Chapter Fifty: Free Falling

Not a word was spoken on the plane as it made its way to Deacon City. Every soldier sitting within it was too preoccupied with their own thoughts about the battle they were about to engage in. So many thoughts about whether they would survive this war and whether they will be able to see their family and friends again. Tomas did not blame them. After all, he was thinking the exact same things.

Smoke could have gotten on a separate plane if he wanted to, but he insisted that he ride with the other soldiers. He did not feel right just leaving them to fend for themselves when they were only humans. He himself was not invincible, but Tomas was better suited for this fight than any of the soldiers he was currently riding with. Accompanying him was Sub-zero and Cyrax, of course, since they were the silver-haired man's closest friends, and they were not going to leave him behind. Sonya, Jax, and Johnny Cage were on another plane with their own group of Special Forces members and Raiden and Sindel had teleported ahead with Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Nightwolf, Kitana, and Jade in tow. Thinking about it, Tomas wondered why the thunder god did not just teleport everyone to the city.

"The same reason why you can only teleport one person at once."

Smoke froze upon hearing the unexpected voice. He had gotten used to Enenra's distorted and booming voice, but since he transformed after their last encounter with each other, the demon remained in its human form. At first, it was a comfort for Tomas to see Enenra as something other than a hulking beast that could devour him at any time. Now it just seemed strange. The demon continued speaking as though he did not notice that he had startled his host.

"Raiden may be a god, but that does not make him all powerful. It is only because he is a god that he can teleport so many people at a time. But that still takes a good amount of energy to accomplish."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed. Do not rely on gods for everything. What is that Earthrealm saying? "" God helps those who help themselves"?"

Smoke did not intend to sound so reliant on Raiden's power, but now that he thought about it, he was relying too much on Earthrealm's protector. Raiden was basically the leader of the Forces of Light and whenever he left for a long period of time, everyone felt lost. Like they did not know how to proceed through their lives without his guidance. And not only were Earthrealm's defenders so dependent on Raiden, the thunder god was also very dependent on the Elder Gods. No matter how big or small a decision was for him, Raiden would feel the need to consult with the Elder Gods before he made those decisions, when he himself has already said that the Elder Gods cannot interfere too much with the affairs of mortals.

In a way, Tomas felt...pathetic. He had fought on his own many times throughout his life and was not one to ask for help often. But now, he expected for Raiden to have the answers to everything. As Enenra said, Raiden may be a god, but he has his limits as well. And that meant that he could not do everything on his own.

"Would you stop sounding so pitiful? You are making me want to vomit."

Again, Smoke had to keep in mind that Enenra was with him.

"Please do. But also keep in mind that you do have power. MY power. And I am willing to give it to you, but you keep refusing it."

Ignoring the demon, Tomas looked down at his hand and balled it into a fist. It did not matter whether he wanted Enenra's power. He could feel it rising with each passing day and one of these days, it was going to come out. Smoke just had to make sure when the power did consume him, he could control it and Enenra. And if he could not...

"We will be fine, Tomas."

Being so lost within his thoughts, Smoke had forgotten that he was sitting in a plane surrounded by people. Sub-zero, who had spoken to him, sat on the silver-haired man's left while Cyrax sat on his right. They both had notice the deep frown on Tomas' face and looked at their comrade, concerned.

"I do hope that you are right, Kuai."

"What do you mean by that?"

Smoke then turned to Cyrax, who was surprised about his friend's sad tone.

"Usually you are the optimistic one in these times of crisis. Now I feel depressed just looking at you. For the love of the Elder Gods, smile you bastard!"

Eyes wide, both Smoke and Sub-zero stared at Cyrax in silence for his outburst. Even some of the soldiers had started looking their way when they heard they heard the cyborg shout. When he realized that no one was about to speak anytime soon, Cyrax cleared his throat and turned away.

"S..Sorry. That was uncalled for."

A chuckle caused Cyrax to look back and he saw Tomas smiling for what seemed like the first time in forever.

"Do not apologize. You are right. Why should one little war get us down?"

"Because it is a war?"

Smoke's smile dropped and he gave Sub-zero a deadpan expression. Why did Kuai have to be so sarcastic? The cryomancer just shrugged at his friend.

"What? You are the optimistic one. I am... not the optimistic one."

"Really? I could not tel..."

The plane suddenly jolted and would have thrown its passengers out of their seats if not for their seatbelts. As he was regaining his composure, Tomas could feel intense heat coming from the plane. From the outside. Inside the cockpit, the pilot was trying to regain control of his aircraft, but there was not much he could do. Someone, or something, had destroyed the left wing of the plane. And now the plane was quickly descending to the city below. What perfect timing.

