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Much has happened in the last twenty-four hours. In addition to learning about timelines, alternate realities, hidden pasts and hostile cybernetic intelligences, a new threat has become apparent to the New Defenders: the infiltration of the U.S. Government by saurians. The reptilian rogues have made it as high as the office of the Secretary of Defense. Ronald Carter Blake, the man who helped fund and create this very team, has secretly been a saurian infiltrator from the very beginning.

'Or so Kaito and Johnny claim.'

Frost crouches low, hidden in an ambush position in the rafters above an entrance in a hallway to the Special Forces half of the base. She, Forrest, Takeda and Cao are all cloaked in the darkness of the hallway's ceiling, their feet propped up against metal bars for support, waiting for the right moment to strike.

They have been here for two hours, waiting. The mission is a gamble. The plan is for General Cage to lure Secretary Blake here under the pretense of an emergency threat briefing, with the staff on high alert. When she brings him through this hallway, they are to attack and subdue him, out of sight from anyone else, while the other members take out his usual entourage elsewhere throughout the base. The team needs Blake alive in order to interrogate him about the saurians and their plans.

'This is going to be hell if they turn out to have been wrong,' she thinks to herself. 'But they seemed to know what they were talking about.' She's still wrapping her head around the story. Her eyes dart to Forrest, who also apparently had his own reality-hopping adventure not too long ago. It all seems impossible and ridiculous, the notion of alternate realities and time travel.

Yet, Frost is something of a time traveler herself, having leapt forward nearly two decades after being frozen in a block of ice of her own making, perfectly preserved and still young. She closes her eyes as she tries not to think about that experience, but the tense quiet demanded by her current situation as she lies in wait forces her mind to wander, and Frost's mind wanders to dark places when she lets it.

She wonders, briefly, if there is some alternate reality where she ended up better than she is now. One in which she could have lived a more normal existence. One where she is---

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>>3202708

Suddenly the doors below open and General Cage strides through in a very professional manner. Frost is snapped out of her thoughts as she opens her eyes and looks down, seeing people and hearing voices. It immediately becomes apparent that Secretary Blake is not alone---there are people with him, wearing black suits and talking amongst themselves. What's more, another unexpected development---Sub-Zero is here as well, just behind them. Does he know what is about to happen?

'What is he doing here? This isn't right. This is all wrong. He's not supposed to be here. Damn, damn, damn!'

Upon seeing the leader of the Lin Kuei, Frost becomes suddenly paralyzed with indecision. Many complicated and contradictory emotions suddenly resurface and she cannot help but look back up at her teammates. Takeda, unaware of the sudden emotional storm brewing within her, suddenly gives the signal and he and the others jump down! Frost holds herself back for just a moment as she considers what to do.

>Jump down and attack Blake's guards
>Jump down and go straight for Blake
>Jump down between the targets and Sub-Zero
>Hesitate and remain above
>Other

>>3202710
>Jump down between the targets and Sub-Zero

>>3202710
>Jump down between the targets and Sub-Zero
Frost is a very "fuck it" kind of girl, at least when Sub isn't involved.

>Hesitate and remain above

Maybe Kuai has his own plan.

>>3202710
>>Jump down between the targets and Sub-Zero

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>>3202713
>>3202716
>>3202718

Frost grits her teeth beneath her blue mask and leaps down, aiming to land between the men and her grandmaster. Touching down upon the cold floor as Takeda, Cao and Forrest leap in and attack the men surrounding Secretary Blake, she looks up into Sub-Zero's surprised eyes.

"Frost? What is the meaning of this?"

'He doesn't know,' she realizes, but she also lacks the time to explain. She turns and charges at one of the suited men from behind, bringing up a foot to kick him in the back. Attempting to put Sub-Zero out of her mind, she focuses on her opponent as she trips him, climbs atop him and prepares to punch him in the face when suddenly a cold hand catches her by the wrist.

She looks back at Sub-Zero, now standing over her, with wild eyes. "What are you doing?!" he demands to know.

Frost, already experiencing several overpowering emotions in a very brief period of time, does not answer him. She is suddenly irrational, angry, bloodthirsty---and right back at the moment when she stole the Dragon Medallion from her master.

"Release me!" she screams, thrusting her back back before blasting him with cryonic energy, sending him hurtling backwards. She tries to focus on her task at hand, but when she looks down at the man she was attacking, all she sees is Sub-Zero.

'Oh, no,' the fast-fading rational part of her mind realizes. 'It's happening again...'

Frost cannot tell friend from foe. Suddenly a fist rocks the side of her face, both knocking off her mask and forcing her off of her downed opponent. When she looks up, she sees two Sub-Zeros advancing upon her with murderous blue eyes, the same two eyes she sees in her nightmares.

Letting out a violent cry, she springs into action against them, leaping up to charge at her hated foe.

>1d100 and an action!

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>3202731
Spray a wave of icicles at all those Sub-Zeroes.

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>Use Chilling Wind to slow down her opponent and throw two Ice Blades into the opponent's thorax

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>3202731
Summon Ice blades to go on the offensive

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>>3202735

Bringing up both hands, Frost summons several small fast-moving projectiles in the form of icicles that she pelts the blue-clad warriors with. Blinded to their true identities, she focuses on externalizing her deeply-buried anger and hatred for Sub-Zero and continues assaulting them. They bring up their arms to block her attacks, drawing cuts along their limbs as they rush forward, hoping to overwhelm her.

>>3202744

Switching her tactics, she stops unleashing her hailstorm and instead concentrates upon unleashing a gust of chilling air. As the two figures rush into the freezing mist, they find their movement and reactions suddenly slowed, their bodies and clothing rapidly freezing over. White creeps over their forms as they attempt to escape the clutches of her power, giving her the opening she needs.

>>3202755

Summoning forth an ice dagger in each hand, Frost shouts as she rolls forward, immune to her freezing fog. As she springs up, she slashes them both accross the belly before slamming the daggers backwards into their backs, embedding them into their spines. Frost closes her eyes and lets out a pleased gasp as she murders not one, but two Sub-Zeros, bringing her ever-so-closer to inner peace.

Upon opening her eyes, however, she realizes there are more. Sub-Zeros fighting other Sub-Zeros, all of them ripe for the picking...

She prepares to take a step forward, but halts. Her eyes twitch as her mind fights back to regain control. Somewhere, deep down, she knows what she is seeing is wrong, and fights back to regain control from the suddenly-resurfaced madness...

>1d100 to bring Frost back under control!

Rolled 56 (1d100)

Earth to Bitch-Zero, EARTH TO BITCH-ZERO!

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>3202781

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>3202781

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>>3202790
>>3202792
>>3202794

Frost drops her daggers, which shatter on the metal floor, as she puts her hands on either side of her head and lets out a piercing cry. She shakes her head, violently thrusting her ice-blue hair from side to side as her mind fights itself, each side desperate to have full control.

Somewhere, deep within the recesses of her mind, something whispers to her. 'Kill him. Kill Sub-Zero. Kill him. KILL HIM!'

Frost steps over the body of one of her slain victims as her fingers dig into her skull, her head throbbing in pain. She gasps and crashes against the wall, letting out a grunt of pain as she cries out once more. Her eyes shoot open as Sub-Zero suddenly towers over her. Is he real? Someone else? She doesn't care.

Visciously, she lashes out at him, punching and kicking in a mad, berserking state.

'Destroy him!' the voice demands. 'Tear out his throat! Rip off his head! FINISH HIM!'

As Frost continues to attack, Sub-Zero blocks and redirects her strikes. He tries to speak to her, but she doesn't hear him. Whatever words he says are drowned out by the voice in her head, pushing her forward, causing her to strike with killer intent. Her eyes turn white with blind fury as she is reduced to a dark, feral state.

All she can do is attack.

>1d100 and an action!

Rolled 12 (1d100)

Frozen Stiletto through the shoulder blade and an uppercut to the chin

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>3202828
Get some ice spikes on your shoulders and arms and just barrel into him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf3Wj_d-aOE

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>3202828
Ice spikes.
Just a BUNCH of ice spikes.

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>3202828
Summon an ice cocoon around ourselves, and cool off for a minute.

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>>3202831

Creating a frozen stiletto on the bottom of her heel, she kicks upwards, but Sub-Zero grabs her leg and pushes her attack aside before delivering a swift punch to her gut. She staggers backwards, coughing. A small moment of clarity leaks through.

"Frost, stop this!" he commands.

Then, the voice returns. 'Don't be weak! Don't submit to him! DESTROY HIM!'

>>3202832

Frost lets out a cry and covers her shoulders and upper arms in spikes with ice and rushes towards her foe, who coats his arms in ice and simply delivers a double-punch to her chest. Every ounce of ice on her body shatters as he slams his fists into her, propelled forward by a short ice-slide. Frost is thrust up against the wall, denting it somewhat and knocking her head around.

"Frost! Enough!" he shouts, standing over her. "You are having a relapse!"

>>3202833

Her eyes, blazing with blue cryo power, flare as she stares up at him. Her hands along the wall create a wall of ice that spreads all around her and from which emerge several sharp spikes, all of which are aimed at him. Sub-Zero's arms and mask turn nearly completely white as he smashes the spikes with his hands, his own cryo-armor preventing him from being harmed. Despite her best efforts to merely even scratch him, he is completely unphased.

Not wanting to hurt her, but realizing she is too far gone, he gives her a disappointed look as he brings his icy hands down upon her skull. Not to kill, but to knock her out.

>>3202866

As Frost's vision swims and her mind goes blank, she suddenly finds herself once more encased in a cocoon of ice, must like she was for more than fifteen years. She is curled up in a ball, hugging her knees close to her chest.

In this place, not only inside her frozen tomb but within the black void of her mind, the only company she has is herself.

'You did it again. You did it again when you said you wouldn't.'

"I know."

'You were weak. You're pathetic. Everyone hates you.'

She curls up even more and puts her hands over her ears. "Shut up..."

'Why couldn't you just defeat him? Just be better than him? You couldn't because you're weak and you'll never be strong.'

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Frost screams.

'And now, here you are, frozen again, where you belong. A frostsickle on display for the Lin Kuei to laugh at.'

>Remain silent and wait for the voice to go away
>"Why do you hate me? Why won't you leave me alone?"
>"It was a mistake... they'll forgive me like last time."
>React in anger and hatred, lash out
>Other

>>3202925
>"Why do you hate me? Why won't you leave me alone?"
>"It was a mistake... they'll forgive me like last time."

>>3202925
>"Why do you hate me? Why won't you leave me alone?"
>"It was a mistake... they'll forgive me like last time."

>Other

"Enough of this."

>>3202925
>"Why do you hate me? Why won't you leave me alone?"

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>>3202930
>>3202933
>>3202939

"Why do you hate me? Why won't you leave me alone?"

'You know why,' the voice answers. 'Because deep down, you're just like everyone else, because you hate yourself as much as they do.'

"That's not true."

'They all hate you. Everyone. Especially after this last outburst. You think they'll ever trust you again? You were supposed to help them.'

"It was a mistake... they'll forgive me like last time."

'Not this time. This time, you'll be kicked out of the team. Out of the Lin Kuei. Back on the streets if they don't kill you first.'

"That's not going to happen..."

'You'll always be alone. Forever.'

"No... No... NO!"

On that last no, Frost suddenly wakes up. She sits up in her room in a cold sweat, which is unnusual in that she rarely ever sweats. She gasps and her chest heaves as she tries to calm down. Before she can conceive of where she is or how much time has passed since getting knocked out, there is someone by her side. Ling.

"Frost," she says, kneeling alongside her bed. "It's okay. It's me."

"Ling," she says breathlessly, her eyes wide. "What happened? The mission? Blake? What did---"

She tries to sit up and get out of bed, but Ling gently pushes her back with a firm hand, encouraging her to remain lying down. "It's okay. Calm down. Everything is fine."

Frost desperately grabs at her friend's hand. "Tell me what happened. Tell me---tell me I didn't mess it up."

"We have Blake," she assures the cryomancer. "I think the higher-ups are interrogating him now. You were brought here after Sub-Zero..." She swallows. "After he knocked you down."

Frost brings a hand up to her head. She feels a dull throbbing, like she is bruised. Ling, with a much gentler hand, moves Frost's fingers aside as she feels her forehead and her bump. The daughter of Lao smiles. "You don't have a fever. That's good."

"Very funny." Frost looks away from her, her face masked with concern and doubt.

"Everything is okay," Ling assures her in a warm tone. "I promise you, everything is okay."

