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Mortal Kombat: Broken Chains Ch8

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Mortal Kombat: Broken Chains


By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 8: Cyber Initiative

WHAT!? He failed!?”

The Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei’s furious voice rang throughout the walls of this throne room. If it wasn’t for the thick stone walls his voice may have well been heard throughout the headquarters main building. The older man was shaking angrily on his throne, his hands gripped the arms tightly almost threating to rip a stone chunk off. The attendants, advisor and the unfortunate messenger who delivered the news felt their blood run cold in fear. Their leader had been in a foul mood lately, and it only seemed to be getting worse as of late. Further even though he was in his mid-seventies the Grandmaster was still deadly, if he saw fit he could kill anyone of them and had done so before.

The messenger gulped fearfully as he did his best to conceal his shivering fits, “….Grandmaster….with all due respect…Sub-Zero’s group did kill their target, and Sub-Zero himself killed Kougar’s target and reclaimed the bodies.” He looked at his master hesitantly, the anger brewing behind his master’s dark eyes made him freeze up in fear, “I don’t think this was a failure master…The missions were completed…”

The Grandmaster’s response to his words were to kick him across the room, he crashed against a wall with a painful smack. No one challenged this and wisely remained silent. As the messenger pulled himself up to his feet, kneeling again, the Grandmaster snarled hate dripping from his every word, “This…specter, this undead Shirai Ryu DOG killed a whole SQUAD of our warriors! Sub-Zero FAILED to kill him! The other kills are meaningless when we’ve been humiliated by an undead DOG!”

The Lin Kuei messenger lowered his head out of shame realizing what he said was true. Then he flinched as the Grandmaster snapped his attention back to him. He felt his heart stall a moment out of fear.

“Get out of my sight.” He hissed coldly. The messenger dips his head in a bow before leaving the room as ordered. Hands curled into tight fists the Grandmaster paced about in front of his throne, his anger steadily building. This clan was slipping in its success rate, and it was absolutely infuriating, all of his predecessors had the clan working to near perfection! He wouldn’t be the one that let the clan slip! Never!

It was the technology of the new era. It seemed to be advancing faster every year. By the time they developed methods around the last batch, new tech took had already replaced the previous gadgets. The Lin Kuei was having trouble keeping up, they kept having to get new tools just to adapt...but he did have an option that’d fix that. The Grandmaster calmed somewhat, yes, there was always that option. He’d been working on readying it, the leader of the Lin Kuei had seen such a time like this coming for a while. As much as he hated it, he had prepared for it.

Seeing his leader calm his adviser approached him, knowing that he had decided something he’d been waiting for him to begin, “Sir, are we going to start the initiative?”

“Yes,” The Grandmaster answered in a hardened tone, “Begin the Cyber Initiative. I won’t have the Lin Kuei become a failure or obsolete under by rule.”

His adviser bowed his head, “Very well Grandmaster,” He paused a moment, realizing they hadn’t had agreed on the first participants, “Is there any you’d like to begin with?”

The room went silent for a moment as the Grandmaster pondered who he should begin with. He knew he could trust one member of the clan to willing go with the initiative. He just needed two good warriors to start with, to show his clan what good the Cyber Initiative would do. That’d it make the clan stronger that’d it’d perfect the clan. He narrowed his eyes, as well as eliminate all disloyalty. With that thought he decided on the second candidate.

“We’ll start with my son Sektor and Cyrax”


“Seems the cat is out of the bag.” Smoke said as he shifted uncertainly. He had been worried when he hadn’t heard anything from Sub-Zero in a while. It was strange considering the mission he had been sent on was a typical one. Kill the criminal for their injustice.

Typically the blue assassin completed missions like that in no time. At the same time Smoke thought the situation was far too familiar for comfort. He had heard half of Kougar’s squad had been burned alive. In the end it of course had turned out to be Scorpion. When Sub-Zero didn’t return with his squad…he feared the worst. It had been both a relief and worrying when he heard his friend was alive, but had failed to kill the specter Scorpion.

