Mortal Kombat; A Second Chance
~A/N~ Eno-on: Merry Christmas everybody, alright everyone is gathered, and the mission has been set.
Eno-on: No-one is gonna have to watch MK 11 chapter 4 on loop for a while for this one, but we have some action scenes planned out.
"Speech" 'Thought' "Read Text"
Disclaimer: I don't own ~'Mortal Kombat'~
~Chapter 22 Groundbreaking Work~
Sub-zero was almost completely silent the entire journey, not saying more than a handful of words at a time.
"This is far enough" he said to the pilot "my allies and I will move on foot from here"
The women gathered their weapons together and climbed out of the vehicle to join the mission leader.
"I see, you wish to approach undetected" Ashrah guessed, Sub-zero nodded in confirmation "I assume you know the best path from here" another nod was her only answer.
The cryomancer led the way up a fairly steep mountain path, 'I'm glad I wore my boots today' Mileena thought to herself "how far is it to the quarry?" she asked.
"Three miles" Sub-zero answered "we will need to be careful when we arrive, we will be heavily outnumbered"
Conversation ground to a halt as everyone continued the journey, Mileena struggled to keep her hammer with her, still not proficient enough with her to summon it.
Eventually the group of four came to halt on top of a cliff that over looked the quarry directly, Sub-zero lowered himself down to the ground, the rest of them following his lead, and pulled a small telescope out from his belt.
Mileena placed her hammer onto the ground and tried to look out at the scene before her "what's the plan?" she whispered.
"We could enter through that tunnel" he answered, pointing at the entrance in question "but a frontal assault will be…"
"Stupid, I'm not gonna sugar coat it" Sareena finished "what are our other options?"
"I agree" he continued, he offered the spyglass and pointed a ways off "there's another entrance, less populated"
When Mileena got her turn to look, she could see a smaller tunnel entrance with a lone guard, "we need to be careful regardless" she muttered "we're gonna outnumbered by a large amount"
"I know, that's why what I'm going to ask will be difficult" said Sub-zero, drawing their complete attention "when inside, it'll be best if we split into two teams, with one acting as a diversion"
"What will the other team be doing?" Sareena gulped.
"The other team will be focusing on freeing the prisoners and taking data from the Lin-Kuei's servers" he answered.
"You'll have to lead that team then" Mileena spoke, drawing looks from the other two women "Sub-zero is the only one here who would know how to access the data"
"So two of us have to potentially sacrifice ourselves for the mission" said Ashrah with a grim expression "I ask that you save as many prisoners as possible in my place"
"Ashrah?" Mileena asked.
"I cannot allow someone else to give their life in my place" the white-clad demon answered "whoever comes along with, I'll do my best to defend you"
Mileena clenched her fists tightly "I'll do it" she spoke up "I agree with what you said Ashrah, so I'll defend you too"
"Are the two of you sure?" Sareena asked, with an unsure look.
"I'm sure" Mileena nodded before turning back to Sub-zero "Ashrah and I have more combat oriented skills, so it makes more sense for us to run the distraction"
"Very well, I am in your debt" he replied "we should move, it would be best to take out that guard without detection"
The group moved around the outskirts of the quarry's cliffs, towards the side tunnel, Sub-zero made an attempt to attack the lone guard only for Sareena to place a hand on his shoulder and nod to Mileena and Ashrah.
Mileena jumped down, landing behind the cyborg and swung her hammer, shattering the steel kneecaps and causing it to fall to the ground, Ashrah came down from above soon afterwards, stabbing her sword through the cyborg's skull.
When Sareena and Sub-zero descended down to their level "impressive" he whispered, the group then hurried down the tunnel, when the path split in two separate directions "good luck, both of you" said Sub-zero, before he and Sareena took the left side path.
"You too" Mileena mumbled before joining Ashrah on the right hand path.
The two women's journey through the facility came to a halt when they came across a locked door, "I don't think this door will open for us" Ashrah commented.
"Well if we can't use their doors…" Mileena replied, motioning for Ashrah to step back before raising her hammer to attack "we'll have to make our own"
Mileena concentrated on her magic, letting it flow through her arms to make them stronger, before swinging her hammer as hard as she could at the steel doors.
Two things happened simultaneously, one; an alarm started blaring loudly around them and two; there was now a large open space between the massively dented doors.
Walking through into the room, they could see several dismembered limbs covering the center of the floor, and another grey Cyber Lin-Kuei suspended on a multi-ringed wheel of some kind.
"Such a tragic loss of life" Ashrah muttered, examining the remains on the floor.
Mileena looked away from the grisly scene "this room looks important, I say we start breaking some stuff" she suggested, moving over to the inactive cyborg, walking a full orbit around it revealed an opening in it's head that was empty "I think this is where the conversion happens"
"Then I think we should as you said 'start breaking some stuff'" Ashrah agreed before walking over to the yet to be active cyborg and slicing it's head off.