For several moments there is silence as Frost lies there with her friend by her side. Ling finally speaks up and asks, "Do you want to talk about it?"

>No.
>Remain silent.
>Can you keep a secret? I hear voices.
>I'm scared.
>Other

>Can you keep a secret? I hear voices.
>I'm scared.

>>3202985
>I'm scared.

>>3202985
>Remain silent.

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>>3202994
>>3203003

Frost closes her eyes as she lies her head against her pillow, her stark-blue hair spreading out against the fabric. "I'm scared," she admits.

Ling blinks a few times. "Of what?"

"Losing control. I haven't had a relapse like that in a long time."

Ling scoots closer and places her elbows upon the bed. She is one of the few people Frost has ever told about her troubles in the past and the recurring issues she has had to deal with ever since being frozen. Still, she hasn't probed too deeply into the matter, prompting her to ask, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know," she says. "How will that help?"

"How will it make it worse?"

"Until now I've just generally avoided talking about it."

"And that's worked out great so far."

Frost shoots her a nasty look and she apologizes. The cryomancer looks back up at the ceiling. "I just don't think talking about it will actually do anything."

Ling tries to change the subject. "Look, it was just a mistake. They'll forgive you."

"That's what I said..."

"What?"

"Nothing," Frost says. She looks over at Ling. "You sure I didn't kill anyone I wasn't supposed to?"

"I probably wouldn't be here if you did, and neither would you," she points out with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah... I guess not." She wears a disappointed look on her face. "I just know I'm not going to live this one down. I thought I was, I don't know, doing good, you know? And then this comes along and..."

Ling reaches for her hand and tries holding it in a supportive gesture. "I'm not really good at pep talks," she says in a softer tone. "I think they let me in here because we're friends but I really don't know what to say." She looks off to the side. "I guess everyone has their problems? Well, yeah, obviously..."

Frost squeezes her friend's hand and manages to crack a smile. "We both have the same problem, actually." Ling looks at her. "Only, instead of seeing dicks I can't stop wanting to suck, I see Sub-Zeros I want to kill."

Ling's jaw drops before she lets out a raunchy laugh. "You bitch!" They both laugh and the mood in the room considerably lightens after sharing that moment of merriment. After gving Frost a playful slap on the arm, Ling sits back and takes a clearing breath. "So, do you need anything? A drink of water? I can go, if you like."

>I'd like some alone time.
>Stay with me for now, please, I'd like to keep talking.
>Am I allowed to leave this room?
>Talk more about the mission; keep your mind distracted
>Other

>Am I allowed to leave this room?
>Talk more about the mission; keep your mind distracted

>>3203072

> Mission deets please.

>>3203072
>Am I allowed to leave this room?
>Talk more about the mission; keep your mind distracted

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>>3203076
>>3203080
>>3203091

Frost tosses a glance towards the door. "Am I allowed to leave this room right now?"

Ling's shoulders slump. "Truth be told, I don't know. They asked me to keep you company, but they didn't say to force you to stay in here. You think that's what they want?"

She sighs. "I don't want to think about it right now. Tell me how your side of the mission went."

"Fireseed, Tundra, Sheeva and I were in the main portal chamber, in case reinforcements came through the portal. They didn't. After your team knocked out the secretary and his men, we all regrouped. Kaito, Johnny, Sonya and Sub-Zero went to interrogate the secretary."

Frost lets out another long sigh. "Why was he even here?"

"Tundra said that the Special Forces must have contacted the Lin Kuei about the 'emergency' the general called the secretary in for. I guess he wanted to show up to learn what it was." Ling rubs her arm. "I guess there wasn't a way to warn us in time that he'd be there, or warn him about our plan without risking letting the secretary learn about the trap."

"Figures," Frost grumbles.

"So, what sparked the relapse?" Ling bluntly asks, causing Frost to give her a glare. "Sorry, you don't have to say."

"I guess I was thinking about everything we just learned," she answers anyway. "About other worlds and timelines and time travel." She pauses for a moment and looks at her friend seriously before asking, "If you could go back in time and change something, would you?"

Ling is taken aback by the question. "I... don't know." She then reconsiders, averts her eyes and brushes a stray lock of hair aside. "That's not true, that was a lie. I'd rescue my mother."

At first, Frost lets her words hang in the air, respecting their weight, but then she asks, "But it'd keep you from here."

"What?"

"If your mother was alive, would you have gone to train at Bo' Rai Cho's school?"

"I... I don't know. There's a lot of things that..." She shakes her head. "How can you ask a question like that? Our entire lives would be different, yes. Or maybe they wouldn't, I don't know."

"But you'd be happier, right? You said you would if you could."

"Because I want to, sure. Not a day or night has gone by that I haven't thought about it."

Frost looks her in the eyes and says, "Me too."

Ling's brow furrows. "You think about saving my mother?"

"What?! No! I meant... Uh, nevermind." She throws a spare pillow at her friend. "Outworlders... You and Cao can be so literal sometimes."

"Better than from Earthrealm," Ling says, but she has no witty comeback beyond that.

>Get some sleep
>Send Ling for something or someone
>Leave the room with Ling
>Sneak out the window
>Other

>>3203126
>>Get some sleep

>Leave the room with Ling

Alright, time to get our ass out and do some working out and popsicle licking

>>3203126
>>Leave the room with Ling

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>>3203133
>>3203224

Frost pulls her covers off to one side and kicks her legs off the edge of the bed to stand up. Ling stands as well, giving her a curious look. "I want to go for a walk," she explains to her friend. "It'll help clear my head."

Ling takes her red spear from the wall and follows after her, but upon opening the door to her room the cryomancer is suddenly confronted with and blocked by two soldiers in Special Forces garb, a man and a woman. They quickly turn to face her with stern, tough looks on their faces, despite Frost not being intimidated in the slightest.

"We have been instructed to not let you leave," the woman simply says in an orderly if not diplomatic tone.

Frost's brow lowers as she glares at them. "Do you think you could stop me?"

Ling puts a hand on her shoulder to disarm her. "I didn't know about this," she promises her. Looking at the soldiers, she asks, "How about me? Am I free to come and go?"

They nod, and then close the door.

"Great," Frost mutters under her breath. "A prisoner in my own room. I've been grounded."

Ling purses her lips together in thought. "I'm sure it's only a temporary measure."

"Of course," she replies, rubbing her forehead in frustration. She moves away from Ling towards her bathroom, where she runs some water. She splashes some onto her face, then looks up into the mirror. For a brief moment she sees something else, a terrible vision of herself possessed, covered in ice with bright white eyes. She falls back, only then realizing she's frozen the water in the sink and the faucet.

Ling lingers in the dorway, watching her cautiously.

Frost slides down the wall into a seated position across from the sink and mirror. "Maybe I really am cracking," she whispers. "Ever since that mission to Outworld where I was possessed by that... thing..."

"What thing?"

"I don't know what it was. Some dark spirit Noob Saibot had allied himself with. Something related to the cryomancers from way, way back. Or just some dark winter specter..."

"Is it back? Is that what's causing you to act up?"

Frost considers the possibility, and relishes the idea that there is an external force responsible she could lay the blame upon, but is terrified of the alternative: that it's all in her head and she really is losing her grip on reality. She continues to look at her pale hands in silence.

>Remain and talk with Ling until you are sent for
>Demand to speak to one of the higher ups
>Forcefully leave your room through the front door
>Sneak out through the window
>Other

>Remain and talk with Ling until you are sent for
>Demand to speak to one of the higher ups

>>3203745
>Demand to speak to one of the higher ups

>>3203745
>>Remain and talk with Ling until you are sent for
>>Demand to speak to one of the higher ups

>>3203745
>Remain and talk with Ling until you are sent for
>Demand to speak to one of the higher ups

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>>3203750
>>3203758
>>3203762
>>3203770

Frost remains seated for only a moment before returning to her front door. Upon opening it, the guards move to block her, but she isn't trying to leave. She folds her arms and demands of them, "Fetch one of the higher-ups. I want to speak to them."

They look at each other for a moment before Frost prepares to make her demand again. Ling approaches from behind and nods at them. "Do it," she says, backing Frost.

The female soldier's mouth tightens but she leaves. The male closes the door.

For several minutes, Ling and Frost sit and talk, keeping their minds occupied. Frost has never had a friend over in her room before, and while she doesn't keep many personal items, she does have a few. Namely, her ice cream maker.

"So this is how you make it," Ling says, observing Frost's use of the machine.

"It's lame, I know. 'Ice girl makes ice cream.' How original." Frost adds the ingredients in the proper proportions as she begins to mix. She shoots a sideways glance and quickly adds, "I just like it is all."

"No need to be so defensive," Ling says with a smile. As the two of them prepare to enjoy, there is a knock at the door.

It opens, and Tundra walks in. Frost stands passively as their gazes meet. "I send for a higher-up and I get you?"

He clears his throat. "Yeah. They're all busy with the interrogation." He walks into the room as the door closes behind him.

Frost closes her eyes and tries not to look at him. "The problem is that I see Sub-Zero everywhere and they send in his clone... it's like they're trying to trigger this shit."

Zian folds his arms. "Look, Frost, we all want to help you get past this. We're all here to support and---"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Frost cuts him off. "I've heard the boyscout speech before, about friendship and teamwork and working together." She continues to keep her back turned to him, reasoning that if she cannot see him he cannot appear to be his father. She feels okay now, but she is still on edge.

Ling stays next to her as Tundra approaches from behind. "Frost, please. I can't imagine what it must be like to go through what you are going through, but just like when my father returned to the island with the Dragon Medallion, I'll be here to help you, no matter what."

Frost's head leans forward as complicated emotions continue to swirl within her. At one time she both loved and hated Sub-Zero, wanting to both have him and kill him. Those were the feelings of a confused youth, barely an adult, but they persisted. When she woke up, Kuai Liang was old, but there was now Zian, the spitting image of his father.

Only, like his father, he never was receptive to her feelings, and so she too grew to both love and hate him, but to a much lesser extent due to her previous experience. It was what caused her to lash out at Sam as she saw her attraction to Tundra. It was a foolish thing, but she did it anyway.

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>>3203955

>Stay cold and demand that he leave; his presence is disturbing
>Turn around and speak with him
>Demand to speak with his father, Sub-Zero
>React in anger and raising irrationality
>Other

>Turn around and speak with him

Based on our previous encounters with Zian, he's not so bad.

>>3203956
>Turn around and speak with him
This won't be settled until the demon itself is confronted. This lesser facsimile of the demon isn't going to help much, but at the least, it's the closest Frost will get to the man himself right now. She may as well vent at Tundra in Sub-Zero's place and let him have it. We'll see how he handles all of Frost's baggage.

>>3203956
>Turn around and speak with him

>>3203956
>Turn around and speak with him

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>>3203961
>>3203963
>>3203964
>>3203995

Frost turns around and faces him. She stares at his square jaw and the scar over his eye, given to him by Noob Saibot to intentionally blur the lines between himself and his father, and sees Sub-Zero. Not due to her condition, but because he reminds her of everything she is not: strong, self-assured and secure. Just like his father. She was jealous, both of Sareena and Sub-Zero in particular for being a better cryomancer than she. As she builds herself up to unleash a verbal battering, her hands turn into fists that shake.

"It's not fair, damnit," she mutters. "Why do I have to live with this? Why do I have to deal with going crazy? You grew up in the temple, I grew up on the streets! You had everything handed to you, everything! I had to steal and fight and survive on my own with no one else's help!" She gets up in his face, continually venting. "I fought in deathmatches! And when I joined the Lin Kuei, I thought things would change, but they didn't. You never truly believed in me. You always held me back. You always tried to put me in a fucking cage and when I pushed back, you pushed me back down!"

Tundra takes a step back. "I..."

She takes a step forward after him. "I grew sick of it! I hated it, and I hated you! So yeah, I stole the Dragon Medallion! I just wanted to prove I could be as good as you, but I wasn't and so I was punished! Frozen for fifteen fucking years and when I woke up, I was even more fucked! And then there you were, and I still wanted to be better than you, wanted YOU, wanted everything you had and you were and I couldn't have it, any of it!" He doesn't understand if she is referring to him or his father, but he is nonetheless both amazed and on the defensive from her sudden outburst.

Her stream of consciousness ends as she grabs the sides of her head and lets out a shout. "ARRRGH! It's all so damn unfair! I hate it, hate it, hate it!"

He holds up his hands as Ling looks on, shocked and uncertain of what to do. Tundra tries to disarm her with a diplomatic tone as he says, "Frost, I know things have been difficult..."

