"He's creating Shadow Toa?" Renegade had been discussing the mission when he came to this interesting fact.

"Yes. He had shadow doubles of me and all the Toa Arkah except you." Xeon said.

"That makes sense," Renegade said. "He was probably working on shadow Arkah while they were captive, and when he saw you, he created a double of you too." Renegade sat and thought. "You say you beat all of them? How?" Xeon just smirked.

"Guys, we have a lock on Akarix. He's in Metru Nui." Kryx reported.

"Slag," Xeon said.

R

Renegade's ship, without the inhibiting stealth approach, took about half an hour to reach Metru Nui. Smoke clouds were drifting off the city, and Xeon smelled smoke. "Hold it," Xeon said abruptly. "If this is an attack, it's poorly timed. There are just a few beings in the city, and all of them can defend themselves."

"Frag! It's a distraction!" Renegade said. The aircraft pulled hairpin turn and shot off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tahu asked.

"Daxia," Renegade replied, accelerating.

R

When the Toa reached Daxia, the Order's home base, was under heavy attack. There were no Rahkshi, though. It was all Shadow Toa and Makuta. Although Daxia was fortified beyond belief, the combination of elemental powers and unheard-of numbers of Makuta was overwhelming. Xeon could see that the stone wall ringing the lush island appeared to have been picked up and thrown aside. The rectangular, arch-roofed buildings were collapsed or on fire. The old ruins and serene pond near the middle appeared to have been the target of a bomb drop.

Renegade wasn't paying attention to the surroundings, instead focusing on wiping out the attackers. Plasma bolts weren't doing damage, though. "Yes! An excuse to do something insane and near suicidal. This is always fun." Renegade said, pulling levers and altering fuel and plasma lines and pumps. Xeon gave Aurius a worried look.

Renegade's ship hovered close to the water, almost touching. There was a slight splash as the ship skimmed the surface, deploying some nasty-looking weapons. They had several ring-shaped protrusions along the barrels. They ended in four-pronged points with a hole in the center for the blast, and they were solid black. A blue glow shone from the barrel, and there was a flash. Where Makuta and Shadow Toa had been moments ago, there were now quarter-circle stretches of bare land that expanded about as far as the attacker's ranks stretched. "Gotta love drastic measures," Renegade chuckled.

R

This pattern continued for another fifteen minutes, shortened even more by surprise attacks by the Toa. Suddenly, Renegade stopped. "We haven't seen Akarix yet…" Renegade muttered slowly. He scanned. Akarix's signal from Metru Nui had been a trick by Akarix, but so had this. Renegade steered the ship around, dropped a bomb, and sped off. As Xeon looked out the back, he thought he could see the Makuta crumpling to the ground, but no other beings were affected.

"I need some of that," Xeon muttered.

R

From the scans, Akarix was actually still in hiding, and just deploying attacks to both weaken their possible allies and to gauge their abilities. The Toa decided to head to their base on Spherus Magna instead, to rest.

Xeon didn't rest, though. He was tinkering with something in the warehouse, sketching plans and taking inventory of his private collection. Then he got to work.

R

The Toa had decided to take a break for a few days. On the outside, it looked foolish. They were making themselves easy targets. However, it was actually an ingenious move. Since Akarix was remaining hidden, the Toa were trying to draw him out. It was a tactical move and vacation all at once.

While most Toa used the time for recreation, Xeon was still in the warehouse. He kept asking Renegade to review mathematical equations, and was buying strange junk from traders like Berix. His collection included some random thrusters and motors, wheels, plate metal in different forms, and gears and levers. He also purchased jugs and tubes.

R

"Attack!" The shout awoke Xeon, who was sleeping in from a late night in the warehouse. A magnetic blast showed the lead Makuta, who had shouted, why it was unwise and probably fatal to awaken a tired Toa of Magnetism. He stretched and went outside. The early-morning strike had everyone but Renegade tired, and only the Great Spirits knew what he did at night.

The attack had the advantage of drawing out Akarix, but the disadvantage of pinning down Renegade's fleet. "Focus on Akarix!" Tahu shouted.

"No!" Renegade snapped.

"Why not?" Tahu demanded.

"It's a hollow victory if we're all massacred in the winning. Take out the lead squad, that'll slow down the ones behind them!" Renegade ordered.

Xeon slipped into the warehouse. It was finally time to put his sleepless nights to use. He turned at random and compresses an especially loud Shadow Toa's neck armor, causing him to black out.