"No! Vakama please don't do this!" The Hordika laughed coldly at her plea.

"Why not, Nokama?" He sneered, a malicious gleam in his now acid green eyes as he watched her struggle with the webs that held her back. "I've heard you scream before…How would this be different? Everyone dies in the end." By now the twenty-six year old woman was crying, her pale face slowly reddening as tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. Her crying grew harder as Vakama drew out a long, curved knife, readying it to finish his girlfriend off for good.

"Vakama p-please don't!" A bloodthirsty sneer formed on the mutated Toa's face, the gleam in his eyes betraying all of his already obvious insanity. Without any words of apology, he drove the blade down…

And sat bolt upright, letting out a strangled scream of panic. "Nokama!" Gasping for breath and looking around in horror, his panic and fear slowed as he realized it had only been a dream. He was in his quarters in the Coliseum, the window was open, and everything other than Vakama's bed was in order. Sighing, the mutant Toa ran a shaky hand through his sweat-drenched hair, wincing as his claws scraped lightly against his scalp.

"Another nightmare?" A soft, almost seductive voice asked. The Hordika blinked, his gaze coming to rest on the tall, rather shapely woman who was now standing just inside the doorway. Her skin was fair and mildly tanned, her eyes a pale blue. Long, silvery-blue hair draped down over her shoulders like silk, trailing down her frame and ending just centimetres above her waist. She wore an outfit consisting of a velvet torso and skirt, jet black in color with silver threads embroidering a web-like pattern in the front from top to bottom, as well as around the hems of the skirt, which was long enough to just cover her feet from view. The chest segment was low cut in a V shape, and though it wasn't overly revealing, it certainly was lower than most women Vakama had seen would've been comfortable with wearing in public. The sleeves of her dress were long and flowy, and the same color as the silver thread work on the rest of the dress, with black thread mimicking the web pattern that decorated the black velvet.

Vakama's eyes widened as he scrambled out of bed, hurriedly kneeling before the powerful looking woman, his head bowed and eyes closed as he stammered. "M-my queen…forgive my unseemly appearance and my disturbance of your…" He paused, opening his eyes and blinking as the woman's laughter softly echoed in his ears. Looking up, he watched with confusion as she walked closer, lightly resting a fair, long-fingered hand on his shoulder and saying, her voice holding obvious amusement.

"Oh Vakama, you don't need that sort of formality at this hour. It's the middle of the night, and your mind is troubled." She paused to let this sink in first before continuing. "There is something I want to show you. I'm sure it will take your mind off of your dream." The Hordika watched as she removed her hand and moved to the doorway before looking over her shoulder at him. "Come, Vakama." The twenty-six year old hurriedly stood and walked after her, shakily trying to fix his messy red hair, though it was in vain.

Eventually they reached a long, web-less and empty hallway, with no doors save for the one at the far end. Vakama looked it over with curiosity, taking note of the two sets of locks. The longer he looked at it, the more interested in this door he became. "My queen," He asked quietly. "Forgive my questioning, but what's in there?" A faint, mysterious smile formed on the woman's face as she kept her gaze fixed on the door.

"A secret in case something goes wrong. Sidorak doesn't even know about this. It's our little secret, Vakama, don't break this trust." He gave a slight nod, shivers shooting down his spine as he recalled what happened to Visorak that made her angry, and he knew full well that jumping off the Coliseum without a parachute was a recipe for suicide.

By now they had reached the door, and the woman was pulling a set of keys from a hidden pocket on her dress, located in the upper left portion of her neckline. A dark and almost sinister smile crossed her face as she unlocked the door and pulled it open, Vakama following closely behind her as she went inside.

The room beyond the door was dark and dismal, with no lighting save the one grimy window and the dim light coming from a peculiar looking pod that was rigged up to a machine in the floor. Watching as his queen moved towards a dark, crystalline formation on one of the walls, the Hordika hesitated before approaching the pod, wiping the dust off of it's small window to try and see what was inside. He was horrified with what he found.

Inside the pod was a young Ga-Matoran, no older than Matau or Onewa, and incredibly pretty. Her hair was a dark and dusty blue color, her skin exceedingly pale. Her eyes were closed presently, her expression sad. From what Vakama could make out, she was wearing a navy blue hoodie, had a pair of dark framed, rectangular glasses and… The Hordika blinked, staring at the pendant that hung at her neck. He'd seen it before somewhere. That was when a flashback struck.

^v^

"Hey! Hey Vakama-Brother!" Said Toa blinked and turned to look as Matau ran over, holding a small, yet fancy box in his hand. "Vakama-Brother," The Toa of Air exclaimed again, looking excited as he skidded to a stop. "I need your opinion-thought on something really important!" Vakama raised an eyebrow, wondering what got his Brother so revved.

"Alright." He commented. "What's the problem?" Matau beamed at him, lifting the forest green, velvet covered box he was holding, and opened it. Inside was a beautiful, silver pendant shaped like a pair of wings, folded down and seeming to cradle a flawless looking, tinted green lightstone shard between them. Vakama smiled as he looked the expensive accessory over.

"It's beautiful, Matau." He said, staring at the incredibly crafted necklace. "But who's it for?" The winged Toa grinned even more, looking just about ready to burst with glee.

"It's for my true-heart girl! I wasn't sure if it was nice enough, so I just had to quick-ask about it!" Vakama blinked before grinning.

"You've got a girlfriend? Matau that's wonderful! What's she like? You've got to introduce us sometime!" Matau beamed at him excitedly.

"I'm just on my way to meet-see her now if you wanted to come along! She'd be ever-happy to meet-see you, I'm sure!" As he said this, the Toa of Air closed the velvet box and slipped it into his pocket. Laughing cheerily, overjoyed at his Brother's luck, Vakama hurried after Matau, eager to meet the girl that believed the Air Toa was Mr. Right.

^v^

"…Hlahlu…" Vakama breathed, half relieved to see her, and half devastated at her condition.

"Oh, so that's what her name was." He blinked, turning and looking up at his 'queen' with surprise. "I was wondering who she was. No matter, she won't remember it when she wakes up." The Hordika's face paled somewhat.

"Sh-she won't? Why not? What happened to her?" The woman smirked.

"Her memories have been erased, Vakama. I want her to continue in my stead if my task goes uncompleted. I don't trust Sidorak with running things. He's never been smart." Vakama's clawed hands clenched into fists as he snarled, ignoring that his nails were digging into his palms.

"I-I won't let you use her like that Roodaka! She's far too sensitive and loving to take over if you die!" The woman's eyes narrowed as she looked at him.

"She will be strong enough when she wakes. Do not argue with me, lest I consider you to be a traitor." Vakama's more loyal side made him cringe and he took a few steps back, looking down at the floor in shame and mild fear.

"Forgive me, my queen. I don't know what came over me." Roodaka sighed, shaking her head and looking him over with a mix of mild irritation and tiredness.

"It's probably just backlash from your nightmare. Go back to bed and sleep it off." The Hordika gave a slight nod as he turned and headed out of the room. However, getting some sleep wasn't what he intended to do. Not after seeing what he had. All he had to do was wait.

He waited for approximately ten minutes, staring at the ceiling as he worked out a plan. This wasn't going to be easy to pull off, especially considering how noisy it could end up being. Debate began to take place in his mind. Was it worth the risk? What if he screwed up and got Hlahlu killed? Sighing, Vakama got up and stretched. It was do or die, he decided, and he wasn't about to lose another chance like this, there was no knowing if he would ever get it again. Padding quietly over to the door, and looking out, Vakama gave a faint and almost emotionless smile as he discovered that his path was clear.

"This is suicide…" He thought grimly as he silently left his room and started off down the hallway, constantly looking over his surroundings in case someone or something was watching him. However, to both his mild relief and evident unease, everything was as it should be, and eerily silent. The whole way to the locked door was uneventful, other than when Vakama scared himself silly by tripping over a stray Visorak web. Heart still racing as he tried the door handle, only to discover it was locked, the Hordika glanced warily over his shoulder. Still no sign of problems. Giving a faint smile, though it was hollow and somewhat grim, he turned his attention back to the door and rested a clawed hand on the locks. Waves of heat coursed through his arms and left his palm, heating the metal and soon making it pliable enough to break with relative ease. Again he turned the knob and pulled, the partially melted metal bending and breaking as he applied more pressure.

Soon he was in the chamber beyond, and was trying to figure out a way to break Hlahlu out of her pod. As far as he could see, there was no keypad, lock, or other object that could be used to access her. When he could find no way to open the capsule-like prison, he sighed with defeat, a few stray tears rolling down his face as he looked through the pod's window, murmuring quietly, his gaze looking over the trapped Matoran within.

"I'm so sorry, Hlahlu…I can't find a way to break you out of there…" Weakly he leaned his head against the capsule's glass, his head turned to the side as his eyes looked around the room in a last ditch effort to discover a way to save Matau's girlfriend. That was when he saw it. Blinking slowly, he stood as upright as his mutated frame would allow before crossing the room and looking out the grimy window. A weak smile crossed his face as the Toa Hordika found himself looking out over Ta-Metru, and seeing a faint light, the color of which indicating right away that someone had started a fire. Turning and looking at the pod, he said, now sounding like he had a bit of hope for the situation.

"I'll be right back, Hlahlu. I've got an idea." With that said, he raced from the room as quietly as he could, hurrying down the hall and taking a swipe at the first strands of web he could find. Cutting several into long segments, Vakama then picked them up and headed back to Hlahlu's room, closing and barricading the door once he was inside. Soon he was hard at work, though just what he was doing was anyone's guess. Melting two metal rods he'd found and making sure they stuck to the floor firmly, the Hordika set about tying the webs between them before moving and leaning against them, testing the strength and elasticity of his new setup. Blinking and staggering forward when he released the tension, Vakama gave a small grin.

"Perfect!" He then turned and moved over to Hlahlu's prison, taking hold of it and struggling to pull it free. It wasn't easy, but with a loud, snap-like noise, he managed to pick it up. Grunting as he moved the pod, Vakama had barely got it into position before there was banging on the door. He froze for a few seconds, panicking a bit, though he quickly caught control of himself again and pulled, drawing the capsule closer to himself and stretching the web as he backed up. Carefully he took aim, releasing the web once he was certain he had the right angle, sending Hlahlu's pod smashing through the window and out of sight. Unfortunately, part of the web was sticky, had stuck to his hand, and launched him forward, breaking the webbing and leaving Vakama tangled in it below the broken window…just in time for the door to bust open, Roodaka looking around in shock. Soon her gaze fell to the webbed up Hordika, and her eyes narrowed.

"You'd better come up with a good reason for being in here, Vakama, because my patience is waning." The dazed mutant gave a weak nod.

"It was Matau, my queen…I heard him in here and tried to stop him…H-he took the Matoran…" The Vortixx scowled.

"How do I know you aren't lying to me?" Vakama gave a weak smile.

"Would I ever lie to you?"