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.

6. Final Confrontation 6

The ninja seemed to be nothing but a shadow with a pair of bright eyes as his pitch black outfit covered him from head to toe. He could not see around him, for all he knew there might have been someone with a gun aimed at his face standing just a foot ahead. Not wanting to be helpless, he guided his right hand towards his belt and felt for his weapons. After feeling familiar throwing stars and miniature explosives for about two seconds, his fingers gladly wrapped around his nightvision glasses. The ninja hurriedly pulled the dark colored glasses out and proceeded to wear it because he felt anxious as he was taught to be when not in full control, thus covering his eyes as well. He knew he could never stand the idea of being a sitting duck as the bright green light from the nightvision glasses illuminated his view of the surroundings. He sighed.

Unfortunately, his relief was short-lived because even the advanced technology of the glasses could not help him see any better. The ninja became desperate, knowing someone was doing this to him but not what that person's plan with him was. He didn't have long to worry about it because a blazing white light appeared out of nowhere in front of him. He realized the light should've destroyed his eyes since the glasses multiplied any brightness by a factor of thirty, but for some reason, his eyes gave no hint of stress. Instead, the ninja felt eerily comfortable as a man emerged from behind the light and the luster soon engulfed him. The man was dressed in a white outfit, almost as if he was trying to become his opposite, the ninja thought. Despite the straw hat he wore, the ninja could still see that his hair was the color of snow.

The man did not act in an aggressive manner, only bowed his head slightly as he stared into what would have been the ninja's eyes if they weren't sheltered by the glasses. Nonetheless, the ninja did not want to take chances. He swiftly changed into his fighting stance, glancing at the man with suspicion.

"Who are you?", the ninja demanded first.

No answer, just the same stare.

"WHO ARE YOU?", the ninja raised his voice, feeling more nervous than angry.

"I am known by many names", the man told him, "But you may call me Rayden, the thunder god and the protector of Earth".

The ninja would have answered with sarcasm at such a title before, but an aura surrounding his visitor persuaded him to take this one seriously.

"And your business with me?", he asked next still without relaxing from his stance.

"I want to help you see the truth", Rayden answered, as if the ninja should have already known.

"Help me see the truth", the ninja repeated, "And how, pray tell, do you plan to do that?".

It was obvious from his tone of voice that he didn't think Rayden was here for his well-being, and the thunder god could see it.

"Did you really enjoy what you have just attempted?", the god interjected, "You would have killed her if her two friends had not caught up to you in time".

"You mean the blonde?", the ninja finally realized what the god was talking about, his fight with the one his boss called Sonya had left him feeling worthless, "Why is she any of your concern?".

There was a pause before the ninja grinned under his mask.

"Why, god? Are you infatuated with her? You can tell me", he could feel his bravado returning now that he could see the person responsible for bringing him here, wherever here was.

"No", Rayden frankly replied, "Only that it would have been yet another death that was directly attributed to you. I am forced to wonder how your conscience can handle it".

"I can handle it just fine, thank you", the ninja went on, not being in the mood for a moral judgment.

Rayden raised his right hand as he outstretched his arm with the palm facing the ninja. A bolt of electricity shot out of his palm and struck the ninja, hurling him backwards and slamming his back against an invisible wall. The electricity surrounded him and kept him pinned against the barrier that he couldn't see, but the ninja felt no shock or pain whatsoever.

"What are you doing?", he demanded again, unable to move, "Why do you have to cheat in order to fight me? I thought you said you were a god! You have to do this first in order to kill me because you're afraid?".

"I am not going to kill you", Rayden said in a grim voice, "That would be too easy".

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?", the ninja yelled out, "STOP IT!".

Rayden wasn't listening because the next thing the ninja felt was pain. Pain more intense than anything even he had experienced before. He wondered where it was coming from as he started screaming. Then it made sense to him. The ache was fierce because that was what he had created. Between the overwhelming agony and his shrieks, he realized he was feeling the exact emotions that his victims had gone through, every single victim that he had murdered in the name of the Black Dragon.

The self-torture lasted about five minutes, although it subjectively felt more like five years when it finally stopped. The electricity that had restrained him vanished and the ninja dropped, exhausted, on an invisible ground. His body trembled as he saw the truth that Rayden had described. His only purpose in life had been to bring misery to others, nothing else.

"Ugghhh", he tried to sit up and failed, "What have I done?... What have I done?".

"It is all over now", Rayden consoled from afar, "I will take you somewhere so you can be in peace".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya was seated in a squatting position on the ground outside her home, dressed in the usual shorts and untucked T-shirt. Her back was flat against the wall. It was a moonless night and it was only with the help of the streetlights that one could go anywhere without bumping into a parked car, a tree or a side of someone else's home. Johnny was out shooting his latest film and Liu had volunteered to tag along to offer his expertise in the martial arts in the hopes of making the fight scenes in the movie look even better. Scott was inside, still nursing his wounded arm, even though he had been released from the hospital a short while ago. Her father was out on some business with the military as usual. The neighborhood seemed pretty boring, which was just fine with her, since no news was definitely good news to her ears. It was so dull, in fact, it actually gave her a chance to simply be alone with her thoughts and daydream for a while. Her mind wandered off as she stared right ahead with a blank, happy expression on her face.

Her daydream was cut short as she heard footsteps to her left. She turned her head towards the source of the noise. She didn't see anything for a handful of seconds, but a silhouette soon emerged from among the shadows and the dimness because her eyes were already accustomed to the dark. The figure calmly walked towards her from about thirty feet away. Still keeping her eyes on him, she followed the path he was taking as she wondered why he was heading for her. She still saw nothing unusual as the person kept getting closer until there was only ten feet of concrete separating them. It was only then that she recognized him as the perfect twin of the ninja she had fought on Shang Tsung's island, the one who had nearly suffocated her to death. The only difference was that this ninja had a pair of nightvision glasses that her opponent hadn't worn on the island. Her mind became more attentive, telling her that it was the same person.

Adrenaline rushed through her as Sonya promptly jumped up to her feet, ignoring the nagging questions in the back of her mind that asked how it was possible that they saw each other again. Eyes wide, she changed into her fighting stance as the ninja stopped as soon as he saw her getting up.

"You!!", she exclaimed, wanting to make his visit short and violent.

The ninja tried to raise his hands in an attempt to show her that he was not looking for a fight, but Sonya had already rushed forward. She planted the bottom of her foot into his chest before he could even get both hands up. The ninja groaned as his body shot up and backwards for about a foot into the air before he fell down, his back slamming hard into the ground.

"Wait!", he raised his right hand in front of his face as he tried to stand back up.

Unfortunately, Sonya was already upon him, the memories of their last standoff still fresh in her mind.

"You son of a bitch!!", she barked as she sent a solid punch into his jaw, knocking him back down.

She next kicked him in the side of the stomach, wanting to hurt him as much as possible. Three sharp kicks found their mark in his midsection, with a fourth kick delivering a punishing blow to his head. All that time, the ninja kept trying to talk her into calming down, with no success. He finally decided this beating could not go on and easily leg sweeped her. Her ankles were whisked out from under her and she found herself crashing down on her left side. As she tried to stand up in her own turn, the ninja grabbed both her shoulders and pinned them on the ground, concentrating his weight on top of her body to keep her from moving.

"Calm yourself", he ordered, looking down at her.

Before he could say anything else, though, Sonya pulled her right arm and shoulder towards her torso, thus releasing them from his grip as his left hand bluntly met the concrete. She next delivered another punch to his jaw, knocking him off her and quickly standing up as his body weight was shifted away.

They both found their balance and stood straight. Before either one could react, they heard the door to her home opening. While only glancing in that direction for a fraction of a second in order to keep her opponent from gaining an advantage, Sonya saw to her delight that it was Scott who opened it. He was holding his Beretta 92F pistol in one hand as he had clearly heard her fighting.

"What's going on?? What's wrong??", her Special Forces partner asked, still keeping the handgun aimed towards the floor.

"He attacked me", she pointed her right index finger at the ninja as she took several steps backwards and away from him, "He was one of the Black Dragon assassins who tried to kill me on the island. He came back to finish the job".

Hearing that, Scott didn't waste any time pointing his weapon at the ninja as he stepped outside, though with difficulty, and let the door close behind him. The ninja did not move, not wanting to give him a reason to overreact.

"Shoot him!", Sonya ordered, panting,

Scott just stood there, eyes locked with the ninja, who was also immobile.

"Scott, shoot him!!", Sonya went on.

Scott and the ninja still remained frozen.

"GODDAMN IT, SCOTT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?", she was screaming now, "SHOOT HIM, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! SHOOT HIM!!".

She couldn't understand the confused look on Scott's face. She asked herself why he wasn't reacting. As she was still wondering about it, the ninja proceeded to take off his nightvision glasses. He next gripped the mask and smoothly pulled it off his face. Under the mask, he wore a menacing grin as his eyes were already locked with Scott's. Both Scott's and Sonya's mouth widened as Scott found himself staring at his own reflection in a ninja outfit. The ninja was his twin in every way, except for being somewhat more muscular.

"Well", the ninja's grin did not vanish as he spoke to Scott, "It's about time we met".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ninja did not give Scott or Sonya any more trouble. Curiosity having overcome them, and wishing to believe his tale of only having come here to talk to them, they abruptly dragged him inside Sonya's home. They wanted to make sure the noise from the fight between Scott's twin and Sonya, and especially her screams to have him shot, did not attract any inquiring onlookers.

Scott was busy trying to piece the sudden twist of events together in his head. He wasn't surprised that such an occurrence took place so soon after he returned from the hospital. In his life, ever since he had met the kombatants, it was almost expected. In fact, he thought to himself that he would've been astounded if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

"How old are you?", he stared into his twin's eyes, desperately trying to tell from his reaction whether or not he was lying.

"Let's just say I'm younger than you", his twin sighed, "Hell, if you counted all the years I've been alive, you wouldn't reach the double digits".

The twin's eyes were completely steady as he responded, prompting Scott to believe that he wasn't lying. Sonya was not concerned about the twin's honesty at the moment. She was simply keeping him under her watch in case his entire story had been nothing but a ruse to gain access to the both of them together.

"I don't believe this", Scott told more himself than her, "You're a clone... You're a goddamn clone... Of me!".

Sonya didn't immediately grasp his words, so her facial expression remained unchanged.

"There was only one time when this could've happened", Scott continued, doing his best to remember, "The first time I went up against those sons of bitches. That was the only time I spilled my own blood".

His twin didn't respond, only shifted his eyes, insinuating that Scott was getting closer to the truth.

"I left my blood behind without cleaning it up. When they came in afterwards, they had to have been impressed that one person could've just wiped them out like that. They figured they could use someone like that person working for them, and that's why you were created. That's how a clone is created, isn't it? By a sample of the donor, like blood for instance", Scott asked him.

"Wait a second", Sonya finally caught up to him, "What makes you so sure? You see your twin brother come in here and you think he's a clone?".

"I don't have a brother, sis", Scott let her know, "I never did. I was an only child".

"Well then, maybe someone's trying to screw with us!", she added, with more force, "Can't plastic surgery do this? Maybe just to get him in here, gain your, or should I say our, trust, and then stab us all in the back".

"That might've been a possibility, but only for one problem", Scott went on, "I was dressed exactly like him the day that I spilled blood. That's why I froze when I had my gun on him. The ninja outfit with the nightvision glasses was exactly what I had on that day".

"What day?!?", she was getting more nervous than impatient, "You keep referring to a time when you fought with somebody and lost some blood and now there's a clone of you running around? Am I the only one here who's confused?".

Scott's twin didn't even try to speak up, knowing for sure that the original would be able to explain better than him. The original Scott and Sonya were staring at each other, so the twin decided it was better to let the scene play itself out.

"What?", she asked him in a softer tone, almost a whisper, as she braced herself for his response, "Is there something about you that you haven't told me?".

"Sonya", Scott sighed, wishing he didn't have to recall, "Didn't you ever find it strange that I was so eager to help you out when you returned from the tournament, after you had gone after Kano and disappeared into that boat?".

"Well.... No", she had to admit.

"OK, and that's fine. But the truth is, I was looking after you because I felt bad for you. I had done exactly what you had done with Kano, except I had done it several years before".

She waited for him to finish as he took time to carefully choose his words.

"OK", he sighed again, wishing that he was somewhere else, "From the start, and the whole truth this time. The main reason the Black Dragons is so rich right now is because they started their fortune in the drug business. Their business was strengthened with the help of aliens, believe it or not, and I do mean the kind that travel across space in ships. I don't know how they ran into these aliens in the first place, but they had a bond. The aliens supplied them with the drugs, the Dragons tried to flood the entire globe with it, and I'm sure the aliens got something out of it as well. I dunno, maybe they had gone on a spree to make sure every life in the universe was destroyed except for them. Anyway, several years back, I accidentally ran into of those losers as he was about to deliver a 'routine' hit on a rival syndicate member in a public train station. I had no idea who was trying to shoot who, I just tackled the guy who was taking aim with the gun with the silencer on it and so the hit was a miss and these lowlifes began bugging me because of it. But the annoyance was just the start... One day, this alien that I saw for the first time breaks into my place and takes a shot at me. I would've been a goner too, except this idiot was a bad shot and he ended up killing my best friend instead. As he's about to turn around and leave, he says something like 'Chaves sends his regards'. I guess he figured as long as he wasted somebody that I cared about, that was almost as good as wasting me".

Scott stopped there, wanting to give Sonya a chance to accept all the information.

"Chaves? Who's Chaves?", she asked, interested.

"Chaves was this fifty year old guy who was, back then, what Kano and Benson were when you ran into them", he explained as he started pacing the living room, "So I really didn't know what to do. I knew where this asshole lived because he was like one of the richest people on the planet and he had a mansion just outside of Washington DC. I decided to drop by, not even knowing what I was trying to achieve. Anyway, once there, I hear this alien talking to this Chaves character and he's telling him of how he's got this new superdrug that is so potent that it will addict any person after the very first use. And once it's out, the only way an addict will be allowed to get more will be if he or she purposefully gets someone else addicted. That's what they were planning. This was their idea of going for world domination, having everyone at the tip of their fingers with the help of this superdrug. Just as I'm getting some brave ideas about how I should get out of there and tell the police, some of their goons jump me from behind. I swear, every one of those pigs was high on steroids".

He stopped again, looking at both Sonya and his twin to see if they believed his story, which they seemed to do, although Sonya seemed to be more intrigued by it and more sympathetic towards him. But then again, he told himself, he could expect no less from his sister.

"I swear, I was barely out of high school by then", he proceeded, "So this Chaves pig has me tied up as him, the alien, his goons stare at me as they're in front of those superdrugs, thinking they're the last things I'm gonna see before I'm dead. And there was Chaves's girlfriend too, this bitch was at most as old as I was back then and she was with him, go figure. So he's proudly lecturing me about how this is the end of the world as I know it and the next thing I know, he takes out this remote control thing and presses a button and every last bit of the drugs in the warehouse just vanishes into thin air! I couldn't believe my eyes, it was the alien's technology that was making it possible. He figured the drugs were hitting the streets tomorrow, so even if the police did manage to obtain any type of search warrant, which was impossible anyway, all he had to do to destroy the evidence was press a button. With that, he laughs, and he and his sex toy and the alien and a majority of the goons leave after he tells two of his goons to finish me off. Those two goons made a mistake, in that they assumed I wouldn't fight back just because they were both bigger than me. That cost'em because I sent my elbow into the first one's stomach and my fist into the second one's face and I bolted outta there while they were still catching their breath. But see, Chaves was pompous, and careless. He assumed that I couldn't do anything to him legally by the next day, which was true, so he thought he was safe. But I went back home, got dressed in my ninja outfit, grabbed the Beretta, my hunting knife, the nightvision glasses and my grappling hook and came back. I climbed to the roof of Chaves's mansion and the first human shape I saw was about thirty yards in front of me. It was nighttime outside and I had the nightvision on, so I think I saw him but not the other way around because he was holding this giant flashlight to patrol the area. Every one of Chaves's goons must've been on steroids or something, I still remember how muscular his silhouette looked. I was squatted down as he calmly walked towards me. When he was about fifteen yards away, I just charged at him. He reached for his uzi submachine gun, but I brought down my fist on his head with all the strength I had. He didn't pass out, of course, only stumbled down. As he was trying to get up, I hit him over the head with the Beretta and put him to sleep for sure. While he was in dreamland, I figured I might as well search him, found he had a silencer on his uzi and it turned out to fit fine for the Beretta, so I took it for the pistol".

"Just then, though, the guard wakes back up and tries to get his hands on his uzi again", Scott recollected, "I grab his wrist with my left hand and we just stay like that in a standstill. But he was getting stronger while I was getting weaker. So I just aimed at his head with the Beretta in my right hand and a round quietly split his skull in half. The silencer must've been real quality to suppress the noise from the gun like that, I'll tell you that much. After that, I come down from the roof. After the first door I open, this other guard is standing on the other side and he's surprised as he reaches for his uzi also. We found ourselves staring at each other from ten yards away. He levels his weapon, I level mine and I squeeze the trigger before he does. The bullet goes clean through his neck and he falls down as he's firing rounds in every direction, damn near hit me by chance, but not quiet. By that time, I was starting to enjoy this stuff. I walk over to him as he's convulsing and bleeding like a pint of blood every ten seconds and I calmly aim the Beretta into the center of his chest. He saw the barrel of the gun, just like I wanted him to, but he couldn't stop what was about to happen. I pull the trigger one more time and he stops moving all together. With every person I wasted, my friend's death was bothering me less and less. I barely got ten steps away before a third goon appeared. He fires, I drop to the floor and shoot back three times, and we both miss. His second try was still careless, though, and all he did was screw up the wall a few inches above my head. My second try put two bullets in his chest. That went on, a handful of more guards bought the farm one by one as I ran into them while looking for Chaves and the alien. Then I run into Chaves's girlfriend of all people. I can see she's scared and that she's trying to stall me to get away, but when another goon appears, he tackles me and she's screaming at him to rip my head off. We fight for my gun, the goon gets hit in the stomach. While he's lying on the floor, still screaming, all I remember is rage. I aim at Chaves's girlfriend while she's begging me to let her go and I blow her goddamn brains out. The alien saw me soon after, and he was one strong son of a bitch, although I'm sure nothing when compared to Goro. A magnetic force suddenly pulls my Beretta and my grappling hook away from me. The alien wanted to disarm me, which he did, and he also starts coming at me unarmed, pretty clear he wanted to beat my face in first. But what he didn't know was that the hunting knife was inside the ninja outfit. I knew it wouldn't do me any good to pull it out now because he still had this magnet gizmo with him as he came closer. I strike first, sending a kick straight into his stomach, all he did in response was bend over and then gathered himself up again. Like I said, he was strong. He swings, I duck. He swings again, I dive to the side. But his third punch catches me right in the face and I'm staggering ten yards away before I land on my back. As I see him coming at me again, I pull the mask off because I was spitting out blood and the mask was blocking it. I barely stand, uppercut him. He barely feels it. So I next kick him in the knee. I didn't break it, but this time it hurt him like hell. He drops to his knees and I grab his jaw and start slamming the back of his head into the wall like four or five times. I kick him in the head, knock him down. As he's still trying to get back up, I pull out the knife and send it into his neck. That was the end of him. After that, Chaves was the last person in the entire mansion left alive. I strangled him to death with my bare hands as he kept telling me he'd make me a rich man if I let him go".

"Damn", was the only thing Sonya could think of saying as Scott's twin still looked bored.

"Whomever came by from the Black Dragons to check the mansion out after I was gone must've seen my blood there and realized it didn't belong to any of the members. That's how the clone came in. They figured they could use somebody as talented as that. I got rid of the ninja outfit and all the gadgets after that, kept only the Beretta. I thought with Chaves and the alien gone that I wouldn't have to hear from those losers again, that my problems were over. Hell, the police were happy to see him dead, they didn't even try to find me. But my problems with this goddamn organization were far from over because I soon got paid a visit from his son, who was the new head. Another shoot-out follows and his son ends up dead also. At the end of that, I just walked up to those idiots and told them that their problem wasn't with me, that only their leader's was, and now that he was dead, we could all just walk away, and they agreed".

"Did Kano and Benson take over then?", was her question, although she wasn't sure if he knew.

"I don't know whether they took over immediately then or afterwards, but they were the head when I heard from them again", he responded, "Years later, I'm in Hong Kong with the Special Forces and I had almost forgotten about the whole thing and I hear all of a sudden that one of our shipments was hijacked and some of our guys killed by the Black Dragon. Then comes the murder of Richards. I felt like they were following me, but they really weren't, it was only a coincidence".

"And the next thing I know, this lieutenant, the only woman in the entire base, decides to sacrifice a promising career to go after the current head", Scott continued, looking at her, "I was really glad to see you OK when you came back, but I felt lousy when I heard you got kicked out because of what you did. You had done practically what I had done years ago by killing the presiding head of this organization. The only difference was, I was a civilian when I did it so there was no official consequence for my actions, but you lost your career for yours. It just wasn't right. I just had to see for myself that I could help you out in any way possible and that's why I decided to come here for two weeks with you. Of course, after that, things took on a life of their own... You know, the main problem with doing something like that to Chaves and company, other than the obvious fact that you'll get killed, is that you might enjoy it too much. That's what led to Chaves's girlfriend's death and that's what my twin is based on. He's based on that person, except maybe he's more intense".

"Well, Scotty, you could've told me that from day one", Sonya felt relieved, "You didn't have to hide that from me".

"Thanks...", he felt glad it was over.

"But you still haven't told us how you found your way here", she turned her attention to Scott's clone in an almost accusing fashion, "Or what you're really doing here, for that matter".

"I told you", the double seemed annoyed that he had to repeat himself so many times in order to be believed, "I wanted to have some peace".

"Aha", it was obvious from her tone of voice that she didn't believe him, "Is that what you were thinking on the island when you had your hands wrapped around my throat?".

"That was different", the clone calmly explained, "I was a different person".

"It was just a short time ago!", she snapped at him, trying hard not to physically attack him again, "You expect me to believe that you changed your ways overnight?".

"It wasn't up to me alone", he tried to explain the events after he was taken off the island.

The clone debated shortly in his mind as to whether or not he should tell them about Rayden. In the end, he concluded that he might as well tell the whole truth, instead of only the parts that made sense.

"Rayden helped", he shot forth, "He... opened my eyes".

At the mention of the thunder god's name, Sonya's skepticism waned. The clone couldn't have known about Rayden since he was unconscious when the god carried him off the island. If Rayden had made himself visible to him, there must have been a good reason.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened between us on that island", Scott's twin continued, "Whether you believe me is up to you, but I'm telling you the truth. It's not like it's going to matter shortly anyway".

"What are you talking about?", Scott questioned.

"Clones can't be sustained by themselves, my gentle host", the clone addressed him, "They need a special injection of antitoxin on a regular basis to stay healthy. An antitoxin that only those Black Dragon scientists can give. Without it, my guess is that I'll be dead within a month".

"Well, you need to get some of that stuff then", Scott advised, "Right?".

"The only way I'll get more is if I go back to the organization", the clone told him, "And I am not going back there".

"What?!", Scott shot forth, "What are you, suicidal?".

"No, but I've already made my peace. Don't intervene with my decision to go, please", the clone politely let him know.

Sonya was watching the conversation. It seemed to astonish her because the clone talked in exactly the same manner that Scott did, the only difference being that they were on opposing sides, or at least used to be.

"You wanna stay here?", Scott offered, respecting the clone's wishes and wanting to make his last days comfortable.

Sonya sharply stared at him as soon as his question was asked. She reasoned that it was her place and Scott had no right to make such a donation without her approval. As the thought raced through her mind in the space of a single second, Scott turned his face towards her even though he had no idea what she was pondering.

"That is, if it's OK with you, of course", he added as he locked eyes with her.

She gave a slight smile because she was glad he considered her feelings.

"I don't think so", the clone refused before she could say anything, "It's better that I go. I don't think the neighbors would appreciate a hitman moving in next door".

"Where're you gonna go, huh?", Scott wanted him to think about his words.

"I'll think of something. I always do", the clone reassured as he headed for the door, "You don't survive in my business without being creative. You think it's easy to allude an entire police force that's chasing a copkiller? It takes a renaissance spirit".

It took Scott and Sonya a split second to actually realize what he was talking about.

"What?", she pressed as the clone gripped the doorknob.

"Huh?", the clone turned his face to her, wondering what her question was.

"Did you just say a copkiller?", Scott repeated.

"Well, of course", the clone answered, surprised, "What do you think a Black Dragons assassin did? Donate chocolate chip cookies to orphanages for a living?".

"I think you better leave", Sonya coldly shot back.

"Wait a second, wait a second!", Scott interrupted, even though the idea of his clone being someone who took the life of a police officer made him think he was about to throw up.

The professionalism he saw in detective Olsen and the other officers was on his mind, but he tried to put it aside in favor of remembering that his clone had nowhere to go.

"Where are you gonna live?", he asked.

"Let him go, goddamn it!", Sonya snapped at him.

"Listen, Scott, you mind if I call you Scott?", Scott addressed the clone.

"Not at all", the clone calmly answered.

"Well, Scott, you mind waiting here while I talk to my sister for a minute in the kitchen?", Scott pointed towards the kitchen.

"Sure, go right ahead", the clone said.

"Please", Scott indicated the direction towards the kitchen, desiring to have a private conversation with Sonya there.

Sonya reluctantly walked towards the kitchen, not taking her eyes off the clone as she did. Scott followed her from a few feet away.

"You know, she doesn't look anything like you", the clone spoke up as he grimaced from the door.

"Oh, shut up", Scott replied as he reached the kitchen and closed the door behind him.

"I don't want him here!", Sonya aggressively aimed towards the closed kitchen door as soon as Scott was there.

"Listen, where else is he gonna go?", he tried to reason.

"I don't care! He's a copkiller! Do you know what that means?", she shot back.

"That could've been me out there", he answered, "He was based on the person that I was back when I attacked Chaves's mansion. He was made this way because of me. I can't just turn my back to him".

Sonya was quiet. Scott guessed she was probably calming down.

"Look", she proved him right because she answered in a softer tone, "You and I go way back, you know that. You're very important... But I can't have him here... I just can't".

"OK, I understand, but I also can't leave him alone. He only has a short time left to live and I at least owe this to him", he let her know.

There was a moment of silence, both realizing the other wouldn't give in.

"I'll move out if I have to. That's fine", he restarted, "I just have to make sure he finds a place to stay. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't".

Sonya didn't like what she was hearing. Scott proved to be as unyielding as she was when she really believed in something. Just then, the clone opened the door to the kitchen from the living room and addressed the original Scott.

"What the hell are you doing?", the twin interposed, "You're gonna move out so you can baby-sit me for a few days? What do you think am I? A kindergarten student?".

"I thought this was a private conversation", the original Scott rejoined, "Do ninjas usually eavesdrop?".

"I wasn't eavesdropping", his double defended himself, "You two are so loud, I'd be able to hear you if I was standing halfway across the state".

Scott sighed as Sonya crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at his twin with nothing but aggression in her eyes. She told herself that maybe he was here to make peace, but it was only because of him that she and Scott were arguing presently.

"Look, kid, I appreciate the sentiment, but you're not gonna sacrifice what you got here for me", the clone told Scott as he pointed behind him with his right thumb, "Thanks, but I'm outta here. And I'll be OK, so don't worry".

Sonya had to admit that the clone's actions were pretty selfless, probably the same kind of action that Scott would take upon himself if the roles had been reversed. She reasoned that if Scott had so much faith in this person, then she should too.

"Allright, goddamnit, maybe you can stay here for as long as you've got", she told him quickly because she was afraid she'd change her mind as she pointed her index finger at Scott, "But realize that I'm only doing this for him, not for you".

Her decision made Scott smile and she thought she even saw a sign of relief on the clone's facial expression.

"Well, that's good", the twin answered with a grin, "Because I had absolutely nowhere else to go".

Sonya walked out of the kitchen and into the living room just in time to see Johnny using his key to open the front door to let both himself and Liu in.

"Man!", Johnny exclaimed, his sunglasses still on, "This picture's going to blow every other so-called martial arts movie away! I can promise everybody that! Liu blew the producers away with the stunts he performed on top of mine and the stuntmen's".

"You were that good?", Sonya asked the monk who followed the actor inside.

"He's too generous with his flattery", Liu humbly told her, pointing to Johnny.

Both men saw Scott's clone at the same time because he was in front of the original Scott as they headed into the living room.

"Hey, Scott", Johnny spoke first, thinking out loud, "Have you been lifting some more weights than usual?".

"No, not really", the original Scott answered as he made himself more visible.

Both kombatants' expectedly eyes widened.

"Don't ask me, because I don't feel like explaining", Sonya held her palms out in front of her chest as she predicted their question.

"Somebody feel like filling us in here?", Johnny stared at both twins.

"It's your explanation, Scotty", she turned towards her bedroom, "I'm going to bed".

She headed into her bedroom, knowing she wouldn't get much sleep that night. Changed personality or no, the fact still remained that there was a Black Dragons assassin living in her home and she'd have to be extremely careful. She closed the bedroom door behind her as she could still hear Scott explaining what had happened during the last few hours. She didn't trust the clone at all, so she had gone against her instincts by allowing him to stay. As long as he was living under the same roof, it would mean that she wouldn't be able to be comfortable in her own residence. She knew it was wrong that she had to live in such a way but she decided to endure the discomfort that seemed to twist her stomach into a knot. All she had to do was make sure Scott didn't see how much she hated the idea of having the latest guest in her home.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liu was sound asleep on the couch just a few minutes before the sun was about to rise. He was dreaming, although he didn't know it then. He clearly saw Princess Kitana although he couldn't identify her surroundings. He reasoned that it was Outworld, because despite the tournament, he and his fellow kombatants still only spent a relatively short amount of time there.

Liu's thoughts had been with the princess a lot ever since their fight in the original tournament where she notified him of the method which he would later use to kill Sub-zero. He'd been busy with his attempt at making amends with the White Lotus society when he first returned from the tournament. He then flew to the United States in a hurry because one of his friends was distraught since she believed Goro's specter was back for revenge. After a series of adventures with his fellow kombatants, he was now taking Johnny's next martial arts movie to new heights. Although all those events were worthwhile and enlightening, Liu had realized that if he hadn't been so occupied, he'd have to admit to himself that he missed Kitana's company.

In the dream, Kitana was standing in an open desert which supported a purple sky. She could feel evil approaching, although could see nothing at the moment. Her instincts about the danger soon took the form of a noise. A dull noise steadily approached her and she couldn't see from which direction even though she warily turned around repeatedly. The dull noise soon became clearer as Kitana realized it was actually someone's, or something's, footsteps. With the advancing footsteps getting louder, a frightened Princess Kitana finally stopped rotating in place in her efforts to try to see it. She stared ahead at Liu.

"Liu!", she called as she outstretched both open hands towards him, "Help us!!".

The footsteps became even louder. A monster was approaching Kitana. Liu couldn't see it, he couldn't even tell where it was, but he felt that something corrupt was nearing her with every second that passed. It was something new, something that neither he nor any of his fellow kombatants had ever seen before. Liu screamed out the princess's name.

"KITANAA", he opened his eyes and sat up at the same time, realizing he was awake.

