"So, what you're telling me," said Kurtis Stryker, "is that some psycho ninja with telekinesis attacked you when you were on a different floor?"

Kenshi nodded. Stryker looked over to Scorpion, who stood in the corner with his arms crossed. Stryker rolled his eyes, saying, "Whatever. Anyway, while you two were off doing who knows what, me and Kung Lao found the easiest way to take Shang Tsung down."

Scorpion spoke up, saying, "You mean just winning the tournament?"

Kung Lao said, "That's Plan A, but if that doesn't work, there's always Plan B."

Kenshi and Scorpion glanced at each other and said simultaneously, "What's Plan B?"

Stryker said, "We capture one of Blue team, and get the information out of them."

Kung Lao spoke up, "Maybe Kano."

Stryker looked back, with a shocked expression on his face. He asked, "How the holy fuck do you know who Kano is."

Kung Lao took out a bottle of whisky and, after taking a long drink, answered, "He's been helping out the Shaolin for years. In fact, when we first came here, he was the one who offered to help us for a price. He's also a reason why we were corrupted."

Stryker looked at the clock, ignoring Kung Lao's last sentence, and said, "The next match of the tournament starts in a little bit."

Kung Lao took another drink of his whisky, packed it away in a bag, then grabbed his hat. Scorpion walked out of the room to get his equipment. Kenshi already had his gear on, so he just stood there silently. Stryker checked his pistol the ammo on his Beretta 92, looked at the charge for his taser, and grabbed his nightsticks.

Scorpion returned with all of his outfit on, not just his mask, and said, "Let's go."

When they were leaving, Stryker said, "Who the fuck made you the leader?"

Shang Tsung looked at his three remaining competitors. He smiled, knowing that the next match would be in their favor. He heard a door beside him open, and Bi-Han came out. Shang Tsung said, "Have the matches been changed?"

Bi-Han bowed, and said, "They have, sir. Now that Ermac's dead, we will no longer be held back."

Shang Tsung nodded, and turned his attention to the five men heading towards the arena. His smile grew even wider when he saw Kenshi looking up at him. He turned to Bi-Han again. "We'll see how their officer handles one of our champions."

When all of the competitors where accounted for, with the exception of Liu Kang, who wasn't even fighting today, Shang Tsung stood, and said, "Fighters! After two matches won by Red team, it's time my Blue team gets a win. But, since I can't just give them a win, I'll give them an easy opponent."

He looked down at Baraka, and said, "Baraka. You are the next one up."

Allan Zane, alias Baraka, bowed, and walked up to the arena. He looked up to Shang Tsung, and shouted, "Who will be my opponent!"

Shang Tsung grinned. He said, "Kurtis Stryker!"

Stryker grinned. He walked up to the arena. He stood in front of Baraka, who laughed and said, "Kevlar? Are you serious?"

Stryker's grin disappeared. He got into his fighting pose, and Baraka laughed again. "Shang Tsung," shouted Baraka, "you should've given me a little bit of a challenge!"

Stryker rolled his eyes, and took out his taser while Baraka was still talking. "I will tear his skin from his bones," continued Baraka. "He is nothing more than fighting practice."

When Baraka turned around, Stryker pulled the trigger, and two cords lodged themselves in Baraka. Electricity was sent through the cords, making Baraka fall to his knees. When the barrage of electricity stopped, Stryker pulled the cords off the taser, sticking a new cartridge in.

Baraka was still on the ground, trying to get over the shock of the taser. Stryker walked over to him, picked him up, and said, "Want to make fun of my fucking vest now?" He then smashed his nightstick against Baraka's face. Baraka staggered back. He spat some of his teeth out, wiping the blood from his face.

Baraka snarled at Stryker, who just stood there. The crazed doctor charged the police officer. He tackled Stryker to the ground, and threw two punches at his face. Stryker grabbed the third punch, then head butted Baraka. The policeman slowly got up, and then kicked Baraka in the stomach. Baraka kneeled over in pain, but didn't have enough time to react when Stryker pulled out his flashlight, and smashed it on Baraka's forehead.

