The Kahn was spent.

He had returned to the palace weary and bewildered. His body paint was scuffed in places, revealing his sunned skin underneath. His helm was dented in the jaw and temple; he really should replace the soft gold for strong iron, but it seemed that he preferred the shinier former.

He teleported directly into his chambers. The green, jade and Osh-Tekk carvings on the wall comforted him, reminding him of a better time, a time when he was treated as a divinity, when none would dare challenge or oppose him. His bed was twice the size of any king-sized bed, for he preferred to sprawl out on it. However, he would never allow his blood red sheets to be crusted with his blue war paint.

He lazily shuffled out of his room, straightening up as he was greeted by a passing guard. He walked slowly and sorely to the washroom a few rooms away. He decided-- well, his aching legs decided-- that he was fighting too much these days. He never thought he'd live to the day when he'd admit it, but Kotal had reasoned that a battle to the death per day, along with the continuous stress of war, was not healthy for him. But emperors never take a day off. Sadly.

He finally found his way into the washroom. It was ornately decorated with gold lined walls. A large mirror stood to his right, a huge, iron tub to his left. The tub was full of water and heated stones were placed under it to keep the water warm. A table and chair sat directly in front of him. The Kahn pulled the latter in front of the mirror and groaned as he sat down for the first time all day. He usually had servants wash his body for him, but today he dreadfully needed to be alone.

He gazed at the large man in the mirror. He was a mess. Half of the paint on his chest was either smudged or wiped off completely. He still had a noticeable scar on his stomach left by Sonya Blade's gift to mere hours ago. Despite his enhanced healing abilities and Ermac's magic, scars still formed on his body. Many of said scars could be hundreds of years old.

He looked at his face. His eyes could glow a variety of colors,-- red, yellow, white, and he was sure he could make them look almost normal if he tried-- but when he was at ease, he preferred to keep them blue, a brighter blue punctuating his pupil. He undid the clasps attaching his helm to his neck and shoulder armor and removed it. His jet black hair, usually kept buzzed or caesarean, fell to his shoulders. He had planned on cutting it short when he had a free moment, but those were few and far between. Until then, he could always tie it into dreadlocks if he must. He set the helm down on the table.

He removed his gauntlets, his right one severely damaged by Nightwolf's tomahawk. After the gold was removed, he found that the axe blade went all the way through, breaking his skin slightly, but the gash had had stopped bleeding long ago and would scab over in time. He placed both gauntlets next to the helm.

He pulled his shoulder and back armor over his head. He never saw his neck or chin much, surprisingly, as he rarely removed his helm except for when he slept, which he also did infrequently. His tanned flesh felt cool air for the first time in days. The loosely attached gold and bronze was folded and set onto the table.

He stood up and removed his belt with his sheath and then stepped out of his loincloth. There was a myth that every part of the Kahn's body was painted blue, but he would rather not risk attempting putting the paint on some of the more sensitive parts. Some urged him to wear pants for risk of exposure, but he would argue that the desert sand is thrice as annoying as any wandering eye could be.

He peeled off his leg armor and fur on his calves. They were soaked in sweat and were better off being discarded instead of wasting the time attempting to wash them. He simply tossed those aside.

He stepped closer to the mirror and removed the claws pierced into his nostrils. He threw them onto the table and walked over to the tub. He left the studs in the ridge of his nose in place, as he lacked the dexterity to remove them.

He took a high step and eased himself into the tub. Sighing deeply with pleasure as the hot water enveloped his sore and weary body. The water around him immediately turned a dark, navy blue. Kotal dunked his head into the water and rubbed it with a towel he found hanging from the side of the tub. His head resurfaced, red and devoid of all paint. He still had markings tattooed onto his face, but they were all but erased by the continuous exposure of the desert sun. He flicked his damp hair behind him and laid back.

Like most men do, Kotal Kahn did much of his thinking in the bath. Today was no exception. As he lounged in the warm pool of water, he closed his eyes and delved into his thoughts.

