MK Rebirth Liu Kang

Once, Liu Kang was the brightest star in Deacon City. A prodigious athlete and martial artist, he ran the Whu Shi dojo and gym with his childhood friend Kung Lao. Although Kung Lao had inherited the Gym and it bore his famed ancestors name, Liu Kang quickly became the dojo’s most famous member, much to his friend’s annoyance.

Liu Kang would train others at the dojo and at first that would be enough. But soon the talented martial artist felt he needed something more to challenge his skills and he began to participate in a number of underground fights, most of which was set up and controlled by shady businessman Shang Tsung. Initially Shang Tsung was thrilled by new blood in the fights but when Liu Kang summarily refused to throw or purposely loose fights, he began to be a liability. Once Liu Kang had established himself as the city’s underground champion, there was no excitement left in the fights. Liu Kang always won. And on top of that, he refused to kill his opponents, not really out of the goodness of his heart but out of some sort of foolish pride telling that he didn’t need to.

Shang Tsung pleaded with his master to be allowed to enter into the tournament, his master’s primary enforcers Go and Ro who would surely defeat the upstart Kang, but Shang Tsung’s master refused, telling him to solve the issue himself.

Once again, he would try to persuade Liu Kang to lose but when the fighter refused once again, Shang Tsung lost his temper and took a swing at Liu Kang. He came to two days later with a broken nose and several broken or bruised ribs, his followers whispering something about a “bicycle”.

From that moment on, Shang Tsung’s every breathing moment were dedicated to destroying Liu Kang and he soon found the perfect weapon for the task.

The beginning to the end for Liu Kang came in the form of a girl, a beautiful regal young woman named Kitana who came to some of his shows. Liu Kang had never been too interested in women before, except for the admiration and devotion of his female fans. But Kitana was different, aloof, unimpressed and that stung Liu Kang’s pride more than anything, slowly becoming more and more obsessed with the young girl.

Although she was impressed by Liu Kang’s prowess and charisma, Kitana knew that she couldn’t have any sort of relationship that didn’t serve her family and her stepfather. The two met and though she spurned his clumsy advances, they remained somewhat friendly.

At that point, Shang Tsung set his plan into motion. First he began spreading rumors on how the older Liu Kang was taking advantage of Kitana, only 16 at the time. Manipulated Images showing the two being intimate began to circulate and soon Liu Kang’s followers and friends began to avoid the former star, viewing him with less than concealed disgust. On one occasion, a father tore his daughter away from Liu Kang when she wanted the martial artist’s autograph.

Calling Liu Kang and using his skills as a con man and impersonator, Tsung presented himself as Kitana, accusing him of spreading the images and taking advantage of her, even hinting that he had behaved inappropriate against her. Then Shang Tsung called Kitana and, impersonating Liu Kang arrogantly accused Kitana of spreading the images, telling that she did it to get his attention that she wanted him to take her and so on.

Liu Kang rushed to confront Kitana but when he reached her mansion, he was stopped by a small army of bodyguard, lead by Kitana’s best friend and bodyguard Jade. Fighting his way through them, even defeating Jade, Liu Kang stopped when Kitana appeared on the mansion balcony. Interrupting him as he tried to profess his innocence, she stated that she was disgusted by his actions, by his lack of self control in attacking her guards and friend and that she would never see him again, if he thought so little of her. As the guards carried their fallen inside, Liu Kang realized that he had been had and he had a fairly good idea of who was behind this.

Enraged as much by Kitana’s disgust, his own broken pride and the fact that Shang Tsung got the better of him, Liu Kang called Shang Tsung and told him to meet Liu Kang at the Whu Shi dojo and gym.

When Shang Tsung showed up, apparently alone, Liu Kang was practicing with a fury unseen in the martial artist and as Shang Tsung called out to him, teasing him about Kitana, Liu Kang flung himself at Shang Tsung, attacking with the clear intention to end his nemesis once and for all.
Although Shang Tsung came prepared, Liu Kang quickly gained the upper hand but blinded by his now all consuming anger and arrogance, he continued to push and berate the fallen Shang Tsung

Because of this, he never saw the pale man in the suit, stepping quietly through the door behind him. He never saw the large handgun with the emerald skull handle being slipped out from under the jacket and he never heard the safety being removed. He didn’t even hear the shot as Shang Tsung’s sometimes enemy, but current ally Quan Chi shot him in the back.

