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[Indigo Individual]

Okay, this is the sequel to my first epic, Shadows, which you will find here. The review topic is here.

Credit to Shattered Mask Productions for the banner.

Prologue:
Legends tell of a mirror, forged in the fires at the very heart of Metru-Nui from the armour of an entire league of lost heroes. The mirror’s materials were so dark, as was the mind of its creator, that it was said the mirror was given a terrible power, and that any who looked into it would see themselves depicted on their darkest day.
Had Incommodo looked into it, he might have seen himself today.
The fact of the matter is, you could save a universe. You could unite a people long separated. You could even defeat one of the most dangerous beings ever to exist.
But that doesn’t mean anyone will believe it ever happened.
- - -
The whispers never ended.
They went on, and on, indistinguishable, maddening. Incommodo hated the whispers.
Perhaps they were caused by wind, running through cracks in the walls. Or perhaps they were right. Perhaps he was insane.
In the time since he had been locked up here, he had almost begun to prefer the latter.
The world around him never moved. All was silent, except for the whispers. He lived in a kind of trance; his eyes were neither open nor closed. When his eyes were open, he was forced to look at the many words he had carved into the walls. When his eyes were closed, he was reminded of his past. Neither was a good place to be. So he lived in the middle.
Being locked in the room had given him time to think. He had realised what he had done when he deactivated the paradox disk. He hadn’t just defeated a villain, he’d killed a universe. Millions of beings, dead. Were they dead? They were never born, after all. But they were born in that universe.
He gave a small sigh, and looked up at the wall. Words, so many words. And the whispers.
A storm is coming...
- - -
Les looked in at Incommodo. “He’s... talking to himself.”
“He does that.” A doctor explained. “Look, he is in a very delicate mental condition. You can’t just walk in.”
- - -
Les and the doctor looked in at Incommodo through a wall, which Incommodo saw as a mirror. It was a clever trick, as the being inside shouldn’t have been able to know that anyone was watching them. They found some problems, those being Toa of Sonics and Toa of Magnetism, so they created a barrier to prevent sound and magnetism from passing through. But it didn’t help. It just made the person feel even more alone.
Incommodo looked at his face in the mirror. Something wasn’t right about it. It was twisted, it was... wrong. Just before he could figure anything out, the mirror-wall slid up.
“Hello.” Les said, walking in.
Incommodo glared at him. “Have you come to tell me I’m insane again?”
“Look, it’s not that your story wasn’t fun to listen to, it’s just that... well...”
“What?”
“It wasn’t exactly believable. I mean, first we have the whole time thing, but we also have all those Deus Ex Machinas. I mean, you can’t just go ‘BOOM! Magic Matoran’.”
“The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to be believable.”
“What?”
“If I was lying to you, I would at least try to lie in such a way you’d believe it.”
“Whatever. We’re not here to talk about that.”
“Yes, I’m here because a group of people in white coats decided I was insane, and you’re here because you have some kind of motive other than visiting me, probably to do with something criminal.”
“Well, there’ve been explosions.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Then why didn’t you come here earlier?”
Les shifted a little, and seemed to be embarrassed about something. “Well... they all kind of happened at once.”
“Where?” Incommodo seemed mildly interested at this point.
“The prison, the bank, and the Ignika’s gallery.” Les explained.
“I thought you’d have better security than that.”
“We do.”
“Then how’d they get the bomb in?”
“There was no bomb.”
“Gas leak?”
“No gas.”
“Then how the Karz did they blow the place up?”
“That’s what we were hoping you could tell us.”
“Oh.”
- - -
“Are you sure my doctor said I was allowed out?” Incommodo asked, as he and Les walked out of the building.
“Oh, absolutely.”

Edited by Paradoxophobia, Apr 02 2012 - 02:17 PM.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 1:
Two months earlier:
Incommodo stood outside his office.
“Next, plea-“ Suddenly, Incommodo realised what had just happened. He put his hand around his throat, feeling it. No magnetic crushing. He glanced around, nervously. No Ignotus. “It... it happened. Did it?”
He ran after Les.
“Wait! Les!”
- - -
Present day:
Rache looked out of the window of his temporary cell in the police station. He needed to find Incommodo. He needed to get revenge. The ring... I can’t believe he caught me with the ring...
He heard a clicking behind him, and turned to see a guard unlocking the cell.
“What’re you doing?”
Suddenly, the door clicked open, and the guard changed, becoming a black Toa. A sneer was visible between the fangs on Reichenbach’s mask. “You have failed me, Rache.”
“No...” Rache crawled backwards, towards the corner of his cell. “NO!”
As Reichenbach stepped in, the door clicked shut behind him. “Failure is not something I take lightly.”
- - -
Incommodo and Les walked into the police station.
“Sir!” A Glatorian ran up to Les.
“What is it?”
“Rache is dead.”
“Rache... he was the one with the ring?”
Incommodo looked up when he heard that. “I caught him.”
“Yes, you did. Right before you went... uh... How did he die?”
“Natural causes.”
“Wrong.” Incommodo sighed.
“What, so you think he was murdered?” Les asked.
“Incredibly likely.” Incommodo replied. “Take me to where he died.”
- - -
“Are there cameras around here?” Incommodo asked, standing in the cell.
“They all went out.” The guard replied.
“That’s interesting.” Incommodo looked around the cell. “Let’s see, no obvious causes, no blood... can I see the body?”
- - -
Incommodo looked at the body. The face was set into a permanent state of horror. “Well, he certainly saw his killer.”
“Are you able to, like, see into their heads?” Les asked.
“No. Where would you get that from?”
“It’s just, I read about a detective who could do that, once.”
“Fiction. Reality. Learn the difference.” Incommodo leaned over the body. “Death by sound, from the looks of things. Painful, agonising, and not all that quick death by sound.”
“How do you know it wasn’t quick?” Les asked.
“Do you think his face would look like that if it was quick?”
- - -
Reichenbach frowned. “He isn’t there. He wasn’t one of the bodies.”
“How do you know?” Reichenbach’s customer asked.
“The mark, my friend, the mark. We need to find where he is.” Reichenbach sighed. “The information you gave me was inaccurate.”
“No, it couldn’t be. I have very reliable contacts.”
Reichenbach paused for a second, deep in thought. Suddenly, he grinned. “Then I know where he is.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 2:
Incommodo sat, holding his head in his hands. Think. There’s a connection somewhere. There has to be. How could there not by a connection? Why would there not be a connection?
“What’re you thinkin’, Inc?” Les asked, walking in.
“The assassination and Rache’s murder are connected somehow, I’m sure of it.”
“Assassination? Can we go back a few steps? I think I missed something.” Les said, scratching his head.
“The explosions were assassination.”
“What makes you think that? Couldn’t they have just been done by those Agori and Glatorian who think we’re ‘impure’?”
“No, too clever.”
“Isn’t that a bit... um... prejudiced against Agori and Glatorian?”
“No, some of them are smart. It’s just that the ones that are convinced that anyone different from them is ‘impure’ that are stupid.”
“Eh... okay. Still, how do you know it’s an assassination?”
“Three explosions, none of them at strategic locations. Obviously, they were a cover-up. They were trying to find a specific person.”
“And how do we know if they got this person?”
“You check for any distinguishing marks on the bodies.”
“What, now?”
“No, do it next week, at your own leisure.”
“You were being sarcastic, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t suit you.” Les walked away, leaving Incommodo to his own thoughts.
- - -
The Toa walked into his apartment. Something wasn’t right. He could tell. Something was just... wrong.
He shut the door behind him, and began walking through the hall, before he heard creaking behind him. He turned around, slowly.
“Oh, it’s you.” He sighed, relieved. The relief vanished from his face as a knife plunged into his chest.
- - -
Les sat at his desk. He had a team looking into the bodies. He thought Incommodo was with them. There was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
A nervous-looking Agori stepped in. “Sir, there’s been a murder.”
“God, these people must be in overdrive. Any hints?” Les asked.
“No.” The Agori sighed.
“Doors?”
“Locked from the inside.”
“Well, the murderer probably got in the window.”
“Sir, it was a fourth-storey apartment.”
“Oh.”
- - -
Incommodo looked at the photos of every body. “You’re sure these are all of them?”
“Yes.” The Toa of Air sighed. “Maybe if you spent more time close-lookin’, instead of question-asking, we’d be a bit closer.”
“I’ve already spent time ‘close-looking’.”
“Well, that was some pretty fast-quick close-lookin’ then.”
“There are no marks. Nothing that distinguishes them. At all. It’s a dead-end. Or...”
“Or what? Don’t leave us cliff-hangin’.”
Les chose that moment to run in. “Incommodo, sorry to disturb you, but we have another case I think you might be interested in.”
“It’s okay, I’ve hit a dead end here anyway.” Incommodo walked out with Les, leaving the Toa of Air behind.
“There are some sentences I should just far-keep away from.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 3:
Reichenbach stood, a map before him, and his customer behind him. “So, I figured out which locations suited your specifications. However, I left one out. Here.”
Reichenbach pointed at a red dot on the map. “Basically, blow this place up, and he’ll be gone. I’ve already started taking care of the others.”
