Inside the helicopter, Sonya Blade is co-piloting. The movie star of the title chapter walks up to her seat and leans on both it and the seat of the pilot’s, staring into the world beyond the windscreen.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Unless specified otherwise, all dialogue during this scene is spoken through the headsets that each character is wearing.)
PILOT: Destination dead ahead.
JOHNNY: Set ‘er down nice and easy for me.
PILOT: Don’t I always?
JOHNNY: If by “always” you mean “not once”.
They both share a chuckle at this comment. Cage looks over to Sonya.
JOHNNY: Major?
Sonya looks to him, then rises from her seat. She strides to the back of the helicopter where six other soldiers are taking their seats. Also among them is the blind swordsman known only as Kenshi, who remains standing. Johnny looks on in admiration as Sonya walks up to her men.
She turns round and flashes him a smile, and he walks up to join them.
SONYA: Alright, you have the rendezvous coordinates. Far edge of the forest. From there, we access the portal to Raiden’s sky temple.
JOHNNY: Where there’s an angry former Elder God and his devils waiting for us.
One soldier seated among them doesn’t appear to quite believe what he’s hearing (or what’s happening around him).
SOLDIER: Gods, portals, flying demons…
JOHNNY: (Looking at Kenshi) Blind guys with magic swords…
Kenshi turns in his direction at this.
KENSHI: The world has changed. For the worse if we do not expel Shinnok from Raiden’s temple. He means to poison Earthrealm’s life force – the Jinsei.
SONYA: And we’re not gonna let that happen.
JOHNNY: Kenshi and I appreciate the Major allowing us to join you. We’re happy to help kick Shinnok’s bony ass back to the Netherrealm.
The muffled sound of explosions outside of the helicopter gets everyone’s attention. Johnny, Sonya and Kenshi race back to the front of the chopper in time to witness one of the helicopters in front of theirs catch fire. Sonya quickly takes the co-pilot seat again. As a fireball races to the left of their chopper, the helicopter on fire crashes into the ground, utterly destroying it. Another fireball explodes on the side of another chopper in front of them.
JOHNNY: (To the pilot) You gotta land this thing!
As the second chopper on fire crashes and explodes, the windshield suddenly shatters as a kunai attached to a chain bursts through and impales itself in the face of the pilot.
JOHNNY: Shit!
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: All dialogue from this point on is spoken normally.)
The pilot barely has time to let out a cry of agony before he is dragged back through the windshield, breaking it apart on his side. In the co-pilot’s seat, Sonya desperately tries to keep the helicopter from crashing. As Cage looks on in concern, a sound at the back of the chopper grabs his and Kenshi’s attention. As they turn around, the soldiers also look up to find someone else standing right in front of them, as if he’d just teleported there.
That person is the ninja spectre known as Scorpion.
Before the soldiers can react, Scorpion kicks two of them in the chest, then knocks out the one in front of him with a straight right hand. He elbows the one behind him for another one hit knockout, then draws his sword in the same motion and decapitates the next two soldiers in front of him. The hellspawn buries his sword in the face of the fifth soldier, then draws his second sword and backhands it through the belly of the sixth soldier. He slips the two swords back into their sheaths as the final two soldiers fall dead, all in the space of about six seconds.
As Johnny and Kenshi start forward, Scorpion throws a fireball that catches Kenshi dead center and hurls him back against Sonya’s seat, knocking him out of the fight for the time being.
[QUICK TIME CUTSCENE BEGINS]
Scorpion hurls his chained kunai straight at Johnny.
SCORPION: GET OVER HERE!
Johnny catches the kunai and brings it level to his face, eyeing it up.
JOHNNY: Damn, I’m good!
Johnny launches into a Shadow Kick, catching Scorpion in the chest and almost sending him out of the back of the helicopter. He gives the chain a good tug, dragging Scorpion back towards him, where Cage grabs him and slams him against both sides of the chopper. Scorpion recovers quickly and throws a right hand at Johnny. He blocks it, parries two more of Scorpion’s strikes, dodges a sidekick and smashes into the back of the ninja’s head with a superman punch.
Scorpion pulls out an unchained kunai and charges in at Cage, who just barely manages to block the wraith’s forearms and avoid being stabbed. Cage desperately struggles, but he is forced to the floor by the undead power of Scorpion. Moments from death, Johnny finds the strength to shove Scorpion’s arms away, then he kicks the ninja away from him. As Scorpion staggers back, Kenshi lunges at him and tackles him out of the open side door of the chopper.
