Chapter 43
Shang Tsung's Underground Lab
Struggling back to his feet, Hotaru looks around and sees the entirety of Atlas Ace Ops and Team CVFY all in bad shape with Liu Kang and Velvet trying their best to keep Kintaro and Ermac at bay.
Gathering the rest of his strength, Hotaru rushes in to aid them by delivering a flying kick that knocks Ermac away from Velvet before blasting Kintaro a few feet away from Liu Kang.
"Thank you." Velvet said gratefully. "I was beginning to get tired fighting him."
"They're too powerful, if only there was a way to slow them down…" Liu Kang said before noticing some of the cave's damaged pillars. "...or maybe there is."
"You have a plan?" Velvet asked
"It's basically a gamble." Liu Kang said. "But I'll need you to get everyone out of here."
"What about you?" Velvet asked
"Don't worry, part of my plan involves Hotaru's aid, if he's okay with it." Liu Kang said
"You have my strength monk." Hotaru said
"Thank you." Liu Kang said before turning to Velvet. "Now get the others out of here."
"Right." Velvet nods before running off
"Are you done scheming human?" Kintaro asked as he approached the duo with Ermac by his side
"Surrender, only death awaits you." Ermac announces
"The construct is mine." Hotaru says before rushing to face Ermac. With Ermac and Hotaru locked in Kombat again, Liu Kang decides to close to distance between him and Kintaro
As the monk got closer, Kintaro throws a haymaker with two fists but Liu Kang manages to block the attack. Liu Kang then hits Kintaro in the chest several times, chops him the face and lands a gut punch that staggers him. Kintaro recovers and throws a spinning haymaker that Liu Kang catches, but the Shokan keeps throwing punches, eventually landing a short uppercut to Liu Kang's chin that he follows with a gut punch. The monk staggers back, but manages to keep himself from falling. Liu Kang then encased his fist in flame before hitting Kintaro straight in the chest, sending him flying across the cave.
As Liu Kang and Hotaru battle it out against Outworlds warriors, Velvet is seen helping the last of her allies up
"We need to help them." Yatsuhashi said weakly
"Not in your current state." Velvet said shunning her teammate. "Besides, Liu and Hotaru have a plan to take them down."
"Then why aren't they letting us in on the plan?" Harriet asked
"Well…part of the plan involves getting the rest of us out." Velvet said
"Bullshit, I'm not leaving until I kill that thing." Harriet said
"Calm down Harriet." Elm said. 'We're all devastated by Vine's death, but we shouldn't let that endanger the ourselves."
After a long silence, Harriet finally slums her shoulder in defeat. "Fine…everyone move, now!" She ordered causing everybody to begin rushing out
Meanwhile at the other hall Sonya, Blake and Yang had managed to surround Noob Saibot, with Sub Zero helping Jax to escape. Yang attacks first with a barrage of punches, but Noob parries them all, as well as some sword strikes from Blake. He then blocks a high kick from Yang and another from Sonya, dodging between strikes from Blake's swords. He grabs Yang's hand as she tries to punch him, then steps forward and judo throws her to the floor. Before she can recover he punches her in the face, knocking her unconscious.
Noob Saibot throws a roundhouse kick that counters a palm strike from Sonya, blocks some more punches and lands a straight punch to Sonya's face, sending her reeling back. Noob turns to his side as Blake tries to flank him, deflecting her sword attacks with his fists and feet. He jump kicks her in the face, punches Blake when she tries to charge in and blasts her in the chest with an energy blast, knocking her down.
Blake gets up and tries to stab him with her sword, but Noob dodges around it, punches her in the face, then takes her sword with both hands and wrenches it downward. As Blake staggers forward, Noob knees her in the face, knocking her back. He then twirls the sword around, taking Blake with it and forces it against her throat, while he grabs her head from behind and pushes it down against her sword.
It's not long before Blake begins to struggle for breath, and she falls to her knees. As she lets go of her sword, Noob leans downward and springs back with a devastating knee strike to the back of her neck. The blow is so powerful that Blake's sword breaks in two from the impact, and she collapses on the floor unconscious.
