Part 3

Escape

The next morning, Cassie woke early, half expecting Erron Black to be there again. But, there was no one. She felt a slight aching in her chest, and she looked towards the stairway, half expecting him to come down at any moment. But, after a few moments of waiting, nothing, and her chest ached even more. She couldn't understand why exactly she felt like this. Why should she care? It shouldn't matter to her. But, the truth was, she had started looking forward to his visits. What was wrong with her? She was actually disappointed that he wasn't there. Why? She wasn't supposed to care. 'Why do I even give a fuck about him?' she thought to herself. Suddenly, truth hit her like a punch in the gut. 'Shit.' she thought. She knew the reason even if she found it near impossible to believe. Was it possible? Was she actually falling for him?

About an hour later, it was agreed that they needed to escape. Takeda had a plan as to how they would do that. One of the guards came downstairs to give them their rations. Takeda used his telepathic abilities to make the guard pass out cold. He got the key and opened the doors to each of their cells. They made their way off of the ship where they had been imprisoned, and onto the dock. But, they ducked behind some bushes when they noticed three individuals on the dock.

"Oh, no." Jaqui said. There on the dock were three of Kotal Kahn's enforcers, Reptile, Ermac, and, yes, Erron Black. 'Oh, great.' Cassie thought. The last thing she wanted was to have to fight her way through Erron Black to escape. But, maybe, if she just talk to him... What?! She couldn't believe herself. Talk to him? What the hell was she thinking? Since when did Cassie Cage talk things out? Cassie Cage talks with her fists. Besides, he was a mercenary. He wasn't about to give up whatever Kahn was paying him just so she could escape. Not to mention, even if by some very slim chance he was willing to let her go, the other two wouldn't. Something was clearly going on. The three of them were knelt down beside the body of two dead guards. Cassie couldn't help but wonder whatever was happening was the reason that Erron Black hadn't come to her cell that day.

"This is definitely D'Vorah's work. Look at the wounds. The question is, is she working alone?" Erron Black said. D'Vorah? She was the one escorting the guards with Shinnok's amulet. Why would she kill them? Had she betrayed Kotal Kahn? Suddenly, Reptile looked in the direction of the bushes where they were hiding.

"The Earthrealmers. D'Vorah freed them." he said. At that moment, the four of them got out of their hiding spot in the bushes and began running. None of this made sense to Erron Black. They couldn't really be working with D'Vorah, could they? Cassandra couldn't, could she? No. She wouldn't. Besides, it didn't make sense. Why would they have insisted on taking the amulet instead of D'Vorah if they were just working together in the first place? Reptile and Ermac instantly took off after them. Erron hesitated, then fired off a few shots so as not to arouse suspicion from Reptile and Ermac. However, he missed on purpose. With his skill, he could have easily hit them if he had been trying. Reptile and Ermac were too focused on their targets to notice his "poor aim". He holstered his guns and headed towards the Earthrealmers. Reptile knocked Jaqui to the ground and began fighting with Takeda. Erron looked at the remaining two Earthrealmers. Avoiding Cassie, he began fighting Kung Jin. He couldn't bring himself to attack her. Not Cassandra. He couldn't believe it. Never in all his days as a mercenary had he ever even hesitated to fight anyone. This left Cassie to fight Ermac. Ultimately, the four Earthrealmers left the three of them laying on the docks out cold. Cassie and the others then fled into the jungle. Cassie had noticed how Erron Black had avoided attacking her. She couldn't help but wonder, was it just a coincidence? Or did he intentionally not attack her? She was lost in her thoughts for a few moments until a familiar voice brought her back to reality.

"Yo, Cassie. Do you want to come back to us?" It was Jaqui.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I kinda zoned out for a minute there. It must be the jungle heat getting to me." she said, playing it off. There was no way she could tell her friends what she was really thinking about.

"You alright?" Jaqui asked her friend.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Cassie answered.

"Then, get with it,Cassie." Kung Jin said.

"Jin." Takeda said.

"We should probably contact General Blade." Jaqui said.

"Right." Cassie said, pulling out her communicator.

When Erron and the others came to, the Earthrealmers were nowhere to be found. 'Damn it.' he thought. The Kahn would not be happy about this. But, there was a part of Erron that felt a sense of relief that Cassie had escaped unharmed. Of course, he could never let anyone know that. Kotal Kahn would probably have his head if he knew.

"They got away." Reptile said.

"Damn." Erron said, not letting on to how he really felt.

"We should inform the Emperor of this turn of events." Ermac said.

"Yes." Reptile said. Erron nodded in agreement, and they went off to tell Kotal Kahn of what was going on.

They walked into the palace where Kotal was sitting at the head of a table. Erron sat down in a chair facing him with Reptila and Ermac standing behind him(Erron).

"Kotal Kahn, we need to talk." he said.

"What is this about?" Kotal asked.

"D'Vorah has betrayed you." Reptile said.

"What?" Kotal Kahn said. The shock was evident in his voice. D'Vorah was the only one Kotal truly trusted. She had been loyally by his side all the way, or so he thought. He never imagined she would betray him. He could hardly believe it.

"It's true." Erron said, "she killed the guards and took the amulet." Kotal Kahn was truly hurt. The one person he had truly trusted had betrayed him.

"And she's working with the Earthrealmers." Reptile added.

"We don't know that." Erron said.

"She freed them." Reptile said.

"We don't know it was her that freed them." Erron stated.

"And they just happen to somehow end up escaping just as we learn of D'Vorah's betrayal?" Reptile insisted.

"We have no reason to think they were working with D'Vorah. We can't just assume." Erron Black said.

"Enough. Both of you." Kotal Kahn said, "You wound me, D'Vorah. Coincidences like this do not happen. We have to assume they're working together." Erron Black wanted to protest, but thought better of it and held his tongue. He knew that Kotal Kahn would not listen to him anyway now that he had made up his mind. Besides, he did not want to risk revealing too much.

"We must find them and get the amulet back." Kotal Kahn said. At the Kahn's word, they headed out to find the Earthrealmers.