“Sounds good. When will you be done?”
“Soon.”
- - -
Incommodo looked at the victim.
“We think it might be suicide.” Les said, walking up behind him.
“Couldn’t be.” Incommodo replied.
“Why not? We’ve figured that if he held the knife in his hand-“
“In which hand?”
“Well, his right.”
“Bit of a problem there. He’s left-handed.”
“How do you know that?”
“The way things are arranged in here just screams left-handed, Les. And who told you it was suicide?”
“Well, it was... uh...”
“Please, god, don’t tell me it was Frustro?”
“What is it you have against him, anyway?”
“He’s just... him.” Incommodo shrugged, leaning over the body. “Hmm...”
He then walked around, and began looking at the windows. He nodded to himself. “Is there a balcony here?”
“Uh... yeah.” Les showed Incommodo the doors to the balcony.
Incommodo walked over, and looked over the edge. “Yep. I’m done here. We can leave now.”
“What do you mean ‘We can leave now’? How did the guy die?”
“The murder got in through the windows.”
“How could he? We’re on the fourth-storey here!”
“Wait, this is the fourth-storey? I thought it was the second.” Incommodo honestly seemed surprised. “He still got in through the windows, though, I’m sure of it.”
- - -
A lone Matoran ran through the streets. I have to get away. I have to run away.
He ran into an alley, shivering as he backed against the wall. They’re going to find me...
A shadow appeared at the other end of the alley. They’ve found me! They’ve found me!
But, as the shadow came into sight, the Matoran breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank god it’s you, I thought they’d-“ The Matoran didn’t get to finish as a knife was thrusted into his chest.
- - -
Incommodo sat in his office. It was nice to be home.
Someone knocked on the door. “It’s open.”
The person walked in, revealing himself to be a dark grey Toa, wearing what looked like an Arthron. “There’s been another murder.”
“Do I have to talk to you, Frustro?”
“Yes, yes you do. Les is busy.”
“Isn’t he always?”
“He’s already at the crime scene.”
“What’s so special about it that I should get involved?” Incommodo asked. This was obviously boring him.
“Well, it was exactly the same as the last one.”
“Really. Now that is interesting, but I’m afraid I’m a little busy at the moment myself.”
“What with?”
“Stuff.”
“We need you. We all hate you, but we still need you.”
“That’s nice. See you later, Frustro. Mind the door doesn’t hit you on the way out.” As Frustro walked out, Incommodo used his power over magnetism to push the door into him. “I did warn you.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 4:
As soon as Frustro had left, Incommodo jumped up and pulled down a map behind his desk, on which he had marked each of the explosions with a small red pin. Alright, so the connection isn’t in the locations, what about the buildings?
He dived into a file cabinet, and started searching through it. No. No. No. No. NO.
“Where do these connect?”
- - -
The Vortixx sat, looking out of her window. She was obviously worried about something, glancing from left to right, and back again, as though she was sure someone was watching her. She got up, and began walking in circles, until she heard the door knock, and went down to answer it.
“Hello.” She said. Her face seemed to brighten as she saw who was at the door. “Come on in-“
The same knife plunged into her. “But... why?”
The murderer looked down coldly and wordlessly at the Vortixx as she fell to the floor. Business is business.
- - -
Les looked at the new victim. “They killed him, while he was standing in the street. Why would they do that?”
“Wait... all of the people were alone... I should go back to the station, tell the others.”
- - -
When Les reached the station, he was greeted by a solemn-looking Frustro. “I’m sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but...”
“What? Another murder?” Les asked.
“No... it’s the body... you know the way Incommodo said it was death by sound?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“It wasn’t. Heart failure.”
“Well, everyone makes mistakes.”
“We also checked the site of that murder, where he said they got in the window.”
“What about that one?”
“The evidence suggests that the murderer locked the door behind him. The windows were untouched.”
“What’re you saying?”
“We don’t think Incommodo is reliable anymore.”
- - -
Incommodo walked in to the police station, and went immediately to Les’ office. “Les, I need your files on the locations of the explosions. I think they might be able to help me figure out the connection, and the next target.”
“Take a seat.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I need to see those files!”
“Take a seat, Incommodo.”
Grumbling, Incommodo sat down. “What do you want to tell me?”
“We have reason to believe your mind may not be quite as... sharp, as it once was.”
“What’re you saying?”
“Y’see, we’ve been looking into these things and-“
“Get to the point, Les.”
“I’m sorry, Incommodo. I really am. But we just can’t rely on someone in your mental state of wellbeing.”
“What... what do you mean?”
“You’re fired, Incommodo.”
Incommodo stared at Les, shocked. “You have to be kidding. Why do you think this?”
“Someone investigated some of your recent conclusions, they weren’t entirely accurate.”
“Frustro. It was Frustro, wasn’t it?”
“Well... yes.”
“I knew it was a bad idea to hit him with that door.”
Frustro walked into the room, and smirked when he saw Incommodo’s face. “Sorry, is this a bad time?”
“You Brakas!” Incommodo shouted, jumping up and running at Frustro, grabbing his throat.
“Assault... on a police officer.”
“Incommodo, let him go.”
Incommodo dropped him.
“I can... arrest you.” Frustro gasped.
“Let him leave, Frustro.” Les sighed. “Just let him leave.”
As Incommodo walked out, he got pitying looks from everyone he walked past. But... I couldn’t be wrong... I couldn’t.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 5:
Two weeks later:
Incommodo sat on the pavement. Things weren’t going well. He had been fired two weeks ago, and the murders he had been investigating were still going on. No-one had managed to stop them. And he wasn’t any closer himself, to be honest.
Someone nearby was playing music. He wasn’t all that interested. People were throwing things at the player. Maybe it was money.
He looked over. Whatever they were throwing, they didn’t seem to like the player. Incommodo sighed as someone threw some kind of explosive, and made it bounce back to hit the thrower in the face. After that, the people started clearing away, and Incommodo walked over. “Your playing wasn’t all that bad, why were they throwing stuff at you?”
“I think it’s because I make explosives.” The Toa shrugged.
“You make explosives?” Incommodo raised a non-existent eyebrow.
“Well, it was an accident. Apparently, mixing food together can create explosives. Who knew?”
“Yeah, who knew.” Incommodo muttered, sarcastically.
“Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m Incommodo, ex-detective.”
“Okay... I’m Arkrak.” Arkrak held out his hand. Incommodo did nothing.
“Well, nice to meet you Arkrak.” Incommodo began walking away.
“Hey! Wait!” Arkrak ran after Incommodo, and caught up with him.
“What do you want?”
“I am going to follow you, and attempt to convince you to go to a bar.”
“Uh... why?”
Arkrak shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Okay then. I am going to go back to my office. You can wait outside.”
- - -
When Incommodo arrived at his office, he noticed that his map was missing. “Oh. Oh dear.”
“What is it?” Arkrak asked.
“My map is missing.” Incommodo answered.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, yes. I would assume so."
"Does it tell you anything detective-y?"
"Well, it tells me that someone, somewhere, knows something, and that it has to do with whatever I was investigating. But the explosions were a side-investigation... unless..."
"Unless what?"
"There've been murders. Quite a few. And they started off when Rache died. Hah! Heart failure my-"
"Who's Rache?"
- - -
As Incommodo walked through New Atero, he noticed that a lot of newspapers already said he’d been fired.
He noticed that Arkrak was no longer standing beside him. A couple of seconds later, he saw the Toa of Sonics, holding a newspaper.
“Look at this person! He got fired from his position as a detective after being released from a mental hospital two weeks ago. And he looks just like you. Hold on... that is you!”
“Um... yeah.” Incommodo cleared his throat slightly.
“You were in a mental hospital?” Arkrak stepped away from Incommodo.
“It’s okay, I’m fine.” Arkrak looked sceptical. “Honest.”
- - -
“How is the plan progressing?” Reichenbach’s customer asked.
“Everything is in place. The end will begin at sundown. The prophecy will be fulfilled. I will herald in a new era.”
“With my help considered, of course.”
“Actually, no.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. Really, I am. But you’ve gotten to be a bit of a nuisance. I know you’re going to stab me in the back the moment you get a chance, therefore, the logical solution would be for me to shoot you in the face.” Reichenbach explained.
“Metaphorically, of course?”
“Em... no, not really.” Reichenbach pressed a gun against his customer’s forehead. “As I said, nothing personal.”
Bang.
- - -
Les brushed some dust off himself as he and Frustro walked out of the building.
“So, what’s this lead you were talking about?” Les asked.
“Just trust me.” Frustro said, smirking.
- - -
The murderer stood in the police station. He was about to claim his final victims.
He looked down at the device on his arm. He was going to sacrifice himself, because it was what he had to do. He pressed the button.
He knew he was going to die. What he didn’t know was that the area around him would be completely devastated by a massive explosion, the likes of which could not be compared to the previous three.
Incommodo saw it from the centre of the city. “Oh, that is not good.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 6:
Incommodo ran towards the police station, only to find it in ruins. Toa of Water had already put out the blaze that had begun in the aftermath of the explosion, but there didn’t seem to be any survivors.
“What happened?” He asked someone.
