Nuju, Toa Metru of Ice, and Whenua, Toa Metru of Earth, moved slowly and quietly down a darkened corridor. All around them, eyes frozen in suspended animation seemed to watch their progress. The most fearsome creatures ever to appear in Metru Nui were preserved here in the Onu-Metru Archives, still-living exhibits to be studied by Matoran scholars.

Toa Nuju scowled as they walked through the latest in a series of seemingly endless hallways, filled with dusty display cases. Before he became a Toa, Nuju's job had been scanning the skies searching for hints of what the future held for Metru Nui. To him, the Archives were nothing but a monument to a dead past.

"l never knew this place was so big," he muttered.

"As big as it needs to be," replied Whenua, with pride in his voice. "We've added two new sub-levels lately. The subterranean sections will someday stretch to the sea in every direction!"

"Why stop there? Why not just knock down the rest of the Metru and turn the whole city into a dusty museum?"

Whenua glanced at Nuju with an expression of irritation. "That might be better than wasting time and space trying to predict tomorrows that might not come."

Nuju shook his head. They had been having some version of this argument since they left Ga-Metru on their search for the Great Disks. Neither one was going to change the other's mind, so there was no future in continuing. "Let's say we both live in the present for a moment. Do you think it was wise to leave Tehutti and Ehrye up above? What if they run off?"

"We left them in a section of the Archives that Tehutti had never visited before. Even the best Matoran archivist would get lost trying to find his way out of an unfamiliar wing, and he knows it. Oh, look at that! We found that insectoid arm digging sub-level 6. It's not Bohrok, but we're not sure what else it might have belonged to."

Nuju smiled. It was probably too much to ask to expect Whenua to stop giving tours. Even in the face of danger—the city threatened by the Morbuzakh plant, a handful of Matoran holding the key to its defeat—Whenua was still an old archivist at heart.

The carving at the Great Temple had advised that "no door must be left unopened" in Onu-Metru if the Great Disk were to be found. But the Archives contained hundreds of thousands of doors, if not more. Fortunately, Tehutti knew which level concealed the disk. Now the trick was finding it.

The two Toa Metru turned a corner. Before them, the hallway stretched as far as the eye could see. Each side was lined with doors easily four times the height of a Toa. The doors were thick and strong, too, and locked tight.

"Why all the locks?" Nuju asked. "Worried someone will break into the exhibits?"

Whenua chuckled. "No, Nuju. Worried that the exhibits will break out. Some of these creatures seem able to resist our efforts to put them in stasis."

The Toa Metru of Earth stopped at the first door on the left. No sign gave a hint of what lay behind it, but that wasn't unusual. One of the rules of the Archives was, "If you have to ask what's behind the door, you aren't meant to open it."

Nuju craned his neck to see the top of the massive door, then examined the equally oversized lock. "l don't suppose you have a key?"

"No. Only the Chief Archivist has keys to this level. If he knew we were rummaging around down here, the Vahki Rorzakh would already be on their way."

Nuju raised his crystal spike and fired a blast of ice at the lock, freezing it solid. "Then we make our own."

Whenua nodded and revved up one of his earthshock drills. It took only a brief touch to shatter the frozen lock.

The door slowly swung open. Nuju peered inside. "Whenua? There is something in there. Much too big to be a Great Disk."

Before either of them could move, a gigantic Ussal crab claw shot from inside the room and clamped itself around the Toa. "Unngh! Wrong room! Wrong room!" Whenua shouted with enormous effort, shoving the grip of the massive claw to keep it from snapping shut on him and Nuju.

"l figured that out for myself!" Nuju replied, straining against the mighty claw to no effect. He was secretly grateful that it was impossible to see the Ussal to which the claw belonged. This day had already had enough nasty surprises. The brown-orange grip of the crab creature was closer to harming him than Whenua—he was closer to the crease of the claw. He readied the sharp edge of his crystal spikes to dig into the creature's exterior to see if the pain would make it release them.

Whenua's voice stopped him. "This—owww!—is a very rare creature!" he said. "Try not to hurt it!"

Nuju stopped his attack, but looked with annoyance to the Toa of Earth. "We are rare creatures, too, Whenua. Right now, I would even say endangered!" Nuju pitted every bit of his strength against the claw and didn't so much as loosen its grip.

"I think I have an idea, but it might bring the whole place down on us," Whenua said.

"Let me worry about the future," Nuju replied. "It's what I do best."

Whenua raised his arms from the crab. Without him bracing against the pincers, Nuju was left to deal with their might alone. Whenua knew Nuju might not appreciate that, but if his plan worked, there would be time to thank him later. Whenua activated both of his earthshock drills, setting them spinning at a high rate of speed.

