Although their newly acquired guests put their studies of the Cryomancer lineage on hold, the three Lin Kuei were nonetheless happy to bring them back to their base of operations and back to Earthrealm. Outworld was far too hectic for Kuai Liang's tastes anyway, and he feared that one of his allies might come to harm. The safety of Frost especially worried him. He wished Jade and Mileena luck in their efforts, but their time in Outworld was over for now.

Once the group had gotten a decent distance from the city, Kuai Liang nodded to Frost, at which point she removed the Dragon Medallion from her uniform and used it to summon a swirling light blue portal.

"Go through here," she instructed the others. "It's connected to the ice portal in our base. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there."

"Is it gonna be cold?" Asked Stryker.

Frost sighed. "You'll manage, tough guy."

"It'll be a good break from how blazin hot it was in the Netherrealm." Stryker reasoned, before entering the portal.

"Ladies first." Offered Cyrax.

Kia and Jataaka followed into the portal, with Sareena and Ashrah going in after them. Then Cyrax, and finally Kuai Liang and Frost.

When they emerged from the portal, the group was immediately put on high alert as they heard shouts and screams, as well as the sounds of battle.

"What's going on?" Asked Sareena.

"Not sure," replied Cyrax, activating his green Pulse Blade as he moved forward. "Sounds like trouble."

"Do you think it's Raiden?" Frost asked.

"You guys know about Raiden going nuts to?" Stryker questioned."

"What did you see?" Cyrax asked him.

"Raiden has massacred the Brotherhood of Shadow," Sareena explained. "Despite the torment that cult subjected us, I for one do not condone such brutality."

"He ….what?!" Frost asked.

"If Raiden has found us, I will attempt to reason with him," declared Sub-Zero. "For now, we must proceed with caution."

"Sifu, with all due respect, we're being attacked, our fellow Lin Kuei are in danger, our family," Frost argued. "We've got some backup," she pointed to Stryker and the demonesses. "We need to just get in there and help them."

Sub-Zero considered her words for a moment. "Perhaps the time for patience has passed." He summoned his Kori Blade.

"Prepare yourselves for battle." Sub-Zero commanded.

Sareena, Ashrah, and Jataaka unsheathed their swords, Stryker took out his gun, Kia her boomerangs, and Frost constructed her ice blades.

Sub-Zero and Frost took the lead as the group went down the hall into the main area of the base. When they got there, they found the Lin Kuei battling against black and orange cyborgs. The cyberized Tengu.

"Other cyborgs?" Asked Cyrax. "They don't look quite like Lin Kuei designs."

"We will discern their origin later," Sub-Zero assured. "For now, we fight."

And so the group charged in, as the invading cyborgs took notice of them and moved to attack in return.

One aimed an arm-mounted laser gun at Sub-Zero, but before it could fire, a hole was blasted through its head courtesy of one of Stryker's hellfire bullets, and it fell down.

Another cyborg was able to dodge sword slashes from Cyrax, and then knock him back with a bolt of electricity channeled through its hand. The cyborg moved forward, only to be sliced in half by Ashrah's kriss.

"Thanks." Said Cyrax.

"Of course." Ashrah responded, tipping her hat.

Another cyborg came up from behind her, but Cyrax rocketed towards it with the propulsion systems built into his legs and stabbed it through with his Pulse Blade.

"And now we're even." He reasoned.

As the two continue to cut down cyborgs that attacked them, Sareena blasted back a few with her skull-fireballs. She even used her mystical flame to enhance a pair of throwing daggers which she threw into the heads of two cyborgs. Another had its arms slashed off by Kia's boomerangs and was subsequently stabbed through the chest by Jataaka.

Sub-Zero and Frost's ice swords did little to the cyborgs' armor, warranting a change in tactics: Sub-Zero dissipated his Kori Blade and instead constructed a war hammer out of ice, which he then used to knock away several cyborgs, even their armor being damaged by the highly compacted ice. Frost meanwhile coated her own fists with ice and punched down a few cyborgs. As they kept coming, she shattered the makeshift gauntlets and instead summoned her freezing power into her left hand, which she slammed into the ground, creating several large ice spikes that both stabbed multiple cyborgs and served as a barrier between her and them. Despite the cyborgs being attackers, Frost couldn't help but peek over her jagged shield to ensure that none of them had been killed. She breathed a sigh of relief when this was indeed the case.

