Chapter 18: Black Dragon Tower
The Special Forces begin to lift off and are heading to the Black Dragon tower. One of the many bases of the evil illegal clan. Anthony will be leading the mission with Flora and Kabal. Alex and Cassie stay behind to keep an eye out for updates from the twins just in case something goes wrong. Once they completed their objective and arrested their enemy, Alex and Cassie would head to Chaosrealm to find the Kamidogu and get out of there as fast as possible. Nothing is easy, especially in the world of Mortal Kombat.
As soldiers pilot the jets and make their way to their destination, they think about the dangers that lie ahead. For them, for the family and for the realms. Flora herself couldn't stop thinking about the disciplining word her parents said to her and her brother. "Hey, kiddo. You doing alright?" Kabal asked Flora, getting her attention.
"Yeah. I guess so." Flora lied, trying to keep a straight face on.
"I know a liar when I see one. Let me tell you, Kano was always a fucking shitty liar. You can tell me anything." Kabal tells her.
"It's just that… the way dad acted towards us. I have never seen him like that before." Flora said, referring to Alex yelling at them. "I want to help them so badly and help us be the best there is. And yet sometimes I feel like they baby me."
Kabal listened and nods to her words. Despite having no experience with parenting, he knows what Alex and Cassie were trying to say to the twins. From what he has seen, he knows that they know when to let them go on specific missions to some locations and tell them not to go areas considered too dangerous.
"I get it. Look. Even I heard how bad that god damn chaos place is. It's not to be messed with or toyed with. Your parents are smart. They're doing this to protect you two. Your dad lost his parents as a baby and never got to know them. He'd do anything to keep you, your brother and your mom safe. Even if it means throwing down his life to do so. Take it from a friend. What do you think I've been doing since I joined this club?" Kabal tells her.
"Yeah. I guess so. I just don't want anything to happen to them, y'know? They're my heroes. Same with Anthony. Who's gonna be the one to protect them?" Flora worries for them all.
"It's their job to protect you two kids. You need them as much as they need you. It's because of them you two are here today. Nothing can change that." Kabal said to her. Flora begins to smirk slightly and begins to understand him. "That's what I like to hear, kid. How about you, Anthony?" Kabal said, turning to her brother.
"Ready to rumble and kick ass." Anthony said, loading his guns and getting his melee weapons ready before getting everyone else's attention. "Alright, everyone. Listen up. Like the general said earlier, we have snipers and people using grenades so no one can get in. We need those guys off our backs. We cannot afford to use explosives, or else the tower will collapse. We need that info for the general and colonel so they could go to Chaosrealm. The big Alpha team will take the snipers out, but be extra careful with the grenade throwers. The Brave teams will secure the other floors so no one can get in or out. Me and Sergeant Flora will take down Tasia and the others. Kabal, you're the fastest. We need you to get to Mateo and make sure he does not send word. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers, Kabal and Flora respond to him at the same time.
"Good. May we kick ass and survive." Anthony smiles. He seems to have more confidence as time progresses. He is becoming more comfortable with going on missions with people, particularly with his sister. Flora can tell by his face and seems to be proud of him. Of course he has had pep talk from her and their parents as well as Vera.
As the Special Forces reach the outskirts of the tower, they see the tower itself. Huge searchlights are out looking into the skies to make sure no one was coming. Mateo was wise to know about the advanced vehicles the military has. Unfortunately, because they do not have as much advanced technology as they do, this gives the Special Forces an advantage with their stealth tech. Their jets land two miles away from the tower. So that way, they can get in there stealthily. There, they see two big watchtowers close to the Black Dragon Tower, each with a sniper and a rocket launcher. Anthony points out two fingers and tells Kabal to swiftly run up to all four of them with his speed powers, stabbing each one through the back, killing them instantly. Kabal whistles and gestures for them to come up. Three snipers come up two both watchtowers without anyone noticing. Anthony and Flora turn to more soldiers who carry out a couple of rocket launchers, intending to take down the double doors made of somewhat durable metal. Doesn't look like a nuclear level type of metal. But then again, the Special Forces do not go lethal.
"Can I say it? Just once?" Flora asked her brother.
"Go ahead, Lieutenant." Anthony replied with a nod.
"Fire in the hole!" Flora yelled. Anthony, Flora and Kabala long with the teams step backwards and cover their ears as the two rocket launchers fire away at a rapid speed. They both hit the doors, making go flying open and send them flying and they land on a couple of black market goons, smashing them and blood splatters. The snipers and grenade throwers react to this and get ready. But before they could even start the fireworks, the soldiers start running to momentarily distract them, allowing their snipers to kill the goons with snipers, shooting them in the head or heart. They start throwing grenades down from the building and as far as possible to the watchtowers. The SF are doing a great job getting rid of as many goons as possible. Despite that, some of the goons start falling victim to the goons' weapons and snipers before more of them are taken out. Same with the grenade throwers after they manage to blow some soldiers up, limbs and blood going everywhere.
