Author's Note: After struggling a month with this chapter, I just gave up and decided to go with it. It's a filler chapter, but hopefully the re-emergence of some familiar favorites makes up for it LOL

As the C-17's unloaded their disheveled and wounded passengers, the hospital within Ft. Albany quickly became a zombie-land full of hideous monsters with bandaged heads, half skulls, dragging the left half of their body, trailing a leg behind them as they went. The hospital room was as cold as dead skin, the hallway crowded and reeking of injury. It was the smell that hit Tomas first. It was a sterile, antiseptic, and very distinctive medical smell, a smell with an underlying metallic reek of blood beneath it that reminded him of the lab where he was fully automated years ago. Just like a school smelled like chalk and old books, or a mechanic's shop smelled like gas and rust, the smell of the hospital pointed towards its purpose. He wasn't shocked by it, however. It was a hospital, after all.

Anya was still unconscious, though a nurse - Owens, Tomas vaguely thought - had at least cleaned the blood off her head as much as possible so that she didn't look quite so grotesque. Electrodes currently sprouted from her scalp like white vines and trailed to a computer monitor where lines that looked like a bunch of meaningless squiggles appeared in glowing green. They had already stuffed her into a hard plastic neck brace and put her through a CT-scan and an MRI, and now, the doctor had returned to give Tomas his prognosis.

"In layman's terms," he was saying, "Annalise's skull is fractured badly enough that it has caused some significant brain injury. Right now, she is in a coma due to internal brain bleeding and swelling. I have to go in and repair it immediately."

Tomas looked at Dr. Kastro, a small Hispanic man with a face like a full moon and a dimple in his chin, the only neurosurgeon at Ft. Albany, with a blank stare. "I knew that," he said, and then wiggled his cybernetic fingers at the man in something like a wave, reminding him of his advanced scanning capabilities. "So save her."

"We'll be back to get her for surgery in a moment," the doctor replied before he squeezed from the private exam room and scurried down the hall.

"Mr. Vrbada, I need you to sign the release forms for Annalise," Nurse Owens told him, now shuffling towards him with a clipboard and a stack of papers.

"Why?" he demanded to know. "Just take her to surgery. This is an emergency."

"We will, but we need your signature-"

"Will my signature be performing surgery?" he countered in annoyance.

She bristled, equally impatient. "You're clearly listed on Ms. Sullivan's file as an authorized person to make medical decisions for her in the event her husband isn't present or able," she told Tomas. "If you're not willing-"

"Káča pitomá!" the Enenra snapped at her, his Czech accent thick, the beginnings of a migraine creeping around the edges of his eyesight. This day was rapidly catching up to him. "Just give me the papers!"

The nurse handed him the clipboard and quietly waited for him to scribble his hasty signature everywhere she'd marked an x. He grumbled and rattled off a string of Czech curse words at this nonsense. His sister-in-law's life was hanging in the balance. Why, then, did they need a mountain of paperwork filled out before they could actually do something to save her?

When he was finished, he scowled and shoved the clipboard back into the nurse's hands. "Now hurry up," he barked at her. "You've wasted enough time."

"We'll be taking her to surgery in about five minutes, Mr. Vrbada," the nurse replied. "I'll be back to shave her head and get her ready to go to the OR." And then she disappeared down the hall.

"They're going to shave Anya's head?" Kailyn now asked, mortified. "But why?"

"To prevent the spread of infection, and also so that her hair doesn't get in the doctor's way," Tomas replied, now tiredly taking her in his arms and resting his head on top of hers. "They may not have to shave it all, my love. But it is only hair. Saving her life is more important."

"Yes," Kailyn agreed. "But much of a woman's power is in her hair."

He chuckled softly at that. Over twenty years spent in Earthrealm, and still, his mate sometimes clung to archaic Hydromancer thinking. "No, my love, I think a woman's power is in her heart. And Anya's heart is strong."

"If you're right, I hope it is strong enough to-" Before she could finish her thought, Kailyn started to cry, and pulled herself tighter to Tomas' body. "I don't want to lose my sister," she whimpered a moment later, prompting him to kiss the top of her head and sway with her for a long minute to console her. He felt similarly. Anya was the closest thing to a sister he had, and he both loved and fought with her like one too. At the thought, he squeezed Kailyn tighter, and he felt pleased when she squeezed him back too.