His time was up. Raiden would be invading any day now. Sonya Blade's assault had severely shrunk the size of his army. And to add to it all, Kotal now had "Liu Kahn" to deal with. Technically, the last one was his fault as he denied Nightwolf's offer of alliance, but even if he died by the hands of his many foes, he would not regret that decision.

Kotal sighed. It seemed that his only friends resided in his palace.

His predecessor, Shao Kahn, had forcefully merged with realm after realm, making Outworld a power to be feared. Those actions were monstrous, yes, and he spent a majority of his leadership attempting to right those wrongs; as shown by his tireless efforts to ally with Earthrealm. However, at this point, he would give anything for a mere thousand more men. If that required the alliance of other.. nations.. then...

"Edenia," he said aloud, eyes widening. He had made Tanya queen of the Edenian people after her cooperation in the hunt for Rain and her help in the days afterward. She had proven herself a friend of Outworld, but still bitterly pushed for a free Edenia. She traded and negotiated with the Kahn, but she would never call him her ruler and she always said his title in a harsh, venomous tongue; she still hasn't recovered from the death of her other half.

However, if he were to befriend Edenia, his armies would easily double in size with the nation's large militia.

And he knew just how to make the Edenians join his side.

He was smiling as he rose from the tub, all trace of blue paint washed away. His tattoos were but a dull red when clean and not glowing.

He quickly dried himself off and tied the towel around his waist; he forgot to bring a bathrobe. He stepped out of the washroom and stopped a young servant who was walking by. When she turned toward him, Kotal suddenly found his mouth very dry. The servant girl was very short, she only came up to his chest, and she had long, blonde hair and big, green eyes with a small, pert nose and pink lips. She was beautiful.

"Can I do anything for you sir?," she asked at his silence. Her voice was high pitched with a hint of an accent the Kahn couldn't place.

Kotal cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Yes, um. My armor and clothing are in the washroom," he said to her, "Please have them cleaned and replaced and bring them to my room in the morning. If you will." The servant merely stared at him with a confused look. The Kahn just realized he didn't look like himself at all, "It's me, the emperor."

"Oh!" She straightened up and blushed fiercely, "I'm terribly sorry, your highness." She bowed her head down, her blonde hair flipping over her face.

Kotal smiled at her reaction, "Oh, don't be. I realize that I'm in an unfamiliar state." He made the comment to ease the situation, but all it did was remind the two that he was quite naked. The servant's blush only grew brighter. "I... will leave you to it." He turned away from her and took long strides down the corridor.

She darted into the washroom, pushing her hair back into place, still beet red, as the Kahn made his way back to his chambers. He was smiling when he entered the room and laid on his bed, not bothering to put on sleepwear. Instead he pulled the covers up to his chest without a stitch of clothing on him. His last thought before succumbing to sleep wasn't when he should ally with Edenia, nor was it of Raiden or even Outworld.

No, he was wondering what the servant girl's name was.

____________________________________

Cassie was ushered/shoved into the palace. Derek walked behind her, armed with her own pistol pointed at her head as she was escorted into the main hall that led to the Kahn's throne room. They were tailed by Reptile and the Osh-Tekks.

"Black," Cassie growled.

Erron Black lounged against the throne, fiddling with a Bowie knife. His mask was pulled down to his neck and his brown hair had started to grow down to his face. He looked up as the company came in. "Well, it looks to me that the trap worked," he said.

"Trap?" Cassie and Derek said at the same time. Erron smiled, and it occurred to Derek that that was the first time that he saw his teeth while he wasn't eating.

"You think we ran into you through blind luck?" he asked, "We still got a few more tricks up our sleeves darling."

Cassie stared at the ground for a second, pondering that. "You wanted me to come," she looked back up at the cowboy. "You're keeping my mom here as bait, aren't you?" She pulled at her bonds.

Erron chuckled and walked closer to her. "While it wasn't my plan to attract a pretty blonde to my doorstep," he walked closer to her and held the knife blade to her chin, urging her to look up at him, "it's not something I'm gonna complain about." He smirked at Cassie's nasty glare.

