In Accordance
Chan and his group, calling themselves the Outworld Investigation Agency, or OIA, walked among the civilians deserting their homes and the platform to head for the safe haven. They've disguised themselves in green cloaks to better hide their identities, although they didn't look much different from the other civilians. Chan held his hands out signaling them to slow down among the crowd.
"The disguises are working as planned," Jacqui said. "No one seems to find them out of place."
"They could always just lean over and look at us," Jin responded as he did just that to Jacqui.
"Smartass."
"Not as smart as you, Jacqueline," he said. "Takeda, can you read anything from the crowd?" Jin asked.
"I'm not doing it constantly," Takeda responded.
"What?"
"Jin," Cassie whispered. "You really need to chill out."
"My bad," Jin responded. Chan snickered.
"I remember when I first met Johnny and Sonya. The amount of bickering between them."
"Ew, no." Cassie responded.
"They weren't even friends at that time Cass, calm down," he responded as the other snickered as well. "Its part of becoming a team. Knowing how each of you react to one another is important for determining how to effectively work well with one another. Give it some time."
"Will we have time?" Cassie questioned.
"Of course we will," Jacqui responded.
"Its all we can hope for," Jin added. "It's why…" Jin stops as he hears a commotion. They looked back along with a few other guards and civilians around them. Four men were running in their direction. Above the four men was an old, sickly man lying atop of a mattress. The guard motioned for the citizens to continue moving while two of them stood in the way of the four men. Chan and company did as instructed, moving on with the others.
"We need help," one of the men said. One of the guards leaned over and grabbed something from the ground. One of the men had a frightened look on his face as the guard arose.
"What is this?" the guard asked.
"It's just a fork," one of the other men said.
"Is there a reason your friend was carrying this to the safe zone?"
"He probably kept it when he passed out. I promise we didn't know."
"Seriously?" Cassie whispered. Jin stopped and turned to the guards. Chan turns around to check on the teens, only to see Jin far behind.
"Jin, not now," he says.
"If we leave the people to die they'll never rally behind us," Jin responded. Chan sighed as he looked to the others.
"I'll walk slower to keep an eye on the situation. You guys can go ahead," Takeda said.
"We stick together," Cassie said.
"But—"
"We stick…together!" she whispered harshly. "Is that clear?"
"No man left behind," Jacqui commented. The three of them turned back toward Jin. Chan shakes his head and follows behind them. He notices that Jin caught the guards' attention, as well as the attention of others in the area.
"The man is sick! Do your jobs and help them get him to safety!" Jin shouted.
"We've told you already: lower your tone!" one of the Guards yelled. "Your outburst is making people feel uneasy."
"You're making people feel scared," Jin responded. "A fork is not dangerous enough to kill someone."
"The fork is rusted. It only takes one puncture before the citizens experience an outbreak. Such a tactic isn't out of the realm of possibility for the Chaos Realm," he explained.
"If he wanted to do such a tactic, why would he be in a bed carried by four others?"
"He could be victim number one," the guardsman retorted almost immediately. "Now leave or be imprisoned along with them."
"Prison?" Jin questioned.
"This is your last warning. Just go to the safe haven," the other Guard said, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. Jin quickly brandishes his chakrams and slashes the ankles of the guards. As they fall to the ground, he stares at the five Seidan civilians. They nod in acknowledgment before rushing off toward the safe haven. Other soldiers notice and come towards the man.
"Those aren't civilians!" one of the Guards yelled as he brandished a broad sword. It was an unusual weapon of choice seeing as the signature weapons of the seidan guard are naginatas and pikes. The Guardsman swipes at the boy, but he is immediately countered by Takeda before the boy gashed the man's neck. He uses his blade to finish off the two soldiers Jin had already taken down.
Jacqui raises her right arm pumping numerous bullets into the exposed areas of the guards' armor. Cassie proceeds to do the same with her pistol, though she was able to enhance the bullets with her own powers to penetrate their armor. The guards very quickly realized how far out of their league they were compared to the OIA. This realization was one they found out too late as the last of their men continued to drop. With one last swipe, Takeda took down the last guard. The boy flicks his blade towards the ground before lowering his arms completely. Jacqui leaned back with her hand resting along her waist. Cassie reloads her guns before putting it away while Jin places his chakrams into his pouch. Chan relaxed himself as he looked around at the fallen Seidan warriors.
"Huh," Chan muttered.
"Well…" Takeda started.
"Was that it?" Cassie asked. Small groups of Seidan Guardsmen approached the area from many different sides. It was as if they expected them to be in the area as Chan could tell it was a coordinated arrival. Even the timing was too perfect, but possibly coincidental. The difference with them, however, is the banners held by one of their guards and the lighter blue colors along their armor. The word Justice was written on the banners.
"You had to ask," Jacqui groaned before raising her arm toward the group in front of her.
"This is a different group from the last," Chan said. "There's four of them coming from each side."
"I count twenty-four altogether," Jacqui added.
"Five for each of you, four for me?" Jin asked.
"I can handle twenty of them myself," Takeda responded cockily.
"As if," Cassie said. Cassie runs toward the group in front of her, firing off shots from her gun. The bullets deflected off their armor as they pushed forward. Jacqui switches her wrist band to a missile targeting system aiming toward the group in front of her. Suddenly, one of the guards appeared beside her without warning before spearing the barrel of her wrist band. The destruction burns her arm, forcing her to pull the band from her arm.
