A/N: :3, enjoy!
2014 A.D.
"You seem to know this 'Kano' intimately," Li Mei said.
"Not the word I'd use, but yes, I chased him for years until he escaped to Outworld after Shinnok's invasion," Sonya said, her mind focused on the image of Kano. If she could just get her hands wrapped around his neck… she forced herself to stop.
"Why would he return now?" Kenshi stood next to them. He was blind, and the grey hairs that populated his chin and scalp made him seem like an easy target.
But… he wasn't.
"All that matters is he's…" Her gaze turned to one of the outworlders in the crowd. She was exactly like the one they had found dead on the outskirts of the camp. Kano was getting sloppy.
"… Caught. Gotcha," She gave the sign to Kenshi.
Once she saw what was happening, the outworlder moved along, her head pointed downwards. But, Kenshi 'accidentally' bumped into her.
"Are you lost?" He said. It was only a matter of seconds before Sonya had closed in on their target, and soon 'she' was trapped. 'The outworlder' revealed themselves to be Kano, and with the same annoying tone he always had, he said: "Hello, love! Been a while!"
"Not long enough," Sonya talked into a communication device and ordered for MP's to her location, but Kano piped up again.
"Aw, let's keep this between friends. A trade! Info for freedom."
"I don't negotiate with scumbags."
"Well then… if mother won't play nice… maybe daughter will," He smiled sadistically.
"If you ever…" She started.
"Back off… and all's well. Piss me off… and Cassie's gonna meet Uncle Kano," He walked right up to her, confident in his bribe.
"I swear to god I'll kill you," Kano stood there for a few more moments, expecting to go free at the mentioning of Sonya's daughter.
But, instead, the general punched him right in the nose. When he recoiled from the blow, she jumped into the air and slammed her boot into his face. When he recovered he unsheathed his blades and threw one of them. Sonya dodged it, and when she took her stance again she prepared to punch him. Kano, however, reacted much faster than she had expected and bear-hugged her. His cybernetic strength was impressive, but she was able to break free by shooting a pulse of energy from her gauntlet.
She aimed for him with the same weapon she had used to escape his grasp, but he had managed to roll himself into a ball and launch himself through the air. Sonya braced for impact and was able to stop him. Once they pushed off of each other, Kano's eye started to glow brighter, but before he could shoot any laser beams, Sonya shot him with another pulse of energy. The cybernetic part of his face fizzled and glitched as he frantically tried to stop it from setting on fire.
"No… I'm not done with you," She said as she walked toward him. She kicked him in the face, and then punched him twice. Next, she carried out the thoughts she had previously, and wrapped her hands around his neck, choking him.
"Alright… alright! Get off of me!" He said, desperately.
"Sonya! Ease up!" She had had no idea when her ex-husband, Johnny, had arrived at the scene, but she didn't care. Finally, Kano was in her grasp.
"You kill me… never find… amulet!" He said.
"Move, move, move!" The sounds of a few soldiers broke the strangely silent event.
"Sonya… we need that info," Johnny said.
"No, we don't!" Sonya thought to herself, Cassie had told her that the Kollector had talked. Although, it was undeniable that if two of Mileena's officers were to talk, the info would've been much more reliable.
After a few moments of silence, Johnny spoke again. "Sonya. Don't make this another thing you'll regret."
"Damn you, Cage!" Sonya said to herself.
As she took the pressure off of Kano's neck, she felt a strange relief. She rose next to Johnny who assured her she had made the right call.
"Talk!" Was her last order to the cutthroat.
22 A.M.K.
D'vorah was with Cassie in the Kuatan Jungle. It was annoying, how persistent the brat was. To temper her urges, she pictured her ovipositors impaling the young earthrealmer.
The girl's mother had told them of Kano's information, and when it matched up with Kollector's, they had gone to investigate the green hell for Mileena and her rebels.
They weren't the only ones though, there was a frontal assault planned as well. The bulk of the soldiers were being led by Ferra & Torr, as well as Jacqui Briggs and Kung Jin. Which left a small portion of warriors to defend the city. Of course, Kotal Kahn himself, the two saurians Viper and Reptile, and Erron Black were also there, but D'vorah didn't much expect them to get into any fights.
