Soldiers of a Different Kind

by SCM7

In the closing days of the Requiem Occupational Campaign, a SPARTAN-IV Fireteam goes rogue, heading after a supposed Forerunner technology cache. Deemed KIA in the aftermath of the Shield World's destruction, they were forgotten by the UNSC. But that was only part of the story... -CURRENT STATUS: EQUIVALENT TO MATORO - /POTENTIALLY BEING REVISED/

10. Reconciliation and Rescue (2)

CHAPTER 10
RECONCILIATION AND RESCUE (2)

ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - BETWEEN TA-METRU AND LE-METRU DISTRICT
175 KILOMETERS FROM SEA LEVEL - HOVERING IN PLACE
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41
8 HOURS 23 MINUTES 49 SECONDS SINCE AMBUSH

Red continued to pace between the shield and the rest of the warriors. Blue had been apparently selected as the warrior's spokes-person- though it made sense, as she was the first one to attempt actual communication with him- and Brown's knockout blow back in the area called Le-Metru didn't count.
Lieutenant Clarke shook his head. 'There I go again- assigning them genders, treating them like a Fireteam... but so what if they were biomechanical constructs? They sure as hell acted like a team, right down to the off-duty RNR.'

Blue had figured out how to work the datapad- almost as if she had used something like it before. A message popped up on the interface device."Who are you? What do you want?"

Clarke typed out a return message. "LT Matt Clarke, New Colonial Alliance. As for what I want, I just want to know what is going on here. Is this some sort of weapons test?" There- if this really was some sort of alien military program, if the project's overseers captured him, at least they would be directed against the wrong group.

Blue blinked, then replied. "Weapons test? No. This i-"

The Warthog behind them was shoved violently to the side, Red having hit it with his fist. The impact left a fairly big dent in the right fender. "Oy, leave the 'Hog alone," Clarke shouted, before typing another message. "Tell Red not to break UNCA property!"

Blue looked over at Red and spoke in a soothing voice. Red snarled back, but moved away from the 'Hog- or as far away as he could. "Sorry. Vakama is more than a bit irritable right now- we're all somewhat cramped back here."

'So Red's 'name' is 'Vakama'. Bit of an odd name, but this is an alien culture after all..' Clarke sent another message back. "Since I told you my name, you might as well do the same."

"Oh. My name is Nokama. I am- was- am a Toa of Water."

"And White?"

'Nokama' looked puzzled for a second, before replying. "That would be Nuju, Toa of Ice."

"Red is Vakama, White is Nuju, and your name is Nokama. What about Brown, Green, and Black?"

"Onewa, Matau, and Whenua. Toa of Stone, Air, and Earth, respectively."

Lieutenant Clarke visibly flinched at the mention of the word Earth. "Question: What do you know of Earth?"

It took a while for the warrior to respond. "Earth is one of the elements a Toa can channel. As I mentioned before, I am a Toa of Water, which gave me control over liquids. Vakama could do the same with fire, and Nuju with ice."

"So... like dirt and stone?"

"Yes to the former, though stone was more under Onewa's control, rather than Whenua's."

Clarke sighed in relief. They didn't know of Earth. Why would they? The UNSC's only experience with biomechanical beings was with Huragok... 'Could it be that this was a long-abandoned Forerunner experiment- the creation of 'new' life-forms that had developed their own society over time?'

"Is this your city?"

The warrior wasted no time in replying. "Yes. It is called Metru Nui. It was once a beautiful place..."

"Let me guess, until the spiders attacked?"

Nokama seemed to take her time. "Partially correct, though there were some other unfortunate events that led to our city's fall."

"Politics?"

"You could say that that was one of the reasons."

"Hm. No matter where civilization pops up, politics are always both a blessing and a curse. Anyway, so why are you still in the city if it has fallen? One final stand against the creepy-crawlies?"

"Not exactly. We're here for..." Nokama looked over at Vakama, speaking to him in low, undecipherable tones. Vakama replied in the same tone of voice, at first harsh, but then softening. "We're here to rescue the Matoran- the inhabitants of this city."

"Clarification: Matoran are civilians, while Toa are soldiers?"

Nokama looked up, a faint bit of irritation across her face. "We would rather be called protectors, instead of soldiers."

"Apologies. I'm military, so... anyway, the spiders, what are their motives? Or are they just random animals?"

