Chapter Nine: The Underground

Koryand'r winced, holding back a scream. The warrior she had fell on had just… groped her? And thrown her back? And was now all but ready to kill her?

If this were a normal street on Tamaran, she would have gladly returned the sentiment; commoners had no right to do such a thing. Somehow, though… she couldn't. It seemed like the best option to take, but this was an unknown warrior species, after all. Her K'alforg had taught her to try and take other peoples' perspectives into account, to make for better solutions to problems. Right now, it looked like that strategy was very necessary. She silently thanked her mentor under her breath.

His breath racing faster than a jacked up Pohatu riding an angry Kikanalo, Lewa held his Midak Skyblaster at the Rahi, trying but failing to keep it steady; from the looks of things, it seemed she wanted to attack him too. That was a possibility he had to consider, but this was a Rahi; he couldn't attack the things like that! The Toa looked to his friends from advice, their emotions ranging from mixed (probably Gresh) to downright angry (definitely Kiina.) He sighed. The Tesaran was a great companion, but her reactions to things didn't quite match up with his. Better not to take her side, Lewa mused, and dropped his Skyblaster and Air Sabre to the floor.

The Tamaranean looked the cyborg-like being over. He was clad in bright lime-green armour for the most part, gunmetal covering his forearms, forelegs, feet and inner torso. Dark grey muscles coursed under small holes. The royal-type shoes gave way to a tall figure, carrying a long silver sword adorned in ornate patterns in one mechanical hand and a tiny blaster, also silver with some black coverings, in the other…

CLANK. THUD.

Oh. He had carried them. She smiled a bit. That was useful.

Resuming her perusal, the exile looked over the warrior's body one time, taking in every detail… then looked to his head and literally freaked.

It wasn't a head, per se. The man's neck, also composed of the strange grey material, moved up like normal, then stopped under some strange light grey thing… which looked like a robot's face, actually. Could this be a cyborg after all?

She caught herself in her panic. No. It couldn't be, especially not with what covered it…

A mask. A large metal mask, shaped almost like a leaf, with several intrusions much too complicated to describe in detail. Small holes revealed parts of the face, with two fans on the bottom. Covering the warrior's lime-green eyes were two large holes, enveloped in a strange blue material-

Crystal? Film?

It was hard to tell, but at the moment, it didn't really matter. The warrior didn't seem to want a fight at all. No… he actually looked like he wanted to speak. Kory froze, not sure of what to do.

The Toa scanned this strange new Rahi for interesting features. As he had felt before, she had rough organic skin, tinted in a strange hue of orange. (Was she a Glatorian? Lewa hesitated to ask.) Parts of her skin were covered in purplish-black armour, with what appeared to be fabric protecting her top and bottom, segmented shells on her arms and legs, and long rubber boots adorning her feet. He had to grin at that. The girl had good taste. (He had to know whether she was one of Kiina's species or not.)

Lewa took a moment to soak in the amount of detail, noticing the girl smiling at him. He could not help but smile back- and then he noticed her face.

This wasn't a Glatorian at all. She retained the orange complexion, yes, but her features were different. Way too different. Her nose was long, turned up at the end. Her smile revealed a hint of white- teeth, he knew. Two floppy audio receptors- ears, the Toa supposed- hung off her face, and her eyes-

Those were the two weirdest features about her- her eyes, and her eye "brows". The optics seemed normal enough, tinted in a shade of green not unlike his, but they had actual irises, black and wide enough to take in the dim light. The hairy coverings above them-

Oh spirits, her "eyebrows!" Truth be told, he'd only heard of the things through the Glatorian's Guide, but he had never been fortunate enough to see them in person…

Well, there they were. Not much to say about them, really- orange-red, just like her long locks of hair (although those were obscured by a helmet…) but the 'do was standard fare. They were... abnormally shaped. Unlike the long, rectangular, rugged brows most fauna here seemed to possess, hers were small, squarish, and smooth. The Guide had never mentioned her type before. It could've been inaccurate, and not detailed the entirety of the planet's wildlife… then again, though, the girls who wrote were Glatorian. They would've.

Which meant…

Oh, WOW.

He was dealing with an alien. Another world. Another species. On Spherus Magna. EVERYTHING Kiina had told him about. Right here, right now.

Not wanting to let his excitement get the better of him, and eager to make amends for his previous transgression, Lewa put out a hand in solidarity. "Hello," he said. "I… am Toa Lewa."

"Entering C-01, Batman."

