Chapter Thirty-Nine: Unraveling

"Alright, let me get this straight."

Immediately after Scorpion's departure, Johnny called his private jet to take him, Smoke, Sub-zero, and Soliel straight to the Special Forces Base. The actor thought it would be better if they took Kuai to a hospital first to get his wound treated, but the cryomancer insisted that they go to the base instead. The sooner the other Warriors of Light knew about the new information they had acquired from Scorpion, the better it would be for all of them. And there was no way Sub-zero was going to allow them to waste time on getting him medical attention for a "minor" wound. Once they arrived at the base and getting to the medical bay, Sonya was the first to greet them and upon seeing the Kuai's weakened state, she demanded that someone told her what happened. So that is exactly what Tomas did.

"You're telling me that the pissed off, fire-wielding ninja that killed the first Sub-zero is now trying to kill you."

The blonde pointed at Kuai, who nodded to indicate she was right. Sonya turned back to Tomas.

"But you may or may not have convinced him that maybe he accused the wrong man for the murders of his family and clan, right?"

"Right."

"And for some reason, Scorpion just decides to leave, but before he does, he tells you guys, and please correct me if I misheard you, that Shao Kahn, the same man Liu Kang literally punched a hole through with his fist that was on fire….is alive."

"I know that may sound unbelievable…"

"To be honest, no. After all the shit I've seen in the tournament, nothing is impossible. But do you really think Scorpion is telling the truth? I mean whose side is he on?"

Smoke shook his head and folded his arms over his chest, thinking.

"I am not sure if he even knows the answer to that."

"Do you think he's telling the truth, Tomas?"

".…I do. I do not know why, but something is telling me that Scorpion was not lying."

The entrance door opened and Jade, Kitana, Jax, and Cyrax poured from it. Cyrax instantly went to Sub-zero's side when he saw the cryomancer's shoulder being bandaged by one of the doctors. The other three walked over to Smoke and Sonya and Jade was the first to speak up.

"What happened? Are you all alright?"

Before the Edenian could launch a barrage of questions at him, Tomas held his hands out to stop her and gave Jade a reassuring smile.

"Kuai and I had an encounter with Scorpion, but we will be okay. Kuai's getting his injuries treated as we speak and I just have a few bruises here and there. Nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? You two could have been killed! If anything happened to you, I…"

Jade trailed off and looked down at the floor with hands bawled into fists. Kitana was surprised by the amount of concern she showed towards the two former Lin Kuei, but it seemed that her friend's worry was directed more towards Tomas than Kuai. She was not worry about it. In fact, Kitana was glad that something besides fighting and her duty as the princess' bodyguard was able to grab Jade's attention. She will talk to Jade about it later. Kitana gently placed her hand on her sister's should and looked at Smoke.

"I am glad you and Kuai are alright. Do you know Scorpion's purpose for attacking you?"

"Actually, he was really after Kuai. I suppose after hearing about there being a new Sub-zero, Scropion felt the need to dispose of him."

"I see."

"But, Scorpion told us something that I am not sure you either of you want to hear."

Jade jerked her head up and frowned.

"What do you mean, Tomas?"

"It…involves Shao Kahn."

The Edenians shared confused looks, especially Kitana. She did not expect for Smoke to speak about her "father." Not that she even wanted to hear anything more about him.

"What about him?"

"Well…Scorpion told us that…that Shao Kahn is alive. And planning an invasion on Earthrealm."

Kitana's eyes widen and an audible gasp escaped from her lips. Jade was just as shocked as the princess and she felt her friend's hand squeeze her shoulder.It was not painful, but it was enough for Jade to know that Kitana was definitely unnerved by the news. Even Jax had to step up and say something.

"No. Scorpion has to be lying, right? We all saw Liu Kang kill that bastard!"

Kitana shook her head.

"I should have known better. My father cannot easily be killed. I was a fool to believe that he was dead."

The princess put a hand over her mouth as tears started to form in her eyes. Jade pulled Kitana into her arms and embraced her friend, hoping the hug would helped relieve some of her pain. She knew Kitana was not afraid of Shao Kahn, neither of them were. But the fact that the man who had taken away their childhoods and practically forced the two woman to kill so many innocent people was still drawing breath was too much for them to handle. Even Jade was struggling to keep herself together.

"I am sorry."

Jade looked up to face Smoke, who looked just as angry as she and Kitana felt. He stuck his hands into his pockets.

"I really did not want to upset either of you. But I felt that everyone should know, whether Scorpion lied or not. Because I am going to find that out myself."

Kitana looked up and she along with everyone else in the room stared at Tomas. Ignoring their stares, the silver-haired man called Soliel over to him. She obeyed running straight into Smoke's arms and he scooped her up.

