Raiden, Liu Kang and Kung Lao emerged from one of Raiden's teleportation bolts of lightning. An invasion was happening in New York City, as Raiden had foreshadowed. It was led by primarily Tarkatans with a handful of the gigantic monsters known as Outworld's Tormentor's who had begun smashing the tallest structures that they could find.
"By the Elder Gods!" Raiden cried out as he peered over the building rooftop that his lightning bolt had landed upon.
"The Tarkatans dare make another attack to Earthrealm?" Lao noticed that the army was primarily Tarkatan. He began clenching his fists. "I've had enough of sparing these monsters."
"We mustn't kill them," Liu Kang disagreed. "We must find out what they want first."
"Another tournament with more biased rules is what they want," Kung Lao predicted. "And how do you propose we apprehend those things?!"
Lao pointed at one of the Tormentors who was holding the upper half of an office block in his house sized hands before smashing it into another building.
"Unfortunately, Kung Lao is right," Raiden admitted. "You two should go seek out allies while I handle the masses."
"Very well then, Lord Raiden." Liu Kang said in compliance.
"Fine." Lao also complied.
"We should start by evacuating those in the floors beneath us." Liu decided and the two Shaolin monks began to run down the rooftop stairs.
Raiden meanwhile, teleported towards one of the Tormentors and while flying he began shocking the beast with lightning blasts which held the Tormentor in place by causing the thing to have spasms in response to the electric attacks before being knocked over into a horde of Tarkatans by a thunder bolt that struck its brick wall like chest.
Raiden dropped to the ground and began fighting the Tarkatans. The thunder god refused to show mercy under such circumstances and had the intentions of putting down as many Tarkatans as possible. The Tarkatans mindlessly ran at Raiden who stood in the way of their rampages and they would meet a quick and sudden death.
"Stand down!" Raiden ordered. "You will be killed!"
The Tarkatans didn't understand what he was saying and even if they did it was doubtful that they'd have complied. A few more Tarkatans advanced at Raiden before being launched away by a shockwave that Raiden sent across the chaotic road. Literal Chaosrealmers spectated like it was a tourist attraction or a must-see event, a group of them were sat atop a building amongst the violence, cackling in amusement of the destruction. They were still audibly laughing even when a Tormentor had scooped up the building they watched from.
Raiden translated his warnings, this time reciting the Tarkatan language which there was still no warriors complying. Raiden called upon a staff which summoned into his right hand. Raiden immediately utilized the staff to smash at the ravenous Tarkatans. One of the warriors got their neck caught between Raiden and his staff. The thunder god dropped the Tarkatans to his knees before smashing his knee into the Tarkatans back, their neck snapping upon breaking through the staff. Raiden forced the two now separate parts of the staff back together, lightning somehow binding the two parts back together as well as sending a shock down the middle of the staff that electrocuted a couple Tarkatans that stood in front of Raiden.
Meanwhile, Liu Kang and Kung Lao had reached the bottom floor of the office block they had ran through. Stood behind the two monks were the many innocent office workers who were now in danger. Ahead of the office block was two bridges, one saw a Tormentor traversing one bridge and the other saw a battle between some Tarkatans and a group of Riot Control Police Officers. One of the officers in particular seemed to have been taking the charge of the other officers and was shooting his handgun at point blank range with one hand and clubbing another Tarkatan with a baton in his other hand. The Police Officers were putting up a good fight but another group of Tarkatans flanked them and were now trapping them in the centre of the bridge. Unlike the others, this Tarkatan horde was accompanied by their leader Baraka and the Outworld princess Mileena.
"I must express my gratitude for joining my armies," Baraka thanked Mileena. "I'm also pleased that you're expressing your Tarkatan nature."
"Thank you for helping me when I was worried about my teeth," Mileena said as the two stopped their advance and left it to the other Tarkatans. "And thank you for keeping the news a secret."
"Well I'm glad you've found those answers." Baraka said. "I look forward to hearing about your stories of why you now stand by my side in more depth after we achieve victory."
"I will tell," Mileena promised. "But we must help your fellow Tarkatans."
"Our fellow Tarkatans," Baraka corrected. "Push forward!"
Baraka advanced but paused again as surprise hit him as a razor hat flew through the air and sliced through the heads of five Tarkatans before the hat landed on the ground. Baraka's emotions shifted from surprise to sadness and anger as he approached the hat.
"What are you doing, Lao?!" Liu Kang asked his friend who had launched his hat at a row of Tarkatan soldiers.
"Protecting Earthrealm," Lao answered. "I hope that you have the guts to do the same."
Kung Lao teleported to where his hat was located, as soon as he emerged from the hat, he grabbed Baraka and beat him down with several rapid-fire punches. Lao's assault was cancelled after Mileena stabbed her Sai into Lao's back. One of the police officers ran in to help Lao at a ridiculously fast speed, leaving a purple trail behind his sprint. He swung a wooden baton that was painted black and clubbed one of his two batons over Mileena's head.
"What are you doing lady?!" The officer questioned. Mileena not looking like a Tarkatan made her appearance stand out. "Why are you helping these things?"