As Liu Kang sobbing tried to crawl toward the door, unable to comprehend what had happened to him, Quan Chi looked at Shang Tsung with a thin vicious smile, quietly nodded toward the wounded martial artist, still trying to escape. Without a word Shang Tsung began to savagely beat Liu Kang within an inch of his life. Then, slowly, almost patiently Shang Tsung opened his pants and finally broke his greatest nemesis, the way his imprisoned master had taught him.

What happened after that fateful night, few people know, except Liu Kang himself and he is not telling. He never returned to the dojo and disappeared from the face of the earth. Or so it would seem.

Now a broken shell of a man, the man once known as Liu Kang had disappeared into the bowls of Deacon City and found himself at a place called the Morgue, a rundown former sports bar. Here, burned out former stars or talented rookies, their ascension cut short by unhealed injuries or steroid abuse would sit and talk about long gone glory days that once or never were.

Liu Kang spend a long, long time there at the back table, semi conscious from the vast quantities of pain killers and later on alcohol and drugs, he would consume to numb the pain of his never fully healed back and scarred mind, lashing out at anyone who came to close. Few spoke more of him and soon, the people of Deacon City had forgotten its brightest star.

It was here Raiden finally found him. Walking across the room, he looked at Liu Kang’s broken frame for a second or two and the n turned and left, leaving a large bottle of high grade pain killers on the table in front of Liu Kang.

For a time, the criminal mastermind would come by almost every day, bringing more pills, more painkillers and other strange drugs and Liu Kang began to feel better or rather, he began to feel less, which he saw as a great improvement.

Then as suddenly as he had appeared, Raiden stopped coming and after a few nightmarish days of impending withdrawal Liu Kang left the Morgue for the first time since he had arrived there that fateful night. For days, he stumble through the night cloaked streets of Deacon City, looking for something that could numb the pain that had almost had reduced him to a mindless animal. And finally, as he collapsed in a pool of rain water and stale urine, Raiden appeared before him.

Liu Kang begged almost incoherently, his body and mind screaming with the memories of what had been done to him. Smiling coldly, Raiden bent over the fallen fighter and whispered in his ear. Liu Kang would be his, Raiden’s to do with as his pleased, he would fight and kill, if Raiden commanded it and in return, Raiden would “work his black magic”, take the pain away and return his strength, his power. Before slipping into a nightmare filled darkness, Liu Kang breathed his acceptance.

Since then, Raiden has set Liu Kang up in a rundown apartment complex in the seedier side of town. Here he waits for the commands of the man who resurrected him.

Numbed by the vast quantities of pain killers and performance enhancer, his new master is feeding him, the once great fighter has regained some of his fighting prowess and has begun training, as much as his broken body and the amount of pain killers he takes will allow him.

Raiden has called on Liu Kang’s services on several occasions and though he is a shadow of his former self when it comes to fighting , his complete disregard for his own safety and being constantly doped to his eyeballs, has given Liu Kang a seemingly inhuman resistance to or simple ignorance of being wounded. People have punched him, stabbed him and on one occasion shot him again and still he gets up and finishes the job.

Liu Kang has killed many on Raiden’s orders and rumors have begun to surface of a zombie killer, a murderer that can’t be killed. Needless to say, controlling an unstoppable assassin has boosted the level of respect and, ideally, fear, Raiden commands among the criminals of Deacon City.

Since most people who knew Liu Kang in his glory days believe he has been killed and his body disposed of, no one has made the connection yet. And if they should meet what is left of Liu Kang now, they would scarcely recognize him, if at all. Years of drug abuse and injuries has left his body broken, covered in scars and bandages. His skin has turned a sickly gray from the drugs and his general state of continuous exhaustion. But the worst part is his face. Having lost a lot of weight, his skin, now spotted and wrinkled is drawn tightly over his skull, he has lost most of his teeth and his eyes almost disappear in the shadows of his eye sockets. And the fire that once dwelled in those eyes is gone.

But somewhere inside the creature that was once the brightest star of Deacon City, a seething hatred is growing. It grows and grows for each day and it dreams of one thing, a man called Shang Tsung.