Franziska had at last reached the top of a steep hill she had found in the empty wilderness of Arctika. Franziska had been wandering the snow biome since running away from the Lin Kuei after snapping and… murdering a Lin Kuei member as a result. Despite having her bags with necessary equipment such as a warm coat, Franziska knew that she wouldn't last much longer in such hostile terrain if she did not find some form of shelter. Too afraid to return to the Lin Kuei after her outburst, Franziska walked to the top of a rather tall hill to gain a good view of her nearby surroundings. What caught her eye was a pathway that had been made by occupying the land in between two parts of the elevated land. This created a direct one way path that ended at the large Lin Kuei Temple that stood atop a hill itself. Franziska sat down as she looked at the path and began noticing there were encampments throughout the area leading up to the home of the Lin Kuei. Even more noticeable for Franziska was a giant factory, clearly abandoned due to a neglected appearing exterior which resided not too far beyond the burrowed path. The building stood out to her as a place she could hide out at… then she could figure out what to do with her life once she had a somewhat safe place. Franziska sulked as she realised she had to head past the main path for travellers in Arctika. It made her nervous, unsure whether or not any civilization there would be friend or foe.
"I can do this," Franziska spoke to herself in her native language of German. "Let's go."
She slid down the other side of the mountain before standing up to continue her walk to the abandoned factory. Franziska recalled having spotted others of a similar build around Arctika on a map in the Lin Kuei Temple. When asked, she had been informed by a cyborg that they were used to manufacture the necessities for cyberisation and had been inactive ever since Sub-Zero became Grandmaster.
"Perhaps there'll be some supplies still there," Franziska considered as she continued to walk despite her entire body shivering from a horrific mixture of fear and coldness. "It'll at least be warmer…"
As she continued walking, her vision became progressively more hazy. She collapsed to her knees to take a moment to try and compose herself. Not only was she freezing to death, but she also hadn't found anywhere to sleep all night long.
"Scheiße!" Franziska swore loudly in the silent snowy plains. "Be alert, Fran!" she told herself while punching her own head. "I need… I need to keep movi-"
Franziska's words drifted off as she began hearing alarming noises. She poked her head up and began looking around, hearing a growling noise that was growing louder each time she could hear it. Franziska stood up while grabbing the sword she had taken from the poor Lin Kuei warrior she had killed.
"Who's there?!" Franziska called out for.
Suddenly, bursting through a nearby bush, a giant creature leapt out and pounced on top of Franziska. This was a yeti-like creature, moving slow but would make sudden fast movements just like the pounce attack they had done. They were incredibly strong animals… and deadly. Franziska remembered reading about these local creatures who were known simply as Ice Beasts.
"Get off me!" Franziska cried as she desperately thrusted the sword into the back of the Ice Beast which caused it to jump back while roaring in pain.
The Ice Beast grabbed a chunk of the earth and hurled it at Franziska, causing an immense amount of knockback from how hard the throw was. Franziska fell into a pile of snow, feeling even more frozen. She stood up in time to avoid the Ice Beast's second pounce attempt. Franziska then swung her sword again, only for the Ice Beast to bat it out her hand. The Ice Beast cut themselves while smacking the sharp blade away, but this wound only angered them more. Franziska tried to escape, however, the Ice Beast grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into a barrage of ruthless arm flails which knocked her down. The Ice Beast then proceeded to grab Franziska by the arms, seeking to rip her apart limb by limb.
Before the Ice Beast could maul Franziska to death though, an arrow shot by an archer wearing orange and black clothing with some padding and silver armour layered atop the uniform. Then more warriors dressed in similar clothing charged the Ice Beast while using spiked gloves as their weapons to pound the Ice Beast to the ground before the archer in charge shot an arrow through the held down Ice Beast's neck to cause a quick death. The archer then approached Franziska and extended a hand. Franziska accepted and they pulled her to her feet.
