Author's Note: Thanks to my friend, Obelisk of Light, for helping me with the scene between Raiden and Liu Kang.

Also, I got sick of looking at this chapter because it's a little long, so please forgive me any typos or minor errors, please and thank you.

While Prince Xinyi was dragging Olivia away from the battle unseen by anyone who could've helped her, Bi-han had fought his way to Kuai Liang and confronted him. The Cryomancer brothers circled each other in a deadly dance, their faces streaked in ash and sweat and blood like warpaint. Bi-han eyed Kuai Liang up and down, and somewhere far inside of him it saddened him to see his baby brother reduced to Reiko's puppet and plaything. He imagined that once, long ago when their roles had been reversed and he'd been the puppet, his brother had felt much the same sorrow. But just as Kuai Liang had never given up believing that Bi-han could be saved from Noob Saibot's clutches, Bi-han refused to believe the Grandmaster was beyond saving. But at the moment, he couldn't begin to figure out how to save him. A tarry, blank shadow had settled on the younger Cryomancer's sapphire blue eyes, and he knew from experience that his brother was nothing more than a robot right now, his will trapped somewhere behind that veil.

"Kuai Liang," he calmly began, "I don't want to fight you. But I will if I have to."

His brother did not respond to that, and coldly attacked him instead as if he was a stranger, instantly launching himself on a sheet of ice towards him, knocking him backwards onto the parched earth before coming around for a second pass. But before Sub-Zero could ram into him another time, the elder Cryomancer threw a ball of ice at his feet only to have him flip through the air out of harm's reach. He then roared and charged at Bi-han, kicking his leg straight ahead of him and catching him in his groin. Bi-han stumbled, but reflexively swung a powerful fist at his face, which he promptly ducked. Then he lunged forward and caught the nose-guard on the other's blue mask with a loud punch.

The elder Cryomancer didn't wait for his brother to recover from the blow before he gracefully swung his leg up in a precise arch that caught the other's face and knocked him backwards. When he planted his combat boot on the ground once again, he sprang off it and caught his brother in the ribs with his other foot. The Grandmaster groaned as he staggered away, clutching his ribs, and Bi-han knew he'd aggravated his old injury. But he wasn't through yet. He bolted towards his stunned opponent and leapt into the air like a tiger pouncing on his prey, but this time Sub-Zero was ready for him and caught him in both arms before he threw him to the ground with a labored grunt.

On the leftmost side of the field, Cassie's small squad were sufficiently protecting the Army Rangers while together, they mowed through the combined Netherrealm forces. The young warriors had scared off most of the Oni, but a few braver ones stayed behind to slow down their gradual movement towards the Black Palace. The artillery commanders were sufficiently busy behind them; frequently, a rapid fusillade of muffled thumps from their mortars bombed the Mortus-Coombe and reverberated through the ground. The entire battlefield shook as a series of concussive blasts ripped across it, shock waves hurling earth and dead Oni this way and that, white-hot flame disintegrating anything those shock waves missed.

Cassie herself was surrounded by three of the demons, but she blew the head off the first monster that came at her with her twin SIG Sauer M17s, and then she blew a smoldering hole through the second's face while blasting through the third's chest. As she was finishing up with them, a spear came hurtling at her from the right and she barely had time to dodge aside before it plunged into the ground beside her. It wobbled in place, even as she wheeled about and popped off several rounds at the Oni who threw it. The winged beast roared from the air as she fired at him, but then Takeda was there, fearlessly snapping his mechanical arm whips at it before ultimately stabbing and chopping at him with his katana. The beast spat at him with putrid, poisonous saliva, but the Shirai Ryu's thick plate armor shielded him from injury, and before the creature could attack again, Kung Jin shot it through the wing with one of his flaming arrows, knocking it from the air. Takeda destroyed him with a sweeping down-cut that splattered black blood across his armor, face, and hair.

As the three were distracted by that, a red-clad figure with dark brown eyes charged toward them. Before they noticed her, she lifted her palm and slammed Jin with a ghastly ball of blood that knocked him back several yards. Instantly, a band of demons swarmed over him. Meanwhile, Skarlet lifted Takeda upside down in the air with a bloody tendril wrapped taut around his waist before smirking at him.

"I remember you," she spoke.

"Been a while, Skarlet," he grimaced.

"I owe you some payback," she stated.

"Not today, Elvira!" Cassie yelped as she leapt boot-first into the back. Immediately, the blood tendril holding Takeda flung him towards the scrum just as she'd done to Jin only moments prior.

Skarlet quickly retaliated against the Sergeant with a ball of blood, which slammed hard into her chest, smashing her onto her back, and knocking both her pistols from her hands. Open-mouthed, gasping for air that refused to come, her body struggled to recover in a painfully slow fashion. Dull bolts of lightning surged through her lungs, and she croaked for oxygen. Pitifully, she writhed through the greasy dirt like a slug sprinkled with salt. But Skarlet took no pity on her; immediately she grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and then threw her headfirst into a nearby boulder.

Cassie had trouble lifting her head after she slammed into the rock, and she had been stunned too much by the blow to resist the construct when she buried her fingers into her blond ponytail, digging into her scalp with long fingernails, jerking her head back, before she punched her in the nose. Thick blood promptly exploded from her nostrils, and Skarlet carefully, deliberately wiped it with her finger before licking it off, savoring the flavor.

But Cassie had already shaken off the blood bomb and now the two traded blows and kicks in a flurry of motion with neither truly getting the upper hand. Both warriors were fast, graceful, and deadly, but fought at a stalemate for several seconds. Finally, Skarlet left her crotch unguarded and Cassie capitalized on the mistake. With a ferocious scream, she snap-kicked her between the legs and then laughed triumphantly as she collapsed to the mud with an agonized groan.

