Long was content. His wife lay next to him sleeping soundly. His tail curled gently around her lower leg. Crickets chirped outside, as he lay there and watcher sleep. In the faint blue light his eyes gave off he could see her perfectly. He had been asked by old friends how he managed to find her lips to kiss her, and other things, to which he simply answered. "Love will find a way."

He smiled thinking about her, about the honeymoon in Eden, aware that they shared a mental link even like this. He wasn't forcing his thoughts through link merely enjoying a very pleasant group of memories. Stopping his own thoughts he turned to The Link into Timeslip's mind and watched her dream with her.

Timeslip's dreams have not been pleasant of late, however. The secret that she holds haunts her , played out in vivid detail -- and, with her perfect memory, flawless accuracy -- on almost a nightly basis....

Timeslip excuses herself from the wedding reception for a moment -- "need to use the little bride's room" -- and slips out into a side room, where she finds Narimassa...who seems as though he feels a bit out of place. He's got to feel like a mouse at a cat club, she realizes, and makes a decision. For him, I'll dorm.

Shifting her form to that of her previous life, the now red-headed and freckled Timeslip steps forward, speaking in the best Japanese she can manage. "Grandfather Hideyoshi, I wanted a chance to thank you for coming. I don't think that that Ryu will ever fully admit just how happy he is that you came; it means more to him -- and because of that, to me -- than words can convey."

Narimassa turns to his new Granddaughter. "You make him happy, he needs it now more than ever. Especially with him around."

Narimassa's hand indicates a large Shadow as Shen-Kahn emerges.

"You have wrought much evil upon my Grandson, because of you I lost his father, and for fifteen years I lost Ryu. You turned him into a weapon do you think I did not know? My family watches its own. I have always known what you made him do." His ire is raised, he speaks without regard for Shen-Kahn's power.

Shen-kahn's muscles tighten and his fur bristles at the verbal assault from a fragile old man. "You insolent little man. I saved him. Your Grandson would have perished at Utopia's hands long ago if not for me, or worse he'd have been caged as an animal and never been given the chance to master himself. I gave him the choice and he chose to serve me. Baseline's corrupted him again, he became weak. I had to redeem him from his weakness by taking care of her." The horror of what he said in Rage dawns on him. His eyes change and he turns to Timeslip and Narimassa. With inhuman speed he snatches Narimassa up in his hands and raises him to his eye level. "Speak a word of what I have said to him and I will destroy every trace of the Hideyoshi family. What's more, I will make you watch."

His head turns to Timeslip and his pearl-white fangs glisten in the light. "You will abide by this, or I will make it so you never see your husband again. Now go and enjoy your wedding."

Shen-Kahn sets Narimassa down and disappears into a hellish portal.

The realization of his words hit her like a fist in the stomach. Slipping out of dormancy in first fear and then anger, Timeslip raises her hand toward Shen-Kahn, shaking with rage. "You bastard! You damned bastard! Go to hell!" She unleashes a hellish wave of temporal energy that follows Shen-Kahn into the portal. On some level, she knows that it won't reach him -- and that if it did, it would likely do so only a moment or two before he would rip her to shreds -- but her unbridled fury isn't listening to reason.

As the portal closes, she sags to her knees and sobs.

...and Timeslip quietly sobs in her sleep.

Long is unprepared for what he sees. The detail is vivid, what he sees isn't a subconscious fantasy, it's a factual memory. His tail releases her leg and wraps around his waist. "Oh God Angela, I'm sorry." His whisper was unheard as he quietly slipped from the bed and severed the mental link he holds with Timeslip. He hastily pens a note for her and lays in on his pillow.

Dearest Angela,
I regret that you have suffered so much, that you have lived under such a heavy burden. I am going to The mountains to meet Shen-Kahn, and confront him. I will not let him do this again. He will answer for his crimes, for the pain he's caused. You'll be fine, I promise. Just stay safe until I return.
My Humble Apologies, Ryu

He places the note on the pillow and turns to leave.

With a start, Timeslip wakes up...and sees Long turning from the paper. Sleepily, she asks, "what's up, love?"

"I saw. I know what's been eating at you."

I'm going to take care of things.

Realization dawns over Timeslip, as she springs from the bed and grabs Long by the arm. "No! You don't understand...he'll kill you. He'll kill your grandfather! Don't do this!" In her agitation, control over her random chronotons slips; the wall clock some dozen feet away spins madly, and the sheets behind her yellow and fray.

