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Chapter 1:

Lhikan bent under the Vahki's barrier, where he joined Nidhiki who, was already examining the crime scene.

"Took you long enough," said Nidhiki, not looking up from his work. "It took me ten minutes to convince the Vahki to turn off those stupid red and blue flashing Lightstones. I think everyone can figure out there was a murder here!"

Lhikan smiled at his friend's impatience. "Long day, then?"

"You have no idea," said Nidhiki, massaging his temples. "When I came to this city to fight the Kanohi Dragon, I did not see myself directing traffic for the next couple centuries. I can't believe these Matoran haven't figured out how to drive properly yet!"

Pretending to listen to Nidhiki's rant, Lhikan grabbed a memory crystal out from the survey kit and examined the scene. It was a dark Le-Metru back alley, well out of the way of normal travel around the city. As Lhikan examined each part of the area, he sent the memories into the crystal for future analysis. The victim had blue and green armour and was lying on his back with a long, cylindrical object sticking out of his chest.

"Nidhiki, have you examined this yet?" asked Lhikan, crouching down beside the body.

"No, I've been too busy with the Vahki and the Matoran," said Nidhiki. He then whipped around and yelled, "hey! That's a Toa line, Ga-Matoran! Don't you cross it!" The Ga-Matoran at whom he was yelling squealed and ran away from the yellow band the Vahki had placed around the perimeter.

"Take it easy, brother. She was just looking," said Lhikan, looking up at the Toa of Air. "Why don't you call it a night?"

"I would, but I'm covering for Lokru. This is the third time this week he's been late!"

As if on cue, Lokru appeared out of thin air right in front of him. "Hey guys, I saw the crowd of Matoran and thought I'd take a look."

"Do you have to use your new Mask of Quick Travel to go everywhere?" asked Nidhiki exasperatedly.

"'Course I do. Otherwise I'd be late," said Lokru, winking cheekily.

Lhikan rolled his eyes at the two bickering Toa and took a closer look at the object. Furrowing his brow, he reached into the kit and pulled out a pair of silver tweezers, which he used to pull the object out of the victim. To his surprise, it turned out to be a paper scroll. He unfurled it and saw that, apart from the Matoran's bodily fluids, the scroll was covered in writings and diagrams in a language he was not familiar with.

"Did you just pull that out of the Matoran's body?" asked Lokru in disgust. "How did that get in there?"

Lhikan rolled the scroll back up and straightened up. "They say don't kill the messenger, but this time it looks like the messenger did the killing."

 

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Chapter 2:

Using his powers of magnetism, Lokru lifted the body to take it to the Coliseum for autopsy. At Lhikan's suggestion, Nidhiki went home while the Toa of Fire waited for Naho and Azzat to do the final survey. The Toa of Water and Ice showed up a few minutes later coming from the direction of the chute station.

"I wish we could just jump out of the chutes where we needed to and not have to wait for the station," said Naho. "It would be so much faster!"

"Yeah, but we need to set a good example for the Matoran," said Azzat. "They'll see their heroine jump out of a chute and they'll want to try it too, forgetting that they don't happen to be wearing a Great Calix."

Naho shrugged and set about cleaning the scene with a high pressure stream of water while Azzat scanned the area with his Mask of Detection. Within a few seconds, he tapped Lhikan on the shoulder and pointed further down the alleyway. They walked over until they came to a small pile of dirt and rubble. Azzat picked through the rubble until he uncovered a piece of pale green armour. Lhikan joined him and they unearthed another dead Matoran, but this one had no scrolls sticking out of his body.

"That's no coincidence," said Lhikan, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Do you think we have another Tuyet on our hands?" asked Azzat quietly.

"Mata Nui, I hope not."


***


Lokru came back to take the second body to the Coliseum and Lhikan assembled the city's Toa in Turaga Dume's main chamber a few hours later.

"Two Le-Matoran found dead right next to each other," he said to the nine other Toa. "Jollock, do you know how they died?"

The Toa of Ice who ran autopsy shuffled through a pile of tablets he had before extracting one with his notes on the deceased. "The first one you found died from severe tissue damaged caused by the scroll in his chest."

"Do we know how it got in there?" asked Lokru.

"Well... no," said Jollock hesitantly. "I've examined the body quite thoroughly and there were only exit wounds– presumably caused by you removing the scroll, Lhikan."

"It must have teleported in, then!" cried Nidhiki. "Loads of Matoran carry around Teleportation Disks, it could have been one of them."

"Well, whoever fired the disk must've taken the launcher with them because we didn't find anything to suggest disk-fire by the crime scene," said Lhikan. "Just to be safe, I want Satzu with your Mask of X-Ray Vision and Lokru with your magnetism to check within a 2 kio radius of where the bodies were found."

The Toa of Ice nodded and left the room, while Lokru vanished from sight using his Kualsi.

"And we know it wasn't a Mask of Quick Travel, because?" asked Nidhiki.

"Because we trust our fellow Toa," said Lhikan warningly.

"And besides, no one kills someone with a scroll for a murder they intend," said Cuvim, a Toa of Sonics. "I'm willing to bet that those two Matoran were playing disk toss or some other ridiculous sport when someone fired a Teleportation Disk and things got out of control."

"Maybe, but that still doesn't explain where the scroll came from or the strange wounds of the second Matoran," pointed out Jollock.

"Strange wounds?" said Lhikan.