Her ovipositors twitched once more, they were eager to unleash themselves, the pierce the skulls of her enemies. As the next few hours passed, they had finally found themselves at the encampment.
"There," D'vorah said, seeing Rain and another tarkatan walk through a tent. Once the edenian was alone, Cassie jogged up to him, her gun extended. Soon, D'vorah joined her.
"Here to surrender, traitor?" He said as D'vorah ran up to him.
"You would speak of treason? This One knows you desire the throne. Why serve Mileena?"
"I advise her. Stealing the amulet was my genius. It kills her a bit each time she uses it."
"As both sides diminish, you fill the void," D'vorah said with a tone of hatred. Although to be completely honest, she admired his plan.
"Exactly my plan," He said, completely ignoring the gun next to his face. But right as they were ready to fight, another kombatant revealed themselves. Tanya jumped across the battlefield and attacked D'vorah, and Rain turned and wrestled Cassie to the floor.
A gunshot sounded across the stream they were in, and their battle had started.
22 A.M.K.
Tremor waited outside the walls of Z'Unkarah. He could remember the day when the shokan invaded. He went out there, spread his arms across the ground and caused a massive earthquake. It was a difficult thing to pull off, although it helped that the surroundings of the city were entirely a wasteland. He always found that desert was the easiest type of earth to bend to his will.
With him were his teammates Jarek, who was inhumanly loyal to Kano; Tasia, who was a woman he was proud to have fought beside; No-Face, a talented murderer and silent man; Kira, who shared many of her interests with her aforementioned companions. The only one among them who wasn't a part of the Black Dragon was Darrius, a chaotic and rebellious man.
Nitara had recently briefed them on the mission, but none of them had listened much, no need for tedious whys and hows.
"So… who are we expecting," Kira said, sharpening her knives once again.
"We saw D'vorah, Cassie Cage, Kung Jin, Jacqui Briggs, and the two symbiotes left," Jarek said, having been the only one who memorized their names from what Nitara told them.
"How are we doing this?" Tasia said, she had cleaned herself up, cutting her hair back to its typical short length.
Darrius had shaved his head and chopped his whiskers to a goatee. The man had a weird style considering they were in the heart of a wasteland. He wore a black trenchcoat, and from the concealments of his sleeves, he carried two katar blades, almost as if he was a tarkatan. The only supernatural ability that the man had, one which only became apparent to Tremor recently, was that he was capable of shapeshifting into a leopard.
Jarek had done something similar. His hair was cut much shorter and spikier than it once was, while he completely shaved any sort of beard he had grown.
Tremor hadn't changed much during his time in prison so, besides his clothes, he didn't change much of his appearance. Instead, he had spent his time practicing his terrakinesis.
"Tremor, you got an idea?" Tasia asked. He was silent for a minute and then decided that the best route would be to break the very foundation of the bulwark surrounding Z'Unkarah.
"Tremor, answer the question," Kira spoke.
"No… Give him a minute, he won't disappoint," Tasia said before cautioning them to go to higher ground.
22 A.M.K.
Erron Black sat by Kotal's side, and across from Reptile. Viper sat at the other end of the table, the cowboy to his left, the other saurian to his right.
"Look at him… his blue-painted skin, his scowl… he's pretty sexy when he's angry," The voice said, enjoying his remarks.
Viper, in the meanwhile, said nothing.
The emperor had a meal cooked for them. But, while the other three of them were eating, Viper felt no hunger.
"We should kill that osh-tekk… watch the blood slowly pour from his neck and into his food… the pig…" Viper ignored the voice, his mind was elsewhere.
Jade's face had been strangely hard to remember. As he desperately tried to recall her, his claws slowly tore into his scales but… he felt nothing.
"Her eyes were…" He knew they were green, he knew it. But, all he could see was her as a revenant.
"Her skin was… no… It wasn't grey." The image kept forcing itself into his mind. As his claws fully pierced into one of the grooves, finally his scales felt something. The blood slowly trickled onto the table. At the moment it did, the saurian could swear that he feeling he finally had was something more than pain. It was a subtle quake in the ground.
"Viper… are you alright?" Reptile said, seeing the jade green puddle on the table. He separated his hands, the scales would shift back into place soon enough.
