Trying my Hand at Short Stories

[Spider-Aziz]

When a Plagiarist Outshines the Original Creators - Part 02​

Developers of the original game played the modified version made by the other party, and they were not happy, no one can be happy to see the hard work they poured into a project get a new skin and is presented as a completely different game, especially not when money that could have been theirs is not in their hands. The next logical step was to consult the legal team as to how they should best approach the situation before suing for plagiarism, and that they did, the suggested idea was to sit with the other team and request their right of credit and share of the earnings.

The game evolved from a mere game to a franchise, you see pictures of the characters in that small app on tablet covers, school bags, sketchbooks, textbooks, notebooks, laptop stickers, stickers....
Creators of the original idea decided to move before it gets late and they lose right as true content creators, it took long to arrange an appointment to accept the gathering and listen to what they have to say.

In the meeting room demands were made, the famous group have a stronger legal team, the gathering did not come with the results hoped for, instead the second party offered to buy the original game developer as a subsidiary into their company, that got on the pride of the developers of the original game, their hopes continued to be crushed in there.

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[Spider-Aziz]

When a Plagiarist Outshines the Original Creators - Part 03​

No buyout happened, the victims suffer the loss, they feel the blunt of the damage that hit them, but they didn't pull their game out of the market.
When some newcomers actually played the original game the first thing that came to mind is "What a cheap riff on the more fun game, it's not worth the time", and it didn't take them long to drop it.

A video was uploaded on a video sharing site, describing the older game and the copycat as to what they are, that video grabbed attention for the account owner, but it did not help the developers of the original game earning more players and bigger ad revenue cause the bigger phenomenon of a game is more pleasant to sit through. How did the maker of the video know the facts? On the internet it can be hard to find the info one seeks sometimes, but more often it can be easy to dig, so easy it's scary, but not that scary in the case of this matter, although sadly, not helpful enough.

As more time went by, developers of the original product met a moderate success with what they accomplished, not satisfying as the creators hoped, but good enough to make them continue pushing their work. That didn't stop the other team's success in making bigger upgrades and continuing their growth, titanic developers earned a big part of what they've done later, thankfully they did not commit more plagiarism.

__________________________

Story Concluded

 

[Spider-Aziz]

How Soon Does a Spambot Behavior Lose Originality?​

Soon, very very soon.
At one point, copying text from one post in the same thread and adding a link to it was an original idea.
It took 3 times to happen to lose originality, albeit being sparingly used.

__________________________

Story Concluded

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal​

Mason and Marina are a happy couple, they've been married for 3 years now, and knew each other 8 years before their marriage. During a break they both had, they took a week long trip to Central City, the third day of their trip was when the explosion of the particle accelerator happened, and the storm dropped everyone hit by it.
The couple felt nothing changed as a result of that storm, they got up and thought the event was weird and uncomfortable.
The week long trip ended, they went home not caring enough to sue S.T.A.R. Labs, as they feel no reason to do that since no apparent damage happened.

At their home in Visalia, California, the duo had a discussion about the history of various cities, and then they moved on to how an event as the one they experienced might affect the reputation of neighboring cities and their future, they thought of their theories and assumptions, it was a conversation they enjoyed, and engaged in for hours, from 5 pm until midnight.

Tired, they lie down. Happy, Marina rests her head on Mason's chest, and Mason rests his hand on Marina's head, and he starts hearing thoughts from her head starting with "I used to be a man". Startled Mason widely opens his eyes, that thought kicked the effects of exhaustion out of his eyes, he looks at his wife and thinks to himself "Impossible, she's two months pregnant. Maybe I need to do a more thorough research on the topic." and then he hears another thought coming out of her head "I wish my parents didn't force me to marry to a rich old fart". "Hunhh" he thinks to himself "her parents are smart reasonable people, what I hear must be a dream she's having", then he tries to rest his eyes again, and stays relaxed for a minute before shaking up to the idea that he can read her mind.