Whenua closed his eyes and concentrated on his Toa tools. The earthshock drills could bore through virtually any substance, even at low speed. But they had one other feature: when in use, they produced a loud hum.

If I can get them going fast enough, he thought. Hit just the right frequency, maybe…

The drills became a blur, whirling faster and faster. The hum went from painfully loud into the ultrasonic range. Whenua and Nuju both felt certain their heads would split open. Cracks began forming in the walls and ceiling. Whenua pushed as hard as he could to increase the speed, then pushed a little harder, doing his best not to scream from the strain.

Nuju, meanwhile, tried to hold on to the pincers, but with Whenua's Toa tools next to his head, he eventually caved, bringing his hands to his ears. "Arrrrhh! That noise!" he cried. It feels like my head is going to split! Then he noticed the pincers hadn't diced him and Whenua immediately after he let go, as he had expected. They were still held, but the grip was actually loosening.

Suddenly, they were free. Both Toa dropped to the ground as the monstrous claw retreated back into the darkness.

"Oooof!"

"Ohh!" they sounded as they hit the hard earthen floor.

Nuju, still on the ground, slammed the door after the Rahi with his leg and created a new lock of thick ice with his Toa tools. Then he turned to Whenua, who was slowly powering down his drills. He waited until all was quiet again.

"Ow," said the Toa of Ice.

"Sorry. All that I could think of," Whenua replied, standing up. "No one is quite sure what that thing is, possibly a hybrid of an Ussal crab and some larger creature. But we do know it's practically blind and uses its incredible hearing to get around and track prey."

"Sensitive ears," said Nuju, thinking. He looked up at Whenua. "Your drills gave it a headache. Any more surprises down here I should know about?"

Whenua put away his now-stationary tools, and answered with a smile, "That's what this place is all about, Nuju." He helped the Toa of Ice to his feet with a hand up. "Welcome to the Archives."

X X X

"We're lost-wandering," said Orkahm. The Le-Matoran looked fearfully around at the unfamiliar sights of Ga-Metru. "We're never going to find that Great Disk!"

Vhisola gave him a hard look. "We're not lost," the Ga-Matoran snapped. "Just a little…turned around."

"You said you knew where we were ground-walking."

"l do!" Vhisola insisted. "It's around here, somewhere."

"Enough," Nokama, Toa Metru of Water, said sternly. "Arguing won't get us to the Great Disk any faster. It might even make things worse, Vhisola," she added, pointing down the avenue.

The Ga-Matoran turned to look. Then she gasped and took a step backwards. Standing beside one of the canals up ahead were three other Ga-Matoran, all of them watching the approaching group with suspicion. One of them whispered to another, who then ran off toward the Great Temple.

Matau, Toa Metru of Air, watched the Ga-Matoran disappear and said, "So? They are curious-watching. What is the worry?"

Nokama dropped her voice to a whisper. "It's more than that. Those Matoran have been claimed by the Bordakh, the Ga-Metru Vahki. One touch of a Bordakh staff and a Matoran becomes so dedicated to order that he or she will turn in his or her best friend to preserve it."

The Ga-Metru order enforcement squad was made up of Bordakh, among the most cunning of all Vahki. Bordakh worked in small, highly mobile squads, and it was said they loved the chase more than anything. This led to a preferred tactic of allowing a chase to go on as long as possible before making a capture, despite being highly skilled in pursuit. They seemed to enjoy wearing out their target, and showing them up by still apprehending them. And as Nokama had already said, their Staffs of Loyalty could make a Matoran so enthusiastic about the ideas of order and security that she would actively look for "troublemakers" to turn in to the Vahki.

"Spies," Matau replied, understanding. "Then I have a thought-plan. If it works, then we meet at the spillway quick-soon. Understand?"

"Yes, but what—?"

"Ha! What do you know about Great Disks!?" Matau boomed loud enough for the whole street to hear. "l will track-find the disk before you three can even check one protodam." Then the Toa of Air swung up into a chute and was gone.

The two Matoran down the road seemed to think about it for a moment, then they dashed off in the direction Matau had gone. Once Nokama was sure they were well away, she started running, dragging Vhisola and Orkahm behind her.

"Hey! Stop it!" Vhisola cried.

"They will not be able find him, and once they realize that, they will come back here. We must be elsewhere."

The Toa Metru of Water led them on a winding path through alleys, behind schools, over walls and finally to the site of one of Ga-Metru's mini-dams. Here tides of protodermis were held back so as not to overflow the Metru's canal system. Nokama scanned the area but saw no sign of any Vahki or watchful Matoran. But she did see Matau standing in the middle of the spillway, arms folded across his chest and smiling.

"What took you so long?" he laughed.