"Boom, bitch!" the Sergeant jeered.

But she wasn't content to leave it at that. As Skarlet moaned in pain, Cassie stepped towards her, gripped her skull with her hands, and then promptly kneed her in the face. A sickening crunch accompanied the shot, and more of her blood sprayed into the air. And still she wasn't done. She snap-kicked her, also in the face, and watched as the force of it knocked the construct unconscious.

At the same time Cassie was battling Skarlet, Takeda was fighting his way through the scrum when the revenant of Li Mei found him.

While the purple-clad woman withdrew her long, narrow dao from a scabbard strapped to her back, Takeda groaned in pain and staggered to his feet. He looked at her as she stomped towards him, and he recognized the woman who'd once traveled with his father after the rise of Onaga. She'd been one of Bo'Rai Cho's many students until the Seidan, Hotaru, had brutally killed her in her journeys. And then he'd defeated her a second time - this time she was an undead revenant - during the battle against Onaga and his skeleton army.

"Time to die, Earthrealmer!" she spat.

Takeda's entire body quivered with the energies that Li Mei exuded, knowing it was less from her own natural aura and more because Quan Chi's power raged inside of her. His third eye, which was every bit like his father's, saw the evil necromancer's dark spell crammed into the despicable being before him, fueling her hatred, breathing unnatural life into her body. He almost felt pity for her. Hers was a life worse than death.

But she felt no such pity for him. Instantly, a purple fireball burst towards him in a blast of deadly energy. It hit Takeda squarely in the chest, and when he landed, his left side was in flaring agony, and fire licked at his arm, his shoulder, his neck. He could hear the sizzling as some of his hair and bits of his skin cooked away. Muttering curses, his senses overwhelmed, his third eye temporarily blinded, he lashed out in a panic with his telekinetic powers and flung her backwards, screaming in surprise. The invisible rope vanished as swiftly as it had appeared, but at least he now had the time he needed to recover.

And then his whips snapped at her close enough to get her attention. Li Mei promptly growled in annoyance, withdrew one of her knives, and turned to face Takeda. Her grotesque, hellish features took on an even harsher appearance, and she marched towards her enemy with her long knife poised to strike. As she approached, he cracked those razor whips again. He swung them at her gracefully, his movement so fluid and fast that they seemed like a continuous arc, but she calmly flipped over them and booted him in his clavicle with both feet. As Li Mei used the momentum to leap into a backwards handspring, coming up in a fighting stance, Takeda stumbled to the side but managed to lash her with his whips before using his telekinesis to throw her body towards the nearby brawl.

While she was groaning on the ground, Takeda expertly used his katana and whips to cut his way towards her, seeing the world awash in blood. Bones cracked, limbs flew, red and black blood sprayed everywhere. By the time he reached his prey, he was dripping with it, unceremoniously anointed by his kills. Li Mei looked at him, her face a cold mask, but her eyes seeming to narrow to sneer.

Quickly, he threw out his hand and curled a telekinetic fist around the revenant, squeezing her mercilessly as he lifted her into the air. Then, as he had done earlier, he slammed her into the ground over and over as if he were simply dribbling a basketball. Takeda lost track of how long he did that, enjoying the way her bones snapped with each bounce, enjoying the sound of the revenant groaning and grunting in pain. And only when Li Mei's body went limp did he stop.

Meanwhile, nearby, Jacqui plowed through the center of the enemy battalion, deftly deflecting Oni blades into other Oni when she wasn't shooting them with her own M-17 or blasting them with her energy gauntlet. Soon, she was attacked by Jade, who leapt at him like a vicious beast, her hair woven into a messy braid, her burning eyes wild and rabid. She was a revenant too. Jacqui dove towards her, her gun raised high. With a ferocious roar, she fired her weapon at the undead Edenian. The bullet's impact was enough to stagger Jade, and she howled as she dropped to one knee and held her palm to her disintegrated shoulder. She was lucky that hollow point had only done that much to her.

Jacqui now bent over to kick away Jade's staff, but was caught off guard by a sudden screech and the dull, heavy whap! of something sharp and spinning plunging deep into her back muscles. She groaned and dropped to her own knees as she grabbed for the weapon, and was surprised when she yanked out a bloody, blue fan. She and Jade looked up; they saw a woman – her skin was cracked and fiery as all revenants' skin was, but she was dressed in a blue, medieval battle dress - stomping furiously towards her with another fan poised to throw.

"How dare you attack my bodyguard?" she shrieked.

"Sure you want her as your bodyguard, Empress?" she chided back with a labored grunt.

"I will kill you!"

"You have to go through me first!" a new voice yelled, and with it came General Blade and a blast of pink energy. It struck Kitana directly in the stomach, and she fell like a rock.

The evil Empress stumbled to the ground, but quickly snatched Jade's staff to defend herself before kipping up and attacking again. Kitana promptly swung her weapon in a high arc with all of her strength. The staff struck Sonya's arm hard, knocking her silly, and then jerked her over with a simple but efficient tug. The force of the impact was more than sufficient to send the General flipping end over end until she landed hard on her face in the dirt.

Kitana's dusty boots stomped at the torso of the woman she'd just brought down, but she underestimated just how quickly the Ranger could move. By the time her foot collided with the ground, Sonya had already scurried to the side, swept her arm around, and fired more energy rings from a gauntlet fixed to her arm. The Empress was more than swift enough to avoid them, but there was nothing she could do to mitigate the sheer momentum of the attack. It forced her into the air, driving her up and out until she plummeted to the ground.