"I know what he'll do, if I give him the chance." Long's rage is close to surface, smoldering hotly as it threatens to erupt from him. He calms himself just barely. "Angela if I don't face him, he will kill you all, or worse. You don't know him as I do. He wants me, alone. no cost is too great. I can handle him. Call Endeavor, I want you to go stay with her, you'll be safe there."

He turns and begins walking out. "Stay with her, I'll coome back to you, I promise."

Long's whole body glows just as he vanishes reappearing many miles away amidst a powerful raging storm. "Shen-Kahn."

"Damnit! Damn it all to hell!"

Timeslip is furious. She could have helped him face Shen-Kahn...perhaps not directly, but at least lending him what temporal assistance she could muster. She runs through a mental list of options, each one falling flat. There's simply no good way to track him, and she lacks the skills to forcibly re-establish the link. For a moment, she considers finding out Shen Kahn's location by jumping to a near-parallel timeline, but realizes that anything distant enough to get an actual answer out of Long would be far enough out of whack that Shen-Kahn could be anywhere there.

He had told her to go wait with Endeavor on the Hikari Maru II...and sees just a spark of hope. Damn it, if anyone has a gadget that can locate Long, it's Sakurako. Quickly adapting her eufiber to her trademark starfield bodysuit, she runs outside and takes to the air, heading south toward Tokyo Bay and Endeavor's docked ship.

Sakurako wanders around her deck, watching how the new software she has installed in her cleanerbots is functioning. She's been semi-bored. The Japan Emergency Response Agency is still being formed, and the first few bases are being found on existing real-estate. Not to mention she's finally getting a break with all the paperwork. Not that going through paperwork is an issue for Sakurako.

She decided to act a bit... odd in dress today, and looks in every way like a sailor of a large ship. She's wearing all of a navy sailor uniform, although not of any navy itself, but made to Sakurako's standards. Right down to the high-traction deck shoes. She even decided to get the goofy sailor hat out again. She's been in a good mood, and "Seaman" Hino is enjoying every minute of swabbing her deck. That's when...

"That's odd... I'm not expecting company... Bloody hell, better not be a Nippontai or somethign wanting ANOTHER conversation... No... It's..."

Sakurako runs over to the aft deck. "What's she doing here?" She looks up, and sees Timeslip start coming down from the air.

"Timeslip, nice to see you... but... why?" Endeavor says with a slight sheepishness. Not expecting visitors what-so-ever.

Touching down, Timeslip wastes no time. "It's Long; he's gone to fight Shen-Kahn, and I need to find him before he gets himself killed. Do you have anything that can track or locate a particular nova?" It's only then that Timeslip really notices the hat, uniform and mop. "Uh, have you been...demoted?"

"Hello Ryu, I take it you discovered your wife's little secret.." His voice is flat and somewhat chiding in a "you should have realized this sooner" tone.

"I take you're here to avenge your honor, to stop me from killing another of your wives."

Shen-Kahn's tail unfurls from his waist and the tell-tale Energies that herald his powers over Earth and his body show. chunks of earth swirl around him as flesh and blood become metal, As a voice that boomed in the night dropped further, to practically a roar. "Then let the lesson begin!" With that he launches himself at Long.

Long said nothing, only pushed his own powers as Shen-Kahn approached. With a roar he met Shen-Kahn head on, pitting his own strength against his former master's. A series of Claw swipes failed to hit as each of them tried to guage each other. Then there was a shooting pain in Long's torso. He looked down to see Shen-Kahn's tail sticking out from underneath his rib cage. he tried to grasp the tail, but with uncanny speed Shen-Kahn through him into the mountain, ripping his tail free and sending a gout of blood from the wound.

"First Blood is mine, as always." Shen-Kahn rushed at Long again his metal fist pistoning into Long imbedding him deeper into the mountain. "Do you know what it was like to watch you marry that Baseline filth? You were my triumph! To see you fall so far, to watch you walk away from everything I worked so hard to make you. That was a Betrayal of the Highest Caliber. I had to get you back at all costs. I lead CoMA to your doorstep, I let them take her. I subtly helped them break down her mind. When you finally found her a poor and wretched wreck I had hoped you'd wash your hands of her and baselines but no, you took care of her,she was still your wife." Shen-Kahn's fists piston hard cracking the rock around them as he pummels Long mercilessly. "I gave you a chance to be free and you chose to remain loyal to someone who until her last few days was so utterly terriffied of you. I had to kill her and even then you showed weakness. To see my great weapon shedding a tear for a baseline, You disgust me Ryu. I spent alot of time teaching you to kill, to regard them as what they were and there you were crying for one. How many did you kill when you were with me? Hundreds, Thousands, and they weren't all soldiers either."

