AN: Originally I had made a 1476 word draft of an alternate version of this chapter where Kitana and Skarlet meet, but I have scrapped it. This came after realizing that soon I'll need to get the fuck on with it and start the tournament already. So soon Kitana will learn the truth, meet Skarlet, and start the ship.

MILEENA

Although originally Mileena had been filled with regret as she stared at the glass shards on the floor, she soon became filled with uncharacteristic glee.

The girl had come to an epiphany as she broke her promise to her own father. Kitana was twisted, seeking to manipulate her father into loving her more. And for the longest time she had been succeeding. Not anymore. Kitana was brash, or Mileena had wished to think of her as such for her greater capacity for compassion, or giving into her more sensitive feeling. Kitana had to lose. And even though Mileena couldn't switch bodies with her, or change her own mouth to resemble her (despite the numerous attempts to file her teeth) Kitana could still lose.

Mileena knew how. She could find the truth.

Kitana's devotion to Shao Kahn was one through deciet and obligation. But Mileena was a superior daughter, and minion. She would not hesitate for ideas that Kitana would outright refuse.

It was no doubt she would betray Shao Kahn once learning of her weak mother's suicide. Mileena herself was a last resort, to replace Kitana if she were to find the truth. One thing Shao Kahn had never counted on was Mileena's own motivations.

And her greatest dream was to replace her at his side.

Full of glee, she raised her foot over the frame of the mirror, and slammed it downwards, breaking it into pieces in an instant. She then bent over, grabbing a large shard of the mirror, which remained reflective. Holding it so she could see her own face, she made one last statement as her Kitana costume.

"I need not to become you Kitana..." She breathes heavily, "With the knowledge of your poor mother, father will never want you again!"

The woman throws the piece of glass to the chiseled floor, shattering it even further.

Mileena had a difficult task. Father would not appreciate if she personally had just told Kitana, and Kitana may not be able to hold down a secret. As well, Mileena revealing to her the truth would lead to Kitana and her's relationship becoming close, and Kitana would then lead her sister into her own treacherous path against her father, which would only end in Patricide.

Ermac had been disassembled, as Shao Kahn had explained to her. So Mileena could not merely get him to explain the truth to Kitana. However, the flesh pits were a suitable option for her, for another reason.

There had been one person inside, who had known the truth. An Osh-Tekk prisoner who was once Jade's secret lover. And if the plan would fall through, the sorcerer would likely have his skull caved in. Just the revenge that Mileena had deserved to happen, for his disfigurement of her own face during creation.

After removing Kitana's clothing and removing the remains of her once pristine mirror, she was ready to venture forth into the flesh pits, to urge the Osh-Tekk to tell the truth.

Her work for her father was as an assassin, one thing which Shang Tsung could never be. And so her footsteps were light and silent.

The familiar stone floor, and the disgusting display of rows upon rows of vats, one of which had once housed her, came into her senses as she finished her descent down the wide stone staircase. The pungent smell of corpses rotting filled the air as Mileena made her way in the only direction she could. To the back of the various rows, and to a long hallway to the back of the room.

And in front of the hallway, blocking the entrance was a firmly secured door, with only a keyhole in the middle for space. Shang Tsung utilized the use of Skeleton keys throughout his island, both always and very recently to keep the champions out of certain places during their training on the island. But such a thing had no effect on Mileena.

Moving back her right arm, Mileena aims for the gaps between the bars and throws her sai through with little difficulty. She then teleports to the weapon embedded in the stone, and secures it back onto it's place on her hip.

Walking through the now free hallway, it appears to lead to two places. One is a stone chamber at the end, and the other is a cell along the path. The prisoner she is looking for is silent, with his eyes firmly shut, reminiscent of meditation.

Mileena coughs for a moment, and fabricates another voice she can use, one distinct from Kitana's, and lacking the edge her own does. She calls to the prisoner.

He has dark skin, covered in a particular pattern of ash from fragments of the concrete on the walls. He is clearly no outworlder, as his physique is much different, and his eyes and select parts of his torso glow.

"General Kotal."