Batman dragged himself out of the teleporter, falling numerous times in the process, walked to the Watchtower's meeting room, slumped into his seat, and moaned. He really didn't want to be here today. Ro… Richard's recent departure had dampened the man's mood more than he could believe.

Not like he couldn't, though. Clark had called the meeting almost unexpectedly; so abruptly in fact that Bruce almost swore his friend was being mind controlled to do so.

To take his mind off the thought, Batman started to review the past few days. After the... unfortunate loss of his partner he had decided to continue fighting crime solo. It was what he had wanted to do in the first place... shame it took the loss of a Robin to get him to remember.

Times had been tough. Wayne had felt sluggish, unable to fight as well as he once had. Cases were becoming harder and harder to solve, a simple mind battle with Killer Moth being comparable to David and Goliath; and when he did manage to take his mind off his ward and focus, he was brash, uncaring... ruthless. The thought scared him, and quite obviously Moth, who had fled off into the distance and all but embarassed Batman.

"Recognize 0-4, Flash, The."

"That's just The-"

"Recognize 0-3, Wonder Woman."

"Quiet, Barry."

"Recognize 0-5, Green Lantern."

All that was about to change, however...

He had recently stumbled upon someone interesting. A person who Bruce honestly believed had the potential to do great things; had the potential to become a hero and had the potential an even better one than Richard. The potential to become a Robin.

The circumstances somewhat betrayed his discovery, though...

"Recognize 0-6, Hawkgirl."

"Recognize 0-8, Aquaman."

"Recognize 0-7, Martian Manhunter."

Batman stopped and looked up. The sounds of boots walking and what he could barely make out as fighting became noticable in the distance and quickly grew closer. A big, built-up shape appeared in the meeting room's doorway.

"Recognize 0-2, Superman. All expected invitants recognized. Confirm?"

"Looks like we have everyone," the shape intoned. "Do your worst."

That was Superman, all right. Things were about to shake up.

Malum was pretty sure these caves weren't even supposed to exist.

The duo's captors had been dragging them around Spherus Magna, apparently looking for the girl the two had encountered; they had been taken to Gamarrus Ridge after lazing around in the dunes near Roxtus, and were now being led through the numerous tunnels that lined its underbelly- though, again, the Glatorian didn't know how some of them should have been there. It didn't make any logical sense- when Mata Nui had reformed the planet, he had apparently recreated it exactly how it was before the Shattering; why would he add any new features? He would've asked Akhmou or the imbeciles if they had any good reasoning, but... unfortunately, they were idiots.

The trip had consequently been very boring.

Until a reptile turned to him... of course.

"Hey, uh, robot," it drawled, "what do youse knows about this heres... 'Gluh-toa-rian?'" Its face contorted as it said this word, causing the Glatorian to wince.

He brought his face back to normal. "What do you mean? About me?"

The reptile chuckled. "Naah. I was talkin' abouts... uh... the other one. The limey guy. Flyin', I thinks. Secret cornvine say anythin' interesting on hims?"

Malum's eyes widened, and he grunted in anger. "Yes. That is probably... a..." He stopped himself. "Nevermind. What do you want with him?"

"He's s'posed to be our experiment, and alls. Boss says we need ta sees what's up with youse guys," his captor responded.

Akhmou attempted to chip in, but was quickly muffled by a grotesquely clawed hand. The reptile seemed to be pretty incensed with this. "Hey!" it yelled. "Why're youse not lettin' him talks?"

"He is a viable threat, Jone'z," the other robotically intoned. "We must not allow him to interfere."

"But you don't knows if he's gots any ideas on the Gl... roboman!"

The reptile sighed. "Nevertheless, my orders render him unable to speak. They cannot be overridden... 'punched in the guts,' in your tongue."

"I'll show youse 'punched in the guts!'' Jone'z threatened.

"Your threats do not unhasten me," his partner continued. Cargo attemtpting to make noise again, he quickly moved to silence him.

"Go to the Lieutenants. See what he says. I'm sures he knows what he's doings."

The monotonic reptile grunted.

"Sm'ist. I hate youse. Go ta hell."

In the midst of their arguing, Malum attempted to break free, decision being quickly overruled by the waving of Jone'z's muscular arms. Akhmou had similar intentions, but was instead muffled by Sm'ist, frantically moving his hands in vain to free his mouth...

"IT'S A TOA!" he finally breathed.

Jone looked at him quizzically. "Whose?" Malum facepalmed.

