Chapter Nine: Partners in Crime

Deep within the many acres of rainforests in Peru, the residents of Neblina were living a peaceful life and going about their day in bliss. The town got its name due to the strange mist that surrounds it no matter what the current weather was. But there are a few of Neblina's citizens who are concerned about how the mist has become even thicker these past few days, making it look more like fog instead. They knew something weird was going on.

One such individual was a young man named Mar. He has only lived in Neblina for less than a year now, but when he first discovered the small village, Mar found himself drawn to the mist. As if it was calling to him. So, Mar decided to make Neblina his new home and is known as the "Lone Fisher '' to his fellow neighbors. Not only was Mar quite talented at fishing, but he liked to keep to himself, hence how he obtained his title among the townspeople.

"Mar?" Being pulled from his thoughts, Mar turned to the tall man that stood beside him, a basket of fish in each of his hands. The man looked down at Mar with a smile, his form towering over his younger friend. "You alright? You spaced out on me for a second there."

Mar waved a dismissive hand at the taller man. "Nothing to worry about, Alberto. Ready to go?"

Alberto nodded and Mar quickly grabbed a fish basket for himself before the two men began walking down the wide dirt road. As they walked, Alberto tried to make small talk with his usually quiet companion. "Good job with the haul you brought in! What's your secret? Are you some sort of fish whisperer?"

Mar only shrugged, not offering any answers to Alberto's questions.

"Ahem." Alberto awkwardly cleared his throat and continued. "Did you learn some tricks back where you're from?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you planning on going down the river again tomorrow?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh…well how about I join you—?"

"Good-bye, Alberto." Without warning, Mar suddenly turned down another road, leaving poor Alberto by himself. But before he completely left the taller man's sight, Mar yelled something back to Alberto. "Six."

Alberto frowned as he watched Mar walk away. "What was that?"

"Meet me at my place. Tomorrow morning at six. If you're late, I'll leave you." Mar said no more and soon turned a corner, disappearing from Alberto's vision. If he had looked back for a moment before leaving, Mar would have seen the huge smile on Alberto's face.

Shortly after the two men parted ways, Mar had made his way to a long pier on the edge of the town. He had only walked halfway down the wooden dock before a familiar voice called his name from behind.

"Hey, Mar! Long time no see!"

Mar froze. No, the man thought to himself. Of all people, why did it have to be HIM?" Clenching his teeth, Mar spun around with anger burning in his eyes. "You've got a lot of ne—!" But the moment Mar laid eyes on the newcomer, he stopped mid sentence and stared in shock at the man that was now standing in front of him. He could only stare in shock at the other man's disfigured visage.

"Um…like the new look?" The newcomer chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable with Mar's staring. "Yeeeaaaaahhhh. It's a…It's a long story."

Mar squinted his eyes as he continued to look at the other man's face. He just could not believe the man standing before him was the same man he knew so many years ago. "...Kabal?"

Nodding, Kabal confirmed his identity for Mar. "It's me, old friend. Look, I know I'm probably the last person you wanna see right now, but—"

"You think, asshole?" Mar suddenly threw down the fish basket he was carrying and stomped towards Kabal, not stopping until their noses were only an inch apart. "After what you did to me, you have the gall to show your face here!?"

"Mar, it was an accident! How many times do I have to apologize for you to forgive me?"

"Apologizing isn't going to bring back my—!" Mar stopped when he noticed something behind Kabal. There was a group of people he did not recognize heading down the pier now. They must be with Kabal, Mar assumed, but as the strangers came closer to his position, the man noticed something about the two at the front of the group. One was a blonde woman wearing a white t-shirt and green shorts, and the other was an African-American man with a black vest and…did he have metal arms or something?

Ignoring that, Mar's attention was on the small, shiny pieces of metal hanging around their necks. Dog tags. Mar looked to Kabal once more in disbelief. "Are…did you bring the fucking military to my doorstep?"

Kabal's eyes widened, realizing that he had upset Mar even more. "No, Mar, it's not…yes, they're military, but I swear it's not what you think!"