Kabal speeds through several goons using his rifle gun, killing them instantly and beating them and using his hook swords. Anthony uses his twin pistols to shoot several goons dead in particular parts of their body. He sees two coming his way and shoots them in the ankle and then in the head, killing them both. One charges at him, but Anthony uses his green shadow backflip kick, kicking the goon in the head, breaking his jaw and shooting him dead. Another runs up to him with a knife, intending to stab him in the head, but Anthony swiftly got out his tonfa and slams the endpoint of it in the head, swings it at his throat, then punches him in the face before shooting him in the throat, killing him as the goon drops dead. Anthony then uses a double shadow kick at the other's chest and head, knocking him out cold. Flora uses her gauntlets on her wrists to shoot as many dead as possible. One goon nearly gets the jump on her, but she uses one of her gauntlets that turn into a baton and block it. She then fires an energy beam at her chest, sending her far backwards. Several of them try surrounding her, but she flips over one of them, shoots three of them dead with her ammo before one tries to attack, but she blocks the punch, punches the throat and throws them down to the ground. Flora roundhouse kicks another in the chest and grabs the goon's neck with her legs, forces her down and snaps it. She throws two energy discs, hoping to aim at their heads, but she instead throws them into two of the goon's chest, killing them as she still hasn't mastered them yet. She sighs, still hasn't gotten it down yet.
As planned, Alpha Team stays outside to prevent anyone from attempting to escape or summon reinforcements. Anthony leads everyone else inside. They're pretty confident that they will succeed in their mission. But at the same time they, mostly Flora, fear for their parents' safety when they do part of their plan. For now, they must focus on their objective.
"Bravo Team! Take this floor! Make sure no one enters or leaves! They try anything funny, feel free to shoot them!" Anthony said.
"Yes sir!" A female specialist said.
"Flora. Kabal. You two are with me. We need to capture them. We do that, we win. No improvising. Got it?" Anthony said to them and they nod. "Good, now come on!" He ordered.
The twins and Kabal continue their way upward, fighting and shooting anyone that approaches them. They're making very good progress. That was until they came across Kobra and Kira… but no Tasia or Tremor. Where are they?
"Just the assholes we've been looking for." Flora said, pointing her guns at them.
"Now that's no way to treat good friends like us, huh, little lady?" Kira smiles deviously at her.
"It's the only way. The good ole fashioned way every single time we come across fuckers like you." Flora said, glaring at her. "Kabal. You keep going. Don't wait for us. Take down the Kano wannabe and give him some punches for us."
"Will do." Kabal salutes them before he uses his speed powers to zoom up to the top of the tower. While Anthony fights Kira, Flora fights Kobra.
"So brave, yet so stupid. Just like your mom. I cut her wrists and I wanted to make her cry just like all the little weaklings are, like you." Kira giggles as she brings out her daggers.
"Oh, and this is coming from someone who lost to my mom and my aunt? Fucking hypocritcal much?" Anthony insults her.
"Weaklings with sharp tongues will die quicker!" Kira said as they fight.
Anthony fights with his tonfas while Kira uses her daggers. Kira spins her arms and daggers to try to throw her off, but Anthony is quick enough to react to them and blocks them with his weapons. Anthony pushes them away, slams the endpoint of one of his tonfas, swings the other across her forehead and then knees her in the chest followed by a kick. Kira jumps and spins twice to try to kick Anthony, but he dodges and punches her in the back of the head and spin kicks her across the forehead twice, cracking part of her skull. Kira wipes some blood from her mouth and snarls. Kira throws her daggers at Anthony, who blocks with his tonfas, but she backflips over him, grabs his shoulders and knees him in the back, back hand strikes his right rib cage, and kicks him in the air from the back. This allows Kira to do a frontflip kick to the chest, sending Anthony down, partly cracking his back. Anthony gets back up and coughs up a bit of blood. Seeing this, Kira chuckles out of delight at his pain. Anthony tightens his knuckles, ready to fight back. Anthony puts away his tonfas and charges towards her. He jumps to kick her, but misses and he rolls back to his feet. Kira tries to do an eagle kick, but Anthony blocks it, does a strong elbow strike, cracking it, followed by a backhand strike to the mouth, stomps on her other foot, headlocks with her and throws her down to the ground. Kira manages to get up, but is feeling dazed and surprised by how strong he is for someone in his mid 20s. Anthony gets out his tonfas and slams it onto her kneecap, nearly breaking it and slams both tonfas on both sides of her face, cracking her skull more, and does three shadow punches to the chest, sending her sliding down, defeated.
