Kenshi had found himself in a very worrying situation. It was pitch black in the middle of the night. The only light came from the full moon above him. He was being repeatedly circled by ten of the top Red Dragon assassins in Daegon's service. Equipped only with Sento in his hand, his head darted from left to right as he listened very carefully to the men's quiet movements. These assassins were dressed from head to toe with all black stealth suits. They moved in, and out of sight from the shadows of the night. One of them felt brave, and darted right for Kenshi. Kenshi heard the shuffling of his feet as he moved in, and sidestepped him causing the assassin to flee back into the shadows instantly. The circling continued, and suddenly another of the Red Dragons moved in to attack. Kenshi felt a sudden fist swipe hard across his left check, and then another from the other side. He stumbled backwards to avoid any other fists that might have been thrown, and when did he felt a foot plant itself at the base of his spine kicking him back forward. Kenshi ate a punch from under his jaw, and this impact left him bracing his face with his free hand. Kenshi took the only brief second he could to focus on the enemies next point of attack. He heard a man approaching him from behind his left side. He turned on the spot, and impaled the assassin with Sento swiftly. Kenshi quickly withdrew the sword from the man's gut. Blood gushed from the opening torn in his suit, and Kenshi caught the sounds of another man running in for a blow.
Kenshi ducked the man's lighting paced swings. and caught a stray kick from him. He took a deep breath to pinpoint his adrenaline. He brought Sento straight down onto the assassin's leg, severing it with one powerful slice. As this fallen opponent screamed, another soon took his place in the fight. Kenshi carefully dodged this man's vicious attacks, and swiped Sento across the top of the man's head cutting it in half. With three down, and many more to go Kenshi began running away from the group that were giving chase. The deserted beach they found themselves battling on was narrow, and Kenshi continued running down the length of it. The water crashing into the shore causing distractions for him every so often as he did so. He eventually stopped his running, and turned back to hear the seven remaining assassins following him closely. Kenshi sensed two within range, the two jumped towards him, and Kenshi luckly impaled one of them as they grew closer. The other one kicked him straight in the face, and knocked him from his feet. Kenshi rolled backwards from the kick, and managed to place his feet under himself.
The Red Dragon goon had pulled a curved blade from a slot on his belt, and charged at Kenshi with the sword high over his head. Kenshi summoned up just enough stamina just in time to clash Sento against the Red Dragon assassin's curved blade. The two battle contested with one another for a brief moment before the rest rejoined nearby. As they began to surround themselves once again around Kenshi, Kenshi swatted the curved blade out of the Red Dragon goon's palms, and proceeded to swipe Sento's point across the man's stomach. A loud scream was heard, and the thug's intestines sprung from his gut. With only five men remaining Kenshi was beginning to feel confident. Kenshi noticed that the five remaining Red Dragon's were still circled around him. He listened to the movement if their feet as each of them moved in slowly.
"Spin." Kenshi heard a female voice call to him faintly from within his own mind. Without a second of hesitation he stuck Sento out in front of him and spun himself around intensely. Kenshi heard the flesh around each man's neck rip open violently, followed by their blood spraying from their wounds, and lastly the collective noise of the men's gurgles as they flopped to the floor. Each thug had been vanquished. Kenshi had survived the trap laid out for him. As Kenshi tried to regain his breath thoughts were flooding his head. How did the Red Dragon know he was here? Did Kano sell him out? With that Kenshi remembered why he had came to this beach. The trail on Kenny Dumass brought him here. Kenshi had come to learn that the man's father Brian Dumass, had sold out his son to the Red Dragon to save his own neck. Once the Red Dragon knew of Brian Dumass's involvement with Kano they tortured the information they needed out of him. He gave up Kano's location. They still shouldn't have known of Kenshi's involvement in all of this however, and this has left him confused. How did they know he was on the case? He would need to find Kano, and get answers. Kenshi fully sprinted down the beach as quickly as he could, and stopped just short of where he was originally circled by the Red Dragon goons. He pointed his head down, and to the left as if he was listening to something. He then slowly made his way to knees length out into the beach's choppy water. Once there he stuck his hand out, and flipped over a stray floating torso. The remains of the Kobra. His body had been mutilated horrifically. His limbs and head had been severed. Noticing this, Kenshi pulled the torso from the water, and began dragging it along the sandy shore as he disappeared into the night.