"Oh my god…" Mar shook his head and slowly backed away from Kabal. "You came to turn me in, didn't you? I broke free, and now my past has come back to haunt me. YOU came back to haunt me!"

"I'm telling you, that's not why we're here!"

"Uh, excuse me?" Mar and Kabal's conversation was interrupted by the blonde, who stood before the two men with her hands on her hips. "Sorry to interrupt this…lovely little reunion, but Kabal—" The woman tapped on her wrist communicator a few times. "We don't have a lot of time."

Kabal nodded at the blonde. "I know, Sonya. I'm working on it." The man turned back to face Mar. "Mar, I promise you, we're not here to arrest you or anything. They know that you were a part of the Black Dragon along with me."

"Oh, that's just great—!"

"BUT—!" Kabal raised his hand to stop Mar's rant. "I managed to convince them not to arrest you since they know how…persuasive Kano can be." Kabal shrugged. "And the fact that I helped save the world from a dickhead of a tyrant also came in handy."

Mar scoffed. "So what? I owe you now? If anything, that's the least you could do for all the shit I've had to go through because of you!" The man then reached for his left pants leg and quickly pulled it up, revealing the horrible truth underneath. "This is what your mistake cost me, Kabal."

In the place of what should have been a human leg was a metal prosthetic leg. It had a few scratches here and there, but overall it was in good condition. Mar made sure to take excellent care of the prosthesis. "You did this to me."

Kabal opened his mouth to say something, but he struggled to find the right words to say. "I…I know I…I just…" The man sighed and looked down at the ground. "...You're right. It was my fault. And I don't blame you for hating me." Kabal clenched his fists and looked up again at Mar. "But Mar, this…what's going on right now is so much bigger than you can imagine. The world is at stake. So please…don't let your hate for me blind you to what's important."

Mar only grunted in response to Kabal's words. He then turned away from his former comrade and crossed his arms. "...What do you want with me?"

Kabal let out a sigh of relief. He was just glad Mar was willing to listen to what he had to say. "There's this old temple somewhere around here and the locals told us that you could guide us. All we need is a ride and we'll be out of your hair."

"Wait." Mar spun around with wide eyes. "Are you here for those guys in the red cloaks?"

Besides Sonya, the rest of Kabal's comrades had been standing quietly a good distance away from him and Mar. They feared Mar would feel overwhelmed if they all decided to approach him at once, but from where they were standing, they could still hear bits and pieces of the conversation. Tomas, however, could hear them as clearly as if he were standing right next to Kabal and Mar, and he had heard Mar mention the men in red cloaks.

"He saw them." Tomas blurted out, attracting the attention of the other champions.

Kuai Liang frowned at his silver-haired friend. "The Red Dragon?"

"Yes. He says he saw some people in red cloaks earlier heading in the direction of the temple. He thought it was just his imagination since apparently no one else saw them but him."

"I see." Kuai placed a hand under his chin in thought. "But what is so important about the temple? Besides the fact that it was created for Argus himself, of course."

Tomas nodded and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black hoodie. "Yeah." He then looked back in the direction of Kabal, Mar, and Sonya who were still talking. "Kuai, can I ask you something?"

Seeing the serious expression on Tomas' face, Kuai Liang's full attention was now on him. "Yes. What is it?"

"Um…what made you guys come to Prague in the first place?"

"Oh." Kuai should have realized Tomas' mind was still on the recent events that occurred in Prague. "Cyrax had detected a high energy surge coming from that location. Since we were aware of your presence in Prague, we knew something had happened and immediately made our way towards the location of the surge. And then…we found you."

"Oh. Okay." Tomas then let out a sigh. "...I'm sorry."

Kuai's eyes widened slightly, surprised by his friend's sudden apology. "For what?"

"I… I should have called you guys for help the moment things got bad. But with everything happening all at once with the men in red cloaks, the attack on Vesnice Ruda, Daegon, Delia—!" Tomas stopped when he realized he was raising his voice and took a breath before continuing. "I'm just…sorry."