“I’m certain things will be fine for him…” Cyrax said as the two of them stood in Smoke and Sub-Zero’s room, though he did his best to sound convincing the Botswana warrior was just as worried as he was. He smiled warily, “He’s the greatest warrior in our clan…the Grandmaster can’t punish him to harshly.”

Smoke gave his friend a serious look, clearly not buying his reassurance, “Cyrax, as much as I appreciate you trying to reassure me. We both know something is going on behind the scenes in the clan.” Cyrax frowned grimly having no way to counter that. Smoke continued, “The Grandmaster’s leniency has been all but gone lately. There’s no telling what he’s going to do.”

The yellow clad assassin, furrowed his brow, “I know, I’ve never really trusted the Grandmaster…but it’s only getting worse.”

Smoke nodded silently in agreement. He sighed pulling a hand through his flowing, silver hair, “And I still have come no closer to remembering my past…and it bothers me more every year.” He scrunched his brow, trying to remember his past before the Lin Kuei found him. To his frustration he recalled nothing but a blank slate. Smoke snorted bluntly, crossing his arms, “And of course I get no help.”

“Of course not, they don’t want to chance you trying to return to your home when you do.” Cyrax pointed out bitterly, he had no home to return to so the clan knew that he had nowhere else to go. Smoke gave his friend a sympathetic look, knowing Cyrax had nothing left, nothing to return to. Sub-Zero and Smoke had become like brothers to him, but they’d never be able to replace the family he had for a short time in his life. Cyrax caught the sad look Smoke was giving him and waved it away, telling him he didn’t want to talk about it. Smoke hesitantly did as his friend wanted.

“Maybe,” Cyrax looked to his younger friend, there was a strangely hopeful look on his face, and then he said something Cyrax only dreamed of being possible, “Maybe we should leave.”

Cyrax stared at the Czech assassin in utter shock, like he’d gone insane right before his eyes. His mouth hanging open Cyrax stuttered, “Wha-what!?” He had thought of it before but he couldn’t believe Smoke would actually suggest it, the thought was one of suicide. A fool’s dream, no one left the Lin Kuei. Cyrax looked Smoke over trying to find some hint that he was joking, but Smoke looked completely serious, and that worried him greatly, “Smoke if we did that we’d get hunted down by the Lin Kuei for the rest of our lives!”

“Cyrax we’re some of the strongest members in the Lin Kuei! We could defend ourselves against them!” Smoke protested adamantly, Cyrax went silent for a moment thinking over the suggestion.

“What about Sub-Zero?” He said suddenly, Smoke dipped a brow in confusion, “This clan has been his home since he was born. I know he’d never turn on us, we all vowed never to fight each other, but do you think you could get him to leave? He’s like a brother to you. Could you leave him behind if he decided to stay?”

Smoke stopped and looked down, somehow he hadn’t considered that, “I guess…we’ll have to wait until he returns to make our decision.”

“Let’s say he does come with us….” Cyrax said carefully not wanting to get Smoke’s hope up, “Where would we go?” He questioned seriously, his tone becoming firm, “We’re murders and don’t really exist outside this compound. We have aliases yeah, but the Lin Kuei could track us through those, and there isn’t many that would takes us in.”

The two thought for a moment, tense silence forming between them, before Smoke spoke up. Even after what Cyrax said Smoke still tried to sound hopeful for their escape, “maybe we could get a Shaolin Temple to help us?’

“They’re not exactly friends with us Smoke…” Cyrax pointed out dully.

“Yes, but it’s worth a shot. Their monks Cyrax,” He reminded his friend to emphasize the point, “They could be willing to help us flee from the Lin Kuei. They might take it as helping us get on road to help our souls.” Smoke explained, this actually got Cyrax to think for a moment.

“Becoming a monk doesn’t sound bad right about now.” He admitted honestly, “And they do have good warriors, if we chose the right one we’d have a fighting chance. If Sub-Zero does agree…” Cyrax did his best to remind himself there was a chance their friend wouldn’t agree, he didn’t want to set himself up just to get knocked down, “with him we’d really have a chance to at least escape.”

