Cassie heaved as she treated Jacqui's wounds from the Sky temple battle, carefully wiping her bloody fingertips onto a towel. "So are we going to discuss the fact that I single handedly saved the world? No?"
Kung Jin glared at Cassie and tutted, cleaning blood from his bow and carefully wiping the strong clean. "You needed us there, otherwise you would've wimped out." He smirked at the young blonde girl, who kicked him in the shin as a response.
Takers wrapped his wound and winced, feeling Jacqui take his hand as he gritted his teeth. He removed the bandana from around his forehead and mopped the blood splatters from his face, hearing the thoughts of the group race around in his mind like a restless heard of elephants. He wondered where the adults had got to, as he looked over at his leader in charge, Johnny Cage.
Johnny was picking at a scab on his cheek, seeing the dead larvae that D'vorah had tried to incubate in him and flicked it out of the window with a salute of the less formal kind, a middle finger. Sonya scowled at him, but nonetheless threw a gentle smile his way, and radioed in to see how everyone else was. She felt a pain shoot through her head like a piercing jolt, and took something out of her pocket, hidden from the eyes of the others. Something was still wrong.
Cassie put her hand on her mother's shoulder. "What's wrong, Ma'am?" She hated being so formal when she was around her own family, but had to stick to Special forces regulations. Sonya shrugged her off and placed the item back into her pocket.
"We need to talk to Raiden, he has the amulet and we've not heard from him since. Set the coordinates for his location, and use this as a beacon." She handed Jacqui the golden slab she had used to communicate with the now quiet thunder god. Jacqui held her side and put it into the mainframe of the chattering plane, as much on it's last legs as the whole group.
Takeda looked at Johnny as he sat down. "Have you had word from my father?"
Johnny turned around and cracked his knuckles with a pained expression. "He's resting with the Shirai Ryu, Hanzo is letting him regain his strength but he'll be back with us soon." He placed his hand onto Takeda's shoulder. "You've made him very proud."
They all relaxed a little, their wounds bleeding into the comfort of supporting bandages, as the plane spluttered and rose to the air, finding and homing in on Raiden. Cassie looked back at the Sky Temple and furrowed her eyebrows, blowing a bubble in a fresh piece of bubble gum. He should be there, she thought, he should be looking after the Jinsei.
But the Thunder God wasn't even within the reaches of Earthrealm anymore. He wasn't in Outworld, where the gunslinger Erron Black was wandering the desert with the weary Kotal Kahn. He wasn't even in Edenia. No, the Thunder God had taken leave to the Netherrealm, where he held Shinnok's head as a prize at his belt. The fallen and defeated Elder God whined in pain, unable to die but forced to be eternally separated from his body and wrapped in the clutches of torturous vengeance. Raiden walked forward, amulet attached to the material on his shoulder, his outfit now darker and his traditional straw hat now laden with golden edges and almost regal in appearance. He radiated power, his eyes burning with the anger that Shinnok had displayed just hours before.
Lui Kang, the revenant, stood up at the sight of Raiden, his eyes burning too with anger at the sight of his murderer, his betrayer. "You have no place here in Netherrealm."
Kitana took a defensive stance, crouched to the floor like a panther, awaiting attack, her steel-lined fans outstretched and eyes yellow under her fallen hairs. "You killed the one person who could've united all of our realms in peace, your people killed my mother!"
"I'm no longer going to stand by and watch Earthrealm get attacked, just watch until I'm needed, sat on the defensive sidelines." Raiden looked at both Lui Kang and Kitana, holding up Shinnok's head by his bloody headpiece. "I will seek out those who threaten Earthrealm and destroy them with no mercy, before they have chance to even think about attacking. I will show no remorse. So heed my words." He threw Shinnok's head down, it rolling and stopping at Lui Kang's feet, the elder god's mouth contorting with pain.
Kitana kicked Shinnok's head and looked up at Raiden. "So what will you do in the meantime? Everyone is recovering, everyone is…vulnerable." She pondered, folding her fans back into their pouches at her waist. The god turned back and glared at her, picking her up in a static cocoon.
"Did you not just hear me? Threaten Earthrealm and I will destroy you, Princess or not." He threw her to the floor, hearing her jaw crack as she moaned out for him to stop. "Believe me," he looked between them both, "there are fates worse than death."
The plane landed behind Raiden, who watched as Sonya Blade ran out towards him. Her voice was strained, from hours of travel and repressed worrying. "Raiden, you left before we had chance to ask what to do next, Shinnok…" Her voice faded out as her eyes took in Raiden's much more dark appearance, feeling his eyes burn into hers like a threat in themselves, and then seeing Shinnok's head as her eyes finally met with the burning rock floor. She gasped. Raiden chuckled and walked towards her, holding his hand up as an orb of electricity engulfed his entire arm, lighting up Sonya's face in a blue glow.
"Carry on as you were, General Blade, but do not step out of line, thus you will find a nasty surprise without release." He watched. "Find your people, you'll need them all." She walked backwards, covering her eyes with her arm as he disappeared in a bolt of lightning, tears at her eyes.
"We need help." She relayed in on her arm radio. "Raiden's lost it."