Chapter Ten - The Destruction

The souls seemed to fly by in high speed, but they weren't too fast for Kenshi to catch their exact direction. Kenshi kept following the terrified souls and stopped for nothing with the exception of basic needs.

It had been three weeks since he started following the souls. He was not sure exactly where these souls were heading, but he was pretty sure that Shang Tsung himself was somehow forcing them towards him so that he could consume them and keep them for himself to maintain his own youth.

Hopefully, the swordsman was right.

At the same time, he searched for the missing Special Forces Agent, Cyrax. Back on Earth, Jax had not received any word from Cyrax. He and Kenshi had kept in contact throughout the last couple of weeks, Earth time.

In that moment, he heard a new communication from his arm panel. "How's it going out there?" Jax asked him.

Kenshi could hear Jax voice on his arm panel and brought his left arm up to speak into it. "It's pretty quiet around here at the moment, except for these souls I'm following."

"Quiet?" Jax sighed. "That's what Cyrax said before we lost contact with him. You say that you're following souls?"

"Yeah," Kenshi replied. "It's like they're being attracted to something, like a moth to a flame."

"Maybe this is finally our lead to what may be going on out there," Jax concluded. "Keep your senses as sharp as possible."

"That won't be a problem," Kenshi answered.

"Any clues on Cyrax yet?"

"Not yet. I haven't noticed anything about why he went missing as of now."

"It's possible that the two of you may have taken different paths. After all, Outworld is one huge place."

"You can say that again." It was then that Kenshi sighed a bit. "Jax?"

"Yeah?"

"How's Alex?"

"She's doing better," Jax replied. "The first time you left, she was pretty down, but she's improving. I think as long as you're all right, she'll be all right. I'm sorry that you haven't been able to speak to her all that much. It's just that the General only wants me to keep in contact with you. I wish I could connect you to her now, but I could lose my job."

"It's all right," Kenshi sighed with disappointment. "As long as you tell me that's she is okay, it at least makes me feel better."

"True," Jax agreed. "Well, I'll be signing off now. I'm going to work out for a little bit and then get some paperwork done. I'll get in contact with you as soon as I'm done. Jax out."

"Later." Kenshi brought his arm back to his side. Then, for the first time in hours, he stopped in his tracks. He began to sense something disturbing other than the souls. He used his senses to figure out what it was. After a while, he sighed to himself.

'This is probably how the environment is,' Kenshi thought. Then, he began walking forward again.

After a whole hour of working out, Jax stretched his arms out. He got up and walked towards the benches where his towel and water bottle were. He whipped the sweat off of his face, and then took a sip out of his water bottle.

'Nothing's better than an hour of working out,' Jax thought with a small smirk.

After a quick shower, Jax got dressed in blue jeans, black boots, a white T- shirt, and of course his cybernetic arms. Although he had a load of paperwork to do, Jax decided to take a few minutes off to get some fresh air. He walked outside and sat on a bench. Since it was near dinnertime, most of the jets began to land back in after a whole day of flying.

'It's been a while since I flew,' Jax thought. 'Maybe I should get back into it as soon as this investigation's over.'

It was then that both Kenshi and Alex came to his mind. He smirked to himself thinking about the couple who were only together for a week before Kenshi left for Outworld.

'They sure have something special between them,' Jax thought. He knew even before they hooked up that the both of them had strong feelings for one another, but neither of them realized it. Before Kenshi left, he remembered the swordsman's words...

It was three hours before Kenshi would leave for Outworld. Jax was helping him pack up the things the swordsman would need for his mission.

"Here's a flashlight," Jax said.

"Jax," Kenshi replied with a small smile. "I think you and I both know that I won't need that."

"Oh, right! Sorry about that, I forget that you're blind sometimes."

"It's all right. With my strong senses, it doesn't seem like I'm blind at all."

"True," Jax agreed. "Hey Kenshi."

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

"Thanks," Kenshi answered. "Hopefully this will be over before we know it."

"Same here. I'm getting sick of those Outworld bastards," Jax laughed.

Kenshi laughed a little bit too, but them the smile disappeared. Even with his blindfold covering half of his face, Jax knew that Kenshi's face was a serious one.

"Jax, you could promise me something?" Kenshi asked.

"Sure," Jax said.