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 02​

"How did I get to read her mind" wondered Mason, "and how is it that her mind traveled between two unrelated thoughts?". He was unable to read or hear more thoughts after that, unsure why thoughts stopped flowing from her mind to his, he gently lifts her and place her back on bed so he can move freely. Marina rolled in her sleep as her husband went to wash his face, he then looked at the time, it was 2:34 am, "time went pass real quick, it felt like a few moments" he thought. Unable to go back to sleep, he feels happy knowing that he still has two more weeks of break before going back to work, to occupy his time in his current state he went to the study to read a book, and he randomly chose the Time Machine.

The time is now 6:43 am, Marina wakes up and wonders where her husband went, no sound is coming from the bathroom so she doubted him being there, she searched the house to find him in the study, she grabbed his head and the thought "Frozen is my favorite movie" transferred to her mind. "Why did I think that?" she thought, "Or did I just read his thought? And why is he thinking that as he reads a story that has nothing to do with that movie?" she thought to herself as she read a passage from that book both her and her husband have great love for.

"Why are you here and not on bed, beloved?" she asked. "Couldn't stay asleep, " he replied, "I had a dream about you being forced on a rich old man as a bride, that woke me up and I couldn't lay back again". Marina laughed gently and said "this is no reason to not be able to sleep, but my body behaves strangely as well at times" Mason laughed back and his wife continued "What do you say we watch Frozen tonight?". Mason is confused as to why she made that request "But we both feel that movie is overrated and not interesting, what made you suggest it?" Marina stared "Wait, could it be that the same thing happened to you?" Mason asked.

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 03​

Marina stares at her husband and asks "What are you...? You mean you had that dream of me the same way I felt you think you love Frozen?". Mason closes the book in his hand, stands up and stares at her in awe "Is it possible that we both read each other's minds, to hear thoughts not coming from either one of our heads?" he asked, "This is weirder than science fiction or fantasy, but it could be what we just experienced." Replied Marina.
Mason calmed down and said "We're both taking this awfully well, I expected a bigger shock as a result of something like this"
Her hands were on the top of the chair, Marina removed them and nodded in agreement and said "If this was a story I was reading, I would say this reaction is unbelievable and unrealistic"
"Let's try that again" they both said concurrently, and tried they did, to no avail.

"Well, that was disappointing" Mason stated, and Marina looked at the clock on the wall to see "WOW, we've been trying this for over 90 minutes". Mason grabbed his face in disappointment, Marina decided to touch his head after that to hear "Night shift as a bar tender pays off better than my day shift working on the clock tower maintenance", "Mason, I think I understood how this functions, touch my head" said Marina, and Mason did as she suggested to hear "Manufacture of paper tissues is one of the best jobs in the world, I'm happy to be part of the industry", and then he removed his hand to feel the flow of thoughts stop.

Both made notes on how the thoughts don't apply to either one of them, like Mason being a pharmacist and Marina being a veterinarian, the couple feel uncomfortable toward the idea of alcohol drinks, and more.

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 04​

"It's a silly idea" Mason said, "but do you think maybe we....." a moment of silence, Mason looks up and left as he says that, and Marina looks anxiously "...read minds of our counterparts from other realities?" Marina laughed loudly "You're right" she laughs and tries to catch her breath to keep on saying what's on her mind "it... HAHAA... it... HA HA HAAA.... really is a silly.. HEHE *snicker*... idea" Mason stares shyly with an awkward smile on his face, and he joins laughing. "But it is also a silly idea that we can read minds, and it is happening"

Later in the evening, Mason had a good rest making up for his lack of sleep, he woke up as Marina was preparing dinner. As she was waiting for the roast to prepare "Hmmm" Marina thought "Maybe I should think this idea through. What if the possibility really isn't as far fetched as I'd originally have guessed?". She tried it on herself to see if she can read her own counterpart minds and heard "What's up?", but it wasn't in her head, it's Mason coming from behind asking her that, "Not much" she replied "I'm trying to see if I can feel it in my own head.", "I tried and I couldn't" Mason replied "I guess the same will happen to you". She tried it, and her husband was right. Her response was "As disappointing as this revelation is, it might be for the best, I might take the pleasure away from you".

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 05​

Mason: "That is most considerate of you Mrs. Galloway"
Marina: "Why thank you Mr. Galloway"
Mason: "Oh my, what's cooking? I haven't eaten anything all day, the delicious aroma is getting to me."
Marina: "Dinner" she smiles, he smiled back with a cringe.

