Loophole

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

Laniga groggily rose her head up to look at the cup of coffee, before quickly taking it and devouring all the contents. It may not have been warm, but the rush of caffeine was refreshing after so many hours of constant work.

 

"Go convince the boss to hire some more receptionists, could you?" she asked.

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: It was a calm day for Seryk, mostly because he was in a building, one of the thousands in Central City. It was one of his favourite haunts: The Matoran Universe Museum. It was here, in the company of relics from a world gone by, that he oft sojourned to before venturing into the unknown. Here, with the artefacts of a world he was once supposed to help rule, he had a chance to remember the old days and gather his wits.

 

He was an old man by then, as old as the ancient protodermis items and statues that lingered about his impressive body, a living fossil by anyone's standards. Most of his kind were long dead, leaving him to the devices of the new age. And what newfangled devices they were. It was a fantastic clash of eons, tablets and tools from long ago preserved in vacuum cases and illuminated by electronic lights rather than lightstones. Indeed, there was an exhibit of a lightsone formation, in turn lit by modern technology.

 

Seryk sat on one of the many benches in the museum and looked at a mural. A reminder of a destiny that had forsaken him. A reminder that he was in control of his own paths from that day until his last.

 

He clenched his fist.

[CAPUA]

IC: As the lights came on in the city, the workers of the city crawled out of their beds, exhausted from a previous day of labor started to begin their day. In an abandoned warehouse not far from the Department of Security’s very own HQ, another being was waking itself and going through its own morning procedure.

The metal giant known as Alpha rose from his ‘bed’, nothing more than a jumble of electric cable wires and a hard, metal slab that he lay on while charging his power core. Slowly, the metallic titan ripped the wires from his body and got off the metal slab. He lumbered through the warehouse that he called home, filled with electronic wonders like him, along with less fabulous discarded junk. Alpha had collected all of these devices to ‘decorate’ his home, shortly after the Department of Security had given it too him. The robot didn’t really need a place to stay, just somewhere to charge its battery. This warehouse, in its isolated corner of the city was perfect for just that.

In a corner of the warehouse, Alpha checked his own data to see if his body was operating like it should be. Once his self-check was finished, Alpha opened the large doors to the warehouse, bolts creaking as he pulled it open with ease. Light entered the warehouse, shining on even the darkest corners and scared away several rats. His day was beginning and he’d do it the same as he did every day. He’d start first with his morning patrol searching for any criminals or troublemakers that had the nerve to bother this city this earlier.

With that, Alpha trotted off towards one of Central City’s main roads where he would no doubt find some kind of trouble.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Levacius / Central City / Levacius' Books

 

Levacius looked up as the ancient Agori - three times his own rather impressive age - came into the room. He looked up from his book, his eyes catching the fullness of what Endelig would also see. This area of the library - and, partially, a bookstore, as he would buy and sell certain volumes from time to time - was the central room, and connected to a right and left wing, along with the backroom where he made his residency. This particular room was a rather largish one, and though small by Levacius' standards, it was large for the cramped and industrialized Central City.

 

There was an opening in the center of the circular room. This was where Levacius sat. Coming towards it were forty bookshelves, all lined with surprisingly non-dusty books in a rather dust free place. The dust was, of course, left for the less visited wings of the library.

 

The Toa of Lightning sat down his book and called out, "Well met, Agori. Tell me if there's anything that you want to check out, or if you're interested in engaging in trade. If you want anything from before 456 BRF, talk to me and I'll get you into the east wing. If you're looking for something that's not a book, I have a small museum in the west wing. We're using the Dosne Decimal System, in case you're unsure of which system to use."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Friar Tuck]

IC

 

[streets of Central City; midnight]

 

The whine of my hovercyle quietly hummed in my ears as I raced through the streets, pushing my bike to its max. As I eased the throttle forward I could hear the tiny strikes of the hammers increase in intensity as they stuck the various levitation and increase weight disks hidden within. I had built this thing from scratch, with my own two hands, which meant I knew exactly what she was capable of.

 

The security forces behind me didn't.

 

The wails and sirens followed in my wake, their large and clunky vehicles trying in vain to catch up with mine. Admittedly, they were doing a good job, but I always had a few more tricks up my sleeve, a few more steps ahead of my pursuers. It was lightly raining, and I could feel the cool pitter-patter of the raindrops on my bodysuit, the coolness seeing through the sleek material. Inside of my helmet however it was comfortable as the HUD displayed all critical information regarding my ride, as well as my hidden sensors on my pursuers behind me. The wheeled vehicles were having problems due to the rain, which meant they were no longer a threat, but the other hovercraft were in full chase mode, and surprisingly fast.

