Author's Note: Thanks for everyone's positive thoughts on the crap I went through with my ex. I didn't mention it to get attention, or to make you all feel sorry for me, but really and truly only to cover my bases in the event someone (because I know those assholes are out there, jumping on people without taking a moment to hear the whole story) who would see how I depicted Xinyi and think I glorified that kind of violence or something.
Also, this chapter features a tame lemon, so if you have a problem with that, you should probably move on.
The group was growing tired as early twilight from the growing storm began to fall on them, but with a growing sense of urgency, Kabal mushed them on. The snow would most likely damage the integrity of the tracks they were following, and even a skilled tracker like Miyuki might have trouble finding them again, so he couldn't risk stopping while there was still daylight to burn. But as they were climbing up a particularly narrow path, only able to walk in single file, Miyuki stopped them all when she suddenly dropped to her knee and ran her hands over the ground, delicately brushing aside the white powder.
"Livy attacked her captor," the Cryomancer announced thoughtfully. "Both of them slipped in the mud right here, and she seized her opportunity." Kabal watched in interest as she frowned and then lightly touched and examined the mess of damp leaves. Almost puzzled, she glanced over her shoulder to look at the slope behind her. Then, without a word, she jumped to her feet again and carefully trekked down the hill slightly to the side of the path, never taking her eyes from the ground, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"Well, did she get away?" Jamie hopefully asked.
A few yards down the slope, Miyuki crouched again and examined this new set of tracks. "No," she somberly answered, drawing out her response in deep reverie. "He recaptured her." Now the Cryomancer gasped as her hand plunged into the foliage.
"What is it, Darlin'?" Erron now asked as he crossed his arms.
"Blood," she told him. "And a lot of it."
"Well, is she okay?" Kabal demanded to know. A heavy stone settled in his stomach. Frost's discovery left him with a terrible doubt, a fear that grew exponentially with each second.
"No," the Cryomancer replied, her voice small and horrified, like she might like to cry or scream or do both as she lifted something grotesque from beneath the snow.
She held it up for everyone to see, this pale, somewhat frozen bit of triangle with a slight curl to the topmost angle, and drying blood smeared along the imperfect line along the bottom. Kabal peered closely at the object, searching for clues. But then, a terrible realization dawned on him, instantly kicking him in the gut until he wanted to vomit his entire viscera onto the ground. Her discovery, he saw, was the clue.
"Is that what I think it is?" Cassie asked, repulsed, wincing in disgust. Her expression only reflected everyone else's.
"It's her ear," Miyuki told them and then winced herself at the revelation. Tears sprang to her eyes as she said it, but she quickly wiped them away in embarrassment. Kabal could relate. He was embroiled in a battle of wills with his own stomach at the moment, and he grimaced just thinking about what this psychopath had done to Livy.
"He cut off her ear?" Tommy now yelled, his tone nearly shrill.
"Looks like only part of it," Erron told him. Unlike Miyuki and all the younger warriors, his face was expressionless. But the detective knew it was a mask. His burning green eyes, like a forest engulfed in flames, betrayed his rage.
"Damn," Jacqui muttered sympathetically at the same time Takeda said, "Poor Olivia. That had to hurt like a mother-"
"Is she still alive?" Jin abruptly cut him off. "Or are we on a wild goose chase?"
Like reading tea leaves, Miyuki once again studied the patterns on the ground and then finally said, "Yes, he made her start walking again."
"So he cut off part of her ear to punish her for escaping," Kabal thoughtfully deduced. "That means that whoever did this to her has to keep her alive."
"So Reiko wants her alive," Cassie shrugged. "That's hardly news, Sheriff Baconator."
He scowled at her from behind his mask. "Perhaps," he said. "But she could live without her whole ear. Why not take the whole thing to punish her? Why show her mercy?"
"Because if he cuts off the whole thing, she's suddenly deformed?" Jin uncertainly replied.
"Exactly, but why would that matter?" he wondered. "If this asshole is just Reiko's lackey trying to keep her from stopping him because she's his kryptonite, why would he care if he disfigured her or not?"
Now Erron inquisitively raised his eyebrow and shoved his thumbs into his belt. "What're you gettin' at, Kabal?" he demanded to know.
The detective shook his head. "I think that whoever kidnapped Liv wasn't just trying to help Reiko. I think he wants to keep her for himself. Maybe she was promised to him as a prize or something. Or maybe he's going to sell her into slavery, so he can't afford to disfigure her too much unless he wants to lose money on her. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I ever saw one of these Outworld cunts make a deal like that." He thought of Rain and the bastard's obsession with Anya, the asshole convinced that she belonged to him because Quan Chi had promised her as payment.
Now he pointed to a puddle of ice on the ground. "And this is weird too," he said.
"Kabal, it's snowing," Cassie reminded him.
"Yeah, but it hasn't been for very long," he retorted. "And it's definitely not cold enough yet to freeze anything this extensively."
"But Livy's a Cryomancer," Tommy said. "This isn't that surprising," he added as he patted Jamie's back, his twin's face forlorn, all but defeated by this mess. He clearly loved his big sister more than he wanted to admit, Kabal had noticed on more than one occasion since they started this mission together.
"Yeah, maybe she made the ice puddle to slow down her attacker," he agreed with his twin.
"No," Miyuki suddenly declared, prompting everyone to look at her again. She had scurried a few yards back up the slope and was studying the ground there. "You've got it all backwards, boys. She wasn't trying to trip him. He was trying to trip her. And he succeeded." She looked up and met Kabal's expectant gaze. "A Cryomancer took Livy," she said.
After they made the stunning revelation about Olivia's captor, the search party hiked just a little longer until the path flattened somewhat and a small clearing opened around them. There, they decided to make camp for the night, so Jacqui used her space-aged gizmos to start a large bonfire while she sent everyone else out to gather more firewood. They went in groups of two or three to stay safe, and to Kabal's chagrin, Miyuki joined him. But to his surprise, she worked quietly and diligently, and she tried very hard to stay out of his way.
After a few minutes, though, she yelped loudly and suddenly dropped her armload of branches. "Ow," she hissed through her teeth.
Kabal jumped a mile in the air at the sudden noise and dropped his own load before whirling around and glaring at her. "What's wrong?" he snapped.