"Uncle Tomas?" a new voice spoke, and when the cyber-ninja looked up, he saw Tommy and Jamie standing at the doorway, peeking in.

"Come in," he told them as Kailyn pulled away and wiped her eyes. "They're going to take your mother to surgery in a couple of minutes," he reported when they squeezed into the room.

"Why?" Tommy wondered, his face unusually somber.

"Her brain is bleeding," he answered. "The pressure is building. If they don't relieve the pressure, she could die."

Jamie's face fell as he now gripped Anya's hand in his own. He wrenched his face in grief before he kissed it and began to blink back tears. His twin, however, was not quite as dignified. Tommy fought his pain for a moment, and it was a good fight, but within moments, he was quietly weeping on the other side of his mother's hospital bed, gingerly stroking back her bangs around the EEG electrodes.

Tomas looked at him, dumbfounded at the teenager's show of emotion. Tommy, just like his ornery namesake, was seldom serious and generally spent more time laughing and raising hell than anything else. The cyber-ninja often teased Kuai Liang, who was usually quite exasperated with his son, that he'd jinxed himself by naming him after his lifelong best friend. But now, watching the boy fall apart with fear and worry for his mother, there was no humor or jokes in the Enenra's thoughts. Tomas' heart went out to him, and to Jamie as well. Though they liked to pretend otherwise, they were most definitely momma's boys.

Before he even knew he had done it, Tomas reached out for Tommy and yanked him to him. And then he motioned for Jamie to get up and join them, and when the other boy obeyed, he curled his arm around him as well, pressing them to each shoulder to let them cry it out. He stood there, holding him not like a well-meaning uncle, but like a father.

It was funny, he vaguely thought, how they'd come full circle. Years ago, when he was still automated and unable to feel anything for his infant son, Alex, let alone take care of him, it had been Kuai Liang who'd raised him and doted on him like his own son. Now that the Grandmaster was physically unable to care for his children, Tomas finally had the chance to repay him.

"Why is this happening, Uncle Tomas?" Jamie finally asked. "Why did Dad do this to us?"

The cyber-ninja shook his head softly. "Reiko did something to him," he replied, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Who cares?" Tommy bitterly replied. "I hope he dies."

"You don't mean that," his uncle retorted, squeezing him tighter. "You're angry. That's understandable. So am I. But synovec, you must direct your anger at the one responsible. Your father is a victim in this. He is not himself."

"It doesn't matter," the boy stubbornly argued. "He destroyed our home and may have killed my mom. He almost killed Livy too."

"It does matter," Tomas challenged him, though his voice was little more than a whisper. "You know that he'd never betray any of us on his own. Reiko cast a spell over him that took control over his entire soul." He sighed. "I don't think I need to remind you boys that I know better than most how horrifying it is having no control over your actions. Your father is living in his own private hell right now. He needs our compassion and mercy more than anything. And I'm going to need you boys to help me save him."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Jamie asked.

Tomas shook his head, unable to answer. "I don't know," he finally whispered.

The worst of the wounded were quickly assessed, and rapidly ushered off to emergency surgery. Olivia was one of the first to go into surgery, but she was in the recovery room by the time the last of the survivors stumbled off the C-17 and into the base, and back in her cramped room only an hour after that. A splint now wrapped with thick bandages kept the young Cryomancer's leg in place, and ice packs were strategically placed around the break to reduce swelling and alleviate discomfort. Not that Olivia was in pain at the moment. She was currently hooked to a morphine pump, and additionally, she was still fairly out of it from the anesthesia drugs they'd given her for surgery.

Miyuki watched her niece from the door through the ordeal, thinking about the day her father, An Zhi, had also broken her leg after he'd razed her village to the ground. Then, as it was now, the survivors had gone to the city hospital for treatment. She remembered sitting on the edge of a white-sheeted bed, the muscles in her arms drawn taut as she gripped the linen and tried to contain her screams of pain while the doctor set her leg, her teeth feeling like they'd crack from being clenched so hard, watching the seconds slowly drip off the clock. Olivia, she wagered, had it worse. At least Miyuki hadn't known at the time that it was her own father who'd tried to kill her. Such knowledge was undoubtedly the biggest source of pain for the young Cryomancer.

