Through the Eye of the TorturedChapter 4: Judgement Day

Kano backed away from the bleeding, dangling corpse, studying its moist, red face and struggling to recognise this young woman. Her pink sports bra and jogging pants were drenched in her blood, dripping the red fluid with every passing moment, and Kano noticed that she had two long, black sheaths on her back. When his eyes landed on hers, white and dull, she blinked and stared back. She coughed a little, but spoke clearly despite her position. "Hey there, big boy," she said, her voice cutting through Kano like sword against his skin. "Been a while since I've seen that handsome mug of yours. How're you doin' oh fearless leader?"

Kano stared at her in awe and fear. It was Tasia, a member of the Black Dragon he had not seen since before he left to participate in the Mortal Kombat Tournament. Was she to be judged alongside him, or was she hung there because she already received judgement? "Holy crap, Tasia! I'm so sorry to see you down here. I'm gonna get you out-"

"You will do no such thing, you cycloptic wretch!" A large voice boomed, making the room shake. Kano remembered this eloquent, commanding voice now. He turned around to see the muscular Tremor, still in his distinctive tan, ninja garb, holding a pillar of metal in place, under horrible strain to remain standing. "Even if you tried, you could not free us of our labours and punishments, traitor, for you helped placed us within them!"

Kano grew angry at hearing this. "I was trapped in Outworld after that stupid tournament! I couldn't come back! If I could've, I would've!"

"Trapped," questioned a higher-pitched voice coming from below Kano, "yeah, I bet all the generals in magical armies say that, right ol' pal?" Kano looked at his feet, and saw a set of lips protruding from the ground. Without needing to see his head, Kano saw a touch of humour in No Face's predicament.

"I wanted to bring you guys in on the score, but only when the time was right! I was cozyin' up to the emperor, hopin' he'd make a portal for you guys to join me in Outworld and have the Black Dragon become his new enforcers on Earth! I swear on the head of everyone I ever cared about!"

All three laughed at hearing this. Tasia writhed in her noose, and it slowly came undone. "On the head of everyone? Thank God that's just your head then! At least after we finish judging you, we can use it for bowling!"

"You're the Judges?"

"No, Kano, we're YOUR judges," replied Tasia with a smirk, holding onto the chain and swinging playfully in the air, "who else could determine your worth to the Netherealm better than your old friends and followers, hm?"

She had a good point, though Kano did not like the position he was in with their remarks and insults. Widely known as a crafty manipulator among his peers, Kano knew that he could not spin any tale that they could not pick apart. The only thing he could do now to possibly win them over was to be honest and tell them the truth; he had nothing more to gain from lying. "I cared about you all, especially you three, Jarek and Kabal! I practically lost it when I fought Mavado because I thought he killed Kabal! I was happy to see he's now hanging out with the Village People or whatever, but in any case, I'd have fought just as hard and kept on fighting and throttling anyone in my way if it had been any of you!"

Kano backed away from Tasia, but realised he was nearing Tremor, who summoned boulders to come from the ground to hold the pillar. Tremor's garbs hardened and cracked with every step he took towards Kano. "Too little, too late, you pompous pirate. We hardly merited a thought once you made it onto that decrepit barge. You abandoned us in exchange for the riches you thought would come from entering the tournament!"

"I entered the tournament for the sake of the Black Dragon! It was a high risk with a higher reward! With all the gold we would've ransacked from Shang's palace, we'd have been the richest and most powerful organisation on Earth! You know that's why I joined to begin with!"

The ground shifted as No Face's hands clawed out of the soil, his lips still moving in the dirt. "Pfft, all you did was leave us without a leader to follow! We tried to get stuff done, but when you and Sonya Bitch disappeared, Major Jackass Briggs put out a huge search for every Black Dragon out there for more information about where you or Sonya could be." No Face's head emerged from the ground, completely different from the scarred looks he used to have. He no longer had eyes or ears, and his face and head were smoothed out with only a sharp-toothed grin. "When Earth was taken over by that emperor guy you were blowing, most of us died and came back when it was over. Us three, though, wound up fighting horsemen and retarded Swiss army knives until it all cleared up."

"Oh yeah, the blade guys, I remember them... They were hot," Tasia mused, as she landed onto the ground. Several needles grew from the cuts on her face and body, spilling more of her blood onto the floor.

