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Part 10

Sonya walked confidently up to the main gate of Shao Kahn's fortress. A large guard stood before her. She smiled
seductively at the guard and sauntered up to him. She seemed to have the guards attention. He looked her up and down
and a sly grin spread across his face like a rash. Sonya cocked her head to the left, and kicked him in the groin. The
guard learched forward in immense pain. Sonya crouched a little and smashed her fist into his face in an uppercut. The
guard flew backwards into the gate, knocking it open, and landed in a heap on the ground. Sonya was joined by her
teammates and the six warriors marched through the gate, across the courtyard and into Kahn's tower. Kitana stepped
forward and led them towards Kahn's throne room. They entered to find Kahn punishing some guards. He hadn't noticed them
and so he continued his punishment. He grabbed the last remaining guard by the throat and spun him towards the door,
letting him fly into a solid concrete pole. It was then that Kahn spotted the intruders standing in his doorway.

"Ah, guests." He greeted them a little taken back. "I was just punishing my guards for letting you escape."

Kahn stared at Kitana. "You disappoint me daughter."

She stepped forward defiantly, "Step daughter."

"You shall be neither very shortly." Kahn said motioning towards the door. The six Earth realm warriors turned to see
Kahn's warriors standing behind them. However they slowly walked past them and stood next to Kahn. Sonya leaned over to
Liu's ear.

"Who are they?" She whispered. Liu tilted his head back a little to whisper his reply.

"The one in the yellow, dressed like Sub-Zero is called Scorpion. They are sworn enemies from opposing clans." Sonya
nodded. "The grey ninja is Smoke. He is from Sub-Zero's clan, but allied to Shao Kahn. And I believe you've met Reptile
and Mileena."

"Hmm, how could I forget?"

They were interrupted as Kintaro emerged from a door behind Shao Kahn, and stood by his Emperor.

"That is..." Liu began but Sonya raised her hand to stop him.

"Yeah, we've met."

"Well, it looks as if we have a party." Kahn smiled.

"How can you do this? You are strictly forbidden with interfering until the next tournament." Liu asked The Emperor.

"I had some outside help." Kahn replied cockily. "Anyway, enough exposition, I feel in the mood for some violence."

Sonya stepped forward to stand next to Liu. "Good."

"Oh, the ever cocky Sonya Blade. It's nice to see you again Lieutenant."

"I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately.....Now!!!" Sonya yelled mid-sentence.

The six earth warriors charged towards Kahn and his minions, taking them by complete surprise. Sonya sprinted towards
Reptile. She lept in the air and landed a kick directly on his chest, knocking him several feet backwards. She looked
to her left to see Jax confronting Smoke. Beyond them Kung Lao was attacking his ancestor, Mileena. Sub-Zero was fighting
Scorpion in an intense battle. Liu was taking on Kintaro, and in the middle Kitana was confronting her step father.
Sonya looked back at Reptile who was know on his feet. He reached up to his face mask and pulled it back to spit a big
glob of acid at her. Sonya lept backwards onto her shoulders, allowing the acid to fly over head. She then lept back
onto her feet, all in one graceful move. Reptile seemed impressed, but he charged at Sonya none the less. Sonya blocked
a right, left, right from Reptile and ducked another left before landing a powerful right legged out to in crescent
kick. Reptile hit the ground hard. Sonya went to stomp on his head but Reptile rolled away and kicked her legs out
from under her. Reptile, now standing, walked towards her but she rolled backwards into a handstand, kicking Reptile,
before placing her feet back on the ground. Sonya stuck her right arm out to blast Reptile with her wrist band. A
collegue had given her the bands in the Special Forces. He was an excellent inventor and an asset to the team. Sonya
would jokingly call him Q. She aimed the band at Reptile and pushed a button found near the end. Once again, a bright
pink spark flew from the band and headed for Reptile. However this time he was ready. He ducked to the side, removing
his mask as he did. Before Sonya could jump out of the way, Reptile had spit a glob of acid on her wrist band. It began
melting rapidly, so she took it off and threw it on the ground. She turned back to Reptile who was diving for her. She
quickly ducked, causing him to fly over head, and knock into Jax.

"Shit." Sonya scolded her self. "Sorry!"

