"So, you're our babysitter?"

Darrius cringed.

"Sindel sent you to watch us, right?" Nightwolf pressed. Darrius nodded. "So, you're here to babysit us until she decides she feels like calling on us. You're our babysitter."

"You make it sound so negative," Darrius said. He sat on a log, his hands clasped in front of him. His bladed gauntlets were on the ground next to him. Most of the company from Earthrealm had surrounded the newcomer. Smoke had reappeared briefly when Darrius was first marched up to the campsite, but he left again quickly.

"You're an Edenian, then?" Liu Kang asked.

"Not quite," Darrius replied, glancing at the sky. "But I sympathize with them. That's a given, I'm sure."

"Where are you from, then?" This time Johnny Cage had piped up. "You don't have the "ooh scary" vibe that an Outworlder usually gives off."

"Seido."

"Never heard of it. Another place Shao Kahn took over?" Cage asked.

"Ha! He can try and invade Seido," Darrius smirked. "It wouldn't last long. And don't get me started on a tournament challenge. Never did see why you other realms ever got into it."

"Okay," Cage replied, "so what's the deal with this place? Why are you working with Sindel?"

"Seido is the realm of Order," Liu Kang said, not giving Darrius a chance to talk. "It's a land obsessed with law, and precision."

"That's what we tell the tourists," Darrius quipped. "Seido's a stuffy realm. Pretty, but stuffy. I got kicked out with a few friends a while back for being a troublemaker. We were literally dumped into a dimensional gate, and landed in Outworld. The Queen's loyalists found us and took us in. The Seidan Guard may find it shocking, but I believe in repaying people who help me."

Liu Kang glanced at Nightwolf, then scanned his companions. The group shared a look of collective apprehension, but nobody moved to restrain Darrius again.

"For the moment," he said, "I'm going to assume you're telling the truth. Understand that we will be keeping a close eye on you until Sindel herself confirms your story."

Darrius nodded, and smiled.

"Works for me," he said. "I've got nothing to hide."

There was a loud thud in the woods. Stryker and Kabal got up to investigate. Darrius attempted to join them, but Liu Kang ordered him to remain behind.

Stryker reached for his nightstick, a memento of the days when he was simply a police officer, while Kabal pulled a pair of swords from straps on his back. They were hooked at the end, and the hilts were guarded by smaller blades. Kabal had once described his pair of weapons as "exceedingly nasty" in battle. Both men were ready to fight, having been worked up by the abrupt appearance of Darrius. Instead, they were treated to the sight of a flying Zaterran warrior, who crashed into a tree trunk mere feet from where they stood.

"He was followed," came the raspy voice of their comrade, Smoke, who appeared out of the shadows. "Just the two of them."

"Two?" Stryker asked.

Smoke produced the limp body of another Zaterran, this one with a broken neck.

"I was able to sneak up on him," Smoke said. "The other one put up a fight." He glanced at the spot where the second Zaterran had landed. "Not much of one. They weren't expecting to find us. You might want to look out, Stryker."

The second Zaterran was still alive, and conscious. It reached for Stryker's ankle, then tried to drag itself close to him, its mouth open for a bite. Stryker shook it off, and stomped its head. For good measure, he gave it a few whacks with his nightstick.

Sonya and Jax walked into the woods to find the trio, and the two dead Zaterrans.

"So this was the noise?" Sonya asked.

"The noise was Smoke putting the hurt on some lizard people," Stryker said.

"Tell our new friend," Smoke said, walking past them with the body of one of the attackers slumped over his shoulder, "he needs to do a better job of covering his tracks. These two were passing by the area. He led them right to us, whether he meant to or not."

Kitana woke up on the morning of her planned execution feeling refreshed. She had been nervous, of course, but was resolved not to be marched to her death tired. It would sully the whole experience. She dressed herself in her usual formal wear, a dark blue blouse with a skirt that only covered one leg. She had been given the option of a long, black gown, but had rejected it quickly.

Jade waited outside her door, dressed in a similar, but differently colored outfit. She held her head low, and only occasionally glanced in to see her friend.

"Stop being so quiet," Kitana snapped. "I'm not spending my last morning alive getting the silent treatment."

"They're trotting out Goro," Jade muttered.

"Good!" Kitana laughed. "Nothing second rate for me. I committed the horrendous act of speaking to my long-lost mother, after all."

Jade shook her head.

There was a knock at the door of the prison chamber. Baraka entered, not waiting for an invitation.

"Finish getting dressed and get out here," he growled. "It's time."