Hasbro owns Transformers and the name Xanthium, Lego owns Bionicle and the names Jala and Ketongu, and Galem owns Tali, Ava, Amber, Iris, Diego, Alyan, Adhira, Valera, and Kasar.
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Chapter 35: Meeting
Around eight o'clock the next morning, everyone pulled up in various vehicles in front of an enormous, old, and rusty metal warehouse in the farther region of Turpinville. Green smiled in fond memory as he walked into the warehouse and waited for the others with Slash, as this had been the exact same warehouse where he had first met the Toabots, not counting Ketongu of course. It had also been the place where he had met Billy, Ops, and Gahu. So with the other Toa entering soon, meeting up here felt a bit nostalgic to him.
Iris drove in first slowly, her movements showing extreme caution. Once she parked safely in the warehouse, her doors opened and Amber and Ava stepped out, allowing Iris to transform into her bipedal form. It was apparent that the exile and the recent Makutacon attack was taking a toll on them. Ava wasn't being her usual cheerful self, Iris' paint job looked faded and scratched up badly, and Amber, the worst of the three, looked like a walking ghost, complete with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Ava hugged Amber, obviously trying to comfort her for the who knows how manyth time. Iris just stood by them quietly, still trying to bring herself up.
"Hey, girls!" A voice called behind them. Turning around, the three lit up at the sight of there team leader and friend.
"Tali!"
"Whoa!" Was all Tali could say before she was glomped and practically tackled to the floor under the giggling dogpile.
"We're so happy to see you!" Ava cried.
"We're so glad you're safe!" Amber beamed.
"How have you been?" Iris asked, finally getting off of Tali so she could breathe.
"I've been doing okay, I guess." Tali chuckled as she let her friends help her back up. "I haven't been able to stop thinking of ways to stop the Makutacons once and for all."
Iris chuckles. "Let me guess, digging into your history books to find a tactic we could use?"
"You know me too well, Iris." Tali laughed back.
Hidden in a corner of the warehouse, the Guardian Toa, Adhira and Valera, watched and listened to the young team silently, softly smiling to themselves as the girls' growing excitement and optimistic conversation reminded them of the days past when they were that eager to make the push back against the enemy.
A few seconds later, Ops pulled in, Robert riding on his trunk standing on a single foot whilst holding the other one up behind his back for whatever reason Ops didn't care to remember. Well maybe a little as Ops did recall something about scaring or worrying Ava, which wouldn't surprise him. Much like Green, Robert loved to pull pranks on Ava whenever he could. With the amount of pranks he had actually pulled on her these past few days, Ops was surprised Ava hadn't retaliated yet.
"Robert!" Ava cried in joy as she ran to hug him.
Though a bit surprised that Ava hadn't noticed the way he had been standing, Robert simply shrugged as he hopped off of the trunk and opened his arms to her.
Ava hugged him happily in relief. "Are you okay?"
Robert hugged her back, nuzzling her cheek a bit as he responded: "Lot-better now that I'm with you".
Ops transformed out of vehicle mode then, waving nervously at his fiance. The nervousness of course was due to the fact that he had tried to find her after they had watched the shuttle leave and he was worried she thought he had left her.
Seeing him, Tali ran over into his arms and nuzzled his chest tearfully. "Ops! You're okay!"
Ops pet her chain link hair softly and kissed her cheek before teasing in response: "Of course. Did you expect to get married without me"?
Tali blushed hotly. "Not in a million years."
Pow and Maze arrived next in a Thornatus, Maze in the drivers seat. The second the two had pulled up carefully next to the rusty wall, Pow didn't hesitate to jump out of the vehicle first and tackle Amber into a hug landing in a nearby pile of hay, whilst Maze rolled his eyes at the sight. 'Of course, the athletic boyfriend would take that route'. Maze thought.
"Oof!" Amber grunted before laughing once she realized who had tackled her. " Well, hi to you too, handsome."