“I dunno.” The Agori shrugged. “The place just blew up. No idea why.”
Incommodo walked back to Arkrak. “It’s the same killer. I’m sure of it.”
“How do you know?”
“Explosions seem to be his trademark.”
“Well, couldn’t we try to find him by searching out more explosions?”
“That’s actually a reasonable idea.” Incommodo said, thoughtfully.
“Do you think it would work?”
“Not a chance.”
- - -
Frustro and Les soon arrived at their destination. They had been lucky enough to avoid the explosion.
“Why are we here?” Les asked.
“I needed somewhere where we wouldn’t be seen to tell you this.” Frustro explained.
“And what might you need to tell me?”
Frustro’s head darted around when he heard something moving nearby. “Hold on, I’m going to go check what that is. Stay here.”
As soon as Frustro was out of sight, a bullet was shot into the back of Les’ head, killing him instantly. The killer who had done so was a professional; he knew what he was doing.
He was known as ‘The Eye’, as he had excellent eyesight and was a brilliant sniper. He could shoot targets with amazing accuracy from great distances. His trusty gun, which had replaced the crossbow he had once carried, had just claimed another victim, in the name of the organisation he now followed.
That organisation was controlled by Reichenbach.
By the time Frustro returned, the body would have been dragged away, and dropped into a nearby river, and The Eye would be gone. Les would never be found.
- - -
Within a week, what remained of the police force had been moved to a temporary headquarters. Les’ disappearance was incredibly suspicious, especially seeing as Frustro, the last person who he had been seen with, was now in charge of the police.
Oh yeah, and he was sitting in front of the Toa he had secretly declared his arch-nemesis. “Incommodo, who let you into this office?”
“Your receptionist. She’s a lovely person. You should really get to know her better.” Then, in a whisper: “I think she fancies you.”
“Shut up and get to the point, Incommodo.” Frustro growled.
“Oh, yes. I was going to ask for my job back.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because, I said so. And I’m in charge.”
“Oh yeah, about that. I am under the impression there is a traitor in the police force.” Incommodo leaned back. Arkrak glanced suspiciously at him from the back of the room.
“Really. How interesting. Get out.”
“Who was it, Frustro?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? The person previously in charge of the police force disappears, right after the explosion originally intended to take his life. Of course, if someone got rid of him, they might be offered a... position. Perhaps they would become the new leader. Who knows?”
“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Perhaps.”
- - -
Incommodo hit the pavement, and groaned slightly, before rolling out of the way to avoid being hit by Arkrak. “Well, that certainly went well.”
- - -
“Remind me again why we’re going to Vakama.” Arkrak said to Incommodo, who was now standing outside of a large building, in which the Council lived.
“Because, Vakama is the only person we can trust now.” Incommodo rang the bell again. They’d been waiting ten minutes now. Something was wrong. “Hold on a second... do you think you could use sound to open the door?”
“Wait, you are going to try and break in to the Council Office? Doesn’t that seem a bit... rash?”
“Sort of. Don’t make me think about these things. If I think about things, I realise they’ll fail and I don’t really try hard enough.”
“Do they fail anyway?”
“Yes, but it’s like war. Even if your side fails, as long as you do something exceptionally brave or stupid, you get a medal.”
“I don’t think that’s how war works...”
“Don’t lie. Anyhow, door, opening?”
“Got it.” Arkrak used sound to smash apart the door.
“That was rash.”
“You asked me to blow in the door.”
“No, I asked you to open the door. Can’t you, like, use your power over sound to vibrate the metal inside the lock and make it think that there’s a key in it?”
“Blasting the door in was easier.” Arkrak shrugged.
- - -
As they stepped in, Incommodo realised he was correct. It was quiet. Far too quiet. He approached Vakama’s room.
The Eye was already in the room. Vakama would be dead in minutes, and the assassin could make his escape through the window. Which he promptly did, seconds before Incommodo and Arkrak entered the room.
“Incommodo...” Vakama whispered. “He went through... the window. Find Raanu...”
“Arkrak, you stay here, take care of Vakama.” Incommodo said.
“Where are you going?”
“Up.” With a magnetic push, Incommodo was propelled through the window.
The feat was made even more impressive by the fact that the window was closed.
- - -
The Eye turned around as he heard the window smash, and saw Incommodo. “Hello.”
“Hi.” Incommodo said, taking out his two blades. “If I had the power to arrest you, I would be doing that. Consider yourself under a kind-of arrest.”
The Eye dashed forward at Incommodo, holding two sharp knives, with serrated edges. If that knife got into him, he would not be alive long enough to think about the experience, nevermind describe it. “I’m sure we can talk this through.”
“No talking. I will kill you now.” The Eye ran at Incommodo, the knives in his hands.
“Oh Karz.”
- - -
“Who... are you?” Vakama asked.
“Uh... I’m Arkrak. Should I be getting you to a hospital or something?” Arkrak seemed worried.
“No. It’s too late for me. Tell Incommodo... tell him to find the Dark Mirror. On the Eleventh Hour, at the breaking of the Dark Mirror, a new-“ Vakama was cut off as his eyes dulled, the life fading away from him.
“I have a strange feeling an important plot-point was just recited.” Arkrak commented.
- - -
“It’s done. Everything’s in place. Now, all I need to do is wait... I’d give it a day. They’ll panic. Then everything will work out perfectly.” Reichenbach muttered to himself, staring at his own reflection. “We understand eachother, you know.”
“You have no understanding of me.” The reflection growled.
“Oh. So now I’m imagining you talk too. That’s mildly amusing.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 7:
Incommodo used magnetism to throw himself over The Eye, before stabbing him with one of his blades and teleporting away.
The Eye grabbed his arm. He felt pain. That was unusual. His efficiency had been lowered. But the distraction was no longer necessary.
Still clutching his arm, the assassin sank into the ground, smiling slightly as he watched Incommodo stare, before running away towards the building.
- - -
“Dead?” Reichenbach asked, not turning around. He had heard The Eye walk into the room.
“Yes.” The Toa of Earth replied, coldly. Reichenbach had often said his personality would be better suited to a Toa of Ice.
“Good. We’ve been delayed enough.
“I assume our man will be replacing him?”
“Without a doubt.”
“I’m relying on you, Incurso. Do not fail me.” Reichenbach glanced at his customer’s corpse. He still hadn’t cleared it away. “You know what happens to those who fail me.”
“Of course.” Incurso said, bowing slightly before walking out of the room.
- - -
“I wonder why they killed him.” Arkrak thought aloud.
“Probably because he was the head of the Council, and controlled everything.” Incommodo shrugged.
“Yeah... won’t that leave a spot on the council, though?”
“Yeah, there are people who he chose specially to fill in the...” Incommodo’s eyes widened. “We need to go to the police. Again.”
“”What about... uh...” Arkrak nodded uncomfortably at Vakama’s body.
“They’ll find it soon. We don’t want to be found at the scene of the crime.”
- - -
Plans, in general, fail. However, on an odd occasion, one does succeed.
This was the current case.
What Incommodo had realised was that these people, lined up to replace empty spots in the Council, were all dead.
The murderer had managed to get up close to every one of the victims, and now every one of the victims was dead.
There had been a murderer in the police station when it exploded, but it was the wrong one. The real murderer was still out there, and whoever they were, each and every one of the victims had trusted them. But who would everyone trust?
Incommodo had first considered taxi drivers, but he had eliminated them when he realised that these people would be careful enough not to trust someone they didn’t know, especially after that incident with Rache.
Police? This seemed very likely, but still not quite right. It would be someone in the police, seen on a daily basis. Someone who everyone thought they could trust.
His suspicions were pretty much confirmed when he remembered what would happened if all the Council replacements were unavailable.
The new seat would be taken up by the head of the police.
The new seat would be taken up by Frustro.
- - -
Frustro nodded his head as Raanu explained to him that he was going to become part of the Council.
“The murders are a sad, sad occurrence, but we hope that you will help us to bring the light of hope back to this city.”
- - -
Incommodo ran towards the police station as quickly as he could. If he didn’t arrive in time...
- - -
“It’s certainly a big responsibility.” Frustro said, thoughtfully.
“I’m sure you will be prefect for the job.” Raanu said, pushing a sheet of paper towards Frustro. “For now, though, all you have to do is sign this.”
- - -
Incommodo sent the doors flying in, and raced through the corridors, towards Frustro’s office.
- - -
Frustro picked up a pen, silently, and put it to the paper. “Well, here goes nothing.”
- - -
Incommodo burst into the office, mere seconds too late. Frustro had signed.
There was a simple word which occurred to Incommodo as realisation of what had just taken place dawned on him.
That word was ‘screwed’.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 8:
“He’s a traitor.” Incommodo muttered.
“What?” Raanu glanced from Incommodo to Frustro, and back again.
“He betrayed us all.” Incommodo said, looking at Frustro.
“Incommodo, get out of this office, or I will lock you in a cell and you will never get out.” Frustro growled.
“Yes, Frustro.” Incommodo spat, and stormed out of the office.
“So? Did you save everyone?” Arkrak asked, walking over to Incommodo as he reached the reception area.
“Do I look like I saved everyone?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten used to your facial expressions yet.”
