Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fire and Ice

After his small episode, Tomas took some time to clean himself up before heading back to the apartment. He slowly descended the metal staircase that would lead him back into the building and tried to take his mind off what had happened just minutes before. But was an impossible task. Reaching the end of the stairs, Smoke stopped and let out a breath he did not realize he had been holding.

"What am I going to do now?"

Fortunately, no one was around to hear the silver-haired man talk to himself. He sat down on the last step and hunched over so his arms were on his knees. Tomas then clasped his hands together as if he was about to pray. Maybe, in the back of his mind, he was considering doing so. Would the Elder Gods even hear him?

Speaking of which, Smoke did not think that the gods would be pleased with a demon being here in Earthrealm. He was never one for religion, but he had only ever heard of demons being in the Netherrealm. Or in other words…Hell. That was where demons belonged. Where Enenra belonged.

And that brought up another question. Why was Enenra in Earthrealm in the first place? How did it get here? Tomas doubted that Pyros could answer those questions since the telepath had said himself that he did not know about Enenra's presence until recently. So that left only one person he could talk to. And Smoke really, REALLY did not want to have any sort of conversation with this being.

But that confrontation was inevitable, so why not just get it over with? With a sigh, Tomas stood up and prepared for the long walk to Johnny's place, but something stopped him again. Something was off. The air suddenly felt hot and the hairs on the back of Smoke's neck stood up. His gut was telling him to move, and since his gut was usually right, the silver-haired man moved away from the stairs just as a mass of flames appeared where he was.

Coming from the portal of fire, two bodies flew across the hall and crashed into the wall opposite of Tomas. He stared wide-eyed at the intruders as they slowly got to their feet. Going through a portal and getting flung at a wall must have disoriented the two newcomers. Slowly moving towards them, Smoke instantly recognized one of the two men who had his hand on his forehead to steady himself.

"Kuai?"

The cryomancer froze when his name was called and looked up at Smoke. He had to squint his eyes since his vision was a bit blurry, but he knew that was his friend's voice.

"Tomas? How did…?"

"Ugh…"

Remembering that there was someone else there with him, Sub-zero quickly moved him and Smoke away. The silver-haired man gave his comrade a confused look.

"What is wrong? Do you know who…?"

"No, but he took me from the academy through some portal. I do not know what he wants, but we should keep our distance."

Tomas nodded and looked back at the person who attempted to kidnap Kuai. The stranger had just gotten to his feet and had his hand on the wall to balance himself. His white, seemingly soulless eyes bore into Sub-zero's when he finally caught sight of the cryomancer. The scowl on his face was evident even though he was wearing a mask and he had his other hand on the hilt of one of his swords that were on his back. Looking over the rest of the ninja's yellow outfit, Smoke remembered something that Bo Rai Cho had told them when they were in Sun Do.

"Scorpion."

The ninja and Kuai both turned their attention to Tomas, confused. Both Sub-zero's confusion was soon replaced by anger.

"This…is Scorpion?"

"A Shirai Ryu whose outfit resembles that of a scorpion. Am I wrong?"

The grip on his sword tightened as Scorpion drew it from behind him, but he was not worrying about fighting at the moment. What really worried him was how ended up in this building in the first place. He had his mind set on teleporting to the Netherrealm and the Shirai Ryu had no trouble doing so before. Scorpion knew there was nothing wrong with his powers, but something about his last jump did feel off. Something had…drawn the ninja to this exact location.

"You!"

The air had suddenly become much cooler than before and Scorpion watched as a misty aura enveloped Sub-zero's body. Even Smoke had to back away from his friend because it got too cold for his liking. Kuai did not seem to notice however and kept his eyes locked on Scorpion.

"You murdered my brother in the tournament! I will make you pay with your life!"

Scorpion scoffed. This new Sub-zero sounded confident about him being able to succeed where his brother could not. Arrogant fool.

"Your brother deserved his fate. And you will die as he did!"

Fire erupted around Scorpion's body and its heat countered the cold. Not at all intimidated by the display, Kuai held his arm up to Tomas.

"This is my fight, Tomas. Please, do not interfere."

"Kuai…"

"Stay out of this!"

And with a roar, Sub-zero charged at Scorpion leaving Smoke to watch the oncoming battle from a distance. The cryomancer formed a Kori blade to counter Scorpion's own weapon, which he quickly held up to block Kuai's downward strike. The Shirai Ryu could practically feel the rage that radiated from his opponent's attack. It may even be enough to rival his own. No. There was nothing that could rival the anger he felt everyday for everything that was taken from him. His family, his clan, his own life. Scorpion was not about to let Sub-zero take this victory, even if it was not the same warrior who had caused him so much pain and suffering.

The yellow ninja shoved Kuai off of him and countered with a strike of his own. The two continued to exchange and block blow after blow and the sound of swords clashing against one another echoed up and down the halls. It was a surprise that no one had come to see what the commotion was and Tomas was definitely grateful for that. But he still did not want to risk some innocent person getting hurt because they had the misfortune of coming across two angry fighters in the middle of a death match. And with the area being so small and Scorpion and Sub-zero's powers, there was no telling what kind of damage they could do to the building and its inhabitants. That included Johnny Cage and Soliel.

