"S-Spare me," Scorpion sputtered from his knees, blood trickling out through the slits in his facemask.
"You had your chance to leave, Shirai Ryu dog," Sub-Zero responded in an appropriately cold manner. "Our 'rivalry' ends here."
Sub-Zero's powerful hand wrapped itself around Scorpion's throat. Already cold as a corpse, Sub-Zero's flesh only grew colder; growing cold enough to burn Scorpion's throat, even through his hood. Through both the blood and the burning cold, Scorpion could barely utter a sound as his neck became coated in ice, mere moments before the blood vessels beneath began to expand and burst.
Although mercifully short, the time it took for Sub-Zero's fingers to reach Scorpion's now frigid cervical spine and snap it in two felt like an eternity for his longtime foe.
As Bi-Han tore his head from his shoulders, the last thought that passed through Hanzō Hasashi's mind was fear for what would become of his beloved wife and son in his absence. If only he'd been strong enough to emerge victorious against Sub-Zero...
Sub-Zero's back was exposed. This was his chance.
Scorpion's head was engulfed in flames, burning away all but the skull beneath. Even amidst the flames, the fire in the skull's sockets was blazing with vengeful rage. As were the flames that erupted from his mouth, from an unquenchable inferno blazing within his very soul; flames that scorched and seared Bi-Han's flesh and Lin Kuei uniform a shadowy black. Before too long, about the only thing that made him recognisable as Sub-Zero amidst the blackness were his piercing blue eyes. Of course, they didn't last much longer before they burned out.
Sub-Zero's screams echoed across Shang Tsung's island as his longtime foe stood and watched his agonising descent to his knees. Scorpion wrapped a hand around Sub-Zero's throat, his own flesh unharmed by the hellfire that was burning the cryomancer down to the bone.
"That was for my family and the Shirai Ryu," Hanzō Hasashi growled as he watched Sub-Zero burn. "And this," he said, gripping his nemesis by his now exposed spine, "is for me." He tightened his grip at the base of Sub-Zero's neck, bone breaking and splintering in his hand. With more force than was likely needed at this point, Scorpion snapped Sub-Zero's cervical spine from his thoracic, pulling away the charred, still burning skull that mirrored his own.
Sub-Zero had changed. Something deep inside him had made him a different man. Perhaps, he had been humbled by his death at the hands of a man he himself had killed. Or, more likely, something in the process of resurrection had changed him. Such a thing was common among wraiths and revenants, after all. Still, he bore none of the telltale signs of undeath, but even the spectre's knowledge of undeath was incomplete, so there may well have been secret intricacies he was simply ignorant to.
Whatever the case may be, Sub-Zero's fighting style had changed. Beyond an increase in speed and more versatility with weapons forged in ice, Bi-Han's style had changed little across his many clashes with Scorpion, even during the two years between their respective deaths. Now, though, he was using ice to slide around his opponents, freezing the ground to trip them and even blocking certain attacks with a wall of ice.
A casual observer might think he was simply showing off for the Outworld crowd, but Scorpion knew better. There was a certain frantic pace to his movements which had only been present in their early battles. He was moving like an entirely different person.
And that was when it hit him. Sub-Zero he died by his nemesis' hand, there was no question about that. But he had returned with no signs of undeath, and fighting in a different manner. Although he knew his name, Scorpion knew little else of Bi-Han's life outside of his service to the Lin Kuei. Was it possible, then, that there had been another ice-wielding Lin Kuei all this time?
Scorpion's white eyes grew wide as he watched Sub-Zero stand over his fallen foe, primed to "Finish Him!" as the Emperor demanded. Any other day, Sub-Zero would have shown no hesitation in doing so. None of his defeated foes at the last tournament had survived, after all. But now, he stepped away from his fallen opponent, bowed to the Emperor and walked away. Victory was his, and he saw no reason for further bloodshed.
Scorpion needed answers. He followed Sub-Zero back to the waiting area, teleporting inside once Johnny Cage and Jackson Briggs stepped out to join Raiden's group outside.
"Do you need something, Spectre?" Sub-Zero asked, his voice slightly muffled by his mask. It sounded a little off, but there were a thousand possible reasons for that, so Scorpion pushed on, rather than dwelling on it.
"Why didn't you finish your opponent?" he demanded.
"I fail to see how that's any business of yours, Shirai Ryu." The disdain with which Sub-Zero usually spoke to him was gone. He sounded more... neutral. Even so, this insult enraged the spectre.