Kotal's eyes open instantly. And he's clearly fraught with confusion.

"You are not Shang Tsung."

"No, I am not. My name is Kitsune." Mileena says, lying through her teeth, "I understand you had been imprisoned long ago for conspiring against the emperor."

He raises an eyebrow, but nods his head.

"Indeed I have."

Kotal's short responses were making this difficult, almost as difficult as Mileena's fury this man had been allowed to live had been.

"Then you may be able to listen to my plight, Kotal."

He looks to both ends of the hallway as much as he could from his resting position. "I am imprisoned. I cannot see what help I may be to you. You must leave now, before he returns."

"I have taken the necessary precautions to avoid my capture, so long as I do not stay too long." Mileena explains, "And I too, wish to c-conspire against Shao Kahn."

The end of the sentence nearly chokes her with the repulsion the idea brings to her. But this is necessary. Despite this being conspiring against her father, it would strengthen both him and his empire once Kitana had been eliminated.

Kotal remains silent, and ready to listen.

"Kitana must learn the truth. With the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament, Shao Kahns reign can only be disrupted with her support as a great warrior. And I cannot tell her, because I-"

"Cannot tell her yourself because Shao Kahn will kill you." Kotal states, deadpan.

Looking down to the floor, he nods once more. He seems to get it, and "Kitsune" smiles to herself underneath the mask that this is working. Kotal is filled with grief, and yet she is happy, enjoying one who has betrayed her father is suffering.

"I've lost Jade, my life, and my freedom. I agree to tell Kitana, should you be able to bring her here. Such a thing may be in tall order, however." Kotal's fists tighten. "Not even Shao Kahn comes into the flesh pits, and I suspect you had come here secretly."

"Such a thing can be arranged."

She leaves him afterwards, when he agrees to tell Kitana for her. Mileena retains her own disguise until Kotal is unable to see or hear her, and then transforms back into her normal self and celebrates.

The plan was going to work, all she must do now is to lure Kitana into defying her father's orders to stay away from the pits, and she would then learn the truth.

BI-HAN

"Tomas. What you are doing is foolish. Shao Kahn would not wish for us to interfere with his slaves."

Bi-Han had known of his colleagues disturbance with the arrangement that had been given to the Lin-Kuei. However, Tomas was in no way unique for his reservations against it. The Cyber Initiative had been made through the fear of the Grandmaster for survival in Outworld, and although kept secret, was the way in which the clan must live on. Bi-Han however, had no reason to tell Tomas, and actively refused to, since he would share the same issues Cyrax had.

Tomas was beginning to cause issues. His sympathy for Shao Kahn's subject, the one in the red mage garb, had led him to defy Shao Kahn, if in private.

In his hands, in their personal quarters bestowed by the Kahn, he had held a book, and Bi-Han knew exactly who had given it to him. And the abuse of the Lin-Kuei's portals which had been used to obtain it.

The book's cover had read [Polish-English Dictionary] with presumably the same text, written just as large in the Polish language underneath.

"You cannot expect me to do nothing." Tomas spat, "Outworlders, so be it, they serve him after all. But kidnapping Earthrealmer's and keeping them as slaves?"

Bi-Han gritted his teeth. "This will not free the girl."

"It is not for freedom, it is for comfort."

The two nonverbally communicated their willingness for conflict, and Bi-Han sighed. He did not wish to discipline Tomas in this way, but recent events had forced his hand. Such events that had him questioning whether or not he should participate in the tournament. Himself, Sektor, and Cyrax remained powerful warriors without him and Tomas possessed the unusual compassion Kuai-Liang had. It should have been a bad sign the two had spent so much time with one-another.

Kuai Liang had also assisted, but Bi-Han would have to wait until the Emperor had begun final preperations to return home after training, and Bi-Han could imagine himself throttling his brother for enabling Tomas in such a way, and for abusing the portals of the Lin-Kuei, which were only to be used on far targets for assassination.

"You defy the Lin-Kuei no longer Tomas. I shall return you home and dispose of that book."

Tomas emitted smoke from his body, and vaporized the book, storing it in smoke against his hip. "I agree to leave, only once I deliver this to the girl."