"No, you don't," she cuts him off. "You never cared."

"That's not true! I just wanted to be your friend, not your lover!" he says, cutting through to the heart of the issue. "There was too much... complication."

"Complication," she repeats, staring off to the side. "Yeah... Complication. I wouldn't want to date me, either."

She turns away and pushes past Ling, who isn't certain what to do. She looks between Frost and Trundra, looking to him for guidance. He swallows and steps forward. "Frost, I know that you had feelings for my father, and me, and neither of us allowed you to act on them... but..." Words fail him for a moment as his shoulders slump somewhat. "What can I do? What am I supposed to do? I want to help you, but I can't be what you wanted. I just can't. Neither could my father."

"I know," she says. "I know... Just..."

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>>3204799

>I want to leave my room.
>I want to be alone for now.
>I want to speak to Sub-Zero.
>I just want to focus on the next mission.
>Other

>>3204800
>I want to speak to Sub-Zero.

>>3204799
>>I want to leave my room.
I think Frost needs to go on a soul searching journey. Find her roots. Alone. Without the Lin Kuei or anyone watching over her

>Other

I think Frost should make a decision to go solo and leave the New Defenders and the Lin Kuei temporarily. I don't know, maybe have some chill time. No pun intended.

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>>3204814

>>3204800
>I want to leave my room.

>I want to leave my room.

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>>3204814
>>3205160
>>3205343

Frost's hands continue to shake as she tries, admittedly not very well, to control her mounting frustration and rage. She opens her eyes and looks around.

She finds that she hates all of this. This room, this base, this island, this team, Tundra, even Ling. Her self-destructive attitude is making her despise those around her even as they are attempting to help her, and even though she recognizes this, she still feels the way she feels. Unable to control her emotions, she manages to keep from lashing out at them, but even so she says, "I want to leave my room," in a low, nearly venomous tone.

Tundra realizes he cannot say anything more to her to try and better her mood. With an all-too-familiar sigh of resignation, the same kind she's gotten for years from him and his father, he replies, "I'll see what I can do." With that, he leaves.

Frost keeps her back to her friend as Ling looks on with a greatly concerned face. "Frost?"

"What," she nearly snaps.

"I don't know what you need," she says, echoing Tundra's sentiment. "I'd like to be what you need but I don't know what it is. Maybe I can't be it either." She forlornly leans on her staff as her eyes drift to the floor. "I don't want you to leave the team."

"Who said anything about that?" she asks, turning around. "Did someone?"

"No! It's just... is that what you want?"

"I don't know either," Frost says, moving to sit on her bed. "You don't know, he doesn't know, even I don't know what I want or what I need. Nobody knows. I hate this... Why can't my stupid fucking head just be screwed on right? Even that fucking shrink was hired by lizard people so I can't even get professional help, not that it ever actually did anything for me." Frost looks over. "They'll probably kick me out and send me back to the temple."

"Would you go back?"

"Probably not," she admits. "I guess this is it. I'm finally at the point where I'm considering saying 'fuck it' to everything and going rogue, off the grid. Hell, it almost sounds appealing..."

Ling is quiet for a moment before saying, "I could go with you."

Frost looks up, surprised. "What?"

"I said I could go with you. If you were to run from the team, from the Lin Kuei."

"I couldn't ever ask you to do that. You're not whacked out and seeing shit that isn't there like I am."

"I know, but I don't want you to be alone. If you left, all I could think about is how you'd be out there all by yourself." She meets Frost's icy gaze and says, "We're supposed to be a team, even if it would just be the two of us."

>You actually have a place here. I don't.
>Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first.
>I don't need your pity or your help.
>Fuck it, let's get out of here.
>Other

>>3205427
>Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first.

Let's see if they will grant us temporary leave.

>>3205427
>Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first.

>>3205427
>You actually have a place here. I don't.
>Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first.

>You actually have a place here. I don't.
>Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first.

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>>3205483
>>3205545
>>3205980
>>3206165

Frost eventually shakes her head. "Let's see if they're actually kicking me out first." Looking back up at her friend, she adds, "Besides, you actually have a place here. I don't."

Ling wants to argue that point, but instead lets it hang in the air. It is less than an hour that they spend in relative silence, occasionally engaging in minor tidbits of conversation, before they are sent for. The door opens and they look up to see Cassie, who is wearing a neutral---if somewhat conflicted---look on her face.

"The general wants to see you," she says to Frost.

"Oh, good," Frost mutters. "Do I get a last meal?"

Cassie frowns. "Don't make this any worse than it has to be, Frost."

Her eyes narrow. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm already walking on thin ice, so why don't I just stomp?"

"Normally I'd find your puns endearing, but this is serious. There's a lot going on and the general needs to know how actually reliable you are if you're going to keep being a member of this team."

Frost stands up, staring Cassie down. "I guess we'll find out, won't we valley girl?"

Cassie stands to one side as Frost walks past her, with Ling following after her. The three of them walk towards the briefing room, but do not enter it. Instead, Cassie leads them to the rec room, where Kaito and Sonya are waiting, speaking in a hushed, tense manner.

As the three of them enter, they stop and look over. Kaito has a somewhat sympathetic look on his face, while General Cage is wearing her usual stone-cold expression. Frost rubs one arm and looks off to the side, uncomfortable with the idea of getting grilled by the authority figure but prepared to deal with it.

She begins. "Frost, you've put us in a difficult position."

>Let her continue.
>Yeah, sorry about that.
>I can't help it.
>So kick me out.
>Other

>>3206194
>Let her continue.

>>3206194
>I can't help it.
None of this would've happened if Sub-Zero hadn't ambushed Frost.

>>3206199
>>3206200
Can I get a tie breaker?

>>3206194
>Let her continue.

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>>3206199
>>3206245

Frost remains quiet as Sonya folds her arms. "You aren't one of my soldiers, but when they suffer from mental difficulties the last thing we do is put them in a position where they could harm themselves, or others. And yet..."

She casts a look over at Kaito, who steps forward. "We've learned some very difficult things during our interrogation of Secretary Blake, and from my time with Ryan. Though conditions aren't exactly ideal, we need every able-bodied warrior we can muster."

Cassie and Ling stand off to one side as Sonya continues for him. "Frost, I need to know what triggers this mental state of yours. Past reports claim that it is because of Sub-Zero, but you have been around him before without losing it. Why today, during this crucial moment, did you lose control?"

Frost rubs one arm. "I don't know. It just happened."

Kaito is quick to jump in with, "But it was Sub-Zero's presence, none of which that we expected, that set you off, right?"

"...Maybe. That was part of it, yeah."

Sonya, not exactly the most apt of counselors, bluntly asks her, "So what's the other half? Speak up."

"I was just thinking about a lot of stuff, okay?" Frost snaps at her. "A lot's been on my mind. I've been angry and frustrated and I don't have a way to vent it easily. Maybe it all built up and it spilled over, I don't know. I'm not a fucking shrink, and the one we had worked for the enemy."

The general is about to retort to her attitude when Kaito steps in and puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's actually about that matter that we need to talk to you about," he says to Frost. "We don't have long before the saurians notice that Blake isn't where he is meant to be and that we've caught wind of their existence. To put a long, complicated story short, we need to attack Area 51 and secure the weapons they've designed to use against us."

He stands fully in front of her and continues, "Frost, I know you've had a lot of trouble adjusting to life on the team, and even before that. I want you to know that I think you're one of the finest warriors we have. There are some who question your combat capability in light of this most recent incident, but I'd like to believe that you can still be a valuable member of this team and help us on this mission. It affects all of us; they've designed weapons to target us all. You should be part of helping us stop them."

He looks back at the general, who says nothing. He returns his gaze to Frost and finishes with, "We'd keep you separate from any other Lin Kuei elements that could potentially trigger another... outburst. But I need to know how you feel. Are you up to it?"

Frost is frankly at a loss for words. She's held a grudge against Kaito for a while, ever since he beat her in a match, and has rarely if ever shown him any true respect or kindness, and yet here he is, advocating on her behalf to keep her on the team and go on this important mission. How can she reply?

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>>3206298

>Maybe busting some heads will help me out.
>I don't need your pity or your second chance.
>I want to fight alongside the Lin Kuei.
>Why are you doing this? How can you possibly trust me?
>Other

>Let her continue.

>Maybe busting some heads will help me out.
>Why are you doing this? How can you possibly trust me?

>>3206300
>Why are you doing this? How can you possibly trust me?

>Maybe busting some heads will help me out.

>>3206300
>Why are you doing this? How can you possibly trust me?

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>>3206316
>>3206317
>>3206350

Frost gives him a troubled look. "Why are you doing this? How can you possibly trust me?"

"I don't think you're crazy," he replies. "I recognize you have a condition, yes, but you're not crazy."

General Cage doens't seem to agree, and as Frost looks over at Cassie, she notes that the general's daughter seems caught halfway between taking her mom's side or standing with Kaito's decision.

Kaito shakes his head. "No, if this were a consistent and persistent problem, you never could have been a member of this team. You've gone on several missions with us, fought alongside us, lived with us. Everyone here knows, deep down, that they respect you as a warrior and as a person."

He turns slightly, looking across the room at the other three. "Our profession doesn't give us the luxury of a lot of downtime. Especially in moments like this, when the fate of the world could depend on our actions. There's nothing I'd like more than for us all to take a break from the fighting and the constant monitoring of the realms, but we don't always get that chance."

He looks back at her. "You've never taken leave or a vacation since joining the team. I'd like to offer you one after this is over. Anywhere you like, with as little contact as you like, so you can clear your head."

Frost's eyes stray downwards as she looks at the floor. It's true, she's never taken a break. It could help. And yet, even as she thinks about it, she realizes she would have nowhere to go, which is precisely why she never took leave in the first place. She has no home other than the Lin Kuei temple, and she doesn't want to go back there. No family, either. Nothing.

Still, after a moment's consideration, she looks back up and says, "Maybe I have been cooped up too long. Busting some heads could help me out. I want on the mission."

Kaito smirks. "I'm glad. Like I said, we'll need everyone we can get."

Sonya shifts onto one foot, clearly not liking this decision, and Cassie stands respectfully and professionally off to the side without indicating which camp she places her faith in.

He turns to the general and says, "That accounts for the entire team, general. We're ready."

Sonya's nostrils flare with a sharp breath. "Prep your team, Kaito. We need to be ready to move in a number of hours." With one last look at Frost, the general leaves the room.

Cassie and Ling approach, with the latter putting a friendly hand on Frost's shoulder. Kaito turns to the three of them and says, "We're still drawing up plans of attack on Area 51 and collecting as much intelligence as we can before moving in. We'll give you a full briefing when the time comes. In the meantime, get ready."

They all turn, but then Kaito reaches out and catches Frost's arm. She looks up at him and says, "What?"

"Are you sure about this, Frost? Is it what you want?"

She shakes his hand off with a gesture. "I'm sure."

He straightens and nods, simply replying, "Alright then. Be ready to move."

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>>3206371

>Return to your room and rest
>Return to your room and meditate
>Return to your room with Ling
>Head to the training center to work out some early frustration
>Other

>>3206375
>Return to your room and meditate

>>3206375
>Return to your room and meditate

>Return to your room and meditate

We'll be taking a brief lunch break as I attend a going-away party of a sort for a friend. We'll resume in about two hours with regular updates. Stay tuned!

Back and writing now! Update coming shortly.

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Lol

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>>3206380
>>3206394
>>3206399

With the security on her room removed, Frost returns to it. She gives Ling one last look in the hall, and the Outworld girl sends a hopeful smile her way, one that Frost doesn't immediately reciprocate. After walking into her room and turning the lights off, she approaches the center of the floor, sits down and waits.

Frost was never one for meditation. She's impatient, impulsive and often irrational. Sitting still for long periods of self-reflection seems counter-intuitive given the hand of cards she's been dealt in life. And yet, she cannot shake the feeling that whatever is inside her can only be confronted by doing just that. While she was speaking to Kaito, she had considered letting slip the notion that the dark spirit that had possessed her during her journey into Outworld with Tundra and Vapor may have something to do with her problem. After all, he's an idealist and likes to believe people, he'd jump right on that idea.

But she isn't yet sure if that truly is the case or not. Closing her eyes as she sits in a cross-legged position, she falls back on the training her grandmaster attempted to give her all of her life in the temple, much of which never took root. Physical training and honing her powers, yes, but spirituality, history, philosphy... those she participated in and then tossed away the knowledge from.

