In the Darkness

(October 9, 1992—17 minutes after preparing to face Nitara)

"I've been going easy on you all the entire time." Nitara stated. I want to deny it, but I actually do believe her. We've been shooting at her for a while, yet all she's doing is dodging our shots left and right. She didn't even try and attack us. It felt like this fight was almost easier than my fight with Ciero.

"Then I suggest you start getting serious!" Sgt. Capitol shouted as he continued to fire his gun at the woman. Kano kept on firing his eye laser at the woman. As one of the lasers contacted her, she used some sort of force to redirect the laser towards and nearby building. This is not a good sign.

"I was trying to give you all a chance for redemption. I will only give you one last chance to walk away. I won't hold back if you decline the offer." she threatened. I looked at everyone for thoughts on what I should do. Stryker didn't want to run, but I could tell he'd decide on a better solution. Metric didn't know what he should do in this situation. He is the best strategist and tactician in our group and he would've been the best person to take Fang's place. He knows there is no escape and he just wants this to all be over. Capitol wasn't going anywhere. He was reloading his gun to prepare for the next attack. Kano looked in my direction awaiting my decision. We need to do this, regardless of the consequences

"I'm sorry, but there's no going back Nitara." I responded. We all directed our weapons towards Nitara as we prepared to unload a full clip into her body. However, time stopped as Ciero's voice echo through my mind. I looked towards Kano and saw that he wasn't in on the conversation this time.

"Sonya, you've just made the biggest mistake of your life." Ciero stated.

"What should I do to stop her?" I asked.

"I'm not here to give you advice. I'm here to give you a heads up on what's about to happen." Ciero responded. With that, I went back into real-time.

"Have it your way." Nitara stated plainly. We began to unleash our attacks onto her. At the point of collision, her entire body vanished. We stopped firing one our clips ran out of ammo. Kano looked around to see if he could find out her true fate.

"Aw come on!" Capitol shouted. He sounded as if he knew something bad was about to happen; and it did.

We saw Capitol's body soar into the sky above at a very fast speed. We could see the vampire behind him carrying him past the cloud. After a few seconds, we began to see what looked like a human figure falling from the sky. As worst case scenario goes, it turned out to be Capitol's body. It finally met the ground. Surprisingly, his body didn't splatter like I thought it would. From a drop that high, he should've been unrecognizable. I think she sucked his blood, but how did she do it so fast?

Next, she dived straight down towards Metric. He panicked as he reloaded his gun. He unleashed at least half of his Uzi clip into the sky, but she easily dodged each shot. As soon as her body was close to crashing into him, she stopped herself. His eyes were closed as he thought he was already smashed to bits. He slowly opened his eyes and looked directly into her face, which was upside down and directly in front of him. She gave him a slow warm smile. He felt some relief, but it was short live. She flashed her teeth and sunk them directly into the left side of his neck. She quickly ripped the neck muscle apart, instantly killing him. She then turned her attention to Stryker.

"It's not going to be that easy." Stryker confirmed. I need to do something. She killed those two with little effort. How do we face something like this?

"We'll see about that." Nitara responded. She sped directly towards Stryker. I was surprised that he was able to get a few shots in, but she still never slowed down. She was finally in close proximity to Stryker. However, as she tried to claw at him, he fell to the ground. He was definitely scratched, but not by her. With a closer look, I saw Kano standing in his place. Kano had a deep wound across his chest. Time had stopped once again, but Ciero wasn't the one activating it. Also, Stryker was able to speak with us as well.

"Are we…dead?" Stryker asked.

"Not yet." Kano stated. "So…this is what her power can do." Kano smiled as blood began to leak from his chest and mouth. If he can activate this, that should me I can too. Also, about Stryker…

"Yeah, I was thinking that too. This is too weird; and 10 steps about my pay grade." Stryker commented.

"It turns out that you can transfer your blood to whoever you want, and they'll get the same power as us." Kano explained. So it was him. We had Ciero's powers this entire time?

"So, what else can we do?" I asked.

"I'm not completely sure. All I know is that using this time freezing power is how she has been able to move so fast, but using it the way we are right now won't allow us to move our bodies, as you can see. The length of its use is also limited depending on your life force. "

Anything else you can tell us to help defeat her?" I asked. I need all the help I can get. This is important.