“Well, this is my failure face.”
“Will I be seeing it often?”
“Don’t be a smart-arse.”
- - -
As soon as Incommodo arrived at his home, he realised that something was wrong. Warning Arkrak to stay outside, he walked in, and went into his office. The chair spun around, revealing a black Toa wearing what appeared to be a Shelek. “Evening.”
“Who are you?”
“Two months, two weeks, twenty-three hours and fourteen minutes ago you interfered in my plans.”
“Say wha?”
“Two weeks, one hour and fifteen minutes ago you took it upon yourself to investigate my plans.”
“Huh?”
“And then, three hours and seventeen minutes ago you injured one of my assassins. He will require hospital treatment.”
“And I should care because?”
“I am now in such a position that I am in actual danger of losing my liberty. This situation is becoming an impossible one.”
“Oh, so you’re the one behind the explosions!”
“Reichenbach, at your service.” The Toa gave a small, mocking bow. “Take a seat, Incommodo.”
“Sorry, I’m a bit busy at the moment. I can give you five minutes, though, if you have anything else to say.”
“All that I have to say has already crossed your mind.” Reichenbach said, standing up.
“Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.” Incommodo replied, raising a non-existent eyebrow. He had to find a better way of doing that, someday.
“Well, no, not really, but I’m going to go with the flow here and tell you that your plan will fail. You hope to place me in the dock. I tell you that I will never stand in the dock. You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat me. If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I will do the same to you.”
“Are you done ripping off someone else’s conversation yet?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Reichenbach shrugged, walking towards the door.
“Catch you later.”
“No, you won’t.” Reichenbach said, as he left the room.
Incommodo sat down, glancing at the paperwork on his desk. “Well, that was certainly interest-“
- - -
Reichenbach sat at a table, surrounded by other beings, none of whom looked very pleasant.
“Gentlemen,” Reichenbach greeted (although they were anything but), “I am honoured to have you all here. May I just say how wonderful it is to see you at last?”
“Speak, fool, and be done with it.” One of the beings, a male Vortixx, snapped at Reichenbach.
“Temper, temper.” Reichenbach mocked. “Now, you are sitting here because you have all invested in me to ensure the completion of my plan. You sought me out personally. People, you all have a common interest, and I am here to make sure that that interest is made a reality.
“Gentlemen, we’re here to bring about the end of the world.”
- - -
When Incommodo awoke, he was lying in a hospital. “What... happened?”
“A gas leak.” A doctor nearby explained. “Massive explosion. Blew off half the building! You’re lucky you’re still alive.”
“Did anyone else... make it?”
“Yes, there was one person.” The doctor replied, before glancing at some paper he held in his hand. “You’re free to go now, there’s been no serious damage.”
“That’s because... there wasn’t meant to be.”
- - -
Incommodo was now sitting outside the hospital, and looked over at Arkrak. “So. Explosions.”
“Nothing I’m not used to.” Arkrak replied. “They said we were lucky to get out alive.”
“They were wrong. It wasn’t luck. We were meant to live.”
“That’s a pretty big idea of the universe you’ve got there.”
“I do my best.” Incommodo sighed. “I think we can still win. Frustro is a traitor, but there’s a tiny chance one of the replacements is still alive.”
“You’ve lost me again.”
“The murders were set up to get rid of anyone who would stand in Frustro’s way of ending up on the council.”
“What about the explosions?”
“I’m not sure about those yet.”
“It’s amazing how they got past the security guards.”
Incommodo looked up. “Say that again.”
“It’s amazing how they got past the security guards?”
“Arkrak, you are a genius.”
“Um... thanks. Why am I genius again? Not that I don’t know, just that I’m... uh... checking.”
“Guards, Arkrak, guards. Each of the places that blew up had guards.”
“Oh, yeah, I knew that.”
Incommodo looked at Arkrak, suspiciously. If this look could speak, it would probably say something along the lines of ‘Of course you did’. “I think we should check if any guards didn’t show up at the police station.”
“Why would we do that?”
Incommodo sighed, and started walking.
- - -
A lone Toa stood before a mirror, her palm pressed against it. Shadows swirled in it, partially obscuring her reflection.
The Toa’s name was Nikarra, and the object she stood before was the Dark Mirror.
The Mirror’s evil was drawn from that of its creator. Its sorrow was drawn from the metal that made it. And its darkness was drawn from the lives of those who were never meant to live.
She had looked into the mirror many times before, and had always seen the same thing. Never before had she expected to see herself, reflected perfectly. The day was always far from her, slowly approaching, and yet it was now here. She knew what it meant.
Anyone who looked into the mirror would see themselves on their darkest day. Nikarra’s darkest day was the day the world would end. At least, that’s what she saw. She had once spent an entire day, just watching the mirror, to see what happened. And the moment the bell tolled eleven, the other side of the mirror shattered. It went on, and on, in an everlasting loop. She knew what would happen. It was nearly midday. In a little over eleven hours, she would smash the mirror before her. She had no choice.
She would end the world.
- - -
As Incommodo reached the police station, he bumped into Raanu. “Oh. Hi.”
Arkrak leaned over and whispered something to Incommodo.
“Eh... Raanu...” Incommodo began, before clearing his throat. “First of all, I’m sorry for earlier. Second, I would like to see the register held by the police on the day of the explosion, and third, apparently Vakama wanted me to talk to you about something.”
“What did he say?” Raanu asked.
Arkrak leaned over and whispered something else.
“Why can’t you just tell him yourself?” Incommodo sighed. Arkrak then attempted to whisper something else. “Okay, fine, I get it.
“Vakama attempted to tell us a prophecy, ‘On the eleventh hour, at the breaking of the Dark Mirror, a new’ and then he stopped.”
“On the eleventh hour, at the breaking of the Dark Mirror, a new hero shall be borne of the Shadows, to save a world...” Raanu sighed. “Or to destroy it.”
“Why would Vakama want to tell us that?” Incommodo asked.
“Come with me.”
- - -
Incommodo sat in a small room, Arkrak beside him, and Raanu in front of the both of them. A fire was lit in a grate to the side.
“When New Atero was first built, and the Council established, we had to share our legends and our prophecies. One of the more disturbing ones from the other side was the Dark Mirror.
“Apparently, an evil Matoran stole the armour of a league of lost heroes, and melted it down, forging it into the frame for the mirror. The creator was so evil that some of him went into the mirror, and his evil combined with the metal’s history was enough to make this mirror unlike any other.
“If one was to look into the Mirror, they would see themselves, on their darkest day. Some were so disturbed by what they saw that they even went so far as to try and kill themselves, but they could not succeed. What they had seen in the mirror was fixed; it could not be changed.
“According to a prophecy, when the bell tolls eleven on the mirror’s final day, a hero will be born from the Shadows which lurk in the mirror.”
“What so wrong with shadows?” Incommodo asked.
“These are unlike normal shadows. They are lost souls, trapped forever within the Mirror. Another legend spoke of an evil being, cursed forever, who would remove people from existence at a whim. He could click his fingers, and the person would be gone. But no-one would ever know. For all memory of the person disappeared too. These people became Shadows. There were others, true; evil beings chosen by the cursed creature, who served their master. But the others had no choice. They became twisted and evil, eternally forced to serve this being.”
“Ah. Okay. So, what, do they get destroyed when the mirror is broken?”
“I’m afraid not. If the mirror is broken, they will be set free.”
“But, they’re just evil souls, right? They can’t do anything.”
“Actually, the ones who were originally evil have the ability to choose a sort of ‘host’. They take away the life of another being, in order to use their body. Once they have done that, by killing others, they can allow the Shadows to take on the corpses, as long as they are undamaged.”
“Oh, Karz. So, what we’re talking about is basically the end of the world?”
“Yes.”
“And tell me, was there any specific date given for the Mirror’s last day?”
“Indeed there was.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Incommodo, are you okay?” Arkrak asked, looking over at his friend, who appeared to have fainted.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 9:
A ringing sound filled the room. Reichenbach searched through his armour until he found a small device, the source of the ringing.
“Do you mind if I just step outside to take this call?” A few of the beings nodded or grunted in approval. “Thanks.”
Reichenbach stepped out of the building, and he disappeared.
- - -
Two years, two months, one week or thereabouts ago:
Reichenbach stood in front of a large being. “Wakey wakey. Who’s a good apocalyptic monster? You are! You are!”
The huge being raised its head, and turned to look at Reichenbach, its eyes glowing a menacing red. “Oh, I understand. It’s been one of those days, hasn’t it?”
The being growled at Reichenbach. “Fine then, suit yourself.”
Reichenbach turned to the wall, which he had placed a large amount of explosives against. Three feet of metallic protodermis. And no-one would ever notice.
At least, not yet. The sound wouldn’t escape the vault. He expected someone would figure out it was missing soon. But not quite soon enough. He laid his hand on the creature, and smiled, the two of them disappearing just as the wall was smashed apart.
- - -
Present day:
Reichenbach turned around, and walked back into the building. The ringing had stopped, now.
