Sub-Zero was never one to be easily offended, on a personal level at least. If someone insulted him, he would just brush it off. He did not value most people's opinion of him anyway. However, once he discovered that the thunder god gave Cage permission to make a film of the tournament and even possibly use his likeness to make another awfully written, overly high budget, soulless corporate project, a rage that had activated within him. However, his quarrel with Raiden was cut short once his name was called to be the next fight.

He turned back and walked over to the stairs. Before he went down, he gave Raiden a venomous and spiteful glare and made sure he saw it. As a way to tell the thunder god they would continue their conversation at a later time.

As Sub-Zero walked forward, he saw his opponent. A short lanky, 6 armed creature with blue skin in a black hoodie and a bag, supported and kept on his back by his 2 lower arms, which was filled with all sorts of weapons and materials to assist him in victory.

"The Kollector, a member of the Naknadan race, has been the chief tax Kollector of Outworld for the past 600 years! His efforts to maintain the Empire's wealth has been greatly appreciated, and to honor his contributions to Outworld, we have bestowed upon him the greatest privilege we have to offer. Fighting in the Mortal Kombat tournament!" Shang Tsung yelled with the same pride as he did for Kano, though internally he was far less confident.

The two kombatants observed the other. Sub-Zero remained silent as his gaze narrowed, while Kollector smile and proceeded to speak in a hoarse, snake-like tone.

"That medal on your chest...you are Lin Kuei, correct?" He said with a smile while unholstering two daggers and kept them in his middle arms. "I've heard tales of your clan, the fear they've garnered, their formidable reputation. The few Earthrealmers truly worthy to fight our tournament."

Sub-Zero left a short gap in time before he decided to finally speak. "That you are correct, demon of Outworld." His eyes widened as he said demon to further insult The Kollector's pride. "Do not expect the courtesy of mercy that the actor showed in his battle. I am not liable to such weakness."

The Kollector exhaled in amusement. "If only Outworld hired the Lin Kuei's services rather than the Black Dragon. It would have been a far better deal."

A gong noise was heard and the arena fell silent. Both kombatants distanced themselves farther away on their respective sides.

The Kollector kept his daggers ready, and his upper arms near his bag as one would be with a holstered gun in a standoff.

Sub-Zero extended his left hand outward to the ground and tucked in his right elbow further. His feet apart and completely flat on the ground. His body remained motionless apart from his breathing.

The arena fell silent once more, until Shang Tsung broke it up.

"ROUND 1, FIGHT."

The Kollector ran towards Sub-Zero, Sub-Zero did the same. However, after traveling a few meters, Sub Zero crouched slightly and slid across the room towards his opponent with the utilization of ice that was conjured below his feet. He struck Kollector in the chest with his left elbow, and followed this up with a jab to the left and with sharp ice that he formed on the palm of his left hand, he slashed Kollector's chest.

Sub-Zero attempted to add another strike to Kollector's stomach, only for his streak to be cut short as Kollector grabs Sub-Zero's right hand. He jumps up with his daggers raised, and he let out a battle grunt as he thrusted them into the Lin Kuei's skull.

Sub-Zero blocks the attack with his left hand by keeping it horizontal, and impeding Kollector's wrists from going any further. After a moment of struggle, and after fearing what Kollector might do with the hand he has captured in his, Sub-Zero takes action and grabs Kollector's left wrist of his upper set of hands and throws him just far enough that he would still be in striking distance, which he takes full advantage of.

With the daggers dropped on the ground, Sub-Zero kicks Kollector in the face, blood spewing out of Kollector's blue lips, and struck him chest with an open palm. However, as the palm reached towards Kollector, sharp Ice extended from it, worsening the blow further.

Rather than advance once more, Kollector grabs into his bag and throws a two metal shield towards Sub-Zero shins and torso which he dodges but was forced to move away in order to do so.

Kollector distances himself further, taking stock of what he just learned of his opponent, and making a plan of action.