She doesn't regret doing so, simply because she did it and cannot undo it, but even she admits that she should've preserved some of the deeper aspects of those lessons. Another shortsighted mistake.

Frost looks within, but doesn't see anything there. "Come on," she says after several minutes of wasted time. "You were talkative earlier. Speak up. I know you're there."

Nothing. No response.

"Huh. Maybe I really am just going crazy." She opens her eyes and puts her hands on her knees. "Here I am, talking to myself, waiting to go fight lizard people, wondering if I've gone off the deep end." She snorts at the situation. "The deep end... As if life was ever normal for me. Please."

For a brief moment, she reflects on her earliest memories of childhood, abandonned and shunned by everyone: foster homes, orphanages, organizations that claimed they wanted to help her. But to be fair, even the ones that seemed legit she ran away from, not wanting their help. She wanted something else, something that only two people could have ever given her: a family. But she never knew who those parents were.

>Continue to attempt deeper levels of meditation and self-reflection
>Follow this path: is her unhappiness because of her parents?
>Distract yourself with something; some physical activity, perhaps
>Find someone else to talk to
>Other

>>3207254
>Continue to attempt deeper levels of meditation and self-reflection

>Continue to attempt deeper levels of meditation and self-reflection

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>>3207262
>>3207263

"No, damnit. There's got to be something to this. Something more."

Her brow furrows as she focuses, hard and intently, on what is making her feel this way. Anger, grudges, irritation, frustration, buried somewhere beneath all of that must be the source of it all, the wellspring from which all other problems must be flowing. Her hands curl into fists as they rest on her legs and her entire body tenses, particularly her neck and brow. She tries and tries and tries, but can summon forth no grand revelation, no cure, no real answer to her problem.

Finally, fed up with the lack of progress, she stands up and brings up her foot, slamming it upon her dresser and cracking it in half. She had done it purely out of reactionary anger, but after realizing how good that felt, she looks at her bathroom door and charges. With a leap in the air and a spinning kick, she smashes it in half. She lands and brings up both hands, freezing the toilent and then shattering it with a simple punch.

"This is GREAT!" she howls, laughing as she turns and looks at her alarm clock. Running across the room, she picks it up and smashes it against the wall. The ceiling fan is next, which she destroys with a blackflip kick. Next is her window, which she throws her chair out of.

Throwing off the shackles of normality and authority, she revels in her short-sighted but incredibly satisfying destruction. She throws an ice bolt at the clock on the wall, slices her desk in half and punches several holes in the wall before running onto her bed and tearing it into pieces with her conjured daggers. "Now THIS is therapy!" she laughs.

Suddenly her door opens and there stands Cassie with a slack jaw. "What the hell are you DOING?!" she shouts.

"Meditating," Frost says smugly. "MY way."

"Your room is fucking destroyed!" she says, stepping in. "I came over when I heard the window break and thought a damn stampede was going on. What the hell, Frost? What the actual hell?"

"Wanna make something of it?" she says, picking up a pillow and tearing it in half.

Cassie puts a hand on her forehead. "You DO realize that Secretary Blake and the saurians that funded this team are about to be our enemies, right? That all of our money, resources and... EVERYTHING might be going away? Do you even care?"

Frost takes a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline from her activity wear off. "I guess not."

"You... You..." Cassie's words fail her for a moment. "You think that rules don't apply to you or something?"

Frost scoffs. "What rules? I don't remember any rules."

"The rules of common sense and decency, for one! For not being a fucking tantrum-throwing child, for two!" She points her finger at her. "Just because Kaito was willing to give you another chance doesn't mean you get to use your mental illness as an excuse to do whatever the hell you want!"

"You know, if I really am crazy, that's no way to talk to a crazy person," Frost chides.

"But it is the right way to talk to a child."

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>>3207317

>So why don't you run and tell your mommy about it?
>You don't know what I've been through, you haven't done what I've done.
>Then let's settle this matter with our fists.
>I was just working off my anger. Chill out, why don't you.
>Other

>>3207320
>You don't know what I've been through, you haven't done what I've done.
I expect Frost to pull the "YOU DON'T KNOW ME" card very liberally.

>>3207320
>I was just working off my anger. Chill out, why don't you.
>If money's a problem, I'll just ask Cao to lend me something he borrowed.

>>3207320
>I was just working off my anger. Chill out, why don't you.
>If it makes you feel better I’ll do it out in the middle of the forest or something.

>You don't know what I've been through, you haven't done what I've done.
>I was just working off my anger. Chill out, why don't you.

>>3207320
>>You don't know what I've been through, you haven't done what I've done.

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>>3207351
>>3207377
>>3207447
>>3207475

"I was just working off my anger. Chill out, why don't you."

"You could've gone to the gym or sparred or something other than wrecking all of your shit!"

"So next time I'll do it out in the middle of the forest or something."

"A little late for that, don't you think? Or maybe you think the money that financed this place grows on trees."

Frost waves a hand. "Whatever. If money's the problem, we'll have Cao backroll us."

Cassie folds her arms. "And you think that'll solve our problems? The government of Earthrealm could potentially collapse if we don't handle this all right."

"I never cared for the government anyway, Special Forces."

The blonde sergeant opens her mouth and then closes it, all the while looking like she is going to stomp a hole through the floor. Frost looks at her, amused, finding her own entertainment in the situation. Cassie finally looks at her and says, "You are, without a doubt, the most frustrating, insubordinate, immature bitch I have ever had the displeasure of knowing."

Frost steps off her bed and strides right up to Cassie, getting in her face. "I take that all as a compliment, you daddy's girl, military brat, gum-chewing cunt. Why don't you just back off. You don't know what I've been through, you haven't done what I've done. I've seen shit that'd make your skin crawl."

"I've had two combat deployments and that was before Outworld. Oh, but I'm sure it was so hard for you."

The two of them are about to pop off with punches and kicks as the alarm suddenly sounds, summoning the team to the briefing room. Cassie shoots her a look that says, 'We'll finish this later,' and rushes out, with Frost lingering for only a moment before following after her. Within minutes, the entire team is ready to go, geared up and waiting for the mission brief.

Frost takes her place next to Ling as Kaito addresses the team. "We don't have a lot of time. We have reason to suspect that the saurians may know we're coming, but in the event they don't, we need to take full advantage of the potential element of surprise. Our biggest advantage is knowing that they have no way of knowing that we know about Area 51, so that'll be the last place they'll expect us to hit."

He looks around the room, meeting everyone's gaze and continues, "We're throwing out the usual protocol. The entire team is going on this one. Backup members of the old Defenders will be kept here at the base in case an emergency crops up. Sonya, Jax, Mileena, Kenshi, Johnny, Sub-Zero and anyone else we can get in contact with will be ready to deploy, meaning that the entire team is going on this assault."

"I'll lead the frontal assault team. Sheeva, Jacqui, Tundra, Sam, you're with me. Fireseed, I want you leading the secondary assault and recon team. Fox, Takeda, Ling, Jin, you'll be with him. Finally, I want Cassie to lead the infiltration team. Vapor, Cao and Frost, you're under her command."

>>3207479

Frost curses under her breath. She doesn't look over at Cassie, nor does the sergeant look over at her, but they're both thinking the same thing.

>Just go on the mission
>Request another assignment
>After the briefing, hash it out with Cassie
>Actively attempt to get out of the mission
>Other

>>3207485
>>Just go on the mission

>Just go on the mission

Stick with the stealth element and when the enemies attack, go all out on those scaly motherfuckers. Makes for excellent therapy.

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>>3207487
>>3207493

Frost doesn't object and finds herself trying to pay attention to the plans as Kaito lies them out. Something about a frontal assault to draw their attention, Team B coming in from the side, it all blurs together until he gets to the infiltration team.

"Once the two primary teams are in position, the infiltration squad will enter the facility. Your objective is to reach the lowest levels of the base and access their servers before they have a chance to wipe them. From there, secure the weapons they developed against us. If we're able to push forward enough to offer you support, we will, but I suspect the surface teams will meet heavy opposition. You'll be on your own in there."

Cassie raises her hand. "How will we be entering the site?"

"Dragon Jet. We'll be taking three jets and jumping. For those of us who can fly, we'll be fine, but for the rest, we'll use parachutes."

Sheeva, all four arms crossed, lets out a dismissive snort. "I need no parachute."

Kaito cocks his brow. "Believe me, I know."

He returns to his overlay map of Area 51, detailing the dropzones for all three teams. As he begins to elaborate on suspected enemy defensive positions and vehicles, Frost leans over to Ling and whispers, "I just want to bust some scaly heads in already."

"I know. At least you're going into the facility. I'll be outside serving as a glorified distraction."

Kaito turns around and gets their attention. "There's one other matter," he says. "We know the saurians are going to be in the facility. What we don't know is how many people, soldiers, are human. This is the first time we're attacking a base that is supposed to be one of our own. If you can take them down without killing them, try. If given no option, however, then don't hesitate. We can't outrule the possibility that these soldiers, even if human, may be compromised and working with the saurians." He swallows, clearly conflicted. "I'd have liked to run a non-lethal operation, but our timetable has been pushed up. An intelligence leak from the OWEA may have alerted the saurians to our capture of Secretary Blake. Given the complex nature of this situation, we've decided to take the risk. This isn't going to be like fighting demons or Outworld mutants, so be prepared."

He gives everyone a chance to speak up. When nobody does, he raises his hand. "Good luck, everyone."

As everyone stands up and gets ready to move to the dragon jets for rapid deployment to Area 51, Frost considers her team. She likes Cao, quite a lot in fact, and she's always tolerated Vapor. It's Cassie and her leadership of the squad that gives her pause, especially given their most recent spat.

Cassie gathers Cao, Vapor and Frost over and instructs them to head to the dragon jets while she speaks to her mother and father about something. She makes only brief eye contact with Frost, as if checking to see if she's going to go rogue, before moving off. Frost watches her go with narrow eyes.

>>3207602

>Talk to Cao
>Talk to Vapor
>Head to the Dragon Jet
>Tell them to go; you need another word with Cage
>Other

>Talk to Cao
>Head to the Dragon Jet

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>>3207638

Frost gives a dismissive gesture in Cassie's direction as she walks towards the hanger. The entire team is already dividing into its smaller groups as they discuss their strategy, tactics and contingency plans. Frost simply looks over at Cao and asks, "So, this should be a walk in the park for you, right? After all, you're used to fucking up saurians." She waits for a moment before smirking and saying, "Or rather, fucking saurians, right?"

"I fought Reptile a few times," Cao says, dodging her point about Khameleon. "This'll be nostalgic."

Frost is undaunted by his attempts to sandbag her comment. "If I see any hot female lizards, I'll be sure to let you handle them."

"I'll introduce them to my hammer."

"Oh, is that what you call it?"

He finally cracks a smile. "Good to see you're in a better mood than earlier."

"I'm looking forward to getting to punch some raptors in the face. It'll be a good time. Maybe not as fun as you had with Khameleon, but fun nonetheless."

"Hey, I didn't get to have fun. She knocked me out."

"I'm just glad to know you're not afraid of cold-blooded women," she says with a cocky grin.

He meets her gaze and smiles as Vapor quietly follows behind the two of them, feeling extremely awkward.

Cassie catches up to them in the hanger and the four of them load into the back of a Dragon Jet, strapping in. They all put on headsets as the vehicle comes to life, its engine giving a high-pitched whine while the metal hums all around them.

"Let's make this clean," Cassie says, but Frost thinks she doesn't even know what she is talking about. They're about to assault a military base in Earthrealm that's been taken over by saurians---how is this going to be clean?

She looks across the way at Cao, who gives her a thumbs-up. She returns it. Within moments, the Dragon Jet is taking off, rocketing through the skies as it tears away from the base, leaving the shore far behind.

"The pilots will take us over the base, whereupon we'll have to strap on these," Cassie says, pointing above their heads to where the parachutes are kept. "Once we're in position, they'll slow down and we'll make the jump from the loading ramp." She gives Vapor a look. "You're fine, right?"

"I won't need one," the half-enenra confirms.

Cassie looks over at Frost. "Hope nobody here is afraid of heights."

Frost matches her glare. "Hope nobody here has a broken chute."

Cao's eyes shift between them as his brow raises, but he says nothing.

>Spend the flight in silence
>Ask questions about the saurian situation
>Continue to flirt with Cao, this time in front of Cassie
>Suggest an alternative approach the jet should take
>Other

>>3207739
>>Ask questions about the saurian situation
So I know we don't want to kill humans, but are lizards open game?