“So, people, I know you’re all looking forward to this. I know you’re all wondering ‘How is this guy gonna destroy the world?’. Well, I’ll tell you: I’m not. But my new friend is.” The wall at the back of the room slid up, to reveal a huge, black being, with glowing red eyes, and tubes emerging from its face. It had claws in each hand, and blasters of some form attached to its shoulders. “Gentlemen, meet our salvation. Meet Marendar.”
- - -
Incommodo slowly stirred. “Ugh... is the world over yet?”
“No.” Arkrak replied.
“Good. That means we can still save it.” Incommodo got up, and ran out of the room.
Arkrak turned to Raanu. “Don’t mind him, he’s a little... uh...”
“It’s okay, I’ve met him before.” Raanu sighed.
“Oh. Right. Em... bye.” Arkrak ran out after his friend.
- - -
Incommodo was now back in the police station, searching through a filing cabinet while a nearby guard tried to discourage him. “Sir, this is a very bad idea.”
“It’s okay, I’m allowed in. Ask the receptionist.”
“The receptionist moved along with Frustro.”
“She would, wouldn’t she.”
“... What?”
“Aha!” Incommodo exclaimed, pulling out the register. “Lemme see.... here! Here he is!”
He then turned to the guard. “You’re in charge.”
“I... I am?”
“Yes. Frustro put you in charge.”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Of course he didn’t!”
“Why not?”
“Well, he wouldn’t have wanted to spoil the surprise! Now, you want to take this person here into custody.”
“...Why?” The guard was getting more and more confused.
“He’s suspected... in a murder.”
“Oh... okay...”
- - -
As Incommodo walked out, he bumped into Arkrak. “Arkrak! Hi!”
“Why are you walking out of the police station?”
“Because, I’m just finished doing something clever. We’ll have to come back in about an hour.”
The hour hand on a clock overhead reached midday just as Incommodo finished speaking. “Well, would you look at that. We have eleven hours to save the world.”
- - -
“My friends, I’m afraid a good few of you are Toa.” Reichenbach smiled. “And this is the perfect opportunity to tell you all how much I despise you. You’re disgusting. You’re useless. You’re scum.”
“What is this, Reichenbach?” One of them, a Toa, asked.
“That? That’s Marendar, a ‘living weapon’ created by the Great Beings to destroy all the Toa if something went wrong.”
“Aren’t you a Toa, though?”
“Indeed I am. But I’ve reprogrammed it, you see. It will ruthlessly destroy anyone and anything, with the obvious exclusion of yours truly.”
“Reichenbach, you Brakas.”
“I do my best.” The Toa of Sonics chuckled. “And now, I must bid you farewell. Make no quick movements, it’ll notice you.”
Reichenbach walked out of the room, smiling.
Marendar slowly stood up, the ceiling cracking and falling in as it broke through. It lifted its hand, pointing it at the beings.
“I thought he said it wouldn’t hurt is unless we moved!”
“He didn’t say that. He just said it would hurt us if we di-“ The Vortixx was caught mid-sentence as a powerful blast of energy hit the group, leaving a lot of dust.
- - -
Reichenbach heard the destruction. He looked into his mirror.
“Incommodo.” He said, frowning.
“He is a fool.”
“He’s a fool who keeps showing up. Listen, whether you see the detective as a threat or not,”
“He is not a detective, nor is he a threat. He is an incommodance, and should be treated as such.”
“As you wish.” Reichenbach snarled.
“You... admire him?”
“He’s smarter than you think. Yes, I have some level of admiration.”
“Then make his death one that you will remember.”
“With pleasure.” And he grinned. The reflection itself, however, kept a straight face. Its eyes betrayed its face, eyes filled with anger and hatred, much like Reichenbach’s own eyes, but with less of the sadness, the tiredness, the signs that he had simply given up on the world. They were the same eyes, but with less emptiness.
- - -
The Fe-Matoran sat in a small room in the new police station. Apparently, the police would be arriving soon.
Or, at least, that’s what they’d told him ten minutes ago.
Just as he was about to give up, two Toa walked in: One blue, the other grey. The blue one sat down in front of him. “Hello. How are you?”
“Who are you?” The Matoran asked.
“Oh, I’m Myself.” Myself grinned.
“And who’s he?” The Matoran nodded at the grey Toa.
“Oh, he’s Nobody.”
“Your names are Myself and Nobody?” The Matoran looked sceptical.
“I know, a bit weird, we get that a lot.” Something didn’t seem quite... right, about Myself. He seemed a little off in the head. “So, do you have any plans for the weekend?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“So that your face will look funnier when I accuse you of murder.”
“You think I killed someone?” The Matoran couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Yeah – No, wait, you aren’t meant to say that yet! Pretend you didn’t hear that!”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Everyone has their own idea.” Nobody sighed.
“I’m not even in here for murder!”
“... You’re not?” Myself glanced around, nervously. “We’re in the wrong room. I thought you said this was the right room!”
“I didn’t. It was you who wanted to come in here.” Nobody didn’t look surprised in the slightest at Myself’s mistake.
“Uh... sorry for the stress we’ve caused you. I hope you get a nice lawyer.” Myself stood up and walked out, quickly, with Nobody.
A few moments later, a guard walked in. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“But you didn’t. I was just talking to Myself.”
“Uh... right.” The guard seemed a little nervous.
“Nobody was here.”
“I know, that’s what I said.”
“No, you said that you’d kept me waiting.”
- - -
“They’re going to think he’s insane, you know.” Arkrak sighed, walking with Incommodo and stepping into the elevator.
“So I got out on the wrong floor. We still have ten hours.” He glanced at a clock on the wall of the elevator. “Well, nine hours and fifty-four minutes.”
“Incommodo, we’re all screwed, aren’t we?”
“We still have nine hours and fifty-three minutes before I can honestly say that there’s a 100% chance we’re screwed. At the moment, we still have a 0.001% chance of survival.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 10:
Incommodo walked into the right room, leaving Arkrak outside to stand guard. “Hello.”
“Hello.” The person in the room with him was an Agori, with a strange mark branded into his arm. “Why are you here?”
“I am here to remind you that you were in line to replace Vakama. Last in line, in fact.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you need to step forward. Unless you do, the world could end.”
Arkrak looked in the door. “Uh, Inc?”
“What is it? I’m trying to get him to-“ Incommodo then noticed the guards walking down the corridor. “Run. Run now.”
- - -
Frustro sat in his new office, inside the Council building. Incommodo had requested to see him, again. Which was actually pretty lucky, because Frustro had been wanting to talk to him. “Earlier today, two people walked into a room where we had someone in for questioning, and began talking to him."
“Really?” Incommodo faked surprise. “God, it’s not like that happens often.”
“They called themselves Myself and Nobody.”
“Those are weird names.”
“Their description matches you perfectly. Have you any explanation for this?”
“Identical twins?”
“Any sensible explanation?”
“Long-lost identical twins?”
“Incommodo, are you even sensible in the slightest?”
“I am. I’m also insane, though. It gives me a unique perspective on things.”
“Why are you here, Incommodo?” Frustro was growing tired of this farce.
“Oh, yeah. The world is going to end at eleven o’clock tonight.”
“Have you got any evidence to support this?”
“Well, no, not really.”
“Give me one good reason not to throw you out of this office.” Frustro growled.
He is about to be contacted by a guard who will proceed to tell him that a lookout post that was supposed to be watching a Skrall village has been destroyed. “You are about to be contacted by a guard, who will proceed to tell you that a lookout post that was supposed to be watching a Skrall village has been destroyed.”
- - -
Reichenbach walked out of the building. Two people had failed to show up: A Toa of Ice, calling himself Pulse, and Ignotus, the supposed ‘Last of the Mystix’. Reichenbach thought it was unfortunate that he hadn’t gotten to see Ignotus die. The fool had managed to fail when he’d already controlled the universe. And how did he fail?
- - -
“What do you mean, it didn’t work?” Reichenbach snarled at Ignotus.
“I mean, I was defeated. I did everything exactly as you said.” Ignotus growled in return.
“Then what went wrong?”
“Three Toa. A red one, a blue one, and a black one. Blue one was Incommodo.”
“Incommodo?” Reichenbach hadn’t heard of this person, and couldn’t help but wonder why he deserved to be mentioned by name, whereas the others didn’t.
“A detective. Works with the police. Solves crimes.”
“Ah, I see.” Reichenbach could remember Incommodo now. He had ruined Reichenbach’s plan with Rache.
“He got the Disk, found a way to deactivate it.”
“You can’t just deactivate the Paradox Disk.”
“He can.”
- - -
Reichenbach had done some research into Incommodo. He had known Pulse, as well, which led him to identifying the ‘red one’ and the ‘black one’. A Toa of Fire named Pirok, and a Toa of Air named Proditor. Nothing particularly special about them.
Reichenbach turned and looked up. Marendar towered over him, and towered over the building. “Go, Marendar. Show them their end.”
- - -
A lone Skrall sat, sharpening his sword. He was in one of the last Skrall settlements that remained; over the last two years, they had been hunted down and killed. The people of New Atero called them animals, but they themselves were monsters.
A glass of water sat beside him. He took a moment to stare at it, its stillness, its peacefulness. Water was one of the few peaceful things the Skrall knew.