In the melee, Stryker, Caliber, Tommy, and Jamie were rapidly tiring fighting the demons, but they held their ground all the same. With sweat and a steady trickle of blood streaming from a gash on his forehead, Tommy fiercely clutched his storm sword and poised to attack the Oni once again, but before he could, Jataaka threw a bomb full of hellfire into the Earthrealmers' midst. There came a hollow boom, like a thunderclap cutting through the din of screams and shouts. A moment later, a brilliant, burning light flashed not ten paces from them, burning through several Edenians and Oni like a nuclear blast. Tommy got the distinct feeling that she hadn't meant for her weapon to fall short, but was grateful for her terrible aim because his family and his ally would never have survived otherwise.

While Kia - who'd been preoccupied with a band of Rangers - attacked Alex, code-named Caliber, one of the winged Oni soared towards Tommy and tackled him, beating at his face before the Hydromancer could react. As the two rolled around in the burning dirt, punching and kicking at each other, one of the Edenians marched to Jamie, curled her fist around a large clump of his dark hair, and yanked him to his feet. The Hydromancer weakly punched at the woman, but she blocked him with her free hand and then proceeded to headbutt him in the nose.

That left Stryker to face Jataaka. The detective glared at the demoness, his hazel eyes cold but determined to beat her. Jataaka, however, had other plans. She said nothing – no condescending retort or promise of pain – she simply lifted a matching set of blue laser swords into the air and twisted it until a blast of blue energy escaped them and collided into his chest. He tumbled backward as an explosion of pain sheeted through him from the epicenter of her attack.

"What in George Lucas' name is this Jedi horseshit?" he groaned as he patted his shirt, putting out the smoldering cinders and then reaching for his gun. "Goddamn, woman, I didn't know I was supposed to bring the Force to the fight."

Kabal raced around the battlefield with his tremendous speed, taking only slight comfort in the knowledge that he was faster than any man on the field, and that had come in handy because his old friend, Nightwolf, was relentlessly shooting his bow and arrow at him and chasing after him like the goddamn Terminator. Kabal soon tired of the chase, though, so he came about and then raked the hook on one of his swords across the Matokan's hands just hard enough to disarm him. As predicted, the revenant lost his grip on it and it toppled towards the ground, but was quickly sliced in two by another pass of the detective's swords. Then he drilled the handle of one of them into Nightwolf's temple, temporarily knocking him unconscious.

Time may have tempered Kabal, but he had lost none of his speed nor his skill for warfare. With his notched hook swords, forgetting about Nightwolf for a few moments, he took one of the Oni out with a well-placed crack to the skull that cut it in half to its collarbone, and then he danced around in a circle and hooked another with a stab to the chest that broke through several rib bones and sliced lung tissue when he wrenched his weapons back out. It was tiring work as the Oni seemed as relentless and never-ending as Onaga's skeleton army, but for now, anyway, he was still alive and too stubborn to quit.

But unexpectedly, at that moment, Nightwolf woke up. Quickly, he raised his tomahawk and bolted, screaming a war cry, towards Kabal. And as he ran, he somehow used Raiden's powers. At the speed of thought, wild blue lightning arched off the tip of his tomahawk and blasted straight into the detective's chest, burning a smoldering hole through his trenchcoat just above his left nipple. Another blast of lightning followed, and this time it seared off a few of the top buttons of his shirt, allowing it to fall slightly open, exposing his most extensive burn scars for all to see. Kabal groaned as he vibrated in place for several long seconds, unable to move. When at last the lightning released him, he slumped to the ground.

Nightwolf sneered as he calmly stomped towards him. The ground, Kabal felt, shook with every step he took. The detective knew it was just mortars falling in time with his footsteps - an extraordinary coincidence - but it lent an air of danger to the moment. The revenant easily snatched the aging detective in one of his cracked fists. But as he swung his free fist towards his face, something happened that neither of them could've predicted in a thousand years. Sherman, Nightwolf's long-orphaned son and one of Sub-Zero's students in the Lin Kuei, cracked the handle of his katana into the back of his undead father's skull.

Nightwolf instantly dropped Kabal again, who now scrambled for his hook swords. "Run, kid," he grimaced.

But Sherman ignored him. "Yá'át'ééh, Papa," he said as he coldly poised with his katana crossed in front of his face. His face was a storm cloud of both pain and fury.

"Honor thy father, Sherman," the revenant snarled at him.

"I will when he starts sounding like himself again," the other shot back before he lunged at him.

Nightwolf deftly countered with the much smaller, more agile tomahawk. The clatter of sword against axe echoed out as the two traded heavy blows for a long minute, battling at a stalemate. Finally, though, the revenant hooked his tomahawk around his katana, easily yanking it from his grasp, and it fell harmlessly to the ground nearby. But Sherman was far from finished. Before Nightwolf could attack again, the Elite rolled to the side and yanked him off the ground by his ankles before he tackled him and pummeled him relentlessly.

Things could, perhaps, have gone a bit more smoothly, Smoke decided, but ultimately, it made no difference. The Netherrealm army was progressively laying siege to Earthrealm's foolish little band of warriors, and for as hard as they all were battling, they were going to lose. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and to watch the battle unfold. Magical energies and tearing shrapnel detonated across the Mortus-Coombe as the Army Rangers bombed the battlefield with shell after shell. Around the edges, the Oni and rebel Edenians that sought safety away from the enclosed ranks of their allies instead found themselves peppered into chunks by volley after volley from them. They had no means to retaliate against the cannons and mortars, so instead they surged towards the rear of the battle where the artillery teams had set up, hoping to take them out at the source.

Which left, of course, the task of protecting them up to the rest of the Earthrealmers.

