Disclaimer: I still don't own Mortal Kombat of any form. It belongs to Netherrealm Studios and Ed Boon. Thanks.

Author's Note: Third chapter. How will Jacqui take to finding out that her best friend is missing? Find out here and more with this next chapter. Onward!

The next day, Jacqui checks her phone incessantly as Takeda packs up their stuff into Jacqui's Ford Expedition. "I really don't want to go back yet. Didn't General Blade give us an entire month off?" Takeda whines for the umpteenth time for the morning. Jacqui chuckles at her phone. "What'd I miss?"

Jacqui looks up from her phone and smiles at Takeda. "More like what didn't you miss? Jin just being an ass like usual," she says as she laughs. He goes over to her and stands by her shoulder as he chuckles at Jin and Jacqui's banter involving him.

KungJin: Just don't give your dad a reason to beat up Keda.

SassyJacqui: Lol! As if I want to. Well, see ya, gotta get back to my dad. Apparently, there's more trouble in Outworld. Hold down the Shaolin fort for us. We might need you back. More details later.

KungJin: I always do. Bye

KungJin has logged off.

"Ready?" she asks Takeda. He shakes his head at her, eliciting a sigh from her. "Me neither, but I'm dying to know what happened."

"You think Cassie knows and won't tell us what's going on?" he asks her as she starts the engine.

Jacqui shakes her head. "Even though she's my superior in SF, she's my best friend. She would've told me if did know. Speaking of…" Before she moves the car, she checks her phone once more, sending a message to Cassie.

SassyJacqui wrote on Cassie Cage's page: Keda and I are on our way back today. Can't wait to see you! BTW, do you know what's going on?

Jacqui puts her phone near the cup holder and puts the car in reverse, preparing to back out of the parking lot.

"Wait!" Takeda barks at her, causing her to slam on the breaks harshly. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Selfie?" Jacqui glares at him before ultimately complying with him. She leans into him and poses with her fingers in a peace sign as he kisses her cheek. Satisfied with the picture, he nods and puts it on Friendships. A few minutes later as they are on the highway, Takeda sees that Cassie wrote on Jacqui's page.

Cassie Cage wrote on SassyJacqui's page: Miss ya too, girlie. Have surprises for ya later today ;)

"And you were worried, Jacqui," Takeda starts to tell her. She glances at him from the corner of her eye. "She wrote you back. She apparently has a surprise for you?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jacqui smiles and says, "Knowing her, she's probably planning a wedding for us."

"Why would she do that?" he wonders aloud.

She shrugs. "Dunno, but she's wildly perceptive," she responds with a wink.

Day two of this hell. Or is three? Fuck, I can't even keep up with the days, Cassie thinks to herself the minute she wakes up. She only knows it's daytime because she can hear birds chirping outside the window. Her throat is dry and scratchy and her stomach feels squeamish from the lack of food. One of Kano's mercenaries did try to force feed her, but she regurgitated the contents of her stomach the minute his back was turned. Trying not to focus on the growing stomach pains, she turns her attention to her head again. Her neck hurts from sleeping in such an awkward position on the chair she's tied to. She tries to wiggle out of her bonds again, which only hurts her even more. Slamming her body against the chair in frustration, she lets out a string of mumbled curses underneath her taped mouth.

Just then, the door to her dungeon opens. Great, she thinks to herself. Kano's back in her face. "'Ello, love. Did ya sleep well?" he asks her. She musters up the fiercest glare she can before she notices a bottle of water in his hand. Her throat is parched as if she swallowed a giant dust bunny. But, she will not succumb to her desires because she's afraid he'd poison her. Her stomach decides to betray her. Bitch ass is her withered thought at her body. "Aww, are you hungry?" Knowing she couldn't answer him, he laughs menacingly while ripping the tape off her mouth.

"Son of a bitch!" she screams in his face, her cheeks stinging and her throat burning.

"Ya don't look so good blondie," he tells her. He opens the water bottle for her. "Open," he commands. She doesn't comply. "Aren't ya thirsty?"

"No," she snarls.

Kano smirks evilly. "I don't think I believe you. Now open!" He tries to force her mouth open but she fights him the entire time. He lunges back at her, holding her nose open. Due to her military training, Cassie is able to hold her breath for a full minute before she sputters. Gasping for air, Kano takes this opportunity to force the water down her throat. Most of it travels down her esophagus and shirt, but some gets stuck in her windpipe, causing her to cough violently, which leads to dry heaving due to the lack of nutrients to her system. "There," he declares triumphantly, "isn't that better?"

"Fuck off!" she spits at him angrily.

"Don't talk to me that way, little girl!"

Why don't you just fucking kill me and get it over with? Cassie growls in frustration as Kano leers over her. He notices her thin white shirt is soaked through, revealing her dark colored bra. Breathing heavily, Cassie asks, "What the hell are you staring at?" Pervert, she thinks with a glare.

He flips his favorite knife in his hands over and over again. "Ya know," he laments, "I was gonna kill you. But then I asked myself, why would I do that when you're worth so much more alive?" Don't show him mercy or weakness, Cassie chants in her head over and over again, desperately trying to calm down. He's not actually thinking about what I think he's thinking about. You show him fear and he'll give you fear, she continues to tell herself internally. She stares him down defiantly. "I told your mummy dearest not to piss me off, didn't I? Now you get to pay the price and meet the fury of Uncle Kano." Without warning, he punches her in the face so hard she topples over with the chair, knocking her out cold. He then picks the chair back up and takes out his phone. He snaps a picture of himself and Cassie and sends the picture to Sonya's Friendship page, tagging Cassie in the picture. "There ya go, love," he says as he leaves Cassie alone in the room.

When Jacqui pulls up to Johnny's house, she sees her dad's Hummer and Sonya's Harley in the driveway. Nudging Takeda awake, Jacqui announces their arrival. "Huh?" he groans, slightly groggy from his impromptu nap.

"We're here. Let's go," she tells him as she parks the car next to her dad's. They both get out and Jacqui lets herself into Johnny's house. The sight of Sonya and Jax greets her pleasantly. Until she realizes their somber expressions. "Hey Dad, Aunt Sonya," she starts apprehensively, "what's wrong? And where's Cassie? Is she back in training or something?"

Jax holds up a hand to stop Jacqui's questions. "Cassie isn't here right now, sweet pea," Jax says, not wanting to directly tell her the situation. Sonya begins pacing around, muttering to herself. Jax only catches something along the lines of, "Still active on Cassie's page."

Takeda hears this. "Who's still active on Cassie's page?" he asks his C.O.

Jacqui rolls her eyes. "Only Cassie would be active on her page. No one else has any of her passwords. Not even me," she tells him matter-of-factly.

"Well," Jax starts as Sonya stands next to her friend. "You see… uh…" There's no easy way for him to break the news to his only daughter. He knows she'd be devastated over the news. "Cassie's page has been compromised," he states, ripping off the bandaid.

Jacqui looks at her dad in confusion. Takeda looks back and forth between the two adults. "I'm sorry, you said her page has been compromised?" he asks them. Jax nods as Sonya growls.

"But… she wrote me back today. Said she missed me and she had a surprise for me." Jacqui sees Sonya and Jax stiffen up. "Uh… guys? What's going on?" Jacqui immediately flies off the mouth with her first assumption, "Are you two getting married or something?!"

Sonya glares at her goddaughter. "Really, Jacqui?" Jax asks his daughter incredulously.

Wanting to get straight to the point, Sonya blurts out, "Cassie's been kidnapped."

For a moment, there is silence. Then, Takeda says, "Not again!" He facepalms his forehead.

Jacqui feels time slowing down. "But… how can… when did… how?" she asks in disbelief. "No, no, no, this is a dream. You're both lying. Cassie is gonna surprise me any moment with something, anything!" Jacqui covers her ears with her hands, closes her eyes, and chants, "La, la, la, I'm dreaming and I'm gonna wake up." When she opens her eyes again, Jax folds his metal arms, Sonya throws her hands in the air, and Takeda pinches the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. Jacqui runs upstairs to Cassie's room, the three of them hot on her heels.

When she gets there, she sees Cassie's room untouched since the incident save for her phone lying on her computer desk. Jacqui sits down on Cassie's computer chair and gingerly toggles the hibernation mode off and her page is on display. The time stamp for Cassie's message on Jacqui's page was at 11:13 am, right before they left the hotel. "Oh, my God!" Jacqui scoots away from the computer as though the mouse burned her hand. On display, for all of her friends to see, Cassie's page shows she's been tagged in a photo with Kano posted to Sonya's page. Cassie is unconscious with a bloody nose and a wet shirt while Kano is on her side with his arm around her shoulder. The caption for the picture reads, 'Meeting Uncle Kano for the first time. What fun to be had, mum!'

Sonya leans in to see what has Jacqui hyperventilating over. She sees the picture on her page and slowly backs away from her daughter's room. Takeda and Jax are trying to console Jacqui as Sonya disappears again.

Johnny pounds away on a punching bag at the gym as one of his Special Forces comrades is holding the bag. The angrier Johnny gets, the harder he punches, making it harder for his friend to control the swing of the bag. "Whoa, hey Cage, calm it down, will ya?" his friend tells him.

"Can't. Just spoke to Colonel Flagg. Says he can't do anything at the moment without my ex-wife's say so. Ex-wife is trying to find a way into Outworld again. Says she's gonna kill him on sight. 'Can't do that without a plan, General', I tell her. She tells me to fuck off," he explains as his rage is building over. At this point, his fellow comrade lets go of the punching bag. With one final kick, Johnny separates the bag from its overhead securing and it goes flying across the gym, narrowly missing Sonya. He looks up to see her walking over to him briskly. "Oh, here's the woman of the hour," he says sarcastically while folding his arms. She mimics his movements and stares him down. "We need to go to Outworld, Sonya. Bring Kano to justice."

"And I said we will send a team over there as soon as we know his exact whereabouts!" she yells at him. "We can't just go back there without a plan, Ca— John… dammit, we need a plan," she says as she shakes her head in frustration. Johnny continues to stare her down. "After that showdown with Cassie and her unit against Kotal Kahn and his forces, we don't know where their allegiance stands. Outworld blames us for Shinnok's amulet not being safeguarded." Sonya gently pries Johnny's hands from his chest. "Please Johnny, trust me on this?" She caresses his forearm and looks into the pool of blue that are his eyes. His anger and irritation fade; replaced with sexual tension as Sonya continues her ministrations on her ex-husband's biceps. She doesn't realize what she's doing or the reactions it's eliciting from him. All she knows is no matter how much she wants to obliterate Kano, she wants to also save her daughter. They both need to be cool-headed or else they'll risk their only daughter's life.

"Fine," he tells her with a strained voice. "But you've got 48 hours to figure this shit out. After that, I'm going in," he warns before he sidesteps her and leaving the way she came in. She let out a breath of relief she hadn't realized she was holding.

A/N: Ooh Sonya, sexual tension much? What do you think Sonya is gonna do? Is she going to go to Outworld herself, or is she going to find a team to do that? This and much more coming up in the next chapter. Everyone's reviews have been so good lately, and I want to do this story justice, so please continue your support. It is welcomed (flames are not welcome, though).