"Jacqui!" Takeda rushed to her aid with his weapon readied. He focus his chi around his sword and prepared to strike the man. However, he faintly sensed another preparing to stab her from behind and swung his sword toward that man instead. The blade touched the armor but did nothing as Takeda's chi was not present on the blade. However, it was enough to distract the guard long enough for Jacqui to move away. Takeda tries attacking again, but is kicked into Cassie Cage.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she landed on her back with him atop of her.
"Why are you behind me?" Takeda asked. Cassie used the peak of her strength to push Takeda off of her. She quickly lifts herself off the ground before ducking immediately as one of Jin's arrows zipped over her head. The arrow narrowly missed the guard as it penetrated the building behind.
"And now you?!" Cassie shouted.
"Guys, focus!" Chan shouted as he twirled his wrist. He creates a small flare in his hand before firing it toward the guards behind him. One of the Guards stepped forward with a round shield to guard against it. The flare is seen being absorbed into the shield, with the guard's armor glowing yellow. He winds back, turning his attention to Jacqui before swinging his arm forward, sending a wave of light towards her. A portal beside her opens and she's dragged through. Three others appeared beside the other OIA members before they're pulled in as well.
On the other side of the portal was Chan, who quickly closed the portals shut. They found themselves in a near by house they'd passed earlier. Chan looks out the window, seeing the guards coming their way. They were investigating each of the houses one by one both inside and out.
"They're defense." Chan muttered. "Its like—"
"They were planning to invade Earthrealm too," Jacqui responded. She reminisced on the prominence of the men attacking her, wondering why she was their primary target. It would make sense if they knew her father, but he's not a leader of Earthrealm. So why?
"Good luck to them," Cassie responded, "our parents wouldn't stand for it."
"Enough about them," Chan said. "What's going on with you guys? How are you stumbling like this?"
"I would've had them if Cassie stayed out the way." said Kung Jin.
"I'm in the way?" she exclaimed before pointing to Takeda. "Mr. Big Shot here thinks because he hurt the strong and mighty Shao Kahn, that he's invincible. I'm the only one keeping him alive on this team."
"I didn't ask you to!" Takeda snapped.
"And I am protecting Takeda! You should be working with Jin." Jacqui added.
"You know my powers work best with Takeda and Jin's is better with yours." Cassie explained. "We've been through this for two years now!"
"Chan's our leader today, not you," Jacqui responded.
"Is working with me really that bad?" Jin questioned, seemingly annoyed.
"You aren't as pleasant as you think," Takeda joked. Jin frowned at Takeda.
"This is no time to argue!" Chan exclaimed. "Jacqui you know the drill, we don't make exceptions just because you're scared. We all are!" He looks at Takeda. "Slow down, Takeda. One missed swing can become your final. We've seen that all too well." Chan looks to Kung Jin. "The enemy won't wait for you to release your arrows. You can't be afraid to fight up close. I know you can fight." He looks at Cassie. "Regardless of Jacqui's statement, this is your team. If you fall, they fall. You have to trust in them as much as you want them to trust in you."
"I do, it's just…" Cassie remained silent as did the others. Chan sighed. He peaked around the building, seeing the soldiers still waiting them out while others go door to door looking for them.
"I hate doing this so early," Chan muttered to himself. He looked at the four of them and smiled. I wasn't suppose to tell you this yet, but what you four are wearing...they're MOKAP suits."
"Stop pulling our leg," Jin complained. "We're not blind."
"We knew you wouldn't notice as long as the reflective balls aren't on them," Chan explained.
"We?" Cassie questioned.
"Johnny, Sonya, Jax, and I," Chan responded.
"When?" Cassie asked.
"The other side," Takeda said. "You've been through this before. Right?"
"Your powers are a gift." Chan said. "You've learned them with the suits and now you have them without it. The only ones restraining those powers are yourselves."
"So that's why they had us fighting against them," Cassie said staring at her gloves. "Huh, what do ya know?"
"If you all hope to live, you'll have to face your foes without exception." He nods toward each of them. "Cassie. Jacqui. Jin. Takeda. Remember your training. Focus your chi. And most importantly, don't die!" The four of them nod and move around Chan as they head into battle. Jacqui was behind the rest of them before stopping in front of Chan. As they were away from talking distance, Jacqui looked at Chan and smiled.
"Space Jam. Really?" she questioned. Chan tilted his head.
"Space...Jam?"
"Wow, you really need to catch up on those fifteen years," she responded before trailing off behind her teammates. Chan shook his head and followed suit as they engaged with the Justice Brigade.
End of Chapter 12
I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. However, I must express some bad news for those hoping I'll finish this arc before the year ends. As many of you might have seen the authors note of an earlier chapter, I stated that I would be taking a longer break between the end of this arc and the beginning of the next arc. This was at a time when I planned the final chapter of the arc to be done by November 24th provided I consistently released one chapter every thursday not including a 2-week break in August. As we can see, that did not go as planned due to constant changes in my irl work scheduling and technical issues involving the site itself. And because of this, the arc will NOT be finished before 2023. I chose late November to early January as my extended break for 3 reason: Retail during a holiday season, Family time during a holiday season, and birthdays. This time of year is going to be far too hectic for me to properly release chapters in a timely manner. Therefore, the last chapter that will be released this year is Chapter 14 as it will serve as the proper midway cutoff point in this arc. With that being said, thank you all for your continuous support.
(Upcoming—The Chosen One)