The bullets from the Rangers' machine guns sliced through flesh and bone as easily as parchment, and when they missed, bullets from handguns typically sufficed. Smoke's own onboard arsenal detonated anything unfortunate enough to meet with his missiles while his bombs obliterated those who never believed they were threatened at all. Beside him, Alex - code-named Caliber due to his proficiency with guns - fired round after round at their enemies with almost monotonous precision before being tackled by the demon known as Kia.

And Kailyn…his beautiful Kailyn. She amused herself by clearing swaths through those lines of Oni and Edenians that had managed to avoid everything else hurled their way. In leaps and bounds she passed into and out of their ranks faster than the things could respond, and each time she left fewer of them standing. Her weapons flashed, singly and in pairs, be they storm sword or staff, whatever the situation called for. Smoke watched her fight for a brief moment before he felt himself start to grow hard with arousal, and that prompted him to laugh. Without even trying, Kailyn could always turn him on.

With a triumphant sneer, Smoke finally returned his attention to his own battle as he continued to fight his way towards Raiden. A wise choice, that, since a few moments was all that the cyber-ninja had anyway. The smoky haze grew dark, thickened by a half-obscured shape, and then a purple-clad warrior emerged - his face piggishly arrogant - wielding a storm sword. Smoke immediately recognized the recently resurrected Rain.

"Oh, zatraceně!" he swore in Czech. "Not you again."

"Yes, it's me, traitor," he hissed. "How quickly you switch sides."

"I am no traitor," he argued. "I never willingly supported you or your plans."

"Oh, yes, I forgot," he silkily replied. "You only have loyalty for one person: that filthy Cryomancer pig." A wicked smile fell over his face. "Tell me, Enenra, how is Kuai Liang these days?"

If Smoke had thought a little more on it, he wouldn't have let Rain bait him like this. But as soon as the cruel joke left his mouth, the logical part of the cyber-ninja's brain switched off, leaving only his baser animal instincts intact. Roaring, he lunged towards the Hydromancer as squealing missiles left his automated palm, but Rain was prepared for that. He leapt out of the way at the last possible second before he dove headfirst through a watery portal, emerging on the other side of Smoke only a moment later. The Enenra paused, thrown only for an instant by the escape, but in that instant, the Hydromancer attacked. He charged, no war cry roaring from his lungs to herald his arrival, his eyes narrowed and fixed on drilling his clenched fist into his enemy's back.

Smoke coughed and groaned, gripping his ribs as he collapsed to his feet, but he knew he couldn't linger for long like that, so he quickly sprang to his feet. A thick cloud of smoke now swirled around him, crackling with little jolts of electricity like lightning. Then, in the blink of an eye, that smoke raced across the earth in a fearsome torrent that blanketed the ground in black. Numerous Oni and Edenians around him immediately vaporized, their bodies collapsing to the ground in a seared skeletal heap and the smell of burnt dog flesh, but Rain was able to hurl himself aside and evade the worst of this demonic power. He didn't escape unscathed, though; his armor had melted in several spots, and the skin on his arm was now riddled with third-degree burns.

Now shimmering water waves, something between a fever dream and the swell of the ocean, billowed from the Hydromancer's palm. With deceptive speed, it bridged the distance between him and Smoke, and now the cyber-ninja howled. His exposed flesh began to peel away in spots as the roaring water surged around him. An enormous and deep wound opened on his left cheek, letting blood and plasma pour down his face and mingle with the wave. Thinking fast in spite of the agony, he phased into invisibility and let the water race through him for a moment before teleporting to his enemy.

"Becoming invisible?" Rain jeered. "Only cowards fight like that."

"Are you a subject-matter expert on cowardice?" Smoke taunted before he reappeared and fired a missile at the Hydromancer. The other man howled in surprise and pain as the missile exploded in his back and blasted him forward. Shrapnel from the missile cut holes through his arms, legs, back, and chest.

"What's the matter, Rain?" he asked a moment later when his enemy gasped for air and consciousness. "Did I catch you on an off day?" He fiercely kicked the Hydromancer in the head and watched a cloud of blood explode from his mouth. "Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to stay and play with you, voleh, I'm afraid I have more pressing matters to attend to."

With that, he jammed one of his kunai blades into the base of Rain's neck and watched with pleasure as the fiend, the Great Betrayer who'd raped and tormented Kailyn for years, twitched uncontrollably and then went limp.

"Good riddance," he cursed before he once again bolted towards Raiden.

Unbeknownst to him, Rain's Hydromancer healing abilities were already mending his body.

Drums rolled and fires leapt up as the Earthrealmers futilely battled the demon warriors, who now let out a deafening, jeering yell of impending victory. There were more of the enemy than Kung Jin could count, and soon, their forces would mow every last dissident down. The wind blew and the Edenian trumpets taunted the Earthrealm Champions while the arrows softly hissed through the air.

The lines of Earthrealm's army were crumbling fast, the coalition of Army, Lin Kuei, and Shirai Ryu reeling under the impact of Reiko's perfectly executed assault. But Jin was too stubborn to quit. He loosed arrow after arrow at the Oni, and on the rare occasion one got close enough to sincerely threaten him, he whirled around with his bow and cracked their skulls with it when he wasn't allowing the dragon head at the top of it to breathe fire onto them. He thought he was faring quite well, all things considered, until a whirling disk that he quickly realized was a hat zipped through the air by him and sliced his bow in half.

Startled, he whipped around and came face to face with a ghost from his past: Kung Lao.

"Shūshu?" he said uncertainly as the deadly hat returned to its owner. Jin didn't want to believe it. Even though he stood before him, his soul imprisoned in a demonic shell of gray skin and orange fissures like lava, he refused to believe this was his favorite uncle.

