Chapter 7

Flitting between the shadows, Toa Iruini pressed himself up against the stone wall and scanned the passageway. A lone sentry in orange armor stood in the darkness, bent over a box of supplies, muttering to himself whilst unscrewing the fastenings on a metal grille. At the sight of Iruini he hurried to his feet.

“Hey, stop!” he sputtered, reaching for a weapon.

“No.”

A powerful torrent of air came from the tip of the Toa’s Cyclone Spear, throwing the Skakdi hard against the far wall. He fell to the ground unconscious and the Toa advanced, picking his way around the inert lump. The effort of taking out the sentries quietly was disproportionate to the reward.

Iruini’s mind was a boiling crucible of emotions. For too long he had been saddled with the position that Norik had imagined for him, disagreeing with the Toa of Fire and his deputy at every turn. He wanted to use the skills that had first earned him a place among the Toa Hagah. He couldn’t predict the future or wrestle Tahtorak like the others, but what he lacked in raw power he compensated for with his own brand of precision and cunning.

When your teammates could grow to the size of an airship, you had to find ways to play to your strengths and keep pace.

But being a Toa Hagah hadn’t been like the recruitment posters. Iruini had spent his life guarding the dusty custodians of a forgotten status quo, unable to effect real change or expend his efforts in service of Matoran ideals. It was for this reason he had left the team originally, for he saw no future pursuing a cause he didn’t believe in.

Being reduced to the diminutive form of a Rahaga had done nothing to ease his frustration either, as had the months spent under Makuta’s illusion once he had finally been restored. For so long he had lacked both the power and the opportunity to let his anger loose. An overwhelming emptiness had grown in the pit of his chest, which now boiled into anger.

Spurned on his emotions, Iruini struck out with his Cyclone Spear, blasting the metal door with enough hurricane force to fell a Knowledge Tower. Teleporting his way into the room, the Toa found himself in a large chamber filled with startled Skakdi guards, who had been attempting to restore the lighting. Before they could so much as cry out in alarm, Iruini had pulled the air from the room entirely, leaving them to sputter and choke in personal vacuums while he marched on.

Delving deeper into the concrete innards of the structure, Iruini battled his way onward, taking the direct approach and fulfilling the only role he knew he was any good at:

Bait.

Finding himself confronted with the same metal door from before, the Toa of Air cursed, realizing he must have doubled around in a circle somehow. No doubt Pouks or Kualus would have picked up on the mistake sooner had they been in his position. Yet another reason to fuel the raging inferiority complex that twisted knots in his chest.

But the door opened a moment before his hand made contact, and Iruini realized all too late that it wasn’t a door at all. It was some great slab of metal he hadn’t truly noticed that now struck him in the chest.

Reeling from the impact, Iruini threw up his Rhotuka shield in defense. Before his wide eyes, the outline of his assailant sharpened into an all too familiar silhouette.

“Toa… Nuparu?” he rasped in disbelief.

The Toa of Earth pressed his Razor-Edged Shield down with the full strength of his muscles, his form still shifting back to full visibility. His ebon armor was sleek and streamlined, equipped both for the waters of the Pit and for low light camouflage. In the wide eyes of his Kanohi Volitak, there was only a hint of recognition reflected.

“I suppose you’re the reason the lights went out?” he challenged, pushing the bladed edge of his Protosteel Shield closer to Iruini’s mask. “That can only mean you’ve disrupted my generator… filthy Piraka! You’re trying to make me look bad in front of the golden one, aren’t you?”

Eyes widening, Iruini barreled to the side. He narrowly dodged the razor-edge of Nuparu’s shield, which slammed into the ground where he’d been pinned a moment before. It seemed the Toa of Earth wasn’t holding back.

“Nuparu, stop this!” he protested, using his elemental powers to cushion his fall. “We’re allies! You wouldn’t hit a friend, would you?”

THWACK!

The Toa Mahri swung his Protosteel Shield again, this time catching Iruini square in the jaw. A solid blow that rang through his mask. The answer was as painful as it was self-evident.

“All the wondrous inventions I was going to create for him!” raved Nuparu, retracting his weapon back so as to make use of its sharpened edge. “You’ve ruined it all! Now he’ll favor the others!”

“What’re you even talking about?” snorted Iruini, stowing his shield and gripping his Cyclone Spear in both hands. “I came to take you and the others home. Back to the Turaga. Back to Whenua! You remember Whenua, right?”

Nuparu’s eyes narrowed. With a growl, he put both hands behind his shield and rammed into the Toa of Air, pressing him hard against the floor. Not the response Iruini had been hoping for.

“Oh I remember him alright,” he growled, pressing harder. “I wasted my best inventing years digging tunnels for that old fool! But soon I’ll show him… I’ll dream up something big, something to wipe Makuta out once and for all! I’ve come too far for you, Whenua, or anyone else to stop me!”

“Makuta?” spluttered Iruini, using his Kualsi to teleport out of Nuparu’s reach. “Hasn’t anyone told you? Makuta’s dead! We threw a moon at him! The Toa Nuva, the Turaga, the Matoran - they’re all safe in a new world! Come with me and I can take you to them!”

But the Toa of Earth would not be swayed. Another swipe from his shield cut deep into the wall of the corridor, sending a spray of stone fragments after Iruini.

“I don’t care if the Great Beings themselves are outside playing kolhii!” he snapped, looming closer. “This is my purpose! My chance to be a part of something greater! Unless… you’ve come here to take my place!”

Iruini rolled his eyes and conjured a burst of wind from the tip of his spear, forcing his adversary to cover his face. He followed up a moment later with a sweep of the Toa’s legs. It would’ve been a devastating hit, but Nuparu saw it coming and slammed his shield down hard against the ground. Iruini winced as his foot connected with solid Protosteel.

“Or worse still… you’ve come to harm the golden one!” snarled the Toa Mahri. “If Makuta truly is out of the picture then I suppose you and the others have come to clean up your mistake. I should’ve known… you don’t care about his gifts or what wonders he can bring to the world!”

At Nuparu’s command, the roof of the chamber suddenly began to quake then abruptly caved, catching Iruini in a torrent of earthen debris. The Toa reeled back, conjuring a protective current of air to wipe the soot from his Kanohi. When his vision returned to him, Nuparu had once again vanished.

“Careful, you might wear out that Volitak,” he goaded, scanning the darkened spaces of the chamber. “Come out and fight me like a Toa!”

Sensing a flash of silver in his peripheral vision, Iruini somersaulted into the air, cartwheeling over the shifting form of his enemy and delivering another solid kick into Nuparu’s side. The maneuver earned him a webbed foot to the chest.

“Enough of this!” snapped Iruini, using his Kualsi to teleport into the air. Stomping on Nuparu’s mask for leverage, he vaulted through the chasm torn in the ceiling and up onto the next level of the fortress.

Right into the path of Toa Hahli…

“Guess Makuta never taught you to look before you leap,” challenged the Toa of Water, swatting at him with her Protosteel Talons as though he were a bothersome Protodite.

“Don’t you have Harakeke to hack?” snapped Iruini, dodging the swipe.

A sinister smile overcame Hahli’s features.

“Nope, just you…”

The barrage of attacks that followed took every ounce of focus Iruini possessed to dodge, and even then he barely escaped with his life. Hahli tore into him with a fury so vicious it threw him into full evasive mode. When at last he tired enough for the finishing blow to land, the Toa of Water roared and slammed her Protosteel Talon down with all her might.

When Iruini opened his eyes, he was holding two halves of his Cyclone Spear in each hand.

“You… you actually broke it,” he sputtered, cradling his Toa tool in disbelief. “That’s impossible!”

“You got clumsy, Iruini,” taunted Nuparu, lumbering his way up through the hole in the chamber floor to join his teammate.

Weighing up his options, the Toa of Air regarded his attackers carefully. Hahli’s wings twitched in anticipation as Nuparu raised the sharpened edge of his shield. In the end he realized there was no choice at all.

Dropping the two halves of his broken spear, Iruini called upon his Kanohi Kualsi and made a break for the other end of the corridor. Before the Toa Mahri could blink, he was around the bend and gone.

Iruini zipped through the winding hallways, throwing himself around the bends in the corridor. He ignored the startled Skakdi sentries that appeared before him. He’d spent much of his life patrolling the endless corridors of the Destral Fortress, which shifted and rearranged themselves depending on the day. With any luck, the Skakdi weren’t half the architects that the Makuta had been and the winding passageways would lead outside and away from his pursuers.

Two further wrong turns later, he spotted an open doorway and flitted through it to freedom. Only there was no floor beneath him on the other side and Iruini found himself hovering ten feet from the ground. He tried to absorb the impact with a cushion of air as he landed, but it still sent shocks up through his ankles. Clearly the stairs connecting this level of the fortress hadn’t been constructed yet.

That or he’d teleported through an open window…

Dusting himself off, Iruini found he was in a stone amphitheater overlooking the barracks below. The moonless black of the night could be seen above, studded with the occasional star. Torches hastily planted into the courtyard allowed him to make out the shape of the fortress.

“I’m not finished with you!”

Iruini whirled around as Toa Hahli slammed into him, knocking the breath from his chest and propelling him into a stack of wooden crates that lined the fortress walls.

“How did you–?” he sputtered, readying his Rhotuka shield and brushing the shattered wood from his armor.

“Fader Bull,” said the Toa of Water, tapping her Faxon. “There’s nowhere you can run that I can’t follow. And where you go, I’m sure the other treacherous Toa Hagah aren’t far behind! Don’t worry, we’ll find them too…”

Backed into a corner and panting for air, Iruini glanced to the left and watched as more of Hahli’s teammates emerged from the fortress. Whatever chance for escape he had entertained had vanished. First Hewkii, then Kongu, then Jaller and finally Nuparu.

As they entered into the torchlight, the shadows clung to their nebulous, aquatic armor, as though they were ascending from the darkest depths of the ocean. The Toa came in fast and Iruini felt rough hands haul him from his feet, snatching his Rhotuka shield from him. Hewkii and Kongu grabbed an arm each, straightening his elbows, holding him immobile. Then Nuparu came up behind, kicked his feet apart and wrapped his massive arms across his chest.

“Look what the Kane-Ra dragged in,” grunted Kongu. “A Toa Hagah who wrong-turned.”

“Like an assassin in the night,” said Hewkii, pressing down on his elbow. “He’s come for us, to take us away from the golden one!”

Jaller approached slowly and leaned close, Power Sword in hand. His eyes were hard and his breathing was slow and shallow.

“We’ve got a message for you,” he snarled.

To his credit, Iruini didn’t struggle, even as Nuparu wrapped a forearm around his throat. The blow came in before he could brace. Jaller raised his sword up above his shoulder, lined up like a spear, then rocked forward and jabbed the hilt hard and heavy against the ridge of Iruini’s Kanohi.

“We don’t need to be rescued…”