Jax shrugged it off as Reptile got to his feet and started attacking him. Sonya was about to go help when Jax's
opponent, Smoke, came running for her. Sonya kept her run going and was about to clothes-line him when he disappeared
in a puff of grey smoke. Her arm moved through the smoke, but instead of dispersing, the smoke seemed to move. It moved
away from her and materialized into Smoke again. Sonya looked at him confused. She tried again, this time jumping in the
air to kick him in the face. Once again he disappeared. Sonya landed and turned around again. She rolled her eyes and
looked at the puff of smoke as it turned back into the grey ninja.

"Okay, that's cheating!"

"Very well woman. We'll play it your way." Smoke replied. The two fighters approached each other. They were preparing to
fight when Kung Lao went flying between them. Sonya looked down at him with a painful look on her face. She saw Mileena
fly over their heads and called out to him.

"Kung Lao, look out!"

She looked back towards Smoke and was punched in the face, sending her to the floor. Sonya looked behind her and donkey
kicked Smoke in the midsection, before standing back up. He bent forward, clutching his stomach while Sonya took the
opportunity to knee him in the head. Smoke fell backwards and lay unconscious as Sonya walked over to inspect her win.
His face mask was cracked and blood flowed from underneath.

"Now that's more like it." She grinned. Looking across the battlefield, Sonya saw Jax walking away from Reptile's
unconscious body. Past him, she could see Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Scorpion was frozen solid and Sub-Zero unleashed a
massive flying kick, shattering him. Sonya couldn't believe her eyes. She looked over at Kung Lao, who was still
fighting Mileena. All of a sudden Kitana came crashing into view, bowling Mileena over. Kitana looked down at her twin
sister and began punching her hard in the face. Kung Lao stood back a little and shrugged as he walked over to Sonya
and the rest. Liu was standing over Kintaro's dead body.

"Oh crap, I missed it." Sonya frowned, folding her arms. Everyone joined her, even Kitana who dragged the dazed Mileena
behind her. Liu approached Shao Kahn as everyone crowded around, leaving their unconscious or dead opponents behind.
Kitana pulled Mileena to her knees and held her wrist so she could see the two warriors.

"Just kill me and be done sister." Mileena turned her head to hiss at Kitana.

"No. You will watch the downfall of our step father." Kitana pushed her head forward.

"Foolish girls." The Emperor grinned at them. "You still don't know?"

Kitana and Mileena looked at the emperor behind their respective face masks.

"Emperor?" Mileena asked.

"Princess Kitana is not your sister." The two female ninja's eyes widened. "You are a clone Mileena. Created by the
power of my former sorcerer. Molded in Kitana's image. Unfortunately for you, even his powers aren't flawless. Hence
your unsightly face."

The emperor grinned his wicked grin as Mileena sat there as stunned as Kitana.

"I had him implant false memories of your childhood’s together to complete the charade."

"You bastard." Kitana said quietly.

"Let me up sister." Mileena looked up at Kitana. "Let me help you in your fight."

Kitana reached up and pulled her mask off, throwing it to the floor. Once again her extreme beauty lit up the room.
Her expression, however, was one of pure hatred. Hatred for the man who had destroyed her world. Her family. Her life.
She put her hands on either side of Mileena's head.

"You are not my sister." She snarled before snapping Mileena's neck. The group of Earth realm warriors stared in shock
as Kitana let Mileena's body slump to the floor. She stepped over it and pulled out her fan, lifting it to her shoulder
height. Kitana moved her grip allowing the fan to slide open. Without hesitation, Kitana flung the fan towards Kahn.
Moving as fast as his step daughter, Kahn caught the fan and threw it to the side. Kitana began running the second the
fan had left her hand as if she knew it wouldn't stop him. She sprinted towards the emperor. Kahn ripped his fist through
the air, backhanding Kitana and knocking her flying back towards the others. She landed near Sonya, who ran to her fallen
comrade’s side.

"Kitana!" Sonya cried out. "Are you okay?"

Kitana looked up at her slowly and nodded. The sound of fighting interrupted the two as Liu Kang and Shao Kahn erupted
in a flurry of punches and kicks. Sonya propped Kitana up so she could witness her step father's defeat. Liu was just
as powerful as Sonya remembered, even more so now. The two fighters were equally matched, taking turns to overpower one
another, but the other always regained their composure and kept fighting. It seemed as if the two fighters would go on
four hours when Kahn was suddenly struck in the chest with Kitana's fan. Liu, who was about to throw a kick, stopped
and looked over at the others in confusion. Everyone else was thinking the same thing but Sonya always said what was
on her mind.