She then looked to her right and noticed Sleet and one other Lin Kuei student being backed into a corner.

Frost ran over to them, putting herself between them and the cyborgs, before freezing the cyborgs in place with her cryokinetic power.

"You guys ok?" She asked.

Sleet and the other student, a female in a hooded variant of the Lin Kuei uniform, nodded.

"So, what happened?" Frost then asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted Sleet. "These cyborgs just started teleporting in and attacking while you guys were gone."

"What's with the goth chicks, the cop, and the nun?" Asked the other student.

"House guests," Frost explained. "And very helpful ones at that."

"We could certainly use them." Agreed Sleet.

The other student lowered her hood, allowing Frost to recognize her as another friend she had made since joining the Lin Kuei, Chloe.

"I think I know how the cyborgs got in," said Chloe. "I've been studying this cyborg tech ever since Sifu brought in Cyrax."

"Yeah, I remember," recalled Frost. "You've been getting pretty good with it, to. Cy even asked for your help with some of the prosthetic work a few times."

"Thanks," Chloe responded, blushing behind her mask at the unexpected praise. "Anyway, these Cyborgs were using a signal to locate the coordinates for this destination. They got some sort of transmitter in here, and they just arrived using that."

Frost was a bit uncertain though, confusion and doubt clouding her judgement. "But how could they have gotten a transmitter here?"

"I have a theory." Offered Chloe.

"Let's hear it." Frost replied.

"Remember when Sektor came back?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah…" Frost answered before it all began to click in her head. "Of course! These cyborgs are all made using similar tech! They must've beaten Sektor within an inch of his life and then used him as the transmitter!"

"But why would they do that?" asked Sleet.

Frost made her way through the chaotic battle to examine one of the cyborgs she had frozen. On its black armor, she noticed a symbol emblazoned in orange.

The symbol of the Tengu clan.

"W-What?!" Frost exclaimed. "I-It ...it can't be ...I ...how would they have ….Why would they ….?"

"Frost, look out!" shouted Sleet, just as he and Chloe found themselves fending off two cyborgs.

Frost spun around to see a cyborg aiming a laser cannon at her. Before it could fire however, Sareena rushed in and tackled it out of the way. The laser still ended up firing, but the cyborg's aim was thrown off and the laser landed in front of Frost, creating a small explosion that knocked her back and off her feet.

After blasting the cyborg's head off with a skull-fireball when contesting it physically proved futile, Sareena went to check up on Frost.

"Are you alright?" she asked, offering her hand to help her up. "You really need to be more careful. You could have hurt yourself!"

Sareena's words brought back long-buried memories for Frost. Of those exact words being said to her as a child when she had fallen off of a bicycle.

"M-Mom..?" she muttered, almost forgetting where she was for a moment.

"What?" Sareena asked, not being able to quite make out what she was saying.

"It's nothing," Frost assured, taking Sareena's hand and allowing her to help her up. "You just ...reminded me of someone for a second."

"Who?" Sareena wondered.

"I ...I can explain later, maybe," Frost said awkwardly. "Let's focus on helping the others."

Sareena nodded. "Right."

The two of them re-entered the fray, Sareena blasting back several cyborgs while Frost froze several more.

"Fire in the hole!" Yelled Cyrax, before launching one of the bombs from his chest compartment to destroy several of the cyborgs at once and damage some of the rest.

This created an opening which Frost elected to capitalize on, running towards the medical bay, where Sektor had been moved.

"Frost!" Shouted Sub-Zero, about to follow after her only to be set upon by three cyborgs who had just teleported in and were wielding white-colored Pulse Blades.

One swung at Sub-Zero, but Cyrax stepped in the way and parried the strike with his own weapon.

Another turned its attention to the Lin Kuei's guests. Stryker blasted through a few more of his fellows with hellfire bullets, but when he shot at this cyborg, it used its blade to deflect the gunfire.

"Seriously, did I miss the memo that there was a weekend special on lightsabers?" Stryker asked aloud.

The cyborg prepared to cut him down, only for the Pulse Blade and its entire lower arm to be blasted clean off by a burst of light, followed up by the cyborg itself being cut down courtesy of Ashrah's mystical blade.

