Guest Starring
After MK 11/Aftermath Fire God Liu Kang has remade the universe so he's essentially in OG Raiden's place. Bi-Han is the Lin Kuei Grandmaster with Scorpion as his biological brother (in my story Scorpion is Kuai Liang and Hanzo is off living his best life with Harumi and Satoshi) and Smoke as their adopted brother. It's implied Bi-Han might have killed their father for control of the clan. Kenshi starts out as a Yakuza in this game and Johnny has Sento as an ornament. This is my attempt to explain the Kameo system within the game universe. Reminder that as the full game hasn't be released yet I might get some things wrong and also I'm not a gamer.
- Cage Mansion -
Liu Kang said there would be something new about these fights, but Bi-Han had stopped trusting the Fire God a long time ago. Ostensibly under his command for now, the Lin Kuei Grandmaster had set out in search of this Johnny Cage - a Hollywood actor of all things. Liu Kang wanted him to test Cage to see if he was worthy to join Earthrealm's Chosen, but the actor possessed the legendary blade Sento and Bi-Han was determined to take it for himself. An extra prize would be rubbing his ownership of the sword in the face of Kenshi, the Yakuza dog who he knew was on its trail, before Bi-Han killed him with it. If the God queried his destruction of either kombatant, Bi-Han would just explain that they had failed the testing. Things often went awry in battle and who could rely on a celebrity or a gangster?
Things had gone awry, just not in the way he had expected; Cage actually some skill. It was merely an extra challenge, but even before that Bi-Han had sensed a difference which had distracted him - a new potential. And like everything that gave him power, Bi-Han was determined to exploit this potential to its fullest.
Perhaps he should have listened to Liu Kang this time.
"You can summon an ally for your next series of battles," Liu Kang's voice came back to him, that pious face with the freakish eyes irritating Bi-Han even in memory. "You may not know them yet but they too are Earthrealm's Chosen or Allies, as are you. This way you will become familiar with each other. Then you can aid one and other in the wars to come."
"I need no allies save my clan," Bi-Han had replied, leading his brothers to smile in response. If only Scorpion would stop kissing Liu Kang's boots!
Liu Kang's smile was more condescending than usual. "Try it, Bi-Han, you will be surprised at the results."
His look had become knowing and Bi-Han had to resist the urge to slam his ice in the God's face. How many times had he dreamt of that moment? But it had to be planned and planned carefully…
So Bi-Han tried the summoning just to change the pace of the fight. Cage had the home advantage and was far too cocky for him to stomach. Bi-Han's anger had already cost him ground and given the Grandmaster a few bruises to sport too. Loathe to call his brother and admit he - the older sibling - needed aid, he summoned another. He had chosen her at the start of the fight but hadn't called on her until now.
Why her? It must have been being in the mansion of a ridiculous American film star that had Bi-Han thinking of blonde women. There were certainly enough examples around the place. Scorpion was still young enough to stare at the almost nude artwork when they first entered. His brother needed taking to a pleasure house and soon, the boy was too innocent. It made him vulnerable to seductive female opponents. Bi-Han himself rarely had time for the fairer sex and not only did his assassin training make it hard for him to trust a stranger enough to bed her, but few were worthy of the Lin Kuei, especially its Grandmaster. Despite that, he had thought to summon the Edenian princess initially because of her skill as much as her beauty, but Kitana's deference to her sister had annoyed him on their last encounter. Instead Bi-Han's brain had latched on to this golden-haired woman as the potentials ran through his mind and he could have kicked himself. What use was a slim-looking gym instructor of all people? She even had a bandana!
The name 'Sonya Blade' ran through his head as if announced. It was the same voice that urged him to fight and told him to finish his opponents. Bi-Han lived for that voice. His eyes widened as the woman materialised to his left. She glanced at him, smiled, then stretched her neck and took up a fighting stance as if she did this every day.
Fine then, Bi-Han thought, show me what you can do.
The effect on Cage was immediate even before she'd landed a blow. He gaped and his cheeks flushed.
"I've seen you in my dreams," the actor said ardently as if beautiful women manifested in front of him in skimpy outfits all the time.
They probably do, Bi-Han thought with disgust. The idiot looks like he's going to get on one knee!
"Yeah?" Sonya said as she launched herself at Cage in a flurry of punches and kicks. "Did you see this too?"
The first punch broke the actor's A List nose in a spray of red, the next kick had him staggering backwards into his tacky antiques collection before Sonya grabbed his head and smashed it into the polished marble floor. Bi-Han stood back, enjoying watching her work. As Cage moaned in a pool of blood, Sonya returned to Bi-Han's side and he acknowledged her triumphant grin with a nod.