Kung Lao was a muscular bear of a man, unusually tall for a Chinese man, standing at a solid six feet in his bare feet, but incredibly lithe in spite of his size. He moved everywhere with a slight and nautical sway, as smooth as a panther in the jungle. Once, even though he was larger than most of the other monks, there was something quite centered and reassuring about him, like an old ship's mast cut from a single piece of timber. But now, as Jin stared at the wretched creature his beloved uncle had become, he felt decidedly insecure and struggled not to vomit.

"What happened to you?" he breathed, even though he knew the answer.

"I was freed," came the stone cold reply.

"This is not freedom, Shūshu," he said as he held up a deferential hand and stepped towards him.

Kung Lao, who clearly misinterpreted the gesture, instantly clamped down on his nephew's wrist with a surgically precise movement, violently hyper-extended his fingers almost to the point of breaking, and then jerked his arm behind his back as he collapsed to his knees with a pained shout. Surging bolts of jagged lightning coursed through Jin's arm and shoulder as his uncle pushed harder. Kung Lao was stronger than he remembered. Before any of his bones snapped under his uncle's grip, he used his free hand to grasp the chakram hanging from his belt and tossed it away from him.

"You will die here, and I will be the one to kill you," Kung Lao stated, unaware that his nephew had just launched a weapon into the air.

"But we're family, Shūshu," he grunted as he struggled against his grip on his wrist. "I'm your nephew. You taught me everything. I followed you everywhere." He hoped the reminder would force Kung Lao to remember himself, to somehow break the spell that was keeping him trapped here. But his supplication fell on deaf ears, and he struggled and grunted in frustration as his uncle twisted his wrist even harder, prompting him to howl his pain.

Then something small and circular screamed through the air and plunged into Kung Lao's wrist. With a startled, pained shout, the elder monk released his hostage, but he recovered quickly, and had already yanked the chakram from his bone by the time Jin was on his feet again, this time holding the broken pieces of his bows like twin clubs. He stood ready to fight, though his heart ached with reluctance to do so.

"This is not who you are, Shūshu," he quickly spoke. "Let Raiden help you."

"Like he helped me in the arena against Shao Kahn?" the other shot back.

"It's not his fault!" he argued in the Thunder God's defense. Funny, he vaguely thought. Not very long ago, he would've agreed with his Uncle about Raiden's culpability in the matter. "Shūshu, think about it. How could he know what Shao Kahn was going to do to you?"

"Lies!" the other cried. "I'm very disappointed to find out you've been so easily deceived."

"No, Shūshu," this place has twisted you up inside. You're the one who's been deceived."

"Die!" he screamed as he whirled his body around like a tornado, his feet lashing out rapidly and kicking Jin in a blur that was difficult to see. On the other hand, he felt the blows all too well. Each strike felt like a billy club hitting every possible nerve. Before Jin could react, one foot caught him in the groin and knocked him backwards to the ground.

He moaned as little stars of blue light danced in his vision, and once more, he strained not to vomit while his lungs refused to draw breath. But he sensed the razor hat racing towards his head even before he saw it, and before it reached him, he ducked to the right just as it whizzed by. By then, he'd recovered his breath, and managed to roll onto his feet before he furiously caught Kung Lao around the middle and tackled him to the ground. As his vision started to return to normal, Jin beat his fists into his uncle's head, vaguely praying it would knock some sense into him.

Kung Lao only briefly tolerated the flurry of fists to his face before he roared a loud war cry and used his knee to throw his nephew over his head and onto his back. Jin toppled into the parched dirt and laid there for a moment before he kipped up onto his feet and charged at his uncle once more. While they sparred in a frenzied blur of hand-to-hand combat, time slowed to a standstill, and in that time he inadvertently remembered the last day he saw his uncle alive.

It had been a calm, golden morning the day Kung Lao left with Raiden to go to the Mortal Kombat Tournament, and four-year-old Jin had been bawling from the moment he woke up, in spite of his family's admonitions to be strong. He didn't want his Shūshu to go away without him, even though children were most definitely not welcome on Shang Tsung's island. After all, the man had spent nearly every second of his young life with him and was like a second father to him. How could he just leave Jin behind, his little buddy?

Kung Lao had dropped to one knee before his nephew and wiped away a few errant tears with his thumb. "I'll be back before you know it, Xiao yā," he told him reassuringly in their native Mandarin. "But I have a big job for you." He slowly removed his hat from his head and passed it to the boy. "This is my favorite hat, Jin," he declared.

"Because I gave it to you," the boy now smiled.

"Exactly," he said. "So you've got to keep it safe for me. I don't want it to get ruined at the Tournament. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Shūshu," he replied before he wrapped his spindly little arms around his uncle's neck and hugged him tightly. Then Kung Lao stood tall, towering over the child, before teleporting away with Raiden to go to a mystical place he'd only heard about in his family's stories.

It wasn't long after that the Thunder God had returned to them to deliver the news of his murder. Jin had been so devastated by the news that he couldn't find the words to speak again for a year.

And now, twenty-five years later, as the once inseparable pair beat each other to holy hell, all Jin could think of was their last goodbye, and how Kung Lao was doomed to live his life as an unwitting slave to darkness, and how nothing short of a miracle would change that. There would be no more bad dad jokes, or play-sparring in the meadow near their ancestral home in the city of Zhuzin. They would never be friends, nor would they be family. And that, more than anything, broke Jin's heart.

At the far right end of the battlefield, Erron battled the chap aptly called Havik. He grumbled and groused under his breath as he battled the Chaosrealm Cleric, as though engaged in some onerous but largely mundane chore that he'd much rather have shirked. Given the asshole's speed and inhuman tenacity, it seemed just conceivable – not likely, but possible – that, had the gunslinger been even slightly less clever, the man's attacks might have slipped past his defenses to pose a true threat to his life. Each time Havik drew too near, however, Erron calmly threw a sand grenade to block his path, knocking him back.

