The desire for acceptance, for a place to belong burned strongly in Johnny Cage. From the small precipice he stood on in an expansive and rapidly emptied world, he found himself adrift into the vast nothing of solitude and dissonance. How far would you go to find your place in the world? Just how badly do you yearn acceptance?
His thoughts lay adrift like the ship. It moved slowly to and fro. It felt like a pig's trough as the water sloshed and slapped against old ship. His cabin was just above the cargo hold, but segregated from the guests of honor.
The Black Dragon.
Lost like a stowaway, Johnny Cage was relegated to the cabin for hours after the ship had parted from the docks. He heard banging above, commotion that had to have come from the surface and on occasion the level he was on would drop, or rise in temperature. He had lost count of how many times.
He began to reflect on just how far he'd go to return the life he had. How readily he took Bowie's hand, who turned out to be a sorcerer that played him like a fiddle. How easy it was for him to get to this point, to accept all of the devil's tricks just for the chance to become himself again.
Is it worth it?
How far must he carve through the earth until the heat of his own breath can be felt again?
Bang!
Bang!
The sound of steel on wood rattled him from the wooden bed. He pulled himself together and opened the door to find the disfigured man greet him, knife in hand, and a smile etched painfully across his lips.
"You killed one of my boys."
"So?"
"Now you got a choice, mate."
The man pushed himself into the room, Johnny pressed against the wall with a shove as the man turned toward him, knife turned to face downward, ready for a deep slash.
"Name's Kano, leader of the Black Dragon." Kano introduced and stepped closer to Cage. "You're choice is this, ya' die here, before we even step foot on any bloody island, or ya' take his place in the gang."
"Fuck off." Cage pushed back.
Kano smacked the other side of the cabin with an ugly thud. He was surprised by the strength and reflected that with a spit and narrow glare that sized up his opponent.
"Okay," he cracked his neck and rotated his shoulders, ready his muscles for a fight. "No one tells me to fuck off!"
The dagger arched through the air and came point down at Johnny. He curved his right arm under Kano's swing and grabbed his wrist then stepped into his opponent's measure and and carved a bruise with his fists into Kano's ribs. Kano pulled back and lunged forward with another stab. Johnny beat the hand aside with both arms held like a shield and then stepped in to straight kick the flat of his boot against Kano's sternum.
The leader of the Black Dragon staggered back. He caught his breath, and spit with arm that wiped across the stubble of his face and grinned. "Got some fight in ya', fuckah! You can't win though."
"How's that?" Cage in right stance, readied to lunge in, but Kano's nudge toward the door revealed members of the Black Dragon had gathered to join in.
"Cause then you got to fight all of them."
Cage stepped back into neutral stance and Kano stepped forward, dagger at the ready.
"You got a choice, kid. Don't muck around with me!"
He got a deep glance into the plated flesh of Kano, the red eye stared back. He wondered if the man could truly see out of the eye, or if it were just for show. The stench of the men wafted into the small cabin and Kano's breath, heavy with alcohol spilled down his nostrils. He bathed in the horror of his situation for he knew only one answer would get him out of it. How badly did he want it?
How far did he have to go to get out of this tunnel?
"What do I have to do?"
Kano snickered and approached Cage, almost friendly like, with the dragger tucked under the man's chin.
"Easy mate, let me show you."
He grabbed Cage's white shirt with his dirt covered hand and yanked him toward the door.
The crowd split and returned to their cabins beyond the arched doorway that segregated Cage from the Black Dragon.
He pushed and pulled Cage with him up the staircase from level to level of the ship until they reached the main deck. At the top, Kano searched carefully, and hid behind crates and barrels.
"Got to be a surprise." He explained to Cage, who didn't follow along.
Past the first mast, toward the end of the ship, he spotted what he had been looking for. The crown jewel of the journey.
Along the right of the stern, where materials for the ship had been set for repair, just above where Kano knew the cargo was below several levels under, he spotted it.
"Look here, mate." He pointed her out.
A blonde female in all black, shirt and shorts, combat boots and her hair tied in a ponytail. She stood between two men, one of dark skin, broad shoulders and muscular physique, the other taller, same skin tone and hair color as her, but older, more worn and battle hardened. They seemed to argue amongst themselves, but Kano didn't care about that.
He pulled Johnny back behind the pole of the main mast and stared deep into his eyes.
"In order to become a member of the Black Dragon, you gotta kill her."
Cage glanced back at the group, tried to understand why the woman was a target and not the two men.
"Why her?"
"Don't question me, ya' shit!" He spat.
A member of the clan approached Kano, pressed close to his side until he believed Cage could not hear.
"The two representatives of the Lin Kuei want to speak with you about the deal."
"Yeah?" Kano glanced back at Cage, "wait till we get to the island, then you can off her. I want my fair share too."
"What's so important about her?"
He searched for answer, but Kano had gone.
Was this the distance he must travel to attain his sense of self? He watched her with the two, they appeared by their demeanor to be law enforcement. The equipment, the body language, he studied them intently.
"Who are you?" He whispered under his breath, but it may as well be reflected back at him.
He backed slowly from the mast and toward the door that lead him back down to the depths of the ship, oblivious of his surrounding. Unaware a man in white, perched upon a stack of crates had watched him from afar as he stared intently at his target.
When the door shut, Raiden traced the path Cage had taken with his eyes down toward Sonya and a heavy weight fell upon him.
How far could he go?
He could understand the reasoning behind Kano's intentions toward Sonya, but how deep did this cavern travel? As silent as he could, Raiden dissipated in a flash of light into the crack of the door that Cage had recoiled into.
What are you willing to do to find your place in life?
What happens if that place you strived so hard to stand in is not where you truly belong?