After a long wait, it has arrived. This is a short update, and more fighting may be ahead.
Chapter 24: Mirror Match
Mileena's razor-sharp teeth pierced the shoulder of her clone, Terra after she latched onto her back.
Terra opened her fang-filled mouth and screamed with her tongue flailing like a tentacle.
Blood splattered across the already heavily damaged Mileena, who shared the battered trait with her opponent. Terra thrashed violently, and managed to grab Mileena by her short and messy hair and slung her rear-first into the stone pavement of the bridge overlooking the pit.
Mileena had a sai protruding from her right shoulder from behind, and another sai stuck in her left leg. Despite this, Mileena rolled aside onto one knee when Terra sent her heeled foot down vertically to the ground. The impact cracked the stone surface, and Terra adjusted her stance to knee the side of Mileena's head. It hit with such velocity that the zygomatic bone framing Mileena's left eye fractured in a web of pain. The side of Mileena's skull cracked against the edge of the bridge near the dull and rounded 'spikes' that lined the edges.
With her vision partially impaired, Mileena tried to push herself up and attempt to survive on instinct alone. Mileena's sais were ripped from her shoulder and then from her thigh by Terra, who furthered her insult to injury by kicking Mileena in her stomach.
"On your feet, swine!" Terra hissed as she spun each weapon. She was covered in scratches, bite marks, and puncture wounds from head to toe, but each was slowly healing much like Mileena's own heavy injuries.
Mileena crawled along the bridge and dared not to look over the side to see the pending doom awaiting her many miles below. Fear choked up into her heart, but all she could do was growl and gnash her teeth in anger. She stumbled to her feet and pressed one palm to her bleeding leg. While doubled over, she spat blood onto the ground and glared at her opponent. Her yellow eyes were becoming more and more bloodshot as she gazed intensely on her replica. "Mileena…will end you!" The savage woman vowed with a throaty roar trailing her words.
"Mmn! I can't wait to see you try more!" Terra gripped the sais and laced her fingers along the sides of the longer prong in the center. There was about three meters of space between the two of them, and that space became non-existent when Terra threw each weapon and sunk the long prongs through Mileena's chest near her heart.
She staggered backward as Terra sashayed over to her.
"It's been fun, Mileena…" Terra licked her fangs over in delight and trailed her palms down the sides of her bruised bosom and waist. "I'll send Kitana your best wishes."
There was a major difference between each 'Mileena'. While Terra was clearly smarter, better spoken, vile, and cunning…she did not have one thing that gave Mileena the advantage: someone to die for. With Kitana being threatened, and potentially Kuai Liang, Mileena charged Terra head on and tackled her to the ground. She mounted the woman and pounded her fists into the sides of her face and raked her fingernails into her face with every intention to rip her eyes out.
The two women screamed and roared at one another like two demons fighting over the flesh of a victim. Terra put her hands in Mileena's mouth and tried to yank her mouth in different directions to snap it.
The strain brought pain to Mileena's already aching skull, but she was determined to continue gouging the screaming woman's face. Eventually, Mileena gave in and removed her hands from Terra's face and yanked her head back and out of Terra's grasp. Mileena's hands grabbed the handles of both Sai and turned them upside down. She stabbed each prong through Terra's palms with such force that the concrete gave way and sunk the sai down to the two hooks on the sides.
As Terra screamed and thrashed, Mileena's fists rained down over the female's face like meteorites. She bashed her fangs and nose with her repeated assault that made Terra's face more and more red, blood splattered, and nearly unrecognizable.
"Mileena!" Barked Baraka from behind her.
The half-Tarkatan hadn't sensed Baraka's arrival on the bridge, but she immediately snapped around and kept her body low. Her bloody fingers were curled and ready to strike.
"Cease!" Baraka demanded with his right forearm blade fully protruded and aimed at her from afar. "I am not here to harm you. Woman, do hear me."
"Mileena is not your pet!" She hissed at him and scurried away from the battered body of Terra. She yanked her sai from the woman's hands and crawled back along the bridge like a frightened feline. "Leave, Baraka! Leave or die!"
