Then, from his living room TV—which wasn’t even on—a faint, broken whisper:

The download bar filled instantly. Then, the screen went black.

He made a choice. He grabbed the disc, snapped it in half across his knee, and threw the pieces into his fish tank.

He dropped the controller. On-screen, Johnny Cage’s health bar emptied. Then Leo’s phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: “Patch 3.55 fixes unintended mercy. No more second chances. BLUS30522 – build 89. You are the test dummy.”

The character select screen was missing half the roster. No Scorpion. No Sub-Zero. Instead, a single greyed-out portrait: