Final Confrontation

by Jcarlton

Stories that start before the first MK movie and then pick up after it ended. The world holds surprises for the kombatants once they return from Shang Tsung's island, and some adversaries refuse to stay dead. Note that MK Annihilation never happened.

3. Final Confrontation 3

She stood in the middle of two parallel bars that were about as high as her waistline. Five feet away from her, at one end of the two bars, Scott held one bar in each hand as he faced at her knowing that he was facing a challenge. Although his bare feet were touching the floor, he didn't have any of his weight concentrated on them. Instead, his entire body was being held up by his two wrists. While facing him, Sonya extended both her hands at arm's length in front of her shoulders.

"Come on, Scott", Sonya urged him, "Just one step... That's all you need... Take my hand. Come on. Take my hand".

Scott was breathing hard as he desperately tried to gain some balance on his feet while his hands were still wrapped hard around the two bars.

"You did it two days ago", she kept on encouraging him, "You can do it! Take my hand, Scott... Take my hand... Come on, partner. You can do it... Take my hand. All you need is one step. Take my hand".

Scott had heard enough motivation and believed he could do it. He carefully put his right foot ahead of the rest of his body as he kept staring at her. While he transferred some of his weight from the wrists to the right foot, his lower body went limp. Scott screamed as he felt himself falling on the floor. As soon as Sonya saw him losing his balance, she lunged forward and grabbed him by both upper arms while his body was still mostly upright. By still holding on to his upper arms, she then gently eased him towards the floor. After Sonya had him seated on the floor, she sat down facing him.

"It's OK", she tried to reassure him, "We'll try again".

Despite her consolation, Scott was extremely angry, with himself more than anyone else. He punched the wooden floor with the right fist.

"Goddamn!!", he yelled, "I did it before!! Why can't I do it again?? Come on, goddamnit!! I should be able to do it!!".

"That's right, you did do it before", Sonya went on, "So that means you can do it again. We're not gonna give up. This is just a small setback... Right?".

Scott didn't feel nearly as optimistic as her.

"What the hell am I doing, huh?", he asked her, feeling exhausted, "What the hell makes me think I'm gonna be on my feet again? The doctors said I'd never walk again. I'm just supposed to defy what they said?".

Sonya couldn't afford to let him give up.

"Fuck the doctors!", she snapped at him, "They don't know anything about you! They're just putting a bunch of words together so people will think they're earning their paycheck!".

"What the hell am I still doing here in your place?", Scott still wanted to yield to his condition, "I should've left here and gone to some physical therapy place after my two weeks were up. What the hell are you doing sticking to me like a wet T-shirt?".

He knew he wouldn't be allowed to accept his condition as long as Sonya was around. He wanted to walk, but the physical strain was simply overwhelming him. The idea of spending the rest of his life being considered a 'physically challenged' person increasingly appealed to him as time went by.

"You will walk again", Sonya kept pressuring, "I told you that you would and you will. We're not giving up. I'm not letting you give up".

She pointed her index finger at his face as she made her last comment and added to his frustration without realizing it.

"That's easy for you to say!!!", Scott's anger turned to her, "Half your body isn't dead!!! Why don't you just let it go???!!! I should've just gotten out of here when I got out of the hospital!!!".

Sonya had her eyes locked with his. She knew he wasn't angry at her in particular since he had been under a tremendous amount of stress. Scott couldn't stand the eye contact after a few seconds and partially turned his head to the lower left so he wouldn't have to see her eyes steadily drilling into his.

"Look", Sonya sighed as she stood back up and looked down at him, "I'm the one who dragged you to the encounter with the militants, so that makes me responsible for what happened. I told you I'd help you walk... You can already take a few steps with the help of a walker, that's also something the genius doctors said you'd never do. When you're back on your feet without a walker, you can leave and then I'll get out of your life for good, OK?".

Her response calmed Scott down to the point where he realized that snapping at her was not going to make him feel better. He sighed and kept breathing hard to regain his breath as she stood in front of him. She didn't expect him to apologize or even answer, she only wanted him not to give up now. He finally looked up at her after about a minute.

"I don't want you to leave", he quietly said, "I don't know what I would do if you did".

"Good", Sonya smiled, "Because I don't want to leave you".

She saw the first smile on Scott's face since she had brought him to her home from the hospital. She helped him up to his feet and towards the walker soon afterwards because he didn't seem to be in the mood for any more physical challenges.

"I'm gonna go out for a little while", she told him as she strapped her wristwatch on.

"Where to?", Scott was curious.

"I have to find a job sooner or later", she notified him, "I can't just let my dad pay for the bills around here. I hope you understand, I won't be gone long. Sooner or later I have to run into an available spot".

"Oh sure. That's fine", he said, "I'll be fine, don't worry".

"OK", she held on to his right hand before she headed for the door, "And don't let it get to you too much. We will get through it".

"I'll remember that", he didn't want her to stand around him when she had errands to run.

She got the message and promptly left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya walked briskly for about twenty minutes until she reached a shopping center. She thought the weather was perfect to be dressed in her usual shorts and T-shirt. Wanting to try her luck, she entered the first store that had a sign on the door to indicate an opportunity. She saw an older man in a tie standing in front of a cash register and talking to an employee who was about her age and behind the register.

"Excuse me", Sonya interrupted their conversation by addressing the employee, "I saw the help wanted sign out front. Could I have an application?".

"You should speak to him", the employee pointed to the man in front of the cash register, "He's the manager".

"Oh", Sonya answered with a smile as the older man turned to face her.

"Why don't you come on in my office? We can talk there", the manager motioned her to follow him.

Sonya walked after him into a small wooden office that was situated at the end of a line of cash registers. Once inside, he offered her a chair, handed her an application and began to pose questions as she was filling it out.

"What's your name?", the manager politely asked.

"Sonya", she answered by looking up at him, "Sonya Blade".

"Well, Sonya, I'm Eric. I'm the manager here", he told her, "The only thing we're looking for right now is someone to possibly work the cash registers. Can you do that?".

She couldn't remember the last time she operated a cash register.

"I can learn!", she improvised instead of saying 'no'.

"Where was the last place you worked at before?", was Eric's next question as she was filling in her address and phone number.

"Well", she looked up again trying to find the right way to response, "I was with the military in Hong Kong".

"Oh, really?", Eric sounded interested, "Is your tour of duty over?".

"You could say that", she told him as she handed him the application.

"Allright, Sonya", Eric put it on his desk, "We'll be in touch if we wanna call you".

"You mean the position isn't open right now?", Sonya stood up disappointed, though not surprised.

"Oh no. We're looking for help when the busy season starts about three weeks from now", he replied as he saw the expression on her face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you believe that it was open right now".

"It's not that", Sonya echoed, "Just that, I've gotten that answer about ten thousand times in the last several weeks and I never heard anything back. The thing is, I can do a lot more than just work a cash register".

"Like what?", Eric pondered.

"In Hong Kong, I was with the Special Forces", she responded, "If you need something like a security guard, I'm the one for the job. I've been training in the martial arts for a while now".

"Really? Are you any good?".

"I think so", she went on.

"So why did Hong Kong let you go?", Eric curiously asked.

"I guess you're gonna find this out anyway", Sonya said, "I was discharged because I didn't follow some guy's orders. I mean, this guy was a total idiot and he expected to boss me around. I just couldn't stand for it".

As soon as she finished making her last statement, she realized it was probably a mistake to be so honest.

"Well, I'll keep the security thing in mind too", he uttered as he opened the door for her.

Sonya walked out of the office and then out of the store hoping for the job but not expecting to get it.

Once outside in the shopping center, she walked for a few more minutes before spotting another store that was possibly hiring. Just as she opened the door and was about to continue inside, she heard a yell from some distance away at her right. She turned her head and spotted a well-dressed man who was about her age and who was kicking another man as that one was lying on the ground in front of a blue Ferrari. The well-dressed man in the suit and tie was kicking his victim with a passion as onlookers walked by in the parking lot.

"Hey!! HEY!!", she yelled to get his attention as she let go of the door and it slowly closed.

Sonya rushed through the light crowd towards the fight as the man ignored her and kept kicking his adversary in the stomach and the head. He was still kicking him when Sonya tackled him from the side and slammed his back against the passenger-side door of the Ferrari. She held on to the base of his tie as he was surprised someone had stopped him.

"Stop that!", Sonya locked eyes with him as she made sure his back didn't stop touching the car door and window.

While his victim was still on the ground coughing, the well-dressed man grunted and punched Sonya in the jaw with his left fist. The blow wasn't powerful, but it was enough to snap her head backwards and to anger her. She straightened her head slowly as she kept her grip on his tie. When their eyes locked for the second time, the expression on her face had changed to one that was looking for revenge. Without saying anything, Sonya kneed him between the legs with all her strength. She then let go of his tie as the man bent over and screamed in pain. He staggered two steps forward as he tried to regain his breath. Instead of letting him go, Sonya gripped the hair on the back of his head with her left hand, pulled him up to his full height and then uppercut him under the chin with her right fist. The man's head snapped backwards as he moaned and fell on his back in front of the car.

As both the aggressor and the victim got back on their feet with difficulty, they and Sonya heard the siren of a police car approaching. The well-dressed man clearly did not want to be around when the police reached them and tried to open the driver's side door of the Ferrari. He didn't get inside because Sonya reached him from behind and pinned his face on the hood of the car as soon as the door was opened.

"Come on, now", she angrily told him, "Let's all wait to see what the police have to say about this".

"Please, let me go. I can't be here", the man pleaded, "Look. I have a checkbook with me. I'll write you a check for ten thousand dollars right here and now. Please, let me go!".

Sonya released her grip on him so he turned around to face her.

"Ten thousand bucks?", she asked as she pretended to be interested.

"Yeah, yeah!", the man answered as he reached into his right pocket and pulled out a checkbook with a pen attached to it, "I'll write it out now!".

"Make it twenty thousand", Sonya ordered as he opened the checkbook.

"Fine", the man instantly agreed.

As he was writing the amount in the check, Sonya pulled the checkbook out of his hand with her right thumb and index finger. She then held it with both hands.

"Nah! I aien't interested", she said as she tore his checkbook in half in front of him.

The man stared at her with disbelief on his face as a patrol car approached them and stopped. Two uniformed police officers got out and walked towards the three of them.

"Allright. What's going on here?", one officer asked Sonya, the aggressor and the victim.

"Well, officer", Sonya pointed her index finger at the well-dressed man after she dropped the torn checkbook on the ground, "This guy was beating up on that man right there".

"Is that true?", the other officer asked the victim as a second patrol car appeared.

"Yeah", the victim answered as he held his right shoulder while his nose was bleeding.

"Allright. I want all three of you at the station", the first officer told the trio as the two men from the second patrol car took the aggressor into the back seat of their vehicle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya and the victim were driven to the police station inside the patrol car of the first two officers who arrived at the scene. Once inside the station, the two men were taken into a room and she was told to take a seat on a bench. She took the liberty of finding a payphone and calling Johnny Cage because she knew her father wasn't around at the moment. After hearing what happened, Johnny told her he was coming and to remember that she didn't have to say anything without a lawyer. As she went back to sit on the bench after hanging up, a handful of officers walked back and forth in front of her as they headed to their duties.

After about fifteen more minutes, Sonya saw a uniformed officer walking into the room with a middle-aged man and two men who were clearly lawyers behind him. Nothing else happened for the next ten minutes until she saw Johnny making his way past officers to get to her as he still wore his sunglasses. She stood up with a smile to greet him as he reached the bench she was seated on.

"Are you OK?", was the first question Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine", she told him as an officer approached the both of them.

"Sonya Blade?", he asked her as he held up a piece of paper that had her picture, her address and phone number on it.

"Yes", she responded.

"Is the information on this sheet still correct?", the officer asked as he pointed at the piece of paper.

"Yeah, it still is", she told him after reading it, "What is this for?".

"Oh, nothing", the officer answered, "We just wanna know where to send you a subpoena or something in case we need you to testify if this thing ends up in court".

"OK", Sonya went on as the officer left.

Just then, the door to the room opened and the victim walked out accompanied by a uniformed officer. After they headed to leave the station and were gone, the door was closed. A few minutes later, the well-dressed man who had offered her the bribe walked out being followed by the older man and the two lawyers. He stared at Johnny and Sonya for a split second before looking straight ahead. While they were walking away, another uniformed officer approached Sonya and stood a few feet away from her, not wanting to intrude in her space unless he had to.

"What's it feel like to get beaten up, rich boy??", Sonya yelled after the well-dressed man as the officer near her took one step closer to make sure she wouldn't attack him.

Sonya knew the reason the officer was there, so she didn't try anything physical. Instead, she kept on yelling after the aggressor and receiving the attention of other officers in the station.

"Now you have something to talk about when you get together with your girlfriend", she went on, making sure she was loud enough to be heard by him, "Make sure to tell her of that time when a woman beat you up!!.. All the money in the world can't buy you talent. Can it, rich boy?".

After she was done, the man and his lawyers walked far enough to be out of range of even her voice. The officer next to her then left also because she didn't charge at anyone.

"You know", Johnny spoke his mind, "That was probably not a good idea. His lawyers would be able to use what you said against you in court to make him look innocent".

"Johnny, come on", Sonya wanted him to see her point of view, "I knew this guy wouldn't get convicted ever since the second he offered me the bribe. First, his father will offer the victim a nice five or six figure cash amount to get amnesia about the incident and his lawyers would've painted me to be some rogue ex-soldier. All they have to do is show my military record to the twelve people in the jury... I figured as long as it was a lost case, I might as well put him down. I don't need his kind of money or company in my life".

"So, wadda you gonna do now?", Johnny next asked.

"Could you take me back to the shopping center?", she told him, "I still have a store to apply to".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After being driven back to the shopping center in Johnny's car, she thanked her fellow mortal kombatant and he left after making sure it's what she really wanted. She then proceeded to go into the store she was headed for before she saw the fighting in the parking lot. She walked up to a cash register and looked at the operator behind it. He was a guy who was younger than her.

"Excuse me", she addressed him as politely as she could after the experience in the police station, "I was wondering about the sign up front for hired help. Who do I have to talk to for that?".

"That's mister Keller in there", the operator pointed towards an office just like the one in the previous store.

He walked towards the office as she followed him. He knocked on the door three times before declaring who it was.

"Mister Keller?", he called, "There's somebody here who is interested in the job".

Keller opened the door a few seconds afterwards and saw them both. He was a middle-aged man who reminded Sonya of her father.

"Come on in", he said as he left the door open and headed back inside the office.

Sonya walked inside expecting that the employee who was behind her would close the door and leave. Instead, the young employee walked in after her before closing the door. He then began to organize some pieces of paper that were lying on tables or were posted on the wall.

"Please, have a seat", Keller motioned her to a chair that was one of three around a circular wooden table.

"Thank you", Sonya smiled before sitting down.

"That's fine", Keller addressed the employee who was in the office with them, "You don't need to do that right now".

"It's a real mess boss", the employee protested.