Scorpion manages to latch on to the side handle, with Kenshi desperately hanging on to his leg. As Johnny lies on the floor of the chopper, he notices another person has just entered. As he rolls to his knees, he gets a good look at who it is; it is Sub-Zero, or more specifically; the undead Kuai Liang, no longer a cybernetic husk, but a revenant under the control of Quan Chi.
The two soldiers knocked out by Scorpion earlier awaken in time to see Sub-Zero before them. They both try to punch him, but he blocks their attacks, freezes their heads and then smashes them together, shattering them into blood, ice and bone. Sub-Zero throws the headless corpse of one of them at Johnny, who manages to avoid it by dropping into his split-legged stance. Another soldier’s decapitated head (one who had it chopped off by Scorpion earlier) rolls in front of Cage, who quickly knocks it out of the helicopter.
JOHNNY: Eugh, nasty!
Sub-Zero creates his signature ice blade and charges at the movie star. Johnny manages to catch the blade in his hands and shatter it. He hits Sub-Zero with his backflip-kick, knocking the revenant against the ceiling. As he lands, Sub-Zero blocks a follow up kick and throws a punch and a low sweep, both of which Cage avoids. As Sub-Zero blocks more kicks and punches from Cage, the scene cuts to Scorpion and Kenshi, still hanging on the chopper’s side. Scorpion finally kicks Kenshi off him, but the swordsman manages to stab his weapon into the side of the helicopter. It glows as it cuts through the chopper’s side, but finally sticks before Kenshi is hurled to his death.
Back in the chopper, Johnny blocks several punches from Sub-Zero before catching him with a right cross. As he staggers away, Johnny suddenly senses someone behind him. Sure enough, Scorpion is standing right there. He promptly elbows the ninja in the face, ducks another strike from Sub-Zero by doing the splits, and this time follows through by punching the revenant right between his legs.
JOHNNY: Bring it!
As Sub-Zero recoils in pain, Johnny grabs his and Scorpion’s heads and bashes them together. The former Lin Kuei stumbles back, and is bathed in a telekenetic glow. He is then violently hurled backwards through the chopper’s back door, curtosey of Kenshi. Noticing Kenshi is also holding Scorpion still with his telekenesis, Johnny grabs the spectre and punches him out of the side door. Scorpion grabs onto the ladder with his kunai and starts climbing back into the helicopter. Johnny, having had enough at this point, readies himself as the ninja climbs back in.
JOHNNY: No!
Cage lunges at Scorpion and tackles him out of the helicopter, falling out himself in the process.
[QUICK TIME CUTSCENE ENDS]
They free fall for a few moments, with Cage intending to smash Scorpion into the pavement. At the last second, the ninja spectre teleports away in a flash of hellfire, leaving Johnny to crash hard into the pavement.
Despite Sonya’s best efforts, the helicopter crashes into the ground a few moments later, carving out a large portion of the road. Sonya smacks her head and loses consciousness, but the chopper has not suffered enough damage to explode just yet.
Johnny picks himself up off the sidewalk. Miraculously, he hasn’t broken any bones in the fall. He struggles to his feet and starts towards the chopper, but is stopped by Scorpion teleporting into his path. He jumps back into a fighting stance.
SCORPION: The end is near.
JOHNNY: Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t ya?
They fight. Even after the vicious melee in the helicopter, Johnny Cage demonstrates he isn’t one of the major defenders of the Earthrealm by being a mere movie star. He takes the fight to the ninja spectre and leaves him unconscious on the ground.
JOHNNY: Gotta get back to the chopper.
As Sonya starts to wake up, Johnny rushes over to the downed vehicle.
JOHNNY: Sonya! Get outta there–
He is suddenly struck in the back by a beam of ice and frozen. The beam doesn’t completely freeze him, but he visibly struggles to move as the undead Sub-Zero walks up to him, again preparing his ice blade. Johnny spots a crowbar on the ground nearby and the freeze effect wears off just in time for him to avoid a finishing swipe from the former Lin Kuei. Johnny dodges another swipe and grabs the crowbar, using it to parry two more strikes before sweeping Sub-Zero’s legs out from under him with the crowbar. He drops it and backs up to his feet, with Sub-Zero rising shortly after.
JOHNNY: Whoo! THAT was unpleasently cold!
They fight. While many would struggle fighting a foe so powerful as Sub-Zero, Johnny proves more than ready to take him down. After a fierce battle, Cage leaves the revenant down for the count.
