Fire and Ice (MK9 - MK11)

Chapter 3: Liu Kang and Kung Lao

KUNG LAO: I die in the Koliseum? You on a rooftop, fighting Lord Raiden? Our future, Liu Kang... it is insane!

LIU KANG: Obsessing over it will not change it.

KUNG LAO: Neither will accepting our destiny as evil undead warlords.

LIU KANG: I'm not. But we can't change a future we don't fully understand. Lord Raiden will guide us.

KUNG LAO: Can we trust him? It appears he got us both killed.

Both men stop walking at these words. Kung Lao almost says more, but glances behind Liu Kang instead, towards the staircase leading
to the Academy that they have reached. Halfway up the stairs, the bloody remains of a slain monk can be seen. Kang and Lao both
ascend the staircase to the corpse. As they take the grisly sight in, they look forward and proceed through the broken open doors of the Academy itself.

The courtyard of the Academy presents an even more disturbing visual; dozens of monks lie dead on the ground.

LIU KANG: So many Shaolin... They died defending our sacred ground. The Netherrealm will pay!

The scene cuts to inside the Academy itself. The Shaolin monks have reached an underground corridor with only minor debris
being any indication of intruders. Before them is a circular shaped entrance, with three large swinging axes - wide enough to cover the whole entrance - slicing back and forth. Kang and
Lao pause in their tracks to examine the deadly obstacle.

LIU KANG: Whoever came here knew how to disarm these traps.

KUNG LAO: Do you know how? The monks never taught me.

LIU KANG: More likely you did not attend class. Watch for the pattern... and pick your moment.

Liu Kang breaks into a run and dives straight into a gap left between the swinging axes. He clears them in the nick of time and rolls to his feet on the other side, glancing back with a
smile to Kung Lao. Lao smiles back and slowly removes his bladed hat, before suddenly throwing it into the side of the corridor.

The hat jams between the corridor side and one of the swinging axes, pinning it in place. This in turn causes cogs turning the
entire mechanism to clog up, preventing the other axes from swinging. Kung Lao nonchalantly walks through the corridor,
pausing only to remove his hat from the ruined trap and put it back on his head.

KUNG LAO: Easy enough. What's next?

They walk into what appears to be a giant arena. The entire ground is littered with more dead monks, but also with spear traps and a giant spiked wrecking ball that is attached to the ceiling. There are several pathways exiting from this area.

LIU KANG: Everything. Poison gas, shooting spears, flame jets...

KUNG LAO: How about we avoid those?

As he speaks, all off the pathways are blocked off by metal bars that slam into place.

KUNG LAO: I did not do that.

A metal kunai on a chain slams into a pole right next to Kung Lao. He looks at it in shock, and then at the person who threw it.

UNSEEN: I did.

With a quick tug, the kunai is pulled back into the hand of its owner - the ninja spectre known as Scorpion. It is clear that this Scorpion is not the Hanzo Hasashi of the modern era, but
the vengeance driven hellspawn of the past. His clothing matches his look from over 25 years past almost exactly.

LIU KANG: Scorpion. Of course YOU survived the time merger.

SCORPION: You will not stop Kronika from restoring my family and clan.