The autopsy Toa walked over to Dume's video screen and pressed a few buttons until a picture of the second Matoran's body appeared on screen. He then created a long icicle which he used to point at the screen.

"The vic. has three wounds, here, here, and here," he said, pointing to two in his chest and one in his head.

"So he was stabbed, then?" asked Nidhiki.

"No, there was no indication of removal. Whatever made those wounds went right through," said Jollock, turning off the screen. "I was able to find traces of metal in the wounds, so that gives us a clue."

"Alright, you keep working on the bodies, Jollock," said Lhikan. "Cuvim, I want you to check for any reports of missing Matoran as well as Metru Nui's population roster to find out who these two are. The rest of us will patrol the city to see if anyone saw anything or if there are any more bodies."

Everyone turned to leave, but Jollock stopped them. "There's one thing I forgot to tell you," he said. "Cuvim won't find the first Matoran on the population roster– he's not native to Metru Nui."

 

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Chapter 3:

"How could you possibly know which island that Le-Matoran is from?" asked Naho.

"Well, it's easy," said Jollock, shuffling through his research tablets. "He's not a Le-Matoran. He's actually a Matoran of Plant Life. Though, considering his armour colour and where the body was found, the confusion is understandable."

"Then why didn't he have a merchant or tourist tablet with him? You can't get into the city without one," said Cuvim.

"He could've been mugged," remarked Sootli, the Toa of Lightning. "It certainly gives us a motive."

"Okay, here's how I see it," said Wuroo, the Toa of Ice. He activated his Great Mahiki to cast an illusion of how he thought the crime had taken place. The Le-Matoran snuck up behind the Matoran of Plant Life, who was carrying a large sack of widgets. The Le-Matoran then pulled out his disk launcher and told the other one to drop the bag. He did so and the Le-Matoran fired a Kanoka at him anyway, causing him to teleport into a scroll lying on the ground. The Le-Matoran then took the bag from the ground and ran off into the alley.

"Very impressive, but that doesn't really explain where the scroll came from, or how that Le-Matoran ended up dead," said Nidhiki.

"Exactly," said Wuroo, pointing at him for emphasis. "Which is why there was another person at the scene."

"Good work," said Lhikan. "Wuroo, I want you, Azzat, and Sootli to go to the sea gates and check that everything is running smoothly. Also, try to find out who the Matoran of Plant Life was and where he came from. Cuvim, I still want you to find out everything you can about the Le-Matoran. The rest of us will patrol the city, looking for his accomplice."

 

***

 

A few hours later, while Lhikan was searching through the back-streets of Ta-Metru, Lokru appeared right in front of him, causing him to nearly drop his Greatswords in shock.

"Lokru!" he hissed angrily.

"Sorry, Lhikan," he said, shaking the Toa of Fire's shoulder. "Anyway, Satzu and I found the disk launcher as well as three small, warped metal balls. He's analyzing them back at the Coliseum with Jollock, who wanted to see you, actually."

"Thanks, Lokru. Could you check in on the Toa by the sea gates to see how they're doing?"

"Yeah, sure thing," said Lokru, teleporting away. Lhikan combined his two Greatswords, activated their ability to become a flying board, and flew off in the direction of the Coliseum.
 

***

"Any luck, Lhikan?" asked Jollock.

"Not much," he replied. "At least in the Tuyet incident, there was a longer trail of bodies to follow. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that isn't the case this time. Have you heard any news from the others?"

"Yes, actually," said Jollock, leading Lhikan to his lab. "Nidhiki checked in a few minutes ago and asked us to run some specific tests on the metal balls Satzu and Lokru found– which happen to fit the Le-Matoran's wounds perfectly."

"What sort of tests?" asked Lhikan.

"Well, using a special type of crystal, I was able to determine that the wounds were made with Toa elemental powers," explained Jollock.

Lhikan felt uncomfortable about where these conclusions were leading. They soon reached the lab, where Satzu was setting up a Matoran dummy, made from wood, in a portion of the room that had been covered all in white. He placed a glass bowl with three metal balls in it between the dummy and a strange machine that took up most of the wall.

"Now, before you blow up on us," said Jollock calmingly, "we did this just to see if it were possible."

"What do you mean?" asked Lhikan.

"Nidhiki asked us to check whether or not a Toa of Magnetism could have fired the bits of metal at the Le-Matoran," said Jollock. "And since Lokru was unaccounted for at the time of the murder..."

"It wasn't him," said Lhikan firmly.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time a Toa's gone evil," said Jollock.

"It wasn't him," repeated Lhikan. "Do the test anyway."

Satzu activated the machine, which sent a powerful wave of magnetism at the metal balls. They wriggled and shook for a moment, then they flew out of the bowl, sending it smashing on the ground, and shot right through the Matoran dummy. The three Toa walked over to see three holes that very much resembled the ones in the Le-Matoran.

"Lhikan?" said Jollock uncertainly when the Toa of Fire said nothing.

"Get me a glass dish and some iron filings," said Lhikan after a moment's pause. Mystified, Satzu took them out of a nearby cupboard and handed them to the Toa of Fire. "And Jollock, could you bring me the Le-Matoran's body?" Lhikan asked, pouring the iron filings onto the dish and sifting them around until they were evenly spread.

Jollock hurried away and came back with the deceased Matoran on a robotic walking stretcher. Lhikan held the dish over the Matoran's wounds and nothing happened, but when he held it over the dummy's wounds, the filings instantly aligned themselves around the holes made by the metal balls.

