Mortal Kombat III
CHAPTER 12: RAZOR (JAKE CLAWSON)

At long last, the answer to all the questions from the previous chapter! Oh, and since Yosemite Sam is back again, be sure to keep a lookout for a reference from the old Bugs Bunny cartoon short "Rabbit Every Monday." In any case, enjoy the action-packed chapter (with a twist [or three LOL]).

Jake "Razor" Clawson staunchly upheld the law with his fellow comrade T-Bone. However, his path wasn't entirely the straight and narrow. No, he had his own dark secret—in the form of the Black Dragon Clan, as an enforcer to Yosemite Sam, albeit a former one to be exact. Razor saw the error of his ways and the carnage his former clan members caused that resulted in his change of heart.

So it would come as no surprise that Razor was kidnapped by the aforementioned red-haired ruffian. However, it would also come as a surprise that Sam was actually tending to the thinner Kat officer's injuries down in Walter Wolf's Flesh Pits.

While Razor was breathing with difficulty, Yosemite Sam sinisterly chuckled in his throat as he assembled an assortment of metal pieces to the injured Kat.

It was then that the silhouette of a man appeared from the bottom of the screen and shuffled across it. "Pardon. . . . Pardon."

Yosemite Sam, dumbstruck for a brief moment, took out one of his daggers and threatened the man in the audience. "Ohhhhh, no ya don't! Git back in yer seat!"

The unknown silhouetted man ducked back to where was originally sitting in fright. "Yes, sir! Yes sir!"

Sam looked down at the man and the rest of the audience with a furious look on his face. "The first one who tries to tell them good guys whar I have this varmint gets his carcass skinned! And the same to you, Sloth!"

Slowly popping his head up again from the lower corner of the screen, Flash looked nervous. ". . . Okay."

And with that, Flash slowly moved down from his usual spot again.

The Black Dragon Clan leader then looked at the readers with that same steely glare. "And it goes fer the rest of ya! . . . And I'll do it, too."

With that said, Yosemite Sam took the final piece (the mask) and fixed it to Razor's face. As the camera focused on Razor, he appeared to be wearing a breathing apparatus and had patches of fur missing—with scarred-up bald spots in their place. The thinner Kat officer breathed in deeply and slowly awoke in surprise.

With a sinister tone in his voice, Sam cautioned his former comrade. "Easy thar, partner. Ya'll had a rough one."

Razor, still a bit groggy, was taken by surprise in seeing his comrade-turned-adversary. "Yosemite Sam?"

The short red-haired ruffian snickered evilly. "In the flesh."

The injured Kat slowly reached up to his mask and felt it, while still confused. "I was . . . on fire. . . ."

"Burned to a crisp, you were—more 'r less, since ya'll still got a bit of yer fur left. Good thing I found ya."

As reality set in for Razor, he felt his mask with both hands and gasped. "I'm hideous. . . ."

Sam was busy at another table just about a foot away from Razor. The former pretended to not hear the last comment. "Walter Wolf's magic healed the rest of ya. But yer lungs? Yeesh."

In response to the mask, Razor was blunt. "Take it off."

Yosemite Sam just shrugged. "Cain't. It's permanent."

"What?"

"No mask, no breathin'."

Razor found himself in complete horror as he stepped off the operating slab. "I'm . . . a freak."

The Black Dragon Clan leader just ignored it as he picked up a twin pair of hook swords and looked at them with a smirk. He then turned to the disfigured Earthrealmer and attempted to hand the hook swords to the latter. "Go on. Give 'im a whirl, partner."

Through his visor, Razor scowled as he held his arm out as a way to keep the swords (and Sam) away from him. "I don't use those anymore."

"Yeah, you're all proper police now. The Black Dragon ain't the same without ya, critter. . . . You should come back—we're in the money on this war."

Razor paused for a few seconds in realization. "You sold those monsters their firepower."

"Guilty as charged."

"It is all your fault!" growled Razor as his voice raised above a decibel with each word.

"What're ya'll on about, eh!?" shrugged Yosemite Sam before heatedly dropping the hook swords. "You're here, ain't ya, varmint!?"