JOHNNY: I liked it better when we fought on the same side.
Johnny finally makes it to the helicopter, where Kenshi is helping Sonya down from it. Johnny assists her.
JOHNNY: You okay?
Sonya nods her consent.
KENSHI: We fared better than the men.
JOHNNY: Add ’em to the list of things Shinnok’ll answer for.
After a moments silence, the three of them race off together.
The scene cuts to the courtyard of the Sky Temple. As a thunderstorm pours down, a massive army of Netherrealm demons – different to the flying beasts seen earlier – are completely massacring the monks who live there.
Only two fighters remain standing – the gods known as Raiden and Fujin, who launch into battle stances.
The demon army charges at them. Raiden zaps several with his electricity blast, while Fujin traps several more in a cyclone and hurls them over the edge of a bottomless cliff. While he admires his handiwork, a demon charges and grapples him, biting into his face. Fujin fights back by punching and elbowing the demon in the face, before throwing him off the edge as well. Another demon lands behind him and gets a roundhouse kick in the face for it’s troubles. Fujin then looks to the heavens as he realises that several more Netherrealm demons – like the flying ones seen earlier – are descending on them.
More demons land behind him, but Fujin is saved from one by Raiden impaling it through the head with his polearm. He and Fujin go back to back, fighting off the demons with their bladed staves. One demon manages to bite into Raiden’s arm and eats an electric fist soonafter. Raiden impales it on the edge of his weapon and is tackled across the courtyard by a flying demon. The creature stands upright and roars in victory…
before being bisected from behind by Fujin and his poleaxe. Fujin helps Raiden back to his feet.
FUJIN: Raiden! We must re-fortify the portal’s defenses below!
RAIDEN: No, Fujin. It is too late.
The Netherrealm army is far from finished. Innumerable demons slowly walk towards the gods of thunder and wind. One in particular gets closer and roars to the skies – and a green flaming skull bursts through it’s chest. Fujin and Raiden avoid the projectile as the creature falls dead, showing the one who killed it. The army has now stopped it’s advance, and given a respectable distance to the sorcerer who commands them. He proudly walks towards the two gods, revealing his distinctive pale facial features.
QUAN CHI: The mighty gods of Earthrealm.
RAIDEN: You befoul these hallowed grounds, Quan Chi! Begone!
QUAN CHI: Surely you are pleased to see your friends…
Quan Chi looks to his left. Before him stand the undead forms of Kurtis Stryker, Sindel and Kabal.
QUAN CHI: You abandoned them to their deaths. I returned them to life.
RAIDEN: A life worse than death!
QUAN CHI: One you will soon share, and my lord himself shall witness your fall.
The three revenants charge at the gods. The scene cuts to a campfire on the edge of a forest. A few demons are stockpiling the corpses of the fallen monks here. Johnny, Sonya, Kenshi and two squads of Special Forces soldiers sneak up to the site, crouching behind cover. Johnny looks out to the scene, and his eyes widen in shock. He not only sees the undead Smoke in his ninja garb, but another revenant, this one with his cybernetic arms looking as corrupted as the rest of his features.
JAX: So he’s done his job?
SMOKE: I expect him soon.
JOHNNY: (whispering) Jax…
Sonya also looks crestfallen at seeing her former commanding officer, but she looks over to Kenshi, who nods at her unspoken order. As they rise from cover, a portal opens behind them. More Netherrealm demons appear, and leading them is an undead native-american carrying two corrupted red tomahawks.
KENSHI: Nightwolf!
The former Earthrealm defender raises a tomahawk to the sky. As red lightning shoots into it, he roars in attack and charges the Special Forces with his demons in tow. Kenshi leads a squad into battle as Johnny’s squad provide covering fire. The fighting is quickly noticed by the other two revenants.
JAX: There!
He runs into the battle. Sonya turns and charges toward him as well, engaging in close kombat. In the melee, Nightwolf and Kenshi parry each other’s blades as Smoke teleports directly into the middle of the Special Forces. He kicks a soldier in the chest, sending him sprawling. He wrenches the rifle out of another soldier’s hands, then punches and elbows him in the stomach, taking him down. He kicks the rifle out of another soldier’s hands and punches him down.
Johnny springs into action with a flying kick. Smoke blocks this and several more roundhouse kicks from Cage, before connecting with a back kick that knocks the movie star to the ground.
JOHNNY: Smoke…
SMOKE: Smoke is dead. I am Enenra.
Elsewhere in the melee, Sonya ducks some swings from Jax’s cybernetic arms, but gets kicked in the leg, dropping her to her knees. Jax then kicks her full in the face, knocking her over. Johnny gets the upper hand over Smoke by punching him twice in the face and laying him out with a crescent kick. The movie star looks over to see Jax advancing on Sonya.
JAX: This is your last mission, Sonya.
Johnny intervenes just in time by tackling Jax to the ground. They both roll to their feet in fighting stances.
JOHNNY: The real Jax wouldn’t punch his best friend!
JAX: Johnny Cage. Killing you will be a pleasure.
They fight. Despite fighting a warrior augmented by both sorcery and cybernetics, Johnny Cage manages to dig deep and take the fight to the former Jackson Briggs. After a tough battle, Johnny eventually leaves Jax unconscious on the ground.
JOHNNY: We’re gonna fix you someday…
With Jax down, Johnny picks up an assault rifle and catches up with Sonya and the rest of the Special Forces, who are falling back into a cave.
JOHNNY: Well, nice seeing them again.
Sonya begins to say something, but only lets out an unhappy sigh. Johnny puts a hand on her shoulder.
JOHNNY: Sonya… that’s not him.
After a moment, Sonya nods and regains her composure. The two of them run into the cave. While Sonya stops to confer with one of her men, Johnny races up to Kenshi, who is following his glowing sword Sento across a wall.
JOHNNY: That the elevator?
KENSHI: (In a deadpan tone) Yes. The elevator.
He continues walking with the sword in front of him.
KENSHI: Sento contains the souls of my ancestors. They guide me.
Johnny looks back to the cave entrance as a rumbling sound is heard from outside.
JOHNNY: Could they hurry the hell up?
He runs back to the mouth of the cave. Some soldiers near the entrance are shooting at an unseen force of what can only be Netherrealm reinforcements. Kenshi eventually stops at part of the wall and chants something in Japanese. The wall lights up with kanji lettering in response. As Johnny turns around, he sees the hidden portal open up before him.
JOHNNY: Goin’ up!
SONYA: (To her men) Fall back. Now!
As the soldiers race to the portal, Sonya stops for a moment with Johnny.
JOHNNY: Go on.
She runs into the portal. Cage addresses two soldiers who run up to him at the cave mouth.
JOHNNY: You guys stay here. Close the door.
One soldier takes out a block of explosives from his satchel and passes it to his comrade. As they rush back to the entrance, Johnny runs into the portal, teleporting into the unknown.
The scene cuts to an underground cavern beneath the Sky Temple. Raiden and Fujin are shooting electrical and wind blasts at the revenants pursing them, but are gradually being forced backwards by them. Quan Chi strides just behind his undead puppets, letting off an evil laugh as he does so.
Though Raiden and Fujin successfully down the revenants, two cloudy shadows shaped like large hands begin to glide toward them. As the shadows encircle them both, Raiden realises what they are and jumps back with Fujin in the nick of time, as the shadows form into skeletal hands that clasp the air where they were standing just before. The gigantic hands unfold to present the fallen Elder God known as Shinnok.
SHINNOK: You see it now, Raiden… Your legacy. You poison their hearts with hope.
RAIDEN: And what do you offer? The same as you did millenia ago, when you betrayed your fellow Elder Gods and attacked Earthrealm! We stopped you then, imprisoned you in the Netherrealm! We will do so again!
SHINNOK: Remove the shadow from the light, the shadow grows. The legacy of life is death, Raiden. My followers accept this and live on. They fight for me.
As the shadow clouds come around Shinnok, the revenants and Quan Chi charge into battle. Kabal buries his hookswords into Raiden’s shoulders and places a foot in his chest, trying to tear his arms clean off his body. Raiden grabs the weapons and charges them with lightning, electrocuting Kabal. He follows through with a crescent kick, causing Kabal to backflip from the force and crash hard on his front.
Quan Chi charges in, and Raiden avoids his kicks and punches, managing to strike him in the kidney, then the face, before kicking him in the stomach and punching him away. The sorcerer rallies and summons a snake-like skeleton with a human skull, which he shoots toward Raiden. The skull latches onto Raiden’s face with it’s teeth, then wraps it’s body around him. With the thunder god incapacitated, Quan Chi uppercuts him on the chin, sending Raiden to the floor.
Fujin knocks the former oni aside with a jump kick, then narrowly ducks a baton swipe from Stryker. He blocks another swipe, then lands a combination of punches that downs the revenant. Before he can close in, Sindel grabs him and unleashes a banshee scream point blank into his ear. The vibrations threaten to liquify Fujin’s head, but in the nick of time Raiden grabs Sindel and electrocutes her head, rendering her unconscious.
