Chapter Twenty-Six: Sisterly Love

It did not take Smoke and Jade long to reach the Flesh Pits. The sound of their footsteps echoed as they descended down the concrete staircase. Blood puddles littered the floor and various instruments of torture hung on chains throughout the lab. Rotten, mutilated bodies laid on tables and the decaying smell that resonated from them were enough to make anyone gag. Fortunately, the two assassins had their masks on. Except…

"Dammit."

Jade looked at Smoke when he cursed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing to worry about. It is just this mask."

Tomas reached for the open slit on his mask that Baraka created in their battle. It would not have bothered him if not for the immense odor. Jade grabbed Smoke's chin and turned his head to the side to examine the cut.

"Is that the problem?"

"Yes, but…as I said it is…"

Jade's hand hovered over Tomas' cheek and from it, a green aura was being emitted. It poured into the damaged part of the ninja's mask and the energy started to stitch the slit back together. A few seconds later, the mask looked brand new.

"Is that better?"

Smoke placed his hand where the mask had been torn and was surprised when he felt no cut.

"Wow. Thank you."

"Just a small token of my appreciation."

"For what?"

"For helping me get this far. I do not know what would have become of me if you had not come."

Before Tomas could say anything else, Jade turned around and went deeper into the Flesh Pits. She looked around at the disfigured bodies that lied within huge tubes. They were engulfed in a green liquid and Smoke was not sure if he wanted to know what the liquid was.

"I should be honest with you."

Jade kept her eyes trained on one of the tubes as she spoke to Tomas. The ninja arched an eyebrow at the woman.

"Honest about what?"

"…I know about your encounter with Kitana. When Shao Kahn ordered her to eliminate you and your comrade."

"Yes. Kitana and I did fight. What about it?"

"Do you want to know what went through my mind as Kitana told me of the battle?"

Jade took out her boomerang and twirled it around in her hands. Smoke watched her, thinking about how Jade moved with such grace when she was doing a simple action.

"Kitana is my closest friend. My sister. Hearing her defeat by your hand angered me. I wanted to decapitate you and put your head on a stake. I wanted to strangle you with your own intestines and watch as your eyes were drained of life. I wanted to…"

"Alright! I understand your point."

Jade looked up from her boomerang and fluttered her eyelashes innocently at Smoke. It made it hard to believe that a second ago she was talking about torturing and murdering Tomas in several excruciatingly painful ways.

"I apologize. Was I being too forward?"

"Very."

"Oh. Well anyway, I wanted to make you pay for humiliating Kitana. But the more I thought about, the less my hate towards you became."

"Why was that?"

"…You did not kill her."

Jade looked away and started walking again. She walked past a table that was covered in blood and candles were spread across the corners of it. Smoke stood where he was, but he kept his eyes on Jade.

"As I told Kitana, there was no need to."

"I did not think the Lin Kuei needed a reason to kill anyone."

"I am not Lin Kuei."

Jade could hear the anger in Smoke's voice when she mentioned his former clan. She must have hit a nerve.

"I did not mean to upset you."

"…Forget it. We have taken up too much time anyway."

Tomas walked behind one of the human-sized tubes and pulled out a kunai knives. Inside the container, there was a tarkatan woman with stitches all over her body. This must have been a failed attempt of a Kitana clone. Smoke thrusted the hilt of the knife into the glass of the tube and quickly stepped away from it as cracks appeared with the unknown liquid bursting from them. The glass broke and the clone was thrown out of its prisoner by the liquid.

Jade approached the tarkatan's unconscious body and kneeled down to get a better look at it. She could tell that not all of its body parts belong to them and they must have been forcefully attached to them. Jade could imagine the torture these clones were forced to endure and it made her pity the clones. They did not ask to be created and now, she and Smoke were about to get rid of them all. The clones probably wanted to die, she reasoned with herself. It did not make her feel any better.

"Jade?"

The woman jerked her head up and looked at Tomas. His eyes showed concern for Jade and that made her shake her head to clear her thoughts. She needed to pull herself together.

"It is nothing."

Jade raised her boomerang to the clone's throat and was about to slice it open, but the sound of glass breaking from behind Smoke stopped her. Another tube had been destroyed and a clone was crouched on the ground. She looked exactly like Mileena, except she was practically naked with exception of a few bandages wrapped around her body. The clone snarled at the intruders.

"We seem to have some unexpected visitors, sisters."

The clone on the ground by Jade opened her eyes and growled as she grabbed the assassin's arm. Jade yelped as the tarkatan's fingers dug into her skin and trails of blood ran down her arm. Smoke quickly came to her aid and used his knife to slice the clone's throat. The stitches that connected her head to her neck were ripped apart and the tarkatan's head rolled across the floor. Tomas grabbed his ally and pulled her away from the decapitated body.

The Mileena clone started laughing in that annoying, child-like way that the two assassins felt they would never get out their heads.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it!?"

More snarling and growling cane from the shadows. Tubes were busted and more clones were thrown in Smoke and Jade's way. The two stood back to back as the tarkatan replicas surrounded them. Jade extended her staff and Smoke held out his knives, ready to cut down anything that got near them. Some clones were missing limbs, some were missing eyes or toes. Everyone one of them looked like monsters from a horror movie.

"Kill them!"