Long recovers his senses quickly and heals the wounds Shen-Kahn's fists are making. The words said cut deep his last remark hits hardest.

"You Bastard!!" Long hands glow and Hellish blue light blazes forth destroying the rock around him and sending Shen-Kahn flying. You made me kill you made me take their lives! You made me suffer to see her that way, broken and scared. You enjoyed watching me annihilate that installation." Heedless of the energy being used he fired continuous blasts of energy at Shen-Kahn, keeping him knelt on one knee. "Stand up and fight me, die like a man Shen-Kahn, not a dog." Long vanished and appeared next to Shen-Kahn. "You're mine."

Shen-Kahn looks up with Hellish glowing green eyes. "My thoughts as well." Shen-Kahn's tail wraps around Long's legs as he rises up Metalic claws shimmering in the strike of lightning as the two sets of claws pass each other. Long's claws find purchase in Shen-Kahn's shouldler crushing the collarbone, where as Shen-Kahn's own claws find the healed wound where his tail had struck earlier and opens it again. His metallic claws burst from Long's back glazed and dripping blood. Blood, both crimson and metallic sprays everywhere as both combatants roar in rage. It has ceased to become a contest between novas, now two mighty beasts fight for dominance and survival. Claws flash in the strobe of lightning, the driving rain soaks them both. Wounds heal only to reopen under claws and fangs. They bound across the ground striking and dodging, both fighting like the animals they resemble. Finally it comes to the inevitable conclusion. One Falls, and rises slowly, flesh is yeilding to metal.

Long slowly regains his senses as his wounds catch up to him. They aren't healing and and Shen-Kahn's still looking good. He gambles for one last attack. He rushes Shen-Kahn, his reserves ready for the sacrifice. As he prepares his attack Shen-Kahn rises and catches him by his throat in his hand. "Gotcha" One last hellissh blast of blue energy bathes Shen-Kahn at point blank range. To Long's dismay It burned away the fur and skin, but not much more. "Oh Damn."

"Oh Damn is right." Holding Long tightly with one hand he alternated between his claws slashing Long's torso and arms, and the Tail blade impaling him and drawing blood wherever it strikes. Long soon ceases to resist and break Shen-Kahn's hold. He just hangs there limp, his body broken.

"I know you're still awake Ryu. I offer you one last chance. Come back to me, or I will take yet another wife from you. I won't kill her, but I will do to her what was done to Aki. I don't require an answer now, just when I call you. Just know that at any time I wish Your wife's life and mind belong to me." Long hung there limp bloody beaten and defeated.

Shen-Kahn gathered his energy together and opened a gate to where he found Timeslip's mind. He held Long in his tail, and set his bloody broken body before Timeslip. "He'll likely need medical attention, just remind him of what I said. Be seeing you, whenever I want." With that he Vanishes back into a portal to parts unkown.

Timeslip rushes to her husband's side. "Still breathing, thready pulse, bleeding from dozens of wounds...Sakurako, he needs a medic, and fast. You have a sick bay on this thing, right? We need to get him down there now!"

All the while, a hot rage burns within her. This is the last time, Shen-Kahn. You've played this game long enough, and it is going to end...on my terms.

Plot all you want little girl, your husband knows just how great my wrath can be. If he wants you to keep your sanity he will do as I say, or you will find yourself alone and in the dark, kept company only by what nightmares I concoct for you. Remember that before you make Idle threats. or you'll find this happening to you.

Shen-Kahn shows Timeslip exactly what he did to Aki, Long's first wife, the stripping away of her mind, her memories fading, her lover's face becoming a thing of horrible terror, of the final moments where he took Long's form to poison her.

Any time I want.

Timeslip does her best to ignore Shen-Kahn's mental invasion; what would come next was simply too important to ruin with pointless banter and false bravado.

"Timeslip... This is happening a little too fast here... first you want me to help you find Long, then he's dumped on my ship like the trash..." She says, while picking Long up. "I can help him. I know he can regenerate, but I need to give him a good head start..."