Only the silence of the living room and the loud beating of his heart answered him.

Liu looked around as morning light tried to fight its way into the living room through the window. The window was still covered with a clear plastic cover because no one had gotten around to fixing it after Sonya had jumped through it after the last Black Dragons hitman had fired at her. Despite the silence, though, Liu soon realized that he wasn't alone. The clone was sound asleep on a mat on the floor, but the original Scott was wide awake as he emerged from the kitchen holding a half-eaten sandwich. He had obviously heard the monk wake up.

"You OK, Liu?", Scott slowly walked towards him, being careful so not to wake his clone or Sonya.

"Yes, thank you", Liu responded although he could still hear his heart pounding in his chest.

"Who's Tanaka?", Scott next asked, looking confused.

"Kitana", Liu corrected him.

"Kitana", Scott repeated.

"She was someone...", Liu picked his words carefully, "Someone we met on Shang Tsung's island during the tournament. She was the princess of the Outworld, and her help proved to be invaluable to us".

"Did you just dream about this lady?", was the next question.

"Yes", the monk never lied.

"Do you miss her?", Scott grinned.

Liu was amazed at how efficiently Scott could read his mind, but he didn't answer.

"Look, Liu", Scott decided to give some advice even though he wasn't asked to, "If you miss her, then give her a call".

"Give her a call?", Liu repeated incredulously, "I don't believe the realm of Outworld even has telephones".

"Well then, there has got to be some other way, right?".

"That is not how it works", Liu tried to convince himself more than Scott, "Princess Kitana has her responsibilities, as do I".

"Well, we all have responsibilities, Liu, but come on! You're young, she's young, you gotta do something about that. Life is more than just a job full of responsibilities, right?".

"She is not as young as you say", the monk corrected him again, although appreciating his liberal insight.

"Huh?", was Scott's only reaction.

"She's ten thousand years old", Liu continued.

"What?!", was the expected answer, "Wooo... She's a little old for you, ain't she, Liu?".

Scott's last remark actually make Liu smile.

Sonya opened the door of her bedroom and stepped out, her eyes still sleepy and trying hard to walk straight as she was still in last night's shorts and T-shirt.

"Hey, what're you doing up so early?", Scott asked.

"Boss wants me to be in at the opening of the store today", she barely glanced at anyone as she staggered towards the bathroom to wash her face with cold water.

"But the store doesn't open until eight in the morning", Scott was perplexed.

"Well, some of us have to work out and go to our jobs. We're not all unemployed", she answered him.

Scott didn't know whether it was just the sleepiness that caused that kind of answer or that he had done something wrong between last night and this morning. He stared at Liu as Sonya was in the bathroom splashing handfuls of cold water on her face. She soon came out while she dried her face with a towel. Her next action was to grab a pair sneakers and a gym bag.

"I'm going to catch a workout at the gym. I got my change of clothes in the bag", she told whomever was interested, "I'll get something to eat at work".

After quickly putting the sneakers on, she was on her way outside.

"Uh, sis?", Scott decided to take his chances and interrupt, "Are you angry at something?".

Sonya already had the door open with her back to him when she stopped briefly.

"Yeah", she whispered.

"At me?", he added.

She turned around, somewhat pleased that he asked.

"No", she smiled, "Not you".

With that, she was out and closed the door behind her.

"I have to go as well", Liu blurted out as he jumped off the couch.

"Where to?", Scott questioned, feeling as if he was being abandoned.

"I need to see Johnny at his hotel", the monk told him as he rushed for the door as well.

"Are you gonna discuss the movie with him?", Scott went on.

Liu wished he could've lied at that point. It would've been easy to simply say 'yes', but White Lotus members were not allowed to tell a lie under any conditions. It was that kind of respect for the truth and discipline that made the members who they were.

"No, I am not", the monk responded, hoping that Scott wouldn't ask what he planned to talk about.

"Then what?", Scott disappointed him.

Liu stood erect and faced him from across the living room, feeling somewhat annoyed.

"I am going to him to discuss my dream about Princess Kitana", he frankly informed the ex-commando.

With that, Liu was out the door also.

Scott felt like he had been awake since forever since he was watching the news on the television set by the time the clone finally woke up. He lowered the volume because he still had not fully accepted the fact that his twin was willing to sit back and wait to die without trying harder to stay alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I am not going back there!", the clone pressed, "I don't care if it will mean my death. Besides, dying is the only way I can ever make up for my past actions".

"Dying is not the answer!", Scott shot back, "What do you think this is? Some story that romanticizes suicide?".

"I don't expect you to understand", his twin calmly told him, "But let's talk about something else".

Scott sighed, realizing he didn't understand his clone's apparent close-mindedness.

"Is there anything I can do?", he asked, expecting to hear a negative answer.

"Actually, yes", the twin surprised him, "Do you listen to heavy metal?".

"What?", Scott clarified, "Heavy metal? As in heavy metal music?".

"Yes. Do you listen to it?".

"Well, no".

"Well, I do", the clone let him know, "The only way I train is with the music on. Can you get me a cassette?".

Scott only stared back.

"I wouldn't ordinarily ask, but I'm a little short on income presently", the clone added.

"I can do that", Scott told him, "But you have to do something for me in return".

"What's that?".

"You have to try extra hard to come to terms with the lady in this household. Can you do that?".

"I can try", the former ninja promised, "The blonde is something else. I can see why you're so fond of her".

"Really?", Scott doubted that he did.

"On the island, there was, how you say, a certain attraction felt towards the blonde by me", the clone went on, "I felt sorry for her when Crane pushed her off the edge. When one of the other assassins was shot, I knew we were outnumbered and was running back to the boat to signal for help. I bet she thinks I was trying to escape. I wasn't".

Scott only listened as the clone stopped briefly.

"When I saw her standing between the boat and myself, part of me was actually glad she was alive", he said, "But another part of me wanted to tear her apart in the most sadistic way possible. Having her challenge me was all the provocation I needed... She's a real piece of work. But as for your sister, I still don't see the resemblance".

"Not my biological sister, stupid", Scott told him, almost playfully.

"Oh...", was the clone's only reaction as he thought some more, "You don't fight, do you, host?".

"No, I stopped when I got shot".

"When?", the twin asked next.

"During our counterstrike against the militants who hit the House of Representatives", Scott recalled, "Got hit once in the stomach and once in the hip. It's a miracle I was actually able to even walk after that".

Just then, a masked hood appeared on the television screen where moments earlier was the news anchorman. Surprised, Scott increased the volume to comprehend what was going on.

"...score one for anarchy!", the hooded man recited with a passion, "Declare war on the police and society in general! This is coming from the Black Dragons, destroy all who are not like us!".

"What the hell is this??", Scott asked his clone, who seemed just as stupefied.

He tried to change the channel, but the hooded face was overriding the signal from every station, repeating the same statement over and over again.

"You have got to be kidding me", neither man could understand what was happening.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Detective Olsen and patrolman Peters were still discussing the strange reception they received so distastefully from their television sets as they were eating inside Peters' patrol car. Olsen was seated in the front passenger seat as he talked to the patrolman behind the wheel.

"I swear to God", the detective angrily told the patrolman, "Just when I think I've seen it all, some jackass comes up with a new way to piss me off".

He didn't feel much like eating, but he knew he would have to keep up with his daily caloric requirements if he insisted on being as active as he was.

"It's probably just some idiot looking for his fifteen minutes of fame", Peters smiled, "Don't let him get to you. Believe me, we'll be seeing him on a talk show soon enough".

As Olsen reached into his paper bag to withdraw a sandwich, he heard what sounded like firecrackers from a short distance away. His extensive experience in the police force told him those supposed firecrackers were actually gunshots and the bulletholes in the windshield of the patrol vehicle told him the bullets were aimed at them. Three rounds had pierced the windshield and found their mark into the seat between him and Peters.

Both men quickly withdrew their service pistols as Peters grabbed the microphone and sent a distress call that officers were under fire. The dozen or so men about half a block ahead were clearly responsible for the shots that were fired since some of them withdrew weapons and were headed towards the car.

"FREEZE! YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST!!", Olsen screamed as he opened the side door and jumped out, his weapon at the ready.

Peters followed his actions soon after, seeing that the men were not about to lower their weapons. The small mob was certainly not impressed by their status as officers of the law. All the men fired at once, most with handguns, some with a shotgun. Olsen fired twice and hit one individual in the chest as bullets tore into the car. The young detective smoothly fired a third round into a second man's right thigh before a double-barreled shotgun which fired from the opposite side found its mark in his chest. The shot would've torn him apart had it not been for his usual habit of wearing a bulletproof vest. The impact hurled him backwards as he hit the ground hard and lost the grip on his weapon.

Olsen tried hard to stand back up in order to reach his weapon, but his concentration was cut short when he heard Peters yell out. Peters had also been hit. Although the patrolman also wore a vest and survived the shot, the small mob approached him as it left the detective alone. As two men in the mob disarmed Peters, a third man held a handgun about two feet away from the patrolman's head and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly.

Olsen heard himself screaming in anger and trying to reach for his weapon once more, but it was several feet out of his reach. The mob next gladly turned its attention towards him. It would've been his death, but the sirens of an approaching police car dispersed the group before they could execute the detective the same way they had the patrolman. As he saw the men running away and heard the sirens getting closer, he tried to stay awake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"There was something else", Liu tried to put the feelings he remembered from his dream into words as Johnny keenly listened, "Something new".

"How do you know?", the actor asked the obvious question as they both paced the floor of his hotel suite.

"I felt it", the monk responded, knowing it wasn't much of an answer.

"Maybe you're just remembering Goro", Johnny tried to make sense, "Maybe since Goro tried to come after us, some part of your subconscious was previously worried that he might've hurt Kitana after he killed all of us".

"No, no", Liu shook his head, "It was not that. This was a new threat".

"You gotta admit, we don't have much to base it on, Liu", his friend rationalized.

"Perhaps not, but I know what I felt", the monk felt distressed, detesting the fact that he couldn't explain his own attitude.

Liu might not have been able to describe his dream to Johnny, but he at least knew who could.

"Rayden helped us before, when Crane's men were trying to unbalance the dimensions by using Shang Tsung's island", the White Lotus member told Johnny, "How can one contact him? If there is a problem here, he could make it clear for us".

"Yeah, but he always found us before, not the other way around", his fellow kombatant reminded him, "How are we supposed to find him?".

A bolt of electricity appeared in the middle of the room out of nowhere because there were no open windows. The thunder god soon took the shape that the kombatants found familiar by now.

"You need only ask", Rayden smiled.

"Great, it's better than the express service at the post office", Johnny smirked as Liu looked relieved.

"Talk to me, man", the actor addressed the thunder god first, "Do you know what's going on here?".

"Yes", Rayden bowed slightly, "Liu is correct, there is a new threat in the Outworld, one that is endangering Princess Kitana and all the other Outworlders".

"What is it?", Liu demanded, agitated now that he knew for sure.

"I wish I could tell you, but the truth is, I do not know myself", Rayden looked apologetic, "Remember, I cannot venture into the realm of Outworld".

"Can we still?", Liu impatiently pressed.

"Yes, but I should remind you that this not your fight. You can stay away", the thunder god had to warn them, although he perceived that they would go ahead and visit Outworld anyway, "Also, time in Outworld passes at an unpredictable rate when compared to time in the Earth realm. You should be told that so you are not surprised if an inconsistency appears when you return".

"Kitana could've stayed away when we were dragged to the tournament", Johnny said out loud what Liu was thinking.

"Very well, when do you wish to go?", Rayden next asked.

"Let me cancel my shoot", the actor withdrew a cellular phone and dialed some numbers.

He was finished and ready for the journey after speaking to his agent for less than half a minute.

"What do you think? Should we call Sonya?", Liu inquired.

Johnny thought about the idea for a short while, weighing the benefits and consequences as Rayden patiently waited.

"You know what?", Johnny advised, "Not now. She barely got this job as it is. There's no point in us screwing it for her when we don't even know what we're going up against. Let her ride through this one. If things get rough, we can always come back for her, right, Rayden?".

The thunder god slightly bowed his head in agreement.

"I will be watching you from afar", Rayden advised, "When you wish to return, just give the word. I will teleport you back to the Earth realm".

Both men were soon surrounded by Rayden's electricity and when it vanished, the thunder god and Johnny's hotel room were nowhere to be seen. They were in Outworld.

"Allright, here we go again", Johnny commented to himself before freezing, "Oh, great!".

"What is it?", Liu turned to him, thinking he saw something.

"I forgot my sunglasses!", the actor complained.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Johnny and Liu were naturally cautious as they made their way through Outworld. The purplish sky made everything looked dreary, Johnny thought to himself, but it was possible that Earth dwellers and Outworlders had a different definition of beauty. He hated being in this place when they had to follow Sonya and Shang Tsung during the original tournament and his feelings hadn't changed with time. There was somewhat more light now than there was back then as they passed the countless number of hideous gargoyles that lined up on either side of the passageway. Perhaps it was daytime.

The actor felt that the White Lotus monk suddenly became tense. Liu had spotted movement. He turned towards the same direction that Liu was looking, both men in their fighting stance. They relaxed as they saw Princess Kitana's figure emerging from behind the gargoyle that was about twenty yards away. She was dressed in the same kind of sleeveless leather attire and tight pants that the kombatants remembered from the original tournament.

"Liu?", she asked as she approached them, surprised.

"Princess", the monk answered with a bow.

"What are you two doing here?", she wondered out loud as she came closer.

"I heard your cry for help", Liu explained, "In a dream".

"Amazing", was her answer.

"And I'm just here for moral support", Johnny added, "Don't mind me".

"Not at all", Kitana laughed, feeling relieved, "Thank you. We are in need of your help. I just did not think you would be interested now that Earth was not in jeopardy".

Liu guessed it was her first laugh in a long time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I had been attempting to organize the remaining survivors in my homeland", Kitana explained to the steadfast kombatants, trying to make a long story short, "We were making progress towards growing food and trying to purify the water in order to make it drinkable again. But that was before the reception".

"What reception?", the monk questioned.

"Mutants began pursuing us for a few weeks now", the princess went on, feeling disgusted, "These seven-foot tall creatures made it their mission to decimate us".

"Why? What the hell would they have to gain by it?", Johnny asked himself.

"I do not know", Kitana had to admit, "All I do know is that almost half of us are gone because of them. Either impaled by their conscienceless blades or just vanished without a trace only to be discovered as a corpse later. Most of us who are left have been forced to simply seek shelter in one of the thousand caves in Outworld, fearing for life".

Both men locked eyes, absorbing the information in their own way.

"There's more", Kitana added, "They are well organized presently. In the past, they had been scattered and our biggest worries were only random, unplanned and easily revoked attacks. But their actions are planned now, with purpose. I am convinced that they have a leader. The name I kept hearing from them is 'Qarro'. It's as if this leader is guiding them".

Johnny found Liu's premonition of someone or something new more believable.

"Who is it? Who's Qarro?", Liu pressed, eager to know.

"I have never seen this new leader", the princess had to reply, "I do not know".

Liu wasn't content with her answer, since it told them nothing new. They were back to where they had started, facing an unknown enemy.

"I have spied upon a gathering that the mutants regularly hold near here. That is where I have heard Qarro's name being called", Kitana gave them something new after all, "They meet every few days, but as to their leader, he or she or it is never present".

"Show us where it is", Liu quickly said what Johnny was thinking.

Johnny and Liu examined the area that Princess Kitana had pointed out. If they hadn't been directed to it, both kombatants would've passed without paying much attention to it. It was a flat, naturally round rock formation with a diameter of about a hundred yards. There were no indications of any past activities, though, such as shrines or any other physical objects that might indicate what the mutants were using this place for.

"I'm assuming these guys look like Baraka from the second tournament", Johnny addressed Kitana, "Am I right?".

"Absolutely", was her simple response as she surveyed the surrounding plains.

Mutants have been known to loiter around this natural circle in the ground, and she wanted to make sure none of them caught her or the two visitors by surprise.

"Great, just great", the actor commented to himself, missing his sunglasses, "Just what I need. Another round with some seven-foot tall weirdo with knives coming out of his hands".

"They are all defeatable", Liu tried to encourage him, "Their raw strength and brutality can never be a match for our peace of mind and discipline".

"Nicely put", Johnny remarked.

"This place looked friendlier the moment you two visited it", Kitana smiled at them both, her eyes still on the surrounding hillsides.

"I wish the producers in Earth were as glad to see me", Johnny told no one in particular as he stared at Liu, "So, what do we plan to do here? We can't just sit here and hope to run into this Qarro character, right? We have to find a way to lure him out to us".

"That is reasonable", Liu agreed.

"But lure him, or it, how?", Kitana posed the question that was on all their minds.

"Perhaps luring is too complicated", Liu advised, "Luring would hint this new leader was intellectually deficient. He, or it, obviously has not come this far by being stupid. We might have an easier time provoking him towards us".

"Provoking him? How?", Johnny asked.

"He guides the mutants, correct?", Liu smiled, "If one wished to provoke the general of an army into a trap, all one needs to do is harm his precious killing machine".

It took Johnny a second to realize that the precious killing machine referred to in this time were the mutants.

"Wooho! Hold on!", he exclaimed when he understood, holding out his right palm, "Fighting those weirdoes when they attack is one thing. But us going to them for a fight? In their space?".

"Is there a better idea?", Liu asked.

"Yeah, we can go back to Earth, get Sonya's entire Special Forces unit, arm them to the teeth and come back then", he replied, knowing well that his version was impossible.

"Finding a mutant detachment out here should not be too hard", the monk commented as he stared off towards the surrounding hills.

"I do wish to come with you", Kitana told him, not wanting him to get any chivalrous ideas in his head.

"Of course", Liu smiled.

As Princess Kitana was about twenty yards away, and thus probably out of the hearing range of a whisper, Liu walked up to Johnny and placed his right palm on the actor's upper back.

"You do not have to come if you do not wish it", the White Lotus member whispered, "You owe nothing to me, and whatever we owed to Princess Kitana from the first tournament has already been paid in full. I do not want you to feel pressured into joining us for I'm only doing this for my own personal reasons".

"Please, Liu, I ain't leaving you two", the actor pleased him, "Besides, I'll pick fighting a mutant over facing my next producer any day. At least the mutant doesn't bite too often".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The six mutants were on patrol as they combed the hillside for survivors, just like Qarro had ordered them to. They knew there were still many Outworlders left, even after the massive hunt and slaughter that had taken place within the last several weeks. Their scout had been relatively dull so far, with no new potential victims encountered. As they found themselves wishing they could find new live persons to dismember, one of the mutants finally spotted movement to the right.

All six mutants quickly turned a sharp right and warily, but excitedly, approached the area pointed to by the one who had detected the motion. To their delight, they saw a silhouetted figure approaching them from about forty yards away. This person didn't even make an effort to hide, a fact which would've bothered the mutants if they had more intelligence. But they didn't, so each rushed forth with arms bent at the elbow and a three-foot long blade attached to each hand. They stopped cold when they realized who the person was. Their delight grew as they realized their potential victim was Princess Kitana herself, the leader of the Outworlders. Qarro would have been extremely pleased at the kill.

"I am ordering you to desist!", Kitana angrily pointed at the group from only a handful of yards away.

Before any of them could react, all six were ambushed. Liu and Johnny had been waiting for a diversion to carry out an offensive, even though they could see that every mutant was easily a foot taller than them.

"Don't give up your day job, weirdo", Johnny commented as he leapt from behind the group and attacked the mutant at the farthest left.

The actor jumped up and forward before the mutant was able to turn around and grabbed his neck. His leap forward carried the mutant's body along with its momentum and the surprised mutant fell forward as the actor lifted his legs and stomach upwards and ahead of the rest of his body. Johnny also pushed the mutant's head forward as he saw the ground approaching. The mutant's forehead crashed into the ground a fraction of a second before the actor's lower back did, thus softening the impact for him. He sprang back up to his feet as the large mutant stayed immobile on the ground.

From four yards away, Liu flew into the air towards the mutant at the farthest right and also positioned his legs ahead of the rest of his body in midair. He quickly drilled both his feet into the mutant's chest about a dozen times as the mutant was pushed back with each kick that the monk delivered. Liu followed the victim as that one stepped back and kept kicking into the chest before his energy ran out after a few seconds and he was forced to come back down on his feet. Once back on the ground, the White Lotus member next jumped straight up and kicked out horizontally with both legs, his feet slamming into the dazed mutant's chest simultaneously. The mutant was knocked backwards, fell down and didn't get back up.

"Come on!", Kitana called aloud as she switched into her fighting stance and saw two of the mutants running straight at her.

The deaths of her friends and all the good people who had been murdered by the mutants cried out for vengeance and she could hear them.

Johnny, in his turn, pulled his body back as a mutant swung the right blade at him. The actor saw the blade pass through air in front of him and firmly grabbed the swinging arm of his attacker. He delivered a kick to the side of the mutant's knee and next sent his right knee into that one's stomach. With his captive mutant temporarily dazed, Johnny saw another mutant charging at him from behind. He quickly moved aside and twisted as far around as he could in order to face the mutant behind him. As that one closed in, Johnny thrust the right arm of the mutant that he still held forward. The blade of the restrained mutant's arm impaled the charging mutant as that one ran right into it. The impaled mutant cried out in pain as the bloody blade exited out of his lower back. As Johnny pulled the captive mutant's arm back, the blade was pulled out of the impaled one's stomach and that one dropped towards the ground dying. Johnny next released the restrained mutant's arm as that one came out of his daze only to see the actor's elbow coming right at his face. The mutant staggered back with a scream as the kombatant executed a shadow kick. The mutant saw him as he seemed to glide on his left foot as his right leg was aimed up high. The bottom of Johnny's foot impacted into the mutant's chest and knocked him out instantly.

As Johnny was vanquishing his third mutant, Liu ran towards the last two as they were coming at Kitana. He delivered a flying kick that slammed into the back of one of the two and that one was thrust forward as his face met the unforgiving ground. Liu came down on his feet as the mutant slammed into the ground. While his opponent was on hands and knees, trying to get back up, the monk kicked him in the chin and the mutant's head pointed sharply upwards. Liu next delivered a sharp punch into the back of the head and the mutant dropped flat on the ground without being able to stand back up.

As he did that, the last mutant reached Kitana only to have her grab his left blade. She had to be extremely careful to hold the blade on the flat sides without touching the razorlike edges. With the blade firmly in her grip, she twisted around and flattened her back against the mutant's stomach as that one was surprised. Before her opponent got a chance to use the right blade against her, she lifted the left blade, and with it his arm, over her head and pulled it forward as she lowered her upper body. The much larger mutant flew over her back and landed horizontally on his own back on the ground, staring up at the purple sky. Kitana stepped towards her adversary and brought her right foot down into his teeth with all her strength. The mutant was more annoyed than hurt as he grabbed her ankle and tossed her off. Kitana's body was thrust upwards and back, but she controlled the flow of energy because she turned upside down on her hands as her lower body passed overhead. Her legs swung in a semicircle because of the mutant's strong push and her feet landed behind her hands. Once feeling the ground with her feet, she gracefully concentrated her weight on them and stood up straight again.

The mutant was on his feet at the same time that she was, grinning wildly and displaying sharp teeth. Kitana rushed forward and delivered a left front kick into his chest. The mutant took a single step backwards as he looked for a chance to attack. He didn't get it because she next twisted to her left and sent her right foot into his stomach, forcing him to bend over but failing to knock the wind out of him. Before her opponent could stand up straight, Kitana sent a second high left front kick into his face, sending him several steps back.

As the mutant gathered his concentration, he stared ahead to see all five of his associates either dead or unconscious as Johnny and Liu calmly neared Kitana from behind. If the woman alone put up a fight, he knew he stood no chance against all three, so he took a careful step back.

"Go back to your leader Qarro and take a message", Liu angrily barked, "Tell them we are here. If he does not like what we just did, we will be here waiting for him. And if he does not show himself, we will continue this type of activity from now until he does!".

The terrified mutant took another step backwards.

"UNDERSTOOD?", the White Lotus monk yelled.

The mutant turned away from them and ran as fast as he possibly could.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'", Johnny grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya walked towards her home when her shift at the store was finally over after eight hours. As she was still outside and about five yards away from the door, she heard a blaring heavy metal music originating from inside. Confused, she used her key and opened the door, the music becoming infinitely louder as she did. She followed the source towards the back of her home. She walked through the living room and reached the closed door of the room where she kept her workout equipment. Opening that door, she almost felt as if the sheer volume of the music could pin her against the wall.

In the room, she saw that her portable stereo had been moved from her bedroom into this one and the volume level was placed on ten, the maximum, as a heavy metal tape played in it. The clone was dressed in his host's clothes and he danced along with the rhythm of the wild music, punching and kicking her eighty-pound punching bag. He was so concentrated on his attacks on the bag that he didn't even notice her coming in. Sonya, on the other hand, noticed his impressive endurance as every punch or kick he speedily delivered seemed to devastate the bag. She had seen strength before, mainly from her or some guys that she saw training, but the clone's abilities were something more.

The destructive attacks on the punching bag lasted a full four more minutes as Sonya kept watching without being noticed. She never took her eyes off the clone, feeling expectedly impressed. She could only guess how much time he had spent crashing his fists and feet into the bag before she came in. But the clone finally ceased his majestic strikes and grabbed the large punching bag in order to stop it from swinging violently. He then saw her standing at the entrance as he walked over to the stereo to shut it off.

"Oh, hi", he smiled as he pressed a button and the loud music suddenly stopped, "I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your tape player".

"Not at all", she shook her head with a blank expression on her face, still not having gotten over the destruction he was able to deliver.

Scott walked in from behind her, so she guessed he was probably in the kitchen while she came home.

"You're done?", he asked the clone before seeing her, "Oh, hey! You're back. When did you get in?".

"Just now", she flatly told him.

"He wanted your stereo to work out with", Scott explained, pointing at his double, "He never works out without his music".

"So I can see", she said.

"So how was your day?", Scott asked as his clone unplugged the portable stereo.

"Tiring", she bluntly responded, "And I ain't done yet. I still have another errand to run before I can relax".

"Well, that doesn't sound right", he answered, "Where do you have to go?".

"Daddy wanted me to pick up some malt liquor for him for when he comes back tomorrow morning from wherever the hell he is", she informed him.

"Wait a sec, what the hell? Doesn't he know you're already working?", Scott couldn't understand.

"He asked me for it four days ago", she explained, "I've just been putting it off".

"I can go, you stay here", her brother, kind as ever in her eyes, offered.

"You're sure?", she didn't want to pressure him.

"Definitely. Where do you pick it up from, this malt liquor?".

"It's the bar that's a couple of blocks north from here", she pointed, although he understood the direction instantly.

"I'll be back, you just stay here and relax", Scott told her as he turned and headed for the door.

"Thanks", she realized this was the first good thing that happened all day long.

"Don't mention it", Scott turned around as he was leaving and locked eyes with his clone; obviously telling him something nonverbally, Sonya realized, although she didn't know what.

After Scott walked out of the door and closed it behind him, the clone approached her from the workout room. She noticed he wasn't even sweating after that long physical exercise. It was comfortably cool inside, but he should've been at least sweating after such a grueling practice.

"What would you like for dinner?", he politely asked.

"Huh?", his question caught her off-guard.

"What would you like for dinner?", he repeated.

"Why? You're cooking?", she asked him back.

"Yes", he told her, "As long as you're the one with the job, we should make things easier for you. Just mention what you'd like".

Scott must've done a really good job communicating with the clone, she told herself and smiled.

"Scott put you up to this, didn't he?", she asked.

"He had a hand in it", the clone admitted, "Not that I'm surprised".

"How so?".

"He didn't turn out like me", the twin said, "I could see it in his eyes when we first met. It might as well be like that".

XXXXXXXXXXX

Over in the crowded bar, Scott was waiting to talk to the bartender to ask him how much a bottle of malt liquor cost. Apparently, this bar actually let customers buy an entire bottle, he reasoned. As the bartender was about to turn his attention to him, Scott heard a loud argument from an area deeper in the bar. Shifting his gaze towards the root of the noise, he saw a big, stocky man pushing a smaller man backwards. The smaller man fell on his back and tried to stagger away, but the bigger man kicked him as that one was still on the floor. The kick must've hurt, Scott reasoned. Everyone else dispersed from the area as quickly as possible and looked away. Scott didn't. He couldn't.

Instead of asking for the bottle from the bartender, he walked towards the bigger man as that one was busy trying to kick the downed, smaller man for a second time. Scott knew he would have to be nice because his old bullet wound would not allow him to get involved in a physical confrontation.

"Excuse me", he spoke up and got the aggressor's attention, "I'm gonna have to ask you to stop that".

The man couldn't believe his ears.

"What, you want some of this too?", he asked, wanting the intruder to just leave.

"Look, you're obviously a much stronger person, so this hardly seems like a fair fight, you know what I'm saying?", Scott tried to smile but failed.

"GET LOST!!", the man stopped trying to attack his victim, which was good, but came charging at Scott instead, which wasn't.

Scott saw the man's right fist coming straight at his face. He instinctively used his left forearm to try to block the punch and succeeded. Unfortunately, as he did so, the remnants of the bullet that were left in his stomach after the initial surgery felt like an animal that was eating its way out of him. He screamed in pain, pressed his right forearm into his stomach and held on to the bar with his left hand for balance. The smaller man who was being bullied didn't know what was going on, but took advantage of the situation to get out of there. Still in pain and slightly bent over, unable to move, Scott looked up and saw the man raising a chair over his head, ready to bring it down on him.

"Don't...!", was the only word Scott was allowed.

The legs of the chair crashed on his back and knocked him down on his hands and knees, multiplying the pain in his stomach threefold. Scott saw double when he first looked straight ahead and then up. A deafening whistle overtook his ears as the only thing he could see was the bully who was exploiting the bullet wound that he had suffered.

Fortunately, the next sight he viewed was friendlier. Since he was still seeing double, he noticed two Sonyas coming into the bar and seeing both him and the bully. He still couldn't hear what she said, but she seemed to be pointing angrily at the man who had attacked him. The man walked away from him and moved threateningly towards her as the majority of the people in the bar had already run out. Scott wished he could help her out, but the enduring whistle in his ears and the pain in his stomach wouldn't even allow him to stand up on his own.

The next thing he saw were two Sonyas delivering an uppercut and two bullies staggering backwards before the two Sonyas sent a front kick into the bullies' stomach. That sent the two bullies down on the floor as the two Sonyas walked over to Scott and squatted down next to him at his right. The hearing slowly returned to his ears as the whistling waned while Sonya wrapped her left arm around his upper back and helped him stand up. He told himself that everything would be allright as he groaned. He wished the pain in his stomach would go away along with the deafening whistle in his ears.

"Why did you follow me?", Scott asked her as they were almost home, with the pain in his stomach just about gone and his vision back to normal, "Not that I'm not glad. Believe me, I am".

"I had just remembered that daddy wanted two bottles of the liquor instead of one", she let him know, "It came to me just a minute after you left".

"Sorry you didn't get the liquor", he added.

"Come on", she smiled, "I'm sure daddy will understand. Besides, once he sees the new and improved clone, he'll have to. Nice job you did trying to make him more sensitive, by the way. He's in there as we speak trying to make me a steak sandwich".