"Danke," Franziska thanked the archer while they took a backpack of supplies off her and dug through the organised contents before pulling out a first aid kit. "I'll be fine, miss, thank you."
"No wounds?" she asked to which Franziska shook her head. "You're lucky then, Ice Beasts usually claw or bite their targets."
"Luck being on my side is unusual," Franziska commented as she brushed snow off of her clothes. "I'm Franziska. It is nice to meet some friendly faces around here."
"Nice to meet you, Franziska," she replied as the two shook hands. "My name is Ah-Lam Zhu, I am a member of the Tengu clan."
"Never heard of them," Franziska admitted.
"We have encampments to the east," Ah-Lam pointed over to the direction where the large path that resided between two parts of elevated land was. "You should join us, at least for now. It is too dangerous to survive the Arctika wilderness alone."
"It'd be a pleasure," Franziska responded as she now felt relief having allies and knowing the encampments were safe and that she wouldn't have to hide in a dull and abandoned factory.
"Follow us then," Ah-Lam instructed as she and her fellow Tengu warriors began heading home with the other warriors carrying the Ice Beast with them for food to give to the Tengu's camp chef.
After a long journey trekking through the plains that were near empty were it not for the heaps of snow piling up on the ground and the few signs of life in some leafless trees and a few rocks and hedges, much like the one the Ice Beast who ambushed Franziska had hid within, Franziska and her new Tengu allies had arrived to the entranceway to the Tengu clan's encampment. The sides of the inpass were gated off, so they had to walk around to a ladder down beside the gates that were like a tunnel with the other side leading to their camp.
"Is that an outsider?" the Tengu Gatekeeper questioned.
"It's alright, Feng," Ah-Lam assured the gatekeeper. "I trust her."
"Sis, you know the Grandmaster has had reports from the Lin Kuei about a runaway murderer in Arctika," Feng reminded his sister.
"They can't have done anything wrong!" Ah-Lam believed.
"Well I'll need to have the Grandmaster check anyway," Feng decided.
"That's really not necessary…" Franziska muttered as she grew more anxious.
"Come on, Feng!" Ah-Lam objected. "This poor lady is freezing here."
"We must be safe," Feng replied. "Wu Lae! We have an outsider!"
"You're the Tengu!" Franziska found the courage to raise her voice. "Why does Lin Kuei business concern you?!"
"I for one do not care," Feng told her as he opened the gates for an approaching figure, "however, we have a truce with the Lin Kuei and our great leader wishes to uphold our mutual agreements."
"An outsider you say?" Wu Lae asked as he stepped outside the gates.
Wu Lae had the most distinct appearance of all the Tengu members. To make his status as clan leader more notable, he adorned far more silver armour than all of his allies with a distinct looking scythe slung over his shoulder. He wore a unique helmet that somewhat resembled a knight with his face behind the helmet being completely covered, while most other Tengu members would just wear hoods with scarfs or face masks to try and keep themselves warm in the cold location. Still representing his clan though, Wu Lae had orange stripes on both sides of his legs. He glanced at his fellow Tengu, before his eyes fell upon Franziska. Digging through a pocket in his dark trousers, Wu Lae pulled out a piece of paper with the contents being a description of the woman the Lin Kuei were looking for as well as information such as her name… leading Wu Lae into his first question.
"What is your name, ma'am?"
"Um…" Franziska paused as she froze in place. "It's… Fran… cesca!"
"You said your name was Franziska," Ah-Lam recalled, which made her quite puzzled.
"That's the killer!" Wu Lae yelled. "Get her!"
Franziska went to run away, however, Feng quickly dove forth and grabbed her. Raking his eyes with his finger and nails, Franziska managed to force him into releasing his grip. Once free, she darted up the ladder to get to the other side of the plains which she proceeded to desperately run through while a small group of Tengu warriors chased after her. Franziska doves over a rock which she proceeded to lie behind, hoping she wasn't spotted.