"And people who act like toddlers lose quicker, just like you." Anthony said, roasting her. Meanwhile, Flora continues to fight Kobra.
"You're a deadbeat for your damn father. I was hoping I would face you so I can give him his head. Roasted and burned just right." Kobra said.
"Still looking for bullshit, huh? I don't know how you easily let your club poison your head with bullshit. That is just beyond me." Flora rolls her eyes out of annoyance.
"There is no bullshit! They are all truth and no lies!" Kobra exclaimed in a lot of anger as he gets out his escrima sticks on fire. Flora quickly draws her batons as they resumed fighting.
Flora and Kobra switch between offense and defense. Kobra seems to be really fast for someone who looks like a kickboxing professional. Kobra punches her forehead, across the face and kicks in the stomach and chest, sending her backwards, but she slides on her feet. Flora was not going to give up that easily. Kobra goes for a kick, which Flora blocks and he attempts to hit her with his escrima sticks, but she ducks and kicks his left rib cage, elbows his left knee and punches his jaw followed by a kick in the same place. Kobra steps back and gestures to his jaw. He growls out of anger. Kobra does an upperkick and an eagle kick, which Flora blocks, but is met with a side kick to her right rib cage before tripping her and stomping on her rib cage again, leaving bruises. Kobra spins his flaming escrima sticks before he attempts to slam them into Flora's face, but she activates her powers and grabs them with her hands and begins absorbing them. She grunts as she does so, and then kicks him in the stomach and kicks him off of her.
"Oh fucking christ. Another one?!" Kobra yelled, remembering his fight against Alex and Takeda.
"Surprised yet? Thank my awesome colonel dad." Flora smirks.
"He won't live to see you get stronger, girl. He and your mom will be crying as payback for what he did to me and my sister!" Kobra said as they continued fighting. Flora ducks a back hand strike and uppercuts his chest and roundhouse kicks his head. Kobra stumbled backwards before he slams a fist on her right shoulder, punches her left shoulder, and kicks her left rib cage. Flora grunts in pain. Kobra was fixing to slam his weapon onto her head, but she parries it away and throws three fire punches to the shoulders, two side kicks to the left rib cage, nearly breaking it, and she finishes him off by punching his forehead, leaving a burning scar, and firing an energy beam at his chest, sending him into a wall, defeating him.
"Don't know why you keep intending to believe everything you hear, but you're either gullible, or fucking dumb as shit." Flora roasts him. Anthony goes to check on her.
"Flora. You alright?" Anthony asked.
"Yeah. We kicked ass. Tough but we pulled through. They mess with us, they get Caged." Flora said, making Anthony snicker.
"I guess so….. Wait a minute." Anthony said, looking around.
"What's wrong, bro?" Flora asked, feeling confused.
"Where are Tasia and Tremor? They should be here with them. That's what the files said. They showed every part of the plan. I don't understand." Anthony said.
"You're right. Something can't be right." Flora said. "Alpha Team. Bravo Team. Respond. Have you found Tasia and/or Tremor?" Flora asked.
"No, ma'am. Just regular goons and idiots. Why? Do you want us to search for them?" The captain of the Alpha Team asked.
"No. Stay where you are and maintain positions. Leave it to us." Flora tells them.
"Kabal. Come in, Kabal. You hear me?" Anthony tries to get to him, but to no avail. All he hears is static. The twins look at each other, sharing the same worried look. Until they hear his voice.
"Kids. You hear… it's … trap… not here,,,,,," Kabal tries to tell them, but it sounded like he was being cut off.
"Kabal? Kabal! What's going on?!" Anthony replied, voice sounding like he was fixing to panic.
"Trap….. Hurry!" Kabal once agains tried to radio them.
As the twins stayed behind to fight, Kabal makes his way to the top floor and shoots and swings his hook swords at anyone who gets in his way. He decapitates three at the same time and shoots three more in the head with a pistol. Then he holds his arms out and runs past six goons, slicing their guts open with his hook swords along the way. Kabal smirks, remembering the day he joined the Special Forces, albeit against his will, against Kano. The second time was actually willingly and he took great pleasure in killing Kano after remembering everything.
As he made his way to the top, he sees Mateo. Mateo is standing there, waiting for him. But he is smiling for some odd reason. "Well, well, well. Look who's all happy that he's getting ready to get his ass kicked again?" Kabal said, giving a mocking smirk.
"Hey there, Kabal. You complete fucking asshole. I've been waiting a while to see you again." Mateo said. He looks more ready than usual. "I've been giving myself more upgrades. You got off easy last time. Don't think it will be just like last time."