He realised something was wrong when ripples started spreading through the glass. Then the ground began to visibly shake. Something was coming. Something big.
He looked up just in time to see a massive, black being, with glowing red eyes, before it lifted its hand, and there was nothing.
- - -
A phone on Frustro’s desk began to ring. He picked it up. “Hello? I see. That’s not good. Can you access the cameras?”
Once he was done talking, he glared at Incommodo. “How the Karz did you do that?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” Incommodo shrugged.
“Well, you’re coming with me.” Frustro growled.
Arkrak began to move towards the door, but Frustro stopped him. “Both of you.”
- - -
The three Toa sat before a screen, which displayed the last few moments of the watch-tower. It was looking a bit dull, when a shadow suddenly fell over the camera. Two glowing red eyes were seen before it fizzed into static.
“Do you believe me now?” Incommodo asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. That thing is out there, and someone has to stop it.”
“Why are you looking at us?” Arkrak asked, before turning to Incommodo. “Why is he looking at us?”
“I’m looking at you,” Frustro said, “Because you seem to know more about this... thing, than anyone else.
“Alright, we’ll do it.” Incommodo grinned.
“Inc, what is wrong with you?!” Arkrak seemed shocked.
“Nothing. What could go wrong?”
- - -
A pillar of smoke rose from the crater that had once been a Skrall village. Marendar felt nothing. He was doing exactly as his programming required.
And yet... something told him that he was not supposed to destroy these people, that his true meaning for existence was to protect them.
He banished such thoughts from his mind, continuing towards New Atero. It would take approximately nine hours to reach it.
In nine hours, Marendar would destroy the great city that all these people had lived in for so long. Too long.
In nine hours, it would all be over.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 11:
Incommodo sat in a Thornatus, with Arkrak behind him.
“And you’re sure this will work?” Arkrak seemed sceptical.
“Of course it’ll work. I spent a little while messing around with the engine. It’ll go far faster than normal, and allow us to reach there just in time. At the eleventh hour, if you will.”
“That was a really bad joke.”
“I know.”
- - -
Raanu heard a knock on the door of his office, and opened it to see another Agori. “Um... hello.”
“Hello. I’m here because I was supposed to be becoming part of the Council.” The Agori showed the mark on his arm to Raanu.
“Oh. I see.” Raanu looked a little shocked. “I’ll have to inform Frustro.”
- - -
Marendar continued to advance. Another settlement lay in ruins behind it.
It was its job to destroy everything. And it would.
- - -
The Thornatus coughed, and came to a stop.
“What just happened?”
“I think it isn’t feeling well.” Incommodo jumped down off it, and opened up the hood, to be greeted with a plume of black smoke. Coughing, he walked back to Arkrak. “We’re going to need another form of transport.”
“And how will we find it?”
“With Great Difficulty.”
- - -
Raanu walked into Frustro’s office.
“Frustro, it would appear that you are not, in fact, meant to take up the Council seat.”
“Are you sure?” Frustro asked, just as the second Agori walked in.
“One of the replacements survived.” Raanu explained. “You’ll have to start packing your things away, I’m afraid.”
“Alright then.” Frustro seemed slightly angry, but he did his best not to lest his face give him away. “I’ll be on my way.”
As he walked out, he stopped to talk to his receptionist. “Will you be coming along?”
“Sorry, it’ll take me a bit longer to pack my things away.” The receptionist smiled.
- - -
Incommodo hummed something as he and Arkrak walked through the desert.
“Why are you humming?”
“Because I can. Hold on, there’s definitely something there!” Incommodo called out, running forwards, only to find a ruined town standing before them. “Something seems wrong...”
“Really?” Anyone except Incommodo could have recognised Arkrak’s sarcasm.
“Yes. I can’t quite figure out what it is...” Incommodo looked around. “Does this place seem a little... ruined?”
“Y’know what, I didn’t notice that.” Arkrak didn’t understand why Incommodo failed to comprehend sarcasm.
A large shadow slowly fell over the two, and Incommodo looked up. “Oh, Karz.”
- - -
Marendar stared at Incommodo for what must have been a few seconds (Arkrak had hidden underneath the Thornatus), although it felt like hours. It then slowly turned away, and continued on its trek.
“What was that?” Incommodo asked, confused.
“Plot armour?” Arkrak suggested.
“What’s plot armour?”
“Basically, it means that since we’re main characters, we can’t die.”
“I have heard a lot of stupid things,”
“But that isn’t one of them?”
“I was going to say, ‘but that is the single most idiotic thing I’ve heard in my life’.”
- - -
Incurso gave a small bow in front of Reichenbach. “Sir, the plan is progressing better than expected.”
“I doubt that.”
“The Detective has assisted us.”
“Deliberately?”
“I believe it was by accident.”
“Well, today is a happy, happy day.”
- - -
Earlier:
“But you didn’t. I was just talking to Myself.” I was confused.
“Uh... right.” The guard in front of me seemed kind of nervous.
“Nobody was here.” I thought they would have heard of them. They did work for the police, didn’t they?
“I know, that’s what I said.”
“No, you said that you’d kept me waiting.” This guard seemed pretty stupid.
“Excuse me for a few moments.”
- - -
A black Toa, wearing a Mask of Charisma, sat in front of me. For some reason, he was wearing sunglasses. “So, what did these people look like?”
“They were Toa. One was dark blue, blue eyes, wore a Mahiki. The other was grey with green eyes, and wore a Mask of Charisma.” I explained.
“I see...” The Toa wrote something down in a notebook. “What did they say to you?”
“The blue one, he said his name was Myself, started asking me questions. When I asked him why, he told me he was going to accuse me of murder.”
“Did the other Toa say anything?” Another black Toa, also wearing sunglasses, but this time with a Suletu, standing in the corner, glanced at me as the first one asked this.
“Yes. Myself said his name was Nobody. When I asked Myself what was wrong with him, Nobody said that everyone had a different idea.”
“Okay. Thankyou for co-operating with us.” The Toa moved to stand up.
“Wait! Aren’t you going to tell me who they are?”
“Elax, you aren’t interested in who they are.”
“I’m not?” But he was right. I wasn’t really interested in who they were.
“You just want to go home, and return to your normal life.”
“Well, yeah.” It was almost like he could read my mind. “But, wait, who are you?”
“I am Fear.” Fear explained. “He is Dread.”
“It was nice to talk to you Fear, but I really have to be going.” I said.
“But of course. Go on out.” When Fear was finished saying this, he nodded at Dread, who opened the door to let me out.

Edited by Paradoxophobia, Apr 13 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 12:
I was sitting at home, thinking about how silly all of that had been. I mean, ‘Myself’ and ‘Nobody’. They were obviously fake names, but there wasn’t anything interesting about them.
That Toa, with the Mask of Charisma, Fear, he’d explained it to me.
Wait... Mask of Charisma?
As I thought over this, I realised that something was wrong. I was interested in them. But, suddenly, when I talked to him, I changed my mind. It was his Kanohi. It must have been.
So, if these Fear and Dread wanted me to forget about them, they must have been important. I had to find out more about them.
- - -
“Hey! You!” Incommodo picked up a rock, and threw it at Marendar. However, it just kept moving.
“Is there any way we can warn everyone?”
“Yes. We can steal that Thornatus.”
“The one we came in?”
“No, the one you just hid under.”
“Wait, there’re two Thornatus’s? How did that happen?”
“A wizard did it.” Incommodo jumped into the Thornatus, Arkrak not far behind him.
- - -
Reichenbach had a new base. This one had quite a nice clock, which he had rigged to become a countdown timer.
7 HOURS REMAINING.
- - -
As Incommodo and Arkrak arrived at the Council building, three Toa stood in their way: All of them black with sunglasses, one with a Mask of Charisma, one with a Suletu, and the last one with a Volitak.
“Hello. Can I come in?”
“No.” It was the one with the Mask of Charisma that spoke. “You want to leave.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You won’t remember that any of this ever happened.”
“Actually, I will. Who do you think you are, Will Smith? Are you going to take a silver flashy-lighty thing out of your pocket now?”
“I am Fear.” Fear said.
“I am Dread.” This time the one with the Suletu spoke.
“I am Terror.” The one with the Volitak added.
“What, are you related or something?” Incommodo chuckled. “Look, just get out of the way.”
“I’m sorry, Incommodo.” Fear explained. “I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
“The whole bloody world is about to end! What kind of morons are you?!” After Incommodo said this, Fear frowned. He shimmered for a second, and a powerful punch hit Incommodo square in the face. “Ow!”
A bolt of lightning hit Fear in the side of the head, and he turned slowly to look at the person who had sent it at him: Nikarra. “Oi! Leave them alone.”
Fear then looked at his two companions. “Dread, take Arkrak. Terror, take Incommodo.
“I’ll take the female.”
- - -
Walking through New Atero, I noticed a commotion outside the Council building. Sitting at a distance with my trusty camera, I noticed ‘Myself’ and ‘Nobody’ talking to Fear, Dread, and another Toa like them. Fear punched Myself before being hit by a bolt of lightning, from a female Toa I hadn’t seen before. Suddenly, Dread and the other one broke off to go after Nobody and Myself (respectively), as they had started running away. I took as many photos as possible.