Franziska waited for what felt like the longest minute for the Tengu to pass as she remained still behind the large rock. Growing concerned and anxious, Franziska slowly peered over the rock as she heard the footsteps of Tengu members growing closer and she wanted to be alert as to where they were to avoid danger. Franziska was most surprised as when she looked over, she was immediately slashed in the face by Feng who had metallic claws equipped to his gloves that were much larger and sharper than the type of glove weapons which most of his allies had equipped. Franziska staggered back as the Tengu returned to chasing her as she ran in the direction she had once seen the factory and realised that was now once more her best chance at a hideout.
"Don't let her escape!" Wu Lae commanded as he went to turn back. "I shall go to the Lin Kuei and report this incident to them at once!"
"We'll take care of this!" Feng promised the Grandmaster. "Let's do this, Ah-Lam!"
"Can't we just talk this out?" Ah-Lam asked after having grown fond of the convict after finding her.
"Unfortunately not," Feng told her. "Follow me! She's getting away!"
While the Tengu persued the alleged murderer, Wu Lae himself trekked through the pathway to the Lin Kuei Temple. He greatly trusted his warriors and was confident that they would complete the task. If the Tengu did this, then he'd surely be rewarded greatly by the Lin Kuei!
Wu Lae eventually reached the top of the hill where the home of the Lin Kuei stood proudly, he walked past the poor Lin Kuei member who must've passed away recently at the hands of Franziska. There was currently a small gathering as the man was being buried at the front of the Lin Kuei grounds. Not wishing to disturb, Wu Lae avoided the group of mourning Lin Kuei before quietly knocking on the main doors leading to the Temple. The doors were soon opened by the yellow cyborg known as Cyrax.
"Wu Lae?" Cyrax was surprised to see him. "What brings you here?"
"My clan has found the murderer that Sub-Zero reported," Wu Lae revealed the news. "I must see him."
"Follow me," Cyrax instructed as he led Wu Lae to a training room in the Lin Kuei Temple where a small class was in session.
Inside the room was Sub-Zero himself who was having his first training session with his new pupil: Frost. Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Chloe Starr was training with Smoke while Sektor closely observed his adopted daughter due to his protective behaviour. Sektor's lack of trust for the Lin Kuei was also a key reason for his observations.
"You're doing good, Chloe," Smoke complimented as he was teaching her the fighting style called Mi Tzu.
"She's doing great, Tomas!" Sektor corrected him. "Get it right!"
"Dad…" Chloe said with a sigh.
"You're welcome," Sektor replied.
"Now let us try some more challenging strike attacks," Smoke decided as the two warriors got into the suitable stance to perform the martial arts style of Mi Tzu. "Would you mind being our test dummy, Sektor?"
"Yes I do mind!" Sektor said angrily.
"Then let us test your blocking ability, Chloe," Smoke alternatively suggested. "I will try to attack you with a series of strikes and it will be up to you to block the attacks. Are you up for that?"
"I'm ready for anything, Master Smoke," Chloe told him eagerly to learn more martial arts.
"Then let us begin!" Smoke decided before beginning to strike at Chloe.
Smoke opened the attack with a lunging kick with Chloe grabbing his foot in an impressive reversal. Smoke then flipped back and hit a pair of open palm strikes before finishing with a kick which caught Chloe and knocked her back slightly. Smoke then gestured for Chloe to come forth and try the sequence of strikes herself, with her repeating the combination with relative ease. Sektor applauded Chloe's combination, his metallic hands being banged together causing a loud distraction for everyone in the room.
"Stay focused, Frost," Sub-Zero instructed as she had turned to the source of the noise.
"Sorry, Sifu," Frost apologised and returned her attention to Sub-Zero. "I just don't get it…"
"It'll take you some time to understand your powers, Frost," Sub-Zero told her as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You do indeed possess the ability to freeze and under my guidance, I promise that you will master Cryomancy."
"Thanks," Frost said as ice began to form in her hands once more. "I think I'm ready to try again, Sifu."