Samantha was sitting next to Olivia, holding her hand as she rested her head on her arms on the mattress, softly snoring. When speaking, Miyuki had often observed that the sisters' voices were almost identical, laughing mezzos undoubtedly tuned in childhood to the same pitch and ring. To the ear, they were twins; to the eye, they were nothing alike. Olivia was taller and slender, and her hair...well, who knew when she'd cut that white mane last? Her sapphire eyes were clever, guarded, full of wisdom only hard life lessons could grant her, and also extremely beautiful. Her features were delicate, her fingers long and tapered, perfect for curling around an ice ball or kori sword. Sam, however, was tiny and whimsical. Her face and mouth were wider than Olivia's, her cheeks rounder, her eyes deep and generous. She had more of the sun and sea in her, more freckles, more gold in her brown hair. She would smile at anyone, and laugh and joke and sing. She wore the same black robes that the novices all wore, and kept her hair shorter and free. In many respects, Miyuki suddenly mused, they were just like Kuai Liang and Bi-han, as different as night and day.

"How is everyone?" Bi-han asked from a shadowy corner on the opposite side of the room. His voice startled her, and now she noticed him as well as the young Cryomancer prince, Xinyi, leaning against the wall.

"Not good," she murmured. And then, as if her body was compelled to move on its own, she found herself crossing the room to throw her arms around her big brother. Uncertainly, Bi-han tolerated it for a moment, but then he began to relax and even patted her back. "What are we going to do?" she asked a second later. Her voice was muffled by the wall of his body.

"The first thing is to round up the less severely wounded," he answered. "We need to see how many can still fight-"

"I meant about Kuai Liang," she grumbled.

He tensed. "I'm going to get him," he replied. "And if I have to beat Reiko's spell out him, so be it."

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "It's all my fault, Bi-han."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded to know. "What did you do?"

Miyuki grimaced. "Olivia was right," she sighed. "I'm a coward. If I'd had the courage to chase down Reiko after he stabbed Kuai Liang, none of this would've happened. I was just too afraid of becoming Frost again. I couldn't do it."

"You're an idiot," her brother bluntly told her.

She recoiled and looked up at him. "Thanks for the pep talk," she frowned.

"You can't deny it," he replied, his voice even and cool. "What would've happened if you had gone after Reiko?" he then asked.

"I would've fought him. Neutralized him. Dragged him back and forced him to undo what he did to Kuai Liang."

Bi-han now cruelly chuckled. "Is that a fact?" he asked. "You would've done all that?"

She tilted her chin indignantly upwards. "Yes, I would've."

"You would've died before you got your first shot in," he corrected her.

"Why does everyone insist on underestimating me?" she hissed. "You know how deadly I can be if I wanted to be."

He nodded his head. "You're lethal, I'm not disputing that," he agreed. "But I also know Reiko. You saw what he did to Kuai Liang, and Kuai Liang has fought him before and knew what to expect. Both times he nearly died. Both times, it was Olivia who saved him."

"You're saying that Olivia can do what I can't?" she asked.

"I'm saying that, for whatever reason, Olivia seems to have Reiko's number," he said. "It might be because she spent enough time with him in Outworld to figure out his strengths and his weaknesses. But either way, Olivia is the only one of the Lin Kuei so far to have gone up against him and won."

"She didn't win this time," Miyuki quickly pointed out.

"She didn't fight Reiko this time. She fought her father." He crossed his arms. "And I don't think I have to remind you what kind of head trip that fighting with your own father can do to you." Bi-han glanced at his sleeping niece. "Personally, I think that she was unwilling to admit there was something wrong with him. So she didn't fight him with all her heart. I think a part of her must've thought that striking him was a grave sin. You never disrespect your father like that. Never."

Miyuki nodded, realizing there was some semblance of truth in his words, and then stepped to the other side of Olivia's bed and sat down. The girl still hated her, and she wondered if that would ever change. It was completely illogical. But the moment her niece came into her world, Miyuki immediately realized that logic couldn't make sense of someone who was so brand new to her.

"I feel as though I should apologize for this day's events as well," Xinyi said, now interrupting the silence. Both Miyuki and Bi-han swiveled their gaze towards him. "My brother...I never took him for a traitor."

"How do you know he's a traitor?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I could not find him during the attack," he said. "He and Lady Olivia took a walk to the beach this morning. She returned, but he never did."

