Things were going bad, really bad. Honestly, when Yttirum was first assigned this mission, he had expected it to go so…
Actually, how did he expect this would go? Did he honestly think this was going to be easy? They were just going on a fun little jaunt towards “Bota Magna” to find the missing Toa Mahri.
"You know one thing that’s really funny.” Artillery: Their situationally paralyzed Toa of light finally spoke up. He hadn’t said anything since their meeting with Irnakk, in which he decided the best course of action would be to attack him by himself against five fully trained toa, dozens of skakdi, and the full power of the gold-skinned reality warper. Unfortunately, the ordeal hadn’t managed to kill him. "I’m pretty sure the Toa Hagah got this job in the original timeline.”
“Could you stop with your ‘Im FrOm An AlTeRnAtE uNiVeRsE’ story already? You’re not in the slightest bit interesting, and frankly, your insistence on that story just makes you seem desperate.” Neriex chimed in. She was currently tugging at her chains, desperately hoping to draw upon some strength none of them currently had at the moment to break free. And to be frank, Yttirum kind of admired that tenacity. For how foolhardy and abrasive… and idiotic, and narcissistic, and egotistical, and… sorry, had he been complimenting her just now?
“Rude. Well, you know, at least I’m trying to get us out of here! I’d like to see you do better.” Yttirum responded to Neriex’s psionic intrusion with a sharp glare. The entire time she had been loudly attempting to escape, Yttirum had been focusing on coaxing the metal chains that currently bound them to the cell into his control. It was slow going. After all, Yttirum had exhausted most of his abilities during the fight with the rogue Toa Mahri and Taox.
Artillery lifted his head off of the floor, a maneuver that took quite a bit of effort on his part. “So is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the short stack over here?” The Toa of light tilted his head toward their cellmate. What appeared to be a matoran clad in white and black armor sat beside their paralyzed ally; unlike the others in the cell, he was not chained to the wall and seemed less than willing to converse. Yttirum was caught off guard, as he hadn’t noticed the matoran when they had been thrown in this cell.
“I can’t read his mind; I would’ve noticed him sooner if I could.” Neriex spoke up, brushing off the surprise of the turn of events as she tugged at her cabins once more. Yttirum assumed she only did this because it gave her some sense of control. mostly because, as before, she hadn’t made a lick of progress on freeing herself.
As if reading his thoughts, the Matoran turned to Yttirum. “You spend your time psychoanalyzing your teammates, while your time would be better spent on freeing yourself.”
“The plot thickens!” Artillery screamed out as he rolled over to face the ceiling of the cell. Clearly, Artillery was just trying to bring the group’s attention back to him.
“What did I just tell you?" The matoran spoke up again. Yttirum froze. The first time the newcomer spoke, he wrote it off as a coincidence that this matoran somehow knew what he was thinking, but now? “You wonder how I know what you’re thinking? And I ask you, Do you really think one of your creators wouldn’t know how his own creations think?"
The Toa looked back and forth between the matoran and Artillery before speaking up. “What are you talking about?” Yttirum questioned the new addition to the group.
“He’s a great being, dip ■■■■■.” Artillery answered “a very short one at that. Decided to possess the body of a matoran so you can fulfill some personal vendetta?” The Toa of light’s arms slung over onto the ground and pushed himself up into a sitting position in an overly dramatic fashion.
The Toa paused for a few moments, waiting for him to respond. "Well, there’s your answer then.” Artillery stated. “Hmm, this has got to be the most confusing mission I’ve been on. Got a name, Mr. Great Being?”
“My name has been lost to the ages, but you can call me Ahurewa.” He said, turning to the group, “That is the name of the loyal creation who lent me his body; it was best suited that I honor his sacrifice in some way.” He bowed his head respectfully.
“word soup.” Artillery said as he slowly moved his leg under himself. Good for him, honestly. It was about time he could actually be useful again. It was at this moment that both Ahurewa and Neriex turned to him in response to what Yttirum figured was due to his rude thoughts.
“Could you please focus?" Ahurewa replied, “You’re more important right now than you realize.” Artillery stared at Ahurewa, the gears spinning in his brain, until he gave an abrupt nod. “You clever little piece!" He groaned, “That is so friggin stupid… Actually, that may work."He moved slowly towards the door of the cell; the endeavor seemed to be quite challenging for him to pull off, as he practically had to drag himself over using just his arms.
“How’s progress on the chains going?” He asked, running his hand along the metal bars that kept them contained.
“I don’t need your help with this!” Neriex snapped.
“You know, Neriex, if you’d just let me finish a sentence without interrupting for once in your… Y’know what? Forget it!” The Toa reached into his coat, pulled out a piece of maroon cloth, and spoke one simple word: “Pídela.” Well, except that wasn’t a word—not one that Yttirum recognized at least—but it seemed to be doing something. The cloth changed into a blade, steam billowed off its length, and it glowed a brilliant blood red.
“Don’t you dare.” Neriex protested as Artillery stared excitedly at the sword, to her, and back at the sword. “A murder will be taking place in this cell if you do.”
“Risk calculated. One problem with that.” He reeled his arm back, preparing to throw the blade like it was a javelin. “I really don’t care.”
Yttirum wasn’t scared to admit that he closed his eyes at this next part; however, no scream came. He chanced opening his eyes to see that the sword had imbedded itself in the wall beside his head. Neriex whipped around to see that as well and looked slowly down at her hands to see that the chains holding her had been broken by the sword.
“WHAT IN KARZAHNI WERE YOU THINKING!?” She screamed angrily.
“You’re welcome.” The Toa of light responded as he stumbled into a standing position. "Now about the cell problem.” Right on cue, an explosion ripped itself through the castle, showering small bits of rubble on the party. “That would be backup.” Artillery spoke up as he stumbled over to help Yttirum with his chains. Of course, Artillery’s brand of helping was lazily using a laser to cut through the chains, singeing his armor in the process.
“you think you can handle the bars?” Artillery stuttered out, the light behind his visor flickering on and off in rapid succession. Something was off about that, but Yttirum paid it no mind. “I need a weapon.”
“I need a weapon” Artillery mimicked, putting on a gruff voice as he retrieved an axe from his coat. Where was he keeping this stuff anyway? As Yttirum reached for it, Artillery lifted out of reach, which was made difficult by his shorter than average height. “Check it.” Artillery lowered the axe at the wall and pulled a trigger on the handle, releasing a hail of glowing, hot metal shrapnel out of a barrel on the top of the weapon. “Multi purpose.” He flipped the weapon in his hand and gave it over to him, then promptly collapsed on the ground and let out a deep, frustrated groan.
“If we survive, remind me to never let you be involved with the affairs of the order.” Yttirum spoke, reaching over to Artillery’s shoulder. “Up you go.” He grunted as he hoisted the Toa up onto his feet. The large axe Artillery had given him hung loosely in his grip as he approached the door of the cell, placing his hands flat against the cold metal bars. Yttirum focused his attention on bending the metal to his will, making it one with himself. It was an art he had practiced many times before and found it easier to manage if the metal object he worked with was smaller, hence why the order hardly ever sent him out on missions. He refocused, exhaled, and began again. The bars began to ripple as Yttirum poured energy into them, causing the bars to bend upwards. As the bars bent closer, tendrils of metal began to travel from the bars onto his arms and slowly integrate themselves with his being.
“We’re home free!” Neriex shouted and regretted it immediately, followed by a familiar form rounding the corner: that of Taox.
Immediately after making eye contact with the now-free group of Toa, he formed a spiked wall of ice and sent it flying towards the group. The group jumped clear in time—well, all except for their great-being friend, who responded to the attack by sticking out his hand and stopping the walk from crushing him in an incredible feat of strength. In response to this, Taox sprinted up to the dumbfounded Toa of iron and brought a fist down upon the bridge of his mask, shattering the mask of water breathing and imbedding shards of the mask into the nearby wall. Artillery followed up this assault by drawing his blade and bringing it down upon the Toa of Ice’s prosthetic arm, leaving a trail of frost across his armor as Taox attempted to absorb the impact with his elemental power.
Yttirum staggered back up, the mask Artillery had gotten for him taking the place of his Kaukau in an instant. The Toa of iron looked around wildly for Neriex and spotted her sneaking behind Taox, her broken chains gripped tightly in her hands, making a makeshift whip of sorts. Yttirum took the time to charge forward with his axe, hoping—nay, praying—that it would give Neriex the time she needed. Taox, of course, easily blocked the attack, but it was still too late as Neriex wrapped the chains around his neck.
“I can take whatever you can dish out, buddy boy.” The Toa of psionics spoke as she pulled with all her weight against his neck, hoping to cut off his airflow. Yttirum took the opportunity to grab Taox in a bear hug to assist Neriex in her attempt to suffocate the Toa of ice. Artillery, of course, stood horrified at the ferocity of the assault. Watching as Neriex placed her foot on the center of Taox’s back and pulled harder. Taox struggled in vain as the light in his eyes slowly faded, and finally, there was nothing left but a limp body.
“I have had enough fun for today; a mind-controlled Toa is not what I need right now!” Neriex spoke as she let the chains around the Toa of Ice’s neck go slack.
“Did we kill him?” Yttirum asked, looking at the motionless body on the floor.
“Hard to say.” Artillery answered, looking Taox over for signs of life. Yttirum looked away from the body, not wanting to see any of his friends die before his eyes again. He started toward the door of the cell block when Neriex called him back.
“You’re forgetting something.” She said this as she picked up Taox’s limp form. And she hoisted it onto her back, using the chains to secure him in place.
“What?” Yttirum replied, distracted at the sight laid before him.
“It appears that my order mandated kill of the day wasn’t complete.” She jested.
“Oh god, is that what I sound like?” Artillery stumbled towards the door behind Yttirum as he got out of the room. “There’s no way. I sound like—“ Artillery cut himself off as he glanced out at the scene that had thrown Yttirum for a loop just moments earlier.
“Oh shi—“
End chapter