Chapter 12

As the sun rose over Po-Metru at daybreak, Triglax and Kulagi were crossing over the foothills in Po-Metru, heading towards the center of the district. Triglax was leading the way, having shapeshifted back into his Matoran form. Kulagi was following behind him, with his Kanoka launcher loaded and in hand.

"You don't need to keep your weapon trained on me," Triglax said casually. "I already decided I wasn't going to attack you. Besides, you took my Kanoka already; what am I even going to attack you with?"

"I don't trust the words of a Dark Hunter," Kulagi said. "Especially not a known liar like you."

Triglax chuckled. "You're making me sound far more terrible than I really am. If I had really wanted to harm you, I had plenty of chances back in Ga-Metru. I wouldn't have even needed to do it myself; I could've just left you for the other Dark Hunters. But I never did any of that."

"Right, because you wanted information, and you can't get that from a corpse," Kulagi said.

"Maybe," Triglax said with a shrug. "But in some ways, you and I are quite alike."

"I don't see that," Kulagi grumbled.

"It goes beyond just being Kanoka Makers," Triglax said. "We both will do whatever it takes to get what we want, even if our methods differ slightly. You're obsessed with finding your precious protodermis for your discs, and with helping your friends. Meanwhile, I'm interested in finding treasures, like that device, which could be used to end this pointless war."

"You think this war is pointless?" Kulagi asked with a laugh. "You Dark Hunters started it!"

"Yes, The Shadowed One has his plans for this city and wanted this war," Triglax said. "But he's not the one fighting it, and the rest of us aren't too keen to stay here forever and fight against the Toa. So we want a quick little victory, and then a chance to go home and leave you Matoran to yourselves. Well, in addition to some tribute payments, of course," he added.

"I don't think you'll be getting your way," Kulagi said. "Matoran on Metru-Nui won't let themselves gets bullied by the likes of the Dark Hunters."

"But you're fine with your Turaga Dume dictator?" Triglax asked. "You don't approve of his rule either, do you?"

Kulagi paused for a moment. "That's not the same thing," he finally said.

"Again, different methods, but the end result is the same," Triglax said. "Somebody is above you, telling you what you can and cannot do. You don't like that; you'd prefer to do things your way, to achieve your ends." His eyes flashed. "In that way, Kanoka Maker, the two of us are very much alike."

"That seems to imply that you don't agree with the Dark Hunters on all things," Kulagi countered, trying to ignore any truth to Triglax's words.

"I'm not in the running for best being in the universe, but I'd like to think I'm not as bad as half of the other Dark Hunters," Triglax said. "Most of them are a bunch of murderous nut jobs, who would rather overpower than outthink their opponents. I don't really get along with most of them."

"Then why stay?" Kulagi asked, genuinely curious.

"Because we have no other choice," Triglax said. "Once The Shadow One brings you in, your only ticket out is death. Others have tried to escape on their own, but then they get hunted down and, well, fulfill the death requirement rather quickly. So I just try to make the best of it, and right now that means resolving this war and getting off this island."

"Then why not let the Toa win?" Kulagi asked.

"The same reason you don't bow down when the Dark Hunters tell you to surrender," Triglax said. "I don't like losing."

"Where are we going anyway," Kulagi asked, changing the subject.

Triglax pointed to a ragged hilltop nearby. "There's a little fortress up there, and Hakann set it up for his little interrogations. Your friend will be there."

"Let me guess, it's heavily guarded," Kulagi said.

"Probably not," Triglax said. "Hakann's mostly relying on its remoteness. There'll be two, three Dark Hunters there, tops."

"Then how do I get Triki out without stirring up trouble?" Kulagi asked. "Three Dark Hunters is a little much for me to deal with, and I don't think I can rely on you to help."

"You're right on both counts," Triglax said. "There's no way in or out except through the main door. Inside, there is a hallway that leads to a couple of holding cells, and then some recreation rooms to the side for the Dark Hunters to wait. You could blast your way through, but then the Dark Hunters will know, and they'll get you before you can escape. So instead, I'll distract the guards in the recreation room, and you can sneak your friend out and make your escape." He flashed a grin. "Sound good?"

"I guess," Kulagi said. "But if you end up betraying me, I will hit you with my most powerful Reconstruct at Random disc and hope that the change stays permanent."

"Fair enough," Triglax said. "Now, pass me back my Kanoka launcher."

