Chapter 2

Raiden and Liu Kang stood, both taking radically different stances, Liu looking aggressive and ready to fight, Raiden stood calm before the two Lin Kuei assassins. Both of them stood, their bodies stiff and ready to react in an instant to anything.

"Raiden, I asked you a question, I expect an answer." The red man rubbed the mechanical parts of his bracer as he waited for an answer.

"Apologies, but we do not know your names, and we do not simply give out our information to strangers." Raiden's voice was still calm and unfeeling. The man adorned in yellow smirked as if to compliment Raiden and his reasoning.

"Of course, I am Cyrax and this is Sektor." The dark skinned man spoke more genuinely compared to the other. Cyrax held out his hand to shake it and Raiden took it in his. As this exchange of "friendship" took place Liu Kang watched on, paying close attention to each of the men, taking in every detail. Sektor played with a small switch on his wrist gauntlet but nothing appeared to be happening so that was of little concern to him. On Cyrax's left gauntlet there was a thin wide opening, but there wasn't much that struck a nerve with Liu, but what did was a bullet wound opening in the leg of Sektor, the opening seemed like the gun was probably a light handgun... similar to the ones used by Sonya and her partners during the wedding shoot out.

"We were actually coming to find you Lin Kuei, we need to speak to your grandmaster about a few problems that involve your clan." Raiden answered truthfully but not fully and Liu took notice of this.

"We haven't sent anyone out lately, except for us being here in the forest, there is your answer." Sektor was trying to throw them off, and both knew it.

"Well then we need to tell your grandmaster that someone has framed your clan for an attack." Sektor winced in pain as he took a step back, Liu Kang had figured out that he obviously haven't been at the Lin Kuei temple, otherwise he probably would have gotten that wound healed. But there was something else catching his eye, strapped across the back Cyrax was a thin razor brimmed hat. Anger flared into his eyes, and flames burst into his hands. In a fluent motion he launched himself through the air, his leg outstretched toward Cyrax who had not expected it and was forced into a tree behind him. Sektor turned and put up his arm up which shot a jet of flame toward the shaolin monk, who blasted flames back causing both streams to hold in the air. The yellow assassin tackled Liu Kang to the earth, and the flames from Sektor's flamethrower burnt against the tree where they were. Seeing as there was no way around this Raiden launched a ball of electric force at Sektor which threw him through the air.

"Liu Kang, he is nearby I can sense him, quickly find him while Cyrax is still on the ground!" Raiden shouted at the warrior while he focused on blocking the attacks of the crimson robed assassin. Liu ran into the forest, not looking back as the gold adorned man pushed itself up off the tree that it had crashed into. A buzzing noise reached Liu's ears and a good sized buzz saw flew past his head, bursting through a tree to his right and half way into a second, causing an explosion of wood chips to fly through the air.

Hooves clacked on the rough stone floor, matching the soft padding of the two toed feet of a Shokan as Motaro and Sheeva walked through the dark castle's hallway. The squawk of a raven resounded through the deep stone building as the two monstrous fighters made their way through the enigmatic maze that made up the inside of Red Raven Manor. The sound of a gunshot followed the sound of the raven and a shout that was familiar to Motaro,

"Stryker is in this place, I know that voice anywhere," they began to hurry toward the sound of the blast and just in the distance they saw the light of day shining through an archway, and the silhouettes of two men were fighting in what looked like an open courtyard. As they rushed out of the archway they looked on at the scene before them: Stryker, a heavy built man crammed into a SWAT uniform with a set of desert eagles on his belt and a pair of batons strapped to his back, was moving with strength and power as he swung at his foe. But his enemy was difficult to make out, as most of his body was covered with a black cloak with a hood that covered his face, the only indication that there was anyone under the cloak was two bare pale white arms that were open from the fabric, fingerless gloves with small spiked knuckles on each hand. Though Stryker's blows were precise and executed with enormous power, the cloaked figure moved to fast, maneuvering around the fists like a dark phantom and dodging the strikes like a serpent. The pale man finally threw a blow of his own as he saw an opening under the arms, and a closed fist struck the left rib cage, a small amount of blood leaking from a small hole caused by the spiked gloves.

It was then that Motaro and Sheeva took notice that Stryker's uniform was littered with holes, blood stains surrounding the wounds, and a blue bruise covered the right side of his face.