The agreement made Cyrax left to train on his own, to try and work out his worries and stress. Smoke remained in his room stretching his body out, trying to relax but a knotting anxiety in his stomach kept bothering him. He sighed shaking his head, it was no use. Typically he could ease up in no time at all, but everything seemed to be closing in around him. The Grandmaster was becoming unstable, the specter Scorpion was relentlessly hunting down Sub-Zero for honoring his brother, he was certain something was going on behind the scenes of their clan, and now the Grandmaster was pissed off that he didn’t kill a man who was already dead.

Then there was their plan to escape…if he could somehow convince Sub-Zero to flee with them then they’d be set. Smoke supposed he could say that he’d have more chances to avenge Bi-Han by leaving, somehow…he shook his head. Smoke didn’t feel right using his older brother’s death like that. Not to mention he felt Kuai Liang was obsessed with revenge enough already. Smoke looked over to the space where Bi-Han used to occupy, they had long since removed his bed and furnishings. Sub-Zero had taken a few of his items to remember him by, two being his clan crest and arm guards; which Kuai Liang now wore. The space was empty but Smoke still felt a heaviness from it, it was still weighted by the strong presence Bi-Han had possessed.

A strong yet cold and distant presence. Smoke looked away from the space, as much as he hated to think it there had always been something about Bi-Han that unsettled him. Kuai Liang seemed oblivious to it, but then again he’d always looked up to his sibling despite the jealousy he bared towards him. They had all noticed how distant he became, becoming ever quieter, but Smoke felt something dark brewing in him. Something in his dark blue eyes looked hallow and tainted. He’d heard of how people, namely monks, said the warriors of the Lin Kuei were corrupted. Normally Smoke would refute this. Surely he, Cyrax and Sub-Zero weren’t ‘corrupted’, but with Bi-Han…he had trouble arguing it. Smoke just felt there was something…dark lying underneath his surface.

Then again, maybe he had been dead long before he even died.

Smoke turned his attention to the doorway that led to the hall when there was a sudden knock. He was thankful for the sudden distraction as it took him from his rather depressing thoughts. Pulling the door open he was of course greeted by the sight of a fellow Lin Kuei. The two exchanged a quick salute before the Czech assassin said, “What am I needed for?”

“A mission,” The Lin Kuei said casually, despite the fact it could mean the end of someone’s life, and handed him a scroll.

Smoke grabbed the scroll and unrolled it, he looked to the mission specifics before rolling it back up. It was just another simple assassination. With his evaporation skills such missions were easily completed. He nodded to the other Lin Kuei and said he’d get right on it. His clansman nodded curtly before leaving him. Smoke turned to his room and got ready to gather his things, then he stopped. Pulling the scroll back out again he grinned when he saw the location. It was over in the direction of Zhu Zin! With luck he could run into Sub-Zero along the way and speak with his friend about his plan to defect from the Lin Kuei in complete safety.

With new determination Smoke quickly packed his things. He’d gather some supplies and then go speak to Cyrax right away about this new development. Feeling hopeful he began to wonder if the monks could possibly have methods of helping with his amnesia, or even have an idea of where his strange powers came from.

Elsewhere in the Lin Kuei headquarters Cyrax was hard at work doing his training. He’d been at it longer than usual, perhaps an hour longer than usual? He panted slightly as he downed some water then looked at his poor, beaten and ragged training post. The hunk of wood seemingly begging him to end the session for the day. The Botswana warrior took a breath to regain his regular breathing pattern. Sitting down on the ledge around the training area he decided to rest for a moment.

He wouldn’t lie and say Smoke’s idea to flee from the Lin Kuei was enticing, and growing ever more enticing as he thought about it. Being free from the clan was something he dreamed about. The life style he was in strained on him daily in physical, mental and spiritual manners. He knew what he did was wrong, he was a murder and a thief there was no way around it. That was what kept him up for most nights. How many families had he ruined? At the very least it had to be over fifty by now. He had killed criminals of all sorts, sure but that made what he did no better. He killed for money, yes most went to the clan but still.

Cyrax shook his head, dislodging the thoughts. He didn’t need to get stuck on that train right now. He looked off towards Smoke’s room, he wondered if Sub-Zero could be convinced to leave the clan with them. Cyrax had known the man for a good amount of his life. He was reasonable yes but very loyal to the clan. He wiped some sweat off his brow, and to add to it he was determined to honor his brother by taking his place in the clan. If Smoke could convince him to leave Cyrax would consider that a miracle. Still, Sub-Zero was more reasonable than most of the clan, so there was hope.

