Bondage
by Nyohah
4
Wind and Acrobatics
Second Day of Mortal Kombat
Eleven fighters and one sorcerer gathered in the arena. Shao Kahn sat on his throne. Lieutenant Sonya Blade and Kano were chained on either side of the fighting area. Many outworlders had begun to populate the stadium.
"Winners," said Shang Tsung, "I congratulate you on your victories yesterday. Of course, there were also some losers. Scorpion, Reptile, Kitana, Rayden, and Jax all have one strike against them. Kitana, however, will get to sit out today. Why? Because she's the princess." A ripple of shock went through the Earth's defenders. "And, still talking about Kitana, Kung Lao managed to beat her yesterday. But can he beat her twin? Mileena, Kung Lao, get ready. The rest of you, be prepared. Duel of the Winds!"
The two fighters headed to the arena to prepare for their fight. Mileena swung her right leg up in front of her, then the left, stretching them out. Kung Lao practiced a few punches, then adjusted his hat and adopted his fighting stance, fists making circles on either side of his waist, bending his knees and rocking ever so slightly on the balls of his feet. Mileena pulled one fist behind her head, her forearm perpendicular to the ground while her wrist made a ninety-degree angle from that, and the other guarded her stomach. Her rocking was more pronounced, less bouncy, as she shifted her weight almost completely from one leg to the other.
"FIGHT!" yelled Kahn, his voice reverberating throughout the arena.
At his announcement, Mileena flipped forward and aimed a jumping kick at Kung Lao's forehead. He quickly spun, creating waves of energy that repelled her kick, knocking her back a few feet. She did a quick kippup, and stopped Kung Lao's advance with a swift, high, stepping sidekick. He stumbled back a few feet, dazed, and ducked just in time to miss her sais hurtling through the air toward his shoulders. He teleported to the other side of the arena, behind her, and threw his hat. At that moment, however, he saw that her sais were back in her boots, and realized what that meant. She shared skills with him beyond being a wind elemental. He almost had enough time to block before her heel landed on his forehead, just above the brim of his hat, knocking him to the ground. Almost.
His hat had likewise rematerialized on his head before he got to his feet, only to be knocked back down by a low, backwards sweep. This time, he hit her with a rising uppercut as he stood. She let out a scream of surprise and rage as she landed a few feet away on her back. Kung Lao ran toward her, planning to sweep her before she could stand, as she'd done to him, but she was up too quickly and instead grabbed his waist and leaned way over backward, smashing his head into the ground and easily standing back up.
The world was spinning as Kung Lao stood back up. Mileena was already there, raising her right knee as she pivoted on the ball of her left foot, and snapped out her right foot, forming a bruise on his cheek. She followed through with the rotation and pushed the heel of her left foot into his teeth, causing him to almost choke on one. Then she ducked and imitated his uppercut, sending him flying back a few feet.
Instinct, rather than thought, allowed Kung Lao to perform the jumping front kick that stopped Mileena's second jump kick. She turned her fall into a backward somersault and swung her right leg in a low arc, knocking Lao down just as he began his throw. She jammed her fingers into his throat like a spear rather than let him recover, and as he bent over gasping for air, she hit him just below the neck with an axe kick. Kung Lao dropped like a rock.
Mileena once again pulled out her sais, this time twirling them around twice before crossing them over her head in a victory stance, and the audience roared.
"Mileena wins," announced Kahn.
Liu Kang and Rayden revived Kung Lao after his fight. Sub-Zero and Baraka were preparing for their fight when he awoke.
"Did you see that, man?" Johnny Cage asked him. "She fell through the floor and just appeared above you like she was in a jump kick!"
"I didn't actually see it," he replied, "but I did know what happened, thank you very much." He pushed Cage out of the way and started to walk back to his room.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Cage. The others looked at him like he was insane.
"Maybe you missed it," said Jax, "but he just got his butt kicked!"
"Kung Lao, stop," said Kitana. She had followed him a few paces into the hallway, a bit away from the others. He turned around and studied her. She was a bit bigger than her twin was, and compassion much more evident in her dark eyes.
"What is it?" he said at last.
"Mileena can make even the most accomplished of fighters look like amateurs. In fact, I have never seen a match where her opponent even looked to be close to her skill. The simple fact that you actually managed to hit her says a lot for your skill. I barely even accomplished that much, last time we fought. A match between her and Liu Kang is not one I would like to bet on."
"Really? She's that good?"