Quietly, Valera chuckled at the sight. It made her happy to see her daughter happy with a male who cared so much for her.
Z hovered in next in helicopter mode, possibly for dramatic effect. Once Z had landed, a side hatch opened and Turaga Jala walked out hurriedly, clearly annoyed from whatever conversation they had earlier. 'Not to sound arrogant, but I'm a TURAGA'. Jala thought. 'Why am I the one who gets the most annoying ride? The guy doesn't know how to be quiet for a single minute'. Jala had never really had to drive again as it was custom for people to drive them around(Which Jala had to learn to get used to as he had driven for most of his life), but still.
Adhira raised an eyebrow at Turaga Jala's countenance. "I wonder what happened during the trip."
"Probably something we would be better off not knowing. But my question is, why is he here in the first place?" Adhira nodded in agreement, dropping the previous subject.
"Indeed. Maybe he's here to talk to his son."
Upon then spotting his son from across the room, Jala rushed slowly over to Green, whom had also begun walking towards him. Though Jala's first instinct had been to demand that Green went home now and forget about helping to fight in this battle, he knew how much Green cared for his friends. He also knew how hard headed he could be sometimes about these kinds of things. Even if he did find a way to lock him up and keep him out of danger, he was sure Green would still find a way out so he didn't even bother.
Both wrapped each other up in a tight hug then with a smile as they greeted each other.
"Good to see you, dad".
"You too, son".
Slash waited for everyone to finish their greetings and gather around before greeting: "Hello everybody".
"Hello". Pow and Ops greeted in return.
"What is your addiction"? Z humorously added, causing most of them to snicker whilst Maze and Jala rolled their eyes. Iris muffled a chuckle and shook her head at Z's comment.
Slash chuckled along with the joke, then waited for the chuckling to dye down before activating the hollatable centered in the group, bringing up a holographic live feed map. Most of them gasped at the sight. There was much destruction to the city. most of the buildings were smoking from fires left unattended, others had chunks blown out of them, some so large that the buildings threatened to collapse where others already had, and dead bodies mutilated and otherwise littered the streets almost like dirt in a forest.
"Whoa." Ava whispered, feeling sick to her stomach at the gory sight.
"The place is wrecked!" Amber blurted out, unable to tear her gaze from the horror.
"No kidding." Tali said sadly.
Slash once again waited for the room to quiet down before explaining: "OK, once we're inside we'll have limited time so we'll need to move fast". Slash said, pointing to one of the various entrances where there was significantly less Makutacon activity. "And we stay together too. As of right now, We can't do anything else besides get Angela out of there. Once we've got her, we're out of there, understand"?
Yes, Slash's original plan was to go in and try to find a way to destroy the Makutacon forces after rescuing Angela, but the only way he could see doing that successfully was convincing the Turaga to take a nuke to the place. As that would kill any citizens still in the area, and would earn a backlash against the Council, plus the fact that they knew where Paradox was, that really didn't seem like the best option(Sure, Paradox may have still been in that tunnel, but he didn't know that for sure, and there may have been another trap waiting there so he wasn't going to take that risk just yet).
"No Slash". Green said, surprising everyone. "We can't do that. If we get her out of there, it's not gonna end there. Once we've set her free and once we try to run, Killer will come after us, and he'll try to kill us with. This won't end with Angela's freedom. No way Killer will let it".
"He's got a point, Slash." Tali muttered. Of course the enemy would not stop at one, history always showed that no matter how much they promised otherwise, the bad guys would never stop, even if the person willingly sacrificed themself to save everyone else. 'Huh, the actions of the enemies in history sound much like Satan, now that I think about it.' Tali thought. 'He never quits even after Jesus gave him the ultimate beat down. Kinda pathetic when you think about it, a loser trying to get back on top? Sheesh.' Tali chuckled quietly to herself. 'Still, I'm not saying that they were Satan, just manipulated by him.' She frowned sadly. 'Much like the Makutacons now.'