Miyuki grimaced as she rolled up her sleeve. Blood dribbled from a deep puncture wound in her forearm. "One of the twigs poked me or something," she told him, wincing as she applied pressure to it with the sleeve of her other arm. Then she chuffed. "Too bad Anya's not here to heal me," she mused.
Kabal scowled behind his mask, suddenly disgusted with the Cryomancer's shameless audacity. After everything the witch had put Anya through, she had a lot of nerve thinking the Hydromancer should just be there to heal her tiny little injury. He glowered at her, although she couldn't see it, and growled, "Yeah, that's too bad."
He started stamping back to camp with her shadowing his footsteps, her shorter legs scurrying to keep up. "How did you figure all that out about who took Livy?" she breathlessly asked him as she tried to keep up.
He abruptly stopped in his tracks and whipped around to face her. "I told you, Frost, I'm a detective, and I'm damn good at solving mysteries."
"You said you were good at tracking people," she softly replied, clutching her firewood close to her chest.
"That's because I am," he hissed. "And do you know why?" he asked and she shook her head no. "It's because I don't just track people. I track motives."
"That's pretty impressive," she praised, but her attempt at genuine kindness pissed him off and made him hate her even more. This bitch had killed his father and tortured his twin sister, Khadija, and she'd nearly killed Anya on more than one occasion. And she'd tortured him as well. He would never forget how she'd performed rat torture on him in that Outworld dungeon, and she would likely have succeeded in killing him - letting the rats chew their way through his guts - if Scorpion hadn't rescued him and Sub-Zero in the nick of time. So she wasn't allowed to be cordial and friendly with him now.
"I don't need your approval," he snapped at her. "I-" He abruptly cut himself off when he saw a shadow darting through a dark stand of trees. "What the hell was that?" he asked of no one in particular.
"Kabal?" Miyuki worriedly called after him as he stamped towards the forest to investigate. If someone was following them, he needed to know about it. "Kabal?" she called again. "Don't go alone!"
He ignored her and ventured into the trees anyway. Things were out there in the dark. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He flashed his mag light around, expecting to see hundreds of ghastly faces staring back at him, but there was nothing. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was right in front of him. As he thought it, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something was staring at him from the darkness between the trees. He whipped his head around again, and spun in slow circles to map out the world around him, but still saw nothing. Eyes leered at him, he imagined, and they hated him too.
A crow suddenly cawed, filling his head with dark memories of Malphas swimming in his brain, painting his soul black. It's just a coincidence, he told himself. Just a coincidence. For a moment, he felt like a feeble and powerless pawn, just waiting for the demon to come and use him again. And then he grew angry with himself, telling himself that he, of all people, should never have come to Netherrealm and to the demon's home turf, and telling himself he should've seen this coming. But you did, he argued. You saw it in the same way you see a train coming towards you when you're tied to the tracks. As if taunting him, the crow cawed again.
And then someone's large hand slapped him between his shoulder blades and grabbed him, prompting him to let out a startled yelp, scaring ten years off his life. Kabal ripped himself away and had yanked his hookswords into his hands when he realized that it was only Erron yanking him backwards by his trenchcoat.
"Goddammit, you son of a bitch," he growled as he pushed the gunslinger back.
"Get yer ass back to the camp now, you dumb horse's ass," he snapped at him.
"I saw something out there," the detective replied, his heart surging from adrenaline. "Something's watching us."
"I ain't doubt it," he replied. "All the more reason not to go wanderin' off by yourself. Don't forget where you are, Kabal."
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right," he conceded, shuddering as he thought of Malphas again. The two began walking back towards the fire.
"You'd think one of the goddamn Black Dragon scoundrels would have more common sense than that," the gunslinger grumbled.
"I put that life behind me a long time ago," he hissed, suddenly irate to be numbered amongst those evil thugs.
"Yeah, and why did you jump ship?" Erron asked him, now looking at him as they trudged through the deepening snow. "You were Kano's number two. He trusted you more'an anyone."
The detective glared at him behind his mask. "Because I got torched by a fucking tiger," he snapped. "And instead of letting me die, Kano and that piece of shit, Shang Tsung, had done this to me." He waved his hand over his whole body, needlessly calling attention to the fact that he was deformed and hideous now. "And I could've gotten over that except then I found out that the Black Dragon was helping Shao Kahn commit genocide on the Earth, on my city. I decided then and there to switch teams, and I haven't regretted it since."
"Ain't no need to get defensive," Erron replied. "I ain't one to judge what a man ought or oughtn't do with his life, and I'd be just as sore as you if they'd gone to the trouble of saving me just so I could like like that." Kabal always appreciated that the gunslinger never minced words, but damn, his brutal honesty hurt, and he winced behind his mask. Erron continued, "And obviously, the Black Dragon didn't suit me none-too-well neither." Then he chuckled as they reached the camp, and he patted the detective on the back. "But I am more than a little stunned that you, of all people, turned around and became a lawman."
"Why is that so shocking?" Cassie asked Erron as Kabal scoffed and warmed himself by the fire. "A lot of former criminals get their shit together and become cops."
"Yeah, but not Kano's right-hand man," the gunslinger told her. "Kabal was a force of nature back in the day." He now squatted by the fire.
"I still am," the other countered. "I just use my skills to help people rather than hurt people now." He frowned and knelt beside his old friend. "Besides, that evil man who was happy to be Kano's lackey? He died twenty-five years ago when he was burned to death by Kintaro. The man you see before you is now paying for that asshole's sins. God, is he paying." He shook his head and sighed loudly.
The gunslinger chuffed and said, "How in the hell did you not know that Kano was in bed with Shao Kahn?"
The detective snapped his head around and glared at the man. "Oh, for Christ's sake, Erron, you know what he's like. Sometimes he lets you in on the secret, and sometimes he just lets you be surprised."
His old friend shrugged and said, "Fair enough." Then he went to work rolling a cigarette.
A long silence followed as everyone huddled around the fire to stay warm in the growing blizzard, but Miyuki soon broke it when she said, "So what did you find out there, Kabal?"
He exchanged a glance with Erron, uncertain whether he should mention his encounter out there, or his fear of Malphas returning to claim him. Finally, he said, "Just shadows. My eyes were playing tricks on me, I guess." He then looked around the campfire and focused especially on Sub-Zero's two ornery sons. "That said, we are literally in Hell, in case you all forgot. So keep your eyes and ears peeled, and use the buddy system at all times."
