Scorpion

Just as I remembered him from my dreams. Slightly shorter than average height, and clad in yellow robes. I hood covered his expression but I imagine right now he's feeling a little like a winner. Too bad...

This was going to complicate things. My target was supposed to be here tomorrow night. If I fight here the police will have this place on lock-down. I wondered how much he knew. If he knew anything about my mission he would be protecting McCallen. If that was the case I was already compromised and McCallen wasn't coming anyway.

At Scorpion's feet was what I assumed to be room service. A small young lady bleeding on the floor, motionless. A snake removes itself from her body and coils back into his hand and the gaping whole on his palm closes. He stands in a clear fighting position. His left arm out on guard and his right chambered back behind his head. I see where he would get his name.

He takes a quick step towards me and jumps into the air extending his leg and curling the other one beneath it. I duck under it and roll forward spinning around as I rise back up to face my opponent he was already back on guard. Damn he's fast. He closes the gap. His movements are a blur to my vision but I could sense the movement and react accordingly before I ever really thought about it. All the training in the temple gave me an edge to the normal adversary. With him though my best efforts seemed mediocre.

Every strike I threw at him he brushed away like the mid-morning's breeze, almost mockingly. He quickly stepped up his game and put me on the defensive. Block left. Block right. Block high. Dodge left. I worked hard to separate my senses from my conscience thought so I could react with better time but to no avail. Scorpion gave no opening and I was quickly running out of options. Where were those ice powers when I needed them?

I let out a burst of air and before I really knew what happened I was sprawled on the ground. He expertly re-chambered his kick and stood on guard, waiting. He reached around his back and revealed a sword. He stood in a samurai guard with the blade concealed behind his rear leg. I jumped up and rolled into my hotel room. On top of the bed was my blade waiting to be implemented into our battle. I drew it and walked confidently into the hall. He still stood, waiting. This put me on edge. I couldn't take this anymore I stepped forward into my swing.

Most people don't understand how ninjas will sword fight. Our blades and thin but devastatingly sharp and quick. Contact with another blade is likely to break both so it is a last defense for a ninja to block with his blade. We are equipped with forearm guards that would do the needed blocking.

We traded strikes almost one for one and for a while there was no contact whatsoever. He would slice at my neck I would duck and rise under his guard and he would reposition around my blade.

Our weapons swinging closer and closer but never hitting home. My training taught me to not let my emotions interfere with my fighting. Anger, hate, and revenge poison your blood and kill you from inside in mid-fight. They would tell my enemy everything he needed to know to kill me. I was always told the easiest way to kill a man is to anger him. The scary part was that Scorpion was angry. He hated me, everything about me. The emotion rolled off of him like a waterfall, threatening to drown me with its very essence.

Adapt. Modify. Improvise. To every rule there is an exception, maybe he was the exception. If I mirror him maybe I could find a hole in his defense. I envision the picture of the last moments of SubZero. I link Scorpion to that, he had a hand in this somehow. If he couldn't beat my brother in a fair fight he would find the loophole somehow. If SubZero could kill him then I could too. I just have to think, concentrate. Anger consumed me.

Ice shot through my limbs making them rock solid and arctic cold. It worked! The blue barrage struck Scorpion again and again. He slow started receding from the fight. His sword strokes started to move towards the defensive. The conflict broke momentarily and I could see the ice traveled all the way to the tip of my sword. Damn...

Scorpion noticed too. He chambered his leg and in the blink of an eye his heel made contact with the blade and shattered it through the hall. Our fight was relatively quiet up till that point. The shards impaled themselves in almost every surface they could reach, Scorpion and myself included. Although they were minor wounds and held no real consequence. Scorpion retook the offensive.

Swing after swing backed me through the hall. I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and knew we had precious little time before security reached the third floor. I had to return to my calmed state to continue dodging at such a rate and I could feel the ice receding up my arm. Then it hit me, I was exhausted. This is sacrilege, I never get tired like this. It triggered the anger once more.

The ice reinstated itself in my limbs. Now my energy was almost completely gone. I couldn't focus at all. Scorpion caught his chance and kicked me solidly in the face. Not content with that he back-flipped bringing his rear leg around and caught me under my chin. My back slammed against the ground and before my eyes went black I could see the string of fire fade from the path of his rear leg. Damn elementals...

There comes a point when you make a realization. I think my time is right now. I will always be remembered from my brother's shadow. Even if I had the time left in this world to attempt to escape my overcast I would never be able. He would've always been better. I could never live up to his name, maybe that's why I have to die. I've bitten off more than I could possibly chew and the world is just balancing it out. Maybe it is best my family ends the way it did. This way my would-have-been mistakes will never darken the reputation. I almost felt honored to end this way, a part of a legacy, the last chapter of a legend. I am SubZero now, and I will carry this name to my grave.

My world is cold and black, this must be what death feels like. And to think I was so eager to take another's life. It's a sickening feeling when you realize you have no more blood to bleed.

"... Take him t..."

"...Yes my ma..."

"... Time has..."

That blackness faded in and out with white. I couldn't hold on to thought and everything blurred together. No feeling. No emotion. No desire. I cannot redeem myself apparently, I'm damned to hell.

Blackness.