"The Visorak- in our language, it means 'stealers of life'- are a scourge. They care not for the sanctity of the lives they ruin, and mostly follow the will of the Horde leaders, Sidorak and Roodaka."

"There's those names again. Mind handing over some more intel on them?"

"Sidorak is the King of the Visorak, while Roodaka is their Viceroy. Both are just as bad as the monsters they command."

"Noted. Anything you could mention about the spiders themselves? Any tactical information?"

"Not much. Whenua could tell you more than I could about them."

"Oh well. Thanks anyway." Clarke's eyes suddenly went wide, as he remembered what he had originally set out to do. And by now, the 'Visorak' would have either broken into the building, or fortified the area outside it to the point where the methods for extraction employed previously wouldn't work- and with only the forward-facing weapons available to be used, that would put him in a tight spot if he even attempted the evac run.
Giving up was not an option- here was proof that this was an independent alien race, and as the impromptu ambassador for the UNSC, he wasn't going to mess up a chance for allies in the post-war period.
'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'

He deactivated the shield. Red- Vakama- took a few steps forward, but Nokama shot him a look that was easily on the level of the SIV's grandma's patent-pending 'Don't you even try it, buddy' glare. Vakama backed down after that.
Clarke walked up to Nokama, still staying generally out of arm's reach. He extended his right arm, preparing to shake hands- a customary human greeting, and to cement friendship. He wasn't expecting for the blue warrior to sucker punch his half-open hand- and holy hell that was a lot of force behind it.

The SIV let out a half-not-so-manly-yelp as he pulled his arm back- surprise making it hurt a lot more than it ought to. He opened the interface device to type a message back- better to nix a potential misunderstanding in the bud before it wrecked their inter-unit cohesion. Vakama saw the glow of the interface device get brighter, and knew what it was capable of. He charged- ducked underneath the SIV's left arm to avoid the interface device, and clothes-lined the UNSC soldier. Both warriors went down in a tangle of limbs, and the punches started to fly. The message was successfully sent off, though- and Nokama quickly intervened, catching the Toa of Fire in a hold and spinning him off, with his only available options to either disengage the fight or lash out at Nokama. It was only by sheer will that Vakama didn't go with the second option.
Nokama shoved the datapad at Vakama's face.
"Lemme guess, that is how-"

Clarke shakily got back up to his feet. "Hot damn, that frigging hurt!" Vakama looked ready to go again, but then shook his head, and stared at the UNSC Lieutenant. He stretched out his arm, in a closed fist. Clarke approached cautiously, shook his injured hand to get a feeling other than pain in it, and then reached out himself.

Fourteen hours and eleven minutes after touchdown, Toa Vakama and SPARTAN-IV Lieutenant Matt Clarke bumped fists- and then shook hands.

METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT
AIRSHIP 'PELICAN GOLF-41'
FIVE MINUTES SINCE ALLIANCE

The 'Pelican', now fully crewed, bore down on Le-Metru. Beneath them, they saw the living tide of Visorak swarming towards the building that apparently held Matau and Iruini within. A large tower rose up no less than three blocks away, covered in Visorak webbing and cocoons. And in one of the cocoons...

"That's Whenua!"

"Where?"

"On the Visorak spire! They have him trapped! Bomonga's right next to him!"

Kualus, having been tasked with communications, as the rest of the Toa were busy manning the various devices mounted on the airship, typed out an alert on the so-called 'datapad' that the warrior- SIV Lieutenant Clarke, as he called himself- in front of him had handed over.
"Toa Whenua and Rahaga Bomonga in captivity on outside of enemy structure ahead, to direction you call 'eleven o'clock'."
A return message was not long in coming, though the 'Lieutenant's' tertiary mode of communication was full of errors, almost as if he were using a poorly made Rau.. which he probably was, given how he was wearing one backwards. When the Rahaga had attempted to correct Clarke's obviously mistaken way of wearing the Kanohi, he was just gently pushed away, at first by the soldier himself, and then by Nokama, who had mentioned that he had talked in their language before, even while having the Rau stuck to the back of his head.

"Surely I see how? We go about to rescue them I do not much like the idea of staying near the tower we will burn up like a tree if we do."

Kualus' reply was interrupted by the sound of the large cannon on top of the airship discharging, placing a shot directly in a clump of Visorak charging towards the structure containing the Toa of Air. The projectile impacted the Keelerak in the center of the formation, and sent the rest of the spiders flying, in various stages of dismemberment. A snarl of triumph came from behind him- it's origin point being the Toa of Fire sitting in the co-pilot's chair.