"I'll be fine."
"I'm quite certain that when someone is performing self-harm they're not 'fine', Viper," Reptile said.
"How observant of him!" The voice.
Ermac charged into the room, Takeda by his side.
"We have sighted the Black Dragon, Emperor," Ermac said.
"What? Where?" Kotal stood.
"Tremor broke through the city wall," Ermac levitated low off the ground, green magic orbiting around his fingers as he spoke.
At the mentioning of the name 'Tremor,' Viper knew that the city was in trouble, and the subtle vibration now had a definite source.
"Erron, take some of the soldiers out to the-" Viper stopped listening at that point, even when he was in peril all he could think about was Jade.
He kept trying to piece her face together, but each time he picked up the pieces, they slipped through his fingers.
"If Tremor is here… maybe we should let loose, you know?" The voice.
"Let loose? No, I'm not just going… rip someone to pieces," Viper.
"I mean our 'other' power. Quan Chi amplified our pyrokinesis," The voice.
"We're not having this conversation, I'm not going to 'let loose' on some poor fools that decided to attack this city," Viper.
When Kotal called his name, the conversation in his head quieted down slightly, his awareness increased enough to listen to the Emperor.
"Viper, join the rest of us," Kotal said as the rest of the people walked through the palace doors to find the smallfolk running like ants and a crumbling city wall.
The six of them went toward the Black Dragon, but before they could find anything, a boulder came flying through the air. Ermac stopped it with his telekinetic abilities and broke it into four smaller pieces. Tremor jumped out of the dust and ripped away chunks of the earth, broke it down into sand, and covered the warriors in a shroud.
Kotal called upon the power of the sun and slowly the dust storm dissipated, but as soon as it did, all of the Black Dragon descended onto them.
First, Kira grabbed Reptile from behind and they wrestled each other for control. Second, Tremor propelled himself into the air, his hand took the form of metal, and smashed his fist into Ermac's face, bringing them both down to earth. Third, Jarek swung his ax at Erron's face, the cowboy blocking only by the fact that he was carrying a tarkatan blade at the time. Fourth, Tasia teleported onto the battlefield, and while she was suspended in the air she kicked Takeda in the chest, sending him flying back. Fifth, Darrius unsheathed the katar blades from his sleeves and swung them at Kotal's throat. Sixth, No-Face unleashed a blast of ice at Viper, the likes of which the saurian dodged, but he wasn't finished yet. He continued to shoot frost from the flamethrowers on his back. Even though he missed, the projectiles cascaded themselves along the walls of the buildings around them.
The battle was chaotic, full of saurian claws colliding with the steel of knives, leopards and panthers trying to claw each other's guts out, bits of lava being flung around like children's toys, and acid curving along ice sculptures.
Viper was able to inch closer to No-Face, and when he finally was in clawing range, he raked his hand down the side of the man's head. He screamed in agony, but the cold he controlled became so intense, it propelled the saurian ten feet back. Viper started sprinting again, and No-Face sent more frost down his path. When it happened, the saurian expected it to be easy to dodge, easy to evade.
But for the first time in forever… he slipped.
His jaw slammed into the ice and the wind was knocked out of him.
"You're going easy on this thug," The voice.
"What would you suggest? Fire? The man manipulates it and turns it into ice, you imbecile," Viper kicked himself back up and dodged more blasts of cold.
"Not if we mix it with the other magic the netherrealm holds…"
"I'm not… I refuse to do it," Viper said as he flipped, his mouth unloading breaths of acid at the Black Dragon.
To be completely honest, it was frustrating. Viper could remember the last fights he had been in. His skills were unmatched, very few could say that they ever lived to regret challenging him. But, for some reason, a reason which wasn't the ice being fired at him, he couldn't successfully attack.
"Earlier you were having trouble remembering your own lover's face, all you could see was her as a revenant."
Viper jumped into the air, kicked his feet across the open air and a wide cut of acid was launched at No-Face.
"Remember the last thing she said to you?"
"Don't you dare, you… despicable, worthless, insane, sadistic, horri-"
"Who are you? Mother? Trying to break her record for how many insults to ever have been flung at a single person?" The voice said, he hovered just above the ice, almost as if to say 'I'm out of your reach, Viper.'