 

Huh. Must of gotten an upgrade. Time to up the ante.

 

In the low light of my helmet my full lips twitched a smile.

 

I pushed the handlebars as for forward as they could go, causing my bike to go full throttle. If you could see me at this speed my hovercycle extended to almost twice its normal length, my body in a probe position nearly parallel to the road, my arms and legs hugging the craft. To further accent the uselessness of the chase I dumped a portion of my elemental energy into the carefully-calibrated conductors in the handlebars that would perfectly transmit my electrical energy into the power core itself. Behind me the engines exploded to life, a mass of blue light emanating from the rear; to them I was now nothing but a blue streak that had caused a sonic boom as I cleared dozens of city blocks in merely a second or so. There was but one intersection between myself and the exit, the only obstacle between me and my clean getaway. To most people that would be a suicide mission, for there was no way even I could react in time to dodge traffic.

 

Luckily for me I didn't have to.

 

My mask, which had been on in low power, flared to full life.

 

As I sped like a demon through the streets I could feel the fibers of fate, the essence of possibilities, flow up and around me, tendrilling out in all directions as certain events over the next several seconds began to alter, the chance of things happening twisting to my favor. A power surge in the stoplight timer here. A decision of a driver to slow there. A lack of attention over there. A myriad of possibilities and luck opened up before me, and I mentally pushed certain events to happen, or not to happen. They still could of course, but with the skill of the tampering I had that rarely happened.

 

I was just lucky.

 

As I approached the intersection, an observer would have thought it impossible to drive a speeding bike through it. Yet it was possible. Like a horizontal column of liquid I flowed through the traffic, missing pedestrians and other vehicles by mere hairbreadth's, my bike spinning like a bullet as it flew through it all, never once touching anything, just a blue beam of light that sliced by. By the time I landed I had cleared the city gates, speeding through the outskirts and out into the no-man's land that separated Central City from Ga-Koro-Nui. I was as good as gone, no sign of my pursuers.

 

I had gotten away scot-free, as usual. Still, I heaved a small sigh.

 

Living the life as a vigilante wasn't very glamorous.

 

Despite what the news said, I wasn't a bad guy. I didn't even have a name. I was just a girl who wanted to help people, wanted to aid those that had no one else to turn to. I grew up on those streets, lived most of my young life there, I knew how tough it was for the poor. So in my spare time I took odd jobs, doing what the security forces and the government couldn't do, or more likely wouldn't do. I didn't trust them, and every day I walked the street I was reminded on how little the thought of the individual, all about the big guys at the top, ignoring the pleas of the downtrodden. So I helped when I could, often times skirting the law in the process. I didn't outright break them... or at least many of them... I understood that rules were there for a reason. But when they're unfair, someone has to help those caught under the bus.

 

And I found that was me. Which meant some nights I got chased.

 

I never got caught though. I was just too darned good.

 

And lucky.

 

As I eased off on the throttle I gazed at the rising walls of Ga-Koro-Nui, tired and eagerly expecting the warm bed that awaited me...

 

[Ga-Koro-Nui, Aishta's Grarge; next morning]

 

ERRR... ERRR.. ERRR... ERRR-

 

zapPOP!

 

My manicured finger hovered at the source of the noise, sparks still dancing around it, as I heard pieces of alarm clock fly about the room, hitting the walls and raining down onto the carpeted floor. The rest of me was buried under blankets, not to be seen. I groaned, not wanting to wake up, then sighed. I lost more clocks that way... maybe I shouldn't stay out so late...

 

But I had a business to run. And if things went as they usually did I would be opening late.

 

Tossing my blankets aside I rose to a sitting position, staring at the dresser across the room, a large mirror sitting on top of it. I humphed.

 

Spirit, I look like a disaster.

 

Good thing I wasn't trying to impress anyone with my looks today. That made me laugh; I hadn't been on a date in years. Not like I had the time.

 

Alright, get up, shower, eat, re-schedule the repairs, pay the dock worker, beat the money out of the loser that owes me for his truck, take new projects-

 

I fell right back in bed. Just five more minutes...

Edited January 2, 2013 by Friar Tuck

[Snelly]

IC: Sankin - Matoran Universe Museum, Central City -

 

Seryk wasn't the only one who was taking a trip down memory lane. Today I had decided to pay the place a visit, I wasn't sure why I bothered though, all it did for me was bring back memories that simply aggravated me. My doctor said that was the one thing I didn't need.