"In any case," interrupted Tremor, who grew larger and appeared more rock-like in appearance, "they, alongside the centaurs, used automatic weapons and other human-made weapons when fighting us. None of us thought this was significant-"

"Until we learned, after we all died of course, that you, el capitano, taught them how to use guns, grenades, lasers, and rocket launchers," interrupted No Face, fully out of the ground, revealing a polished, pale, almost plastic body, with long, slender limbs, and chain-mail covering his chest and legs. "You helped a bunch of alien freaks try to take over Earth. WE were supposed to take over, or did you decide that you could have it all for yourself after Shao Kahn made you his queen? Did you get a pretty, purple dress too?"

"They were gonna kill me! If I didn't help them, where do you think I'd have wound up? Down freakin' here!"

"You're here anyway, what's changed?" Asked Tasia, unsheathing her large katana blades from her back. "The fact you were alive the longest did nothing. Don't play dumb, you knew we were all going to Hell anyway. That's the choice we all made being criminals and thieves - nobody stood in our way to get what we wanted, and whoever did, died. What did you expect when you died, a coronation? A pat on the back?"

"He most likely anticipated free passage into the Elysian Fields, enjoying various comfort amongst the heroes Achilles and Agamemnon, drinking the nectar of the Gods, conversing with Homer and Ovid. Oh well, welcome to Tartarus, fool!" bellowed Tremor, chuckling at his obscure references alone.

"I... I," stammered Kano, "I expected to be happy, safe and avoid this garbage. I never wanted to die."

"Well, surprise! You did!" screamed No Face, rather gleefully, "I liked the way you died too, short, sweet, to the point, but emotionally painful with Springy up there using around Kabal's swords! Those sorcerers know a good kill, eh? If only the three of us were as lucky..." As he said this, fire surrounded No Face's body, brightening the room. "I was captured by Hsu Hao and a few other Red Dragons and buried alive. The damn Mongol broke my legs, tied my hands, doused my clothes with maple syrup, covered me with some random dirt, and sealed the box... I heard them shovelling and laughing for so long, and I couldn't get out... I thought the whole syrup thing was a joke about being Canadian, but I felt horrible itching and stinging the whole time, and I realised the dirt they threw on me was filled with fire ants... Those fuckers took their sweet time with the whole stinging and eating bit, and losing the air wasn't a thrill either... Oh I can't wait to see Hsu Hao down here with that dorky hat of his!"

Tremor roared at all of them, the room quaking with his every movement. He had grown considerably now, and towered over them. "My death was the most tragic," he began, "as I was prevented from using my gifts against my adversaries. I was on a flight towards Cuba to establish a new chapter of the Black Dragon, deeply engrossed in my re-reading of the Odyssey, when I felt a prick in my neck. A terrible stiffness set in, but I had enough time to see the person behind me. I turned around and a young woman waved at me. She had a tattoo of a red dragon on her forearm... The devastating part? I was inexplicably paralysed for days, my epidermis hardening from some unknown ailment that medical doctors could not explain. When my internal organs finally hardened, I could no longer be kept alive. In all, it took a good week or more before I finally died. A tragic end, not due to pain, but with my inability to die in battle. Denied my only desired death..."

"Oh boohoo, Mr. Mountain, we all suffered differently," scoffed Tasia, removing the hilts of her swords and putting the blades directly into her wrists, mimicking Tarkata, "I got fucking lynched by a pack of Red Dragons who thought it'd be funny to watch me squirm. I was light and had a good, strong neck, so I held out for a lot longer than they thought I would, but they got bored and decided to give me paper-cuts until I passed out from either blood or air loss. I think I got up to 500 before I passed out... Not fun, Kano, not fun." All three, in their pure Demon forms now, moved towards Kano, backing him against a wall.

Kano took a deep breath and composed himself. "Even if I was there to help you when Outworld invaded Earth," he began, "what would it have changed anyway? I didn't put you guys to death, you made your own choices, and I made mine. The punishments you got in life and death have nothing to do with me, nor how you died. How much could I have changed if I didn't serve Kahn and stayed on Earth?"

All three Demons looked stunned at hearing this. A tear rolled down Tasia's cheek and spread when it came across the cuts and pins on her face. She put a katana to Kano's throat and screamed long and hard before finally saying something. "You could have given us hope, Kano. We put our faith into your hands and lost a lot of good people to get you the information you needed on Shang Tsung's tournament, and you just disappeared. We thought you died, that you fought against the monsters like we did and died... We gave you the highest honours at your funeral! We called you the goddamn bravest of us! Finding out you helped the fuckin' monsters made all our trouble look like worthless shit! You abandoned us and spat in our faces!"