"We seem to have a habit of teaming up." Stryker noticed.

"I like to think it's why we're friends." Ashrah responded, a notion Stryker agreed with via a nod.

The final Pulse Blade-wielding cyborg focused its attention on Kia and Jataaka. Sub-Zero went over to aid them, but the head of his ice hammer was sliced clean off by the cyborg's weapon. Sub-Zero resorted to using it as a staff, but the makeshift weapon shattered against the cyborg's armor. It raised its arm to slash again, but Kia intervened with a razor boomerang that embedded itself in the cyborg's arm. The cyborg was only briefly deterred, tearing the weapon out backhanding a charging Sub-Zero and knocking him down. It raised its weapon to behead the Lin Kuei Grandmaster, shortly before the very hand that held the weapon was sliced off by another one of Kia's boomerangs.

The cyborg now turned its attention to her, raising its good arm which transformed into a laser cannon. The cyborg fired an orange blast of energy, when Jataaka jumped in the way to defend her wife, raising her mystically charged sword. However, she miscalculated her block and the blast struck her hand, knocking her sword out of it. Luckily, due to the natural resistance that demons possessed to extreme temperatures, the physical harm was minimal, although it definitely stung.

Seeing no other options for defending herself and Kia, Jataaka unfastened a strangely advanced looking device from her belt. The hilt of a Pulse Blade. Just as Sub-Zero intervened by grabbing the cyborg's arm and freezing its laser cannon, Jataaka activated the energy sword, and it emitted a bright blue blade of energy. After Sub-Zero was knocked back by a headbut from the cyborg, Jataaka ran in and cut off one of its legs with a low swing. As the cyborg fell down, Jataaka stabbed her Pulse Blade through its head, the weapon burning into the ground below.

Sub-Zero looked at the weapon with a mix of confusion and shock, as he struggled to recall the darker days of his past.

"Where ….where did you get that?" Sub-Zero asked.

"Do you remember when you were a revenant?" Jataaka asked in return.

Sub-Zero sighed. "Yes…"

"After Quan Chi removed your innards from your metal 'cyborg' frame, the remaining parts of it were just sort left to rot," Jataaka explained. "The Brotherhood considered fashioning the shell into armor, or trying to gain an understanding of your Earthrealm technology. Ultimately though, the only 'technology' I've ever been able to wrap my head around…"

She held up the Pulse Blade.

"Is this."

"I see…" said Sub-Zero, struggling to take it all. "Well, I am glad that you have put it to good use, and abandoned the Brotherhood of Shadow."

"While we're happy to be free of their shackles, it wasn't our choice." Kia clarified.

"What happened?" Sub-Zero asked.

"We can explain later," Jataaka assured. "We have invaders to deal with."

Case in point, the group of a dozen cyborgs that came charging at the three. Hearing their clanging metal footsteps, Sub-Zero spun around and unleashed what could be considered a miniature blizzard on the attackers. When it subsided, all of the cyborgs were frozen solid.

"Agreed." He said to his two new allies.

Sub-Zero, Cyrax, the Lin Kuei students, and their new allies continued to battle through the cyborgs, Sub-Zero himself making his way towards where Frost had run off to, flanked on either side by Cyrax and Sareena.

Frost herself reached the medical area, finding the heavily damaged Sektor. Cyrax had been able to perform some partial repairs before the trip to Outworld. He had gone alongside Sub-Zero and Frost in the hopes of potentially finding some kind of mystical healing agent for Sektor as they studied the Cryomancers, even in spite of his own limited understanding of how magic even worked.

Before Frost could reach Sektor to try and locate the transmitter, two more cyberized Tengu were teleported in, each flanking the cyberized Wu Lae. Unbeknownst to Frost, he had been modified since aiding his new master in ambushing Sektor. Purple mystical flame now billowed from his hands, and the Brotherhood of Shadow's emblem had been painted in white on his shoulder, while the orange insignia of the Tengu was displayed prominently on his chest.

"W-Wu Lae ...is that you?" Frost asked.

"Once. No longer." answered the former Tengu leader.

"What ….what happened to you?" came Frost's next question, wheels spinning inside her head as she tried to process it all.

"When your ally left you after trying to murder me, my Tengu were able to track down and subdue him," Wu Lae lied. "We used his technology to improve ourselves. But this was not all that would be required to defeat you and your Grandmaster, young Cryomancer."