Ops nodded in agreement with his fiance, also acknowledging the fact that the Makutacons would surely never stop with them. 'If they don't, that just means they have a plan that our interference may not even be worrisome'. That would prompt Ops even more not to just snatch and run.
Robert tilted his head in curiosity as he asked: "What do you propose then air-spitter"?
"After we free Angela, we find out whatever they're planning and then do what Paradox would've wanted us to do". Green responded. "We end this war. Whether or not we have to die trying. Yes, I want to give Angela the life I know she deserves, but how could I do that with Makutacons on our tail and our home partially conquered? I'll end this. With or without you".
Sure, Green knew it would be risky going in alone, but he didn't care. He had put a lot of thought into this last night, even losing sleep over it. No way was he going to let the Makutacons win after all they had already done. Not to say that he wanted revenge, that was not at all the case. But considering all they had already done, they clearly had more up their sleeves, meaning more people were going to get hurt, and Green was not willing to allow that anymore. This fight wasn't just for him and Angela anyways. It was for the safety of all of God's creations.
"Greens right". Maze spoke up, after a bit of silence had passed. "I think this war has gone on for long enough. I vote we end this.
Tali nodded. "Agreed." Beside her, Amber and Ava stood forward to show their agreement.
"Count us in." Iris smirked and gave Green a thumbs up. "I'm there." She smiled encouragingly.
"We're in as well." Adhira voiced as she finally stepped out of the shadows with Valera, the flame of determination blazing in her eyes.
"Let's end this." Valera grinned, her eagerness evident in her body language.
"FINALLY, a plan as crazy as me". Z added in. "Yes I'm in".
Pow and Maze nodded in agreement as Robert smiled widely and added: "Let's finish-end this".
"I'm fighting too". Turaga Jala said, stepping forward a bit more and shocking almost everyone in the room.
Several minutes went by in silence as they stared at the Turaga in shock and surprise before the female Rahayu all blurted out:
"Say what?"
"Come again?"
"Are you serious?"
"Did not see that coming."
Not to put down the Turaga or anything but, they didn't really have the power or strength they used to as Toa. So how would Turaga Jala be able to help fight the Makutacons effectively? After all, when Vakama was a Turaga, all he could do was hit the enemy in the face with his staff, and while that was effective on Tahu, it didn't do much against the Rahkshi.
Clearly agreeing with their logic of thought, Green said: "Dad, no offense but you're a Turaga. What could you do as far as fighting is concerned"?
Jala shrugged a bit. "Well..." Then a few seconds later, he turned towards the wall, holding out his hand towards it. About half a second after that, a massive boulder of fire emerged and shot through one of the walls, once again shocking everyone. Then turning back to the others with a smirk: "A few things".
The others stood still, completely shocked while Adhira and Valera burst out laughing.
"Impressive." Valera snickered. "Very impressive."
"Indeed." Adhira giggled, quite impressed that this Turaga actually had some fighting ability after all.
Jala rolled his eyes, amused at the fact that he was underestimated for his Turaga form as he responded: "Thanks".
As Slash simply stood and watched the conversation unfold, he knew his plan to make a snatch and run was dead in the water. Which was unfortunate for him, as he honestly didn't think that they would last five seconds trying to take on all of those Makutacons. Plus, the reason why they had succeeded in Maya was because they had had more help. Now there was one Toabot, two Guardian Toa, six Toa, two Autobots, an Ex-con, a Turaga, and a Matoran. Not exactly the best team to pit against Bio-mechanical beings who were impervious to most of their weaponry.