"I'd rather you just read my thoughts. You remember what happened last time I gave you advice on defeating someone." Kano released the time force. In real-time, Nitara continued to tear into his chest. I looked towards Stryker and he gave me a nod. We loaded our guns, checked out equipment, and prepare for the fight of our lives. We timed when we would make our move. We watched as she finally made it to Kano's heart. She clawed it out and caused it to fly into the air. She then finished Kano off by using a powerful backflip kick to his chin. It decapitated his head, and that was our mark.

"This is for everyone you killed." I stated. Nitara turned towards our direction. It was too late for her. Stryker and I went into a time-stop and fired a full clip directly at her. We weren't stupid, and neither was she. We fired from a few different angles in case she chose to move a different direction. Back in real-time, the bullets go their separate ways. She attempts to dodge the frontal bullets, but bullets from the other directions are able to hit her. We pull off the trick a few more times throughout the fight, and it was apparent that we were frustrating her.

"How are you DOING THAT?" She yelled. She attempted to try close quarter combat. I got her attention and she dashed towards me. I pointed my gun at her, waiting to fire at point blank range. She fell for the trap. I fired we she nearly collided with me. She moved to the side trying to dodge me. Two yards behind me was Stryker, who was holding his baton in a batting pose. He swung it like he was trying to his a baseball. The hit definitely did some major damage to her face. It was definitely caved in. The impact snapped the metal baton in half. She flew right by him and landed on the ground face first (or whatever's left of it).

"Now that, my friends, is what I call a homerun." Stryker stated in a cool manner. I can't lie, that's definitely my favorite pun on the job so far. I should make it a trend.

"Now, let's go after Fang." I suggested. Stryker seemed skeptical about it. I can definitely understand that. We lost our team just now. It's going to be difficult.

"You were right Kurtis Stryker. It's not going to be that easy." Nitara said. She was alive and fully healed.

"How are you not dead yet?" I asked. No one can survive this long and heal that fast.

"I guess we all got secrets." Nitara responded. Suddenly we heard an annoying beeping sound. It was coming from the inside of the back of her jacket. She lifted it and saw a remote C4 on her back.

"You're right Nitara. We all got secrets." Stryker pulled out a switch and pressed the button.

"You…mother…f—"

BOOOOM!

A large explosion occurs in her position. Smoke and fire is all we can see. I think he killed her for good this time. Well…I should think again. She forward flipped out of the smoke unharmed and looked onto us with her usual rage. "This is getting out of hand now." Stryker stated

(Elsewhere—Daegon's POV)

My 8-man-group and I begin to die off one by one. Our life force is being drained away from us slowly but surely. I don't know what's going on. We all fell to the ground. We can't even rise up.

"This…can't be…happening. We had a deal." I said. This must be the tragic terms she was talking about. I would've never agreed to this. How can she be losing to those guys like this? Mavado and his team should've finished the majority of the SF and BD forces off.

"Having fun sleeping on the cement, Daegon?" a woman asked. I looked up to her as she stood above me. I know who she was when I saw the all-white clothing.

"Is this a joke to you? I'm dying here." I said. I don't like this woman at all. If she's here, something must be going wrong.

"Is that any way to talk to a master sorceress?" She asked. "I came here because I saw you dying. I could have easily left you here."

"What do you want?" I asked. She smiled at the sound of the question. She must be planning something sinister.

"I'm going to release the spell for you." She stated.

"What's…the catch?" I asked. I know she's not in this for free.

"Why does it have to be a catch? There's nothing you or your organization can do for me. Besides, Quan Chi is pulling his Oni forces out. He deems the operation a success." She stated.

"So…he's going through with it?" Daegon asked.

"No. Like pretty much everyone else who had to go through this invasion, He, Shinnok, and I have also deemed this operation as stupid and a waste of time. Raiden didn't even intervene in the attack. He stated that it was Fang's fault and has no effect on the fate of the world. We didn't even gain any souls from this; only a few of your useless troops and some from the Black Dragon Clan. Too many nice guys in this city." She stated. She stomped on the ground just as my last ally died. I felt a light wave travel through my body. I was able to move again. I stood up looked the woman in the eye.