"I am going to take Soliel home and once I do, I will go to Shao Kahn's palace. I think most of Outworld is still unaware that he is alive. If the emperor wants to keep up the act of him being deceased, it would be best that the citizens of his realm believed him dead as well. Only those he trusts the most will know and more than likely they reside in his palace."

Tomas then looked back at Sonya.

"Do you know of a way to create a portal to Outworld?"

"Yeah, but…maybe we should contact Raiden. He can teleport you in and out of Outworld before anyone even notices."

"True, but I do not want to get Raiden involved until we know for sure what is going on. Being a god, he has too many responsibilities to be bother with something that may be a false alarm."

Sonya opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. Smoke did make a good point. If Scorpion was lying and they called for Raiden, then that would be a lot of time wasted for them and the thunder god. They needed to have all the facts before they involve anyone else.

"Alright. We have been working on some teleportation devices with Cyrax's help. Here."

Sonya pulled something out of her pants pocket and held it out to Tomas. It was gray, spherical device that reminded Smoke of Cyrax's invention that the Botswanan had given to him before he left the Lin Kuei temple. As if he could read Tomas' mind, Cyrax stood beside Sonya and took the sphere from her hand.

"Think of this as an upgraded version of the one I gave you. You will be able to set your destination, which is limited to Earthrealm and Outworld at the moment due to insufficient data of the other realms. Each device can teleport only one person at a time and unfortunately, there are only two working teleporters."

Cyrax opened a panel in his arm and took out another sphere and gestured for Smoke to take them both. The silver-haired man nodded and grabbed the teleporters.

"Soliel, hold on to this for me, okay?"

Soliel nodded and Tomas gave her one of the devices to hold. Cyrax did say that the spheres could only teleport one person each. As he was examining the teleporter, Kuai came up behind him and grabbed his arm to make him turn around.

"Tomas, you are not seriously thinking about going to Outworld alone."

"There is no other way. Besides, it will be much easier to move around with my powers if it is just me. I will be fine."

"What if you came back after taking Soliel home and give me her device? I can just teleport to your position and we can go find Shao Kahn together."

"Firstly, you are in no condition to be fighting right now. Secondly, as I have already said, it will be easier to explore the palace by myself. Even if I do get caught, I can escape any attackers just like that. You know I can."

"That may be so, but I do not feel right about you going in alone if you do not have to. You do not have to be a hero."

"I am not trying to be one."

Sub-zero shook his head.

"Yet, you always do this."

Smoke stiffened at his friend's comment and sighed as he closed his eyes.

"You are angry with me, aren't you?"

Without responding to his friend's question, Kuai turned away from Tomas. That was the cryomancer way of saying "Yes, I am indeed pissed off with you, dumbass."

"Look, I will be in and out before you know it…"

Sub-zero quickly turned back around and glared at Smoke.

"This is not just about you going to Outworld! What about what happened back on the roof with Scorpion? Or the hooded man back on the mountain that you trusted fairly quickly? You have been keeping a lot of secrets and as someone you have considered as a brother, I thought I would be trustworthy enough for you to tell me such things. Especially when they seem to be having such a negative impact on your life!"

"Kuai, you do not understand…"

"How can I? How am I suppose to understand anything if I do not KNOW anything!? Just tell me what is going on with you!"

The cryomancer's shouting now drew the attention of not only the other champions, but the doctors and patients that were being treated in the bay as well. Usually Kuai would hate all the attention he was getting, but at the moment, he really did not care. He was only focused on Tomas.

"Well?"

Not knowing what he should say, Smoke took a deep breath and looked at Soliel for a second as though she would have the solution for his current predicament. Tomas knew she would not, but he could not face Kuai right now.

"I…I do not think we should talk about this now. We can discuss this once I get back from Outworld, alright?"

"But will we? You always had a habit of avoiding these sorts of conversation. What is the guarantee that this time will not be any different?"

Smoke opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Sub-zero left the medical bay without saying a word to anyone else. No one dared to stop the cryomancer and who could blame them? Once he was gone, Jade stepped up to Tomas and lowered her voice so no one else would hear her but the silver-haired man.

"Tomas, I do not want to meddle in your affairs, but is everything alright? Kuai looked extremely upset and…"

"It will be fine."

Smoke quickly answered Jade's question and looked back at the teleporter in his hand.

"Kuai just needs some time to calm himself. I will talk to him when I get back."

Tomas set the destination to Outworld and looked back at Soliel to check if the destination matched his on her device. When he saw that it did, Smoke told the child to press the button to activate the sphere when he told her to. Soliel nodded and Tomas was about to start counting down from three when Jade grabbed his forearm and gave it a small squeeze with a smile on her face.

"Just be careful. And please, come back soon."

The two stared at each other for some time before Smoke nodded and smiled back.

"I will."

With that, Tomas and Soliel disappeared and headed to Outworld.