As Raiden nods to Fujin, they both ready themselves for Shinnok’s onslaught. The fallen Elder God now holds his amulet, which he uses to nonchalently blast Raiden and Fujin, sending them crashing through the wall behind them.
As the stone entrance crumbles at their impact, Raiden and Fujin are both on the floor at Shinnok’s mercy. Before them all is the Jinsei – a mysterious glowing blue energy that is Earthrealm’s life force.
FUJIN: You’ll not touch the Jinsei!
SHINNOK: Oh, I will, and all of Earthrealm will learn the truth… of death!
He sends out another blast from his amulet. This one drags both the Earthrealm gods towards Shinnok. They are rendered helpless as the amulet seems poised to imprison them in it for eternity. But just before Raiden’s hand touches the amulet, Shinnok is kicked in the back by Johnny Cage, sending the amulet from his grasp and breaking the spell. The amulet clatters to the ground a good distance away from Shinnok, who faceplants on the chamber floor. Johnny strides cockily into the chamber, Sonya and Kenshi by his side.
JOHNNY: Oh, sorry ma’am! Didn’t see ya there!
Shinnok brings himself up to his knees.
SHINNOK: Miserable wretch! Insignificant speck of feculant scum! How DARE you!
He lets loose a magical blast that knocks Kenshi to the floor unconscious. Raiden spots the amulet as he and Fujin get to their feet, and he then locks eyes with Shinnok.
SHINNOK: That is mine!
Raiden looses a lightning bolt, but Shinnok catches it in a magic blast and shoots out a corrupted red form of the bolt that strikes Fujin and knocks him out. Sonya fires off an entire clip of ammunition from her assault rifle at Shinnok, who effortlessly creates a shield that deflects the bullets. She throws the gun aside.
SONYA: Ready?
JOHNNY: As always.
They both charge Shinnok and engage in hand to hand kombat. Shinnok easily blocks and dodges their attacks, kicking them both in the stomach with the same leg in a motion impossible for a human. With them doubled over, he jumps up in a split kick that catches them both in the face. Sonya is knocked out of the fight, but Cage recovers quickly and charges in with more punches, all effortlessly blocked by Shinnok with one hand while he isn’t even facing Johnny.
Shinnok goes on the attack and strikes Johnny with a roundhouse kick, but Cage weathers it and lashes out with a kick to the side that staggers Shinnok. As he recovers, Shinnok levitates Johnny into the air with his magic and hurls him across the chamber. Johnny hits hard against the wall and is knocked out of the fight too.
Sonya and Raiden both charge for the amulet, but Shinnok holds his hand out, charged with red energy. The amulet blasts the two of them as they come close, knocking them away. Shinnok then blasts Sonya with a red lightning bolt, leaving her writhing on the chamber floor. Johnny rises in time to witness this.
SHINNOK: She will be the first to join me.
As he readies for a finishing blast with both hands, Johnny charges in, glowing green with his latent superpowers as he does so.
JOHNNY: No!
In slow motion, Shinnok blasts out his magic as Sonya raises one hand in desperation. Johnny dives in front of the blast, fully absorbing it. He them, to the amazement of both Sonya and Shinnok, rolls to his knees and rises without impediment, still glowing with green energy.
JOHNNY: I’m not sure what just happened to me…
The green glow fades as Johnny circles Shinnok, ready to fight.
JOHNNY: …but I am sure of this: You don’t even THINK of hurting her!
They fight. Johnny gives the fight of his life against the fallen Elder God. Try as he may, Shinnok is unable to overcome him, and after a vicious brawl he is left on the ground by the movie star.
JOHNNY: You really are a fallen Elder God.
Shinnok slowly rises to his feet, clearly weakened by Cage’s assault.
Nonetheless, he gets into a kombat stance as Johnny glows green once more, ready for battle. Raiden gets to one knee as this unfolds.
RAIDEN: Johnny Cage! The amulet!
The amulet is by Johnny’s feet. With Shinnok briefly unable to conjure up more magic, Johnny steps on it and flicks it backwards, right into Raiden’s hand.
SHINNOK: No!
Johnny dodges aside as Raiden activates the amulet. The blast from it hits Shinnok just as he manages to fire off some magic from his hands. Despite his struggling, there is nothing Shinnok can do as he is slowly but surely dragged towards his amulet.