Baraka fell to the ground, dazed and confused. Stryker pulled out his gun, and aimed it at Baraka's forehead. He said, "Allan Zane, you are under arrest."

Baraka looked up at Stryker, and said, "How can you arrest me when you are dead?"

He jumped up and punched Stryker twice, grabbed his gun, and shot him in the foot. Stryker let out a cry of pain. He punched Baraka in the face, breaking a few more teeth. He then punched him twice in the gut, and elbowed him in the face. Baraka shock his head, and punched Stryker, breaking his nose. Stryker staggered back, but knelt to the ground and gave Baraka an uppercut.

Baraka backed off of Stryker. The policeman said, "Oh, sure. I'm gonna be dead. Gotcha. Anyway, you're coming with me."

Baraka grinned. His blades came out of his forearms, and, before Stryker could react, plunged them into his stomach. Stryker let out a quick gasp, and looked down. He said, "Oh, yeah. Forgot about those." Baraka raised his blade, ready to decapitate Stryker.

But, before he could, he heard someone shout, "No!"

He looked over, seeing Kenshi charge him. The blind swordsman took his sword out of his scabbard, and clashed with Baraka. Kenshi was fueled with anger, and slashed his sword without finesse, without thought, just anger. It took Baraka all of his might to hold back Kenshi's assault, but eventually, Kenshi broke through, and stabbed Baraka through the leg.

Baraka screamed in pain, but it was cut short when Kenshi drove his fist into Baraka's face, knocking him unconscious.

Kenshi ran up to Stryker, who was lying on the floor, trying to keep pressure on the wound. He knelt down to Stryker, and asked, "Where's the wound?"

Stryker grabbed Kenshi's hand, and placed it on the bleeding hole. Stryker said, "I'm losing a shit ton of blood."

Kenshi nodded. He took off his blindfold and wrapped it around Stryker's wound. He lifted him up, and walked over to the three other combatants. Smoke said, "I will bring him back to my room. I have experienced many wounds of this kind. I can heal him."

Kenshi nodded and then handed Stryker to Smoke, who walked back to his room. Kung Lao looked up to Shang Tsung, who was talking to Bi-Han. Shang Tsung nodded at something the Lin Keui said, then spoke up to the remaining fighters.

"It appears that the Blue Team finally has a victory. While Stryker is not dead, he is incapacitated. Baraka will continue to the next round. Congratulations," announced Shang Tsung.

Kano and Reptile lifted up Baraka and dragged the unconscious Baraka back to his room. Shang Tsung held up his hand and said, "Reptile! I will speak to you in ten minutes."

Reptile waved behind his back, and continued dragging Baraka back to his room. Shang Tsung whisked the others away with a wave of his hand.

Kung Lao and Kenshi were in their "headquaters" looking over their plans. They heard the door open, and Smoke walked in. Kenshi asked, "How is he?"

Smoke said, "Too early to tell. He lost a lot of blood before I stitched him up."

Kung Lao sat down on the bed. He took out a bottle of whisky, which was only about one-tenths full, and finished the rest of it. He threw the empty bottle on his bed. Kenshi walked out of the room, following the grey ninja. Kung Lao rested his head on his pillow, and let himself drift off into a peaceful sleep.

Scorpion sat in the middle of his room, meditating, training his mind for the upcoming battle with his long time rival. He reached behind his back, and took out a sword. He looked down on it, running his hand across the blade.

The blade that killed his family.

He put the blade in his scabbard. He didn't know how he survived getting stabbed. All he remembered was that he woke up a few days later in a hospital. He remember a nurse screaming when she saw his eyes. He hated his eyes. He wished he could rip them out every time he saw them. Kenshi's blind, and he could still fight. Although he had that magical sword of his, so that option was out.

He stayed in that position. He didn't know how long passed before he heard a knock at the door. He got up, and opened it. Kenshi was there. Scorpion asked, "What?"