"Oh, like you did?" the Cryomancer bitterly hissed at him.
"Listen, lady, I can outrun the wind," he flatly replied, unamused by her cutting sarcasm. "If I can't outfight whatever's out there, I can sure as hell outrun it."
Jin chuckled from his perch on a boulder where he sat cross-legged with his arms crossed in front of him. "Have you ever actually challenged Fujin to a foot race?" he wondered.
"No," Kabal replied.
"Then you don't actually know if you can outrun the wind," he pointed out.
"The point is, children," he continued through gritted teeth, "here in Netherrealm, you should be afraid of the dark."
"Okay, Boomer," Cassie teased him.
"I'm not a Boomer," he snapped. "I'm Gen X, girlie. Get it right."
"Yeah, okay, whatever you say, Boomer," she replied, prompting Jacqui to laugh.
"You know, Cassie, I've often wondered how your parents didn't drown you at birth," he retorted.
The Sergeant was about to say something in reply, but Jamie interrupted her, his voice morose. "Kabal," he began, "why would a Cryomancer want to take Livy?"
The detective shrugged. "It's hard to say, kid," he replied.
"Only fifteen minutes ago, you bragged to me about how you're so good at solving mysteries and tracking motives," Miyuki hissed at him, clearly annoyed with him. "So impress us, Detective. Unless you're full of shit."
"You know, Frost, I'd call you a cunt, but you neither have the depth or warmth to live up to the name," he shot back. On the opposite side of the fire, Cassie snorted while Jacqui mouthed the word wow. Kabal continued, "As it happens, though, I am ninety percent certain I know who kidnapped Liv. It was obviously Xinyi."
Erron suddenly choked on a drag of his cigarette and started coughing while Miyuki's eyes bulged in surprise. "What?" she exclaimed. "You're crazy."
"Takes one to know one," he retorted.
"Kabal, that's just stupid," Tommy spoke up. "That snob is hot for my sister."
The detective crossed his arms and leaned against a petrified tree stump. "Kid, in my tenure as a cop, I've seen far too many cases of obsession turned violent," he said. "Including what Rain did to your mom. So it's not a terribly big leap to make in saying that Xinyi's capable of this."
"Your past experience is hardly proof of the present events, Detective," Takeda now said as he scooted a little closer to Jacqui as if no one in the circle had noticed. Vaguely, Kabal noted that the boy had a crush on her, and wondered if she knew.
He smiled behind his mask and said, "Nope. But let's look at the facts, shall we?" He drew in a deep breath. "Most violent crimes are committed by people who knew the victim, so let's start there. From my understanding, Liv had very little contact with any of the Cryomancers because she's half-Hydromancer, and the Cryomancers traditionally hate the Hydromancers. There were three - and only three - that she had any significant contact with before she disappeared: Tsai Bing, Xinyi, and Jiayi, whom I haven't met yet because he vanished right before the attack on the Lin Kuei."
"How could you possibly know that?" Jacqui asked him. "You weren't even there."
"No, but I did this really neat thing that detectives do when I first got to Ft. Albany," he sarcastically replied. "I interviewed witnesses." Now he yanked his notebook from his coat pocket and waved it for all to see. "I even took notes and wrote pertinent information down."
Beside him, Erron sniggered before he took another drag of his cigarette. "Well, that's all fine and dandy, amigo, but you still ain't told us how you arrived at Xinyi."
"Yeah," Tommy said. "Jiayi vanished before the attack. He looks more suspicious to me than Xinyi does."
"He does, doesn't he?" Kabal replied. "A little too suspicious, if you ask me. All wrapped up neat and tidy and fed to us with a bow."
"I think it was Tsai Bing," Jamie now announced. "He hates Livy."
The detective shrugged and nodded his head in agreement. "I did consider him at first," he confessed. "He hates her and he hates the Hydromancers, so there's one possible motive. But the fact remains that Liv's ear was only partially cut off. Tsai Bing wouldn't give a shit about disfiguring her, trust me. He would've cut the whole damn thing off."
"Yeah, but what if Reiko told him not to hurt her?" Jin now asked.
"Well, that's assuming Tsai Bing would even work with Reiko, but I know a pertinent bit of info about him that none of you are privy to," he argued. "I've had to deal with that bastard before. He is xenophobic as fuck. He hates outsiders with a passion, especially anyone associated with Shao Kahn. It's why he hates Sub-Zero so much, and Livy by extension. Their ancestor betrayed the Cryomancers like 500 years ago or something, and even though that was ancient history, he sees them as traitors too. He hates Shao Kahn so much that he will execute anyone who remotely reminds him of him the first chance he gets. And since Reiko is Shao Kahn's son…"
"He wouldn't work with Reiko," Jamie deduced.
"No, not for anything," he said. "He'd rather die."
"But wouldn't that be ample motive to take and hurt Livy, though?" Cassie asked. "If what you're saying is true, he'd kill her out of spite."
"Yes, but he won't work with Reiko, I'm telling you," Kabal insisted.
"Okay, so we're back to the two princes then," Erron drawled. "Why Xinyi? Why not Jiayi? The kid was right. I'd be lookin' real close at the one that vanished before the first attack."
"I think it has something to do with the crown," he answered.
"That's not much of a motive," Cassie said.
Kabal scoffed. "Are you kidding me?" he retorted. "That's literally the oldest motive in the book. One brother covets what the other one has." He registered the blank expressions on their faces. "Hello, Cain and Abel? Ring any bells to you?" When they just shrugged, he shook his head in exasperation. "Uncultured heathens," he admonished under his breath. Then he said, "Xinyi probably killed his brother and left his body up in God's frozen asshole so he can take the crown for himself."
"But why?" Miyuki pressed. "Even if what you're saying about Xinyi is true, why would he kidnap Olivia?"
"At first, I thought he might have been trying to protect her by taking her out of that battle," he said. "But the fact that he cut off part of her ear suggests something else. Every king needs a queen, and he only chopped off enough to send a message for her to behave because we all know how well she behaves, but not enough so that his prize would be completely disfigured. He probably couldn't bear the thought of a wife with a scar like that."
"But you're still just speculating," she argued.
