CSI: Metru Nui, Entry for Epics Contest #7 Options

[SPIRIT]

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 vandalising 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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[SPIRIT]

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 impostor," 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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