"Really, I think Carl needs you more in the back room anyway. Get outta here", Keller pressed on.

Looking disappointed, the employee reluctantly left. After he was out of the office and closed the door behind him, Keller sat on the chair two feet away from Sonya with an application in his hand. She was still smiling at him as he handed her the application and a pen.

"Sorry about that", Keller told her about the employee as she wrote her name down on the application.

"Oh, that's fine", she told him without looking up since she found it was easier to lie if she wasn't locking eyes with someone.

"Do you have any experience working in a place like this one?", Keller asked.

"Well, no", she had to admit, "I just got out of the military a short while ago and I'm living with my dad".

"Out of military, huh?", Keller went on, "What branch?".

"The Army", she instantly responded still without looking at him.

"Actually, we need help right now. I can pay you eight dollars an hour plus overtime", Keller told her as he twisted his head a bit to see what her name was, "Sonya, is it?".

When he mentioned that he was hiring immediately, it caught her as a pleasant surprise and she looked up at him for the first time.

"Yes, that's right!", she locked eyes with him as the smile on her face became genuine.

"Well, Sonya", Keller said, "When can you start?".

"I can start tomorrow if you want!", she enthusiastically answered.

"Good", Keller smiled back, "Do you want the job?"

"Yes! Very much! What are my responsibilities?", Sonya asked still smiling; she couldn't wait to go back home and tell her father and Scott that she got a job.

"Well, your responsibilities would be a bit different from everyone else's", Keller replied, "You'd have to do some things extra if you wanna work here".

The next thing she felt was his hand on her right knee. The happy expression on Sonya's face instantly changed as she opened her eyes and mouth wide since it came to her as a shock. She looked down at the table under which her knee was for a split second as Keller moved his hand upwards on her right thigh towards her waistline. Looking back at Keller, Sonya reached for him with her right hand and gripped the hair on the back of his head. She then smashed his head face-down on the table as she stood up. Keller screamed and let go of her as his nose painfully impacted on the wood.

"Let go!! Let go!!", he groaned as he swung his arms in the air, with no avail.

"Listen, motherfucker", Sonya brought her head to within a few inches of his, "I don't know who you think I am, but tactics like that don't work. Especially not with me!".

After saying that, she released her grip on his head and Keller pulled his head off the table and moaned as he held his nose. Without looking at him, Sonya quietly headed for the door. She opened it, stepped out of the office and closed it behind her. She then headed for the exit door to get out of the store. Before leaving, she walked past the cash register and saw the young employee still standing behind it. From seeing the expression on her face, he could see she was angry. By looking at him, Sonya quickly perceived that he knew what had happened, so she stopped before heading outside.

"You knew what he'd try, didn't you?", she flatly asked him, "That's why you wanted to stay inside with me".

"So what happened?", the employee asked.

"I might've broken his nose. I'm not sure", she answered feeling proud, "Thanks for trying to stay in there, though".

"This job pays really good, but I know what's gonna happen", the employee told her, "Sooner or later, somebody's gonna sue his ass for everything he's got. So I'm looking for another job right now".

"Me too", Sonya answered as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I just wish I could find one!".

"Can I have your phone number, by the way?", the employee suddenly asked.

She opened her eyes wide at the request for a few seconds before narrowing them back.

"Aren't you a little too young for me?", she asked smiling and flattered.

"Oh, it's not that! It's just that when I find a job, I could call you to let you know if there's another one available", he answered even though she could see he wasn't a very good liar.

"You're still in high school, aren't you?", Sonya asked him through a pair of slim eyes.

"Well, yeah", he answered.

"I guess it can't hurt", she said as she approached the register and grabbed a pen that was near it.

She wrote her phone number on a loose piece of paper that she found and then handed it to him with a smile.

"Here", she said as he took the paper, "If you have the guts to call, then we'll talk about anything that's on your mind".

The young employee just smiled and put the piece of paper in his pocket. Since he didn't say anything else, Sonya turned away and walked out of the store. She was amused by what happened, but she knew he wouldn't call. The first sign that indicated it was the fact that he didn't ask for her name as he took her phone number. It was fun though and at least the entire day wasn't a waste, she thought to herself as she headed home.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya spent the rest of the day helping Scott find some more feelings on his feet since her father was not planning to be home until tomorrow. The afternoon then turned to night and both Special Forces soldiers were sound asleep by midnight. Sonya was in her bedroom and Scott was in the living room on the new fold-out couch she had bought when he came out of the hospital.

They were both having a good night's sleep. Suddenly, though, Sonya was jolted wide away from her peaceful dream. She sat up in bed in the middle of the darkness feeling terrified for no apparent reason. She didn't hear anything, all she knew was that she felt extremely scared. She quickly reached under her pillow and pulled out her trusty 9mm Glock. Holding it in her right hand, she scanned the bedroom by turning her waistline in a 270 angle as she was seated facing the foot of the bed. After her eyes were used to the darkness and she was convinced no one was in the room with her, she then reached for the floor next to the bed and found her wristwatch. Turning the light inside the wristwatch on told her it was almost 3:00 AM, so she dropped the watch back on the floor. She then crashed her head back on the pillow as she rested the handgun on her stomach while she still gripped the handle with her right hand.

Sonya was too alert and awake to fall back asleep, so she decided to get out of bed after lying there for a few minutes. While still holding the Glock, she casually walked over to the only bedroom window barefoot to take a look outside. As she leaned on the window sill on her elbows, she saw nothing strange initially. The street that her home faced was quiet as it always was during this time and the streetlights had covered the sidewalk and streets with a soft yellow glow. As a few seconds passed, though, her eyes caught sight of something odd behind the streetlight that was closest to her home. For a short while, she couldn't distinguish what the mass at the foot of the streetlight was. As she squinted her eyes, though, she noticed to her horror that it was a human body. Shrieking, she rushed out of the bedroom dressed in the shorts and T-shirt that she had slept in without stopping to put shoes on.

As she ran into the living room, she opened the lock on the door with her left hand while gripping the handle of the Glock tightly with her right. Her rush outside awoke Scott , so he opened his eyes and partially sat up still feeling sleepy.

"What's goin' on?", he asked, "You OK?".

"Call the police!", she told him since she knew there was a phone within an arm's reach from the couch, "There's a body outside!".

She hit a switch to turn a ceiling lamp on in the living room so Scott could see his way around. Without saying anything else, Sonya opened the door and rushed outside. She instantly slowed down her initial hurry once outside because she knew she had to be careful. Still barefoot, she held the Glock with both hands at arm's length in front of her face as she slowly walked on the asphalt towards the body. She warily looked at her right and left in case anything out of the ordinary happened. As she got closer to the corpse in the middle of the peace and quiet, she noticed that its arms were missing. She wondered where the arms were as she approached it and came to within five feet away. She didn't venture any closer because she didn't want to disturb any evidence that the police might want to collect.

From five feet away, though, Sonya could still see the man's blood and blood-stained clothes. Right next to his body were what she thought were words, so she looked more carefully to make sure. She noticed she was looking at words that were written with the man's own blood. After a few more seconds, she could read what it said with the help of the overhead streetlight. Next to the man, in his own blood, was a message that was clearly written.

"You're next, bitch", Sonya read the message that was presented in blood out loud to herself.

She kept getting more scared with every second that passed by. She gripped the Glock tighter than ever with both hands and nervously looked around, anxiously waiting for the police to arrive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three police cars arrived within a matter of minutes. Two officers drew the outline of the body on the pavement with chalk as they waited for an ambulance crew to take it to the morgue. Another officer stayed near Sonya after asking for her weapon. She handed him the Glock without resistance and he held it carefully with his index finger and thumb in order to put it inside a clear plastic evidence bag.

"The detective has been notified", the officer told her as the others combed the area around the body in search of evidence, "I'm assuming you were the one who found the body, right?".

"Yeah", Sonya answered him while still staring at the corpse.

"Did you also call us?", the officer next asked.

Sonya didn't answer immediately because her mind was still on the message that was written in the victim's blood. The officer thought she didn't want to talk to him.

"Look, ma'am", he went on, "You do have the right to refrain from answering questions, so would you like to call someone first?".

"No. That's not it at all", Sonya then spoke by pointing towards her home, "My friend in there was the one who made the call. He can't come out because he can't walk yet. He was hurt a while back".

"Well, we're gonna wanna talk to him too", the officer let her know.

Just then, an unmarked car without any sirens on it approached them and stopped a few yards away from the other patrol cars. A muscular man in a trench coat stepped out, closed the driver-side door behind him and walked towards the officer Sonya was talking to.

"Wadda we got, boss?", he asked the officer after he reached him.

"Well, sir", the officer addressed him, "Looks like a homicide for sure. Male victim, in his mid thirties. And he's got his arms missing".

"Missing?", the plainclothed man repeated, feeling surprised, "Just when I thought I had seen it all".

"By the way sir", the officer went on as he pointed at Sonya, "This young lady was the one who found the body. She went outside to investigate with this".

The officer held up the clear evidence bag with her Glock in it.

"Where'd you get that?", the man turned to her as the officer handed him the evidence bag.

"Who are you?", Sonya demanded as she saw him putting her Glock in his coat pocket.

"Detective Olsen. I'm as of now in charge of this case", the detective answered, "Where did you get the piece?".

"It was a gift from a friend", Sonya remembered, "I do have a license for it, if that's what you're wondering".

"I never said you didn't", Olsen calmly countered as he noticed the open door of her home, "Did you come from there?".

"Yes", Sonya flatly answered as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Can I get the piece back now?".

"There's another person in there", the officer next to her told Olsen, "It's the person who made the call. But he can't walk".

"OK. I wanna talk to him too", Olsen said to them both as he looked down the road because they all heard the ambulance heading for them.

"Just make sure everything is preserved, OK guys?", Olsen addressed the officers who were guarding the body.

After getting nods from some of them, the detective proceeded inside Sonya's home as he gestured both her and officer next to her to follow him. Sonya lowered her arms by her sides and followed as he walked up and entered through the doorway. He took two more steps inside and turned around to look at Sonya.

"How exactly did you happen to spot the body, miss...", he wanted to know her name for the record.

"Sonya. Sonya Blade", she answered as she walked through the entrance after him.

"So, how did you see the body?", Olsen repeated.

Before she could answer, a voice from inside the living room called out to them. It was Scott's accent.

"Hey! I know that voice!", he addressed at whomever was near the entrance, "It's Olsen, isn't it?".

Surprised to hear his name, the detective turned away from Sonya and proceeded to walk inside the living room where Scott was seated on the bed that folded from the couch. He recognized Scott as soon as he spotted him.

"You?!", he asked with a small smile as he walked up to the bed, "Wadda you doin' here?".

"I live here!", Scott answered as they shook hands.

"You were the one who made the call?", Olsen asked next.

"That's right".

"But she said you couldn't walk", Olsen pointed behind him at Sonya, "What happened?".

"Oh, I got hit during that raid on the House of Reps a while back", Scott let him know, "You remember that?".

"Remember?", Olsen sighed, "How can I forget?.. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you were involved in that".

"You two know each other?", Sonya asked them both as the officer near her stayed quiet and listened.

"Yeah", Olsen turned to her and pointed at Scott, "There was a baffling case with the serial killer a couple of years back and this guy just about delivered him to me on a silver platter. I got all the recognition for nailing that prick but he did most of the work".

He then turned back to Scott with a more serious expression on his face to go on with the questions about the present case.

"Look, kid", Olsen told him, "I know you're good and you wouldn't do this. But it seems like wherever you go, weird things like this happen. Wadda you know about it?".

"I don't know about this, detective", Scott looked up at him while still seated, "I know I kept stuff from you in the past, but this time I'm being honest. I'm as surprised as you".

"Do you have any enemies around here?", Olsen asked next as the officer took Sonya to a corner of the living room to ask her to spell her name and other related information for his notebook.

"No", Scott frankly answered.

"If you don't have anybody coming after you, then why do you sleep with a this?", Olsen said as he bent over next to the bed and pulled out Scott's Beretta 92F.

Scott was impressed because he didn't think his handgun was visible to anyone. Before he could say anything, though, Sonya called to Olsen from several feet away on his behalf.

"It's just a throwback from the military, detective", she told him, "Nothing more".

Olsen ignored her comment as two more officers walked into the living room and the officer who was talking to Sonya left her to talk to them.

"Scott, you didn't see the body", Olsen went on talking to his past acquaintance in a lower voice even though he knew Sonya could still hear him, "The man's arms are torn off and it says 'you're next bitch' in his blood, so does your lady friend know anything?".

"How can you tear his arms off?", Scott curiously answered his question with a question of his own, "You're the strongest guy I know, detective, and I doubt that you can do it".

"It's possible that both his hands were chained to two different cars and then both cars were driven away from each other", Olsen told him, "Either way, this guy didn't deserve to die like this".

As he made his last statement, one of the two officers who walked into the room approached Olsen and whispered into his ear for about half a minute. After hearing what he had to say, Olsen stared into midair for a few seconds, sighed and then looked at the officer to thank him for the information. While the officer walked out and the two others stayed behind, Olsen turned back to Scott.

"We found a footprint of a bare foot near the corpse. And it's over fifteen inches long. It doesn't even have five toes on it", he snickered as he announced, "So, do either of you know a guy who's between eight and ten feet tall? That should cut down the list of suspects".

"I've seen some big guys before, but not that big", Scott said.

While listening to Olsen's description of the footprint and the kind of person who would have left it, Sonya immediately thought of Goro. As the image of the four-armed Shokan Prince invaded her mind, she instinctively whispered Goro's name. Her whisper wasn't loud, but it was enough for Olsen to notice that she had said something.

"What was that?", he calmly faced her from several feet away.

"Nothing!", Sonya quickly answered him.

"Who would send you a message like this?", Olsen could see she wasn't being honest.

"I don't know!!", Sonya snapped back.

"You're hiding something!", Olsen raised his voice as he pointed his index finger at her.

"I DON'T KNOW!!!", she screamed with her eyes bulging wide.

"Look, detective", Scott interfered because he could see the interrogation was upsetting her, "If Sonya says she doesn't know, then she doesn't know. She wouldn't lie about something like this".

Olsen knew she was keeping something to herself, but he believed in Scott enough to know that he'd get more information from Sonya without pressuring her and by letting him get it.

"Fine", the detective told Scott, "But I will come back because I'm not done interrogating her. Come on, guys".

As he was headed for the door, he locked eyes with Sonya one more time.

"If you wanna get a lawyer, I suggest you do it, lady", was the only thing he said.

"Can I have my piece back?", Sonya asked out loud.

While going through the doorway, Olsen took her Glock and the evidence bag it was in out of his coat pocket and tossed it behind him on the floor. He didn't say anything else as he stepped outside and the two officers followed.

After all three men were through the doorway, Sonya closed the door behind them. She then stood in front of the door and stared at the wood as she passed both hands through her blonde hair and breathed heavily. Even though she had her back turned to Scott, he called her while still seated on the bed.

"Wadda hiding, Sonya?", he could see there was something on her mind despite the assurances he gave to Olsen.