- - -
Incommodo ran as quickly as he could away from Terror. He soon reached a river, which he teleported across, chuckling, before turning around.
Terror walked towards Incommodo. The way he walked was smooth, it was almost like he was gliding, but he walked very quickly. When he reached the river, he simply walked over it without stopping. “Oh, Karz.”
Once Terror got across, he grabbed Incommodo by the throat and picked him up. “You must be deleted.”
“The whole... world... is about to end!”
“We are aware that the system is in danger of termination.”
“Then... why aren’t you... doing anything to ... stop it?”
“It is not our job.”
Incommodo could feel everything beginning to slip away. “Ugh...”
Tell him to let you go. “Let... me... go.”
“Order accepted.” Terror dropped a coughing Incommodo to the ground.
“Hey... looks like plot armour... is real...” Incommodo managed to say, before everything went blank.
- - -
As Incommodo was unconscious, he had a strange dream. A Turaga of Air stood before him. Incommodo recognised him as the same Turaga who had helped them in the dungeon in the Mystix-verse. “Hello, Incommodo.”
“Who are you?” Incommodo asked.
“I am Strave.” The Turaga explained. “Now, you had a bit of a mishap, there.”
“I nearly died.”
“And who’s to say that you did not, in fact, die?”
“The fact that this doesn’t look much like Artakha?”
The Turaga chuckled slightly. “Indeed it does not. I’m afraid that you will have to go back. However, I am here to tell you that Marendar can be defeated.”
“Who’s Marendar?”
“The machine that you encountered.”
“Ah. I see. And how do you suggest it should be defeated?”
“It was designed so that no Toa, or team of Toa, could hope to defeat it.”
“I see...”
“You will need to get assistance from the Glatorian.”
“And how can they help?”
“They fight with true weapons. Toa have become too reliant on masks and elemental powers.”
“Oh. Okay.” Incommodo nodded his head in understanding. “Just one question: Are you the one who’s been telling me to do things?”
“What?”
- - -
Incommodo sat up, gasping for air. When he looked around, he noticed he was in a cell, with Arkrak and Nikarra. It looked like Nikarra had just slapped Arkrak. “Look, I don’t care what you think, I am not the ‘designated romantic interest’.”
“That’s exactly what the designated romantic interest would say.” Arkrak replied, before being slapped again.
“What is this I don’t even”
“Incommodo! You’re awake.” Arkrak exclaimed.
“Yes, I am, thankyou for noticing.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Frustro said, standing outside the cell, “But I’m afraid I have to ask you a few questions, Incommodo.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 13:
“So, what’s up with Smithy and Co?” Incommodo asked, taking a seat in front of Frustro.
“Smithy?” Frustro seemed confused.
“Well, yeah. You have to admit there’s a resemblance. I was honestly expecting him to call me Mr Anderson at any moment.”
“Incommodo, as usual, I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’re referring to the League of Shades,”
“So that’s what they’re called!”
“As I was saying, if you’re referring to the Shades, they are incredibly helpful allies.”
“They tried to kill me.”
“That’s what I meant.” Frustro sighed.
“Is that all?”
“No, of course not. We wanted to know your thoughts on how to take down that... thing.”
“Glatorian. Lots and lots of Glatorian. And a few Toa with better elemental powers.”
“’Better elemental powers’?”
“Y’know, Magnetism, Lightning, Plasma, Gravity especially. The ones who are all ridiculously overpowered and consider themselves ultimately superior to everyone else.”
“You do know that you’re a Toa of Magnetism, right?”
“Of course. I based that stereotype on myself and others I knew.”
“Right...”
“So, will I be in the attack?”
“’Fraid not. See you later, Inc.”
- - -
A guard led Incommodo back to the cell. Just as he opened it, Incommodo turned, elbowed him in the stomach and tried to push him in. The attempt didn’t work, though, as the guard simply lifted him up and threw him in in a demonstration of sheer strength. “Ouch.”
The guard dusted himself off, and walked away.
“We’re going to need to get out of here.” Nikarra said.
“Agreed.” Arkrak (funnily enough) agreed. “We should stand on eachother’s shoulders, to reach that little window, then one of us can go through and help the others out.”
“What a wonderful plan.” Incommodo sighed.
“Well, do you have a better one?” Nikarra asked, folding her arms.
“Actually, yes, I do. I suggest we use the key I stole from the guard a few seconds ago to unlock the door before he notices it’s gone, and then we run like Karzahni.” Incommodo smirked.
- - -
It didn’t take long to escape the building. Of course, the three Toa had no idea of what was taking place not too far from them...
- - -
In the building, Fear, Dread, and Terror stood before Frustro. He had noticed that they never sat. They almost seemed to act as one. “I will be needing your help.”
Fear nodded in reply. Frustro always considered Fear the ‘leader’, even though they all seemed to be equals. The three Toa then walked out, in that strange way of walking they had. He couldn’t help but wonder if their feet really did touch the ground as they glided away.
He then tried to find as many Glatorian as they had employed. They would have to have as many people as possible to defeat this creature.
Strange, he thought, the receptionist isn’t here yet. I wonder what’s keeping her?
- - -
The receptionist was staying there, however, by choice. A specially trained killer, in the employment of Reichenbach. It was her job to sneak explosives into the Council building.
However, Reichenbach also controlled one of the replacements, just to be safe, so he now had two agents in there. He planned to kill them both. No risks could be taken.
Unlike the others, this explosion was silent. It was over ten minutes before anyone discovered the crater which had once been the Council building’s location. Reichenbach had taken out all of the most powerful beings on Spherus Magna in less than a minute.
Well, not all of them. Frustro still remained. But despite the fact that Frustro wasn’t in his employment, he was probably suspicious enough that no-one would trust him. A grin crossed Reichenbach’s lips as he thought of what his plan would accomplish. There would be sacrifices, true, but the final result was worth more than any of those.
But there was still one problem. One, final problem. But now wasn’t the time to deal with that. No, no. Now was a time to sit back and watch the world crumble at his feet, and, hopefully, his adversary would crumble with them.
- - -
I watched the fight with interest, and when they were captured, I followed, waiting outside. The three Toa ran out shortly afterwards. I thought it looked very suspicious.
But I had contacts. And I had heard parts of the conversations. The end of the world...
Was that why these people seemed so suspicious? Were they working together, to bring about the end of the world as we knew it?
I had contacts. One journalist I knew came to mind. If I went to them, this story could be big. Big enough to be published today, even. I knew it was a bit late, but it was worth a shot.
Their dreams of destruction would be crushed under the feet of those who wished to oppose them.
- - -
It didn’t take me long to reach the journalist’s home. Soon, I was telling him everything, from the moment the two Toa came in right up to the moment when I realised the truth. He nodded with interest, scribbling down every word I said. “It’s hard to believe.”
“It’s true, though.” I explained.
“I understand that. Still, the people will eat it up. You know how they are.” The journalist chuckled. “If I can get it past the boss, we could even have a special edition printed before the end of today.” So I was right, then. “Thankyou for giving me this story. It will be brilliant.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 14:
Two eyes slowly opened in the darkness. He was locked away, trapped from society.
He probably preferred it that way.
His true name was unknown, as was his purpose. But what a purpose it must have been.
He could see all of time. Under his orange Pakari, he held more power than any living being on Spherus Magna.
He wouldn’t have woken if something wasn’t wrong. Time... was changing. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it. A sort of shift, in the air. Nothing big. Not yet.
He searched for what had happened recently. Explosions, murders, insanity. But he could see the near future. A future of lies, and deceit, and a return. In his mind, something formed. Something that hadn’t formed in a long, long time: a prophecy.
The Shadows will awaken, and the storm will come. The doors which were locked will be opened by the Key, and the Key will be held by the One, on his stone throne, as he gazes through a window at the poisoned sky.
This new prophecy disturbed him. His vision was warped. He couldn’t see so much as six hours ahead. Six hours...
That number was important. That was as far as he could see. Then the world shattered around him, and there was nothing but darkness.
- - -
Incommodo was approaching his home, Arkrak not far behind. Nikarra was somewhere, but apparently, she did want to be seen with him. He couldn’t understand why.
As soon as he reached the door, however, he was stopped by a dark figure. “Hello again.”
“Oh. Have there been aliens?” Incommodo joked.
Dread tilted his head. He was, perhaps, the least like ‘normal’ people, even though he was the one who heard their thoughts, and often thought their thoughts for them. “You are needed.”
“Oh, well that’s nice. I’ll have a chat with you later.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”
- - -
A large number of Glatorian walked through the centre of New Atero. Some worked for the police, others joined in.
They were walking to their deaths.
With vehicles, it didn’t take them all that long (an hour at most), to reach the site of the abomination, Incommodo, Arkrak, and Nikarra being taken by Terror, Dread, and Fear (respectively).
The massive figure of Marendar towered over the group of heroes, its face twisted into a sneer. It didn’t speak; it didn’t need to. The burning red eyes that glared at the beings below sent out its message clearly: ‘Leave now, or die.’
