Part 4

The Forest

Cassandra and her team had learned from General Sonya Blade that Shinnok was now free from the amulet and had kidnapped Johnny Cage and taken him to The Sky Temple. So, they commandeered a jet and headed for the temple. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Shinnok had poisoned Earth's life force, the sky was blood red and the jet's equipment was malfunctioning, so they were forced to land immediately, which ended up being in a dark forest. Cassie tried to get through to Sonya, on the communicator, but she couldn't get a signal.

"Fuck me. I can't get through to anyone." she said. Just then, a portal opened a short distance away from them, and, through it came Kotal Kahn, Reptile, Ermac, Erron Black, Ferra/Torr, and an army of Kotal Kahn's men.

"Oh, shit. It's them." Jaqui said. They decided to hide and take them by surprise. Doing this, they were able to take out many of Kotal Kahn's men at once. But, there were still some left and there was still Reptile, Ermac, Erron Black, Ferra/Torr, and Kotal Kahn himself. Reptile found Jaqui and Takeda and began fighting them. Suddenly, Cassie felt someone grab her from behind. She struggled to break free from the strong arms that were around her, holding her in place.

"Relax, will you?"

The voice was familiar, and Cassie relaxed slightly. She knew that voice... The person who was holding her loosened their grip and finally let go. She turned around to see Erron Black. She looked closer realizing that she must have knocked his mask off in her struggle to get free from his grip. She stared at him for a moment. His face was handsome in a somewhat rough-looking way.

"Erron." she said. This was her chance to plead her case, tell him that she and her friends were not working with D'Vorah. Surely, Erron would listen.

"Erron, we're not working with D'Vorah." Cassie told him.

"Yeah. I figured as much." Erron said, "But, the Kahn and the others aren't going to listen." So, what now? This put them in an awkward position. Erron didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't just let her go or Kotal Kahn would have his head. Cassie didn't want to fight him, but she knew that he couldn't just let her go. So many things were going through Cassie's mind at that moment. She was feeling so many emotions at once. Without thinking, she did the first thing that came to mind. She grabbed hold of one of the leather straps on his vest, pulled him to her and kissed him. Even she couldn't believe what she was doing. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was just that she didn't think about whether she should. She was acting solely on emotion rather than thinking about whether or not it was a good idea, but there was no going back now. At first, Erron was shocked. But, it didn't take him long before he kisses her back. This was something he had wanted for a while. From the moment he first saw her, he knew that there was something about her that made her different. He knew he wanted her, even if he tried to deny it. When they broke the kiss, they stood, staring at each other for a moment before Erron spoke.

"Cassandra, what do you...?" he started to say, but Cassie spoke, cutting him off.

"Cassie." she said, "Just Cassie." He stared into her blue eyes for a moment before continuing.

"Cassie, what do you want me to do? I have to do my job." Erron said.

"I know." Cassie said. The two of them were silent for a moment before Erron finally said, "Get out of here, Cassie."

"What?" she said.

"I said go, Cassie." he said, "I'll act like I never saw you here. The Kahn will never know any different." They took one last look at each other before turning their backs and walking away.

Cassie rejoined her friends who were fighting Kotal Kahn's men. But, after a while, they were surrounded by Kotal Kahn and his men, including a now remasked Erron Black, who had just rejoined his group.

"That's enough." Erron said, pulling out his pistols and aiming them at Cassie's group. Though, he wouldn't hurt Cassie, he still had to go along with what Kotal Kahn said. So, there he stood, guns aimed at the Earthrealmers, but not firing. As he stood there, trying to think of what to do next, Cassie tried to fire off a few shots at some of Kotal Kahn's men, but she had run out of ammunition.

"Fuck me!" she said, cursing at the lack of ammunition and her lack of options at that moment. Luckily, it was at that moment that Sub Zero showed up with the Lin Kuei and turned the tide. He told Cassie's squad that he and the Lin Kuei would stay and drive Kotal Kahn and the others back to Outworld, and that they needed to get to the Sky Temple and stop Shinnok. As Cassie and her team headed for the temple, she couldn't help hoping that Erron Black would be okay and that the Lin Kuei wouldn't kill him. Ironically, Erron Black was hoping the same about her as he watched her leave, hoping that she would be okay and that Shinnok or D'Vorah wouldn't kill her.

Cassie and her team were able to fight their way into the temple and she was able to defeat D'Vorah and Shinnok and rescue her father. She and her team had saved the world, and it was time for them to head back home.