Sonya figured there was no point in hiding her thoughts from him, so she turned around to look at him.

"Goro", she simply said after locking eyes with her fellow ex-commando.

"The guy you met on Shang Tsung's island?", Scott was surprised to hear the name, "But didn't you hear Olsen? The guy has to be between eight and ten feet tall!".

Scott laughed lightly when he was done mentioning the height, but Sonya's expression was very serious.

"Goro fits that description", she replied and bluntly caused him to stop laughing.

"What???", Scott couldn't believe her words.

Sonya took several quick steps towards him until she was by the side of the bed where he was seated. Standing in front of him, she bent over a bit and gently rested her left palm on his right cheek as she brought her face to within a few inches of his.

"Goro is between eight and ten feet tall and he's strong enough to rip a man's arms off", she whispered by looking down into his eyes.

"What??", Scott was still skeptical as she withdrew her hand from his face, stood back up to her full height and walked a few steps away to pick up the Glock which was still on the floor.

"But... You said Johnny took him out!", Scott reasoned.

"I thought he did!", Sonya countered without looking at him as she rested the handgun on a chair, "Goro chased him towards the cliff and only Johnny came back".

As she finished her statement, someone rang the doorbell. Sonya walked towards it and opened the door to see Johnny on the other side as he still wore his sunglasses.

"Hi, Sonya. You OK? It's a goddamn circus out front", he greeted her as he walked into the living room, "Those guys wouldn't let me come in here".

"How did you know something was going on?", Sonya asked him as she closed the door.

"He called me", Johnny pointed at Scott, "What is going on? There was a body found outside?".

"Yeah", Sonya coldly told him and Johnny could see there was more on her mind.

"What?", he understandably demanded.

Sonya just stared at him for a few seconds without answering. She knew that Johnny would not have lied about what happened on the edge of the cliff. He had risked his life more than once at the tournament to help her, so she wanted to make sure her words did not come across as an accusation.

"Johnny", she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I think Goro survived after he fell off the edge of the cliff".

"Huh?", he was astonished at her remark as he took his glasses off.

"The victim out there had his arms torn off", Sonya pointed outside the living room window, "They said they found a footprint that was over fifteen inches long and didn't even have five toes on it. There's also a message written in his blood that says 'you're next bitch'. I think it was him and he addressed it to me!".

"Look, let's not jump to conclusions here", Johnny held his hands up in front of his chest.

"What else could it be, Johnny?", she went on.

"Goro went over the cliff. It was at least a couple of hundred feet of freefall", he answered, "I don't care who he was, he could not have survived a fall like that".

"How do we know that?!", Sonya countered, "A person like us could not have survived! We don't know what that freak was made out of! If he had been around for the last ten generations, then who knows what other things he can do better than us?".

"He was around for the last ten generations?", Scott curiously interrupted them.

"Yeah", Sonya looked at him as she remembered the Prince of Pain, "He's been sitting there for centuries and just decimating people like us just for kicks".

"How old was this guy?", Scott began to believe what Sonya was saying about Goro's chances of surviving the described fall.

"Older than everybody in this neighborhood put together", Johnny told him, "But still, he's gone! He could not have survived the fall!".

"Don't ignore the obvious, Johnny!", Sonya aggressively countered him.

"If he did survive, why wouldn't he have come after us? I'm sure he hated our guts after we drilled a hole through him", Johnny pointed out, "Why didn't he come after us, huh?".

"I don't know!", Sonya snapped.

"And why would he come after you?", Johnny also mentioned, "I'm the one he should want to rip apart, not you! I'm the one who kicked his ass, so why would he taunt you like this?".

"When he jumps on me tomorrow when I'm taking a walk, I'll ask him, OK?", she was extremely annoyed that her fellow mortal kombatant didn't agree with her point of view.

"Look, sweetheart", Johnny was trying to reassure her that she was safe, "Nobody's gonna get jumped tomorrow because for all we know.....".

"Don't call me sweetheart!!!!!", Sonya barked back while her enraged eyes were locked with his calm ones.

The aggression in her voice genuinely caught Johnny by surprise, so the actor smiled at himself for a split second after he realized the treatment he was getting. The smile quickly melted and his face then became much more serious.

"Don't talk to me that way!!", he angrily snapped back at her as he pressed his right thumb into his own chest, "If it wasn't for me, you'd be lying in Outworld somewhere and insects would've been eating whatever was left of your body by now!!".

"Oh!!", Sonya gave a sarcastic smile, "What is that? That's like your only claim to fame nowadays?? If you hadn't come along, Liu would've done just fine without you!!".

"Guys! GUYS!!", Scott yelled as he looked up to them from his bed in order to keep the argument from getting any worse.

His tactic worked because Sonya and Johnny stopped and stared down at him with an irate expression.

"Come on, guys!! What's going on??", Scott addressed them both, "Don't you remember how well we did together when Kline attacked the House of Representatives? We were an awesome team! The three of us are best friends! So stop biting each other, for crying out loud, because we're all we've got!".

"OK, fine", Sonya bluntly stated as she held her hands up in front of her chest before she partly turned around and took several steps away from Johnny.

Johnny, in his turn, simply stood his ground with his arms crossed in front of his chest and kept staring at her with an angry facial expression.

"Look, I'm gonna leave", he told Scott more than her, "If somebody here feels like acting her age, you guys know where to reach me".

He lowered his arms and headed for the door while he and Sonya still exchanged furious glances, although neither one said anything out loud. Scott wanted to stop him from going, but he had no idea what he should say to persuade him into staying. He was still wondering about possible things to say when Johnny went through the door and slammed it behind him. Seeing that, Sonya walked past Scott's bed to head for her bedroom.

"Well, that was a good experience", she sarcastically said to herself and to Scott.

"Look.....", Scott wanted to say she should give him a call when the sun rises to make amends.

"He started it!!!", Sonya snapped and cut him off as she pointed towards the door.

"I don't care who started it!!", Scott countered, raising his voice also.

"Oh! Don't you start with me too!", she replied before she headed for her room and slammed the door behind her

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Before 8:00 AM, the phone rang and woke both Scott and Sonya up. Scott opened his eyes by the third ring and grudgingly sat up in bed. He could see through the living room window that it was cloudy outside. He reached for and picked up the phone as he wondered who would be calling as such an early time. He put the phone to his ear and spoke into it. As he was listening as whomever was on the other line, Sonya almost burst out of her bedroom barefoot and rushed over to the foot of his bed. Scott looked up to her as he was listening to the person on the other end.

"Johnny?", she whispered to him, wondering whether it was her fellow mortal kombatant on the phone.

Scott shook his head and disappointed her. He kept listening to the caller with an unhappy look.

"Yeah, it's me", he spoke into it after a few seconds before listening again.

"OK. I'll be here", was the next thing he said before he hung up and looked up at Sonya.

"Who was it?", she curiously asked.

"I knew this would happen sooner or later", Scott just answered.

"What?", she kept asking because he seemed worried.

"That was our beloved Army calling. They wanna send some guys here to, quote unquote, discuss possible future plans for me", he told her, "Which means, of course, I'm getting the boot and a brush off".

"You think they're gonna make you retire?".

"Correction", Scott went on, "I know they're gonna make me retire. I'm useless now, remember?".

He slapped his right thigh with his hand as he made his last statement.

"Do you wanna stay?", Sonya planned to be supportive if he needed her help.

"Of course", was his expected answer.

"If you wanna stay, then you're staying", she didn't want him to feel gloomy, "I know you'll be able to go back to the way you were before you got shot".

"Thanks for the optimism", he replied as he kept staring at her.

Scott could see his future in the military was not the only thing on Sonya's mind.

"What about you, though?", he asked her, "You really wanted that caller to be Johnny, didn't you?".

"Maybe", Sonya tried to pretend she wasn't very interested in what he was saying.

"No. Definitely", Scott corrected her, "Look, Sonya. Call him. You don't necessarily have to apologize. Just tell him you didn't mean what you said earlier this morning and I'm sure he'll say the same. Johnny's a real friend, and real friends are very rare, you know that. He went against Kline with us just because you wanted him to while everyone else would've told us to drop dead".

Sonya knew he spoke the truth, but her ego was making it hard for her to make the first move. Realizing it, Scott went on encouraging her.

"Why do you think he came by after I called him?", he added, "He got out of bed at three in the morning because he was worried about you. There wasn't anything in it for him except his peace of mind when he saw you OK... Besides, why do you think he bought you that new Glock? You're unemployed and you lost a six hundred dollar pistol. You know he wasn't sucking up because he wanted to use you for a favor or anything like that. We don't have anything that he can't buy, so he has to be doing it because he genuinely cares".

"I know! I know! Just stop the lecture!", Sonya had heard enough, "We should put this living room in order if these Army guys are gonna come by to see you".

She helped him up to his feet and towards his walker before she folded his bed back to its original couch position. She then went into the kitchen and made one ham and cheese sandwich for him and one for herself. After walking back into the living room, she handed one of the sandwiches to him.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know", she said as she took a bite out of her own sandwich, "So eat up"...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Over an hour passed as they ate a few sandwiches and drank all the fruit juice and soda they wanted. Near 9:30 AM, someone rang the doorbell and Sonya promptly answered it. Scott was seated on a chair on the side of the living room opposite to the door with his walker next to him. Two Army officers in their late thirties stood rigidly on the other side of the doorway as she opened.

"I'm sergeant Greensburg and this is sergeant Spayne", the first officer told her as he pointed at the man next to him, "May we come in?".

"Sure", Sonya flatly answered as she stood aside, still barefoot.

After the two men entered, she closed the door behind them.

"What's the body outline out front?", Spayne asked first.

"It's a long story", Sonya answered with a fake smile.

"So what is about, guys?", Scott asked the two men.

"I'll make it short and sweet, son", Greensburg told him from across the living room, "We request that you agree to leave the U.S. Army after the incident which put you in this condition".

"I don't suppose I get a say in what happens", Scott told him.

"It's be much easier if you went along with it. For everyone. It's an honorable discharge", Greensburg looked at Sonya, "Not like some others we have seen".

Sonya made a face so he would know her smile was insincere when he made the comment about her.

"And what am I supposed to do with my life afterwards?", Scott pressed on, "Can you tell me that?".

"That, of course, is up to you", Greensburg calmly responded.

"Look, guys", Scott sighed, "I really would prefer to stay. The military's been my life for a while now. I already took a step without this walker here and the doctor said I'd never be able to do that. I can go back to where I was before".

"We would much rather prefer you did it our way, son", Greensburg calmly went on, making Scott feel like he was arguing with a wall.

"Give the guy a break!", Sonya spoke up to Greensburg on Scott's behalf.

"Oh!", Greensburg answered sarcastically as he stared at her, "The infamous Sonya Blade actually speaks!".

Sonya widened her eyes in response to the unflattering comment and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You're in my home", she sharply warned Greensburg, "So lose the sarcasm if you wanna keep your head, tough guy!".

"Correction. We're in your daddy's home, blondie", Greensburg retaliated, "Big difference. Why are you fighting for him anyway?".

"Because he wants to stay", Sonya replied, "And he's very strong, unlike you!".

"Resorting to insults now?", Greensburg seemed unimpressed.

"Scott came to within half an inch of getting killed to protect this government system", she said, "The least this government could do would be to give him some time to recover and to go back to the state he was before so he can keep his position. Is that too much to ask for?".

"You're one to talk about loyalty!", Greensburg was annoyed, "You were discharged, and with a bad-conduct discharge too!".

"Hey!", Sonya pointed her right index finger at him, "I was discharged because I did the right thing. Something you guys didn't have the guts to do!".

"No, Blade!", Greensburg barked back, "You were discharged because you wouldn't follow orders!".

"Wait a minute! Is that what this is about?", Sonya pointed her index at Scott, "The fact that he took me with him when he went to stop the militants?".

"Get real, Blade", Greensburg told her, "Contrary to your beliefs, not everything in this world revolves around you".

Greensburg pointed at Scott in his own turn, making the ex-commando feel like he was a dart board.

"He should retire because he's no longer useful", Greensburg then said as he faced Scott, "No offense intended".

There was a few seconds of silence that followed his comment.

"Well, that's all we had to say. We just want you to think about it and... ", Greensburg went on as he sighed, "We'll be in touch".

With that, Greensburg turned around and headed for the door as Spayne followed a few feet away.

"You're incredible!", Sonya addressed Greensburg as he was on his way out, "You're really incredible!".

"Oh, pipe down, Blade. Why the hell are you being so aggressive?", Greensburg replied as he opened the door and chuckled, "Is it your time of the month or something?".

He chuckled harder and walked out still followed by a quiet Spayne. After they were gone, Sonya grabbed the door and swung it shut. Although the door almost closed, her swing wasn't strong enough to lock it from the outside. Sonya left it like that and walked up to Scott as she felt disappointed with herself because she couldn't do more for him.

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna KILL HIM!", Scott angrily announced as she reached him.

He stood up using his walker for balance as Sonya stepped in front of him and put her hands palm-down on his chest.

"Calm down, Scott", she tried to relax him, "If you do, the best you can hope for is voluntary manslaughter. Think of how bad that would look on your criminal record".

Realizing that he was more upset than she was, Scott reluctantly sat back down.

"I'm gonna rip his balls off with my bare hands", he told himself.

"Uggh!", Sonya cringed at his comment.

Since the door wasn't locked from the outside, sergeant Spayne opened it alone and took two steps inside. Sonya stood next to Scott's chair and faced the door as they both saw him.

"I'm sorry about that, miss. That guy always had an attitude problem", Spayne addressed her, "For yet the millionth time, I must apologize on his behalf".

"Don't worry about it", Sonya shrugged her shoulders to let him know it didn't bother her, "I've seen his type before".

"Yeah. We used to serve under his type before", Scott told Spayne.

"Good luck", Spayne looked at them both.

"Thanks", Sonya gave him a genuine smile before he turned around and left without closing the door behind him.

"I'm no longer useful, huh?", Scott looked down on the floor after Spayne was gone, "Isn't that what the other one said?".

"Forget him! He's nobody!", Sonya defiantly answered, "He's just shooting his mouth off because he wants to pretend that he has some purpose in life".

Scott didn't reply and just kept staring at the floor. She could see Greensburg's words were affecting him and she didn't like. She took a step to position herself in front of his chair to face him. She then squatted down and took his right hand in between both her own hands.

"I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit here and just let you feel sorry for yourself!", she said in a stern voice to make him look up at her, "This is how it starts, Scott! First, it's 'Oh! Poor me! Nothing ever goes right for me!'. Then you remember that nothing has gone right throughout your entire life. Then you ask yourself that if your life so far has been lousy, then why should the rest of your life be different? Then depression sets in and then we'll see your picture in the paper. I can see the headline now. 'Deranged Man Walks Into Store With 9mm And Pops 30 Before Turning Gun Onto Himself'".

"I never knew you cared what happened to me", Scott gave a tired smile.