The rest of the spiders turned, almost as one, towards the direction where the shot had come from- and ten seconds later, Rhotuka spinners were flying in their general direction. The airship immediately began evasive maneuvers, lashing out with it's own weapons. Another message was sent from the pilot- once again, in broken Matoran.
"How? Might these webs I have a plan but it goes to require some skills running so near and so coordinated you maybe not like it."

"Coordination is impossible with the way you're using that Kanohi. Here's a sample of what you just said." Kualus replayed the previous message.

"Oh dung is horrible."

The airship immediately righted itself with the tower, and proceeded straight towards Whenua. The Visorak beneath started leading their target, as they had done to bring down birds in the past- Kualus just had not been inside one before. Beams of light and darts of orange spewed out from the front of the craft, slicing through the spiders beneath- but it still wasn't enough, as each Visorak struck down was replaced just as quickly.

"Tell Nuju to shoot webs on the right side of Whenua- it will make the web all fall sideways!"

Well. At least that was somewhat decipherable. Kualus left the 'cockpit', and ran towards the right side of the craft, opening up the small hatch leading to where Nuju was sitting. The Toa of Ice turned to face the Rahaga, a suppressed snarl on his face- most likely due to being compressed into such a small space.

The Rahaga showed him the datapad, and the Toa of Ice nodded acknowledgement. Using the side-mounted weapons was simple enough- just point it at whatever the target was, and hold down the protuberance on the underside of the device. The shots flew through the air, cutting into and through the targeted webbing, and causing the Toa and Rahaga to fall to the left. The Pelican immediately swung to the side, and two thumps- in succession- sounded on the top of the craft. The cannon fired again, and the web- now missing the section that previously held Whenua and Bomonga- fell towards the ground.

There was a loud pop from the 'cockpit', and the airship began to lose altitude. The pilot was undoubtedly keeping it in a controlled descent, given by the way the ruined skyline of the city remained mostly level. Kualus ran back to the pilot cabin- and found that half of the protective covering was gone, lifted up and off of the airship. Whenua, wrapped in a cocoon, dropped into the command area.
Bomonga was next, rolling off of the trapped Toa of Earth- and Vakama jumped in after everybody else. The pilot was shouting at the Toa of Fire, his tone of voice conveying intense frustration.

"I went the land that you did not have to knock out the tent!"

Under any other circumstances, this would have been quite humorous. Especially the Toa of Fire's initial confused reaction. "I cannot understand you! Speak properly!"

"NON-TRANSLATABLE TERM!" The 'Spartan' tilted his head backwards, and flipped a switch on the control panel. "When I run next the structure at once it Nokama Nuju deploy the roof insertion structure call Matau and Iruini in it and we get you after!"

In the right turret, Nokama glanced towards the screen above, which was split between showing the pilot cabin from the left, and Nuju sitting in the left turret. "What did he say?" Nuju shrugged in response, while the pilot lunged to the side, picked up a datapad, and shouted a stream of foreign words at it. The structure with Matau and Iruini inside came into view beneath them, and the airship slowed down, as if to land. On the screen above, a message flashed into existence:
"Disembark on my mark deploy onto the roof get inside the building find Matau and Iruini I'll circle around and come back for you!"

The airship fired off it's complement of anti-personnel missiles at the roof before swinging around, now facing the opposite direction, and coming to a halt less than twenty meters from an access hatch. The transparent bubbles surrounding the turrets snapped open- and the shield dropped.

"GO GO GO!"

Three things happened at that moment. Nokama and Nuju dropped from the turrets onto the roof. The airship started to move straight up, turning to the right as it did so, firing whatever remaining weaponry it had.
And a Visorak Rhotuka struck the left wing- and ignited. The Pelican dropped a few bio, towards the two Toa on the roof, before regaining control and flying away, the flaming side tilted up ever so slightly. It had just started to climb to the right when the left engine exploded, and the airship plummeted from the sky, falling out of view down the street.

PO-METRU DISTRICT

The Gestalt was hungry. It had to feed.

The being it had consumed was quite extraordinary in it's taste. It had a certain sweetness to it- the Gestalt was almost saddened when it had devoured the last scraps of the individual, as there was no certainty that it would ever find another.

