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"You're no brother of mine, are you?" A worried, yet mildly suspicious Hana asked the hooded figure, raindrops trickling down her mask.
"More or less. State your business. Why are you allied with those wretched Hunters?" Replied the figure, still as stone.
"I am no ally to them. Apparently, I'm an unwelcome visitor. What quarrel do you have with mere Agori and Matoran… Toa?" Hana remarked, avoiding the question to clarify her own suspicions.
"You are a Toa yourself. You are sworn to protect all Matoran, and spare kindness and respect for all forms of life, correct?"
"Yes."
"I am the Guardian of Pirau Nui's Ce-Wahi. The Rahi here are under my protection, and these Hunters violate the order of life. Did you not come across the various mechanisms created by these Hunters to trap these creatures?"
Hana stood silent, pondering on the sense of it all. The hostile Matoran. The metal traps. All of it. History has had its share of tales of malicious Matoran, and she was growing positive that the same was true of these Agori. These Hunters… they were no different, were they?
"You are seeking your brothers, are you not?"
Speechless, Hana merely nodded.
"Help free my Rahi from these Hunters, and I'll help you find your brothers. They capture and cage my beloved creatures, and I won't stand for that."
"I do not want to go to war with the Matoran or Agori that wronged you. That goes against my duty as Toa. Why don't you free them yourself?"
"A handful of Agori and Matoran fight for my cause, but we are not enough. These Hunters are skilled stealth killers. Like you said, Toa do not harm Matoran."
The sound of rainfall filled the void of the conversation between Hana and the hooded Guardian.
"I believe you know the way to their village."
"Yes." Hana grumbled, as she slowly unsheathed her claymore, and turned her head in the direction of the Hunter's Lodge. "Yes, I do."
Hana turned to walk away from the conversation, but stopped in her tracks to give the Guardian her final word.
"Do no harm to the villagers. Do I make myself clear?"
"I'll stay close behind as support. You have my word - and my blade, sister."
Without a second thought, the two began to walk in the direction of the Hunter's Lodge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You could've been our best asset if you weren't a Hunter."
"Could've been, but I'm not."
Six and Coryia threw darts of words at each other as Lah the Raptor walked in front of the group, holding Coryia by the chain rattling in the storm's strong winds.
"I expected more from you, Rivus." Mumbled Coryia, seemingly heartbroken.
"That name means nothing to me now. And neither do you." Four snapped back at Coryia, facing away from her.
“You lost your heart.” Coryia said, her voice weighed down by a somber tone. “What happened to my old friend?”
"Enough!" Six barked as he punched Coryia across her face. "We're almost there. Keep your mouth shut, or we'll feed you directly to the Raptor."
After several minutes of weighty, unforgiving silence, the small group reached a large wooden hut. As they reached the door, Six banged on it, calling out for someone.
"Three! Five! Open up! It's Six and Four!"
A sound of metal clanging and objects dropping followed Six's loud voice, as a small Matoran clad in black and orange armor answered the door.
"What's t-the mission t-this time?" Stuttered Three.
"Sniff and trace." Six replied as he pulled on Coryia's chain, causing her to fall off the Raptor onto the ground.
"B-Bring her in."
Inside the hut was a workshop full of iron tools and bones. Across the room was a large door. The small group entered the door, leading them to a spiralling staircase. As they made their way down, sounds of growling, barking, howling, and whines of Rahi grew louder and louder.
No… This…! This is…
Coryia couldn't believe her eyes. A basement ten times as large as the hut they just entered was filled with caged Rahi and Spherus Magna creatures alike. Looking closely as they walked by the cages, Coryia noticed that body parts of the caged creatures weren’t as they seemed… metal protrusions jutted out of the skins of the Spherus Magnan beasts, and the mechanical parts of the Rahi seemed to be covered in crude, patchwork machines. A sick feeling, unlike anything she had felt before, washed over her and weighed like a stone in her stomach. Was this why Baldrix had abandoned the Ce-Wahi Enforcers? The rebuilt beasts that she, along with Baldrix, quit the Enforcers to trap… they all came from here. At the other side of the large room was a Matoran in white armor on a large command console.
"Nice to see you again, Five."
“Likewise.” The Matoran said, barely even looking up. “Pick your poison, Six.”
"Three Sabretooth Wolves should be enough for the Toa." Six requested as Five opened a large cage. Coryia’s eyes widened as the wild beasts stopped from the shadows, eyes glittering in the low light as she took in the full sight of the beasts. No longer did they look like majestic creatures she recognized - now, their forelegs had massive blades digging out of them, and huge fangs hanging out of their jaws.
