Chapter Six: Net

The dead guard collapsed to the ground, and before his comrade could reach for his sword, his arm was twisted behind his back. The other having been dislocated lay limp at his side.

As the remaining guard struggled against the ninja holding him, the second ninja stepped forward. "Give me my information."

"I—know—nothing!" the guard hissed. This caused the ninja holding his arm to yank fiercely, forcing his back to straighten. The second ninja lashed a kick to the guard's stomach. Bile rose in his throat and spluttered out of his mouth.

"You shall die a slow and painful death unless you tell me where they are."

The man coughed and wheezed as blood dripped from his lips. "Th-there were never any travelers that passed through these gates—by your descriptions."

"Lies," the figure said.

The guard felt his arm being wrenched out of its socket. He yelled out in pain before a kick met his face. His head snapped to the side, drool and blood dangling from his mouth.

"Tell me where you are hiding them."

"I—s-swear by the Gods—they are not—here," the guard gurgled. "I would have been—informed th-that new inhabitants were in—the village. There was—n-no word of a woman or a gold clad ninja. We've not had—v-visitors in weeks."

The guard doubled over and gulped down oxygen. The ninja stared down at him before plunging his fist into the guard's stomach. The guard's scream was drowned out from the waterfall of blood pouring from his mouth.

Pulling his arm from the worthless man's stomach, Noob Saibot shook the blood from his hand while his shadow tossed the corpse aside. Perhaps not the cleanest kill, though it diluted his impatience. His shadow form melted into the murky ground, gone in the darkness.

Saibot glanced over at the dead guards and to the gate they had been patrolling. Behind the bars lay the silent village. He had no intensions of breaking in; he'd already infiltrated the village hours ago, only coming to question the guards as the last resort. Noob turned and glared into the mass of trees that lead him to the village. The fifth village this week, and none held the girl. But Shao Kahn, after sending him into the Neatherrealm that is, had sensed the brat's soul in Earthrealm. She was somewhere in the region.

'Where is that damned girl…'

Night had fallen. Scorpion walked on, observing the land moonlight drenched. He'd come to conclusion that he was somewhere in one of China's mountain ranges, though he wasn't as familiar with China's land as much as he was Japan's.

Quan Chi was somewhere in these mountains. Scorpion could nearly sense him, and he would learn every inch of the landscape if he had to track the sorcerer down. Raiden had never forbid Scorpion to leave the village, and the spectre worked best with the least amount of people around him either way.

Suddenly, Scorpion's ears cocked. He slowed his pace ever so slightly and blocked out the forest noise. Footsteps – the female's footsteps – he could no longer hear them. Even though her footsteps had been growing fainter for the last hour, as long as Scorpion could still detect them, he'd continued walking. In the half-second he sensed this, a thud sounded from behind.

Whipping around, Scorpion registered the girl collapsed – but breathing – on the ground before he surveyed the area. He slowly reached for one of his twin swords while his eyes roamed over the canopy. After a minute, Scorpion had detected no suspicious noise or movement. He made his way over to the woman and knelt by her side. With one hand, he gripped the hilt of his sword while the other checked the female's pulse.

Scorpion narrowed his eyes. She'd collapsed from fatigue. He then noticed the basket's contents had spilled out – excluding the sack of coins – around the girl and he began to swiftly place them back inside. They had been walking for approximately twelve hours – without stopping to rest – and Scorpion assumed Raiden's healing had done nothing to increase the woman's stamina. She most likely hadn't consumed any form of food for a day so her exhaustion was predictable, now that he thought of it.

Sheathing his sword, Scorpion picked the woman up in his arms with a grunt of annoyance, and set the basket on her stomach. Minutes later, he found a suitable clearing and carefully strayed off the path. Setting the female and basket on the ground, Scorpion broke off a few branches from a tree and set up camp. After a fire was blazing, he sat across from the resting girl and stared into the roaring flames.

They only would rest for a few hours. Humans only needed around seven hours of sleep, though that was too long for Scorpion's likings. Scorpion thinly exhaled. He would have to adjust after years of solitude in the Neatherrealm, and now being forced to have a human companion with him to guard, to feed, to rest…

Regardless if he didn't care for the brat, Scorpion could not ignore her human needs and limits. If the girl died this early in his "task", the Elder Gods only know what Raiden would do to him.