"Why would Jiayi get into bed with Reiko?" he challenged. "He's already going to be the King of the Cryomancers. He can do pretty much whatever he wants and he doesn't have to answer to anyone."
"But that still doesn't prove anything," she insisted. "There could be plenty of reasons for Jiayi to collaborate with Reiko. Maybe Reiko promised to protect the Cryomancers in exchange for their obedience. All you've got so far are theories."
"That's right," he snapped. "And also a serious hunch. If more evidence comes to light, I'll revise my position. But for now, I'm certain it was Xinyi. Because you all are missing one very important detail."
"And what's that, 21 Jump Street?" Cassie asked.
"Where is Xinyi right now?" he replied.
The Sergeant's arrogant smirk faded as her eyes hardened and she thought about it. In fact, all of them realized he'd just asked a very good question, and their faces reflected their revelation. Where was Xinyi?
Jin was the first to answer. "He probably got killed in the battle," he said.
"No," Kabal shook his head. "He stayed pretty close to Liv the whole time. I'm certain we would've found his body when we were poking around if that was the case."
"Then maybe he's in Seido with everyone else," Erron told him.
"No." He looked around at them, and especially Miyuki and the twins. "Think about it. When we were together in Outworld, he wouldn't leave her side for nothing. There was no way in hell he'd stay behind in Seido while the rest of us formed this search party to go look for her. He'd want to be right in the thick of it unless he had a good reason not to."
"A reason like already bein' with her," the gunslinger deduced.
"Exactly."
"Well, my money's still on Jiayi," Tommy declared. One by one, the others save for Erron agreed with him.
The gunslinger merely sucked on his cigarette some more and gazed thoughtfully into the fire. "Takes a criminal to know a criminal," he quietly drawled." Then he somberly looked at the detective. "It'll be interestin' to see which way the wind blows at the end of this road, Kabal."
"Let's just try to get some rest," the other drily remarked. "I'll stand watch, first."
Erron simply bowed his head to that and popped his collar up to shelter his neck from the snow. Then he snubbed out his cigarette and leaned back against the same petrified stump Kabal was using as he pulled his hat over his eyes. One by one, the others followed suit and went about making themselves as warm as possible given their lack of supplies. Miyuki, he saw, huddled with the twins for warmth, all of them sitting upright against a rock. Jin had hopped down from his perch and joined his team, following suit. Kabal watched the Kombat Kids - as he had silently dubbed them - rest their heads on each other's shoulders, clearly accustomed to sleeping in such an awkward fashion.
Sometime after midnight, while they all slept uneasily, the snow had stopped after dumping a rough eight inches around them, and the detective thought about waking up Erron to relieve him. But just as he got to his feet to stretch out his back, he suddenly felt closed in and trapped. He heard breathing and vague whispers coming from everywhere and nowhere; it sounded dank and quick and hollow. His own breath stopped in a gasp as an almost drowsy terror stole through his veins. Yes. There was something here with him, some awful thing that Malphas had saved for him for just such a chance as this. Several feet from the camp, almost directly behind him, Kabal heard the noisy sound of crunching snow as something large and fast came for him on its hands and knees.
The thought broke his paralysis as he yanked his hookswords from his back, and now ghastly voices indistinctly whispered around him, overlapping one another, speaking in a language he didn't think he knew yet was strangely familiar somehow. He was panting now as the world closed in around him; the reddish-orange snow, the deathly green forest, the soft crackle of the fire as the others fitfully slept all faded from his sight, pressing in upon him.
Kabal…
"Who's there?" he shouted in a panic, and a crow's call answered him. "Show yourself, Malphas! Show yourself!" he screamed. Why was no one waking up? he wondered.
Behind him he heard the sudden hard crunch of snow as something leapt into the air and crashed into him. He fell face-first towards the fire and his hookswords clattered from his hands, tumbling out of reach. There was a slashing sound in the air and sharp, sudden pain in his leg. The ripping sound of cloth. A bellowing, angry roar. Rich, metallic copper intriguing his taste buds as blood poured from his mouth, and even trickled from his nose as well, filling up his mask.
Suddenly, Kabal was violently rolled onto his back, and he saw a woman with a twisted face lined in crazy, geometrical tattoos slowly emerge from a cloud of purple smoke as if she'd been born of it. Her eyes glowed unnaturally blue as she crept up his body, probing and touching him with long fingers like smoke tendrils. He grimaced as she teased his groin for the slightest moment, repulsed by himself for feeling even a little bit of pleasure from this hag's hands. When she recognized his disgust with her, she hissed and wrapped her hands around his throat.
Malphas sends his regards, Kadeem Kabal.
She spoke in his head and not from her mouth, her voice a raspy whisper like it had gone hoarse from disuse, and as soon as she said it, she yanked off his mask and swiped his face with her talons. He groaned as more blood wept over his bulbous, scarred skin, and he roared and pulled back his fist to punch her. But suddenly, a black hammer hit him between the eyes, and he passed out.
Kabal was only unconscious for a few seconds, or so he thought, when he jerked awake with a start, drenched in sweat, panting hard. He shot upright, instantly searching for his hookswords. His eyes soon found them, set neatly upright in the bedroom corner.
Wait, the bedroom corner?
Puzzled, still blinking back the sleepy veil, he glanced around further. He was in a king-sized bed - a quite comfortable one, at that - in a master bedroom so spacious it made his
entire Brooklyn apartment look like a broom closet. It was a grown-up's room, quite unlike his which had old telephone spools littered with fast food wrappers for end tables. Here, all the furniture, which was minimalist black iron and glass, matched. Around him, Andy Warhol prints looked down on him with indifferent pop art expressions. To his right, contemporary oriel windows looked onto an equally furnished balcony. Even with the sky painted heavy gray with rain, he could make out the New York skyline beyond.
"What the fuck?" he mumbled as a chill raced over him, and then, "What did that bitch do to me?"
And then, he heard a soft sigh beside him. "Have another nightmare, babe?" a sweet and hauntingly familiar voice asked him.
The woman turned over in the bed to face him, and Kabal jumped when he saw Anya sleepily gaze at him. She was wearing a nightgown so sheer and revealing, he briefly wondered why she'd even bothered with it all. The last time he'd seen her in an outfit such as this, Quan Chi had stolen her memories so Rain had dressed her up like a palace concubine. Right now, her silky hair, which was disheveled from sleep, lazily cascaded over her shoulders and body, barely covering her breasts.