"I don't", Sonya smiled back, "But if you're not here, then I won't have anything to do and I'll get bored".

"Hey, I told you back in Hong Kong that you'd be famous one day", Scott went on, "See? That moron knows you".

As they were talking, Herman Blade walked through the open doorway into the living room. He was dressed in his official Army uniform like the two sergeants who had just left.

"That was a long conference!", he wearily told them both as he closed the door behind him, "And I have to go back too".

"How long can you stay, daddy?", Sonya asked him as he loosened his tie.

"Not long", he informed her, "I just came by to get a bite to eat and I have to run. I ran into two sergeants on my way here. Funny guys... Let me ask you something. Why is the door open?".

"Oh, we were just getting some fresh air", Sonya smiled.

"And what about the chalk outline that's in front of this place?", Herman Blade pointed out the door as he stared at her.

"There was a random murder", Sonya lied, "We have no idea how. The police are still investigating".

"You shouldn't leave the door open in times like this", her father warned her as he hurried into the kitchen.

While he was in the kitchen preparing some sandwiches for himself, Sonya told herself she was fortunate since he hadn't noticed that the chalk outline had no arms. A few minutes later, Herman Blade brought three sandwiches on a plate and a glass of beer to the living room and began to eat standing up.

"Listen, daddy", Sonya reasoned he could help, "I think the Army is gonna try to kick Scott out and he doesn't wanna leave. Can you use some of your influence to keep him in?".

Scott didn't want her mentioning his affairs to her father even though she wanted to go straight to the point. Her father seemed reluctant to answer, so Scott stood up using his walker to tell them he did not want them to interfere. He wanted to spare Sonya's father from having to say 'no'.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea", Herman Blade told his daughter before Scott could speak.

"Why not? You're a major! You can do it!", Sonya persisted without looking at Scott.

Her father put the plate and glass down on a small table and swallowed whatever he had in his mouth.

"I can't do it because I used my influence to get you accepted into the Hong Kong base and you got yourself kicked out", he reluctantly told his daughter, "So my reputation doesn't mean much right now".

His words caught Sonya unprepared.

"What?? That colonel at the base was right?!...", she was shocked, "I thought I got in there by myself!".

"They were interested in having you there, sweetie, until they found out lieutenant Blade was a woman", her father went on, "Then they started making excuses as to why they couldn't accept you and those excuses got more lame every time I heard them... You wouldn't have gotten in if it wasn't for me. I didn't want to tell you that".

"You're telling me I wasn't good enough for Hong Kong?", she felt very worthless.

Scott could see it, so he finally spoke up.

"Come on, Sonya, get real!", he figured it was his turn to cheer her up, "You were the best thing that ever happened to that base. They were lucky to have you!".

He looked at her father as he continued.

"No one else there had the guts to do what she did", he told Herman Blade, "Not Jax, not me and certainly not that prick that we served under... Going after Kano was the right thing to do! There's no telling how many lives you saved when you took him out".

Her father's eyes widened when he heard Scott's words.

"Took Kano out??", he repeated as he stared at his daughter.

After hearing Scott, Sonya covered her face with both her palms and arched her head back. She had been waiting for the appropriate time to tell her father about her killings in Hong Kong and on Shang Tsung's island.

"I thought you got kicked out because you disobeyed the colonel's orders", her father addressed her with his eyes still wide, "What is this about you taking somebody out?... Taking somebody out? As in murdering somebody?".

"Come on, sir", Scott addressed him to intervene on her behalf, "They deserved it".

"They???", Herman Blade's eyes got even wider, "There was more than one???".

"Shut up, will you?!", Sonya pulled her hands off her face and snapped at Scott.

"Look, you did the right thing!", Scott kept reassuring her, "It's nothing to be ashamed of".

"Well, you better keep reminding me of my selfless act when you and I are standing in the goddamn unemployment line!", she responded.

She was mildly annoyed that Scott told her father about her actions. She had been planning to break the news to her father after being alone with him and describing what Kano and his men did to her and her comrades. Her response to Scott, though, sounded a lot more cruel than she intended. Scott felt the hit as they locked eyes.

"A job can be replaced", he calmly answered, sounding disappointed, "If you hadn't gone after Kano, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. You would've lost your identity. Your identity can't be replaced!".

Sonya didn't reply and her father decided to stay quiet also since he saw the argument as being between her and Scott. After a few seconds of uneasy silence, Scott spoke first.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, sir", he addressed her father, "I need to get something to eat".

He wasn't hungry. He just wanted an excuse to go to the kitchen to break the cold stare he was being forced to exchange with his former partner in the Special Forces. As Scott slowly used his walker to go into the kitchen, Herman Blade turned his attention back to his daughter without the shocked expression on his face.

"I'll tell you about it some other time, daddy, I promise", Sonya told him, "Just not now".

Without saying anything else, she turned away from him and headed for the couch under which a pair of her sneakers lay.

"I just need to be alone", she said next.

"Don't bother", her father answered, "I'm leaving anyway".

Sonya stopped and turned around to face him again.

"You didn't eat your food", she sounded sad because she didn't want him to leave on her account.

"That's OK", he reassured her, "I'll catch something downtown at the meeting. They're giving us several days of meals and lodging at some hotel... I don't know exactly when I'll come back, but we'll talk when I do, OK?".

"OK, daddy", she said in response.

Her father left the sandwiches and the glass on the small table and walked over to her as she stood still. He kissed her on the forehead before saying good-bye and heading outside the door. After he was gone, Sonya sat on the couch without picking up the sneakers she wanted. She rested her elbows on her knees and placed her forehead in her palms, thus lowering her head.

"How could I talk to him like that?", she asked herself referring to Scott.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After feeling bad for several more minutes, she puts the sneakers on, walked outside without telling Scott where she was headed and closed the door behind her. She couldn't see the sun or any patch of blue because the entire sky was covered with a thick blanket of clouds. She noticed it was too chilly to be wearing just shorts and a T-shirt, but she didn't go back home to put anything else on.

Thus, she wandered around the city for several hours without even keeping a track of time since she wasn't wearing a wristwatch. She didn't stop to eat anything at all and only concentrated in exhausting herself by staying on her feet. She only returned home after the sun had set and it was dark out. The door was closed but not locked from inside, so she twisted the knob and was able to open it. After she stepped in, she noticed Scott was sitting in his bed watching the television set because the couch was already unfolded into the bed position.

"Did Johnny call, by any chance?", she asked him as she closed the door behind her.

"No", Scott bluntly answered without taking his eyes off the TV screen.

"How'd you do that?", she pointed at the unfolded bed before she headed for the kitchen to satisfy her deep craving for food.

"With patience", Scott replied still without looking at her, "I guess I am getting better".

Neither one smiled or said anything else as she headed through the living room towards the kitchen.

She made herself two sandwiches and ate them standing up in the kitchen. The sandwiches were usually tasty, but in her current state of mind after fighting with Johnny and then Scott, they tasted like acid in her throat as she swallowed every bite.

Afterwards, she decided she had enough of the day and went straight for her bedroom to hopefully fall asleep fast. She said nothing to Scott as she went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya was asleep after what she considered to be a short while. In the middle of the night, though, she suddenly woke up for no apparent reason. She had the same feeling she remembered experiencing the previous day when she found the dead body outside her home and under the streetlight. Afraid, she didn't bother to reach for the wristwatch under the side of the bed. Instead, she instantly pulled the Glock out from under her pillow. In a panicked state, she jumped out of bed and rushed over to the window. She was angered and nervous, though not surprised, because she saw a second body under the same streetlight where the first one had been.

"No! He didn't!!", she exclaimed, referring to Goro.

She bolted out of her bedroom and into the living room still gripping the Glock in her right hand. As she opened the door, Scott woke up from his sleep and looked up at her drowsily from several feet away in the darkness.

"Sonya, what's wrong?", he asked, feeling worried.

"Call the cops!", Sonya almost yelled as she momentarily turned away from the door.

"What?", Scott was still sleepy.

"Call the goddamn police!!", Sonya went on as she turned the living room light on.

She ran outside barefoot with the handgun, as compared to the previous day when she had proceeded outside slowly and carefully. She rushed towards the body and stopped cold as she got to within a few feet away. From the close distance, she could clearly see this man's arms were missing as well. The second body was partly on the chalk outline of the previous one.

Sonya was just staring at the second corpse with the Glock in her right hand by her side when she unexpectedly saw a four-armed shadow. The shadow of a massive torso and four arms appeared at her right under the streetlight, so that the person who was causing the shadow was standing a few feet behind her.

"AAAAGGGGHHH!!!", she angrily and quickly twisted around while leveling the handgun at arm's length in front of her face.

She expected to see Goro right behind her, so she opened fire as soon as she was facing the area which was in back of her. She pulled the trigger at least half a dozen times before she realized there was no one behind her. She was alone and she had put several rounds into a car that was parked ten yards away.

"Huh?", she froze with the handgun still extended at arm's length in front of her face.

Sonya was extremely confused and scared. While she was wondering about what she thought she had seen behind her, a massive hand covered her eyes and pulled her head backwards, pressing the back of her head against a muscular body behind her. As that happened, another massive hand grabbed her right wrist, thus making it impossible for her to use the Glock she was holding at arm's length in front of her face. She desperately resisted by using her left hand to try to pull the massive hand off her face. Her attempts were not successful since the person holding her was much stronger than she was. As she was still trying to fight back, she heard Goro's voice emanating from above her.

"Be at the graveyard, alone, or more will die", the voice bluntly told her.

Then, as abruptly as they had appeared, the massive hands vanished and the pressure on her face and right wrist disappeared with them. Sonya hysterically turned around and realized she was all alone. She was still aiming the handgun at arm's length in front of her face and breathing hard when she heard a police siren approaching. She then reluctantly lowered her right hand and waited for the police to arrive. She felt like she was going out of her mind.

When detective Olsen and some officers were in her living room for the second time in two days, Sonya was very shaken up. She now knew for sure that the two men had been killed simply to get her attention. She did not want to talk to anybody and said so as soon as detective Olsen asked her the first question. Scott was upset, as would be expected, but he was more coherent than her as he spoke to the officers while sitting on the edge of the bed.

"We know now that it aien't a coincidence, right?", Olsen addressed Scott as he stood at the foot of his bed.

"Do you know anything that you're not telling us?", Olsen next looked at Sonya who was several feet away with her back to the open door, "We're really desperate here".

Sonya had been aggravated ever since she saw the second body and the presence of the police officers in her home only worsened her condition.

"I DON'T KNOW WHY HE'S DOING THIS!! I... DON'T... FUCKING... KNOW!!", she screamed back as she slammed her right fist on the table her father had set the food on several few hours before.

"Calm down, miss", Olsen politely answered, "Nobody's accusing you of anything".

Despite the detective's excellent behavior, Sonya lost any common sense she had in her mind after hearing his response. She swiftly gripped the handle of her Glock and aimed the muzzle straight at Olsen's chest. Olsen tightened his jaw and coldly looked back without moving as uniformed police officers in the living room quickly withdrew and aimed their Smith & Wesson pistol at her.

"Don't shoot!! Please don't shoot!!", Scott yelled out at the uniformed officers

"Shang Tsung was a shapeshifter!!", Sonya's voice shook with fear as she looked at Olsen, "How do I know you're not like him, too, huh? How do I know you're not him?".

Scott uneasily stood up as he used detective Olsen for support. Once on his feet, he stood up straight and positioned himself directly in front of Olsen, thus protecting him from her semiautomatic.

"Put'em down, guys, please!", Scott motioned at the uniformed officers, "Look, if she opens fire, I'm the one who'll buy the farm, so I'm asking you to put the guns down! Please! She can't go like this!".

None of the uniformed officers lowered their weapons and neither did Sonya as she still had the handgun aimed at Scott while her hand shook steadily. Just then, Johnny came through the door and surprised everyone from behind her. Hearing him, Sonya instantly turned around and aimed the semiautomatic at him. Staring down the muzzle of the Glock he had bought her, Johnny stopped cold.

"Oh, Jesus!", he whispered.

Johnny was scared because, when he stared into Sonya's eyes, he didn't see the same controlled look she had when she was on Shang Tsung's boat. Instead, rage and a loss of control seemed to take over the expression on her face and especially in her eyes. Seeing Johnny, Sonya then turned back to Scott.

"Come on, lieutenant", Scott tried to persuade her to put the handgun down before one of the uniformed officers became nervous, "You're not gonna shoot your own sidekick, are you?".

She didn't even seem to hear his words as her right hand and the Glock shook more violently. Seeing it, Johnny took a step towards her. She turned around again to aim the handgun at him. While the Glock was still shaking, he calmly took two more steps and then came close enough to her to wrap his left fingers around the muzzle of the Glock. She didn't resist as he slowly took the 9mm semiautomatic out of her hand.

"It's OK", he whispered to her as Scott and the uniformed officers sighed in relief.

Realizing Sonya was a mess, Scott shakily turned around to face detective Olsen before he sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"Do you trust me, detective?", he asked by looking up at Olsen.

"Yeah", Olsen bluntly replied while still staring at Sonya and Johnny.

"I wanna ask you to leave, detective", Scott politely told him next.

"No way!", Olsen protested by looking down at him, "I still wanna question her about the first murder! She fired several shot into a car just for the hell of it! If she had hit someone's home instead, she could've killed somebody!".

"I know! I know, detective", Scott knew he had to get rid of Olsen for everyone's sake, "I came through for you before, didn't I? I promise I'll let you know everything I know as soon as I make some sense of this. But you have to let me do it, please!".

Olsen didn't answer.

"She's a mess, detective", Scott reminded him, "She's not gonna talk to you now. And she can only be a problem".

"Allright, fine!", Olsen pointed his index finger down at Scott, "But I'm putting my ass on the line here for you by leaving this alone. If you don't come through, I'll put the entire system after you. You won't have time to sleep for the next forty years!".

"Thanks detective", Scott smiled.

With that, Olsen gathered his uniformed officers and reluctantly headed out the door. As they were walking out, Johnny made sure to stay near Sonya so she wouldn't become violent again. There was no need for it since she seemed to regain her senses as the officers were leaving.

After they were all gone, Johnny closed the door and both guys looked at Sonya, knowing there was a serious problem with the murders as well as with her.

"So", Johnny asked first while still holding on to her semiautomatic, "You OK?".

She didn't answer.

"What happened out there?", he asked next.

"Goro's back", she simply stated to them both in a tired voice.

"Come on, Sonya, listen to what you're saying", Johnny did not think so, "I don't know who's doing this, but it can't be Goro".

"It's him", Sonya quickly responded, "I know it's him. I saw his shadow behind me and when I turned around, he was gone".

"Look, you've been really stressed out lately", Johnny tried to calm her down, "It's possible your imagination......".

It was clear from his tone of voice that he did not believe her, so she did not tell him about the massive hands that grabbed her face and wrist.

"Oh, so you think I'm just making all this up?!", she angrily snapped back, "Maybe I was the one who killed those two guys because I just wanted the attention, is that what you're thinking?".