"See, the Matoran couldn't have been killed by a Toa of Magnetism because there's no magnetic trace on the metal fragments in the wounds," explained Lhikan.

"A Toa of Iron, then?" said Satzu.

"Precisely," said Lhikan.

Just then, Lokru teleported into the room, looking around wildly. "Lhikan, there's trouble by one of the eastern sea gates!" he said quickly. "Sootli told me to get you immediately!"

"What happened, Lokru?" said Lhikan.

"Two Toa showed up, asking for something called the 'Dedh-see scroll'. When Wuroo said he had no idea what they were talking about, the white Toa froze him!"

"You can't freeze a Toa of Ice!" snapped Satzu.

"Clearly these aren't ordinary Toa," said Lhikan. "You three be on alert, I'll go see what I can do to stop them."
 
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Chapter 4:

Lhikan landed on the black shores of the Great Barrier to find Sootli and Azzat pointing their Toa tools at two Toa who were both armed with spears; one had white armour and the other had blue armour. Like Lokru had told him, Wuroo was frozen in a thick, transparent block of ice nearby. Lhikan leapt off his flying board and separated it back into two Greatswords as he approached the new Toa.

"Are you the leader of this ragtag group?" asked the blue female. "Order your Toa to stand down immediately."

"Stand down," said Lhikan simply. Though as Sootli and Azzat made to lower their weapons, he added, "I was talking to them."

"Do you know we are?" asked the white Toa haughtily.

"By the looks of things, I'd say you're the ones responsible for attacking one of the members of my team," replied Lhikan.

"We are Kualus and Gaaki of the Toa Hagah: elite Toa serving the Makuta of Metru Nui himself," said the white Toa, pointing to himself and his companion respectively. "We have been sent from Destral to investigate the disappearance of the Dedh-see scroll that was stolen from the Brotherhood of Makuta two days ago."

"Your friend there wasn't able to tell us," said Gaaki, gesturing to Wuroo. "Maybe you could tell us something?" she smiled toxically, pointing her spear at Lhikan's head.

"Lower your weapon," said Lhikan, unflinching.

"Give us the scroll!" demanded Gaaki.

Before Lhikan could even blink, Sootli had activated her Great Kakama and whipped around to Gaaki's left. She pointed her arm right at the Toa of Water's neck, electricity crackling all along her gauntlet Toa tool.

"That wasn't a request," she said coldly. Gaaki scowled and lowered her spear.

"Now either tell us what you're doing here or get out," said Lhikan.

"We have reason to believe that a thief who stole a sacred document called the Dedh-see scroll from a forbidden Destral library has tried to smuggle it into Metru Nui," said Kualus.

"I think I know the scroll you're talking about," said Lhikan, "but I'm afraid you can't have it. It's evidence in an ongoing murder investigation."

"You have no right to do this!" cried Gaaki. "The affairs of the Makuta outweigh any crime problem your little city might be having."

"Are you suggesting that theft has become a worse crime than murder?" asked Lhikan with slight incredulity.

"Well– I– we–" stammered Gaaki.

"If you want your scroll back, take it up with Turaga Dume," said Lhikan dismissively.

"Though make sure you register yourselves at the sea gate, first," added Azzat roguishly.

"Register at the– we are the Toa Hagah! We don't need to register!" said Kualus indignantly.

"It's standard procedure," said Sootli sweetly, though the sparks dancing on her gauntlets told a different story.

"The Makuta will not be pleased to hear how we were treated!" warned Gaaki as she and Kualus made their way to the Matoran attendant at the gate.

With a quick jet of flames from Lhikan, Wuroo was free from his icy prison. The three Toa then gave Lhikan their report on the sea gates.

"The Matoran of Plant Life was a merchant named Oritu," said Sootli. "He came to Metru Nui from the island of Stelt, bringing with him a supply of rare ship parts to sell."

"This was yesterday," said Wuroo. "That gives him just enough time to sell his goods in Le-Metru, be walking around in a dark alley with a bunch of widgets, and then get mugged by someone with a Teleportation Disk."

"Now we just need to find out who took the money and what happened to the disk launcher," said Azzat.

"How about a Toa of Iron? Have any of them visited the city recently?" asked Lhikan. "Some tests we did back at the Coliseum suggest one of them could've killed the Le-Matoran."

"No, there hasn't been a Toa of Iron here in years," said Azzat.

"That we know of," interjected Sootli. Everyone turned to her, puzzled. "Well, if he was wearing a Huna or a Volitak, we wouldn't exactly see him, would we?"

"Good thinking. Hopefully, that'll narrow down our search. I'll let the others know what you've found," said Lhikan, preparing his flying board once more. "I want you three to keep an eye on the Toa Hagah. And if you can, maybe even try to knock them down a few pegs."

***

 

Back at the Coliseum, while Lhikan waited for all the patrolling Toa to report in to be brought back up to speed, he went to see how Cuvim was doing at identifying the deceased Le-Matoran. He entered the room with all the information on the city's residents to find the Toa of Sonics sitting across from a Ta-Matoran at a table with the Le-Matoran's mask in between them.

"Ah, Lhikan," said Cuvim as the Toa of Fire entered the room. "Brander here was just explaining to me a new fad that's started up in some parts of the city. Apparently, Matoran are buying extra masks from the mask makers to make themselves harder to detect. That's why it was so hard to identify our second vic."

"But you managed to do it anyway?" said Lhikan.

"Yeah, his name's Tekuvu," said Cuvim, showing Lhikan a stone tablet with the city's information on the Le-Matoran. "He worked with a small repair crew that fixed airships. When he didn't show up for work this morning, his supervisor called the Vahki."

"Brander, could you tell us who made Tekuvu's other mask?" asked Lhikan.

"I guess," said the Ta-Matoran, picking up the Kanohi with the hole through it. "Yeah, this looks like Hakero's work," he said, after examining it for a few seconds. "You can tell by the slightly blackened mouthpiece."

"Would you say that a Le-Matoran buying an illicit mask from a Ta-Matoran would have to know him fairly well?" asked Cuvim.

"If you're asking whether Hakero and Tekuvu were friends, then yes," said Brander.

"Cuvim, could you get the Vahki to bring in Hakero for questioning?" asked Lhikan. The Toa of Sonics nodded and hurried out the door, while Lhikan continued his interrogation.

"Anything else you can tell me about those two?"

"Only that Hakero always bragged about the disk connections Tekuvu could set him up with– you know, for mask making," said Brander.

"Did either of them carry around a disk launcher?" asked Lhikan.

"Well, I know Hakero did," replied the Ta-Matoran. "He usually carried around a... low level Teleportation Disk, I think."

"Did Hakero sell these extra masks to Matoran other than Tekuvu?"

"Not that I ever heard about– this was all under the table, you see."

Lhikan nodded and paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Has Hakero ever mentioned a Toa of Iron or a Matoran of Plant Life?"

"No, I don't think so," said Brander.

"Well, thanks for your help," said Lhikan. He ushered the Ta-Matoran outside and waited for Cuvim to return with Hakero. When the Toa of Sonics did come back, though, he was empty handed.

"Sorry, Lhikan, but Hakero seems to have disappeared," he reported.

"Of course he has," said Lhikan wryly.

 

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Chapter 5:

"So what do we do, Lhikan?" asked Cuvim. "Hakero was our only lead."

"I know, I know," said Lhikan, thinking quickly. "Cuvim, assemble the Vahki and put out a BOLO on Hakero. I'll get all the available Toa to go over the memory crystals to see if we missed anything. Nidhiki and I can investigate Hakero's home to see if we can find out where he went. Had he been missing long?"

"No, that's the thing," said Cuvim. "We might not have found him if Brander hadn't told us about him. Everyone saw him leave the mask making forge at the end of the day and no one's seen him since."

"Kidnapped then?" asked Lhikan.

"Hopefully," said Cuvim darkly. "Otherwise we have another murder on our hands."


***


It was pretty late at night by the time Lhikan had reassigned everyone. Once again, he found Nidhiki already at the crime scene, a Lightstone in one hand and a memory crystal in the other.

"Somebody smashed all the Lightstones in his home," he told Lhikan, who had conjured a flame in his hand to see.

"In a struggle, maybe?" suggested the Toa of Fire.

"It would've had to have to been a pretty precise struggle for only the Lightstones to be smashed and nothing else in the room," said Nidhiki, peering at the shards of broken Lightstone on the ground and recording his thoughts into the memory crystal.

Lhikan looked closely at one of the Lightstone stubs and reached for Nidhiki's survey kit. He took out a small container about the size of his fist and a metal chisel.

"Nidhiki, come over here," he said. "I can't make a flame and do this at the same time."

The Toa of Air brought his Lightstone as Lhikan held the container underneath the cracked Lightstone stub on the ceiling. He stuck the chisel into the base of the cracked crystal and wriggled it a bit until a small mass of metal fell into the container with a loud ping. Lhikan then lowered the container so that he and Nidhiki could see it. The grey metal ball in the container was unmistakably of the same origin of the ones that killed Tekuvu.

"The Toa of Iron?" muttered Nidhiki.

"I'd bet my mask on it."

Lhikan and Nidhiki proceeded to remove similar metal orbs from the other light fixtures. Placing the now full container back into the kit, they set about examining the rest of the room. Hakero's desk was extremely cluttered, with orders for dozens of Kanohi masks. There were also opened paint pots and semi-formed masks lying about the room; clearly Tekuvu was not his only customer.

A look inside an orange, metallic chest revealed a disk launcher loaded with a disk with the code 182.

"Low level Teleportation Disk, just like Brander told us," said Lhikan.

"Wait, did you say 'low level'?" asked Nidhiki.

"Yeah, why?"

"That means that whoever stole the Dedh-see scroll must've been standing near Oritu when he was hit by the disk. Oritu teleports into the scroll the thief is holding, and then we find the body," explained the Toa of Air.

"Which is consistent with the Toa of Iron wearing a Huna or a Volitak– so he's probably is the one who stole the scroll," said Lhikan. "But why would he want to get so close?"

"Maybe he was planning on mugging him, but Hakero and Tekuvu beat him to it," suggested Nidhiki.

"If he was going to attack Oritu, he probably would've done it without skulking around," said Lhikan thoughtfully. "Maybe he wanted information."

"So the Matoran he wants to talk to is killed, he takes it out on Tekuvu, and then tracks down Hakero and kidnaps him?" said Nidhiki.

"Well, it's not much of a motive, but I think we're on the right track," sighed Lhikan. "Nidhiki, could you pass me the survey kit so I can put the disk launcher with the rest of the evidence?"

"I thought you had the kit," said Nidhiki hesitantly.