Heat surged through his cheeks when he saw her like that, and his groin grew stiff beneath the blankets, so he quickly looked away. "Oh, this isn't real," he breathed, unable to contain his overwhelming arousal. "This so isn't real…" Then, as an afterthought, "God, why can't this be real?"
Behind him, Anya let out an exasperated sigh. "Really, Kadeem, again?" she snapped. She threw the teal comforter off her body and slid to her feet. "I don't know what happened to you that caused these delusions of yours, but you need to see a therapist. I'm tired of having this discussion every morning. For God's sake, pull yourself together."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, still with his back turned to her. "What delusions?"
"The delusions of grandeur where you think you're one of a chosen few human beings destined to save the planet," she hissed. When she said it like that, Kabal did have to admit it sounded stupid.
"What are you talking about?" he retorted. "I am one of the Earthrealm Champions. So are you! So is Kuai Liang!"
"Who is Kuai Liang?"
At the question, he whirled around to face her, though he took great pains to keep his eyes on hers, never wavering. "Touch me, Anya," he breathlessly replied, practically begging. "You'll see I'm telling the truth."
She scoffed, scowled, and crossed her arms. "Oh, right," she shook her head in annoyance. "You want me to touch you because I'm a what again? A Hydro...Hydro-"
"-mancer," he finished for her.
"Right, a Hydromancer. And I can heal people just by touching them, and I can read their minds."
"Exactly, Anya."
She furiously shook her head again and then fixed her lavender eyes on his. "Kadeem, say it with me: there are no such things as psychics. And anyone who says otherwise is just a con artist. And you'd think someone like you would know a con when he saw one."
"There are psychics, Anya," he argued. And then, for a moment, he wondered why he was arguing with his own hallucination. "You're one of them," he insisted.
Her eyebrows knitted together in a perfect frown. "So which nightmare was it today, Kadeem?" she challenged him. "Was it that one where the evil snowball throwing bitch tortured you with rats? Or was it the one where I was a nurse and my clinic collapsed on me and I had to have brain surgery so I wouldn't die?"
"Anya-"
"Or was it my personal favorite, the one where you got burned into beef jerky by a fire-breathing tiger walking around on two legs like a person?"
Kabal recoiled at that. Her words had struck a nerve. "You know that's a sore spot for me," he snapped. "Don't make jokes about my burns."
"What burns?" she retorted. She lifted her eyebrow as the faintest smirk played on her lips.
"It's not funny, Anya," he replied.
"I'm being dead serious," she insisted. "Go look at yourself in the mirror if you don't believe me, lover."
His heart fluttered at being called 'lover' - her lover - but he didn't dwell on it because now she was pointing to a floor-length mirror on the opposite wall. Intrigued, he left the bed and went to gaze at his own twisted reflection.
Except...it wasn't twisted at all. Standing before him was pre-Kintaro Kabal, a reasonably attractive Mexican-Iranian man with soft, seafoam green eyes framed by thick black lashes that typically belonged to the fairer sex. He had a full head of hair flowing black and free down his back, almost to his waist, with little braids running through it like a Comanche warrior. He reveled at his own musculature, which was taut and well-defined over his large, if slender, frame. And there was his old Black Dragon tattoo artfully encircling his right forearm like a snake. Kintaro, he thought, had long since burned it away. But his skin there, as it was everywhere else on his body, didn't have so much as a blemish ruining its golden brown beauty.
Kabal sucked down a startled breath, enchanted by the sight of himself, not out of vanity but out of relief that his disfigurement at the Shokan's hands had only been a terrible dream. A tear sprang to his eye and started to casually roll down his face. He quickly wiped it away in embarrassment.
"You see?" Anya tenderly began as she slipped her soft hand into his. "It was just a bad dream, honey. Just a bad dream."
Yes, he murmured to himself in a daze, allowing her sweet voice to hypnotize him. He refused to believe anything else was true because the mere thought of that charred half-life in an alternate reality was just too painful to bear. It was just a bad dream.
But just as he allowed himself to be sucked into this bliss, a new thought occurred to him, and it jarred him from his fantasy.
"What about Kuai Liang?" he demanded to know, now staring down at her.
She met his gaze with an innocent, if not confused one, and once more, she lifted her eyebrow. "Who is that?" she asked, and he could tell she sincerely didn't know.
He could tell her the truth. Then again, why would he? This was his chance with Anya, his time. He wasn't willing to part with a single millisecond of that time to let her think about who her husband could be.
Kabal shrugged. "Just some guy I met in my dreams," he told her. "He kind of had the hots for you. Can't really blame him." He scoffed and then looked down.
It prompted a happy chuckle from her, and she threw her arms around him. "Oh, babe, you're so silly sometimes. I'm your wife."
Shocked again, he recoiled at her declaration. "You...you are?" he asked her in disbelief. He gazed at her warily, as if she was teasing him.
She chuffed and then stood on her tip-toes as she whispered into his ear, "Let me jog your memory."
Before Kabal could withdraw his mind from its dark places, she curled her arm around the back of his neck, as firm and as certain as the floor beneath his feet. There was a rush of helplessness, and a surging tide of warmth that made him go limp. The familiar drunk spins snuck up on him when she pulled him closer to her using the crook of her elbow, and then she pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. It was soft at first, and then grew steadily intense. And now his mouth kissed her back, sending shooting tremors through his nerves as he began panting, unable to breathe but quite alright with that. The moment, he vaguely decided, was every bit as sweet as he'd ever dreamed. Excited, he yanked her body closer to his, and lifted her against the wall until she straddled his waist to stay up, and she pushed her fingers through his long locks of hair, electrocuting him further, and then-
A loud buzzing noise echoed throughout the room.
"Oof," she mumbled, now pushing him away with an annoyed expression. "Shitty timing, as always. Go answer that, will you, while I get dressed for work?"
"Fuck 'em," he replied before kissing her again.
Once more, Anya pushed him away with a little laugh. "Honey, I am ninety-nine percent certain that's your douche of a boss. Go answer the door."
"My boss?" he replied, puzzled. "Why the hell would my boss come here?" he asked, thinking of Captain Crozier at the precinct downtown. "Does he have my Yankees tickets?"
