Since Conner had no family and Cassie's only family were her parents and her team, they had a small wedding, at the sky tower- officiated by Raiden.
"Mom, do you really hate him?" Cassie asked, changing in to a pain white dress they were allocated just 1 hour for the wedding.
"I don't hate him; just I don't want you to have to choose between a relationship and your career."
"What?" that made no sense. Cassie rolled her eyes at her mother. Cassie was always a daddy's girl; her father was loving and kind; her mother was all about work. Those words only solidified Cassie's opinion of her.
What Sonya really wanted to say made even less sense; 'If you let someone get close, you will only end up hurting;. Maybe that was why she didn't want Conner on Johnny's team, maybe she knew Cassie would gravitate towards him- why?
There was so much in Conner that reminded her of Johnny.
Cassie wore a simple white dress that she bought in high school. She wore it to prom and packed it away; she was never a dress girl. There was no bouquet, no walking down the aisle. She was the most un-bridal bride ever. None of this ceremony mattered; she just wanted to make it official; that she could live with Conner without fear of punishment.
They had no honeymoon; there was no time. There was more training, more missions, more intell; earthrealm needed to stay 10 steps ahead of any possible invasion attempt. But they had each other, that was all that mattered.
Less than a month after the wedding Conner was sent to Johnny Cage's office. He was to lead a team to extract Tremor and Reptile from the dream world his team Takeda and Jaqui- only.
"Where's Cassie?" Jaqui was the first to ask.
"Cassie is not emotionally stable enough to be facing Tremor" Johnny answered in an unnaturally direct tone.
"Are you sure? That was years ago." Jaqui knew this was a mistake.
"As a woman, how long would it take you to get over being raped." Johnny said in an even more serious tone. He was fun, he was cool but Cassie was his daughter.
"ok…fine, why is Kung Jin not here and why do we have no backup?" Jaqui continued.
"Tremor would be expecting that and Kung Jin's skill set is not ideal for the randomness of the dream realm. You three are my best shot. You will be issued body armor to avoid a repeat incident." Johnny said the last pat with sorrow and humility.
"understood." said Conner, not realizing to the extent he had sealed his fate. His team crossed in to the dream realm later that week (with time to prepare weaponry). He didn't tell Cassie where he was being sent or why.
As they opened a portal, Tremor and Reptile were waiting. "so predictable." said Reptile, starting down Jaqui and Takeda.
Tremor strutted out of the pink and purple mist. "Are you here to defend the honor of your princess?"
"Jaqui! Takeda! -You take Reptile, Tremor is mine." He knew they would be ok. They were skilled, they could handle this. All 3 had been issued armor that made them look like Halo characters; they would be ok against anything Reptile could do.
Conner knew Tremor wouldn't run. He wanted Cassie to suffer and what better way than to kill him. So all Conner had to do was wait for Tremor to show himself.
"Have you tasted her sweet pussy." His vile voice echoed through the darkness.
"Have you tried choking her until she passes out? It'll make you cum so hard, you can just cover her hot supple tits." The voice was getting closer.
Conner landed a backwards punch that sent tremor flying.
"After everything me and my father did I'm surprised she will let you touch her without screaming.
Tremor was trying to make Conner lose focus but it had the opposite effect. He was packing armor piercing rounds and he landed hit after hit without even trying. The sight of Tremor's blood gave him hope: if he can bleed he can be defeated.
Then Tremor turned things up a notch. He started to launch projectiles; metal, radiation, ands magma.
He hit Conner in his good leg, and then pummeled him in the chest and head, hitting him over and over until he could no longer stand.
"After what I did to her she will never be able to give you children," Tremor said as he hit Conner in the face with magma blast, blinding him, forcing him to remove his helmet.
"You fight for that whore's honor? Maybe that's why you love her? Because she's a filthy f—king slut." He landed a shot to Tremor's throat. And He did not stop firing until he saw Takeda's blade slice through the darkness, fully ripping off Tremor's head.
Tremor lunged forward in a cloud of ash. Conner coughed. Then suddenly Takeda appeared. He did a flip and used his swords to slice through Tremor chest.
They killed Tremor but little did he know, Tremor killed Conner right back. "Jaqui has Reptile in custody." Takeda said as he helped Conner to his feet. "are you ok?" He could see Conner was experiencing chest pain; did he have broken ribs?
"no…cough…cough...no..I need a doctor" Conner was coughing up blood. He was feeling dizzy. "but take... Tremor's head- do not leave it behind."Cassie needed to know they didn't fail her.
When they go back to earthrealm Conner was taken to the medic ward where he was put on a respirator, pending evaluation of why his lungs were bleeding and he couldn't stop coughing.
Conner was very sick. At first the doctor said it was Pneumonia, but then they discovered a parasitic infection in his lungs. It was outworld in origin. Conner had to be put on a respirator, as the choice was made to heavily irritate both his lungs to prevent the infection from spreading to his heart. He was in a horrific amount of pain, and there was little hope for survival.
Present day- Kira's email arrived.
Conner was still live, awaiting a transplant. He was on so many drugs his pain was minimal. Cassie was the new leader of the team, but she visited him once a day, just to cry until she vomited. "I got a later from an old friend," she said, holding his hand. "I don't know what to do." She read him the letter.
"You have to go to him… "Conner said, gasping for air, in the last few years he lost muscle mass, to the point he was nearly paralyzed; "If you don't, you will always regret it." His lungs had suffered from spasms and the infection had spread to his heart. Many had asked Cassie to consider pulling the plug. 'for mercy.'
This drove her to drink and occasionally self harm.
Her heart was aching so bad she wanted to see a glimpse of her past. even if Kabal was just as sick, he was her angel, maybe he could give her guidance and hope.