"Do you even hear yourself, you low life piece of shit scumbag?" Kabal replied.
"I'll be listening to your screams once I fucking kill you, you dumb prick. Believe me, it'll be worse than wearing a mask that was prone to having its air supply cut off. Now you wouldn't like that, would you?" Mateo said.
Kabal's fists tightened. Besides becoming a revenant, he always considered being nearly burned to death by Kintaro and being forced to wear a mask because of Kano for life, otherwise no oxygen. He was relieved he didn't had to re-experience that horrendous moment in the New Era.
"Hey. Your dad got what he deserved after all the shit he did to me. Lied to me, abused me, used me and was nothing but a horrible fucking liar. This is just fucking tragic. Kano always tried to follow a failed dream, and you attempting to do the same thing just makes it more pitiful ever since he led the Black Dragon." Kabal tells him.
"Hey, you don't get to tell me about the Black Dragon. I am the Black Dragon! And you sure as shitting hell don't get to talk about my dad! He always had the right idea! His only mistake was meeting you!" Mateo said in anger.
"Then fight me. What are you waiting for, asshole?" Kabal challenges him.
"Then so be it." Mateo said, equipping his metal gauntlets as the two fight.
Mateo shoots flames from his right gauntlet which Kabal dodges by speeding to the left. Mateo aims his right gauntlet and it starts shooting more bullets than before. Kabal smirks and swiftly swings his hook swords. Out of nowhere, his left gauntlet fires a laser from it, which Kabal narrowly dodges. This distraction allowed Mateo to elbow strike his left rib cage, followed by a strong punch and a kick. Kabal retaliates by chopping his right shoulder, knees his chest and kicks him in the chin. He then dashes past him, making him spin in place and he grabs his hook swords and puts them around his shoulders and throws him down, chest first. Mateo rolls backwards. He fires another laser, which Kabal jumps over, uppercuts him, punches his face and speeds him into the wall and does one more punch, and Mateo falls down, seemingly defeated.
"Well. There you have it. Again." Kabal said. He turns to the computer monitors. He cracks his fingers and prepares to get to work. Kabal pushes the green button to turn them on… until the keyboard started short-circuiting and the monitor explodes and catches on fire. "What the fuck just happened?" Kabal wondered. He starts hearing small laughter. Laughter coming from Mateo.
"Did you really think that I was trying to win? I was only stalling you. The real computer is right here." Mateo said. He holds up his left gauntlet and a small monitor pops up like a holographic screen and pushes the buttons and then the screen turns off.
"What the hell did you do?!" Kabal demanded.
"I just gave word to our pals Shao Kahn and Daegon. Now they know where their toy is gonna be in Chaosrealm. We just needed to grab y'alls attention, including your parents. We planted a tracker in y'all's jet. Was a pain in the ass to find." Mateo tells him and smirks. He holds up a tracker.
"Shit." Kabal swears as he tries to contact Anthony and Flora. "Kids. You hear me. Tasia and Tremor are not here! It's a trap! It's a trap! Hurry!" Kabal tries to tell them.
"Don't bother. Your little kid leaders won't find out by the time they get here. You're stuck with me, Kabal." Mateo laughs more. Kabal takes deep breaths. He looks at the blood on his hook swords and seeing the monitor destroyed, he is left with only one choice.
"Fine, you fucker. If I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna take your sorry ass with me. If you think you'll off the family so easily, think again. They survived worse shit than you and your father." Kabal said, ready to fight again.
Mateo shoots a small rocket out of his right gauntlet, which Kabal jumps out of the way but allows Mateo to kick him in the chest. Kabal rolls backwards and swings his hook swords, which Mateo blocks with his gauntlets. They were evenly matched until Kabal out maneuvers him with a kick to the head, causing Mateo to roll forward. Kabal jumps to slam his hook swords into him, but Mateo rolls away, swiftly fires a laser at his hook swords, breaking them off by the handle. Kabal tosses the useless pieces away, but is tackled by him. Mateo punches him three times across the face before being kicked off. Kabal attempts to dash to him, but Mateo quickly fires lasers from both of his gauntlets and they directly hit Kabal's ankles, causing bad burn injuries, making Kabal scream in pain. Mateo takes this as an opportunity to strike. Mateo backhands him across the forehead along with a punch and a kick to the jaw. He knees Kabal's jaw and cracking it. Mateo takes out daggers within his gauntlets and then stabs both of Kabal's thighs, breaking their femur, and then unleashes a strong, devastating kick to the head, heavily damaging his skull.
"This is for my father, you fucking asshole." Mateo said, gritting his teeth. He takes a dagger from his gauntlet.
Mateo approached the ex-member. Kabal got up to a knee and attempted to throw a punch at Kano's son, but Mateo grabs the arm and elbows it, breaking his arm, making Kabal scream in pain. Mateo swings his dagger and slices open his stomach, and his intestines split open, and he gasps for air. But Mateo then grabs him by the shoulder and forces him to stand. He shoots a laser from his gauntlet and it goes through Kabal's chest and blood comes out of the hole. Mateo pushes him down to the ground and stands over him.
"Fatality, bitch." Mateo spits near his right shoulder and walks away and opens his screen up on his gauntlets. "There. You got the deets you need. Now hold up your end of the bargain." Mateo said to none other than Shao Kahn.
"For once, you managed to be competent. More competent than Kano himself." Shao Kahn said, looking at Kabal struggling to stay alive. "Now we grant you more men. More firepower. A deal is a deal." Shao Kahn signs off. A green portal opens for Mateo and he walks through with a smile of satisfaction on his face and Kobra and Kira fall through the portals. After all the villains have gone, the soldiers remaining alive have taking all the goons prisoner.
Anthony and Flora run to the top as fast as they could after they cuffed Kira and Kobra. They could only hope it wasn't too late. But once they reached the top, it was too late. Everything was empty….. Except Kabal, who is bleeding out, struggling to breath.
"Kabal!" Anthony yelled, running to his side, grabbing his arm while Flora cradles his head in her lap. "C'mon. Breathe. Breathe. You're gonna be fine." He tries to reassure him.
"I…. I'm sorry. I f-failed. I-it's too late for me." Kabal grunts, barely able to get words out of his mouth, blood drooling down the left side of his mouth.
"Come on. Don't say that. Please. We can save you. Please, just stay with us." Flora said, trying not to tear up. She activates her powers and waves her hands around his body and tries to help heal him. But nothing is happening. His wounds are not fixing themselves.
"Tremor… and Tasia….. Are coming to the base. W-warn them." Kabal tells them.
"We'll do that. But we gotta get you outta here. I order you to stay alive." Anthony said. His voice starts cracking. Kabal manages to get a small laugh out.
"I….. remember. S-Sonya. She l-learned to trust me. I t-trust you. Please….. Tell them. Tell them… I said….. Thank you….. F-for… th-this…." Kabal said, managing to get a couple of tears out. He places a hand on Anthony's shoulder, giving him one last smirk. Kabal started seeing the light. Slowly, his hand slips off the young one's shoulder and hits the ground as his other hand was over his open stomach. Kabal slowly closes his eyes. His chest was no longer moving. Kabal…. Has died.
Flora tried her best not to tear up. She tries shaking her head to fight it. She feels her brother putting a hand on her shoulder. She doesn't say a single word. The first thing she does is hug Anthony tight as she finally starts crying on his shoulder. Anthony closes his eyes and a few tears start dropping from his eyes as well. More than several soldiers come in to see what has happened, and are no more than shocked at what just happened. They all lower their weapons and their heads and close their eyes out of respect for a fallen soldier.
At the Special Forces base, Alex and Cassie await word from the twins on their mission. The two seemed to be stressed out about what has been going on recently. About the Kamidogu and the trouble they caused in the Old Era. Not only that, they have been thinking about the things they said to their children recently. Alex and Cassie spar in the training room to take their minds off things.
Alex is using his staff while Cassie uses her batons. They are going pretty fast with their respective weapons. They were evenly matched. Alex takes his staff and scoops Cassie off her legs and she falls on her back hard. "Ow! What the hell was that for, Alex?" Cassie tells him.
"Oh shit! I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to for real!" Alex said in a very concerned tone. Cassie grits her teeth and tries to trip him, but out of nowhere, Alex actually jumps over the leg and quickly elbows her back and grabs her legs and pulls them up. "Nice try, babe! I ain't falling for that again!"
"Damn it! I was so hoping you would." Cassie said, tapping out. "It's still funny as hell every time, though." Cassie smirks as she catches her breath.
"But seriously though, you okay?" Alex asked.
"Yup, I'm fine. When I'm around you, I'm always fine." Cassie smirks before kissing his cheek.
"Glad we got that out of our systems. I needed that after, well….. You know." Alex said. Cassie quickly understood what he was referring to and holds his hand firmly.
"I get that. And listen, I don't blame you at all." Cassie said.
"Well now I just feel bad for the way I yelled at our daughter. I was just trying to discipline them and remind them that it's for their own good. The last thing I would want is to lose them." Alex sighs. Despite getting over his nightmares regarding his parents, he still feels afraid of losing his family that he has made with Cassie.
"I know. That's called being a colonel. And a parent. I would've done the exact same thing to them. Flora may be smart, but she's just as stubborn as me. More energetic and less patient than me." Cassie said.
