Article: 17319 of alt.games.mk
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From: vctr113062@aol.com (Vctr113062)
Newsgroups: alt.games.mk
Subject: FANFIC: "The Blood On My Hands" 7/8 (Kitana)
Date: 1 Nov 1994 01:04:12 -0500
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	I looked back down at my sticky, filthy hands. Unable to bear the
sensation any longer, I tore my gloves off and reached for my spare flask
of water. Splashing its moisture on my hands, I tried to scour them clean
with a coarse brush I'd taken from Jade's home.
	"Kitana..."
	"There is blood on my hands," I said, without looking up. "I have
to get it off."
	"It is not your fault Lucian died."
	"Yes, it is. I should have obeyed the Master. If only I'd obeyed
him!"
	"Shao Kahn never flat-out told you that he'd cursed you with the
cliched 'kiss of death,' did he? How were you to know?" A moment later,
"Um, not to intrude, but if you want to clean blood off your hands then
what you're doing looks pretty counterproductive."
	He was right. My scrubbing had been so harsh that I'd opened
several small cuts in the skin. Pinpricks of fresh blood oozed through
them. A heavy pallor of despair settled upon me, and I let the flask and
the brush fall through my blighted fingers. "I- I'll never get it off..."
	"You can't change the past. Only the present." 
	"What does the past have to do with anything?"
	"Maybe nothing. Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about." 
	My eyes fluttered shut.
	"Or, maybe there is something you could do that would help you
feel better."
	My eyes snapped back open. "Tell me."
	He did so. When he finished, I furrowed my brow curiously and
asked, "What makes you think I could or would do this?"
	"Perhaps you can't. Perhaps you won't."
	"I'll think about it." A glance at the moon confirmed that my
shift at watch wouldn't begin for at least another hour. I sincerely did
not want to attempt sleeping again. "Kung Lao... did Raiden tell you
anything about my sister, Mileena?"
	"Yes. Would you like to hear what he said?"
	I nodded and listened carefully to the things he told me. They
were so strange that I wasn't sure I believed a word of them, but I
listened. I thought about all of it during my entire shift at watch. Kung
Lao's claims seemed to explain so much... why I'd never seen Mileena with
her mask down, why her voice felt so wrong, why I had glimpsed her and
Baraka together that one day. But then, there were other plausible
explanations, any of which could be equally valid. Mileena was my sister.
She had always been my sister. When dawn finally came, I told myself
softly, "None of it can possibly be true."
	"Why not?" asked Kung Lao, startling me.
	"Where did you learn to simulate the breathing of a sleeping
person?"
	"Oh come now, Kitana, I must have _some_ secrets."

*****************************************************************

	When nighttime descended once more, we could see the outer gates
of Shokan. I told Kung Lao to halt for a spell. "You have said that you
want to enter the Master's Tournament, am I correct?"
	"Yes."
	"I shall present you to him, along with Liu Kang. This is my
territory. You _must_ do as I say; if you do not, then Shokan's residents
might mistake you for a common outsider and turn upon you before you cross
the first street."
	"So, am I supposed to be an 'uncommon outsider?'"
	"In a manner of speaking. You must be an outsider specifically in
my charge, under my protection and therefore under the Master's
protection. If you disagree, if you do not go along with what I say, then
I will not be able to intervene when a dozen of the Master's mercenaries
decide to dismember you for sport."
	"Charming place, this city of Shokan."
	"If anyone accosts you, you may be tempted to fight back. Don't.
Taking any action against a citizen of Shokan, even in self-defense, will
void the Master's protection. You must trust me to enforce that
protection. If you don't like that, then I recommend you return to the
Mother Realm." He snorted contemptuously. I'd only said that last bit to
annoy him, anyway. "We must bind Liu Kang with this cord before we
proceed," I instructed, withdrawing the item from my cloak. "It is
enchanted. It cannot be cut or damaged by anything save hellfire."
	"Is that drug of yours going to wear off soon?"
	"No, not for another day at least. That is not the point. If Liu
Kang is not completely restrained, Adjutant General Kintaro may become
suspicious. Kintaro monitors the flow of traffic to and from Shokan, ever
since that outsider with the partly- metal face tried to escape. We do
_not_ want to make Kintaro suspicious." Kung Lao supported Liu Kang as I
tied the unconscious monk's feet together at the ankles, and his hands
behind his back. "You can put that cloth of yours back into your hat. We
won't be using it to transport Liu Kang anymore; you must carry him by
yourself."
