I don't own Mortal Kombat.
The D'Vorah Effect
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Johnny Cage did a double take when his daughter entered their home. Not because of her of course, Cassie was the same as she always was. No, the problem was who she had brought with her. The Kytinn known as D'Vorah walked in behind Cassie. Johnny glared at the humaniod insect, there was no love lost between them, and considering that D'Vorah had just tried to kill him a couple weeks prior, Johnny didn't think anyone would blame him. "What the hell is she doing here, Cassie?"
"Didn't Mom tell you about the agreement we reached with Kotal Kahn?" Cassie asked. His daughter didn't even look the slightest bit ashamed that she'd brought that monster into their home. Under other circumstances Johnny probably would have been proud of her for that, but this...
"Yes, she did, but that doesn't explain why she's in my house," Johnny said, "I'm sure I don't have to remind you of all people what she tried to do to me. She can go back and rot in that cell at the base for all I care."
"I understand how you feel, Dad," Cassie said, "but she's not a prisoner of war anymore. We can't legally detain her. She has to stay somewhere and the barracks won't take her. Besides, she's rather insistent about staying by my side. It's not like we don't have the room here anyway thanks to all your Hollywood money."
"Look, Cass, I know you're trying to do something good here, but it's D'Vorah. After all the trouble she's caused I just don't like having her around. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. I especially don't like having her around you. She has a tendency to betray her masters," Johnny said.
"This One did what she had to for the Hive to survive. This One will serve her mistress dutifully in return for the safety of the Hive. It is ingrained in Kytinn instinct," D'Vorah said.
"Yeah, well forgive me if I don't take you at your word, Insectababe," Johnny scoffed.
"I'd be lying if I said I trusted D'Vorah, Dad, but to say no would mean having the blood of her species on my hands. It's not like Outworld in general knew much about loyalty. This is D'Vorah's second chance. If she squanders it I'll deal with her personally, but I'm hoping Earthrealm attitudes wear off on her," Cassie explained.
"Well, you're a better person than I am, Cassie, and I'm proud of that. I just hope it doesn't end up costing you."
"There's something I need to talk to you about, Dad," Cassie said before turning to D'Vorah, in private D'Vorah, stay here and don't try to listen in."
"As you wish, Mistress," D'Vorah said giving a slight bow. Johnny followed Cassie into the dining room which should be out of earshot of the Kytinn as far as they knew. Like everything in the house it was spacious and ornate, the best Hollywood money could buy.
Johnny leaned up against a solid oak kitchen chair and folded his arms. "So what do we need to discuss that we can't talk about in front of our new house guest?"
"It's actually about her," Cassie said, "I need your permission for her to join the squad, Dad."
Johnny did his best to stay in control after such an insane suggestion, and while he managed to keep his voice down his outrage was evident. "You can't be serious, Cassie, D'Vorah is a security breach waiting to happen and you want to bring her along on some of Earthrealm's most sensitive missions? Does she have you under some kind of mind control? Every instinct you gained in your military training should be screaming at you to do the opposite."
"She'd just find a way to follow anyway, and without a briefing she could jeopardize any mission I went on. Taking her into the line of fire would be a good way to see if she really is serious about all this swearing loyalty to me stuff. Plus I'd have the rest of the squad to look after me if this is a trap so I'll be a hell of a lot safer. You put the squad together, you have to approve any additions."
Johnny pondered that for a moment. Cassie did have some good points, ad he could count on the rest of the squad to protect her from D'Vorah, but he wasn't sure he wanted to take that kind of risk, not with the safety of Earthrealm at stake. More importantly to him, the safety of his daughter was at stake. "Even if I wanted to say yes, and I'm not saying I do, I doubt the rest of the squad would be thrilled about having her around."
"The squad will get used to it, they'll have to. We can't exactly leave D'Vorah unattended," Cassie said.
Johnny sighed. "We'll give it a shot, but if the squad starts falling apart I'm kicking D'Vorah out, Cass."
