Nicholas and his growing group stood at the edge of the living forest. Kitana was telling in detail the dangers of carelessly wondering through. Nicholas decided not to tell her that they had no need to go in. His crows already cleared the area, and there was no sign of any of his targets.
There were, however, plenty of places here that his crows could not get to. The palace, for example, another place was the arena. The arena stood out to Nicholas, though, and while his crows could approach the palace, there were places in it they couldn't get into. The treasury, for example. The arena, however, they couldn't even get close to it, nor could they fly over it. It was as if the air itself was a barrier.
Nicholas noted that the arena was something he would have to search himself. Getting inside, however, was not going to be easy. Mileena was currently in charge, but discontent was already mounting. Nicholas thought about who to grab right now, while things were still chaotic enough to move around unnoticed. There was Li Mei, a girl who desired to protect her village, and Nitara, a vampire who is currently wandering in exile.
Finding Li Mei proved to be an easy endeavor. She lived in a fishing village, her purple bandana and purple two-piece, made her very easy to spot. It wasn't long before they could see the village off in the distance. However, before they knew it, they were under attack. It was a single attacker who seemed to be focused on Nicholas. Nicholas told the others he would handle it, and they agreed and stood on the sidelines. Nicholas recognized instantly who their assailant was. Skarlet, an exclusive assassin of Shao Kahn, her blood red hair and outfit was very distinctive. It was obvious to Nicholas that Skarlet blamed him for Shao Kahn's death. The blood mage would be troublesome if he didn't deal with her immediately, so he did.
Not showing any restraint, he pummeled her into the ground. In a matter of minutes, Skarlet was on the ground, barely clinging to life. Nicholas, not wanting to waste such a specimen, summoned the black fog and spirited Skarlet away.
As soon as it was done, Nicholas heard a voice say, "What are you?" Nicholas turned his head to see Li Mei standing there, fear in her eyes. Evidently, part of her training regiment involved patrolling the outskirts of her village. Nicholas realizing that he wouldn't be able to sweettalk her simply said, "Run rabbit, run."
...
Li Mei was running like death was at her heels because, as far as she was concerned, it was. Her first instinct would have been to flee to her village, but knowing that there wasn't anyone there who could assist her and not wanting to put anyone there in danger, she decided against it.
So she was heading to another village, one with walls and a proper guard. Fear was a constant source because no matter how fast or how far she kept hearing that man tunelessly singing, "Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run." And it always seemed to be coming from right behind her.
Hope began to fill her as she spotted the walls of the city, only to feel a curious sensation. No matter how much she ran, the city wouldn't get any closer. Li Mei looked down and saw a black fog slowly envelope her. She wanted to scream, but nothing left her mouth. Soon, there was nothing but darkness.
That darkness soon gave way. Li Mei found herself in ruins of some random village. She didn't recognize it, and the blood-soaked air made everything look like the color red. From the ground, the wood, and even the sky itself. Li Mei knew she had to escape but didn't have a clue how to go about it.
She felt her blood freeze when she heard that man again singing that tune less song. That was when her world began to change forever.
...
Nicholas stood there as Li Mei was spirited away, a level of excitement he hadn't felt before. Or, more specifically, not in a very long time. It was known as a hunter's high. The thrill of the chase had got his blood pumping.
Nicholas knew he couldn't do this every time, or it would lose its novelty fairly quickly. The crows quickly showed Nicholas, Nitara's location, and it was quite the distance. Nicholas pondered on what her story was. He couldn't remember. She was either exiled as a result of Shao Kahn's conquest of her realm, or it was because she betrayed the local council. Or it could be none of those things, and her current exile was never supposed to happen.
In any case, Nitara was moving around too fast to simply teleport to her location or use a snare. So, they began their journey to Nitara on foot. Nicholas was able to properly enjoy his traveling companions during the trip, so it made it more bearable. Once they arrived, Nitara attacked, clearly hoping for easy prey. However, having both The Oni and The Deathslinger gang upon her made it easy to subdue her. Nitara's current state made her too wild and defiant to properly feed on, so Nicholas used his snare trick and dropped Nitara into his realm. Once that was done, he turned his eyes towards Mileena and observed the empress being driven from her throne. As Mileena and her loyal followers fled into the jungle, Nicholas managed to his first real look of them.