SHINNOK: NO!
With one final cry of anguish, Shinnok is sucked into his amulet. As Raiden pants in exhaustion, Johnny lowers his stance and allows himself a moment of triumph.
JOHNNY: Enjoy the new digs, Gramps.
Hearing Sonya stir, Johnny rushes to her side.
JOHNNY: Sonya?
SONYA: Johnny… did we…?
JOHNNY: Yeah. We got ‘im.
Sonya manages one last look of relief before falling unconscious in Johnny’s arms. Raiden walks up to them, holding the amulet.
RAIDEN: Remain here. The chamber’s properties will heal Sonya Blade in short order.
Kenshi and Fujin run up to Raiden.
KENSHI; Quan Chi and the others; they’re gone. A surge of power within the chamber overwhelmed my senses.
FUJIN: We can deal with Quan Chi later, Kenshi.
RAIDEN: We’ve netted a bigger prize this day.
KENSHI: Shinnok’s Amulet…
He holds his hand toward it, telekinetically feeling it’s properties.
KENSHI: …and within it…
JOHNNY: Ol’ Fishface himself.
FUJIN: Let us take the amulet to the Elder Gods.
RAIDEN: They cannot destroy it. No one can.
FUJIN: They might offer counsel. Shinnok can never escape.
Raiden wordlessly offers his consent and the two gods leave the chamber. Kenshi is left with Johnny, who is still holding Sonya. He is smiling and at peace, unlike Kenshi, who is still clearly concerned with the events that just occurred.
KENSHI: The war is not over. Quan Chi has escaped. Why are you smiling?
JOHNNY: She called me “Johnny”.
The scene fades into Johnny Cage, now with greyed hair. The caption “Twenty Years Later” reads on the bottom right of the screen. Johnny is talking in what appears to be a high tech communications room with four younger fighters; his daughter Cassie, Jax’s daughter Jacqui, a Shaolin by the name of Kung Jin and Takahashi Takeda from the Shirai Ryu.
JOHNNY: Raiden told me later that I’m descended from some Mediterranean war cult.
He pauses to snort in derision.
JOHNNY: “Bred as warriors for the gods.” I’ve never been able to re-summon that green halo. Raiden thinks it was triggered when I saw a loved one about to die.
Kung Jin seems to view the tale with some skepticism. He looks over to Cassie, who has her back to him and is concentrating on the computer before her.
KUNG JIN: How ’bout you, Cassie? Can you summon anything like that? Or did it skip a generation?
TAKEDA: Take it easy, Jin.
CASSIE: We didn’t need a halo in Darfur – or Iran, or Kurdistan. Did we, Jacqui?
JACQUI: Nope, we didn’t. Shaolin monks ever send you there, Jin?
KUNG JIN: I’ve seen plenty of action; Takeda and I both. Stuff that’d blow your Special Forces minds–
CASSIE: Fu–
Before Jin can continue, and before Cassie can interject with an expletive laden reply, Johnny stands back up to defuse the situation, addressing everyone as he does so.
JOHNNY: At ease. You’re all here because you deserve to be. You’re beautiful and unique snowflakes.
Everyone sits in silent disbelief at what they just heard. With the tension gone, Johnny continues.
JOHNNY: Now, as I’m sure you’re unaware – judging from the lack of gift cards – today is our team’s six week anniversary. Secretary Blake says he’s pleased with our progress.
KUNG JIN: You could spit in his hair and he’d be “pleased with our progress”.
JACQUI: He was smart enough to have Mister Cage put this team together.
TAKEDA: I’m glad the Shirai Ryu chose me to join. New places…
He looks over to Jacqui.
TAKEDA: …new faces.
Jacqui closes her eyes briefly and tries not to stare at Takeda, who sits where he is still smiling at her.
JOHNNY: As the secretary pointed out, us older folks are gonna retire someday, so it’s time for your generation to step up. Shaolin, Shirai Ryu, S-F. Together. For your team’s first mission, you’re going to the Lin Kuei Temple.
Kung Jin and Takeda share a meaningful look.
JOHNNY: We haven’t heard from the Grandmaster in a while, so we need to make sure he’s still on our side; that he’s got our backs if things flare up again with Outworld. You need to bring him in, but don’t be surprised if Sub-Zero’s not willing to cooperate.
CASSIE: Why be worried about Outworld? I thought Kotal Kahn respected the Reiko Accords?
JOHNNY: He does, but he’s facing a civil war. The rebels win, those accords will be history.