He turned back to Cage who had hauled himself to his feet. Bi-Han could almost admire the fool's persistence. Almost.
"Not your usual experience with women?" Bi-Han couldn't resist saying as Johnny groaned and looked at Sonya with wounded eyes.
"Guess it's not my day," Cage replied, wiping his face. "Not gonna let you win in my hometown though." He fixed his bloodied hands into a Jeet Kune Do pose.
"This land will be covered in ice," Bi-Han announced and summoned his magic. "Starting with you!"
The temperature plummeted as Bi-Han drew on the water in the atmosphere which crystalised into huge daggers of ice. They rose from the ground around him as Bi-Han slid towards Cage. The actor had one moment of horror as he saw the icicles lancing towards him before they impaled him like a ragdoll. Bi-Han then leapt up and finished the actor with a blow from his ice hammer.
He landed and seized a large icicle to use as a spear in case Cage gave him another round, but it wasn't necessary as the actor slumped over, blood leaking down the ice and on to his once pristine floor. Bi-Han raised the ice spear in a brief mark of respect, more for the challenge Cage had offered than anything else. Sonya saluted her opponent too, although otherwise she seemed unruffled by her part in her countryman's demise.
"Poor guy," she said. "Could never stand his movies though." As if to punctuate her comment, the Ancient Egyptian bust behind her fell off and shattered, bits skidding across to the frosted pool.
A odd flash of deja vu haunted Bi-Han as he looked at Cage's corpse. Sometimes during fights, Bi-Han saw flashes of other outcomes, other opponents. Sonya might have even been one of them. It always left him with the uncomfortable feeling he could have been the one dead despite his pride denying it. Liu Kang occasionally dropped hints about other realities and timelines when he was distracted, but Bi-Han could never get a straight answer out of the God. Dreams assaulted him where Scorpion had been his most hated enemy, where he, Bi-Han, had become a remorseless shadow trapped in hell. Were these the past, the future or an alternate world?
Just nightmares…Bi-Han thought, repressing the recurrent images, foolish fantasies.
He turned to Sonya to refocus himself. On appearance she seemed a perfect addition to this frivolous LA toy-house, but her actions had proved otherwise. "Who are you?"
She grinned and saluted again. "Sonya Blade, Special Forces."
She couldn't see his scorn behind the mask but she could tell he was looking her up and down. "You caught me training, asshole. Do you always wear a mask?"
Americans….he thought, letting the insult go for now. "I'm a ninja. The Grandmaster of the greatest clan in Earthrealm - the Lin Kuei!"
"Hmm," she said, touching the point of one of his icicles. "I've heard of you. You certainly fit the name Sub-Zero."
Sonya straightened, unintentionally giving him a good view of her curves. "You better get out of here though, this will be all over the news." She indicated the mess of the mansion, priceless artefacts and high-tech gadgetry alike strewn everywhere. "Guess I'll see you around, ice man."
Bi-Han ignored her momentarily, his eyes drawn to only one thing - Sento. Lifting the sword reverently from its display case, Bi-Han caressed it like a lover.
"That sword is mine!" said a voice from the open doorway.
Kenshi, Bi-Han thought, recognising the voice and turned. Is the whole world going to wander in here?
Guess I'll be seeing you again a lot sooner, Sonya, he smiled to himself as he levelled the blade at the Yakuza grunt and saw Sonya take her fighting stance again.
- The Tea House -
By the third fight Bi-Han was sorely tempted to invite Sonya into the Lin Kuei - gym instructor outfit or no. The Lin Kuei, like much of Chinese tradition, ran on Confucianism - women were supposed to be wives and mothers not fighters. Bi-Han had only let Frost stay in the clan due to Scorpion's pleas and her talents as a cryomancer. But Sonya had proved herself worthy and he couldn't claim to have followed the core ideal of filial piety either after what had happened with his father.
He always seemed to catch her in her training time, but he didn't mind since the lycra attire outlined her toned body nicely. But her looks were nothing to her power, the sheer force of her strikes unbelievable from one so slight. They worked well as a team, each anticipating the other so there was no collision, no wasted movement. She never tried to take his glory, only waiting for a moment to underline his attacks with a particularly vicious finisher. His favourite had to be what she called 'The Kiss of Death' which actually set the opponent on fire, so much so he had to put out the blaze with his cryomancy lest it spread. Ice and fire had always had a certain poetic quality when it was he and Scorpion, now it had a sexual chemistry that had Bi-Han admitting, if only to himself, that he wished she could stick around after the fight.
