The moans of the dying echoed through the darkened halls as the smell of scorched rock and flesh wafted through the air. However none of it seemed to register with Shao Khan at the moment. Anger boiled over from within him, as it seemed to ooze from every pore in his body. The Shadow Priests sensed this as they stayed as far behind him as their obedience would allow as he marched down one of the many now-ruined halls of the Black Tower. None wished to risk a premature demise by getting in their Lord's way. He stopped abruptly and surveyed the ghastly view before him. Here a huge crevice had opened up in the floor as he could see two floors down where it all ended in rubble and carnage as an entire legion of dead and broken Shokan lay there under it.

Eyes burning with hate that even Hell's fury couldn't match he went over the events that had led him here. It was only about an hour ago that a Shadow Priest had returned to him after he had sent it and a few others to go fetch his brother for some «questioning.» When it returned alone and without Rayden he had learned his brother had somehow managed to escape. Yet as if that wasn't enough, it was at that exact moment that the entirety of the Black Tower had come under some mysterious attack. Explosions from every floor had rocked the entire structure even catching him unaware. Even before the dust had time to settle, so to speak, the entire Tower was in danger of collapsing. He instantly dispatched his Shadow Priests with a mere thought to round up the survivors and get them to help stabilizing the Tower. He himself went to the worst place where an entire floor was collapsing. Whatever had gone off there had taken out all of the vital support structures for that floor.

After fixing the floor himself he went around to each place where one of the explosions had taken place to see if he could find any clue to either how the attack was pulled off or who may have done it. Although for the latter he had a fairly good idea who the culprit may be, as to how; one thing was for sure, it wasn't magic. Thus, here he was looking down two floors where he should only see floor beneath his feet. Finally his fury submerged itself as he tapped it for additional power before he composed himself and suddenly turned quickly on his heel to face the Shadow Priests. They startled easily, shifting and flinching as his searing gaze washed over them.

«I believe we've had this intruder running around in my tower long enough. I want this person and my brother found and brought back to me breathing. I am not going to be denied the fun of depriving this person of their life in front of Rayden as this person almost deprived me of my tower,» he paused to incline his head as he stared at the Shadow Priests, «What the hell are you waiting for?»

All the Shadow Priests hurriedly agreed and dispersed instantly. The Shokan and the Centaurs had failed, but he knew the Shadow Priests would not. They knew better. The sudden thought of revenge warmed his body as he allowed himself a small smile. He was truly going to enjoy meeting this unique person - and then slowly disemboweling them.

The strange man was busy playing with Jai'eesh's flashlight as Mr. S looked on wanting ever so badly to let out an exasperated sigh. The undead cat restrained himself as he was trying to be nothing more than an ordinary domestic cat, but some how that thought made him want to sigh even harder. S had almost dropped the ball earlier in this role of being `normal' when the man first figured out how to turn the flashlight on and off and had blinded himself in the process. Luckily S had quickly covered his smirk by burying his head further down into his paws and wrapped his tail around his face. Their new `partner' certainly was interesting that was for sure. Shoulder-length white hair - or at least he thought it was white under all that dirt, tattered blue and white clothing, and his eyes... They were defiantly the most striking feature about him; age, wisdom and sadness just radiated from those eyes of his, so much so it almost made S's hair stand on end when he looked directly at them.

S quickly turned his attention back to his bonded for a moment as he regarded her now. Jai'eesh was sitting back against a shadow-wrought wall facing the man while S had positioned himself off to her right curled up in a ball guarding the entrance to the shadow they were all hiding in. Supposedly Jai was trying to get some sleep, but S knew she was merely sitting there with her eyes closed. Although he could sense her fatigue along their bond as if it was a palpable thing, he couldn't get her to go to sleep. She stubbornly remained awake making sure that the shadows they were in remained under the radar of those ever-present undead things searching for them. Never mind the fact that he knew she knew that he was perfectly capable of handling everything she was doing to keep them safe so that she might be able to get some sleep. Never mind the fact that in being undead he could sense and evade those things better than she could in her present fatigued state. He repressed the urge to sigh once more and he swore Jai was just too stubborn for her own good, Gaia help them all.

