The Spider of Earthrealm (Male Spider-Man Reader x Mortal Kombat)

Chapter 21: Rise of Shinnok

2 Years Later...

Y/N was sitting with Franklin and Valeria as he tells them a story.

Y/N: Millions of years ago, Shinnok, one of the Elder Gods, turned on his fellow deities and invaded the Earthrealm. Raiden and the Elder Gods stopped Shinnok. Locked him up in the Netherrealm. Others followed in Shinnok's footsteps, like Outworld's emperor Shao Kahn, who was obsessed with conquering Earthrealm. So Raiden convinced the Elder Gods to enact the Mortal Kombat tournament as a way to even the odds... give Earthrealm a chance. For generations, Shao Kahn followed the Elder Gods' rules. The war moved to the arena, where he sent his toughest fighters to challenge Raiden's greatest defenders in Mortal Kombat. Two years ago, we beat him. But Shao Kahn wasn't ready to lose. He violated the rules of Mortal Kombat and invaded Earthrealm. Most of Earth's defenders - our friends - were killed. Turned into evil undead warriors. Despite the odds, we stopped Shao Kahn's invasion. As punishment, the Elder Gods destroyed him. We thought the long nightmare was over. But it turns out that Shinnok had been manipulating events. Shao Kahn's invasion, his death... all part of Shinnok's plan to escape the Netherrealm and resume his war on the Elder Gods.

In Earthrealm city in Japan, it is devestated by war. A dead soldier falls on his front, an ugly gaping hole where his face should be. Others run past his body, and suddenly a large flying beast that resembles a gargoyle grabs one of these soldiers, lifts him into the air and drops him. Another soldier is tackled into the concrete by a demon moving almost too fast to see. Several other soldiers meet the same fate. One soldier pauses long enough to open fire at the flying beasts with his assault rifle. He gains nothing for his efforts except the ire of one beast who lands on a nearby overturned car. As he turns to it, the hellbeast lets out an unholy roar of terror and grabs the now-screaming soldier by his head, tearing it off his body. As the beast drops his head from it's toes and roams the evening sky, it is shot by high-powered bullets from a helicopter's gatling gun. The monster squeals and falls dead to the ground below as several helicopters fly by. 

Inside the helicopter, Sonya Blade is co-piloting. The movie star, Johnny Cage walks up to her seat and leans on both it and the seat of the pilot's.

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. 

Solider 1: Gods, portals, flying demons... 

Johnny: 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.