Interrogations

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Stelt. Even in the millennia before it birthed the infamous Sidorak and Krekka, many considered it to be the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the entire universe. Not an unfounded view, mind you - the petty squabbles between the island's elites were far too devastating to support anything but the shady stuff, and there was a lot of shady stuff lying around the place. If you wanted to deal in some ... less-than-savoury goods or seek out information that could not be obtained through "legal" means, then Stelt was the place to be. Sure, the denizens who managed this stuff wanted to keep it all hush-hush, but everyone knew. They couldn't hide it even if they were all to hypothetically know the location of Artakha and suffer horrific deaths in a future that had yet to come.

 

Anyway, it was on Stelt that we were to meet our two ... "protagonists" (though to be fair one of them was technically a 'hero', albeit only on the grounds that her species was named such). They, like many other "do-gooding" types in the past, had come to the island in order to nip the growing criminal underworld in the bud and prevent it from negatively impacting the going-ons of the universe. You see, the duo of Shadow Stealer (lazy punk extraordinaire and five-time winner of the Matoran Universe's "Worst Employee of All Time") and Toa Helryx (voted "Most Likely to Attempt at Destroying the Universe" by her graduating Toa class of one person) were actually members of the vigilante group known as the Hand of Artakha, and they, unlike the "do-gooding" types whose paths they were tracing, were motivated by the fact that Mata Nui's life could be at stake if these criminal activities were to escalate rather than any innate sense of justice.

 

Of course, Helryx (and also Hydraxon who's probably not going to be featured in this story) was in possession of quite the strong sense of justice (as well as a temper fierier than even the worst of Fire Toa), but that was really beside the point.

 

Although that was probably why a Steltian merchant who was contentedly watching his store found his door kicked to splinters by an angry-looking Toa of Water, before promptly being manhandled roughly into a position where he was given a front row seat of a random indent in a Mask of Psychometry, which he noted to be quite the rare Kanohi - one that he was about to mentally calculate the price of before his gaze was forcibly shifted towards blazing red eyes.

 

Very scary, blazing red eyes.

 

"Who sold you that Kane-Ra herd?" barked the Toa of Water, who was obviously Helryx (if you hadn't inferred it already). "I need their names, address, financial details and their views on religion!"

 

She made a point to shake the Steltian a bit, which didn't really help get any answers out of the now-blubbering merchant. It probably worsened things in fact, but Helryx didn't know that. Most rookie Toa never knew how things worked. That's why Mata Nui found it amusing to throw rookie Toa into situations that usually required several squadrons of veterans in order to watch them "succeed" in overly complicated and/or incompetent manners.

 

But I digress.

 

"Tell me or I'll ..." The Toa of Water trailed off as she attempted to think of a reasonable threat. "That's it! I'll sink your hut! Tell me everything or I'll sink your hut, your shop and your farm!"

 

It was at this moment that the merchant recovered his wits in order to point a certain flaw in Helryx's "threats".

 

"None of those are even near the coast though," he managed to cough out. "We're a kio inland."

 

That gave Helryx some pause, but logic wasn't something that could stop her so easily.

 

"I'm a Toa of Water, fool! That means I can sink your stuff anywhere!"

 

"... oh."

 

Please note that the events of this story took place far in the past, when the beings known as Toa were quite the new and snazzy thing, and their abilities completely undocumented. It wasn't too far-fetched to assume that some random merchant on a backwards island wouldn't know exactly what a Toa of Water like Helryx's powers entailed. She could be a physical god for all he knew, so really, if she claimed to be capable of sinking everything he knew, it was best to listen.

 

"So are you going to tell me or what?"

 

It was fortunate for the merchant that the second protagonist of this piece, the laziest being to ever grace the universe, finally arrived on the scene (a few bounty hunters had gotten in his way, so he had to deal with them before resuming his scenic walk). Shadow Stealer was admittedly a gigantic jerk, but compared to his hotheaded and probably deranged colleague, he was downright normal. And much to the relief of the Steltian, his first act was to pull Helryx away and allow the merchant some breathing room.

 

"You know," began the bunny-eared Hand member chidingly, "you could've conducted yourself with a little bit more grace? Or is that beyond a 'Toa-hero' like you?"

 

"Mata Nui isn't going to care how I carry this out!" Helryx snapped back, whirling around to face her colleague. "We need the information and from what everyone else on this bloody island says this Steltian is obviously involved."

 

"Because he's a Steltian?" Shadow Stealer's tone was rather mocking. "Didn't think you would succumb to racism, 'Toa-hero'."

 

"That's not what I said! Don't put words into my mouth!"

 

"Whatever you say, 'Toa-hero'."

 

"And stop talking like a Le-Matoran! We have a job to do and I don't appreciate you acting like an Akilini-head!"

 

With those words, Helryx returned her attention to the bewildered merchant, ignoring her colleague's quiet whisper of "racist". He had been silent throughout the entire affair, confusedly glancing from one Hand of Artakha member to the other in a futile attempt at understanding what in the name of Mata Nui was going on. Of course, the moment he felt the Toa of Water's eyes on him, the sense of fear that had gripped his body earlier arrived in full force.

 

"I don't know anything!" he squeaked. "Please don't kill me!"

 

While Helryx may have still followed the Toa Code at this point in time, the Steltian didn't know that was actually a thing, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to fear the reprisal of a being who was capable of filling his lungs with seawater with a single snap of her fingers.

 

"Yeah no that's a bunch of Kane-Ra dung like the dung of those Kane-Ra that your mysterious benefactor sold you," she said, oozing disbelief and contempt. "I'll give you one last chance, or your everything will be ..."

 

She made motion with her left hand that looked somewhat like a madu cabolo being crushed between two rocks. It wasn't a very accurate rendition of what she was going to do the merchant's livelihood, but it got the message across quite well.

 

"Okay okay!" he cried out, bursting into tears. "T-T-There's this guy named A-A-Ancient or whatever! He just turned up one day and sold me these Kane-Ra for cheap! Mata Nui please don't kill me!"

 

You know that awkwardness of watching someone burst into hysterical sobs? Yeah, that was what Helryx was experiencing right now. Who knew that her threats and presence could have such strong effects? Not her at least.

 

"Well," she said to herself, hoping to escape the awkward, "at least we have a name!"

 

"Though if all your interrogations occur like this, 'Toa-hero'," Shadow Stealer butted in, adding his two cents, "then I would not be surprised if the Hand were to be disbanded due to bad PR. I thought you would be a far smoother operator. You 'Toa-heroes' are supposed to be superior, aren't you?"

 

Helryx ignored her colleague's biting comments. He was a jerk anyway. Even if there had been some trouble, she'd gotten the information they had needed, and that was good enough. It wasn't like they would be shut down just because she was a bit awkward with people right?

 

---

 

A thousand years later, the Toa of Water wished she had been a little more gentle with her interrogees. 

[Biff]

Love it!

I like your sarcastic narration.  You should do either a continuation or do something like this with other characters.