"What? No."

"I'll look out of place without my weapons," Triglax insisted. "They might ask some questions otherwise."

"Fine," Kulagi said, handing over the launcher and a few of his Kanoka. Triglax accepted them, and quickly shapeshifted back to his original form. "Let's do this," he said.

As Kulagi stealthily snuck up on one side of the building, Triglax strutted up to the main door and threw it opened. Inside, he found Hakann, leaning against the wall with a scowl on his face.

Hakann turned to face the newcomer. "Triglax?" he said. "To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"Just thought I'd stop by, see how things were going," Triglax said. "You the only one here?"

"Yeah, me and my prisoner," Hakann said with a growl. "I've been teamed up with Optics, but he was summoned for a time. Turns out they found that power source we were after."

"Yeah, I know," Triglax said with a smug grin. "I found it for them."

"You?" Hakann asked, laughing. "I thought you were supposed to be one some spy mission."

"Yeah, and it paid off," Triglax said. "Got the Matoran to lead me right to it, unlike certain bumbling buffoons." Triglax shapeshifted into his Matoran form, shocking Hakann. "You recognize me now?"

"You were with that team of Matoran who got away from us!" Hakann snarled.

"Yes, it was quite fun watching you make a fool of yourself," Triglax pressed, returning to normal. "And in the end, it turns out my method yielded results. And what have you gotten out of your prisoner?"

"Nothing," Hakann grudgingly admitted. "He's either a complete fool or a masterful trickster, because I can't get anything coherent out of him."

"Well, he's worthless to you now," Triglax said. "We got what we were looking for, so no need for you to continue the interrogation."

"We can still find some force labor for him to do," Hakann said.

Kulagi heard Triglax and Hakann converse as he crept into the structure. He couldn't hear everything they said, but he caught Hakann's bit about him being the only one on guard. That meant, with him distracted by Triglax, now was his chance.

Quietly, he snuck passed the room where the Dark Hunters were talking and headed towards the holding cells. Only one of the doors was locked, so he aimed his Kanoka launcher at it and fired. His Shrinking disc shrunk the lock, allowing Kulagi to gently open the door. In the middle of the room, he could see Triki lying on his back, chained to the floor.

"Oh no," Kulagi said, darting forward. "Triki, are you okay?"

"Kulagi dude!" Triki said, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

"You need to be quiet," Kulagi said. "I'm sneaking you out of here, but we can't risk getting caught. Are you hurt at all?"

"Just looking at patterns on top-wall," Triki said, pointing to the ceiling. "Red toothy guy hasn't come in to chat recently. Been bored."

"Let me break you free of these chains and we can get going," Kulagi said, reaching for a Weakening disc.

"Oh, I'm good," Triki said, jumping to his feet. The shackled that held the chains to his arms and legs slipped off effortlessly.

"How did you..." Kulagi asked.

"Vahki have had me chain-tied before, so I quick-learned how to free-slip," Triki explained.

"Well, that's a good skill to have," Kulagi said. "Now let's free-slip our way out of here."

"Wait," Triki said, leading them to a side room. "Need to get my discs and Triki mask!"

Once Triki had his equipment, the two of them snuck out into the hallway. They passed the room where the two Dark Hunters were now having a heated argument, after Triglax has insulted Hakann's tracking abilities. Kulagi couldn't help but grin to himself, and said, "I guess he did come through for me, by being obnoxious of all things." With that, he and Triki quickly exited the structure and ventured back out into the desert.

"You see, if you just thought with your head instead of your claws, you wouldn't be in this situation," Triglax jeered.

"I've had just about enough of your backtalk," Hakann raged, and he fired his heat beam eyes. Triglax easily ducked around the blast, and instead Hakann seared a hole through the back wall.

"That's going to hurt this place's real estate value," Triglax said disdainfully. "Way to go, hothead."

Before the fight could escalate, the front door opened again and two Dark Hunters entered. Hakann turned to see Lariska and Optics. "About time somebody else showed up. Would you please remove Triglax from my sight?"

"What are you doing here?" Lariska barked at Triglax.

Triglax flashed an innocent smile. "Just chatting it up with spikes-for-brains here. What brings you to this secluded, dilapidated fortress, oh great leader Lariska?"

"We've come to collect the Le-Matoran," Lariska said.