It didn't take long before active Lin-Kuei started pouring into the room, Mileena ran towards them and smashed her hammer down on one's head, leaning forward and using the weapon to pole-vault and kick the next one in the face, releasing her hammer she elbowed another in the face and drew her pistol with her free hand and fired into the crowd to chip away their armour.
The moment her gun clicked empty, Mileena tossed it upwards into the air and drew her sai, immediately stabbing the faces of a cyborg on either side of her, using them as leverage she jumped and hit the now descending gun with an axe kick, launching into the group with a satisfying clang.
Ashrah waited for the cyborgs to get closer to her before initiating her attack, she thrust her sword forward, stabbing a Lin-Kuei in the stomach region, pulling the blade upwards she bisected the first opponent, reaching out with her free hand she grabbed it's wire ponytail and pulled hard, spinning the dead cyborg around her and knocking the legs out from under the other robots.
The demon moved quickly to execute the fallen cyborgs with swift be-headings, she was soon stopped as another Lin Kuei attempted to punch her, parrying the blow, she focused on the teachings the Shaolin had bestowed on her and attacked with an open palm thrust, a burst of light emitting from her hand and blasting a hole through her opponent and burning the armour of the enemy behind him.
The two women retreated slightly to regroup. "Ashrah, do you trust me?" Mileena asked, moving her second sai to her right hand.
"Yes I do"
"Good, then jump" Mileena ordered, grabbing Ashrah's left arm with her own, and began to spin in place, the demoness focused on her legs as the duo span, a golden glow started to emit from her shins and feet leaving a bright trail behind her, every enhanced kick damaging the Lin-Kuei who got too close, as Mileena started to slow down Ashrah stomped her foot on the golden ring causing it to explode and knock all the surrounding enemies to the ground.
Both women steadied their feet and took a moment to breathe, slightly dizzy Mileena stared at all the bodies around them "I think we can move on for now" she said softly.
Ashrah turned to look at her, an alarmed look on her face "Mileena look out" the demon cried, pushing her to the floor, she looked up just in time to see a new coloured cyborg stab Ashrah in the stomach.
"ASHRAH!"
Sareena followed after Kuai Liang, ducking into cover whenever a passing cyborg walked by, it didn't take too long after splitting up for the duo to faintly hear an alarm in the distance.
"I guess that means, that Mileena and Ashrah are taking their role seriously" she whispered, to which Sub-zero nodded, the cryomancer led the way through multiple corridors, eventually Sub-zero stopped outside a sealed door, "is this what we're after?"
Sub-zero didn't reply, but simply created two rods of ice with one thin end and one curved end, he jammed both into the double door's seam "on the count of three, I need you to pull on this as hard as you can" he whispered "we're going to pry these doors open" Sareena took her position and got ready "1… 2… 3!"
With a grunt of effort, the two of them forced the doors open, the interior of the room was covered wall to wall in computers, "this is where we can access the Lin-Kuei's data" said Sub-zero "members, locations, plans"
"What about the prisoners?" she asked.
"I can find where they keep them here" he answered "and we can move the data drive easier then other people"
"You won't be accomplishing either of those goals today Sub-zero" said an unknown voice, before a white Cyber Lin-Kuei dropped down from the ceiling "I do not know how you returned to your original state, but I will see you and your comrades captured and your upgrades restored"
"Oniro is that you?" Kuai Liang asked, looking at the cyborg in detail, he was covered in white armour plating that had multiple hinges clearly more dexterous than the typical Cyber Lin-Kuei, 'probably to mimic his shapeshifting abilities'
"Yes it is" he answered "and unlike you Kuai Liang, I did not forsake my upgrades"
"We need to get him out of the room" Sareena hissed "I'll fight him, you get the data"
Without wasting a moment Sub-zero slid forwards, using his ice to propel himself at Oniro's legs, the cyborg predicted the attack and jumped over the crouching cryomancer, Oniro was unprepared for the follow up attack in which Sub-zero snap-turned and planted a double palm strike on his opponent's steel back, launching him out into the corridor.
Sareena acted quickly and drew her daggers, she leapt at the fallen cyborg as Sub-zero erected a wall of ice in the doorway.
Oniro rolled out of the way of the downward strike before leaping back to his feet "you are not human" it wasn't a question but a statement.
"No, I'm a demon" she answered tightening her grip "from the Netherrealm"
"You will be studied" was his only reply before he dashed forward with surprising speed, he punched her in the stomach, Sareena retaliated with a vicious headbutt, Oniro took a step back to avoid the follow up slash of her dagger.