Kuai listened quietly as Tomas spoke, but once Tomas was finished, the cryomancer finally said something. "...You are forgiven." Kuai then patted Tomas on his shoulder. "Yes, I am…irritated that you did not call for help when you should have. But I thank you for acknowledging that and apologizing for it. The old you would have insisted on handling things on your own without a second thought as to not put any of us in danger."

"And the old you would have tried to knock some sense into me. Literally, that is." Tomas chuckled. "I'll try my best not to let it happen again."

Kuai Liang nodded and gave Tomas one more pat before letting go of his shoulder. "I will hold you to that, Tomas." The cryomancer looked away from his friend, and Tomas followed Kuai's gaze, watching as Kabal, Mar, and Sonya were slowly walking towards them. "And you can make it up to me by telling me all about your adventure in Prague once this is over. Well, the bits that do not involve the Red Dragon, of course."

Tomas smiled. "Yeah. Will do."

"Hey guys!" Approaching the rest of his allies, Kabal smiled as he stopped before them while Mar stood by his side, clearly still angry with the speedster. But Kabal took it as a good thing that Mar was only sulking instead of trying to kill him. "We got a ride! Whenever you're ready, we can get going. And try not to scratch Mar's boat, would ya?"

The Champions of Light sailed down the Amazon River with Mar piloting his boat. It was black in color with much of the paint coming off and it was not a particularly large boat, but it was big enough for passengers to sit comfortably within it. Speaking of the passengers, the champions were discussing things among themselves, but Kabal's thoughts were elsewhere. He could not stop thinking about Mar and all the time that had passed since they last saw one another. After that terrible incident…

"Hey." Kabal was pulled out of his thoughts by Stryker, who was sitting next to the speedster. "You alright?"

Kabal waved a dismissive hand at his partner. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

"Hmph." Obviously not believing Kabal's words, Kurtis stared at the speedster with a deadpan expression on his face. "You really gonna do this with me?"

"Do what?"

"Kabal, come on. I'm your partner, for god's sake! I know you, and I know when you're upset. Don't lie to me."

"I…" Kabal chuckled. "You know what? You're right. I don't know why I even tried." The speedster's face grew serious again. "It's about Mar."

"Yeah. I kinda figured that out on my own."

"Right. But I haven't told you about…what happened between us, have I?"

"I know you don't like to talk about your Black Dragon days, and I would never force you to do so."

"Yeah, I know. And I know I can trust you." Kabal chuckled. "I mean, what kinda partners would we be if we didn't trust one another?"

Stryker laughed along with his partner. "The ones who probably would've gotten shot on our very first day working together."

"Well, I DID try to shoot you when we first met…"

"Right, and fuck you for that."

Kabal shrugged and leaned back with his hands behind his head, looking up into the sky. "Fair enough…at least I didn't cause you to lose your whole fucking leg."

"Kabal—"

"He's right, you know?" Kabal stole a glance at Mar while the other man was focused on steering the boat. "If I…If I had been…I noticed it too late, Stryker." Stryker said nothing, but he gave Kabal his full attention and a small nod to urge the speedster to continue. And so, Kabal did just that. "It was a couple of years back, and Mar was just getting the hang of things in the Black Dragon. Around that time, Kano had agreed to meet with the leader of a rival clan to talk about a trade. They had money, we had weapons."

"That sounds simple enough, right? We knew it could be a trap, and sure enough, it was. But being a crime syndicate, we were more than prepared to deal with it. There was a huge shootout and Mar and I ran behind some crates to protect ourselves from bullet fire. I told Mar to go ahead and I'd cover him from behind, but…he was almost out of harm's way when I saw something flying over me. I realized too late that…it was a grenade."

It only took Kurtis a second to put the pieces together. "...Mar was caught in the blast." Kabal said nothing, but that was all the confirmation his partner needed. "God. Kabal, you…you can't blame yourself for what happened. It wasn't your fau—"

"You know—" Someone suddenly interrupted Stryker, and everyone's attention was now on Mar, who had been quiet ever since they got on the boat. "I thought you of all people would understand." Mar glanced over his shoulder. "Stryker, right? Let me ask you something."