"They aren't just things!" Mileena yelled, offended by the officers wording. "They're Tarkatan."
"Whatever they are they need to go," He replied while grabbed his second baton, prepared to dual wield. "And if you're siding with these Tarkatans then so do you."
Mileena and the police officer began fighting one another amongst their allies and enemies. The police officers superhuman speed made this a fair fight as he rapidly swung his batons at Mileena but had to specifically target her head for the rest of her body was lightly armoured, making his wooden batons almost completely useless.
Mileena rolled across the ground, using her Edenian magic to pick up her own speed as well as protecting her body from harm when rolling across the concrete. She rolled like a bowling ball into the officers legs and sent him flying into his fellow police. One of the officers rolled away to avoid his colleague crashing into him, though two other officers lacked the reflexes to do the same. Tarkatans began to approach the three fallen officers before the one who had dodged the previous attack got involved by tasing one Tarkatan from behind.
"You guys ok?" He asked while smacking a Tarkatan with a baton. "Kabal?"
"Yeah I'm fine, Stryker," Kabal responded as he helped the other two officers to their feet.
"You're violating the law, lady!" Stryker informed; he was unsure if these creatures knew what laws even were.
"And you're defying Shao Kahn's will." Mileena retorted.
"Shao who?!"
"Emperor of Outworld," Mileena informed. "Submit to him and join our invasion."
"Hell no!" Stryker refused. "I have no clue how you're willing to help this Shao Kahn guy?" Stryker asked as he slowly put his hand on his pistol.
"I am her daughter!" Mileena announced as she put herself into a fighting stance, pointing her two Sai at Stryker.
"Guess I'll meet him in the visiting booth when you're in jail." Stryker said as he drew his gun.
A Tarkatan charged at Stryker which he caught his pistol inside the warrior's mouth and pulled the trigger. Understandably angry, Mileena launched a Sai at Stryker who ducked it but didn't escape a kick that connected after Mileena teleported into the air and landed her boot on Stryker's face. Kabal re-joined the fight and ran to the back of Mileena before swatting her in the back of the head with one of his wooden batons.
Meanwhile, Kung Lao and Baraka had also began fighting each other. Baraka had been given metal arm blades to replace his now missing naturally grown bone blades. Kung Lao aggressively attacked Baraka with his razor hat but each time he did it was blocked by Baraka's arm blades. The much stronger material Baraka's arm blades now are were coming in handy as they could now fight off other sharp weapons that were made of metal such as Kung Lao's razor hat. Baraka eventually struck back at Kung Lao, stabbing the tip of his blade into Lao's chest which caused the monk to stagger backwards, leaving him exposed to a jumping front kick from Baraka.
Lao fell to his feet but threw his hat as he collapsed to the floor. The hat throw missed Baraka but it still landed behind Baraka which allowed Kung Lao to teleport to the hats location and grab Baraka from behind and threw him to the ground. Baraka snarled as he climbed to his feet, prompting Kung Lao to attack while Baraka wasn't standing straight. Kung Lao dived though the air with a kick to the head of Baraka. Lao swiftly fell to one knee which Baraka fell onto, this left Baraka in a position where Kung Lao could connect several elbows to the head of Baraka, at a rapid pace as well.
"You took away many White Lotus from this world, fiend." Lao said between punches.
"I... didn't want... that to happen." Baraka clarified.
"Well it did happen!" Lao yelled in anger as he threw Baraka at the metal railing on the side of the bridge. "It happened and you are this army's leader, meaning that you're to blame."
"The attack on the Wu Shi was needless violence," Baraka gave his own opinion. "I wasn't there to tell my army to leave the temple alone."
"Needless violence?!" Lao repeated in disbelief. Out of anger, Kung Lao began strangling the Tarkatan warrior. "And why is this attack you're enacting on right now needed?!"
"You... wouldn't... understand." Baraka said with a tightened throat from Lao pinning his forearm against his neck as he leant against the railing.
"I wouldn't truly understand because of your lies!" Lao yelled as he pushed harder against Baraka's throat. "Now, Baraka. Tell me the truth."
"The Tarkatan... do not... tell lies, monk." Baraka said drily, losing breath. This response prompted Kung Lao to keep his grip firm as Baraka began suffocating.
Baraka's second in command, Karbrac ran to rescue his leader. The Tarkatan warrior sank his two red energized arm blades into Kung Lao's back as well as throwing the monk off of Baraka. Karbrac growled at Lao as he struggled to stand up from being impaled by Karbrac's magic enhanced blades.
"I will protect you, Baraka." Karbrac assured in his own language of Tarkatan.
Karbrac went to strike down the injured Kung Lao but was intercepted by Liu Kang as he shot a fireball that passed between Karbrac and Lao. Karbrac's attention immediately shifted to Liu Kang who came flying at him with a dragon kick.
"Took you long enough." Kung Lao remarked.
"While you were getting your payback on the Tarkatans, I was helping civilians." Liu Kang retorted.