"No! You leave her out of this war!" Coryia struggled in her bounds as the Wolves began to pick up a scent from her. Seeing the Wolves become uneasy, Five opened a large trap door from the ceiling that turned into a ramp. With an awful scraping noise as the metal of their talons scraped against the ramp, the Wolves sped off, with Six leaping onto Lah, ready to follow. From how quickly their howls faded, Coriya knew that it would be mere minutes until they closed the gap to Hana.
"Four! Watch the prisoner!" Six shouted as Lah launched, the pair speeding off towards the fight to come, leaving Coriya and her captors alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Get the ropes! The ropes!"
Matoran and Agori at the Hunter's Village attempted to contain a ruckus, as they wrangled Rahi at the village center under the raging thunderstorm, trying to speak clearly amidst the thunder.
"Make sure those cages are secure!"
"Where are those ropes?!”
“We keep some by the entrance side lodges!"
"Got it!"
An Agori started sprinting towards the entrance, but came to a skidding stop after spotting something approaching the village entrance. Fear engulfed the Agori as she whimpered and cried out…
"I-It's the Toa! The Toa is here!" The Agori cried as she ran away. As everyone heard her cry, the villagers started to scatter like bugs, running back inside their lodges or out of the village.
"Toa?! Which Toa?!"
"Both of them!!!"
Hana walked slowly through the lodges with the Ce-Wahi Guardian following behind her.
“Go,” said the guardian, voice quiet enough to be lost in the chaos. "I'll guard the entrance."
Much to Hana's anger and shock, several armed Agori and Matoran, led by Baldrix, started to gather to block her path.
"We knew you were on their side! You cruel war machines just won't leave us alone, will you?!" Baldrix shouted in a rage.
"Release the Rahi, Agori. Your hunting days are over. I won’t let you continue to disrupt the order of life by killing these Rahi!"
With a scoff, Baldrix hung his head. Tossing his robe away, Baldrix unsheathed his shortswords, followed by the other locals unsheathing their weapons.
"You can play dumb all you want, but you Toa… You’re both scum. Fire!"
As Baldrix commanded, the gathered Agori stepped aside to open a narrow path in the middle, as cannons launched Zamor spheres at Hana. Instinctively, Hana drove her claymore into the ground and crouched behind it. Impacting her blade, the spheres burst into a thick smoke, obscuring the Toa. Hana’s eyes lit up with determination, the light of her eyes and heartlight cutting through the smoke.
Out of the dark cloud rocketed Hana as the locals dove out of the way. Aiming at the cannons, Hana destroyed them all in a swift, wide, lightning-charged stroke. Turning to the nearby cages, Hana rocketed off once more to destroy them and release the Rahi.
"No!" Baldrix cried, but it was too late. With a second stroke, Hana cut a cage in half. The monkey-like Rahi inside began to cower at the sight of the Toa. Hana looked closely at the Rahi and fell silent.
A particular recent memory of hers came flashing back.
The Raptor. Shining claws. Proto… steel…
Hana turned to the locals as they gathered behind her.
"You monsters! You violate these creatures by weaponizing them? You Hunters are lower tha-"
"You stupid, sword-swinging freak! We do not kill these creatures! These twisted beasts come to attack us, and we take them in to rid them of these infernal 'upgrades' the Enforcers put on them!" Baldrix interrupted, enraged.
"Enforcers? Under whose command?!" Hana asked, raising her voice further.
"His!!!" Baldrix began to raise his arm, pointing towards the entrance - until he was cut short by the bladed tip of a spear stabbed through his heart.
“No!” Hana shouted, but even then she knew it was too late. His eyes, once filled with rage, were now horrifyingly empty, as the Agori fell to the ground. Hana leapt forwards to catch him, the impact of him falling into her hands jostling his helmet free to reveal his pained, terrified face. With pure rage in her bones, Hana’s gaze snapped up to see just who had done this.
The hooded guardian standing by the entrance crossed his arms as multiple bladed weapons floated around him, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. The spear that had taken Baldrix returned to join the rest. In tandem, he was joined by three sabretooth wolves, Six, and Lah the Raptor.
"Four, this is Six. We found the Toa. Dispose of the dead weight." Six muttered on his wrist device.
"Y-You… murdered Baldrix…!" Hana stuttered as she yelled at the proclaimed Guardian of Ce-Wahi. Angrily striding past the nervous crowd to face the hooded guardian, Hana readied her own blade, charging it with lightning. "This… is your doing? You dare call yourself a Toa?! You're the reason these helpless villagers live in fear of us?! Our sworn duty is to the Matoran, you beast!" An enraged Hana cried out as she gripped her claymore.
"You're not as stupid as I thought. Huh." Mumbled the guardian as he turned to the Raptor at his side.
"Two? Take her down."
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