“Cyrax.” A familiar, though not in a good way, voice called.

Looking up Cyrax saw what a younger version of the Grandmaster would probably looked like. It was his son Sektor. Getting up Cyrax mentally prepared himself for the arrogant assassin’s attitude. Still his appearance had meaning, the Grandmaster’s son at times delivered important news for his Father. That or they were to go on mission together, for some reason they were often assigned together. Much to Cyrax’s unfortunate luck.

“Hello Sektor, do you have word from the Grandmaster or are we going on a mission?” He asked while holding his water in hand.

“My Father wishes to see you Cyrax.” Sektor answered with his hands behind his back.

This puzzled Cyrax, the Grandmaster had never favored him in any particular manner. He was of a special ranking, hence why he had his colored uniform, but that only meant his skill was of a higher level. The Grandmaster only really favored Sub-Zero, but his real star assassin was Sub-Zero’s late brother. Even Kuai Liang didn’t have the same amount of favor his late brother had possessed.

“What does the Grandmaster want to see me for?” Cyrax questioned, he was faintly worried, was he in trouble? He hadn’t done anything wrong. He stopped, had someone overheard Smoke and his plan to escape? The yellow uniformed assassin felt his blood run cold, he could be killed for that.

“Don’t question it.” Sektor said firmly, looking him straight in the eyes he says, “Just come with me. The Grandmaster has chosen you for something.”

Cyrax calmed, he wasn’t in trouble, still he wondered what it could be but he got himself to nod. Sektor looked him over a moment, he had seen his comrade go tense for a moment; however, he said nothing and led him down the hall. Cyrax was yet again puzzled when they didn’t go to the Grandmaster’s throne room or even head towards his private quarters. Cyrax stayed quiet as he followed Sektor down more halls, then down a stairway he’d never been down before. In fact he’d never been in this particular area before. He’d heard it was being reconstructed so the assassin had never given it any thought. The headquarters was regularly touched up, it was an old structure after all and needed modification to keep up with the newer era. Looking around he noticed this area of the headquarters looked a lot more modern. Was all of the headquarters going to look like this soon enough?

He wasn’t exactly against that, however, he was a bit unnerved by how much it looked like a laboratory. In fact. That’s exactly how it looked! What exactly was it that he had been chosen for? As they entered and open room Cyrax began quickly began to worry for his safety. He saw what looked like scientists. At the center of the room was two human-sized, upright, metal platform with restraints on them, and no sign of the Grandmaster. His heart began to race, he questioned Sektor but he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight, “Sektor what is going on here!?”

Sektor didn’t answer.

Instead Cyrax felt a needle dig into the side of his neck. Quickly he felt drowsy, and fell to the floor. He tried to pull himself up, blurred thoughts of fleeing clinging to his mind, and only managed to push himself onto his back.

He managed to hear Sektor sneer though seemingly clogged ears, “You underestimate the Lin Kuei Cyrax, the Grandmaster knows of you distrustful, disloyal, nature towards the clan but…that will be fixed in a moment…”


Smoke reached Cyrax’s small room and upon opening the door he saw it was empty. He was a bit bewildered by it for a moment, Cyrax usually didn’t train for this long. Thinking the older warrior was just working out stress he went over to his usual training spot. There were a few other warriors present but not Cyrax. Smoke was about to ask the warriors where Cyrax was when he felt someone grab his shoulder. Turning around he saw Sektor, the Czech warrior bristled momentarily seeing his Chinese comrade and took a few steps back to have some breathing room.

“Are you looking for something Smoke? Not often we see you over here with the regular warriors.” Sektor commented snidely, smirking slightly to see some hints of agitation from Smoke at his remark.

“I was looking for Cyrax.” Smoke answered normally trying to hide the stiffness in his voice.

“What for?” Sektor questioned, an undisguised hint of suspicion in his voice as he eyed the Czech trying to find tells of deceit.