Kenshi sighed. "Could you promise to make sure Alex is all right while I'm one?"

Jax patted the swordsman's shoulder. "That's a promise I can keep. You can count on me, man."

"Thanks," Kenshi replied with a small smirk.

Jax smirked to himself. It was a promise that he still has kept. After all, Alex was still well and alive.

The Special Forces major got up from the bench. He was about to go back into the main building when he looked over at the door, which lead to the Outerworld Investigation Agency's portal. He noticed a figure entering the room and going down the stars.

'What the...' Jax thought. He began running towards the door, which was about a half a mile from where he was from. After a three minute run, he made his way to the door.

He quickly opened it and jogged down the stairs. He could hear that the machine was somehow operating the portal. Jax raised an eyebrow.

Only he and Sonya knew how to turn on the portal.

"Who's down here?!" Jax demanded as he made his way to the bottom of the steps. It was then that he noticed Hsu Hao's face just a split second before the blue swirls engulfed him.

"HEY!" Jax yelled out, but it was too late. The swirls disappeared along with Hsu Hao.

"Damn!" Jax growled. He walked over to the operators when he suddenly noticed a small item on top of the machine which read off, '00:00:08.'

'Shit!' Jax cried in his mind. 'It's a bomb!'

He had eight seconds before the small bomb would explode. The bomb was a type that was only enough to destroy just the building itself and a few feet around it.

Not having enough time to operate the portal and go after Hsu Hao, Jax did the only thing he could. He quickly turned towards the stairs and began running with all he had out of the building.

Alex sat at her desk in her room and starred out the window. She was feeling a heavy anxiety on her shoulders, but for once, it had nothing to do with Kenshi being gone… or… in a way it did.

It was then that someone knocked on the door. "Alex?"

"Come in," Alex replied as she recognized Sonya's voice. The blond agent walked in slowly, closing the door behind her. She sat on Alex's desk.

"Is everything all right?" Sonya asked with concern. "You did get the report from Jax this afternoon that Kenshi's still all right."

"I did," Alex answered. She took a deep breath a shiver went up her spine. "It's not the only thing that's bothering me at the moment either."

"What are you talking about?" Sonya asked. She knew that the only thing that would be bothering the younger agent was the bad feeling of losing the man she developed feelings for.

"Please tell me Alex," Sonya said again after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

Alex slowly stood up from her chair. She took another deep breath before she looked straight into Sonya's eyes. "I went to the doctor a couple of days ago. That hangover I had last week lasted longer than I thought."

Sonya frowned. "I hadn't realized. No wonder you took a few days leave."

She then noticed the tears brimming in Alex's eyes, but the younger woman refused to shed them. "Well, that leave is going to be a lot longer now. I've already talked to General White. I'll still be able to work within the base, but I won't be going on missions any time soon."

Sonya gasped, not liking what she was hearing. She began to dread the reason for Alex's extended leave. "Why?"

Alex seemed hesitant for a moment, but she eventually took a deep breath and just spit her words out. "Sonya, I'm pregnant."

A mix of both shock and relief came over Sonya as she got up from the desk. "W-What?"

Just before either woman could say anything, a loud explosion was suddenly heard from outside.

"Shit!" Sonya cried out. She took her gun out and began running out of the room with Alex trailing behind with her own gun out. Many of the agents began running out of their rooms and ran outside. A large fire was burning one of the buildings.

"Oh my God!" Sonya said. "That's the OIA building!"

"Jax!" Alex cried out. She noticed the tall agent wobbling away from the rubble, his shirt and pants patched with burned holes. Both female agents sprinted towards him. Just before his collapsed, Sonya caught Jax in her arms.

"Hang on big fella," Sonya said. She looked at him and saw only a few minor burns on the agent.

"It was that bastard Hsu Hao!" Jax yelled in between his coughing fit. "He blew up our only portal access! I told you there was something up with him!"

"Don't talk," Sonya suggested. "Let's get you some medical attention and then we'll talk about this."

Alex found herself staring at the burning building in front of her. With a hand over her stomach, fear, anger, and sadness filled her heart and unshed tears filled her eyes. The OIA's building, which held Earth's only portal, was destroyed…a nd it meant the one thing that Alex feared most.

Kenshi was lost in Outworld.