"Mortal Dimensions" (a Mortal Kombat Human Fanfiction)

Chapter III: ''No More Than Flesh and Bones''.

-''Please wake up! You can't be dead... Please! Please! Please!''. If weren't for the fact that they had lost their humanity a long time ago, you bet Catharina would be screaming and crying right now. Their hands banging on the glass tube in front of them, hoping that with enough strength the glass would break.

========

         Many things had happened since we last saw the artificial creature and their mentor. Too much in fact. Their quest for revenge had took the duo to the most strange places across the 6 realms, or at least as close as they could get to some, though Catharina didn' t understand why. Was it fair to call them ''Catharina'' now? There wasn't any trace of their former self left, actually could you even say that the creature was still a ''she''? Given that, you can imagine the daily struggle that the being went through. It's not like Brutus made it any easier for them, as he chose to omit very crucial details of Catharina's life, specially the more gruesome parts done by the hands Brutus himself.

''The Lin Kuei did thi to you...'' He would tell her. ''They did that to you, but I am going to find a way to make them pay for it!''.

         They liked being around Brutus nontheless, he had a somewhat familiar aura to them, and being the first person Catharina saw when they open their eyes, it would only be natural for the warrior to grow attached to their mysterious mentor. In a couple of weeks, it was almost as if the former Catharina had never left his side... Almost. The creature was still lacking much of the human feelings and character of their former self, which was to be expected as Brutus created them to be a warrior and nothing more, so nothing more was given to the new Catharina. Dark magic can be extremely literal sometimes. But she was still acting like before -to some extent-, blindly obeying the man, following behind every footstep, never questioning a thing. Their body was gone and left as a horrifying shell, but somehow their core goals were still inside Catharina.

         On their Journey, the duo had also come across the fearful dark lord Shao Kahn, and he was the reason Catharina was in such a mess now. After what Brutus described as being a small misunderstanding, The Dark Lord took away Catharina's mentor to the Flesh Pits, where he was to be punished for his actions. It took them at least half a year to even enter the place before finding where Shao Kahn's minions hid their sensei's body. And then the warrior found him... There he was. Catharina didn't have emotions, at least not like a normal human would have, but if they did then they sure would be horrified at the display in front of them. An amount of deformed bloody pulsating torsos, all sorts of gore experiments left there to rot, and amongst a series of glass tubes there was something that caught Catharina's eyes. The third tube contained some sort of acid goo in which a construction of human veins, organs, and a single adult man's skull, all of which were slowly decomposing in contact with the deadly acid. Sure this should have been enough of a sign to Catharina that their beloved metor was gone, if it wasn't for the fact that Brutus' heart was somehow still beating. Somehow he was still in there, and for Catharina that was enough reason to keep fighting for him.

         Catharina was artficial sure, but they were also very cautious and perceptive, paying close attention whenever the Man would perform his dark arts. They had good memory too, each and everything that was done by him was now forever in their brain, which would come to good use now. Brutus needed help, so Catharina put onto themself the responsability of giving it to him. Unfortunately as much as Catharia had watched their mentor's many performances, they were still relatively young and a bit inexperiencedk, so a small failure was to be expected of course. But Catharina couldn't handle failure, specially when something so crucial was on the line. Their eyes widen as their clumsily made dark spell caused the tube boil, growing hotter by the second until it exploded. Slowly, the goo and human parts that were spread across the lab due to the explosion, started to sort of ''put itself together'' trying its best to create life whithin itself, but it still wasn't really a pretty thing to see. The shapless blob tried to stand up and Mimic Catharina's own body anatomy, but it could only do so much.

-''S-sensei... Is that you?Can you understand me? Do you remember me?''. Catharina asked, but received no response.

         They messed it up. That was their only chance to bring him back, to help Brutus just as he had help them, and they messed it up! Catharina felt empty, as if nothing else mattered as they watched the only person that they ever knew, the only being that had been with them ever since they opened their eyes back at the cave simply... Disappear. They were lost now, nothing left to do or feel, and maybe that is why they didn't even react to being found by the Dark Lord's guards and brought to his presence once again, only this time Catharina was on trial. The creature was of course, too out there to even notice the way Quan Chi -an ally of Shao Kahn, who also dabbled in Dark Sorcery- was looking at them during the trial.

         Then it was done. They were then brought to a dark room, their body tied down to a chair as the same Sorcerer walked closer with a curious look painted across his face.

-''Oh yes...''. He began saying. -''You are quite an odd being, aren't you?''

Catharina gave no response, as far as others were aware they were only a freaky platic doll, so they would behave as such. Quan Chi continued:

-''You are quite skilled, I must admit. Breaking and entering the Flesh Pits, performing an acient spell... All to try to revive your dearest Brutus...''

Catharina finally looked up at him.

-''Oh yes, I know who you two are!''. He exclaimed. -''Unfortunelty, you wouldn't be able to get him back even if you did everything right. You see, it wasn't only Brutus' body that we used in that experiment...''

         Quan Chi gave a devious grin which only made Catharina the more furious, trying now to break free and cut open the bastard, to him him what he deserved.

-''Oh look at that! So you are alive after all!''. The oni said playfully. -''Listen, I dislike the Lord as much as the next person... But maybe we could help each other? If you pretend to be on his side, just as I do, then perhaps I could find a way to bring your dear 'father' back, hmm?''

         A long pause followed suit. Catharina didn't have much going for them, every action they had ever taken was always with the well-being of their master in mind, so why would it be different this time?... The plastic creature slowly nodded as Quan Chi's mouth grew wider.

-''You won't regret it, my dear...''. He said calmly. -''You won't regret it...''