Sareena pressed on swinging her right weapon at the cyborg's face and throwing the left one in the air, Oniro was slightly distracted by the thrown weapon and barely avoided the weapon still in her hand, scratching his metal cheek, reaching up she snatched the other dagger form the air and slammed it's pommel down into the cyborg's face plate.
Oniro grunted, stumbling back with hand holding his face, Sareena pressed her advantage and sent a kick at his chest, Oniro grabbed her foot and twisted it in his grip.
To prevent her ankle from being broken, she jumped into the air spinning with his rotation, the cyborg instead grabbed her other leg and slammed her onto the ground, knocking the air from her lungs.
The white-clad Lin-Kuei flexed his hands, his fingers shifting into claws and the plates on his legs adjusted into a more animalistic shape, all of this occurred right before he pounced on top of her.
Sareena was barely able to catch his wrists, his metal body had a lot of weight behind it, making her defence all the more difficult, 'I need to get out from underneath him' she thought desperately, absently she noticed a growing black circle forming on the ceiling, 'what is that?' was the only thing she had time to think of before a sudden weightless feeling came over her.
A black flash encompassed her vision for a moment and the next she was falling from that spot on the ceiling, not knowing how this happened, but knowing it gave her an opening, she threw her bodyweight to one side as best she could, putting Oniro between the floor and herself.
The two of them slammed hard onto the ground, she unintentionally headbutted him again, before she could groan in pain, he moved his legs and kicked her in the stomach with both feet, his legs shifting to accommodate, and sending her off him and onto her back.
She rolled backwards on to one knee, staring him down as he rose to his feet, she drew her sister's energy blade, but kept it hidden behind her back, she stood tensing her legs, ready to move.
Oniro made the first move, his left hand shifting back to normal, his right staying as a set of claws, he began charging towards her, Sareena started moving to meet him halfway, she threw a punch with her free hand which the cyborg parried with his own he then attempted to stab her with his claws in counterattack.
Sareena smirked as she ducked below the deadly digits, pulling the energy blade from behind her back, she swung and severed his right arm from his body, continuing her momentum she kicked him in the chest with both legs and used him as a springboard to get some distance.
The demon let out a breath of minor exhaustion, she watched as Oniro climbed back to his feet, his shoulder sparking and spewing liquids, he stared at the blade in her hand before turning his gaze to his severed arm on the floor and finally his injury.
Before either of the combatants could make a move, the ice wall blocking off the server room shattered, releasing an icy mist into the corridor, Oniro took this as his cue to leave, he bolted and leapt in to the air, the plates across his body shifting loudly when he landed on his three remaining limbs he resembled jaguar, he then ran at an incredible pace.
"Damn it" she muttered before turning to Sub-zero "where are we going now?"
"The detention block isn't too far from here" he answered, he paused for a moment "can you continue with that head injury?"
Sareena reached up and touched her forehead, she winced and pulled her hand away to see blood, the cut likely came from when she headbutted the cyborg after their fall "I'll be fine" she answered "I want to talk to you about something later"
"Alright" he nodded, he turned to walk down the corridor "follow me"
Mileena stared in shock for a moment, Ashrah's white attire slowly turned red, snapping out of her surprise, she launched herself off the ground with all the force she could, slamming into the side of the Lin-Kuei member like a cannon ball.
Mileena caught her friend before she could fall "Ashrah, please be okay" she whispered.
"I'll be fine" the demon grunted "you need to focus on threat in front of you"
Mileena kept her eyes on the cyborg as she moved Ashrah over to the wall where she could try and rest, after placing her down gently she returned to the center of the room to face her opponent.
He was a tall dark blue cyborg with black plates mixed in across his body, there was some glowing blue lines running throughout his body and two cylinder containers on his shoulder blades.
"Who are you?" she asked, holding her sigh tightly.
"I am Hydro" he responded "you are trespassing, you will be captured and assimilated into the Lin-Kuei"
The two of them charged at each other, Mileena attempted to stab him with her sai only for Hydro to jump and kick her in the chest, causing her to stagger backwards while stood in a fighting stance.
Mileena sheathed her sai and charged back at Hydro swinging her fists, he dodged her left punch and blocked her right, after hitting his forearm, she quickly span clockwise and landed a roundhouse kick on his face, she attempted to follow up with a right, only for it to be blocked by the cyborg's forearm once again, undeterred she connected a left hook across his face.
Before she could continue her assault, he hit her in the stomach with a palm strike, suddenly she found herself being launched back across the room, after hitting the floor she realized her clothes were soaked and there was a trail of water between her and her opponent.
'So that's why he's call Hydro' she thought to herself, she idly noticed circular openings on his palms 'probably connected to those containers' Hydro touched his palms together in front of his chest, as he pulled his hands apart Mileena could see electricity arcing between his fingers.