As soon as the sun had risen high enough, Scorpion nudged the girl – Raina, Raiden had called her – awake with the toe of his boot.

"Eat." He pointed to the meal he'd prepared on the basket. Scorpion did not like being the brat's personal cook, but he would ration her food in case she over or under ate. He would not have any trivial delays. He put out the fire and destroyed any evidence of the camp, finishing just as the girl informed him she was finished with her meal. He walked forward as she picked up the village basket, the rhythm of her footsteps shortly sounding from behind.

Every four hours or so, Scorpion made sure to stop and allow the woman a few minutes of rest, a drink of water, and sometimes the spare food from the basket to nibble on. He measured his pace to not be too fast or too slow, but enough to have the girl not too far behind him and not tire too quickly. The path continued to meander, the trees never thinning out, and the weather was in good condition.

It was during late midday when a slight issue arose.

Scorpion turned when her footsteps had stopped once more. He furrowed his brow when he saw the woman was perfectly fine, but standing stiff on the path metres behind. By the anxious expression on her face, it crossed Scorpion's mind that she had somehow sensed an enemy, but then she spoke.

"I have…"

He saw the blood rise in her face, causing his frown to deepen.

She struggled to form words for a moment. "I need to…use…the restroom."

Scorpion found he almost had his head cocked in confusion, but he then noticed her body language – the shifting of weight on her feet, the eyes struggling to find a safe place to look – and rapidly understood. He blinked once, twice.

He pointed to a tree.

The same routine continued for the following days as well. They exchanged little to no words, which was fine by Scorpion's matters, and were making bearable progress through the region. The weather hadn't yet slowed them down and there were no signs of any trackers. On the fourth day of travel, the forks in the path were becoming more frequent, meaning there were villages around the area. Scorpion refrained from entering the man-made forks and stayed on the meandering trail.

Quan Chi remained present in his mind. Scorpion recalled the deal he had made with Raiden in the village: guard the female until her portal was found and the sorcerer would be his to destroy. As for any recruits, they would most likely be Quan Chi's idiotic demons from Neatherrealm. If the sorcerer had allied with Shao Kahn, the trackers would only be the Emperor's minor warriors—

Scorpion sprung back, hand automatically reaching for his swords when a spur of movement crossed his path. The speed of it breezed passed him. Forest animals would sometimes skitter across the trail, but the metallic glint off the sun showed that it was no animal. The same moment Scorpion froze did he make sense of what was swinging in front of him.

It was a net, large enough to trap a full-grown human. His movement had triggered it to almost ensnare him, and when peering at it Scorpion saw the metallic barb wires intricately weaved with the net's pattern. Sharp enough to draw blood. He opened his mouth to order the girl to stop, but her scream piercing through the air cut him off.

The tattered village basket dropped to the ground, its contents tumbling out. Fifteen feet in the air, the woman was dangling inside a similar net. Scorpion ordered her to stop moving and reached for his Spear. The net slowly swung back and forth as the sun glinted off the barb wires. He could faintly hear her whimpers, and in seconds droplets of her blood were dripping to the ground. The spectre raised his Spear and aimed for the knot of the net.

The Spear left his hand, the chain twisting and turning with it, and the kunai split through the knot. The net ripped open and the brat spilled out of it, falling to the ground. Reflexes caused Scorpion to move. He released her as soon as he had caught her. She stumbled out of his catch while Scorpion raised his hand and caught his returning Spear. Placing the weapon back in its spot, Scorpion searched the area for more traps, curtly motioning for the woman – Raina – to remain still.

After discovering and disposing of the remaining net – this time, a full metallic one – he turned to the girl and scrutinized her wounds. Her arms and legs had been cut, her clothes had been punctured in several spots, and there was a long cut on her forehead seeping out blood. Curses whip-lashed the Shirai Ryu's mind as Scorpion met eyes with the woman. He expected her to look away from his glare, but she continued to stare at him – an expression of pain crossing over her face – clutching her forearm where blood trickled through her fingers.

Scorpion realized this was the first time in days since he had allowed himself to look at the woman's face. Seeing the physical pain in her eyes, suddenly Scorpion did not see the woman in front of him as Raina, but as the deceased young woman he had loved in his human life. Her eyes had held the same shadow of pain at one time-

He blinked – keeping his eyes closed longer than necessary – and a low growl escaped him. They had only locked eyes for a second and he was having foolish trains of thoughts. Thoughts he should be able to control.