Smoke narrowed his yellow eyes at Sektor’s green ones and stiffened his shoulders showing he wasn’t about to cower to the Grandmaster’s son. Keeping his voice even yet keeping his defiant posture he steps closer to him, “Why would that be of any concern to you Sektor? I thought you couldn’t care less what we did so long as we stayed out of your way and kept ourselves from dishonoring the clan.”

His behavior didn’t go unnoticed to Sektor but the red clothed assassin remained calm. For a moment it looked like he was going to comment but decided against whatever it was he was going to say just before he spoke. In an uncharacteristic manner he smiled, this caught Smoke off guard leaving an opening for Sektor to speak, “You right, it isn’t my concern,” He said leaving Smoke staring confusedly, “but, you won’t find him. He was just sent away on mission. It was important and he had to leave right away.”

Trying to compute the oddly compliant behavior of the assassin, who Smoke knew did not like him, he was only able to nod slightly, “Alright then…” Smoke looked at Sektor for a long moment before beginning to head back to his quarters, “I have my own mission to get to.”

Sektor nodded to this, he knew about that, and let the super powered assassin leave the training area. The Grandmaster’s son watched him leave, once he was out sight the Chinese man smirked before turning and leaving the area himself. He knew he had acted odd and Smoke’s bewildered reaction was why he did it. All he needed to do was to stop him from searching for Cyrax and get on with his mission.

Heading down a few halls he arrived at his Father’s quarters, knowing he was expected Sektor opened the door, shutting it behind him. He still saluted and bowed to his father through, “I’ve accomplished what you asked of me Grandmaster.”

“Smoke does not suspect anything?” The Grandmaster asked as he poured some wine for himself.

“No, not a thing. He’s gone on the mission you assigned to him to keep him away while Cyrax is modified.” Sektor reported dutifully.

All the Grandmaster answered with was an even, “Good.”

Sektor frowned for a moment, and only for a moment he was used to his Father being nigh impossible to impress. He felt his anger flare then again the original Sub-Zero did nothing but impress his Father. Since then no one could impress the Grandmaster, not him, not Smoke, not Cyrax, not even Bi-Han’s own brother. Bi-Han had been everything the Grandmaster desired in a warrior he was obedient, loyal, merciless, remorseless, ruthless, and most of all, powerful. It was this that frustrated Sektor to no end, and when Bi-Han died…he silently celebrated. Still it had changed nothing, the original Sub-Zero was replaced with a new one. He was still outclassed by someone with skills he could never possibly match. That was why he hated them, no matter what he did he’d never be able to compare to them.

With the Cyber Initiative though…maybe that would change.

“Grandmaster.” Sektor started, his Father looked to him telling him to go on, “I am to be the next one to be automated correct?”

“That is correct.” The Grandmaster answered, he listened carefully for any hint of uncertainty but he found none. If anything his son sound vaguely eager. This pleased him.

“And I will be free from the slaving program correct?” He questioned, they had gone over this earlier but he just wanted to be certain. Surely his Father would not do such a thing to him. Right?

The Grandmaster flicked his eyes over to his son, now he heard uncertainty. He turned his body to face him, face remaining as stone cold as usual, “Yes. That was what I said only a while ago. You are to be my heir…eventually, so you will need your mind.”

Sektor stiffened at the pause in his words, he balled his fists tightly. This was how his Father acted towards him. Like he was being forced to settle for having him as his son! It infuriated him to no ends, but he swallowed it. As he always did. Eventually, the Lin Kuei would be his. Nothing, would take that from him. It was his right!

“Now go,” Sektor pushed his thoughts aside when his Father addressed him again, “Ready yourself for automation.”

Sektor bowed before leaving, “Yes Grandmaster”


“So, where’d he go this time…?” Johnny Cage asked between taking gulps of water from his canteen.

They had been traveling for a while now. It would have been simpler to take a car, train or anything really, but when traveling with an assassin; one that refused to remove his mask, things got difficult. Kung Lao wasn’t really bothered with it he was used to walking everywhere. On the other hand the famed actor had needed convincing to get him to travel on foot. Kung Lao had managed to tell him it’d help him with his training, which it would, and mentioned the temple would take quite a bit of walking to reach anyway. The Shaolin Monk also slipped in that Sub-Zero needed to return to his clan for a bit. While he mentioned that the assassin would never lead them to his clan’s headquarters it did help convince the actor further, who was curious about how that would turn out.