Their clash was brief, but for all of Scorpion's attempts to fatally strike him, Sub-Zero moved only to evade and immobilise. In less than a minute, Scorpion's legs were frozen in ice. But this was not the deep freeze Scorpion knew from Sub-Zero, which would destroy the innards of his opponent and make them ready to shatter to pieces. Rather this was simple immobilisation.
Scorpion teleported out of the ice and attempted to strike from behind. Sub-Zero ducked and created a thick, domed sheet of ice over himself. Caught off-guard by this technique, Scorpion slid right over Sub-Zero. Before he could recover, Sub-Zero broke off a large chunk of the dome and threw it at Scorpion. It shattered on impact and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Once more, he found his limbs frozen to the ground to prevent him from rising again. Sub-Zero stood over him, catching his icy breath, but made no move to finish him.
"What are you waiting for?" Scorpion demanded. "Kill me again, and I will return as many times as it takes to keep you in eternal damnation."
"No," the other man replied flatly.
"You're not one to spare an opponent, Sub-Zero."
"Should we meet in proper kombat, I won't hesitate to send you back to the Netherrealm. But my purpose here is kill Shang Tsung, as was requested of the Lin Kuei. I won't jeopardise my opportunity to do so by getting myself disqualified for killing you outside of an official tournament bout."
"...You really aren't Sub-Zero."
"Not the one you know, assuming you truly are my brother's old nemesis."
"Brother..."
"Bi-Han was my older brother. You killed him in Mortal Kombat. The Sub-Zero mantle is now mine to carry."
"And you are here for revenge."
"As I said, my only concern here is Shang Tsung. Your petty squabble with my brother is none of my concern, unless you insist on making it such. If he died in service to the Lin Kuei, that is enough. That is the difference between our clans, Scorpion: you Shirai Ryu are far too driven by emotion. It drives you to prioritise personal vengeance over duty to your clan. I, however, have no reason to strike you down, even for the slaying of my brother."
Scorpion once again teleported out of his icy bonds, but made no attempt to attack this time. "You are an honourable man, Sub-Zero. But I pity your cold existence."
"And I pity your clan for its desire for warmth."
With that, Scorpion teleported out of the area, leaving the new Sub-Zero to his preparations for his next match. Hanzō felt that he now understood Bi-Han more through the words of his brother. It truly was a pitiable existence to him: being so cold and detached from one's loved ones as to not become driven by them, in either life or death. He had no regrets about showing Harumi and Satoshi the love that was so clearly missing from the relationship of the two brothers. And he never would.
There was but one regret in Hanzō's heart - though that may not be the correct word. Ultimately, by killing Bi-Han, Scorpion had become him. Just as his old foe had torn Hanzō away from his wife and son, he had then torn Bi-Han away from his brother. Despite his words, this new Sub-Zero adopting his brother's mantle and wearing his mask were more than mere formalities. While conditioned to prioritise his duty over his family, Bi-Han was missed by his brother. With this revelation, it was no longer vengeance that drove the spectre onward.
After Sub-Zero's next match, he returned to the waiting area, maintaining his distance from Raiden's warriors. As he sat in solitude, another kombatant silently entered the place and drew a tantō. The woman was clad in attire similar to that of Shao Kahn's twin daughters, only leaving less to the imagination, and in the same blood red as her hair.
She prepared to subdue her target with some rudimentary sanguimancy while he was unaware of her presence. But, just as Sub-Zero was unaware of the assassin's presence, she herself was unaware of the presence of the one watching over her quarry. As her fingers began to tighten, compelling the cryomancer's cold blood to halt, she was struck from behind by a flaming kick, launching her out of her hiding spot and directly into Sub-Zero's line of sight.
Scrambling to her feet to assess the new threat, the assassin's eyes met the burning whites of Scorpion's as he bore down upon her, determined to make amends for stealing Sub-Zero's brother from him, as he had been from his own family, by dedicating his existence to ensuring that no further harm would come to the man who now bore the name of Sub-Zero. So swore Scorpion.
I like taking the classic Fatalities and adding a bit of realism to them: Kano uses his trademark knife to cut hearts out instead of just reaching into the chest, Scorpion and Sub-Zero destroy the flesh to reach the skeleton for a head rip.
And let's be honest with ourselves, this dynamic is way more interesting than, "You're also Sub-Zero so I guess you gotta die now," "Yeah, but I gotta avenge my brother who I'll write off in a few months and then stop caring about my loved ones."