After taking a deep breath, Smoke sprinted towards Scorpion and Sub-zero, and before either of them could react, he grabbed their arms and smoke quickly enveloped the trio. Before they knew it, Tomas had teleported them all back to the roof, since it was the only place he could think of that was close by and would not take too much of his energy. But even after the small trip, the silver-haired man was seriously drained. He did not even have the strength to defend himself as Scorpion pushed him off of his arm and was about to slice him with his katana. Luckily, Kuai Liang was there to block the sword before it could touch his friend.

"Your fight is with me, Scorpion!"

"Then your friend should have stayed out of the way!"

While he was trying to keep the Shirai Ryu at bay, Sub-zero glanced at Smoke over his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Tomas gave his comrade a weak nod before falling onto his side. He barely had the strength to keep his eyes open, but he refused to pass out.

"I'll…be alright."

Scorpion put more pressure on his weapon, forcing Sub-zero to kneel and cracks appeared in the ground beneath him. The cryomancer could not let Smoke distract him from this battle. If he did, then Scorpion would not hesitate to kill them both once the opportunity revealed itself. Kuai just had to hope that his friend was truly okay and finish this fight as quickly as he could.

With determination in his eyes, Sub-zero shoved Scorpion and swept the Shirai Ryu's legs from under him. The cryomancer then tried to thrust his blade into Scorpion's chest, but the specter surrounded himself with fire and disappeared into the concrete. The ninja reappeared behind Kuai and managed to wound his opponent by slashing the cryomancer's forearm. Sub-zero yelped as the katana pierced his skin and left a gash as a result. The anger that coursed through him blocked out most of the pain, but at that moment, Kuai wished he had armor instead of the simple shirt he was wearing now.

As Scorpion was about to throw a punch, Sub-zero created an ice clone that froze the specter immediately upon contact. The cryomancer used the opportunity to slice his sword across Scorpion's chest, breaking the icy prison as he did so. The Shirai Ryu was thrown into the air and landed harshly on his back. Scorpion did not have much time to recover before a trail of ice stalagmites came his way. The yellow ninja rolled of of the way and growled while holding his now ignited hand in the air.

Kuai felt heat rising from the ground and quickly jumped before a pillar of hellfire exploded from the floor. The cryomancer did not realize that the fire was a distraction as Scorpion burst from the flames and punched Sub-zero straight in his jaw. Kuai fell on his back and reached his hand up to message his jaw, but a boot stomping down on his chest stopped him. He almost threw up blood that had threatened to spew from his throat from the force Scorpion's foot was exerting onto him. For a second, the cryomancer even thought that his heart had stopped beating.

The pressure was lifted when Scorpion backflipped off of his opponent's chest and landed a few feet away. Kuai gasped as he was finally able to get oxygen back into his lungs and struggled to stand up from the ground. He was slightly hunched over as he held his hand over his chest to help even out his breathing.

"Pathetic."

Sub-zero was unable to move in time as a spear was stabbed into his shoulder. The chain that was attached to it was being held by Scorpion and the Shirai Ryu jerked the spear back to him.

"GET OVER HERE!"

The spear dragged Kuai along with it and when the cryomancer was within reach, Scorpion grabbed him by his throat and hoisted him into the air. The ninja's weapon slipped from its victim and fell to the concrete.

"Did you really think that you would have a chance against me? You are more of a fool than your brother was. And do you want to know how he met his end!?"

Scorpion raised the tip of his sword until it was touching Sub-zero's throat, piercing the skin just enough to cause a droplet of blood to run down the side of his neck.

"I burned every inch of his body until it was reduced to nothing but ashes. His death was slow and I made sure every second of it was pure agony for him. And now…I shall do the same for you."

Regaining a little bit of his energy, Tomas stumbled to his feet and he let out a few breaths before noticing the position his friend was in. His eyes widen when Scorpion slowly started to draw back his sword, preparing to deal the finishing blow to his opponent. Even in his weakened state, Kuai attempted to free himself from the Shirai Ryu's hold by clawing at his hands, but it was useless. After some time, the cryomancer finally stopped struggling and let his arms drop to his sides in defeat. It was then that he looked back at Smoke and for a split second, the two locked eyes. No words needed to be spoken for Kuai could see exactly what Tomas wanted to say through his eyes.

"Kuai, do not even think about giving up. I know you can win this fight.Me, Cyrax, Bi-han…we are all behind you. So if you die on us, I will kill you myself! You have to fight!"

Scorpion thrusted his katana forward, but in that moment, everything felt as though it was moving in slow-motion as Sub-zero grabbed the weapon just before it could reach his heart. He then transformed the sword into ice and crushed it into pieces, distracting Scorpion long enough for him to loosen his hold on his captive. Just as his feet touched the ground, Kuai coated his arms with a thick layer of ice and hurled his fist into the Shirai Ryu's stomach. As Scorpion doubled over, Sub-zero kneed the ninja in his jaw and as his body jerked up a few inches off the ground, the cryomancer grabbed his opponent by his face and slammed him to the floor. The impact resulted in a small crater in the concrete with cracks spreading to the ends of the roof.

When he was sure that the battle was over, Tomas smiled and was about to go to his comrade's side. But he stopped when he saw Kuai punch Scorpion again. And again. And again.