They were in a Chinese teahouse this time, the wooden furnishings on the upper floor already scattered and smashed in the first bouts. Red lanterns and bamboo birdcages swung in the breeze, the scent of tea and smoke mixing with blood as Bi-Han faced down Kung Lao with Sonya at his side.
She cartwheeled in to kick Kung Lao as he teleported behind Bi-Han and managed to catch the arrogant monk off guard. Bi-Han then hit the fool with a series of strikes from his ice hammer, leaping into the air to rain blows from on high. The monk smashed into a table and Bi-Han heard gasps from the locals as wood and broken ceramic hit the floor.
"Not so tough without your little hat now, are you?" Bi-Han said, relishing his victory over the idiot that had dared to trifle with him.
Give him his due, Kung Lao pulled himself up from the wreckage, face bloodied but defiant. "And you're nothing without your little girlfriend over there," he nodded at Sonya and spat.
Bi-Han didn't even need to call her, Sonya just leapt at Kung Lao kneeing him twice in the face before flipping off of him, crunching his rip cage in the process. The sound of it made even Bi-Han wince. She finished the combo with pink energy blasts to the face; Bi-Han still hadn't worked out if the energy came from her or a special item she possessed. Either way they were effective as the monk slumped to the floor leading the rest of teahouse to gawk and wail at the ruin of his body.
Liu Kang will likely revive him, like he did with Cage, Bi-Han thought with irritation. That often happened, no matter how the Grandmaster finished the fight. How could they be Earthrealm's Chosen when the God kept having to save them?
I am so tired of being his pawn. One day the Lin Kuei will be free of him, Bi-Han swore again to himself. One day soon…
In a room below, Scorpion's fire levelled Raiden - Kung Lao's lightning-wielding companion - with his usual controlled ferocity. Bi-Han watched his brother clasp Smoke's arm in victory and wondered again where they would stand in the fight against Liu Kang. Gaggles of onlookers nearby were torn between fear and curiosity. Some of them even seemed to be betting.
"We have to stop meeting like this," a female voice said lightly behind him.
Shouldn't have turned my back on her, he chided himself as he faced Sonya and found her smiling, arms crossed in a deceptively casual pose. Her look was flirtatious and Bi-Han found himself covertly admiring her again.
It was hard not to imagine what sex would be like after a spar with her. Her smile deepened and he knew she was thinking the same. He'd win first of course, but she would definitely give him a run for his money. Then he could truly put her athletic form to proper use.
"You're good," he said grudgingly, ignoring the patrons behind her still shoving each other as they rushed to leave the building.
She laughed and grabbed a small teacup that had miraculously survived the fight, raising it in a toast to him before drinking. "Not bad yourself."
He froze the tea before she could finish and she grimaced, setting it down with a flat look at him. Bi-Han smirked under his mask.
"Can you try not to get into another fight so soon," she said. "Do you know it's night in the US now?"
He snorted, dismissing his melting ice structures as the proprietress of the teahouse wrung her hands in the background. "I'm surprised you're still wearing that ridiculous outfit then."
Sonya's eyes became hooded even as magical light began to swirl around her to take her home. "Good job you didn't summon me later otherwise I'd have nothing on at all." The last thing he saw of her was her smirk as she dematerialised and Bi-Han ground his icy fists together.
Damned woman… Now that was all he was going to think about.
Maybe after the next fight they could do something about it…
Hope you enjoyed! Leave me a comment if you liked the story - I might do more.
Never thought I'd write for this pairing, but they look so good together and it's nice to see Bi-Han in the spotlight again after so many years.
Story notes:
Sorry to CageBlade fans - I like that pairing too so the first scene was a little heartbreaking. I was trying to be true to the game as we've seen it so far re Cage Mansion from Sub-Zero's POV. I've always found it a little odd that you have the overarching plot and then one character can brutally kill another then the plot continues but that's MK! Just tried to rationalise it a bit here. At least Liu revived him!
I sold Confucianism quite short here but it's an MK fanfic not a dissertation. Just wanted to briefly link to the Lin Kuei's roots and Noob Saibot's taunt to Frost in MK 11 that he wouldn't have let her join the clan if he had been Grandmaster then. Although the general consensus is that he was just saying that to p*ss her off.
You should notice a few references and intros. Managed to get Bi-Han's "Ice will cover this land!" in although I had to modify it, but you are lucky I didn't put in "Ice to beat you!" (Yes our brutal assassin really does say that in game - Dad Jokes for the win!)
I also tried to add a metaplot hinting at other outcomes in game. You can decide if the characters are stuck in the game itself or if the gameworld is in fact a multiverse.