"Motaro, now is your chance to get revenge on Stryker," Sheeva spoke with a smile on her face, even though she did not like or respect the Centaurs she knew that Motaro and Stryker had fought before and the centaur had been heavily wounded from the SWAT agent's guns, and she knew he wanted revenge. "Go and get him." Motaro's rage blazed within him and with a snort he charged into the courtyard. Stryker turned in time to see the two curved horns plunge into his chest and let out a gasp of air. The Centaur kept running until he struck one of the stone walls surrounding the open area and pressed the horns deeper into him, splattering blood across the bricks. The Shokan laughed as she watched her rival spear the human against the side of the courtyard, but her laughter stopped as she turned as noticed the cloaked figure had disappeared. She walked out into the center of the open area, ignoring Motaro's continued beating of the near dead Stryker, and she looked around at the roof tops searching for the mysterious pale warrior.

"What are you here for strangers?" The voice was calm and seemed to come from every one of the seven archways that led away from the courtyard. The voice even stopped Motaro from his vengeful wrath and he looked away from the man who lay bleeding and desecrated before him.

"We have come to deliver a message to the one who slayed Kano." The sound of another raven gave both of them a start and they saw the black bird take off from one wall and travel into one of the windows.

"So did that one, though it seems the centaur had a message for him as well."

"How do you know what a centaur is?" Shouted Motaro, very few humans on Earth knew what a centaur was, especially one from Outworld.

"I was taught many things in my years of training, unlike the human that lay at your feet I am not from Earth, nor am I human." The sound of fluttering cloth caught their attention and they looked in the direction of the sound but saw only darkness.

"And what are you then?" Sheeva was becoming curious of her mysterious target. Another fluttering of cloth and a heavy thud was the entrance of the cloaked man, the hood covered his face except for two glowing violet eyes that peered from beneath the darkness under the hood. On his shoulder sat a raven, one that was a little larger than most whose eyes glowed purple like the man it sat on and the tips of its feathers were colored red in contrast with the black color of the rest of its body. Motaro and Sheeva returned to each other's side, staring into the glowing eyes of the stranger, as if trying to read his mind.

"Might I ask who this Kano is? I have killed many people and I don't often keep track of the names." The Shokan half expected the voice to come from the raven, but it came from under the hood, and the hood even moved as the jaw moved with the words.

"Kano was the cyborg with the red eye, you decapitated him and left his head as a present for miss Sonya Blade." The man was silent for a few seconds before nodding his head,

"I remember that rat, he died how he lived, without honor... Have you come to avenge his death?" The raven adjusted itself on his shoulder, it's eyes peering into that of Motaro's.

"We have come because we were sent by our master, Lord Shao Khan, who wishes to thank you for getting rid of Kano, as he now doesn't have to." The four armed woman bowed in front of the cloaked man, and the centaur followed suit. After a second they rose and Motaro spoke,

"Our master Shao Khan has asked us to extend an invitation for you to join him in his court, alongside ourselves and many other powerful warriors from many realms." The man walked down from the stair step formation he stood on and down to the same level as the two strangers who sat in the middle of his domain. The raven still sat perched on his shoulders, it's glowing eyes fixating now on Sheeva as it tilted it's head. The stranger paced slowly for a few feet before stopping and staring up at a great dragon statue with raven wings and a serpent body with four powerful limps wrapping around an ancient rusted sword.

Liu Kang saw the trail of footsteps heading in a northern direction, and a roped up bag was laying next to a tree. The sound of clanging metal and thunder was now muffled and was at such a distance that he could barely hear it and as he approached the bag he knew what was in it. Reaching toward the rope he conjured a lick of flame which appeared across the fibers which darkened and burned until it split apart, and as the rope unwrapped itself Liu ripped open the fabric and dragged Kung Lao out of it, still unconscious. As he pulled him out a great crack of thunder blasted overhead which worried the shaolin monk, but he ignored it for now and focused on reviving his friend.

"Kung Lao, wake up." He shook the body of his monk brother and finally, as a last resort, slapped him across the face and with a start he woke from his comatose state. But instead of a gasp he let out a cry of pain and reached for his leg, which Liu Kang now noted was covered in dried blood and a large half scabbed gash reached from the back of his knee to his heel. "Kung Lao we must leave with haste, the Lin Kuei who took you are facing down Lord Raiden." The shaolin warriors looked off in the distance as a jet of lightning came from the grey cloudy sky.

"We can't leave Raiden, those two together are to strong even for him, and the yellow one has a strange amulet with him, it has some force about it that can cancel our natural abilities." Another flash of lightning, this one noticeably smaller than before. "He's using it now, Lord Raiden has no chance against both of them at once without his godly powers!" He let out another cry as he gripped the wound on his legs.