"In short," No Face said, "we helped you get into Outworld, and thought you died a hero, but instead, you just turned tricks there and traded us in for a bunch of crazy alien monsters. As far as we're concerned, you betrayed us."

"We could have perished the day the Earth almost combined with Outworld, Kano," began the monolithic Tremor, "you KNEW Earth would become a massive target and could have warned us! You could have easily stayed on Earth when the realms separated, you could have betrayed the emperor while in his servitude and returned to us! You could have let yourself be captured by the Special Forces, and any of us would have set you free from imprisonment, especially once Shao Kahn stole all of Earth's souls."

"It was better to be the right hand of the Devil than in his path," replied Kano. "Are you all seriously gonna say that not a single one of you would've done what I did to stay alive?"

All three Black Dragon Demons looked at one another for an appropriate answer, and laughed. Tasia broke the laughter and spoke sternly, despite the smile on her face. "It's more than that, Kano. You made a deal with the wrong Devils, because right now, you're dealing with us, for abandoning us, and betraying your home. Us three, Kabal, Jarek, and all your other favourites in the group, knew we wanted Earth, and we were gonna fight for it until the bitter end. You chose to help the enemy to save your own skin. You didn't even try to wreck them from the inside, you seriously didn't care about anyone other than yourself."

Every word cut into Kano, and as Tremor waved his gigantic hand, Kano found his arms bound to the shifting stone wall behind him.

"The Netherealm would be delighted to have you as a resident, Kano," began Tremor, "but unlike the three of us, who know the value of loyalty, you will not be enjoying your stay."

"For your constant flip-flopping," said the fiery No Face, "we don't think you can be trusted to serve the Netherealm, or Lord Baphomet. Heck, you'd probably release Shinnok if you had the chance, and nobody wants that! So, with all that in mind, you will only suffer instead of serve without possibility of ascension into the Demon ranks until, let's say, the end of the Netherealm itself. Agreed, lady and gentlemonster?"

Tasia and Tremor nodded in acknowledgement. "Then your judgement has been approved! Welcome to Hell! Damn, that feels great to say! Let's celebrate by kicking the shit out of Kano!" No Face's flames grew to a tremendous size but before he could rain fire on Kano, Kano broke free of his bindings and cannonballed into Tremor's stone face, sending the titan stumbling backwards. Now judged, Kano could finally fight back, and he needed to do everything in his power to escape these three.

Tasia jumped at the airborne Kano with incredible speed and slashed at his arm. Kano was cut badly, but he grabbed her by the throat, ignoring the needles stabbing his palm, and squeezed hard enough to stun and kick her to the ground. He landed a few feet away, but was quickly met with the flames of No Face engulfing him. As his clothing burned, Kano tore it off and threw his garments at No Face, temporarily covering him and giving Kano the opportunity to deal a good punch in the head, a kick in the stomach, and then throw him to the ground. He ran as fast as he could, but his path was blocked by the sudden stomp of Tremor's leg, still as stealthy as ever despite his enormous size. As Kano tried to dodge away, he was greeted with a punt from the giant warrior, sending him into a spiked pillar. Before he hit it, Tasia intercepted Kano and held him tightly from behind, her blades cutting at his chest and the pins from her body stabbing Kano over and over as the two spun in the air, barrelling back to Tremor. When Tasia let him go, Tremor swatted Kano to the ground and stepped onto his legs, reducing them to a red smear.

Kano screamed in pain and tried backing away, grabbing wildly behind himself to crawl, but a quick slash from Tasia sliced through his elbows like butter. No Face burned away at Kano's flesh and cauterised his wounds. "That'll keep you from regenerating for a while," he said while lowering his body's flames and smirking. "Tasia, get his head, will ya? It'll be easier to gouge out his eyes when he has no neck to squirm with."

"I hunger for his torso!" Boomed Tremor, placing his hand over Kano's body to scrape it off the ground, "I will bite it off cleanly and you may play with his decapitated -"

Before he could finish, a red beam cut through his gigantic forearm, breaking it and making Tremor roar in anger. The area shook and crumbled with his ferocity, but he was struck in the head by what appeared to be a medium-sized Oni, cannonballing into Tremor like Kano.

Still pinned under Tremor's severed arm, Kano could only watch as the Oni was engulfed in flames by No Face and fell to the floor, only for the shock wave of its fall to knock No Face into the air. The Oni threw a triple-blade at him, sending No Face further away, bleeding when he hit the ground.