Slash blinked rapidly then as he remembered his prayer from last night for everyone's safety, and as another thought occurred to him: 'Since when was this ever about numbers'? Even in the beginning of this war, numbers had never been the Toabot's main focus. Their main focus ever since this war had started had been to protect those whom had exiled them, for Jesus had already bore their sins and therefore revenge was not necessary. That had been the entire reason they had even decided to fight back against the Makutacons in the first place. Because they knew that their cause of vengeance and further bloodshed was wrong and very unnecessary. Plus, all of those racist actions, as terrible as they had been, had taken place far too many years ago to be angry about anymore. The Toabots only wanted to forgive, forget, and love those whom had oppressed them so there could a better future in Jesus name. To do that, they still had to fight, regardless of how many Toabots were left standing.
'Very well, Lord'. Slash prayed obediently. 'If this is your will, I will not fight it anymore'.
Slash smiled then, crossing his arms as he said to the Le-Matoran who had inspired the rest: "Seeing as you're giving the orders now, What do we do first"?
Green smiled back at the Toabot as he responded: "First, we pray". In that moment, everyone joined hands, closed their eyes or optics, and lowered their heads as Green began to pray: "Dear Lord, tomorrow we go into a place where we might die. If it is in your will, I ask that you would be with all of us as we fight against the Makutacons. Hopefully, for the last time. And Lord, should Paradox, Billy & Outilisa still be alive, help them escape from wherever they may be. And put it in the hearts of the Makutacons to have mercy on this city. And please, keep Angela safe. I love her too much to lose her. I can't lose her now so please help us get her back. And last of all, please shelter us from the harm that will surely come to us. As Paradox believes, I also believe that with you, all things are possible. Prove us right today Lord. We love you, your son who died on the cross for our sins, and the Holy Spirit that gives us our spiritual power, and it's in your mighty name that we pray, Amen".
"Amen." Adhira, Tali, Amber, Ava, Iris and Valera echoed in unison with the others, smiling as they felt more at ease.
Jala smiled brightly as he released everyone's hands and gazed upon his son as he spoke: "Son, if there was anything right I taught you, it was to pray. Though it has definitely gotten better with all of the time you have spent with the Toabots".
Though Jala had taught Green the concept of praying, he felt like Green had only taken it more serious once he had befriended the Toabots. Sure, Green had prayed a bit when he had been younger, but that had mostly been for selfish reasons like winning a level in a game, or getting a new product. Though Jala had initially distrusted the Toabots, after he had opened his heartlight to them he saw the change that Paradox had brought to Green talking about Jesus and his unconditional love for all creation regardless of their sins, and how prayer was truly essential to one's faith. Based on that prayer, God's love was truly with Green, and it had inspired him right now to do what was right to ensure a future age of peace and love, in Jesus name.
Green smiled back. "Thanks dad". Then looking to the others: "As for everyone else, go back to your homes and get what you need. Be ready for pick up tomorrow at 0700".
"Of course wind-spitter". Robert agreed.
Pow blinked in surprise for a moment. "That early"? He asked, before then accepting it with a shrug.
"Meh, I never sleep". Z simply commented.
Ops was about to make some kind of humorous response to Z's comment before then remembering something, and face-palming because of it. His home was all the way back in New Iacon! Luckily, he had all of his weapons with him, but for now he had nowhere to rest his helm. Ops looked to Tali then, remembering she had told him about her house a while back. Ops's expression turned nervous then. 'Would Tali really be willing to allow me to spend the night with her, even if it was just to have somewhere to sleep? We're engaged now, sure. But will that change anything'?
Ops kept his nervous expression as he placed a servo on Tali's shoulder and asked: "Hey Tali, why don't we go to that home you talked about? Also, are you okay if I spend the night"?
Tali beamed up at him so brightly she was close to glowing. "Sure!" She finally got to show her fiancé her home! An opportunity she had been waiting for this for quite a while.
Z didn't have anywhere to live either, but he hadn't had anywhere to live while he was on the run either so that hadn't exactly changed anything for him too much. Even if he had to dig a deep hole to sleep in, he would be fine. Then again, he remembered one of the Toa Rahayu say Iris had a crush on him, and as he didn't feel the same way for her, and they were going into a battle tomorrow, he figured today would be the right day to get to the bottom of it. No way was he going to let her risk her life for him. Especially not since he was indestructible and therefore such an action would be stupid.