Sub-Zero creates a series of icicles sharp enough to impale through wood and throws them at his adversary one after the other.

Kollector runs across and dodges most of them, but enough graze his body for to try another course of defense. He pulls out a chained mace from within his bag. It was composed of gold and a strange black metal, with parts of it covered in sharp protrusions, but it was not in random order. It had a weirdly graceful, serene beauty to it as the points made to skewer its opponent all had bending pantern and all placed on it with a clear pattern and symmetry to it.

Kollector swung it towards the approaching icicles, destroying nearly all of them, deflecting the rest. Sub-Zero threw a few more to which met the same fate, and before Sub-Zero could take a new plan of attack, Kollector swung his weapon at him and the ball neared his chest. Sub-Zero crossed his arms across his chest at the last minute to block it, and even backed away slightly before hand, but it still took its toll. His forearms had cuts and bruises.

Kollector swung his mace around his body to charge his next blow further and soon it was charged at Sub-Zero once more, faster and stronger than this time.

Prepared, Sub-Zero rolled to his left as the right before the mace thrusted into his previous position.

While Kollector reeled in his weapon, Sub-Zero remained uninjured unlike the previous strike. In less than a second he pulled back both his arms, leaving a small space between his two hands and quickly, a blue, intolerably cold ball of ice emerged from between his palms. It left his hands faster than it emerged as he extended both his hands, palms connected to each other by their bottoms. It traveled the room at blinding speeds and Kollector was only spared from its chill by throwing his weapon towards it, so that was frozen instead. Before the weapon could even fall to the ground, Sub-Zero already closed the distance between him and his opponent. He leaped forwards and kicked Kollector in the throat with his right foot.

As Kollector fell to the ground, and Sub-Zero was not behind the Naknadan, The Lin Kuei would not allow him to get up for the rest of the round.

He started by stomping Kollector's face to the ground with such force, the concrete below him cracked. He then crouched down, and pummeled Kollector's face even further down. Then again. Then again. Over and over did the assassin slam the Outworlder's face into the ground.

As Cage scurried through the halls with an ever increasing pace towards the Earthrealmer's quarters, he heard another set of footsteps far behind. He had been hearing them the entire time and already knew who's it was, but chose to ignore them anyway.

Until a hand was placed on his right shoulder.

"You're gonna get your stuff and leave the island, aren't you?" Liu Kang asked.

Johnny rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders and continued his path. "What? Gonna stop me? No way in hell am I dying over this..."

They entered their quarters and Johnny quickly ran to his room to grab his things, Liu Kang stopped following him by the doorway, and waited for him there with his arms crossed, before he would say anything more.

As Johnny Cage approached the doorway with his bags and luggage, he preemptively defended his decision even more. "Sorry I'm not some noble Shaolin Monk like you guys are or some soldier or anything special. I'm an actor and nothing more, so just let me go already."

Liu Kang uncrossed his arms and began to speak, calmly and comfortingly. "An actor good enough at kombat that he was chosen by the god of thunder to protect his realm."

"Flattery's not gonna get me to stay here."

"I know, but it was worth the shot." Liu Kang joked before continuing in a more serious and earnest way. "I know it may not seem like Cage, but Earthrealm is truly on its last leg. Once we fail, It's over, Outworld wins and it's over, it will end like that...Terminator? Is that what you called that movie?" He paused before continuing. "Regardless, Raiden has spent the past few years looking for the absolute best kombatants he could find. The absolute peak of Earthrealm's power. Which includes you, Cage. I've seen you there, you have potential. You may be arrogant and quite, but if someone like Raiden can look past that says a lot for your abilities."

"Need me to repeat the thing I said about flattery." Johnny quipped.

"My point is, he would not have chosen you to be here if you were one to leave without question upon knowing of fatal danger. Do you really think he would bother to approach you to join us if he knew you would say no immediately? It's a shame you weren't listening when he first asked you, as I am sure it would have just taken time to get used to the situation."

