Sonya Blade

She lead the group through her door, leading to the interior of an adobe structured room,  furnished with several sofas, woven rugs and various shelves, with a fireplace at the far end of the room. Even in the dry heat, the fire was still burning, providing a dull sort of light when the electric light on the ceiling was turned off.

The room was by no means empty of people either. Sonya introduced them, choosing to ignore the strange looks her allies gave her. "Everyone, this is Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, my commanding officer, Major Jackson Briggs, and Nightwolf. Guys, these are the friends I told you could help us. The men with us don't speak English except through the headsets you see them wearing.." She reached into the box she had with her and pulled out several more, handing one to Jax, Liu Kang and Nightwolf so they could be understood, explaining their purpose. In the event they were split up, she wanted the others to be able to direct them as well. 

They were minutes to an invasion and she didn't want to waste time with introductions. Jax atleast seemed to understand: he knew better than anyone how difficult it was for her to trust someone as an ally, so she hoped he understood how serious this was.

Nightwolf set the headset in place and nodded. He was seated by the fire, a quiver of arrows by his feet. At first glance, they appeared normal, but Sonya noticed earlier that whenever the light shone on them from a certain angle, they emitted a greenish sort of glow. "Have you explained to them what we're fighting against?" The shaman addressed Sonya, but seemed to speak to her other allies as well: she answered in the positive, before he set a map on the table and invited the others to sit around it.

"The gods have shown me where the Kahn has placed his fortress. " He pointed to an area on the map, connected it to where they were a tthe present time. "Under normal circumstances, it would take days to travel by car, but without knowing it, the Emperor's invasion has given us a tool as well. The same sorcery that's created the portals in the first place, we can use to transport us to the city where he's set up his fortress."

Sonya frowned, an expression shared by her commanding officer.  As far as they were both aware, creating portals took a lot of energy, and if one of them, especially the one who was the closest they had to a sorcerer, was too drained to go on, that would leave them one man short: on the other hand, they didn't have much of a choice either.

The Shaman continued, explaining the rest of the plan a second time, before motioning that it was time to go. "The land we're standing on is sacred to my people, and thus far we've been protected by Kahn's sorcery. That protection leaves as soon as we step over its boundries."

Jax continued from there, clicking his headset to make sure the others understood. "Everyone take what weapons you can handle,  along with essential food and water. Once we've reached the outer territory, keep your eyes open, and if it doesn't look human, shoot..or aim to kill." The second part was aimed to some of the warriors with axes and swords. "Let's go."

The talk of the Outer territory would become obvious as soon as they reached it. Whereas the land around Nightwolf's home had sounds of life, and the sky a usual blue color and cloudy, it seemed that they passed through a fogged barrier, that the sounds of birds had gone, and the sky itself an erie yellow, not sunset but..dead, as though the very life were being drained from the realm. Being that they were in the country, there were few people around to begin with, but in the distance, Sonya could see smoke..and she knew the sound of screaming when she heard it, far off as they were.

Sonya pushed the sick feeling back down, steeling her expression before making sure the others were following her and headed forward. They had a job to do: emotions could wait until later.