BIONICLE Legends: Invasion

Chapter 10

Written by Jeff Douglas

The Cord

It was a scenario Hahli remembered all too well.

Makuta grinned as the five Toa Inika surrounded him and he gripped Hahli’s mask tighter. He could sense the spirit of Matoro hovering nearby, anxious to return to his body before something happened to his spirit. Nice that someone will know how it feels, Makuta thought.

“Well, it’s not an illusion this time,” Kongu growled. “Though I fear-think that if I dive too far into his head I’ll go insane.”

“A kolhii match, anyone?” Makuta laughed loudly. “We do, after all, have four of the best here. Six if you count Team Matoro and Makuta.”

“We’ve had enough of your games, Makuta.” Hahli snarled.

“Oh, but kolhii was hardly my game. You have your Turaga to thank for that.”

“So, you’re alive,” Nuparu breathed. “And you cling to life through the body of one still living.”

“Yes,” Makuta shrugged. “I had to possess Matoro’s body before my form dispersed. A Makuta can only drift for so long outside a body before I dissipate and die — not that I have to worry about that with you. You would never kill me, after all. But now, with Matoro’s generous donation…”

“You’ll take his life for yours?”

“Oh yes, and so much more,” Matoro’s mouth breathed. “The Toa of Ice will lay down his life so that I can achieve my destiny. It is meant to be.”

“No,” Jaller growled. “Your path ends here.”

“You think you can defeat me?” Makuta laughed again. “You think you can succeed where the Toa Hagah, the Toa Metru, and the Toa Nuva failed so many times before? You cannot defeat me, for I am meant to win. You cannot destroy me any more than you can destroy the earth, or the sea, or the wind. Or the void into which I will hurl the Great Spirit himself. I am a force of nature, and Mata Nui’s reckoning has come… It’s time the universe sees the Great Spirit isn’t so great.”

Makuta took a step back and postured for battle.

Kongu grumbled. “So kolhii is out. Time to fight.”

Jaller and Hewkii acted as one, unleashing twin jets of fire and stone. Matoro/Makuta used his power to dodge the first attack, but was struck by the second. Utilizing his mastery of quick healing and limited invulnerability, however, he recovered fast. Unleashing a devastating power scream that nearly shattered the skulls of the two Toa, he used his sonic powers to keep it reverberating, even as he dueled the other three.

“You should have accepted my offer of Kolhii,” he growled at Hahli and Nuparu.

Bellowing a chilling war cry, Kongu charged at him, firing from his laser crossbow. With a glance, Makuta waved his fingers, silencing him and drowning the lasers in darkness.

“Toa are so noisy.”

✴        ✴        ✴

Matoro seethed.

Down below, his teammates were fighting and suffering terrible losses at the hands of Makuta, who was amusing himself by torturing them in as many unique manners as he could imagine. Yet it looked like even Makuta was not supposed to use such a wide array of powers all at once, as it was taking a toll even on him. But the Toa could not stand against them long enough to launch an effective counterattack.

And he was helpless to stop him.

✴        ✴        ✴

“Now, then,” Makuta smiled. “Ready for the next round?”

They stirred. Bruised and battered, the five Toa pushed themselves back upright and stood to face him. Even Makuta was impressed. They could not die yet. But they couldn’t know that. Looking down, he stared at Matoro’s Zamor Launcher.

“Handy things, these Zamor Launchers,” Makuta said. He sensed Matoro gasping above him as he realized what he was about to do. Focusing his energies, he channeled the antidermis into the spheres. The Toa Nuva had once been enslaved and forced to submit to his powers before. Perhaps he could amuse himself now with the Toa Inika. “If we Makuta could have had these when the Brotherhood was first making the Kraata and the Rahkshi, well…”

He glanced up. The Toa were affording the opportunity to check on each other. Makuta’s eyes returned to his task.

“Have I ever told you how the Makuta designed the Kraata and the Rahkshi?”

No response. Only the maskless Hahli was looking at him with a look unbecoming of a Ga-Matoran.

“I don’t believe I have. Kraata share many similarities with the Krana, you know. I understand you recently learned about those. Well, much as when Matoran are exposed to protodermis they become Krana or Zyglak, the energies of a Makuta become Kraata. When further exposed, they become Rahkshi. And just as Krana-Kal exist, so also do Kraata-Kal. You can think of energies the same way as you think of Matoran. If enough energy leaks out of a Makuta… he or she dies. If enough Matoran leak out of Mata Nui’s universe… he dies — hence why I strove to keep you out of Metru Nui for as long as possible. Makuta are hollow, made by Mata Nui in the image of Mata Nui. When the Makuta first evolved, I started realizing why Mata Nui had created us in the first place. He wanted creatures like him to govern his universe. He wanted brothers and sisters. It is why I refer to him as a brother, and the Rahkshi as sons.”

“You’re lying! You’re just saying that to confuse us.”

“So what does that make you?” Makuta asked, raising his Zamor Launcher. “Estranged relatives?”

In the blink of the eye, he fired two rounds. Hewkii dodged the first sphere, but he wasn’t so lucky with the other. The second round barely struck the corner of his shoulder armor, but it hit home all the same. As the sphere made contact, it released its contents, spreading its infection into Hewkii’s upper shoulder. He shouted in surprise and pain as the enslaving antidermis took effect and an illness spread that felt all too familiar. As the searing pain took effect, his mind’s eye returned in an instant to the island of Mata Nui, where a vengeful Matoran named Ahkmou had once infected him and dozens of other Po-Matoran with an unnatural illness.

“Lay down your weapons and surrender,” Makuta’s voice said in his head, “or the infection I will visit upon you will be a thousand times worse than you already experienced.”

As Hewkii struggled against Makuta’s power, complicated further by the poison of a Lerahk, the other Toa Inika were facing torment of their own. Jaller was assaulted by waves of anger, confusion, sleep, and greatest of all, fear.

“You died once to the power of the Turahk,” Makuta’s voice hissed telepathically. “You may be a Toa now, but I can still scare you to death!”

Eyes blazing, Makuta/Matoro turned to face Kongu.

“My Dark Hunters once threatened you by the power of the chutes. Now let me fulfill that promise.”

All at once, the powers of cyclone, vacuum, gravity, magnetism, electricity, and chain lightning ripped through him. Kongu screamed in agony.

Whirling, Matoro/Makuta raised his armored forearm and blocked a strike from Hahli. Snarling, he hurled focused weather, density, and plant energies at her.

Hewkii and Nuparu summoned forth devastating pillars of earth and stone to crush him, but Makuta teleported out of the way. “A stone door crushed me before, but don’t think I’ll let you hurt Matoro that way.” A shadow hand tore from his chest and swiped at the two Toa, sending them scurrying.

For his part, Makuta/Matoro’s eyes narrowed. He was pushing their limits hard, and even he knew it. But it wasn’t just the Toa — he himself was suffering at his sloppy, wasteful expenditure of his multitude of powers. Ironic that a Makuta’s greatest weakness was too great a use of too wide a range of power at once. He just hoped the Toa would make that connection before they succumbed to it. After all, if it was these Toa who were to enter the core of the universe, they would have to know how to defeat a normal Makuta if they were to survive.

They had no choice but to survive.

Summoning his strength, he called upon his powers. As the Toa fired elemental blasts, he slowed them and either teleported away or made himself elastic where impact was inevitable. When Jaller attempted to absorb the heat or unleash it, Makuta avoided pain through his powers of temperature resistance. Low on energy, he shapeshifted himself into a small mosquito, hid along the wall with his chameleon and adaptation powers, landed on Hewkii and began sucking on his energies with hunger. Hewkii shouted, swatted him away, and attempted to smash him with a stone pillar, but Makuta caught it in a stasis field and returned to Matoro’s body to its natural form. Makuta then called upon a swarm of Kofo-Jaga while darting around the catacomb, blasting the Toa with laser and heat vision that each time accurately struck home. He stopped to hurl a wave of plasma at Hahli that caught her and caused her to fall in agony. Without missing a beat, Makuta disrupted the matter beneath Nuparu and nearly shattering the wall of the Cord.

Teridax paused sighed, feeling bittersweet. This would most likely be the last time he ever used these powers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Hahli’s pained expression.

“Why?” she croaked.

Makuta stopped. The Toa were all reeling, slumped against the wall or floor barely clinging to consciousness.

“Why?” he asked. “You already know the answer — you forced me to do it. I would have rather had you as an ally, just like we were before. Together, we could have defeated the Barraki, retrieved the Mask of Life, and saved the life of Mata Nui.”

“Saved…?” Hahli repeated in disbelief. “You don’t want to save the Great Spirit, you want him dead!”

“Don’t be silly,” the enemy replied. “No sane being wants to see the universe crumble into ashes, which would surely happen if Mata Nui were to truly perish. No, I want Mata Nui alive, Hahli… but on my terms.”

Hahli couldn’t listen anymore. She looked around to see Jaller, Kongu, and her other friends sprawled out on the floor, badly injured or dying. After the battle they had just been through, it was a miracle that any of them still clung to life.

“So what now? Without us, is the Mask of Life lost forever?”

“Not lost, not yet. If being a Toa should have taught you and I anything, Hahli, it’s that there is always hope.”

✴        ✴        ✴

Nuparu’s laser drill exploded with energy, and with only a split-second to spare, it almost hit Makuta. He grunted.

“Nuparu, Toa of Earth… Surely you didn’t just mean to kill Matoro?”

Jaller’s eyes widened. There was no way to beat him. The Master of Shadows was looking weary, having called upon so many powers seemingly to amuse himself, but there was still no way to take advantage of that.

But then he remembered Makuta’s words. I had to possess Matoro’s body before my form dispersed.

“Destroy the body,” Jaller whispered hoarsely.

“But what about — oh,” Kongu nodded. Exchanging glances with Nuparu and Hahli, he nodded his support.

“Makuta, quick-leave the body of Matoro or we will destroy it!” he proclaimed.

Makuta glanced at Kongu who was raising his weapons, but seemed to be bluffing. But a glance at Jaller revealed that the Toa was blazing with energy and rage, and a newfound source of strength had burst forth. Makuta lacked the energy to peer into his mind, but the Toa of Fire appeared to be serious.

“I don’t know where Matoro is, Makuta,” Jaller snarled. “But if his spirit has dispersed by now, I swear by Mata Nui that nobody will inhabit his body if it isn’t him.”

Makuta frowned. Jaller might be bluffing, but any more toying could very quickly push him over the edge. He could not risk Matoro’s death here. All six Toa Inika were crucial in this next step of the Plan.

The Ice Toa’s body collapsed, lifeless. A second later, its eyes glowed a healthy blue again as Matoro once again took up residence within his own body. Kongu offered him a hand up, and Hahli retrieved her mask from Matoro’s hand.

“It’s good to be back,” the Toa of Ice grunted.

But Jaller was not listening to him. His eyes were fixated on the dead, mostly mechanical body of the Korakoa which had begun to stir. Rolling over suddenly, a shadow hand erupted from the chest of the Pit Prisoner, and the other five ex-Matoran were pulled inside.

Makuta rose again to his full height, reborn.

“I do not need Matoro’s body to defeat you. I’ve given you your Toa of Ice back, but at least try to make it a challenge.”

The Toa of Fire levelled his sword at Makuta.

“Destroy it. Destroy the body.”

In unison the Toa turned to him in shock.

“That could kill him!” Hewkii grunted.

“It didn’t kill him before,” Hahli whispered. “Not when Takanuva did it.”

For his part, Makuta’s eyes widened, himself barely catching himself in time and managing to disguise his surprise as fear rather than amusement. Over a thousand years he had been playing with Jaller’s mind in the Rahi wars. Perhaps now he had finally snapped.

Jaller frowned, and although he did not show it, he was tormented by his decision. Although destroying the body would clearly not kill Makuta, it would potentially lead to his death. On the other hand, less extreme measures had been used on Makuta before, and they had failed to stop him. But if the Toa Inika did not progress, it was unlikely Mata Nui would survive. The Toa Nuva were relying on them.

But at this cost? At the risk of breaking the Toa Code so soon after becoming Toa?

Jaller took a deep breath and summoned his energies. Mata Nui forgive me, he whispered.

“Do it.” he said.

As one, the five Toa raised their weapons and summoned their full power. Makuta legitimately gasped: to be caught in a prison of protodermis at a time like this would be a devastating setback. He narrowly had time to unleash a final power scream at Hahli, sending her blast off course and sending her crashing into the wall, before the powers of the other Toa washed over him.

✴        ✴        ✴

Makuta was defeated.

His newfound “body” was in tatters. Bruised and battered, he stared up at the Toa Inika. They had more or less achieved what he’d wanted them to, and they deserved this victory. For their sake, he coughed loudly.

“So… this is what death feels like,” he murmured. “After all these years, after so many Toa, you… you were the first… to dare kill me. I may fall here… but you six will go on… as the new masters of darkness… Go, my children of the Rahi wars… Achieve your destiny at last.”

The body slumped over, lifeless.

Jaller’s eyes widened, and in a flash, his mind’s eye had returned to the 777 stairs, when he had fought and accidentally killed Makuta and his minions — or thought they had at least. That time, the enemies had been illusions, even if the victory had been real. This time the enemy had been real… But the victory was a hollow one. They had risked violating the Toa Code to achieve it. Even if Makuta was never one to be defeated easily.

Hahli stirred. Somehow she had sustained the brunt of the damage and Jaller knew she desperately needed time to recover. The Toa of Fire frowned, alarmed. But time was not a commodity they had much of.

“Is he dead?” whispered Nuparu.

Jaller stared hard at Makuta’s form. At last, he took a deep breath.

“He may be defeated, at least for now. But he’s not dead. Somehow… somehow we would know. With any luck, he’s had his way with us and has returned to the surface.”

“And if he is not?” Matoro asked quietly.

Jaller looked up. “We must press on. Mata Nui is in death’s throes now, and we are the only hope he has of survival. When Mata Nui awakens, we will leave it to him to extract judgement. No doubt that is why Makuta is resisting us, to prevent that from happening.”

“Until then?” Hewkii asked.

“Until then we must move past him. And we keep moving. Makuta cannot be allowed to get in the way. And if it means risking a violation of the Toa Code…” Jaller gritted his teeth. “I’ll assume responsibility. It is my mantle to bear.”