Author's Note: Apologies to all. Somehow chapter 12 uploaded as both 11 and 12. A thousand pardons. *bows*
Chapter 11: Jacqueline Briggs
Oh shit, Jacqui thinks as she watches Sonya get an earful from an angry Kotal Kahn. The livid emperor had apparently been attacked by Scorpion. He made sure to affirm that it was indeed Scorpion and not Hanzo Hasashi with whom he holds a peaceful countenance. His call for a public execution was being heralded as foolish by Sonya and this left the two brute force personalities at odds. Turning to her right, she makes eye contact with Takeda who was obviously perturbed by the idea of his mentor being in trouble. She approaches Takeda and forcefully grabs his face between her palms.
"Ow, what gives?" Takeda says, a playful annoyance in his words.
"You like it rough," Jacqui quips, hoping that a little flirtation will ease his mind from the stress.
Takeda smiles but just as quickly as it appears, it disappears and an expression that leaves Jacqui heartbroken, takes its place. Before she is able to speak again, Jin's voice rings out into the stifling air,
"-so telling us we need to go to Outworld would've been much more convenient, don't you think?"
Ermac blinks blank eyed at Jin and then responds, somewhat of a chill in his voice,
"You did not ask us."
Jin rolls his eyes and looks at Jacqui, frustrated. She shrugs her shoulders and chuckles. Returning her focus to Takeda, she could see the distress all over him. He was sitting hunched over on large boulder, his head between his hands. Jacqui, who had at first felt like she should try and be comforting, now knew that they needed to get down to business. Turning to Ermac, she asks,
"Hey, do you have a way to get to Outworld unnoticed?"
Ermac slowly turns to her, looking her over as though he were considering whether she were worthy, he speaks,
"We are the elite soldiers of Master Kotal Kahn. We know all ways to get in and out of Outworld. Why should we tell you?"
Jacqui stares at him, flabbergasted. She wasn't expecting that sort of curt and rude reply. With Jin, he just answers but with anyone else, he was a complete asshole. On the verge of a nasty retort, Jin interrupts her,
"Can you just cut to the chase please? We haven't got all day and the more we stay in the Netherrealm, the more my beautiful skin loses its elasticity."
Without a word, Ermac begins conjuring, his hands glowing green and his eyes flickering. Sonya ends her unpleasant conversation with Kotal Kahn and looks from Johnny to the others. Always in good spirits, Johnny says,
"Now that's something we could've used to spice up our marriage, eh?"
Sonya looks at him in disgust and then returns her focus to Ermac. Within moments, a portal that had a black aura appears before the fighters. Ermac looks at each and every last one of them and then Jin finally before speaking,
"This portal is of ancient sorcery ordered into being by our former Master Shao Kahn's bidding. It is encased in darkness and impenetrable by any other forms of sorcery. The last remnants of Master Shang Tsung's abilities, along with our existence."
"Is it just a portal that only traverse's between realms or it can create concealed travel within a realm as well?" Sonya inquires, actually impressed with this bit of information.
"It is capable of any sort of travel that we decide," Ermac responds, still looking at Jin.
Wow, first time I've ever seen someone blatantly disregard Lieutenant Blade, Jacqui muses silently. I bet Cass would've gotten a kick out of that…Cass, please let me know if you're alright, Jacqui couldn't help worrying about Cassie. They were best friends and not hearing from her friend at all was hurtful. Lost in her thoughts, she almost gets left behind as everyone steps into the portal and makes their way to Outworld. Jacqui takes hold of Takeda's hand, knowing how much portal travel irritated him. He turns to her and grins, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
With a jolt, they arrive in Outworld and the place is grotesque. Trees unended, suspended in air by a force that was so heavy, it made it difficult for the warriors to walk. Various elements of nature were defying gravity as well. Sonya curses under her breath and turns to the others,
"This power is the same in a realm I've been to called the Chaosrealm. We have to be very cautious, we don't know what's waiting for us. Kotal Kahn is up my ass wanting to hang Hanzo and now I think I've figured out what caused his deformation. This has Havik written all over it."
"Havik, who's that?" Jacqui inquires, taking formation with Takeda and Jin.
Whenever Sonya used the word caution, they knew to heed her words. Johnny takes this opportunity to speak,
"He's kind of the guy you never invited to your house but he shows up anyway and brings a crap ton of people with him who are high on mollies. He's just bad news. His philosophy is total anarchy and his people worship water. Typical nut job if you ask me."
"Well, thanks for that Mr. Cage. Moving on, we're to rendezvous with Kotal Kahn first and then get this psycho. He's turning Outworld into Chaosrealm two point zero and that shit does not fly with the Special Forces," Sonya says, her signature sneer forming on her lips.
"Ermac, lead the way," Jacqui says, trying to create some sort of familiarity with the telepath.
Typical Ermac fashion, he looks to Jin, who nods his approval and walks ahead of the group. Jacqui looks at Takeda who shares her expression of perplexity and they follow behind the red ninja and Jin with Sonya and Johnny bringing up the rear.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. I super appreciate it and the reviews are very lovely. The story is reaching its climax and I'm ecstatic that so many like my tale. Let's follow along and see what happens. *bows*