The roast is ready, Marina puts on her oven mitts and take it out, medium-well done, as she generally favors, Mason prefers it just medium, but it's nothing for him to complain about. Mason thinks of performing a small test, to stop at realizing that leaving the fork in her mouth for a while to see if it affects their newly found ability is likely to wound her tongue, and she might keep the hot meat on one spot for a while, burning her tongue "It's not worth the risk".

Dinner is done, Mason cleaned the table, washed the dishes, and took out the trash all by himself, after all, it's the least he can do to be active in his role and thankful since he was asleep while his wife shopped and cooked for them both.

They decided to watch a movie after that, horror was out of the question as they preferred to avoid it for a while, Mason wanted to play one of his blurays, Marina preferred to choose a movie from Netflix library, they played rock paper scissors and Marina's rock won, Netflix it is.

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 06​

Marina: "What should we choose? What should we choose?"
Mason: "Want to watch Chronicle? I heard good things about it, but never watched it."
Marina: "I don't like Max Landis as a person, and Josh Trank directed Fant4stic, I wouldn't expect much from it"
Mason: "Should we watch IT?"
Marina: "Nah, not fond of the idea of horror stories."
*Minutes upon minutes of browsing*
Marina: "Let us watch this movie"
Mason: "Synopsis for The Help sound promising"

After the movie ended and both admired it considerably, "let's try to tune in to see if we can attempt to tune in on which world we can read thoughts from" Mason said, "I will tell you if I tuned in on a counterpart of yours similar to Eugenia", "You don't expect to find her living in the 50s, do you?" Marina asked, "With too much weirdness happening, I won't be surprised were that to actually happen" replied Mason. And he's on.


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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 07​

He tries to tune in, and he reads minds from different worlds all at once, it didn't happen this way on bed, at that time he heard thoughts from one world, pulled his hand off her head to place it back on and hear thought from a different world, this time it's different, it's more difficult to focus on one world.
"Ouch, you're hurting me" Marina said. Mason reduced the pressure and apologized "I tried to focus on one world, I had no intention of squeezing hard on your head", He attempted to tune in again, without squeezing harder this time, he focused hard and tuned in on a world, but perhaps it is not the world he hoped for, he heard "Using the force helps me to feel when someone is attempting to read my mind, and some stranger is doing so, but it's not any of the ones I see around, and I'm in a desert".

Mason is astonished, "WHOA, the Jedi are real" he said in his shock. Marina happily replied "I always wanted to be a Jedi, glad to know I am in one world. Just hope you're not the Darth Vader there", "What if you are that world's Darth Vader, and I am your Senator Palpatin?". Marina didn't like her husband's question and replied "I wanted to be a hero, not a villain."
Jedi Marina is not pleased by the thoughts and laughter in her head, she heard the word villain and thought she's not evil, she signaled back an angry message to the one reading her mind "Get out of my head", to hear a reply "But I'm reading the mind of my wife", and her response was "I'm not married, and I don't know who you are, but I will find you and punch you in the face"

"Someone from another dimension can feel me reading their mind through probing yours" Mason told Marina with a surprised expression on both faces "And just promised to punch me", "I'll hurt you more if I reach your world" angry Jedi Marina replied, "But.. you're not evil" Mason said to hear her reply "Doesn't matter, what you do is annoying and invades my privacy, cease that act immediately". And so, Mason complied, and his wife asked "Why did you talk and not relay your message to her by thought transfer? How is that possible?" Surprised Marina asked her equally surprised husband.

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 08​

It was Marina's turn to hold the head of her husband, one reason for that is she grew tired of bending her head down for as long as she did. Before grabbing his head she asked again for the reasons he spoke to her vocally while both read minds, his reply was "Spontaneous reaction, I guess. And maybe I wanted you to hear as things go". "You're not certain why you did it", "You're right, I have no real idea", she grabbed Mason's head, and the journey began.