"Lord Raiden can handle himself, we have to get you out of here." Lifting his friend up and resting the arms of his wounded partner on his shoulders he began his trek deeper into the forest. No more thunder was heard, and both feared the worst, Liu Kang assisted Kung Lao along while the razor brimmed had was strapped to his leg. As the forest seemed to bend away from them they entered a clearing where Kung Lao was laid under a tall evergreen.

"I am going to find Raiden and bring him back, if anyone comes this way try to hide." As he said this he unraveled one of the leather bands from his legs and tied it tight around Kung Lao's wound, "I will come back for you, I promise." and standing up the red adorned shaolin monk rushed back into the woods in the direction they came from. The trunks of trees flew past as his feet stamped into the dirt and hurled him through the air, and as he ran he would make glances at the earth below following his own footprints back to where Raiden and himself had met the Lin Kuei assassins Cyrax and Sektor. But when he reached the area of the fight all that was there was a tree with an indentation and a splatter of blood, Raiden and the two ninjas had disappeared leaving little trace of them having faced off in the small area. Footprints led off to the west, the same direction that the two men had come from, and Raiden's god amulet was there in the tracks, he had apparently dropped it as he was dragged away by the two men. Picking it up Liu hurried back in the direction of Kung Lao, and within an twenty minutes the two found themselves back in California, in the house of Sonya and Johnny.

"What the hell?" Shouted Sonya, not yet realizing who had just appeared in her living room.

"Hold on Sonya! It's just me." Liu raised his hands above his head as she raised up a small taser. After the smoke of the teleportation cleared she lowered the stun gun, and her glare gave way to a smile and a sigh of relief.

"Liu, thank god, what are you doing here?" Her eyes glanced over to the small decorative box that she had moved to the floor next to the table.

"Raiden was taken by a pair of Lin Kuei assassins, they were the ones who had attacked us at the wedding along with Kano." She visibly shuddered at the name, and Liu could see sweat start to bead up on her forehead. "Sonya, what's wrong?" She lowered her eyes to the ground at the question while Liu Kang set Kung Lao on the soft couch.

"Kano is dead, he apparently came in and tried to finish off Johnny."

"And Johnny killed him while his leg is broken?" Curiosity burned in his eyes as he raised his eyebrow at the idea of the crippled Johnny beating a healthy steroid headed cyborg, it wasn't impossible but highly unlikely.

"No, I came home and there was no indication of a fight except a few things that were haphazardly tossed about, but a box was on the table." She stopped mid sentence and walked behind the table, picking up the Christmas present box, now with a wet red stain on the bottom of the box. Liu Kang took the box cautiously in hand and opened it up, shock filling his face.

"Then who?" He didn't feel it was necessary to continue the question.

"No idea, but whoever it was obviously knew that he was here, as well as that he was targeting Johnny, so who do we know who knows Johnny and Kano well enough to know they would be here." Both stood puzzled, Liu Kang still staring into the empty eye socket of the metal plated face. Kung Lao shook his head as he pulled himself up, pushing up off the couch and holding himself into a sitting position.

"Could it have been Jax? Or Stryker?" Liu still could not imagine who had done this, especially because he had faced Kano before as well and knew that he wasn't just any fighter, he was a strong fighter.

"Jax is with Kabal, he wouldn't have left him. Stryker is looking for whoever attacked Kabal, apparently he found fingerprints on the arrows that hit him and is somewhere in Europe, I haven't heard from him since he told me that." Liu shook his head,

"That could be bad, he may be in danger, Kano works for, well worked for Shao Khan, and if Kano knew where Stryker was so may he."

Raiden pushed away from Cyrax as soon as Sektor was far enough ahead. He swung his fist straight into the center of his chest, and the sound of breaking glass sent pain shooting through the upper torso of the yellow garbed assassin. He knew what it was, the amulet that had allowed him to weaken the thunder god, and now it was broken. Thunder exploded overhead and a bolt of lightning struck the ground in between them throwing him through the air. The sound of footsteps grew closer, it was Sektor, and Raiden knew where the closest man who could help him was.

"Nightwolf..." And at the name a second lightning strike hit him directly in his straw hat and he disappeared as Sektor appeared in his view. The red assassin approached his injured friend, seven or so shards of glass stuck out from his chest and a dark burn streaked across his face, Sektor shook his head and lifted his unconscious partner with a heave and began to continue westward toward the Lin Kuei temple, deep in the ancient forest.

"Do not worry Cyrax, you have served the Lin Kuei well, your new form shall be even more powerful than you ever have been." A smile stretched across his face as he reminisced in the thoughts of the Cyber Initiative.