A small movement of light alerted S to the fact that the man was now interested in the way the shadow they were in ate the flashlight's light instead of reflecting the familiar circle of light that would normally show up on a real wall. Then to seemingly test this change in behavior he then swung the flashlight around to aim it out of the shadow's opening so he could see it shine on the far wall of the outside hallway.

-Jai,- S mind-spoke in warning.

Without even opening her eyes she muttered, «Stop that. Someone will see the light. Please turn it off, you're draining the batteries.»

He turned it off and looked at the flashlight quizzically, «Batteries?»

After examining the thing for several more moments he discovered how to unscrew the bottom of the flashlight as dumped the two D-sized batteries out.

He held one up, «Batteries?» and looked at Jai in askance.

Again without even opening her eyes, Jai just simply nodded affirmative. The man just went back to playing with the batteries as if that just by staring at them hard enough would divine their secrets to him. Slowly something dawned on S as he continued to watch the man as he tried to put the batteries back in so he could make the flashlight work once more.

The cat turned his head a bit so his human bonded was back in view, -Jai, has it occurred to you that we're contaminating the past by letting him play with technology from the future? I mean it's quite apparent he's never seen flashlights or batteries before.-

Jai didn't budge, but she did open her eyes slightly as she too started to regard the man before her.

-I suppose you're essentially correct, but if we survive all this insanity we can always erase his memory of having even seen us.-

And then, almost as if on cue, the man spoke up, «The cat can talk, can't it?»

The stranger continued on playing with the flashlight, trying to get it to work once more as if he had said nothing. S just stared in utter disbelief at the man as the man quickly glanced at S and winked at him.

-Who says we need to wait until later?- S shot the man the classic indifferent cat look as he noticed Jai wasn't in least bit surprised by the man's startling observation.

Or maybe it wasn't a lack of surprise, just no energy to fuel surprise by lack of sleep. A small smile appeared on Jai's drawn face, whether is was from S's comment or she was trying to scare the crap out of the new guy since she wasn't looking so hot right now, S couldn't tell.

«Yes, he can. His name is Mr. S. Also, forgive me for not introducing myself earlier as well, you can call me Jai'eesh.»

S took the cue perfectly and nodded towards the stranger in greeting, «A pleasurrre.»

If the man was startled at the fact that S could speak out loud, he didn't show it, S did notice however his eyes narrow as he mouthed Jai's name silently. S knew Jai's name meant «dark angel» in Ancient, but why would the man find that so interesting since they were both speaking in the odd language anyway? The living, S mused, they're so damn strange.

The man returned the smile, and it was a much warmer one than Jai could muster right now, as he returned S's nod, «Indeed. Well, it's understandable with everything that's been going on, eh? My name's Rayden, Go-,» he stopped abruptly, coughed to cover his mistake and continued, «You can call me Rayden.»

«So what were you doing in that cage Rayden?» Jai asked casually.

He regarded the two of them for a moment and then took a breath, «Well, I wasn't in there by choice. You could say that I am - was a prisoner of war. I was locked up by the mad man who rules this cursed Realm, Shao Khan.»

-He forgot to mention that this Shao Kahn guy is a God, if this Shao Khan is the same one who came after you when you killed those alien horse-people as a griffin,- S mind-spoke privately to Jai'eesh.

-I think he was implying it, S.- Jai corrected him.

«So, how about you two?» Rayden prompted, looking interested.

Jai smiled again, still unaware that she looked like hell froze over, «We were sent here to get something. Now we've got it and we're going home. Simple as that,» she shrugged like everything they had just gone through was just a walk in the park.

«Something tells me it isn't as simple as that, but that's beside the point. Is home where I suspect it is? Earth Realm?»

Jai nodded, «I take it you want to get back there pretty badly?»

Rayden's eyes narrowed a trifle as he took a minute thinking before he responded, «Yes.»

«Well, we are headed in that direction and you are welcome in coming with us,» Jai broke off her sentence deliberately with warning in her voice.

S saw the man's forehead wrinkle a bit in harder thought, as he was undoubtedly thinking up the rest of Jai's sentence. As long as you don't get in our way or try to backstab us, S finished it off in his own mind, and something tells me he does not like to be threatened like that. S smiled a predatory smile as he noticed the man frown and shift uncomfortably where he sat.

«You're too kind,» the man answered in a very grave voice.