After the last grenade exploded, Havik went into a fit of rage and now raced towards Erron, snarling and howling like a rabid animal, breaking into a charge across the battlefield. For anyone but the gunslinger, who'd seen creatures stranger looking than this one, it would've been a terrifying thing seeing this grotesque half-man, half-skeleton charging at him with that toothy grin spilling spittle down his bony chin. But Erron's Colt .45 revolvers calmly blasted, but the bullets careened into rocks and Edenians and Oni where Havik had been just an instant earlier, thudding loudly. But just as he was about to spring onto him, the gunslinger leapt through the air and tackled him first, slamming his face into the ground with all the deliberate force he could muster.

But Havik was not one to be easily defeated. After Erron raked his fingers through his black topknot, he bucked him off like a bronco and sent him tumbling through the air. Then his morning star spun, once, twice – and then he cracked it across the gunslinger's head like a cudgel. Stars exploded through Erron's vision like the 4th of July, and blood sprayed from the scalp wound. With a pained groan, suddenly dizzy, the outlaw stumbled to his knees, dropping his revolvers to the blackened dirt. He had no idea how he was still conscious; he was fairly certain at least one of the spikes on that deadly weapon had split a hole as big as the Grand Canyon in his skull.

Now Havik swung his morning star again, leaning abruptly to reach him. The gunslinger, however, powered through the vertigo and threw himself to the left, somersaulting on the ground. The weapon whisked overhead harmlessly, though near enough to fan his neck with the wind it created. He reached out and found one of the dead Oni's swords before spinning onto his back and deflecting yet another swing of the weapon. Erron then heaved the blade upward like a spear. It sank through Havik's muscular chest, spraying blood from front and back. To his surprise, however, the Cleric didn't wail in pain like a normal man would do. Instead, he quivered and groaned as if a pleasurable woman had just brought him to climax. His perverse reaction to the injury startled Erron far more than it did him. Revolted, the gunslinger pulled the sword away with a sickening slurp as Havik began to laugh.

Raiden, who had battled his way through untold scores of Oni and Edenians with all the ferocity of thunder and lightning, now found himself standing directly before the Black Palace, unable to move as he stared directly into the gleaming, undead eyes of his prodigy, Liu Kang.

"Why did you come here, Raiden?" he demanded to know. "Do you really enjoy losing that much?"

The Thunder God found himself choking on his own regret. Liu had returned victorious to the Shaolin Temple of Shaoshi having beat Shao Kahn at his own game in his ghastly arena where Outworld bore witness, and he'd remained there, training constantly for the next battle looming large on the horizon. And every day, Raiden waited for the time when he would have to fight again.

And then, one day, that time came. But not in the way that he'd thought.

Liu had died. Ambushed and attacked by both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. He'd fought valiantly, but in the end, it hadn't mattered. Shang Tsung dealt the killing blow, and Quan Chi had taken his soul for his own wicked designs.

For the second time in his life, Raiden had failed to protect his Chosen One, just as he'd failed to protect the Great Kung Lao 500 years prior. But this time, he'd felt terrible self-loathing from his loss. And it wasn't Liu's fault, which was the hardest part of it to wrap his mind around. Raiden couldn't hate him for dying, for becoming a revenant, for ascending to Netherrealm's throne. But he could hate himself for failing to destroy both of the sorcerers when he'd had the chance.

He sucked down a shuddering breath and then shook his head. "Please, Liu Kang. You must not listen to General Reiko. He will betray you."

"As opposed to what? You standing by and just letting Shang Tsung and Quan Chi murder me?"

Raiden winced at the sound of his venom-laced voice. He sadly shook his head. "You are like my son, Liu Kang," he softly spoke.

"You have a peculiar way of showing it," he replied as he gestured his arm towards the battlefield. He seemed to take a bit of smug, self-satisfaction at contradicting Raiden a little too much.

While Raiden fought to find the words, Liu Kang abruptly conjured a ball of flames in his palms from nothingness, throwing both at the Thunder God without warning. He yelled in surprise when they struck him and flung him like a rag doll, and he tumbled head over backside through the air. When the god landed awkwardly on his feet, he promptly struck back with lightning bolts that sprang from either palm. Brilliant showers of blue-white sparks rained on the chaotic battlefield as it was Liu's turn to fly backwards into a boulder.

Raiden couldn't wait for long. The revenant was already slowly rising to his feet, scowling with as much hate as his black heart could muster. He then charged towards him and threw a right hook, but the Thunder God easily blocked and countered with a hard right that spun the Emperor around in a circle. Rather than fight the momentum, however, he followed it and used it to jump into the air and do a roundhouse kick to his opponent's shoulder. Raiden staggered as Liu landed on the ground and stepped directly into a spinning back kick that knocked his mentor backwards even further. The Thunder God recovered quickly, though, and stared back at his former student as they charged towards one another, then traded punches for several long seconds. Raiden soon tired of this, though, as he realized it was going nowhere fast, and finally just blasted the other with a thick bolt of branched lightning. Once more, Liu Kang soared through the air.

But the revenant took hardly any time recovering from being thrown, and he threw both a right hook and a left hook at his opponent, both of which the other blocked. With an evil, impatient sneer, he tried once more with the right hook, this time succeeding and landing the shot. Mild pain filled the Thunder God's cheek, but he scarcely noticed it because his opponent now jumped and kneed him in the chin before he powerfully extended his leg and kicked him in the chest. Raiden sailed into the nearest rock with a startled cry.