(Jim's Nightclub)
As Sonya Blade, and Jackson Briggs pulled up to Jim's Nightclub what they saw was a horrific sight. The building looked as though it had just housed a very extreme gang war. The night club's whole front side had been caved in, with rubble littering the entire street. Bodies representing members of the Red Dragon, Black Dragon, NYPD, and general public were laid out along the ground, their blood staining the ground beneath them. Smoking, exploded limos, and cars blocked most of the road forcing the pair of them to exit their ride, and approach the scene on foot. The press were being held back by police who were dressed in fully armored riot gear. People were sobbing, screaming, and moaning in agony everywhere. Sirens of swat cars, and ambulances mixed with the nearby chaos made hearing almost unbearable. As Sonya, and Jax made their way to the yellow caution tape they were stopped by a very heavily dressed swat officer.
"I'm Major Briggs of the US Special Forces, and this is my Lieutenant, Sonya Blade. This is our case." Jax spoke to the officer after showing him his identification. That was all it took for the swat officer to give the go ahead for the two if them to head onto the scene. As Sonya, and Jax crossed to the other side of the caution tape they reached the night club's entrance, and stepped inside. Even more bodies were piled up. The smell of death lingered in the air. As they both observed the scene they were approached by the sheriff of the NYPD. The sheriff had short, dirty blonde hair, and a slight five o'clock shadow.
"You're sure he's not here?" Jax asked the sheriff stiffly as his eyes locked with him. Sonya's eyes wandered around the scene as he did so.
"No sign of either Mavado or Kano, Major Briggs, but we do know that both were here in the fight, most likely leading their separate factions. The most noticeable casualty in all of this is the actor." The Sheriff replied with the upmost respect. With that Jax bit his lip in frustration, and cursed at the ground.
"Actor?" Sonya asked as she turned her head towards the Sheriff.
"John Carlton, but he goes by the name of Johnny Cage. He played in Ninja...something." The Sheriff responded with uncertainty. Sonya's eyes went wide at the mention of Johnny Cage's name. She knew him from the tournament. Even though he had made many unwanted advances to her in the past it was still shocking to hear this revelation.
"Take us to the body." Jax demanded the sheriff after examining the look on Sonya's face. With that the sheriff nodded, and walked the pair of them further inside the nightclub. Eventually the three of them reached a body that had been covered over with a black tarp. Some members of the press were seen surrounding the body.
"Get out of here now before I have the whole damn lot of you arrested!" The sheriff yelled in frustration after witnessing one man with a camera lifting the tarp slightly to take pictures of the actor's remains. The group of paparazzi dispersed frantically as the trio made their way closer. As the three of them stood over the black tarp, Sonya bent down slowly to flip it off of the actor who was laying lifelessly on the ground in a pool of his own blood. It was indeed the body of Johnny Cage. Sonya gave a large sigh, and held a hand to her forehead, before turning away from the body. She didn't know how to feel. She knew him. They fought together side, by side in the tournament down in Goro's lair. Though he may have been annoying Sonya knew that Johnny Cage was a good man who didn't deserve to be caught up in Kano, and Mavado's gang war. Now she felt regret. Maybe if she had stayed at the hospital with him like Raiden had asked, maybe things would have been different.
"So this was who Mavado's hostage was?" Jax asked curiously as he placed a hand under his chin.
"That's what the survivors are saying. They said Mavado used Johnny Cage as bait to lure Kano out of hiding, and Kano surrendered to spare his life, but Mavado killed him anyway." The sheriff summarized briefly.
"Thanks Kurtis. Give us a minute with the body." Jax spoke after again looking at Sonya who's back was still turned from the body. With that sheriff Kurtis Stryker left both Jax, and Sonya alone with Cage's body. Jax turned to Sonya.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jax asked worriedly. Sonya lifted her head upwards as a response, and took a deep breath. She would then turn back to Jax looking stone faced.
"I met him on Shang Tsung's island. He fought alongside me, and the others in an attempt to save Earth. He was a good guy. Annoying as all hell, but good. He didn't deserve to be caught up in all of this." Sonya explained before looking down at Johnny's body.
"Wait he was fighting at the tournament? Are you sure? Seems like a kind of thing that'd be forbidden in his contracts." Jax was taken aback to learn about Johnny Cage teaming with Sonya at Shang Tsung's tournament. She'd mentioned everyone else to him. Raiden, Kano, Kabal, Sub-Zero, Kung Lao, and Kenshi, but she never once mentioned fighting beside Johnny Cage. It was almost unbelievable.
"He was kinda drug into it by Raiden. He had some type of power that allowed him to glow green. It made him stronger I guess. We need to stop Mavado as soon as possible Jax. He's single handedly taking down everyone I allied with. He's killed Johnny, got Kabal locked away facing life in prison, and now he's on the hunt for Kano who'll likely be the next to go." Sonya finished with a great amount of anger in her voice. Jax pressed his lips together as he tried to understand her worries. He placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.
"Don't worry Sonya we'll make sure Mavado, Daegon, and the rest of the Red Dragon pay for this. We'll find them." Jax expressed quietly. As soon as he finished both he, and Sonya were frightened with a loud scream of horror. They both turned to see Johnny Cage sitting up on the ground. He was frantically throwing the tarp that had been covering him away from himself, and feeling his arms and body to make sure he was actually still alive. His eyes darted around the nightclub frantically, and only when his eyes found Sonya's was he relieved. Sonya, and Jax had both gone completely pale in the face. Johnny Cage's revival had come as such a surprise to them that both of them had been left speechless, and they could both only glace quickly at each other.
"I'm...I'm alive?" Johnny Cage asked aloud in disbelief. He looked down at the pool of his own blood, and traced a hand to the back of his head where Mavado had directly shot him at point blank. There was no bullet wound any longer. Just a small gaping hole where the bullet had sparked on impact. After doing this he gave a small smile, and once again directly into Sonya's eyes.
"Or am I in heaven, because I'm looking directly at an angel?" He joked instantly to try and relieve some of this horrific tension. To his surprise Sonya smiled slightly at knowing there had been a mistake in announcing the actor's death, but a part of her really felt the need to get down to business.
"Why did Mavado kidnap you of all people Johnny? What happened here? Where is he?" Sonya asked forcefully. She came off so sudden, and forced that even Jax took note mentally of how soon her emotions turned. Johnny on the other hand just chuckled to himself.
"What's with it with you two? Seriously I get shot in the back of my skull, and then come back to life all in the same day, and I don't even get asked if I'm okay? But you'll ask me where Mavado is. Take a hint lady it's over between you two. He doesn't love you anymore damn." Johnny spoke as sarcastically as he could. Jax raised an eyebrow in confusion, and Sonya shook her head.
"Seriously Cage we need these answers!" Sonya persisted.
"Fine crabby. You want answers here. Mavado kidnapped me, because he thinks I'll be valuable to Kano when Shao Kahn invades Earth. I was probably the easiest one to get to considering you left me all alone in a hospital with a broken back. So Mavado brought me here, and shot me in the skull. I have no idea where he's at now considering I just woke up from a long nap. Happy?" Johnny raised his eyebrows, and slowly pushed himself to his own feet. Sonya bit her lip after hearing Johnny explain in short detail about what, and why this happened.
"Look Cage. I'm sorry about leaving you at the hospital alone, but I have duties to attend to. Capturing Mavado being my biggest one currently." Sonya expressed in a sorrowful tone.
"No biggie I get it, but you should know that nobody ever big leagues the big leaguer y'know what I'm saying babe?" Johnny smiled.
"What I'm confused about is how you survived exactly. You said you were shot point blank in the back of the skull? How could anyone survive that without at least an ounce of trauma?" Jax asked examining Johnny's wound carefully.
"I've just come to the conclusion that my green power's not letting me die. It's what repaired my spine. Wouldn't surprise me if it saved my brain too." Johnny figured with a shrug of his shoulders.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack as lighting hit the ground beside them, and in an instant Raiden had teleported inside the nightclub.
"Raiden?" Sonya asked as the protector of Earth made his way closer to the three of them.
"You're a little late don't you think? I was already shot." Johnny called out to the thunder god.
"This is the thunder guy you were talking about from the tournament?" Jax asked in Sonya's ear as Raiden stood before them. Sonya nodded.
"Come with me. We must discuss our current plan to ward off the upcoming Outworld invasion." Raiden spoke calmly. Raiden noticed that Johnny Cage was about to make a joke, and teleported the entire group away in one bright flash.