Silence once more took control of the shadow-wrought room as Jai and Rayden stared each other down for a while. However it wasn't very long before the man decided to say something at least, possibly to see if he could get some kind of response out of Jai.

«So who sent you? This Q?»

S almost exploded laughing as he instead started making choking noises as he tired to get a grip on himself, -Oh, by Gaia! This guy's just too much, and too damn perceptive for his own good, isn't he?-

Jai just smirked as her chest shook in mirth, whether it was at her choking bonded or Rayden's question, one couldn't be sure, «No sorry, I wasn't sent by Q. He's not real. He's um, a fictional character we like. From a story.»

Rayden just looked lost.

«Oh,» he managed weakly, but tried again, «So what was it that you came here to get?»

The humor just dissipated from Jai immediately as she glared at him, «None of your business. Just like it's really none of my business what your beef is with this Shao Khan or why you want to get back to Earth Realm so badly. I don't care, but I could use the help in getting back, hence why you're here right now. Alive.»

S winced at Jai's tone of voice, she was really tired and when she was tired, she didn't like people bugging her. Which this Rayden was doing a fine job of at the moment. Rayden wisely backed off, sighed, and flipped the flashlight around in his hand absent-mindedly. He looked like he wanted to say more, but with the way Jai looked right now S was fairly sure the man didn't want to push his luck with her again. Silence once again dominated as S concluded that they both needed some sleep, maybe then they could dispense with being so damn secretive. S's ear swiveled around towards a sound from Rayden, as he became aware of another mortal need he didn't share anymore, and possibly a way to get both to get some rest.

-Love, maybe some food will help us come up with a decent plan of action. That and Mr. Rayden over there looks like he hasn't had anything to eat for a long while.-

S had projected his mind-voice as he startled Rayden a bit by doing so, but he didn't care about that as Jai brightened a bit at the idea, «You're right S, here...»

Jai pulled he pack over to her and rummaged around for a minute before coming p with two packets of venison jerky and string cheese sticks. How Jai had kept the cheese from spoiling on this trip was beyond S, but Jai loved cheese and she always brought some on her missions. S shrugged the stray thought away as he watched Jai give them man a package of jerky and a cheese stick. Jai had kindly opened the plastic containing the food for him as he needed no further coaxing of getting it out and wolfing it down. S smiled as his plan was working, now both had some food in their tummies on top of being extremely pooped and all he had to do was nudge them in the right direction. Using a trick he had learned from Jai's other Nightmare-bonded Maude he adjusted his mind-voice to reach into both of their brains, to an area very susceptible to simple suggestions.

-Now, I think it's time for you two to get some rest,- he told them both, then switched to private communication to Jai'eesh, -And don't worry, I'll keep watch for those creatures since I don't need to sleep. Trust me, the first sign of trouble, you'll know.- S added, squashing what was left of any stubborn doubts on his bonded's end.

The man at first gave S a cold glare, as if he recognized what S was doing to him, but then sighed and gave in, «Actually that sounds pretty good right now.»

-Of course it does,- S agreed, still using his `convincing' technique on the guy.

-Don't push it cat,- came the man's reply that shocked S, from a mind-voice far too powerful to emanate from some mere human.

The Nightmare gave Rayden quite an appraising look as he wondered who the hell this guy really was. However, this new preponderance would have to wait a moment. Jai'eesh, already curled up into a ball with her head pillowed on her pack and her sword in hand, gave up control on the shadow they were in and handed it all off neatly for S to take care of. She gave S one last mental caress before he felt sleep finally take her. Rayden however still remained awake as he looked around the shadow they were in, and out into the hallway a couple more times before he too lay down. He pillowed his head on one arm as he fingered the flashlight in his other hand with a contemplating look on his face before he closed his eyes at last. S stretched out once more and lay down in a manner that looked like his bones were made a Jell-O, which was a trademark of all cats, alive or otherwise. He then stretched his senses along the shadow and started to set up some new defenses and shields of his own devising. Satisfied that no one was about to find them anytime soon he then turned his attention back to this human Rayden who was defiantly more than he seemed. S silently prayed to Gaia that his feeling of dread that washed over S every time he stared at the man was just indigestion or something. Of course, it wasn't very likely since S didn't have a digestive tract anymore.

Finally, S just sighed out loud.

Author : student

Creation date: 2002-10-1-10-8

Modification date: 2003-9-14-17-37