Cage glanced away awkwardly.

"You aren't fully convinced that you must leave are you? Part of you wants to stay and help defend your home but your instinctual fear is understandably telling you that you need to get out of here."

As Cage stayed in silence, Liu Kang knew he was right on the money. "I won't force you to stay, Cage." He reassured him. "But...I just want you to think about this for a while. Consider whether this is what you actually want. If you still decide to leave, I will not think less of you."

Liu Kang flashed a warm smile before leaving for the arena once more and leaving Johnny to himself and his thoughts.

As that entire conversation transpired, Sub-Zero had been repeatedly pummeling Kollector's face further and further into the concrete, his head making a distinctive outline within the hard ground.

By the time Liu Kang came back to the spectator stands, Sub-Zero still did not show signs of halting his assault on Kollector's face.

He only stopped once Shang Tsung announced he had already won the first round.

Sub-Zero got up once more and walked to his side of the arena once more.

The eyes of the audience were on Kollector's body, most were positive that he would not even get up. Kollector was always a persistent one however, and he slowly got back up, wiped the blood on his face and his face returned to one of bloodthirst and determination as it was before.

Even Shang Tsung and his warriors were surprised and he not only survived, but seemed undeterred completely.

The Earthrealmers were much the same.

"The freak's got quite the endurance." Sonya remarked. "Either that or Sub-Zero over there needs to punch harder."

The fighters were in position once more, and while he did not show it, Sub-Zero felt uneasy that Kollector got up so easily even after all that he did. It seemed Sub-Zero needed more time to recover from how tiring his attack was than Kollector needed to recover from the attack itself. Fortunately, however, it was now the second round, and all limitations on killing were off at this point in the Mortal Kombat tournament. It was time for him to end this as soon as possible.

"ROUND 2, FIGHT!"

Running on 4 limbs, his lower hands and feet, Kollector threw every knife and dagger he had left in his bag and once that was empty, he threw it alongside with the blades.

Sub-Zero dodged and deflected most of it, but the bag being thrown caught him off guard. He blocked it successfully, but it's surprisingly heavy weight pushed him back and he grunted as he put effort into staying upright.

Kollector leaps forward, all 6 arms finally free and open. He slashes Sub-Zero's arms further with his middle and lower arms, and his upper arms grabbed onto his face.

Sub-Zero breaks free of his grasp and shoves Kollector away, enough distance to dish out a fully and powerful kick utilizing his shin which brings Kollector even further away.

He constructs a dagger out of pure ice, and runs towards his opponent. Kollector dodges to his left , however, Sub-Zero flips the dagger and stabs it once more into Kollector's current position.

The icy weapon is lodged into one of Kollector's hands. Before Sub-Zero could realize which one it was, he twists the blade around forcefully. Dislocating it at first, then shattering the bone completely.

For the first time in the entire fight, Kollector showed signs of pain as he grunted in long repressed and exasperated pain. Before Kollector even processed it happening, Sub-Zero grabbed both his top hands, and the blue, warm flesh of his arms morphed into immovable shapes of ice near instantaneously. By the time Kollector realized what was happening, Sub-Zero forcefully and vigorously bent both frozen masses forwards, shattering them completely.

Kollector's strained grunts turned into chilling screams and howls of pain, as the frozen remains of his shattered arms fell to the ground as small crumbs of ice behind him.

Sub-Zero moved on to Kollector's middle arms, repeated what he did, and did it once more for his lower arms.

Kollector's screams were now ringing in all of the spectators' ears.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao winced and cringed at the gruesome display before them, even Sonya and Jax looked rather shocked, though more so from the unusualness of the violence.

Nightwolf looked disapprovingly at the Lin Kuei warrior, while Raiden was merely glad that Earthrealm scored another victory.