"I can't just… snap like that," Viper said. He no longer wasn't slipped on the ice, but he still had trouble getting to a decent speed, and directing fighting was out of the equation at the moment.
"You already disobeyed them, you know?" The voice.
"Disobeyed what?" Viper.
"Her last words. You had a chance with that Outworlder, Li Mei… but, like always you failed," The voice.
"I don't… you-" Viper started.
"You what, don't always fail? Then prove it and rip out that psychotic murderer's throat."
Viper all of a sudden stopped running. Instead, he loped, tearing his hands and feet into the frost to gain more traction. As he charged, salivating and thrashing his tail like an animal, he could see azure blue flames starting to break through the grooves between his scales.
22 A.M.K.
D'vorah's ovipositors stuck into the ground as Tanya kicked her back. She looked up, anger on her face, ready to kill the unbearable edenian. But, Tanya pounced and swung her naginata right at D'vorah's chest.
The kytinn opened her abdominal cavity, and the insects sprung forth from her. After they latched themselves onto Tanya, D'vorah charged, her ovipositors carrying her swiftly across the stream between them. By the time the edenian noticed, it was too late. D'vorah kicked her legs out and sent Tanya flying into a stone sculpture of a face. The earthen statue crumbled into stone and dust, but through the shroud, two kobu jutsu came flying. Tanya joined them, she shot herself forward, a yellow rocket of magic encasing her as she aimed for D'vorah's shins. Unfortunately for Tanya, however, ovipositors complicated the equation. D'vorah raised herself to dodge the blow.
As Tanya missed D'vorah lowered herself and, using her wings, grabbed the edenian. Once they were in close quarters, the kytinn lifted her opponent into the air and was planning to drop her into the canopy surrounding the stream they were in.
However, the sky slowly darkened, and with it came the crackle of the thunder. D'vorah looked down and could see that Rain had defeated Cassie. As she observed his activities she could see he was not calling upon just the lightning, but also the water in the stream they were above. Rain rose in a giant spout and when he had reached the height that D'vorah was at, he started to channel the thunder once more. Quickly, the kytinn threw Tanya into the demigod, and when he caught her in a bubble of water, D'vorah struck. She flew straight into Rain, her head slamming into his chest.
When they landed back into the stream, the demigod shot back up and sent forth a wave. It hit D'vorah in the face and sent her flying back, but after the flustering experience, she started to hover, her wings violently flapping to dry themselves. She moved quickly through the air, but Rain pressurized the water to create a sword, the liquid blade sent a cut through D'vorah's wings. She fell hard onto the ground but was able to kick herself back up and prepare her ovipositors.
They desperately stabbed at the demigod, going for every possible opening. Rain was able to keep up for a while, and eventually even got the upper hand. His palm crashed into D'vorah's chest, and she stumbled backward. But, as she recovered from the blow, she sent out the insects from her abdomen.
The creatures were zapped by a stroke of lightning, the fact that they were in a stream was of little importance to the demigod, his powers seemed to have little to no effect on him. D'vorah, however, had to leap from the water, but Rain viciously followed.
The kytinn jumped to action and thrust one of her ovipositors at his collar. Rain was able to dodge, but while he was about to retaliate, D'vorah called upon the hive one last time. Right as his fist collided with her chin, the insects took him into their grasp and brought him down to the floor, writhing in pain.
D'vorah readied herself to kill the two edenians, but the earthrealmer piped up.
"I know you said you weren't friends… but you're not killing them," Cassie was annoying as always.
"Very well. Let us go," They walked over to the chest in the tent. D'vorah, let some of the hive creep into the lock.
"D'vorah!" The kytinn turned and saw Mileena. As the former Khanum charged, D'vorah sicced the hive at her.
"This One knew you would not stray far from the amulet," Mileena tore herself free from the hive.
"You took my throne. Now you wish to steal my means of reclaiming it?"
"Neither was meant for you," D'vorah said.
"Who are you to say?! I will take something of yours… your life!" Mileena finished.
22 A.M.K.
It was strange.
Fire should be hot, it should be loud, especially if it was blue.
But no… instead, it seemed colder than the touch of an iceberg.