"That's fair. I know I'm asking a lot when it comes to D'Vorah, but I feel like this is the right thing to do. If this goes wrong I'll take full responsibility."
"I hope for your sake it doesn't. At the very least, this could wreck your career, Cassie. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"What is it, Dad?"
"I was just wondering if the Special Forces had heard anything from Raiden. There's still the matter of what's going to be done with Shinnok. And the Netherrealm, putting Shinnok I the amulet obviously wasn't enough. I thought you might know something."
"No, we haven't heard anything from Raiden since we left the Jinsei chamber. He might still be recovering from cleansing the Jinsei. That did do quite a number on him," Cassie said.
"Maybe," Johnny said, "but I have a bad feeling about Raiden going quiet. I hope it's nothing, but I'm not going to let my guard down. As long as those Revenants are out there I don't think we're going to have peace. Anyway, you should probably get back to babysitting D'Vorah."
Cassie stepped into the room that her father had agreed to give D'Vorah and placed a plate on the for. It was a plate of freshly prepared steaming roast beef. "I assumed you were strictly a carnivore judging by your teeth, so I didn't bother with the rest of the meal for you."
"You assumed correctly, Mistress," D'Vorah said before tilting her head to the side quizzically. "What manner of meat is this?"
"It's called roast beef, it comes from an Earthrealm animal called a cow," Cassie sat her own plate down and took a bite of her own roast beef, "It's not poison, don't worry."
D'Vorah picked the roast beef up off her plate and took a large bite. Cassie saw her face contort into what might have been slight disgust. "This meat is cooked. The Kytinn prefer their meat raw."
"I'm sorry, D'Vorah, we'll keep that in mind in the future. We probably should have guessed that too," Cassie said.
The Kytinn once again tilted her head in confusion. "This One understands why you saved me from execution, to prevent the Kytinn from going extinct. What this One does not understand is why the Mistress is being so kind to her. This One has given you no reason to treat me so well."
"Did your other... employers not threat you well, D'Vorah?" Cassie asked. It was a stupid question given who D'Vorah had worked for in the past, but asking it could give her a lot of insight into D'Vorah.
"Shao Kahn burned the Hive, and ruled through fear, This One served him only so he would not hunt me down. Mileena was no better. Kotal Kahn tried to treat the Kytinn better, but many of this other advisers did not trust the Kytinn. He too ruled with a fist of iron. The Tarkatans defied him so he exterminated them all. One can not feel safe when one mistake could lead to death. This One was just a tool for Shinnok," she said.
Cassie nodded, all of that made sense to her. "If Shao Kahn burned the Kytinn Hive, why didn't you try to kill him, or at least leave Outworld?"
"This One did not have the strength to challenge Shao Kahn, to serve was the only way to ensure the Hive's survival."
"You could have come to Earthrealm, asked Raiden to protect you," Cassie said.
"Before Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung Outworld had won nine Mortal Kombat tournaments and was on the brink of merging Earthrealm into Outworld. This one considered Earthrealm too weak to offer any real protection. Until the failed invasion ad Shao Khan's death at the hands of Raiden and the Elder Gods Outworld's armies were still the most powerful force in the realms."
"Damn, that's a good point. Even with Shao Kahn dead Earthrealm had lost most of its warriors, so when Shinnok came calling you joined up thinking he was the safer bet," Cassie surmised.
"Indeed, when Quan Chi approached This One about serving an Elder God, This One thought the safety of the Hive was assured. This one thought Shinnok losing to your father was a fluke. With Johnny Cage out of the way he would surely be victorious."
"And then I kicked Shinnok's ass."
"And Shinnok was in a more powerful form than when he fought your father. Seeing that kind of power, This One felt her course of action was clear."
"Sounds like you've had it rough, D'Vorah. I don't know that I could have handled all of that."
"The ease of things does not matter to This One, what matters is the survival of the Hive."
