Chapter Thirty-Eight: Revelations

"Come on, kiddo. We gotta go!"

Desperately trying to leave his apartment, Johnny Cage was practically dragging himself out into the hallway due to Soliel attaching herself to his leg. The actor had just received a call from his agent about an interview Cage had completely forgotten about. Johnny needed to leave now if he was going to make it in time for the meeting, but his little guest refused to let him go. It was like she was insisting that the two of them wait at the apartment for something and Cage had a feeling he knew what. Or rather who.

"Look, we'll look for Tomas when the interview's over, alright? I can't just leave you here on your own, so you'll have to come with me."

Soliel furiously shook her head and pulled even more on Johnny's leg. The actor sighed, but continued to walk while dragging the girl with him. He silently prayed that the interview would go by quickly so Soliel would not be so upset. As he was locking the door, Cage realized that that the child had suddenly stopped struggling and he looked to see her staring down the hall.

"Hey. You alright, Soliel?"

The girl did not answer. Instead, Soliel let go of the actor and ran down the hall as fast as she could. Johnny was caught off guard by the sudden reaction, but he shook off the shock and chased after the little guard.

"Wait, where are you going!? Don't go that way!"

But Soliel was not listening for she knew exactly where she was going.

Tomas watched as Kuai's fist collided with Scorpion's face repeatedly. A small part of him said that he should stop Sub-zero's assault on the Shirai Ryu. He had been defeated, so was that not enough?

"Of course not!"

Enenra's voice echoed throughout Smoke's mind. He laid his hand on his forehead and clenched his teeth together in a futile attempt to shut out the pain the demon was causing with its presence.

"I did not…ask for your opinion."

"But you will have it nonetheless. Scorpion is the one responsible for the death of your friend's brother, correct? Why should Kuai show him any mercy?"

"Because…because it is the right thing to do."

"The right thing to….you idiot! Scorpion's defeat is a prime example of your weakness!"

"Weakness? What do you mean by that?"

"Do you not see? The rage that flows through that specter….it was the reason for his downfall. The result of the humanity that he was able to retain, even when he was resurrected by Quan Chi."

He did not particularly care about what Enenra had to say, but Tomas was beginning to understand what the beast was trying to say. Scorpion had once been human and every human experienced emotions, no matter how hard you tried not to. As plenty of people have told Smoke throughout his life, feelings get in the way and they were not needed when you had a mission to complete. When Scorpion went after Kuai, his main objective was to kill the new Sub-zero, but he had failed because of his anger. His humanity had gotten in the way.

But there was a contradiction in that perspective and Smoke saw it when he looked at his comrade. Kuai was just as enraged with Scorpion because of Bi-han's death, but it was not his anger that helped him win the battle. The moment he and his friend locked eyes, Tomas did not see any anger in the cryomancer's eyes. In fact, he could have sworn that he saw fear. Sub-zero was afraid of dying at that moment at the hands of his brother's murderer. Afraid that he was going to let everyone he cared about down by not only letting himself get killed, but for failing to avenge his family.

Next thing Smoke knew, a spark of determination ignited in those sapphire orbs. Kuai was determined to win his battle with Scorpion and nothing was going to stop him. And he succeeded. The cryomancer's emotions actually helped him win the fight. They gave him strength in his time of need.

And it was for that reason that Tomas ran to his friend and wrapped his arms around Kuai to restrain him. Still enraged, Sub-zero thrashed around to throw Smoke off of him before he was able to regain enough sense to recognize his comrade.

"Tomas, what are you doing!?"

"What does it look like? I am trying to stop you from doing something you will regret!"

"Get off of me!"

Tomas had not expected Kuai to actually attack him, but in his state, the cryomancer was not thinking straight. He elbowed Smoke in his stomach with enough force to make the silver-haired man release him and stumble a few steps back. But Tomas quickly shook off the pain and created a small smoke bomb. He was still weak from his teleportation, but he managed to make a bomb strong enough to throw Sub-zero off his feet and away from the injured Scorpion, who was just getting himself into a sitting position. The Shirai Ryu groaned as he reached for his mask to inspect the damage his face had taken from Kuai's assault. The remaining pieces of his mask could not hide the "face" that laid underneath it.

Scorpion's face had been taken away long ago and all that remained was a skull that he would ignite on occasion. The only people who saw it were those that the specter decided to kill and they quickly became nothing but ashes, never to see the light of day again. Scorpion had underestimated this Sub-zero and had not felt the need to show his face immediately. He wanted to take his time and make that impostor suffer for daring to challenge him. That was a mistake he would not make again.

As he grabbed on to his mask, Scorpion saw Kuai getting up from the ground after being thrown by his friend's smoke bomb. The cryomancer was on his hands and knees when his eyes landed on the Shirai Ryu once again. His bewildered expression instantly changed to a deep scowl. Sub-zero would have charged at Scorpion if someone had not beat him to it. A cloud of smoke appeared in between the two warriors and it soon vanished to reveal Tomas with his arms outstretched.

"Kuai, please. Just stop."

"You are seriously defending Bi-han's killer!?"

"I am not defending anyone! But this has to stop, here and now."

"This will stop once Scorpion's soul is thrown back into the Netherrealm where he belongs!"

At least Kuai was not the only one who was confused about Tomas' actions. Scorpion watched as the two friends argued and realized how Smoke had left himself completely exposed by having his back turned to the specter. He could easily grab the Tomas and slit his throat open before he had a chance to fight back. But something in the back of the Shirai Ryu's mind told him to stay where he was. As well as someone coming through the door and stepping onto the roof, which caused everyone to look back to see who had come.