She starts moving down to the Med-Bay, and sets Long on a table and begins working from a medical datagraph from a previous scan made before the rescue of Conduit.

"I should be able to get him enough repaired to take over on his own. But I don't know how FAST he can do it... As soon as I know he's stable, I think I know what you want." She turns towards Timeslip. "I made a promise not to let any harm come to you, and He hasn't released me from that promise yet. I will help you. And make sure you live through this."

She then checks over Long's Vital signs. "Now nature has to take over. The medical equipment I have and my knowledge can only go so far. He's stable. But... As I said, it'll take time." She turns again towards Timeslip. "Ah, your size hasn't changed one bit. I got some armor for you... well, it's a spare set. Thing is, Whoever did this is strong. You got extra backup?"

"I had no idea that this was going to happen this fast. Goddamned men and their goddamned hurry to get themselves killed..."

Timeslip helps -- what little help she can, anyway -- Endeavor move Long to the Med-Bay, and then watches her practiced efforts with the equipment there as she checks the extent of his many wounds.

"The thing that did this is called Shen-Kahn, and he's like Long on steroids. Bigger, stronger, tougher...and Long's old mentor. He thinks of Long as his creature, and apparently isn't going to rest until he's back in the fold...and he's not afraid to use threats and blackmail regarding Long's family and me to get the job done."

"Another thing -- Shen Kahn's got some serious mental capabilities; eaves-dropping, memory invasion, that sort of stuff. Do you have someplace on this ship where we can talk without someone being able to use a mental microphone on us?"

"Since I had tangled with DeathSquad, I've added a few toys. Novas with mental abilities use quantum to affect, change, or communicate with another mind." Sakurako glances towards a computer screen. "I have activated a quantum repulsive screen around the ship. Anyone inside... Is undetectible. At least I hope. I've found technology can be quite useless if a Nova is powerful enough."

Timeslip sighs with relief. "Well, that's a damned good thing to know. Gods, I just don't know what the heck to do. Shen-Kahn is going to screw with Long and I until the cows come home, unless, he's removed from the picture...but how the heck do we get rid of something that can take down Long and still look as healthy as he did?" She sags into a chair. "I've never felt so helpless...not even in the Closet."

"Simple. With advanced tactics. I have cryogenic grenades, adequate armor, and something else..."

She pains herself to even say it...

"When I went to investigate that storm in the smoky mountains, what I found was Totem... I and Samhra had to confront him... or more like he confronted us. I had a blaster pistol and.... Well... I know the guy has to be alive, but he got wasted pretty good.

So... knowing I might be getting entangled in Nova-level conflicts, I had made a few new weapons.

I don't want you talking about this. If anyone found out and blabbed this to S&T... Well, I'll be looking at wearing orange jumpsuits for the forseeable future."

Deep within his physical body, Long's consciousness stirs and begins assessing itself. As his node begins to regain power he spends utilizes it to speed his healing. What did I do? I lost control again. His mind plays over the battle, he watches the panel of memory with a critic's eye. I spent far too much power too quickly, I should have just hammered him hard and first, I knew his defense yet I let him raise them anyway... Why? I'm smarter than that. HE taught me better than that. I let him play with me, and he won. I have to do better I have to win next time. The panel halts and goes black and he turns back to his physical self. I have much work to do.

Timeslip grabs the edge of the table and sits upright, her stars blazing with purpose and determination. “Endeavor. You made weapons to fight Totem. Make them again to fight Shen-Kahn. We need something mean – nasty, even. What you were just talking about sounds right.”

She can’t sit still any longer; in a burst of energy, she begins to pace as she continues, “Endeavor, if anyone can build what I am thinking about, it’s you. You know that sometimes, if I try very hard, I can pull someone with me across the timelines. Can you make a device that will guarantee me a one-time shot of doing that? Also, do you think we should bring in Jager… and now that I think about it, someone like Samhra to block Shen-Kahn’s efforts in the field?”

"Well... tell me what you're thinking. I can scrape together somthing. Then again, We'll need to set him up to do it.

I'm thinking a couple cryo-grenades could slow him down long enough for you and your allies to finish the job.

Then again, I have to get in close, and there's no guarantees for me to come out of it unscathed. But, You'll need bait. I can provide it, and give him a hell of a time. Then, after I freeze him, and that's probably not a complete done deal, then you can set him up for the fall."