'Oh no' Mileena thought in a panic, scrambling to move out of the puddle of water, by the time he touched the water trail she had managed to dive over a pile of cyborg corpses, breaking the water line 'that was too close', picking up one of the other Lin-Kuei bodies, she hurled it at her opponent in distract him and create an opening for herself.
Hydro simply sidestepped the improvised projectile and advanced on her position, Mileena threw a right hook at his face but he deflected her arm with a high kick, the moment his foot hit the ground he brought it back up in an attempt to kick her in the side, reacting quickly she threw her arms down and managed to block his attack.
The cyborg pulled his leg back and used his momentum to launch a kick at her unguarded side, the blow made her grunt in pain and left her vulnerable for the following high kick at her chin, the hit made her jaws slam together painfully and knocked her onto the floor.
As she fell, she quickly drew one of her sai and threw it at the blue cyborg, Hydro deflected the weapon with a backhand, sending the sai spinning into the air above him, Mileena focused on the airborne weapon and pulled herself to it, disappearing from her place in front of her opponent and reappearing in the air above him.
Sai in hand she slammed down on Hydro, stabbing through his left water container, he struggled in an attempt to get her off his back, acting quickly she grabbed the other storage tank on his back and pulled with all her might, with ear piercing screech the bolts holding the container snapped.
Mileena leapt off Hydro's back, water tank still in hand, before her feet even hit the ground Hydro advanced toward her, hands sparking with electricity, 'Let's hope this works' she thought to herself as an idea popped into her head, just before Hydro's hand made contact with her, she slammed the container over his head breaking it open and soaking him with water.
Hydro spasmed with a scream as he electrocuted himself, Mileena took a step focusing on calling her hammer, she was surprised when it appeared in her hand directly, instead of flying to her, deciding not to question it she swung the war hammer up wards as hard as she could, hitting Hydro's chin and knocking his head clean off.
When the cyborg's body fell limp on the floor Mileena sighed in relief, only to wince from a sharp pain in her ribs, she leaned on her hammer for a moment to catch her breath.
"Good work Mileena" Ashrah wheezed.
Mileena quickly turned to face injured demon, she quickly regretted that choice as the room seemed to spin around her, she stumbled over to her friend "are you okay Ashrah?"
"I feel that I should be asking you that" she coughed "I don't think either of us can continue to be an adequate distraction for Sub-zero and Sareena"
"You need help for that stab wound" Mileena said quietly "I don't know what to do"
"If you feel up to it, just help me walk for now" Ashrah held out a hand for Mileena to help her up, after standing up, she leant against the wall "but you should retrieve your opponent's body, Major Blade did ask us to recover some Cyber Lin-Kuei"
"Okay, I need to pull my sai out of his back anyway" she muttered, walking over to the blue cyborg, she nudged him over with her foot, exposing the container still on his back, reaching down she tugged hard and freed the weapon from it's place before sheathing back on her belt.
She threw Hydro's body over her shoulder and tried to ignore the pain in her side that the action caused, she dragged herself back over to Ashrah and supported her with her free shoulder "come on, let's get out of here"
0
When Sareena and Kuai Liang made it down to the detention block, they could see it was in quite the sorry state, most of the cells were empty and a lot of the others only contained corpses, however the duo were able to find a small amount of survivors.
"W-who are you?" a young girl asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
"My name is Sareena and this is Kuai Liang" Sareena replied gently "we're here to save you, can you please step away from the bars" the prisoners complied with the request, Sareena looked at her partner for a moment "can you…?"
He nodded before freezing the bars solid, Sareena drew her sister's energy blade and blasted the frozen bars, shattering the weakened metal.
"Is there anyone who can't move on their own?" she asked looking at the group of six they had found.
The young girl was the only one to raise her hand "I-I can't walk" she stuttered.
"It's okay" Sareena reassured "what's your name?"
"M-Mia"
"Don't worry Mia, I'll carry you and my friend here will protect us" carefully Sareena picked up Mia in a piggyback "okay stay close everyone"
0
The two groups met up once more outside, Sareena instantly growing concerned when she say the state Mileena and Ashrah were in, Sub-zero couldn't help but stare at the body on Mileena's shoulder.
Mileena and Ashrah were both breathing heavily for the return trip to the transport, it was a different route then what they had taken before and both injured women were grateful, it was only when medics came out of the transport that Mileena focused and summoned her hammer to her hand.
~A/N~ Eno-on: Yes Oniro from the "Defenders of the Realms" cartoon was repurposed to serve as an antagonist alongside Hydro from the comics/MK Legacy, mainly to save Cyrax and Sektor for later.
Eno-on: And Cyber Oniro was inspired by "Iron Black Panther" from the "Next Avengers" animated movie, with the shapeshifting.
Eno-on: Can the guest reviewer from December 9th explain when they said about animating this story, please PM No-one.
Eno-on: Eno-on out.