"It's only fair. You deserve it", he flattered her as she opened the door and walked in.

The clone greeted them both as he held a large plate with a palatable steak sandwich on it.

"It's about time, I was starting to think you abandoned me", he proudly showed her the dish, "Where's the liquor?".

"Uh, we had a change of plans", Sonya waved her right hand back, "We'll get it some other time".

"Try it", the clone offered the plate.

Sonya reluctantly took a bite of the sandwich. Her eyes soon widened with surprise as she stared at both guys.

"This is delicious!", she sounded shocked, "Where did you learn how to cook?".

"I didn't", the clone proudly answered.

"I have got to put some sauce on this", she almost raced to the kitchen with the sandwich.

"What happened? You look down", the clone stared at his host.

"Nothing", Scott sighed since he didn't feel like talking about his experience in the bar, he thus changed the subject, "Hey, where's Liu? He's been gone all day long".

"I wouldn't know", the clone admitted as he turned and headed back towards the workout room, "Your guess is as good as mine".

Scott picked up the phone and began dialing the number to Johnny's room, hoping Liu was still with the actor. As he started counting the rings, wondering why no one was picking the phone up on the other end, he didn't notice Sonya following the clone from the kitchen into the exercise room.

"Scott!! SCOOOTT!!", was the next thing he heard her yelling out.

He hastily dropped the phone and rushed into the room himself, worried about what could've caused her to scream in such a way. He soon found out because his clone was lying on the floor on his back, with the surface of his entire body breaking up as cracks of blood appeared all over his skin in the area not covered by clothes. His twin was decomposing in front of his eyes.

"He was just like this!", Sonya told him, squatting behind the clone and holding his head up in her hands although she doubted it did any good, "He kept asking me to get you. I don't know what's going on".

"What's going on, man?", Scott pressed, squatting next to his twin, "Talk to me!".

"I must've... must've underessstimated the...", the clone hissed in pain, "..power of the antitoxin I.... needed... Breakdown is earlier thaan I expected".

"Is there anything we can do?", Sonya heard herself asking.

The clone just shook his head in response. Both Scott and Sonya looked at each other, realizing they were only helpless witnesses to his death.

"Lisssten", the twin hissed again, addressing Scott, "I saw you... I know... what you want.... I can give you ssssomething no one else can... You can have my frame... Assuming you want it".

"Huh?", Scott was not following his words.

"You and I are the sssame", the clone tried to explain fast as he knew his time was limited, "I am dead no matter what... But I... can transssfer myself on to you... Give you my own body".

"You serious?", Scott began suspecting the clone was getting delirious.

"Yesss", the twin replied before his chest shot upward and he tightened his teeth together to brace for the pain, "But there iss a price... You will get my body and my memories... And I never did anything good in my time... You must be warned of that".

Scott looked at Sonya again. This was what seemed like his only chance to actually go back to being like he was before, maybe even better.

"It's your choice, bro", she didn't help, as she couldn't, "This one's up to you".

Scott only took a few seconds to consider his options and decided quickly.

"What the hell, do it", he braced himself for whatever was about to follow.

"Walk into me", the clone whispered, running out of energy.

Unsure of how to act, Scott carefully moved himself closer to his clone until he touched him with his right hand. Scott's hand did not stop there because it soon went into the clone's skin itself. The clone's body instinctively rushed upwards and towards him and engulfed Scott's. The clone's clothes remained on the floor in front of Sonya and his body vanished into Scott's.

Scott screamed in a shock as he stood up. There was an immediate 40 increase in his muscle mass as he could feel himself getting stronger. The screaming stopped after several seconds as he stared at his hands, feeling like a new man.

"You OK, Scott?", Sonya warily stood also.

"I'm better than OK!", he exclaimed with a sharp grin, "I'm GREAT!!".

With those words, Scott walked over to the punching bag and sent his right fist into it. The eighty-pound bag jolted under the force and hit the ceiling with a loud bang as Sonya shook from the noise alone.

"HAHAAAAAA!!", Scott cheered.

"I've got somewhere to go", he instantly turned around and headed out of the exercise room.

He walked right out of the main door with Sonya rushing after him from a few feet behind. She didn't need to be a psychic to predict where he was going towards. Scott had his head lowered a bit and was wearing a cold facial expression as he made his way back to the bar.

"You've got nothing to prove, Scott", she verbally tried to hold him back to no avail, "You can leave it. It's fine".

He wasn't answering as his entire attention seemed fixed towards the direction of the bar. It took him only minutes to reach the bar again. They both entered the bar together, him looking for his target and her wishing he would just turn around.

He saw the man who had brought the chair down on his back sitting on a bar stool, slouched forward on the counter and staring ahead with a blank look on his face. He held a bottle of beer in his left hand as the wet bottom of the bottle was resting on the wooden counter itself. Scott walked up to him from behind and stopped when he was less than three feet away. He bent down, swiftly grabbed one of the legs of the stool with one hand and pulled it towards him as he stood up. The stool was smoothly yanked out from under the bully despite that one's great weight on it and he unceremoniously found himself falling towards the floor fast. He hit his chin on the wooden counter and saw stars before coming to a painful rest on the floor.

"What the f...", the thug stopped in midsentence as he looked up to see Scott staring down at him.

"You wanna go for two, big boy?", Scott crossed his arms.

Most of the occupants of the bar remembered him from a short while ago and decided to vacate the premises again. The man unsteadily stood up and made sure to grab the stool that was closest to him. If he had been thinking clearly, he would've been asking himself why his opponent would be so willing to fight again, especially since he was no match during the first fight. But his anger, mixed with several servings of alcohol, prompted him to raise the bar stool like he had done previously before he tried to bring it down on his adversary. Scott, in his own turn, raised his left arm and single-handedly grabbed the stool with ease as it came towards his head.

"In your dreams, big boy", Scott grimaced before punching the man in the stomach with his right hand.

The man let go of the stool and bent down, desperately gasping for breath.

"Hegggggghhhhhhh!! Hegggggghhhhhh!!", he kept trying because he couldn't inhale.

"This is truly pathetic", Scott commented as he dropped the stool on the floor.

He then pushed the bully's head away and that one fell on his back like a statue. He was still trying to inhale air as Scott turned around and walked towards the main entrance.

"Coming, Sonya?", Scott extended his left hand at her as he could still hear the man's gasps for air.

Sonya held his hand with her own as she followed him outside, amazed at his new strength and thankful that nothing worse happened.

"WHAT?", Scott blurted out as he saw detective Olsen's picture on the television set next to that of another police officer.

"...was shot and declared dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head", the reporter continued, "Detective Olsen was rushed to the hospital where he is listed in stable condition. Sources say he would have been killed also, except that the vest he was wearing probably saved his life. The dead suspect at the scene has not been identified yet and the wounded suspect was taken to the hospital under heavy guard. He is suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. It has not been determined whether patrolman Peters' or detective Olsen's weapon was the one that has been used to wound him yet. And now to go to on live to anchorman Linscky for the latest from the hospital which has seen...".

"It's that damn announcement we got over the TV", Scott abruptly shut the television screen off, "It was from the Black Dragons. They were the ones who did this! They encouraged anarchy all over the goddamn country. That announcement was heard coast to coast!".

"Still no answer from Johnny's hotel room", Sonya hung up the phone.

"What the hell's going on?", he asked her, realizing she knew no more than he did, "Why did those losers do this?".

"Do you wanna see him at the hospital?", she answered his question with one of her own.

"Can't", he responded, "News said only his family or fellow cops were allowed to see him now, and we're neither".

"We'll just wait then", she was forced to the same conclusion as him, "Until then, I might as well clean up the workout room. I guess we don't need your clothes for the clone any more".

"No, I guess not", he admitted.

"You want to talk about him?", she offered as he followed her to the exercise room, in case the experience with the clone was putting stress on his mind.

"What is there to talk about?", he told her, "The only thing I can't even imagine is what those jackasses at the Black Dragons put him through to make him this good".

"I don't understand", Sonya was confused as she removed the clone's clothes from the floor.

"Think about it, Sonya", he explained, "When I met you, even before I got shot, I could never have taken you out in a fair fight. And I was stronger when I met you than I had ever been before. But the clone beat you. What does that say about his training method?".

"I'd rather not imagine", she responded as she picked up the stereo and headed out of the room, nonverbally signaling him to follow.

Scott stayed immobile in his place. She turned around at the doorway as she realized he wasn't following her.

"You go on", he advised, "I'm gonna catch a workout. I need the relaxation".

"You're sure?", she asked, concerned, "Can you take it?".

"Yeah", he was confident, "I wanna find out what this body can really do".

"OK", she cautioned, "I'll be right outside if you need me".

"Thanks", he responded as she closed the door behind her and left him alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scott was doing a full leg split with no difficulty at all. He could understand how the clone was tough enough to defeat Sonya in a confrontation. His only concern was to control his breathing as his legs were separated in a perfectly straight line. He loved it because he felt no pain at all. This discipline wasn't even a challenge, so he was forced to wonder what would be a formidable task for him. As his meditation became deeper, he began to remember. He soon realized he was recalling the memories that his clone warned him about from a first person's narration. The memories of a Black Dragons assassin began.

He was positioned behind a massive tree, covered in black from head to toe because he was dressed in his ninja outfit and looking through the scope of a high-powered rifle. He had detective Wang from the Hong Kong Police Department in his sights as his target approached a vehicle about forty yards away. Detective Wang had been annoying the Black Dragons with his anti-extortion task forces. He had been approached with an attempt to bribe him and made it clear that he could not be bought. Thus, this husband and father of two small children, who had a long day and was looking forward to going home to his family, had to be eliminated. Scott knew so much about him because it was customary for a Black Dragons hit man to extensively review the background of a target before the kill was carried out. His superiors wanted him to kill detective Wang instantly, so as to show to everyone else that the Black Dragons could massacre without even being seen or resisted.

He had detective Wang within the crosshairs of the telescopic aiming scope as that one tried to unlock the driver's side door of the car. The detective opened the door with his right hand as he held his badge in his left hand. Just as Scott was about to pull the trigger, Wang's badge slipped out of his hand and fell on the ground. He bent over to pick it up a fraction of a second before Scott fired. The bullet from the rifle went through the driver's side window and shattered it. Wang realized there was a sniper and ducked for cover as he withdrew his service revolver.

"DAMN IT!", Scott screamed, frustrated, as he punched the thick tree trunk.

Wang ran towards the opposite side of the vehicle and squatted behind the hood of the car. Knowing the rifle would be useless, Scott simply dropped it and charged towards him. The first thing Wang saw as he peeked towards the direction from which the bullet had been shot from was the ninja rushing straight at him.

Wang leveled the revolver with both hands in front of his face as he aimed for Scott. Scott's superior speed helped him reach the car in no time at all. He attained the side of the car where Wang had originally been, so he and his target were six feet apart with the hood of the car between them. He extended his arms and upper body forward and jumped. He seemed to smoothly glide across the hood and smashed both his fists into Wang's face before that one could pull the trigger.

Wang lost his grip on the weapon and was pushed backwards. He crashed on his back as Scott evenly rolled on the ground like a ball, softening his impact against the ground. Scott was on his feet first, although Wang was up a second later. Knowing the ninja was here to kill him, Wang took a fighting stance just like Scott did. One of them could not be allowed to walk away.

Scott struck first, delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to Wang's head. The detective held his forearm to the side of his head, but the back of Scott's ankle slammed into this forearm and violently knocked him against the hood of the car anyway. While the detective was facing the hood and trying to stand back up straight, Scott sent his right elbow into the back of that one's head. The second blow should've knocked his opponent out, but Wang proved to be more rugged than expected.

The detective twisted around despite the pain in his head and delivered a painful front kick into Scott's stomach. Scott bent down and took two steps back, trying to catch his breath. As his adversary tried to kick him in the head as a follow-up strike, though, Scott stood back up in time and was able to grab the attacking ankle. With Wang desperately trying to pull his leg out of the grip, Scott directed a massive uppercut into his chin before letting him go. The detective was thrown backwards hard as his lower back impacted into the front passenger side door.

Scott next twisted to his left and aimed for his rival's face with his right leg. The bottom of his right shoe collided into Wang's mouth, knocking teeth loose and sending forth a flow of blood. Scott instantly knew his target's jaw was broken, but he didn't stop there. He twisted to his right and sent his left fist into the detective's jaw as a sequel. The force of the swing against the already broken jaw knocked Wang down on his left side. On the ground but not conceding defeat, the detective executed a leg sweep which caught Scott off guard. The officer's ankle hit Scott's ankle and knocked the ninja down also. As they both stood up at the same time, Wang reached Scott and smashed his own forehead into the ninja's nose, knocking his attacker backwards.

Mildly annoyed, Scott rushed forwards and sent a second uppercut into his chin, twisting him around before he slammed against the hood of the vehicle again. The detective seemed dazed and helpless after suffering that extent of punishment. The ninja next placed both his hands on either side of Wang's head from behind, looking to quickly break his antagonist's neck. But Wang next turned and punched him in the stomach, without physically hurting him but destroying his concentration. The detective next grabbed Scott's mask and pulled it off his face. With his ninja mask on the ground, Wang stared into Scott's cold face for a split second.

A split second was all the time Wang was allowed because Scott exploded in anger. Having a prey see the face of his/her executioner was the ultimate insult for a ninja. Screaming with all the strength in his lungs, Scott grabbed Wang by both ears and forced that one's head down as lifted his own right knee, crashing the detective's chin into his knee. That hit dazed Wang for real and knocked him backwards again as Scott moved in for the kill. Despite Wang's previous training with the police force, Scott's viciousness and endurance was something he had never seen before. The irate ninja punched Wang in the face and body repeatedly, each strike more powerful than the one it followed, as the helpless detective was unable to put up any more resistance. Bones broke in Wang's head and upper body as Scott didn't ease up on his merciless assault. He efficiently shifted the punches between his left and right arms in order to keep his opponent standing so that one wouldn't fall on one side.

After approximately thirty such strong blows, Wang's broken and bloodied body simply fell forward without any reaction. He lay face-down and motionless on the ground as Scott finally placed both hands on each side of his head again. Detective Wang might have already been dead, but a ninja never left anything to chance. He growled like a cat and broke his target's neck with ease. He then walked over to where his mask rested on the ground, picked it up and wore it again.

Detective Wang never made it home that day. His worried family reported him missing after calling the police department and finding out that he was not working overtime. His body was found and identified several hours later. The ninja, in his turn, had picked up the rifle from behind the tree and reported back to the Black Dragons headquarters. He had to face the chief assassin and be evaluated because, although his target was dead, Scott had allowed him to put up a fight. His directions had stated that Wang was to be killed by a clean gunshot without being able to resist whatsoever so as to pass a message to all who opposed the Black Dragons. In that respect, the ninja had failed. The chief assassin, named Alloy, was someone who was feared by everyone in the organization...

During his meditation in the workout room, the original Scott realized why the chief assassin had such a name. While still in the full leg split, he kept on remembering his clone's experiences...

The ninja nervously walked into Alloy's personal room, dreading what could happen. After he was inside and closed the door, Alloy wrapped his right hand around his throat, lifted him a foot off the ground and flattened him against the wall. Alloy was not a real person, he, or it, was a six and a half foot tall, silver-colored cyborg. He was shaped mostly like a human male, except he was the same, shiny color from head to toe, with a pair of sparkles for eyes, no hair and no clothes.

"YOU FAILED!!", Alloy barked as he looked up at Scott.

"He... Dropped... His badge...", the ninja gasped as he tried to breath through the metal grip, "It... wasn't my... ffff... fault".

"NO EXCUSES!!", Alloy released the grip on Scott's throat and the ninja shakily fell on the ground.

Before the ninja even got a chance to rub his throat, Alloy kicked him in the stomach. Scott gasped in pain as he sunk parallel to the floor.

"Don't, please!", he begged, holding his left arm up in front of him even though he knew it wouldn't do him any good.

His pleads went unheard as Alloy kicked him in the upper body three more times, sending a rush of pain with each strike. The ninja didn't strike back, he didn't even try. He only stayed on the floor and waited until the penalty for failure was over...

The original Scott opened his eyes from the meditation.

"Why the hell doesn't he hit him back??", he angrily asked himself as more memories followed.

The original Scott closed his eyes.

This was a different setting.

Scott was in his pitch-black ninja outfit as he climbed a bell tower overlooking a popular marketplace late at night. He carried a heavy load in a bag strapped to his back and climbed without the help of a rope or anything of the kind. The sixty-yard long concrete bell tower was completely vertical, so climbing it was a challenge, even for him.
He eventually made it to the top and unstrapped the bag. Unzipping it, he withdrew a shoulder-propelled rocket launcher and an automatic assault rifle with a fourteen inch long silencer attached to the muzzle and a telescopic scope. Loading the rift with a clip of thirty six bullets, he calmly looked through the scope and aimed at the busy marketplace a short distance away. Without blinking, he picked out targets at random and pulled the trigger several times. He could barely hear anything as a handful of bullets shot out of the weapon, so the silencer was doing its job. Five total strangers were the first people hit. They dropped to the ground as their clothes became inundated with blood as others wondered what happened to them. Before any bystanders even realized those five people were dead, the ninja picked out some more targets. More pulls of the trigger took more lives as people everywhere seemed to suddenly and inexplicably drop dead for no reason.

Then, someone raised the alarm that these people were shot to death and they were being targeted. Panic gripped the crowd as people fought each other in order to rush somewhere else, although they had no idea where the gunman was. Scott quickly loaded a fresh, second clip into the rifle and set the weapon on automatic mode, meaning he could keep the trigger pressed and all thirty six bullets would fire quickly by themselves. He aimed for the panicked crowd and unsympathetically squeezed the trigger hard without easing up on the pressure in his index finger. He also swung the weapon at a slight degree back and forth in order to increase his body count. All thirty six bullets exited the rifle within about six seconds. He soon lost count of the number of people shot as he hurriedly, but calmly, took out the empty clip and replaced it with a fresh, third one.

As the darkness had already enveloped the bell tower, his killing spree soon ended along with the third clip. All the survivors in the marketplace simply dashed out as soon as they could. What remained were the scores of victims who were not so lucky. A few had been trampled to death during the frantic haste, but most had been shot. In the marketplace that had suddenly turned into a slaughter house, only the noise of crickets remained.

But soon, a helicopter was heard coming closer. The helicopter approached his bell tower because it had already been guessed that it was the area where the gunman was hiding. Scott did not know whether the helicopter belonged to the police department or to a news agency, and he didn't care. All he knew was that it was for this special occasion that he had carried along the shoulder-propelled rocket launcher.

Unknown to him, the helicopter was working under the authority of the police department. With the help of a video camera, it was also sending the events seen live to all the homes in the city which were watching the news. As an occupant in the helicopter shined a powerful light on top of the bell tower, exposing him, Scott responded by aiming the rocket launcher on the source of the light. He gave a slight grin as he was about to fire.

The only thing the viewers at home saw on the television set when the light was shone on the bell tower was a figure in black. Then, the figure held up a large object on his shoulder and seemed to be pointing it at the camera. The figure was then pushed back, as if recoiling from an impact. Static followed on the television set where, only a second ago, there had been a live report. Unknown to the many viewers, the helicopter went down in a ball of flames.

The ninja's mission was a complete success as he left the automatic rifle and rocket launcher behind and climbed back down the bell tower. This mass murder should keep the authorities busy for a long time, he thought to himself as he disappeared into the night. The Black Dragons members could now carry out their important deals while the police was too busy to watch them...

The original Scott opened his eyes again. He remembered the mass murder in Hong Kong. The last he had heard was that seventy-one people were killed. It was the worst mass murder in both Hong Kong and world history by a single gunman. The gunman had never been apprehended.

Feeling several different emotions at once, he reached forward and placed his palms against the floor as he pushed himself out of the split. He next forced his way out of the exercise room, trying not to be overwhelmed by the recent recollections. Sonya was in the living room seated on the couch and watching the television set as she saw the expression on his face.

"What's wrong?", she asked, concerned, as she stood up.

"You remember when the clone said I'd remember his past?", he reminded her.

"Uhuh", she answered.

"And you remember when he said he had never done anything good?", he went on.

"Yeah?".

"He was right", he sighed as he slowly sat down on the couch, "I couldn't believe what I saw".

"What did you see?", she asked, positioning herself next to him.

"You remember the mass killing in Hong Kong? The one that cost seventy-one lives?", he told her, "He was the one responsible for the whole thing".

"My God", she was stunned, "You're kidding me. But why?".

"I wish I was kidding", he continued, placing his head in his hands, "It was just something to be used as a diversion when his bosses held a meeting. They wanted every cop to be busy with something else so they wouldn't be watched. And he killed a cop too. A cop who was trying to stop the Black Dragons from extorting money".

"Are you OK with it?", she inquired as he stood up.

"I'm fine, just caught off-guard, I guess. I can handle it", he told her as he headed for the bathroom, wanting to wash his face with cold water.

Scott splashed handfuls of icy water on his face as his lowered head was several inches above the sink. Even though the cold water was running, he could hear Sonya in the kitchen as she made herself more sandwiches. After almost a minute of washing his face over and over again, he decided it was time to stop. So he shut off the flow of water and picked his upper body up to his full height. The first sight he saw was his reflection in the mirror over the sink. The second sight he saw was the reflection of detective Wang's bloody face as that one stood behind him to his left.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!", Scott screamed out and spun around, feeling more frightened than he ever remembered in the past.

There was nobody behind him, but he could still hear his heart as it beat much faster than usual in his chest.

"What? What?", Sonya rushed over to him.

Scott couldn't answer, but his wide eyes told her something was seriously wrong.

"Talk to me!", she pressed, "What happened?".

Scott finally looked at her, pointing to the area where he thought the detective was behind him.

"I saw...", he whispered, still panicked, "I saw the cop. The cop the ninja killed... He was right here".

"Your eyes were just playing tricks on you, Scott", she tried to calm him down, "Look, this has been a really long day, with the ninja dying and seeing Olsen shot on the...".

"He was here!", he raised his voice, still pointing to the spot.

Sonya realized there was no point in trying to argue with him as he was in such a state of mind. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and placed her right palm against the back of his head.

"It's OK, it's OK", she repeated, holding him close, "Everything will be fine".

"I'm fine. I'm fine", Scott abruptly pulled away, having calmed down, "Where the hell are Liu and Johnny, huh?".

Just then, the phone rang.

"That's probably them now", she smiled at him, trying to make him feel better, "You wanna get it?".

"No, go right ahead", he unemotionally responded as he grabbed hold of a towel to dry his face off.

He heard her picking up the receiver and talking. From the tone of her voice and the things she said, he could tell it was someone she knew, but not Johnny or Liu. If it had been, she would've told whichever of the two who called that they had been wondering where they were. Her conversation didn't last long as she soon hung up and looked at him as he came out of the bathroom.

"That wasn't them?", he asked even though he already knew.

"No, that was daddy", she said, "He's not gonna be here tomorrow morning. The meeting is gonna take a while longer than expected".

Neither one spoke for a few, uneasy seconds.

"Listen, do you want to go see Olsen when we're allowed?", she broke the silence.

"Sure", was his blunt answer as he got a hold of his pillow, indicating he wanted to sleep.

"Well", she tried to smile again, not knowing how to react to his suddenly cold behavior, "I guess I might as well hit the sack too. Don't worry about Liu and Johnny, they know how to take care of themselves. I'm sure they'll be here tomorrow morning".

"Wake me up tomorrow when you're up", he said without looking at her as he tossed the pillow on the couch, almost sounding as if he was giving an order.

"Sure thing", she replied as she headed for her bedroom, "But why? If you don't mind me asking".

"Why do you think? I wanna look for a job", he replied in a hostile manner, "I'm tired of being a goddamn deadweight around here".

She hoped that he would feel better when he woke up the next morning as she quietly headed into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya was at work late in the morning. Her routine task of pointing to the area where customers could go to find what they were looking for or putting up new items on shelves proved to be quiet boring. She kept reporting to work day after day because she knew it wouldn't be right to let her father bring home the only paycheck. As much as she hated to admit it, she desperately missed her days in Hong Kong, even though she had to put up with people like the colonel. At least there she had some purpose, she thought to herself.

Her mind soon drifted towards Scott and how he had gotten off the couch without a word when she woke him up several hours before with the cold look still on his face. He had only said a brief 'bye' as he headed out the door before she did. She did not understand what was wrong with him and was frankly beginning to worry. If that wasn't bad enough, Johnny's and Liu's whereabouts were still unknown. She hoped she would hear from her fellow kombatants as soon as she got home later on in the evening. As she was almost finished shelving the contents of the current cart, a man walked up to her holding about a dozen roses in his right hand and a wrapped package in his left.

"You wouldn't happen to be miss Blade, would you?", he asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"Yeah, that's me", Sonya looked at him, "Do I know you?".

"No, I'm just delivering this", the man handed her the flowers and the package before he turned around and began to walk away, leaving her astounded.

"I'm just glad I found you because I got plenty more to give out before the end of the day", he said to no one in particular as he got farther.

"Wait, who are you?", she called after him, "What is this for?".

"I'm a delivery man, lady", he turned his face to partially see her as he kept walking, "Flower service delivery".

"Huh?", she asked herself as she set the wrapped package on the floor in order to take a look at the card that was thankfully attached to the roses.

"Meet me after work at home as soon as you can", she read the card aloud as she saw Scott's name signed below the words.

She was still wondering about its meaning when her middle-aged store manager saw her as he was out of his office.

"Miss Blade", he addressed her, "I am glad you're having a nice love life, but could you do it on your own time?".

"But, but, but...", she didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry. Uh, could I put these in your office until the end of the shift?".

"Sure thing", he answered as he went on his way.

She walked into the manager's office and closed the door behind her. She rested the roses on the desk since she was impatient to find out what the package contained and quickly tore the paper cover and adhesive tape off. Inside was a neon green halter as well as a pair of neon green sweatpants. The pants were loose enough to be comfortable if she needed to use her legs in a physical conflict. The halter was in a style so that it snugly covered every square inch of the upper half of the torso from the solar plexus to the neck, leaving the arms completely bare.

"Whaaat?", she asked herself as she stared at the clothes.

She knew she couldn't wait there long, so she roughly placed both the halter and the sweatpants back in the torn paper cover and kept them next to the roses. She would only know the reason for the delivery when she got home after the workday was over. She could barely wait.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya was about to use her key to get through the front door of her home after her shift was at last over, but she found the door to be unlocked. Turning the knob and coming inside, she only saw the light of the living room on.

"Scott?", she called to him as she closed the door behind her and placed the flowers and the open package on the nearest couch.

Her former Special Forces partner walked out of the kitchen with a smile on his face, obviously glad to see her. She was just happy his cold facial expression was gone.

"You got them", he saw the flowers.

"Yeah", she smiled back, "I must admit it was a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. But what was it for? I've been wondering all day long about it".

"Well, I got a job", he gladly answered, "Granted it's a brainless thing, but it earns a paycheck, right? It was nice since it was the sixth place I had visited that had a help wanted sign. The first five only said 'don't call us, we'll call you', but this place hired me on the spot. I start next Monday".

"OK, that's nice", she commented, "But why the package? What's the green outfit for?".

"Well, you remember how you had a dream with you in them?", he kept smiling, "That was when Goro had come back, remember that?".

"Uh. Yeah, yeah".

"Well, the dreams are sometimes an unconscious desire for something", he told her, "So I figured I might as well shop around while I had time to kill".

"Oh", she was pleased at the thought, although the green clothes she wore in the dream were olive-colored and not neon, and the lower half of the outfit was a pair of tights, not loose sweatpants.

But she didn't tell him either one of those facts.

"So, did you call Johnny and Liu?", she wondered, thinking he might've heard from them already.

"Can't say I did. I didn't hear from them", he answered, still smiling, "Besides, I only wanted to call you".

"Oh, you feel better?", she posed, "You seemed upset this morning".

"That's past", he waved his arm back, "I was waiting for you because I wanted to talk when you came home".

"What's on your mind?", she asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions.

"Would you like to sit down?", he pointed at a couch first.

"Sure, I'm pretty worn out", she took a seat.

"Well, I've been thinking", Scott started, "Have you noticed how limited and shortsighted our role as siblings is?".

"Wadda you mean?", Sonya replied, seeing the direction this was heading but still not wanting to make assumptions.

Scott squatted next to her and stared into her eyes.

"Sonya, I couldn't get you out of my mind all day long", his eyes seemed to brighten as he talked, "You're the lady of my dreams, I don't know why I didn't see it before".

He abruptly stood.

"We can do a lot more than we've been doing so far", he told her, with the smile still on his face.

Sonya didn't feel comfortable sitting down as he was standing any more. She stood up after him.

"Like what?", she gleefully asked.

"Maybe like this", he said.

Scott placed his hands, palm-down, on either side of her face and kissed her on the lips. This wasn't a simple kiss on the cheek or the forehead that she might expect from her partners, either from the tournament or military, but a slow and passionate one.

"Wow!", she pulled her face back, feeling pleased but somewhat overwhelmed by the emotion of it.

"I know what you're saying, I should've done that way before", he smiled back.

"Wow", she repeated.

"What? You can't imagine having a mere private for a soul mate?", he asked her.

"No, it's not that. Those ranks are in the past", she was honest, "I just never thought of you and me in that way before. I never thought of me and anybody in that way before".

"Well, don't you think it's about time you should?", he asked next, "You and I were made for each other, Sonya".

"Well, that's...", she was interrupted in midsentence.

"You know, maybe you're right", Scott went on, "Maybe this isn't the right thing to do. I mean, a relationship just doesn't look so serious like this, does it? Marry me".

"Huh?".

"Marry me. As in be my wife", he kept smiling, "Besides, I'm sure Liu would appreciate having the living room all to himself when he goes to sleep. Your father already calls me 'son' anyway, we might as well make it official. Come on, didn't you ever wanna have kids and start a family?".

"Kids?! Hell no!", her eyes widened, "Wait a sec, wait a sec. Marriage is a bit rushed, no?".

"If you say so", Scott said, "Besides, I don't like kids either. I just said that in case you wanted some at one point in the future. But how about us? This is the right thing to do, sweetheart, I can feel it".

Before she could say anything, he resumed.

"Is there anybody else, by the way?", he added, "Are Johnny or Liu my competition here?".

She opened her mouth to answer, but he interrupted again.

"I'm just asking. They're great guys".

"No, they're not", she was finally able to respond, "I love those guys, but neither one of them ever brought this up".

"OK", he accepted.

"I must admit, this is something exciting", she smiled at him, "It'd be great with you and me".

"I know!", it was exactly what he wanted to hear, "You wanna get something to eat, by the way? Are you hungry?".

"No, I ate at work", she replied, "I'm just really worn out. I was looking to end the day until tomorrow. I got the day off, so you and me can have time off since you don't start until next Monday".

"Yeah", he agreed.

"I'm gonna hit the bed", she almost headed towards the bedroom before realizing things had abruptly changed.

Scott thought she looked as if she was lost, maybe nervous.

"So, how do you wanna, you know... do this?", she questioned.

"You don't want to sleep with me, do you?", he bluntly commented

"I...", she tried to choose her words, "I didn't say that".