First, there was Mileena, wearing her distinctive pink color outfit, with black hair that went to her shoulders. The skin was quite fair, and her eyes were a unique color of yellow. Then there was Tanya, wearing yellow, her hair was also black going to her shoulders as well. Her skin was an exotic shade of brown, and her eyes were a solid white. She was wearing black bandit paint on her face. They were both being followed by a bunch of nameless Tarkatans.
Nicholas noted that this marked the beginning of the reign of Kotal Kahn. It also marked the end of his ability to move throughout Outworld without anyone thinking to question why. Nicholas gave a sigh and opened a portal to the Realm of Chaos.
...
Nicholas stood on the outskirts of a military base. Due to a time pocket in the Realm of Chaos, what seemed like twenty minutes turned out to be almost twenty years. With some much time wasted, he decided to head back to Earthrealm and see the results, if any, of his meddling. He had sent Sheeva and Kira ahead of him back to his pocket dimension. They were reluctant, but they still obeyed. After all, for them, not even a moment will have passed before his return.
After finally being admitted in, Nicholas, Kitana, and Jade were brought before a much older looking Johnny Cage. The first thing he said when he saw them was, "You've got to tell me what moisturizer you use." A joke, his way of commenting how Nicholas hadn't aged a day since they last saw each other.
Nicholas smiled and said, "Oh, you mean this, (point to himself) I got lucky in the Chaos realm. Found an area where time moves slower than those on the outside. What I thought was only twenty minutes turned out to be almost twenty years." Johnny said, "Well anyway, you and I have a lot to catch up on. In fact, your sudden return might be just what I need."
Nicholas raised an eyebrow and asked, "How so?" Johnny answered, "Well, I have a daughter, I know, I know, let's save that conversation for later. She and her friends are Earthrealm's newest defenders, and while young, they are itching for a real mission." Nicholas stood there making a face that said, "Please get to the part where you answer my question." Johnny continued, "Anyway, I have a training op disguised as a mission. Sub-Zero has graciously agreed to host, but certain individuals in The Lin-Kuei are not happy with the way Frosty is leading them, and I'm afraid they might try something. So, I was hoping that you could head out there and help Sub-Zero find out how far the dissenters are from hitting their breaking point."
Nicholas said, "Alright, but once that's done, you can do me a favor." Johnny said, "Name it." Nicholas responded, "Later, but don't worry about it won't be anything too dramatic."
...
Nicholas, Kitana, and Jade warped to the Lin-Kuei fortress. After a brief meeting with Sub-Zero, who immediately got ready for his soon to arrive guests. Nicholas left to talk to the members who were most vocal about their dissatisfaction on Sub-Zero's leadership.
Surprisingly, there was only one, the one called Frost. Nicholas had found Frost rather quickly. Her appearance wasn't what he was expecting. Her outfit was more like what Sub-Zero was wearing in Annihilation, blue leather pants, and a sea blue vest that was barely more than straps. Her skin was pale, and her hair, while short, instead of being made of ice, was, instead, normal hair with powder blue color.
Nicholas knew he wanted her for his collection, but if he just up and grabbed her, there would be rather embarrassing questions he would have to answer. So, he decided to goad her into confessing her disloyalty and attack him. Which proved to be a rather easy endeavor. After a single belittling remark, Frost immediately started ranting and immediately attacked.
Frost's rage made it a one-sided fight. After slamming her head into the wall, Nicholas immediately sent Frost into his realm. Nicholas thought about his realm as Forst disappeared into it and thought about a name or code word as a means of reference. While on his way to Sub-Zero to tell him about Frost, Nicholas ran into Johnny Cage. They both watched as his elite team got their collective asses kicked by Sub-Zero. Afterward, Johnny appeared to reveal that it was a training op, and then he introduced them to Nicholas.
Nicholas, Kitana, and Jade stood there as they introduced themselves. Cassie Cage was first. Her appearance was what he expected. Short blonde hair, slim figure, and an attitude similar to her father. Then there was Jacqui Briggs, her equipment stylized after her father. She had short dreadlocks, and like Cassie, she had a great figure.
Then Kung Jin and Takahashi Takeda introduced themselves, but Nicholas wasn't as interested in them. Johnny began critiquing the on where they went wrong when suddenly, Johnny got a call saying there was trouble. They all immediately left. On their way there, Nicholas knew what the crisis was and figured it was time to start wrapping things up.