"I should be dead! Now you're gonna be!"

Sam was the first to strike as he threw his daggers at Razor, but the latter dodged them in the nick of time. Unfortunately, that was what the scruffy runt of a man wanted as he took the opportunity to perform his ball roll move, and then jump onto the disfigured Kat where he attempted to strangle him, snickering as he did so. But luck was on Razor's side as he pulled out what looked to be a buzz saw or a giant shuriken and bashed Yosemite Sam in the face with the broad side of it, leaving the scoundrel's face temporarily flat like a pancake—literally.

Razor then head-butted Sam off of him and, with his newfound superhuman speed, sent the latter literally spinning before punching him multiple times in multiple places. As the final blow, the disfigured Kat punched the Black Dragon Clan leader in the bottom of his chin—

If you saw Razor's final blow in slow motion, you would notice Yosemite Sam's teeth and laser eye nearly come out of place if it weren't for their roots and spring, respectively.

—And sent him flying back, unable to fight.

Razor then composed himself after his victory and looked down at his enemy. "Now how do I get outta here?"

"Not so keen on bein' dead, are ya?" sneered Yosemite Sam.

The disfigured Kat picked up the hook swords, before repeating in a threatening tone. "How do I get outta here?"

"Heh! Good luck. No one gits outta Outworld without Aku's say-so."

"Outworld? Aku?" Razor was now holding out a hook sword to emphasize the threat.

"Aku's the big boss 'round here . . . and soon, Earth's new master."

By that point, Razor held the crook of his hook sword against Sam's throat. "Where is he?"

"Don't bother. Ya cain't git near 'im."

"No. But I'm guessing you can."

In Aku's throne room, Steelbeak, Walter, Hannibal Roy Bean, Raimundo Pedrosa, Queen Jasmine, and the aforementioned Emperor of Outworld himself were present. Soon a portal opened up and outstepped Vicky, followed by a group of Tarkatan and Cyborgs holding up a gurney laden with Motaro's corpse.

"What is this!?" demanded Aku as he furiously stood up from his throne.

The purplish-pink-clad abomination responded to her adoptive father. "Samurai Jack has killed Motaro."

Unbeknownst to anyone in the throne room, Razor and Yosemite Sam were hiding, the latter being held at knifepoint.

"That's him? On the throne?" whispered Razor.

Sam continued on with his sarcasm. "You're a right genius, you are."

The disfigured Kat hushed the scruffy short man with a poke of the knife.

Jasmine, the brainwashed former queen of Edenia, faced Aku. "It's no great matter. I will go to Earthrealm. To finish Motaro's work."

Aku nodded in agreement. "Yes. . . . Walter."

The rejuvenated sorcerer approached the Emperor. "Yes, Emperor."

"The Empress requires something of you."

As Walter approached closer, Aku stretched his hand out and used his sorcery to absorb the writhing sorcerer—soul and all.

"See thar?" whispered Yosemite Sam in a conniving tone. "I'm thinkin' he's a bit much for—"

Hearing enough from the scoundrel, Razor used the hilt of the knife to knock the latter out. "I can take him."

While Aku was busy pouring Walter's magic into Jasmine's system, Razor started walking up to him.

Steelbeak and Vicky interrupted as they confronted the disfigured Kat.

"No one attacks the Emperor!" hissed Vicky.

Since it was still new territory for him, not to mention he was still recovering from his injuries, Razor seemed to be having difficulty as the two villains beat him down. As Steelbeak opened a portal to the NetherRealm from behind the slowly approaching Vicky, Razor came up with an idea as he used his superhuman speed against the abomination and used the crook-part of his hook swords to grab her by the arms and flung her into the portal, screaming.

Down in the NetherRealm, Freakshow watched as an off-screen Vicky fell into the pool of lava before making a mock tsk-tsk sound between his teeth.

As the temporary portal closed up, Steelbeak realized he made a big mistake. "Uh-oh."

Razor took the opportunity to use one of his shuriken (by the broad side) to smack the wraith in the face, knocking him out and finally ending the fight.

Beneath his mask, Razor squinted either eye. "And I thought I was a freak."