"But nowhere near as hotheaded as Sonya." Alex joked, making Cassie snicker. "I mean Anthony is becoming more confident in his abilities and braver. They honestly remind me of us when we were younger."
"You have a point. He's sort of like you when we first met. Having self-doubts before they eventually go away after being here for months. You've come a long way. So has he. And Flora. You did the right thing by putting them in their place. They had to remember to prioritize their safety. They're still pretty young. You're an amazing dad to them." Cassie said, caressing his face.
"Coming from the best mother to them." Alex said. Before they could kiss, a soldier walks in on them.
"General. Colonel. We got trouble! Big trouble!" One of the soldiers said.
"Why? What's wrong?" Cassie asked through the commlink.
"I'm getting reports from one of the soldiers. According to Mateo, they placed a tracker on our jet back at the Fire Gardens. Tasia and Tremor are heading here now!" The soldier replied.
"What? That can't be possible! Our base should be shielded!" Alex said.
"Unless they must've figured out how to bypass the shield with special trackers." Cassie said.
"What should we do? We can't stay here anymore. We need to find a new base and let Anthony, Flora and Kabal know now." Alex tells her.
"Go to Condition Red! All troops! We are under attack! I repeat! We are under attack!" Cassie ordered everyone on the comm. "Any info we have, we need that saved! Can't let anyone else get their bitchy hands on them! Destroy all computers! Make sure they don't plant any more trackers! And prepare for evacuation!"
Alex and Cassie started running back to the center of their base. They as well as other soldiers begin typing on the computers and download everything on flash drives. As they were done, Cassie begins shooting and smashing the computers with her weapons and powers to prevent anyone within the Black Dragon from trying to hack them. Alex on the other hand activates his powers and glows silver white and shoots fire from his hands and starts burning hard copies of files and everything, including many base locations, profiles, passwords, everything.
Outside, soldiers start seeing vehicles and begin shooting. But the Black Dragon came with more weapons this time and some air vehicles of their own. One helicopter has a machine gun and starts shooting loads of ammo at the soldiers, killing many. The ground vehicles begin shooting their pistols, rifles and shotguns at the soldiers, but dozens begin to fall victim as blood goes everywhere from both sides. Some people from both sides begin to fight them in hand to hand combat. But coming from a green portal comes Tasia and Tremor, with the former holding a portal stone, courtesy of Shao Kahn and Daegon.
Many soldiers begin to fire on them. Tasia draws her swords and teleports and starts stabbing, slicing and dicing any soldiers that start to get in her way. She stabs one's shoulder and gut, and pulls them and the soldiers' guts and shoulder fall off, and bleeds out. Tasia throws a sword through one's throat and teleports and thrusts her other sword through another's head, killing both of them and faces and body start getting covered in blood. Tremor raises a hand up and spiked pillars and stabs several soldiers through the legs, arms and backs and heads, killing several of them. One tries to fight him head on, but Tremor grabs her by the neck and his hand glows hot red. The female soldier screams as her head is painfully melted off from her body as her head falls to the ground and dies. Another one yells as he charges, but Tremor traps his feet and summons two stone walls and slams his hands together and the soldier is crushed to death. Only thing left was his eyeballs and a few intestines. Tasia nods to Tremor and he starts throwing magma balls at the big entrance, bending and they start to melt.
More than dozens of soldiers, Alex and Cassie included, begin getting ready to fight back as they buy pilots time to start the self-destruct and jets so they could make their escape. "Alex. Did you destroy everything?" Cassie asked him.
"All of it burned to ashes. You?" Alex replied.
"Yeah. Let's Cage these bitches." Cassie locks and loads alongside her husband. The soldiers do the same thing as the door melts some more. Pieces of the remaining door get knocked down and many goons start yelling with crowbars, bats and other melee weapons and ranged weapons start charging in.
Soldiers stand up from the barricade and start shooting the goons down as they come with their own, including sniper rifles. Goons come in close to swing their melee weapons, having a somewhat effect, but the soldiers were able to prevail over them and shoot them dead. Some soldiers start falling over dead.
Alex parries a goon's swinging arm away, uppercuts him followed by a punch across the face and shoots the guy in the neck, killing him. Alex jumps over one goon, shoots him dead with his pistol, shoots another in the leg and backflip kicks him in the jaw, breaking it. He then elbows another's eye followed by a bullet through the goon's stomach, shoulder and mouth, killing the goon. Alex uses his disc shields and throws them through their chests and splits one's head open with it literally. He pulls one in with the wind and shoots three bullets three times through a goon's collarbone and shoots fire at three more, burning them to death followed by him electrocuting a few more before pushing them far away with the wind.