After a few seconds of Kollector's screams, Sub-Zero grabbed Kollector by the forehead, and the same fate that befell his arms finally put him to rest and his lifeless corpse fell forward, blue pouring out from the icy hole left by his head.

"Sub-Zero wins, FATALITY."

Shang Tsung and the rest of the Outworlders were taken aback, which quickly turned into concern.

Reiko began going through the possibility of failures through his head. "1 eliminated, and 1 dead." He turns to Shang Tsung behind him. "You had a poor choice of kombatants this time around, Sorcerer. Let's hope the rest of us can pick up the slack. If our great emperor funded you only to fail just as his goal was in arms reach, your years of loyalty will be irrelevant to the vengeful punishment he will force upon you."

Shang Tsung acted like this possibility was a mere fantasy to him, though he truly was terrified. Especially after Sub-Zero's second round ended so quickly and abruptly, as if all that held him back at the first was the restriction on killing.

"Do not forget the warrior Quan-Chi promised to aid us." Reptile did his best to defend his master.

"Is that the level that Outworld has fallen to? Being forced to rely on Netherrealm in order to win? When just a few millennium ago we defeated the Realm of Vampires with little to no struggle." Reiko dismissed Reptile's words.

Sub-Zero walked up back to the Earthrealmer's stands and through the door, grasping the slashes on his forearms.

Kung Lao noticed Liu Kang's uncomfortable body language at the violent display before them. "Looks like Raiden got his money's worth, don't you think, Liu Kang." He remarked

Liu Kang flashed a brief smile before his mouth turned downwards once more.

Jax and Sonya defended Sub-Zero's brutality and rationalized it for Liu Kang to understand it better.

"It's a tournament that decides the fate of Earth, Liu Kang, you don't win wars with niceness." Sonya told him.

"Even if those were not the stakes of the tournament, do you think he would fight any differently? You too have heard the tales of the levels of depravity and violence that they are willing to stoop to in kombat, correct?" Liu Kang said back

"That doesn't matter, Liu Kang, at least not for now. We can talk and criticize the Lin Kuei when the world isn't at stake. For now, just be happy we scored another victory." Jax completed Sonya's argument.

Liu Kang, even if it was by a little, felt a little more assured and less guilty over who he was fighting alongside.

Liu took a few more glances towards Sub-Zero as he passed down the hall, clutching his bruised and bloody arms.

–

Sub-Zero heard tales of the different creatures and beasts that resided within Outworld's vast global empire. The Shokan, four armed beasts which Outworld's greatest champion is a member of. The Tarkatans, their thin teeth as sharp as daggers, with blades that retracted from the top of their forearms, more often than not were used as simple cannon fodder for the Emperor's wars. The Saurians, a nigh-extinct species of Reptilian humanoids whos only known living member acted as Shang Tsung's right hand man. The Vaternians, a kind akin to the vampires of human folklore

However, that...thing Sub-Zero just faced. A Naknadan,at least that was what he remembered Shang Tsung saying. He never heard of such a species. The Lin Kuei trained him for the others if he ever encountered them, but the lack of knowledge of the Naknadans left him unprepared for what his foe could offer.

But that was behind him now. The Kollector was dead, it was his time to rest and prepare for the next match.

He opened the door to the Earthrealm quarters, and was met with that aggravating actor, sitting alone on a chair. Despite his previous fight leaving him limping, Cage seemed to be almost fully recovered. The only sign of his previous injuries being the bandages around his chest, which did not seem like they were even necessary. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before Sub-Zero began walking towards the room he chose previously, before being called out by a deep voice behind him.

To his surprise, it sounded nothing like the actor, so he turned around and saw a bald, middle-aged looking man in purple robes. His waist was covered in satchels and pockets which possessed a number of mixtures and liquids within glass containers.

He decided to speak up first. "Greetings...Sub-Zero is it? I shall be the one to help with your injuries."