"You invited him over to finish working on your next gig," she said. "So go!" she shooed Kabal away with a big smile and then closed the door behind him.
He ventured further into his home, marveling at it. The loft was large and airy, with more of those contemporary oriel windows opening up on the south face; the plaster was new and painted white with various shades of gray accents, though in some places the original red brick was allowed to peek through, and it nicely complemented the subtle hues of the other walls. The furniture, like the furniture in the bedroom, was an expensive sort, minimalistic and neutral, and yet inviting all the same. There was no way Kabal could afford this place on his salary, and he wondered if Anya's rich doctor father had paid for it. It could easily cost fifty grand a month in rent.
The doorbell buzzed again, and Kabal soon found that he didn't have a front door, but an elevator that opened right into his apartment. The penthouse, apparently. He let the visitor in, and he watched as the elevator slowly rose to his floor. When the silver-gilded double doors slid open, a familiar man stepped forward.
"Kano?" Kabal asked in disbelief as his one-time friend emerged.
"Who the fuck'd you expect, the Queen O' England?" he shot back, worming his way past the detective and plopping down on the overstuffed sofa before opening a briefcase full of surveillance photos.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, subtly looking around the loft for a weapon, any kind of weapon. Kano hadn't taken Kabal's betrayal, as he saw it, well. It had not been uncommon for the criminal kingpin to send Black Dragon thugs after him in an attempt to punish the detective for leaving, even though he always bested his would-be assassins. Perhaps now, Kano decided to come finish him himself.
But revenge seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. He frowned and looked up at the cop, who was still standing and looking down on him with as much warmth as he would give a rat. "What'd you do, hit yer head and forget?" he demanded to know. "We got bizzo. Now where's that missus of yours? She needs to be a part of this."
"Like hell, she does," Kabal snapped, scowling. "Leave her alone."
The man looked at him in surprise. "What're you goin' on about, you drongo?" he asked, now getting to his feet. "She's been a part of this heist since day one."
It was the detective's turn to be surprised. "Anya?' he repeated. "She's a nurse. What could she possibly-"
"Ha!" he scoffed. "If she's a nurse, I'm the bloody Pope." He then beat his fist in front of his groin, making what Kabal knew to be a lewd gesture.
Promptly, he shoved his former friend. "Shut your fucking mouth, Kano!" he snapped.
"Rack off, ya bodgy fuckwit!" he snapped back, shoving him in return.
"Oh, will you two please just knock it off?" Anya sighed as she marched into the living room wearing a silk shell blouse and sensible dress pants.
"What's this cunt's problem?" Kano asked her as she sat down in her narrow armchair and leaned over the coffee table to look at the photos he'd brought.
"My guess would be you," she fearlessly retorted, never taking her eyes off the pictures.
The thug glowered at him. "Is that a fact?" he said slowly, dangerously. "Well, then, mate, yer welcome to have a go."
In response, Kabal broke away from Kano and interposed himself between him and Anya. Clearly, she didn't know how unpredictable his temper was from one moment to the next.
"Still mad as a cut snake, I see, Anya," he scoffed. "The drone situation was just business, love. It wasn't personal. You know I've always thought yer blood's worth bottling. And I've got nothing but respect for your dear old dad. He's a right nifty digger is what he is." He looked up at the detective. "Are you gonna have a seat, or what?"
Still glaring at the professional scoundrel, Kabal grudgingly sat on the opposite couch close to Anya, never taking his eyes off the Black Dragon. Kano narrowed his human eye back at him in response, but then turned his attention to Anya. "Now, c'mon love, let's make nice. Me and yer old man go way back."
"That is the only reason I'm helping you," she replied. She leaned back in her chair and casually crossed her legs, undeterred by the obvious threat. For all intents and purposes, she was a queen on her throne. "If it wasn't for Kadeem, you'd already be stuffed in a toxic waste barrel and dumped at sea." Her voice was sultry and soft, but somehow, that made it all the more powerful.
Kabal looked at her in awe. This Anya was a far cry from the one he thought he knew, though in many ways, he found he preferred her to the other one. She was an apex predator, he sensed, a creature who lived for the thrill of the hunt, a creature so used to living on top that nothing could possibly touch her. Despite having only two legs and dulled fangs, there was a lot of feline in her, and he approved.
Kano sarcastically said to her, "Now that's a bonzer attitude." He ran his thumb over his nose and shifted in his seat. "I don't care how well-connected you are sweetheart, it's not smart to be running yer mouth at me. You better ask your dad what he thinks about his dainty daughter pissing me off," he dangerously said, the threat in his voice unmistakable.
Kabal started to say something and rise to his feet, but Anya was already speaking.
"Oh, Kano, I already know what he'd say," she shot back, her face perfectly neutral, her hands calmly curled around the armrests of her chair. "He'd say we should kill you."
"Nah, love," he smirked. "Not me. You'll never get me."
Anya leaned forward in her chair ever-so-slightly, her eyes searching his face. Her eyes burned, purple fire. "Care to test that theory?" she asked.
"I've got guns, love," he dangerously countered. "What do you got?"
"An empire that makes your little band of Black Dragon shits look like the Mickey Mouse Club," she snapped. "I have family and assassins in every country, and police and judges and politicians in my pocket. There's not a corner of this earth where you'll be safe if I decide your life is null and void, so I would consider long and hard about what it means for you to piss me off."
Kabal quickly grabbed her nearest hand and said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He didn't wait for her response before he pulled her to her feet and led her out of Kano's earshot. "My memory is still really hazy," he told her. "I don't remember any of this. This job, your father, you. What do you mean you have an empire?"
The annoyance with him returned to her eyes. Then she sighed. "You know who my dad is, Kadeem."
"Not at the moment, I don't," he quickly whispered back.
"You're like the only guy I've ever been with who he actually loves, and you think of him like a father since your own dad was a dick. And you're telling me you don't remember him?" The disappointment in her eyes never faltered. It stabbed him right in the gut.
Now it was his turn to sigh. "Please, Anya, just humor me," he begged. "I'm sure it'll come to me. But maybe you're right. Maybe I need to see a doctor. I've lost time. A lot of time, apparently."