>Ask questions about the saurian situation

>>3207739
>Ask questions about the saurian situation

>>3207753
We can only presume lizards are KOS, humans less so.

There might be a way to distinguish between humans and saurians. Use a cold mist to weed them out since saurians are vulnerable to cold temperatures?

>>3207881
well that's why we ask, innit? Don't want cage to bitch us out because we spilled too much green blood,.

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>>3207753
>>3207878
>>3207881

Frost, still staring daggers at Cage, asks, "So, what's the rules of engagement on any saurians we encounter? Are they open game?"

"They're all to be treated as enemies. They've been developing weapons specifically to kill us. We're not hesitating to take them out." She takes out her pistol and checks it over. "If they surrender, so be it. They'll be taken as prisoners. But these are raptors, and even non-fighters among them can be dangerous. Acid spit, long tongues, claws, sharp teeth, invisibility... they're not to be underestimated."

Cao sits back. "If they're anything like the lizardfolk back in Z'unkarah, they won't be too tough. Even Reptile was kind of a pushover, really."

"Still, take this seriously," Cassie advises them both. "I want to cap some lizards to, but let's not forget our job. We need to reach those servers and those weapons as soon as we're on site."

Frost leans forward. "So, these guys have taken over the government. What do we do after we get the weapons out of their hands?"

"They haven't taken over the government yet," Cassie sharply corrects her. "We're learning from Blake who is and isn't a saurian. I wasn't present for the interrogation, but I trust our team leaders. You should, too."

Frost rolls her eyes. "Well, who do they have grilling him?"

"Kenshi," Cassie replies. "He's using his telepathy to rip the information from his head."

Even Frost has to admit that interrogation method is solid. She shrugs and sits back.

Cao scratches his arm. "Speaking of which, you guys ever have grilled lizard? It's really good."

Cassie cocks a brow. "You don't mean the lizardfolk, right?"

"What, no!" he says, and she breathes a sigh of relief. "Those guys taste awful!"

Frost laughs as Vapor continues to sit quietly, keeping out of the conversation.

It isn't long before the Dragon Jet goes through its own self-generated portal and the pilot gives the signal to prepare for the drop. Cassie stands up and hands Frost and Cao their chutes. After they put them on, Cassie checks Cao from head to toe, ensuring he is buckled up properly before moving onto Frost.

"This is your chance to get rid of me, you know," Frost says in her ear as Cassie tightens the straps on her midsection. "One wrong strap, right?"

"Contrary to whatever you think, I don't want you dead," Cassie cooly replies as she continues making her adjustments.

"Aw, I knew you liked me, Cage. I'm flattered, but you're not my type."

Cassie glares at her. "It isn't because I like you. I don't want your pancaked corpse on my hands, Frost. Now turn around."

"Try not to enjoy the view too much."

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>>3208036

After double-checking everyone, they prepare for the drop. When the signal is given, the Dragon Jet slows down, Cassie hits a button to open the rear ramp, and one-by-one they run down the ramp and jump out. It is late in the evening, with the sun just having set, so they have little light to go by. That was the plan, to drop with enough light to see and then operate under the cover of darkness. A risky move, considering the possibility of the saurians being nocturnal, but worth the risk.

First Cassie, then Cao, then Vapor who blasts out of the back as a cloud of fog, and finally Frost. They all take the leap and are sent hurtling down towards the desert below.

>1d100 to drop successfully!

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>3208041
deadpool time!

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>3208041

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>3208041

Rolled 22 (1d100)

Falling with style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwkLYLOe4U0

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>>3208048
>>3208049
>>3208058
>>3208060

As Frost falls, she twirls and spirals along the way, feeling the wind ripping past her. Her eyes close as, for a moment, she is lost in the sensation of it all, swept up in the current and carried to an unknown destination. Her blue hair, normally held straight by her gel, becomes even straighter than usual.

'What if you didn't pull the cord?' a thought strays across her mind. 'What if you just fell? It'd all be over. Just like that...'

Frost opens her eyes and suddenly realizes that more time has passed than she thought, and the desert floor seems much more detailed than before! She rips on the cord of her chute and it opens, jolting her as it catches. Her heart races and adrenaline pumps through her body as she looks around; it seems Cassie and Cao opened their chutes earlier.

Looking down, she sees that she is rapidly approaching a vehicle, a truck with a fabric top stretched over its back. Her eyes widen and a sudden idea comes to her mind. When the moment is perfect, she cuts herself free from the chute and falls onto the back of the truck, using her summoned dagger to dig into the fabric. She bounces on part of the fabric but hits a metal railing beneath it with her leg, which is painful but nothing too significant.

She looks up and sees the truck driving towards a series of buildings up ahead.

>Jump off and regroup with the others
>Ride the top of the truck into the base
>Cut your way into the back
>Work up to the cab and jump in
>Other

>>3208114
>Ride the top of the truck into the base

>>3208114
>Cut your way into the back

>Ride the top of the truck into the base

then

>Cut your way into the back

>>3208122
Wouldn't they see us? We're wearing blue and it's day out.

>>3208114
>>Ride the top of the truck into the base
Oh boy. Suicidal thoughts are not good,

>>3208128
It's traditional Chinese ninja warrior cobalt blue. It's basically 2 steps from invisible

>>3208128
This is a night op.

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>>3208117
>>3208118
>>3208122
>>3208131

Frost grits her teeth and cuts into the fabric of the top, crawling into the back of the truck. She lands on a stack of cases and sits up, looking around. There isn't anyone back here, but there is a lot of equipment being brought into the base. Her immediate thoughts aren't to investigate however; she's caught up on what just happened to her.

"I wasn't seriously thinking about that, was I?" she wonders aloud. The truck bumps along the gravel road as she braces herself against one of the metal railings.

Suddenly her communicator beeps and she holds it up. Cassie is contacting her. "Frost! What the hell happened?" It seems like she is still falling.

"I landed on a truck and it's carrying me towards the base. You guys can catch up on foot, right?"

"Don't expose the team until the distraction goes off!"

"Yeah, yeah, got it," she says, turning it off and sliding it away. She crawls across the cases towards the back of the truck. "I didn't see a gate, so it seems like they already made it through a checkpoint."

She waits patiently. Eventually Cassie contacts her again and says that she and Cao have landed and linked up with Vapor. She is sending her fellow Lin Kuei ahead to regroup with her while she and the thief prince make their way over on foot. She tells Frost to stay put.

"That doesn't sound like fun," Frost mutters as the truck comes to a stop. Taking a peak out of the fabric, she sees that she is in a parking lot adjacent to one of the main buildings, which is located about thirty meters away. She hears the front door open and two people emerging from the cab.

>Hide under the truck
>Hide on top of the truck
>Stay hidden within the back
>Leap out and take them both by surprise and take them out
>Other

>>3208264
>Hide under the truck

>Hide under the truck

>>3208264
>Stay hidden within the back
>If they inspect us, well, we're no Vapor, but in this air your powers should make a decent fog to cloud people's sight. Plus, they might think some bio-weapon got out, that should be fun!

>>3208264
>>Hide under the truck

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>>3208268
>>3208269
>>3208273

Quickly lifting up the flap and hopping out on light feet, Frost scurries under the truck. With its large wheels and body, there is more than enough room to do so, and in the dark parking lot she bets she won't be seen. She is correct in her judgment, as the two soldiers travel around to the back to lower the gate. She crawls forward to look at them and hear them. They are in unifrom, but aren't wearing armor. They seem to be grunts.

"So, what are we dropping off today?"

"Just a bunch of equipment."

"Why'd they need it tonight? I was supposed to be off two hours ago. Man, fuck these eggheads."

"Just help me unload this stuff." The second one climbs into the back and starts handing him the hard plastic and metal cases.

'These guys don't seem like lizards,' Frost thinks. 'Maybe I should sneak away when they aren't looking...'

"Isn't someone supposed to come out and meet us?" the first one asks as he takes the seventh or so crate from the one in the back.

"They probably forgot. After we unload it all, I'll go get them. You stay here and watch the stuff."

"You mean, have a cigarette? Don't mind if I do."

>Sneak away, head towards the building
>Knock them out and hide them in the back of the truck
>Freeze them on the spot; kill them and hide the bodies
>Wait for them to finish their work, then use the second one to gain access to the building
>Other

>>3208356
>>Sneak away, head towards the building

>>3208356
>>Freeze them on the spot; kill them and hide the bodies
>Smoking kills

>Knock them out and hide them in the back of the truck

>>3208356
>Knock them out and hide them in the back of the truck

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>>3208366
>>3208371

Waiting for the right moment to strike, which is right when they finish their work and the second one hops out of the truck, Frost shoots out with a slide of ice, barreling right into the legs of one of them and knocking him over. The other one, who was busy lighting his cigarette, doesn't know how to react in time. She pops up and strikes him in the neck, knocking him down, before turning and kicking the other in the face.

As the first one falls down, his cigarette falls from his lips, which Frost catches as she turns around.

"Smoking kills," she says, flicking it aside with a smug grin.

"I take exception to that," Vapor says as she manifests on top of the truck.

Frost shoots her a look. "What?"

"N-nothing."

"Help me load these two in the back." As she looks down, she sees a keycard on a lanyard and swipes it. "Score." She and Vapor throw them both in the back and close the hatch and flap.

"Cassie was upset that you took off on your own," Vapor says.

"Yeah, that's nice," Frost replies, walking up to the nearby building. She spies a card reader and a camera pointed down at the spot in front of the door. With a simple gesture, she covers it up with a chilling breeze to obscure the lens. She approaches the door and uses the keycard on the reader, unlocking it. "Too easy. Let's go."

Vapor fidgits nervously. "But we can't. Cassie and Cao aren't here yet. And the distraction hasn't---"

At that moment, they both hear the sound of an explosion nearby. "Sounds like a distraction to me," Frost says. "Now come on."

"We need to wait for them!" Vapor says, taking out her communicator.

>Wait for Cassie and Cao
>Knock the communicator out of her hands
>Fine, you wait here, I'm going in there
>Grab her by the arm and force her inside
>Other

>>3208499
>Wait for Cassie and Cao
>Glare at Vapor all the while

>>3208499
>Fine, you wait here, I'm going in there

>Wait for Cassie and Cao

"I'm only doing this for you."

>>3208524
>>3208539
>>3208529
>>3208598
Can I get a tie breaker?

>>3208643
I'll wait for Cassie and Cao.

>>3208643
There's not a tie.

>>3208499
>>Wait for Cassie and Cao
do glare though

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>>3208652
Well, there was, anyway. The >>3208598 was---eh, nevermind.
>>3208524
>>3208539
>>3208647
>>3208655

"Fine. We wait for the prince and the girlscout."

Frost folds her arms and taps her foot impatiently, all the while glaring at Vapor, who avoids her gaze. Off in the distance, they hear the sounds of gunfire and more explosions.

"Sounds like fun," she says wistfully. "Could be punching raptors right about now."

"We're supposed to be a team," Vapor says. "Why can't you ever just be a team player?"

Frost's eyes narrow and she stops tapping. "What'd you say?"

Vapor faces her fully and says, "I said, why can't you ever just be a team player? Even before the New Defenders, when we were at the Lin Kuei temple, you never wanted to just fit in and you had every opportunity to do so!"

"I wouldn't say that I---"

Surprisingly, Vapor cuts her off, asserting herself. "You know, there was a time when I would've given everything to be like you! I wanted to look up to you, but imagine my disappointment when all you turned out to be is a stick in the mud. I thought, 'Finally, another female Lin Kuei with powers who I could relate to' but all you ended up being is a big, fat, meanie!" She shakes her head, determined to keep going. "You might have problems, Frost, but you're not the only one! At the end of the day, when we strip off this uniform and our association with the team, at least I can go to bed knowing that I'm not a bully!"

Frost blinks a few times as Vapor vents. "Where the hell is this all coming from?" she says in a surprised voice.

Vapor's bluster dies down and she steps back. "S-sorry."

The cryomancer holds out up her arms. "Well, finally we're getting somewhere! You've got problems, I've got problems, so what are we waiting for? Let's go in there and kick some ass!"

"We're waiting for Cassie and Cao."

Frost snaps her fingers. "And just like that, progress is lost. Good speech, though. Really made me reconsider my ways."

"You're a jerk."

"And you're only here for the same reason that Tundra is: nepotism."

"Yeah, well... why don't you just... shut up."

Frost rolls her eyes. "Scathing."