	"May I ask why?"
	"Here, yes. Once we are in the city, do not speak unless spoken
to. And the reason why you must carry Liu Kang alone is that it would
appear strange if I were to help you. The higher in rank a servant of the
Master is, the less he or she is expected to assist inferiors. I am the
Master's Left Hand; you are an outsider. Your status is absolutely
inferior to that of everyone else. Inferiors are always expected to be
completely subservient. If you have any other questions, now is the time
to ask them."
	"Yes. Is everyone in Shokan into this bondage-submission thing?"
	"Don't try to be funny."
	"I don't get to do that either, hm?"
	"Just follow me, and for the Master's sake, keep your wits about
you."
	The hooded guards near the outer gate stepped aside to let us
pass. I risked a quick glance behind me, to see how Kung Lao was doing.
His hat was down so low that its shadow reached his chin. He did not look
to either side as he plodded forward, with the unconscious monk slung over
his left shoulder. The guards watched him carefully. I noticed that he'd
wrapped his traveler's sash around himself, like a one-piece robe of
sorts, hiding the scarlet character on his garments. Good idea, I thought.
The last thing either of us needed was for his outlandish garb to attract
unwanted attention.
	I set foot upon the network of long, thin bridges that cross the
chasm between Shokan's gates and the city proper. Faint lights spaced
along their edges illuminated my path, in addition to the glow of the
rising moon. I walked slowly and carefully; the bridges had no safety
rails, and to fall off would mean plummeting a few hundred feet to one's
death on the hard stone below. There was a scattering of bodies in the pit
beneath the bridge, evidence of fools who had not been careful enough when
they crossed. By the Master's decree, their corpses lay where they had
fallen, as a warning to others who would cross the bridge without taking
due caution.
	The network of bridges led to a flat expanse, divided by Shokan's
inner wall. General Kintaro waited before the second gate. 
	Like the late Goro, Kintaro is one of the four-armed human-dragon
hybrids who dominate Kuatan, the fourth Astral Plane. They tower over mere
mortals. Their lifespans stretch for millennia. Their strength is so great
that the weakest of them can break the neck of an ox with his bare,
two-fingered hands. They possess an uncanny resistance to sorcery; they're
capable of shrugging off magical blasts that would disintegrate lesser
beings. If enraged, they can use their massive weight to crush their prey,
or spit globules of searing fire. They acknowledge no overlord save Master
Kahn himself. The scions of Kuatan rarely regard mortals not under the
Master's protection as anything other than an annoyance or food. And
Kintaro is arguably Kuatan's mightiest warrior.
	Kintaro's unique coloration sets him apart from the rest of his
kind. The front of his body and limbs is pure white; his back is deep
orange and patterned with black stripes. His eyes glow yellow, and have
vertically slitted black pupils. Some suspect that Kintaro looks different
from his yellowish-brown skinned, red-eyed kindred because he is part
tiger in ancestry, as well as part human and part dragon. No one has ever
asked him directly and lived to relate his answer, though. 
	Kintaro uses no weapons, and needs none. His hide is so tough that
he has little use for armor; all he typically wears is a loincloth, spiked
shoulder pads, ridged knee pads, and four studded war bracelets. This is
Adjutant General Kintaro - slayer of dragons, destroyer of cities, and
ruler of Shokan's armies. Rumor had it that he would participate in the
Master's Tournament, and that anyone who sought to challenge Master Kahn
must first defeat Kintaro. If so, then Kung Lao and Liu Kang were surely
doomed. Not that it mattered to me one way or the other. All I cared about
was the fulfillment of my mission... or so I kept telling myself.
	I approached Kintaro and bowed, then snapped my fingers at Kung
Lao. He gently set Liu Kang down and also bowed, very low indeed. 
	"O General Kintaro, please grant us, the Master's humble
supplicants, your leave to enter Shokan," I beseeched.
	"Ah, Kitana. I have heard of your mission." I shall never get used
to hearing Kintaro's deep bass but otherwise unremarkable speaking voice.