"That's the spirit!" Sub-Zero said as he stepped back to give Frost the necessary space to practise her Cryomancy. "Now… focus on the ice, Frost. On your hands water vapour will be forming… feel it and freeze it. You can do this, Frost, I believe in you."
Frost closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the feeling of ice that was beginning to extend further from her hands. Using all her concentration, Frost began to mentally form the particular shape she wanted to turn the ice into. She had never done this before, only having gotten as far as creating hard chunks of ice in her hands, yet now she was creating a genuine object: a dagger made of ice!
"You're doing it, Frost!" Sub-Zero told her. "Keep going!"
With how much energy was flowing through Frost, she began to feel the sensation of ice forming in her other hand now. While her first dagger took full shape, a second that was a near exact replica took form with Frost creating it in a much faster time than the first. She was already improving at her new skill! Frost opened her eyes and was overjoyed to see her holding a pair of ice daggers that looked just like how she had envisioned them.
"I did it!" Frost cheered. "I can't believe it!"
"Well done, Frost," Sub-Zero congratulated. "You have successfully created a pair of weapons," he said as he suddenly created a large ice sword with ease. "Shall we put these daggers to the test?"
Frost nodded eagerly as Sub-Zero held up his weapon which he called the Kori Blade. He instructed Frost to attack with a silent command that was gestured by a hand signal, prompting Frost to charge forth and attack the Grandmaster with her new weapons. Sub-Zero used his massive ice sword to block each oncoming attack; he had previously assured Frost that once they began to conduct weapon training, that it would be perfectly safe for her to take genuine swings with the lethal blades. Frost was able to thrust the ice daggers at a fast rate, the light and small weapons allowing fast movements and rapid stabbings. Sub-Zero was impressed by Frost's ability to wield the new daggers, she was a natural at using her chosen ice weapons. After a solid few minutes of swinging her blades around, getting a feel at the ice weapons and practising some swings, Frost began to feel the blades start to melt. Her Cryomancy wasn't powerful enough yet to maintain the form of these powerful daggers.
"It's alright, Frost," Sub-Zero reassured her as he noticed a saddened look on her face as she gazed down at her daggers as they melted away into her gloved hands that were a part of her black and blue Lin Kuei uniform. "You'll be able to recreate them again."
"That felt good," Frost described to her master, "to finally be able to make something out of this power I have."
"And you'll be able to create many more objects in due time," Sub-Zero promised her. He looked across the room and saw Wu Lae waiting beside Cyrax. "Take a break for now though, Frost. It seems that I have a visitor."
"Okay!" Frost bowed as a sign of respect to her new master. "See you later, Sifu," she said with a smile as she walked out of the dojo.
"Goodbye, Frost!" Sub-Zero replied kindly. Once Frost had left the dojo, he headed on over to Wu Lae who had been waiting patiently for his time. "Grandmaster Wu Lae."
"Grandmaster Sub-Zero," Wu Lae acknowledged him as the two shook hands firmly.
"What brings you here?" Sub-Zero inquired.
"The murderer you had reported," Wu Lae revealed to the Cryomancer, "my clan has found her."
"That's good news!" Sub-Zero remarked. "Where is she now?"
"On the run last I saw," Wu Lae shared what he knew of the situation. "I had sent a group of the Tengu's finest warriors in pursuit of her."
"Let's hope they stop her," Sub-Zero wished for.
"My warriors are some of Earthrealm's finest," Wu Lae praised his clan. "I am sure they will have already killed her."
"Wait what?!" Sub-Zero yelled out in shock and concern with Wu Lae being puzzled by this reaction. "I didn't say kill her!"
"Whoops…" Wu Lae replied. "What did you want then?"
"To bring her to me," Sub-Zero clarified, "I wished to speak with her and settle this entire mess…"
"Sorry," Wu Lae apologised. "When word spread of a murderer, we assumed they were a threat in need of… putting down."