"Mileena!" Baraka shouted once more as he approached the knocked out and heavily bleeding Terra. He watched her briefly, but then turned his attention to his former lover. His blades were enhanced and fortified, and if he truly wanted, he could cleave Mileena's weapons in half if she tried to block any blow from him. "You are here for Shao Kahn, are you not?" His once horror-inspiring eyes were now softened and concerned. The beast in him was at bay, and the Tarkatan warrior who took care of his own, especially his woman surfaced.
Mileena grew quiet. Her rage was boiling her soul, but she did not bring herself to attack Baraka just yet. Her wounds were healing, and in her current health she would be unable to stop Baraka alone.
Baraka felt defeated by Mileena's lack of response, but he did not allow frustration to take his mind. "I will take you to him. We will work together and end this madness. I care not for Shao Kahn's dealings and how it has driven a wedge between us. It was by design; this I can taste on my tongue…"
"Mileena doesn't need your help!" She shouted at Baraka with a much more hoarse and labored voice.
"Why do you deny me, Mileena?!" Baraka 's body jerked forward and his chest tightened as he screamed. His emotions were surfacing; and it was a sensation he had not entirely been used to. "I offer my assistance, I offer my loyalty, I offer you…I offer you all of Outworld!" He swung his hand backward to 'present' the opportunity to her. "I wish not to be king, I wish to only be at your side. There is no other like you, Mileena. No female of our species, no female of any who I am compatible with. I shall cherish you for the rest of my days…"
"Mileena doesn't need your help, Baraka!"
"Why?!" The Tarkatan snapped back. "Why do you break my heart, Mileena?!"
"Mileena's heart isn't yours!" She stood slowly with her various wounds visibly closing entirely. Her enraged eyes burned a painful hole right in Baraka's soul as she spoke. "Mileena's heart belongs to a better man. A man who cares for Mileena as she is!"
Baraka's face was full of surprise. His chest heaved up and down as he sucked in deep breaths and nearly hyperventilated. The humiliation he suffered was unlike anything he ever experienced, even when he was denied marriage from Mileena. His guts tightened in knots and his fists curled together. A feeling of hatred, regret, and deep sorrow struck him to the point he felt an odd sensation of tingling at the corners of his eyes.
"A better man?" Baraka was hurt, but he could not bring himself to lash out at Mileena, especially after confessing the truth to her.
Several footsteps rushed up the stairs leading to the bridge. In groups of twos, the Earthrealm Kombatants moved toward Mileena in haste, with Sub-Zero and Liu Kang at the lead. Upon seeing Baraka, the Kombatans prepared to rush the Tarkatan, but they were paused by Liu Kang's arm stretching out.
Kuai Liang saw the two Mileenas, with one of them laying beaten and bloodied on the ground. "Mileena…?" Sub-Zero questioned as he looked between her and Baraka.
"Mileena is—I am fine, Sub-Zero…" Mileena said as she put her sai away. "Baraka has volunteered to lead us to Shao Kahn. Is that correct, Baraka?" Her cold tone had no remorse for her former abuser, and now that she had back-up, she knew she could speak with more bass in her tone.
The heartbroken General slowly recalled his enhanced blades. His jaw tightened, and his eyes scanned over Sub-Zero and then Mileena. Every suspicion was confirmed in the simple glance. Defeated, Baraka bowed his head. "Yes. Spare me or not, I have made my choice. Come."
The once proud Tarkatan general turned around and led the group of warriors along the bridge. All of them walked around Terra's corpse and proceeded to the large doors on the other end of the pit.
"What happened to you, Mileena…?" Kuai Liang asked as he placed his hand on the small of Mileena's back.
His cool touch made the aching body of Mileena's tingle. Her cheek jerked in response, and she turned her head to him with her overly-delighted and permanent grin. "Mileena had to work some issues out with herself." She said in jest, but the majority of her cheer was basking in making Baraka regret the sins of his past two lives. She could feel the loathing radiating off of his skin, and it was simply delicious to her. "Put your arms around Mileena, Subby…"
There was a very loud gag sound from Johnny Cage in the background, but he was silenced by a rib-shot from Sonya.
Baraka's teeth were gritting as he led them upstairs and into the higher reaches of the fortress. Kahn would not be happy about his betrayal, but Baraka hoped at least to win over in a contest of fortitude and strength against Sub-Zero in the future…
Once the bridge was clear of all Kombatants…
…the dangling hand of Terra twitched twice, and slowly curled into a fist…