He is a being of supernatural power, yet he sounds like someone I might
find repairing shoes in Shokan's market square. "You were charged with
retrieving the warrior Liu Kang; I see that you have succeeded. Who is
this other mortal that accompanies you?"
	"He is-"
	"Yes, 'sister,'" interrupted another, stepping around great
Kintaro, "do tell us. Who _is_ your new boyfriend?"
	Mileena!
	She twirled her paired sai and regarded me with disdain. Her eyes
carried an especially cruel glint. "You try my patience," I warned her, as
she lazily strolled past me.
	"_I_ try _your_ patience? That is a new one. You are always giving
me your silly orders. 'Mileena, don't waste time putting out her eyes.'
'Mileena, they won't make good slaves if their arms are broken.' 'Mileena,
if you disembowel him then you'd better clean up the mess.' You can be so
_very_ tedious at times." She kneeled next to where Liu Kang lay and
brushed his hair away from his face, nodding. Then she moved toward Kung
Lao. She stopped directly in front of him, put the tip of one sai
underneath his chin, and used it to force his head upward until she could
see his face despite the shadow of his hat. "Mmm. They're both pretty
cute. Can I have them?"
	"No!" I snapped. Kung Lao gave Mileena the same blank, empty stare
that I had seen another person use as a psychological defense barely ten
days ago.
	"Come now, dear 'sister.' You owe me. Didn't I leave those other
two alone, specifically at your request?"
	"I am on a mission for Master Kahn. These outsiders are under his
protection."
	"Oh, I suppose the one with the headband is, if you want to be
technical." She lasciviously riffled her fingers through Kung Lao's wavy
black hair, then drew them across his cheek and under his chin. "But the
Master never said anything about this one." 	
	"He is to enter Master Kahn's Tournament. This is your last
warning - leave him alone!"
	"Or what?"
	"Or I'll make you."
	"Perhaps," she sneered, "that's what I want." 
	I drew my fans and started to take a step forward- 
	"Halt, both of you!" Kintaro snarled. Mileena took her sai away
from Kung Lao's throat. I lowered my fans. "I do not know what rivalry
there is between you, and I do not care. Kitana, you _will_ enter Shokan
and present your charges to Shao Kahn. Mileena, you _will_ let her and her
associates pass. Is that clear?"
	"I told the old bat it wouldn't work," Mileena pouted, sulking.
	I put my fans inside my cloak and bowed to Kintaro again. "Thank
you." Kung Lao also bowed, then picked up Liu Kang's motionless body.
	Kintaro nodded. "Go. Now."
	We went.
	Mileena conspicuously trailed us into the city. Under any other
circumstances, I might have let her follow me to her heart's content, but
I was contemplating something that could best be done without her
interference. I motioned for Kung Lao to get behind me, drew my fans, and
shifted into a defensive stance, preparing for the inevitable
confrontation. Mileena slowly ambled toward me, spinning her sai in an
elaborately continuous motion every step of the way. Her weapons looked
like heavy, clumsy objects, yet she wielded them with frightening
dexterity.
	When she was close enough, she asked, "I suppose this means you
won't surrender either of your slaves to me?"
	"Yes, it does. No, I won't."
	"They are only troublemakers. Since when do you care about the
fate of criminals?" I did not answer. "You have changed, Kitana. You have
allowed your eyes to become clouded. Remember what your profession is.
Remember how we serve the Master! Killing people in cold blood is not only
our privilege, it is our first and foremost duty!"
	"Oh? Would you murder _anyone_, then, if Master Kahn were to order
it?" I worked to keep the retort low and even.
	"Yes."
	"Even your consort, Baraka?"
	Mileena's grip on her sai tightened, and her gaze cooled to an icy
glare of pure hostility. "How did you know he is my...?"
	"I didn't. Now I do."
	"Then you had better forget, and swiftly."
	"You are dodging the question." I hate it when she looks at me
like that; I feel as if I am trapped within a glacier, slowly succumbing
to hypothermia.
	"You already know what the answer is," she hissed, horribly. "We
are assassins. We cannot allow ourselves to love others as easily as that.
It would be too painful. Remember that, 'sister!'" She crossed her sai in
front of herself and disappeared, altering her position in space with her
own style of teleportational sorcery.
	"I think I'll sue her for sexual harassment," Kung Lao muttered.