"It is not your fault, Wu Lae," Sub-Zero forgave him as he knew it was merely a misunderstanding out of a lack of communication beforehand. "Franziska is clearly unwell. I can't get her the help she needs if she is trying to survive alone in the wilderness. It certainly isn't aided by being hunted by your clan either."
"She'll be fine," Smoke said in an attempt to reassure his lover as he approached after finishing his lesson with Chloe Starr. "You worry too much, Subby."
"I worry because I have seen much loss, Tomas," Sub-Zero said as Smoke wrapped his arm around him for comfort. "Thank you."
"It'll be resolved," Smoke promised as he turned to Wu Lae, "isn't that right, Lae?"
"Of course," Wu Lae replied. "I shall go back and check on my fellow Tengu now…" Wu Lae spoke as he began to turn around with his eyes catching onto the red cybernetic warrior. "Sektor?!"
"Tengu Grandmaster who's name I care not to remember," Sektor spoke rudely. "Is there a problem?"
"There's been a slight miscommunication," Cyrax told his fellow cyborg.
"It's Wu Lae by the way," the Tengu Grandmaster told Sektor.
"Let me guess," Sektor said as his eyes locked onto Wu Lae, "he did something stupid, yes?"
"That's enough, Sektor," Sub-Zero said firmly.
"I cannot believe your clan has lasted here for this long," Sektor continued to insult Wu Lae and his clan. "Especially when you make foolish mistakes constantly like whatever this is about."
"Sektor!" Sub-Zero yelled angrily. "Now is not the time for your aggressiveness, friend."
"Whatever you say, 'friend', I care not," Sektor dismissed what Sub-Zero was saying to him.
"Is this because of the time I beat you for trying to take the land of my clan?!" Wu Lae assumed as he recalled the event that occurred long before even the cyber initiative had begun. "The Tengu roamed Arctika long before your father tried to start his secret cyborg manufacturing facilities here!"
"For the record, I do NOT like my 'father' one bit," Sektor clarified. "His negligence led to me being sent to your clan unprepared and alone."
"And I let you retreat because I knew you were just following orders that day," Wu Lae revealed to the cyborg. "So… are there any problems now?"
"I suppose not," Sektor admitted. "I… apologise."
"It's alright," Wu Lae replied. "But to make sure that Franziska is safe I'm gonna have to go this instant!"
"Can we not use the teleportation tech?" Smoke suggested a potential method of fast transportation.
"We can only teleport our own individual bodies," Cyrax explained the teleportation ability built into all Lin Kuei cyborgs. "We could use the main portal in the courtyard… but we don't have any coordinates anyway."
"Guess I'm going back on foot then," Wu Lae decided but Sektor put a firm metal hand on his shoulder before he took off. "Uh… yes, Sektor?"
"I frankly don't give a damn about the wellbeing of this girl, but I'll help you get to her fast," Sektor stepped forth as he offered to be of aid. "If it helps protect your new heroic Lin Kuei morals, Sub-Zero."
"It actually does," Smoke quipped.
"Shut up," Sektor uttered.
"Is everything alright?" Chloe asked out of concern after seeing the gathering in the side of the room as she had taken a break from practising Smoke's fighting techniques on a training dummy which she had located within the dojo's vast bin of training equipment.
"Everything is fine, Chloe," Sektor said in a calming tone despite the robotic voice attempting to detract from his vocal expressions. "Why don't you go see what your new friend is doing?"
"Gladly!" Chloe said cheerfully as she had become quite close to Frost since meeting a few weeks prior at the beginning of the Lin Kuei recruitment tournament.
"Don't forget about the upcoming party that our Edenian allies invited us to," Smoke reminded her. "We'll gladly bring you and Frost along for the party in Edenia itself."
"I'll ask her to come with us," Chloe promised. "Thanks for the lesson, Master Smoke!"
"You're welcome, Chloe," Smoke replied with a smile on his face. "You did great today. Was that right, Sektor?"
"Perfect," Sektor approved. "Now let's go, Lae!"