With a ferocious roar, the Emperor yanked out a set of nunchucks and then swung his weapons at Raiden, but the Thunder God leaned back and easily ducked. Then Liu slashed his outstretched arm back the other way, and missed yet again when his target dodged the blow. Now, grunting in frustration, he whirled around with the grace and speed of a dancer, but he still missed, so he let his momentum spin him around once more, and as he came around he brought the nunchucks over his head and chopped downwards. Raiden didn't duck, this time, but instead caught Liu's arms in his hands and squeezed until his former student finally dropped his weapon.

Angrily, Liu Kang leapt into the air to tackle him, but the moment his feet left the ground, so too did the god's. Like a superhero pulled from the pages of a comic book, he stretched his body out and sailed fist-first into the revenant with a jarring and shrill war cry. He caught the astonished undead Emperor by the face and shoved him into the rocky facade of the nearby boulder. Once again, Liu quickly recovered and immediately hoisted a large piece of the now-crumbling stone into the air and threw it at Raiden, nearly taking his head off in one fell swoop.

But the god bent backwards like a reed in the wind, and easily avoided it. Even still, it bought the Emperor enough time to recover his nunchucks, and he promptly whipped them around. One caught Raiden in the chest and carried him backwards before Liu was upon him and beating him in the face once more. Fiercely, the god shoved a hand crackling with electricity in his pupil's face. It electrocuted him, distracting him long enough for Raiden to get to his feet and land a punch directly to his jaw. Teeth and blood immediately exploded from his mouth. He fell to his knees, completely stunned.

While Liu moaned and gripped his face in what Raiden could tell was pain, the Thunder God leapt onto his shoulders and wrapped his long arms around the revenant's thick throat. He clamped down hard, strategically pinning his arms against his aorta and carotid artery, refusing to let go as he turned from red to purple, and only let go when the other finally passed out. Panting, Raiden sadly knelt by his former protegee's side and cradled his cheek in his palm.

"This is never who you were meant to be, Liu Kang," he gently spoke as tears sprang to his eyes. "As the Elder Gods are my witness, I will find Quan Chi and undo this. I will restore you to your old self once again. You have my promise."

"Raiden!" Smoke's voice urgently yelled as he dashed towards him.

"What is it, Tomas Vrbada?" he replied.

The cyber-ninja stopped in his tracks before him, panting hard, and Raiden saw a terrible hole had been dug from his cheek. It wept blood and serous fluid, but if he noticed it, he didn't say anything and instead focused on his mission. "My niece, Olivia, has come here from Outworld, from an audience with Kotal Kahn," he declared. "He has refused to come to help us. We're all alone, Raiden. We have no reinforcements."

The Thunder God took a moment to contemplate his words, and then heavily sighed. Guilt shot through his heart. So many people had died today, and for what? Reiko had claimed Netherrealm's kamidogu anyway. There was, he sadly realized as he looked at Liu Kang's unconscious body on the ground, no point in staying here. His protegee was in no frame of mind to listen to reason and would not help them.

He looked the Enenra directly in the eyes. "Sound the retreat," he commanded. "Get everyone out of here now."

Even though he heard the call for retreat somewhere in the distance, Bi-han refused to obey as he continued to battle his brother. To his surprise, Kuai Liang had kept him at a stalemate when once, this wouldn't have even been a contest. But vaguely, he reasoned that he wasn't a young man anymore. At the thought, Noob's voice cackled through his brain and said you can't even handle the runt anymore, and you still think you can do this without me? For a moment, the elder Cryomancer actually thought that the demon had a point. The realization only made him laugh even harder in his head.

After prowling around each other for a moment, each man taking a much needed breather, Sub-Zero suddenly broke into a dust-churning run across the open expanse before vaulting into the air on a shelf of ice, diving towards him with a newly formed kori sword raised to strike. But Bi-han was infinitely patient. He caught him firmly by the wrist, and with a cruel, satisfied sneer that he didn't even know he wore, he twisted it with a hard jerk, immediately breaking it. The Grandmaster shouted in pain and struggled to get loose.

But Bi-han wouldn't release him. Instead, he ruthlessly lifted the Cryomancer high above the ground by his broken wrist, not laughing but studying his victim in curious amusement. He didn't even question where his newfound strength had come from.

"I'm disappointed, Kuai Liang," he chided, his voice eerily breaking into several of them, unbeknownst to him. "I expected better from you. That was too easy, too predictable. Reiko's magic has clearly dulled your senses." With that, he tossed him to the ground.

The Grandmaster staggered to his feet, clutching his wounded wrist, and then took off running towards Reiko, who was fighting the Rangers nearby. The younger Cryomancer swerved randomly as he bolted, never breaking formation, but doing what he could to avoid making himself an easy target. From behind, his brother now hurled force balls at him that would temporarily paralyze him, but they narrowly missed him.

Bi-han laughed demonically before he employed a different tactic, and he and the shadow inside of him threw their arms into the air as one, summoning dark magic that conjured a tarry puddle beneath Sub-Zero's feet. Immediately, the younger brother plummeted through the portal, falling from the sky above a moment later. He landed on his back on the ground with a loud crack and then gasped for air.

"Remember yourself, Kuai Liang," he commanded. "Remember who you are. You are not Reiko's lackey. He forced you to destroy your own Temple and nearly killed you. Don't serve him."

"I obey General Reiko," he argued, his voice blank and robotic, with all the emotional range of a dead fish.

A pitch black shadow instantly ran him over like a freight train, knocking him backwards onto the dirt before coming around for a second pass. But before it could trample him another time, the Cryomancer threw a ball of ice, and this time it hit the figure. Quickly, the figure froze into a statue. Sub-Zero then dispassionately rolled to his feet.

"You only obey General Reiko?" Bi-han repeated in disgust. "The man who used you to attack and maim your daughter?" he now challenged furiously. "You nearly killed Livy, Kuai Liang! You nearly killed your wife! You brought down the Temple on her head and now she's barely hanging on. Does that mean nothing to you? They're your family!"