"It's OK, it's fine", he was still cheerful, "This has all been sudden. It's understandable if the feeling's not mutual. I can wait until it is".

He held her right hand and gently pulled it towards his face before he kissed the inside of her wrist.

"God knows you're worth waiting for", he added.

Sonya found herself feeling somewhat relieved.

"I just don't think it'd be the right thing to do right now", she uttered.

"I understand", he stated as let go of her hand.

"Thanks", she answered.

She reached forward and kissed him goodnight on the lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning", she added.

"I'll be here", he still smiled as he watched her go.

Once in her room, she excitedly thought about what had just happened.

"Scott... Scott and me...", she spoke to herself, "We could really make this work".

She asked herself if things could finally be taking a turn for the better.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, she was up early, as expected. She saw Scott awake and alert just as she was while the sun was still rising outside. The first debate was what they should do for the first time. Her idea was to prepare breakfast for them both, he disagreed since he wanted to go for a walk but was soon submitted. The simple ham and eggs breakfast took less than half an hour as all they discussed while eating it was the food or the news, nothing about what had happened last night. She guessed that was probably because Scott wanted to discuss the previous night's events when they were outside with nothing else on their mind. She seemed to be right because he placed all the dishes in the sink soon after breakfast was over and offered her his left hand.

"Come on, it's time for that walk now", he stated.

"We should do the dishes first", she replied.

"Screw the dishes", he smiled back, "They can wait, I can't. Come on, it'll be fun".

She conceded and held his hand as they headed out the door.

The air was comfortably cool outside as they seemed to be walking in no particular direction, which was fine with both. Scott mentioned the prior day's occurrence pretty soon afterwards...

"...didn't think it'd be right to let this chance pass me by, I don't know if you understand that", he was saying, "Sooner or later, one has to realize that long-term events happen for a reason, and...".

He was interrupted by a scream from the front of an apartment building about half a block away. As they both turned their attention to it, they saw a middle-aged man and woman arguing in as loud a manner as possible. It didn't take the man long to turn the verbal argument into a physical one by pushing the woman. As Sonya and Scott witnessed, he followed it with a blunt kick to her leg. Scott thought he had seen enough.

"Help me?", he let go of her hand and pointed towards the scene of the argument.

"Sure", she replied.

"Excuse me, sir?", Scott called out as he approached the arguing couple, followed by the kombatant, "I'm going to have to ask you to stop that".

The man was not calmed or impressed by his polite behavior.

"Piss off!", he answered, spitting on the ground.

"Please, sir", Scott went on, getting closer, "That kind of response will not get you far in life".

The man turned away from the woman as Scott stood three steps away. He then violently shoved his right index finger into the ninja's chest.

"Listen, you stupid...", he started.

Scott interrupted him by grabbing the man's hand with his left hand and the man's forearm with his right one. With his eyes completely steady and before the man could even utter a reply, Scott pushed that one's hand upwards and back. He knew the man's hand was broken when he heard the bone snap and saw the back of the man's hand touching the forearm. Sonya's eyes widened as the man screamed hysterically and pulled his arm back, holding his wrist with his good hand. The only reason he was able to pull his arm back was because Scott intentionally released the grip on his forearm.

"See, if I'm being polite to you, why do you insist on responding with such profanity?", Scott calmly asked as he grabbed the thinning hair on the back of the man's head.

Before either Sonya or the middle-aged woman could protest, Scott slammed the man's face into the brick wall of the apartment building. Blood exploded from the man's face and stained the dull-colored brick. Scott next held on to the back of the man's head and was getting ready to send his free fist into the man's spine as the older woman screamed. Alarmed, Sonya reached him from behind and quickly, but lightly, wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Scotty, that's enough", she counseled, "Let him go".

Scott shrugged his shoulders and upper body with enough strength to push her off his back. He then released the man's head as that one sunk to the ground in pain. Sonya thought for a fraction of a second that her former partner had calmed down, but then found out that he hadn't. With his right hand curled into a fist, Scott fiercely twisted around and swung his right arm horizontally. His right knuckles crashed into Sonya's jaw and her face twisted to the left as she was propelled five feet backwards. She landed on the cold ground on her back as her vision blurred momentarily while she looked up at the sky. She believed her jaw was broken as Scott angrily reached her and bent down. He wrapped his right hand around her throat and violently pulled her back up to her feet before flattening her back against the wall.

"Don't you ever, ever, do that again!", he barked as he stared into her eyes in a rage. He was squeezing her neck with enough might to keep her from being able to breath.

"Get out of here", Sonya gasped at the older couple, "Go now!".

The woman helped the man get back up to his feet and they both scurried away feeling scared.

"Get off of me!!", she furiously tried to scream but couldn't because of his grip.

She punched him in the face with all the power in her arm. Although the blow didn't even come close to hurting Scott, it forced him to release the grip on her neck. Barely distracted, he answered with a similar punch to her face in the same fashion. She lost her balance because of the hit and staggered several steps to the side. Not discouraged, she twisted to her left and raised her bent right leg as high as possible along with the flow. Once nearing his head, she straightened the right leg and her right ankle slammed into his jaw. Scott's head snapped to his right under the impact, but he still had plenty of energy left to return the same style of kick towards her own head. As his ankle crashed into her jaw, Sonya flew in midair and landed hard on her stomach over ten feet away.

She clumsily pulled herself back up to her feet as she tasted blood in her mouth. Scott was just standing several feet away and staring at her. As she felt her jaw with her left hand, she knew it wasn't broken and her icy eyes locked with his hostile ones.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, tough guy", she said with spite, "But I want you out of my home, you got that?".

"It's technically your father's ho...", Scott easily began to respond.

"I want you out of there!!", she barked, interrupting, "And by tonight!".

"You plan to bring in every guy you met in the tournament to give them a ride they'll never forget?", his eyes were kept locked with hers, "Is that why I'm being kicked out?".

Her changed facial expression said she was surprised at his statement.

"Fuck you!", she shot back.

"Fine", he answered remorselessly as he simply turned and walked back towards her home.

Sonya watched him go as she slowly sat down on the ground. She was still trying to calm herself down as her heart kept racing. She had no idea how he could be so calm after what had just happened, but he was.

It took her a few minutes to gather herself up emotionally before she stood back up and went back to her home herself.

She reached the open front door and walked in, closing the door behind her. Scott was busy placing his ninja outfit and Beretta in a gym back which was on the couch as he didn't even acknowledge her presence. She was waiting for him to apologize or say or do anything that would indicate he was felt remorse for his actions, but he didn't.

"Where're you going?", she asked, not being able to take the silence in the living room.

"I'll do better than tonight", he replied, still gathering all the clips for his pistol, "I'll be out of here now".

She thought that any moment she would hear something along the lines of 'I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me', but nothing happened. She was willing to forgive him if he would only ask for her pardon. Scott had meant a lot to her, even before the previous night.

"It's bad enough that I have to put up with this from Kano or Benson or Goro or losers like them", she pointed her right index finger at him, "But I don't have to put up with it from you. I expect more from you guys".

Scott closed the gym bag and walked past her without a word before opening the door to leave.

"Where the hell are you going?", she pressed, "Aren't you even gonna try to apologize?".

"No", he only shook his head before he left through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

Sonya considered going after him and trying to stop him from leaving, but she ultimately didn't. She sat down on the nearest couch, stared straight ahead and asked herself what just happened.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The sound of Sonya's hand banging on the motel room door reverberated loudly. She knocked on it once, waited, knocked on it again, waited some more and was now trying for a third time. All day yesterday, she wasn't able to stop thinking about Scott and all that they had meant to each other since they met in Hong Kong after she had run into Kano. This particular motel was the fourth one that she had visited this morning and, unlike the previous three, the manager had remembered seeing Scott. He was also kind enough to give her his room number.

"Scott, it's Sonya. Come on, open the door", she introduced herself during the third knock.

She waited and received no response. She knocked on the door again, this time even louder.

"Open up, you son of a bitch!!", she was getting irate, "This is the way you live now? I said open up, I know you're in there!! You think you can just ignore me after everything that's happened?".

The other motel room occupants clearly heard her, but no one yelled at her to quiet down. She waited through a few seconds of silence and struck the door yet again, the knock getting louder with each attempt. Scott finally opened the door with an annoyed look on his face as he was dressed in the ninja outfit minus only the mask.

"Don't you ever get the message?", he didn't bother hiding his annoyance, "I don't wanna talk to you, lady!".

Sonya aggressively pushed him inside by shoving both her palms into his chest. The push sent him two steps backwards and into the room before she followed him in and closed the door behind her.

"Well, isn't that nice and convenient for you", she answered, infuriated, "You don't want to talk to me. How cute. That's not what you said less than two days ago. All of a sudden, you decide you wanna be intimately involved. Then, you decide you wanna break me in half because I disagreed with your opinion over the use of force. And now, you decided you were better off without talking to me?".

Scott opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off.

"Contrary to your belief, everything in life doesn't revolve around you", she pointed her right index finger at him in an accusing fashion.

Scott exhaled loudly, wanting to make sure she was through with the lecture.

"Lady, what do you want from me?", he asked, almost as if he was getting tired of her, "You told me to leave, so I left. You never have to see me again, what more do you need?".

Sonya was still angry, so her response was almost a scream.

"I want you to say you're sorry! That it won't happen again and that you...", she stopped and calmed down enough to stop screaming, "That you still love me... You're the lady of my dreams, I couldn't get you out of my mind, we were made for each other. You remember all that? When you said all those things, it wasn't a lie, wasn't it?".

"Of course it was a lie, you idiot!", Scott coldly answered as he took a casual step away from her, "Come on, do you honestly think men talk like that? I was just looking to get laid in a one night stand. I figured that line was the best way to get some sex just for the hell of it".

Sonya's heart sank when she heard him. Feeling extremely sad but not showing it through her facial expression, she stared quietly into his eyes, trying to determine for sure whether or not he was telling the truth. Since he realized what she was trying to do, Scott locked eyes with her for several heartbeats without a word. His eyes then involuntarily blinked twice and he partially looked away, feeling even more annoyed.

"You're lying!", she exclaimed, feeling better, "And not doing a very good job of it either!".

"You don't understand, do you?", he said, feeling as if he failed, "The reason I don't apologize is because I don't feel any remorse. The marriage proposal and everything else wasn't a lie, but me saying 'I'm sorry' would be".

That was when she realized for the first time how much the clone's new body changed him. He walked up to her and brought his face to within six inches from hers.

"You have to stay away from me", he whispered, "The fact that I can't say 'I'm sorry' proves that. What if there's a Beretta or a Glock around the next time I explode, huh? Do yourself a favor. Walk out that door, forget about me and find a guy who deserves you".

She was surprised how emotionally calm he seemed as he spoke, instead of looking heartbroken. The ninja's discipline had helped him keep a tight control over his emotions at all times.

Scott placed both his hands with the palms down on either side of her face and slowly kissed her on the lips before pulling away.

"Now get lost", he advised as he turned away and headed towards the Beretta on the bed.

But Sonya wouldn't let him go with grace.

"Forget about me?", she repeated his words, "Wasn't that my line back in Hong Kong?".

"Just go and find someone else", he pressed.

"Oh, sure", she replied sarcastically, "Because guys are just lining up to have a relationship with a woman who killed more people than she can count and who is aggressive enough to beat them up".

She sighed.

"Look", she continued, "What you're doing is sweet. It takes a lot of character to sacrifice something like this, but it doesn't have to come to that".

"Lady, this ain't a freaking romance novel!", Scott wished she would just leave.

"And what are you gonna do, huh?", she questioned.

"I'm going to pay the Black Dragons a visit", he easily told her.

"What?".

"The organization has headquarters in the capital of every industrial country", Scott explained, "My clone has been at every one of them. He knows where the one in Washington DC is. I'm going there".

"What the hell for?".

"Please", he replied as if she should've already known the answer, "These idiots went on the air and told every lowlife out there to declare war on the police. It was probably just to have a diversion for whatever they were planning and they didn't feel like being watched. Who the hell do they think they are, doing that to the likes of Olsen? When I think of all the attitude that guy put up with from me, he deserves way more than that".

She didn't answer.

"Besides, how long until they send someone else after you and an innocent person gets hit because the moron can't hit a dartboard from two feet away?", he added, "I owe it to all the victims. And I have a little score to settle with their chief assassin. He's there too".

"I should come with you", she advised, "You're gonna be disadvantaged if you head in there without backup".

"Absolutely not", Scott decided without counseling for her opinion, "This is my fight alone".

"Look, where is this place of theirs anyway that you think is their headquarters?", she asked.

"The twenty-story building downtown, around the corner from Dlane and Claridge avenue", he mentioned, "It belongs to them. They have a large bunker under it. Only Black Dragons personnel ever walk in or out of that building, but on the outside it looks like a completely legitimate business. It's right under everyone's nose".

"You can't be serious about going in there alone", she insisted, "There's probably an army in there, you'll need me".

Scott said nothing.

"Look, I could go home, change into my outfit from the army and grab the Glock in twenty minutes flat", she tried to encourage her participation, "When Goro came back, you said we were a team. That if he bothered one of us then he was bothering all of us, no? You should follow your own helpful guidance. We could go in there together, it always helps to have somebody watching your back".

"That's right, it does", Scott commented as he approached her, "But there's just one problem".

"What's that?", she asked innocently enough as he stood facing her from two feet away.

"I'm in love with you and if you got hurt, I'd never be able to forgive myself", he told her to her face, "I have enough on my conscience".

With those words, Scott delivered a devastating punch to her head, knocking her out instantly. He made sure to rush forward and grab her in his arms before she hit the floor. He next carried the kombatant by passing his left forearms under her upper back and his right forearm under her knees.

Scott gently rested her on the motel bed before he placed the pillow under her head. He then grabbed the blanket that was on the bed and actually covered her with it from the shoulders down because he was worried about her being cold. He then gripped the handle of his Beretta and checked to make sure the clip was full.

Scott took the mask portion of his ninja outfit and walked out of the motel room, unsure as to whether or not he'd ever see her again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ninja casually made his way towards the main door of the building at Dlane and Claridge avenues. He didn't stand out among most people who saw him because he still had not worn his mask. Without it, he looked only like someone who had an overwhelming fondness for black clothes. He stood at the automatic entrance of the building and patiently waited until the double-door opened by itself and he was able to enter the lobby of the building. Once inside, eight men stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Obviously, everyone who walked through those automatic doors was known, thus he stood out since he wasn't expected. Scott withdrew his ninja mask and carefully placed it over his head, making only his eyes visible as people began worrying.

"Listen up", he announced as he rested his hand behind him, gripping the handle of the Beretta, "This building is a front to an organized crime syndicate. The syndicate is my enemy. All of you who wish not to be involved should leave now".

Not unexpectedly, all eight men stayed where they were. Some of them reached for a weapon while others pressed a button, signaling an intruder, but no one expressed surprise at the information received or tried to leave. Scott jumped towards his left as he withdrew the semiautomatic pistol. Two men had already withdrawn a short, unknown assault weapon which they aimed at him from twenty yards away. Before either one of them could pull the trigger, Scott had both of them in his sight. He pulled the trigger of his weapon twice quickly, one round exploded in the chest of each man. Each dropped towards the floor, convulsing and tasting blood.

Scott's instincts spotted two targets, one to his immediate right and one at his left, slightly behind him. Both individuals were busy taking the safety device off their weapon in order to enable it to reach automatic fire status. It was something that would only take them a second, but it was one second which they didn't have. With the Beretta firmly in his right grip, Scott lowered his right upper arm by his side and flattened his right forearm horizontally against his solar plexus. Thus, the 9mm handgun pointed out of his left upper arm. He glanced to his left without moving his body, seeing the target behind him and to his left out of the corner of his eye. He smoothly pulled the trigger a third time, that person's scream telling him he had a hit. The ninja next lifted his right upper arm horizontally at the shoulder and aimed at the target at his immediate right. As that one was about to fire, Scott beat him to the trigger and a 9mm round lodged itself in the target's head.

Scott heard a safety device being taken off from directly behind him. Without taking time out to see the distance between him and his opponent, he leapt towards his right. As he was in midair, flying towards a spot ten feet away, a hail of bullets ripped through the air at exactly where he had been standing. He curled himself into a ball and stealthily rolled on the floor at the same time that he turned to face the backwards direction, finding his balance in a squatting position. Locking eyes with his fifth target, he aimed again and fired a single shot before that one was able to follow him in his automatic weapon's sight. The bullet entered the man's chest just three inches below the base of his neck and he fell backwards with a scream.

Still ducking his upper body, the ninja stood in time to see two adversaries in front of him with automatic rifles as his ears indicated a third one to be behind him. All three fired at once as Scott dashed towards the automatic weapon of his fifth downed victim. With a barrage of bullets closely following, he reached the intended weapon as he heard the lone person behind him being hit by the fire of the two men in front of him.

Scott grabbed the handle of the automatic firearm with his left hand as he ran past the body of the fifth target without stopping or even slowing down. Knowing his ambidextrous talent could prove useful, he suavely aimed towards the last two targets with his left arm. A pull of the trigger sent approximately thirty 9mm bullets towards the two men before they were torn apart where they stood. The victim on the right kept pulling the trigger of his weapon before falling backwards. Bullets from his firearm tore into the automatic double-door, piercing it. Scott followed the trail of the rounds with his eyes, hoping those bullets didn't hit anyone outside.

Scott next heard a moan from behind, prompting him to twist around with both weapons pointed. Seeing no one, he dropped the automatic firearm and pointed the Beretta downward as he held it with both hands. He warily proceeded towards the origin of the noise. Walking several steps revealed the person who had been firing from behind him and was hit by friendly fire. That one was lying in a small pool of blood as his upper body was riddled at several areas and he still tried to reach for the weapon which was clearly out of his grasp. The ninja aimed down at the man's forehead with the barrel of the handgun. Scott didn't know what the man would say if he could speak, but he couldn't. He could only raise his left arm, as if wanting to stop the inevitable while he only saw his executioner's eyes. The ninja pulled back on the trigger and sent one bullet clean through his head, stopping all movement.

Scott knew he had to prepare since reinforcement would surely be arriving because some of these people had pressed a button before reaching for a weapon. He rushed towards what the memories of his clone told him was the main hallway to reach the underground bunker. Exercising total control over his entire body, he ran quietly down the hallway, passing a number of doors. Since no one was coming out of them after hearing the gunfire, he knew they were empty. After about forty yards, he came face-to-face with two members who were running towards him in response to the distress call from the floor lobby. Seeing him, both drew the same assault rifle he had seen before. They didn't get a chance to use it because Scott quickly turned and ran towards the first open door he saw. Both men leveled their weapon towards him as he opened the door and disappeared into the room. Not impressed by his outfit or his demeanor, they followed him.

Both men entered the windowless inventory room where the ceiling was about twenty feet high. They scanned the area with their firearms as they slowly went in. Seeing no one immediately, they believed their target was hiding behind one of the large cartons that were lined up against two of the walls in the room. Carefully heading towards the cartons, neither man thought to look at the ceiling. They would've seen Scott if they looked up because he was hanging on to the vertical wall with his head touching the ceiling. He had climbed up the wall and had inserted a razor-sharp blade into the concrete with such force that it could hold him up when he hung to it. He didn't remember how he was able to climb the flat wall by using his hands and feet alone, but it must've been an instinct his clone passed on to him without him even realizing it.

As both men approached the cartons, Scott voluntarily let go of the blade and slipped all the way down, his legs impacting against the floor in front of the open door. Both men turned around, surprised. If he had wanted to run, he could have, but he preferred to stay. Scott quickly locked the door and with it forced all three of them to stay in the room. As his adversaries aimed at him, Scott pointed the Beretta upwards and fired twice, one bullet hitting each of two fluorescent light bulbs. Both light bulbs exploded and total darkness overtook the room. The men fired, but their bullets only tore through the locked door because Scott was already gone.

They reasoned they could've ran up to the door in order to unlock it, but that would've given their opponent too much time to take a shot at them. Instead, each man withdrew a powerful flashlight and held it in his left hand while holding the weapon in his right. Scott's two targets could see each other because of the source of the flashlight beams, the only person they could not see was the ninja. Suddenly, the darkness in the room seemed to engulf the first man because he just vanished into the black background, although his flashlight beam kept shining ahead. Panicked, the second man turned his flashlight towards his partner in time to hear a sharp, breaking noise. By the time he was able to find his partner with his beam of light, which was only one second later, the darkness which had engulfed that one vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. His partner's flashlight beam next fell forward and the man could see him dead on the floor. Feeling fear, the second man screamed and began to twist quickly around at random, his flashlight pointing light in his left hand and the automatic weapon firing in his right. Without any warning, his firearm was cleanly pulled out of his hand even though it was firing wildly at the time. The next feeling the man was made aware of was that of the ninja wrapping a hand around his throat. The man screamed and tried to fight out of the grip, but as he screamed, the ninja took advantage of the situation. The man felt the muzzle of his own automatic weapon being placed into his mouth. He had no time to react as the ninja squeezed the trigger of the weapon and sent all the remaining bullets piercing the back of his head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya awoke with what felt like a headache but soon disappeared as she opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of the motel room. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was before she quickly sat up in bed.

"Scott!", she cried out at herself, "He's there alone!".

She pushed the blanket off and jumped out of bed before heading out the door in her own turn.

Once home, she grabbed the uniform she had kept ever since she returned from Israel. She quickly wore the black tank top along with a shoulder strap, black pants and boots before she grabbed her Glock and made sure it was loaded. Realizing it was chilly outside, she also took her dark gold-colored jacket. It annoyed her that she had to set the pistol down to wear it, but she did. She zipped the jacket at the front about two thirds of the way to the top and also took time out to tie her hair into a tail at the back of her head. She then gripped the handle of the weapon again. She was soon out the door on her way to the corner of Dlane and Claridge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally finding the building proved to be harder than she thought, but the bullet holes exiting out of the automatic double-door gave it away. Having the Glock in a shoulder strap under her jacket, she walked up to the exact middle of the automatic double-door so when it opened, it would open evenly on both her sides. Unfortunately, the bullets that had pierced the double-door must have affected the mechanism to open the right half of it because only the left door opened.

"Jeez", she commented as she walked forward and had to squeeze past it, unlike the cool entrance she was aiming for.

She withdrew the Glock as she saw the reception of the eight corpses.

After examining the hallway to make sure his memories guided him correctly, the ninja stealthily made his way towards the elevator. He knew that pressing the button for the first floor while the elevator was on the first floor would take him to the bunker below. He also knew heavily armed guards were stationed at the entrance of the elevator once underground. He didn't like the fact that only two people had come to the aid of the distress call from the lobby. Realizing there was a chance that he was already spotted and was expected to walk into a trap once in the bunker, he stepped up to the elevator. It opened by itself without him having to call for it.

As Scott was about to enter through its inviting doors, his keen ears caught the sound of footsteps behind him. Perhaps the Black Dragons members weren't preparing an intricate ambush for him, he told himself, perhaps they were just incompetent. Gripping the handle of the Beretta with both hands as it pointed towards the floor, he walked towards the source of noise, making sure he made no noise himself as he moved. He soon reached a left turn in the hallway and conceived that the person or persons were just around the corner. The ninja twisted around into the left turn as he leveled both hands at arm's length in front of his shoulders, ready to blow away whoever was standing in front of him.

Scott instantly bent his elbows vertically upwards so the handgun would point towards the ceiling. He did so because he had found himself staring at Sonya from about five yards away as she had him in the sight of her Glock. She lowered her weapon a fraction of a second after his reaction. Scott's next movement was to pull his mask off with his left hand, although it still hung to the outfit from his neck.

"What are you doing here?", he snapped at her, staring her in the eyes.

"I'm following you", she told him, "You may need my help".

Scott didn't answer, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't glad to see her.

"By the way", Sonya continued, walking towards him, "I owe you this".

With that, she turned her right hand into a fist, twisted to her left and punched him in the jaw. The strike was so fast that Scott never saw the hit coming. His face snapped towards his right shoulder.

"Feel better?", he uncomfortably asked afterwards.

"Yes!", she snapped, pointing her right index at him, "Who the hell do you think you are by deciding when I can take chances and when not?".

Scott didn't answer again, only kept staring at her, reminding her they were in hostile territory, so she lowered her voice.

"If that's how you treat the person that you're in love with, I'd hate to see how you plan to treat this guy that you have a score to settle with", she commented.

"Well, if you stick around, you'll find out", he let her know as he turned and headed back towards the elevator.

"By the way, why do you always wear the mask?", she reminded him his face was still exposed, indicating the punch to his head made them even again, and thus friendly.

"It feels better when I'm on assignment", he answered while only staring ahead as they neared the elevator.

The elevator door opened like before and both stepped inside, turning around to face the door for when it closed. The inside of large elevator was a square with each side being close to five yards long.

"You know, I wish we had you on our side during the tournament against Shang Tsung", she told him as the door closed, "And what's more is that I never thanked you for the roses".

Scott said nothing. He only turned his face to her and smiled as he put his mask back on.

"Who are you looking for?", she asked as he pressed the button for the floor they were on presently.

"He's the chief Black Dragons assassin", he repeated what he had told her in the motel room, "He's named Alloy. It's funny, actually. The fact that they didn't send him after you proves that they didn't think you were their top enemy. You weren't worth the trouble. That shows how expendable their leader is".

"I guess I should be thankful", she commented as the elevator took them to the lower level.

"This might be a trap, so please brace yourself", the ninja advised as he flattened his back against the right side of the elevator wall next to the door.

Sonya copied his actions as the elevator came to a smooth stop. They both gripped the handle of their weapon hard in anticipation. Instead of the door opening and seeing a number of armed guards, smoke was shot into the elevator from a small, almost invisible, tube in the ceiling. It caught both Scott and Sonya off-guard as they started coughing and felt tears coming down their eyes. They quickly recognized the use of tear gas from their days in the military. They remembered that they should not rub their eyes no matter how bad they burned. In the military, unfortunately, they were being told not to rub their eyes as they rushed to install their gas masks or to get outside. There were no exits in the elevator and certainly no gas masks to use.

Both partners' stamina kept them on their feet long after most others would've been screaming and lying on the floor exhausted. But the tear gas was coming incessantly into the elevator while their endurance was limited. Sonya gasped as she finally dropped the handgun and bent down, gripping her throat and trying hard to stay alert even though her energy was quickly being used up. With some fight still left in him, Scott faced the door of the elevator and sent a powerful front kick into it in the hopes of breaking it. The door proved to be tougher than he had thought as a second front kick barely dented it. The ninja next leveled his Beretta 92F and passionately squeezed the trigger until all the remaining bullets had torn into the door. The elevator door was definitely damaged as he dropped the handgun and tried to execute a third front kick, but by this time his strength was just about gone. Scott gasped and fell backwards also.

Just then, the door of the elevator opened and at least some of the gas was forced out. Realizing it, Scott and Sonya looked up, trying to force themselves back to their feet. The first two people to enter the inside of elevator were two ninjas dressed exactly like Scott, except they also wore a small gas mask. The size of the gas masks indicated the amount of air in them was very limited, so the two ninjas' task was to only last a short time. Pulling herself back up, Sonya saw the first ninja and, in her debilitated mind, thought the ninja with gas mask was Scott. She thus didn't attack and was surprised when he struck her with a straight kick to the face. She staggered backwards and slammed into the rear wall of the elevator, still not understanding why Scott would attack her.

"Stop! Don't!", she tried to use her arms to shield her upper body, feeling confused.

The ninja closed in on her and used his gloved fist to deliver a massive punch to the area between her left ear and left eye. The blow hurt as she involuntarily staggered towards the floor, multiplying the effect of the gas, but she finally realized this person was not Scott. Barely being able to see in front of her, she stood up and swung into the air with a scream. The ninja had easily stepped backwards to avoid her strike as she targeted the blurry and vertical black color she saw in front of her. She moved towards the color, knowing she was at a serious disadvantage. Despite the exhausting effect of the gas, she twisted to her left and sent her right ankle in the direction of the top of the black color. The ninja ducked as her leg sailed overhead. He then stood and delivered an uppercut that knocked her out. Sonya fell unconscious and her back slammed against the wall again. She slowly sank towards the floor, although she didn't know that.

During her fight with the first ninja, Scott had jumped up only to receive a sharp kick to the stomach from the second ninja. Although he would've been able to recover fast under the usual circumstances, the effect from the gas forced him to bend down, gasping for breath. The second ninja next delivered a roundhouse kick aimed at his head. The back of that one's ankle crashed into the left side of his head and sent him towards the right wall of the elevator. Trying to pull himself back up, he turned to his left to try to see the second ninja. Instead, his worn-out eyes saw the first ninja as he delivered the uppercut into Sonya's chin. Scott ignored the second ninja as that one closed in against him and did something that his adversary did not expect at all. Still alert enough to feel enraged, Scott took a step forward with his left foot, twisted to his left and executed a flying kick towards the first ninja. His extended right leg smashed into the first ninja's left arm because that one was still staring at Sonya as she sank to the floor. The first ninja unexpectedly found himself flying towards the left wall of the elevator and crashed hard into it. The impact loosened his gas mask and he knew he would be in trouble if Scott struck again since he began feeling the effect of the tear gas also. Scott stood tall in front of the first ninja despite the burn he felt in his face. He realized his adversary had just lost his precious advantage with the reduced effect of the gas mask. As he gripped the first ninja by the collar with his left hand, ready to punch with his right, the second ninja delivered a severe blow to the back of his head from behind. Scott's durability proved to be inefficient to cope with the latest punishment and he saw darkness and passed out...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of what Scott had described as the large underground bunker beneath the building. Her eyes still hurt a little when they remained open, but she told herself that it was nothing compared to what she had felt in the elevator. Her hands were handcuffed behind her as her arms were wrapped around a relatively thin concrete column that extended from the floor into the ceiling. It was the column which had somehow kept her standing while she was unconscious. She scanned the area in search of Scott and found him soon, restrained as she was about ten yards away and with his mask off. He was awake as he stared intently ahead and listened to the proud speech that an unknown young man was giving him. The eyes of people in the area were on Scott and the stranger, and there were about twenty men overall. The two ninjas who had overpowered her and Scott were standing apart from the general crowd, possibly keeping their eyes on the closed doorway. Perhaps the stranger talking was the new Black Dragons head, Sonya did not know. What she did know was that her chin and teeth hurt a lot.

"Oh, look, sleeping beauty awakens", someone remarked with sarcasm when he saw her move and momentarily drew everyone's attention to her.

Most of the occupants turned back to the speaker and Scott after looking at her for a split second. The man was important enough to have them stay completely quiet, she realized. Sonya decided to listen to what he said in order to find out for herself.

"Procedure told us to evacuate this building and move somewhere else after one of our best assassins was missing in action", the man told Scott with a smile, "But we waited here because we guessed you'd be coming. Either you or at least someone who was using your information. The fact that it's you makes it even better, we don't have to worry about who else out there the information is being passed into".

"Really?", Scott questioned, "If you were expecting me, why did you have such a lame defense in the lobby upstairs?".

"Those guys were nothing!", the man laughed as some of the men in the room chuckled, "They were expendable! You honestly thought that was the best we could throw at you?".

With that, the man sent his left fist into Scott's stomach, desiring to inflict as much pain as possible by himself. Sonya inadvertently recoiled her head back as Scott was punched. Her partner coughed as a result, looking downwards.