"That's not what I said", Johnny forcibly responded as he pointed to Scott, "But you were ready to blow him away when I walked in. Doesn't that say anything to you?".

"OK, fine!!", Sonya became even angrier, "Maybe I should be locked up in a mental institution then for that one screw-up!".

Johnny sighed without answering.

"You know what? I need to work out", Sonya coldly told them both, "If you don't wanna help, then you know where the fucking door is!! Just leave the Glock here on your way out".

"Sonya, come on!", Johnny protested as she turned away from them and headed for a back room where she had her old workout equipment.

When she heard him, she abruptly turned around.

"No!!", she barked, "I thought I had a couple of people that I could count on in this world! I guess not! Why don't the two of you just leave me the fuck alone?!! Just get lost, the both of you!!".

She had completely forgotten that Scott couldn't walk yet as she then turned away again and headed for the back room.

"You're blowing this way out of proportion!", Johnny called out after her as she vanished through one of the doors to the back room.

When she was gone from the living room Johnny put the Glock on the table and looked at Scott.

"She really is", he continued his previous statement to him.

"I know", Scott responded, "Look, she didn't mean what she said. That was just her emotions talking".

"What she's saying about Goro is impossible", Johnny explained both to him and to himself, "He was behind her and then he was gone when she turned around? Goro's dead! And even if he had miraculously survived that fall, how could he pull off a stunt like this? If he was actually behind her, then he wouldn't be able to run and hide while she turned around! The guy weighs like a ton. The entire neighborhood would've heard him if he ran somewhere".

"So, what's really goin' on here?", Scott curiously asked.

"I dunno", Johnny went on as he rubbed his forehead, "I wish Rayden was here so he'd tell us what....".

He froze in midsentence.

"What?", Scott pressed on.

"I just had this brainstorm", Johnny explained, "There was this guy at the tournament called Scorpion. When I fought with him, he seemed to have this ability to just vanish so you wouldn't know where he was... After the tournament, Rayden told me he was a ghost. But Scorpion was my size, not Goro's".

He stopped for a few seconds.

"You know what?", he resumed, "I wanna call somebody over here".

"Who? The ghostbusters?", Scott snickered.

"No", Johnny told him, "Somebody with at lot more class. Liu was there with us and he's in Hong Kong now. I have his number. I can call him up and send my private jet over there to pick him up. I'm sure he'll want to come if he knows that one of us is in trouble".

"You think it's a good idea?", Scott wanted him to be sure.

"Yeah", the mortal kombatant answered as he hurriedly headed for the door, "I'm gonna give a picture I have of Liu to my pilot so he'll recognize him in Hong Kong. I can have him here in twenty four hours. Thanks for calling me after the police, Scott".

"No problem", Scott told him, "I'm glad I did. You probably saved her from getting shot up just now".

"Make sure to keep an eye on her, OK?", Johnny looked back at him as he opened the door.

"Sure thing", was Scott's comment right before Johnny left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few seconds after Johnny was gone, Scott began to hear solid explosions from the back room where Sonya was. From the sound of it, he recognized that she was striking the punching bag he had seen there when he first came here from Hong Kong. Sonya kept taking her anger out on the punching bag as the loud strikes continued nonstop for at least ten more minutes...

Suddenly, Scott heard a crash and the strikes on the punching bag ceased. For a short while, he was worried that she got hurt, but she resumed a few seconds afterwards. This time, though, the strikes were less noisy and more muffled. Scott heard over a dozen muffled hits before he realized how they were originating. Sonya was punching the wall of the back room with her bare hands. A few seconds later, he panicked a little because he also remembered that the walls of the back room were made out of solid brick. He wanted to intervene, but then decided to leave her alone. After all, he reasoned, if Sonya didn't want to do it, she would stop...

The muffled hits lasted several more minutes and Sonya finally emerged from the back room. She first slipped quietly into her bedroom and retrieved a clean pair of shorts and a T-shirt. She then walked into the living room on her way towards a small hallway that led to the bathroom. The upper part of both her hands on the opposite side of the palm were light red because the skin had been torn off in those areas. Her ten fingers were more damaged than the rest of her hands because her fingers had impacted against the wall as she punched it using a fist. Her hair was a mess and her eyes seemed sleepy and exhausted.

"Sonya", Scott noticed her injured hands first, "You need to get something for that".

She didn't answer.

"It could get infected", Scott warned again.

"I need a shower", she whispered and staggered by the edge of the living room to get to the hallway.

"What happened in there?", he called after her as she was walking away.

"The chain for the punching bag broke", she spoke more to herself than to him, "So I improvised... I need a shower".

That was all Scott heard because she then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. He couldn't help but worry about her as he heard the shower water turning on.

XXXXXXXXXXX

After about ten minutes, Scott heard the shower water stop and saw Sonya emerge from the bathroom wearing the new shorts and T-shirt. When she walked back into the living room, Scott was amazed at the difference in her appearance. Her blonde hair was smoothly combed and tied with a knot at the back of her head. Her eyes also had the calm and bright look that Scott had been used to seeing ever since they met.

First thing she did once in the living room was find the pair of sneakers that were always placed around a couch for her. Immediately after putting them on her bare feet, she quietly walked back into her bedroom as if Scott wasn't even there. She emerged a few seconds afterwards holding a pair of scissors and a long strip of cloth that was about an inch wide.

Sonya began to carefully and tightly wrap the cloth around her right hand. After the right hand was satisfactorily bandaged, she cut the remaining strip of cloth with the scissors. She then went through the same process for her left hand. If the procedure hurt, Scott didn't view it on her face. She then cut the last piece of cloth that was not necessary to cover her left hand and let both the cloth and the scissors drop on the floor.

Sonya then reached for the table where Johnny had set the Glock before he left. She checked the clip to reassure that the remaining bullets were still inside it.

"Wadda you doin'?", Scott finally asked her, unable to keep himself quiet.

"Do you trust me, Scott?", Sonya repeated the question he had asked detective Olsen as she headed for the door with her semiautomatic.

"Yeah", Scott promptly answered.

She stopped as she opened the door. She could see the sun was about to rise before she turned around to look at Scott's bed.

"Then don't ask any questions", she calmly told him.

Scott didn't respond. He only stared at her knowing he couldn't stop her from leaving if she wanted to. Sonya, in the meanwhile, had her eyes locked with his. She knew she had sounded cold and maybe even cruel when she didn't mean to. The eye stare between them went on for several more seconds before she spoke again.

"I could use a hug", Sonya told him in a more gentle voice, "Can I have one?".

"Sure", Scott extended both his hands out as he was seated on the edge of the bed.

Sonya let the Glock slip out of her hands and fall in front of the open door before she took several quick steps towards him. Upon reaching him, she knelt in front of him to bring her face to the same level as his. They embraced each other without saying anything else. She rested her head on his right shoulder as she wrapped both arms around his back for several heartbeats. She didn't want to let him go because it was the first time she had felt at peace ever since she found the first body outside. She knew she had to, though, so she slowly pulled away from him while still staying on her knees to look him in the eyes from several inches away.

"Sonya, don't....", Scott spoke first after they had separated.

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, she placed her right index and middle fingers on his lips.

"I have to go", she somberly whispered, "He told me where. It's me he wants and I wanna know why. If I don't go alone, more are gonna get killed".

"What can you do?!!", he whispered back in a loud manner.

"I'm gonna see if I can find Goro", she calmly let him know.

"And what happens afterwards?", he demanded.

"I'm gonna tell him that I mistreated two guys who were better friends to me than I could ever deserve", she calmly responded.

"Are you scared?", he asked next.

"Not anymore", she gave him the hint of a smile.

She quietly stood back up and walked out the door after she picked up the Glock as well as her father's car keys. She left Scott as he was almost in tears because he had a feeling he was never going to see her alive again.

"Well, I am", he told her after she closed the door and was already outside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya opened the car's driver side door and tossed the Glock on the front passenger seat. Goro had told her to show up at the graveyard. There was only one graveyard around her home that she could thing of, so she started the car and drove for the cemetery. She was bracing herself for a confrontation.

She reached the cemetery which was over a mile away just as the first rays of the sun appeared over the surrounding structures. After she stopped and parked the car, she walked out holding the handgun behind her with her right hand. The cemetery had several entrances, so she hurried towards the nearest one in order to lessen the odds of being spotted. Once inside, she carefully made her way through the tombstones by holding the semiautomatic with both hands at arm's length in front of her face. Her hands ached as she gripped the handle of the pistol, but she ignored the pain for now.

Several minutes passed without her seeing or hearing anything other than small birds and insects. While still keeping her senses sharp in the crisp air, she slowly began to think about the families and friends the two men that Goro had killed must have left behind. She knew that when one person killed another, there were always many more people who were affected. Those two men were forced to leave their loved ones just like Kano's victims were forced to. The anger inside her was creeping back as she kept telling herself those victims died simply because someone had decided to have fun.

"I'm the one you want!", she exclaimed out loud as she steadily twisted around so no one would be able to sneak up on her, "Come on! Face me!".

Just then, a gigantic brown hand with three fingers grabbed both her wrists from behind her even though she was twisting around. As she gasped after seeing the immense hand immobilize her hands, another brown hand gripped the Glock with two fingers and tossed it several yards away. After putting the semiautomatic beyond her reach, the powerful brown hand released her wrists and Sonya bolted several steps forward. She twisted around and positioned herself in a fighting stance as she finally saw who the hands belonged to.

The eight and a half foot tall Prince of Shokan stood his ground with a small grin on his face. His 550 pound and four-armed body seemed relaxed and he didn't try to attack.

"Allright, tough guy!", Sonya defiantly snapped at him, "So you made me lose my piece. But you'll see this aien't gonna be easy. Come on!!".

She had expected him to charge at her, but Goro didn't move. In fact, he appeared to be enjoying as he watched her in a tense position.

"Well, come on!!", Sonya almost screamed, "This is what you wanted, isn't it??".

"Not now", Goro motioned her back with his right arms.

"Then when??", Sonya angrily demanded without relaxing herself from the fighting stance she was in.

"In exactly forty eight hours", Goro told her, "Right here... Then you'll get what's coming to you".

With those words, he laughed and disappeared as he stood in front of her. Sonya couldn't believe her own eyes as she saw him vanish into thin air. Thinking it was a trick, she turned around while still in a stance because she believed he would attack from behind her. Contrary to her expectation, though, Goro was nowhere to be seen.

After a few more minutes alone among the tombstones, Sonya rushed to the spot her Glock had landed. She picked it up and ran out of the cemetery towards her waiting car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Sonya was driving back home, she realized she was approaching flashing police lights. She slowed down the car after seeing two men in the middle of the near-deserted street next to a patrol car that was glittering red and blue lights. One of the two men was lying on the ground while the other was a young police officer who stood over him talking into a two way radio. She guessed that the police officer was probably younger than her.

"....he was strangled by a juvenile, fifteen to eighteen, about five eight, wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket!", the officer screamed into his radio, "I want an ambulance here now!".

The young officer then dropped the radio in the middle of the street and knelt next to the other man. He frantically began to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Even though she would've been interested in what she was seeing, Sonya found the whole scene boring because her mind was still back at the cemetery with Goro.

"Is this gonna make me late?", she asked herself as she watched the officer endlessly work on the victim.

She felt like telling the officer to get out of the way because she wanted to go home, but one look into his face told her he should not be messed with. So, as she heard the sirens of an ambulance quickly approaching, she reversed the car and found another, though longer, way home.

She came home about thirty minutes later. After parking the car, she casually got out while holding the pistol down by her waistline and walked towards the front door. She used one of the keys that was attached to the car keys and opened it. Proceeding inside, she saw Scott was still awake, as she expected. Although he was lying on the bed on his back, her partner from the Special Forces sprung up to a seated position while holding his Beretta 92F.

He seemed overjoyed to see her.

"You're OK!!", he exclaimed with a large smile.

"Yeah", she answered without sharing his enthusiasm, "Why are you holding the piece?".

"No reason", he told her as she approached the bed, "Just felt like it".

"No better reason than that", she went on as she stopped a few feet in front of him.

"So what happened?", Scott was curious, "Did you see Goro?".

"Yeah", she flatly told him.

"So he's dead?", he reasoned to himself out loud in an ecstatic manner.

Sonya shook her head as she released the Glock and the keys and let them fall on the floor.

"I don't understand", Scott said, "If you're OK and you saw him, then how come....".

"He pulled my piece out of my hand before I could use it", Sonya recalled the events for him, "Instead of getting it over with, he set a date for exactly two days from now. Same place. Me and him. One on one".

"Are you going?", Scott's momentary excitement faded.

"I have to face him, Scott", she calmly answered.

"But not alone, right?", he didn't want to hear an affirmative answer.

"Actually, yes", Sonya frustrated him, "I am".

"I wanna help!", Scott snapped.

"You can't even walk straight", Sonya mildly told him, "I don't want you there".

"You can't go alone!", Scott shot back, "I shouldn't have let you go just now in the first place!".

"What?", Sonya sounded defiant, "I need your permission now?".

Going back to an argument would not help either of them. So she stopped momentarily and sighed after she made the last statement.

"Look", she continued, "This is my fight. I can't let you get involved. If you got hurt, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself".

"Do you trust him to stop killing if he gets you to show up?", Scott understood her reasons.

"Noo!", Sonya responded, "But if I finish him now, the killings will stop".

"Johnny should come with you", Scott persisted.

"No. It's me Goro wants", she kept on being stubborn, "Besides, Johnny put himself on the line for me before. It's time to return the favor. He shouldn't have to take all the risks".

"Can you take him?", Scott felt and looked worried.

"I don't know if anybody can", her answer was not optimistic.

"Then Johnny should be there with you!", Scott couldn't understand why she wouldn't see his point of view, "You'll have a better chance when it's two on one!".

"I said no! I'm the one Goro wants!", she angrily snapped, "I don't want Johnny getting hurt because of it. I'm tired of playing thedamsel in distress!".

"Is that what this is about?", Scott finally saw the truth.

"I'm going alone", she pointed her index finger at him, "And I want you to keep your mouth shut".

"I really don't like it", he replied, "This isn't a good time to worry about your ego".

"It's not like I don't have a plan", Sonya avoided his statement, "I'm taking the Glock along. When we start fighting, I'll withdraw it and put as many rounds in him as I can. That should slow him down".

"Damsel in distress, huh?", Scott refused to give up, "Is that how you view yourself?".

"Let it go", she answered as she bent down to pick up her semiautomatic off the floor.

"Like what Johnny was talking about after the first body was discovered?", Scott went on, "He and Liu pulled you out of Outworld and you didn't like it, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's right", Sonya crossed her arms in front of her chest as she recollected.

"Like back in the base how you wanted to chase after Kano and Jax and me wouldn't let you go alone because it wasn't appropriate for a lady to go alone", Scott continued.

"Yeah", was her answer.

"Like when you got shot in the stomach and I had to carry you outside on my back for hundred of yards because you were helpless?", he reversed their role so she'd realize she wasn't the only one who needed help.

