Lieutenant Sonya Blade of the United States Special Forces

Cade was turning out to be just the kind of soldier - or, in this case, he supposed, civilian - he felt to most hatred for. He'd had too many superior officers who were too self-concerned and ran the risk of endangering the company's lives because of it. From what he heard, however, Cade wasn't incompetent, which while it was a step in the right direction, wasn't everything.

Lipton's expression didn't change after Cade's reponse - he was far to experienced for that - but he just turned to Kang, whose response was more promising. Still, he hadn't been looking to be reassured (although he supposed that was the sort of unconscious condescension that they'd given the Replacements), but Lipton was starting to understand just how unknown the future of this war would be. "Right," he said, thankful for the response.

Jax provided some of the concrete expectations he'd been looking for, and his mind filed it all away for the future. He certainly knew the importance of holding fire when it would result in more harm than good, so he wasn't likely to be a risk in that respect. Tarkaten army but not Shokanites. He'd need to be able to tell them apart, but if they really were big with four arms that might not be so difficult. He took the rifle with a 'thank you, sir' and automatically began inspecting it and getting a feel for it.

It was only when Sonya returned with canteens and rations in hand that he noticed the Screaming Eagles patch on her shoulder, and for a moment things felt odder than they had this entire morning. "101st, huh?" He said quietly to her as they were getting the supplies all sorted out.

Posted by (Anonymous)

Liu had returned to the final preparations. He was mentally preparing himself. It would most likely fall on him once again to be the one to challenge Shang Tsung and Shao Khan. His mind and spirit must be clear and ready for the challenge.

Johnny Cage had finished and hefted a packed bag up.

"Ready when you are."

Posted by

She looked at Lipton and let out a small sigh.

" I just don't really care to explain the training I did in the army as part of every day conversation-feels too much like one-up manship. Yes, I did go through airborne training, just like every other Special Forces agent."

She looked over at Liu who was meditating on the couch, impressed at how calm he appeared, even after the shit he had to go through since the tournament. She turned to chat with Lipton.

"Liu's the champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament, Kahn pretty much wants all of us dead, but he has the biggest target on his back."

Her look of concern turned to a scowl when she heard Johnny speak and she turned to address him. "As much as I appreciate your eagerness, Cage. We can't go anywhere until the the actual invasion starts."

Jax spoke up. "She's right. We have the coordinates for Sanctuary, but we've no idea how the merger will affect the roads. The best we could do is head to the portal Raiden told us about and unfortunately, said portals will only appear once the invasion starts."

Sonya turned to explain to Lipton. "Portals are a sort of mystical door way that's used to travel to other realms or parts of a realm, depending on the destination of the passenger. Earthrealm apparently possesses 'natural' portals in the more deserted places on Earth, or in our case, it could be created. The problem is that the creation of one involves massive amounts of energy, so much so that only a god or a sorcerer with talent in necromancy could create one. One of our allies is a thunder god, who-sadly-won't be able to really help us as he's forbidden to step onto Outworld or any of its.."She snorted in disgust. "territories."

Jax nodded in confirmation before clicking a button the wrist part of his right arm. "The time and place will also be a rendezvous with some of our other allies. Our main problem is trying to get there without running into any trouble."

Posted by

He could certainly understand that, and chastised himself for being surprised. He knew from his conversations with Brad Colbert that airborne training had become a standard part of elite training. He just had never seeen the patch on anyone but those from the PIRs that he'd known back stateside and in the ETO - and it was disconcerting to see the Screaming Eagle elsewhere. And, even though he was starting to realize just how outdated it made him, on a woman. He knew from experience, of course, just how competent a soldier she was, but it was still a disconnect, and the patch was concrete evidence of just how times had changed.

He shook his head. "Just surprised, that's all. Proud." He added, that they still existed and she was a part of them, but he'd had to censor himself from saying anything more so as not to give away the whole time-travel bit.

He followed Sonya and the Major's exchange, appreciating the explanations and information. The whole thunder-god concept required a little bit more suspension of disbelief, but since they were talking realms and portals it wasn't that much of a stretch. He thought it best for now that he just kept quiet and absorbed as much as possible - he was definately the naive outsider here, and from what he'd gathered so far keeping a low profile was part of the general strategy. That he could do.

Posted by

Sonya allowed herself a small grin at the compliment. "When I signed up for the army, never thought the career would lead me to having to save the world as well."

She spent the rest of the time organizing and getting supplies ready, and holding back a scowl when Johnny refused a weapon, stating that he never used one and didn't need to. Sonya could understand Liu not needing one because of his beliefs (what remained of them after the massacre of his family), but sometimes Johnny's cockiness was enough to make her want to kill him.