Cassie kicks one in the shin, breaking it, gives a strong kick to the jaw and lower back and shoots the goon's legs and back of the head. She elbows one through the back of the head followed by a punch and a shadow kick through part of the head, killing the goon. One tries to swing a crowbar at Cassie, but she grabs her wrist, shoots her right shoulder, back hand strikes the goon across the face before shooting a bullet through the eye. Cassie bends backwards and shoots bullets from the knee to the thigh, stomach chest and head, killing the goon. As she did that, she sees Tremor and Tasia defeating more soldiers as they approach.
"Go! All of you, fall back and head to Landing Bay C! Me and the general will keep these two fuckfaces occupied!" Alex ordered them. He dashes up next to Cassie as they go into a stance.
"The Cage family. So nice to see you two again. Hope you're glad to have some lucky visitors, because we sure are." Tasia chuckles.
"Tasia, you son of a bitch." Cassie glared in great anger. "You tricked us. Tailed us here so you could distract us."
"Smart as your mother. I like it. We placed a tracker in your jet while no one was looking. It took us forever to track you to this nasty place. So no one could stand in Shao Kahn's way. By the time we're done here, you and your kiddies will be too late." Tasia explained to them.
"You gave us slightly false info. To separate us, to try to pick us off one by one." Alex said to her.
"No matter where you run or hide, you won't win. Not this time. Now you will face your doom. For all of reality. They promised us a place once we give him what he wants." Tremor said as he gets to position.
"Remember. They said not to kill them." Tasia reminds him he nods.
"Special Forces will always make a comeback. They don't back down. They stand and fight or die trying. That's what mom and dad taught me and everyone else since Day One." Cassie remembered their words as she separated to fight Tremor while Alex fights Tasia.
"Then your suffering will be much worse." Tremor said as they fight.
Tremor jumps to slam a fist on Cassie, but she dodges and chop strikes his wrist and kicks his right rib cage, followed by a punch across the face and a swing kick across the jaw. Cassie punches his shin and uppercuts Tremor's chest, cracking it before doing a backflip kick to the chin, cracking that as well. Tremor rolls a magma ball, which Cassie jumps out of the way. Tremor shoots spiked stones from his palm attempting to kill her. Cassie manages to get some distance between them and gets back to her feet. Tremor runs up and does two punches which Cassie blocks, but couldn't block a strong, stone punch, making her slide backwards. Tremor summons an earth wall behind her and pushes her to him, allowing Tremor to slam a fist onto her head, punches her chest and does a kick to the stomach and a jump kick to the stomach, making some blood flow out of Cassie's mouth as she is sent down. Cassie comes back up and was ready. Tremor does a magma punch, but she ducks and does a one-two punch in the chest and does an uppercut to the right rib cage, nearly breaking it and he grunts in pain. Cassie gets out a baton and swings across the head and up to his jaw, cracking it further. She then swings at his left shoulder and then his right shin, breaking it and swinging both batons down on his head, cracking the top of his skull, sending him face planting into the ground, defeating him.
"A strong soldier always stands tall." Cassie tells the defeated Tremor. Elsewhere, Alex continues to fight Tasia.
"You may have outsmarted me before, Tasia. But you'll never wipe the Cage name off the face of the earth. Many people before you tried, but they all failed. But we brought your fucking lover down twice." Alex said to her.
"We have learned not to underestimate you again. Once Shao Kahn and Daegon get what they want, we won't have to fear you anymore." Tasia said as they resumed fighting.
Tasia brings out her swords while Alex gets out his bo staff. Tasia comes forward and swings her swords in different directions to try to strike him. Alex manages to block every blow that would've been fatal to him. It was a good thing Jade and Takeda taught him how to use one. Alex kicks away one of her arms and swings his staff at her left rib cage, spins and slams the staff on her head, stumbling her, allowing him to slam the endpoint of his staff onto her left kneecap, greatly damaging it. Alex then knees her chest and kicks her in the face, sending her away. Tasia teleports and swings both swords down on his head, which he blocks with his staff. She kicks him in the stomach, making him roll backwards before she jumps and kicks him in the head, sending him down. Alex quickly kicks back up and withdraws his staff.
Tasia swings at him, but he grabs both of her wrists and his hands start lighting up. Alex shocks Tasia with his powers and headbutts her in the nose, stumbling her and cracking her skull and making her nose bleed and nearly broken. Tasia teleports and then suddenly punches and kicks Alex's left knee and then stabs his left shoulder with her high heel and kicks his forehead, sending him backwards. Alex winces at his pain and doesn't see her. He closes his eyes and summons the wind. Tasia teleports behind him, but Alex pulls her in with his wind and slams his staff on her left leg, breaking it and swinging it at her jaw, cracking it and sending her flying, defeating her.
"You can be afraid of us, or fuck off, asshole." Alex glared at her. Cassie runs over and quickly sees his injured shoulder.
"Are you alright?! She better not have hurt you too badly!" Cassie said with anger. Not towards him, but him getting injured.
"I'm fine. I'll heal, but no time! We gotta get out of here before they wake up!" Alex reminds her and she nods. The both of them run for the docking bay area to meet with their soldiers.
"Begin liftoff! Destroy the base! It's lost to us! Now!" Cassie ordered as the jets began to take off. As they begin to leave, they push certain buttons and the emergency base doors close in on Tasia and Tremor. They quickly began to wake up to a siren and a computerized voice counting down. They start hearing 10, 9, 8, 7…. And Tremor finds his strength to get up and run over to Tasia and lifts her up. The countdown finishes and the entire base explodes and goes up in flames. Alex and Cassie look back at their home, now gone.
"General. Colonel. Where is our destination?" One of the pilots asked.
"Northeastern, Michigan. There is a disguised cloaked base we can use. Send word to Anthony and the others to meet up with us there." Cassie ordered them and they nod.
"Cassie? What's wrong?" Alex asked.
"We were too late. I can't believe it. They actually played us for fucking idiots. How? How did this happen? We should've been one step ahead of them. Of all the assholes in the world, why can't they stay dead." Cassie wondered, looking down.
"For once, sweetie, I don't know. We need to improvise our plan. But first, get to base." Alex said she nodded. She hugs her husband and he holds her in his arms.
Unknown to them… Tremor and Tasia have survived. Tremor used his powers to barricade himself and Tasia from the explosion. Tasia wakes up and sees that the entire base is gone. "They got away. And all of their clues to their next hideout are gone. No way to track them now."
"We should give chase. Find out where they have gone." Tremor protests.
"No. They will come to us. They will want a plate full of bloody revenge. It will be their last dish before we end this charade once and for all. We got what we wanted." Tasia smiles deviously.
In Northeastern, Michigan, the place is covered in a lot of snow. The Special Forces jets are heading to what appears to be the mountains. But then, the mountains disappear like a hologram and shows a bigger base. A base covered in snow and icicles, and has many buildings, including a mess hall, a training area, medical center, weapons facility and the main base with meetings, vehicles, bedrooms, computers and a lot of countless soldiers. The jets land and everyone slowly started exiting out. Alex shivers, still not a fan of the cold.
"Man. I don't like the cold, but this will do for now." Alex said, shivering and rubbing his arms.
"I know. We can make plans and launch a counterattack soon. But first, we need to wait for the twins and Kabal to come. And we need to rest as well and let everyone else know." Cassie said with her hand holding his. As she said that, another jet lands. Alex and Cassie look at each other and go to see who it is as the jet opens up. But why does it sound so… silent?
Many soldiers come down with several goons as prisoners. They made sure they were all clean. No weapons, no trackers, no nothing. Behind them, Anthony and Flora exit the ramp. They faces looking down at the ground.
"Sergeant? Lieutenant? What's wrong?" Alex said, feeling scared. The twins said nothing and attempt to walk past them, but the parents stop them in their place.
"Guys. Talk to me. What happened? Can you tell us?" Cassie tells them, feeling the same way Alex does.
Anthony, with great reluctance, was the first to look up at his parents. After a moment, he finds the words to speak. "I'm sorry. It was a trap. We tried. We couldn't stop them. By the time we knew, we were too late." Anthony said.
Alex looks around and doesn't see Kabal. Before he could ask where he is, he sees four soldiers carrying a stretcher with a body on it. It smells like blood. A lot of blood. Alex and Cassie both go to see who it is….. And it's Kabal on the stretcher, lying motionlessly. Cassie covers her mouth and her eyes turn sad, trying to resist the urge to cry. Alex's eyes and mouth widened, realizing what this means. His fists tightened in anger. He turns around and sees Anthony hugging his sister and she starts crying again. Alex was more angry because of their reactions.
"We-we tried to save him. I couldn't- I don't - I don't know how, but I tried, I really, really tried. I wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry." Flora said, her voice giving up as she cries. Alex and Cassie walk up to their son and daughter and pull them in for a group hug. Flora continues crying with Anthony rubbing her back and Cassie rubbing her cheek with her hand, dropping tears of her own. Alex's face has a mixed reaction of sadness and anger. They were outsmarted by the Black Dragon. They lost their base. Worst all, they lost a soldier and a good friend.
Note: I was incredibly nervous writing this chapter. And every time I do stuff like this, it makes me want to cry. And I apologize if this chapter upsets anyone. If so, then I understand.