The two Toa simultaneously turned to the window to see a thick slithering tendril of iron weave its way into the room and pluck the disk launcher out of Lhikan's grasp. It dragged the weapon outside as they vainly tried to grab for it. Then the tendril shot back in through the window, this time grabbing Nidhiki around his middle. He fought to free himself, but it started to smash him into the wall repeatedly. It then constricted the air out of his lungs and went rigid.

Lhikan dashed over to Nidhiki, as he tried to breath under the crushing weight of the metal. Making his hand white-hot, Lhikan slowly sliced through the metal with the edge of his hand. The metal soon became heated to a point where he could pry it open. Nidhiki fell out of the metal's grasp and landed on Lhikan's shoulder, unconscious. The Toa of Fire lowered him to the ground and hurried to the window, but there was no one to be seen.

All the evidence was gone, but more importantly, so was the attacker.

 

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Chapter 6:

The scene in Turaga Dume's chambers was that of utter chaos. Nidhiki kept insisting that he was ready to fight while the other Toa kept asking what they should be doing next to catch Nidhiki's attacker. Suddenly, despite their caretakers' best efforts, the Toa Hagah burst in, demanding the Dedh-see scroll. Eventually, the noise reached a point where, at a nod from Lhikan, Cuvim absorbed all the sound from the room with his powers over sonics. Everyone kept moving their mouths soundlessly for a few seconds until they realized what was going on and stopped. Cuvim cancelled the effect and waited for Lhikan to speak.

"Thank you," said the Toa of Fire emphatically. "Nidhiki, you are going to stay here until you're fully healed. You two," he said, pointing to the Toa Hagah, "you are not part of this investigation. Now get back to the chambers that Turaga Dume has set aside for you in the Coliseum's basement and let us do our work!"

Grumbling, Kualus and Gaaki shuffled off for the Coliseum's elevator, with Sootli, Azzat, and Wuroo in tow.

"Right, then," said Lhikan, rubbing his hands together. "I want all of you– except Nidhiki!– to patrol the city in search of this Toa of Iron. As soon as any of you sees anything, alert the other Toa immediately. Lokru, I want you to have all the sea gates temporarily closed– we can't let him slip away."

 

***

 
After about half an hour or so of searching, Toa Naho's blue Calix appeared on all of Metru Nui's video screens.

"All Toa report to Ga-Metru!" she said. "The Toa of Iron has been spotted with his hostage."

Lhikan activated his flying board and shot off for the northern region of the city as fast as his Toa tool would carry him. Within minutes he reached it, only to find Naho tied to the ground with thick bands of metal, as though they were the roots of a massive tree. She squirmed and writhed trying to get free, but it was not until Lokru showed up that they were able to release her.

"Thanks, brother," she said, as he magnetically tore off the last band of metal. "I'm sorry, Lhikan, he just came out of nowhere. I didn't even have time to–"

"It's alright, it's alright," said Lhikan. "Where's Hakero?"

"Over there," she said, pointing to what appeared to be a metal tumbleweed on the roof of a nearby school.

"I've got it," said Jollock, activating his Great Kadin and flying up to the roof. With a quick burst of ice, he broke through the wiry structure and extracted the orange armoured Ta-Matoran that was inside.

"Did you get a good look at the Toa of Iron?" asked Lhikan.

"No, he definitely has a Huna or a Volitak," said Naho. "He only briefly became visible when he trapped me before taking off."

"Well, we–" began Lhikan, but he stopped as Turaga Dume's Noble Kiril appeared on nearest video screen.

"All Toa must report to the Coliseum immediately!" he said.
 

***

 

The six Toa stepped out of the elevator to find Turaga Dume staring at them crossly, flanked by two smug-looking Toa Hagah. Nidhiki, Sootli, Wuroo, and Azzat all stood behind them, looking rather dejected.

"Lhikan, I expected more from you," said Dume.

"What do you mean, Turaga?" asked Lhikan. "We rescued the Ta-Matoran. He's–"

"I wasn't talking about that," said Dume. "While you were off on your rescue mission, the lab was broken into–"

"And the Dedh-see scroll was stolen!" shrieked Gaaki. "You incompetent fools had our scroll stolen!"

A loud crackle of electricity ran along Sootli's gauntlets. "Come on, Lhikan, let me shock her just this once," said the Toa of Lightning.

"Is anything else missing, Jollock?" asked Lhikan, ignoring her.

The Toa of Ice looked over his desk and checked both of the dead Matoran. "No, everything's here. Wait, something is missing... I had a memo I'd been meaning to give you, Lhikan– about a scratch I found on Oritu's armour consistent with being hit by a Kanoka. Seems the thief took that too for some reason."

"Turaga, on behalf of the Brotherhood of Makuta, I demand that you turn this investigation over to us," said Kualus. "Clearly these amateurs are not suited for the work of elite Toa such as us."

"Really, Lhikan, I wouldn't mind shocking both of them!" said Sootli, a bit more loudly this time.

"Turaga," said Lhikan. "Please give us one last chance. I promise we'll catch who did this and return the Dedh-see scroll."

Dume paused for a moment to consider the matter. The Toa Hagah's smiles slowly grew broader, but he soon made up his mind. "I'm giving you one last chance, Lhikan. Don't make me regret it."
 

***

 

Most of the Toa resumed patrolling the city to find the thief, while Lhikan remained behind at the request of Wuroo.

"I think you might need this," said the Toa of Ice, handing Lhikan an abnormally large memory crystal. "Kualus gave it to me and I've gone through it. It's the Brotherhood's database of Toa."