He pounced on the Black Dragon, slithering across the man's entire body. Eventually, when he got to the back of the mercenary, he cut the tubes that provided him with flames. When he did so, No-Face was effectively defenseless.
Viper always carried Jade's weapons with him, and her glaive was held by his tail. He quickly moved it to No-Face's neck and slit the man's throat. He flung himself from the Black Dragon's corpse.
Looking at the rest of the battle, he could see Tremor, he threw pieces of lava through the air. One of the chunks collided with Ermac. Viper loped over there, where he threw the flaming glaive from his tail. In response, the Black Dragon dodged conjured up spiked balls of crystal. He tossed all of them at the saurian. Viper jumped from one to the next and caught the glaive with his tail. Next, the saurian shot out a gargantuan ball of blue flame. Tremor rose a wall of earth from the ground, but despite the strange coldness of the fire, the rock broke into pieces. The Black Dragon was completely exposed as Viper pounced over to him. Tremor encased his fist in metal and attempted to take a swing, but he missed. With that, the saurian clawed into the stone that guarded the Black Dragon's chest. Blood soon started to appear, but finally, Tremor had collected enough of himself to punch Viper with a metal fist. The saurian recoiled for a fraction of a moment and began firing large blasts of fire, they all hit their mark.
Something primal roared deep inside of Viper's heart as he loped again.
The saurian enveloped himself in an inferno and pounced, he rolled while he was still in the air, and sent a rocket of fire from his hands, feet, and mouth. The flames coalesced and the Black Dragon further combusted. The only thing that kept Tremor alive was his unique physiology, and even then it was only barely.
Through the flames, the man gave a look that screamed he had just emptied his bowels. Using his powers, he burrowed into the ground. For a moment, Viper nearly followed, but he stopped and turned back towards the others that were fighting. Reptile had defeated Kira, but the rest were still fighting.
Takeda seemed to be doing the best in his battle, Tasia's teleportation made her hard to track, but the boy was a talented fighter, and he had some tricks of his own. He had managed to wrap his whips around her wrists, he sent out the blades that adorned the lashes. They cut her arms and when she flinched, he threw her across the battlefield.
Darrius and Kotal were still in their animal forms, but somewhere during their mauling, the leopard had been able to end up on top.
Most of the time it seemed Erron was able to keep Jarek on his toes, but the mercenary was doing a strangely good job of keeping up.
Viper lashed out at no-one, anger slowly burning in his heart. Blue flames started to burn across his entire body, and he was ready to find his next target.
22 A.M.K.
D'vorah's ovipositors tore into Mileena's skin, the cuts were shallow, but they were effective. The hybrid wailed in pain, but she wasn't beaten yet. She retaliated by teleporting, and from the air, she ran her heels into D'vorah's collar. The kytinn stumbled backward, but a stream of toxins squirted from the maw of an insect she had summoned onto her wrist.
Mileena raised her arms, and took the attack at full force. After the insect shriveled and died, the half-breed charged. Her sai were unsheathed, and they swung dangerously close to D'vorah's chest.
Mileena's sai were interrupted and grabbed by the four ovipositors, and once they had been thrown from her hand, the kytinn smacked the former Khanum across the face. But, after the initial hit, D'vorah extended a natural blade from her palm, and it stabbed Mileena in her shoulder. The two of them pushed each other away. D'vorah's ovipositors thrust at Mileena four times, but the hybrid dodged them. Next, the kytinn made use of the natural blades again, swinging them at her opponent, but the hybrid deflected the blows.
Mileena tried to kick D'vorah away, her foot lighting up in pink energy, but she narrowly missed. The kytinn raised herself solely on the ovipositors and sent both her feet out to drive the hybrid off. Mileena ducked, and then uppercut D'vorah. Her jaw stinging in pain, the kytinn kicked herself back up. D'vorah unleashed all four of her ovipositors onto Mileena at once, managing to lodge a few into her opponent. As the former Khanum separated herself, she screamed in pain. Lethargically, Mileena attempted one last attack, but right as she did, D'vorah tripped her.
Cassie left the tent, Shinnok's amulet in hand.
22 A.M.K.
Viper chased out Jarek and Darrius. The Black Dragon's assault had deteriorated. Of the six that had first broken in, one was nearly burned to death, two was dead or close enough, and the other three were soon to be killed. Darrius all of a sudden stopped and challenged the saurian.
Viper, in response, kept loping. As he got there, Darrius tried to cut the saurian with his katar blades. In most cases, Viper would've dodged, but this time he simply let the steel hit him. The blades didn't make a clean cut, instead only chipping a scale or two. Darrius had made a fatal mistake by stopping. Viper grabbed onto the man and started to burn him away, sending blasts of blue fire off his hands and mouth. When Jarek came back to stop him, the saurian moved his face and let out a plume of fire so intense, his opponent died near immediately. Unfortunately for the both of them, they didn't have unique physiology as Tremor did, and so they simply burned away.
After their deaths, Viper stood. The fires calmed down, slowly starting to go out on the dead bodies.
He turned to see Kotal, the Emperor had judging eyes. It made the saurian angry, and he raised his middle finger in response to the look.
"Put your finger down," Kotal said.
"So, when should I expect Tasia's execution?" Viper said. The swordswoman was the only one who had survived the initial assault, at least, the only one who hadn't run away.
"Do not fling your spittle at me!"
"Coming from you that's funny. You know, considering you fling so much of it into D'vorah's mouth," He said, pushing past Kotal.
999,990 B.M.K.
"Father… it's watching us."
"Nothing is watching us unless you mean the fish."
"The leviathan is going to get us!"
"It's been dead for years, Zyvith."
"Zyvith…" He thought to himself. It was a stupid name, one that the cloaked saurian wished wasn't his.
"Son?" His father, Suko, said.
"I want to go home…"
"Not until you swim out there and come back."
He hated today. It started horribly, his mother's typical venom had been greatly amplified that morning. He had asked her so many times, 'why do you hate me?' When her only answer was a slap to the face, he started asking his father. One day, Suko finally told him it was because of the way he looked.
That was the day, exactly one year ago he started wearing the cloak. Although his father had tried to talk him out of it, finally he relented and helped him pick a color.
"Come on, Zyvith… look at those fossils," His father pointed towards the giant skeletons that had washed up on the beach. They were scary to look at, their giant skulls imposed upon the typical privacy of the sands, and the vacant eyeholes spoke of horrors unparalleled in the swamps.
"I'll be here, I promise."
Despite his father's comfort, Zyvith hated the water. Eventually, though, he had to start swimming. His legs kicked through the blue waves, his tail helping to propel him.
He forced himself to wear his cloak in the water. It was a purple thing, the shade of which was similar to his eyes. But, as he kept swimming he was glad he wore it, the water was reflective and he had grown tired of looking at what had inspired the hate of nine years of his childhood. As he swam, he remembered the tales his father had told him. The ones about an ancient king who had faced many challenges and won glory.
The hero's name was Tatsurri. He had faced many beasts in his adventures, and while he had invaded Edenia, met Onaga, and mated with one female of each of the felines, avians, and vulpines… all of those exploits combined weren't what Zyvith admired the most about him. They said that when he was born he too was deformed. They said that his face was completely white and his eyes were left a terrifying red color. But, despite the coloration of his scales, he became a great warrior and king.
"Zyvith! Come back!" His father's voice shocked him out of swimming.
"What?! Why?!" He said, searching under him for the maw of a giant sea monster.
"You went too far, that's why…" His father started laughing, slowly swimming toward his son.
"The water isn't so scary after all, huh?" Suko said.
As they made it back to dry land, Zyvith stopped by the giant fossil. The leviathan seemed less scary, it seemed well… dead.
Extinct.
22 A.M.K.
Viper wondered why the voice had been completely silent. Typically, it was like listening to a song. At first, it may have been nice to hear, maybe a little comforting to think that for one moment he wasn't alone. But, after a while, it became tiresome, it became a chore to listen. Eventually, it was unbearable, so horrible that he would've rather torn out his earholes than keep hearing the droll of the hellish tattoo.
As he entered into his temporary room, he looked into the mirror. He heard the voice… but it was different this time.
"I don't think you should do that," It had a red cloak, two purple eyes, and no other discernible features.