"You stay here," Nokama said to Vhisola and Orkahm. "Keep an eye out for Bordakh."

Before either could argue, she ran, jumped, flipped in mid-air and landed beside Matau. They were standing in a wide stone channel through which liquid protodermis flowed into the canals as needed. Right now, it was bone dry and would stay that way as long as the main valve was closed.

"You lost them?" she asked.

"No one catches a Toa-hero," Matau answered, leaning in close. "Unless, of course, he wants to be caught."

"Provided anyone wants to catch him," Nokama replied. "If we let a little protodermis out, we can swim through some of the lesser canals right to the Great Temple. Vhisola says we will find the disk there."

"Swim?" Matau said, with obvious disgust. "A Toa of Air doesn't swim—he high-flies."

"If he wants to get spotted by the Vahki, he does, yes. Turn the valve, just a little, and get some protodermis running through here. I will get the Matoran."

Shrugging, Matau walked over to the large wheel that controlled the valve. Then he stopped. "Nokama? This is already open-wide." He grabbed the wheel and tried to turn it, but it would not move. "And locked!"

"What?" Nokama shouted, rushing toward him. She could already hear the roar of a protodermis wave heading for the spillway. "Matau. Get out of here! Get—"

The wave smashed into the Toa of Water, sending her tumbling end over end. An instant later, Matau, too, was swept up in the flood. Not having Nokama's experience as a swimmer, he had not thought to grab a breath. Now he floundered, hand to his throat as the liquid protodermis filled his mouth and lungs.

Nokama extended her hydro blades in front of her and knifed through the protodermis. She slammed into Matau, her momentum carrying them both up toward the lip of the spillway. Then they were out of the liquid, landing hard on the stone ledge. She rolled the Toa of Air over. "Matau? Matau!" she cried.

Matau choked and gasped. Then his eyes snapped open and he looked at Nokama, a smile spreading across his face. "l knew you cared."

X X X

The first thing Onewa felt was the heat. It was never this hot in Po-Metru, not even in a Sculpture Field in the middle of the day. What in the name of Mata Nui was going on?

That's when he opened his eyes and saw the flames leaping in the furnace. Suddenly, he remembered the blast, the fall, everything. He shook Vakama, saying, "Wake up! Might be your last chance!"

The Toa of Fire's eyes snapped open and he looked around. They had moved a long way through the chute and were almost in the mouth of the furnace. There was no time to jump out of the chute, and once inside the melting chamber, not even the power of the Toa would save them.

"Don't you have a disk for this?" asked Onewa.

"Quiet! I have to concentrate," Vakama answered. He reached out his hands toward the mouth of the furnace and struggled to call upon his Toa energies. He knew that he had the ability to create fire. Now he was gambling that he could control it as well.

The chute brought them closer and closer to the end. Onewa wondered if his Mask of Power might be able to rescue them, then sadly remembered that he did not even know what power his mask possessed. It was up to Vakama.

The Toa of Fire summoned every last bit of his willpower and hurled it at the furnace. Then, to his amazement, the fires began to flicker. He felt heat pouring into his body as the flames died down to mere sparks. Soon, even the sparks were gone.

"I don't believe it," Onewa whispered. "How did you—?"

"Watch out!" Vakama yelled, just before unleashing twin white-hot bursts of flame that burned a hole through the ceiling of the building. The streams of fire lasted for a long, long moment before Vakama cut them off. Then he finally collapsed, exhausted.

"What did you do?"

"Absorbed the fire," said Vakama, out of breath. "But I couldn't contain the power. Had to release it, or…"

Onewa glanced up in time to see Nidhiki back away from the railing and vanish into the darkness. He considered giving chase, but he knew his four-legged enemy would already be long gone. Besides, there was a worse problem to be faced.

"That fire blast, Vakama, it's going to bring the Vahki on the run," he said, helping the Toa of Fire to his feet. "The Nuurakh will haul us in for destruction of Metru property and our mission will be over."

"Nuhrii and Ahkmou?"

Onewa shook his head. "My guess is we're going to have to find them. Again. Let's go."

X X X

As it turned out, tracking down the two Matoran was not very difficult. Ahkmou had been to Ta-Metru before, but didn't know it well, and wasn't willing to risk running into Nidhiki. Nuhrii did know all the alleyways and shortcuts, but was too frightened to go very far. Onewa found them hiding among some chutes that were closed for repair.

Vakama knelt down and looked at both of them. "Listen to me. It should be obvious now that someone doesn't want us to find the Great Disks. That means neither one of you is safe until they are found. Understand?"

Nuhrii nodded. Ahkmou shrugged. Vakama decided that would have to be enough. "Then let's go to the fire pits."