"Be safe!" Cyrax called out as his old friend and the Tengu Grandmaster ran out of the Lin Kuei Temple.
"I shouldn't have stopped to speak," Wu Lae blamed himself, "we wasted valuable time!"
"The child will be fine!" Sektor reassured him. "No way that they would have killed her considering your warriors are as soft as the snow we're running on!"
"Hey!" Wu Lae took great offence and suddenly stopped when Sektor extended a hand. "What?"
"Grab on!" Sektor ordered.
"You… um… want to… er… hold hands?" Wu Lae asked with the words being uttered at a staggered rate from the peculiar request.
"Idiot!" Sektor insulted as he forcefully grabbed Wu Lae before setting off using his built in rocket boots that a select few cyborgs had equipped to take flight as Wu Lae was wrapped around him to hold on tight. "I'm getting you to her faster! Now where did you last see her?!"
"She was running in the direction of the factory on your left!" Wu Lae told him while pointing over to give Sektor a visual indicator.
Sektor once again dug into his arsenal of built in abilities from becoming part machine. His regular vision transformed into a thermal vision with him zooming in to what he believed were signs of life, which he was soon able to confirm with his own eyes. Immediately after spotting the Tengu members in pursuit of Franziska, despite flying through the air, the process of traversing across a major chunk of Arctika was a challenge that would require time regardless. What would've previously been a couple hour journey though, had been converted into a quarter of an hour trip. Unfortunately, on the flight to Franziska, a blizzard had begun which caused a great mist which made Sektor completely lose sight of the ongoing chase.
On the surface though, despite a sudden blizzard having begun due to the extreme weather that occurred in this occupied region which was a part of the Earthrealm continent of the clearly similar name of Antarctica, Franziska had still been caught. Feng, the determined Tengu warrior, managed to keep up with Franziska before tackling her down a snowy hillside with the two violently tumbling down the steep slope.
"We won't stand for anybody who poses a threat to our clan or our allies!" Feng told him as he dove onto Franziska in an attempt to hold her down.
"I'm just tryna survive!" Franziska yelled before she headbutted Feng and shoved him aside.
"As are we!" Feng replied as he staggered to his feet and went to strike Franziska only for her to trip him over and send him flying down to the bottom of the hill.
"Feng!" Ah-Lam cried out as she watched from atop the hill as the mist caused by the blizzard was beginning to clear.
While Ah-Lam checked on her older brother after his nasty fall, Franziska found herself surrounded by the other Tengu followers. Franziska reluctantly drew the sword she had with her, seeing fighting as the only way to cause this mess to stop. Franziska held tightly to her sword before dashing uphill to try and give herself a higher ground, slashing through two warriors who tried to get in her way. She spun around, her sword slashing a Tengu who followed her up with them falling back and sliding into one of their allies. After a moment of consideration, a Tengu warrior leapt forth but due to having moved down the hill, they lacked the higher and more stable ground. Franziska swung her sword, this time she literally sliced through the warrior as they were sliced in half by the sharp blade. The Tengu stared in horror at what they had just witnessed as Franziska ran off again, leaving down another side of the hill while there was still some mist in the air.
"Why couldn't they have just fucking left me alone?!" Franziska asked herself angrily as she continued to run, hoping she had lost the Tengu.
"Murderer!" yelled a familiar voice as Ah-Lam emerged from the mist and collided into Franziska with both women falling to the ground.
"I didn't want this, Ah-Lam!" Franziska told her as Ah-Lam pressed her arm against her throat. "Agh… I…"
After seeing Franziska wound her brother and kill a fellow Tengu clan member, Ah-Lam now believed that Franziska was genuinely a threat as her allies had made her out to be judging from what little information they knew of her. Ah-Lam tried to strangle her in a fit of anger, similar to the outbursts Franziska herself had to deal with. Franziska began fading, but before she passed out, a metallic fist suddenly smashed against Ah-Lam's face and sent her flying through the mist so far that she couldn't be seen. Franziska looked up to see a cyborg had dealt with the Tengu member, and was also surprised when she felt herself be grabbed and pulled to her feet by a second cyborg. Both looked heavily damaged with parts of their metal husk being scratched, rusty or outright broken. There was still a faint distinction between the two cyborgs, however, as one had some blue paint left while the other was green.
