Babality

By PapaChaos

Chapter I

The clatter of his teeth was droned out by the fierce roaring of the blizzard, blowing right into his face and biting deep into his skin. Scorpion hated the cold. Always did, always will. More likely because he was sensitive to the cold; there was a reason why he always chose to remain in the Netherrealm despite being free to roam whatever land that existed. In such weathers, the Shirai Ryu would practically set himself ablaze to keep his as warm as possible. Here however, the situation was especially harrowing.

The poor man had to remove his shirt to wrap the two bundles in, for the sake of protecting them from such chilling winds. That meant that all he was garbed in was his armor and this was actually making him more susceptible to injury than protecting him from it. Obviously, you can't just walk around in the Arktika with metal draped over your skin.

If Scorpion did not have control over fire, he would surely have gotten frost bite now. It was thank to his fire shifting capabilities that kept the infants warm despite the severe cold and prevented him from turning into an snowman (oh, Sub Zero would have laughed if that happened).

"Huf! Huf! Huf!" the Spectre breathed sharply as a particularly frosty gust blew right onto his exposed shoulders. Trembling, he took a stance for a brief moment to adjust the babies and make sure that they did not feel that. He looked down at the pair, heaving a sigh of relief to see that the sorcerer's cheeks were tinted red against his naturally white skin; an indication that he was receiving sufficient warmth. The same, though, could not be said about the masked Noob Saibot, but the gentle heaving of his chest was enough to assure Scorpion that he was not just alive, but well too.

In the distance, a massive shadow appeared from within the storm; the Lin Kuei palace. The moment the Shirai Ryu had realized that he was nearing his destination, he breathed a relaxed sigh. A new determination bubbled up inside his stomach, prompting him to pick up speed. This rush of adrenaline and burst of hope made him indifferent to the cold. The storm failed to bite through his flesh any more, his body stopped quivering and he began to pay no heed to the awful trickle of saliva that sourced from Quan Chi's toothless mouth and smeared onto his bare abdomen.

But, hope, it seemed, was a little too farfetched for the Spectre. As he neared the outer perimeter of the Lin Kuei base, his eyes widened in shock and anger when he set sight upon the rotating blades that ran up, down, left and right along the narrow valley.

Of course... It wasn't like he could just walk up to their home. Scorpion groaned in frustration, but thought better to search for a solution than to just stand here and whine about things not ever being easy for him. The steep valley sides provided the path with shelter from the blizzard, so it was easy for him to look into the distance and spot the entrance. It was only a matter of several meters from where he stood, the only thing separating him and the gate were the lethal blades that occupied the space.

Teleporting was no option. With the babies in hand, Scorpion could not set himself on fire and appear on the other side while cradling two charred infants. Grunting, he thought of perhaps working out a pattern to the movement of the speeding blades and wiggle his way through. This idea, too, had to be dismissed. Not only because he had to consider the safety of the children, but because of a particularly familiar corpse lying amongst the machines with its legs sliced off from the thighs. A sign was erected near the carcass which said "This is what I get for trying to break in again and smash all their pots. P.S, I suck balls. P.S.S, Scorpion sucks yeti balls."

Scorpion narrowed his eyes hatefully at the sign he knew Sub Zero had put up. Mock him, will he? Well, in due time, that bastard will receive a 'pleasant gift' from the Shirai Ryu. He looked down at the still slumbering babies. When he would deliver them to the Lin Kuei's doorsteps, hell of its own kind would unleash within the Arktika.

"Focus..." he prompted himself. He sighed again, this time though, in nothing but annoyance. The only choices he was left with was either to destroy the machines or scale the valley mountains in the blizzard. He quietly hunched down and placed the two children, still wrapped in his mantle, on the floor. Unsheathing his sword, he quickly made his way towards a rapidly approaching blade, knowing full well that he had to work fast in order to come back to the babies and hold them against his warmth.

The idea was obviously dumb. The Spectre was limping from a wound inflicted into his thigh from two fans that suddenly burst out of nowhere after he got lured by the shiny floating sack on the ground. What was worse, no sooner had he let go of the children that Saibot had stirred from his sleep and began wailing, demanding his food. The sound had also awakened Quan Chi, who also joined the other infant in the song. Luckily, Scorpion had managed to swipe the shiny bag after all and let the two with it while he carried them in his arms, effectively shutting them up for the time being. There were times when Saibot did whimper or moan as his stomach grumbled, but the sack full of shimmering golden coins kept him too preoccupied to think of food.

Annoyingly enough, the kids kept dropping the coins to the ground and then whined until Scorpion hadn't turned around and retrieved the currency for them.

Growling, the Shirai Ryu had made it towards the gate of the outer wall, and pressed upon a precarious little button marked with a blue 'X' to open it. As he stepped inside, he realized something was wrong. His white eyes scoured the area, searching for an ambush waiting, hidden within the snow perhaps. But the longer he did, the more he began to assure himself that no one was here. That was when he understood what was wrong: there was no one here to guard the fortress.

Scorpion shook off his doubts, instead, gave focus to his current objective: drop the burden of parenthood upon Sub Zero's slimy head.

He quickly paced forward, ignoring the other shiny floating bags of coins and chests that said "Jade Alternate Costume", despite the latter being very inviting. In due time, he managed to cross one final gate before entering the main courtyard. Before him stood the massive fortress of the Lin Kuei, arching up into the sky, its massive bulk unwavering in the strong blizzard over head.

Scorpion knew to dump the kids at the front porch was an unhealthy solution; he had to enter the building and place them near the entrance, safe from the cold. He sprinted over to the door, oblivious to his painful gash, and pushed it open, unaware how easily they moved when such a fortress should be heavily guarded. As he stepped inside, another unwelcoming sight graced him. Before him lay a blanket of bodies; Lin Kuei grunts strewn about the floor, pinned with pipes to the walls and wedged in between the decorative stands. Ironically enough, the pots and vases that occupied those pedestals were unharmed and intact.

This could only be the work of a sadist.

The situation was plain and raw; common sense would have called for Scorpion to turn tail and run when he was being accompanied by two innocents. But the carnage that lay before his feet had a strangeness to it that Scorpion could not exactly put his finger on. The whole scene looked unnatural. All those detective novels he had read on recommendation by Satan piqued his curiosity, and so the Shirai Ryu found himself being drawn inside.

"SHIT!" he heard a voice that didn't sound much human. The voice was brisk and clattered; it sounded awfully metallic. Scorpion neared one door and placed his hand upon the handle when they swung open for him. He was dumbstruck to find Sektor standing before him, arms splayed open as he held onto the doors.

"Subject:..." the machine had only began to process his identity when his sensors noticed the two bundles in the intruder's hands. Smoke billowed from the robot's core as his hard-drive began to overload, being overridden by his human emotions.

"MOOONSTEEEEEEEEEERRRRS!" Sektor screeched, pointing a red, metallic finger at the children and then proceeded to continue to scream as the infants burst into shrill wails.

Poor Scorpion was left in the middle of it all, wondering how parenthood became a curse far more painful than his death.