Sub-Zero was noticeably hesitant and suspicious whether this should be trusted. If someone like this would have been provided to them, they would have been informed about it, wouldn't they?

The actor's irritating voice sounded in his ears. "Trust him, don't worry. He's why I feel perfectly fine, despite...well you know."

The stranger approached further, and Sub-Zero sat down calmly, a sign he would not fight against him. He put his arms out on the table and the man began treating them. He did a number of processes that Sub-Zero did not recognize. Rubbing strange liquids on his wounds, putting his palms on them and chanting strange words. All of these were as foreign as everything else about this tournament, but it eased the pain he's been keeping since he received the injuries, so he did not mind.

As the 3 of them sat there in silence, Cage looked at Sub-Zero's face as it stared of into nothing until his gaze looked towards Cage without his head changing position in the slightest. To avoid getting even more uncomfortable, Cage figured small talk might curb some of it.

"Well, considering you're still alive, I'm guessing you won your fight?" Johnny Cage asked.

"Yes." Sub-Zero responded.

"So...which one was it? The guy you fought I mean? Was it the hot blue armor lady?"

The assassin rolled his eyes at what he perceived as petulant childishness before continuing. "No, it was the four-armed one with blue skin."

Cage blurted out a short burst of laughter. "Heh, didn't realize someone like you would be capable of sarcasm."

But with Sub-Zero's unchanging and continually annoyed expression digging further into Cage's soul, the actor realized he was in fact, not joking. "Oh...you...you're being serious."

Cage tried replaying the memory of seeing the kombatants next to Shang Tsung's chair, over and over again he failed to recollect a being of Sub-Zero's description.

"So-uh...nonetheless you won right?"

Sub-Zero nodded.

"Ah, yeah that's good."

As Cage and Sub-Zero continued to sit there in silence, the man treating his wounds bandaged up his arms and offered to continue for his other injuries.

"Alright, Sub-Zero, may I continue to the injuries on your waist and chest? They seem rather wounded..."

Sub-Zero did not understand what he was talking about, as he felt minimal pain in those areas. Exhaustion mostly. He soon realized what the origin of the man's concern was once he glared down at his body and noticed the blood that stained his clothes and chest.

"Do not misplace your worry, this blood is not mine."

Cage's face went from uncomfortably regretting his words in silence to being white from shock as Sub-Zero said these words, knowing that the man before him had just murdered his opponent.

. Sub-Zero noticed the luggage and bags which surrounded Cage, which he previously ignored. Then he noticed Cage's distressed expression, which lead him to only one conclusion for which route Cage would take next.

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" Sub-Zero asked.

Cage was taken aback at the fact that Sub-Zero spoke unprompted before responding. "Well, I guess? Maybe? I just.."

Sub-Zero did not even let Cage finish his words before laying down his judgment. "Before you do, I would just like to let you know that this is exactly what I expected from you. The moment you showed up on the boat and revealed to be joining us in Earthrealm's defense, I knew you were either insane or weren't aware of the dangers ahead. And if the latter was correct, which it was, I knew that the moment you found out the truth you would leave immediately."

Johnny felt as if he were a child being scolded by his dad again. And just like those times, he could not bring himself to speak up for some reason.

"Do not think you are disappointing me Cage. That would imply I had higher expectations for you, which I find an incredible insult to my intelligence."

Cage came back to his decision on whether he should leave or not. With Sub-Zero's mildly offending words, rather than feeling discouraged, he instead felt a slowly enlarging feeling stay and prove Sub-Zero wrong. But then he thought once more, does he really want to die just to prove a point?

Sub-Zero got up and left for the door. Right as he opened, door, he paused at the doorway, and turned once more to Cage. "If you're truly going to leave, just do it now, do not waste our time further or raise their hopes that you will stay."

He was now no longer in Cage's line of sight, and once the Outworld medic left as well, Johnny was now left alone with his thoughts once more.

"My agent's gonna kill me..."