"Cyborgs?" Franziska was puzzled. "Here?"
"Too close to plans!" the blue cyborg yelled. "Eliminate!"
"Wait!" Franziska cried out. "I'm not a threat!"
"Sincerity detected," they replied in a less aggressive tone. "Hostility ceased."
"Danke," Franziska thanked the pair. "You guys saved me."
"What is your business here?" the green cyborg questioned.
"I'm… wanted for murder…" Franziska confessed seeing that she had nothing else to lose. "I killed a Lin Kuei member yesterday and now I have nowhere to go…"
"Yesterday," the green cyborg repeated as they processed the information. "The new Lin Kuei. You fought them?"
"Well technically yes," Franziska confirmed. "What are your names?"
"I am LK-1J0," the blue cyborg introduced himself.
"And I am LK-3R4," the green cyborg did the same as her blue ally.
"That's… your names?" Franziska was puzzled as she thought she had just heard a mere code. "Anything simpler?"
"We have our codenames," the blue cyborg revealed. "I am known as Ijul. LK-3R4 meanwhile is also known as Era."
"Nice to meet you both, Ijul and Era," Franziska told them. "So what are you two? I'm clearly wanted dead by the Lin Kuei yet here two cyborgs help and talk to me?"
"We were the Lin Kuei guards responsible for personally guarding the great Grandmaster Oniro," Era told her as they continued to reveal their identity and past. "Unfortunately, his son would murder him and we failed our duty as he knocked us unconscious momentarily…"
"We eventually recovered," Ijul added onto Era's story with Franziska having to listen closely due to how broken both their voices sounded from a lack of maintenance. "We took Grandmaster Oniro's body to a nearby factory. Anybody who gets too close… we kill."
"And you're against the Lin Kuei now?" Franziska assumed judging by the fact they had allowed her to live.
"The current state of the Lin Kuei," Era clarified.
"With Grandmaster Oniro dead, the new Grandmaster who opposed Oniro's teachings came into power," Ijul detailed while looking around and seeing the mist had nearly completely faded away. "Follow us home, Miss…"
"Franziska Allgeier," she introduced herself. "I'll happily join you two."
They continued walking through the snow biome with no signs of any Tengu warriors in pursuit of them. Considering they appeared to be mutually opposing the Lin Kuei… in its current state at least, meant Franziska could trust the two old cyborgs despite their peculiar behaviour which she failed to realise were as a result of slaving protocols which had once been implanted into every victim of the cyber initiative against their knowledge and will. Despite the damage dealt to the neglected cyborgs overtime, these slaving protocols were still intact as they never witnessed the current Grandmaster holding the Dragon Medallion, the powerful artifact that Oniro himself had programmed to be the trigger for what made the cyborgs obey the command of the Grandmaster. Sub-Zero of course did not abuse this ability, and instead he and his allies worked tirelessly to free every single cyborg from their enslavement… all but Ijul and Era due to having been too busy preserving the body of the Grandmaster who had secretly corrupted them in the first place. Franziska was simply happy to have some seemingly genuine allies for once though and while she had done plenty of research on the history of the Lin Kuei, the specifics of the cyber initiative had never been revealed to her. To Franziska, this apparently great Grandmaster named Oniro sounded like a trustworthy and good man.
"I assume the new Grandmaster you refer to is Sub-Zero?" Franziska asked just to clarify as she was intrigued by the information these cyborgs possessed.
"He betrayed the clan!" Ijul complained in a surprisingly emotional tone as he expressed seeming rage.
"Yet is now seen as their leader," Era followed up on Ijul's point. "We have been trying to restore the true Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei… to no avail."