The Mason she reached to is a C.E.O. of S.T.A.R. Labs, the first deal on his agenda was to enhance the shaky reputation of the establishment, and his first task was to build countermeasures to rogue metahumans resultant from the metahuman outbreak caused by the explosion of Harrison Wells's particle accelarator, to do that he appointed a tech team consisting of the best technicians led by Hartley Rathaway. Since Harrison R. Wells is the founder of the place and main stockholder they couldn't fire him but the board of directors had the authority to restrict his authority after the huge mess he made to the city.
Marina is highly interested, she keeps connected.

"The cloud covered the entirety of Central City and went a little out of the borders, I'm amazed there were new news of if reaching Keystone City". As Mason of that Earth thought to himself, a new thought suddenly struck his mind "I'd better check for any visitors to have come here during the event from out of the city, it will be a shame to this place's reputation if other cities and states suffer from metahumans roaming their homes causing terror and grief to the denizens of other states"

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 09​

The sound of gentle knocking on the door interrupted the thoughts of Mason, he gave permission for entrance, it was Hartley Rathaway, accompanied by Ronnie Raymond and Cisko Ramon, they came up with their ideas for prison cells to hold metahumans with unique abilities, Mason asked what plans do they have to ensure none of the prisoners can't break out via resourceful methods, or cheap knocks on the possibility of switching cells to ease their chance to escape, it turns out the group of technical minds did not think of the possibility of prisoners switching cells before presenting their plans, though they did have ideas on how to make each cell escape proof against any metahuman.

Mason of Earth-1 asked his wife if he can relax, Marina told him to gently rest his head on her lap, as what she was reading was too interesting to want to interrupt, and so he did, and enjoyed every minute of the experience.

Marina pulled her hands up, Mason lift his head up and sat straight to ask what happened, Marina relayed what she read, and there was more to spill, if either one of them attempted to write a book on these exploits, or share it on a message board, it could link to them being affected by the particle accelerator explosion, and bring in unwanted questioning. "So that is how we got the ability to read minds of alternate realities versions of us by touching eachother's heads" Mason commented "it was that quick passing electric cloud we got hit by in Central City", "That is correct" Marina replied "according to the world where you are the new commander in chief of S.T.A.R. Labs"

Time to check the news.....

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[Spider-Aziz]

Mind Portal - Part 10​

The two turned on CCPN channel, it is the home channel of the town of the incident, there are no news of anyone with special abilities, not at the moment at least, not even on the ticker tape, that was cause for momentary relief.
"NEWSPAPERS" they said it at the same time, as the both turned their heads toward facing one another, they checked the site to check for any news, nothing to confirm any other abilities created by the cloud that caused them to have theirs.

That made them be cautious about the idea of writing the stories they have access to, after the initial decision to not write down these stories due to what Marina read last, they reconsidered and thought it might be ok to monetize from it, but they decided to wait a year before going with it.

They made attempts to control when this ability is or isn't activated as they touch heads, the task was not easy, it took them a few months to be able to simply control whether or not it is active.

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The End

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero​

A remorseless killer? A greedy thief? A man with conscience between killers? A dead man resurrected by his nemesis as his loyal servant? A man brought to the clan by his father? A man abducted as a boy to serve the clan? Did he kill Hanzo Hasashi, or did he spare him to see him and his clan killed by villains starting a war he had no part of?
This man never had a consistent story, one constant is he is a warrior with the ability to freeze, and he has a younger brother with the same skill.

Before Bi Han was born, his father was a respected member of the Lin Kuei, a clan of assassins in China, their warrior skills are similar to the Japanese style of ninja. The father of Bi Han and Kuai Liang was a mercenary with the ability to shoot ice out of his hands, this was not a skill he learnt, it was a skill he was born to have, being a Cryomancer. Cryomancers were a clan in Edenia, people of Edenia knew how to access portals to other realms, one of them is Earth realm where Dulan came to and remained.