"A Toa. Toa Lewa, to be exact. I'd tell you more about him, but he wasn't my patron and I wasn't really interested in his 'fanclub...'"

"I swear you just told me you tried to con the lot of 'em," the Glatorian mumbled.

The Matoran hissed. "Shut up!"

"Easy theres," 'z said. "Fanclub, huh? Sounds interestin'. I would've liked to joins it."

"Why would you not?" 'ist wondered.

Jone laughed, a deep rumble emanating from his chest. His partner fumed at this. "Heh. Youse gotta know abouts that."

"No, I don't."

He recieved a prompt slap on the back. "We're gonna kill hims, brotha!" Noticing the aliens' curious glares, he sighed. "Sorry, but them's the breaks. Citadel's pretty opens to scientific work in generals, and wese Gordanians preeetty much fits the part. It's whyse we're takin' the Tamaranean withs us, natch."

"No opinion on that," the two responded in unison.

Jone'z guffawed again. "Hah! You twose musn'tve been peachies with hims, huh?"

Akhmou sighed. "Just peachy."

"That's what I saids. So," 'z continued, "what happened in particulars? Turf war? Gang dispute? Love affair?"

"No, nothing like that!" the Matoran gagged. "I just... didn't like him all that much. Too peppy and cheery for me... then I met Teridax, and he pretty much made me hate him in general. That tree-speak. Ugh!"

"This somethin' I shoulds investigate furthers?"

The villain put up his hands in protection. "No, no no! It's... fine! We don't even know where he is..."

"I was talkin' abouts that 'Teridax'," Jone grumbled. "Yeesh. What of youse, big guy?"

Malum frowned. "Not something I want to repeat..." He looked at Sm's malicious eyes. "Then again, I might not live to keep it a secret.

I met a Toa once," he began. "Not Toa Lewa. Sorry. I don't know anything about him.

He appeared in Vulcanus, shortly before a fight I was to have with an... opponent."

"Fight?"

"Nothing too interesting. Just to settle some disputes, is all. Anyway," he continued, "I was doing quite well, beating him into the ground. I was so close- to beating my rival, of course. Then the Toa came in." Malum grumbled in remembrance. "Mata Nui. I hate him."

"Wait..." the Po-Matoran gasped, "you met Mata Nui? The Great Spirit himself? How? Why?"

"Nothin' interesting about it. He jumped into the playing field, kept me from killing him, ruined the match, my record, my reputation and career, kicked me out into the dark and unwielding desert, had Skrall torture me, and injured me gravely when a piece of him fell on me. Not any different from what you seem to've gone through."

The haughty Gordanian chuckled. "Doesn't look likes too manies of those Toa gets fanclubs."

"No... no it doesn't..." Malum finished. "Mata Nui was a haughty, naive, stuck up, brutish, and rude imbicile. I'm glad he's gone now."

Akhmou put up a finger in correction. "You mean he's sleeping now. Locked up in that fancy little prison of his, leaving us all alone to fend for ourselves. As always."

Everyone chuckled at this, especially Sm'ist. He laughed the hardest.

Taking a moment to wipe tears of joy off his face, he quickly stiffened in an act of elegance. "It would appear this sector is much more interesting than we had previously thought. Quite the shame our Lieutenant does not seem to think the similarly."

SLAP! "That's H'ssiah for youse," Jone'z chuckled, taking pride in his partner's fear. "'Too curious of the world around him to know, but too ingrained in old traditions to care. Nighty night, my friends!' Resembles the Kas'tern Toubea'm more than I'd thought."

Malum frowned. "Should I know who this is?"

"Oh yeah, youse should!" The Gordanian picked the Glatorian up and gingerly set him down on his scaled shoulder. "See, the Kas'tern Toubea'm is an olds pa'nems character. Started ins 11043 afters this fanatical guy, 'Ytupierz, lefts the army and drews a picture of a Gordanean Toubea'm- WHOA!"

He stopped walking and tilted his head up, gaping in wonder. The Vulcanusian attempted to rouse him, but was unsuccessful when he did so as well.

"Um, guys?" the Po-Matoran asked. "You okay...?"

He looked to where his companion and his captor were fixated and gasped, jaw wide open. His mouth flapped, but not a single sound other than ragged breathing came out.