Their eyes are drawn to two figures rapidly approaching, fast and low to the ground. They prepare themselves before realizing that it is Cassie and Cao. The sergeant approaches Frost. "What the hell are you doing?" she demands.

"Waiting on you, princess. I opened the door for you. Do we have permission to go inside and actually do what we came here to do?"

"No more splitting from the team!" she says, pointing her finger in Frost's face. "Got it?"

"Whatever you say."

The four of them quickly enter, closing the door behind them.

>Immediately split from the team
>Follow Cassie's lead
>Take charge and rush ahead
>Infiltrate and use stealth
>Other

>>3208930
>Well, there was, anyway. The >>3208598(Dead) was---eh, nevermind.
I didn't even link to your post or format it for a vote.

>>3208930
>Infiltrate and use stealth

>Infiltrate and use stealth

>>3208932
I honestly can't remember, that was a few hours ago. I remember there being two votes for going in and two votes for waiting.

>>3208930
>>Follow Cassie's lead
But, y'know, be bitchy about it.

>>3208939
That last "vote" came in like 20 minutes after the others.

>>3208950
Yeah, back in the day on /tg/ I was much stricter about posting times and windows for responses, but things here on /qst/ are much slower. The nature of the beast, I suppose. I'm just glad to finally be back with MKK, running and enjoying the quest, which I hope you are all too.

On that note, I'm off to bed. We'll be resuming in the morning! Thanks for playing so far, because we're not nearly done getting to the heart of Frost's problems. See you in the morning.

>>3208930
>>Infiltrate and use stealth

>>3208930
>Infiltrate and use stealth

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>>3208936
>>3208937
>>3209029
>>3209258

Everyone crouches as Cassie sends Vapor to scout ahead. She turns into a cloud and whisks herself away while the three of them move forward. The interior of the building is very well-lit, with white hallways and a generally sterile-looking environment. In the distance, alarms blare, and they know they have precious little time to accomplish their mission before their objectives are terminated.

As they round a corner, they approach a central hub which appears unguarded. It seems that the attack occurred at a very opportune moment, for only janitorial staff are present, and they are scrambling to take cover and hide. They are of no concern to the team, and as a janitor nearly bumps into them and comes face-to-face with Cassie's gun, she tells him to beat it and he does just that, entering a broom closet and closing the door behind him.

Vapor reforms in front of them. "There aren't any guards. They must all be outside! I found what I think is the server room, right over here."

She leads them to a windowed room with rows of servers on the other side of a locked door. Cao summons his Wrath Hammer and smashes the window, allowing everyone to hop inside. Cassie takes out a small device and begins searching for a port to use it on, which she eventually does.

"This codebreaker will allow me to access their files," she says, kneeling down in front of a computer. As it runs its program, she engages in some light hacking of her own, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

As the three of them watch, they hear a noise and some shouting from outside; it seems they're about to have company. A nearby security camera from within the building shows that it will be armed and armored company, as soldiers enter the building and head towards their location.

"They must be here to clean up," Frost says.

"Keep them from wiping or destroying these servers until I can crack and download all of their files," Cassie says. "Move!"

They don't need to be told twice. Frost cracks her knuckles and smiles beneath her mask.

>Ice up the floor so they slip, then you attack
>Create icy barriers in some of the hallways, forcing their approach from only one direction
>Charge forward with Cao and take them head on
>While Cao charges forward, sneak around behind them and attack from the rear
>Other

>>3209708
>Create icy barriers in some of the hallways, forcing their approach from only one direction
>While Cao charges forward, sneak around behind them and attack from the rear
A single chokepoint is the absolute worst thing to deal with in close quarters.

>>3209708
>Ice up the floor so they slip, then you attack

Let's see if the guards know how to skate.

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>>3209712
>>3209717

Frost's eyes dart around, noting that there are three hallways that lead to this hub: the one they came from, the one the soldiers are coming from, and a third that leads around to the second.

She puts her palms together before thrusting them outwards, creating a barrier wall of ice that completely blocks the second hallway. Knowing that this will cause them to come down the third, she lays ice upon the floor, then nods at Cao. Looking at Vapor, she says, "Get me behind them."

The grey-clad girl takes hold of Frost and turns them both into fog, guiding them up through the vents. When they manifest again, it is behind the soldiers, crouching underneath a desk. They silently communicate to each other to wait until they hit the ice wall, then the ice on the floor and then Cao. At least in battle they can understand and communicate well; Frost is still Lin Kuei, and so is Vapor.

When their plan works as intended, redirecting the soldiers onto the ice and giving Cao his chance to attack, they strike from behind. Frost leaps upon the desk and tackles one of the men to the floor, getting her hands on his rifle and freezing it solid. She shatters it with both hands before delivering a double-throat punch to him, then freezing him to the floor.

Vapor wafts over the heads of two others, reforms and drops upon them, kicking them at the same time. This forces them against the walls of the hallway. As another soldier alongside them turns around and gets ready to aim, Frost launches a bolt of ice into his shoulder and sends him to the ground. Meanwhile, Cao continues to take on the head of the group, holding off three soldiers with tight punches and kicks, making use of the expectionally tight confines of the hallway to his advantage, at one point running up the wall to drop an elbow onto the head of one of them while hooking his foot around the neck of another, forcing him to fall onto a third.

Frost stands up and turns around. The front entrance of the building bursts open, and more soldiers are coming in, at least four or five.

>Focus on freezing and subduing them
>Go in for the kill; start slicing and shattering
>Fall back towards the server room, creating ice barriers to buy more time
>Get around them and ice up the entrance of the building
>Other

>>3209799
>Get around them and ice up the entrance of the building

>>3209799
>Get around them and ice up the entrance of the building

>Focus on freezing and subduing them

>Focus on freezing and subduing them

>>3209799

> Focus on Freezing & subduing

Ice Ice Baby.

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>>3209805
>>3209807
>>3209811
>>3209866

Frost's eyes flare a bright blue color as she harnesses her cryonic energy in the form of a blast of chilling air, vastly slowing if not outright subduing every soldier that enters the building. She rushes past them as they turn blue and does the same at the entrance of the building, only more concentrated, creating another strong barrier of thick ice in order to block anyone else from entering. With their route of escape and reinforcement blocked off, she turns her attention to them as they try to move within her freezing wind.

She grabs one and throws him into another, then trips a third before blasting the feet of the fourth, keeping him in place. She rushes forward and grabs the weapon out of his hands, using it as a club to bash the fifth across the face. Finally, she ices the others where they lie.

Vapor and Cao, having finished off the first set of guards, enter the lobby as Frost finishes her work. She dusts off her hands and places them on her hips. "I'm done here," she says, walking past them.

In the server room, Cassie is just finishing her initial download. Looking over the data on her readout device, she says, "There's more than we thought, but this info does correspond to what Kaito told us about the underground facility. Seems like it is a missile silo that's been transformed into a laboratory. What we're looking for is going to be down there."

"Is there a way to reach it?" Vapor asks.

"I've got a semi-complete readout of the entire facility, and yes, it looks like it. There's an old elevator shaft in this building that connects to a tunnel that leads to that facility, but it appears to be out of order."

"I can work with that," she replies. "I'll drift us down there."

"Then let's move out before they torch their lab. We don't have long before they realize just who is attacking them. And I think it'll be safe to say that anyone we encounter down there will be a saurian."

They find the old elevator doors which Cao forces open with his hammer, revealing a dark and dusty shaft that extends downwards for quite some distance. Everyone holds onto Vapor as she focuses intently; it is difficult for her to transport more than one person at a time, but she knows she can do it. They all vanish in a grey cloud that swirls and surges down into the shaft, and at the bottom, the four of them reappear, albeit in a somewhat clumsy manner as they fall onto the floor.

"Nice work, mop-top," Frost says with a groan.

Cao approaches another set of doors and forces them open with his hammer. They are faced with another hallway, one that looks like it hasn't been used in some time. At the opposite end is another set of doors.

>Send Vapor scouting ahead
>Have Cao take point; he's the tank
>Everyone proceeds forward quietly and stealthily
>Freeze those doors and knock them down
>Other

>Send Vapor scouting ahead
>Have Cao take point; he's the tank

>>3209885
>Have Cao take point; he's the tank

>>3209885
>Send Vapor scouting ahead
>Have Cao take point; he's the tank

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>>3209888
>>3209891
>>3209893

"We should send Vapor up ahead to look around and have Cao knock down those doors," Frost suggests.

Cassie is about to object, when she blinks a few times. "Yeah, that's... actually exactly what I was going to say." She grows somewhat flustered, clearly upset at herself for putting her personal dislike of Frost ahead of her responsibility to listen to her teammate's suggestions. She quickly changes pace by taking out her communicator to contact Kaito and Fireseed to let them know that they are about to breach the lower level.

As Vapor mists ahead of the group, Cao hefts up his hammer and takes position in front of the doors. Cassie and Frost move alongside the doors, guns and cryomancy at the ready. He slams his hammer onto the doors and the three of them rush into the experimental technology wing, a strange level with several labs working on different projects.

The alarm continues to blare loudly. Scientists can be seen running for cover or attempting to hide their work. "Spread out and stop them," Cassie orders, pulling aiming her pistol and shooting one in the leg. He falls down and drops a series of notes he was carrying. The sergeant ignores his cries as she continues to aim and fire at others, hoping to incapacitate them.

Nearby, Vapor manifests and uses her smoke to choke two scientists, knocking them out. Cao rushes forward and punches one of them, knocking them into a table.

As Frost takes a step forward, she is suddenly blasted with a fire extinguisher. As it stops, she looks to her left and sees a man holding it at her, shaking with fear. "Seriously?" she asks, completely unphased.

He drops it. "Don't kill me! I just work here!"

"You're lucky I was told not to kill the ones who surrender," she says, freezing his feet to the floor.

As Cassie plugs her device into a nearby wall terminal, Frost approaches her and says, "I don't get it. These scientists all look human. Where the hell are the raptors?"

Suddenly, a figure from the ceiling decloaks and leaps down at her, claws and teeth poised to strike! "HERE!" it cries as it leaps upon her back, causing them both to roll along the ground. The saurian flings her aside, through a window of one of the project labs before standing and hissing in her direction. Around the main room, more raptors begin to decloak, hidden along the walls. They move in to attack Cao, Cassie and Vapor.

Frost picks herself up amongst the broken glass and dusts herself off. "Well, it's about time," she says. "Now let's go!"

>1d100 and an action!

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Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>3209952
Ice spike from the ground to catch them out at range.

Rolled 55 (1d100)

Throw two ice daggers to pin the saurian's feet to the ground and go for the jugular with another ice dagger

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>3209952
Throw ice spears at them

I deleted my previous post because i didn't specify an action.

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>>3209961

Bringing up her foot, she slams it onto the ground to send a burst of cryonic power through the floor at her saurian foe, creating an ice spike that surges upwards and into the stomach of the saurian, causing green blood to flow down the spike and onto the floor.

"Impaling lizards? Just call me Shrike," Frost quips.

>>3209966

As another saurian leaps onto the window sill, Frost summons two daggers and throws them, stabbing them both into the raptor's boney feet. It lets out a hiss of pain as she dashes forward on an ice slide, summoning another dagger as she does, before leaping up to slice the saurian across the throat. She makes it back outside into the main wing as the dead body slumps to the ground behind her, its legs still held up by her daggers.

>>3209976

As Cassie, Cao and Vapor all take on other raptors, who seem to be emerging from hidden panels along the walls and floor, Frost prepares to launch spears at them. However, one of the raptors suddenly drops behind her and gets her in a grapple, forcing his arms around both of hers. His disgusting mouth opens and he bites her neck, causing her to let out a grunt of pain as he sinks his teeth in.

>1d100 and an action!

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>3210075
Freeze yourself and the saurian with you.

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>3210075
We can ice clone, right?

>>3210083
Ho. Lee. Shiet.

Rolled 5 (1d100)

Perform a Cryoport and summon a large ice spear, jamming it right through the back of that Saurian's cranium

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>3210075
Form an ice sword, stab a lizard and freeze them from the inside out.

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>>3210079
>>3210083

In response, Frost freezes her entire body, covering herself from head to toe in a thick sheet of ice. But it doesn't stop there. The saurian, grappling and biting her, is also completely frozen. After a mere moment, Frost bursts from her icy coating, shattering not only the layer covering her but the entirety of the saurian, who falls to the floor in thick chunks of frozen flesh.

"I hate it when a guy tries to mack on my neck," she says distastefully.