"That was for betraying my father!", Scott's young attacker spat to his face.

"Your father?", Scott asked, feeling confused and not letting know that he wished to rip the young man apart.

"Crane, you bastard!", the man slapped him across the cheek.

"Oh, Crane's kid", Scott commented, "I was wondering where you got your ugly looks".

Heavy footsteps were heard approaching from the direction of the closed doorway. Everyone, including the assumed new head, turned their attention towards it a few seconds before it was opened from the other side. The next sight Sonya saw enlarged her eyes, although Scott wasn't surprised since he remembered the occupant from the clone's memories. A six and a half foot tall Alloy walked into the bunker and closed the door behind him as the two ninjas respectfully bowed. He didn't return the bow as he walked towards Scott.

"AFTER EVERYTHING WE DID FOR HIM, THIS IS HOW HE REPAYS US", Alloy spoke in his usually high-pitched voice, "BY WORKING AGAINST US".

"I'm not your assassin, you quack!", Scott raised his voice, trying to show as much verbal disrespect as possible, "I'm his host, the original one! I'm glad you at least remember your assassin, you helped screw him up".

"Then I was right", Crane's son smiled again, looking at the people around him, "He did die. I just couldn't understand how he could've gone on without our antibiotics".

"Yeah", Scott confirmed, "Your assassin chose to die instead of coming to you losers for help. So I guess he had some class after all".

Scott's final insult finally wiped the smile off the new leader's face.

"Take what you need from these two and then kill them", that one turned to Alloy, "Make them suffer for as long as you can".

He stopped briefly.

"All nonessential personnel, evacuate as we had planned", he announced to everyone.

"What? Take what you need?", Scott repeated, confused, "What is that supposed to mean?".

"Oh, that's right", the leader sarcastically answered, "This is something your clone didn't know so he couldn't have told you. We're gonna drill through your memory, both yours and your pretty friend there, to see who else knows what you two know about us. Of course, as we do, our machine might turn your brains into spaghetti, but that's a chance we're willing to take".

He then clapped his hands twice fast.

"Come on, people", he raised his voice to be heard, "Set up the machine and shut off all nonessential electricity sources so we can give it all the juice possible".

He walked away as he turned and looked happily into Scott's dark face.

"This shouldn't take long", he said.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The two ninjas had released Sonya's and Scott's hands from the handcuffs and had their automatic weapon trained on the intruders' backs as they were led away from the main bunker room. Alloy walked ahead with the two outsiders following him as the ninjas followed them. The Black Dragons assassins were confident the two prisoners would not resist now because, aside from the firearms, Alloy would've destroyed them on the spot if they did. Both Sonya and Scott were pushed into the same, four yards by six yards, rectangular cell before the solid steel door was closed and locked behind them. Crane walked up to Alloy as that one and the two ninjas were guarding the door from outside.

"Why did you put them in together?", he asked his chief assassin, "It seems to me that the best way to hurt that son of a bitch is to separate him from his pretty little friend and letting him hear her scream".

"THAT IS EXACTLY WHY, SIR", Alloy respectfully answered, "HE WOULD RESIST AND CAUSE TROUBLE IF SHE WAS SEPARATED FROM HIM, PERHAPS MAKING US USE DEADLY FORCE. YOU DO NOT WANT HIM DEAD JUST YET. OR DO YOU?".

"No, not yet", the leader understood, "He needs to be alive for the memory drill to work, unfortunately".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside the holding cell, Scott was seated with his back against the wall as Sonya kept pacing the floor. They couldn't hear what was said outside because of the thickness of the concrete walls.

"I'm sorry", he calmly said, staring ahead at the door.

Sonya stopped and looked down at him even though he wasn't returning her glance. She wondered what he was apologizing for. Sorry for hitting her, sorry for inadvertently telling her the address of their enemy's bunker, sorry for not being able to stop her from following him, sorry for not being able to fight back successfully against the two ninjas in the elevator?

She decided not to ask him.

"It's OK", she only answered, returning to her pace as he slowly stood up, still staring only ahead.

"Staring at the door isn't gonna get us out of here, you know", she commented as she kept pacing.

She realized she was getting scared. The Black Dragons members had them outnumbered and were planning on killing them in a painful way. To make things worse, she couldn't come up with any plans to get them out of this dilemma.

"Got any ideas?", she asked him next as he still stood straight.

Scott only shook his head, not taking his eyes off the door.

"Me neither", she told him.

There was silence.

"Look", she spoke up, "If we're gonna die, I'm glad we're at least together. It's better than being separated and killed alone".

"Same here", he stated.

"Would you look at me?", her voice carried the slightest hint of panic in it.

He turned his face towards her direction. As she locked eyes with him, she told herself that it was nice to see him without the ninja mask on. Sonya saw someone who was calm, who at least seemed to be completely under control. The clone's experiences had definitely changed him, it still remained to be seen as to whether it was for better or worse. She was sorry she might not have enough time to find out. She also saw something else in his eyes, though. It was the desire for blood and vengeance. A look that was sadistic towards the enemy. It was rather scary to look at , but for some strange reason, she liked it.

"What a way to go, you and me", she whispered only loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh!", she exclaimed next as she placed her arms around his neck and passionately kissed him on the lips.

Scott had placed his arms around her as soon as she had initiated the embrace.

It was only after several seconds of kissing that she stopped and realized that both her legs were bent at a ninety degree angle at the knees, so her feet weren't touching the floor. Scott alone was holding her up as he wore no expression on his face. With her arms still around him, she withdrew her face from his.

"You have a strange way of showing people you care about them", she told him, "You know that?".

She was happy enough to smile, despite what was taking place outside of the holding cell.

"Put me down", she commented next.

Scott looked down at her feet before looking at her again.

"You just need to lower your feet", he let her know, "They'll touch the ground".

"Oh", she secured the bottom of her feet on the floor as they separated.

She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw him grin as she let him go.

"At least the entire day wasn't a total loss", he said as he smiled.

It was the same kind of smile she had seen on his face the night she had come home carrying the roses.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next several minutes was spent seated on the floor and discussing everything from her present job to how long she actually lasted when she challenged Goro's specter. They held hands throughout the entire conversation, as if accepting the fact that this would be their last day.

It didn't take long for the two ninjas to open the door from outside with their weapons at the ready. Without a word, the assassins motioned with their firearms that they were to be led out of the cell. Scott quickly stood first and made sure to help her up to her feet.

They were led back to the area where they had been held previously as Alloy led their way and the ninjas followed again. The place looked smaller this time around. First, there was a machine which looked closest to what Sonya would describe as an electric chair, only brawnier. Behind that was an incinerator which had a large square window about three feet above the floor, showing the raging fire that burned inside. Sonya and Scott guessed that placing a body inside would've turned it to ash in a matter of seconds. Only the new Crane and three of his men remained behind, along with Alloy and the two ninjas.

"So this is it, huh?", Scott asked out loud, hoping to buy some time as he turned and faced the two ninjas, "This is how it ends? Are you two supposed ninjas so afraid of us that you want us killed while you have those fancy guns staring at our backs?".

If the ninjas were insulted, Scott couldn't know because of their masks. But Alloy clearly didn't like the tone of his voice. The cyborg turned around and sent his fist into Scott's spine, bringing him down to his knees with a scream.

"Son of a bitch!", Sonya blurted out towards the cyborg as she came to Scott's aid.

"What are you doing?", she whispered as she helped him stand up.

"I have to do this, whether I die or not", he whispered back as he stood up straight and gently pushed her aside.

"How about it?", he stared at the first ninja, the one who had knocked out Sonya in the elevator, "You hurt my friend here and I don't like that. You're gonna hide behind your weapon forever?".

The first ninja looked at Alloy, nonverbally asking for his approval. The cyborg nodded his head and the first ninja gave his weapon to his partner.

"What's going on?", Crane finally spoke up, alarmed that the planned procedure wasn't being followed.

"THERE WAS A CHALLENGE MADE TO ONE OF MY STUDENTS", Alloy explained, "HIS HONOR DEMANDS THAT HE ACCEPTS".

"What?", the leader exclaimed, "Get serious! What do you think this...".

"DO NOT INTERRUPT!", Alloy cut him off, indicating the leader might not be much more than a mere puppet.

"You're losing me, Scotty", Sonya whispered, "What're you doing? You don't have to do this for me".

"This isn't about you", he whispered, pointing at the first ninja who was readying himself, "It's not even about him. He's supposed to be my equivalent but Alloy's student. Alloy is chief assassin and I want to finish him. He trains all the assassins; he trained and virtually brainwashed my clone".

"You wanna challenge Alloy?!", her eyes widened, trying to keep her voice down.

"Yes, and the only way to do it is to drill through his student first".

"Don't", she sharply advised.

The second ninja walked up to Sonya from behind and quickly handcuffed her left wrist before dragging her several steps and locking the second half of the device to the raging incinerator. It was hotter than the hottest day of the summer as she stood next to it, but her current mind was on Scott as he walked up towards the fist ninja. They both bowed from five yards away.

The first ninja executed a swift flying kick with his right leg, but Scott was ready. As his clone had done with Sonya on Shang Tsung's island, he sent his upper body to his left and held up his right arm horizontally at the shoulder, bracing for the impact. Sure enough, when the ninja passed the air where he used to be, his forearm slammed into that one's chest and knocked him down. The ninja jumped up to his feet, unrelented. He sent a front kick aimed at Scott's chest and Scott violently slapped his foot away by waving his right forearm at the elbow.

Scott sent a massive right jab aimed at the ninja's throat, which that one blocked. As he did, though, Scott twisted to the right and delivered a second massive left punch into his face. The ninja staggered to his left, still holding on to his concentration.

"You OK, ninja?", Scott asked, almost feeling concerned.

His adversary responded by running towards him, ready to strike. Before he got a chance, Scott twisted to his left and sent his right leg into that one's chest. The ninja was abruptly stopped as his body recoiled upwards into the air. As he came back down on the floor, Scott sent a second straight and higher kick into his face, knocking him backwards on the floor. The ninja was staring at the ceiling as Scott walked up to him, squatted next to him and pressed down on his chest with his palm.

"Stay down!", he whispered, "My fight isn't with you. I don't want to keep hurting you, so just walk away from this".

The ninja clearly didn't believe him because he grabbed Scott by the collar of his ninja outfit and tossed him overhead, not wanting the intruder to be standing near when he tried to stand. Scott flew through the air in a semicircle and gracefully landed on his feet. Scott's adversary next jumped up and charged at him again. This time, he was greeted by a front kick to his chin. Scott's shoe slammed into his chin and sent him flying ten feet into the air in a semicircle before he landed on his back once more. Scott walked up to him to offer one more time.

"That's enough!", he exclaimed out loud, not caring who heard.

He offered his left hand to the downed ninja, leaving his right hand free in case that one tried to fight back. Fortunately for the ninja, he gripped Scott's hand and pulled up to his feet. Once standing, the ninja walked away from his victor because he knew that one could've easily killed him but didn't.

"And get her away from that incinerator!", Scott barked from behind him.

The first ninja yielded and loosened Sonya's wrist from the handcuffs that chained her to the hot incinerator. She was glad to be away from it but now knew that Alloy's challenge was about to follow. She was right because Scott was busy pointing at the cyborg next.

"COME ON!", Scott screamed, "YEAH, I'M TALKING TO YOU, YOU UGLY SON OF A BITCH!! COME OOOOON!!".

"Scott, no!", Sonya raised her voice, addressing him.

She was worried because there must have been a good reason why Alloy was the chief Black Dragons assassin. There was a chance Scott would lose to him.

"I said pipe down", Scott told her before turning his attention to the cyborg again, this time calmer, "Come on, loser, I'm waiting".

It was Alloy's pleasure to accept his challenge, although doing so might mean not having him around for the memory drill. Still, his kind of disrespect was what the cyborg hated more than anything else. With Sonya, the new leader and his students watching, he stepped towards Scott and stood several yards away while his opponent looked up incessantly into his eyes.

"No, stop this!", Sonya blurted out, stepping towards them both, "There has got to be another way!".

The first ninja restrained her. She was about to fight back, looking for his annihilation for the way he treated her in the elevator. She didn't get the chance because Scott spoke to Crane without taking his eyes off Alloy.

"If you have any power whatsoever, prove it", he pointed to the new boss without breaking his eye contact with the cyborg, "Kindly escort the lady out of here".

Crane didn't like any of what he was seeing, but he knew he'd upset Alloy if he interrupted the fight. He thus bowed his head slightly. With that, the second ninja joined the first and they both grabbed Sonya from behind, one restraining each arm.

"What?! Get your fucking hands off me!!", she was surprised as she irately addressed Scott, "You can't do this!! I won't let you!! You son of a bitch!! I'll make you pay for this!!".

She was still resisting as both ninjas dragged her away. She was trying to fight back because she was worried about Scott and didn't want his death on her conscience. As both assassins brought her out of the door, she realized she had to calm down in order to do anything effective. Looking down at the uniform of the second ninja, she realized he had her Glock on his person. It was possible he had Scott's Beretta also, but she didn't care about that presently. While still being forced down the hallway towards the holding cell, she pushed towards her left with all her strength. The shove slammed the ninja on her left into the wall, momentarily releasing his grip on her left arm. A moment was all she needed because she pulled her left arm free and sent her left palm into the nose of the ninja on the right. Sonya then pulled away from them and ran a few steps ahead before turning around in a fighting stance. Both ninjas could've pulled out a firearm and shot her, but they knew that Crane wanted her alive for the memory drill, and she knew it also.

"So, I guess I'm supposed to be scared because you're bigger, huh?", she commented as both ninjas charged at once.

Sonya delivered a front kick into the first ninja's stomach, sending him staggering backwards in a moan. The second ninja was upon her as that took place and punched her in the jaw, worsening the pain in her teeth. She slammed into the side of the hall, dazed, as she gathered her concentration against him, trying not to lose her temper. Before the second ninja could strike again, she punched him in the jaw in the same way and he staggered backwards just as she saw the first ninja coming back towards her. Acting on instinct alone and hoping that it was enough, she sent a high right front kick into his face. The first ninja's head snapped back as he staggered backwards again.

Her adrenaline supplying her with sharp energy, Sonya next saw the second ninja running back towards her as the first one was faltering away. Ready for him, she flipped upside down on her hands and placed both her ankles on either side of his upper chest. Surprised by a move that he had never seen before, the second ninja flew in an almost semicircle as she leg tossed him over her. While he was a short distance from the floor, her feet released him and he flew in a downward-aimed straight line. He landed in pain several steps behind her as she flipped back on her feet. The second ninja still managed to stand back up, determined not to be beaten. This time, the Black Dragons members thought they had the advantage since the first assassin was in front of Sonya while the second one was behind her. They rushed towards her at the same time, believing she could not fight back against them both. Sonya turned around and, seeing the second ninja close enough, flipped upside down on her hands again, getting ready for yet another leg toss.

The second ninja tried to stop, but was running too fast. She gripped his chest like she had done before and tossed him over her again. Cursing himself for not expecting it, the second ninja found himself flying over her. The next thing he felt was his head slamming into the first ninja's chest. The first ninja was thrown backwards as his rush forward was violently cut short and he fell on his back unconscious as his partner landed on top of him. Coming back on her feet, Sonya realized the second ninja was still moving as he lay on top of the first one. Without giving it a second thought, she kicked him in the head and finally stopped his movements as his head sharply flew upwards. She then squatted next to them both and sent her right hand into the second assassin's uniform. She withdrew her Glock within seconds and stood back up. Hoping her partner was still alive, she ran back to the spot from which she had been dragged away from.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scott, in the meantime, heard heavy metal music flooding his mind as he was in his fighting stance against Alloy. The music in his head wasn't drowned as he screamed.

Scott executed a powerful flying kick aimed at Alloy's chest. The cyborg didn't even bother getting out of the way and simply got hit, taking two heavy steps back, his sparkling eyes more menacing than ever. Coming back on the floor, Scott saw him as he was about to swing. He twisted to his left and kicked the cyborg in the side of the knee. In one motion, he then twisted to his right and sent a straight kick into the other knee. Not dazed, Alloy swung with his left arm aimed at the ninja's head and only met air as the human ducked.

Twisting to his left again, Scott sent his right foot into his adversary's stomach, still looking for a vulnerable spot. That one didn't even bend forward, thus Scott was not able to take advantage of it. Not troubled, the ninja struck again before the cyborg could organize his own offensive. A roundhouse kick that was strong enough to decapitate an ordinary person slammed into Alloy's head and knocked him down on his side. Scott involuntarily gave out a cheer as he saw the result, the music carrying his momentum.

Alloy was back on his feet within a second, so Scott took several quick steps away from him. Once having enough distance between them, Scott flew towards him with his right leg extended again. The result was again that his opponent took two steps back. Stepping away from him, Scott realized this tactic was not working and decided to try something new. Wanting to finish the fight, Alloy rushed at him. Scott ran forward also, appearing as if they were about to collide. As he was reaching the cyborg, though, he slid down on the ground and slipped past him from in between his legs like a batter going for a home run. He then stood up from behind his adversary before that one was able to turn around and kicked him in the back of the knee. As Alloy came down on his knees, Scott punched him in the back of the head and sent him crashing down on his stomach.

His adrenaline level and spirit were high as he witnessed Alloy getting back up, completely unhurt, for the second time. Scott would've attacked him again, but by that time Sonya had reached the door that separated their area from the hallway leading to the holding cell. Seeing both fighters still standing and not wanting Scott to get hurt, she aimed at Alloy as she gripped the Glock with both hands at arm's length in front of her face.

"Ride's over, everybody off", she told herself as she began pulling the trigger.

One by one, all twenty 9mm rounds exited her handgun and entered Alloy's body. The cyborg shook violently as his shiny metallic surface was ravaged by the bullets. After all twenty bullets had done their damage, Alloy seemed as if he was about to fall on the ground, completely destroyed. Scott twisted himself to his right, sending a final roundhouse kick into the cyborg's head, but his broken opponent fell on the ground before the back of Scott's ankle reached it. Thus, Scott's leg only met air as Alloy fell down in pieces.

As that happened, the leader of the Black Dragons looked devastated at the loss of his best assassin. He knew he couldn't hurt Sonya and Scott physically, but he didn't have to. Two of the three men with him quickly withdrew tranquilizer guns and simultaneously aimed at Scott and Sonya. Two darts were fired. Before either of them could react, Scott felt a stinging pain in the left part of his chest and Sonya felt it in her left upper arm. Both dropped to the floor again, wishing they had been able to get out of the way.

Scott and Sonya were alert within minutes as they found themselves handcuffed from behind to the thin concrete columns again.

"I wanted you both to be awake to feel the pain", Crane announced, "That's why I made sure the tranquilizer's effects were very short".

He calmly walked over to where Sonya was restrained as one of his men was sending thousands of volts of electricity through the memory drilling machine. As long as he was waiting, the new Black Dragons leader decided he might as well have some fun. He turned his left hand into a fist and punched her in the stomach with it. The blow knocked the wind out of her as she gasped and her upper body was roughly forced forward. She heard Scott pulling on his wrists from behind him and growling like an angry cat as she coughed a few times.

Enjoying the scene, and confident that Scott could not break the handcuffs, Crane gripped her chin with his right hand and coarsely pushed her head up until the back of her head touched the column. With her upright, he punched her in the stomach again, forcing her torso forward one more time. Scott growled louder at him as his continual pull against the handcuffs cut his wrists and blood began to flow into his hands. Fighting against the pain in her stomach, Sonya stood back up straight and stared into Crane with fire in her eyes. He had enough intelligence to step away from her after the second strike, for he knew she would surely try to kick him with her free legs if he didn't.

"OK, people", Crane clapped his hands as he realized the machine was ready, addressing the three members who stayed behind, "Let's do the bitch first".

"Get away from her!!", Scott barked, the blood from his wrists dripping past his hands and into the floor behind him, "IF YOU TOUCH HER, I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL TEAR YOU APART!!".

She was organizing a plan in her mind to counterattack as two of the three men approached her to loosen the handcuffs and drag her to the machine. Before that, though, Crane withdrew a long-barreled revolver, getting tired of listening to the man he still blamed for his father's death.

"He needs to be alive for the memory drill to work", he looked at his men, "He doesn't need to be healthy, right?".

When one man shook his head in agreement, Crane turned to Scott from a few yards away while that one still stared at him with a grim, dangerous look. Crane then pulled the trigger once and shot the ninja in the stomach. Sonya gasped from the sound of the gunshot as she next saw Scott bleeding and sinking closer to the floor while his facial expression told her he was fighting to stay conscious. Her jaw had dropped open and her plan was momentarily forgotten as Scott seemed to be passing out. As the two members came closer, however, she forced herself to lock his image out of her mind and calmed down, knowing it was the only chance of either one of them getting out alive.

The two members got to within two steps of her when one of them withdrew a key for the handcuffs while the other withdrew a semiautomatic pistol much like her Glock. Instead of having to use the key to loosen the handcuffs, as they had expected, they saw Sonya opening her arms apart in one motion from behind the column. The handcuffs were still locked around her right wrist, but the left half of the handcuffs was loose.

"Surprise!", she smiled as she brought her arms up on either side of her shoulders.

"Trash'em", Scott managed to blurt out as he could feel the enveloping darkness getting nearer.

Sonya rushed ahead with vengeance on her mind before either Crane or the member with the semiautomatic could react. Her first action was to send her palm into the chin of the man with the key to the handcuffs. That one's head snapped upwards and back as he was forced a step backwards. With one, smooth motion, Sonya then gripped the head of the armed member with both hands and swiftly broke his neck before that one could even pull on the trigger. She reached down and grabbed his pistol as he descended towards the floor. With his weapon in her right grasp, she saw Crane aiming his revolver towards her. She gripped the neck of the dazed member with the key with her left hand and pulled him towards her. She quickly positioned him in front of her and wrapped her left arm around his neck just as Crane was getting ready to pull the trigger. The man enclosed in her left arm tried unsuccessfully to get out of her grip but she proved to be the stronger of the two.

Sonya next saw the third man who had been standing near the machine rush at her from the left. She retained her left arm around the man with the key for support and kicked out her left leg. Her foot hit the third member in the stomach and that one staggered back towards the machine as Crane opened fire. A bullet tore into the left side of the chest of the man held in front of her and he convulsed while still in the grasp. She aimed towards Crane with her right hand and returned fire before that one was able to pull the trigger again and a 9mm round inflicted a fatal wound in his forehead. Crane fell on the floor dead without a sound.

Sonya let go of the second member who had been shot in front of her and he dropped towards the floor. She turned partly and aimed her weapon at the third and last member of the Black Dragons under Crane. He had been recovering from her kick to his stomach as he stood next to the machine and in front of the incinerator.

"Say 'hi' to Kano, tough guy", she told him as she had the weapon's sight on him as it was extended in front of her face.

She kissed her left hand and then blew the kiss towards the last member before shooting him once. The last member was thrown backwards under the impact of the bullet. He staggered towards the incinerator and his upper body was pushed into the large, open window. He pulled his torso back out as it was engulfed by the raging fire inside. As Sonya watched him burn, he took two steps forward and crashed down on his knees before falling on his stomach.

"That's a fatality if I ever saw one", she commented to herself as she was finally able to head towards Scott.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been difficult to say the least as she had helped the injured Scott into the elevator, then outside to her car and had driven the car to the hospital. Her dark yellow jacket was stained in several spots with his blood as this scene eerily reminded her of the occurrences in the House of Representatives. The 9mm Glock was lying empty on the back seat since she had tossed it there after positioning him in the vehicle. She had been trying to talk to him steadily all the way to the hospital, trying to keep him awake as he kept pressing his hand into his wound. He hadn't been responding for the last two blocks towards the hospital, trying to keep himself from screaming as the pain seemed to get the better of him.

"I need some help here, please", she said out loud as she helped him into the emergency room, his left arm wrapped around her shoulder.

She was pulling on his left forearm with her left hand while her right hand supported the right side of his body to the best of her abilities. The unit in the hospital was fortunately fast to respond with as stretcher as Scott was placed on it and quickly pulled away from her. His left hand had gripped her own as he was placed on the stretcher, she was thus forced to let him go while he was taken away. After he was gone, The only thing she was staring at was the large amount of blood that had moved from his hand to hers.

"Hang on, Scotty", she said to herself more than to him, unsure as to whether he could even hear her any more, "Be strong".

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Feeling worse than her jacket looked, she tried to find a payphone. She knew she needed to find a pin or something resembling one to loosen the second half of the handcuffs from her right wrist. She also wanted to call home to find out if her father, Johnny or Liu were there because she really wished they were here. She found the payphone, picked up the receiver, put in a quarter and dialed the number while her heart felt like it was in her stomach. She counted the rings, feeling her throat tighten up.

Liu and Johnny had followed Princess Kitana into the secret cave that Outworlders who agreed with her beliefs used. It was handled as several different designs. The cave was where they met when they needed to pass information to each other that they did not wish the mutants or their new master to know about it. It was also used as a safe haven where they could meet whenever they were separated from each other during an ambush by their opponents. The opening of the cave was large enough for all three to be able to walk into it standing completely straight.

"Please, make yourselves at home", Kitana guided the two kombatants deeper inside as the natural light from outside quickly dimmed and the ground under their feet seemed to get more uneven.

"I know it is not much, but it serves our purpose during these trying times", she continued as she reached for an unlit torch that was positioned on one side of the rough cave.
Kitana flicked her right thumb and index fingers together as she held the unlit torch in her left hand. Since the darkness in the cave had already overcome them, she reasoned they needed some artificial light to continue. The first snap of her thumb and index finger had no result, but the second flick produced a spark of fire that seemed to have her two fingers as its root. With Johnny and Liu pleasantly perplexed, Kitana touched the top of the torch with her two right fingers. She did so without wasting any time to admire the fire like the Earth kombatants were doing because she knew it would only last for a few seconds.

"This way", she murmured quietly as she pointed deeper into the cavern with her face.

"You're gonna have to tell me how you did that", Johnny commented about the fire that had originated from her fingertips.

They were forced to duck a little as the ceiling of the cave came closer to the ground under their feet. Kitana led them into the heart of the cave and they reached their destination after about two more minutes of hiking towards it. The large inside room of the natural cavern had a ceiling that was several times their own height and was roughly round on the ground. Half a dozen lit torches decorated the primitive wall and provided the only source of light for all the people inside. The approximately twenty men and women inside instantly turned their attention towards Liu and Johnny when they saw that Princess Kitana had not returned alone.

"These are friends from the realm of Earth", Kitana announced with a friendly smile as she pointed to the kombatants, "They're here to help".

She positioned her torch on the wall just like the previous six that were attached to it before she turned her attention to calming the fears she knew the Outworlders were experiencing. After all the battles won and lost against the mutants, those who fought by her side had grown wary of all who weren't exactly like them. The suspicion was also aimed at those who weren't from their own realm, even though they may not be mutants themselves.

"Liu Kang and Johnny Cage", she pointed at each respectively, introducing them, "They were the ones who destroyed Shang Tsung's scheme during the original tournament. Since part of that tournament was held here, they are already somewhat familiar with our realm, but they could still use some guidance from the natives".

"What's in this for you?", a young male Outworlder sharply eyed the two kombatants as he sat on the ground facing the entrance from which they had emerged.

"Just trying to help out a friend", Liu calmly responded.

"We are on the same side. They did not have to come to us", Kitana addressed the member with a soothing voice before turning to the Earth habitants, "That is Pyro. He's a very good man. It will just take some time to get used to outsiders, that is all".

Liu suspected from her tone of voice that she was looked upon as the leader of these people and not only another member of the gathering. Pyro's reaction to her words was to somewhat change his facial expression as his eyes were fixed on Liu and his partner. Liu also saw that it was as if Kitana was seen as being wiser and perhaps even a parent figure to all the members. That actually made sense to the White Lotus monk since Kitana's great age would've given her experience that everyone else just didn't have.

"If you wish to help us, then you will get your chance", Pyro stood and formally bowed, "I look forward to our encounters together".

A woman who was the same age as Pyro stood nearby.

"As do I", she told them, bowing also.

"My sister, Wreath", Pyro introduced.

"Wreath?", Johnny whispered under his breath only loud enough for him and Liu to hear as they both bowed back.

"The three of us have delivered a blow to the mutants just prior to our arrival here", Kitana was anxious to share the good news as she came closer to the middle of the natural room.

The rightful heir to the throne of Outworld began explaining in as much detail as possible how Johnny and Liu had been largely responsible for decimating the group of six mutants. She was seated on the ground in the middle of the room as the members seemed to flock around her before sitting nearby. Everyone was quiet as she remembered the battle between the three of them and six of the oppressors. Her description influenced Pyro to the point where he felt the need to speak out. It sounded as if the newcomers could be a lethal weapon for their side, and Princess Kitana was never known to exaggerate. He patiently waited until Kitana was finished talking before he addressed the Earth kombatants.

"Very impressive", Pyro commented, staring at Liu, "But how did you even know to come here?".

"Sixth sense", Johnny chuckled and responded for Liu, lightly pressing his index finger into his own forehead.

"And it's a joy to see you all still here since I've been gone for the last two days", Kitana smiled at the group again, "As always".

"My princess, we do have plans as to what we feel we should do next", Pyro mentioned, pointing to a drawn strategy on the wall next to a lit torch, "It could definitely use the new help".

The news was pleasing to everyone in the cave...

The Outworlders were already getting used to having Liu and Johnny with them as they were reviewing their battle plan for their next encounter with the mutants. Liu was exchanging ideas with Pyro and Kitana, along with three other members of the team. Johnny was busy in the meantime talking to Wreath alone several steps away from them. This was taking place as other Outworlders checked their supply of weapons.

Liu stared to his right and caught a sight of Johnny as he listened to one of the other members give his ideas to Kitana. Even though he paid attention to the information, Liu was wondering to himself if Johnny was actually discussing plans with Wreath. The actor and the young lady were smiling frequently as they talked and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The White Lotus monk had no problem with the idea of his partner discussing other subjects as he was reviewing battle plans and resolved to tell him about anything he missed.

As the conversation was still proceeding, both Johnny and Liu suddenly stopped and stared at each other. Liu's movement caught Kitana's attention, as Johnny's reaction caught Wreath's.

"What's wrong, Liu?", Kitana asked, concerned.

"Did you hear that too?", Johnny asked Liu, ignoring the question since they couldn't answer it at the moment.

"Yes", Liu told him, "It originated from the entrance".

"What did?", Kitana pressed, being overcome with alarm.

"A sound", Liu tried to explain, "A faint sound".

That was all Liu got to say because mutants appeared at the entrance that he, Johnny and Kitana had used to come into the natural room. The mutants had to lower their upper bodies to a great extent to fit through the entrance way, but once inside the room, they knew they'd be able to stand. The ones who arrived raised their arms as they momentarily pointed their three-foot long blades towards the ceiling.

The mutants screamed, indicating their hunt had begun.

"Evacuate our people at once!", Kitana exclaimed as she turned to Pyro, "Use our back tunnel!".

