"It could all be repaired," Whenua said quietly, breaking the awkward silence between him and his brother. He was trying to be positive so Matau wouldn't have to be. Matau, for all his faults, knew when to bring a smile to the Toa's faces, even in times of conflict. "But Vakama says we have to leave and start fresh on the island."

"The thought of trying to fix all this does not bring happy-cheer," said Matau. "But neither does trying to ride Ussal carts through that swamp in our new home."

"What do you really think of his visions?"

Matau shrugged. "They have been right, so far." He paused, before adding, "Often enough that we might follow one's lead, even if he simply made it up."

Whenua looked at Matau. Had the Toa of Air just suggested that the entire move to the island might be the result of a lie on the part of Vakama? Why? What could Vakama hope to gain by leading them to a strange new land? The problem with questions, he decided, is that they are impossible to forget, once they have been asked. If you cannot forget them, then you have to find answers for them, even when you would rather not.

He was almost grateful for the noise that interrupted his thoughts. It had come from off to the right, a site of some of the thicker vegetation that now choked the streets. Something was in there, most likely a Rahi. Whenua silently signaled for Matau to circle to the right and see if he could flush out the creature. Once it was out in the open, the Toa of Earth could use his Mask of Night Vision to blind it until it could be subdued.

Matau had gone perhaps four steps into the tall grass when he found himself tangled in a web. Unlike some of the other ones that had been old and brittle, this one was fresh and stubbornly clung to him. He started to hack at it with his slicers before realizing that thrashing about would just draw the attention of the hidden Rahi.

He was half-right. His movements did attract unwanted notice, but not from Rahi. Instead, three Vahki Rorzakh rose out of the tangle of grass and vines. Their eyes flared scarlet as they spotted Matau, now helplessly tangled in the web.

As one, the Vahki shifted from four-legged to two-legged mode. As one, they raised their stun staffs and aimed them at Matau. Even more shocking, as one—they spoke! "Surrender, intruder…or perish."

Matau braced himself and prepared to move. Vahki stun staffs affected the mind only, so he didn't have to worry about physical damage. The trick would be dodging while stuck in the web.

"Surrender, intruder," the Vahki repeated. Their voices were harsh, mechanical, and riddled with static. That was not half so disturbing as the fact that they even had voices. Vahki had always communicated via ultrasonics, never in an understandable language.

Matau heard Whenua's earthshock drills revving. So did the Vahki, two of their number breaking off to investigate. "Whenua, watch out! Vahki!" the Toa of Air shouted.

One of the remaining Vahki unleashed a blast from his stun staff. Matau barely managed to duck his head out of the way. The bolt struck the web and promptly incinerated a large portion of it.

Behind his mask, Matau's eyes widened. Vahki stun blasts couldn't do that! They were specifically designed not to cause property damage or injure Matoran. What was going on here?

Another blast sounded to his left. He heard Whenua grunt and hit the ground. The other Toa would be there any moment, but there was no guarantee they would be in time. The Vahki's bolt had weakened the web, not much, but it would have to be enough.

Matau threw himself forward as if he were going to do a somersault. Some of the web ripped away from his back, as his slicers cut through more. Twin bolts struck him before he could free himself, blasting him back through the web and into a clearing. He was loose, but close to unconsciousness.

Whenua was having his own problems. The Vahki had caught him by surprise, the impact from their stun staffs even more so. Now they were standing over him, demanding he decide between surrender or a sudden halt to his life processes.

He went with a third option. Sending forth his elemental power, Whenua caused two pillars of earth to rise rapidly out of the ground, carrying the Vahki high into the air. Then he sat up and sheared through the pillars with his drills, sending the robotic order enforcers plummeting to the ground. As soon as they recovered from the shock, they would go into flight mode, but that gave Whenua time to head back for the other Toa.

He was halfway down the path when he heard two crashes behind him. Looking back at the sparking, ruined machines, he wondered why they hadn't thought to fly.

X X X

The two Vahki lay silent, their robotic bodies mangled by the fall. Then, with painful slowness, their mechanical parts began to twist and bend, reshaping themselves. Limbs that had been twisted beyond repair were now straight and whole again. Shells that had been all but shattered were made solid once more.

Light returned to the eyes of the Vahki. They rose, using their staffs as forelegs and listening intently for the sounds of intruders. Hearing something that seemed out of place, they quietly moved down the path Whenua had followed.

Their programming was crystal clear. Their duty, as it had always been, was to prevent disorder in the city of Metru Nui. Unfortunately, living creatures were a constant source of disturbance to the natural order of things. But although the recent cataclysm had badly damaged the city, it had also opened the Vahki's eyes to a simple truth that changed their mission forever.

After all, there would be no disorder in Metru Nui…if there was nothing left alive.

X X X

A pair of Visorak clung to a web high above the district of Le-Metru. Any other creature would have been unable to see much of anything below, due to the thick vegetation and dense mist. But the keen eyes of the Visorak saw all that went on in the ruined streets of Metru Nui.

The Earth Toa and the Air Toa had joined forces again and were approaching the others. All for the better—the hunt would go faster if they were all together. The Visorak were about to send a signal through the web to summon others of their kind when they spotted more movement in the streets. Vahki. Perhaps a dozen of them were now closing in on the Toa's location.

This was a problem. Roodaka demanded that these Toa be brought to her, not necessarily alive. However, the Vahki would leave nothing, not even remains, to be presented to the viceroy. In that case, her wrath would be terrible indeed.