He disobeyed the voice, and when he saw himself. He had a black cloak, an indistinct face, two orange eyes, reptilian styled pauldrons, and chains restraining him like a wild animal.
He roared and punched the glass so hard, his hands started bleeding.
228 B.M.K.
Viper washed the red off of his claws. He wasn't wearing his ring at the moment, instead, his tail held it.
"We have a new addition to our… 'resources,'" Shang Tsung said. The man was of Earthrealm, although he acted like an Outworlder, especially when he was in the Flesh Pits.
"Well, what is it?"
"Or who," Viper finished in his head.
As he glanced at the stretcher, he could see the man was large, as tall as Viper himself. He was muscled and had a strange yellow sheen to his skin. He had tattoos on his body, the bulk of which was on the front of his chest. Viper knew the man. Even closer to the truth was… he hated him.
It was none other than Kotal.
"I am…" He paused, trying to find the right word. "Excited to experiment on him."
Shang Tsung had lived an unreasonably long life for an earthrealmer. With the recent victories at the tournaments, the man appeared young due to recent rejuvenations. But, in reality, most earthrealmers died at the age of fifty if they were lucky. Shang Tsung though… would soon be eight hundred.
Viper wasn't much listening to his 'labmate.' Instead, he was staring at Kotal. Already the thought of killing the insufferable man had crossed his mind. The saurian never was able to exactly place why he hated Kotal, although he suspected it had something to do with Jade. Not that she would commit any infidelities, one night she informed Viper that the osh-tekk had expressed interest in her, but she said she turned him down.
"We've… never had a specimen like him," Viper said.
"Specimen?" Viper asked himself in his head.
"I wonder how many different the physiology of the osh-tekk is," Shang Tsung stroked his beard, eager to experiment the man.
Kotal was unconscious and completely helpless to their every whim. Knowing this, the darkest thoughts Viper had had in a long while started to creep into his head. But as he slowly imagined everything he could do to Kotal, he could remember the eyes. The ones that the children of Drimiz had. For a moment the face of the murid appeared to him. It always bothered the saurian, the fact that when one was employed by Shao Kahn, finding out his target was a caretaker of children was such a normal occurrence.
Viper never much liked the Flesh Pits. Admittedly, he thought it would be nice to conduct experiments when he was first offered the station. But, when he found out it was mainly being used to kill people, he turned cold to the idea.
"Shang Tsung," Viper started.
"Yes, Viper?" The sorcerer said, marveling in what were probably the same possibilities the saurian had imagined not a minute earlier.
"Don't kill General Kotal," The saurian said, moving the ring onto his finger. He prepared to leave for the day, but Shang Tsung had to ask why. Before answering though, Viper gave another order.
"Don't experiment too lethally on him either, he may brag of his greatness but he's far inferior to what he boasts about."
"You've neglected to inform me why," The sorcerer seemed upset.
"He must want to kill that osh-tekk," Viper thought to himself.
"You have a lot to do, Shang Tsung. Due to his surprising fragility, Kotal will be good for lighter experiments," Viper pointed to the rest of the pits.
Shang Tsung grimaced, although as he looked back at the grotesque amount of disemboweled bodies that occupied the cavern, he begrudgingly agreed.
As Viper walked out of the pits, asking himself why he had spared Kotal. Every time he tried to answer he had trouble. He had no love for the man, and his first reaction was to kill.
But Zyvith didn't want to.
22 A.M.K.
They had moved into the Kuatan Jungle. Sitting in the tent, hands bound, she looked small.
It was funny. She was barely twenty-two.
Viper moved the thoughts from his head, almost like wrenching a bug off of his brain. It crawled across the wrinkles in a desperate attempt to stay attached. But, like every bug he had encountered, the saurian eventually managed to pick it off the cerebrum and crush it in his hands.
"Enough of your prattle. Finish me… that I may join my father," Mileena said, to her credit, she was taking her execution quite well.
"You do not deserve death by an emperor's hand," Kotal paused, seeming to enjoy the power he held over Mileena.
The others in the room were the earthrealmers, Takeda, Jacqui, Kung Jin, and Cassie. Barring Ferra & Torr, the rest of Kotal's court also joined them.