Dulan found love on Earth, a Chinese girl named Qian, their love was a secret from the clan for a few years, in those years Dulan and Qian had two sons, they named the older son Bi Han, three years later the second son was born, they named him Kuai Liang. When Kuai was three years old the son of the clan leader; Oniro, found Dulan's secret and kept that knowledge to himself.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 02​

Oniro overthrew his father to take over as the new head of the Lin Kuei, it was long in the planning cause he didn't like how the previous grandmaster -his father- worked managing things, he wanted things to go as he likes, and make the soldiers more inline and subordinate to his commands.
The new grandmaster sent Dulan on a suicidal mission, one he believed would require Dulan a very long time to accomplish in order to survive. As Dulan was out to perform the task given to him, his love was blinded by Lin Kuei warriors, and his sons were abducted, Qian knew the symbol of the clan Dulan works for, it was not easy for her to forget her tormentors.

Years went by, the duo of Bi Han and Kuai Liang grew to be skilled and formidable apprentices, the rage on what happened to them and their mother was still strong in their hearts, and the experience the warriors of the clan possessed stopped the brothers from sneaking out to see their mother again. Bi Han expressed to his younger brother that he wishes their father never joined this clan they are trapped with, Kuai has no strong memories of their father, but the pain made him agree without mentioning it.

18 years old Bi Han forged an alliance with a fighter able to form his body into water to sneak around, Kuai Liang forged an alliance with the warrior; Tomas Revada. The four became as close as if they were all brothers, they shared stories of their past, and shared their dreams, they made sure they were away from unwanted ears when they discussed such stories.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 03​

As the head of the Lin Kuei clan; Oniro overuses his authority, he came to the decision of the cyber initiative, it involved turning all assassins to mindless drones with complete obedience to the clan and their leader, Oniro's madness reached to including his blindly loyal son; Sektor, and his close ally; Cyrax, but not to begin with these two. It took him years to plan and prepare for this to reach fruition.

In those years Bi Han proved to be a magnificent warrior outclassing all his peers significantly, when a sorcerer named Quan Chi came to the clan in quest of hiring a thief an an assassin, Bi Han was the best one to choose for the quest, learning to conceal his hatred and rage pretending to have buried them he looked calm when summoned by the grandmaster. Oniro told Bi Han to listen carefully to the quest of the client, Quan Chi described a treasure he seeks in the Shaolin Temple, a map guarded carefully by monks there.
The warrior bowed down to his master, and went to fulfill his quest.

Leaving the place, moving to a distance where it is far out of sight, the warrior thought to himself how he looks forward to the day of pulling the head of this grandmaster with his spine off of him. Another thought that filled his mind was how uncomfortable he felt around that client, something about him feels disturbing, as if he seeks to enslave them all, or kill them, whichever the idea that may feel more pleasant to him, a dark forboden omen he wishes to bury, but is unable to do so.

Long time without visiting his mother or even hearing news of her, of neither her nor their father, and the increasing dismay he has to the clan that abducted him and his brother kept him occupied of thinking of her while on his way to perform the unholy task of assault and burglary. The man needed to be calm and collected, he tried to not think of the need to kill monks, and wanted to avoid assault as much as possible, sticking to the shadows felt more ideal to him than assault and being outnumbered, overexerting his stamina. Will he succeed?

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 04​

Once the warrior reached the temple of the old woods, he noticed another burglar sneaking in, the Lin Kuei warrior examined his surroundings, and reconnoitered the path to go inside the temple before entering, while doing so he found a quicker way to the access the map location and took it. He reached and took the map, and as soon as he was about to leave another thief found him, the Shirai Ryu assassin; Hasashi Hanzo.

Hanzo was not fond of the idea of being beaten to the punch, so he tailed his rival for quite the distance before ambushing him, Bi Han was not fond of this tactic as he was not fond of someone being sent on the same mission he was sent to perform. The man in yellow ninja garb approached the man in blue garb, to pick the map from the hand of the man on the ground, this was not taken kindly to so Bi Han kicked his rival in the face before standing on his feet again. A fight ensued.

During the fight, the Lin Kuei asked: "You are Japanese, what business do you have coming to China to steal a map?".
"This does not concern you Lin Kuei" replied Hasashi "All that matters is the job at hand, and you stand in way of performing it."
A kick was sent to the face of the Chinese thief, he blocked it and countered with a hard fist to the stomach, he covered his fist with ice to add to the strength effect of his fist.
"I have a feeling we were both meant to fight each other, someone wanted us to kill one another. I don't want to be a fool, and neither should you." Bi Han said.
"You are telling me, after what I did, we may have been sent by the same person?" Hanzo replied "Was the assignment handed to you by a pale white faced sorcerer coming to hire you?"
"You know of Quan Chi. This mission was an ambush to one or both of us." Bi Han is angry, he leaves his opponent behind to run back to his clan.