"Didn't you watch her fight Rayden? She's the fastest thing I've ever seen! Quick little darting motions, yet with as much power as anyone could need. The roundhouse, spinning side kick she did to you, it was like a blur. Don't worry about it. You're very good. There's just no competing with her in the terms of speed."
"Are you really the princess of Outworld?"
"No," she said solemnly. "I'm the princess of Edenia. But Shao Kahn murdered my father, took my mother as his queen, and merged Edenia with the other realms he'd already taken. And my mother has since died. I hate Shao Kahn. I'll do anything I can to help you without blowing my cover, as you say on your world."
Baraka fell to the ground and didn't get up.
"Sub-Zero wins," announced Kahn, as the victor raised his right fist in the air. Blood was running down his upraised arm from a rather severe cut induced by long metallic blades.
Slaves ran into the armory to drag away the mutant's unconscious body as Sub-Zero exited the room, and headed back to the main arena, to get some bandages.
Mileena saw him exit, awake, and had the results of the day's last fight determined, so she returned to her room. Just as she was about to start writing, there was a light knock on the door.
"Mistress Mileena?"
"What is it?" The door opened, and in walked two slave girls, carrying a white dress.
"The Master wants you to try this on. For your wedding."
Mileena sighed. Her wedding was not what she had wanted to be reminded of. The dress fit fine, though she hated how she looked in it, hated the prospect of her husband. She dismissed the girls, depressed, and exited her suite shortly thereafter.
She wandered into the public training room. Kung Lao and Liu Kang were already there, practicing their Shaolin styles, and Sub-Zero was doing what looked like forms. Lao waved and smiled, cheering her up ever so slightly. She found an open area, facing away from the door, and began to practice some contortionism. She started by raising her right leg up to her side, without leaning over. Then she swung it behind, and held her big toe to the back of her head for several seconds. Continuing, she went through this exercise with the other leg, then started to lean over backwards. Halfway down, she looked into the doorway and noticed Jax and Johnny Cage, standing there, a look of disbelief on their faces.
Mileena smiled under her mask and got an idea. She slipped it off, and dropped it to the ground. Then, she continued to bend over backwards, grabbed her ankles, and pushed down further, picking up her mask with her teeth.
She straightened herself back up, and saw Sub-Zero had stopped to watch her. As he saw her face, a look of shock registered on his. Contemplating how odd that was, she spun one hundred and eighty degrees, waving her mask like a flag.
"How is that humanly possible?" asked Jax.
Mileena shook her head, and looked down to the ground, disappointed. "Americans," she sighed. Sub-Zero had walked up beside her, and he whispered something quietly in Mandarin. "Of course!" she replied, smiling.
She hopped up, placing her left hand on Sub-Zero's head, and her right on his upraised left hand. Spreading her legs apart into full splits, she tilted her hips so her legs pointed as a forty-five-degree angle to the ground. When she got her balance, Subby let go, so she was balanced on one hand.
"That's insane," murmured Cage.
"I hear ya," agreed Jax. They left the room, leaving Mileena laughing as she lost her balance and dropped to the ground.
Mileena lay on her bed, writing about the day's events in her letter. Without any warning, Jade dropped down from a hole that had suddenly appeared in the ceiling.
Mileena jumped up and the two women faced each other, neither daring to move. Jade finally broke the silence.
"I know what you did."
"So what did I do," said Mileena evenly, not wanting to give anything away.
"You betrayed your Master, and if they knew what you did, they would kill you on the spot. I won't turn you in, though, because Kitana wouldn't want that."
"Why should you care what Kitana wants?"
Jade didn't acknowledge her question. "You must promise me one thing, or I will turn you in, no matter what Kitana thinks. You mustn't kill an earth warrior, for all of our sakes. More specifically, you mustn't kill anyone with good intentions."
"Don't kill anyone with good intentions, got it. Who has good intentions?"
"From what I've heard, everyone except for Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Baraka, and Reptile."
"Admitting that your masters are evil, isn't that a little risky?"
"I'm being serious Mileena. Shang Tsung is creating a clone of you. It's almost done. And if that isn't enough to convince you of his evilness, she does not have your mouth. She has a mutant's mouth, like Baraka."
"Oh, really," said Mileena, skeptically. "But believe me, I do not need to be convinced of Tsung's wickedness. That, I already knew, I assure you. And just how do you know these things? Do the walls have ears?"
"No, but they do have secret passages." With that, Jade left, fading out of visibility, as she climbed back through the hole in the ceiling.