The man underneath his grasp struggled for a moment before activating his power and dissolving into the smoke once again. Jon consequently punched through the floor as his fist fell through the body of smoke. He heard a faint laugh coming out from the smoke as parts of it prepared to enter into his body.
'Eyes as sharp as a string of atoms. Footwork as quick as shooting stars.'
As the man tried to sneak into Jon's airway and kill him that way, he dashed out so fast and he also stirred up parts of the man's body in the process. Returning to Leila's side, he stood in front of her and handed her his camera.
'Behold the power of the mighty SMOKER!' The man declared as he began to disperse his body and fill up the room.
'Take care of this thing for me and be careful!'
Then, Jon vanished from where he was standing.
Both Leila, the leader on the floor, and the man froze for a moment as they scanned around the room to find where Jon was to no avail. Then, Leila began to feel a gust of wind forming around, and soon the wind is turned into a vortex which started to circulate in the main hall of the cathedral, bringing up dust, dirt, and pieces of paper. Leila activated her enhanced sights to the limits of her power and was just able to catch glimpses of Jon's movement.
He was running in circles so fast that the effects of his movements alone can create the vortex around!
The ground in front of her cracked and dented downwards to form a little slope declining away from her with footsteps forming on it with every lap that Jon was running in. Then, the vortex became stronger and stronger until a visible tornado of dust is formed.
The leader was suddenly dropped off by Jon and Leila hopped back and away from her father.
'Leila...' He said painfully as he struggled to stand up on his feet again, though his knees, hips, and ankles are all screaming out in pain.
Ignoring his calls, Leila continued looking onward to the fight as Smoker was surrounded by the vortex created by Jon.
He tried to extend out tendrils of smoke from the main body, and yet all of them are broken apart upon contact with the current of air. Parts of his body were slowly peeled away by the tornado that was developed in the middle of the room, and the ceiling of the cathedral was now ripped clean off.
'SHIT!' Smoker cursed, realizing that in his smoke form, he may not be able to exit the trap created by Jon, and yet if he were to solidify, he would have been exposed to Jon for his furious attacks. Much similarly to before, Jon was fast enough to pin him down before he was able to turn his body into smoke and strong enough to completely ignore whatever protections the armor was giving him.
Regardless, he cannot stay here forever. Looking at Leila and the leader, he had an idea.
The cloud of smoke slowly started to reduce in volume and condense as the figure of Smoker is reformed in the middle of the tornado. Planting his feet hard, he moved towards the edge, reaching a hand out when suddenly Jon appeared in front of him and cut the arm clean off.
The tornado picked up his arm and tossed it outwards.
Then, Jon raised his fist and punched through Smoker as he turned his entire body to smoke once again.
'What was that about...' Jon wondered as he looked around only to hear a scream coming from the direction of Leila.
Spinning around in a hurry, he saw a thin strand of smoke piercing through the neck of the leader and now forming a tight ring around Leila's neck.
'NO!' Dashing through the tornado he created, he picked up both the Leader and Leila and charged out of the cathedral. He had wanted to find more answers from Smoker, but now that Leila's life is in danger, there is no more time for him to stick around and fight. Depending on the kind of job the Smoker is sent down here to do, he may be able to return and continue with his work.
The ring of smoke dissipated away soon after Jon jumped away from the cathedral and out of the range of Smoker's control. While gliding through the air, he activated his eyes and scanned all around for Pethant when the dizziness of moving through the different pockets of time hit him once again.
'Can you...see my friend?' Jon asked, turning to Leila when she pointed her finger towards the western edge of the city. Jon nodded appreciatively, planting his feet hard on the top level of the nearest landing stop and jumped in that direction towards Pethant.
'Kick off the TORNADO!' Pethant said, pushing away tens of harvesters in a single attack before continuing his momentum forward and cleanly knocking out each of them with just enough force to rip the syringes away from them and create a perfect amount of distance.
Then, Jon landed around him with the leader and Leila.
'Master!' He turned around, 'is everything okay?'
'My father is dying!' Leila said quickly before Jon had a chance to reply, and Pethant quickly tended to his injuries, though a gaping hole through his neck area isn't looking good even if he only had limited training in first aid.
'Stop the bleeding first!' Jon said, and Pethant nodded before reaching for the first aid pack tucked away in the shoulder girdle of his camera suit.
'No...' The leader shook his head and instead grasped his hand tightly around Leila's arm, his voice so faint that only Leila can hear it with her enhanced hearing, 'Leila...my daughter...my end has come, but I cannot die here....I cannot die here without giving you the truth that you have been seeking for.'
Pressing a button on Jon's camera and starting the recording, Leila looked down at the man who threw her in prison with a cold look, and yet a tear still managed to escape her control.
The cathedral exploded as the smoker expanded his body outwards, and Jon and Pethant turned to face him.
'Is that the mini-boss?' Pethant asked, 'the smoky one?'
'Looks like it.' Jon said, 'he was sent down here to do some dirty work to the leader down here, so I figured you might be more up to the task than me with your powers to command air currents.'
'Leave it to me.' Levitating off the ground slightly, Pethant entered into Escalation 2 and started dashing towards the Smoker with Jon staying around Leila and the leader. He couldn't hear the leader's faint voice so he is only here to keep her safe until the end.
'We are brought here many generations ago to be used by the harvesters, and the only way that we can survive is to make sure we are reproducing enough superhumans to be harvested....I...did did not have a combative superpower, which meant the role that I could take on are supportive roles or intelligence gathering....Then, I came to realize the truth about the harvesters two decades ago through my piercing sight ability. I tried to tell the previous leadership, but...'
The leader coughed out once and more blood poured out from the hole in his neck. A red foam formed around his mouth, but he continued on.
'It was reset, and I was made the leader. I had to get you away from here, and the prison should be the safest place as it was never once attacked. It was always the combatants and security forces that were harvested before.'
'That wasn't what happened today.'
'Things are changing...' The leader said, 'they wanted another reset today for some reason...'
Thinking back to her time in the prison, and how no one touched her once, everything started to fall into place...Leila doesn't know what to feel and how to feel anymore. All of her anger towards the leadership, towards her father are now just lingering around her entire body with nowhere to go. Soon, she too will be enveloped in the flames.
'Get her out of here. Please.' Now speaking with all of his remaining strength, the leader plead towards Jon who turned around quickly.
'I will.' Jon promised, and the leader turned towards Leila for the last time.
'Go out there and leave your mark in the world, Leila....not be stuck here as a farm animal...'
The reset was complete at last with the death of the leader, and Leila simply sat there in place and waited.
'Leila.' Jon said as he looked on at the battle between Pethant and Smoker, 'we need to go now.'
Leila didn't move as an explosion went off in the distance with Pethant ripping a giant hole in the body of the Smoker.
'Where can we even go...' Leila murmured, still grabbing onto the body of the leader.
'We can go outside. Tell the world what it was like down here.' Jon said, reaching out a hand, 'bring them the truth...leave a mark in history....'
Leila looked up at the dirty hand of Jon and bit down hard on her lips until she tasted blood. She will need time to process all that has happened, but even she knows that there is no point staying here any longer.
Looking over at the top of the city, the fight between Pethant and Smoker had already been over. Pethant not only countered his smoke state by being able to control air currents that are in his vicinity, but he is also a far superior fighter in close-quarter combat thanks to Bones' training.
Knocking out the smoker for good with the kick of the tornado, Pethant than stood on top of the abandoned city and looked towards Jon.
Then, ripping out pieces from the harvester armor before the self-destruct sequence began, the three of them started flying up through the air and towards the nearest exit above.
Returning to the empty compound, they were surrounded by groups of harvesters pointing guns at them when suddenly, an explosion came from behind them as the blast send all of the ambushing forces flying.
Bones emerged from the crowd after swiftly taking down all of the harvesters and waved his hand towards Pethant and Jon.
'Yo!' He said, 'follow me! There are more farms to free!'