Sonya wasn't about to tell him off though, because as soon as she openned her mouth, the entire house started to shake, knocking books and other such things off the shelves. She and Jax braced themselves with their supplies, making sure nothing would get set off.

When it was over, the room seemed to darken as the light coming from the windows weakened, enough though it was only just reaching noon. Jax ordered everyone to stay down as he grapped a rifle and peered outside, frowning

"Well, Lipton, you wanted to know what to expect," He moved aside. "Have a look for yourself."

It wasn't a traditonal earthquake. Outside, the damage was obvious, but it wasn't the worst part. The darkened room was the result of the sun darkening so it looked almost like dusk, while the clouds themselves took on almost a purple appearence as though a storm was brewing. Along the street, there was a woman walking her dog and some people in various yards appearing to have been in the middle of yard work before the earthquake started, each one seemed to be caught frozen while reacting in terror. Jax concealed his digust when a pale green light seemed to pass though the skull of a man across the street, soaring up and joining several others towards the center of a wide twister seemingly stuck in the sky: several second after the light vanished, the 'man' turned to ash and bone.

He turned and looked at the others: they didn't need to ask what Kahn was doing, they already knew-and Sonya for once didn't trust herself to answer any questions.

"Now, we leave." They picked up their supplies and headed outside, where the weather suddenly turned very hot and dry for the time of year it was supposed to be. The very air itself seemed to take on a more 'dead' stench.

Posted by

Lipton helped Sonya with the supplies however he was able, because he'd always thought sitting around and waiting for action to be one of the worst parts of war - or any battle, really.

When the shaking started, he automatically ducked over his rifle and moved to hold on his helmet - only to realize he wasn't wearing one. He brought his hand down, feeling oddly disorientated for a moment that this wasn't a building under artillery, but something actually far different. He stood, alert and wary, obediently coming to the door and looking out at the changed neighbourhood. He didn't react, face stoic, even as green light flitted out to the twist of purple in the sky and bodies crumbled. Souls. He turned back to the group, not needing to see it twice, but understanding why it had been so difficult to describe.

"I think I have a pretty good idea now, Sir." He said, packing up and following the others out. It wasn't quite the smell of mangled bodies from shell bursts or gunfire, but the smell in the air was familiar all the same.

Posted by

A large group of Shao Khan's warriors came running towards the Earthrealm warriors. It was an extermination squad, looking to kill, wound, or at least tire out the Earthrealm champions. Liu Kang and Johnny Cage started fighting back. Though Johnny and Liu weren't always the closest of friends, Johnny knew that Liu would need him, and they fought back-to-back.

A group of four formidable warriors charged Sonya and Lipton. They were tall, strong, ruthless, and were armed with long serrated pikes. As they charged Sonya and Lipton, a figure materialized in a flash of flame. He was dressed in a yellow-and-black ninja uniform with a mask in place.

Scorpion's fist instantly collided with the lead attacker's face before he could even react, and the enemy fell backwards. Next, Scorpion grabbed hold of another warrior's arm and guided his pike into the comrade that was rushing in to aid him. Scorpion put his full strength into it, and directed his victim's full weight into running his fellow soldier through. There was an agonized gurgling as the dying warrior tried to cry out as blood filled his lungs.

Posted by

They'd barely gotten past the first block when the sound of boots was heard.

Even as they, Sonya found herself wondering how in the hell they were found so fast: an entire realm and somehow the Emperor managed to pin down their location.

Damn sorcerery.

It was only thankful that these 'warriors' were human-shaped, and as nasty as those weapons were-they could be parried and dodged.Compared to the soldiers Sonya saw in Outworld, it was almost laughable, if Sonya hadn't seen the 'heavier' artilery before hand.

She barely had time to slide the rifle off her back when a fire exploded between them and Kahn's warriors. Seeing Scorpion as a hellspawn again should've made her worried, but seeing him fighting with and not against them-she wasn't going to complain at the moment.

That still left a few other warriors to deal with. The fight with Scorpion meant that the squad had to split up, leaving her team nearly surrounded. Sonya used the rifle to block and avoid getting speared, sliding low at the warrior and sweeping his feet from under him. Getting up on her knees, she reversed her hold on the rifle, holding it by the barrel and swinging it on the enemy's neck, breaking it.

Meanwhile, Jax was using his arms to block any on coming attacks, their metal sheaths strong enough to take the blows. In the melee, he found himself exchanging blows with one of the Outworlders who lost their weapon, the armor deflecting most of his blows, but not the combat knife that found itself buried in a part of his neck that wasn't covered in armor.