"Maybe one of Reiko's goons got him out there," she suggested.

Xinyi wistfully smiled and shook his head. "I sincerely doubt that," he replied. "You see, we were borne of the ice and snow of the Bīnglěng Dì Dìyù. All Cryomancers learn from the time they can walk how to navigate through that bitter land, how to elude our enemies, how to hide. Jiayi is not incompetent. He knows how to use the harsh landscape of Arctika to his advantage. He would not have been caught by a Tarkatan in his own element."

"Then perhaps he's in hiding?" she now suggested.

"No," he replied. "As much as it would relieve me to say that was the case, in truth he has been acting strange as of late, spouting off rhetoric about the way Cryomancers should and should not behave, becoming publicly outspoken about his disdain for new ways and new ideas. I am certain he has joined with Reiko in the hopes that the General will help him restore our home to the way it should be, as he perceives it. If I am right, then I will put him down myself."

"If you're right," Bi-han began from his corner, "you won't have to because I will have already done it."

Miyuki listened to the men's threats and then took Olivia's hand in her own, carefully stroking it. For the first time in years, she heard Frost's voice call to her, begging her to punish the Cryomancer Crown Prince. And for the first time in years, she was tempted.

Kadeem Kabal and Kurtis Stryker somberly marched into Ft. Albany, men on a mission, summoned from the Manhattan South Homicide Squad by their old friend and teammate, General Blade. She'd refused to go into detail over the phone as to the why of the matter, but she had revealed that Earthrealm faced a new threat, the Lin Kuei Temple had fallen under attack, and as a result she was getting the old gang back together. Kabal had been getting a hot dog from a street vendor when she'd called while the health-conscious Stryker stayed in the car and was barely hanging up the phone by the time the other had returned with his lunch.

When the former Black-Dragon-turned-cop climbed back into the Ford Taurus, Stryker wrinkled his nose in disgust at his long-time friend. "I don't know how you can eat that shit," he chided, just as he'd done every day for the past twenty years.

"And I don't know how you eat tofu, but here we are," Kabal shot back before he removed the lower portion of his breathing mask, leaving only the smaller triangular mask suctioned across his nose so he could still breathe while he ate. It was quite similar to a CPAP machine mask, he'd often thought. Quickly, he devoured a bite of his dog, which he'd deliberately loaded with onions, pickle relish, jalapenos, and spicy mustard just to annoy his partner. "Who was that on the phone?" he'd asked around a mouthful of food. "Was that the Cap? Did you tell him I'm still waiting for those Yankees tickets he promised me after I ran down that Lovett idiot?"

"No, it wasn't Cap," Stryker now replied, sighing, clearly unhappy to be reminded of the call. "It was Sonya Blade."

Kabal slowly put down his hot dog. The General never called them unless it was extremely important. "I don't want to know."

"She thinks Earthrealm is under attack," he explained.

"Goddammit, I just said I don't want to know!" he rasped, annoyed.

"By an Outworld General."

Kabal groaned. "Of course it is," he sighed and then threw the rest of his food out the window and into the gutter.

Stryker had been too distressed by the news to even reprimand his partner for littering. "The Lin Kuei Temple fell under attack. They took some pretty heavy losses, I guess. The Temple is all but gone."

The detective's heart plunged into his stomach as his thoughts abruptly shifted to all the innocent people who'd lived in the Temple...women...children...Anya. Time and distance had mostly tempered his feelings for her, and for the most part he'd been able to move on and accept that they simply weren't meant to be. Miraculously enough, he'd even managed to seriously date a few women who could overlook his scars throughout the years. But on the rare occasions when he heard from Anya or saw her in person, all those smoldering embers roared back to life again and set him ablaze, and he found himself back at the drawing board, hating Kuai Liang, hating life, and wondering why life always left him burnt and scarred.

He peered at Stryker through his tinted goggles. "Were there any survivors?" he quietly asked. His best friend knew about his internal struggles, just as he knew that she was his primary concern at the moment.

The blond man nodded. "Yeah," he said. "A few. SF intervened and drove off the attackers, and then they took the survivors to Ft. Albany. Sonya didn't say much more than that. But she wants us there, pronto. She already worked it out with Cap."