There was an eerie stillness, which lasted seconds but seemed so much longer. It was finally broken by Marendar, who took a single step forwards. This movement, this gesture, was enough to make the people realise how hopeless their fight was. But still, they had to fight. And fight they would.
The first to attack was a green Glatorian, his emerald armour shining as he ran forwards, sword in hand. He barely made it two steps before crumbling to dust.
It became clear as more Glatorian were slaughtered by the creature that brute force was not going to win them this battle. Dread looked over at Terror and Fear, sending a message into their minds with his Suletu. The first to attack was Fear.
A stream of black lightning hit Marendar square in the chest. It should have crippled it.
It simply shrugged it off and kept moving.
Another stream of black lightning hit it, in the leg this time. It seemed to trip, nearly falling, but still kept moving, albeit with some difficulty. It was the final stream of lightning that stopped it.
It was unable to move, for fear of falling. Hatred burned in its eyes as it looked at the three beings who had crippled it. A Toa of Gravity kept it down, began crushing it. The Toa’s powers would have had little to no effect, were it not for the fact that Marendar had already been weakened. Incommodo then attempted to trap its arms, but it broke free. It seemed it may not have been so weak after all.
A group of Glatorian ran forwards at it, but they too were destroyed. Marendar’s eyes had gone from red to green, for reasons the people below could only wonder about. A slight coughing sound could be heard, followed by the creaking of gears. Those who stood too close to the monstrosity were first to understand what was happening.
By trapping Marendar, a sort of self-destruct mechanism had been triggered. It was destroying itself, and all those too close to it.
Quite a few Toa and Glatorian managed to escape, and some were far enough away that the blast didn’t hit them. It seemed that this final function didn’t work quite as it should have, assuming the Great Beings still intended it to wipe out all the Toa.
A crater sat where they had attacked the creature, pieces of metal from the armour of the Glatorian killed and Marendar itself scattered throughout it. Incommodo cast a suspicious eye on the scene. Something wasn’t right. This ‘new hero’ wasn’t here. The world was still in danger. So obviously they had been on the wrong trail...
Unless, of course, time, being the variable thing it was, had changed its course. He had to consider that possibility, seeing as he had experienced the effects of a changed timeline firsthand.
He climbed into the vehicle, his suspicions following him.
- - -
Incommodo, for the second time that day, found that he had a visitor. The same visitor, in fact. Once again, he had Arkrak stand outside his office. “What do you want, ‘Reichenbach’?”
“You don’t need the inverted commas. It is my real name.” Reichenbach sighed. This time, he wasn’t sitting in Incommodo’s chair, and for that, Incommodo was grateful.
“I defeated your big-monster-of-the-apocalypse-and-all-that-stuff-thingamajig.” Incommodo bragged, sitting down at his desk.
“What, you mean Marendar?” Reichenbach chuckled.
“You don’t seem very upset that I spoiled your masterplan.” Incommodo observed.
“Me? Oh, I’m very upset. I’m crying here.”
“Seriously, Reichenbach.”
“Alright, do you want to know why? I know something you don’t!” The last sentence was more sung than said. “But now, I must bid you farewell. But with my farewell, comes a warning: Your days are numbered, Incommodo. And we’re not talking double figures. That’s all for now! By-ye!”
Reichenbach fizzed and disappeared. He had managed to trick Incommodo with an illusion and some sound effects. “Karz.”
- - -
Incommodo walked into the police station. “I would like to see Frustro. Y’know, the guy in charge with the attitude problem?”
A bewildered Toa looked back at Incommodo. “Frustro is in his office.”
“Thankyou.”
- - -
“You owe me, Frustro.” Incommodo said.
“No, I don’t. You weren’t the only one out there.” Frustro replied.
“Yes, you do. I’m not talking about that. You owe me, big.”
“Fine, then. If you’re going to cash in that favour, do so. But, may I know, why now?”
“I just received a death threat.”
“What else is new?”
“A real death threat. From someone who actually plans to kill me.”
“My day just keeps getting better and better.”
“Frustro...” Incommodo looked down, as though lost for words. “I need all your information on a Toa named Reichenbach.”

[Indigo Individual]

Chapter 15:
Nikarra had left the others, and returned to her own home. There she sat once more, gazing at herself. She didn’t want to break the Mirror, but she had no other choice. Everything had to stay as it was intended to go.
She sighed. A few hours more.
But there were some people who didn’t have a few hours...
- - -
Incommodo returned home. It had been a complete failure. According to police records, ‘Reichenbach’ didn’t exist.
He noticed that there was an envelope on his desk. He picked it up, and opened it. Inside were an illustration and a note:
Meet me at the top, and I’ll answer all your questions.
- Reichenbach
Incommodo grabbed the note, leaving the envelope and illustration on his desk, and walked out. He believed he recognised the illustration; after all, there were very few waterfalls around on Spherus Magna...
- - -
The waterfall was an amazing sight.
Black water crashed through a stream, to plunge over the cliff face, shattering into a brilliant white foam as it reached the bottom. A Fikou spider was about to learn just how deadly the waterfall could be.
It only took a little bit of wrong footing, too close to the edge, to send it, falling and spinning, into the gaping maw below. Reichenbach chuckled as the tiny Rahi reached the end of what was probably a very short life. He had never much liked Fikou, anyway.
He looked up as he heard footsteps nearby, and saw Incommodo approaching him. “Incommodo. Nice of you to join me.”
“Shut up.” Incommodo growled. “Now, you said you’d answer my questions.”
“Are you sure? When did I say that again?” Incommodo forced the note he had kept with him into Reichenbach’s hand. “Oh, that’s where I said it! Alright then, what are your questions?”
“How did you blow those buildings up?”
“The buildings were the bombs.” Reichenbach explained. Incommodo couldn’t help but wonder how he kept a straight face.
“What?”
“The buildings. When they were originally built, I built the explosives into the walls.”
“But... but how did you know, back then, that you’d be doing that?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then how did you do it?”
“That’s the real question, now, isn’t it. But I have a question of my own: Don’t you remember me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmm... Now that is interesting. Amnesia, probably caused by that bump you got...” Reichenbach seemed to disappear into his own thoughts for a few seconds, before re-emerging. “Yes, anyhow, I don’t suppose you have anymore questions?”
“Why Frustro?”
“What do you mean? He wasn’t the traitor, FYI. There are – there were – two of them. That irritating Toa of Air – god, I hate tree-speak – and Frustro’s receptionist.”
“But Frustro wasn’t working for you?”
“Eh, no. The receptionist manipulated the Toa of Air to make him kill those victims, and then blow himself up.”
Karz. Got that one wrong. “And one more question: Why here?”
“It’s more dramatic, don’t you think?” Reichenbach grinned.
“What do you mean, ‘more dramatic’?”
“Well, if I were about to die, I think I would want to have a little drama.”
- - -
I watched as Myself left his home, carrying a note. The report would be in the news, no doubt, but I still wanted to find out more. He couldn’t end the world without accomplices, could he?
I followed him to a waterfall. Sitting in the shade of the trees, I snapped a few photos. I don’t think either of them heard. Myself pressed the note from earlier into the other Toa’s hand, and then they started talking. I was too far away to be able to properly hear, but I had an idea.
This black Toa, he was an accomplice of Myself’s. Like Nobody, and that female Toa, he was also trying to help him destroy life as we knew it.
I couldn’t just settle for a news story. I could write a whole book about this... The Heralds of the Apocalypse... a brilliant title, if I do say so myself.
The black Toa said something which made Myself angry, bringing me back to my senses.
- - -
“You’re going to kill me?”
“Oh, no. You see, Incommodo, I’ve actually begun to like you. In fact, I like you too much to kill you.
“So I’m going to make you kill yourself.”
- - -
Arkrak had walked around New Atero for a while, but eventually gave up and returned to Incommodo’s office. Surprisingly, Incommodo wasn’t there, but an image of a waterfall was... “Plot point!”
- - -
Incommodo was shocked. “No. I won’t.”
Jump, Incommodo.
Jump NOW.
I SAID JUMP, YOU MORON! JUST JUMP!
JUMP! JUMP! JUUUUMP!!! “NO!”
Reichenbach raised an eyebrow as Incommodo screamed out, but didn’t have much time for anything, as he was sent flying back into the trees by a powerful magnetic push.
Incommodo was angry. It wasn’t something that happened often, admittedly, but it was happening now. He wouldn’t be controlled. He wouldn’t be manipulated. No-one could control him. He saw Reichenbach walk out from the trees, and brush some dust off himself, before standing near the edge of the waterfall. “If you want to fight me, then so be it.”
- - -
Arkrak, not having seen the note, was standing at the base of the waterfall, near the lake the water plunged into. He couldn’t really see what was happening up above, but he did see what happened next.
- - -
Incommodo ran straight at Reichenbach, intending to push him over the cliff. But, too late, he realised he had been tricked, as he ran straight through Reichenbach’s illusion. His own momentum was too much, he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t survive...
His final thoughts were on how he had been so easily tricked, as he plummeted over the side.
- - -
Reichenbach had walked out just in time to see Incommodo’s fall. He then stood at the edge, watching his rival become smaller and smaller, before finally disappearing as he hit the white foam. “And good riddance. I never liked you all that much, anyway.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . .