Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Kombat

Chapter 6: Liberation

Kitana was currently waiting on the edge of a snow-covered forest, bracing herself against the cold that even his new cloak could not completely protect her from. She and Kuai Liang had agreed to take turns on investigating the surroundings at every hour but as far as she can tell, neither couldn't find anything that can help them gain leads of the disappearances.

She was starting to wonder for how long was she supposed to be there enduring the harsh climate, waiting for her Lin Kuei comrade, but her thoughts were changed when she saw Kuai Liang just arriving with a look of disappointment on his face.

''Not a good sign, I can tell.'' thought the former Princess.

She watched him approach for one moment before saying anything, and even though the answer was a little obvious she still needed to ask of what happened. "How did it go?"

The Cryomancer gave a sigh before addressing his companion. " Same as usual, nothing much to trace at this time."

"I know. Even though we have to go back to Raiden at the moment, we can't simply leave these people behind" Kitana said solemnly..

The Cryomancer nodded and once again gave a sigh. "We have no witnesses or clues other than the fact that we know the problem has to come from this forest."

Now Kitana too shared his downed mood. She put both her hands on her waist as he thought on the situation. "That's not very much to go on at all. I suggest we take rest for a while, we'll continue when we're both ready."

Agreeing with him. "All right, I think that we should wait for a bit and try to think of something." The two then saw a downed log to which they prompt to sit on it while they rest.

They continued to wait in silence for a while, and Kuai Liang noticed the woman deep in thought, and looked a bit sad as well. "Are you all right?" asked the Cryomancer with a bit of reservation.

The woman didn't give any reaction at all, and for a second the Cryomancer wondered if she heard him, but before he could ask again she answered. "We have to help them. We can't fail." Kitana said with determination, but also somberly.

He could understand her. He was worried about the people living in the village too, but it was clear that the woman was especially concerned. It was good for him to see a more caring side of the former Princess that was onced masked by her own ruthlessness and obedience by Shao Kahn.

"Kuai", Kitana called, as he shifted her attention to her. "If I am to ask, after what Kano did to you, I could not help but think that you weren't yourself when you took him down but fortunately, you came back when we escaped the temple. From what he said, the dagger was cursed.", she said worriedly as Kuai Liang turned to see her concerned expression. "Did something happen when you attacked him?"

Kuai Liang thought for a moment before giving out a heavy sigh "Truthfully, I don't know what happened to me. I remember that I'm more powerful than I ever was, but it came with a price that nearly claimed my mind. I'm not even sure if I'm acting like human anymore at that point."

Kitana was downright shocked. Whatever the dagger was, it was no wonder that no one must have it. And if she is correct, the dagger's curse somehow possessed Kuai Liang, and that happened when she was pushed away by him from Kano and practically, it was partially her fault that his has happened to him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kuai Liang replied, "I don't want you to be worried, Kitana. I wanted it to keep it from you so you wouldn't do anyhing rash about it"

"But Kuai, this is serious, it all happened because of me!", Kitana exclaimed with a hint of regret. "What if something wrong happened to you?"

The Cryomancer sighed before placing a hand on her shoulder. "Kitana, do not worry about me. We can return to Lord Raiden once we accopmplish our task here. For now, we have to focus our efforts here and I'll do my best to fight whatever that is inside me."

Kitana only remained silent but was even more worried of what is to come to him, now that his mind is also fighting a dark side that is now inside him. "Anyways, we should go back and investigate. Perhaps we can get more results if we do this together.", Kuai Liang said as he saw his partner nodding in concern before they got up and resumed their search.

After a few minutes of walking on a snowy trail, Kitana noticed that there was something wrong. "Kuai, there's something different about here. Maybe we should-ufff." she couldn't finish his sentence as Kuai Liang rushed just barely past her and held her in place with an arm blocking her path, but her sudden run in with his appendage made him lose er breath. "What is it Kuai?" asked the former Princess to the Cryomancer.

He just gave her a look as he kept his position and continued to stop her from going further. "You should be more careful and not rush in. There could be traps around here. So that means that whatever it was must be around here. So it could have been a hostile or the place is all booby trapped."

"Righ, thank you, Kuai. I didn't think about that." Said Kitana with wide eyes at the realization and started looking around warily, suspecting anything in the environment that looked even slightly out place.

"Don't mention it." Answered Kuai Liang. "We just have to be careful and look around to see if we can find any traps." said the Cryomancer while glancing everywhere and joining the woman in his search for said traps.

''Some of these paths could be deadly but some are not. This way.'' He then proceeded to lead the way and Kitana followed close behind. They didn't take long to find what had caught Kuau Liang's attention in the first place.

In front of them, they could see a stone stairway that went to what appeared to be an underground facility. The entrance looked like a small shrine that was below ground level. The stone was a plain gray color and the dark entrance was just barely illuminated by a couple of candles. All-in-all the place gave off an eerie vibe that made the blue-clad ninja get goosebumps.

"This place is well defended by traps for it to be valuable" said Kitana with a side glance at the Cryomancer.

"Well put." Said Kuai Liang with unease. "Nevertheless, we have to check it out. It being secured and defendwd is just more of a reason to be suspicious about it. We have to see if this is what we are looking for." Then he started walking down the steps, carefully making sure to not step into any traps that may possibly still around.

As reluctant as Kitana was to enter the place, he knew that he could not go without first seeing if the missing people were there, so she also went down the steps.

Inside the building things weren't much better. The place was underground so that meant that even if it was daytime, the corridors were very dark and were just barely illuminated in thin light by rows of candles that were hanged on the walls. The place was devoid of any furniture or ornaments, the only things that one could see in the maze-like hallways were countless metal doors that one couldn't even tell what the difference between them was.

''How can anyone find their way in this place? There are only doors and I can barely see any light.'' Said Kitana in a whisper.

''Could be another form of defense, so you know, only people familiar enough with the place don't get lost.'' Suggested the Kuai Liang, also in a whisper.

''Could be. Wouldn't surprise me really'' Agreed the former Princess.

Then they suddenly came to a stop when they heard footsteps down the hall. They couldn't see the person since the candle light didn't reach far enough. But still they went to hide themselves around a corner and waited for the said stranger to pass but Kuai Liang's ears perked when he noticed that the steps were rather metallic.

And there was no lying, and looking a huge plague in front of him was a familiar symbol, the symbol that once led him to life of an assassin. It was the Lin Kuei.

Or rather it reformed state, the Cyber Lin Kuei. Without a second thought, Kuai Liang subdued the Cyborg by stabbing the joints of the arms and legs and pinned him on the wall.

Kitana was momentarily startled by the Cryomancer's sudden move, but she was still quick to act and brandished her fans and got herself in front of the man, ready to attack if he was hostile. Even if he didn't feel good in attacking someone that they didn't even know if it was an enemy they just couldn't take the chance to lower their guard.

''Re-calibrating...data retrieved. Sub-Zero LK-520.'' Said the Cyborg struggling to even utter words as the Cryomacer kept pinning him to keep him from moving. He just barely left him able to speak to interrogate him.

''If you cooperate with me I just might let you live considering you were once my comrade. Now, tell me what this place is.'' Demanded the Cryomancer, still keeping his grip strong.

''Interrogative. Order 31. Never reveal intellengence to the enemy.'' Replied the Cyborg as he was programmed to do so.

''Do not force me if you still have your humanity...'' Said Kuai Liang threateningly, ready to put more pressure on his neck but the Cyborg remained steadfast.

"By order of the grandmaster. We will not divulge the secrets of our order", the Cyborg said in an almost hypnotic voice and Kuai Liang only looked down in regret as he created an ice dagger.

"Forgive me, for what I have to do.", Kuai Liang said, slithing the throat of the Cyborg as its lights turned off, indicating that he had killed him. Kitana looked at Kuai Liang as she placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, seeing how he had killed his former comrade.

"I have no choice. It was better for him to die a freed man from Sektor's leash. Being a Cyborg is already a fate worse than death", Kuai Liang said as the two went to hide the body in a nearby room.

Even though Kuai Liang was still miffed about this entire ordeal, he still knew that they had to cover their tracks or this entire operation could crumble down, so the two kept going and stepped close to one of the many doors of the hallway. He carefully opened the door and scanned the inside of the room to see if anybody was in there. Thankfully no one was around so he motioned for the blue-clad Edenian to enter.

Kuai Liang and Kitana grabbed the corpse by the legs and dragged him into the room. Once inside, both teenagers looked around the room to see it filled with book stands and cabinets, and quickly stuffed the dead man into one of the large cabinets.

''That is done now...'' Said the Cryomacer now that he was free to explore the room. ''We should have quick look through some of this files, see if we can find any good informaion to why they decided to set up their operations here..''

Kitana nodded and the two looked over to its files. After a couple of minutes of going from archive to archive, they started to feel even more uneasy about this place as all they could find were documents regarding body modification and preparation of Cyberization. All of the stuff was way too complicated for Kitana to understand, but they at least got the gist of what they were about.

''These people are sick in the head. I could tell they're making Shang Tsung proud with their experimenting '' Murmured Kitana to her partner as she continued to read the papers.

''Shang Tsung at least has its limits but if comapared to Sektor, he has none when it comes to technology and Cyberization.'' Replied the Cryoamcer, also invested in the archives.

"I hate to say this but I'm feeling a little.. off with their research material. It's best if we continue our search around the area", Kitana said with a hint of disgust.

Kuai Liang couldn't agree more. He didn't enjoy looking through all of this anyway since it reminded him so much when he became a Cyborg, and besides, they still had a job to do. However, just before leaving he saw another door in a corner of the room, so he approached the new door to check it before leaving to continue their search.

Kitana noticed the Cryomacer's risen interest and couldn't help but follow suit. They found out that behind the door was an armory if the numerous weapons hanging from the walls were any indication. There were also numerous Cyber armors in display. Deciding to explore the area, the two proceeded to investigae the room.

They continued like this for a while until Kitana tried another door, but this time, this particular room caught his attention. She stopped dead in its tracks with the door ajar and looked behind her to call over the Cryomancer. ''Kuai! You have to see this.''

Said man looked curiously to the door the blond was opening, and a second later they both entered the new room. Now that both assassins had a good look at the inside of the room they were speechless at what they saw. Lined up on one of the walls were around thirty huge test tubes made of glass, and inside them were people. The people were missing their clothes and were submerged in some kind of green liquid. They were unconscious and were probably being kept alive by the strange green substance.

''What is this?!'' was the only thing that Kitana was able to say at the sight of the bizarre ensemble that reminded her of the Flesh Pits and Mileena.

''I told you, Sektor has no limits when it comes to Cyberization'' Said Kuai Liang just as stunned as the woman.

''I know but this is insane.'' Muttered the Edenian in disgust. Sub-Zero looked over at a drawing board and was astounded to what he saw. These people were to be experimented and augmented with the Data that contained not only Kuai Liang's record but also Bi-Han, Smoke, Cyrax and Sektor's battle data into their minds before they are to be Cyberized and fitted to the armors.

"You have entered a restricted section."

The two turned around to see a Cyborg who had a yellow model with green eyes analysing their movement.

"No." Kuai Liang snarled, his expression going dark and getting himself into a combat position, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"He looks familiar but who is he?" Kitana asked, following the former Lin Kuei's example and preparing herself to attack at the slightest sign of aggression.

"Cyrax, one of the people who opposed the Cyber Initiative but he himself was drugged and automated when he tried to leave the Lin Kuei." the Cryomancer said in anger but is directed at Sektor, who was responsible in automating their comrade, causing Kitana to stare in caution at the yellow Cyborg where she recalled that he was among those who had taken Sub-Zero to be automated just before he could kill Scorpion and later when Nightwolf fought him before Sindel attacked.

"...You are to return to the Lin Kuei temple for assimilation" Cyrax said, maintaining a emotionless expression." By the order of the Grandmaster, LK-9T9, Sektor."

At the mention of that name, Kuai Liang gave a glare of rage and his eyes turned red, clearly on the verge of the dagger's curse consuming him but luckily, a glance at Kitana calmed him down, not wishing for anything to happen to her because of him.

"We won't comply to your orders, what were you doing to the people here?", Kitana demanded as Cyrax remained impassive

Cyrax turned his attention to the woman. '"This is Lin Kuei business. We have been ordered to eliminate any intruders entering our zone" the Cyborg said.

"After the Outworld invasion, our forces had been decimated by Raiden's followers with majority of the members of the Cyber Initiative being killed in action. To grow our order once again, we resorted to this operation to ensure future candidates of Cyberization.", Cyrax said emotionlessly.

"You...!" the two blue-clad ninja said, suddenly outraged as they remembered Lan, her asking them to find her mother for her, even offering her piggy bank as a mission payment, and how utterly heartbroken she'd been when they wouldn't accept taking it from her, thinking they wouldn't help bring her mother back. Now they realized that Lan's mother had to be inside one of the test tanks, and it was pretty much confirmed by this point that the rest of the missing people had to be the same test subjects.

It was impossible to tell which of them was the more furious.

"Although I still hope that you are enslaved Cyrax, we will not allow this operation to continue. And as Lin Kuei, I promise to free you once I found the very chance I seek" he declared.

"You will come with me, or suffer the consequences. And we will cyberize both of you", Cyrax coldy declared as he released buzzsaw to intimidate them not before going in a fighting stance.

Kuai Liang, while still struggling to keep himself from beig angered to what they are planning to do to her as well, formed a Kori sword to fight while Kitana brandished her fans as well. "Kitana"

The woman scowled at him, not taking her eyes off Cyrax, "What?"

"Whoever takes him down gets to blow this sick place to oblivion after we rescue his victims and rig this base with explosives?"

Grinning darkly under her mask at that, the kunoichi drew her fans. "Agreed!"

AN:

Aaaand Cut! Wow, that took a lot but I won't lie it's been a long time since I updated. Leave a review if needed and I appreciate those who liked the fic! Spectre, signing off!