Sonya noticed what he was trying to do, but his remembrance of her heroic deeds did not make her feel more independent.

"I'm going alone", she bluntly told him as she began to head for her bedroom, "What the hell are you so worried about?".

"I'm worried you're gonna die!", Scott retaliated, "What if we lose you?".

"You don't wanna lose me?", she repeated as she angrily brought her face close to his, "That's exactly what's gonna happen if you tell Johnny about this! Keep that in mind!".

Without saying anything else, she walked into her room and closed the door behind her. She could not understand why she ended up arguing or fighting with everybody who had ever meant anything to her. Feeling the chilly air from outside through the open window, she decided she needed something heavier than shorts and a T-shirt to wear.

First, she placed the Glock under the pillow before pulling her sneakers off her feet. Then, she changed into a pair of blue jeans and a long-sleeved cotton blouse before she crashed on the bed and tried to catch up with her sleep. She didn't fall asleep right away after she covered herself with the blanket. Instead, she wondered about the hostility that had emerged between her and her two closest friends. She was still trying to make sense out of it when fatigue took over and she closed her eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sound asleep, Sonya was dreaming. She saw herself in the inner city with no one else around and under a cloudy sky. She was wearing tight green pants, a green workout bra and white sneakers. She could easily see the two-inch long scar on her left shoulder that the militant who shot Scott had inflicted on her with a hunting knife. Although she felt brave, she also knew she had to be cautious. She reached for her waistline to grip the 9mm semiautomatic, but neither the Glock nor its strap were on her. She slowly turned around 360 degrees and, after returning to the original position, she saw a dead body with its arms missing a few yards away. She slowly turned around 360 degrees again and when she came back to the original position, she saw a second body with its legs missing a few yards beyond the first. She casually walked towards the direction of the second body. She passed the first one. When she reached the second one, she saw a third body a few yards beyond it with its head missing. Feeling curious, she proceeded towards it. As she reached the third body, she saw Goro a few yards ahead as he sat on a pyramid of corpses that was about ten feet high.

"It's about time", Goro said, "I was getting lonely".

He extended his lower right hand with an open palm towards her.

"Come on", he continued, "It's your time".

The gray sky steadily turned reddish until it became blood-red.

Then, the Glock appeared in her right hand. She aimed it at Goro without saying a word and opened fire. Goro only smiled, though. The Prince of Shokan and the gloomy scenery vanished and she found herself standing between two aisles in a supermarket. She was still wearing the green outfit and holding on to her semiautomatic. She walked around to find her way out and saw Shang Tsung's guards as they stood erect holding spears everywhere she turned. She rushed to the front of the store and saw a glass door with a busy crowd on the other side of it. She also saw Johnny standing behind a counter.

"Sonya", Johnny called out, "I know the way out".

Thinking he was lying, Sonya held the Glock at arm's length in front of her face, aimed and fired one round at him. He dropped behind the counter without a sound. She then turned away from his direction and fired one round into the glass door, shattering it. New glass appeared intact and replaced the hole left in the door just as the semiautomatic vanished while she was still holding it in front of her face. She rushed towards the door and jumped into it head first. She shattered the new glass herself and was about to land on the ground on the other side.

Sonya suddenly opened her eyes and found herself staring at the dark ceiling of her bedroom since she was lying in bed on her back. For a split second, she thought the weight of the blanket that covered her was Goro. Thus, she screamed as she panicked and threw the blanket off her, most of which fell on the floor. She then quickly sat up, gasping for air.

She looked out the window as she was getting calmer and saw it was dark outside. She found it curious since the sun was rising as she had fallen asleep. She knew she had been dreaming, so she fought her initial instincts to reach under the pillow. As she was about to pull the blanket off the floor using the bit that was still on the bed, Scott opened the door and stood at the entrance behind his walker. He was holding on to the walker with his left hand because he gripped the handle of his Beretta with his right.

"What???!!", he exclaimed as he pointed the handgun into the room, thinking there was an intruder.

"Nothing", Sonya motioned him to put his firearm down, "I just had a nightmare".

"Everything OK?", he lowered the Beretta by his side.

"Yeah", she answered.

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.

"Could you turn the lights on?", she asked him next because the light switch was next to the doorway.

She finally saw everything clearly when Scott flipped the switch upwards. It was very nice of him to rush over when he was worried about her, she told herself as she gathered the blanket and set it on the edge of the bed.

"How did you get here so fast?", she asked him, wanting to satisfy her curiosity.

"I was already up", he bluntly replied.

"And why is it so damn dark outside?", she asked next, pointing out the window, "Where's the sun?".

"Sonya, you've been asleep for the last fourteen hours", he told her.

"No way", she could not believe her ears.

"Yes way", Scott answered, "For a while, I thought you were in a coma... By the way, Johnny called about half an hour ago".

"What did he want?", she wanted to know.

"He said Liu was about to touch down at the airport", he informed her, "Johnny was there to pick him up".

"Liu?", she was surprised, "But he's in Hong Kong!".

"Not any more", Scott went on, "Johnny sent his personal jet last night to pick him up".

"Liu's coming here?", she smiled.

"Yeah", he flatly answered without returning her grin.

He turned around and began to leave. It didn't come as a surprise to Sonya that he was not in the mood to talk to her, especially after everything she told him before going to sleep.

"Scott?", she stopped him.

"What?", he turned back to look at her.

"Why don't you sit down?", she patted the spot on the bed in front of her.

Scott didn't answer or move. He just kept staring at her suspiciously.

"Look", he sighed, "I think it's about time I found somewhere else to live. I don't wanna stay anywhere I overstayed my welcome".

"Come on, don't go!!", she called aloud, "I'm sorry I was such a bitch, OK? Wadda you want me to say?".

He didn't respond.

"Have a seat", she motioned at the bed as she locked eyes with him, "Please?".

Scott reluctantly walked into the room and positioned himself on the edge of the bed, much like he was when he was talking to detective Olsen. He stared at her across the few feet of mattress that was between them because she was seated in front of the pillow and he was seated at the foot of the bed.

"I just dreamt about Goro", she bluntly told him.

"Oh", his facial expression seemed more interested.

"Funny thing is, I was wearing green tights", she went on, "I never wore tights before. I have no idea what that was about".

Scott simply stared at her as he waited for her to make her point, so she did.

"I just don't know what's going on with me, Scott", she looked worried and scared, "I just have no idea. Every time I bring up Goro, I end up exploding on whomever I'm talking with. Maybe he's got a curse that I'm being affected with... I never told anybody this since I came back, but there was a reason this guy was the Mortal Kombat champion. At the tournament, I saw him beat a man to death with his bare hands. He was simply unbeatable. He was a monster".

Sonya's voice shook and her throat tightened up as she felt a tear coming down her right eye. She wiped it with her right hand as she continued with the recollection.

"Me, Johnny and Liu had to just stand there and watch because there were just three of us and about fifty guards", she explained, "We would've been cut down to pieces if we had tried to intervene. It's not like me, like us, to just stand there while a bully crushes a victim, but there was nothing I could do because we had to save ourselves to take on Shang Tsung afterwards! I just had to stand there and watch!".

"I didn't know that", Scott became more sympathetic.

"I just can't believe what this is doing to me!", her voice shook even more, "When I was coming back from the cemetery, there was a guy lying dead on the road and a cop who was giving him first aid. I felt like walking up to the cop and saying 'Is this gonna make me late'! The cop would've looked at me like I was some kind of a nut... That's because I was!".

She sighed before resuming.

"I am!", she finished.

"You're not", Scott corrected her.

"What's going on with me?!?", she seemed angry at herself, "I can't believe what I did when Johnny was here. I was so scared when he decided to fight that freak! I thought Goro was gonna kill him. I was standing there getting ready to watch him fight and I was rehearsing in my head all my own moves that I was gonna use against that freak afterward! I thought I was gonna see Johnny get crushed in front of my eyes!".

Sonya turned her head towards the wall and lowered her face to cover both eyes with her right palm. She was fighting hard to keep the tears back.

"But Johnny didn't die", Scott told her.

"I know, I know!", she looked at him.

"I don't think that's what's bothering at all, Sonya", Scott finally remarked.

"I don't understand", she uttered.

"Sonya, I saw the report of what happened to the militant who shot me", he slowly explained, "He had been stabbed in the mouth. From the marking on the wall, the coroner had guessed that he might've even been nailed to the wall with the object that was used in the stabbing... Now, the way I see it, there are two possibilities how that happened. One, you threw the knife at him just as he felt like yawning and the blade accidentally went into his mouth. Two, you shoved the blade into his mouth after you beat him to a pulp. I think the second possibility is much more likely".

"So what?", Sonya responded, "You're saying what I did was wrong?".

"No. I didn't say that", Scott went on, "It was right. You did what you had to do. The same with Kano. You remember how you killed Kano, Sonya?".

"Of course".

"You told me you had your ankles around his neck", Scott remembered, "You broke his neck even though he was helpless... I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, he did. But you crossed a very important line when you met Kano. You killed him even though he wasn't an immediate threat. The problem with such actions is that you might enjoy it too much and you may not be able to let go of it afterwards. You're scared of this Goro guy right now because the fight with Kano and the militant made you afraid that you could be a thug or a bully too".

"Oh! Why did you have to say that???", she broke into tears and lowered her face down into her right elbow.

"I'm sorry!", Scott tried to calm her down, "I'm just telling you the truth! You're only afraid you're a bully, Sonya, you're not really one. You had to convince me to hit those terrorists who were rushing Congress. You wanted to go just because they were doing something wrong. After I was hit, you risked staying back there and getting killed until you were carrying me out. Kano or this Goro guy would never have done that! That's the difference with you, Sonya, you've got a heart. And a very big one at that".

Sonya wiped the fresh tears away before looking up at him.

"Thanks for the flattery", she told him.

"I'm not flattering you, boss", Scott smiled, "I'm just telling you the truth".

Sonya did not smile back.

"But look at the truth, boss", Scott continued, "You're not afraid of Goro... Two minutes ago you said Goro was unbeatable and then you remembered that Johnny beat him... If Johnny beat him, then he's not unbeatable, and if he's not unbeatable, then you wouldn't be afraid of him... The most talented commando in the Special Forces is afraid of some eight foot tall freak? That doesn't sound right".

"Wouldn't you be afraid of him if he was coming after you?", she demanded.

"Well, sure", he quickly replied, "But I'm not the most talented commando in the Special Forces".

"And I am?", she asked.

"Yeah!", he exclaimed.

"Is this supposed to be your way of trying to make me feel better?", she asked him next.

"I'm just being honest", Scott answered, "Is it working?".

"Yeah. Thanks for trying, really", Sonya finally smiled, "But it's the ex-commando now, remember?".

"Bullshit!", he replied, "You'll get your old position back in no time!".

She kept staring at her former partner for several seconds without saying anything. She told herself that everything Scott said made perfect sense.

"Really, though", Scott kept on explaining, "What you need to do is make peace with what you've become. I mean, when you first joined the military, you never could've guessed that you'd be able to kill somebody who wasn't fighting back. But you've changed, and you've got to stop denying it. That's how you'll find peace".

"You're right", she surprised herself as she answered him.

"We're a team, you and I, right?", he tried to encourage her, "So if Goro's giving you a problem, we strike back as a team! Right?".

"Yeah! Yeah!", Sonya was getting more enthusiastic.

"Great!", he finalized the deal.

Just as he did, someone rang the doorbell.

"I'll get it", Scott offered as he stood up with the help of the walker, "You should wash your face".

Her eyes were red because she had been crying and he knew she didn't want anybody to see them.

"Can you?", Sonya asked him as she got out of bed also.

"Yeah, sure", he headed out of the bedroom and for the living room.

"By the way, Scott", she told him as he was leaving, "You never saw me cry".

"Saw who cry?", he answered.

"Thanks", she called out as she first put her sneakers on and then headed for the small hallway to get to the bathroom, "I knew I made you a sidekick for some reason".

She turned the light on in the bathroom before opening the faucet to wash her face as Scott reached the living room. He first placed his Beretta next to the bed before proceeding for the door. He then turned the knob and opened the door wide. Johnny was standing on the other side with another man, who Scott presumed was Liu.

"Come on in, guys", he told them.

Both men walked in and Liu closed the door behind them.

"Scott, I'd like to introduce you to Liu Kang", Johnny pointed at his other fellow mortal kombatant, "He's only the best martial artist in the world".

"It's a pleasure", Scott and Liu shook hands.

"This is Scott", Johnny addressed Liu as he pointed to Scott, "He used to be in the Special Forces. Remember that raid on the Congress several months back?".

"Of course", Liu told him, "The news reached the entire world".

"Well", Johnny went on, "Scott here and Sonya were the two who single-handedly took out all the terrorists who were there".

Scott didn't say anything to the contrary, but he didn't understand why Johnny refused to take credit for his role in the raid. Johnny had been as important in the counterattack as the two of them.

"I'll be honest, though", Johnny turned back to Scott, "If Liu hadn't been at the tournament with me, I was gonna get my ass kicked all the way back to Hollywood. He made it possible for me to get out of there with my hair still intact".

As amusing as the comment might have been under different surroundings, Johnny didn't smile after he said it. He knew the situation between him and Sonya was very shaky and he had no idea the kind of reaction he was about to get from her when she saw him.

He didn't have to wait long because Sonya shut off the water from the faucet and casually walked toward the trio as she dried her face with a towel. Seeing her, Scott figured it would be better for him if he sat back down since he couldn't stand for more than a few seconds without the pain getting to be too much.

"Liu!", she exclaimed in a cheerful tone as she put the towel on the bed.

"Sonya, it's great to see you", Liu smiled back as she headed for him with her arms stretched out expecting a hug.

"I just wish it was under better circumstances", Liu continued as they embraced.

"Me too", she answered before they separated.

"How did you cut yourself?", Liu noticed her bandaged hands.

"Shaving", Sonya pleasantly told him.

Without saying another word, she stared at Johnny since he had been standing just a few feet to Liu's right. Sonya knew she had exchanged many words with him that were wrong, just like she had with Scott. She also knew it would take a fairly long time to orally straighten things out between them. Instead, she decided to let her actions do the talking.

"It's great to see you too, Johnny", she stated as she gave him a genuine smile since she suspected he could tell the difference between a real smile and a phony one.

Before he could answer, she wrapped both her arms around him and embraced him the same way she did Liu. Johnny knew instantly that things were back to normal. After separating from him, Sonya took one step forward, turned around and rested her left arm on Liu's shoulders and her right arm on Johnny's.

"I have to tell you guys", she happily stared back and forth at both fellow kombatants, "Anybody except those who loved me would've given me the finger after how I acted up".

Liu knew what she was talking about because Johnny had told him about her behavior as he drove from the airport. So he was glad she felt better. To make her peace with the trio official, Sonya reached to her right and kissed Johnny on the left cheek before the actor knew what happened. She then reached to her left and kissed Liu on the right cheek the same way.

"That's what I call a welcoming committee", Liu smiled as Sonya then withdrew her arms from his and Johnny's shoulder.