Kenshi said, "Don't you want to know how Stryker's doing?"

Scorpion flatly replied, "No."

Kenshi walked into his room and sat on his bed. He felt around, and touched the broken sword on his bed. Kenshi raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Why do you have a broken sword? A twelve-inch blade isn't the best when it comes to sword fighting."

Scorpion looked back and said, "It's none of your business. Now, since I know you didn't come just to ask me if I want to see Stryker, what do you want?"

Kenshi sighed, and said, "Look, I want to know what the fuck happened between you and that Sub-Zero guy."

Scorpion looked back at him with no emotion on his face. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He replied, "Alright. But when I'm done, you tell me what the fuck happened with you and the old guy, okay?"

Kenshi nodded, and said, "Deal."

Scorpion then told him his backstory. The rivalry between the Shirai Ryu and the Lin Keui, the attack on the temple, the fight with Sub-Zero, the death of his family, and his awakening in a hospital bed days later.

Kenshi was listening intently to all this. After Scorpion was done, Kenshi said, "And he did all of this with no hesitation?"

Scorpion replied, "None."

"How many people know this?" asked Kenshi.

Scoprion replied, "You, Briggs, and Sonya Blade are the only ones. Now, what happened to you?"

Kenshi said, "I wasn't always blind. I remember having brown eyes, before they were so glazed over that they look almost pure white. Anyways, about seven years ago, when I could still see, I was talking with a family friend, Song. He talked of a legendary sword, the Sword of Sento.

"I didn't believe him when he said it had magical powers, but I was still interested in acquiring a new sword to my collection. Song and I walked to a cave where it was rumored that the sword lay in stone. We found it together, and I took it. What he didn't tell me was the collection of souls in the sword. They quickly burst out, and they blinded me. Someone followed us, and took the souls and added it to his power. Shang Tsung. He paid Song to bring me to the cave, where I was supposed to die.

"Obviously that didn't happen.

"I laid there for about ten minutes when the Sword of Sento called to me. It guided me out of that cave and to the nearest town. I soon was able to collect enough money to come to New York, where I became a policeman. But I never stopped hunting for Shang Tsung."

Scorpion looked at Kenshi, and said, "I won't get in the way of your revenge, as long as you don't get in the way of mine."

Kenshi nodded, and held out his hand. Scorpion grabbed it, and shook it.

Kenshi walked into Smoke's room, where the unconscious Stryker lay.

He pulled up a chair, and sat down next to the bed. He looked at Stryker, and said, "Don't worry. Shang Tsung will pay for what he put us both through."

With that, Kenshi got up, and left.

Shang Tsung was in his room, talking with Reptile. He said, "You will fight Smoke tomorrow, understand?"

Reptile bowed, and said, in a low, very harsh voice, "Yes, Master. But what of the Shaolin monk? Surely you don't expect Kano to beat him?"

"Of course not," replied Shang Tsung. "I just need to weed out the weaker fighters, like that Irishman-"

"Hornbuckle."

"Whatever, and Ermac. Baraka may have been knocked unconscious by Kenshi, but he is still able to fight. And, since you are the only other one I trust still in the tournament, you will be fighting the weaker man."

Reptile nodded, and said, "It would be my honor, my master."

Shang Tsung dismissed him with a wave of his hand, saying, "Now go! Get ready for the fight tomorrow."

Reptile bowed once more, and quickly left the room. When Reptile left, Bi-Han came out of the shadows, asking, "Do you think he can defeat a Lin Keui warrior. Smoke may be a traitor, but he was still one of the best. And the fact that he trained with me and my brother shows that he knows quite a bit about fighting."

Shang Tsung said, "We will deal with that later. And I will make sure Reptile keeps him alive for your... special purposes."

Bi-Han nodded, and said, "Thank you, Shang Tsung."

Bi-Han quickly left the room, with Shang Tsung smiling.

A/N: Another bites the dust. Stay tuned.