"Well, maybe the Toa Hagah aren't so useless after all," Lhikan smiled. He took the crystal and searched for Toa of Iron that wore either Huna or Volitak. "Mata Nui! There are nearly twenty of them!"

"Yeah, that was the first thing I looked for," said Wuroo. "But it's a start."

"Something stands out to me about this one, though," said Lhikan slowly. "There's something odd about his fighting style. I'd even go as far as to say that he was trained by a Toa of Plant Life."

"The database also records Toa that they've been associated with," said Wuroo. Lhikan nodded and search for any Toa fitting those descriptions that had worked with Toa of Plant Life.

"I think I've found him!" said Lhikan excitedly. "His name is Ingtar, he wears a Great Huna, he comes from the Tren Krom Peninsula, and he trained under..." Lhikan stopped himself and trailed off.

"What is it?" asked Wuroo. "Who did he train under?"

"A Toa of Plant Life named Dakau," said Lhikan quietly, "who was part of my old Toa team."

 

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Chapter 7:

"So you knew this guy?" asked Wuroo.

"Not directly," replied Lhikan, still clutching the memory crystal in partial disbelief. "Dakau never mentioned the other Toa he worked with."

"Do you know where he's hiding, then?" asked Wuroo.

"No, but I think I know who does," said Lhikan.

 

***

 

The Toa of Fire sat down at the table across from Hakero in a private room. The orange armoured Ta-Matoran looked down at his hands as Lhikan set up a memory crystal to record the interview.

"So, you seem to have had a rough couple of nights, recently," Lhikan smiled.

Hakero did not reply.

"So can you tell me how you know Tekuvu?"

"N-never met him in my life."

"Funny, our expert told us that you made this mask for him," said Lhikan, placing the punctured Kanohi on the table before him.

"Well, I make lots of masks," said Hakero evasively.

"Unregistered ones, though?" asked Lhikan. "If it were me, I'd make sure I knew who I was selling these to, or they might be working for Dume and the Vahki."

Hakero, again, said nothing.

"We also have reason to believe that you were in that alleyway the night Tekuvu and a Matoran of Plant Life named Oritu were killed," continued Lhikan. "We know a low level Ta-Matoran Teleportation Disk was used to teleport Oritu into a scroll that killed him."

"There could be hundreds of disks like that in the city!" said Hakero.

"And yet we found one of them at your home," said Lhikan. "What's strange is that we know a Kanoka was fired in the alley that night and we also know that Tekuvu didn't have access to a Kanoka launcher. Stranger still, Nidhiki and I found a beautiful metallic chest in your home– must've cost a fortune."

The orange Ta-Matoran had stopped looking down at his hands and instead started casting looks at the closed door at the other end of the room. Lhikan stood up and went over to the door, opening it and ushering in Wuroo, who was waiting outside.

"Now, I don't think you earned the money to buy that," said Lhikan. "Otherwise, why would you be making under the table Kanohi? And don't tell me you aren't– I've seen your workbench," he added, when Hakero opened his mouth to object. "Here's what I think happened and my friend, Wuroo, is going to demonstrate using his Mahiki."

As Lhikan spoke, the Toa of Ice brought his narration to life using his Great Mask of Illusion.

"You're down on your luck, for whatever reason, so you decide to start selling some extra masks for some extra widgets on the side. One day, your Le-Matoran buddy, whom you've already sold a few masks, tells you he needs a favour. So you two wait out in Le-Metru until a rich merchant comes by and you blast him with a Teleportation Disk, knowing you'll be able to take his money without doing him any harm. Something goes wrong, though, and the merchant dies. Your buddy grabs his money and is about to run off, when you double-cross him and kill him too. You take the money, and there's your new chest."

"That's not what happened!" said Hakero desperately.

"Well, you'd better tell me what did," said Lhikan, nodding at Wuroo to cancel his illusion and step out of the room. "Otherwise, you're going away for double homicide."

"Alright, alright. I shot the merchant, but I didn't mean for him to die! I swear!" said Hakero, breathing quickly. "This thing just appeared in his chest when he rematerialized and he fell over dead. Then some Toa appeared out of nowhere and fired something at Tekuvu when he went to get the widgets. Then the Toa just disappeared so I went over to Tekuvu and he was dead. I didn't know what to do so I buried him under some loose dirt, took the widgets, and ran. I didn't mean to kill anyone!"

"Was this Toa the same one that kidnapped you?"

"Yeah– well, I think he was. He wasn't any Toa I've seen before," said Hakero. "I was just at home, working on my masks, when something shattered all the Lightstones and I couldn't see any more. Then someone grabbed me and put some sort of blindfold on me. He took me somewhere really windy for a few hours before he left me on the roof in Ga-Metru."

"The Sculpture Fields of Po-Metru," muttered Lhikan, and he hurried out of the room, only to nearly collide with Lokru.

"I know where Ingtar is!" announced the Toa of Magnetism.

"How could you possibly–"

"He just attacked a squad of Vahki in Po-Metru– blew them to pieces! Three more squads were dispatched, but he made short work of them too."

"Get all the available Toa you can find," said Lhikan. "It's time we ended this."

 

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Chapter 8:

Lhikan's team might not have been the strongest, the fastest, or even the most united of Toa teams, but the sight of the seven of them (Nidhiki, Wuroo, and Satzu having stayed behind to manage the Toa Hagah and guard the Coliseum) marching through the city was an impressive one nonetheless. The suns above Po-Metru reflected off of Lhikan's golden armour brightly as he made a hand gesture to Jollock. The Toa of Ice nodded, grabbed Azzat from behind, and flew up into the air with his Great Kadin, descending only a moment later.