Noob throws the broken pieces of Blake's swords to the floor and assumes another fighting stance. He addresses Sub Zero, who has just laid Jax by a pillar. "Your allies are weak. I hope you put up a better fight."
Both men charge at each other. Sub Zero tries to punch Noob, only for him to vanish before the fist could connect. Noob appears behind him and elbows him in the back. He skids across the ground then makes it back to his feet and charges at Noob again. He goes to throw more punches, but Noob dodges them. Noob tries to throw a punch of his own, but Sub Zero manages to avoid it. Noob then knees Sub Zero in the stomach, then punches him in the face. Sub Zero stumbles backwards, then tries to kick Noob, only for him to catch his leg. Noob then flings Sub Zero over his head to the ground. Sub Zero stands to his feet again, only for Noob to grab him by his neck. Sub Zero manages to kick Noob in the stomach, then perform an ice enhanced Uppercut, leaping into the air, delivering an uppercut with his elbow to Noob, sending him up into the air. Before Noob could hit the ground, he teleports. He reappears in front of Sub Zero and punches him in the face. Sub Zero stumble back again, only for Noob to perform Confusing Teleport, teleporting and punching Sub Zero from behind.
"This is bad. If this keeps up he'll lose." Jax thought to himself as he struggled to his feet. As the two brothers continue to fight, Blake and the others are slowly beginning to stir.
Meanwhile, Sub Zero turns and kicks Noob backwards, then performs an ice blast that curves upperwards at Noob. The attack connects, freezing Noob to the ground before performing a slide attack that knocks the Wraith off balance. Noob stands to his feet, only for Sub Zero to kick him into a wall. Sub Zero intended to press his attack but before he could kick Noob in the stomach, Noob vanishes again. Sub Zero turns around, then is tackled when Noob performs Shadow Charge, sending his shadow clone to tackle Sub Zero. The shadow clone soon crumbles, then Sub Zero makes it back to his feet.
Sub Zero then charges at Noob again, then tries to throw a punch. Noob dodges the punch, then lands a punch of his own to Sub Zero's face. The punch shatters Sub Zero's mask before he kicks Noob away.
Noob grabs hold of Sub Zero's head, then raises him up to his feet. He then headbutts him and throws him over his head to the ground. Noob turns around, finding Sub Zero rising back to his feet. Noob performs Teleport Slam, teleporting behind Sub Zero, grabbing him, then slamming him on the ground. Sub Zero slowly tries to make it back to his feet. Noob tries to punch him, but Sub Zero blocks it. He then performs a flipkick, doing a somersault kick that launches Noob into the air. Noob lands on his back. He then stands up, only for Sub Zero to perform an ice slide again. Noob stumbles backwards, then Sub Zero performs High ice attack, sending a blue orb at Noob but he dodges the attack.
Noob looks at Sub Zero and begins to chuckle. Sub Zero gives him confused look. Noob then pulls out a set of shurikens.
"Uh oh!" Yang says to herself from the sideline. Noob begins to throw the shurikens at Sub Zero. He moves quickly to try to avoid them. One manages to sink into his arm.
"Tch!" Sub Zero grits his teeth in pain. Noob throws the remaining few in his hand, but Sub Zero dodges them. Sub Zero then pulls the shuriken from his arm. Noob chuckle even more. The two then charge at each other. They connect, grappling with each other.
"I must admit, your skills have improved... since that last time we battled." Noob comments, struggling to gain the upper hand. "Tell me what is it that drives you? That way I can have the pleasure of taking it away from you."
"That will never happen." Sub Zero replies, using all his strength into the hold he was in.
"Is that so?." Noob says, "In that case you don't mind me killing that Faunus girl!" Sub Zero narrowed his eyes while glaring at Noob.
"You will not touch a hair on her head." Sub Zero said before headbutting Noob, but he is then kicked backward by his opponent. Sub Zero is then grabbed from behind by a shadow clone.