>>3210092

As she turns towards her allies, another saurian shoots out its tongue and wraps it around her foot, yanking on her ankle and causing her to trip. Frost attempts to turn around and slice through the muscle with an ice knife, but the saurian retracts its tongue only to spit a green gob of thick, burning slime at her. It hits her square in the face, obscuring her vision as she shouts, clawing at the goo to tear it off.

The saurian leaps upon her and starts raining blows down, punching and clawing at her.

>>3210098

Though temporarily blinded, Frost summons a larger-than-usual knife in one hand and manages to punch him in the face with the other. This stuns the raptor for a moment, giving her a chance to grab it by the neck and lift up, exposing the bottom of its jaw while pointing her sword upwards. She thrusts and stabs him cleanly through the brain, freezing his skull from within until his entire head is ice. When she pushes him off of her, he falls over and his head hits the floor, cracking and sending frozen brain matter sliding across the metal tiles.

She brings a hand to her face and freezes the green spittle, then tears it off her face. She blinks as she hears something nearby, some kind of door opening. Looking on, she sees there is a staircase nearby leading down to the bottommost level of the facility, and more saurians are emerging from it. They don't appear to immediately see her from her current position.

>1d100 and an action!

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>3210216
freeze a wall infront of the doorway. to cut off reinforcements

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>3210216
Make the stairs a slippery slope!

Rolled 24 (1d100)

Freeze the stairway to make them slip downstairs and suffer major head injuries and broken limb bones.

They're probably going along the walls.

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>>3210252
>>3210294

Frost raises her hands and attempts to freeze the path leading down to the lab, or perhaps block it off, but suddenly a figure steps on her arms.

She looks up as a saurian, taller and stronger than the others, smacks her across the face with the back of his hand. He hisses at her from behind a green mask. "You think you can ssstop usss?" he says, kneeling down to pick her up by the neck. "I don't know how you found out about usss, but we will dessstroy you!"

Frost grabs his wrist as his other hand glows with a green aura. Staring into his yellow eyes set admist green, scaly skin, she grunts out, "Man, you lizards are way uglier up close..."

He roars and throws her aside. "I am Komodai! Long have we waited to ssseize control of Earthrealm once more, and you will not ssstand in our way!"

Putting his hands together, he launches a force orb in her direction. She narrowly dodges, causing it to hit and warp a desk, launching it upwards.

"Do you all talk like that?" she asks, summoning a pair of daggers. She mocks his tone by adding, "Because that'sss annoying."

The saurian's eyes widen and his serpentine nostils flare as he charges forward.

>Current Meter: 1
>1d100 and an action!

Rolled 55 (1d100)

Blast a Chilling Wind in his way to slow him down and toss two ice daggers down his knees while making a pun, "Am I too warm-blooded for you?"

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>3210416
Throw all the ice knives we can summon. If he turns invisible, leave a giant ice sheet on the floor surrounding us.

>>3210416
Form an ice hammer and bash his head in.

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>3210449

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>>3210430

While still holding her daggers, Frost points her fingers at her foe and conjures forth a mist of freezing wind that slows him down. The cold-blooded raptor is caught in it and snarls as his movements come to a halt, his muscles and clothing icing over. Having stopped his advance, she now hurls both knives into his legs, just above the knees, sticking them into his green flesh as he growls in pain.

Frost smirks as she says, "Am I too warm-blooded for you?"

>>3210433

Komodai bursts from the ice with sudden and impressive speed, leaping towards her and delivering a powerful dropkick to her chest with both feet. Frost flies back and hits the ground, sliding along the metal as he lands and picks himself back up. "You underessstimate usss, foolisssh woman!"

He dashes towards her with the same unnatural speed gifted to him by his raptor origins and leaps upon her while she is down. Tearing off his mask to expose his reptilian features, he snaps at her as she attempts to hold him at bay. Drool drips from his maw onto her face, making her wince in disgust.

>>3210449

Forming a ball of ice around one hand in the rough shape of a hammer, she slams it against the side of his skull, shattering the weapon and knocking him off. He twitches for a moment as she rolls away, getting back up on her feet. Komodai stands up a moment later, his eyes darting towards a nearby station.

Frost follows his gaze, seeing that he is looking at some kind of injector with a blue liquid kept within a case that keeps it at a very cold temperature. The entire station that the case sits upon seems to be considerably chillier than anything else in this lab, as it contains strange vials of similar-looking blue liquid within a nearly-frozen environment, glimpsed through a plastic window.

The saurian pauses for only a moment before making for the station and the injector.

>Current Meter: 2
>1d100 and an action!

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Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>3210479
NAH B
EX Ice slide and tackle him low.

Rolled 43 (1d100)

Freeze that scaly bastard's legs with Cool Down and charge at him, impaling an ice blade through his head

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3210479
throw an ice ball at the injector to freeze it solid.

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>>3210489
>>3210494

Frost dashes forward, attempting to use her ice slide, but the suarian's speed is greater. He flips over her low attempt at a tackle and lands upon the station, crouching and smashing open the case containing the injector. When she tries to freeze his legs, he again leaps into the air, flipping behind her with astonishing acrobatic ability.

Faster than she can react, he stabs the syringe into the base of neck and injects her with the liquid. Frost shouts in pain at the sting, but moreso at the incredibly strange sensation she experiences as she falters and falls forward onto her knees. Her entire body feels as though it is on fire; her nerves are lighting up, under assault from whatever was in that injector.

"What... what the..." She tries to stand up, but falls back down. "What did you..."

Komodai looks at the injector. "Ah... this one was meant for Tundra. Oh well. If not lethal, it should still be half as potent."

>>3210518

Frost brings up her hand and tries to summon an ice ball to throw at him and the injector, but to her horror she discovers she cannot. Her eyes go wide as she watches the cryonic energy she focused vanish into the air as nothing more than a harmless breeze. She shakes as she tries desperately to conjure up any kind of power, any hint of it, but there is nothing.

Her powers are simply gone.

Komodai tosses the injector over his shoulder as he snarls in approval. "Now, to finish you..."

His chest suddenly pops with green blood as Cassie fires several shots into his torso. He falls back as his blood sprays on Frost, grasping at his gunshot wounds in pain. He snarls as Cao suddenly tackles him from the side, causing them both to crash through a nearby wall.

Cassie runs over and kneels alongside Frost, moving to help her up. "Are you okay?" she asks.

>I'm... fine.
>Get off of me!
>My powers, they're... gone...
>Desperately search the cryo-station for some kind of reversal antidote
>Other

>>3210546
>>I'm... fine.

>>3210546
>Desperately search the cryo-station for some kind of reversal antidote

>My powers, they're... gone...
>Desperately search the cryo-station for some kind of reversal antidote

Temporary break. Be back in a bit.

>>3210546
>Well, Clark Kent's not a ninja when he loses his powers, uh, I mean, who's Clark Kent?

Back. Writing now.

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>>3210560
>>3210566

Breaking free of her grasp, Frost rushes over to the station that held the injector. It contains many vials with her, Tundra and Sub-Zero's blood samples, along with refined products meant to kill them, but there doesn't appear to be anything in the form of a cure.

"Frost, what's going on?" Cassie demands. Her attention, however, is drawn away by Cao's battle with Komodai, which is currently destroying one of the other research wings. Meanwhile, Vapor is still battling two saurians across the way.

"Damn," she says. "Stay here!"

Holding up her gun, she goes to reinforce Vapor. As Frost breaks open the sealed container to look through the cycles of samples for anything that might help her, she eventually comes across a series of vials containing original samples of her blood. She finds a small cylinder meant to keep samples cold which she puts her blood test tubes into before locking it and activating it. She slides it into a pocket on her vest.

Her heart is racing as she tries to keep from panicking. 'My powers are gone,' she thinks, staring down at her hands. 'I feel... warm! Is this... is this what room temperature feels like?!'

A crashing noise is heard to her left, making her look on as Cao smashes a table that Komodai was crouching upon. Cassie finishes off the last saurian that Vapor was dealing with, then looks back at Frost and says, "What are you doing? Hurry up and help!"

She rushes in to join Cao while Vapor drifts towards the entrance to the lower level, seeking out more saurian foes.

>You still have martial arts training. Help fight Komodai
>Call for backup
>Head down to the lower level
>Stay back and out of the fighting
>Other

>>3211068
>You still have martial arts training. Help fight Komodai

>You still have martial arts training. Help fight Komodai

>>3211068
>>You still have martial arts training. Help fight Komodai

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>>3211073
>>3211075
>>3211083

Cursing this latest turn of events and placing the blame on that little green bastard, Frost rushes to join in the fight against him. As Cassie throws a green-glowing shadow ball, Cao hits him in the leg with his Wrath Hammer. Frost suddenly pushes past them both and delivers a powerful knee straight into Komodai's jaw, then starts pounding on him with combination blows. Realizing he is outnumbered, Komodai shoots his tongue out and upwards at the ceiling, wrapping it around a pipe. He yanks on it and steam is released when it breaks, flooding all three of them with a smokescreen as he tries to make a break for it.

Unfortunately for him, Vapor is there, and she isn't about to let him go anywhere. As he tries to leap into the air, she turns into a cloud and catches him, attacking him from all sides with burning wisps of fog as she keeps him suspended for a moment before dropping him hard onto the floor.

Cassie, Cao and Frost walk around the railing onto the lower level that Vapor caught him in, whereupon Cassie takes out a pair of zip-tie cuffs to subdue him with. As she does this, Frost glares at the saurian while Cao and Vapor walk over towards the staircase leading down into the lower level.

"Uh, Cassie?" Cao says. "You might want a look at this..."

"Finish up here," she instructs Frost before moving to help Cao out. Frost approaches the wounded saurian.

Placing a hand around his neck, she squeezes. "What did you do to me, you freak?"

His long, serpentine tongue sticks out of his mouth as he chokes. She lets up on him enough for him to speak. "It wasss... meant to kill you..."

"You said it was for Tundra," she says in a desperate, hushed tone so that the others will not hear. "What have you done? Answer me, or so help me God I'll fucking annihilate you."

"We found the cryomancer genesss... Learned how to dessstroy them... Made poisssonsss with the blood..."

"How do I fix it? How?"

He looks up into her eyes and his dry mouth curls into a smile. "You can't..."

"You took away my powers... You... You..." Her hand tightens around his neck as she raises her fist high, ready to end him.

"Frost! Bring him here!" Cassie demands from below, in a room Frost cannot see.

>Drag him down
>Knock him out
>Kill him
>Walk down, leave him here
>Other

>>3211139
>>Drag him down

>>3211139
>Knock him out

>Drag him down

But by his tongue

>>3211139
>>3211150
Supporting, but it may be acidic.

>>3211189
>:
She can always use some broken electrical wire hanging from the ceiling from that fight to wrap around his neck and drag him down if that doesn't work

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>>3211142
>>3211150
>>3211189

Frost does bring down her fist in a punch, but into his mouth. Grabbing him by the tongue, she yanks on him to drag him down the stairs. Komodai protests in a pleading gurgle, but to no avail, as Frost is beyond listening to him.

What she sees in the lowest level of this facility is astonishing, to say the least. Row after row after row of large, man-sized glass tanks filled with blue liquid are arranged in the center of the room, and within each one is a fully-grown or nearly-fully-grown saurian clone. Each are suspended in the liquid with small breathing masks and wires poking into their skin.

"Man, this has been a weird day," Cassie says with a whisle. She takes out her communicator to contact the other team leaders while Cao and Vapor secure the area.

Frost looks at all of these tanks in disgust. She'd like to smash each one of them, or freeze them and turn them into raptor popsicles... but she can't. Looking down at Komodai, she feels her rage welling up within her again as she prepares to deliver another beatdown.

That's when Cassie walks over. "We have a captive from what appears to be their leadership caste, or at least the inner circle. A warrior. He's a little bit tongue-tied at the moment, though."

Frost hears what Kaito says next. "We're going to push through to mop up the rest of the opposition topside. Start opening portals back to the island and transferring everything we can to the facilities there."

"Rodger," she says, putting away her communicator and taking out her personal portal generator. Looking at Frost, she says, "I'll take care of the prisoner. When I open the portal, the general will have staff at the ready to come through and start disassembling this place. We're going to tear it apart and learn everything we can about what these guys have been up to."

Frost drops Komodai's tongue, which slithers back into his mouth. He spits out some green blood and says, "You cannot ssstop usss! We are too powerful! It isss already too late for you and your pathetic race!"