"You want to practice"? Z asked Iris with a challenging smirk, so as not to let her know what he was doing.
"Definitely. Need to keep my skills sharp." Iris smirked back, eager for a training session as she had been lacking in it for some time now.
Pow had the option to stay at Maze's hotel room again tonight if he wanted to, but last night he had only gotten five hours of sleep due to Maze working on his late night experiments. 'Most of which had to include some welding'. Pow thought in annoyance. So if Pow were going to go back to Maze's apartment for the night, which seemed more likely as Pow hadn't been dating Amber for too long, he figured he should take some time to hang out with said girlfriend. At least that would relax him enough to put up with another stressful night.
"What do you want to do"? Pow asked Amber.
"Well..." Amber started to answer but stopped when she remembered her mother was standing behind them. Not wanting to exclude her, she turned around and gave her an "is it okay?" look. Valera smiled and nodded, happy and grateful that her daughter had included her before responding to her boyfriend.
"Would you like to see my crystal collection?" Amber asked Pow eagerly, now that she had the green light from her mom.
Pow smiled, kissing Amber on the cheek before responding: "I would love to". Though Pow had cared little for the subject of crystals back in school, he did love to hear Amber talk about it. Maybe it was her pretty face or her melodic voice. Regardless of what it was, she just made it sound more interesting.
Seeing as the other males were getting to spend the night with their gals, Robert figured he'd test his own luck as he hugged Ava from behind, and placed a kiss on her cheek as he asked: "Cuddle-cutie, do you have a home-place"?
"Yes, I do." Ava giggled as she hugged him back. "A beautiful house near the forest."
Robert's smile widened. "How about a romantic home-visit then"?
"I'd love that!" Ava beamed happily and bounced a bit excitedly.
Just as everyone had started to leave, Ops remembered something. Ops facepalmed for a moment. 'How could I have forgotten this?! Tali and I were supposed to tell everyone about our engagement earlier'! Just before everyone had reached the door, Ops stopped Tali by gently grabbing her hand before announcing to everyone: "Oh by the way everybody, Tali and I are engaged"!
Laughing, Tali held up her left hand to show off her ring, blushing deeply with joy and embarrassment that she had completely forgotten about her engagement. From the looks on the others' faces, they were just as joyful as her though she wasn't expecting to be floored by Amber in a tight embrace. "Oh, Tali!" She squealed. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Congratulations!" Iris laughed at the sight while Amber simply beamed brightly, obviously too overcome with joy for words.
Adhira was grinning idiotically like a little child with it's favorite toy. "Seriously?! Congratulations!"
Valera rolled her eyes and kept her smile a little more controlled. 'Honestly, sis, get a grip on yourself.' she chuckled to herself quietly, knowing full well how much Adhira was a romantic at heart and loved happy endings, especially weddings. As to what started that, Valera had somewhat of an idea but she would have to find a way to bring it up to her later. Right now, she just let her have this calm before the storm. "Congratulations, you two!" she smiled happily, her eyes gleaming with mischievous joy upon realizing what their union meant but figured to keep the secret until the right moment.
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Biomarvel740: Green taking charge is inspired by Captain America's plan to destroy Hydra in Captain America: Winter Soldier, all owned by Marvel and Disney. Iacon is owned by Hasbro.
Galem: Lego owns Vakama.
Biomarvel740: Hilarious reference btw.
Galem: Lol! Thanks. I heard Vak's staff is to be feared.
Biomarvel740: Lol! (To the readers) But what did you all think of the chapter, and the reference?
Galem: Please leave a review to let us know or pm either of us if you have any questions.
Biomarvel740: We thank you all for reading-
Galem: And please...
Biomarvel740 and Galem: Have a God-blessed day! XD :D