Needless to say, Johnny's team was unimpressed with the sudden change in plans. The four had been enjoying their holiday, and protested greatly when he sent them messages in the group chat. After threats of adding Sonya to the chat, they all agreed to go, but Johnny just knew they'd be in terrible moods for the whole trip.
Sighing, he threw his blue t-shirt into his backpack, which currently lay open on his bed, spilling out all of his clothes and necessities. He'd never been one to start his packing neatly, after he found everything he wanted he'd sort it out. Once Johnny found a third pair of shorts, he walked over to his bed and started folding his clothes, putting them into the bag neatly. Ultimately, he decided he only needed two pairs of sunglasses, and returned the other three pairs to their rack.
"Dad?" Her voice was surprisingly quiet for anyone, let alone Cassie. Johnny turned to look at her, his daughter was dressed in her cotton pajama bottoms and a pink singlet. She leant against the door frame, blue eyes, the same shade as Johnny's, flicking from his bag to him.
Her soft tone had him worried. His daughter was usually brash and loud, but she seemed nervous. "What's wrong, Punkin?"
Cassie sighed, putting her hands together. "I'm..stupidly nervous about going to Outworld. And seeing Mom again." She paused. "It's a combination of both."
"Why are you nervous about seeing her?" Johnny sat down on his bed, tone sincere. He watched as Cassie shifted from foot to foot. "She's your Mom. Or, are you worried you won't be able to do what you did with Shinnok again?"
A silence passed over them, before Cassie nodded. Ah, so that was it.
"Hey, I haven't been able to summon the halo in years. Don't worry about it, Cass." He gave her a grin.
"I guess you're right. I should be fine." She mimicked his grin. Cassie now stood more casually, she was like Johnny, it didn't take much to banish smaller doubts in her head. If it had been truly bothering her, she would still be seeking support. "So, Dad, are you gonna try and...work things out?"
He laughed, brushing a hand through his hair. "Well, like I said to you before, I'd like to work things out with her. But I don't think Sonya wants to."
"Maybe she does." He raised a brow at Cassie's comment. His daughter explained. "We all know Mom. She isn't that great at, y'know, expressing her feelings. Maybe her continuous nagging and yelling at you is her way of showing she cares." She ended her analysis with a shrug. "But I don't know."
"Woah." Johnny leant back in his seat, looking up at Cassie in disbelief. "You got very profound there for a second."
She grinned again, pushing a stand of blond hair behind her ear. "My profoundness comes and goes. It hit me the night after we beat Shinnok, I was thinking about how she yelled at us both..a lot. And she sent us away. We saw it as her being a bitch. But she might have been yelling because she was worried, I know that I do that too, yell at people when I care."
"Again, really profound." He smiled up at her. Cassie yawned in front of him, leaning against the doorframe again. "Hey, hate to send you to bed like you're a little kid again, but we're getting up pretty early tomorrow to go to the base."
"Yeah, thanks to Mom's impatience." She yawned again, wiping one of her eyes. "Goodnight, Dad."
" 'night, Cass." He watched her walk down the hallway before he turned to his own bed, landing on the mattress with a soft thump. The backpack still lay at the foot of the bed, but he was too lazy to move it, instead rolling onto his side and closing his eyes.
Truth be told, Johnny was almost excited to go to Outworld. Mileena couldn't be difficult to track, plus he'd be back with his team, and most importantly, Sonya. The blonde may not share the feelings of excitement, and slight dread, that he felt, but he was still looking forward to speaking with her again. He just hoped she'd stop and listen to him.
"Alright, Cassie in the front seat, Takeda and Jacqui at a window each, and Jin, you're in the middle."
"What?!" The archer narrowed his eyes at Johnny, crossing his arms. "That's bullshit, Mister Cage."
"Hey, my car, my rules." He ran a hand across his Trans Am as he walked to the driver's door. The car, like a lot of things Johnny owned, was obnoxiously bright green, a topic of conversation at many parties the actor went to. At the back, printed across the boot, was "CAGE", written in dark blue. The eagle print on the bonnet had been repainted in the same dark blue, with a silver hood ornament at the front. The ornament was in the shape of sunglasses, almost everything on and in this car had been custom made.
Jin shuffled into the middle seat, grumbling while he did so. Takeda and Jacqui sat either side of him, giving each other a small smile before pointedly looking out the windows. Cassie moved into the passenger seat, flicking a stick of gum into her mouth as she sat down. Johnny pulled his seatbelt over his chest, and then started the car, turning his music up. He grinned as the three in the backseat rolled their eyes.
It took them half an hour to drive to the base; however it felt shorter once the five had started to talk to each other. The conversation started with Jin's irritation towards the seating plan in the car, then changed to what Mileena could possibly be planning.