 

But I didn't care, I didn't have to follow his orders, or anyone's. As I went past a group of Matoran and Agori tourists they got very, very silent. My eyes narrowed a bit as I stopped dead in my tracks. The look I say in their eyes was something I was used to, it was the look of fear, disgust, and if I was lucky, pity. They always saw me as some sort of monster, I was one of those. Just a poor unlucky soul that had lost herself to the Hordika venom. My kind weren't exactly what you'd call common, not with the extinction of the Visorak oh so long ago. But we still had a certain...reputation for being uncontrollable brutes, intelligent beings combine with the rage and ferociousness of a rahi.

 

I let out a snort of defiance against the looks and simply continued on my way, as if to prove what I knew they were thinking as a falsehood. I wasn't the uncontrollable monster the media made me out to be, I was still a Toa, even if I didn't look it.

 

Alright, I'll admit that I had my share of...incidents. But I had never outright killed anyone...that didn't have it coming anyway. It was their own fault giving me a reason to lash out, once they ticked me off well...whatever happened next I never held myself responsible for. I almost never remembered what happened afterwards, it would become all but a blur in my rage.

 

​I finally arrived at the exhibit I had come to see. Here they had an actual Visorak. No it wasn't alive, it was simply preserved, a Keelerak to be precise. It was posed in such a way that it looked like it was about to pounce upon it's prey...

 

I shuttered, remembered the sharp tinging of when a Visorak a lot like this one had taken me by surprise, it had injected me with it's venom before I had even time to think...

 

I stopped as I felt myself tensing up, my heart rate had increased rapidity, I turned away from the exhibit, I couldn't let myself lose control...not here, or they might forbid me to even so much as enter this museum...or put a muzzle on me, they had threatened to do that before... multiple times.

 

I walked away from the exhibit quickly, looking for a bench, I just needed to sit down for a while and then I'd be fine.

 

Unfortunately, the closest bench I could find was already taken, but a being who's species was almost as rare as mine. It was one of the Primes. He was sitting on the bench, looking a mural with his fists clenched. Maybe I wasn't the only one with anger issues around here.

 

For some reason I felt the urge to actually speak to him, something I could honestly say never happened to me, I never bothered to speak to anyone unless spoken to.

 

But this time, I broke that self-inflicted rule. "Thinking about that past?" I asked casually as I stalked up toward him.

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: "Thinking about that past?" someone said.

 

Seryk didn't think anything of it for a few seconds and instead just looked at the mural as if trying to will it to life. But the footfalls came closer to him and he finally gave the person a look. It was a Hordika; some wolf-esque toa. "Aye," he said. "The past wi'll niver have again."

 

He nodded to the Hordika nobly before turning back to the mural, which depicted ancient Xia, before the time of The Mountain. It was a stranger Xia; the factories and skyscrapers occupied all of the land instead of just the coastlines. It seemed almost alien, even to those who could remember it, like Seryk. "The Makuta got you, too?" he asked, knowing the origin of the Visorak and what they did.

[Snelly]

IC: Sankin - Matoran Universe Museum, Central City -

 

I couldn't help but look at the mural myself, I knew well enough what it was, Xia. Of course that last time I had even seen Xia I had nearly been sold as a pet to some Vortixx with a obsession with exotic creatures, it had ended poorly...for her.

 

"The Makuta got you, too?" the Prime asked. I sighed gruffly. "You could say that yes."

 

I took the fact that he wasn't outright wary or otherwise repulsed by me as reason enough to sit down on the bench besides him, still leaving plenty of space between us. "At least those spiders are as dead as the past is." I said without any lack of spite for the Visorak.

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: "It's a Pyrrhic victory, though," Seryk observed. "The war was won but we lost the world. This world..." he said, jerking his thumb to his back, opposite the Xian mural, "... has no place for people like me. My place was there."

 

It was somewhat rare for someone as obviously cultured and impressive as Seryk to seem lost in a mood, but there he was, Seryk, a Prime, previously a commander of an army and master of war, a man who had lived with the belief that he and his kind were supposed to be regents for a Great Spirit and keepers of order in an entire universe, left to just... think about what life could have been. Despite his appearance, he could not seem to get over the fact that the new world he inhabited had no plans for him.

 

"And now it puts me here. Feh. What's yer story?"

[Dual Cee]

IC Mayhaka

 

He checked his computer in the hope there would be some evil activity around the city, it was starting to get boring having nothing to do.