	"Perhaps you did not hear me the first time," I barked, turning
upon him. "You will _not_ speak again unless spoken to!"
	He adjusted the brim of his hat a shade lower still, and wisely
made no reply.

*****************************************************************

	The Arena lay directly ahead. My inner doubts gnawed deeper with
every step I took. I felt that I should not waste my time here, that I
should go directly to the Master's castle instead.
	(Come now, dear 'sister.' You owe me. Didn't I leave those other
two alone, specifically at your request?)
	No, I could not put this off. If I were to wait, then Mileena
might wreak her vengeance on the helpless captives in the meantime, just
to spite me. It would be within her character. I entered the Arena, which
was fortuitously deserted except for the two prisoners and their armed
guards. I cleared my throat and addressed the Master's black-hooded foot
soldiers. 
	"Attention! I request an audience alone with the prisoners. You
will stand outside of the Arena's doors until I call for you to return."
They seemed a bit puzzled, and reluctant to follow the order. 
	I drew one of my fans and spread it part way open. "I am Kitana,
the Master's Left Hand. To defy me is to defy him." Pointing the fan's
edge at them, I added, "If you falter in you duty to the Master, then you
_and_ your families will pay the price. None shall be spared. He does not
tolerate disobedience, and neither shall I. Leave, now, or face the
consequences!"
	They filed out, still appearing confused. My eyebrows descended;
it shouldn't have taken that extra threat to compel their obedience. I
didn't like it, but there was no time to brood about the matter. I briskly
walked past the male prisoner to where the female prisoner was shackled.
	"Hey, Kitana baby!" the man leered. "Who's your new boyfriend?"
	Without turning his head, Kung Lao removed his hat and cast it at
the man. The item veered at an angle, so that the flat of its spinning
metal brim connected solidly with the man's forehead. He groaned and
collapsed in place. 
	The female prisoner smiled, a little. The expression vanished from
her face once I was directly across from her, replaced by that vacant,
sepulchral look I had seen her wear before. 
	"Lieutenant Sonya Blade?" I queried. She made no response. I
proffered a small brass key. "Take this. It will unlock your chains." She
stared at the item as if it were a poisonous serpent. "Go on, try it." Her
blue-grey eyes searched my masked face for a long time.
	"Why?" Her question was creaky, uncertain, and very quiet. It was
almost certainly the first thing she'd said in days. 
	"He tells me that you are a warrior good and true, dedicated to
the light," I explained, gesturing in Kung Lao's direction. "I do not know
about that. What I do know is that you have not only served Master Kahn,
you have _died_ doing it. You've earned this." 
	She took the item gingerly, still acting as if she expected it to
bite her. It was somewhat difficult for her to fit the key in the
right-hand manacle's lock, since the short reach of her chains forced her
arms to be spread apart. With patience and deftness, she used one hand to
work the key in and turn it. An expression of incredulity appeared upon
her face when her manacle came off with an audible <clink>. She unlocked
her left-hand manacle and rubbed her sore wrists in amazement. 
	"Keep the key on your person," I advised her. "You'll have to put
your manacles back on before your guards return. I am sorry, but it is
impossible for you to depart at this time. Since your comrade attempted
escape-"
	"His name is Kano, and he is not my comrade."
	"Since Kano attempted escape, Master Kahn has doubled the guards
around this area, and assigned Adjutant General Kintaro to watch over
Shokan's only exit. Do you know who Kintaro is?" She nodded. "Then you
know that you cannot get past him by yourself."
	Her head drooped.
	"Don't lose hope," I urged. "Your time will come. Master Kahn is
going to hold a grand Tournament; Kintaro will participate in it. Wait for
the proper moment, when everyone is distracted. You won't necessarily be
alone. I am told that someone is in search of you... what was his name?
'Jack'...?"
	"'Jax?'" 
	"Yes, that sounds right. He has followed your magic beacon-"
	"Distress signal."
	"-he has followed it here to the Outworld. I think he may enter
the Master's Tournament. Watch for him... and above all, be careful.
Mileena seems to have taken a dislike to you." 
	"You don't say."
	"If she tries to mistreat you again, well, at least you'll have a
fighting chance. Incidentally, that skeleton key will also unlock Kano's
chains. He has not served the Master in any way, so I leave his fate up to
you. And now I must send your guards back in; if I leave them waiting
outside for too long, they may become suspicious."