"Ingtar's only a few kio away," said Azzat, tapping his Great Elda. "He's using his Huna, but other than that, he has no obvious covering. The Vahki still have him surrounded."

"Very good," said Lhikan curtly.

They continued marching until they reached the heart of the Sculpture Fields. A ring of Vahki stood around what appeared to be nothing, so Lhikan made the same gesture to Jollock. He took Azzat up in the air again, only to quickly fall back to the ground as a thick piece of iron flew up from the desert floor and wrapped around them. The two Toa of Ice sent up a large cloud of sand as they hit the ground, but apart from being unable to move, they seemed unharmed.

"Weapons at the ready!" shouted Lhikan, drawing his Greatswords.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the surrounding Vahki all spontaneously collapsed, as though they had each been crushed by an invisible giant hand. A thick vine of metal suddenly shot out of nowhere at Toa Naho, who was just able to dodge it with her Great Calix. Cuvim sent a blast of sonics at the opposite end of the vine and it fell to the ground. Having lost concentration on his mask power, Ingtar's rust-brown and grey armour faded into view.

Ingtar quickly recovered and sent his power into the fallen iron vine, reshaping it into a large boulder and dropping it on top of Cuvim. The Toa of Sonics was ready, though, and activated his Great Mask of Strength to catch it.

The other Toa had started attacking Ingtar as well, so he quickly threw up a thick metal barrier between him and them. Cuvim made to throw the giant metal sphere away, but Ingtar caught it with his elemental power and remolded it to cover Cuvim's entire body. That did not last for long, though, for Cuvim quickly shattered his prison with a sonic vibration.

The Toa of Iron then shot a band of metal at Cuvim's feet, knocking him off balance. He then drew one of the broken Vahki's arms towards him with his elemental powers and shot its stun staff at him. Cuvim fell over backwards with a vacant look in his eyes, awaiting orders to get back to work.

Lhikan shot a thick stream of flames at Ingtar's wall, reducing it to slag, so the Toa of Iron retaliated with two more metal vines (one from each hand) at him and Naho, who was standing right beside him. Lhikan threw up a shield with his Great Hau and deflected the left vine, causing it to follow the right one after the Toa of Water. Naho nimbly leapt onto the left vine with her Great Calix and then ran along it towards Ingtar.

The left vine quickly shot in to block her, so she merely leapt onto that one instead. For a few seconds, she leapt from vine to vine before firing a high-pressure stream of water down at Ingtar. He quickly withdrew his control of the vines, causing them to freeze high in the air, and created a flat sheet of metal at 45°. The water blast hit the sheet and was deflected right at Lhikan, knocking him off his feet and temporarily disabling his elemental powers.

Ingtar took control of the vines again and managed to grab Naho around her middle with the left one. She tried to pull herself free, but the metal was too thick. The right vine, however, had been forgotten by Ingtar, so Sootli took the opportunity to send a powerful bolt of lightning through it. The electricity conducted through the metal and jolted Ingtar rather badly.

Breathing hard, Ingtar pointed two fingers at the female Toa. Several loud bangs went off and an equal number of small, dark, metallic balls shot at them. Lokru managed to catch them with a field of magnetism and turned his head towards Ingtar with a very steely gaze. He then crushed the metallic balls and shot another wave of magnetism at the Toa of Iron, throwing him high in the air before bringing him crashing to the ground several times. Ingtar tried to shoot more metal vines at them, but they kept getting caught in Lokru's magnetism and would only wrap themselves around him. Lokru slammed Ingtar and his iron cocoon into the ground one final time and held him there as he turned to Lhikan.

"He's all yours."

 

***

 

Lhikan found himself in the interview room again, this time opposite Ingtar. His arms were magnetically bound to the arms of his chair by Lokru, who stood by with his arms crossed in the corner.

"Well, Toa Ingtar," said Lhikan, lacing his fingers and leaning on the table towards him. "You steal a scroll from the Brotherhood of Makuta, you illegally enter Metru Nui, you are implicated in the death of a merchant, you end up killing a Le-Matoran, you kidnap a Ta-Matoran after vandalizing his house, you break into the Coliseum to steal your scroll again, and you attack several members of my team. You'd better have a really good explanation for all this."

 

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Chapter 9:

"Please," said Ingtar, "there's a particular Toa I need to speak with."

"We found your hideout and have taken back the scroll and the other things you stole," said Lhikan. "You're not really in a position to bargain with us."

"It is very important that I speak with Toa Lhikan," said Ingtar, straining slightly against his magnetic restraints.

"You are speaking to him," said Lhikan, tilting his head forward.

"You could be an imposter," said Ingtar quickly. "Tell me, what were you guarding before you came here?"

Lhikan looked up at Lokru, before whispering, "the Makoki stone."

"Very well," said the Toa of Iron, sounding somewhat relieved. "I will tell you everything."

Lhikan checked that the memory crystal was recording properly and then nodded for him to proceed.

"Like Toa Dakau, I came from the Tren Krom Peninsula. He was our only Toa for many years until he got a summons to travel to a distant island. He told us the mission was vital to the universe's safety, so he chose me to be his successor. He made me into a Toa and taught me everything he knew, then he left and we never saw him again. He would send our Turaga messages whenever he could to tell us what he was doing. One of the last ones we got told us that his group had gotten a new member: a Toa of Fire named Lhikan."