She crossed her arms, frowned, and then whispered, "His name is Halsey Fitzpatrick, and he is the owner and chairman of Fitzpatrick Aerospace and Technology Industries." Then she leaned in as close to his ear as she could. "And he runs the family."
"The family?" he raised his eyebrow.
"Yeah. You know. The family."
Suddenly, it dawned on him. Anya's father was a criminal kingpin too, only evidently more powerful and well-connected than even the Black Dragon. "Oh," he said. "And that makes you-"
"His managing director," she told him. No, he inwardly argued, that makes you his lieutenant.
"Then why do you need to run heists with Kano of all people, for God's sake?"
She recoiled. "Kadeem," she said, drawing it out impatiently. "You know my dad has more money and more power than God."
"Okay, we're gonna come back to that," he said, holding up a finger. "But that doesn't explain how Kano fits into this."
"What do you mean?" she retorted. "He's your best friend."
"Oh, no, he is not," he argued.
"Yes, he is," she insisted. "Even though you know how I hate it. He's only still alive because I love you and want you to be happy." As she said it, she playfully pointed at his chest and then gently traced a path upward.
"But why? Why does your family need him?"
"Well, don't ask me why he had to be here. This job was your idea, Kadeem, and you said you wanted the great white shark here to help you. You said you'd both benefit from it. That's why I supported you when you came to me with this hare-brained idea." She lightly kissed him and smiled. "I guess you can take the boy out of the Black Dragon, but you can't take the Black Dragon out of the boy." She softly laughed at her own wit.
"How do we both benefit from this?" he asked, his mind sifting through old memories of running with them. Those criminal juices that he'd put behind him when he swore his oath and took his badge began to flow again. He'd frequently hated Kano, had argued with him, had been double-crossed by him. But damn, it had been fun too. And he realized now that he'd sometimes missed being bad.
Anya smiled again. "Well, he gets a shit-ton of money out of this, and my dad gets one of the rarest paintings in the history of the world," she explained. "You wanted to do something for him for his birthday, and you know he loves to collect art. And it just so happens that the Met is hosting a tour of Leonardo Da Vinci's previously lost paintings, the crown jewel of that collection being - of course - Salvator Mundi. Kano gets the other paintings to sell to private collectors, and you get Salvator Mundi."
She stole a glance at him. He was still on the couch, studying the surveillance photos. She looked back to her husband. "But I don't trust him, lover. He's shifty, and untrustworthy, and...and...Well, he would stab his own mother in the back if he thought he could gain anything from it. The last time you went on one of these jobs with him, it went south and he abandoned you, leaving you to fend for yourself. You know how much it upsets me seeing you messed up in the hospital like that. I don't want a repeat. And I still can't believe you let it go."
He shrugged. "I'm a forgiving sort of man," he smirked, but it didn't prompt her to smile this time.
"Just watch your back, Kadeem," she warned, her expression hard. "And this time, if he double-crosses you again, I will have his head on a silver platter. And all the Black Dragons will join him."
Kabal loved the fire with which she said it. It wasn't the threat that turned him on. It was that she meant it. "I hope I never piss you off," he told her before he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I have to say, Anya, I really do enjoy this side of you. Super hot."
"Oi!" Kano yelled at them. "Are you two gonna yabber, or we gonna deal?"
Anya led him back to the living room, but this time, she sat on the couch with him and curled her arm through his. "What is your plan?" she asked the crime lord.
They spent half the morning hashing out a plan of attack that was nothing short of brilliant, Kabal mused, but he was never more in awe of Anya as he was then. Her brain...Lord, he never knew how gloriously wicked and cunning it was until he watched her go toe to toe with Kano and shut down any areas she saw where he could double-cross his lieutenant. He ached for her, and he'd had to sit with his legs crossed the entire time to keep his all-too-obvious problem a secret. Thankfully, when all their plans had been hammered out, and there was nothing left to discuss, his wife had rushed the crime boss out of their home like a relative who'd long overstayed his welcome, and didn't give two shits about offending him either.
"Come on, Kadeem," she told him when the Black Dragon villain was already a memory. "Let's go to lunch. I heard about a new sushi place in the Village that I want to try."
"I can't," he told her almost sheepishly.
She cocked her head at him with a puzzled expression. "Why not?" she vaguely smiled.
Slowly, he uncrossed his legs and let her see the reason, which prompted her to laugh. "Oh, dear," she sympathetically replied. "Whatever are we going to do about this?" Now she sensually smirked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I have an idea," he quietly replied.
Now Anya stepped to him and then straddled his lap, curling her ankles around his calves, as she lifted her hand and cupped his cheek. He leaned into her softness, the faint scent of roses enveloping him. Her skin was warm, and he let the heat of her melt the chill that had inexplicably seeped through his bones (Kabal, snap out of it!) before he leaned up to kiss her. Suddenly, he found himself fighting to keep his nerves at bay as several thoughts raced through his head.
I hope you're as amazing in bed as I imagine.
I hope I don't disappoint you.
I hope this day never ends.
As if she understood his trepidation, she leaned in to kiss him, her solid body pressed closer to his, turning his knees to melted butter. He sighed and made a sound of pleasure as if he couldn't imagine anything better than breathing in her breath. It's worth it, he thought. No matter what happened next, he would never let himself forget this moment.
(He's barely got a pulse!)
"Let's have our lunch in the bedroom," she suggested as she climbed off him and pulled him up by his hand.
But as soon as he was standing, he claimed her mouth again, and the way she kissed him back ignited a fire in him that burned away the last shreds of his past life, his imagined life where he was horrifically burned and alone. And when he lifted her into his arms, (Wake up, Kabal! You've been poisoned!) he reveled in the softness of her, but the strength as well. The apartment was quiet, which added to his desire. How long had it been since he'd done something for himself with no thought of the consequences of his actions? His body hummed with desperate need for her. This wanting was like a secret gift, one to unwrap and treasure, and Kabal planned to make the most of it.
Anya pressed kisses to his strong jawline as he maneuvered them towards their bedroom, and moments later they arrived. They tore at each other's clothes, stripping off layers in between deep kisses. He found that as much he wanted to savor this moment (Kabal, wake up!) he couldn't force himself to slow down.
"So beautiful," he said as he gazed down at her when she stood in front of him wearing only her pale pink bra and matching panties. But he wasn't referring to the lacy, expensive lingerie.