Viper waited for the Emperor to finish, but when he did the outcome was much different than he had thought.
"Take her away, give her a front seat as her empire slowly is rebuilt, and make sure she lives throughout all of it," Kotal said.
Mileena wailed in anger, she preferred death over dishonor. Understandable, considering her being raised an outworlder. As she did her best to struggle against the guards, even biting one on the finger, Cassie walked forward. She informed Kotal that they would be taking the amulet back to Earthrealm.
But, after a look that spoke of great physical pain, the Emperor trapped them in what seemed to be some sort of a telekinetic attack. After a few moments of recovery, he spoke.
"Earthrealm cannot be trusted to protect the amulet. It will remain with me."
Kung Jin tried to interject, speaking of the Reiko Accords, but Kotal told him that they no longer concerned him.
Instead, he said that their squad would prove useful when Raiden came for the amulet. The guards dragged the five of them away, but Viper wasn't ready to go to some prison cell without any resistance. When Kotal was busy admiring the amulet and the rest of his court had left, the saurian broke free of his bonds and charged right for the Emperor.
It seemed the osh-tekk was ready, as he grabbed the upper and lower part of Viper's jaw. The saurian forced his teeth into Kotal's fingers, and with such a strong bite force, he was able to cause some deep gashes, but the Emperor's hold was too strong to chomp off his digits. Viper pushed himself off of the Emperor, preparing to attack him at a different angle. But, as he planned, Kotal rammed into him, and while before he would've been able to recover, this time it knocked the wind right out of him.
The Emperor seemed much quicker on his feet than before, and threw a disc of fire at Viper, the saurian attempted to catch it. Unlike their earlier bout, however, he missed and it hit him square in the chest.
Quickly Kotal unsheathed his macuahuitl and swung it. Viper was able to stop it, once it was firmly in his grasp, he prepared to use his acid to melt it. But, when he tried to spit the vitriol, none came, when he tried to secrete it from his hands, none came. Once more, he pushed himself off of Kotal, this time slamming his tail into the Emperor's cheek.
Viper tried to use the fire, and while it did work, the blue fire barely did anything to the osh-tekk. Slowly, Kotal closed the gap and grabbed the saurian by the collar.
"You know, when it became common knowledge that you and Jade were joined, all I could think about was why she would want someone like you. You, Viper, are trash. Nothing but a waste of breath… look at you, you can't even defend yourself."
His words were familiar, but while they hurt in their own way, what was most painful was when he took the necklace, ripped it off of the chain, and threw the gem away.
"Even before I knew, she told me you were someone special. I hate to admit, but it made me jealous. Although, maybe she was a bad judge in character because there isn't anything special about you."
Kotal bashed Viper's nose in, and as the saurian fell, he could feel the beating on his chest. His mind filled with vivid memories of his mother's abuse, the time his sister hurt him… and most importantly…
The spring he spent with Her. That one perfect spring in Zaterra… the time when he finally knew what it meant.
1 A.M.K.
It would've looked a lot like Zaterra if the water wasn't well... blood. There were giant half-eaten carcasses further along the beach, like the leviathans that once lived in the seas of his homerealm.
"What's on your mind," Jade said, her head rested on his shoulder. He turned to her, her skin was grey and earthy. Her once green eyes were now a glowing orange, accompanied by a few pulsing veins of the same color.
"Nothing," He said, holding her a little closer to him.
"You mean your homerealm then?" Viper smiled and confirmed her suspicions. Right after doing so, he pressed a hand into her face, his thumb stroking her cheek.
"I already have a home," He said, his tone completely serious.
She followed suit, pressing her hands into his face and turning it towards her. Her fingers slowly ran through the grooves in his scales. She scratched a spot on his chin, and instinctually he bellowed in comfort. For a few moments, he was quite enjoying the gesture, but after a few seconds, he freed himself from the trance and playfully grabbed her. Once she was in his grasp he lifted her into the air and then fell with her onto the sand again.
He didn't much mind being a revenant when he was here with her. Looking at the giant red sun of the Netherrealm as it set over the sea.
A/N: Hiya! I hoped you enjoyed this, I have tons of fun writing, so hopefully, that translates into an equally fun experience for readers.
Sincerely, The Swampian