She stepped forward toward Scott's bed because she knew her fellow kombatants were not alone in the ordeal. While Scott was seated on the edge of the bed, Sonya slightly bent over to hold his left cheek in her right palm.

"Three time's the charm", she smiled at him before she kissed him on the right cheek in his turn.

"And which is why I have to tell you guys what happened", she stood back up to her full height and turned around to face Johnny and Liu again, "I saw Goro at the cemetery earlier on. He spoke to me, so there's no doubt, he's really here. Another thing is that he has this ability to vanish at will. He told me I should meet him at the cemetery for a match or he'll keep on killing. I was planning to go at it alone, but somebody in this room convinced me I should involve my friends in this".

She obviously meant Scott when she referred to the mysterious 'somebody'.

"And so. Since I know who my friends really are, I guess I should spill it", she smiled at them, "It would be better if the three of us take him on all at once. I wouldn't want it any way other than having the three people that I trust other than my dad on my side on this. I just needed some time to actually figure out that somebody who wasn't a friend would've told me to go to hell years ago with my kind of attitude".

"Well", Johnny smiled back, "Your looks almost make up for it, so we'll stick around for a while longer, I guess".

"Oh, thank you", Sonya kept smiling, "I'll always be grateful".

"I don't get it, though", Johnny became more serious as he addressed everyone in the living room, "From the way she's describing him, it sounds like Goro didn't survive the fall off the cliff. He's a ghost just like Scorpion was. Why didn't Rayden warn us about this?".

"I'm sure he had a good reason", Liu replied, "Maybe he didn't even know".

Liu thought it was only appropriate to give Rayden the benefit of the doubt since he had helped them out during the tournament.

"Sonya, why don't you show us where this date with Goro is supposed to take place", Liu then said, "But not now. I'm really tired after that long plane ride".

Johnny stared at him with a small grin because he thought Liu was putting down his private jet or his pilot.

"No offense intended, partner", Liu held his hands up, reading Johnny's mind, "The plane and the pilot were fine; the ride was just too long".

"I'll let you get away with that one", Johnny held his right index finger in front of his face, "But you better not diss my men again".

"We can wait", Sonya told them both after hearing that Liu was drained, "The fight isn't scheduled until almost thirty six hours from now".

"That's fine", Liu addressed everyone, "In the meantime, I'd like to see the spot where Goro placed those two bodies again. Who knows? It might tell us something we don't know".

"I doubt it", Scott answered him, "If there was some evidence there, the police would have it now".

"Maybe", Liu went on, "But the police were not looking at the scene with Goro in mind. We will be".

"I doubt we'll find anything", Johnny agreed with Scott, "But I guess it can't hurt".

"Great", Liu agreed.

Liu and Johnny headed out the door in order to take a closer look at the chalk outmarks of the two victims the Prince of Shokan had left behind. After they were gone, Sonya turned her attention back to Scott.

"Well, I'd say things turned out pretty good, huh?", she told him.

"Yeah, definitely", he answered.

"Thanks", she went on, "I owe you".

"No, you don't", he responded, "Friends don't owe anything to each other. You only owe things to strangers".

"OK, then I don't owe you. Ha!", Sonya grinned.

"A comedian till the end", Scott described her.

Sonya grabbed the remote control for the television set and sat next to him on the bed.

"You feel like watching some TV?", she asked after turning the set on.

"Not really", he answered, "I'm wiped out. I want some sleep".

"But I want TV!", Sonya whined as she grimaced, "Come ooooon! At least until those two guys come baaaack!".

"No!", Scott protested, smiling, "I want my rest!".

"Well, too bad!", Sonya replied, "The TV stays on".

"Fine!", he gave up and stood up with his walker, "I'll go to your room, then".

"It'd be more fun if you stay", Sonya smiled as she watched him walk away.

"I gotta tell your father to stop spoiling you", he said loud enough for her to hear as he approached the door to her bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scott was lying on his back on Sonya's bed after closing the door of her bedroom to block out the sound of whatever show she was watching. Although he didn't know what the future held, he was peacefully staring at the ceiling as he felt glad things worked out between the four of them. He was slowly closing his eyes and slipping into a calm sleep when he suddenly saw a brown and ugly face looking down at him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!", Scott screamed as he found himself staring up into Goro's cold eyes.

He instinctively reached by the side of the bed, expecting to find his Beretta. It took him a second to remember that he was lying on Sonya's bed and not on his own, so he found nothing. Realizing he was unarmed, Goro swiftly grabbed Scott by the stomach with his two lower arms and picked him up to bring them face to face to each other.

"You're Goro!", Scott was astonished as his feet were dangling over two feet off the floor while he stared into the Shokan Prince's eyes.

"And you're an insect!", Goro responded, "I came her and locked the door for the whore, but you'll do just as well as a hostage".

Not discouraged, Scott punched him with a tight left fist. The impact hurt Scott's hand and his opponent's jaw as Goro's head snapped back. But the four-armed former Mortal Kombat champion did not lose his grip on the human and he slowly brought his head back to its proper position. Just then, someone tried to open the bedroom door from outside and knocked on it hard when it was discovered that the door was locked.

"Scott!", Sonya yelled out as she knocked again, "Are you OK?".

Both Goro and Scott stared at the door at the same time.

"SONYA, RUN!!", Scott screamed, "GET OUTTA HERE!!".

Sonya was never one who listened to advice. From behind the door, she gave out a yell and spun to her right as she kicked the door just above the knob with her left foot. Inside the bedroom, the door swung open as the bottom of her left sneaker protruded from the entrance.

"You!!", she saw Goro only a few feet away with nothing but hatred in her eyes, "Put him down!!".

Goro gladly did as he was told. He released his grip on Scott and let the former commando fall on the floor as he turned to face Sonya. She promptly kicked him in the right knee and sent an immense amount of pain through his right leg. Despite the setback, though, Goro lunged forward and bearhugged her using his two lower arms. He walked out of the bedroom and into the living room as she vehemently tried to get out of his grip, but to no avail. As she was being carried outside of the bedroom, Sonya realized that her physical strength was no match when compared to Goro's, so she yelled out to Scott.

"The Glock, Scott!", she tried to point at her bed, "It's under the pillow!".

Scott understood and quickly crawled towards the pillow. Reaching under it with his right hand, he instantly felt the soothing handle of her 9mm semiautomatic. He smoothly pulled it out and aimed it at the middle of Goro's back as that one was walking into the living room. As Scott was about to pull the trigger, he noticed a white flash coming towards him from the direction towards which Goro was headed. The flash went through the doorway of the bedroom, hit his right hand and instantaneously froze his hand as well as the Glock.

Scott gasped as he felt the freezing cold that enveloped his hand. Unable to release the handle of the semiautomatic, he gripped his right wrist with his left hand and shakily stood up. He then ran after Goro with some difficulty, although he did not realize he was moving without the help of his walker.

Reaching the living room, Scott saw Goro squeezing out the front door and into the street while he still held on to the resisting Sonya. He also caught a glimpse of another man in a blue outfit who followed the four-armed kidnapper. Once the Prince of Shokan was outside, Johnny and Liu clearly saw him as well, but they did not dare attack because they knew he could have broken Sonya in half if he chose to. Johnny and Liu also realized who was with him. Sub-zero stood next to Goro and was prepared to attack anyone with his ice arsenal.

Seeing that he had the two kombatants' attention, Goro gripped Sonya's hair with his upper right hand and simultaneously released her from his two lower arms. He held her up solely by her hair at arm's length in front of his shoulder as her feet were several feet off the floor.

"You didn't really think I went to all this trouble just to get to you!", he addressed Sonya, "It's that actor boyfriend of yours I want! You're just the pawn!".

"Put me down, you asshole!!!", Sonya snapped at him as she reached up and held on to the top of his hand in order to relieve the pressure on her hair and head.

"If you want to see her again,", Goro defiantly pointed at Johnny and Liu with his left hands, "then be at the old factory on 3600 Oxford in one hour. If you're not there, she dies".

With those words, Goro pulled his upper right arms, and with it Sonya, closer to his chest and all three vanished into thin air. Johnny and Liu saw Scott a few feet away from the doorway with the ice covering his right hand and Sonya's firearm. He was in obvious pain as he leaned against the wall. They rushed inside and led him to a couch because he had trouble finding his way around. While Scott was moaning and holding his right wrist, Johnny grabbed the nearest telephone and dialed 911 for an ambulance.

"He got her. He got her. That son of a bitch", Scott kept repeating, "He got her".

After giving the operator the address and briefly describing Scott's condition, Johnny hung up and addressed Scott.

"Hang on, kid", he told him, "The ambulance is on its way".

"Forget about me!", Scott hissed air through his mouth, "Get her back! Just bring her back, please!".

"I promise, we won't come back unless she's with us", Liu declared as he turned to look at Johnny, "I can't believe it. Sub-zero's back too. Do you know where Oxford is?".

"Yeah, yeah", Johnny answered, "I can drive there. I know the way".

"Then we better not waste any time", Liu eagerly headed for the door.

"Just one more thing", Johnny stared at Scott, "Do you have a baseball bat here?".

"There might be one in the closet", Scott slowly pointed towards the direction.

As Johnny went into the closet to find it, Scott called after him.

"Forget that! Take my Beretta", he told him, "It's next to the couch".

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea", Johnny informed him as he came back holding a solid wood baseball bat, "Goro would be expecting that".

"I don't get it", Scott painfully expressed.

"Just trust me, Scott", Johnny followed Liu towards the entrance, "Look, I'm gonna leave the door open so the paramedics will find you, OK?".

"Fine", Scott replied, "Go".

Without saying anything else to him, the two kombatants walked out. As Johnny led Liu to his car, it was clear he was planning something in his mind.

"I have a make-up kit in the trunk for the film I'm shooting now, Liu", he said out loud.

"So what?", Liu didn't understand what he meant.

"I wanna put it on", Johnny told him as they neared the vehicle.

"I'm confused", Liu could not to lie, "Why??".

"Goro may not initially recognize me in it", Johnny explained, "And if he doesn't, then I could get close enough to get a sucker punch".

"I still don't understand", Liu answered as he waited next to the front passenger door.

Johnny rested the baseball bat on the hood of the car and opened the trunk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The factory where Goro dragged Sonya was old and dusty. It had large windows resting at an inward angle on top of fifty-foot high walls to supposedly bring in sunlight. Goro and Sub-zero carefully watched her after Goro set her down on the ground. They knew she couldn't run anywhere without being shot in the back with a freezing sphere from the ninja. To make her less of a threat, Sub-zero had brought a pair of handcuffs with him. He picked them off the ground and showed them off to her so she'd know how she was going to be handled.

"So this is what the game was all about", Sonya stared at Goro, "You keep pressuring me until I call both Johnny and Liu over. You want Johnny and the ice-cream vendor there wants Liu".

"She's got a brain after all!", Goro addressed Sub-zero as that one approached Sonya with the handcuffs.

"Ooooh!", Sonya called him in a sarcastic voice and a long face, "Wadda you need that for? Don't tell me you're afraid of a harmless woman like me".

She could sense that Sub-zero was smiling behind his blue mask.

"Don't make me laugh", he spoke for the first time, "You wouldn't last one minute".

"Then wadda you need the handcuffs for?", she meant for her question to sound like a challenge.

"I don't need them!", Sub-zero threw the handcuffs on the ground.

The Lin Kuei ninja stood with his fighting stance as he faced her from several feet away.

"Why don't you try your luck if you feel so brave?", he asked, expecting to have some fun at her expense.

"You're already dead", Sonya stood with a fighting stance of her own, "So I guess there's no point in telling you to get a life".

Without a warning, Sonya fly kicked towards him. Just as her foot was supposed to impact into his chest, though, Sub-zero vanished. After landing on the ground, Sonya twisted around and kept her eyes open. She could see Goro was content with only watching this fight and he didn't want to get involved. Sub-zero, on the other hand, was more of a threat since he had the distinct advantage of being a specter. While she was still visually combing the entire area, she got kicked in the upper back. She staggered forward and turned around to see Sub-zero standing behind her.

She instinctively rushed over to him intending to tackle him. As she reached him, though, he vanished again. It was clear he was toying with her. Before Sonya had a chance to turn around, he reappeared behind her and punched her in the back of her head. The sharp pain in her skull forced her to take two steps forward, but she still managed to stay on her feet. She turned around just in time to see him walking up and throwing a second punch at her. She grabbed his wrist with her left hand and punched him between the eyes with her right fist. The hit surprised Sub-zero and sent him staggering several steps behind.

Wanting to taste vengeance, Sonya rushed forward until she reached him. Before Sub-zero could react, she twisted to her left and kicked him in the jaw with her right leg. As her right ankle slammed into his mask, his head snapped into his right shoulder and he staggered three steps to his right. Following him, she kicked him in the side of the left knee and he screamed as he seemed to lose his balance. While he was desperately trying to stay on his feet for his pride, she kicked him in the head a second time. This time, when her ankle impacted into his jaw, Sub-zero crashed sideways on the concrete ground.

On his hands and knees, he threw a freezing sphere at her. Seeing it coming, Sonya jumped aside and rolled on the ground as part of the wall behind her froze. Quickly regaining her balance, she fly kicked him again as he stood up. This time, Sub-zero did not have enough time to vanish or get out of the way. The bottom of her right foot impacted into the ninja's chest and sent him flying several feet up into the air before he landed on his back, the unforgiving concrete injuring his spine. While still lying on his back, Sub-zero formed a second freezing sphere and hurled it at her. Predicting his move, Sonya jumped to her right and rolled several feet on the ground. Goro was standing about twenty feet behind her and the freezing sphere turned the ground near his feet into a sheet of ice.

"Hey!!", Goro warned the ninja to be more careful when he aimed.

As Sub-zero stood back up, Sonya rushed over to him and, upon reaching him, swiftly punched him in the jaw with her right fist. The blow twisted Sub-zero around in a semicircle and he found himself involuntarily having his back to her. Seeing her opportunity, Sonya gripped the mask that covered the back of his head and jumped on his back, thrusting her entire weight on him. As her opponent crashed forward and fell flat on his stomach, she slammed his face into the ground because she was seated on his back.

"At another time and another place, this might actually look romantic", she told him as she slammed his face into the ground for a second time.

Sub-zero desperately tried to grab her hand that gripped the back of his head, but he couldn't.

"Goro! Get her off! Get her off!!", he screamed for his partner's help because he also couldn't stand up or vanish with her weight on his back.

Sonya saw Goro rush towards them and knew the fight would be over as soon as he reached her. Before the Prince of Pain could get to her, though, she positioned her hands on both her opponent's ears. Gripping his ears, Sonya twisted Sub-zero's head to the right with all her might. The cracking sound she heard satisfactorily told her that his neck was broken. A split second later, Goro reached her, grabbed her by the blouse with his lower right hand and tossed her aside like she was nothing but a rag doll.