Cassie kneels down. "Your little clone army isn't ready yet, it seems. I think our chances are pretty damn good." He is about to retort when she rocks him in the face with a punch and puts his lights out. She stands up, wipes some green blood from her knuckles and says, "Go back up those stairs and secure the tech. It'll be a few minutes before we get a stable portal generated and the staff will come through to start ferrying it back to the island."

>Go and do as she says
>Search through the computers to find any information on yourself
>Tell her that you have a problem
>Start wrecking their tech in anger
>Other

>Go and do as she says
>Search through the computers to find any information on yourself
>Tell her that you have a problem

>>3211267
>>Go and do as she says
>>Search through the computers to find any information on yourself

>>3211267
>Search through the computers to find any information on yourself

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>>3211276
>>3211291
>>3211307

Unwilling to admit anything about her lack of power, Frost slowly and quietly leaves the cloning chamber, walking up the stairs to the experimental technology wing. She looks around, seeing several dead saurians, and now ponders what to do. The area is obviously secure; they were completely unprepared for the attack and any survivors are either in hiding or on the run. But all of that is far from her mind as she contemplates the situation.

'What if what he said is true?' she thinks. 'What if...'

She shakes her head. 'No, there has to be a way to fix it. They have my blood.'

That thought gives her pause. How did they get her blood, and everyone else's? She lightly slaps her forehead. 'The physical exams and tests, of course... they drew blood from everyone. Fuck... how deep does all of this go?'

Frost approaches a computer and sees that it is still on. On the desktop is a catalog of information detailing every single member of the New Defenders. Out of curiosity, she clicks her own file. After reading it for only a moment, a chill grows up her spine---and not the usual good kind.

'They knew more about me than I did...' she realizes. This file is comprehensive, almost an entire biography of her life, from childhood to adulthood, the Outworld invasion, joining the Lin Kuei, being frozen, waking up, Onaga's uprising, the New Defenders... They were gathering intel on her long before she ever joined, but her being on the team allowed them to gain much, much more information than ever before, especially from her blood samples.

Including a direct blood match to a man living in central Wisconsin.

Her eyes go wide. "...My father?" she whispers aloud.

There is a name listed here, along with an address and several other files. They note that the father appears to have no cryomancer genes whatsoever, meaning that Frost's powers come from her mother's side of the family, and there is no known record of this strange woman's existence, nor the man (apparently named Grayson Schroeder) ever marrying or having other children. It seems the saurians never approached him for a direct interview about the mother, as they wrote the matter off as a non-concern; "mother likely deceased."

She doesn't know why she feels compelled to, but she writes down the information on a nearby sticky note before shoving it into her pocket. A noise nearby nearly makes her jump as staff from the New Defenders base and the OWEA appear, having crossed through a stable portal, to gather up everything in this lab for later study. Cassie is overseeing their efforts, directing them where to go as bodies, prisoners and technology are collected, placed upon wheeled carts and brought back to the portal for transport to the base.

>Regroup with Cao and Vapor
>Head topside to link up with the other teams
>Return to the island through the portal
>Speak with Cassie
>Other

>>3211431
>Speak with Cassie

>Regroup with Cao and Vapor
>Return to the island through the portal

>>3211444
>>3211477
Can I get a tie breaker?

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>>3211431
>>3211444

>>3211543
Switching to >>3211477

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>>3211477
>>3211560

With the lab being taken apart and the equipment being quickly and efficiently brought back to the island base, Frost returns downstairs to find Cao and Vapor discussing their next objective. She is in somewhat of a daze, as though everything happening around her is far away and blurred as she stares off into the distance, countless strange thoughts filling her head. Cao says something to her about returning to the island, and she only nods, not even really having heard him. She shuffles through the portal behind him.

Once there, they make way for the teams going through and coming out of the portal, standing off to one side. Cao cocks a brow as he has to pull Frost out of the way of a cart with heavy equipment. He asks her something, but she doesn't acknowledge it. He snaps a finger in front of her face.

"Hm? What?" she says, blinking a few times.

"I said, are you okay?"

"Fine," she's quick to reply. "I'm... fine."

He frowns, but doesn't push her on the matter. Within several minutes one of the staff aides comes and collects them, telling them that they are to be debriefed alongside Vapor and Cassie. Time flies by as Frost sits through the meeting, relaying what happened, but leaving out the part about the injector and the information she found. General Cage and her husband listen to everything they say and talk a lot, but nothing that Frost pays attention to.

When they are released, she returns to her wrecked room. She pushes some broken furniture out of the way and removes the vials containing her blood along with the others she managed to grab and puts them in her freezer.

For a moment, the cold air hits her and she shivers. It feels... strange. Wrong.

Returning to her shredded bed, she sits upon its edge in quiet contemplation. She keeps going over the information she learned on the terminal, and what Komodai told her about regaining her powers: 'You can't.' A warm, tropical breeze wafts in through the broken window, making her feel unnerved at the warmth. This entire situation is wrong. Everything...

'Is this what I had coming to me?' she thinks. 'Is this my punishment?'

Sickeningly, she realizes what Sam must have felt when she thought she had no powers. Though Frost is trained and grew up fighting, she had come to rely upon and fully embrace her cryomancer abilities. But now...

>Try to get some sleep
>Look for your friend, Ling
>Go back over the information about your father
>Seek out someone else to talk with
>Other

>Go back over the information about your father
>Try to get some sleep

>>3211599
>Seek out someone else to talk with
If anyone in this building knows what it's like to be de-powered, it's Kaito.

>>3211609
seconding this one

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>>3211609
>>3211648

Frost thinks long and hard about who she can talk to about this. She can think of no one else on the team who could relate to losing their powers... except one man.

It pains her to admit it, but she needs Kaito's help.

It is late in the evening, but he still isn't in his room. She bumps into Forrest Fox in the hall and asks him where Kaito is; apparently, he's still in meetings with the general, Mr. Cage, Colonel Briggs and others. Frost thanks him and wanders over to that half of the base and waits outside the door, simply leaning up against the opposite wall in silence.

It is an hour later when the door opens and Kaito emerges, talking to Johnny. "All I'm saying is that we shouldn't rule it out," Johnny is saying to him, but they both stop when they see Frost.

Kaito looks concerned. "Frost? Is something the matter?"

"I need to talk to you. Alone."

He looks at Johnny. "I'll get back to you on it," he says to the actor. Johnny lowers his sunglasses as the two of them walk off.

"Busy day, huh?" Kaito says in a light tone, but Frost doesn't respond. Sensing the gravity of her expression, he grows silent until they are alone in the rec room. Sitting opposite her with a table between them, he says, "Tell me what's up."

Taking a deep breath, Frost thinks about how to approach the problem, eventually opting for the simplest answer. "The lizard injected me with something and it took away my powers."

His brow shoots up. "You mean... all of them?"

She holds up her hand. "If I could do anything right now, I'd be doing it," she says, focusing on using her cryomancer abilities that no longer respond to her, and may no longer exist.

He cups his mouth in thought for a moment. "It may be temporary," he says in a hopeful manner.

"He said it wasn't."

"He could've been lying."

"He might've been telling the truth, too." Frost closes her eyes and lowers her hand. "You were the only one I could think of who lost their powers before. I... wanted to know how you dealt with it."

His brow furrows. "Well... I felt a great sense of loss, but I also knew it wasn't the end. I knew that I wasn't defined by my extraordinary powers, even though I had come to know them as a part of me."

"What did you do?"

"I pursued them, for a time, until I exhausted seemingly all other possibilities. This problem you have may only be temporary, like I said, but even if not... He did something to you that, perhaps, could be reversed. We have their technology and all of the data they gathered on us. There's a chance we could reverse-engineer it."

She looks up. "I saved some of my blood from the lab," she tells him. "Blood from when I had my powers. It's in my freezer."

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>>3211772

"That's great! Maybe we really can reverse-engineer a cure out of their weapon." He scoots closer. "Frost, I understand that you must be going through a lot right now. First, there was the situation earlier today, and now this... I can't help but feel responsible. Maybe I pushed you too hard to go on the mission with the infiltration team..."

"I wanted to go," she insists. "I wasn't about to be left out."

"It's not about excluding you, it's about what would have been best for you. While we never saw this coming, I can't help but feel guilty about it. I've never wanted to put someone in a position where you are right now."

Her eyes drift off to the side. "I put myself in this position. I wanted to go. You gave me the chance to say no."

For a moment, the two of them are silent. Kaito eventually changes the topic. "I won't lie to you, Frost... things are going to be difficult for a while. This saurian infiltration is shaking up the foundation of this team. They helped create it, they funded it. Now a lot of us are questioning if it was right to do so."

"Are you saying the team is going to be broken up?"

"Nobody's saying that for certain yet," he replies. "But things can't go on the way they have. We may be faced with the reality of operating solo, independent of any sponsored government. It's been the subject of discussion for many hours now. There's... a lot going into it, to put it mildly. Too many factors to easily count."

"Where's that leave me?"

"You have my absolute word that I'm going to push for finding a cure to your condition. But it may take some time. The team, the facility, the staff and everyone else are going to have to transition to operating under new conditions with fewer resources." He is silent for a moment before adding, "My previous offer still stands, you know."

"What?"

"Taking leave. Maybe your powers will come back, maybe they won't. But what might be best right now is if you cleared your head. Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Frost thinks for a moment. This could be an opportunity to track down her father and finally learn the truth about who she is, something she's been wanting all her life but never knew how badly she wanted it.

>Tell him about the information you found.
>I can think of a place, yeah...
>Can I wait a few days?
>No... no, there's nowhere.
>Other

>I can think of a place, yeah...
>Can I wait a few days?

>>3211775
>Tell him about the information you found
Slightly paranoid about this. Somehow the lizards had information no one else did.

It seems... odd

>>3211775
>Tell him about the information you found.

>>3211775
>>Tell him about the information you found.
>>I can think of a place, yeah...

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That's going to have to be the last update of the evening, I'm afraid. I have to get up early tomorrow morning. We'll be resuming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

>>3211819
Damn it. Now I have to get caught up from where I ran out of time following the original run of the quest

>>3211819
Baiiiiii

>>3211775
>Tell him about the information you found.

>>3211787
>>3211788
>>3211790
>>3211802
>>3212061
Back and writing now.

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>>3211787
>>3211788
>>3211790
>>3211802
>>3212061

She lowers her head as her shoulders slump. Kaito watches her curiously, having never seen this strange body language from her; so uncertain, so seemingly lost.

"There might be somewhere..." she begins, but she then trails off into silence.

He nods and waits patiently, encouraging her only by saying, "Go on. When you're ready."

She takes a deep, steadying breath. "I... learned something. In the lab. They had files on us, all of us. More info about me than I knew existed. I saw my file, the one they had on me. It... said I had a father. They found some blood match to... to just some guy. A nobody. No powers, nothing."

He lowers his gaze as he thinks about this latest development. "What else did it say?"

"That they suspected my powers came from my mother. No record of her. They think she's dead, since no other cryomancer's ever cropped up other than me and Sub-Zero, and his family."

Sitting back with his arms folded, Kaito purses his lips together in deep thought. "Perhaps she isn't dead." She looks up at him as he adds, "I think there's only one way to find out."

"But why?" she asks, strangely vulnerable. "I... I never wanted a family. I ran away from orphanages and foster homes. The only place I never ran away from was the Lin Kuei temple, but even there I never... really belonged."

"That's not entirely true. You're a Lin Kuei warrior, no matter what's happened or what will happen. But did you ever stop to think about why you kept running away from those places?"

"No, not really," she admits.

"I think you know why. You just need to confront it and admit it to yourself."

Hugging her arms, she avoids eye contact. "I don't know if it'll help. It might just make me feel worse."

"Frost, even if it is painful, you should know the truth. Family is important; the most important thing in some cases. I like to think we're all a family of a sort. Sometimes families are difficult things to deal with, but we love them all the same." He rubs his hands together as he pauses in reflective thought. "We have something else in common, you know. I took a nap for a very long time too."

She is quiet, trying to fight the inevitable realization that the person she's held a grudge on is more like her than she was willing to admit.

"And like you, before I became involved in all of this, I was a wandering fighter. I fought in underground clubs, back alleys, some rich pandering asshole's private arena. I'm sure you've seen everything I have. Probably worse, too."

"...Yeah," she admits.

"But I had one thing you didn't have, a mom back home. She wasn't always happy with my life choices, but she loved me, and I love her." He rubs his chin, his eyes slightly watery from the thought. "She's mostly bedridden now. I try to visit her when I can." Meeting her bright, blue eyes, he says, "You should go where you know you need to. Learn where you came from. It's important."