"NO!" Blake yells running towards the three. But she is stopped when a shadow clone trips her. Another clone quickly runs over and pins her down. Both Sonya and Yang find themselves in a similar condition as Blake
Noob walks over to Sub Zero and punches him hard in the face. Then the shadow clone knees him in the back. Noob finally finishes by kicking Sub Zero in the stomach, causing him to cough blood on Noob's leg. The shadow clone release Sub Zero, who then drops to his knees and falls to the ground. As Noob slowly approaches Sub Zero, Jax suddenly tackles him behind. They wrestle on the ground, but Noob quickly kicks Jax off him and they both pick themselves up.
"You will suffer for your interference." Noob said before creating two portal right next to Jax. Out of the portals rises two shadow clone that grab Jax by his arm.
"NOOO!" Sonya yells as she manages to free herself from the clones. But before she can rush towards Jax, the clones of Noob pulled his arms into the open portal. All of a sudden, the portal closes. Jax's eye were wider than ever.
"NOOOOO!" Sonya screams, now seeing that Jax's arm were now gone. Blood poured all over the ground as he abruptly trashed on the floor in pain.
"I'll kill you!" Sonya yells as she begins attacking Noob viciously. Having slightly recovered, Sub Zero joins Sonya in fighting Noob. Noob manages to kick Sonya away following with an exchange of fists, but Sub Zero lands a solid left hook then throws a barrage of punches that Noob is forced to block. One punch eventually breaks through his defenses and Sub Zero follows through with another left hook that sends the Wraith to the floor. Slowly standing to his feet, Noob notices Yang and Blake rushing in to aid Sub Zero
"Tch, we will finish this another time." Noob said before vanishing through a portal
"Get back here!" Sonya yells as she frantically looks for Noob
"Calm down Sonya, we have bigger problems." Yang said pointing to the bleeding Jax
Acting quickly, Sub Zero cauterizes the bloody stumps that are Jax's arms with his ice ability. "This should stop the bleeding, but we have to leave now."
"Hang in there Jax." Sonya said while helping him to his feet
Back in the other hall, Ermac and Hotaru are locked in kombat. Hotaru hits a right cross and follows it with a backfist. With Ermac stunned for a moment, time seems to slow down as Hotaru charges up his fist with fire and slams it into Ermac's torso, sending him flying across the room. He lands hard into Kintaro sending both fighters into a wall.
Hotaru turns toward the entrance as Liu Kang rushes towards him. "The others have successfully escaped."
"Good, then let's bury these two here." Liu Kang said before sending a burst of fire into the roof above them. Seeing this, Hotaru mimicks the monk sending forth his own attack into the roof. The already weakened roof begins to collapse even further. As large debris begin to fall, Hotaru and Liu Kang started making a run for the lairs exit. As they made it out of the exit, the entire lab collapse with the entrance completely covered by large boulders.
"You made it." Velvet called as she at the rest of her allies approach Liu Kang and Hotaru
"It's good to see you alive my friend." Sub Zero said while placing a hand on Liu Kang's shoulder
"You too." Liu Kang said before noticing Jax's injured form. "Is that…?"
"Jackson Briggs." Sonya said. "We need to get him to Raiden."
"Let's go." Hotaru said as he began to walk off. "We've already wasted enough time as it is."
Tournament Grounds, Coliseum Entrance
The entirety of Remnant's fighters alongside Raiden and Fujin are seen waiting in silence for their comrades, with Johnny Cage pacing back and forth impatiently
"Where are they?" Johnny asked himself
"I'm sure they're fine." Smoke said trying to calm his friend
"They've been gone for more than six hours." Johnny snapped before turning away. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine." Smoke assured him
"Guys look." Ruby called as she pointed towards her returning allies.
"Sonya." Johnny signed in relief before approaching her. "You guys have no idea how worri-"
"No time Cage, we need a medic." Sonya said as Liu Kang and Sub Zero supported the injured Jax
"By the Elder gods, what happened?" Kung Lao asked
"We met some resistance during the rescue." Hotaru said
"Harriet, where is Vine?" Ironwood asked on noticing his absence
"And Fox?" Ozpin asked
"They didn't make it." Harriet answered while balling her fist
"No." Ruby said in a low tone
"Come, let us treat your injuries then you can explain what happened." Fujin said while leading them away from the area