Posted by

The moment the soldiers appeared, Lipton's rifle was up and he was taking aim. Different from his M1A1 paratrooper carbine, but he was far from picky. "We engaging, Sir?" He called to the Major or Sonya, whoever was nearest and could give the go-ahead. There was no 'hold your fire,' so his finger was on the trigger and his aim was on the approaching figures, but since they had no firepower there was time to be cautious. The warriors reached Cage and Kang first, and when they burst into action Lipton figured that was damn near close enough. He'd just gotten one shot off into the guy furthest on the right, closest to him, when something else flashed into existence.

He turned the barrel to him, but then the figure was taking out the soldiers for them. Lipton followed Sonya's lead - apparently he was on there side - and shot another, and turned to the others. With the others in close contact, Lipton stood back a few feet, eye to the rifle, and picked off the ones he could get a shot off on. He knew where his strengths lay, and while he was no Shifty, at this distance his accuracy was reliable and while the splatter might get his allies, they weren't in any real danger of friendly fire.

Posted by

Scorpion was aware of Sonya fighting near him. He remembered the period of time he had been altered to resemble a human. He remembered starting to refer to himself as Hanzo Hasahi once again, and even marrying Sonya. But that was now distant. His mind was in the fight.

Scorpion whirled around in the direction of Lipton and threw out a rope tipped with a kunai. It missed Lipton's head by inches, but it did strike its intended target. A Tarkatan had been stealthily approaching Lipton from behind. It howled in pain at the impact. For Scorpion, it wasn't enough that it had just been impaled by the weapon.

"Get over here!!"

Scorpion pulled the creature to him, leaving a trail of blood on the ground. A series of powerful punches sent it to the ground. As it attempted to struggle for its life, Scorpion knelt to pin his opponent to the ground. Tarkata had blades protruding from their limbs like this one did. The beast tried slashing a bladed arm at Scorpion, but the specter simply redirected the motion to carry a pair of twin arm-blades directly into it's own eye sockets. There was a high-pitched squeal as it died painfully. Scorpion then vanished, reappearing in the midst of the fighting elsewhere.

Posted by

Jax just saw a squad of tarkatens join in, just as Scorpion-why was he suddenly fighting for them-launched his spear at one of the closer ones and proceeded to spear it with its own blades.

"Hold your fire!" He finally yelled out. While Lipton wasn't a bad shot, the chance that the rifle fire attracting other warriors was too great a risk.

For Sonya, under normal circumstances, (or what passed as normal), the reality of seeing Scorpion revert back to being a hellspawn would've left her aching inside. They both knew that sooner or later, he'd have to go back to Earthrealm, revert to being an undead ninja, but that didn't mean she didn't feel for him.

Now wasn't one of those times. Now, she was more focused on the battle, not only having to deal with the masked guards but also the tarkatens. Determined not to be trapped by a small number of them, Sonya twisted her left wrist and jumped into the air, the electronic anti-gravitational force field from the wrist band allowing her to get ten feet up in the air for several seconds. This effect only lasted a second, but Sonya made it count by jump kicking on one of the tarketan warriors, using enough force to break in his skull as she landed on his corpse.

Pulling one of her knives from its holster-having lost her rifle in another part of the fight-Sonya continued to fight off the remaining tarkaten warriors from a 'safer' position.

Posted by

It was only when the ninja suddenly turned his way and threw something very sharp very near his face did Lipton catch a close enough look at him to see the eyes above the mask. Was that Hanzo? It had to be - this was his world as well as Sonya's, after all (strictly speaking, realms and all aside). Although, he supposed, as he watched the guy pull the thing towards him and brutally beat and skewered him, Scorpion might be the more accurate name, currently.

It disgusted Lipton, what Scorpion did, and it wasn't because of the gore. Gruesome he was familiar with; it was the cruelty of it that stuck with him. As much as he'd hated the Germans and other Axis soldiers they'd come into contact with, and had no qualms about killing for his country, he didn't wish them a longer death than necessary. Even in Speirs' rumoured executions, he'd offered them a cigarette before the shot.

"Thanks," he said, regardless, and whipped around, gun up at the spiked-man's fellows. They had some teeth on them, that was for sure. He heard the Major's order, and immediately dropped his gun, drawing out the knife he'd gotten from the supplies. He wouldn't question it, especially not now. He slung the rifle around his back and warily faced off against the men with blades. One of them looked away, growling, to where Sonya was jumping. Lipton only saw it as a blur in her peripheral, but focused instead on darting in to slit his throat, and then to leap out of the way of his friend's swinging blades.

