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[Ice the Great]

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Chapter 1: The Shadows of Invasion

Ice the Great stood in a basilica near the Creative Outlet border. He liked this spot. It was the hub through which all entered to see the Bionicle-Based Creations, to read the Chronicle Walls of Epics, and to attend the theaters of Comedies. It hadn’t been very long since the new forums had been created, but already they were just as much a bustling hub of activity as the old had been. Ice smiled a bit as he spared a glance toward A Day In The Life of GregF 2. He’d been a fan of the old, and the new was just as good.
He affixed his gaze now to the southwest. There, he saw the metropolis of Completely Off Topic. At the center was the massive blue column that stretched into a dark blue sky, the great chute that led to the Outerworld. Light blue pulses came down as more info was fed, and new people joined the ranks. Ice had been to COT, seen the chute from its base. It was impressive. He’d also seen the information that the COT residents fed on. It was great, for the most part. He’d also seen his share of input about a darker side of the Outerworld. It disturbed him, especially when he thought what it’d be like if those darker parts attacked BZPower.
Little did he know that one of those pulses that he saw fall were those which would bring his nightmare to life…
A being appeared at the base of the chute, a new member. He wore jet-black armor, except at the neckline, where a V-shape of white ran around his neck and down his chest for almost a foot. This was divided by a black stripe down the middle. He wore a mask that hid his eyes behind a black veil. The mask itself was an elaborate white smile with an angular chin. Some nearby recognized it for what it was: a Guy Fawkes mask. They dismissed him as a meme’er. In a second, the mask glowed slightly, and he morphed into a perfect duplicate of Nuparu Inika. He stepped away from the chute and was quickly lost in the crowd…

Edited by Ice the Great, Dec 09 2011 - 06:51 PM.

[Ice the Great]

(Author’s note: Thanks to the REAL Hahli Husky for letting me borrow her for the chapter)

Chapter 2: The Changeling Infiltration

Ice the Great was in a good mood. He’d gotten his Daily Tohu (BZPower’s national newstablet), and had seen a featured story on the Short Stories contest winner. Now knowing who it was, he went and read it. And he read it… again. And again. And it was good. It was GREAT. Time is such a fickle thing… he had thought, leaving from his third reading.
He’d been on his way back to the residential district when it happened. Three members; a Brutaka-looking character flanked by a pair of Jaller Mahri- and a Nuparu Inika-lookalikes. Nuparu attacked first, with his (apparently fully-functional) Laser Drill. Ice avoided quickly, but Jaller soon followed with a diagonal slash meant to force him back into Nuparu’s line of fire. Ice bowed and half-slid, half-spun under the attack, grabbing the hilt of the Power Sword and pulling. The faux-Jaller pulled forward, being none too happy to find a fist right in his mask’s flight path. This made him stumble back, and lose his sword. Faux-Brutaka swung his sword, this time horizontally. Using the same method as before, Ice again avoided a blade strike.
It wasn’t unusual for BZPers to have the mask powers of the person whose form they took, so Ice decided to remove Brutaka’s mask before going for Nuparu. He wanted neither to escape easily. Ice, after avoiding the blade, jumped up and landed a blow to the tall warrior’s chin. His knuckle caught the Olmak on his face, and it came off. Ice prepared to dash at Nuparu, but something odd happened first.
Brutaka shrank.
His color and armor changed as well; they became what appeared to be a tuxedo. The face was that of a Metru build, but Ice could care less. Stealing a glance at the mask that he’d knocked off, his fears were confirmed. The glow was just fading… around a Guy Fawkes mask. Ice had heard of these types… they had no name, and that was the point.
They were Anonymous; self-proclaimed vigilantes of whatever the Karzahni they pleased to support. They were no one, and everyone. The voice of none trying to speak as the voice of all. They had no leader, for there was no one to lead officially. They had no agenda, but acted as one being to forward one. Only one question remained…
Why were they here?
Ice intended to find out. He knew the threats that Anon represented. He also knew now how to stop them. He supposed that these masks were one of Shapechanging. They had learned BZPower’s workings and found how to use it for their own ends. They had become changelings; those who could alter their form at their leisure. Nuparu and Jaller did just that, in the second it took Ice to order his thoughts. Each one morphed an arm into a crimson tentacle, both of which went out and wrapped around the Libraries resident.
There was a reason, of course, that Ice had picked to be a Toa. His name fooled many; he was NOT a Toa of Ice. Nor was he of Fire or Shadow, as his red/black armor suggested. He was a Toa of Plasma. With his elemental power, he decided to heat the fight up… to 5,000 degrees Celsius. His armor went first, immediately glowing white-hot. The tentacles immediately recoiled, severely burned by the heat. But that wouldn’t do… no, it wouldn’t. His shoulders glowed hotter, collimating all the plasma in his armor into two spots. From his shoulders launched dual bolts of orange plasma that hit (and slagged) the Anons’ masks. They, too, reverted to their original forms. They also passed out from heat exhaustion.
This left only the Brutaka imitator awake. His face portrayed horror, and he tried to scoot back away from Ice. There wasn’t much hope for him. He wore the Mask of Telekinesis, so he lifted his opponent and started to walk away. As he did, he grabbed the Guy Fawkes mask off the ground.

***

“What does that mean?”
Ice was standing before Hahli Husky, leader of Epics. He’d explained to his friend (and the governor of his residential district) what had happened, and filled her in on what he knew about Anon. She seemed to understand, but she wondered about their motives. So did Ice, for that matter.
“Well, that’s the fun part. The Anon I captured figured I was taking him to a torture chamber, so he decided to cooperate early. Apparently, they want BZPower’s hard drive power to attack someone with. They’ve already infiltrated several forums, and are beginning their work. Essentially, they want to crush BZP to turn it into extra power for their war.”
“And how do we find them?”
Ice smiled. “That’s the easy part. They revert to their Anon forms when their masks are removed. All we need to do is sweep every forum and set up way stations between them, having people remove their masks before proceeding. Since their only entry is through COT, we’ll need to go to that forum’s leaders and have them quarantine the Outerworld gate to prevent more Anons from getting in.”
“Then it’s just a matter of stopping them?” Husky asked, almost hopeful.
“Almost. They’re hackers; they’ll find more ways in. We’ll have to hunt those down, too.”
Husky sighed. “Do we have a way to find out how many are already here?”
Ice closed his eyes. In a darker tone, he said, “No; what’s more, they could be anyone, anything. We’re going to need to search every forum, test every user, and sweep every rock in BZPower to find them all. And if we even do, we’ll still have to fight them eventually… this is war.”

***

Two days later.
The other Forum Leaders and mods were no trouble to convince when faced with the evidence, and plans were quickly put into motion. Ice, having found the treachery and knowing their enemy, was put in charge of what had been dubbed “Task Force Identity”. Ice had assembled an elite team of BZPower members to help him find the threat… a task aided by the Guy Fawkes mask that he kept from the first Anon. Infiltration was the game… and Ice was good at that game.

(Author’s note 2: Now taking cameo requests for the 6 slots in Task Force Identity. PM me if interested, or if you caught the chapter title's reference)