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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 05​

On his way back to the lair of the clan, Bi Han stopped a convoy, seeing as the path they drive on leads to where he resides, he struck everyone into unconsciousness, and damaged the weapons and communication devices of the security guards. Inspecting the shipment in the trucks, he found equipment that look like they could be used for building robots, but not enough machinery to fill all the frames that could be built with all the metal prepared for frames.

Knowing what all the equipment are meant for, Bi Han chose to damage everything, including truck engines. While on past quests the warrior read about robotics and cybernetics, he learnt enough to make the judgment he came to, as he was aware of Oniro's plans for the Cyber Initiative. Leaving with the damage he caused, the convoy was left behind, and the setback delayed years of planning and setting up for the project, this gives the warriors of the clan a temporary respite.

Returning with the map undamaged -miraculously- the enslaved soldier of fortune bows down before a clan elder, presenting him with the map. Quan Chi came to thank him for a job well done, and explained what the map is for, where the warrior should go, and who will he face on the way.
"This will be a suicidal trip for one man alone" Sub-Zero protested. "Watch your tone, warrior" the elder responded in anger "Forgive me master, but I will need aid in this mission" Sub-Zero replied, with humility in his voice.

"Bring me Cyrax" called the elder, and the man came bowing down "Yes master".
"Cyrax, you will go on a mission with Sub-Zero, he will brief you on the mission details on your way to the Temple of the Winds" said the elder, and the two bowed down to leave.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 06​

Leaving the base of the clan, the two walked silently without word for one another for a mile, Bi Han started briefing his companion on the plan; "We climb a mountain all the way up to the Temple of the Winds, there we will face Fuujin, elemental of the wind until we make our way to the Temple of Land, then the Temple of Water, and last, the Temple of Fire. In every temple there will be a different elemental protecting it, we'd best dodge those and not fight them. Last step will be retrieving a bronze medallion in the temple of fire."
"Already on the way we have a lot of ground to cover, we'll need a vehicle to travel to the foot of the mountain of the Temple of the Winds" said Cyrax, "We should hitch a ride".

Through careful sneaking and study of path of passing vehicles, the two rode a number of vehicles. Sub-Zero wants to discuss his concerns about the cyber initiative on their way, but his companion is an ally of the son of the clan leader, there is fear that Cyrax will share what he hears with the leader's son, who is a supporter of the idea, his expectations is Cyrax must be the same way, that made Bi Han seal his mouth and say no word.
"What do you think of the idea?" asked Cyrax "What idea do you mean?" Bi Han holds back on his expression of surprise, and thinks his current ally might mean something else
Cyrax: "The idea of turning us to cyborgs"
Bi Han: "Gutting us to add prosthetic parts we have no need for to our systems is a terrible idea."
Cyrax: "The elders claim it is for us to be stronger and more formidable warriors, but I feel the underlying sinister intention they hide with this plan, something they refuse to share."
Bi Han: "Something like us being turned to puppets moving under their every command? More than we are under their thumbs already?"
Cyrax: "Yes. A number of warriors were abducted from their homes as they were children, their fear is those will turn against them, and even turn the warriors who were formerly homeless children on their side."
Bi Han: "Do you still feel loyalty to the clan, even though your position is unwelcoming to this idea?"
Cyrax: "I have loyalty, but the news shook me hard."
Bi Han: "I want to stay far away from their unhealthy plans."

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 07​

They reached a point about half a mile away from reaching their destination.
Bi Han: "This is where we stop hitching rides, let's move."
The two dropped off the van they sneaked into, and continued their path walking.
Cyrax: "I remember you and your brother being two of the children brought in by force"
Bi Han: "They took us away from our mother, I don't know what happened to her, couldn't see her, the surveillance they kept us under made me not want to risk her life by being reckless."
Silently nodding, Cyrax and Bi Han continue their march, climb the mountain, and reach the temple at the top. Passing through to reach the temple is not an easy task.
To pass over shaking platforms, suspended platforms moving side to side, ladle like spinning platforms each needed to land on after the other one departed.

