ATRAYA'S POV

Why did mortals have to be so unusual sometimes? For one descended from the lineage of warriors bred to be the champions of Earthrealm for the Elder Gods, Johnny Cage seemed completely oblivious to the ways of his ancestors, adopting a hedonistic lifestyle that seemed unbreakable even by the harsh teachings of the realm of order.

As I watched, hearing more comments about the clear relationship-building Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage were currently involved in, I noticed Markus quickly return with blood packs in his hands, each labelled with what I knew to be the types of blood. Placing them on a table, he motioned to Skarlet.

"Here we go... I've got all blood types, positive and negative. Just tell me which one you want and I'll give it to you."

The bloodspawn paused, selecting AB Positive. "I'll try one of these."

Grabbing a blood pack, she slashed the top of it open and poured the red liquid over her body. As I watched, the sanguine liquid seemed to disappear, absorbed by her sorcery-created figure. "Mmm... Not bad. What else have you got?"

Over the next few moments, Skarlet sampled the various types of blood. Strangely enough, her apparent "favorite" appeared to be O Negative. I assumed this was due to the increase in biological resistance this gave her, as well as the negative energy strengthening her bewitched frame. Regardless, she sooner or later appeared fully nourished, the only evidence of anything unusual being small droplets of blood on the floor near her feet.

Parsek's mouth had been open the entire time. "That's... Interesting..."

Markus was more blatant. "That was pretty awesome! It reminded me of taking a steamy, soothing shower."

Skarlet smiled under her mask. "Thanks..."

Enjoying the moment of peace from battle, I sensed something. Something evil and necrotic...

Without warning, the portal device activated, but instead of it having a purple coloration, it this time held a sickly green tint. Before the being even came through, I already knew who it was.

"Quan Chi..."

MARKUS X'S POV

I knew who the man entering through my portal was. With his pale skin, overall gothic appearance, and strange red tattoos emblazoned upon his back, head, and shoulders, no one could possibly misidentify him. He was Quan Chi, formerly a sorcerer in the service of Shao Kahn, and likely, one of the architects behind the Emperor's defeat.

Following behind him were two beings I did not recognize. The first appeared to be a male with no skin, a club replacing his right hand and a mask covering his face. The other was darker skinned and more ape-like, a hideous monstrosity of a being that made me cringe.

"And so we meet yet again, Thunder God. I see you've brought the entire party of Earthrealm warriors with you... How unfortunate."

Raiden turned to look at the goth-like demon. "What we are doing is none of your concern, sorcerer. What is your reasoning behind coming to this realm?"

Quan Chi crossed his arms. "I merely bring a message from Shinnok."

Shinnok? The fallen Elder God who was apparently the mastermind of this entire thing? Ugh... This was worse than an episode of the TV remake of the board game 'Clue.' "Well, out with it, Quan! The suspense is killing me!"

The demon gave a silent sneer in my direction before responding. "Shinnok wishes to inform you that the Army of Darkness shall invade Earthrealm at the end of this year. Feel free to attempt to stop us before that time, but be forewarned... Your deaths are merely delayed by refusing to act. Despite this, should any of you surrender to Shinnok and accept him as your new lord and master, he will spare your pathetic existence from utter annihilation."

The monstrous beings flanking the sorcerer sneered as he turned and walked back through the portal, his lackeys following him.

"That's it? An amazing fight between good and evil, the most important forces in the universe, and that's the announcement we get for this? Come on now..."

I was kind of ticked off that there wasn't more drama in this critical part of our struggle. I mean, this was a serious deal! The culmination of a battle that had gone on for such a long period of time, since the beginnings of recorded history. Good and evil have always struggled, and whoever won this conflict would determine the fate of Earth, and good itself, in my lifetime.

Atraya watched the portal close as she turned to Sonya. "Sonya Blade, how many Earth months are there until the end of this year?"

"I'd say around two months, probably a bit longer."

"Excellent..." The 'Elder Goddess' turned to the rest of us. "Then we shall stay in Earthrealm until shortly before the allotted time, at which point we shall call the Forces of Darkness to the pyramid and begin their annihilation."

It was now time for me to clarify something. "So where will we be staying? I really don't want to end up getting forced into a military barracks, complete with bland food, steel beds, and rock hard pillows."

Raiden was the one who responded this time. "I believe that yourself and Mileena could more adequately utilize your private residence. I will stay with you as well, in order to teleport you back to Special Forces headquarters when the time is right."

Mileena spoke up. "And what of my generals and their armies?"

The hovering man in bandages answered. "I believe that myself and the Others can inform them of our current whereabouts. My telepathy would allow for your orders to be mentally transmitted to me."

MILEENA'S POV

"I believe that will work... Skarlet will need to accompany us, so I would hope that you have the room for three guests."

My bodyguard blushed. "I'll just rest in a bucket... If you have some large container that would fit my natural form, I can use that."

Raiden continued with his standard emotionless look. "I have no need of sleep or food."

My boyfriend gave a surprisingly sarcastic look at the thunder god, as though to say "I already knew that."

"Can we just get to my house? You know where it is... No need to stay around here wasting meaningless diatribe with one another."

Raiden nodded, transporting the four of us across Earthrealm to Markus's house...

We arrived in what appeared to be a workshop of some sort. There were metal parts of various shapes and sizes everywhere to be seen. Dangerous looking tools were everywhere as I noticed a workbench with a shirt on it.

"Welcome to my humble abode, ladies and 'thunder god.' I hope you have a nice stay. Let's get started with the tour, shall we!?"

My lovely boyfriend pointed to some of the seemingly complete items on the wall. "These are older projects of mine, along with some things I've been working on. Most of my stuff was put aside after I started building the portal."

I grabbed a glove from the wall. "What does this do?"

He quickly rushed over to take it. "Careful, Mileena! These gloves have hundreds of tiny micro servos imbedded in them. I would highly suggest you put those back before your hand gets crushed. The gloves have a habit of closing on their own... I blame an accident with Pepsi for that."

Stepping towards the door that lead to my house, I opened it.

"Well... Come on in!"