Mileena shouted the command to her siblings and one by one, they lunged at their prey. Smoke effortlessly slayed the clones that came after him and Jade plunged her pole into the clones that tried to attack her while occasionally throwing her boomerang to make them go down faster. Most of the replicas had no real skill or power, so it was easy to take them down. It was like fight a horde of mindless zombies.

One of the clones was patiently waiting in the shadows, watching as her sisters were being slaughtered. This replica had eight legs like a spider and her eyes were all white. She patiently waited for an opening and as soon as she found one, the clone hurled itself at Jade from behind. Jade noticed too late and as she turned around to try to defend herself, a black blur zoomed past her and took the spider clone with it. The assassin watched as the replica was thrown to the ground by Tomas.

The ninja pulled out another knife and tried to get to the tarkatan's throat, but her extra arms kept getting in his way. The clone eventually managed to knock Smoke's weapon from his hand and throw him off of her. Now the spider clone had Tomas pinned to the floor while she tried to bite at his face. The ninja moved his head from side to side to avoid the tarkatan's teeth. One of her clawed hands tore off Smoke's cowl and his silver hair was released.

"Smoke!"

Jade sprinted to the struggling ninja, but she was stopped by Mileena. The clone grabbed Jade by her shoulders and threw her to the opposite end of the room. As the assassin was getting up from the ground, Mileena teleports to her and lifted Jade by her throat. The Edenian clawed at Mileena's hand desperately fighting free herself from the clone's grasp.

"So pretty. But I am sure you will look better in red."

Mileena's nails grew into black talons and she raised one of them to Jade's chest. She slowly started dragging her claw down the assassin's upper body and Jade screamed in pain. A jagged trail of blood now decorated the Edenian's body. Still fighting against the tarkatan spider, Smoke glanced at the two women when he heard Jade cry out. Everything seemed to slow down as Tomas saw what Mileena was doing to his ally. He needed to help her. He had to help her.

Smoke's chest suddenly felt heavy and it was making it hard for him to breathe. He knew what was causing it. The dark entity was back. It was trying to take control of Tomas again, but the ninja could not let it. If he lost control, there was no guarantee that Smoke would not harm Jade. Determined not to lose himself, Tomas closed his eyes and pushed the sinister being back to the depths of his mind. He could feel it struggling to break free, but the ninja managed to lock the entity away once more.

With the darkness gone for the time being, Smoke knew exactly what he needed to do. He concentrated on using his power to increase his body heat. Steam rose from Tomas' skin and the spider woman shrieked as her hands were burned by the heat. The ninja quickly grabbed the knife he had dropped before and slashed the tarkatan's throat open. She instantly fell to her side, dead, and Smoke did not waste any time as he ran to Mileena.

The clone was laughing as Jade's body was starting to go limp, but Mileena stopped when she felt someone coming up behind her. She had not time to react before a kunai knife was plunged into her chest, right to her heart. Mileena grasp on Jade loosened and the Edenian fell to the floor clutching her wound. Tomas came to her side and the two watched as Mileena dropped to her knees with blood pouring from her mouth. Eventually, the clone's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she stopped breathing. Falling to her side, Mileena was now dead.

Smoke made sure Mileena was not getting back up before checking on Jade. Her wound was deep and blood was still running from it. Tomas needed to get her back to Raiden as soon as possible.

"Jade, can you hear me?"

Jade had her eyes shut, trying to block out the pain. When she heard someone calling her, the assassin looked up with half-lidded eyes. Her vision was a little blurry from the blood loss, but she knew it was Smoke that had spoken to her and nodded to indicate that she heard him. Tomas nodded back.

"Can you stand?"

Again, Jade nodded and grabbed Smoke's arm to steady herself. She had barely gotten to her feet before she fell back down. The Edenian was too weak to stand on her own and it was a struggle for Jade to keep her eyes open. She shook her head.

"I…I can't…"

"It is alright. Here."

Smoke took Jade's right arm and wrapped it around his shoulders. Jade wanted to protest, but as soon as Tomas held her up in his arms, she did not have the strength to do anything at all. Instead, the Edenian rested her head on the ninja's chest and evened her breathing with his. The rise and fall of Tomas' chest soothed Jade and she felt so calm and relaxed that she soon closed her eyes. Before she allowed herself to fall asleep, Jade muttered something to Smoke that was was barely audible to the ninja.

"Thank…you."

Jade's body went limp in Smoke's arms and she was now unconscious. Tomas looked down at the woman for a moment before going back up the stairs. They would have to take care of the rest of Shang Tsung's lab another time. Right now, Jade's well-being was Smoke's top priority. He exited the Flesh Pits, leaving the tarkatan clones' bodies to rot. Once the two were gone, another man showed up and stepped near the body of the tarkatan that resembled Mileena. Pyros' eyes softened as he looked down at the deceased creature.

"You are now free. Rest peacefully. The man who made you all suffer for his own gain will soon pay for his deeds."

The telepath's hand ignited in flames and soon fire spreaded throughout the lab. The fire engulfed the bodies of the clones and melted away their skin. Pyros stood in the middle of it all, watching as everything burned to ashes. It did not take long for Smoke to smell the smoke created by the fire. He was halfway up the staircase when the smell, as well as the heat, reached him.

Tomas was about to turn back to see what was going on, but he quickly remembered that he needed to get Jade back to the Coliseum. He could not waste anymore time than he already had. His mind made up, Smoke continued up the stairs until he was out of the Flesh Pits.