Stryker frowned, wondering what Mar wanted to ask him. "Um…yeah, sure."

"Do you trust him?"

"Kabal?"

Mar nodded.

"Well, yeah. Of course." Kurtis looked at his partner and smiled. "He's my partner. My best friend."

Mar scoffed. "So, you really trust him with your life?"

"I do. Look Mar—" Stryker let out a deep sigh before continuing. "If what Kabal told me is true, then are you angry because he didn't warn you about the grenade fast enough, so you could get out of harm's way?"

"I'm angry because he lied! He said he would cover me, and look what happened! I lost my leg, my clan abandoned me because they deemed me useless, and just when I finally found some peace, YOU—" Mar finally turned around to face Kabal, the scowl on his face deepening as he did so. "You came and ruined it! And you know what? Whatever the hell made you into this…horrorshow, I'd like to thank them in person. It's the least you deserve, Kabal!"

"Now just hold on a damn minute, sir!" Another of Earthrealm's champions decided to engage in the argument, and it was none other than Jax. The man stood from his seat and glared back at Mar. "Okay, you're pissed, I get that. Hell, I was pissed when I lost both of my arms about a year ago. But you don't see me pointing fingers at anyone, do you?"

"You just don't understand—"

"No, YOU don't understand, Mar! Yes, Kabal said he had your back. But you guys were in the middle of a shootout. There was so much going on, and you really expected for Kabal, one guy, to protect you from every little thing that came your way!?"

"But—"

Jackson would not allow Mar to speak even for a second. "He tried, Mar! That's what matters! And you want to know what's really crazy about this? I bet no one else in that clan gave a damn about whether you lived or died! You were part of a clan of criminals, dammit! You really thought they were going to have your back?"

Jax turned to Kabal with an apologetic look on his face. "No offense, Kabal."

"Eh." Kabal waved a hand. "None taken."

Jax smiled. "Good." But his smile faded as quickly as it appeared and he was back to scowling at Mar. "But do you see my point, Mar? You're angry, that's understandable. But you're angry at the wrong person. If anything, you should be angry at Kano. He did force you to join the Black Dragon, right?" Jax then looked around to his comrades. "Trust me, we all have our reasons to hate that bastard."

Silence fell as all eyes were on Mar, waiting for the man to say something. Shaking his head, Mar turned around and went back to steering his boat. "...It's just up ahead."

"Indeed it is, my friend." A few shouts and gasps could be heard and everyone was scrambling away from the back of the boat with most of them already armed. There sitting with a playful smile on his face was the god of wind himself, Fujin. "Ah, Raiden did warn me not to just "appear out of nowhere". How careless of me."

"What the—FUJIN!?" A shocked Johnny Cage addressed the wind god while comically hiding behind Sonya. She was not amused, but Cage did not seem to notice. "What are you doing here? I thought you and Rai-dude were—"

"Consulting with the Elder Gods?" Fujin chuckled. "Why yes, we were. But once our meeting was over, I convinced Raiden to allow me to assist you all on your current mission in his stead."

"Really?" Johnny frowned. "But…why? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but did you ask Raiden to stand down?"

Fujin leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "I suppose you could call this a test for me, Johnny Cage."

"A test?"

"Yes." Fujin nodded his head. "Do not worry. If the situation does become dire, Raiden will come to aid us. But if not then…this may very well be a "win-win" as you Earthrealmers would call it."

Earthrealm's champions were clearly confused as they had no idea what Fujin was even talking about. But they did not question him further and chose to focus on the mission at hand. Kabal, however, was still focused on Mar, who was also surprised by Fujin's unexpected appearance, but he kept his eyes on the water. "Um, Mar? Are you—?"

"I'm fine." Mar responded quickly to Kabal. "Just…not now, okay? Please."

Kabal honestly wanted to say more, but he soon decided against it. He could only pray that he and Mar would be able to speak properly at another time. After all, Kabal truly wanted to make amends.

Hey guys! I hope you're having an awesome Christmas today! And here's a Christmas present from me to you: chapter nine of "A Champion's Will". I hope you guys enjoy it!