They passed near a platform with a large gap between it and the platform they stand on, the winds up there are not humid so Bi Han had no mean of building an ice bridge through collecting humidity to freeze it.
Cyrax found a talisman before they reached that spot, he used it, and a gust of wind rose up for them to use as a bridge to the other area, there they had to confront Fuujin, the elemental of wind.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 08​

Fuujin was annoyed, two outsiders that don't belong came barging to the place he was assigned to protect, but he did not let this be a confrontation that could be solved in civility.
Fuujin: "State your business coming here."
Bi Han: "We are on our way to the temple of fire, this temple is a quick path to go there."
Fuujin: "You have the powers of ice, what makes you think you will survive a place full of flames? Not even your friend here will be capable of surviving."
Cyrax: "We have to retrieve an item we were hired to get back"
Bi Han: "You should have not said that."
Fuujin: "And that item would be?"
Bi Han: "It is an amulet"
Fuujin: "Who sent you to bring it to them?"
Bi Han: "A sorcerer, a pale skinned sorcerer, with ink lines moving down from his forehead to the lower tips of his palpebromalar sulcus."
Fuujin: "I cannot allow you to go further, not to serve that sorcerer"
Bi Han: "I understand, I do not trust him."
Cyrax: "What is wrong with him?"
Bi Han: "He sent both me and a ninja to the same mission before, we almost fought to the death."
Fuujin: "You realize he is not to be trusted, yet you were not wise enough to stop yourself from serving him once more."
Bi Han: "Accepting the mission was reason for me to get away from the den of the clan, where my being a captive slave is more the case than being an agent of my own choice."

A bolt of lightning strikes down, the lightning does not leave a burn mark on the platform the three stand on, it instead takes the shape of a man in a straw hat, the man standing there is Raiden, the elemental of thunder, he can roam free without being mostly attached to a single temple.

Raiden: "Sub-Zero, Cyrax, you need to listen to what I have to say."
Bi Han: "Lord Raiden, the urgency in your tone tells me we were a distraction while the deceptive sorcerer sent another agent to retrieve the item we were assigned to bring forth."
Raiden: "Your intuition is on point, the man you fought outside the Shaolin Temple was placed in a trance by Quan Chi, to believe your clan destroyed his, with you killing his family, and then him, then he granted him powers to manipulate fire and teleport."
Cyrax: "That means he will seek vengeance against us for wrong done against him that we had no hand in."
Raiden: "That is correct. They are in the Netherrealms, you must stop them before Quan Chi takes the amulet back to Shinnok, if that happens Shinnok will restore his powers, and turn this place to a realm of chaos."
Both bowed down respectfully, and went into the portal taking them close to the whereabouts of Scorpion."

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 09​

Cyrax and Sub-Zero landed on Scorpion, two against one helped make it easier to get the medal back and escape. Scorpion was enraged that he failed at his task, it was a task for him to accomplish in order to help in his quest for revenge. The even was monitored by three ladies from a distance, they reported this back to Quan Chi, and that enraged him enough to sent Scorpion back to Earthrealm, and for him to go with him.

Oniro received an invitation aimed for some of his warriors, to participate in a martial arts tournament, he felt this an unnecessary waste of time and wanted to rip the message, but the courier of message is another powerful sorcerer, and he convinced him to send a few of his warriors, some like Sub-Zero and Cyrax. When the two warriors returned, they received the message and went to the island of Shang Tsung to enter the tournament, and they were accompanied by Sektor to keep an eye on Bi Han.


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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 10​

Bi Han, Cyrax, and Sektor boarded an old boat with a sail, others riding with them are Shaolin warriors Liu Kang and Kung Lao, their teacher; Bo Rai Cho, and other warriors. Kung Lao is a stowaway dressed as one of the masked guards, he was recognized by his friend and their teacher cause he wasn't very good at concealing his hat, but they remained mum about it.