"I have no family," was his bitter reply.

Rage instantly surged through Bi-han. Those women were his family too. He roared and charged at Sub-Zero, and kicked his younger brother in the gut. The Cryomancer half-choked on his own vomit as obvious pain mapped itself across his face, but he quickly scrambled to his feet and managed to knock Bi-han's leg away with his palm when the other tried to kick him in the shin to hobble him. He spun around with the motion, unable to stop because of his speed, but he sensed his brother lunging at him. Using his momentum to his advantage, he leaned forward onto his uninjured hand and threw a leg backwards like a horse kicking its owner. Bi-han flew to the ground, giving Sub-Zero time to face him again.

With lightning speed, the elder Cryomancer recovered and threw a punch at the Grandmaster's face, but he deflected the blow and threw his own punch back, catching his brother in the eye orbit and jarring his head to the side. Quickly, he tried to hit him again, but this time Bi-han grabbed his fist, twisted it behind his back, and smashed his head into the back of his younger sibling's skull. Then the elder Cryomancer jerked his arm back farther, tugging violently and threatening to dislocate his shoulder. He heard Kuai Liang's joints pop and stretch loudly. With a determined shout, Sub-Zero charged forward a step before he flipped up and back, sailing over Bi-han's head and pulling his arm free. Before the other even realized what had happened, the younger Cryomancer landed behind him and swept his legs from beneath him.

Bi-han toppled to the blackened earth, and his younger brother angrily reached for him. But as he poised to attack him, to cut him in half with a kori sword, tiny whistling missiles soared through the air and plunged into Sub-Zero's back. He wailed as he dropped his weapon before stumbling to the side and staggering away from his older brother. When he did, Bi-han saw Sareena standing nearby, holding herself up on a boulder, grasping at her ribs with one hand as if it could make her breathe better.

"Sareena!" he cried as worry for her now swept over him.

Bi-han quickly climbed to his feet as she first collapsed to her knees and then onto her back. He ran to her side, taking mental note of the black blood soaking through the back of her bodice, running down her legs, filling up her boots. He slid through the dirt to her side and cradled her in his arms while lifting her up against him.

"He's getting away," she weakly croaked as her eyes slid shut.

Bi-han glanced up and saw that she was right. Kuai Liang may have been wounded by Sareena's throwing knives, but he was hightailing it out of there as fast as he could. The Cryomancer's heart lurched with need to go after him, but he was torn between that or helping the gravely injured demoness. He shook his head furiously. And then he heard, once again, the sound for every Earthrealm Champion to retreat.

"Leave me," she whispered. "Go get your brother. He needs you."

"No, Sareena," he whispered back. "Right now, you need me more."

And with that, he lifted her into his arms and raced towards Raiden.

Before I respond to your reviews, here are some translations.

The word "Yá'át'ééh," which Sherman used to address Nightwolf, means "Hello" in Dene Navajo (and similarly in Western Apache); with NRS inventing a new tribe, I'm going to have to go back and revise my stories because I previously had Nightwolf as an Apache. But since the Matokans are fictional, I'm going to continue drawing heavily on Apache culture for inspiration.

Also, "Shūshu" means "Uncle" in Mandarin, and "Xiao yā" means "little duck or duckling." I had a headcanon that Jin followed Uncle Lao around everywhere when he was little, just like a duckling following its mother. I suppose I was somewhat inspired by the fact that our family's three kittens follow my daughter everywhere in a line, just like ducklings. So given those two things, I easily imagined Kung Lao fondly dubbing Jin "little duck."

Now, onto the reviews.

MKDemigodZ-Warrior, if I didn't have conflict in my stories, and peril, and high stakes for the heroes, why would you ever want to read them? LOL To answer your question, Frost and Olivia's bonding will be coming soon. But first, the gang has to find where Xinyi took her.

DinoLord00, well, I think Subby, when and if he's freed from Reiko's control, is going to be mad AF that Reiko hurt his family yet again. The scene I have in my mind is definitely bloody. But that's a long ways into the future LOL Mileena will have a little bit stronger role moving forward. I just had a moment where I had just gotten off Twitter where I saw her stans harassing Ed - AGAIN - and I was feeling disgusted when I responded. As for Havik, I have no idea what I'm going to do yet - I like to let the character tell me which way to go, and so far, all I can say with any certainty is that he's a man with an agenda. And it'll be interesting to see if Reiko is duped in the end, or if he outfoxes the fox ;) And thank you for your praise regarding Reiko. I've always tried to adhere to Ernest Hemingway's advice - when writing, create people, not characters, because characters are caricatures. We've seen stock villains like Shao Kahn and Quan Chi and Kano before. With Reiko, I wanted to make someone that was more complex than evil for evil's sake. The most compelling villains I've seen are the ones that you can almost sympathize with. Almost ;)

Reptaliator, well, in addition to the fact that everyone needs to make a joke every now and then, keep in mind that in The Tales of the Lin Kuei, Bi-han has a great sense of humor too. Yeah, I thought I was being too obvious about Xinyi and Jiayi, but I'm glad you liked that twist. On the political front, I don't really want to speak too much here about what's going on, at least more than I have. I've seen what happens to anyone who disagrees with the lunacy right now. For God's sake, they tore down a statue of Frederick Douglass, so there's definitely no having a civil conversation. So since we have enough real-world drama to worry about, let's keep this Mortal Kombat related ;)

jeanosauryehet27, LOL I'm glad you were able to figure it out :D It seems like you were satisfied that he was the real traitor. Or at least, I hope that's what you felt when you read that.

ROCuevas, thank you, as always :)