"But you already have the device," Triglax pointed out. "Why bother with him now?"

"Because it can't hurt to have a hostage on hand," Lariska said. "We have Toa in the area."

"Toa?" Hakann asked. "So have they started their attack yet?"

"Not quite," Optics said. "We discovered Vengeance, Krekka, and Charger had all been defeated after they chased those two Matoran earlier. Based on their injuries, Toa were involved."

"The Toa are going for a covert operation this time," Lariska said. "They're probably after all the other Matoran who've been in hiding, and our prisoner might be able to lead us to them now."

"Why don't you just ask Triglax here?" Hakann said. "He was running with those Matoran for a while."

"I was running with a small band, who've have already fled the city, escaping from even Vengeance, it seems," Triglax said, mixing truth with lies. "I don't know where the others are."

"Then I'll interrogate the Le-Matoran this time," Lariska said. "And hopefully I'll get some better results."

Optics frowned, tilting his head. "Something's wrong with the Matoran."

"He's probably just babbling again," Hakann said offhandedly.

"Actually, he's not making any noise at all," Optics said.

"Well, that is very unlike him, and that's troubling," Hakann said, racing towards the holding cell. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the door partway opened and the empty chains inside. "He's escaped."

"You let a puny Matoran get away from you?" Triglax asked, laughing. "Wow, Hakann, you are a terrible jailer. We should've hired that brown Skakdi brother of yours instead."

"This was not just an escape, but rather a breakout," Optics said, observing the shrunken lock. "Somebody else came here to get our prisoner."

"They can't have gotten far," Lariska said. "Optics, take to the skies, and find them. The rest of you, with me. We will catch up to him."

The Dark Hunters raced outside, and Optics spread his wings and soared up into the air. With his enhanced vision, he was quickly able to spot the two Matoran, and swooped down towards them. Lariska and the others followed.

"Looks like we have company," Kulagi said, glancing back to see the Dark Hunters gaining on them. "Get ready to greet them."

"Will we exchanged high fives, pass codes, and goodie snacks?" Triki asked hopefully.

"How about Kanoka discs to the head," Kulagi said, spinning around and firing a disc at Optics. Optics swooshed out of the way, but the Kanoka was one of Triglax's Ko-Metru discs, and it changed direction and struck Optics, knocking him out of the air.

"I'm going to smash your mask to pieces!" Hakann roared, charging towards Triki.

"Hey, spike-face!" Triki said. "I have joke for you. What's loud and dumb and red all over?"

Hakann fired his head beam vision at Triki, who dodged to the side. "Answer-wrong!" Triki said. "The answer is you!" He fired one of his Reconstruct at Random discs at Hakann, who took the hit full on.

Hakann grinned after nothing seemed to have happened. "Nice try, Le-Matoran," he sneered. He tried to take a step forward, but paused as his legs felt odd. Suddenly, his armor started to droop, having been turned into a viscous gel. His spiked slumped over, and his armor started congealing around his joints, slowing down his movements. Hakann tried to fire his heat beam vision again, but then his head spikes sagged over his eyes, cutting off his line of sight entirely.

Kulagi turned to fire at the oncoming Dark Hunters, but had to duck as a dagger flew through the air past his mask. "Not you again," he complained, catching sight of Lariska.

"So we meet again, Matoran," Lariska said. "It sounds like you've been causing us a lot of headaches recently."

"Have another one," Kulagi said, firing one of the Ko-Metru Kanoka towards Lariska. But just as it was about to strike her, she stabbed it with one of her daggers, canceling out its powers entirely.

Kulagi gripped his launcher, but now he could see both Optics and Lariska heading towards him, and he was uncertain if he could take on both. Behind them, Triglax merely watched. He locked eyes with Kulagi for a moment and shrugged. He wasn't going to join the fight, but he wasn't going to stop it either.

"Back-stay!" Triki suddenly shouted, jumping next to Kulagi. "Flee-away, else I use my Triki mask on you." He held up his misshaped mask over his head dramatically.

"Foolish Matoran, you can't use Kanohi masks," Optics said.

"Yeah, Triki, bad idea," Kulagi said out of the corner of his mouth. Whenever Triki had used that mask in the past, it had knocked him unconscious.

"We're calling your bluff, Matoran," Lariska said, throwing a dagger.