"You're not too bad yourself," she smirked with a throaty laugh as she made a show of gazing over Kabal's frame.
(Livy needs you, Kabal! You can't die yet!)
He chuckled at that, relieved to hear the compliment after so many years of frightening children in the street with his appearance. Boldly, he cupped her breasts in his hands and delighted at the sound of her gasping as his thumbs grazed over her nipples. The sound from the back of his throat should've embarrassed him, but he was way beyond caring at this point. This moment was his to own, and he'd earned the pleasure.
(Kabal, you're dyin'! Wake up!)
(Someone do something!)
Anya took a step toward the bed, leaning down to pull the sheets and the comforter back, and he followed her down, his body covering hers in a way that made him want to stay like this forever. Resting his weight on his elbows, he tugged her bra straps off her shoulders and down her arms. The cool air had no sooner touched the tips of her breasts when he drew one nipple into his mouth. His tongue worked its magic, circling the sensitive peak as he drew his other hand along her body to the waistband of her panties.
Anxiously, she opened for him as he dipped one finger into her center before he stripped the lace from her hips and then returned his hand to its task. Her back arched as he found a particularly sensitive spot, and this time he caught her cry in his mouth. She moaned then cried out his name but his fingers continued to work in a sensual dance until finally, she couldn't hold on any longer. Her body flexed hard against him, and then her legs quivered as she let out a low, shuddering groan.
Anya was red-faced but blissful as Kabal now settled between her legs, and he smiled when she reached up and wrapped a hand around his neck, pulling him closer for a long, slow kiss. At the same time, he entered her and she groaned into his mouth as he bit at her lips. He started to move and set a rhythm that suited them both, and now the tension he'd held for so long unwound as pressure built inside of him. As he moved inside of her, he whispered sweet words into his wife's ear, and soon gave in to the pulsing need. He called out her name as the humming electric release surged through him, forcing him to shudder against her while she held him and arched her own back, quivering once again.
(I think he's startin' to come to...)
"You are the best thing to ever happen to me," he sincerely told her before he bent his head down to kiss her again, but this time she vanished in an explosion of white light…
...and he found himself in a snowy hell next to a bonfire where Erron Black, Miyuki, and all the younger generation of warriors knelt in a circle above him.
"No!" he screamed, disoriented by his abrupt return to reality. "Nooooo!" And he started bawling from his exposed eyes like a child, howling to the sky as he buried his face in his palms. Seeing their faces stabbed his heart, like someone had cruelly ripped through his carefully stitched up world and exposed the red, infected tissue that he'd thought was healing.
"Kabal, you were attacked by a Djinn," Erron explained, his voice as sympathetic as it ever got. "They feed on your soul and kill ya, but not before they poison ya with some kind of drug to keep ya docile. Makes you feel bliss. Guessin' that story is true, judgin' by your reaction."
"You should've let me die," the detective growled as he lunged for his hookswords but only weakly swung them at the gunslinger. He easily dodged them. "You should've let me die," he whimpered as he dropped his weapons and then curled into a sobbing ball on his knees. "Just let me die."
MKDemigodZ-Warrior, well, it wasn't entirely based on my life story. Both of my ears are still intact ;) But the part that rang true to reality was how Xinyi spun it like he was benevolent and that she should be thankful he didn't do worse, and that he had to do it because she was misbehaving. I think too that the cobalt collar itself, while originally inspired by something I saw in the TV show Mortal Kombat: Conquest, has now come to resent how powerless and trapped I felt being his "prisoner." I did have fun writing Xinyi like the nice one while making Jiayi seem like the terrible one, but now that the cat is completely out of the bag, I agree that it'll be fun to see how Jiayi and Olivia grow in friendship. And yeah, Seido are good guys in their own way, but I asked myself what a society like that would look like, and more importantly, why would its own people - led by Darrius - rebel like they do? It just seemed obvious to me to paint it like an Orwellian dystopia.
alwaysdoubted, oh, yeah, she's going to be traumatized even more than she already is after what Xinyi put her through. I think that the reason Livy wasn't more grateful to Jiayi is because she's so shell-shocked by what Xinyi did to her that she is certain that Jiayi's going to be more of the same, just a wolf in a different sheep's clothing. I'm actually going to address that down the road in the not-so-distant future, but I don't want to reveal too much because, spoilers. She'll probably chill out eventually, but he's going to have to be extra patient with her, which I believe he understands.
Reptaliator, well, abuse is abuse and it's not a competition. Whatever you went through had to be traumatic for you as well, and I'm sorry your mother treated you like that. Yeah, I wanted Xinyi to send a message to her to behave herself, but not completely maim her because after all, he did want to make her his queen. I'm glad you really liked this chapter :)
ROCuevas, thank you!
Praxus84, I think you and everyone else who reads this story wants him to die a horrible death. And similarly, I think you and everyone else who knows me is familiar with my work. I'm pretty diabolical with the rubber chickens LOL
Obelisk of Light, yeah, in some ways it's easier to hate Xinyi than Rain. But at least he's not a sexual predator like Rain, so there's that. My goal with that scene was to describe it in such a way that you could almost feel him slicing off her ear, so I hope that was true. And like I told Praxus84 above, you know I like my sleight of hands ;)
DinoLord00, I appreciate that, and actually to help me work through the PTSD, I not only started therapy, but I also recently adopted a German shepherd puppy that I named Artemis. She's ornery, but she's already been helping a lot. I'm working to get her declared an official emotional support dog since my therapist is the one that thought I needed an emotional support dog to begin with. So yeah, there's a special place in Hell for Xinyi because, at least in this chapter, he's worse than Rain. When constructing an orderly Seidan culture, I actually looked to what America is turning into, but also truly fascist countries like the USSR and Red China. The bit about their hair and clothes was inspired by something I read about how North Korea controls what their citizens are allowed to wear and how they cut their hair. Xinyi kind of reflects young, idealistic people who don't really have the wisdom to know that's not the best way to manage a government yet, and he also represents the brutal tyranny of such regimes, even though he truly believes he's doing it for the good of the people. But he'll get his day of reckoning eventually, I'm sure. I'm glad you liked the interactions between Livy and Jiayi - the positive response has made me think I should have more of those kinds of moments in the upcoming chapters. :)