Taja and Siro had remained back at Reyland’s Imports, the trading post, at Kung Lao’s request. That also took a bit of talking to get them to agree, but Kung Lao had remained firm in his view that it would be better for them to remain at the trading post. Where it was safe. He had of course considered the fact Scorpion had vowed to return, but what he wanted was Sub-Zero. The specter’s obsessive nature would drive him to search for the half Cryomancer and as an assassin he’d be skilled enough to track them. Soon Kung Lao knew they would be hunted by the undead ninja.

Currently they were in the middle of the woods, in a small clearing not far from a stream. The day was still young and they would be on the move again soon, they were just resting for now. Kung Lao took a bite from a fruit he had, he glanced around them before answering the actor’s question, “I’m sure he went to train Johnny.”

“As usual….” Johnny commented dully, the assassin only really stayed around them when they were moving otherwise he went off somewhere to train. When they were moving he hardly ever spoke. When they trained he trained somewhere else. Johnny Cage understood that he was training so he could defeat this specter guy, but he had never seen anyone so obsessive. Then again he hadn’t actually seen it considering Sub-Zero wasn’t ever really around or vocal about it.

“He’ll rejoin us when we’re about to leave.” Kung Lao answered calmly.

“I know, I’ve noticed the pattern by now.” Johnny stated, he looked around them trying to guess which direction their third party member had gone, “think we should check on him? I know he likes the whole lone wolf thing but can’t exactly do that on a team.”

Kung Lao said nothing for a moment before getting up, “Yes you’re right, I’ll go check on him.” Johnny watched the monk go before taking another drink of his water, glad that the monk took his suggestion seriously. If anything Kung Lao was the unofficial leader of the group, often mediating between the actor and assassin if things got tense.

A bit further into the forest Sub-Zero was sitting on a large flat rock, he breathed in and out trying to focus his energy. His hand’s fingers were curled inward like he was holding something. There he concentrated his ice powers. The misty ice energy slowly began to form a solid shape. It stretched out past the side of his hand and began to fill the space between his fingers and palm. Stopping he looked at what he created, immediately he was disappointed it hadn’t even come close to what he had envisioned.

Sub-Zero had envisioned a dagger…but all he got was a somewhat pointed chunk of ice. Growling in frustration he chucked it with the other failed constructs, upon hitting the rock it shattered like the rest of them. He’d been trying since they’d left the trading post. While his constructs were gaining more defined shape, other than a chuck of ice, they were frail and didn’t take the shape he wanted them too. What really frustrated him was how he had made so little progress since they left.

The Lin Kuei assassin knew Scorpion would be trailing them, eventually he’d have to face the specter again. When that happened he wanted to have some new tricks to throw at him when he showed up. If he was going to defeat the specter then he needed to expand on his powers, get more offensive with his ability. To his growing frustration he hadn’t learned one new skill with his powers.

Hearing someone approaching Sub-Zero became alert and looked towards the source of the sound. Seeing the monk Kung Lao he relaxed. The monk looked at him then to the pile of melting shattered ice. Looking back to Sub-Zero Kung Lao said, “I thought I’d find you doing this. You haven’t succeeded in what you’re trying to do yet?”

Sub-Zero said nothing, not wanting to admit his failures. Kung Lao, being used to the assassin’s behaviors approached him, “You’re frustration is what is impeding your progress.”

“Then what do you think I should do? It’s difficult to not be frustrated when I have not made any progress since we left!” Sub-Zero snapped, beginning to feel annoyed, both at Kung Lao’s words and his failure to progress.

Kung Lao remained calm, he knew his drive to defeat Scorpion would make him easily frustrated when he wasn’t moving towards that goal, “Have you tried meditating before you train?”

“What? How would that help me train?” Sub-Zero questioned, wrinkling his brow at the monk.