"I'm actually thinking that the best way to get rid of an unkillable monster is to put it somewhere else. In this case, to shift it over to another timeline...maybe one where humans never developed. In part, I'm not thrilled with the idea of killing anyone, and in part, I know that I couldn't kill Shen-Kahn even if it was my deepest desire to do so. Thing is, dragging someone across the timelines with me is very much a touch-and-go proposition; it takes everything I've got, and only works about half the time. If we could figure out how the heck it works, I was thinking that you might be able to build one of your amazing thingies that would give me a one-time guaranteed boost.

"Even then, though, I've got the whole survival problem. Getting close to Shen-Kahn to shift him with me is one thing -- and having some folks as crazy as me willing to throw crap at him, like those cryo-grenades of yours -- will make it fairly simple. No, the dodgy bit is going to be surviving for the moment that I'm alone with him in some other timeline before I can evac my fragile little butt back to the home strand. If you have some sort of armor that I can wear, that could make all the difference. It doesn't have to last long, just enough for me to do a quick turnaround and head home."

Timeslip pauses, and looks Endeavor in the eyes. "OK, is this as nuts as it's sounding in my own ears?"

"The freeze I can do, the armor... I got. Looking at what he did to Long, my armor should keep you alive and relatively functional untill you can get back.

I can cryo-freeze him, and hopefully give you enough time to port and run.

So... it's about time I suit you up. I'd better as well. Each second we waste is a second he becomes stronger. Again, I and you alone won't be enough. You have any backup on this?"

Timeslip thinks for a moment. "I think that I could call in Jager, and maybe Samhra and Singularity. Is there like a radio room or something on this battlewagon of yours, or do we break out the Hyper Electro Semaphore Gun?"

Sakurako gestures with her thumb towards a console. "The main com-panel is over there. I have the main channel to the WCK and the personal channel to Alchemist on file. You can also reach Samhra, but her Sattelite op-net connection is slightly off due to a sattelite malfunction Should be rectified by Daedalus soon. You'll have to deal with a miniscule delay. Less than a milisecond." Such small delays to Sakurako are glaringly noticable.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab that spare armor and mine. And show you how to properly equip it and use it. It's easier than I'm making it sound, trust me."

"Sakurako, I can't thank you enough." Turning to the massive com-panel, Timeslip puzzles her way through the various controls relatively quickly, and keys the microphone. "Hikari Maru II to Windy City Knights...Hikari Maru II to Windy City Knights...over."

After a moment, a speaker crackles to life. "This is Windy City Knights receiver, go ahead Hikari Maru II. Over."

"I am trying to reach Jager...repeat, Jager. Matter regarding Long and Timeslip. Request Jager rendevous with Hikari Maru II in Tokyo Bay...repeat, rendevous with Hikari Maru II in Tokyo Bay. Over."

The speaker goes silent for a moment, then briefly squawks, "Wait one. Over."

An eternity goes by as Timeslip waits nervously at the panel; then, the speaker once more comes to life. "Hikari Maru II, Jager will rendevous with you in Tokyo Bay. Repeat, Jager will rendevous with you in Tokyo Bay. Confirm?"

Elated, Timeslip quickly keys the mike. "Confirmed, Windy City Knights! Thank you! Over!"

"Acknowledged. Over and out."

Sakurako pleasantly chirps over the Ship's comspeakers... "Now, would that be on my ship or IN Tokyo Bay... Heheh. I think He knows where he's going. The goods will be coming up in a minute."

Timeslip chuckles a bit at Sakurako's correction; it's the first thing she's felt other than anger, worry and pain since she woke up that morning.

She then turned her thoughts to Samhra. Let's not try to radio the deaf nova, shall we? Reaching for the adjoining keyboard, Timeslip taps out a quick message to relay to Samhra's OpNet terminal.

<<<Samhra,
Shen-Kahn just about killed Long in a fight. I'm on Endeavor's ship on Tokyo Bay, and Long's in the sick bay here. I'm putting together a plan to get rid of Shen-Kahn, but he's a mental snooper and I think that I could really use your help. Would you and Singularity be willing to come help? Jager is already on his way.
Thanks in advance,
Timeslip>>>

Releasing the message to the OpNet, Timeslip sits back and waits; there's nothing more she can do at this point.