Her eyes were no longer looking at him to Scorpion's satisfaction, and he looked over to the basket and its crushed food scattered around it. Scorpion's mask most likely hid most of the irritation on his face. Even though the brat's food was destroyed and her water had somehow drained from its jug during the fall, the forest provided fresh streams and plentiful amounts of meat scurrying around. It would be more work for him to hunt, and as for her wounds…

"I saw medical supplies in the basket," the woman suddenly whispered.

Scorpion merely glanced at her. "They are useless."

Another stream of curses surfaced in the spectre's mind. He had bought minor medical supplies from the village, and though he could treat her wounds with them, after a day or so the infection would still spread. She would need correct treatment, which clearly meant...

"Can you walk?" he finally said. She nodded, went to recover the sack of coins, and asked if he still needed the basket. Scorpion ignored her, turned, and proceeded walking on the path. He could only look at the woman for so long until the memories surfaced.

The next fork in the path arrived after two or so hours of travel. Scorpion chose the fork on the far right. In another hour – as the sun was beginning to set – the trees started to clear out, and Scorpion soon spotted the high black gates as they descended down a hill. The pair of guards quickly came into view, along with the village peeking behind the gate.

The guards crossed their bladed staffs over the gate entrance when they neared. Scorpion watched as the guards looked him up and down. The one on the right began speaking in Chinese.

"I am not native of your language," Scorpion interrupted.

"What are your purposes for arriving to the Dao Village?" the second guard asked in English.

The Dao Village? Scorpion had knowledge of some of China's villages, but this "Dao Village" was foreign to him. Raiden had certainly teleported him somewhere new…

Scorpion gestured to the brat. "The woman is injured. Her wounds need attending."

The guards glanced at the girl before looking back to Scorpion. "And how did the woman receive those wounds?" the one on the right said.

The spectre fought to keep his patience, though his tone was low with malice. "She was injured in the forest. Perhaps one of your villagers is responsible for setting up net traps—

"Do not accuse our people!" he said.

The second guard raised a hand and spoke in Chinese to the guard. He then looked to Scorpion. "It is not often we receive a masked ninja asking to enter our Village. For the past week, there have been suspicious disappearances across the region. The most recent were two gate guards in the Tang Village up north; their bodies remain undiscovered. There have been four other reports of one to two missing guards, the bodies undiscovered as well. What does a masked man as yourself make of this?"

Scorpion took a dangerous step towards them. "Are you accusing me of the disappearances?"

Though both guards were inches smaller than Scorpion, neither batted an eye. "None of our villagers have left Dao Village in over a week, ensuring that our Village is not the cause of the disappearances," the second guard said. "You are not a native of our Village, you are armed with weapons, and we prefer to see the identity of one's face to allow them to pass through these gates."

Scorpion stared at the man while he slowly registered his words. "You want—

"It does not appear trustworthy to walk around with a masked face when there is a murderer in the mountains," the first guard said.

"It is not confirmed the disappearances are murders," the second guard said. "But nevertheless, I see the woman is growing faint. We will allow you to pass if you remove your mask."

A/N: I'm alive! And it might've become…odd in the end, I know. I'll answer that yes, the disappearances are murders. If you remember the first scene in the beginning of this chapter, you may have put together that Noob is the one killing the guards. He's killing them because one, they're rendered useless after giving him vital or non-vital information, and two, I believe since Saibot is former Lin Kuei he would not want any word to get out about his 'assignment'. So he kills to keep everything silent and hides/disposes of the bodies. I doubt he'd worry about the aftermath of his killings since he's going by any means to complete Kahn's task of finding Raina, and no one knows it's him murdering.

If you have any questions concerning this story feel free to ask. I'll try my best to answer them. Also, I know Saibot's shadow powers are more of an MK 9 aspect, but that whole "2 timelines" thing…

And I seriously thank everyone who has continued to read this story and being patient with my slow updates. I am honestly shocked people like this... Thank-you to those who are or have been reviewing. And even those who aren't reviewing and just reading, I still love you guys, haha.

PS: I'm not an expert on net traps and the likes, so shhh pretty please! And I made up the village names xD