"How do you know-"

"A visit to the Netherrealm yielded even greater results," Wu Lae held up one of his flaming hands. "The magic of the Brotherhood of Shadow, and the remains of your Grandmaster's cyberized form, which further added to our arsenal. The Cyber Lin Kuei, the Brotherhood of Shadows, the Tengu. All are one, within me."

"You're 'Triborg'..." Frost realized.

"Of a sort," Wu Lae half-confirmed. "You were a fool to show me compassion. All you have done is engineered your destruction."

"B-But ...but that doesn't make any sense!" Frost argued. "When we last saw each other, we left things off on pretty good terms. You said you were in my debt, and you know what, you can pay that off by stopping this."

Both were unaware that Sleet and Chloe had followed Frost, and were watching events unfold from outside the doorway, listening in to the conversation.

"We should do something." suggested Chloe.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Sleet.

"Not sure," Chloe admitted. "Just hold on…"

Wu Lae emitted a roboticized cackle. "Oh child, you put so much faith in mere words."

"No, I put my faith in people," Frost corrected. "It's ….been a learning experience. But the Wu Lae I saved … I like to think I made an ally that day. You showed me who you are besides just 'the Tengu Grandmaster' and it isn't this. Sifu told me about the 'Slaving Protocols', and I swear to you Wu Lae, I'm going to free you from yours."

"Noble," Wu Lae complimented. "But ultimately…"

He raised his arm and blasted a sizable purple fireball at her.

"Futile…."

Frost jumped out of the way, the fireball going through the wall and narrowly missing Chloe, who along with Sleet decided to intervene at this juncture. Wu Lae motioned for the two cyborgs alongside him to deal with them, both sprinting into action and battling the two Lin Kuei students.

Frost formed an axe from ice and flung it at Wu Lae, but with impressive reflexes, he managed to catch the weapon, before shattering it. Wu Lae then launched his now Kunai-like scythe blade at Frost, who narrowly avoided it, the weapon embedding itself in the nearby wall.

Frost tried to flank Wu Lae at this point, forming an ice javelin. As she was about to throw it, Wu Lae pulled his spear free from the wall and moved it in a whipping motion, the blade biting deep into Frost's left arm as it passed her before returning to his arm. Luckily for her, she had held the javelin in her right hand, and was still able to throw it, the weapon scratching Wu Lae's helmet enough to reveal some of his human face underneath. Otherwise however, he was unscathed.

The pain caused by the slash to her arm then immediately led Frost to clutching her wound and trying to seal it with her freezing ability, while still remaining standing.

"Your bravery is commendable," Wu Lae admitted. "But you are still, ultimately, outmatched."

He marched toward her, Frost herself unwilling to surrender to, frankly anyone.

Frost tried to kick Wu Lae, but he grabbed her leg and slammed her into a wall, knocking off her mask. Frost managed to get back up, coating her good arm in ice and uppercutting Wu Lae. He stumbled back, but when Frost went for another punch, he caught it, using his newly acquired mystical flame to burn through the ice and summarily to her arm, her nature as a cryomancer lessning the harm caused by this and her natural cold stemming the flames. It did manage to burn her glove before Frost fired a beam of freezing energy at Wu Lae with such intensity that the flames practically leapt from her arm and into the ether.

When Frost stopped her attack, Wu Lae was completely frozen solid. She sighed in relief, thinking the battle over. Her next thought was on aiding Sleet and Chloe, but before she could do that, Wu Lae's body began glowing a bright orange. Evidently, a heating system had been installed in the cyborg to resist the abilities of Cryomancers. The Lin Kuei were fortunate that the Tekunin did not possess the resources to include this system in all of their models, though unlucky enough to remain unaware that the Tekunin even existed.

Wu Lae burst out of the ice, sending shards of it in all directions. Dozens of minute shards of ice stabbed into Frost's exposed skin, akin to shattering glass. Frost put her arms up to cover her face, and didn't see as Wu Lae threw his scythe. It arced past her guard and clicked across her face.

Frost cried out in pain as she stumbled backwards, putting her hands to her face to feel the vicious gash across her face, and the deep cut it had left through her eyes.

"I can't ….I can't see!" She shouted, taken completely aback by the sudden blindness.