"Freakshow!" demanded Aku, before the necromancer appeared. "Seal the portal!"

As he found himself surrounded by the horde of Tarkatan and Cyborgs, along with Hannibal and Raimundo, Razor just figured to himself out loud. "Time to go."

Using his incredible speed, the disfigured Kat paused for only a moment before jumping through the portal.

"LK-4D4," commanded Hannibal to Raimundo, "follow the Earthrealmer . . . and take your new pupil with you."

The yellow-and-black-clad Lin Kuei responded with a nod and a fist over his chest.

Meanwhile, Razor found himself back in Earthrealm once again just as the portal closed behind him.

Slowly picking himself up, Razor was still amazed at his new abilities. "My new speed's incredible. Guess it's a side-effect of the Outworld magic."

"You were not," responded a metallic, southern-accented voice, "I say, you weren't authorized for portal use. Authorized, that is."

Turning around, Razor was now facing Raimundo and another Cyborg; the second Cyborg was blue-colored with frost surrounding him, and he appeared to be heavy-set and Rooster-like, with wire for a comb, wattle, and tail feathers.

"Yeah? Says who?" dared Razor.

The blue-and-silver-clad Cyborg Rooster held an ice bomb in his hand. "Foghorn Leghorn. Unit L-K-five-two-O."

"And Raimundo Pedrosa—" followed the yellow-and-black-clad human Cyborg— "Unit L-K-four-D-four."

"Ha!" scoffed Razor. "You two say that like it means something."

The two Cyborgs were undeterred as Foghorn responded, "As you'll soon discover, son."

Fully recuperated from the injuries he sustained earlier, and fully gaining the bearings of his newfound powers, the disfigured Kat took advantage of his powers to dodge Raimundo's detonators and Cyber Foghorn Leghorn's ice bombs. After a moment or two of blocking their fist-attacks, Razor swooped down low and knocked the two Cyborgs down, ending the two-against-one skirmish.

"Ha!" chuckled the disfigured Kat as he looked down at the knocked-out Foghorn. "Not as 'cool' as you thought. Both literally for you, and metaphorically for your friend there."

"Why do ya'll turn on yer brothers, Lin Kuei?" angrily snorted Ms. Mucus as she and Dag—both wearing slightly different attire—approached the disfigured Kat.

Razor glared back at the two Outworlders. "Those are not my brothers. They're machine. I'm human. Well, Kat, really—but you get the idea."

"Well ya don't appear Kat—let alone human."

"Ms. Mucus," snarled Dag bloodthirstily, "let's tear apart this turncoat."

Cracking her neck and snorting, the female Shokan stared down at the disfigured being. "I'll take it from here."

Razor crouched into a fighting stance. "Don't let the mask fool ya."

Since getting the hang of his powers, Razor spared no time at all in beating up Ms. Mucus, finishing her off the same way as Vicky earlier, only he swung the female Shokan into the Tarkatan general and sent them crashing into a building, which fell apart and buried them alive.

Razor just stood there marveling his new powers even more. "Starting to feel like the old days. Only faster."

It was then that Samurai Jack and Danny Fenton appeared.

"Foghorn! Raimundo!" exclaimed Danny as he ran to his brainwashed, yet unconscious, friends.

The Thunder God confronted the disfigured Kat. "You have great power indeed, Jake Clawson."

"Please," said the disfigured Kat dismissively, "call me Razor. . . . Wait, you're the lightning guy. You helped T-Bone. . . . T-Bone! Is he—"

"He is safe. He has joined us in the fight against Aku. We would welcome your aid also."

"Foghorn! Raimundo!" said Danny. "What did they do to you!?"

Samurai Jack looked at the young Lin Kuei ruefully. "That which made them Foghorn Leghorn and Raimundo Pedrosa no longer exist."

Danny looked up with a glower. "They are my friends. What they did to them, it is . . . hideous."

Razor couldn't help but feel sorry for the young Lin Kuei. ". . . You're right. We gotta help them if we can."

With that said, Razor approached Danny and helped him carry the two unconscious Cyborgs.

Only three chapters left—plus the final commentary! It's getting so close now!