So now, a couple hours later, the two veteran detectives stamped into the army hospital. It was organized chaos, Kabal thought to himself, with wounded Lin Kuei crowded on stretchers in the cramped hallways and doctors and nurses urgently pushing their way through from patient to patient. The acrid scent of blood and iodine hung in the air while many of the survivors cried and moaned in pain and shock. The vast majority, he saw, nursed deep, even gashes like those made by swords, but there were also quite a few stab wounds as well, vaguely reminding him of the days when he ran with Kano. The noise the survivors made might have been grating to the detective's ears had he truly heard it, but with his mind snared by tunnel vision, the noise seemed a thousand miles away.

"I'm going to find Sonya," Stryker announced to his partner.

"Then I'm going to find Kuai Liang," he replied. "Find out what the fuck happened out there."

The two parted ways, each man setting out on his own separate investigation. Kabal continued deeper into the hospital, searching for any familiar face. He saw Cyrax first, but the Tswanan man was distracted by a bunch of the junior warriors. When the detective asked him where he could find the Grandmaster, Cyrax hastily told him where he could find Smoke instead, and refused to elaborate more.

More than a little irritated with the yellow-clad Lin Kuei warrior, Kabal turned a corner and found Tomas exactly where Cyrax said he'd be, leaning up against a wall, rubbing his temples as if he didn't notice the ugly gash cutting from his eyebrow well into his hairline. The Enenra's downy hair was more disheveled than normal, streaked with gray and black soot that caked parts of his face and neck as well.

"Tomas!" he yelled to get the man's attention.

Tiredly, the cyber-ninja lifted his unnaturally blue eyes towards the detective and sighed. "Hello, Kadeem," he greeted politely. To the detective's eyes, shadows crossed his face, and he looked quite old and tired then. "I wish I could say I was happy to see you."

"What the hell happened?" he demanded to know when he joined his side.

"I don't know," he softly replied and then shook his head. "It's a long story."

"Where's Kuai Liang?" he grilled.

"General Reiko has him," he sighed again. "Took him hostage…" He trailed off and then looked back up at Kabal. "Like I said, it's a long story."

The detective put his hands on his hips, not liking the sound of that at all. "Well, where are the kids? Where's Anya?"

"She's in emergency surgery," he replied, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall.

He recoiled at that, his heart flapping wildly inside his chest. "For what?"

"The infirmary collapsed on her during the attack," he answered, his voice dreamy and distant. "Crushed her head in, not unlike the time she crashed on her motorcycle."

"You mean when Frost tried to kill her?" Kabal asked pointedly, now scowling. "And then you and Noob dragged her off to Outworld?"

"Yes, that would be the time," he mumbled, missing the not-so-subtle dig on his past.

"Do they think she's going to make it?"

The Enenra shrugged. "Maybe." It was clear to Kabal that the man was in shock.

Now it was the detective's turn to sigh. "How many people did you lose?" he asked.

Tomas took a long moment to answer. "A lot," he finally replied. "Cyrax is doing a headcount right now to get an exact number." Finally, he swiveled his head around and looked directly at his old teammate. "But it was a lot. Not just adults...children too. Far too many children. Butchered like animals. And then those...those...monsters ate them like they were fat, juicy steaks and I…" He silenced himself as his voice began to crack. He swallowed hard and remained silent for a moment before he finally allowed himself to finish his thought. "I couldn't save them. Not all of them."

Kabal inhaled deeply. "I'm sure you did your best," he said as he now patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"It wasn't enough."

He frowned. "Are your children okay?" he asked with total sincerity.

Tomas nodded. "Thank God. They didn't even really get hurt. Not even Morgan, and she was fighting alongside the rest of us." He rubbed his temples again. "It doesn't seem fair that it worked out that way. But God help me, Kabal, I can't help but feel glad it was those other kids and not mine." He shook his head furiously and then wiped away an errant tear. "I truly am going to Hell."

"But I think that's totally understandable," he replied. "I think any normal person would feel that way about their kids surviving." Before Tomas could reply to that, Kabal crossed his arms and asked, "What about Anya's kids? Where are they? Did they make it out okay?"

The cyber-ninja nodded. "For the most part," he said.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Once again, their eyes met. "It means that Samantha and the twins are okay."

"And Olivia?"