"Maybe I can help?" Franziska suggested.
"What skills do you possess?" Ijul asked.
"Well I don't like talking about my past…" Franziska said as she took a brief moment of hesitation as she reflected on the skills she had learnt earlier in her life. "But in my birthplace of Munich in Deutschland I learnt how to scavenge and create things. I'd work on some mechanical projects or even science projects, despite what limited resources I had… but I always find what's necessary."
"Such skills could certainly be of benefit to us," Ijul approved.
"You are German?" Era had her own question to ask.
"Ja," Franziska confirmed.
"Downloading German language," Era said a command for herself aloud as she began a brief download of the language for their new allies' sake while they had reached the entrance to the abandoned factory.
"That's so cool!" Franziska reacted with some childlike excitement as she became giddy at the thought of the capabilities of these cyborgs. "Can you guys just download any language you want then?!"
"Not just languages," Ijul informed her as he opened the metal door leading into the factory, "but many other things as well. Thanks to Grandmaster Oniro's genius designs, we can even download the data of several fighting styles to perfect or ability in combat."
"Das ist richtig!" Era confirmed in the new language she had just learnt in full over just a couple of minutes.
"Now I wanna be a cyborg," Franziska confessed.
"It would certainly aid you," Ijul told her as he did a body scan while opening the door for his new ally. "You are freezing. Heat up our friend, Era."
"Most certainly," Era agreed to complete Ijul's request as she activated two beams on her hands that created a pair of harmless red beams of heat that began to warm up Franziska.
"I really appreciate this," Franziska couldn't thank the cyborgs enough for their hospitality. "I shall help you both with whatever you require…"
While Franziska became more acquainted with her two new cyber allies, Sektor and Wu Lae had finally caught sight of the Tengu warriors with Sektor deploying. Due to the mist, it had taken much longer to find their allies with Sektor only regaining a visual of the ground once the mist had cleared. Upon the realisation that Franziska had already gotten away, Sektor immediately let out a cry of rage.
"Is everyone alright?" Wu Lae asked his followers. "Besides Sektor of course."
"Anybody hurt will recover," Feng reported. "Except for one…"
Wu Lae looked over Feng's shoulder to see his sister carrying over the remnants of the warrior who Franziska had slain in self defence. Wu Lae gasped as he clenched his fists in anger at the sight.
"Liú…" Wu Lae recognised the corpse, as he took time to become acquainted with all Tengu clan members. "No!"
"What happened to your face?" Sektor asked as he placed a hand on Wu Lae's shoulder to try and comfort him but his outer cybernetics only caused him discomfort and Wu Lae brushed Sektor's hand off of him. "I am sorry, Wu…" Sektor apologised, "I really am."
"Me too," Ah-Lam said as she wiped a tear from her face. "About my face? There was a cyborg, similar model to yourself and he punched me!"
"What?!" Sektor was shocked by the news. "A Lin Kuei would strike you?!"
"I dunno if it was one of your own," Ah-Lam confessed her uncertainty. "They were rustic and damaged in places. But I know for certain that it was the same build as the Lin Kuei cyborgs."
"All the victims of the cyber initiative are still with the Lin Kuei community to this day," Sektor detailed as he thought about everything Sub-Zero had told him when he was being caught up on modern Lin Kuei matters. "They're all in tip top condition… but a cyborg outsider? That's impossible."
"I suggest you talk with Grandmaster Sub-Zero about this," Wu Lae recommended. "We need to return home and… bury Liú."
"I'm sorry that this all went awry," Sektor once more apologised to Wu Lae and the entire Tengu clan. "I will come back. With answers about Franziska and this mysterious cyborg."
"They were with a second cyborg!" Ah-Lam added. "One blue and another green."
"I'll remember that," Sektor promised as he made a mental note within the literal notelog in his system. "Thank you," he expressed his gratitude for the information and prepared his rocket boots for take off. "Goodbye for now."