Sonya and Raiden were within ten feet of the door to the market when someone addressed them.

"Excuse me?"

They both looked to their left, into a small alley next to the store. A middle-aged woman with tattered clothes and a weary expression (or maybe demeanor was more appropriate) looked up at them from red-rimmed eyes. Sonya quickly deduced that she must have been homeless.

"Either one of ya got some spare change?" she asked, obviously not having seen many people walk down this road tonight.

Sonya quickly tried to think of something to say as Raiden observed the woman, and grew more frantic when he looked to her, obviously assuming she would be willing to fork over some of Johnny's cash. Unfortunately, she was trying to move them along more quickly as it was, and she tried to convince herself that now wasn't the time to play charity case. On top of that, however, she didn't know how she would explain to the woman how they couldn't have any cash yet still be able to shop. What would Sonya say when she saw her and Raiden walk out with groceries?

"I'm sorry," Sonya apologized, tugging on Raiden's arm. "Not today. We're just going inside to ask for directions."

Raiden gave her a stern look as she jerked on his arm again.

"Oh," the lady replied tiredly, in a way that indicated she had received the same response to her plea many times before. "'S'alright."

Sonya felt strange as she led Raiden into the store, even more so after she heard the lady call out "Y'all have a good evening," right before the automatic doors shut behind them. The silence offered Sonya only a brief moment of comfort before Raiden dropped her arm and addressed her.

"Why did you not give her some of the money?" Raiden asked sharply. "There would have been plenty left over."

"Raiden," Sonya tried to explain, wondering how he, as Earthrealm's former protector god, could be so naïve on a subject such as this. "You don't know what they do with the money you give them. It goes to things like drugs, more often than not. You saw her eyes."

"She could be tired," he argued, his brow furrowing.

Sonya sighed. It was getting late and she wanted to end this conversation now.

"Yeah, but… now's not the time to deal with it, Raiden. Just let it go."

He looked at her harshly for another moment. Then he too sighed in frustration before speaking again.

"I guess I never truly understood what it was really like down here in Earthrealm," was his last comment before walking off into one of the aisles. Sonya felt a pang of remorse, but she didn't feel there was anything she could say as she walked to another end of the market.

There was clamoring as security wrestled the unruly patron to the door.

"I think you've had enough, sir," the burly guard barked as he threw the movie star out onto the cement. Johnny stumbled and turned around to give the employee a piece of his mind, continuing to sway in place.

"Fut the shuk up!" he blurted out nonsensically. "I've had enough when I say I've had enough."

The security and many people still in line looked on as the drunken actor made a spectacle of himself, for once not on purpose.

"I'm ME. Johnny Cage. I can take ass and kick names and there's nothing you can do about it!"

With his brilliant last words so eloquently put for the masses to look back upon for years to come, Johnny swirled around and promptly gave the sidewalk a kiss.

The cashier rang up the last of the goods, stuffing them into plastic bags and into the arms of an eager Sonya, who was ready to get out of the store and back to the house faster than she could say "NATO." Raiden carried the bulk of the items as they made their way out of the front door. Sonya was just about the relish the night breeze when she remembered something very suddenly.

"…Wait!" she cried out, stopping Raiden in time but having already been detected by the motion sensors in the door. Cautiously, she peeked outside and tried to see if she could catch sight of the homeless woman. When she saw her in the same spot as before, she caught her breath. She released it upon seeing the woman had fallen asleep.

"Let's go," she told Raiden, who gave her a puzzled look and tried to see what had caught Sonya off guard. His expression turned stony again when he saw the woman from earlier, giving Sonya a look that she knew meant would have earned a good reprimanding if it didn't hold the probability of waking the woman up. He simply followed her down the sidewalk as she paced hurriedly.

Once they were out of earshot, however, he spoke up.

"What was that?" he asked snidely, causing Sonya to shake her head in frustration.

"Not now, Raiden," she commented, focusing on the path ahead of her. "We just gotta get Johnny and go home. We'll deal with it in the morning. Got it?"

There was no response.

"Okay?"

She turned around to find that her only companion was her shadow. Raiden, on the other hand, was about twenty feet back the other way, having headed back to start a conversation with the tired woman in the alley.

Alarmed, Sonya swore again and rushed back to where he was standing.

"Raiden!" she cried softly as she came up to his side, putting on a fake smile for the homeless lady. "I'm sorry he woke you up," Sonya apologized quickly, earning a distrustful look from Raiden for interrupting him. The woman sitting down, however, evidently didn't see a problem with the situation.

"No problem, sweetie," she responded calmly. "The man just wanted to ask a few questions, is all."

Sonya looked incredulously at Raiden, wondering what trick the former thunder god was playing. Raiden, however, glared back at her and continued the conversation that he had started before her interference.

"As I was saying," he began to readdress the woman, forcing Sonya into silence. "How badly were you affected by the raids on the city?"

"Well," she started, looking pensive. "If you don't count the move from the bridge to here on the sidewalk, not too badly. I guess I had it easier than some others."

The irony in her statement earned a moment of awkward silence from both Sonya and Raiden (although the latter was more successful at hiding his discomfort). Then Raiden spoke again.

"Are you allergic to anything?" he inquired.

The woman (and Sonya) looked off-put by the question, failing to see how it was relevant to what he had just asked her. Sonya guessed she was probably wondering if the man was a loon.

"Latex," she reported bluntly. That's what he had asked, right?

"Nothing food-related, then?" Raiden said, rummaging through the bags he was holding.

The woman put two and two together.

"No."

Raiden pulled out a bag of oranges and handed them to the lady, who took them graciously, although obviously a bit stunned by the kind offer of the stranger.

"T…Thank you," she stammered slightly, setting the bag on her lap. Raiden's expression didn't change.

"Have a nice evening," he responded politely but pointedly, and he continued back on the way Sonya had originally been leading him. Sonya, slightly shocked by what had just occurred, quickly said good-night to the woman and bounded after Raiden.

He said nothing as she caught up to him. Sonya tried to think of something to say to fill the silence.

"…I'm sorry," she said. "I was wrong."

He didn't give a response, unless the quick aside glance he gave her counted. They continued to walk on back towards the club in charged silence, until Raiden spoke up one last time.

"All this time I was trying to protect you from Outworld and Shao Kahn," he stated, not looking at Sonya. "And all the while back here I could not save you from what you were doing to each other."

Sonya bit the inside of her lip and weakly trailed behind him with a heavy heart for the rest of their walk.

Cut out some of the last chapter and stuck it here instead. For some reason I tend to write Johnny falling on his face a lot. I honestly have no idea why.