"She just got out of surgery herself," he answered. "Her leg was broken. Badly. It's set now and she's resting. Sam said she'll heal her the rest of the way when she's re-charged her batteries, so to speak. Bi-han's with her, I think."

"Where?" he asked. "I want to go check on her."

Tomas pointed down the long hallway around the corner beside him. "Third door down on the right," he said.

Kabal nodded and patted his teammate on the shoulder again. "Let me know if you need me to do anything," he said. When Tomas nodded his agreement, the detective walked down the hall to Olivia's room.

As the cyber-ninja had suspected, Bi-han was there, leaning into the corner opposite Olivia's bed, close to the window. Like Tomas, a few bumps and bruises marred his face, but he clearly had sustained few injuries in the battle. Kabal wasn't particularly surprised; though he didn't know the man terribly well as Bi-han, he did know him as Noob Saibot, and Noob Saibot had been the perfect killer. He sincerely doubted that his miraculous resurrection at Raiden's hands took that quality away from him, especially if Kuai Liang's stories of him were any indication. Kabal silently nodded at the aging Cryomancer before he focused on the hospital bed.

Pillows were strategically placed around Olivia's heavily bandaged leg, propping them up for maximum comfort and circulation. The girl herself was attached to an IV and a morphine pump, dozing, uncovered, with her hands folded neatly across her stomach, drawing in slow and steady breaths. Unlike her ferocious uncle, she was a mess of injuries apart from her leg. If he didn't know any better, Kabal would've said that she'd just been through a car accident. The automatic blood pressure cuff buzzed right as he walked in, and after a moment, her vital signs appeared on a screen above her bed. From what he could tell, everything looked normal.

And then beside her, holding her hand, was someone Kabal was not expecting to see. She had aged as well, but she'd let her once short hair grow out past her shoulders, a smoky and tangled mess of white locks not unlike Olivia's, bringing a more youthful appearance to her middle-aged face. Unlike everyone else that he'd seen so far, however, she didn't have a single injury to speak of, not even a hangnail. He glowered at her at her spot on a chair on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Who let you out of the nuthatch?" he opened as he stepped inside to the bed.

"Excuse me?" she wrinkled her nose and glared at him.

"You're not excused," he breathed and then rested a gloved hand on Olivia's shoulder.

It stirred her awake, though that had not been his intention, and she slowly opened her eyes, blinked, and then looked up at him. A weak smile crossed her lips and she inhaled deeply, faintly saying, "What's up, Special K?" Her voice was hoarse and barely audible.

He smiled back at her, though she couldn't see it. "Well, kid, I heard tell that a major crime took place today, and since I'm a detective and shit, I thought I'd come and do some detecting," he replied. He brushed back her bangs and lightly tousled her head. "You look like hammered shit. How you feeling, girlie?"

"I'm okay," she pitifully croaked.

"What's the big idea, getting hurt in battle?" he chided her, looking down on her face. "Don't you know you're supposed to duck?"

"Kabal," Bi-han now said as Olivia's face wrenched into a strained mask that struggled not to cry. In spite of her best efforts, a few tears squeezed out. The cop looked up at the Cryomancer, who was now silently shaking his head no.

He frowned behind his mask, puzzled as to what the silent gesture meant and guilty for making her cry. He looked back to her and gently squeezed her hand. "Hey, kid, I didn't mean nothing by that, I was just teasing you."

"Yeah, well in case you hadn't noticed," Frost began from her chair, "this isn't the time or the place for your jokes."

"Hey, Whore-Frost, shut the fuck up," he shot back.

"My name is not Frost," she growled.

"Oh, did you have it legally changed to the Princess of Darkness?" he shot back.

"Enough," Bi-han now snapped at them both, taking a dangerous step towards both of them. "This is neither the time nor the place."

Kabal ignored him and Frost and now sat on the corner end of Olivia's bed. "So what happened, kid?" he asked her as he gently squeezed the bare foot on her broken leg. "All I know is that some Outworld General attacked your home. Why?"

The young Cryomancer shrugged. "It's my fault."

He chuckled lightly at that. "Why would you think it's your fault?" he wondered.

She stubbornly shook her head, looked away, and bit her lip. More tears spilled out and now she covered her eyes with her hands so she could hide her crying. "My dad broke my leg," she whimpered. "I pissed off Reiko, and to get even with me, he took my dad from me." And finally, she began to cry audibly.