	"I think they are already suspicious. You have been generous to
me, Kitana. I will warn you - I've heard great deal of gossip about you,
these past few weeks. There have been rumors that you are falling into
Shao Kahn's disfavor."
	My fan slipped through my fingers and flapped on the stone slab
that supported her concrete pedestal. "That cannot be."
	"All I know is what I hear."
	"I've toiled to complete one of the toughest missions he has ever
assigned! How can he-"
	"Kitana?" She waved her hand in front of my eyes to bring me out
of my reverie. "Here." She held forth a pair of smooth, metallic
wristlets. "Put these on. I suspect you'll need them more than I will."
	"What are...?"
	"I already have my own pair, and Jax will undoubtedly be wearing
his. This is a spare set, which you may keep. Wear them underneath your
gloves, so no one suspects; a light covering of thin fabric won't hamper
their properties."
	"How do I tap into their sorcery?"
	"They're not sorcery, they're the cutting edge of highly
experimental military technology. The left one, project Icarus, induces a
self-contained gravitational field with a maximum acceleration magnitude
of twenty meters per second per second; the right one, project Heracles,
can extrude electromagnetic pressure waves with a cyclical amplitude of
fifteen thousand Newtons." 
	"Sorcery," I agreed.
	She sighed, described their magical effects in laymen's terms, and
showed me how to activate them. "I recommend that you not use them unless
absolutely necessary. This particular pair hasn't been field tested. I
never had the chance to try them out, so I'm not completely sure they will
work properly. They might backfire. For your sake, I hope they don't."
	I fitted the magic bracelets around my wrists and retrieved my
fan. Sonya refastened her manacles and slipped their key inside her right
sock. "Good luck," she said, with a slightly broader smile than before.
	"The same to you." I transferred my attention to Kung Lao, who was
flipping through a small book next to Kano's pedestal. "What is that?"
	"Hm? Oh, just a chronicle, of sorts. Fascinating. I wondered whose
bloodstains those were, near the Portal..."
	"Are you ready to leave?"
	"At once." He made the book disappear inside his hat, put the
article back on, and picked up Liu Kang. "Next stop, Buckingham Palace."

*****************************************************************

	The Master's castle was not the same.
	As I approached the hooded guards at the entrance, I instructed
their chief to notify the Master of my return. He fidgeted a little and
said, "Master Kahn is expecting you." Mildly surprised, I proceeded
directly toward the Master's throne room and audience chamber. Kung Lao
followed. We progressed unhindered through rooms carpeted with plush
velvet, up spiraling stairways of gleaming black obsidian, and along
marble balconies garnished with elaborately worked gold rails. I examined
my surroundings warily, trying to pinpoint the dissimilarity that churned
my stomach and raised goose flesh on my skin.
	I had come home, and I was afraid, and I didn't know why.
	The guards to Master Kahn's anteroom stepped back and opened the
doors. Looking through them, I finally descried what seemed so different -
the Master's sorcerous ceiling lights were dimmer than usual. The open
archway at the antechamber's other end was completely dark. I cast a quick
backward glance at Kung Lao and Liu Kang, just to reassure myself that
they were still there, and entered. The <click> of Kung Lao's shoes echoed
upon the antechamber's white marble floor and walls. The Master's audience
chamber lay just beyond.
	"Well, well, Kitana. I am genuinely amazed. The odds that you
would get this far were astronomical. I lost a fair parcel of money
betting in your disfavor. Although I do intend to win it all back."
	Directly in front of me was a hooded, mantled figure dressed
almost as strangely as Kung Lao. Underneath the gold-trimmed folds of his
blue-black cloak, the hooded one wore a divided vest colored canary
yellow. A thick black stripe ran vertically along each half of the vest. A
matching yellow belt encircled his waist, supporting a tightly gathered
pair of black leather slacks. His yellow socks and wristbands along with a
pair of flat black shoes completed the bizarre ensemble. The overall
effect was so distracting that I nearly didn't recognize-
	"_Shang Tsung_!" Liu Kang's high-pitched screech threatened to
shatter my eardrums.
	"Sleeping Beauty awakes," the sorcerer observed drolly.