"Kid, you can't just run off like th…!"

Johnny stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the situation at hand. He saw Smoke and an injured Sub-zero, who both stared back at the actor and his charge, Soliel. But really caught Cage's attention was Scorpion. He recognized the ninja from the first Mortal Kombat he had been to on Shang Tsung's island. And he also remembered that Scorpion was the one who murdered Kuai's brother. Johnny took Soliel's arm and pulled her back to the door.

"Hey…so…would anyone care to explain to me what the FUCK is going on here?"

Tomas was about to answer the actor's question, but a groan from Scorpion stopped him. The specter was soon standing up with his arm wrapped around his stomach and his eyes fell on Soliel. Johnny noticed this and pushed the girl behind him.

"If you try to hurt her, I'm going to shove that spear up your ass."

Scorpion scoffed at the actor's threat, but made no move towards Soliel. It was not like he was planning on harming her anyway.

"Despite what you may think of me, I am not a monster."

The ninja turned to Sub-zero, who had his hand over the wound in his shoulder from when he was struck with Scorpion's spear.

"But his brother had no difficulty murdering all those innocent children in my clan. Including my own firstborn!"

Tomas, Kuai, and Johnny had not expected that Scorpion had had a child. Cage was even more surprised that the specter of all people had a woman in his life. But the actor kept that thought to himself out of fear of Scorpion burning him alive for it. While everyone was still in shock at this new information, Sub-zero spoke up. Although he felt terrible for the loss of a child, even if it was his enemy's, the cryomancer was tired of the false accusations Scorpion was making about Bi-han.

"My brother would never be a part of such a genocide! Especially when it involves killing children!"

"Maybe you did not know your brother as well as you thought, fool!"

"STOP!"

Smoke's outburst put everyone's attention on him. He let his arms fall to his sides and stepped closer to the Shirai Ryu.

"So, you believe that the former Sub-zero is the one responsible for the death of your clan, yes?"

"Why does that matter to you?"

"Because there is something that I want to know that may clear this up."

"...What?"

Scorpion was growing impatient and it showed in the way he basically growled that last question. But Smoke ignored it and continued.

"When your clan was eliminated, were you there and saw exactly what happened? Or did Quan Chi tell you everything after you were resurrected?"

Scorpion was about to answer the question, but stopped himself. Truth be told, he was not there when the Shirai Ryu was destroyed. Quan Chi had told him that Sub-zero was the one who killed his wife and son and that had been enough to put the Shirai Ryu on his quest for revenge. Scorpion did not need anymore information. Maybe that was a mistake.

"Sometime before you two fought in Mortal Kombat…"

Scorpion was pulled from his thoughts when Tomas spoke again and took another step forward.

"Sub-zero had a mission that involved him going to a certain temple and retrieving a map. He told us that he had encountered a warrior there that was also searching for this map. A Shirai Ryu, to be precise. Were you the one who fought Sub-zero in that temple?"

"...Yes."

"And Sub-zero killed you there?"

"...Yes."

Smoke nodded. He could tell that Scorpion was also questioning the validity of what Quan Chi has told him about the Shirai Ryu's demise. A seed had been planted, but Tomas was not sure how far it will grow.

"You were at the temple at the same time your clan was attacked. Of course you could not have known who it was that was responsible for their deaths. Not unless someone told you."

"Tomas…"

Smoke looked over his shoulder at Sub-zero, who no longer looked angry. His rage had been replaced with curiosity, as well as confusion.

"What exactly is it that you are implying?"

"I am implying..."

Tomas looked back at Scorpion.

"That your meeting with Sub-zero was a setup. Organized by the same person who hired Sub-zero to find that map…and resurrected you, Scorpion."

It was only a theory right now, but it made sense. Bi-han going out on that mission and the Shirai Ryu's destruction at around the same time could not have been a coincidence. But if Quan Chi was truly behind all of this, then why? The Netherrealm sorcerer did gain a fighter, but that could not be the only thing he was after. There had to be more to this.

"Scorpion."

Scorpion jerked his head up at the sound of the voice. He already knew that it was Quan Chi speaking to him telepathically and the others were confused by the ninja's sudden action.

"I apologize, but I am in need of your assistance. Return to the Netherrealm immediately."

Usually, Scorpion would argue against his master's request, yet this time, he thought that maybe it would be a good idea to leave. Now that he had some knowledge of Sub-zero's strength, the specter will be prepared for the next time they fight. If he even wanted to a rematch once he was healed. Scorpion turned to leave and opened a portal of hellfire.

"Wait!"

The ninja stopped and glanced over his shoulder at Kuai, who was now standing beside Tomas with a hand on his friend's shoulder. The cryomancer was losing a good amount of blood from his shoulder wound and he was struggling just to stand up, which showed in the way he held on to Smoke to keep his balance.

"Where does this leave us?"

Scorpion was not sure how to answer that question. This Sub-zero was not the one who had destroyed his family and clan, so what need was there to fight him? But he could tell that the cryomancer was still upset with him and probably still wanted to finish their battle. Maybe Scorpion should give his enemy what he wants. At least for now.

"Nothing has changed. We are still enemies and I will be back so we can end our fight. But…"

Scorpion finally turned around and faced everyone.

"You need to be alive in order to do that."

Sub-zero and Smoke looked at each other for a second before turning back to Scorpion. The cryomancer was who asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"...You all better prepare yourselves. Shao Kahn is not done with you yet."