Kabal recoiled at her statement and then looked up at Bi-han in puzzlement. "What the fuck is she talking about?"

Bi-han sighed. "The Cryomancers summoned them to Outworld recently because Reiko had attacked them and they took him prisoner. While they were there, Reiko escaped and nearly killed my brother. Apparently, when he stabbed him, he cast some sort of magic spell over him - blood magik is what Raiden called it - and it possessed him and somehow made him his slave."

The detective wrinkled his nose in disgust. "So, you're telling me that Kuai Liang did all of this?"

Bi-han met his gaze with cold, blue eyes. "He made the attack possible. Weakened the Temple's defenses so that when the Tarkatan horde came, we were extremely vulnerable." He crossed his arms and looked at his niece, his face softening as he watched her cry. "Olivia confronted Kuai Liang in the portal room, and he almost killed her for it."

Kabal's skin began to prickle like it was on fire. Since boyhood, anger had become his father. His older brother. His only protector. Anger gave him strength and courage and spurred him to always move forward despite always getting things wrong and always failing and no mentor there to help him or teach him and everyone always laughing. Anger delivered him from catastrophe. But fury...Fury was what kept him from going under. It had come to be his greatest asset and only strategy. And fury, the lovely fire that roiled and danced across his body, penetrating his skin, and scorching his heart, was what he felt right at that moment.

"That son-of-a-bitch," was the only thing he could think of to say.

Kabal unwittingly clenched his fists, thinking about carving up his old friend with his hookswords. Back in his Black Dragon days, he would've left Olivia's room right that instant to hunt the monster down and put a swift end to his life. It was no less than Kuai Liang deserved after orchestrating the slaughter of his own warriors, his daughter's attempted murder, and his wife's fling with death. He would've probably even taken out the Grandmaster for free. Back then, Kabal didn't have much of a code beyond his own glaring self-interest, but even he drew the line at murdering innocent women and children, and he would've gladly made people like that suffer. He was very different than Kano, in that respect.

But now, as a man who'd made a 180 turnaround with his life, who unexpectedly found joy serving people rather than stealing from them, Kabal clenched his fists as if he was going to storm out and hunt his old friend down...and then he sighed and looked from Bi-han to Olivia. He patted her foot and then squeezed it again to reassure her.

"Hey, kid, we'll get it all figured out," he tried to soothe her. "Hey, look at me," he commanded when she continued to cry into her hand. "Look at me," he urged, his tone more gentle now. Finally, she wiped her face and slowly swiveled it around to face him. "Hey, there she is," he said brightly and playfully pinched her toes. "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to help you get your dad back. Do you believe me?"

Olivia halfheartedly smiled. "Yeah," she croaked.

"Good," he replied. "You don't call me Special K for nothing."

Kailyn and the children were off tending to the wounded and Anya was well into surgery when Bi-han came to Tomas in a smaller conference room, scowling thoughtfully as he always did. "Tomas," he said in a quiet but firm voice. "We need to discuss what comes next."

The Enenra stood by the window, looking out onto the bustling base outside. Under General Blade's orders, the soldiers were scurrying to and fro, readying for war. Transport trucks and Jeeps rolled by slowly and with a dull roar. Soon, they would be loaded with supplies and ready to line up in a convoy to wherever the battle would take them. He was fairly impressed with how urgently these men and women moved. Sonya had trained them well.

"I have no need to decide anything," he told him, never taking his eyes off the scene outside. "I'm not the Grandmaster. It's not my place."

"You're his second-in-command, Tomas," Bi-han said, his voice hinting at the beginnings of irritation. "As my mother would say, you're up to bat-"

He cut him off. "I said no, Bi-han. General Blade is in charge now."

"Not of the Lin Kuei," he reminded him. Like a tenacious little crocodile fighting for his supper, he thought, he would not let go. "The Lin Kuei take care of our own."

"What are you talking about, Bi-han?" he absently asked. "You haven't been Lin Kuei since before you became Noob Saibot."

He tensed. "Maybe not," he agreed. "But I refuse to see my brother's life's work undone in the course of a day." He noisily exhaled his frustration. "Tomas, you're in shock. Everything...it's all starting to catch up to you."

His eyes snapped around and found him. "Is that what you think?" His voice was a whip.