Sonya slid twenty feet on the concrete floor because of the amount of strength Goro had in each arm. As she finally stopped, bruised on her face and arms, she knew Goro was too late. Sub-zero was dead, again, and there was nothing the Shokan Prince could do about it. Sitting on the ground, she stared at him from twenty feet away as he inspected her inert opponent. Realizing Sub-zero was gone, Goro quickly put as much distance between himself and the ninja as possible. He was running away from the Lin Kuei ninja's body in the opposite direction that he had thrown Sonya because, when he was a handful of feet away, Sub-zero's body exploded in a bright flame. Sonya smiled as she smelled his burned flesh and watched his body scorch in the fire.

"Tough guy!", she congratulated herself as she giggled.

Goro, however, was less pleased with the outcome. As the fire on Sub-zero's body dwindled, the four-armed former Mortal Kombat champion picked up the handcuffs his former partner had dropped as he challenged Sonya.

"He let his guard down", he approached Sonya while holding the handcuffs on one finger, "I will not make the same mistake".

"Another tough guy who needs handcuffs, huh?", she stood up, "I thought you were more confident than that, you freak!".

"I am!", Goro dropped the handcuffs on the ground, thus picking the same path his former partner had chosen.

It was exactly what Sonya desired as she stood in her fighting stance while Goro stopped walking towards her and appeared ready for a fight as he was over thirty feet away.

"Back at the tournament, I'd been training myself to face you", Sonya told him, "If Johnny hadn't taken you out, I was going to be next, but I never got the chance. It looks like I'm about to".

She stood still in her fighting stance and just stared at him while he did the same.

"Come on!!", she exclaimed, wanting him to make the first move.

"No, you come on!", Goro replied.

It was time to avenge the deaths of all the Earth warriors who came before her one more time. While still in her fighting stance, Sonya wanted to increase the amount of adrenaline going through her system before she acted.

"WIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!", she yelled out just before running towards her enemy.

She closed the thirty feet of space between herself and Goro in a matter of seconds as she kept her eyes on him and put all her strength in her legs. She knew what she was going to do for her first move, and she had a feeling Goro knew it also. It was only going to be a matter of who could take more physical punishment.

As she was about ten feet away, she took her last step with her right leg. She concentrated her weight on it before twisting to her right and flykicking Goro by holding out her left leg in front of the rest of her body. The bottom of her left sneaker collided into Goro's chest with every bit of her 140 pound body behind it. Goro staggered backwards and took two steps back as Sonya then landed on her feet. Standing in front of him, she twisted to her left and kicked him in the stomach with her right leg. Goro bent over a bit from the second hit as she was getting ready to execute a roundhouse kick aimed at his head. She never got a chance to do it, though, because Goro twisted his stomach as far left as possible and, with all his strength, swung his right arms around. The back of his upper right fist impacted against the right side of her face. Sonya turned around in a semicircle with her eyes wide open. She didn't feel much pain because her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell unconscious on her stomach on the hard, dusty ground.

Not surprised at the outcome, Goro picked her up with his lower arms before he took the handcuffs off the ground. He wanted to kill her at that spot, but he figured to himself that it would be more fun if she was chained and was forced to watch as he destroyed Johnny and then Liu. He carried Sonya towards one of the walls and handcuffed her right wrist to a metal band that was embedded in the concrete about four feet from the ground. He then turned away from her as she laid unconscious on ground with her right arm stretched towards the ceiling because of the handcuffs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya did not know how long she had been out cold, but she woke up after some time with a bad headache. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was before she stared up at her handcuffed hand and realized she could not move away from the wall. The right side of her face, from below the eye until the chin, was darkened from Goro's hit, but she did not know that. She caught a glimpse of the 2,000 year old half human dragon as he paced the ground of the factory over twenty feet in front of her. Seeing Goro made her forget about her headache.

"Why the hell didn't you finish me off, dickhead?", she called out to him, sounding ungrateful.

"I have a special plan for you", Goro answered as he stopped to face her.

Not wanting to be helpless, Sonya quickly began to search the ground around her for something thin enough she could use to free herself from the handcuffs. She was still looking when a movement at the main entrance of the factory averted her attention, as well as her captor's.

Sonya looked towards the main entrance past Sub-zero's scorched remains to see who it was. She was confused when she saw Liu walking into the factory with an old man who was wearing an overcoat and who had a hump on his back. Despite the distance between her and Liu, she could see the old man's face was covered with deep cuts and he had to use a stick to lean on to walk somewhat bent over. Since Goro was closer to the visitors than her, he could obviously see everything she did.

"Who are you?", the Shokan Prince demanded after turning his head towards them.

The old man approached Goro slowly and with difficulty.

"I'm Johnny's father", the old man told him, "Please, don't kill my son. He didn't come here because he's afraid".

Feeling flattered, Goro walked in the direction of the old man to meet him.

"Out of my way, insect!", he planned to send him flying into the air with a slap.

As Goro reached the old man, the old man lifted the stick he was using to walk with over his head with both hands. Since the Prince of Pain was closer, he noticed that the stick was in reality a baseball bat. His realization came too late, however, because the old man swiftly sent the bat crashing down on his forehead.

The bat broke after that single hit. Goro screamed, held his forehead with his two upper hands and staggered back about a dozen feet. During that time, the old man briskly took his coat and the hump off before pressing his left palm on his chin and working his way up towards his left cheek. He repeated the process from his chin towards his right cheek. He then pressed his palm from there until he reached his forehead, thus getting rid of the supposed cuts on his face. Goro soon realized that the old man was none other than Johnny Cage, his worst enemy.

"Clever. Very clever", the former Mortal Kombat champion said as he regained his composure and pointed to Liu, "So, are you planning to face me alone, or will you hide behind him?".

Johnny was already in his fighting stance.

"No", he calmly declared, "It's just you and me".

"I was hoping we'd make it a double fight", Goro pointed at Sonya, "But she ruined it for us".

"What a shame", Liu answered him.

"Don't worry", Goro replied, "After I'm through with your friend, you'll be next. That is, assuming you stay with your honor and not help him cheat".

"He said it's one on one, so it is!", Liu angrily snapped at him.

"You better take a last look at the bitch, insects", Goro then motioned them to where Sonya was handcuffed, "Because there isn't a cliff here for you where you can get lucky. Everything's at ground level, so she will watch you both die!".

"It just makes it more fun for me", Johnny defiantly answered, still in his fighting stance.

"And after I'm done with the both of you", Goro went on, "I'll rip her apart".

He then turned his face to look at Sonya.

"No offense", he sarcastically smiled.

"Shut up and start fighting", Johnny interrupted.

"Fine!", Goro faced him again.

Johnny slowly and carefully took two steps forward while Goro did the same. As they came closer together, their concentration was solely on each other.

"Let's dance", Johnny whispered just loud enough for his adversary to hear.

While Sonya found a thin piece of metal on the ground and began to use it as a tool to hopefully release herself from the restrain, Goro swung with both right arms. Johnny jumped to his left and rolled on the ground. He stood back up and warily walked in a large semicircle so he reached the area to Goro's side and the Prince of Pain had to twist around to face him. Taking advantage of the scene, Liu fly kicked Goro from behind. Feeling the excruciating hit, Goro staggered forward. As he did, Johnny kicked him in the side of his right knee and he bent over because of the pain. Before giving him a chance to recover, Johnny then kicked him in the head. Goro groaned and fell on his side with a loud crash as expected.

"What can I say?", Liu taunted him as he recovered, "This isn't the official tournament. The rules don't apply".

Liu and Johnny closed in against him from about 120 degrees apart while Sonya still desperately tried to loosen the handcuffs around her right wrist. The Prince of Shokan told himself that he should've expected the move by Johnny's partner. After standing at his full height, Goro screamed and charged towards Liu. As he reached him, the White Lotus warrior jumped up as he twisted around and kicked Goro in the head. Liu's kick knocked Goro back down, but he instantly recovered and stood back up. He swung his right arms at Liu, but his opponent ducked far enough to avoid them both. As he did that, Johnny jumped on Goro's back and covered his eyes.

"See if you can fight like this, asshole!", the actor told him, giving Liu a golden opportunity to inflict damage.

Liu simply walked up to Goro and began to use his stomach as a punching bag. He punched and kicked at Goro's stomach at will, taking his frustrations out and seriously harming the former champion at the same time.

After being struck about fifteen times in many different ways, Goro realized he was being overwhelmed and decided to take advantage of the fact that he was a specter. He vanished just as Liu was sending yet another powerful kick into him. Johnny dropped the three feet that separated him from the ground while he was riding on Goro's back and landed on his feet. As soon as he saw Goro disappear, Liu refrained from completing the kick and pulled his leg back. Johnny and Liu then stood back to back and in their own fighting stance to reduce the odds that their enemy could surprise them while reappearing.

"You allright, Sonya?", Johnny called out to her without looking in her direction.

"I'm fine!", she replied still struggling with the handcuffs, "I just wish I could get this damn thing off!".

She knew her fellow kombatants could not help because Goro could easily hit them from behind while their attention was on her. So she kept on working by herself. As she believed she was making progress, she saw Goro appear within an arm's reach of them, forming a 90 degree angle with Johnny and Liu.

"JOHNNY!!!", Sonya yelled out as Johnny turned to his right and Liu to his left.

Before either one could react, though, Goro screamed and swung his upper right arms at the kombatant closer to him. The back of his massive hand collided with Johnny's head and sent him flying several feet into the air. Seeing that, Liu jumped vertically up and uppercut Goro, his fist fitting perfectly under the former champion's chin. The hit sent Goro staggering back. Liu went after him and angrily kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to bend over and gasp for breath. As Liu continued on with a strong kick to Goro's head, Sonya finally loosened the handcuffs and was able to stand up. Seeing that Johnny was on the ground awake, though dazed, she rushed to help Liu because Goro was still on his feet.

She ran up behind Goro and kicked him at the area between his right thigh and his right calf. Since it was from behind, the force of her kick bent his right leg, Goro lost his balance and came down on his knees. With that, Liu executed a roundhouse kick and sent him falling back down on the ground. Goro was briefly on his four hands and knees before he got back up. Before Liu could attack him again, he abruptly kicked the kombatant in the stomach. His hurtful kick sent Liu screaming and flying into the air before he landed on his back a dozen feet away.

With Liu out of the way, Goro turned around to face Sonya. She, in turn, kicked him between the legs since nothing else seemed to work. Goro screamed and bent over in pain just before Johnny rushed towards him and sent his right elbow crashing down on the back of the head of the Shokan Prince. Goro fell flat on his stomach, but before either Sonya or Johnny could do anything else, he vanished again.

"Watch yourself!", Johnny flattened his back against hers.

"Are you OK?", Sonya called out to Liu while keeping an eye out.

"I'm great", Liu moaned as he tried to get off the floor.

Just then Goro appeared next to Sonya and Johnny with a plan already worked out in his head. He hastily used his two upper arms to grab them by the back of the head, one with his right arm and the other with his left. Johnny and Sonya swung at him, but his arms were longer than theirs, so their efforts had no effect. While they were still struggling, Goro slammed their forehead together with all the strength his two arms allowed him.

Sonya and Johnny saw stars as they violently contacted. Afterwards, they both slipped on the ground helpless and incapable of fighting back. Goro roared in a cheer as he held up his four arms after seeing all three mortal kombatants vanquished. He knew he won. All he had to do was kill Johnny and his soul would be able to rest in the afterlife. After Johnny's demise, he could figure out whatever he wanted to do with the other two humans, whether it was to kill them instantly or to enjoy their anguish.

He picked the stunned Johnny Cage off the ground with his upper arms by firmly gripping the human's forearms. He planned to rip his arms off just as he did before to the people that he picked off the street at random to get the female's attention. As he was about to open his upper arms wide, something caught Goro's attention. At the main entrance stood a someone who was the same as his race from Shokan. The new visitor was as big as Goro was and also had four arms. He stood at the entrance of the factory holding a somewhat round-shaped rock which was about fifteen inches in diameter.

"Let him go!!", the new visitor ordered Goro with a forceful voice.

Goro simply kept staring at him, not knowing who he was. Seeing that he wasn't cooperating, the visitor hurled the rock towards him. The rock flew from the entrance and hit Goro in the head even though he was over forty feet away. Goro screamed and dropped Johnny back on the ground as the rock landed next to him. He then stared at the visitor with a deep cut below his left eye as the visitor then walked inside.

"Durak!!!", Goro exclaimed in a terrified manner.

"That's right", the visitor answered, "I'm glad you remember me, little brother".

Liu was already back on his feet and helped Johnny and Sonya get away from Goro as the Shokan Prince stood still, horrified at who he saw.

"I could not rest in peace until I killed my slayer also", Durak said out loud as he came closer, "It was worth it to wait five centuries just to let you come this close to reaching peace before I destroyed you like the lowlife that you are!".

"NO!!", Goro screamed and rushed over to his older brother with his four fists extended, ready to swing "I killed you once! I'll do it again!".

Durak, though, was ready. As Goro reached him, he swung forward and grabbed his younger brother by the lower arms. Durak then turned Goro into a horizontal position and lifted him, despite the fact that his younger brother weighed close to 600 pounds.

"NOOOOO!!!", Goro yelled out as he was in the air feeling helpless.

That was all he got to say because Durak then pushed him down and raised his right knee at the same time. Goro's back impacted into Durak's knee. During the collision, many of the windows that were overhead in the factory shattered and showered everyone on the ground with dangerous pieces of glass. Durak released his younger brother and let him fall on the ground with a broken spine. He then turned away and walked back towards the entrance. A few seconds later, Goro exploded and his body was set on fire just like Sub-zero's had been as the three kombatants took cover.

"Wait!", Johnny called out after Durak.

Durak stopped without turning around to look at them.

"Who are you?", Johnny curiously asked the question that was on all their minds.

"I was his brother", Durak told him, "He killed me five centuries ago to lay claim to the throne after I had spared his life in a fight".

"You're a specter too, aren't you?", Liu reasoned.

"That's right", Durak went on, still without turning around.

"But why did you wait until now to finish him off?", Johnny wanted to know, "He decimated God knows how many people!".

"Your affairs are no concern of mine, human", Durak calmly explained, "And I wanted him to be as close as he could have been to victory to then see me take it all away from him".

"But two people are dead because of him!", Johnny protested, "Two innocent people!".

Durak turned around feeling somewhat annoyed at his tone of voice.

"I just saved your life, human", he reminded all three, still in a relaxed tone.

"I know, goddamnit!", Johnny replied, "And I owe you for it. But you could've saved many other lives too!".

"Like I have said before", Durak repeated, "Your affairs are not my problem".

Without saying anything else, Durak vanished in front of their eyes. All three kombatants stayed quiet for a few seconds before Sonya spoke up.

"I'm assuming you guys drove here, right?", she asked them.

"Yeah", Johnny answered.

"Good", she went on, "Because I can't walk much in this condition".

"You can't walk much?", Liu held on to his aching stomach.

"Well, let's go home and discuss that", she told him, "I can't wait to tell Scott this so he can explain it to detective Olsen".