"That can be remedied." Wu Lae assured, grabbing her by her throat. He dragged her over, only tightening his grip as she beat at his in moving grasp, as he walked over to Sektor, activating him once more.

"Your torment isn't over yet." Wu Lae informed Sektor as he came online.

"[Shock] Where am… what is…"

Wu Lae laughed at his confusion, before his attention was seized by something else entirely: Sub-Zero, Cyrax, and Sareena bursting into the room, the others holding off cyborgs outside.

"You're too late, Kuai Liang," taunted Wu Lae. "Your protege, and this antiquated hardware you foolishly tried to save, are now properties of the Tekunin. The evolution of both the Lin Kuei and the Tengu clan. Your future and your end. Behold the face of I, Triborg, and know the despair of failure!"

With that declaration, the cyberized Tengu began teleporting out of the building one by one. Seconds before Sub-Zero was about to intervene, Wu Lae teleported off as well, taking Frost and Sektor with him.

"NO!" shouted Sub-Zero. "This ...this can't be…"

"Kuai, you tried your best." Assured Cyrax.

"I ….I've failed her…" Sub-Zero fell to his knees in despair. "Just as I failed Bi-Han, Tomas, and Sektor… I've failed her. I was always going to fail her."

"We can still save her, right?" Sareena asked, clutching at some form of hope to try and save Kuai from his despair. "She hasn't been gone long, and there must be some way for us to track her."

"Those machines waste no time, they'll turn her into one of them within the hour…" Sub-Zero reasoned, pain present in every word. "Maybe we'd get lucky, and I'm wrong ….but we have no idea where to look for them. Ever since my Lin Kuei relocated to Articka, we have never known where the Tengu dwelled. And even if we did, it is likely that this 'Tekunin' that they have become would have changed locations to better accommodate their new equipment. I have failed."

"You haven't failed until you've given up on hope," Sareena argued. "Hope is what kept us all going while we were in the Netherrealm, and it'll keep you going to. I haven't known you very long, but I knew your brother. And if you were anything like him, I can tell you're the kind of person that keeps fighting. And that's exactly what we need right now."

Sub-Zero nodded, wiping tears from his face as he stood up.

"You …..you are right," he conceded. "We cannot give up ...or lose faith."

"Frost and Sektor have more in common than they realize," spoke Cyrax, with something similar to pride and amusement. "Namely, their tenacity. I think she can protect herself from these Tekunin."

"Frost is the best of us," complimented Chloe, removing her mask now that the battle was over. "She'll be ok."

"And if they do become lost, you have my word, we shall avenge them." added Ashrah.

"I thank you all for your words of kindness and support," Sub-Zero said graciously. "We will overcome the Tekunin."

"That's the spirit, my friend." agreed Stryker.

"However," Sub-Zero then added. "Kurtis, Sareena, Ashrah, Kia, Jataaka. You are not Lin Kuei. This is my clan's battle. If you do not wish to join it, I will understand."

"Are you kidding?" Stryker asked. "Like we wouldn't help you out?"

"The last person to call themselves Sub-Zero did a lot for me," Sareena recounted. "The most I can do to repay them is help you however I can."

"Where Sareena goes and where there are evil-doers to be slain, I find myself quick to follow," Ashrah added, raising her kriss. "You have my sword and myself to aid you in this fight."

"You can count us in too, Sifu!" Sleet exclaimed excitedly, followed by a nod from Chloe.

Sub-Zero nodded. "Thank you. All of you." He then looked at Kia and Jataaka.

"And you?" he asked.

"This isn't our fight," Jataaka said plainly. "But ….we respect your commitment to your allies. And I still owe you for leaving this blade for me to grab."

"If you need us, we'll help," further explained Kia. "Just ...don't expect us to be the first volunteers. Or the second."

"Very well," Sub-Zero accepted. "Then let us prepare for the coming battle. The Tekunin have launched the first strike, now comes our turn."

"I can analyze the cyborgs we've defeated," Cyrax offered. "See if I can figure out more about them."

"I'll help too." Chloe added.

"Give it your best effort." Sub-Zero advised. He then looked down, more solemnly, and spoke so quietly that his words could only faintly be heard:

"I will save you, Frost. I won't fail you ….I won't fail you like Raiden saw in his visions."