Another rounded on him, and he squared off against the two of them, finding himself decidedly out of his element. He was a decent man at hand to hand and with a knife and all, but they had the decided advantage in built-in weaponry and numbers.

Posted by

The only reason Scorpion had any care whatsoever if Carwood Lipton lived or died was because Carwood was aiding Sonya Blade. Scorpion fully understood that the World War II veteran had lived with them on Tabula Rasa and that he was currently not in his own time, but he was nothing to Scorpion now. He honored the past commitment he had forged with Sonya, but most importantly, Sonya was smart as well as strong. She could help Scorpion uncover who he must avenge himself upon, and THAT was one of the few things that mattered anymore.

Two Tarkata against one warrior who had not experienced the Mortal Kombat Tournament was too many. Scorpion appeared in another flash of flame right behind the two enemy troops, and was already spinning to deliver a viscous kick to the back of it's neck. The beast convulsed and gagged with the whiplash while Scorpion punched the other one between its eyes, sending it back a few steps.

For a fleeting moment, Scorpion's clouded pupiless eyes met Liptons'. It was uninteresting. His attention was consumed by making his enemies suffer. He resumed fighting the one he had kicked.

Posted by

Sonya normally prided herself on close quarters combat, but in this case, it was a lot trickier when the enemy is literally 'armed' with three foot blades. Thankfully, while 'death matches' weren't that common on the island, she had been training with Scorpion for months now and if there was one thing you had to be when up against such a fighter, it was fast-speed and a good deal of bluffing.

She somehow found herself up against two tarkaten warriors who rushed at her. Ducking, Sonya grabbed a pike from a dead warrior and launched it at the 'faster' Outworld mutant. It struck him in the shoulder, leaving him paralized in one arm and staggering. The other mutant grabbed at him, intending to throw him forward so he could take out the Earth woman-actually, Sonya was hoping they would move closer.

Quickly, Sonya stuck out her right arm, activiating the wrist band again, but this time sending out several pink rings of energy. The energy blast was not as noisy as a rifle attack, but just as affective: it stunned the two warriors on contact, causing them to sieze up before collapsing to the ground. She didn't waste time in waiting for them to recover, instead grabbing the disgarded rifle and gripping it by the nuzzle. Sonya then proceeded to bash their two heads in, not stopping until their heads were all but turned inside out. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have agreed to such 'over the top' means of combat, but her experience in Outworld was telling-these things would not stop until their death or the death of her allies.

She finally stopped and looked around. The the tarkaten warriors that came after them had finally been killed, with Jax finishing off the last by breaking its spine and neck, but she felt as far from cheerful as possible.

The squad that came after them, they were just a small group and while not much of a challenge-she had a feeling things would only get tougher from now on. They had to regroup with the other Chosen warriors.

Looking at the others with her, her gaze fell to Scorpion, but the 'reality' of his sitaution seemed almost secondary to the mission at hand. It combined with the adrenaline from the battle and left a sort of blessed numbness from the physical and emotional bruises.

Posted by

He could get behind this spontaneous transportation, Liption decided, as Scorpion finished off the blade-man that he'd kicked and Lipton lunged in (very reminiscently of the sort of drills they'd run after the order to affix bayonets, really) to stab the man he'd punched in the throat. He pulled the knife loose, blood bubbling out to the surface, and then had to back away as the thing flailed as it crumpled to the floor.

He was absolutely certain, when he caught Scorpion's eye, that this wasn't quite the Hanzo that he'd seen marry Sonya on the island. He seemed to recognize him, but if the pupil-less eyes hadn't given the difference away, the apathy would have. "Thanks again," an edge of dry humour to his words, more for himself than for Scorpion.

Eyes sweeping their surroundings, Lipton moved to stand beside Sonya as the Major broke the neck of one of the bladed things. He kept his face impassive, but that sound wasn't one he was particularly fond of. Better than the alternative, of course, but his wartime experience was with planes, tanks, guns, foxholes, and artillery. He was acclimatized to violence, gruesome wounds, and death, but it still struck him.

Posted by

Scorpion surveyed the area. The enemies were dead. The surrounding merging of the realms was not disturbing to him, though he was serving the Earthrealm warriors.

Then there was a sensation. As a specter, he was more attuned to sorcerous energies than the humans around him. He turned to meet Sonya's gaze.

"More of Shao Khan's forces are being sent here. We must go. Now."

Posted by