The sorcerer; Shang Tsung, casts a field of invisibility at the ship and all its boarders, cloaking everything from harbor patrol, security cameras, so no one bothered them as they docked and sailed, and as they were approaching land, the spell also cloaked the ship to Radio Detection And Ranging, and the ship sails away with all its passengers, moving to the next point.

Sektor stares at them with arrogance, looking at them as if they were inferiors, a stare of dismay toward any warrior not coming from the clan he belongs to, Cyrax and Bi Han look his way in disgust, Liu Kang is in their field of vision, and mistakenly thinks all three Lin Kuei warriors are thinking the same way, so he decides to tease them by sitting and meditating where they are.

Sub-Zero sits in turn, and meditates to calm himself to not give Sektor reasons to be a burden to sit with, Sektor looks and laughs, he pokes Sub-Zero to test his patience, Bi Han tries to bite on his feeling of annoyance for 5 minutes before Cyrax puts a halt to that.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 11​

After a long trip around continents, the boat reached a harbor in Los Angeles where it picked it up a few more guests heading to the tournament, they all but one received similar invitations as other guests aboard this sea vessel, those chosen were able to see the boat and hop onto it, including the one who did not receive a note of invitation, lieutenant Sonya Blade, who was following the leader of the Black Dragon gang. "C'mon baby" Kano muttered to himself, luring lieutenant Blade to board the ship, it was invisible to major Jax Briggs who was unable to see it, and couldn't stop his partner from boarding it, he had to stay behind and try to explain the disappearance of his partner to the precinct, but what explanation could he offer them?

Other boarders were Nightwolf, a shaman of the Apache tribe and a close friend of Raiden, and Johnny Cage, a B movie star seeking to prove his worth as a fighter, or so he tries to convince himself to distract his mind from overthinking his conceited obsession with fighting.

Sonya bumps into Johnny, both are distracted, one by his thoughts, and the other by her mission, the inability to find the guy she's after all over the deck frustrated her, so before heading down she decides to talk to the captain of this ship, Sub-Zero was standing in front of the door and he wanted to take his mind off of Sektor being a pain on his side, as he stood in front of the door Sonya asked to pass, he replied saying "This door is off-limits" in an attempt to have a little fun, she grabbed his shoulder to pull him aside, he pushed her hand off and said "You can ask him anything, I don't have any attachment to him". Johnny stopped thinking and was admiring her as he looked her way during her short talk with the masked man.

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[Spider-Aziz]

The Story of Sub-Zero - Part 12​

The door to the cabin opened, no one is at the door, Sonya entered and Johnny followed, Sub-Zero stared and felt discomfort that the door to this wooden boat opened magically, "It can only be the work of a sorcerer" he thought to himself, and decided to enter in turn, stealthy. The door closed behind him.

Shang Tsung came to face Sonya, she asked about a criminal aboard this ship she was chasing, Shang replied "If you can't see him, then he's not here". "She's just doing her job" Johnny came in, Sonya looked at him dismissively and said "I didn't ask for help". "The two of you, along everyone aboard this ship, were invited to a fighting tournament" Shang said, and Sonya replied "I did not receive an invitation, and I did not come here to take part in a tournament". With a smug smile, Shang Tsung replied with "But you will".
Johnny thinking to himself "please don't make me fight her".

Bi Han looked at the thing, the sorcerer in the chamber being someone other than Quan Chi relieved his level of tension a bit, he wouldn't want to be hosted by traps set up to him by the biggest deceiver he met in his life, so he went up the deck, the door opened up for him to exit, and reminded Bi Han that his host is aware of his presence by this door.

Johnny and Sonya came out a couple of minutes after, Johnny voiced some of his questions "Who is this guy? How does he know so much about us? Why does he care this much?", Sonya replied in annoyance "Look, I agree with your questions, but you talk too much, and you're too obnoxiously loud", Johnny commented "Your voice is a little loud too, maybe we should get to know each other more".
As they reached out, they were met by Bi Han, he said "That man is a sorcerer, a very powerful one, and he's aware of what happens on this ship. Be at your guard, what we will face on the island won't be easy."

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