"I will not allow you to do so." Bi-Han states, getting into position. Aiming both of his hands at the ground, he widened his stance. "Stand down now, Tomas.

"No!"

Bi-Han put his hands together to conjure a blast of frost. Summoning the energy in both of his hands, he sent it towards his adversary at a high speed, attempting to freeze him. For a moment, Tomas became incased in ice, until the smoke started releasing.

The fumes had reached a high temperature in an instant, melting the ice just enough so Tomas could break his way out by shattering the ice with his movement. He then retaliated, sending a projectile of condensed air towards Bi-Han.

He was sent backwards onto the floor as the smoke swept up his feet, regaining his footing once he froze his feet to the floor. Clenching his fist, he jumped and slid toward Tomas on a conjured ice slope, and raised his fist in a sudden movement, uppercutting him hard.

Once in the air, Bi-Han froze his shape in ice and threw it at him, knocking him to the ground.

Tomas lunged back upwards and dissipated into the air.

"You know how this ends Tomas. I have sparred with you many times-"

Bi-Han was met with a powerful punch to his own chest, by Tomas propelling himself through the air.

Stumbling backwards, Bi-Han growls in rage, jumping towards Tomas and pulling him into his grasp. His hands turn blue as the power rushes into them, attempting to freeze him Solid to imprison him in ice. The two lock hands, and Tomas's arms begin to freeze, turning pale with the cold.

Putting all of his focus into his grasp, Bi-Han faces heavy resistance. Tomas is attempting to dissipate once again, and the heat of transferring his energy is his only way to break out of the ice. Their grasp becomes damp as the Smoke under pressure, becomes steam.

In an instant, Bi-Han loses his grasp as Tomas lowers himself from his hands. Rushing forward, he rams into Bi-Han's abdomen with a shoulder charge, and manifests a ball of Smoke in his hands, shoving it into Bi-Han's face.

As his vision begins to fade from the smoke ball entering his eyes, Bi-Han hears footsteps, and then a cold wind as Tomas escapes from his grasp.

Minutes later, Bi-Han recovers, and pursues Tomas along with Cyrax and Sektor to restrain him. All three watch him beyond a corner with the girl, but do not interrupt. As regrettable as his action is, stopping it now would only make things worse.

He's managed to reach the Earthrealmer slave, much to the chagrin of the Lin Kuei in his pursuit. He holds out the book in his hands in front of her.

The girl is alone, standing guard in front of a door, which likely leads to an area the Lin Kuei are forbidden from. Tomas is endangering them all by the second, and his interactions with her.

Tomas coughs, and says a sentence he's practiced for a short time, to make the girl understand what it is.

"Nie pozwól nikomu ci tego odebrać."

He emphasizes each part of his sentence clearly, to make sure she understands. The girl nods, indicating she does. Tomas hands off the book into her arms and leaves. Breathing heavily with each step, he goes back in the direction of the Lin Kuei's assigned quarters, appearing to be fulfilling his promise.

The Lin Kuei warriors appear in front of him once he's out of the slave's perception, and take fighting stances.

Sektor breaks the silence.

"You are going back to Earthrealm, Smoke."

AN: Shit's getting real. Also, Ermac isn't actually disassembled. No way Shang Tsung is doing that just because Shao Kahn orders him. Kitsune was Kitana's protoype name, and some of the Edenians Kotal has known of have had simple names relating to one concept. Jade, Rain, and fox wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Mileena to use.

Like I said before, Shao Kahn's neglect of Mileena is going to royally fuck him over like a self-fulfilling prophecy. And don't worry, Smoke isn't getting robotized like he does in OT. Cyrax still does though, poor him.

The sentence Smoke says at the end to Skarlet is roughly "Don't let anyone take it from you." in google translate crosschecked with something else. I don't know Polish so if I fucked up please let me know so I can rectify that.

I decided to make Smoke's win more of a "getting away" from Bi-Han since lore wise he wouldn't win a fight with him.

Next, Skarlet's gonna do some language learning, and Kitana may or may not have a chat with Kotal.