"What just happened?" She turned to ask Jax, but he was just as confused. He looked beyond Liu and Kahn, who was
sitting on the ground clutching his wound, and answered Sonya.

"I'm gonna take a wild stab and say 'She did'." He pointed to a woman standing near where Kahn was. She was dressed
like Kitana and Mileena, only she wore green. Kitana saw her and sat up, with Sonya's help.

"Jade?" She asked weakly. Jade walked over to Liu and looked down at Shao Kahn.

"You have gone to far this time Emperor. I don't know how you managed to break the rules but this madness stops now!"
She stood defiantly in front of her former ruler. The Earth Realm warriors joined Jade and Liu and stood before Kahn.
He struggled to his feet and dropped Kitana's bloody fan. Loosing his footing he staggered backwards and stopped against
a large red door.

"It's over Kahn. Give it up." Sonya said handing Kitana over to Liu, who smiled at her stroked her bruised face gently.

"You are wrong woman. This is far from over." Kahn replied.

"Yeah?" She said looking over Kahn fallen warriors. "You could have fooled me."

"Obviously." Kahn grinned. Suddenly the room began to shake. Chunks of rock began to dislodge from the walls and roof.
"Every warlord should have a contingency plan." Sonya, Jax, Kung Lao and Sub-Zero began to run for him but he staggered
through the door he was leaning on seconds before a large piece of roof landed where he was standing.

"We've gotta go, now!" Liu cried. Everyone ran for the other door but before they could reach it another section of roof
landed in front of them. They were trapped in a collapsing room with no escape. The shaking became even more violent,
knocking Sonya to the ground. She looked up to see a boulder about to fall on her. Before she even had time to scream
Jax bowled into her, knocking them both out of the way.

"You okay?" Jax asked over the noise. Sonya was staring at their collapsing surroundings wide-eyed.

"We're screwed." She said. A huge noise behind them startled everyone as the wall began to topple on top of them. Sonya
looked around at everyone then back at the wall. They all huddled together before a large flash blanketed the room. Sonya
closed her eyes to shield the light. When it dissipated she looked around at her surroundings. To her shock, Sonya was
standing in the cave that they had left Johnny and Rayden. Everyone stood around with confusion draped across their faces.
Rayden was standing in the center of the room puffing like he had just run a marathon. They all stared at him expecting an
explanation. Rayden simply smiled at them all.

"Welcome back." He puffed.
****************

Liu Kang walked back into the main room of the cave, and joined everyone else who were seated at a large table. All
except Sonya, who paced back and forth. She stopped when Liu entered.

"How is she?" She asked Liu.

"She's resting with Johnny." Liu replied. Rayden put his hand on Liu's shoulder.

"Kitana is a strong woman. I'm sure she'll be fine."

Liu and Rayden sat at the table, as did Sonya.

"So. I think a little exposition is in order, don't you?" Sonya asked Rayden.

"Very well." He replied. "It seems Shao Kahn had his throne room equipped with a self destruct mechanism of sorts.
I'm not quite sure how he activated it. I had been watching the entire battle. I saw that you were about to be crushed
and I had you transported here."

"What happened to Shao Kahn?" Liu asked.

"I'm not sure. He's probably plotting something as we speak."

"How did he get away with breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat?" Kung Lao chimed in.

"I'm not sure of that either."

"Doesn't that bother you? I mean to be a god and, not know everything?" Sonya asked smiling. Rayden simply returned the
smile.

"Ooh! I have another question." Sonya continued. "Who the hell are you?" She pointed to Jade, who looked up at her. Jade
pushed some of her brown hair behind her ear and removed her face mask. She was strikingly beautiful, much like Kitana.

"My name is Jade. I am an Edenian warrior. I grew up and trained along side Kitana. We both acted as Shao Kahn's
assassin’s, while trying to bring him down at the same time. I can assure you, if you are dedicated to bringing him down,
then I am your ally."

"You are a welcome member of the team, Jade." Rayden smiled.

"So what now?" Sonya asked the Thunder God. "I mean, we won right? Job done?"

"Yes. You are all free to return to your homes." Rayden informed a very relieved group. "You should get some rest.
But I must warn you. This is not over. We won this battle but the war rages on. When the time comes, I will call on you
all to rejoin the fight. I thank all of you for your dedication and perseverance."

The group all said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. All the while the thought of Kahn's revenge
resting in the back of their minds.