Before she finished making her statement, the first mutant in the room had already impaled the Outworlder closest to him with his left hand. The mutant lifted his left arm and raised the quivering body of his victim on the bloody knife several feet over the ground. Still screaming, the mutant then raised his right arm as the helpless victim only shook as a foot of steel stuck out of that one's lower back. The mutant's next move was to swing his right blade at his victim's neck as the Outworlder was still in the air. The impaled man had his eyes closed and thus didn't see the right blade coming at him. The mutant's right blade cut through his first victim's neck and easily decapitated his prey. The mutant quickly pulled his left arm back and out of the Outworlder as he saw that one's head land on the ground. The headless victim fell on the ground next to his head, feeling nothing.

Johnny had witnessed the mutant's actions. The kombatant held Wreath by the hand and quickly motioned her behind him. With her out of the way, Johnny flew at the mutant in a kick. The mutant's adrenaline was high as he held his bloodied blades at the ready, looking for fresh victims. Before he got a chance to kill again, he saw the bottom of Johnny's foot coming right at his chest as that one held his right leg forward in a flying kick. The impact sent the mutant crashing back-first into the wall of the cavern. The mutant pulled himself away from the wall as others like him rushed by to get to the Outworlders. Charging towards his smaller opponent, he swung his left arm downwards, aiming for Johnny's chest. The kombatant stepped back and grabbed his left forearm. Surprising the mutant, Johnny next stepped to the right and pushed his opponent's arm down into the ground. The mutant's left blade dug deep into the ground and the mutant soon realized he could not pull it back out. After two short, failed attempts to pull the left arm free, the mutant saw Johnny turning his right hand into a fist. The mutant tried to awkwardly turn towards his opponent in order to swing his right arm, but he felt the impact of the kombatant's fist into his eyes first.

The mutant's head violently snapped back because his left blade was still buried in the ground and would not allow him to stagger backwards. Johnny next sent a low, straight kick aimed at his opponent's left wrist. His kick snapped into the mutant's wrist, sending pain through that one's arm and breaking the left blade at the base. Since the mutant was still trying to pull his left arm free at the time, having the restraining blade break suddenly was a surprise. His own effort to pull it out sent him staggering backwards as he crashed into the wall one more time. Only slightly dazed, the mutant saw Johnny as the human easily pulled his broken blade out of the ground. Not caring how the human did it, the mutant rushed at him again, confident that his remaining blade would still win the confrontation. Johnny's hands were smeared with the blood from the mutant's prey as he held the broken end of the blade while the pointy end was aimed at the mutant.

With the mutant nearing him in a hurry, Johnny let go of the blade and executed a smooth leg sweep. His ankle met the mutant's foot and knocked that one down on the ground. The actor was back up on his feet since this was a familiar move for him while the mutant was still lying on his back, caught off-guard. As his opponent also tried to grudgingly stand, Johnny picked up the broken blade and sent it into the mutant's stomach, impaling him. The mutant screamed and swung blindly with his right arm, but Johnny had already jumped back as soon as he felt the blade inserted and was thus out of range. The mutant kept screaming as he fell back down on the ground, the push against the ground forcing the blade out of him, and he lay there as he quickly bled to death.

"Princess, we must retreat!", Pyro blurted out as he saw her following Liu and moving towards the slaughter.

"No!", Kitana protested as the screaming increased, "You gather everybody and go! I will stay".

With those words, Kitana headed into the chaos, looking to act as a diversion while as many members of her group as possible were evacuated. Unknown to her, Pyro didn't follow her advice and jumped into the fight as well.

A mutant swung his right arm horizontally as he aimed it low. The blade deeply cut across the chest of an Outworlder, cutting into him almost enough to tear his torso in half. The fatally wounded man fell on the ground without being able to deliver a single hit. The mutant responsible turned to look for another victim and only saw Liu's fist flying into him. The monk had jumped up to deliver an uppercut and his fist slammed under his opponent's chin, knocking him backwards. The mutant gathered himself and charged, swinging his right arm at the aggressive opponent's head. Liu ducked and then stood as the mutant's swing twisted that one's right arm towards the left. The mutant next felt a solid straight kick into his chest before he staggered backwards again. The monk's rush to join the battle had overcome his keener senses as he and the mutant readied for another confrontation. Thus, he didn't feel the minor change in atmosphere as a second mutant reached him from behind, getting ready to swing a blade of his own.

"LIU!!", Pyro yelled out, charging towards the newcomer and the mutant who was about to attack from behind.

Pyro crashed into Liu from the right side and pushed the monk away just as the blade of the mutant sliced into the air, looking for flesh. The blade entered Pyro's chest and tore through his rib cage and lungs before exiting out of his upper back. Liu and Pyro made eye contact for only a fraction of a second before the frustrated mutant pulled the blade out of him and he quietly fell down on his stomach. Liu screamed and flykicked into the mutant who had delivered the fatal blow, aiming his right leg exceptionally high as he heard Kitana cry out after seeing Pyro go down. The bottom of his right foot slammed into that mutant's chin and sent him staggering back towards Kitana. Liu could only watch for a second as the Princess stood her ground and snapped the index finger and thumb together in both her hands. From out of nowhere, a paper fan opened in each hand as Liu charged back towards the mutant he was sparring against originally. The monk was wondering what she planned to do with a paper fan, but he could not wait around to find out and thus didn't see the result.

Princess Kitana angrily threw both fans away from her, one directly to her right and the other directly to her left. Each fan flew in a perfect semicircle that originated from her shoulders and ended at the stomach of the mutant who was staggering backwards in her direction. The fan in her left hand followed the semicircle as it flew in a curve forward and away from Kitana before it came back in front of her, where the mutant was. Guiding itself, the fan tore into the mutant's stomach from the left side because that was the point where the left semicircle ended. The fan in her left hand ripped into his left side while the fan in her right hand did the same from his right side. Both fans drove deeper into the mutant's flesh until they met each other, finally cutting him in half at the stomach. The mutant raised his arms and gave an ear-piercing scream as his upper body fell off his legs.

Kitana snapped both fingers in each hand together again and the fans vanished from the mutant's corpse and reappeared in her hands without a trace of blood on them. She next turned to see over a dozen mutants still in the natural room, with more coming in through the relatively tiny entrance. More than half her people were already dead as the ground almost seemed to be covered with a pool of the Outworlders' blood. She spotted a mutant who was about to execute one of her unconscious and bruised members since he held his right arm high over his head, readying for a downward swing. Kitana threw both fans straight ahead aimed for him. The fans glided through the air and met the base of both the mutant's blades, one above his head and the other by his side. Both blades were instantly cut off and the mutant gazed at his arms in horror as the broken blades fell on the ground on either side of him.

Feeling more fear than anything else since he couldn't remember the last time he wasn't armed with the blades, the mutant withdrew. He was about to get his comrades to finish the job for him, but Wreath had already reached his unconscious victim and was busy pulling him away from any more harm.

"WE MUST RETREAT!!", Kitana yelled out in order to be heard over the battle cries.

She knew staying there longer would mean their annihilation sooner or later because, from the collection of mutants coming in, she saw they were outnumbered. Following her guidance, one of the surviving Outworlders pulled away a tall and thin sheet of paper that was the cave's exact color and easily camouflaged into it. Behind the colored sheet was a tunnel that was almost as tall as an average human adult and less than a yard wide.

"IN! NOW!", Kitana went on, standing next to the entrance to the tunnel and signaling into it.

The six remaining Outworlders rushed into it one by one as Liu jumped about two yards into the air and sent both his legs out in a kick. Each foot slammed into the face of a mutant and both opponents were violently pushed backwards. The monk came back down on his feet and charged towards the tunnel as he passed by the unconscious Outworlder first. Liu gripped that one by the collar with his right hand and pulled the man's entire weight after him at an impressive speed. As he did that, Johnny had a beaten mutant in his grip and pushed that one to the right side from behind him before pulling him forward. The mutant's stomach met the actor's hip and he was flipped upside down as the kombatant threw him over it.

Kitana next threw both fans high into the air as Johnny let go of his victim and reached the tunnel just ahead of Liu, who was burdened by the body of the Outworlder. With the mutants just a few steps behind the kombatants, Kitana's fans slammed into the rough ceiling of the cave room. Contrary to what everyone except her expected, an explosion followed, showering everyone down below with large pieces of rocks. Liu motioned both Johnny and Kitana into the tunnel before quickly dragging the Outworlder's body into it with him. While that happened, the surviving mutants retreated back into the main entrance from which they had emerged...

"How did they know where to find us?", Johnny asked the obvious question as the unconscious Outworlder was waking up.

They were all outside in the fields of Outworld as the sun was beginning to set. They had thus built a fire to help them see their surroundings and also to keep them warm, although no one was thinking of the latter presently.

"I thought that cave was safe!", Kitana snapped, angry at herself.

"You must not blame yourself, my princess", Wreath tried to soothe, "It was no one's fault".

"I know of another place", Kitana sighed, frustrated, "I should take whoever is left there. At least we will not be out in the open when we arrive".

Johnny found it amazing how calm Wreath seemed after everything she had been through, especially after witnessing the death of her brother. As much as the actor wanted to make sure she was unharmed, he had bigger things on his mind. The mutants had found that place exactly when he, Liu and Kitana were inside. He wondered if that was a coincidence. Johnny stared at Liu, wondering what the monk thought of the situation. Liu, in his turn, had his eye set on one of the members who had come with them through the tunnel. The actor knew that such a stare from the monk meant something was wrong. Johnny felt like he would go crazy by just trying to guess what his fellow kombatant was thinking as seconds trickled by and Liu's stare did not break off.

"What happened to you during the attack?", Liu finally pointed towards the member with his right index finger.

"What do you mean?", that one replied, just noticing the monk's suspicious glance.

"You were hit", Liu told him, remembering what he saw as he was fending off his adversaries, "You were down on the ground, helpless, or supposedly so, and none of the mutants would attack you".

"What?", the Outworlder did not like Liu's tone of voice.

Liu turned his attention to Johnny, desiring to explain.

"Don't you find it strange that he was on the ground during the battle and none of the mutants moved in for the kill?", Liu asked his partner, "They fought you and me and all the others who resisted but left someone who was helpless and would've been an easy kill alone".

"Maybe it was just the rush of the battle, Liu", Johnny gave the Outworlder the benefit of the doubt because he wanted to be sure before he made any decisions, "Maybe the mutants were afraid that if they let us go to turn to him, we'd hit them from behind".

"No, Liu", Princess Kitana held her right hand up, "What you're saying is impossible. I trust each person here with my life, as I did in that cave. There are no traitors among us".

"Do you have anything other than what you just said?", Johnny asked him next.

"No", Liu accusingly stared at the man, "Just my word. Is that not good enough for you any more?".

"That's not the case, you know that", the actor pressed, "But you gotta admit what you're saying is very serious. Would you prosecute somebody based on what you've just said?".

The White Lotus monk didn't respond, only kept staring at his suspect.

"It might not have been him", Wreath offered to the discussion, looking at Liu also, "It might have been you for all we know".

"You think I sold you out?", the monk pointed at himself, wondering if this was the gratitude all Outworlders gave.

"Of course not", Wreath clarified, "But you visitors might have been followed here without knowing it. It could have been any one of us, for that matter".

"Look, let's just sit by the fire for a while and let's all calm down, OK?", Johnny advised for everyone, "We relax for a while and keep our eyes out to make sure no one sneaks up on us. I'm sure when it's over, we'll be able to make sense of it".

Kitana reluctantly agreed. She wanted to take all the survivors to the new place she knew of, but she had to admit the Outworlder who had just woken up was not strong enough to travel yet. Thus, all ten people found themselves seated around the fire, although none of them were close to it and no one was resting. Liu was seated next to Kitana, always keeping his eye on his suspect and she was next to Johnny while the actor and Wreath kept a watchful eye over the surrounding fields.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liu briefly stole a glance towards Johnny as the sun was barely visible now, indicating that the darkness would soon envelop them. The White Lotus monk thought to himself that at least his partner from the tournament had gotten out of the cave alive. He was seated on the ground close to Johnny and Wreath as the lady Outworlder was finally grieving while the kombatant tried to comfort her after the loss of her brother. Liu heard the actor saying he regretted her brother's death, but the monk turned his attention to other matters as they kept whispering to each other. The main thought on Liu's mind other than the suspected traitor he still had in his sights was that he wished they had brought Sonya along with them. Liu told himself that they could've used her keen military instincts and training, but she was unfortunately unavailable at the moment.

Four of the Outworlders were huddled together while Liu's suspected traitor was a short distance away, examining the wounds of the Outworlder who had been knocked out. Liu stared blankly into the fire that was set, trying to remember exactly what it was he saw during the fight with the mutants. He asked himself how close the nearest mutant had been to the Outworlder that he suspected of selling everyone else out. He was still wondering when something odd caught his attention.

The monk noticed a flame in the fire being swayed towards the left, as if it was caught in the wind, but the air was completely still. Another possibility for the movement in the flame could've been if there was a person next to it that it was being attracted to, but the closest person to it was seated two steps away. The flame kept being swayed in the left direction until Liu finally stood up, when it stopped and straightened up like the rest of the fire. The monk casually walked over to the fire and intentionally passed his hand through it fast. Surely enough, a flame from the fire was attracted in his direction and stayed in that fashion. When Liu casually walked back to where he had been seated, he noticed the flame vertically joining the rest of the fire. Sitting on the ground next to Kitana, Liu began to turn to her to tell her what just happened. He didn't get a chance because the worried look on her face stopped him.

"Princess?", he asked, nonverbally asking her what bothered her.

"I can feel someone here", Kitana turned to him and answered in a whisper.

Johnny and Wreath had heard her also, so they stopped talking.

"Who?", Wreath asked.

"The betrayer", Kitana told them, looking nervous, "I can feel a betrayer in our midst. I am afraid. I believed I knew them all, but obviously I was wrong. I must have been wrong if I can feel a betrayer here".

Before Liu could respond, Kitana continued.

"I cannot take you to the new hideout", she told the three, "If the betrayer, whoever it is, told the mutants about the whereabouts of the cave, he or she will do the same with the new hideout. It will also get raided, and it has no back escape like the cave did".

"That's OK, Princess", Johnny answered, "We can tough it out just fine out here until we find this guy. Don't worry about it".

His advice not to worry seemed to fall on deaf ears for as far as Kitana was concerned. She was still feeling scared when Liu stared down into the ground. The monk reached ahead until he saw some sand. He picked up as much sand as possible with his right hand and began examining it. Kitana and Johnny were wondering why he seemed to be so interested in a handful of sand, and Liu's behavior was beginning to catch the attention of the other Outworlders.

Without a word, Liu turned towards the fire and saw that a flame in it was again being attracted to one side. The monk tossed the handful of sand towards the spot to the left of the fire, surprising everyone around him. The grains of sand landed on and stayed on what appeared to be a human shape even though there was no one there. Laughter was heard from that direction as Liu jumped up to his feet. Johnny followed his partner's actions, both turning into their fighting stance and distancing themselves from the invisible intruder.

"Get away from the fire! Get away from it!", Johnny warned before the Outworlders put distance between themselves and it.

"What is that?", Kitana was on her feet also.

"That's our betrayer", Liu finally realized.

The laughing human shape became visible from under the grains of sand. Within a few seconds, Liu and Johnny found themselves staring at a ninja dressed in green.

"Reptile", Liu whispered to himself.

"That's right", Reptile teased as he stopped laughing, "You finally caught on".

"But you are dead", Liu said, "I know I killed you!".

"Really?", Reptile answered, coming two steps closer, "You know nothing about me. If you did, you would have known how to finish the job during the original tournament".

Without anyone knowing what he was doing, Reptile grabbed his own masked chin and gave a lot of energy to pull it off. The mask and the human skin rolled off the ninja's face to reveal his true appearance. What lay under the seemingly human face was the head of reptile itself. Some of the Outworlders tensed at the sight.

"You unlocked my special abilities after you destroyed the human disguise I always hated", the green ninja remarked, recalling the past with spite, "I always hated it but was forced into it by Shang Tsung. Having you kill me was actually a blessing in disguise".

"What the hell's he talking about?", Johnny whispered, hating to imagine Reptile with even more talents than when Liu fought him in the first tournament, "What special abilities?".

"Such as the ability to become invisible", Reptile answered him, hinting that one of his abilities was a supersensitive hearing.

"After my death in the forced human disguise, the great one rebuilt me", Reptile went on, "So now I serve only him. I was there when you three ambushed his mutants. I did not intervene simply because I knew Kitana would take you to her hideout. I followed to see where it was and then went to get the great one's forces. He told the mutants to leave one member unharmed so, in case some managed to escape, that would put suspicion of betrayal upon that one and cause havoc".

"The great one? Qarro?", Johnny wanted a confirmation that Reptile was talking about the new leader they still hadn't seen.

Reptile didn't answer, he only stared at Liu.

"I will kill you last, simply to make you suffer as you watch everyone else die, White Lotus", he addressed Liu, "And in case you are wondering why I insisted on staying by the fire, I was merely absorbing its energy. It's another special ability. I have been waiting a long time for my revenge".

With those words, Reptile opened his mouth and a tongue of flame shot out, aimed for Liu's general direction. As they all jumped aside to avoid it, the attack reminded Johnny of his meeting with Scorpion in the yellow ninja's lair. Johnny, Liu and Wreath leapt towards the left while Kitana sprang towards the right. The kombatants quickly rolled themselves into a ball and were soon back on their feet. As they stood up, Reptile was already invisible again.

Reptile attacked as he hid behind his invisibility cloak. The Outworlder closest to him screamed as he felt liquid burning into his face. The ninja was spitting out toxic acid in short, quick bursts. Reptile made sure to spit the acid into his target three times fast. The man's face melted as his scream began to wane while the acid seemed to shoot out from an invisible source about three steps away. Liu rushed towards the invisible source only to watch the flow of acid stop as he was a mere two steps away from it. The ninja's first victim fell on the ground, his upper body sizzling hot. A second Outworlder was violently kicked in the head as the kombatants were desperately trying to pinpoint the ninja's position and the survivors were trying not to panic. The second target fell down on his back before the invisible ninja brought his foot down on the man's neck, easily breaking it.

Kitana was already holding a fan in her right hand as she let it fly towards what she believed to be Reptile's direction from the angle that the second Outworlder was killed. Her fan soared towards the target but only met air as it passed over the second victim's body, indicating the marauding ninja was already gone. Disappointed with her effort, Kitana flicked her right thumb and index fingers and the fan obediently returned to her hand.

From five steps away, Liu saw the acid spitting out again from the area between him and Johnny, this time aimed at the face of the man he had accused of being a traitor earlier on. Reptile had reasoned that he would kill the third victim and be away from the area long before Liu could rush over to hit him. But while Liu had walked into Reptile's ruse by blaming an innocent Outworlder of being a betrayer, Reptile had become overconfident by forgetting about Liu's talents from the original tournament. Instead of running over to the third victim, like he had done before, Liu jumped into the air towards the source of the acid and performed his bicycle kick. The monk reached the source faster than he would have if he was on foot and Reptile was caught off guard while busy spitting out his third shot of acid into the man's face. The invisible ninja tried to get out of the way but was too late as the third Outworlder dropped on the ground with a scream and his face melting. Liu happily felt his invisible opponent's chest under his feet as he continually kicked his legs out, his anger carrying him in the air longer than he could've ordinarily stayed.

Johnny saw Liu alone performing his kick in the air and driving slowly towards him. Knowing the monk would've been on the ground already if he had missed Reptile, the actor decided to give his fellow kombatant a hand. He did so in order to make sure the ninja did not have a chance to escape since the killing spree had to be stopped. With Liu heading the adversary his way, Johnny executed a powerful flying shadow kick aimed right at the monk's airborne feet since he reasoned Reptile was in front of them. Johnny's flying kick slammed hard into Reptile's back as Liu was still delivering his own brand of punishment from the front. The green ninja gave a short scream, became visible and fell down on the ground with a severed spine. He hit the ground at about he same time that Johnny and Liu came back down on their feet. Liu guessed that he was visible since he couldn't maintain his invisibility cloak once mortally wounded. As he lay on his stomach, the green ninja's reptilian face looked up at both kombatants, saying nothing. He had been training the entire time ever since the great one had reconstructed him until now in order to extract his revenge on the kombatants from the Earth realm. Reptile knew he had failed as his eyes closed and he died. He was defeated yet again.

Liu surveyed the damage. Three more Outworlders were dead. He sighed, his heart breaking after seeing the harm done. Now that the real betrayer was dead, they could've gone to Kitana's new hideout, but the price was high. Most of her members were already dead as it. Of the more than twenty Outworlders originally in the cavern, only five remained. Kitana, Wreath, the man who had been unconscious and one more man and woman were still alive. The monk knew whoever was left would have to be protected, so he and Johnny would have to follow the Princess to the sanctuary.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The new hideout was another natural cave, much smaller than the previous one. Liu hadn't even settled into the dark interior of this one as the Outworlders tried to make the best of the situation. The monk's facial expression told Johnny he had a plan.

"What's on your mind, pal?", the actor broke the dreary silence in the dark cavern.

"I know something that could help me get the upper hand in this fight against the mutants", the monk spoke up, catching everyone else's attention, "I can also destroy Qarro, whoever, or whatever, he is".

"Talk to me", Johnny wanted to know more.

"My sword would come in handy", Liu told him, "I brought it with me when I flew to America because of your call, but it's at Sonya's residence in the red bag she gave me. Retrieving it would mean having to go back there and leave everyone behind for a while, and I don't want to".

"I could do it", Johnny offered, realizing Liu would've been much better off without the stress of having to worry about Kitana and the others while in the Earth realm.

"That would mean a lot", the White Lotus monk was grateful.

"No problem. Besides, I have the key", the actor reasoned, staring up towards the cave's ceiling.

Nothing happened for a few seconds.

"Rayden?", he nervously smiled, "You said all we had to do was tell you when we wanted to come back. Don't fall asleep now, please".

Johnny slowly disappeared as the thunder god must've realized he wished to return. Liu didn't tell him to bring Sonya along once he returned since he reasoned that the actor would ask her to join him if he believed it was appropriate. The monk sighed as Johnny was gone. He hoped the wait would not be long.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Johnny promptly made his way to Sonya's home and used his key to open the front door before stepping inside.

"Anybody home?", he asked out loud, waiting briefly for a response.

Hearing nothing, he proceeded towards the red gym bag that was resting next to the couch where Liu had slept. Squatting next to it, Johnny anxiously opened it and saw, among other things, a sheathed sword. Feeling glad, the kombatant pulled it out and withdrew the weapon from its protective cover. He guessed that the razor-sharp blade was about two and a half feet long. Confident he found what he came for, he returned the blade into its sheath and was heading back out when the phone rang. Unsure as to whether he should answer it, Johnny debated the choices in his mind for a few seconds before finally picking up the receiver.

"Hello?", he greeted the caller.

Sonya's eyes shone as she heard his voice as the hospital payphone was pressed against her ear.

"Johnny?", she asked to verify who it was, "Is this Johnny?".

"Sonya? Where are you?", the actor asked her.

"I'm at the hospital", she told him, "Where have you been all this time?".

"The hospital? What's wrong?", the actor replied.

"I'm fine. It's Scott who's hurt", she let him know, "Can you get over here?".

"Sure thing", the actor answered, feeling glad since this would've given him a chance to ask her to join them in Outworld, assuming Scott was healthy enough to be alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonya was on her feet and staring straight ahead as her back rested against the wall outside Scott's room. She had placed both hands in her pants pockets after washing his blood off them and the handcuffs were already in a trashcan. She had removed her bloodied yellow jacket and had considered throwing it in the trash along with the handcuffs, but the jacket was ultimately kept with her. It was hanging casually around her left forearm as she was trying hard to keep her emotions under control. She wished the contraction in her throat would ease, but knew that it wouldn't until she heard that Scott was going to live. She realized having an empty shoulder holster over her tank top must've seemed awkward, but she did not care at the moment. As she kept staring ahead, a nurse approached her from the left.

"Do you know what insurance the patient has?", the nurse asked, forcing her to turn her face to the left.

"Gee, maybe I should just walk in there and say 'hey, sweetie, what insurance do ninjas have?'. Don't you have somebody else to bother?", Sonya snapped at her.

The nurse didn't answer, only locked eyes with her for a handful of seconds. Sonya could see that she was working hard and was under a lot of stress. She knew the nurse was only asking such questions because she was forced to follow orders from her superiors, much like in the military. Gathering herself, Sonya calmed down, dropping the sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry", she continued, staring ahead again, "The truth is I don't know. I'm still wondering if he'll live. I'll find out and let you know as soon as I can".

"OK, thanks", the nurse tapped her on the arm and walked away, understanding her response.

She had to wait a few more minutes before she spotted Johnny hurrying towards her from the opposite side of the hallway. She noticed that the actor was carrying the red gym bag that she had given to Liu as he came closer.

"Wooh! What happened?", Johnny saw the bloody jacket in her left arm as he stopped, "Are you OK?".

"We just had a little visit with our friends at the Black Dragons, that's all", she explained as she pulled herself away from the wall, "Where were you and Liu?".

"In Outworld", he bluntly responded.

"Huh?", her reaction was understandable.

"We got a problem to solve in Outworld. There's someone new there. A new threat that we haven't seen yet", he went on, "That's why I'm taking Liu's sword to him. I'm in a rush, I left him there with Kitana and some others. I don't even know how long they'll be without me since time gets messed up when we travel back and forth".

"Great", she commented as she flattened her back against the wall again.

"Can you come with us?", Johnny asked her next.

"Johnny, Scott's lying there with a hole in his stomach", she pointed towards the room.

"Again?", was his only reaction, sounding colder than he intended it to.

"Well, next time I'll ask him to make a schedule before he gets shot so it's OK with the rest of us", Sonya sarcastically told him.

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant", he corrected, "I've just been seeing more blood than I care to recall lately".

"It's fine. I've been really on edge lately too", she responded staring ahead as she finally saw the doctor exiting Scott's room.

"How is he?", Sonya blurted out.

"Well, he's... surprising", the doctor told her.

"Could you clarify that for us?", she pressed, not in the mood for word games.

"He should be allright, we've stopped the bleeding", the doctor relieved them both, "I just can't understand how he appears as he is. We have a record of him being shot in the stomach before, but I can't find any trace of his previous injury".

"Well, what can I tell you? He's strong as hell", Sonya finally smiled, "Can I see him?".

"He's awake, but needs plenty of rest. I wouldn't recommend it at the moment", the doctor advised.

"Thanks", she responded as she proceeded into the room.

The doctor began to protest, but a nonverbal warning from Johnny told him not to. He thus sighed and walked away.

"Does this mean you'll be able to come along?", Johnny asked as she was about to open the door.

"I don't know if I should, Johnny", she insisted, "I mean, I told the nurse that I'd tell her what insurance she was working with since she needs to know it".

"What's going on with you? Why are you trying to avoid a fight?", the actor pressed.

"I dunno. I wish I did", Sonya began to feel dizzy.

She held on to the door in order to keep from falling down on the floor. Johnny rushed ahead to help her stand, but she motioned him away.

"I'm OK, I'm really OK", she reassured him, holding the doorknob with her left hand and squeezing her eyes together with her right, "Wow! It's just the effect of that tear gas. It's finally catching up with me".

"Oh", Johnny seemed to understand, although he had no idea what she had done to get hit with tear gas.

"Listen, gimme a minute", she told him, "I'll come along".

"Sure", he replied as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

Scott was lying on the bed as he saw her coming into the room still dressed in the commando pants and tank top. She could feel the cool wind coming in through the open window of the hospital room

"How are you doing?", she tried to smile.

"I'm fine", he coughed, "How 'bout you?".

"I'm fine too", she told him, "Listen, I have to go somewhere with Johnny. He's waiting outside. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll come back as soon as I possibly can, OK?".

"You have to leave now?", Scott didn't like what he heard.

"Believe me, I wish I didn't", she replied, "But apparently there's a new threat in the Outworld, so I'm needed. Just tell the nurse what insurance you have when you see her again, OK?".

Scott only groaned.

"What's wrong?", she exclaimed, suddenly worried again.

"Nothing, I'm fine", he eased her fears while he was still in pain, "I wanted you to stay so we could talk. It was wrong, what I did".

He stopped and stared at the ceiling before looking at her again.

"That hit wasn't right", he gasped as the sedative the doctor had given him was taking effect.

"Oh my God, don't even worry about that", Sonya bent down and brought her face close to his, gripping his hand, "Listen, we'll talk about it when I get back, OK? I promise. Just promise me you'll still be alive when I get back".

"I'll be here", he assured her.

Scott lifted his head off the pillow and kissed the healed scar on her left cheek.

"I love you. Good luck", his head crashed back on the pillow.

"Same here and I won't need luck", she kissed her right index and touched his lips with it before standing up straight, "Try to get some rest".

"Yeah", he answered before she walked out of the room.

Sonya closed the door behind her as she was in the hallway with her fellow kombatant.

"Let's go", she told him, aiming for the new threat in Outworld with a new coldness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the room, Scott was still trying to make sense of all the events that had taken place lately. He felt extremely confused as he was staring at the ceiling. Things seemed to make less sense the more he thought about them. He remembered from his clone's memories that Rayden had helped that one see the light. Desperately needing the thunder god's guidance, Scott decided to try to contact him.

"RAYDEEEN", he screamed, not caring if anyone heard him.

A bolt of lightning shot into the room from the open window as the thunder god took his human shape at the foot of the bed.

"You called?", Rayden pleasantly asked.

"I need some help, man", Scott pleaded.

"I know", the god answered, "I saw your actions. Becoming one with the clone was not a wise thing to do. I only sent him to you so he could spend his last few days in peace, nothing more".

"Well, thanks for the advice, but I didn't feel like spending the rest of my life with the strength of a ten-year old", Scott replied.

"You were never a ninja", Rayden explained, "You were only dressed as one when you attacked Chaves. The clone was, and you do not have the discipline to use that power wisely. Not that he did either".

"Then I need to get the discipline then", Scott pressed.

"How do you mean?", the god questioned.

"There has got to be somebody that I can train with to control my anger, man", the ninja explained in his own turn.

"No one is realistically available", the god promptly told him.

"Dammit, man!", Scott proved to be persistent, "How can you be so sure so quick? I need something new here. Something that wasn't seen by humans before".

"I'm sorry, but that is all that is available", Rayden insisted.

"That's not true and you know it!", Scott pointed his left index finger at the god in an accusing fashion, "There are people you're not telling me about. At least there's one person I know of".

Rayden didn't respond, waiting for the human to continue.

"When Goro's specter attacked, I saw him", Scott explained, "I thought he was unbeatable. And he was, by our standards at least. When Sonya and Liu and Johnny came back in one piece, they told me what had happened. His brother Durak had finished Goro off. That's who I need to find. Durak can train me to reach the discipline you mentioned. I don't need any regular human martial arts here. I doubt there's anything anyone can show me that my clone and I put together haven't seen before".

"I would not recommend it", the thunder god flatly stated.

"Why the hell not?", Scott didn't understand his pessimism.

"Because Durak is also a specter", the god told him, "In order to train with him, you'd have to travel to the land of the dead. I have no power there whatsoever. I could surely transport you there, but I could not bring you back. It would be up to Durak to open a rift between his world and this one to let you through and if he did not want to open the rift, you would be left behind in the land of the dead forever. Your return to the land of the living depends solely on the one you visit there".