"By the Great Spirit," sighed Lhikan, leaning back in his seat. "I always wondered who he sent those messages to."

"After the messages stopped, we all thought he had died– turns out we were right, but I didn't learn that until some years later. A group of Toa came from the north one day to help us fend off some particularly dangerous spider Rahi that had started to appear on our continent. With their help, we were able to get rid of them. Since the northern Toa came from more peaceful lands, they elected to stay with us should the spiders ever return."

"I don't really see what all this has to do with what you've done here," spat Lokru.

"Patience!" said Lhikan.

"I'm getting there," assured Ingtar. "After a few centuries as a Toa team, the other Toa of Iron and Magnetism in our group started vanishing one by one. Fearing for my life, I went to Makuta Gorast to see if she knew anything about what happened, but she said she didn't. That night, I was attacked by a whole horde of the spiders. I managed to kill them all, but I knew they'd be back in greater numbers. Not wanting to endanger the villagers or my fellow Toa, I left. Not having anywhere to go, I decided to investigate the island Dakau had been sent to. All I found were graves."

"Yes, our team was overcome by an army of Frostelus," said Lhikan. "Our leader told me to take the the Makoki stone and run, but someone had already taken it."

"Yes, I learned that much from neighbouring islands," said Ingtar. "So after paying my respects to Dakau's grave, I set out to learn what had happened to my fallen teammates. It took hundreds of years, but I eventually found a tablet on a deserted island that listed all the Toa of Iron and Magnetism in existence. My name was on it– and yours was too, Lokru!"

"What was this tablet?" asked Lokru.

"Some of the names had been crossed off," said Ingtar frantically. "It was a hit list! Someone was killing all the Toa of Iron and Magnetism!"

"That's ridiculous!" said Lokru. "I've been in my share of dangerous situations, but I think I would've noticed someone trying to kill me!"

"What about last week's incident with the malfunctioning Exo-Toa– the one that blew off your old mask?" said Lhikan. "That Po-Matoran mechanic said it had been deliberately sabotaged."

"See? I knew it!" said Ingtar excitedly. "I asked the surrounding islands and they said the one I found the tablet on was near a former site of Destral. I hurried to the Brotherhood's main fortress to see if they knew anything, but they wouldn't even grant me an audience. I spent that night in a Matoran village on a nearby island, only to be attacked by the spiders again! I was desperate, so I broke into Destral to see if I could find anything. They must've found me out, because about twenty Rahkshi came down the hallway towards me. I grabbed the first thing I could see and ran for it."

"What you stole was an item called the Dedh-see scroll," explained Lhikan. "The Brotherhood knows that you took it and they've sent two of their agents to arrest you."

"No! I can't go to the Brotherhood!" cried Ingtar. "I think they're part of this whole conspiracy! Dakau voiced some of his suspicions in his messages and I found some symbols on that scroll that matched some on the hit list! You have to believe me!"

"What about the part where you start killing Matoran, hmm?" said Lokru.

"I thought Lhikan might be able to help me, since he used to know Dakau, so I came to Metru Nui in secret, smuggled aboard some Matoran of Plant Life merchant's boat. It didn't take me long to learn that while he may have traded from Stelt, he was originally from the Tren Krom Peninsula! I was going to ask him in secret if he could give me any news from home, but that's when I noticed it."

"Noticed what?" asked Lokru, but Lhikan held up a hand to silence him.

"The money bag he was carrying had some symbols from the scroll on it! That meant he had had dealings with the Brotherhood! Just as I saw it, though, he was ambushed by some thieves who shot him with a Teleportation Disk. In the split second he was gone, I made up my mind. As I saw him reappearing, I thrust my scroll into his unformed chest. When that filthy Brotherhood servant became solid again, he was dead. One of the thieves saw me, so I had to kill him too. The noise alerted some of your Vahki, so I had to leave without the scroll. I needed to get it back, so I attacked the Toa of Air and kidnapped the Ta-Matoran to get you all to leave the Coliseum. After making short work of your Toa of Water, I broke in and stole the scroll back."

"As well as a memo addressed to me," added Lhikan.

"Oh right," said Ingtar. "I saw your name on it, which confirmed that you were still living here. So I went out into the desert and attacked some Vahki to get your attention, only you showed up with a whole group of Toa, so I had to defend myself."

"Well, you have my attention now. What do you want?" asked Lhikan coldly.

"I already told you! You're the only Toa I know who can help me stop the Brotherhood's attacks!"

"You sicken me," said Lhikan, getting to his feet. "You kill two innocent Matoran and expect me to join you in a rebellion against one of Metru Nui's greatest allies?" He walked over to the door and opened it. "He's all yours, Toa Hagah." Gaaki and Kualus entered the room with their masks slightly in the air to collect the struggling Toa of Iron.

"Lhikan! Have mercy! They'll kill me too!" he screamed as he was dragged out of the room. Lhikan merely crossed his arms and shook his head.

 

***

 

"That's the sad thing about beings like Tuyet and Ingtar," said Lhikan, as he and Nidhiki were sparring in the Great Temple later that evening.

"What do you mean?" asked Nidhiki, parrying one of Lhikan's Greatswords with his Scythe.

"We're given so much power as Toa," explained Lhikan, letting loose three fireballs at Nidhiki, who snuffed them all out with a quick gust of wind. "When we start to think that makes us more important than the ones we protect, we're no better than the ones we're protecting them from."

 

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