 

OOC: Open for interaction

 

IC Chimlako

 

He had finally accompliched it, he had made a working(OOC: Not working) Time Machine, he pulled the lever of the Reverter 4 and the machine started draining all the energy he had stored in the two giant batteries next to him.

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Mata Magna / Western Police Department / Laniga's Desk

 

Tenko flashed Laniga a broad smile, as he leaned against her desk, already digging into his own coffee. Now, for anyone out there who hasn't tried it, police coffee isn't great, but it delivers more than enough caffeine to fuel your standard cop for a few hours. Tenko himself had met enough co-workers who believed that the government modified it for specifically. Although, whenever he asked 'why', they would stumble around looking for a valid answer that didn't make them sound crazy. Well, crazier.

 

"Now, c'mon Lani," the detective replied in a mock-pleading voice, "With more receptionists, I'll have so much less time to annoy you."

 

-Void

[Relapse]

IC-Houren"Okay, I need to admit something to you all." I looked around the house, noticing something strange. The furniture was gone. I was sure I'd seen it when I walked in- most people generally did have some. She had not a couch, nor a chair, and if I checked the bedroom (relax, I didn't) I imagine I would find it was suffering from a bad case of no bed.That gave me a headache."One of you, or one of the people we will meet today is a criminal. They don't know it yet, but one of us is going to do so egging unspeakably horrible in the past. If we stay out of trouble, we may be able to avoid it."I smiled that charming smile that let my everyone know I had no intention of staying away from trouble."Now, we need to go a police department, a museum, and... Hmm, I think that may be all."A table blinked out of existence in the corner of my eye, silent but for the sound of what it was formerly holding falling to the ground.

[Snelly]

IC: Sankin - Matoran Universe Museum, Central City -

 

"It's a Pyrrhic victory, though," Seryk observed. "The war was won but we lost the world. This world..." he said, jerking his thumb to his back, opposite the Xian mural, "... has no place for people like me. My place was there."

 

I couldn't help but nod at this. This world had no place for a 'savage' like me who was for all intents and purposes a Rahi in every way save my mind. In this way we were alike, neither of us truly fit in or belonged to this world, there was no longer a place for us.

 

"And now it puts me here. Feh. What's yer story?"

 

I took a moment before I gave an answer. It had been a very long time since anyone had even shown the slightest interesting in hearing my story. "I was a part of a team of Toa that protected the Southern Continent, or at least tried to..." I said a bit gruffly, trailing off before continuing. "...it was a rather large team, eighteen of us at one point. Though the large number made sense considering how big the Southern Continent was, and we only patrolled but a small sector of the continent. Anyway, things were alright for many years, we did our job well, we protected the Matoran villages without much incident, any real threats that we came across were quickly pacified."

 

The next part of the story I knew would probably cause my emotions to flare up, I mentally prepared myself for it, didn't want to go all berserk on this guy after all. "That was until...the Visorak came. At first we were able to fight them off when they attacked one of the small villages. But their numbers only began to increase. We had to split the team up in order to keep all the villages safe. I ended up with just two other Toa to back me up. Reegas and Vilon"

 

I paused as I practically relived the memory in my mind, I could still remember even the smallest details, even after all these years. "Then, Reegas got grievously wounded by an acid Rhotuka. I...volunteered to stay behind while Vilon fled the village with Reegas to get him medical aid. Vilon had a mask of speed so it made sense."

 

My expression darkened. "Though as you probably have already guessed, I was quickly overrun. The moment one of those bloody spiders got the jump on me I knew it was over, or at least that's what I thought. Instead of death, I found myself in a cocoon, and when I emerged I was well...Hordika." I gestured to myself as I said this.

 

"I managed to get back to my team, who had all regrouped in the main village, at the time I still looked enough like my former self that they knew it was me, but they never looked at me in the same way. They accepted me at first, and we managed to drive the Visorak away with our combined efforts. Though over time, my 'condition' as they so delicately called it began to worse, they said it made me unstable, unpredictable, volatile, dangerous..."

 

I clenched my fists unconsciously as I continued. "So they drove me away...and the rest is history, I've been a lone ever since, watching myself become more of a Rahi than Toa with each passing day." I stiffed a bitter laugh, very little of me even resembled a Toa now, only thing I had left was my mind, I was just waiting for that to disappear too.

 

I looked at Seryk, "Sorry if that was a longer story than you bargained for. Feel free to talk my ears off in return."

Edited January 2, 2013 by Snelly

[Krayzikk]

IC: Tieran, Central City

 

Tieran's footsteps sounded quietly in the early morning hours, as the Kra-Toa walked through the streets toward his place of work. The sun had risen a scant hour or two before, and while there were people present outside, there were not nearly as many as the horde that would soon be present.