"I'll chance it", Scott quickly answered.

"Why? It is not worth the risk", Rayden said, "Your soul will be unable to rest if you are in the land of the dead in your living body".

"Dammit, man, I said I'll chance it!", the human insisted.

"Why?!", Rayden could not accept his reasoning.

"Do you know what happened here?", Scott asked him.

"No, I cannot be everywhere at once", the god admitted, "Even I have my limitations".

"I hit Sonya. Almost knocked all her teeth out", Scott remembered, "And it was just a few hours after I had asked her to marry me. How messed up is that, huh?".

Scott rubbed his forehead as Rayden kept quiet.

"I don't even know what happened", the ninja continued, "Maybe I was angry that she didn't say 'yes' when I asked her. I dunno. All I know is, if any other guy had done that to her in front of me, I would've killed him. I'm sure of that".

"I have warned you of the risks", Rayden sighed, disappointed that Scott didn't give up his idea, "If you wish to go to the land of the dead, I can take you".

"Thanks", Scott was grateful, "But one thing before. Can you get me some clothes? I would hate to go there dressed in this goddamn hospital gown".

Rayden flicked two fingers together and Scott's favorite shirt from home appeared on his lap along with a loose pair of pants and his sneakers.

"Thanks again!", the human was impressed as he smiled, "Just give me a while to put this stuff on. It might take a while".

"Do not bother", the god let him know, "Some things you should know about the land of the dead is that it has some very beneficial healing affects. You will be healed if Durak allows you to return. Time also goes much slower there than it does here. You should be warned".

"OK", Scott received the information, remembering Sonya's words before she left, "I might as well go there then. It's only wise since I don't even have insurance".

Rayden still looked sad to see him leave, so Scott continued, snickering.

"It sucks. Minimum wage jobs don't give out health insurance nowadays", he went on, "Can you believe that?".

"Good luck, Scott", Rayden placed his palms together, "I hope to see you here again".

Scott vanished out of his bed. Seeing it, Rayden himself ceased his human shape and the bolts of electricity exited out of the window. A short while afterwards, a uniformed police officer opened the door from outside and looked into the room. Seeing no one, the officer signaled the nurse.

"Nurse, didn't you call us saying there was a patient here with a bullet wound?", the officer asked, confused.

"Yes, what's the problem?", the nurse approached, "You can't ask him anything because he's asleep?".

"Noo", the officer replied as the nurse reached the open door and looked inside also.

Both the nurse and the officer had no idea where the patient went.

XXXXXXXXXX

Scott saw his surroundings vanishing before a snow-white sky suddenly appeared overhead. The hard ground he found himself laying on was exceptionally dark as he stood up, realizing he was already wearing the clothes that had appeared on his lap in the hospital. Also, he pleasantly noticed that his bullet wound and the cuts on his wrists were completely gone. He proceeded ahead, reasoning that someone who was strong enough to kill Goro could not have been hard to pinpoint.

The area Scott was walking on was the Earth equivalent of walking under a full moon at night, but the surprising feature was that the sky was brighter than a sunny and cloudless day on Earth. He found it strange but didn't worry about it too much because he was getting very nervous. Johnny had told him that Durak was not friendly. The Shokanite had allowed his brother's specter to kill two innocent strangers because he wanted Goro to have victory within his grasp before being killed.

"Ninjas don't get scared. Ninjas don't get scared. Ninjas don't get scared", Scott kept repeating to himself as he viewed a protrusion on the ground that was about fifty yards ahead.

As Scott neared the protrusion, he realized it was about as tall as he was, but it was also an individual who was seated on the ground with his head lowered. That one appeared to have four arms that were wrapped around each other in front of his chest, although it was difficult to distinguish it for sure in the surrounding darkness. The ninja approached the person, suspecting he had found Durak. He stopped about four yards away from the immobile figure and cleared his throat. The figure finally raised his head and acknowledged his presence. With his head raised, the seated figure was at least as tall as Scott was while the ninja stood.

"Let me guess", Scott gave a nervous smile as he pointed at the figure, "Durak, am I right?".

The seated native calmly rose to his feet as he and Scott kept their eyes locked. The ninja involuntarily whimpered when the figure was standing at his full height. Hoping the native hadn't heard him, Scott tried to look unimpressed even though he suspected he was failing at the task. He felt very tiny all of a sudden as his face was pushed as far back as possible to maintain his eye contact with the one he was here to see. Durak's height reached at least nine feet from head to toe while Scott had estimated Goro's height to be about eight and a half feet tall. Durak's skin color was also a darker complexion than his brother's. Every one of Durak's four arms seemed to carry more muscle mass than Scott's entire body could come up with.

"What is your business here?", Durak questioned.

"I'm here to ask you to train me, if you please would", Scott began gathering his confidence again.

"Absolutely not", Durak bluntly responded as he angrily pointed at Scott, "You should not have come here. I will send you back immediately, and you will leave".

The human felt as if he had committed a crime and was receiving one last chance to redeem himself.

"Where's your brother, by the way?", Scott asked next, determined to change his mind as the giant turned around.

"His soul was lost in oblivion when I killed his specter", Durak's chest twisted from his waist and his blood-red eyes stared into Scott's, "What does that have to do with you and me?".

"Listen", the ninja raised his palms in front of his chest, "Do you know what's happening in Outworld?".

"I have been disinterested in human affairs ever since I finished off my brother for good", Durak responded.

Scott took his answer as a 'no' as Durak next turned and began walking away.

"Yeah, well, there's somebody new. I don't know who", the human went on, "My friends already went there to fight him. I wanna help. I figured if I was going to have a chance against him, then I'd have to train with the best. Since Goro was unbeatable by our standards and you beat him, then that makes you the best".

Durak stopped and turned his face to the right while his back was still facing Scott.

"Is it a Shokanite?", he asked about the new threat, indicating that he actually was interested.

"I don't know", Scott repeated as Durak turned completely around and stepped closer to him again.

The Shokanite stopped a short distance away from the ninja and bent down, bringing his aggressive face within a mere six inches from Scott's.

"But that is not the only reason for you being here, is it?", the Shokanite questioned.

"No, but it's the only reason I'm giving you", Scott coldly responded, clearly feeling better than he did when he first arrived into the land of the dead.

Durak groaned softly as he stood back up straight while Scott kept staring into his red eyes. The ninja wanted an answer and he was not willing to wait long for it.

"Look, if you want me to prove myself first, that's fine", the human offered, "We can fight if you'd like. And if you think I'm worthy, then train me".

Durak arched his head back and laughed out loud. Scott guessed that he was loud enough to be heard from hundreds of yards away.

"Pardon me. That was literally my first laugh in ages", the Shokanite explained after he stopped.

Annoyed at what he viewed as being Durak's pompous attitude, Scott shifted into his fighting stance and yelled out a battle cry. Durak's eyes widened for a split second as he saw the human flying towards him with the right leg extended ahead of the rest of the body. Scott's right foot slammed into Durak's stomach and sent that one three small steps backwards and briefly gasping for breath. The Shokanite gathered his concentration as the plainclothed ninja landed back on his feet, ready to strike again. Before Durak could swing, Scott twisted to his left and aimed as high as his legs allowed. He succeeded in planting his right foot into the Shokanite's chest as that one staggered one more step backwards. Scott next swung with his right arm, his right fist slamming into the side of Durak's stomach before he realized his arm strength alone had no effect on the Shokanite. As he tried to withdraw, Durak swung with his upper right arm and sent a massive punch into the human's head. Scott's head snapped to his right as he found himself flying five yards away.

The ninja landed on his right side and, dazed but not discouraged, stood up just in time to see the Shokanite angrily charging towards him. Scott hurried backwards to increase the distance between them because he found that Durak was unusually fast for someone his size. Then, with enough time to think about a strategy, the ninja rushed forward and towards his opponent. Reaching Durak, Scott sent a low kick aimed at the Shokanite's side of the left knee, knocking that one off balance. As Durak's left leg buckled under the hit and his left knee almost touched the ground, the Shokanite recovered fast enough to pull himself back up to a standing position. Scott next twisted in a powerful roundhouse kick that he had hoped would've been aimed at his adversary's head if that one had been down on his knees. Since Durak managed to stand tall despite the hit on the knee, the back of Scott's ankle met the top half of the Shokanite's right upper arm. Barely feeling the strike, Durak twisted to his right and his left upper fist crashed into Scott's face, knocking the human down with ease.

With Scott down on the ground and on his back, Durak bent down and casually gripped the human's collar with his lower right arm. His lower right grip lifted the helpless Scott as high as possible and the ninja felt his feet dangling about a yard off the ground. Before the human had a chance to brace himself, Durak next executed an uppercut into Scott's chin by using his upper right arm. While a yard off the ground, the uppercut snapped Scott's body back and still upwards so that he was almost three yards off the ground when he started coming back down. The ninja slammed into the ground back-first, feeling an overwhelming pain in his head and upper body but seeing no blood at all. The uppercut should've been enough to kill him, but he was still alive because he was able to look up and see Durak sighing.

"Fine, I will train you", the Shokanite told him, annoyed that the human possessed such energy and courage.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The training began almost immediately. Durak instructed Scott to be on his guard and began an offensive, only lightly touching the human without desiring to deliver a strong blow. The objective of the exercise was to help the ninja improve his defensive skills as Scott was driven back while he ducked and jumped aside, trying to avoid his opponent's four arms. Durak patiently followed wherever the human's pace sent him and kept up with his attacks. A few occasional swings were blocked by a massive high kick from Scott as his foot slammed into the Shokanite's fist and stopped him cold. Generally, though, the ninja found it was easier to just get out of the way.

The practice lasted for about forty minutes until Durak saw that Scott was finally exhausted. The Shokanite stopped and stared at him as he was bent down, staring at the dark ground and trying to catch his breath.

"How are you doing?", the Shokanite asked, not even breathing hard.

If Scott wasn't trying so hard to ease his tense body, he would've been extremely impressed at the Shokanite's endurance.

"I'm fine", the ninja kept panting.

"Good", Durak replied, "Now your training can begin".

"What?!", Scott exclaimed, looking up at him, "That was the end of the training! What're you talking about?".

"In your world, perhaps", Durak grinned, "Not here with me".

"Get real, man!", Scott couldn't believe his ears, "I can't go on!".

Durak flicked two of the three fingers in his lower right arm just before Scott heard waves from behind him. Naturally curious, the ninja turned around to see a bright red sea of lava quickly flooding towards him. He only had enough time to widen his eyes. Not feeling tired any more, Scott turned back around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He rushed past Durak a few seconds before the lava reached the Shokanite and neatly avoided him, pursuing only the human.

Panting and occasionally screaming as he turned to see how close the lava was, Scott ran around for another half an hour. When the time had passed, Durak flicked two fingers together again and the lava vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The ninja dropped on the ground, desperately trying to breath as his chest and his stomach ached. His Shokanite trainer approached him and sat down next to him, actually looking pleased. Durak gently patted Scott on the head.

"Do not worry. It would not have harmed you", he told the human, referring to the lava, "It was only my creation. You are in the land of the dead, after all. Where else would you go?".

"Gee, thanks", Scott sat up, still panting but feeling his body as it strengthened after the run.

Neither one spoke for a few seconds.

"Pretty neat trick", the human broke the silence, "Can I try it?".

"I would not recommend it", the Shokanite advised, "You are in the land of the dead, but you are still alive. You cannot use its resources just yet".

"Great", was Scott's reply as he kept looking at his trainer.

"What is it?", Durak asked, noticing the stare.

"Nothing", the ninja responded, slowly calming down, "I was just wondering what it must've been like to have to kill your only brother".

"That is the past", the Shokanite avoided the subject as he stood back up, "One should never live in the past".

Still breathing hard, Scott stood up after him.

"You know what?", Scott mentioned next, "Would it be possible for me to see others as long as I'm here? I wouldn't mind meeting Sonya's brother Danny. She always talks about him".

"You only came here to see me", the Shokanite went on, "You should stay with that alone".

Scott understood...

The training continued for what Scott objectively felt was months. The sky didn't change between night and day and he had no watch to indicate how long he was in the land of the dead, so he couldn't be sure. As the months seemed to pass, though, Scott never slept and never ate or drank anything, nor did he have the urge to. The practice against the Shokanite was enough to keep him occupied.

The ninja was in the middle of a sparring duel as he flew towards the Shokanite, using his clone's rage to propel him forward. After his impact into Durak, he came back down on the ground, incessantly punching and kicking. Scott's initial attacks hit his opponent and effectively kept him back, but he soon became overwhelmed with weariness and anger. His next efforts either missed their intended targets or were weak during the impact. Despite a great deal of resistance, Durak always managed to knock him down. With the ninja's back flat against the ground, the Shokanite bent down and pressed his lower right hand into that one's chest, making sure he couldn't get back up despite the best of efforts.

"You are still letting your anger control you", Durak warned him, "If you don't control your aggression, it will control you and you will lose the fight for sure. Learn to live with it and make it your ally, not your enemy".

Scott ceased trying to get out from under the massive arm, and kept listening as he caught his breath.

"The greatest weapon anywhere is controlled rage", the Shokanite continued, "If all the rage is controlled, it is possible for a human to defeat a Shokanite. When one is in control of the rage, every strike will be as natural and flawless as the wind. The fighter will never miss a target and will not feel exhaustion until after the opponent is defeated".

Durak lifted his hand off Scott's chest, thus easing up the pressure on it. He then offered his lower right hand while the ninja was trying to get up. Scott gripped the large hand and the Shokanite pulled him up to his feet.

"Come on, youngster", the Shokanite said, "Try it again"...

Durak swung for Scott's head with his upper right arm. Seeing the strike, the ninja pulled his upper body back in time and actually caught the muscular forearm. Since the trainer's forearm was much thicker than his own, Scott pressed both his palms on either side of it in his attempt to hold on to it. Using the swing's own momentum, the ninja pulled the forearm towards the direction it was aimed for. Caught off guard, Durak was pulled downward and to the left, following the direction of the swing. The Shokanite's 600 pound body crashed on its right side as Durak's stomach landed on the ground next to Scott's feet.

Durak was proud of the fact that his student, who weighed less than a third of his own weight, was able to bring him down. That did not keep him from wanting to finish the practice as the winner, though. The Shokanite tried to stand back up and received a sharp kick to the head from the ninja for his efforts. Durak's head snapped back as he still managed to stand tall. With Scott attempting a front kick aimed at his stomach, Durak gripped the human's upper arms by using his own lower arms and lifted him a yard off the ground.

Seeing the Shokanite's right fist coming at his head as he was off the ground, helpless, Scott was disappointed. The ninja had believed this would've been the one time he was about to overpower his trainer. That did not happen as Durak's right fist crashed into the left side of his face and knocked him back on the ground, defeated. Scott caught his breath as Durak signaled the end of the session. The ninja realized that, had he been back in the Earth realm during all this practice, he would've died about thirty times already.

"You are improving", Durak encouraged him as he stood back up, "That was the first time I was knocked down. You are definitely on the right track"...

Durak swung for Scott's head again, this time with his lower right fist. The fist crashed into the ninja's head as the Shokanite kept up with the attacks. A fraction of a second after the impact of the lower right fist into the human's face, Durak's upper right fist followed and delivered a second punch before the ninja could react. Quickly pulling both right arms back as the human's head had snapped towards his right shoulder, the trainer swung again. The trainer's upper left fist then crashed into Scott's head for a third strike and snapped the ninja's head towards his left shoulder.

Each of the three punches should've been enough to disorient an average Shokanite, and Scott had staggered and lost his concentration whenever he was hit before. This time, though, the ninja's body stood still while only his head moved under the three consecutive impacts. His resilience surprised even Durak. Screaming, the human twisted to his right and sent his left palm into Durak's stomach. A sharp pain overtook Durak and he bent down, eyes wide and gasping for breath. Scott next jumped and delivered a high uppercut, snapping the Shokanite's upper body up and backwards. The next thing Scott's trainer saw was the brightly white sky because he was lying on the ground, flat on his back.

Knowing Shokanites were naturally more enduring than humans, Durak quickly pulled himself back up to his feet and kicked the ninja in the chest before that one could strike. Scott flew backwards into the air before landing hard on his back about ten yards away. Feeling nothing, the human smoothly jumped back on his feet and rushed towards his adversary. After he had run half the distance between him and Durak, Scott executed a flying kick. He sailed into the air and covered the second half of the distance before his foot slammed into the Shokanite's massive chest. Slightly dazed and pushed backwards, Durak reached for the ninja as that one sent a front kick into his stomach. Feeling the impact into his stomach, Durak ignored it and picked Scott off the ground. He lifted the ninja until the human's face was as high as his own before he held his student in a horizontal position. Durak then threw Scott down towards the ground before the ninja could react. Scott's back slammed into the ground and he realized that he was once more the loser. He finally felt the pain in his chest and head when Durak signaled the end of the match. The Shokanite next sat down on the ground next to his groaning student.

"You did excellent", Durak told him with a smile.

"Thanks", Scott replied as he still squeezed his teeth together, waiting for the pain to vanish.

"I have taught you all I can", the Shokanite bluntly went on, "I think it is time for you to rejoin your friends".

"Are you sure?", the human asked, the pain waning.

Durak bowed his head, indicating an affirmative answer.

"Gosh, OK", Scott saw his trainer standing up, so he did the same.

Neither one spoke as they kept standing straight, eyes locked.

"Thanks a lot for everything", the ninja spoke first.

"It was a pleasure", Durak let him know.

Scott wrapped his arms around the Shokanite's waistline because it was as high as he could reach in front of his own shoulders. He had unexpectedly gotten used to having Durak around every minute for the last several months and had, at times, forgotten where he was and the fact that he'd have to leave. Although his arms were barely long enough for his hands to touch behind the Shokanite's lower back, Durak returned the gesture. The embrace only lasted about a second or two before they separated.

"I'll see you later, I guess", the human smiled.

"Yes", the Shokanite smiled back.

The ninja stepped away while Durak closed his eyes and placed all four of his palms together, as if in prayer. An oval opening soon appeared a few steps away from them, clearly waiting for the one who didn't belong in the land of the dead. As the rift patiently waited in midair, Scott walked towards it without uttering another word and stepped inside. Once through it, the rift disappeared behind him and Scott found himself not back in Earth but in a strange land. He curiously stared up towards the purple sky as a sun was rising with barely a fourth of the brightness of the sun in his own realm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Liu was awake as he kept staring towards the entrance of the cavern. Wreath and the other Outworlders were asleep, trying to be as comfortable as the rough surface of the cave allowed them to be. The only other person still awake with the monk was Princess Kitana as they both knew they couldn't go to sleep since someone was needed to watch out for intruders. They could tell they had been awake throughout the entire night because the bright purple color of the horizon indicated the sun was about to rise. Liu was wondering why Johnny had not returned yet. He hoped his kombat partner did not run into any difficulty, although Rayden's warning that times changed irregularly between the two realms should've been enough to ease his worries. Kitana, on her part, looked completely calm. If she was worried, Liu told himself that she did a good job hiding her feelings.

"What was that fan that you had withdrawn when the mutants attacked us?", Liu addressed her with a low toned voice because he didn't want to wake up the others, "I saw you trying to use it against Reptile also. Is it something new?".

He had been curious about Kitana's weapon, and he reasoned he might as well know about it now since talking would help keep him awake.

"It's a magical instrument, depending on belief more than it does on science", Kitana told him, weariness overcoming her words, "It does what one believes it will do, whether that one is the user or the person it is aimed against. If the enemy does not see it approaching, and thus does not expect it, the fan can be deadly. If one should brace him or herself for it, though, it is just a paper fan and harmless. I believe the mutants who survived saw me using it, so it should not be worth much after now".

"Interesting", the monk admitted with his eyes still on the cavern entrance.

Her voice told him she needed sleep. Liu told himself he knew the reason she was forcing herself to stay awake. It was probably because she thought it was wrong to force a visitor from the Earth realm to bear the burden of guarding her Outworlders alone.

"You do not have to stay awake, Princess", the monk mentioned without shifting his eyes towards her, "I am fine here. You should rest for a short while to regain your strength".

"I cannot", she whispered, trying hard to keep from blacking out.

"Princess, your effort is very noble", the monk finally turned and glanced into her sleepy eyes for a second, "But you shouldn't try to keep up with my endurance. You're useless to your people if you're exhausted when we meet the mutants again".

Liu quickly turned his attention back to the entrance.

"Please, my princess. Get some rest", he insisted, "It's for everyone's best interest".

He had expected her to protest again, but he heard nothing from Kitana this time. Liu stole another short glance in her direction to see that she had finally fallen asleep, most likely involuntarily.

"Sweet dreams, Princess", Liu sighed, still keeping his watch and anxiously waiting for Johnny.

Liu ultimately saw some movement from outside the cave's entrance after almost two more hours of waiting. Johnny showed himself as he carried the sword and the monk was happy, as always, to see Sonya by his side. Both kombatants entered the cavern as the sun was already up in the sky, giving Liu a chance to notice that Sonya was carrying her pistol in a shoulder holster.

"It took long enough", Liu commented as Johnny tossed him the sword.

"What're you talking about?", Johnny questioned, "I was gone for less than an hour".

"Rayden was not kidding when he warned us about the time shifts", Liu replied as he withdrew the sword from its sheath, "Now, this should give me a fighting chance".

"What?", Kitana opened her eyes, awakened from her light sleep because Liu had raised his voice slightly after seeing the shiny blade.

Princess Kitana placed her left palm on her neck as her eyes widened because she realized she had fallen asleep, but her fears were eased when she saw Johnny and Sonya in the cave. Obviously, the kombatants were not a threat.

"Sonya, always good to see you", Kitana smiled.

"Same here, Princess", Sonya bowed her head in acknowledgment.

"So guys, wadda you say we kick these losers out?", Johnny spoke up, talking about the mutants, "I want to grab this Qarro character and kick his ass all the back to wherever the hell he came from. That is, if you guys feel up to it".

"I'm with you", Sonya echoed his belief.

"Me too", Liu told him, confident he had plenty of energy left.

"Same here", Kitana finalized the pact.

Kitana noticed Wreath opening her eyes. She reasoned it was for the better since she could've now told the Outworlders where some of them were headed. The heir to the throne walked up to Wreath and squatted next to her.

"How was your sleep?", she asked with a smile.

"Fine, Princess", Wreath answered as she saw Sonya for the first time, "What is going on?".

"We're going to finish this right now", Kitana let her know, "I will take my friends to the spot where I saw the mutants gathering before".

Wreath sat up, about to insist that she wanted to come along. Kitana saw it and placed her right index finger on Wreath's lips, interrupting that one before she even spoke.

"I want you stay here and watch over everyone else", Kitana requested, "I would not be able to concentrate on my efforts if I was worried about everyone else here. I need you to make sure they stay safe".

Wreath bowed her head without saying a word, not wanting to argue with her leader. Kitana stood back up, ready to lead the kombatants to their destination. As all four of them were headed outside, one of the other Outworlders woke up also, but Kitana just motioned him to go back to sleep. The man did not understand, but a look at Wreath told him she would explain when they were gone.

The large circle in the ground was still as empty as it had been when Princess Kitana had brought Johnny and Liu there before. All four kombatants were approximately standing in the middle of it, waiting for a sign of a challenge. Sonya had the sun at her back as she combed the surrounding hillside while her right hand was ready to grab the Glock from her shoulder holster. She had her eyes narrow and her jaw pressed hard as her pitch black outfit seemed to stand out against the pale purple sunlight while her blonde hair easily outshone the brightness from the sun. Muscles tense, she eagerly waited for the mutants.

Liu held the
of the sword in his right hand as the razor-sharp blade was pointed towards the sky and it rested next to his right upper arm. While exercising a tight control over the weapon so as to make sure it did not injure him, he made sure his back was pointed at Sonya's back. Thus the two of them were looking out on either side of the circle.

"Where the hell are they?", Johnny thought out loud.

He was zealously keeping watch as he faced a ninety degree angle away from both Liu and Sonya. With Kitana behind him, watching the area in back of him, they had the entire circle covered. The only thing missing now were the mutants.

The kombatants did not have to wait long because all four fighters suddenly saw figures rising in the surrounding hills. All four twisted their face around, realizing the entire horizon was filled with adversaries who were closing in. Sonya was quick to withdrew the pistol, which she held with both hands as the barrel of the weapon was aimed towards the ground. Despite the handgun, just her quarter of the circle alone had more than twenty mutants walking towards it. An estimated two hundred mutants were closing in on the four fighters. Liu's sword was at the ready as the blade was held in front of his upper body, perfectly separating his face into two equal halves from behind it. Neither one of the four panicked or felt they had gotten careless. After all, they all knew the purpose of this confrontation was to simply lure Qarro into the scene.

"You are so afraid that you are forced to outnumber us when you accept our challenge?", Liu questioned in a loud enough manner for all the mutants to hear as those reached the circle's outer edges.

The mutants didn't respond, only kept their blades pointed towards the ground as they showed off their teeth.

"Come on, hot shots! What're you waiting for?", Johnny didn't retreat either, "I'm just waiting to continue the damage I was doing in the cave".

One of the mutants that Kitana was facing pointed at her small team with his hand. Close to him, the princess could clearly see the mutant whose blades she had cut off while inside the original cavern. That one seemed lost, as if the other mutants treated him like he was less without his knives.

"Qarro demands your surrender!", the mutant pointing at Kitana barked, "You will have your chance to fight when your courage is tested against the great one!".

Before any of the mutants charged ahead, Sonya saw someone else getting closer from behind them. This lone individual was not as big as the mutants and he clearly didn't have a blade attached to each arm. The first thought in her mind was that it might've been Qarro, but she kept her eyes on him until she could identify him further. As this person came closer, Sonya's eyes widened as she found herself looking at Scott. She saw that Scott was on his feet, walking as if he hadn't been injured at all. She was quiet until her partner from the Special Forces stopped behind the mutants themselves.

"Wow, nice reception you have here", Scott commented and drew the attention of the mutants and kombatants alike before Sonya could tell her friends that he was there.

"How?", she finally asked.

"It's a long story", Scott replied, "But it sure is great to see you guys again".

"Again?", Sonya repeated, "I left you in the hospital an hour ago, no?".

"Huh, yeah, I guess you did", Scott turned into his fighting stance as well, "Can I be of service now?".

None of the kombatants answered. They didn't have the time to. The next thing everyone heard was the mutants yelling out in a battle cry and charging towards their five enemies with blades at the ready. Having Scott away from the main group forced the mutants to diverge from their original plan to attack only the center of the circle. Some of them separated from the main group and rushed for Scott. The five humans were ready. They screamed in their own turn.

Sonya aimed her pistol at arm's length in front of her face with both hands and passionately began pulling the trigger. One bullet after another found a mark in a mutant because her opponents were so close together. The first mutant was hit in the chest once and he dropped with a scream as the others trampled on him in order to get to their opponent. A second mutant received three rounds in his upper body as he sank to the ground and was then crushed under the weight of the mutants behind him. A third mutant was shot twice in the head as his forehead exploded and he was thrown backwards towards the others. The mutants behind him only carried him for a brief moment before clumsily throwing him down on the ground, although the mutant didn't know that because he was already dead. A fourth mutant was hit in the stomach four times as the bullets mercilessly tore through his body. He stopped with a scream and dropped down on his knees. He was almost immediately pushed forward on his stomach because the mutants behind him wanted to get past. The left blade of the mutant directly behind the fourth hit mutant unintentionally impaled that one in the upper back in his rush forward. Realizing what happened, he then tried to withdraw his blade from the back of his mortally wounded comrade, but the blade was stuck and would not pull free in time. That mutant was himself violently thrown towards the ground and he screamed as he was mangled because the others stepped on him to get to Sonya.

The blonde kombatant, in her turn, was wishing she had a more advanced weapon in her possession. Realizing the mutants were closing in fast, she was about to drop the pistol on the ground because she clearly could not decimate them all. As she lowered her arms somewhat, she was able to pull the trigger six more times. The two mutants closest to her screamed as their legs were cut to pieces by the six bullets. They both dropped on the ground and they disappeared under the feet of the mutants behind them. Their screams were lost in the battle cry that all their comrades had generated.

With four more rounds left, Sonya was tackled head-on by an average mutant who weighed approximately 300 pounds. The impact forced her to lose the weapon, not that it would've done much good anyway at the present time. She was forced backwards as her three fellow kombatants were busy themselves. After pinning her back against the ground under his great weight and knocking the wind out of her, the mutant quickly stood up and grabbed her by the left strap of her tank top. The mutant easily lifted her into the air as the ones behind him stopped their forward rush. Sonya noticed that they could've killed her right there, but were restraining themselves. She reasoned that it was Qarro's orders to capture them alive because he wanted to have the pleasure of killing them himself. She reasoned she had nothing to lose if that was the case.

While still suspended in the air, Sonya grabbed the mutant's wrist as that one was surprised because he had believed her to be completely dazed. She wanted to prove him wrong. Using her pull against his wrist as leverage, Sonya lifted her waist up and pushed both her legs towards his stomach with all her strength. Both her feet slammed into the mutant's stomach and he gasped as he let go of her tank top, and with it she was freed. She landed on the ground on her feet, ready for another round as the mutants charged again.

Sonya kicked the first rushing mutant in the stomach as that one bent down in pain and was stopped cold. As she did, a second mutant violently smashed his own forehead into hers, knocking her down on her back. The same mutant roughly pulled her up to her feet as her vision was blurred. Before she got a chance to gather her concentration for another strike, the mutant gripped her wrists in his hands and secured them behind her. Her next thought was to try to kick at the nearest mutant in front of her. Before she was able to, however, another mutant headbutted her for the second time, not wholly knocking her out but definitely defeating her.

Kitana withdrew her fan with an easy flick of the fingers and sent it soaring towards the neck of the first mutant she saw. This time, though, the mutant knew what to expect and easily blocked the fan with a swing of his left arm. As another mutant reached her first, the princess twisted to her left as she bent her left leg towards the ground. Her right leg sweeped the area immediately in front of her and her right foot impacted into the ankle of the mutant, knocking him down on his side. As that one went down, Kitana stood and saw a second mutant jumping towards her as his arms were spread wide, intending to deliver a blunt, but effective, tackle. As that one was flying horizontally through the air and almost reached her, she delivered a sharp front kick, hitting him in the chin. That mutant's head snapped back as his flight forward was cut short and he fell on the ground and landed on top of the one who was sweeped before him.

As Kitana turned her attention to the third mutant she saw, she received a painful kick to the stomach from one of his comrades. She bent down, her right forearm pressed into her stomach and gasping for breath as she tried to stay in the fight. Before being able to stand back up straight, she felt a mutant's elbow crashing into the back of her head. Coming down on the ground, she was on her hands and knees as she tried to adapt to the pain. A mutant gripped her by the neck and triumphantly lifted her off the ground. Hearing her scream only encouraged the mutant who held her two feet above the ground as she grabbed his wrist to ease the pressure on her neck.