"Erron," Reptile hissed, waving the gunslinger away as he took his place next to Cassie, much to her dismay. She was scared of Reptile-- not even intimidated, really-- but he stunk.

Erron sauntered away, shrugging and went back to leaning on the throne.

"To answer your questions, Cage," he addressed the young brawler, "Ask yourself this: Why would we keep General Blade in our presence for a single moment longer than we must?"

Cassie had to admit that he did have a point, but still, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. "So then how'd you know I'd be coming?" she asked.

Reptile chuckled at her. It sounded to Cassie like a person gargling mouthwash; though it was unlikely that the Zaterran even knew of the concept of mouth washing. "It would appear that the Special Forces are less formidable than we anticipated," he said, twisting his head toward Erron, "For they do not seem to know to look out for spies." He turned back to Cassie, a sharp-toothed grin on his face.

"No, that's impossible," she argued, "We would know if there were any Outworlders in our base." While they were laxing in the recent time of piece and were lenient on Earthrealm visitors, the SF did not accept any Outworlders near the base.

"Then perhaps it was not an Outworlder who betrayed you to us," Ermac appeared from behind Erron, tailed by a tiny Earthrealm woman. Despite the construct's tall, intimidating figure, she stood quite close to him. Cassie figured that she was the spy in question.

She came up with another question, "Why did you set the trap then?" she asked. They had evidently fought off her mother, so there were only two plausible possibilities: Either they were keeping her captive and planning to use her as a ransom/hostage, or they had... done away with her. Cassie prayed for the former.

"You took one of our men," Erron drawled, wandering over next to her, "we wanted him back. Is that too hard for you to understand, doll?" He walked a small circle around her.

"Fuck you," she snapped at him.

"Oh, I'd love to but you seem a little tied up right now." Cassie heard Derek snicker at that. "Maybe," Erron eyed her up and down, "another time?"

"I'll kick your ass another time," she said venomously. It would've been a lot more threatening if she wasn't bound by a thousand feet of rope.

"Speaking of the boy," Ermac interrupted the gunslinger's flirting, "He would have been accompanied by two Osh-Tekks. And a god."

Cassie suddenly remembered the whole reason she even stepped foot into the realm.

"Yeah, guys about that..." Derek began, trailing off.

"I need to speak to Kotal Kahn," Cassie suddenly demanded. Everyone in the throne room were a bit taken aback by that.

Reptile was the first to recover, "You are in no position to be making demands, Cage," he reminded her.

"Fujin is dead."

Everyone silenced at that, their words falling flat off their tongues. They all shared a silent, shocked glance. Then,

"Erron," Reptile growled, "Has the Kahn returned?" The gunslinger nodded. "Go wake him."

____________________________________

Kotal Kahn raised his hand into the sky, bringing down a bright yellow ray of sunlight. The black and yellow clad assassins burnt to ash, screaming.

Raiden appeared upon the dust field that was once his army, but Kotal was far more powerful than any god. The thunder god took two steps before the his men fell to his sides.

Erron, Ermac, Reptile, Ferra/Torr, even D'Vorah stood with him against the threat. They all leapt into the air, raising their fists.

Alas, before they could bring them down on Raiden, Kotal was awoken by a knock to the door.

The emperor pried his eyes open to see Erron Black walking into his room. "Kahn," he said.

"In the morning," Kotal groaned. He had been through too much past too many days with too little sleep to deal with any further problems.

"I'm afraid that it's--"

"And I'm afraid that I am already at rest. In the morning."

"Emperor--"

"In. The. Morning." he said menacingly. Erron took a step back, hands up. He hadn't heard the Kahn use that tone before.

"Okay," he said easily, "Gotcha." He walked out and closed the door behind him.

Kotal sighed and threw the blanket over his face and returned to his slumber.

He hoped at least that whatever was trying to say wasn't important.