Kulagi drew one of his Kanoka discs and used it to block the dagger, which stabbed through the disc and caused it to split in half. However, Triki followed through with his threat, and placed the mask over his face. "Feel the power of Triki!" he roared, as the mask began to glow.

Kulagi leapt away just in time, as bolts of electricity began to erupt from Triki's mask. Lariska dodged one, but another zapped Optics, blowing him backwards. Kulagi tried to shoot down Lariska while she was preoccupied, but she was already charging towards him. She threw a punch with her robotic arm and caught Kulagi in the chest, throwing him hard to the ground and knocking his launcher aside.

"I got you now," Lariska said. But then there was a blast behind her, as Triki's Kanohi blew off his face. It struck a rock, and then ricocheted into Lariska's back, toppling her.

Kulagi painfully got up and grabbed his launcher and took in the scene. Optics was down, and Hakann's reconstructed armor seemed to be keeping him partially immobilized. But Lariska was already recovering, and Triki was dazed. Meanwhile, Triglax had retreated some distance away and continued to watch.

"If I take you down, we can still escape," Kulagi said, aiming at Lariska.

"Foolish Matoran," Lariska said. "Do you think I don't have reinforcements coming?"

Kulagi glanced backwards, and saw the shapes of at least three other beings advancing towards them. Three fresh Dark Hunters were more than he could handle. Furthermore, while he was looking away, Lariska threw another dagger and disarmed him.

"You're ours now, Matoran," she said.

Optics painfully pushed himself up, as the newcomers surrounded Kulagi and Triki. Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he covered his ears. "They're coming!" he screamed.

"Silence," barked Lariska. "Yes, our forces are here, now we will take these Matoran."

"No, not them," Optics stuttered. "The swarm, can you not hear it? The swarm approaches!"

"What swarm?" Lariska asked. But she paused, and then the growing humming sound reached her ears too. She looked to the south to see a dark cloud in the sky, only it wasn't a cloud at all. "Kirikori Nui!" she said with a snarl.

The Kirikori Nui were giant insects who traveled in swarms, often consuming large swathes of vegetation in a matter of days. They were considered as pests by the Matoran, and while they would sometimes plague the rest of the island, a small colony lived in remote sections of Po-Metru. Although they were usually more interested in eating, the Kirikori Nui were ferocious when provoked, and could take down much larger foes with their powerful legs and jaws.

Now the swarm descended on the crowd of Dark Hunters. They fired their projectile weapons at the flying insects, but this just caused the rest of the Kirikori Nui to hone in on them. The Dark Hunters were able to swat aside the individual insects with ease, but in a group they were too much for them.

Kulagi wasn't sure what had prompted the swarm to attack, but he was going to take advantage of it. He snagged up his discs and launcher and raced over to Triki, keeping low to the ground. "Let's go now, while they're distracted," he said.

"Looks at all the flying bugs!" Triki exclaimed, as he reached for his fallen discs and mask. "I've never seen such a big attack-swarm before, and I've anger-made plenty of Rahi before!"

But while the other Dark hunters fended off the Kirikori Nui, Lariska focused on the Matoran, and charged towards them. "You won't escape," she shouted over the buzzing in the air.

Kulagi heard another sound, but this one was more familiar. It was the sound of a Hover-Bike, and the vehicle dove down out of the sky, dodging around Kirikori Nui. Huaju was at the controls, and he fired a Kanoka disc at Lariska, catching her off guard.

"Get on," he yelled, dropping down next to Kulagi and Triki.

"Oh, fun fly time?" Triki asked, leaping onto the bike.

"We need to leave before the Kirikori Nui start focusing on my bike," Huaju shouted. "Kulagi, let's go."

"One last thing," Kulagi said, loading an Enlarging disc into his launcher. Lariska got up, but then Kulagi fired his disc at a Kirikori Nui above her. The insect, already the size of a Toa, suddenly grew five times larger, and its weight crushed down on Lariska, pinning her.

"Now we can leave," Kulagi said, jumping onto the back of the Hover-Bike. Huaju revved the engines and blasted off into the air, expertly dodging around the flying Rahi as he did so. Meanwhile the Kirikori Nui swarm continued to pummel the Dark Hunters, led by their new enlarged comrade. The Dark Hunters were forced to grab their fallen and flee from the scene.

Lariska freed herself and began to sprint away from the swarm. "This isn't over, Matoran," she growled under her breath.