up and, after sighing in annoyance, started scaling them. As he reached the top; however, a heel pressed onto his hands, the soles twisting at an agonizingly slow pace.
"You were always conducting too many experiments for your own benefit." The voice belonged to Mileena. "Now for your final endeavor, I will test if you can survive a drop o-"
Viper pulled onto her other leg, and they fell together.
"You always talked too much." Viper knew that if Mileena was to survive this, she had to teleport, and if she did that, then she would also port him to safety.
As expected, she did.
When they next emerged from the pink form of energy, they were further in the swamps.
Before anything could be said, Mileena threw her sais but in retaliation he caught one in his hand, and the other in his tail before pouncing and practically flying right at her. She dodged his attack and retaliated by kicking him in his stomach. She then made 2 knives of her hands and slammed them into the top of his head. He avoided the next parts of her furious onslaught and sent a claw up her mid-section. She recoiled and they separated. Her sais, which had been enchanted, reappeared on her back.
"Mileena, I won't mock you as I did your compatriots." Viper steadied himself, his talons resting in the shallow waters.
"You are like-minded with Kotal… always conniving your way to power." She sneered, her voice laced with venom.
"No Mileena, Ko'atal and I are nothing alike."
"Lies and deception, lizard!" She cried vindictively.
"Maybe… I was wrong earlier in my chambers." He thought of the next thing he could say, and his mind traveled to a story.
He started, "Recently I've been reminded what it's like to be feared and put down, Mileena. It's a horrible experience, and I do not wish the same upon you." He put his hands down, his claws relaxing.
"You're in service to the pretender! You're a liar, just like he is!" She hurried him.
"… Once, Kotal asked me to find and assassinate you." He pressed a hand into his face. "I knew exactly where you were… and yet… even when the woman I loved hated you so, I found myself unable to kill you." It was true: some part deep inside of him held disdain for her, but another part felt pain when the thought of killing her emerged.
There was silence for a few seconds, and he almost saw something in her eyes.
…
Almost.
"You… killed my father!" After the moments had passed, she screamed, her mouth unhinging itself as she threw a sai at him. He moved out of the way and while she attempted to bite him, he showed her that his teeth were sharper. His fangs lodged themselves into her shoulder. If they had been any closer to her subclavian, she may have bled to death. When he removed his mouth from her gaping wound, he placed his hand there and let acid bubble into the exposed cavity.
She wailed out in pain and started a flurry of attacks in an attempt to get him off. It was only after Viper was sure that any longer exposure would've resulted in death that he let go.
He saw her reach for her sai, obviously her intent was to teleport, and in that moment he tackled her so that their destination would be the same place.
They hit the hard ground near the academy together, and before either of them could get up, Viper barreled his fist toward her face. She retaliated by attempting to push her hand into his eyes, but she had learned from last time and her fingers did not dare dangle near his teeth.
Viper's mouth held more than just teeth, and as if to prove it, his tongue shout out and wrapped around her face. In an attempt to free herself, she pulled at the saliva-covered appendage and using her black nails, which had been filed to claws, tried to rip herself from his grasp. Once she released her hand from his face, he let her head go from his hold and instead tackled her again.
The back of her head had been dazed from slamming into ground, and seeing yet another opening, he returned to his clawing methods. Unfortunately, her confusion didn't last long, she balled up her body and sent herself flying at him, being propelled by the energy given to her by the sais. After he collapsed onto the ground, she stood again and attempted to run. But Viper, even while on the ground, proved he was faster.
Using his speed, he managed to get in front of her and, after jumping above an attempted sweep of the leg from her, he sent his foot at a near breakneck pace toward her face. The last thing he saw of her before she slammed into the ground was her eyes, so similar to her 'father's'.
"You've lost, Mileena." Viper stood above her.
"No…" she paused, a wheezing breath passing through her clenched teeth, "You have." She lifted her hand and channeled the power of Shinnok's amulet.
For any chance of survival, Viper propelled himself back. After an exhilarating experience, despite its length being only 4 seconds, she fell one last time.
Burn wounds plagued her arms, and before her collapse, she sounded desperate and exhausted.
He attempted to apprehend her. However, Rain appeared out of a jumping spout of water with Nitara and Tanya flanking his sides.
The two women that accompanied the edenian prince sent two waves of energy at Viper. Viper instinctively used his acid to form a rudimentary shield. When the energy ceased, he realized that all of them were gone.
"All of them… except for Kollector." He thought grimly.
Simultaneously, Z'Unkahrah
D'vorah rose from the bed. She looked back at the soft velvet duvet, and lying upon it was none other than Kotal Kahn.
"This One didn't mean to wake the emperor." She felt her ovipositors twitch as she spoke to him. There was a time when she truly admired Kotal, and she could tell that he felt the same way for her. But his mind was distracted and D'vorah knew exactly what plagued it.
"You didn't. It is only…" He trailed off.
"Yes, Kotal." She prompted, although in truth she was not listening. She walked to an open window and gazing through it, she observed the statue of Shao Kahn being torn down.
"Onaga, Shao, and soon… Kotal." She mused.
"This has been… nice." Kotal said.
"This One would not have doubted it." Carnal relations were important to many, and the emperor of Outworld was among those who valued them, but what truly enticed D'vorah was power. The cavity in her stomach opened, and she pulled one of her 'children' out of it, her hand running down the creature as she thought.
Quite frankly, it was idiotic to assume a Kytinn would put someone over the hive's survival. Even someone like Kotal.
"Although, most in Outworld are imbeciles." She silently reminded herself.
"I have enjoyed your company D'vorah." Kotal's speech was sincere, she could tell.
"And I have enjoyed yours." She spoke to him without turning.
It was almost alluring, the thought of flying down to the statue even in her current unclothed state to see the monument break from close range. While she mused, she could hear the creak of the mattress behind her. Kotal placed his hand at the small of her back and as he did she forced a smile.
The idol broke as they watched together, the expert stonework crumbling as it hit the courtyard's tiled floor.
"Would you like to see it." Kotal asked her. He was completely naked like she was.
"Yes." That thought, completely satisfied her, unlike the events that had transpired not long ago in the very bedroom she stood in.
After they had both clothed themselves and walked out into the courtyard, she ran her hand over the stone. The sharp nails on her fingers found the cracks in the konqueror's earthen mask.
"This One's plan will soon come to fruition." She looked up and not far away, she saw Kotal, unaware that he would soon meet a similar fate.
A/N: Well, this has been one of my favorite chapters to write. Now, I will continue writing chapter 6, but before I finish and post it, I'm considering doing some edits to chapter 3 and 4. Now, it's not that I dislike them… but I wanted to do that for 2 main reasons.
1: Jade, I'm not unhappy with how I wrote her but I think in order to capture what I really think she'd be like, I feel like I need to redo that part.
2: The dialogue, I admit, this has always been one of the weakest parts of my writing. But not just that, I remember while I was writing the dialogue all I could think was 'this would be much easier to read with apostrophes' and I think I need to add that to make the sentences more reasonable and real sounding.
But either way, I thank you for reading, as it really helps me push through the more difficult moments of writing.
Sincerely, The Swampian.