 

He preferred to avoid that crowd, and travel to work before it began, and come home after it had abated.It wasn't that he disliked people. In fact, he was rather fond of them, or at least he had been. But in recent years, he had learned that more people meant more of a chance for conversation, and more conversations meant more of a chance at letting something slip.

 

Because you see, Kra-Toa are not well regarded. They never have been. In fact, they're universally considered to be the definition of evil. And while there is some truth to that, there are far more evil ones than any even approaching good, it is not entirely accurate. Being devoid of moral light doesn't automatically make you evil, he had found. It simply removed your natural inclination toward good. But someone used to doing good could cope without that, and continue on with relatively normal behavior.But alas, this is not something most know or even care to find out. And it is for that reason that Tieran chooses to hide in plain sight. After all, his armor already looks similar to that of an Onu-Toa's, posing as one was quite easy. He merely had to remain careful not to use his powers.

The Kra-Toa whistled cheerfully to himself, hands in the pockets of his suit coat, his green eyes looking about the street. It was shaping up to be a good morning.

 

OOC: Tieran open for interaction.

[Voltex]

IC: "Endelig", Central City - Levacius' Books:

 

"Well met indeed, youngster. Finally, someone on this blasted planet who has some manners."

 

The Agori lifted a hand up, and a finger drifted lightly across several books on the nearest shelf. The finger pulled away to rest directly in front of the Agori's eye, and upon inspection, it was found that there was no dust to be found - yet. The Agori decided to chance it and took a deep breathe, sighing with satisfaction when he did not immediately keel over and stop breathing.

 

"I don't believe I shall be needing anything today. I was simply... curious about your library here." the Agori said, his voice rough from both age and disuse. "It has been many years since I stepped foot into Central City, and the last time I was here, my library was the only one around."

[Dual Cee]

IC ChimlakoThe machine started working, a portal opened, but this time he had learned. Instead of getting in himself he trew a small rock in, the machine started to shake and exploded releasing a cloud of smoke from his small house in the borders of the city.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Levacius / Levacius' Books

 

"It took me a while to set this one up. Mostly I just needed somewhere to settle down. I've got a book somewhere around here with a full catalog of my list of adventures here on Spherus Magna before I came to settle down here."

 

He stretched. "Not that I'm exactly house bound. I still go out from time to time. Used to, more... but I haven't had contact with my companions for some time."

 

OOC: Who's in Ga-Koro-Nui for me to torment right now?

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Voltex]

IC: "Endelig", Central City - Levacius' Books:

 

"Somewhere to settle down, eh?" the old Agori gave a raspy chuckle. "That is certainly something one such as I wishes they could do, but nay, it is simply not my place. I must travel always, for no book nor living being will give me the answers I seek. And if there are... well, I suppose those nimrods that fancy trying to mess with time might know, but I have not the strength to make them tell me."

 

Pausing in his somewhat rambling speech, the Agori noted the title of the book that Levacius was reading - however, he did not say anything. It was doubtful the Toa had much access to anything but books on the subject.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Levacius / Central City / Levacius' Books

 

"As far as I'm concerned, and as far as what I've read, I doubt that any of them will find any success with their involvement with time. But perhaps..."

 

He shrugged. "I can respect another traveler spirit. But it's been a very, very long time since I've rested. Scientist... conqueror... king... exile... smuggler... adventurer... hero... and now librarian."

 

"I wonder, though, why you are so uncertain about finding your answers. Any question can be answered, if you merely open your eyes and your mind."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

"You'll find a way to annoy me while I'm at home instead," she muttered, putting down her empty cup.

[Silvan Haven]

Kaelen- Ga-koro-Nui

 

IC: Bright sunlight bathed the streets of the city as the part Toa of Light made his way to one of the several garages on his list. He following up a hunch on the vigilante case he was currently working. Apparently, the subject had manged to outrun a dozen different units last night and speed through heavy traffic on a hoverbike. Anyone who capable of building such a vehicle must have been an Artakha in the workshop and the list of such beings was rather short.

 

One such being ran the garage that he had arrived in front of during his musings. Knocking on the door, the pale Toa called out, "Aishta? This is Detective Kaelen of the Mata Magna Security Department. I have some questions if you don't mind."

Edited January 3, 2013 by Silvan Haven

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

OOC: There's one.

 

IC: Griulth / Ga-Koro-Nui

 

Kaelen suddenly felt the hand of a Matoran reaching up - and by reaching up, I mean reaching up - to grab his shoulder from behind, as a strangely dressed Le-Matoran declared, "Bright-day detective, are ya current-open taking any cases?" in his heavily slurred voice.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Silvan Haven]

Kaelen- Ga-koro-nui

 

IC: It took him a second to decipher the Le-matoran's accent, it was thicker then he was used to. After just long enough to make it into a slightly awkward pause, Kaelen replied.

 

"It depends on what your problem is friend. I'm in the middle of something right now, but I might be able to help once I'm done if you tell me what your problem is."

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Griulth / Ga-Koro-Nui

 

"Mah huge-big painting! Ah went safe-home, and canna' seek-find mah painting! I need tah quick-return mah painting."

Griulth had no concept of an indoor voice; an outdoor voice, if such a thing exists, was equally out of the picture.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[CAPUA]

IC:

 

Ching. Ching Ching.

 

Metal met rock as the conglomerate of Matoran and Agori miners swung their pickaxes with all of their might. Once their axe met stone, they took two seconds to breath before repeating the action again. They continued to do so until the stone was broken and the valuable minerals could be loaded and sent back to Central City. It was back-breaking labor, but they paid good money and their weren’t that many jobs in the city. So off they went, slamming their axes until stone, wiping their brows and continuing on. Overseeing them was another Matoran like themselves, along with an Agori. He held no axe, simply a miner’s helmet and a clipboard. He was the boss man, the guy who controlled this operation. However, even he had a boss to report back to. That was the rich company who was so interested in digging deep into the earth for rocks. The boss’s eyes scanned the clipboard and a frown formed on his face. One of the miners was missing, no.. not just one, two.

 

“Has anybody seen Kuvari and Haron?” He shouted to the miners who merely grunted in response, too focused on their own work to care about some other workers who had decided to wander off. One of them spoke up, though, using it as an opportunity to take a break.

 

“They went down the tunnels!” He told the boss and pointed towards a dark, ominious tunnel. The boss’s eyes narrowed as he stared into the tunnel, seemingly pertubed.

 

“Thank you…” He muttered. “Now back to work!” Yelling once again and the steady sound of axes started up again. “Hold this…” He told his Agori assisstant, handing him the clipboard. He reached up and turned on the light in his helmet. “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, send five of the guys down to get me.” The Agori gulped and nodded as his boss walked towards the tunnel and before entering, grabbed one of the pickaxes that weren’t currently in use. Better safe, then sorry…

 

---

 

“Man, I don’t think anyone has ever been this deep in the tunnels before…” A voice echoed throughout the underground cave that they were in. Two nervous-looking Matoran walked through the darkness, their helmet lights were the only thing showing them their path. They hadn’t intended to go this far in the tunnels, but curiousity is a very enticing thing. Once they had entered the tunnels and discovered that it was endlessly deep, they wanted to try and find the end of the cave. They had always been like this, since the day they were born. Explorers, they used to go through every inch of their backyard’s in the suburbs, searching for anything new they could find. Once they had even dug a hole in the the back of the yard much to their parent’s distress. They had quote, “We wanted to dig to the center of the earth.”

 

Kuvari eyes scanned the walls, looking for anything. “So why do you think they don’t allow us down here?”

 

“Who knows… Maybe they’re hiding something down here! Maybe, even bodies!” Haron joked. Although it was clearly supposed to be a joke, Kuvari shivered. Haron cast him a look and shook his head, “Lighten up, man! This is fun remember! Exploring the underground caves of the desert!” He bellowed, his voice bouncing off the walls.

 

Kuvari put his head down and simply stared at the ground beneath his feet as they walked through the tunnels. “I guess…” He muttered, somewhat unsure of this whole adventure.

“KUVARI! HARON!” A voice boomed throughout the tunnels causing both of the Le-Matoran to jump. They whipped around and looked in the direction from where they had came from. Both of them knew that voice for it was burned into their ears from all of the yelling when they were walking all day. The boss had came down to the tunnels to look for them.

 

“Karz!” Haron cursed. His eyes darted around the cave, searching for someway to hide. It was then that he had noticed Kuvari wasn’t standing besides him anymore. “Kuvari?” He asked, nervously looking around for any sign of his missing friend. The only thing that he saw was darkness, though.

 

“Haron…” A voice whispered causing the Le-Matoran to jump again, startled by this. “Over here…” The voice beckoned and Haron raised an eyebrow. The voice was coming from what appeared to be a small crack in the wall, the perfect hiding place. It was so small that only another Matoran could squeeze in it. Haron smirked as he realized what this meant.

 

“Kuvari…”

 

Sliding into the crack, Haron entered what seemed to be almost like an entirely different world. He was standing in a circular room and Kuvari himself stood in the center, staring up at the top in awe. Haron immediately noticed how tall the walls where. They stretched far and were like giants to the Matoran. As his eyes tracked the wall’s ascent, they reached the roof and he discovered what Kuvari was so impressed by. There was a mural. A beautiful one in fact, carved into the roof by a master artist judging by the quality of the work. Neither of them were exactly art critiques, but it looked like one of the paintings that were in the Central City musuem. The mural showcased giant Toa-like beings, throwing spears through each other’s bodies. Dark red coloring had been smoothed across the roof, most likely to represent blood. The strange thing was that the coloring almost eemed to be actual blood. The thought made Haron him pertubed. Something wasn’t right about this place. He couldn’t figure out whether it was the savage drawings of Toa murdering each other or the canister that Kuvari now stared at.

 

Kuvari had moved from the center of the room and into one of the corners where an ancient-looking, Toa-sized canister was pushed. It was the only thing in the dark room and he was seemingly hypnotized by it. Above it were letters written in the Matoran lanquage, although they were ancient and rustic, perhaps an early version of the lanquage. They were incapable of translating it besides a few letters. Haron and Kuvari realized that whatever they were looking at… it was ancient.

 

“KUVARI! HARON!”

 

The boss’s voice boomed through the caves once again and dust seemed to fly off everything in the room. Kuvari hit the canister from jumping too hard, causing it to fall over.

“Karz.” Both of the Le-Matoran said at the same time.

 

The canister now had several cracks in it, easily breakable due to it’s age. It was a testament to the creator that it was still intact at all. However, when Kuvari had knocked it over, he had also realized something. The canister was not hollow.

 

“We should probably get out of here…” Kuvari told Haron, uncomfortably looking around at his settings. He took another glance at the mural of blood and then said, “Yeah, we should absolutely, positively, without a doubt get out of here.”

 

Haron shook his head. “And risk getting yelled at by that twit? Yeah, I’ll take my chances with that instead…” He then started to teach forward the canister, pulling at it’s lid. Kuvari’s hand grabbed him and stopped from pulling the lid all the way off.

 

“What the karz are you doing!” He shouted. “You don’t know what’s in that thing!”

 

“Well, it can be more worse then me…” The two Le-Matoran whipped around in fright as another person had entered the chamber. Their boss stood their, angrily wielding a pickaxe like some kind of deranged miner.

 

Haron frowned. “Please promise us that you won’t butcher our bodies and hide the parts in this cave…"

 

“No, I’ve got something worse for you two. Consider your jobs gone, you broke the main policy.”

 

“But-“ Kuvari protested.

 

“NO! It’s company policy not to go this far into the tunnels! You broke a major rule! These caves are known for collapsing on ignorant miners like yourselves! You could’ve been hurt!” He roared at the two, angered by their ignorance. He shook his fist and his eyes went over to the canister. “All just so you guys can play with… well, what is that?”

 

Haron turned to the canister and was about to answer his boss’s question when he noticed something that unsettled him greatly.

 

The lid to the canister was off.

 

Kuvari gulped, the sound echoing throughout the cave.

 

“Well what is it?” The boss demanded.

 

 

“We don’t know…” Haron muttered. All three Matoran’s eyes widened as a long arm came out of the canister, followed by another arm. They were then started to claw at the ground, pulling themselves out of the canister slowly. The Matoran did nothing but watch in horror, their bodies frozen in place seemingly. Eventually, the head of this creature was revealed. It wore some kind of ancient, blue tribal helmet like the ones that Glatorian wore. On the sides of it’s helm were wings. The being’s torso followed after that, blue and golden armor it wore. Once the top of it’s body was out, the thing started to crawl to get the rest of it’s body out of the canister. Soon, the entire thing was free and it lay on the floor of the ancient room, weakened and ancient. It’s body was long and slender, a giant-looking thing. It also had fins, along with webbed fins as if it were some kind of fish. The thing was no fish though, for after a few seconds of stillness, it pushed itself up and began to walk, albeit slowly. Now that they could see it fully, the thing… ugly as it was, it appeared to be a Toa.

 

It paced back and forth in the cavern, stretching out it’s long legs and arms as if having woken up from a long sleep. It paid no mind to it’s petrified audience, instead the being cracked it’s back. Then it noticed them. Cold, blue eyes turned in the Matoran’s direction, staring into their very souls.

 

“Kneel.” It commanded.

 

“What?” Haron asked, but Kuvari just grabbed him and forcefully pulled him down to the ground, along with him and their boss.

 

“I AM TOA KILAYOX! I HAVE AWAKEN TO FULFILL MY GLORIOUS DESTINY IN THE HONOR OF MATA-NUI!”

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Western Police Department

 

With a fake pout, Tenko clapped Laniga on the shoulder, "You're really killing me here, you know that?"

 

Suddenly, the Toa of Air broke out into a smile, "Anyway, I've gotta get going - as much as I hate to leave you. If anyone asks for me, send me a message and I'll be back as soon as I can."

 

-Void

Edited January 3, 2013 by Emissary to the Void

[- JL -]

OOC: Switching to first person. :/

 

IC: [JL - A house that might now be sold for quite a lot of money]

 

I couldn't meet his stare. As soon as I focused on Houren's face, my eyes would stray, to the wall behind him, to the windows on the right, to the floor Houren was standing on. Which sucked - Either because of nervousness or my eyes being used to computer screens, he disliked focusing on Houren's face.

 

That sounded offensive.

 

Either way, he was staring at a table when it apparently disappeared into nothing, leaving something to drop on the floor. Confused as to who would teleport furniture except for the moving company (In which case, wouldn't this be theft?), he walked over, and looked down upon what was dropped.

 

"What is this? Come, take a look. Oh, and screw evil criminal masterminds for tomorrow, too. We live in the present." I realized that saying these words in front of Houren wouldn't be really nice, but, as I said, just live in the present.

Edited January 3, 2013 by JL v2

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

Laniga nodded. "Gotcha."

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Western Police Department

 

Already walking backwards through the front door, Tenko took a moment to stop, arms spread wide, a more serious expression on his face.

 

"Uh, you wanna come with. I mean, it's not very busy around here; I don't think anyone'd notice if you were gone..."

 

-Void

Edited January 3, 2013 by Emissary to the Void

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

"I'm the only receptionist still active," she replied, shaking her head. "I can't ditch my post."

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Western Police Department

 

The detective took a quick look around, before replying, "I think we may be the only two people here..."

 

-Void

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

"You mean other than our colleagues who are doing paperwork inside?"

[Relapse]

IC-Houren"Hmm. Keep in mind that the criminal may be you. Wouldn't that be funny?" I grinned, bumping JL on the shoulder. "Anyways, we'd better go to the police department. She'll be there."-----"Uh, you wanna come with. I mean, it's not very busy around here; I don't think anyone'd notice if you were gone...""You're fired." I stared him down. There was nothing but cold in my eyes as I dealt the punishment. I turned to the receptionist. "Can I borrow you for just a second?"

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Western Police Department

 

Bam. "You're fired." Two words that delivered worse punishment than I had ever seen out there in the world. Ouch.

 

I closed my eyes for a moment, composing myself, and trying not to collapse into hysterics. Deep inside, I'm pretty sure I knew he was right.

 

"Very well sir," I replied, "It's been an honour working with you."

 

And I turned for the door.

 

-Void

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

"There's a lot of paperwork to go through when you sack someone like him, sir," said Laniga. "And you have to provide him with his final pay-check as well."

[Relapse]

IC-HourenUgh. Paperwork. What a bore."Kidding! I'm kidding. I hate my job just as much as you guys." I called after him. The detective slowly turned back. "In fact, I may need you for something."

Edited January 3, 2013 by Relapse

[Void Emissary]

IC: Tenko Ranaaki - Western Police Department

 

Once again, I fought very hard to keep from going into hysterics. Fortunately, it worked, since, if I had broken down, I probably would've fainted out of sheer relief. Instead, I managed a weak grin.

 

"I-I knew that, sir," I began nervously, before quickly switching to my professional side, "Anyway, what do you need, sir?"

 

-Void

[Relapse]

IC-Houren"Call me Houren, please."I took out a cigar and lit, before choking up and throwing it in the cigar. How do people stand those things?"I need your detective skills, good man. This-" I gestured to the Toa of lightning beside me, "-is JL. Then there's-" I looked at my friend, frowning, "-what's your name again?"

[25K Now!]

IC: Laniga - Western Police Department

 

Laniga silently gestured to the incredibly obvious 'No Smoking' sign on the wall.

[Light]

IC: For all the time he'd known Delan, you'd think Houren would remember his name. "Delan. Nice to meet you all."