One of the Visorak set the web to vibrating, a message that would be picked up by its kind all over the district. All were instructed to monitor the Toa and the Vahki and, if necessary, take action. How shocked the heroes of Metru Nui would be if they discovered the identities of the ones who had saved their lives.

Later on, of course, after they had met the Hordika, the Toa would probably wish they were dead. And who could say, perhaps if she were feeling generous, Roodaka might oblige them.

X X X

"Vahki that talk?" asked Nuju, his voice heavy with disbelief. "And fire destructive blasts? I think the strain is getting to you, Matau."

"I saw it too," said Whenua. "They were ready to kill me."

"But they didn't," Vakama cut in. "And we don't have time to worry about Vahki. We have Matoran to save. If they get in our way, we will deal with them then."

"If they get in our way?" snapped Matau. "They weren't throwing a happy-surprise Naming Day for us back there!"

"Relax, Matau," said Onewa. "Did either one of you notice anything different about the Vahki? How they looked?"

Matau shook his head immediately. Whenua thought for a long moment, and then said, "Yes, there was something. I hardly noticed at the time, but…there were marks on their skull casings. Scorch marks."

Onewa turned to the Toa of Air. "Where is the central task force hive for Le-Metru?"

"Near the Moto-Hub. Why?"

"Let's go," said the Toa of Stone. "I think I know what happened here. And if I'm right, Vakama, getting the Matoran out of Metru Nui just became much more difficult."

X X X

Matau tried not to look at the Moto-Hub as the Toa drew closer to it. As a Matoran, he had spent almost all his spare time there, watching the assemblers work or testing new vehicles on the track. Now a portion of the dome had caved in and vines and creepers covered the outside walls. The surrounding grounds were littered with rubble and vehicle parts. For the first time, Matau considered that maybe the Matoran were lucky to have slept through all this.

"Best not to think about it," said Nokama, as if she had read his mind. "I am hoping we won't have to go to Ga-Metru at all. I dread seeing what has become of my school and the Great Temple."

Matau said nothing. He had already decided to limit his flying as much as possible. The less he saw of the new Metru Nui, the better.

"Over here!" Onewa called. Matau and Nokama hurried to join the others at the remains of the Vahki Le-Metru subdivision hive. Whenua tore the metal door off its hinges while the others braced for a possible attack.

Nothing sprang out at them. Whenua used his mask to illuminate the interior. It was a tangled mess of wires leading to and from power cradles. When not on patrol, the Vahki rested in these frames and were recharged with energy from the power plant.

"Shine the light over here," Onewa said as he began rummaging through the debris. "My first clue was when you said you could understand what the Vahki were saying."

"That's right," answered Whenua. "Everyone knows Vahki don't speak Matoran."

"Correction: everyone outside of Po-Metru thinks they know that," said Onewa. "Remember, an Onu-Matoran may have designed the Vahki, but Po-Matoran built them." The Toa of Stone fished a charred Vahki head and arm out of the rubble. "Blown to pieces. I bet that happened to a lot of them. Otherwise, the city would be overrun already."

He tossed the robot head to Whenua. "Vahki always spoke Matoran. They just spoke it at such a high pitch and fast speed that no one could understand them. When you said they were making sense, I knew something had happened that affected their speech centers, and maybe the rest of them too."

Onewa bent down, grabbed one of the power cradles, and with a mighty heave, tore it loose. He dragged it out of the hive and dropped it at the feet of the Toa. The metal frame was scorched and partially melted. "There. When Makuta overloaded the power plant, the feedback shot through the hives. Most of the Vahki were destroyed by it. The ones who weren't absorbed the energy surge and were…changed."

A half dozen energy bolts sizzled through the air around the Toa Metru. The heroes scattered as the blasts tore holes in the hive. Right on the heels of the attack came the sight of three Nuurakh and three Keerakh closing in on the location.

Vakama raised his disk launcher and Nuju his crystal spikes, ready to defend themselves. Matau slipped between them and forced their weapons down. "No!" he whispered. "I don't want Le-Metru damage-scarred worse than it already has been. Hide in the Moto-Hub. I have an idea."

Running and hiding didn't sit well with any of Matau's comrades. But one of the most important parts of being a Toa was respecting the rights of another when in his metru. This was Matau's home, so it had to be his choice. Silently, the other five heroes vanished through a crack in the Moto-Hub wall.

The Toa of Air triggered the power of his Mask of Shapeshifting, transforming himself into a duplicate of a Vahki Rorzakh. He was careful to make sure that the scorch marks Whenua had spotted were in the right place. Once the shapeshifting was done, he stepped boldly out to face the oncoming order enforcers.

The lead Nuurakh looked him up and down. "Hive and subsection," it said.

Matau thought fast. "Um, there is no time to waste on protocol. The intruders have escaped!"

"Hive and subsection," the Vahki repeated.

"I can tell you which hive and subsection I will be going to next: yours, to report you for incompetence," Matau replied. "They were headed for Ta-Metru. If we hurry, we can run them down."

One of the Keerakh stepped forward. "They were here? You saw them?"

"Yes."

"And you let them escape?"

Too late Matau realized he had walked into a trap. "Well, not really…you see, they were already…"

The Keerakh turned to the Nuurakh, totally ignoring Matau. "A properly functioning Vahki does not allow a lawbreaker to escape. That unit is therefore not functioning properly. I recommend that its processes be completely shut down until repairs can be made."

The Nuurahkh nodded. All six Vahki raised their staffs, aimed them at the Vahki/Matau, and prepared to execute their new command.