“As I said before it helps clear the mind of outside thoughts. If you have cleared mind you’ll be able to function at your fullest. No emotions or distracting thoughts to obstruct you as you train.” He looked to Sub-Zero who arched a brow, clearly thinking about what the monk said. Kung Lao then added, “Sub-Zero, do you have a habit of over thinking things?”

Sub-Zero was caught off guard back the question and pulled his head back a bit, “What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t mean anything negative.” Kung Lao said honestly before continuing, “But it would explain things, you trouble sleeping and you issues with expanding on your power.”

The blue and black clad assassin went silent for a moment, he remembered what his friend Smoke had said to him once and nodded, “Yes, I do over think things…” He admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed by it at the moment.

The Shaolin Monk merely nodded, “its fine we all have our flaws. We just need to learn to work on them.”

“So you believe meditation will help me learn to expand my powers?” Sub-Zero questioned, “Are you saying that with my mind cleared, that it’ll be easier work on expand my power?”

Kung Lao nodded again, “That’s exactly it. Elemental powers work differently, all powers work and respond differently to emotions. A clear mind helps work on all of them to some degree. You ice ability doesn’t respond well to a troubled mind it seems, frustration and anger will not help it develop at the rate you like. Ice is related more towards calmer emotions, though it does have traits of wrath.”

Sub-Zero remained silent as Kung Lao spoke so the monk continued, “I’ll help you meditate, and once we’re done I’ll leave you to your training. Is that fine with you Sub-Zero?”

After a moment of thought Sub-Zero nodded in agreement. Kung Lao sat beside Sub-Zero and they both posed in the proper position for meditation. Once again Sub-Zero felt a pleasant calming sensation come over him. One by one the troubling thoughts in his mind were put aside until he could think clearly again. Breathing in and out in a rhythmic pattern Sub-Zero felt at ease. When the session was over he looked to the monk as he got up, Kung Lao bowed respectfully and left the assassin to his own devices.

Sub-Zero feeling calmer, focused the ice energy in one hand again, this time he purposely repeated what he did last time. Trying to find flaws in his process. As expected he got the same flimsy ice construct. The half Cryomancer hummed thoughtfully, maybe he needed to do more than just picture a dagger in his mind. Maybe he was asking for too much detail at once? Both could be the answer. He was about to toss the useless piece of ice aside when he got an idea. Holding the ice in hand, the construct staying solid in contact with his cold being, he began infusing more cold energy into it.

This time he imagined the weight he felt when he held a dagger. As he did he could feel the ice construct grow to match the weight. Looking to it he could feel the ice chunk was denser. Next he imagined the shape of the blade, carefully he changed the shape of the pointed part. The blade was dull but he digressed.  Section by section Sub-Zero managed to create the shape of a dagger, though the blade was still dull.

For a moment he felt pride, but it was dampened by how long it had taken for him to make a simple shape. Quickly he dismissed that, this was the point. Taking his time he learned how to accomplish what he wanted, now he’d work on making them more quickly. He had made progress, and Sub-Zero was content with it. For the moment.

He turn his attention to the blade. Feeling his finger along where the blade was supposed to be sharp he felt nothing but ridged ice. He gripped his fingers along the sides of the blade focusing his ice energy there, willing the ice to be sharper. Concentrating he focused his mind on the sharpness he had felt when daggers had cut him before. He had plenty of moments to focusing on considering his profession.

Looking to the blade now he could see a noticeable difference, it looked more defined now, more pointed. Placing his finger at the blade he sliced the ice weapon across the tip of his finger. He was pleased when he saw a thin line of red seep through his skin. Sub-Zero’s ice dagger was nicely sharp. Sealing the cut shut he decided to stand and test his dagger on something stronger. He turned to a sturdy looking tree with thick bark. With a swipe his dagger cut through the bark.

Now for a real test. His ice dagger could cut the bark but could it be stabbed into it and not break? Durability was always the biggest issue with his ice constructs.  He looked to the ice dagger he held, it felt heavier, so he figured it should be dense. Pulling his arm back he shoved the dagger into the tree. He arched a brow noticing it hadn’t broken, or at least he it didn’t seem like it had. Pull the dagger away from the tree he sighed when he heard a snap, the blade had broken off from the hilt.