Bi-han was unimpressed. "Yes, I do," he calmly replied.

"Many of my people are broken and dying, Bi-han, and my home is utterly destroyed. And all of this is because of Kuai Liang. I'm amused by your refusal to see his life's work undone in a day because you already have. He tore down his own Temple brick by brick."

"It wasn't him," the Cryomancer argued. "It was Reiko. Somehow, he has a hold over Kuai Liang, and is pulling his strings like some kind of puppet. You know him, Tomas. You know how much the Temple means to him. He was proud to make it his home. He worked hard to make it feel that way to everyone. You know why."

Tomas took his time answering before he sighed and swallowed hard. "Yes," he finally agreed and then looked out the window again. "I think I finally understand, Bi-han. I never really understood before, but I think I do now."

"Understand what?"

"How Kuai Liang must've felt all those years ago when you died and became Noob Saibot, and I was captured and automated. I think I understand that now." His cybernetic blue eyes met Bi-han's icy ones. "He must've felt so betrayed." He blinked, nodded, and looked at his old friend again. "Yes, betrayed." His voice was barely a whisper. "Angry...Helpless…" His gaze turned back to the soldiers working so industriously, just like a well-oiled machine. "Sad."

"Tomas-"

"Most of all, I think he must've been scared," he interrupted.

Bi-han inhaled deeply and crossed his arms. "Are you scared, Tomas?" His tone was gentle, not rude, and the cyber-ninja nodded.

"Yes," he admitted and then scoffed. "It's funny, Bi-han. Kuai Liang made me his second-in-command without a moment's thought. He just...kicked Cyrax out of that spot and pushed me right on in." He bitterly laughed. "It never truly occurred to me that someday, I might be called upon to actually lead the Lin Kuei. To serve as the Grandmaster - as the interim, of course." Now he sighed. "Whenever I thought of the future, Kuai Liang was always in it. So what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Lead his people," the other said. "That's what he expected of you."

"Livy is supposed to be the next Grandmaster."

"She's not even close to ready for that responsibility, and you know it," Bi-han retorted. "She's not even ready to be a Master yet. She's a good warrior, but she still has much to learn. And this is a moot point anyway because she is laying in that infirmary, doped to the gills at the moment, because her own father snapped her leg like a twig. I don't think I need to tell you the kind of emotional torment she's battling right now, to say nothing of the physical constraints."

"Samantha is working to heal her," he argued.

"Samantha is exhausted and drained," Bi-han replied. "Furthermore, she's not nearly as skilled or as strong in her powers as Anya is yet. There's only so much she can do." He shook his head and sighed again. "Tomas, it has to be you."

The Enenra shook his head regretfully. "I know," he agreed. "God help me, I know." He looked at his friend again. "I'll try my best to do what Kuai Liang would do."

The Cryomancer shook his head. "No, you can't," he said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Bi-han?" he demanded to know, his irritation flaring.

"Think about it, Tomas," he replied. "Kuai Liang is Reiko's slave. You have to assume that every strategy he's ever developed for the Lin Kuei belongs to Reiko now. You can't do what Kuai Liang would do. Reiko will expect it. You're going to have to devise an entirely different system, otherwise it'll be another massacre against our people, and the next time, we might not be so lucky."

Tomas frowned and looked back at the soldiers. "No, we might not."

MKDemigodZ-Warrior, why on earth would I ever allow such a thing to happen? ;)

Daniel Barga, both brothers turned evil definitely would be hard to beat! I enjoyed that chapter of MK11, except for the part where he had to share it with Scorpion and then Scorpion got yet another chapter all to himself. Screw that! Anyway, thank you!

Persistence, thank you so much! You flatter me. I'm glad that you're enjoying them so much. I'm gradually starting to edit them, which will probably take a while. But slowly but surely LOL

Westcoast Witchdoctor, I'm officially adopting "dynamic douches" into my lexicon LOL As for their nefarious schemes, well, you'll see what they're all up to.

en-lumine, LOL no worries, I know you're busy :) And thank you for your kind praise. It made me smile when I got your notification in my inbox. As for Xinyi and Jiayi, I have no opinion - but hopefully, this chapter answered your question as to their whereabouts. And yes, Kenshi is alive in this, unlike MK11, that for some reason went and killed him off. :(