Tasia stealthily appeared behind the Oni and plunged her blades into the beast's back. Her battle-cry launched thousands of pins from her mouth into the beast, making it howl in pain. It kept its footing and quickly cannonballed again, hitting the dazed No Face and slamming Tasia into Tremor's chest. The force of the blow sent Tremor to the ground, making it quake and causing the ceiling to collapse onto his body.

The Oni pushed the katana blades out of his body, leaving the limp Tasia onto the floor next to the rubble. It hobbled over to Kano and launched an eye beam attack that obliterated Tremor's severed arm. Kano panicked. Who was this creature? How did it find him down here? Why did it come all this way just for Kano?

As the Oni was about to pick him up, Tasia kicked its head and No Face kicked the back of its knees to put it to the ground without having it fall to its back again. A sudden eruption of a stalagmite smashed into the Oni's face and knocked it onto it's knees. No Face, fully ignited, pushed his hands against the Oni's back, keeping it pinned between him and the stalagmite, and prepared to burn it alive. "Hey there handsome," smiled Tasia, placing both her blades against the creature's neck, "nice of you to join us, but if you wanted in on torturing Kano, you should've made a request."

"You're free to bowl with us later though," laughed No Face, reducing the flames on his body but keeping his hands lit as a warning, "but I'm on Tasia's team! Tremor throws the heads too hard, no technique and only a mess!"

"Speaking of mess," grumbled Tremor as he emerged from the rubble, his wounds healed thanks to absorbing the massive stones, "why do you come to us with such hostility? If I recall correctly, none of us have ever wronged one another, in life or death."

"I want Kano," grunted the Oni, "it's that simple." Kano was in too much pain to speak. These Demons, his former allies in life, spoke about him as if he was just an inferior prop. He felt like a useless piece of garbage, only valuable because they needed something to take their hatred and rage.

"Humph, if you wanted him, all you had to do was ask..." Tasia cooed into the Oni's ear as she carefully felt its face and chest, "but we need something in return, don't we, boys?"

As Tremor and No Face nodded, the Oni held out its hand and created a hat out of thin air, one that looked familiar to all. No Face smiled, "that's Hsu Hao's dorky little chauffeur's hat, eh?"

"That's probably the biggest word I've ever heard you use, No Face," laughed the Oni, "but yeah, that's Hsu Hao's hat, not his real one though. You know why I'm showing it to you guys?"

Kano's eyes widened. "He's dead, isn't he?"

The Oni stared at Kano, it's eyes flickering black and white, and it spoke to him in a condescending tone. "You still have a working brain, very good. Anyway, you're right, and I'm supposed to judge him... Unless some Black Dragon members want to deal with the Red Dragon for me?"

Kano was confused now. The more he looked at the Oni, the more familiar it, or rather, he appeared.

"Hsu Hao can be ours just as easily as Kano, all we need to do is smash you to bits and -"

"Tremor, think about it for just a minute now," the Oni interrupted. "You forget that the Red Dragon is directly responsible for your deaths, right? Kano, yeah, he abandoned you, but Hsu Hao's a direct link for what stood in your way when you were all alive. You can take as much time as you want questioning, torturing, and judging him."

"Don't you start with the whole, 'Hsu Hao should be the one receiving our torment' shit," replied No Face with a series of comically posh poses to mock the monster, "our ruling stands as is, and we want a piece of Kano, particularly his head!"

"I'm not defending Kano, I'm saying why go for the small fry when you can have the big fish? Besides, when's the next Red Dragon going to fall out of the sky?"

The Oni made a very valid point. The three Demons looked at each other, and eventually No Face shouted as he scaled Tremor's body like a spider, "well buddy, looks like you gotta deal! Where can we find him?"

"He's on the third level, in the Pride Section next to Shinnok's old prisons! Go nuts!"

"Jarek, buddy, pal, nuts is my middle name!" No Face engulfed himself in flames atop Tremor's shoulder and roared, "Let's get this party started!"

"I hope I can carve out his metal heart thing," shouted Tasia, jumping onto Tremor's other shoulder.

"Might I suggest we simply bind the Mongoloid against my chest and I run through the Hephaestus Mountains?'' Tremor proposed, ``the Harpies will feast on his insides while giving me a much-needed chiselling," He made a pillar beneath his body and elevated the three to the surface levels. The three Demons' laughter echoed through the tunnels, and Jarek stared at his prize, growling with satisfaction, and slowly approaching his former leader. His eyes flickered black and white, and he took some time to observe and remember the moment in the sweet silence. Kano, badly burned and paralysed with fear, stared at his former pupil, his eyes wide open, and his mind racing. What tortures did Jarek have prepared for Kano?