Back to square one it seemed. Still he looked at the blade, now embedded in the tree, that would do damage against a person. He smirked to himself, he typically never used actual weapons. His ice power was easily effective enough to overpower most opponents; however, he now saw that to be an arrogant mistake. If he could make weapons with his ice though, he’d be able to combat opponents with weapons and powers on even grounds, along with not be weighed down as bad. Of course the main reason was to deal more damage to Scorpion when he faced him next.

Sub-Zero concentrated and created another ice dagger, it was better than his last attempt. Few errors here and there, an odd chip in butt of the hilt, but he could recognize it as a dagger. There was a dull sharpness to the blade but all around it was an improvement. Infusing more ice energy he corrected the errors. Sub-Zero grinned under his mask, he was improving already! He paused a moment, somberly wondering how his brother would think of the new skill he was learning with his ability. He’d never seen his brother create such a weapon…

The Lin Kuei shook the thought from his head and continued with his training.

“Took you long enough. So how’s Jack Frost doing?” Johnny Cage asked casually as Kung Lao returned, he wondered what had taken the monk so long to return. He wondered if the assassin had made it difficult to find him, but he’d find out shortly the reason why.

“He’s doing fine.” Kung Lao answered, “It took me a while because I was helping him with his training. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

“It’s nothing, just wondered what kept you.” Johnny said normally before looking a bit curious, “So what is he working on?”

“Ice weapons.” Kung Lao answered, feeling no need to keep it a secret from him, “He was having trouble forming them properly. His mind was too muddled with his thoughts so I helped him by having a meditation session.”

“Did it work?” Johnny questioned, wondering if something like meditation could really help someone learn a skill faster.

“I’m not certain I left him alone after that.” Kung Lao answered, Johnny looked disappointed by this, “But I’m sure that even if it didn’t work Sub-Zero would continue his training until he got some sort of improvement in this new skill.”

Johnny rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, sounds like him. Especially considering the reason why he’s training so hard.” The actor thought for a moment, “Hey, Kung Lao.” The monk hummed acknowledging what he said, “do you think Sub-Zero killing this undead guy; Scorpion, will really solve anything?”

Kung Lao was silent for a moment, leaving Johnny to wonder if the monk would answer him at all. The Shaolin Monk knew how he felt about Sub-Zero’s drive to get revenge on the specter for killing his brother, but he wouldn’t tell Johnny what he thought. It wasn’t place to say what he felt, it was Sub-Zero’s and what he did in the end was his decision alone.

“Revenge is a dangerous game Johnny.”
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:w00t: I'm pretty dang happy with this one~!

Particularly Smoke's thought's on Bi-Han, and well sadly Cyrax being captured to be used in the cyber initiative :T

Story Synopsis:
The Mortal Kombat tournament is just around the corner, it's time for the ones chosen to defend EarthRealm to be gathered. One of them being Kuai Liang the younger Sub-Zero. With orders to kill Shang Tsung he joins the group believing it will help complete his mission. For all of his life he has been loyal to the Lin Kuei but after hearing about the cyber initiative he and Smoke defect from the Lin Kuei; however, Smoke goes missing during their escape leaving Sub-Zero to believe he had been captured. Enraged Sub-Zero swears to avenge and hopefully save his Smoke and his other friend Cyrax. Keeping his word Sub-Zero stays with Raiden's forces to participate in the tournament but now for all of EarthRealms sake, not the Lin Kuei's.All the while Scorpion his hunting him down...

Prequel:Mortal Kombat: Lin Kuei Beginnings Prologue
(Might want to read it. It explains somethings)

First: Mortal Kombat: Broken Chains Prologue

Previous:Mortal Kombat: Broken Chains Ch7

Next: Mortal Kombat: Broken Chains Ch9

Mortal Kombat-Midway & Neartherealm stuidos

Story::iconmiss-dnl:

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RenagadeRexRider's avatar
first off.....CYRAX!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Tomoko Screaming Icon

This chapter has all of the tension in it and has me on edge waiting for more.... :tears: Cyrax.... And DAMN you Sektor! DAMN YOU GRANDMASTER!!!