The reason they had stopped? The tunnel the group had been walking through had suddenly finished. They were now in a large cylical rotunda, seemingly a chapel or meeting hall by its various murals and drawings (well, it'd been one, anyway. Any clear evidence had eroded into nothingness with time.) A clear window on its top let in a bountiful amount of light, filtered with stones that made colours dance on the ragged floor. Many torches lined the wall, providing what appeared to be anxiliary light; a large slab of stone, glowing a faint red, lay in its center. And to the side, by a painting which illustrated the coming of a strange robot, a flashing metal door saddled up in a corner, trying to act inconspicous.

It didn't do a very good job, though. Akhmou spotted its silvery glint immediately, jumping out of his captor's arms (and kicking them for good measure,) and ran over to the thing, gazing at the device in awe.

Sm' was quick to run after him. "Get back here!" he screeched. Before he took another step, however, he was unfortunate enough to trip over a raised portion of the floor and tripped, thankfully being caught by a considerate savior- the Glatorian. He hissed and flashed his forked tongue at him, even while knowing the gesture would not phase him.

"Sorry about that." Malum apologized. "Couldn't have you stomping around and ruining everything here."

"But your ally- Jone'z!"

The Gordanian shrugged. "He asked mes nicely. Better than anythings you've ever dones."

Jogging up to the Matoran, the portly alien stopped, gazing at the contraption in curiosity.

"...whats is this thing, anyway?"

"I do not know," ist glowered. "My circumstances mean I cannot quite see for myself right now." Malum was quick to apologize. "Army regulations advise you stay away from it, however. We are not aware of its properties. One wrong move and you could be-"

'z guffawed. "Don't worries, my man! I'll be outs quicks as a Rutan'gahs- provided I knows whats this is, of course..."

"I am only interested in your safety," Sm'ist simmered. "I care for you-"

"I-I-I think I know what this is!"

Everyone turned to Malum. "You do?"

"But you never know anything!"

He walked up to the corner, stopping hesitantly upon seeing the glow. "Yeah, I do!" His head turned to the others. "These tunnels we've been traversing were created a long time ago, after the end of the last ice age brought great change to our planet."

Akhmou looked at him suspiciously. "Sot?"

He immediately recieved a slap. "Quiet. The melting icepack saturated the land and created great rifts, but it also burrowed great holes in the ground as it was pulled in. I am assuming both factors were what inspired the- they- to come here."

"Who are 'they?'" Sm'ist inquired.

Malum sighed. "They were big on 'creation,' their minds filled with ideas and passion and all other sorts of things. When they first landed on Spherus Magna, and I know this for a fact..." Here he visibly slumped. "They came into my village. Vulcanus. They needed a place to rest. We happily provided one for them, interested in what they might have brought.

The lot of 'em stayed in bed the whole night... I don't exactly remember why, I think they were having night terrors or the like. Anyways, this one person, a tall guy in robes, came up to me in the morning, after breakfast, noticing me slumped on the ground. (I used to do that a lot.) He pulled me up on my feet, knelt down, and took off the hood of his robe, smiling at me. Jeez. That face. I can't even remember it too well now, but looking back, it was honestly quite gorgeous.

He asked me what I was doing, head in the sand, uninterested in playing with my friends. I told him I didn't care much for what they were doing. He retorted that if maybe I asked them to do something else, they might want to join in with me.

I told him they'd bullied me, pushed me around, insulted me for my habits. He asked me what. I said I enjoyed building things with rocks, plotting out vast villages and towns and destroying them with my 'mighty powers.' I said they didn't seem to want much to do with that.

He pulled me aside. And frowned, then smiled even bigger. And he took me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

Then he ruffled his robe, looking around for something. He took out a... small... golden brick, I think. He presented it to me and told me something I've never forgotten to this day...

'You must never care much for the misery of others, for it will do naught but to break you down. Instead, be your own. Care for yourself.'

Then he grasped the brick and my hands and finished, 'If you are to play, then play well.'"

The group balked.

"I faintly recall him patting my back and walking away afterwards," the Glatorian mused. "I'm not entirely sure."

Jone' sniffled. "Thats was... thats was... thats was amazings!"

Akhmou's reaction was less emotional, however. "And that was necessary... how?" Sm' nodded in agreement.

Malum glared at the two. "The... great being, Velika if I remember correctly, became my best friend. I didn't have much else to do, beside playing make believe."

"Seem to be pretty into make believe right now." SLAP.

"We started off simple. When he had the time (he was usually off surveying,) the two of us would sit down together and mess around with my stones. He helped me refine my storytelling abilities and a little bit of my anger as well." The Glatorian chuckled softly.