"Personally, I think she's got some magic behind her." Jacqui leant against the car door, brown eyes looking over in Jin and Takeda's direction. "It wouldn't be the first time an Outworlders has used magic to come back to life."
"Isn't she a clone of Kitana?" Turning to face the others, Cassie raised her brow. "I mean, what if there's more than one clone? Mileena might not be the only one."
Jin scoffed, leaning back into his seat with his arms crossed. "Yeah, but why would they have the same motives? The clones would've experienced different stuff, they wouldn't all be exactly the same."
"Actually, Jin," Takeda cleared his throat before speaking up, brown eyes scanning the others before he said, "they could be sharing a mind. If they're clones, whoever made them-"
"Shang Tsung." Johnny interjected, eyes still fixed on the road. It was always interesting, hearing his team discuss things like this. They came up with so many different assumptions, and usually they were right.
"Oh right, thanks, Mister Cage. Shang Tsung could've made them with the exact same mind." Takeda smiled, proud of his explanation. "I'm not exactly sure how Outworld sorcery works, but, assumedly, it would be easier for him to copy an already made mind, rather than create a new one from scratch."
"That's only if Cassie's clone theory is right." Jin reminded them. At Cassie's frown, he added. "Calm down, Cage, I didn't say it was bad. It's the only good theory we've got." After a pause, he added. "You should definitely tell General Blade that idea, she'd want to investigate."
Tapping on the steering wheel, Johnny said. "Oh yeah, you'll want to tell her that. I know Sonya would've stayed up last night, writing up why Mileena could possibly be alive, but there's a chance she may have missed that thought."
Pulling into the Special Forces' car park, Johnny grinned when he saw his ex-wife. She wore her combat gear, arms crossed over her chest. Once she saw the Trans Am, she walked towards them, passing her own army green Harley Davidson.
His team climbed out of the car, Cassie opened the boot and they all reached in for their backpacks, slinging it over their shoulders. Johnny caught his bag when someone threw it at him, smiling as the General stepped closer.
"Haven't seen the bike in ages." He gestured to her motorbike, whistling as he looked over it. "Still looks brand new."
His ex turned away from him to look back at the bike. She wasn't quick enough to hide any emotions, Johnny saw her proud grin. Still, she attempted to shrug it off, looking at him again. "I don't do stupid shit while on the bike, I look after it. Same as you with your car."
"Can we go now?" Jin called out to them. He held onto his bag with one hand, eyelids lowered and looking rather impatient. Sonya just nodded.
"We should go. The quicker we get there, the sooner we find Mileena." Although she usually spoke in a serious tone, Johnny saw her tone as even more serious than usual, with a hint of determination behind it. At Sonya's comment, the six of them started walking towards SF's headquarters, all talking amongst themselves.
"I got here an hour early, spoke with Alto and got the coordinates for the portal organised." Sonya marched beside Johnny. Apparently, she assumed he knew all the soldiers here personally. Johnny just nodded, he had no idea who Alto was, or even what the man looked like. "Everything's set up, we just have to turn it on and step through."
Johnny nodded, looking over her again. Dark circles were under her blue-grey eyes, yet she still looked sharp and alert. "You didn't get much sleep last night, did you? Stayed up looking into why Mileena's back?"
She nodded, yawning on queue. "It'd be easier if Raiden was talking to us. I know he's got tonnes of books about this kind of thing, what magic and methods could be used to bring a person back to life. I can't suspect Quan Chi either, and he's the only necromancer I know."
Of course. It did point to Quan Chi, especially after his closeness with Shang Tsung, and habits of reviving dead kombatants. But both Johnny and Sonya had seen him die. Hanzo had been pissed, and sliced the man's head off, releasing Shinnok and hell onto Earthrealm. "People need to start staying dead." Johnny attempted to joke, grinning as he looked at her. Sonya didn't seem too impressed.
Once they entered the building, some soldiers nodded to them, others saluted Sonya. The portal was close to the entrance, in case anything went wrong and they needed to evacuate. Once they opened the doors to the room, which were heavy and locked from the outside, the portal lit up instantly, engulfing the room in purple light.
No matter how many times Johnny saw it, the portal always managed to amaze him with just how bright it was. His eyes slowly adjusted to the intensity of the glare, the only person who seemed unaffected was Sonya, who walked closer to it. She turned a few steps in front and waited for the others to catch up to her.
Once she'd called a thank you to Alto, Sonya stepped through the portal. The purple light swallowed her whole; it left no sign of her ever being there. Cassie walked through after her, followed by Jin, Jacqui, and then Takeda. Johnny looked around the room one last time, tightening the straps of his backpack before he stepped through, leaving Earthrealm completely.