"So, what is it that you want?" I asked. She looked at me and simply smiled.

"I've gotten what I needed."

(Back in Sonya's POV)

We were still firing at Nitara. The latest shot injured her right leg. She tried to heal it, but nothing happened. She fell in pain holding onto her leg. It's good to know that she can't regenerate this time. I don't know what happen, but I'm glad it happened. I gave striker some of my explosive rounds and we loaded them into our pistols.

"So…this is it huh?" Nitara said in envy. She was still looking at us with rage, though she knew it would be over soon. "You know…this wasn't our plan. We had a different thought in mind. It's just that the offer was one we can't refuse. I lost my home to Onaga not too long ago. My people were killed. There are a lot of us, but not enough to take over Outworld. That's when we decided to make our warriors by mixing their DNA with red dragon warriors. Ciero was the latest creation and she was perfect. I didn't want to destroy your world; I just needed as much supply of blood as possible so that we could survive the war against Onaga."

"So you killed innocent people…my friends…all so that you can fight in some stupid war?"

"What do you know? What else can I do?" she asked.

"In America, we call it diplomacy." I stated. She looked confused. "You work out a fair deal to solve your problems."

"Then help me. Both of you. We can end this for good. Just join my army and let us fight in Outworld." She begged. I know she's being honest about this. She knows she no longer has a choice.

"We could definitely make sure this never happens again." Stryker stated.

"Yeah, I feel the same way." I responded. She smiled at us. She couldn't believe it.

"So…you'll help?" She asked. Stryker and I looked at each other and looked back at her. My flower petals were all around her body.

"Nope." We unloaded one shot to her body. The shot exploded and completely incinerated her body. She yelled in pain as her very life was leaving her behind. We walked away towards the Central HQ building. I heard a small horde of Oni following us both. It must be Ciero's army. I could feel her power completely overtaking me. It seemed like I finally became her.

"You've completed the contract and survived the onslaught Sonya. Well done. I hope we meet again someday. For now, I'll give you full control of my power for today." She stated. Awesome, I only needed it for this one moment.

Stryker and I walked all the way to the elevator. People tried to stop us, but they were overrun by our army of Oni. We pressed for the elevator to go to the top floor. The Oni traveled floor to floor attempting to reach the top floor. After a while, we finally reach it. Stryker and I were the only ones there along with a locked room and whatever resistance was there. I kicked open the door and pointed my gun at Fang. My old teammates pointed their weapons at me. Stryker pointed his gun at Torque. I don't have time for this.

"If you three want to live, you'll stand down." I stated. They didn't believe me. "NOW!" I made it clearer for them to know how serious I am.

"Trust me; we've been on this road for a long time. She just killed Nitara. Don't make this harder than it is." Stryker added. They took his advice and left out of the room. Sucks for them, the Oni just arrived at the top floor. I locked the door behind us as they attempted to return to get away from the Oni. All we heard were the screams of the three of them. Stryker was a bit upset. He was against unnecessary killing and he believes Ciero's power has changed me.

"I know you know the truth, but this is morally wrong. You can do this Sonya, this is borderline brutality." Fang shouted. He was scared for his life. He never thought he'd see me change like this. Some will see me as a monster. Others will deem me a hero. No one's going to stop me from doing this. Not even Stryker. I trust him due to our connection through Ciero, but his words can only go so far.

"This isn't a brutality Fang…" My last pack of flower petals was spread across his body and desk. He was stunned. Vengeance has finally been achieved. I'll never forget my friends. I'll never forget those who died because of this stupid invasion. Stryker, I'm sorry. "…this is a fatality."

I fired my six explosive rounds into Fang. You could hear his screams. They were worse than Nitara's. I wonder how long it'll take to rebuild this city.

End of Mortal Kombat: In The Dark

I'm glad I finally finished this series the way I wanted to. I hope everyone has enjoyed it to the end. I planned for it to be 5 chapters long, and it seems I was able to fit everything I wanted in the story. The next MK related fanfiction I'll be writing is the spin-off to MKM: Season 1 called "Mortal Kombat Compromise." I don't have any plans for a sequel to this story (since it has no relation to the universe of my MKM story) but if it reaches double the view goal I set for MKM: Season 1, I'll definitely make a sequel.