"Holy shit!"

One of the soldiers shouted at the terrible sight on the other side of the window.

"The whole wing is gone! We're fucking screwed!"

Hearing what the soldier had said, Smoke started to panic. He could easily teleport himself and one or two other people out of there, but he could not just abandon everyone else.

"Why not?"

Right now, Tomas really, REALLY wanted Enenra to leave him alone. He did not need this now.

"Just shut up! There has to be a way."

"Yes. Take Sub-zero and Cyrax and escape. The others are nothing of value."

"I will not do that!"

"Then sit here and die along with everyone else. Although I would prefer not dying, seeing that look of terror on your face as you die would be worth it."

This was just entertainment to Enenra. But what did Smoke expect from the demon?

"There has...to be a way..."

Tomas gripped his seatbelt tighter as he thought about what to do. He had to think quickly though. What could he do? An idea suddenly appeared in Smoke's head, but he was not sure if it would work. At the very least, it could slow the plane's descent and minimize the damage of the crash.

Closing his eyes, the silver-haired man brought his hands together and concentrated his power on the bottom of the plane. As he did, Tomas thought about the time he created a smoke bomb inside that RPG Launcher in the Living Forest. This time he would not be creating an explosion, however. A giant mass of smoke started to form under the plane and once it was completed, Smoke clasped his hands together to hold the mass in place. The force of his creation made the aircraft jolt again, but it quickly steadied itself and started to slow its descent.

Now that the plane was not spiraling out of control, Kuai let out a breath and looked over at his comrades to check their conditions. He saw how Smoke had his eyes closed and sweat was dripping from his face. A vein was even visible on Tomas' head and his hands were shaking from being gripped so tightly. Sub-zero was about to reach out to his friend, but something in the back of his mind was telling him not to. So, he did not.

The pilot was just as surprised as everyone else about the plane suddenly righting itself. The wing was definitely gone, yet the military aircraft was descending as though it was still in perfect shape. What a miracle. Smoke concentrated harder to make the giant smoke cloud lower the plane onto the ground and as soon as it did, the silver-haired man let go of his hands and the smoke dispersed. He sighed and slumped forward in his seat, which alarmed Kuai and Cyrax. They both leaned forward to look at their comrade's face and saw that his eyes were still closed, but he seemed relaxed as though he was asleep.

"Tomas? Tomas, can you hear me?"

"Come on, my friend. Wake up."

A small group of soldiers had gathered around the trio to see what was wrong. At that same moment, the pilot had come in to check if anyone had been injured. That is when he noticed Tomas' slumped form.

"What's wrong with your friend?"

Before Sub-zero or Cyrax could answer, they heard a groan coming from their friend. They sat back when they realized that Smoke was trying to sit up. He leaned back in his seat and his head hit the cool metal behind him. The coldness of it was soothing to Tomas as a headache was beginning to form and he kept his eyes closed to shut out some of the pain.

"Tomas?"

Kuai waited for his friend to respond. After letting out a deep breath, Tomas nodded his head and slowly opened his eyes.

"I will be fine. Just a bit exhausted."

"What happened? When I saw you, you..."

"That does not matter."

Smoke unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up while soldiers backed away to give him some room. He had not noticed the small crowd until that moment and seeing how many people had their eyes on him made Tomas very uncomfortable. He quickly made it to the back of the plane where the pilot had already opened cargo door and walked outside. The area they landed in was deserted and damaged vehicles and debris surrounded them. What really disturbed Smoke was teddy bear that laid a few feet away from him and its right arm was missing. He picked up the stuffed animal and saw that there was blood splattered on it. He prayed that it did not belong to the child who was the owner of the bear.

Sub-zero and Cyrax soon caught up to Smoke and looked over his shoulders to see the teddy bear he had in his hand. The silver-haired man still seemed a bit daze from his black out, the cryomancer and cyborg could see Tomas' sadness within his eyes as he stared at the bloody toy. They wanted to say something to Smoke, but they were not sure what they should say. Luckily, Tomas laid the bear back down on the ground and spoke up.

"We need to end this. Now."

The seriousness in Smoke's tone made his two comrades even more worried about him. Yet, they stayed silent and instead just nodded in agreement with Tomas' statement. The soldiers finally came to the trio with their weapons ready and were waiting for orders. While Smoke, Sub-zero, and Cyrax were not the leaders of this group, the soldiers decided it would be better to follow their commands. After all, the trio had more experience and knowledge about the creatures they were about to fight. And they had powers. Mostly because they have powers.