"This is why I'm treating you so well. You're not an enemy anymore, and Earthrealm isn't like Outworld. Sure we have our own problems and flaws, but at least in this part of Earthrealm we believe in giving people a second chance. You've had to live in the brutal environment of Outworld. I hope that by showing you kindness, you'll see that there are other ways to stay safe than joining up with the biggest bully on the block. I'm giving you a chance, D'Vorah, which is more than most of Earthrealm's warriors would have, so don't fuck it up."
"If I betray you, you will try to kill me like all the others," D'Vorah mused.
"There are things worse than death, D'Vorah," Cassie said darkly, "I'll lock you back up in a cell with a television that plays the Ninja Mime movies on loop. Just don't tell my dad I said that he's way too proud of those movies." Cassie laughed at her own joke, it wa smeant to be disarming. Threatening D'Vorah with death would only make her feel like Cassie was no different than her other masters.
"These Ninja Mime movies are some form of torture?" D'vorah was clearly confused.
"That depends on who you ask, my mom definitely thinks so, but they keep making more of them so people must enjoy them. Personally, I don't think they're good, but they are funny at the very least. I don't know what you would think of then since you aren't from Earthrealm. I'll have to show them to you some time, it wouldn't be hard to convince my dad, he loves showing off."
"Yes, Johnny Cage is legendary for that, even in Outworld. This One thinks it would be interesting to see the 'films' that he brags so much about."
"Oh, D'Vorah, I hope that this isn't too personal, but there was something I was wondering about," Cassie said.
"What is it you wish to know, Mistress?" D'Vorah asked.
"I was wondering why you wear clothes. I doubt you really need them as an insectiod."
"No, Mistress, This one does not need to wear clothes. They are are a compromise to make non-insectiod beings more comfortable. I assume I will still need them here in Earthrealm. Every Earthrealmer I have met has worn them."
"Oh yeah, definitely keep the clothes, I was just curious is all. Anyway, we should probably head to bed, I'll see you in the morning," Cassie said.
"If it is acceptable, Mistress, This One would rather sleep in your room, as your devoted servant it is my duty to stay close to you in case anything happens," D'Vorah said.
"But there's only one bed in my room," Cassie protested.
"This One does not require such plushness to sleep," D'vorah said, the word pushness was full of disdain, "This One would be perfectly comfortable on the floor."
"Well, if you insist, D'Vorah," Cassie relented.
D'Vorah's head was spinning. Earthrealm was such a strange place. It had so many devices the likes of which she had never seen before such as lights that could be turned off and on with a flick of a switch. At first she thought all of this was some form of sorcery, but she had been informed by her Mistress that Earthrealm largely lacked any form of magic. All of this was technology, the use of machines, that could do things like harness electricity.
This technology could do many amazing things, even if most of it was less powerful than sorcery. Still, now that she had time to really get a good look at Earthrealm she could see why the other Realms considered Earthrealmers decadent. They used technology to make their lives much easier than the typical life in any other realm. Still, they were not soft, D'Vorah had felt the sting of their weapons, Earthrealmers knew how to fight despite their disadvantages.
She still couldn't fathom why her new mistress was trying to make her so comfortable. Someone who betrayed their realm should be treated with mistrust and scorn. While the former was definitely present in her mistress, and the latter was present in every other Earthrealmer when it came to her, Cassie genuinely seemed to want to help D'Vorah. That was something the Hive had never encountered before. Not even Kotal Khan had seen her as much more than an ally who could help in his coup against Mileena.
She'd sworn allegiance to Cassie simply out of self-preservation. Another master to serve for the good of the Hive, it didn't matter what was asked of her so long as the Hive survived.
She'd known from the start that the Earthrealm woman wouldn't be like Shao Kahn or Shinnok, but she hadn't expected to be treated sob well. A thought stuck D'Vorah that she had no idea how to feel about: She might actually be starting to like Cassie Cage.
So yeah, I figured the first thing I should do is try and make D'vorah sympathetic since she was pretty villainous in canon. I might have laid it on a bit thick here. I want to write longer chapters, but this one just felt like it should end here. A lot of these first chapters are just going to be establishing the new status quo with D'Vorah around. The action will come eventually.