It had stumbled upon what very recently apparently was a battlefield, and was busy devouring the fallen spiders that lay within it, when a bolt of energy had hit it in one of the gaps of its armor and wiped out a fraction of it's colony. Turning it's attention to the direction where the blast had come from, it saw three other robotic beings, one of which had it's weapon raised. The Gestalt contracted inwards, lifting the half-eaten body of the spider upwards to take any additional attacks. The creature soon fell apart under the flurry of bolts from the robots, but it had bought the Gestalt time to bring it's own weaponry to bear.

Five spider blasts discharged towards one of the robots, setting it on fire and trapping it in an energy web, while the other one was sliced apart by four fuel rod beams- the pieces collapsing towards the ground.
The third synthetic let loose another attack, which slagged one of the spider weapons, and caused intense pain for that section of it's colony. The Gestalt returned the favor by obliterating the robot's head with it's remaining weapons.

The robot that it had cut apart was starting to rebuild itself. The Gestalt slowly moved over to it, flattening it's head with a single stomp, before allowing another fraction of it's colony to detach, flow down it's sides- and feed. It glanced to the other synthetic, which was about to free itself from the energy web, the fire not affecting it as much as expected. The Gestalt approached it as well, opening it's arms wide- and bringing them down around the robot. It started to feed.

Less than a minute later, the third robot joined the fate of it's fellows. The Gestalt added whatever weaponry it could salvage from the battlefield to it's formidable arsenal- and consumed the rest. The ground was cleaned of all flesh and metal- the only indication there had been any sort of conflict in the area being the holes scattered around the barren field.

The Gestalt was still hungry. It had to feed.
The source of the call was close. It moved on.
The call continued.

METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41
ELEVEN MINUTES SINCE ALLIANCE

The Pelican had come to a stop more than four blocks away. The left wing was almost completely gone, and only a small stub remained. The left side of the gunship had been scorched quite well- and the right wing had been torn off during the crash. Vakama unsteadily got to his feet, looking around. Whenua and Bomonga were okay, the cocoons protecting them from the worst of the impact. Kualus was limping- that can't be good- and the pilot...

Lieutenant Clarke was bent over the controls. Shards of glass lay near his feet. Vakama quickly approached the SIV, grasped his shoulder, and pulled him backwards. There was a sharp intake of breath, which was followed by a muffled cry of pain.

For the first time, Vakama saw the Lieutenant's actual face, formerly hidden beneath it's own mask, which was now broken- shattered into so many pieces. The flesh underneath, however, was not nearly as bad as the mask's condition- a few scratches was the extent of the damage. He laid the Lieutenant back onto the pilot's chair, before working to set Whenua and Bomonga free. No sooner than the Toa of Earth and the ebony Rahaga sat up that a guttural roar swept through the street. Everybody in the Pelican looked up, Clarke being jolted back to full alert status by the fearsome noise.

"What in the name of Karzahni was that?" Whenua said, as he fully stood up. Vakama replied, "I don't know, but it sounded angry."

"And hungry."

Bomonga looked up, a grim expression on his face. "It is the Zivon, the Visorak's greatest weapon. It knows only one thing- hunger. We've seen it summoned before- there's no stopping it. All we can do is hope that Nokama and Nuju are able to save Matau and Iruini before the creature brings down the building and devours them."

Vakama let out a snarl, before turning to "We're not just going to leave them out there!"

"What else can we do? Go out and fight? We will not win, I can tell you that."

"It's better than simply running away and leaving them to die!"

Lieutenant Clarke unsteadily got to his feet, and started to walk to the hatch leading out of the cockpit, grabbing his rifle from a rack before he left. Almost unconsciously, Vakama moved aside to let him pass, following the foreign warrior with his eyes until he left the pilot cabin, before looking back towards the group.

"I'm going to save them. If you want to stay here, go ahead- but Toa don't leave each other behind."

A deep metallic clunk came from the rear cabin. Both Toa and the Rahaga peeked around the corner to investigate what it was, and found the warrior reaching into the vehicle that was in the deployment bay, turning something- and a metallic growl echoed through the space. Both of the Hordika answered it with their own, which caused the Spartan to look towards them. He withdrew his hands, and spoke. Once again, all that came out was unintelligible sounds- but the datapad stuck to the warrior's chestplate soon flashed with symbols, first in what was obviously the soldier's own language, which then shifted into Matoran writing.

"Your friends are in trouble. The UNSC, whenever possible, does not leave people behind. I have two open seats in this Hog- and I need a gunner. Anybody volunteer?"

Almost immediately, Vakama had leaped forward, climbing onto the back of the vehicle. Whenua's approach was calmer, but not by much- he jogged to the passenger side of the vehicle and climbed in. The warrior walked towards the two Rahaga, and bent down, so as to 'talk' to them face-to-face.

"Before you two leave the battlefield, here are command access codes for the Pelican. Set it's engine core to overload- it's sure not flying anywhere anymore, and I don't want the spiders to take any of it's technology. Head for Ga-Metru. Carry this with you." Clarke reached to the side and picked up another datapad.
"Here's my own access code, and my verification code to signify that I didn't give it up under distress. Get to the location I've marked on the map, and broadcast the codes. You'll be safe there."

The SIV turned around to leave, pulling the emergency lever, and the hatch started to lower. Before he climbed into the Warthog, he grabbed several tubular objects from the racks above the seats, and handed one to Whenua, who took it. The Toa of Earth lifted it- it was weighty enough- and glanced over to the Spartan, whose eyes suddenly widened.

Far up the street, the Zivon was tearing at a building, bringing it down- and devouring the spiders that were too slow to move away. If anything, it's hunger was slowing it down- it was stopping to destroy every structure along it's path. The Hog let out a roar- answered by those of Vakama, Whenua, and Clarke- and took off up the street, heading straight for the creature.

The Visorak in the way were caught off guard by the speed of the attack- the twin-linked gatling cannons mounted on the sides of the vehicle probably didn't help either. .50 BMG poured out from the weapons, carving a bloody path forward- and with the flick of a switch, what could only be described as a hard-light cowcatcher flared into existence on the front of the vehicle. The Visorak dead ahead had very little time to react- the Keelerak first up only was able to get off half of a screech before it was cloven in half, the monomolecular edge humming straight through it and out the other side.

The datapad on Clarke's chest suddenly lit up with an incoming message, which routed itself into TEAMCOM as an audio file. "Soldier. If the airship is to be destroyed, perhaps it could serve one final purpose. See if you can lure the Zivon this way, if at all possible."

A grin crept over Clarke's face. "And then we light it up right under the bastard."

Two fire spinners were sent downrange towards the Zivon, which did nothing more than cause a small puff of smoke and flame. The Zivon barely took notice. Whenua half-stood up, bringing the tube to bear- and pressed the small tab that he guessed was the fire button. A soft tone sounded from the weapon. 'Perhaps it's defective?' He brought it inwards- and let go of the trigger. The 102mm rocket leapt from it's tube, barely missing the roll-cage of the Warthog, before re-acquiring it's target and flying off toward the monstrous scorpion. The soldier beside him started shouting wildly, and from what he could see of the words that were scrolling down the datapad... well, most of them were marked as NON-TRANSLATABLE. Whenua looked at him. "Sorry."

The soldier glared at him, before shouting something else, and looking back at the road. His eyes went wide- a Keelerak was airborne, descending towards the vehicle, spinning around as it did so- and a spinner sent it flying over the Warthog. Clarke spoke a few more words, grabbed the datapad, tore it off of his armor, and stuck it to the dashboard. "Thanks for that. Now keep shooting!"

The Zivon was coming up fast. The first rocket didn't have much of an effect, it seemed. The second one jumped out of the launcher, and took off, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Clarke watched it in his peripherals- it ascended, closed in with the Zivon's face- and was blocked by a massive claw. The Zivon glanced down- and saw the vehicle, fast approaching. It turned to face the 'Hog, letting out a guttural roar. A streak of blue flashed up to meet it- Vakama had finally worked out how to use the rear-mounted Gauss cannon, it would seem. The Mach 40 projectile impacted what could be considered the monster's jawline, and the Zivon screeched in fury.

"I think you just pissed it off... fire again!"

The creature bent down, one massive claw sliding forwards. Clarke hit the emergency brake, and slid towards the opposite side- the claw barely missed them. And then they were beneath the creature itself.

"FIRE EVERYTHING!"

The two Toa didn't have to know English to understand the meaning behind those words. Whenua leveled the M41 at one of the monster's joints, pressed the button- and nothing happened. This time, he released the firing button before fiddling around with the weapon- still nothing. He was about to toss it into the space beneath the dashboard when he noticed the brown boxes lying there. He put the rocket launcher down, picked one up, and realized what they were. Ammunition.

Vakama, on the other hand, was having an easier time. The Gauss cannon was auto-loading, and was easy to aim. The Zivon suddenly stumbled as one of it's massive leg joints were hit- and the enraged roar from above was that of something that was well and truly pissed off. Clarke stopped going in circles, realigned with the Pelican, and took off down the street. The Zivon wasn't far behind.

Whenua turned to the Spartan. "What are you doing? I thought you said we're going to rescue them!" Clarke did not respond, only grabbed the datapad and spoke words into it, before tossing it at the Toa, who caught the device. "I'm going to blow the bird up, with big, tall, and ugly right above it. Tell your buddies to get the hell out of it as fast as possible!" The Toa of Earth wasted no time, and was typing as fast as possible.

Up ahead, they saw the Pelican light up, and two figures slide to the ground before running off towards a nearby building. The Zivon's bulk belied it's speed- it was catching up. Vakama was making use of both the Gauss cannon and his own spinner launcher- not like the Zivon needed any more encouragement to follow them. The Warthog ramped off the Pelican's detached right wing, coming back down almost flawlessly a few meters ahead of the downed aircraft, before wrenching left and heading down a side street. The Zivon had to slow down to follow them- it's body came to a point directly above the Pelican- and the airship's main power core reached critical mass.

Reactor plasma vomited out in all directions, engulfing the Zivon's underside. The street's underground supports were weakened by the 'quake that had occurred during the Great Cataclysm- and an explosion equal to 400 pounds of TNT equivalent didn't help matters, either. The street collapsed beneath the colossus' weight, and it dropped out of sight. Bomonga and Kualus had put two buildings between them and the blast, and they still felt it deep in their chests. The Warthog didn't fare much better- the shockwave from the explosion caught it in the middle of another turn, this time into a short alleyway, and had shoved it into the wall. Clarke fell out of the damaged vehicle, coughing up blood. 'Oh crap, that can't be good.'

Whenua had slipped out the other side, and was coughing too. He looked up to the Toa of Fire- and his eyes widened. Vakama was unconscious, slumped over the Gauss cannon, having taken the lion's share of the shockwave- and already, they could hear the Visorak horde screeching, closing in. An answering roar came from the hole... and Clarke went to the side of the building to look out.

A massive claw thrust up from the ground near the blast zone, moving from side to side before retracting, bringing a clump of road material down with it. The Spartan-IV watched, dumbstruck, as the Zivon's head popped out of the hole, and it turned to stare down their street. "You've got to be kidding me. This is complete and utter bullshit!" Lieutenant Clarke reached back into the Warthog and grabbed the discarded M41 and three boxes of ammo, before sprinting into the street.

By that point, the scorpion-like monster had started to climb out, stabbing it's claws into the side of the hole and leveraging itself up. Once again, the creature's size was non-indicative of it's movement capabilities. The blast had accomplished at least one thing, at least.
It had really pissed the Zivon off.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED FROM THAT!" Clarke shouted at the creature, before firing off two rockets in succession at it. Both landed, but all that happened was that it doubled it's efforts to get out of the hole. It's front legs impaled themselves into the ground at the top of the hole, giving it additional lifting power to pull the rest of itself out. Two more rockets were sent downrange, which once again did nothing but provide a mild irritant. It was while the Spartan was reloading for a third salvo that the realization that nothing he had could stop it sunk in. The main part of the Zivon's body finally cleared the edge of the hole, it's eyes filled with fury- and hunger.

Clarke didn't even turn to look at the two Toa on and around the Warthog. It was sufficiently out of view, enough that the scorpion wouldn't notice it unless it was actively searching for the vehicle. Just the same, he shouted a warning, "Whenua, take Vakama and hide!", before firing off another rocket- and starting to run.

---

AN: Once again, sorry for the long wait before updating.

To reply to [user designate] toalorikan626: My explanation for the Po-Matoran in the sphere being so far away from the Coliseum is as follows.

Tuvan had a... history with being somewhat of a troublemaker (mostly in smuggling). Thus, when he saw the Vahki start to round up the population, he did the exact opposite of what the other Matoran were doing- he ran and hid.

It took the Vahki quite some time to find him, 'pacify' him, and by the time that they loaded him into a Matoran Sphere and started carrying it back to the Coliseum, Teridax had been outed as an imposter and had started the Great Cataclysm. The Vahki squadron that were flying the Sphere to the center of the city were disabled and plummeted from the sky. The Sphere itself got stuck between two buildings.

Almost like a low-hanging fruit.

And then the Mgalekgolo Gestalt came along.