"I kind of grew out of that out of a while... got into Kazi fighting. Just regular fighting, but with more action. Velika would hang around a bit and watch me perform, but it got old for him too. As it did for I. I still have a scar on my left arm.

When my friend's people implemented a system of education, I was overjoyed. A chance to learn a culture and preen yourself for marriage? It was every kid's dream. Little me took the chance as soon as I could... Velika became my teacher, of course," he grinned. "Man knew a lot more than he let on. He was very cryptic. Always used to tell my class riddles with bizarre meanings and morals. He helped me out with bullies a lot, too; ended up being very useful.

I assume you're not to interested in school life, so I'll cut to the chase... I eventually grew up, again, and 'graduated' with honours. Not too many, though. I never really put much effort into anything besides that one class. Too boring. I liked Kazi fighting a lot more.

After I left school, I was basically in the same position as I was before; alone and in my own thing. I would've joined Velika at this point, but I was afraid he wouldn't allow me to interfere. As you can guess, I learned otherwise.

Velika caught me outside the village hall, gazing into the stars. I don't recall why he was there, but I'm going to assume he was helping my people survey. Spherus Magna is a big planet.

He was obviously very upset with me, seeing me lazing around uninterested. What's up? he asked. Was something on my mind?

I told him I didn't have something of anything. There was nothing for me to get into besides Kazi fighting, and back then, the sport wasn't as big. I could do naught but hunt, lie around, and mate.

He told me that was stupid. Plain and simple. I'd had creativity, hadn't I? Couldn't I come up with an occupation myself? I did have a golden brick, after all.

I told him bricks didn't do much in this society.

He told me to 'screw em and do what I wanted... I told him I was interested in rocks, but I wasn't allowed to do much with that.

Velika told me he was accompanying a Glatorian named Ackar and his group of friends on an expedition to map the caves under Vulcanus, and did I maybe want to come along?"

Malum laughed. "You can guess what I chose.

We ended up going down there and doing what we came for. A lot was mapped. Adventures were had. I struck a... friendship... with Ackar and some of his pals. It was an innovation for me, I suppose. My parents had always been pretty isolative in general.

It took us... about 1,000 years, I think, to map Vulcanus's underground alone. Tough and tumultous work, but everyone liked it, most so myself. I ended up going with Velika, Ackar, and his posse on more expeditions; 4,000 years later, we had only mapped 10% of the planet, and only stopped because we were bored. Can you believe it? A Glatorian, bored? It happens."

"You are not doing much to dispel the Lieutenant's apparent stereotype."

"Yes, so I am," Malum retorted.

"By the time we were finished, Vulcanus had grown. A civilization had grown. Velika's people did much to further our livelihood. If I remember properly, they had actually built us roads and cars. We'd never had those before! They were great, truly. Benefits for everyone. I ended up moving to a complex with Ackar and stayed there for another 5,000 years... he kicked me out. I ended up finding a wife. I did! What's so hard to believe about that?

She was beautiful... not going to lie. An angel sent from the heavens. I wanted to partner up with her immediately, but there was a bit of a scuffle in deciding who would do so..." He winced. "I fought with Ackar. Not fun. He got over it, though.

We moved into our own hut, near my old one in a new park; had babies. I was hired by an Agori building firm, who had apparently heard of my exploits with the surveying team and wanted me on board to help them. I couldn't really say no; Glatorian have a desire to win, after all.

I was in it for a long time, at least 40,000 years, rising up in the firm and building my family with my wife along the way. My friend remained in the sidelines, but he was right there to help when I needed him... he had to help babysit, once. Oh slag, was that funny. I can still remember his disgust over my kids' habits, and the disgruntled riddle he gave me over them.

Eventually, though... things changed. They always do. Velika's people retreated from their positions, holing themselves up into a fortress to do 'science.' We were left to do what we wanted. I think a lot of people took issue with that; seemed strange that they stayed there and wouldn't budge. But they did... which meant we were free to find Energized Protodermis."

Chapter Ten!

Most of this chapter is an interlude, so I'll let it speak for itself. Mostly.

1. The two aliens feeling eachother up... Does that sound a bit vulgar? I don't know. Hope it gets you all excited.

2. The Justice League scene is new (it takes from the show,) but the events themselves actually happened in the comic... not quite the same as here, though.

3. No idea where Malum's backstory came from. It just seemed to work well and it also gives a bit of insight into Pre-Shattering Spherus Magna.

Read and review! (Also throw me a small tip, will ya?)