Staring into the mutant's grinning face, Kitana let her right hand go of his wrist and delivered an uppercut into his chin. She was able to reach his face because the mutant's restraining arm was bent at the elbow while it was horizontal to the ground. The mutant's head snapped back and the hand that held her captive shook, but his grip did not loosen. Kitana's reward for her action was a painful headbutt from another mutant slamming hard into her face. She felt herself losing consciousness as her head snapped as far back as it could in the mutant's grasp and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

Johnny didn't wait for the mutants to reach him. The kombatant rushed forward and executed a flying kick into the mutant who was directly ahead. The mutant fell backwards and crashed into two of his comrades. Back on his feet, the kombatant saw a blade sailing through the air, aimed directly at his throat. He delivered a swift front kick and his foot slammed into the blade from under it, knocking it up and backwards, and with it the hand of the mutant who swung. As that mutant's hand was thrown up, Johnny jumped up and gripped that one's wrist. Swinging on the mutant's raised hand before that one even realized what was happening, the actor lifted his legs in front of his stomach and kicked out. His strike simultaneously sent both his feet into the head of the nearest mutant, knocking that one's senses apart.

Johnny then let go of the mutant's arm and came back down on his own feet. As the mutant he had used was about to strike again, the kombatant delivered a high roundhouse kick. The back of his ankle smashed into his adversary's head and knocked that one down on his side. Without stopping to see the result, Johnny next sent his right foot into the chest of another mutant, knocking that one back into the crowd. As that happened, two mutants tackled him at once, slamming his back into the ground under their combined 600 pounds and permanently knocking the wind out of him.

Liu swung his sword as the first mutant came at him waving his blades back and forth. The monk's sword contacted with the mutant's right blade at the source and instantly cut it off. The mutant screamed in shock as he brought his left blade forward, ready to strike. Before he was able to deliver the blow, Liu ducked and impaled him in the stomach with the sword. Screaming, the mutant staggered backwards and the monk took advantage of it to pull out the bloody sword. Seeing a second mutant reaching him, Liu secured the sword by his side and jumped into the air, delivering a bicycle kick. His feet repeatedly hit the mutant's chest as that one staggered back. As he felt he was about to come back down on the ground, Liu raised his sword and drove it forward with all his upper body strength. The blade from the sword penetrated the mutant's head right in between the eyes and almost exited out the back of his head. The monk withdrew the sword as he landed back on the ground.

Liu was ready for more as the second dead mutant came down on his knees without a sound. Seeing two mutants charging towards him at the same time, the White Lotus member gripped the sword's handle as he held it horizontally. He then threw the weapon and the sword flew through the air. The sword found its mark, as intended, and impaled the mutant on the left through the neck. That one gasped and was thrown backwards before he crashed down on his back, leaving Liu alone to face the mutant on the right. The forward rush of that one was cut short as Liu met him with a devastating flying kick which sent him flying backwards into the air.

Coming back on the ground, the monk suddenly felt a mutant's strong hand gripping his face. Before he had a chance to fight back, the mutant swung his head backwards and down. Liu's legs were flown up into the air as his upper body raced towards the ground. The back of his head crashed into the hard ground. The loss of concentration meant Liu was helpless and thus a prisoner.

Scott jumped up and sent an uppercut into the chin of the first mutant who reached him. That one's head snapped upwards as he saw stars and Scott let him go to move on to the others. A twist to his right sent his left foot aimed into a second mutant's chest. That second mutant involuntarily flew backwards and up before landing back on his feet, dazed. Scott would've preferred to stay in order to deliver more punishment, but the presence of a countless number of opponents meant he could not concentrate on any one of them.

He screamed at himself as his roundhouse kick smashed into a third mutant's head, knocking that one down and loosening most of his teeth. The ninja felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as a mutant had crashed his own forehead into him from behind, still preferring to offer him as a live sacrifice to Qarro. Turning around, Scott blocked out the pain and jumped up towards his attacker, gripping that one's head with both hands as he was in the air. Before that one or any of his comrades could react, the ninja came back down on his right foot as he bent his left knee. Being pulled forward, the mutant's face crashed into Scott's knee and he fell backwards after the ninja let him go.

"Anybody else want a taste of that?", he asked back in his fighting stance as over fifteen mutants surrounded him.

They all charged at once. The ninja was able to jump up on his right leg as he twisted to his right and aimed his left leg as high as possible. The bottom of his left foot impacted into a mutant's chin, delivering some major pain as that one screamed. Two other mutants grabbed him from behind as he was coming back down on his feet, restraining the use of his arms. A split second later, Scott was kicked in the stomach by one mutant and headbutted by another. The restraining mutants next threw him down on the ground. He would've been able to stand, but he looked up just in time to see another mutant lifting a hideous foot. With the mutant's entire weight behind the leg, that one brought his foot down hard into the ninja's head, knocking him senseless.

All five humans were forced together as the mutants abandoned their dead comrades and were eyeing the prisoners as if they were nothing but a zoo exhibit. Every human was restrained from behind by a larger mutant as the rest of their adversaries roughly surrounded them. Each fighter was trying to come up with his or her own plan of getting the team out alive when the mutant who had originally demanded their surrender spoke again.

"We were only told to bring back four humans", he grinned, revealing more of his ugly teeth, "So one of you is not needed here".

The humans waited for him to make his point, so he did.

"Perhaps we will let you live long enough to see the great one", the mutant went on, enjoying his position of authority, "But only if the best two among you fight one another".

The mutant turned his attention to his comrades, nonverbally asking them for their opinion. He didn't have to wait long because all the others in the group either cheered at the idea or smiled in approval.

"Who should it be? Who was the best?", the leading mutant asked his friends, carefully trying to listen as dozens of mutants spoke at once and pointed at different fighters.

"You have got to be kidding me", Johnny whispered under his breath as the head mutant turned his attention towards the kombatants again.

"The majority vote claims it is him and him", the mutant pointed at Liu and Scott as both guys didn't feel the least bit flattered.

"It wasn't my personal choice, but majority rules", the mutant grinned again.

"In your dreams, ugly", Scott replied loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"You will do it", the chief mutant approached the team and placed the tip of his left blade against Kitana's throat, "Unless of course you would like me to turn this one over to my men, after she's missing her head".

Scott locked eyes with Liu, the mutant's words echoing in both their minds.

"Come on, humans!", the mutant cheerfully clapped his hands together, "Sacrifice is the name of the game! That is all the verbal encouragement you are going to get. I start slicing next".

Scott was unceremoniously shoved away from the other fighters as his restraining mutant let him go. Liu followed one moment after. Both gladiators stood straight, only staring at each other, wondering how much they'd be able to do in order to save the team presently.

"Fight! Come on!", the chief mutant bolstered.

Both humans turned to their fighting stance, but still remained immobile afterwards as they faced each other. Scott's eyes read the calm expression on Liu's face as the monk was trying to communicate with him. A sacrifice would have to be made, perhaps by all the human fighters at the scene sooner or later. Both their experiences had taught them that nothing was more important than the welfare of the team, and the team had to be given the best chance of survival. Knowing what had to be done, Scott and Liu slowly approached each other, trying to block out the screams of the mutants. Then, as the fight was about to begin, Scott turned his face towards the other three team mates.

"Trash'em, guys!", the ninja exclaimed.

Scott flew towards the direction of the mutant closest to him in a kick as Liu charged towards the head mutant. Scott's foot slammed into his mutant's stomach and that one dropped to the ground with a dislocated spine. Landing back on his feet, the ninja looked around as other mutants charged at him. Liu reached the chief mutant and stopped a single step away. As that one tried to swing his left arm, the monk jumped vertically up and planted both his feet into that one's chest, knocking him backwards. As he staggered back, the mutant proved to be strong enough to keep from falling on the ground. He then tried to charge back towards the human. He didn't get a chance to because the monk had already reached him instead. Liu jumped up as he pulled his own upper body back. He turned upside down and his hands met the ground as his straightened legs shot up. His feet slammed into the mutant's chin, finally knocking that one unconscious.

Johnny drove his own head up and backwards as the back of his head crashed into the chin of his restraining mutant, releasing that one's grip on the kombatant. Twisting around, Johnny sent his right fist into his adversary's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. An uppercut into that one's chin worsened the headache he already had and sent him staggering backwards.

With the mutant securing her arms behind her back, Sonya knew her only option was to use her lower body. She smoothly pulled her thighs towards her stomach, keeping her legs as straight as possible. The mutant was caught off-guard as he saw her lifting her legs in a vertical position as her lower back was almost horizontal to the ground. His powerful hold on her upper arms was the only thing keeping her in the air. Before he knew it, the kombatant had her ankles wrapped around his neck. The mutant released his grip on her arms to try to fight back. He found himself being tossed forward as Sonya pulled her legs back in front of her and towards the ground. The mutant flew over her with a scream and landed on the ground ahead on his stomach as she fell straight down and landed on her back. As both adversaries stood, the human reacted first as she reached him. She twisted to her left and her right leg smoothly shot up towards his face. The mutant felt her right foot impacting into his chin, putting him out of the fight.

Kitana stomped on the foot of her restraining mutant with her own right foot. As that one momentarily loosened the grip on her arms, she pulled free. She next reached up and gripped the back of his neck with her right hand, pulling his face downward. Before the mutant realized what was happening, his face was pulled down until it was at the same level as hers. Kitana released the hold on the back of his neck and swung her left elbow into his nose, possibly breaking it. The mutant screamed as he stood straight and held his damaged nose.

Kitana next looked around. The humans were definitely more talented than the mutants, but the mutants had them greatly outnumbered, thus unavoidably dividing their concentration. Each fighter had numerous mutants rushing up to replace the one who was just defeated.

Scott was readying for the mutant he saw approaching. If he was calmer, he would've noticed the mutant who also reached him from behind as that one carried a large stone club. The mutant could've swung with his blade, killing the ninja instantly, but he preferred to restrain him while that one was alive since the great one wanted four captives alive. Thus, he raised the stone club, which was roughly the shape of a baseball bat, but larger. Scott's head arched backwards as the mutant's weapon crashed into the back of his head. Hating himself for not feeling the enemy from behind, the ninja fell forward and landed on the ground before the mutant who was rushing ahead even reached him. The last thing he remembered seeing was the mutant picking him off the ground. Then only stars followed.

Liu executed a flying kick towards a mutant, wishing to reach him with the right, straightened leg before that one reached him. Expecting it, the mutant dodged to his own right. He also raised his left hand and pointed the left blade towards the direction of the airborne kombatant. Liu's eyes widened as he realized he could not stop himself or change direction in midair. The monk's right leg met air before he felt the mutant's blade entering his left hip. An explosion of blood followed as Liu screamed and the mutant triumphantly pulled the blade out of him. The human crashed down on the ground on his back as pain overcame him. He saw the mutant raising the bloody left blade over his head, readying to swing it downward into the monk for a finishing move. Before the mutant was able to deliver the fatal blow, Liu saw a flash slamming into that one's chest. The mutant staggered backwards as Johnny landed on the ground after having executed his patented flying shadow kick. The actor stepped over Liu and positioned himself between the wounded monk and the two charging mutants who were closing in.

Sonya had planned to execute another high kick into the second mutant she spotted. As her right leg flew upwards, aimed at his chest, her adversary proved to be too quick this time. He easily gripped her right ankle in his left hand. Gasping, the lady kombatant's eyes widened as she realized she only stood on one leg and was at his mercy. Desiring to please the great one's wishes by bringing the humans to him alive, the mutant pulled her right leg towards him as he stepped backwards. Sonya was involuntarily pulled upwards and towards him as he next yanked her off the ground. Before she knew it, she was upside down as her adversary gladly gripped her right ankle in his left hand and her right knee in his other hand. Not knowing what to expect in that split second, she felt the pain as the mutant easily broke her right leg between the knee and the ankle. The edge of her broken shinbone pierced her skin and then tore through the commando pants.

"AAAAAHHH!! YOU SON OF A BIIIIIIITCH!!", she screamed out while still held upside down, "OOOOOOOOGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!".

The massive mutant, who was at least a foot taller, held on to her broken leg with his left hand alone. He then simply tossed her several steps away as easily as one could throw a doll. Sonya remained lying on her side on the ground as her body was curled in a ball and she held her right thigh.

"HHHHAAAAIIIIIII", she had her eyes closed as the pain paralyzed her.

As Kitana was readying for a confrontation with a mutant, she received a severe blow to the head from a mutant's fist. Staggering to one side, she looked up to see the mutant whose blades were missing because of her paper fans in the cave. She swung a punch towards him as a diversion. While the mutant tried to get out of the way, she sent the real front kick into his stomach. Her adversary was not about to be defeated, though, and he sent a second punch into her face before following it with a kick into her stomach. Kitana dropped to her hands and knees, already tasting blood in her mouth as she tried to stand back up. Before she was able to, the mutant kicked her in the head again, tossing her around on the ground before she landed on her back. She barely stood up in time to feel her opponent grip the back of her neck with his left hand. The next thing she felt was his right fist shattering her face. A second identical punch sounded like a cannon firing in her mind as her head snapped backwards and to the right, still without being able to get out of the mutant's left grip. She stopped counting the continuing number right fists to her face after the third hit. After that, she lost count because she didn't feel any more pain as she was helplessly punched in the head many more times. When it was finally over, she saw nothing but black as she fell down on the ground, unconscious.

Johnny found himself to be alone as the two mutants stopped several steps away from him, each in a stance. The kombatant noticed that, since his team mates were down, the other mutants didn't even bother to attack him. The others were happy to watch as two of their comrades faced off against the lone remaining human. As the two mutants were about to attack simultaneously, one of them felt a soft impact from behind him. Scott jumped on the back of the seven-foot tall mutant before any of the others noticed he was even awake. The ninja wrapped his legs around his adversary's stomach and swiftly pressed his palms of both sides of the mutant's head. Before the mutant had a chance to reach for the ninja behind him with his blades, that one twisted his head to the left and broke his neck. A distinct breaking sound followed as the mutant fell forward dead. Scott jumped off the corpse's back and planted his feet securely on the ground.

"Let's try for a fair fight, shall we?", he asked as he and Johnny stood ready for more.

With Kitana unconscious, Sonya helpless on the ground and Liu busy trying to simply keep himself from bleeding to death, Scott and Johnny were alone as they braced themselves.

"STOP!", a harsh voice ordered from nowhere that the humans could see.

All the mutants instantly gave up their ideas of attacking the two remaining fighters and stood straight, as if at attention.

"YOU HAVE PROVED YOURSELVES WORTHY", the voice continued, addressing the humans, "NOW COMES THE ULTIMATE TEST. THE TEST WHERE YOU FACE ME".

"And who are you?", Scott spoke up.

"I AM QARRO", the voice explained, "THIS WAS ALL A TEST TO SEE IF YOU WERE WORTHY. IF YOU CAN DEFEAT ME, YOU MAY ALL LEAVE. PICK THE BEST AMONG YOU".

"Well, come on, then!", Johnny was getting annoyed at not being able to see who they were talking to.

There was silence, indicating the calm before the storm.

"The best. Who's the best?", Johnny locked eyes with Scott and whispered for the few moments that they had to themselves.

Scott didn't answer, he was too busy considering the options.

"The best at the tournament was Liu", the actor went on, knowing the monk could hear since he was lying injured nearby.

"I can still do this", Liu offered, trying to stand up.

"Come on, Liu", Scott reasoned, motioning him back, "You've got a hole where your hip should be. I know you're a samurai type, but think about it, man. If that's a Shokanite out there, you won't have a prayer".

The ninja turned his attention to Johnny, having his opinion as to who should represent them.

"I know you beat Goro in the tournament", Scott explained, "But it was because he went flying over a hillside. I trained against Durak on flat ground for Rayden knows how many months".

"Really?", the actor asked.

"That's right", the ninja told him, "I think I've got a better chance".

"Did you ever beat Durak?", Johnny wanted to know.

"Nooo", the ninja widened his eyes, nonverbally telling him that was impossible.

Just then, everyone heard a constant step approaching. The sound from the stride became louder as a figure appeared some distance away. All the humans who were awake watched intently as each mutant bowed his head. Scott and Johnny did a good job in remaining calm as they both breathed evenly to keep from panicking or getting nervous. The figure came closer and the humans were able to see the odd shape it had. They kept wondering what Qarro was since he was clearly not a Shokanite. They were still trying to imagine when Qarro stopped about fifteen steps away from the two remaining fighters. The mutants cleared the way and formed two neat, organized lines on either side of him.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?", Scott spoke first.

"I am a Centaur", Qarro replied, "Take a good look because I will be the last thing you will see, assuming you were chosen to fight for your group".

Scott turned his face to Johnny again because they knew they still weren't in agreement over letting the ninja represent the humans.

"You really wanna do this?", Johnny asked, giving him one last chance to change his mind if he didn't want to fight the half man/half horse.

"Yeah", Scott turned his attention back to Qarro, examining his opponent.

That one's muscular upper body looked exactly like a human's, except that he had horns on his head. Scott also told himself that the face looked extremely repulsive as he guessed the Centaur's height from head to toe to be just under eight feet tall.

"Well, which one is it?", Qarro demanded.

"Imagine", Scott whispered to Johnny, "He comes in here, shooting his big mouth off, pretending to have class, and he expects me to be impressed. Yeah, he's mine".

"OK", the actor conceded as he stepped backwards, "Good luck".

"Thank you", the ninja whispered back.

Qarro understood who his human opponent was as he saw Johnny helping Liu away from Scott as the ninja stood his ground, staring calmly into the Centaur's eyes. Sonya and Kitana were already among the mutants as those stood at attention, so neither one had to be moved.

"Just avoid his legs, kiddo. You can do this", Scott told himself as he turned into his fighting stance, "God, I wish Durak was here".

Qarro placed his hands together as he lowered his head until his horns touched his wrists.

"Master Motaro, guide me", the Centaur said out loud.

"Who're you talking to?", Scott looked around, "Who's Motaro?".

"QUIET, YOU MISCREANT!", the Centaur thundered, "NEVER USE THE GREAT ONE'S NAME!".

"Yeah, well. It won't mean much when I cut off your horns and I shove'em down his throat", the ninja commented, looking to anger his opponent.

It worked because Qarro opened his mouth and let loose the loudest scream Scott had heard. The ninja screamed in his own turn as the rage shot through him.

The ninja and the Centaur charged towards each other. Not unexpectedly to Qarro, Scott soon changed form and executed a flying kick instead of meeting him head-on. With the Centaur running with all his power, the ninja's right foot slammed hard into his stomach. Upon impact, Qarro was stopped cold in his tracks and Scott involuntarily bounced off him. The human flew backwards into the air before falling on his back about five steps away. Not disheartened, Scott jumped back on his feet and charged for his adversary again.

Reaching him, the human saw that Qarro was too tall to be kicked down as he stood presently. The Centaur swung with his muscular right arm, meeting air as Scott ducked in time. Before his opponent was able to strike again, the ninja intentionally dropped to the ground and executed a smooth leg sweep. The Centaur's left front leg was caught in the sweep and it bent under the pressure. Since his right front leg wasn't strong enough to support his human upper body, the right front leg buckled also. The back of Qarro's front thighs touched the back of his calves as he dropped on his knees. As the Centaur was getting up, the ninja was already on his feet, thus proving that he was the faster of the two. Before his adversary had been able to stand up straight, Scott executed a roundhouse kick. The back of the human's ankle slammed into the Centaur's head and knocked Qarro down on his side. A small earthquake seemed to follow as Johnny gasped a sigh of relief at the result.

Before Qarro was back on his feet, Scott jumped on the Centaur's back and locked his arms around that one's throat, almost as if he was riding on a horse. While he planned to deliver any punishment he could think of from the back of the Centaur's head, that one stood up tall. Before the ninja could do anything, Qarro quickly reached up behind his human-like back with both his hands. He grabbed Scott by the shoulders and threw him forward.

"GET OFF, COCKROACH!", the Centaur yelled as Scott was airborne.

The ninja flew in a semicircle over Qarro's head and crashed face-first into the ground, sliding for several feet before stopping on his own. He pulled up his bruised face to see his opponent reaching him fast. With Scott still on the ground, the Centaur stopped one step away and rose up on his hind legs. Scott's eyes widened as he realized Qarro was planning to come down on him. The ninja froze as he saw Qarro's front horseshoes coming down towards his face. He was about to be crushed.

Everyone among the audience had left Sonya alone after she was seen lying on the ground with her injury. Since none of the mutants paid any attention to her, thinking she was no longer a threat, she was able to crawl undetected to where her Glock rested on the ground. Knowing the pistol had four more good bullets in it, she had picked it up just in time to see Scott as he was about to lose the match in a very painful way. Still breathing hard and pressing her teeth together because of the pain, she decided to act. Not caring about any of the preconditions that were set beforehand, Sonya aimed the weapon at the Centaur and pulled the trigger four times. She missed one shot, but three of the four rounds hit Qarro in the chest as he was aiming his front legs downwards and towards the ninja's face. The bullets barely broke the surface of Qarro's skin, although they pushed him one step backwards and thus his front legs slammed into the ground in front of Scott. The shooting obviously didn't hurt the Centaur, it only angered him further.

The audience's attention was suddenly turned to Sonya as she was still on the ground and dropped the empty handgun. While Scott took advantage of the chance she had offered him by getting back up to his feet, a 300 pound mutant intentionally stepped on her right knee. The heavy pressure only worsened her condition because the mutant had intentionally stepped on the leg whose bone was already broken. Sonya's eyes and mouth opened wide and she gasped since she was unable to scream. She saw everything becoming dimmer before she passed out.

"Dammit, man", Johnny was heard saying before a mutant restrained him to make sure he wouldn't interfere with the fight either.

Scott stood up and became more enraged than ever when he saw the kombatant who had saved his life passing out.

"DON'T HURT SONYA!!", he yelled at the mutant who had stepped on her leg.

Forgetting about the Centaur, the ninja actually took a step towards the aggressive mutant before he remembered that Qarro was still behind him. Before that one was able to take advantage of the ninja's carelessness, Scott quickly turned back to him and punched him in the head with a right fist. The human broke his right hand because of that blow, but he didn't know it then as Qarro staggered three steps to the right under the surprisingly strong hit.

Qarro struck back, his fist colliding into the ninja's jaw. The Centaur expected the human to drop to the ground after that single hit, but he was disappointed because Scott was still on his feet. The human twisted to his right and sent his left foot into Qarro's stomach, forcing that one to bend down, though only momentarily. Before Scott could strike at his lowered head, the Centaur next kicked the ninja with his right front leg. The front leg slammed into Scott's chest and lifted him two feet off the ground before he flew backwards into the air. The Centaur galloped towards him to finish the fight before the human could get back up. Qarro reached the ninja in time and bent his upper body down, sending his own head crashing towards the ground. If his horns had hit Scott, he was sure he would've been looking at a corpse when he lifted his head back up. The human, however, proved to be too quick again and rolled aside as the Centaur's horns hit the ground under him instead.

The Centaur stood back up, unhurt, as Scott stood and kicked him in the side of the right front knee. Squirming from the sudden pain, Qarro didn't have time to adjust because the ninja followed it up with another sharp kick to his midsection. Bending down again, the Centaur next felt the human's front kick in his chin. It was a hit which hurt both Scott's foot and Qarro's head, but the Centaur staggered backwards while the human stood his ground. As soon as he stopped staggering backwards, Qarro looked ahead to see the ninja flying towards him again, his momentum having picked up. Scott's foot impacted into his opponent's stomach and, as that one bent down again, the human reached up and grabbed his horns before landing on the ground. As Scott was being pulled down on his feet after the flying kick, he hung on to the Centaur's horns. He raised his legs horizontally ahead of his stomach and twisted his body as far to the left as possible. Scott's upper back impacted with the ground at the same time as Qarro's head did.

They both stood up, Scott feeling a sharp pain in his stomach as his adrenaline rushed him forward and he saw the Centaur dazed. Qarro was seeing double as he swung at the ninja's head with a scream, his fist crashing into the human's head. He followed it up with a second punch into that one's stomach. It was all to no avail, because the human's body seemed to absorb his attacks without getting hurt. Ignoring his own wounds, Scott answered with a front kick to the Centaur's stomach. The strike aggravated that one's daze as the Centaur forgot his mission to kill the human and only began worrying about his survival.

"Come back when you've learned how to fight!", Scott blurted out as he noticed Qarro's desperation.

The human intended to take advantage of it.

"You...", Scott twisted to his right and sent his left fist into Qarro's jaw, disorienting that one more.

"Mother...", the ninja twisted to his left and punched the sluggish opponent in the jaw with his right fist, shattering the already broken bones in that hand but not feeling it.

"Fucker...!", Scott finished it with a third punch to the Centaur's jaw, this time with his left fist again.

Qarro's head snapped back as he gave out a gruesome yell and he fell partly on his side and backwards. Scott knew he was nothing but a corpse as soon as his body crashed on the ground, immobile. The pain, injuries and exhaustion finally overcame the ninja and he passed out two steps away from the Centaur.

Johnny noticed that the screaming suddenly ceased. The two fighters were quiet and the mutants didn't feel like cheering any more. The mutant who was restraining the actor let him go, shocked at seeing his leader lose by dropping to the ground before the human did. The only sound the kombatant could hear presently was his breathing. Liu didn't make any sounds as he kept pressing his blood-soaked shirt into his hip, trying to stop the bleeding and stay awake at the same time. Before the actor could claim victory, though, he heard a steady and massive step approaching from the direction where Scott and Qarro were positioned.

The kombatant soon saw a second Centaur coming closer to the bodies of the two fighters. As that one came into clearer view, Johnny examined him. He noticed that, despite the great size of both Centaurs, the one who was alive was obviously several inches taller, and thus heavier, than Qarro.

"LEAVE US!", the new Centaur demanded as he was still approaching Qarro's carcass.

The mutants were quick to obey. They all hurried towards the hills where the second Centaur had emerged, leaving the kombatants and Qarro's body alone with the new visitor. Johnny knew that Sonya, Kitana and Scott were unconscious, and Liu was not in any state to put up a fight. So if the new Centaur wanted to destroy all four fighters, he would have no problems whatsoever. Johnny couldn't allow that, obviously. Thus, the last remaining healthy fighter on the humans' side carefully walked towards the advancing Centaur. He first stepped over Scott's unconscious body and took half a dozen more steps past Qarro's corpse. He stopped there and turned into his fighting stance, as the new Centaur stopped also from about ten steps away.

"Who the hell are you?", Johnny demanded.

"I am Motaro, the great one", the Centaur responded, proud to say his own name, "I was born to destroy humans".

"If you want to get to them, you have to get past me first", the kombatant told him what he should've already known.

"Not presently", Motaro gave an evil smile, "This was simply a test of my students' might. Qarro was chosen at random in order to show me how trained they were until now. We will not come to your realm until every one of my students is able to defeat the best human warriors anywhere. This shows me that they are not yet ready".

Motaro then placed his hands together, praying in a foreign language. A few seconds later, a red lightning bolt shot out of the sky and accurately hit Qarro's body, scaring Johnny somewhat because he was standing so close to it. Qarro's body went up in flames instantly as the kombatant began to smell the burning flesh. Grinning that the human was shaken as the lightning bolt struck, Motaro turned around and began walking away.

"His defeat gives you some more time, human", he said as he was leaving, "I suggest you use it wisely, although whatever efforts you will give will only delay the inevitable when we come to conquer. You should put forth your best efforts so as to have a clean conscience when you lose. Because we will be coming for your realm, and you will not be able to stop us".

Without saying anything else, Motaro went back into the hill where he had emerged from. With the Centaur's words echoing in his mind, Johnny's first move was to pull Scott away from Qarro's burning body. He next looked over his friends, realizing he was the only one awake because Liu had just passed out also.

"Uh, Rayden?", the kombatant called out, "Open up the portal to Earth, will you?".

Johnny told himself that it was going to be hell to carry all four fighters through.

XXXXXXXXXXEPILOGUEXXXXXXXXXX

Scott was seated on the bar stool drinking a glass of cold orange juice. He noticed that he must've been the only person in the bar with such a drink. He stared at himself in the mirror while he remembered all the bruises on his body that were covered by his clothes. Even the several feet of space between him and the mirror couldn't conceal his split lower lip and two black eyes. He lowered the half-empty glass of orange juice on the bar counter with his left hand because his right hand was in a cast. On the bar stool next to him sat the bully that he had confronted in this bar both before and after acquiring his clone's body. He had already found out that the man's name was Abram and they were busy discussing an idea Scott had brought him.

"I'm telling you, man, talk to Liu. He's a good teacher", Scott told Abram, "We're not talking about turning you into a ninja or anything like that, but the training will help you control your temper. He could show you some exercises that you can do by yourself when you're alone. I'm sure of it".

As Abram was still considering the idea in his head, Sonya came into the bar looking a bit worried. She was moving slowly because her right leg was in a cast and she was supporting herself on crutches.

"Everything OK here?", she asked as she came closer to them both, noticing Abram for the first time.

"Yeah, we were just talking", Scott answered as he stood up.

Sonya rested the two crutches against the nearest empty table and hopped on her left foot towards the chair around the table that was closest to her. As she was finally able to sit down, Scott offered another chair from the table so she could rest the right leg.

"Oh, thank you", she replied as she placed the broken leg on it.

"I am glad to see you, but what're you doing here?", the ninja asked her.

"Liu said you were going to the bar. I was worried", she responded.

"Oh", he said, "And how did you get here? You didn't walk, did you?".

"No way", she went on, "Liu drove. He and Kitana are still outside wondering what to do with the car".

"Liu has driver's license for this city?", Scott was curious.

"I dunno. Who cares?", Sonya smiled, "I'm here now and you can drive us back".

"Sure thing", he walked over to behind her chair.

As she was still trying to get the feel for the chair, Scott gently pulled back her blonde hair and kissed her on the neck. Sonya moaned softly and smiled.

"Excuse me, but some of us are trying to eat here", Abram protested.

"Yeah, well, if you don't like it, then don't look", Sonya chuckled.

Liu and Kitana followed. The Princess's face was badly swollen while the monk was just beginning to be able to walk again.

"Pull up a chair, guys", Scott addressed them both.

"I should wait around until it happens", Kitana was in the middle of a conversation with Liu as they reached the ninja, "It would only be fair".

Just then, the bartender had a remote control which he used to increase the volume of the television set that hung near the ceiling. A news reporter was giving a summary of what he already knew.

"...world-famous actor Johnny Cage, who had become a hero both on the screen and off of it after his brave attempt to foil the militants in our nation's capital, was leaving Washington DC for Hong Kong today", the reporter went on, "He had refused to say why. Fans gathered around for autographs which he was busy signing until the very last minute. We hope to see him again".

The topic on the news changed as the fighters in the room knew the reason for Johnny's departure.

"He wants to talk to Jax", Sonya sighed, wishing she could travel with him, "To tell Jax everything that he told us and maybe the major will be able to convince his superiors and they'll let the president know".

"Good", Scott finished his glass in a single swallow.

"The doc said it's a minimum of six weeks before the cast can be taken off", Sonya went on, addressing no one in particular, "Only then can the real training restart. Until then, we just have to wait and I wish I didn't have to. We gotta be better than we were before when they come. If Qarro was a mere student and Motaro promised to train them some more, we've got a major problem".

"You're telling me", Scott replied.

"I mean, you barely finished Qarro and it was only after I shot mister four-legs", she continued, "I saw what happened when I shot him, he barely felt the 9mm going into him".

A chill overtook Sonya and she involuntarily shivered.

"The Centaurs are coming", she finished, "And they're not friendly".