Lao went to respond but was interrupted by Baraka who had now recovered from the previous attack on him and was now aggressively fighting the monk. As was Liu Kang who had created a target on himself after hitting Karbrac who was now charging at the champion of Mortal Kombat.
Meanwhile, Mileena was being overwhelmed by the duo of Stryker and Kabal. Mileena had eventually realized that she needed to separate the two and began by targeting Stryker, him specifically for his harsh words of the Tarkatans. Mileena ran under a baton swing from Kabal and leapt at Stryker, pulling her veil down and exposing her Tarkatan teeth which was an unusual act for her to perform and bit into Stryker's neck before being hit off Stryker by Kabal. Using his superhuman speed, Kabal rammed his armoured shoulder into Mileena which caused her to stumble back into the metal railing. Stryker went to tase Mileena but she grabbed Stryker's arm and stabbed one of her Sai into the arm of Stryker. Mileena swapped their positions which meant Stryker was now against the railing and Mileena launched him over the bridge and into the water below.
"Stryker!" Kabal rushed to look over the side of the bridge to check if Stryker was alive.
"I'm fine!" He yelled as he struggled to remain afloat. "Look out!"
Kabal turned around and used his speed to quickly dodge Mileena who threw her Sai at his back. Kabal circled around before striking Mileena with his two batons: one connecting over Mileena's head and the other in the side of her head. Mileena fell to the floor and Kabal checked to see if she was unconscious. As Kabal went to handcuff Mileena, his attentions turned to the Tormentor who was near making his way to the bridge that himself, his fellow police and the Tarkatan warriors were fighting on. The Tormentor roared as he picked up one of the officers in his hand before clenching his gigantic fist tightly, draining the breath from the poor victim.
"Hey ugly!" Yelled Stryker who had returned up to the bridge, standing behind the Tormentor.
Stryker drew the Tormentor towards him and tased his right foot when it got too close. This caused the Tormentor to stagger back as he rose his one foot up in shock from the tase. Stryker followed up by repeating the same process but on the Tormentors left foot. The Tormentor fell and was slowly about to crash on top of those who were fighting on the bridge.
"Everybody, disperse!" Stryker commanded.
The Police Officers ran for their lives to reach Stryker before the Tormentor collapsed on them. Some even leapt from the metal railing and into the water seeing as Stryker had survived doing so. Baraka picked up the unresponsive Mileena as he made similar commands in a language that his fellow Tarkatans could understand, they began running the opposite way to the police. Kung Lao threw his hat to the end of the bridge before teleporting to it. Liu Kang performed his dragon kick but not to attack anyone buy rather as mobility to cross the bridge. The Tormentor finally landed, breaking through the bridge and plummeting into the river below.
"Everyone alright?" Stryker asked as he turned his attention to removing Mileena's Sai that was still impaled into his arm. The Sai suddenly disappeared and returned to Mileena's side. "Huh?"
"I'm fine," Kabal informed. "But what the hell is going on?!"
"Perhaps you two have answers," Stryker faced Kung Lao and Liu Kang. "Who are you guys?"
"I am Liu Kang. He is Kung Lao," Liu introduced them both. "We're of the White Lotus Society."
"I'm Officer Kurtis Stryker," He introduced himself. "I'm taking lead of the Riot Control Police."
"We too serve as protectors of Earthrealm." Liu informed.
"Then we're happy to have you." Stryker stated as the two shook hands.
"So, would any of you happen to know what those freaks were?" Kabal asked.
"They're Tarkatans," Liu Kang explained. "They reside in Outworld."
"And they're attacking us why?" Kabal continued to question.
"I'm not quite sure." Liu admitted.
"One of them said something about a Shao Kahn," Stryker recalled. "Maybe he's in charge of them."
"Shao Kahn? Of course," Liu finally connected the dots. "Shao Kahn is invading Earthrealm!"
"But how?!" Lao asked, frustrated. "What about the protective ward on Earthrealm? What does he gain from these attacks when he can't even merge our realm?!"
"I don't know how this realm business works but we should probably stop Mr. Kahn from the sound of it." Kabal stated.
"We'll figure it out once we get to a safe place." Liu decided.
"Err... I don't think we're getting that chance just yet." Stryker pointed at a group of Tarkatans who were running down the abandoned road towards them.
Suddenly, a blast of lightning evaporated the Tarkatan forces as Raiden landed on the ground in their place.
"Lord Raiden, what's going on?" Liu Kang asked.
"The protective ward on Earthrealm was removed overnight," Raiden revealed. "I assume you know the rest."
"We do," Lao confirmed. "Unfortunately."
"I take these as your new allies?" Raiden asked.
"Err, yes sir," Stryker confirmed. "Who... who are you?"
"I am Raiden, the eternal God of Thunder." He introduced himself.
"G-god?" Kabal stuttered. "This day just keeps getting weirder."
"And more dangerous," Raiden added. "I have found a cathedral that we can fortify in while I retrieve more allies."
"We will follow your lead, Raiden." Stryker assured.
"Thank you," Raiden thanked. "We must make haste."