The Escape

Author's Notes

 * Hjorn is pronounced HEE-orn (soft J).
 * Orn is ORN, not OM. I liked the idea of Hjorn and Orn.
 * Hjorn and Orn do not share any relation other than their names.

Prologue
1285 BGC:

Makuta Miserix, leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta, paced his throne room. Icarax stood near the entrance to the chamber, uncomfortable. Miserix was clearly pondering something important, but what, Icarax had no idea.

"A report just came in."

Miserix's voice surprised Icarax. Icarax had been standing at the doorway for nearly an hour, waiting, and the sudden noise made him jump.

"I'm assuming it has something to do with me, or else I don't want to hear it."

Miserix stared deep into Icarax's eyes. The disrespectful tone was common in all of his highed-ranking lieutenants nowadays: Icarax, Teridax, Antroz.

"You'll hear it regardless of its content."

Icarax shrugged.

"If you say so."

Something's coming, Miserix thought. A takeover must be in the making. Maybe not Icarax, but with this much discontent, at least one of them is planning something. Actually, it probably is Icarax. If not, Teridax or Mutran.

"The Xians are putting forth more effort to keep their fortress than we expected. They've destroyed over two hundred Rahkshi. Seventeen Toa. They need your help."

"When do I leave?" Icarax asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Then I won't be here fo-"

Miserix looked up from his report.

"Yes?"

"Nothing, my lord."

I'm assuming this has something to do with the convocation Teridax called. Maybe it's Teridax who plans treason, not Icarax or Mutran.

"Go prepare. Send in Mutran and Chirox. I have an...assignment... for them. Do so immediatly."

I need a safety net. A team of Toa Hagah, more powerful than the rest, who can defend me against Teridax and any Makuta who support him.

Chapter 1
1289 BCG

Brinoa, Toa of Plasma, knew she should leave. This meeting was private. Teridax would kill her if she was caught, but then, Teridax might kill her anyway. Miserix, the great leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta, had just been dethroned, by none other than Teridax, one of his most trusted leuitenants. And Icarax, another faithful underling, had joined Teridax, along with almost all of the other Makuta. Fortunately for Brinoa, she wasn't in danger of being caught, as her supercharged Kanohi Kakama would enable her to escape faster than any Makuta's eye could follow. And, if it came to it, she could stall a Makuta in open battle long enough to find a way out of the Makuta Fortress on Destral. Although her secret weapon wouldn't remain secret long, not with both Chirox and Mutran on Teridax's side. Hemlix, the only other Makuta who knew of her special abilities, had remained faithful to Miserix. His dark purple Kanohi Freynak was now mounted on the wall near Teridax's throne, courtesy of Gorast and Spiriah. Brinoa crept forward, trying to hear what was being said. She knew this meeting involved the future of the Toa Hagah, many of whom had already mean killed by traitorous Makuta.

"...should just send them to fetch the Mask of Life, one team at a time," an orange Makuta with black spikes running down his back snarled. "They'd never get past Umbra, let alone Axonn and Brutaka!"

"You're joking," Krika, a white and red Makuta hissed. "Out of all forty-six of them left, one might, might, get lucky."

"I say we call them to the fortress and flat out destroy them," Teridax announced, his deep voice filling the chamber. "I know each of them and the extent of their abilities, and-"

"Excuse my interuption, but I have some information that you may not have been entrusted with by Miserix."

It was Chirox. Brinoa's heart skipped a beat. Times like these she seriously wished she had never listened to Drelac. Or maybe even wished she'd died with him in the Antidermis.

"Our former leader's first team of twelve Toa Hagah was destroyed by Skakdi, as I am sure you all recall," Chirox said. "But are all present aware that after this mishap, Miserix had a new team of Toa Hagah formed, consisting of only four Toa?"

Several slight exclaimations of surprise.

"Get to the point, Chirox!"

That was Antroz. Always frank.

"The reason for the diminutive size of the team was because the other eight selected Toa died during their transformation.

"A transformation that involved Energized Antidermis."

The silence was total. Brinoa heard a sharp intake of breath from Teridax.

"Their powers are ridiculously strong. Our powers won't hurt them, but theirs have the potential to destroy us," Chirox continued, "and they are every bit our equal, and thank the Great Beings there are only four of them. We are still physically their superiors, as our armor grants us great speed and strength, and none of them are Toa of Iron or Gravity, but still, a team must be sent out to destroy them before any action can be taken against any others of their kind."

Brinoa didn't hear what was said next. She mentally triggered her mask and sped out of the fortress to warn her fellow Toa.

The Makuta were coming.

Chapter 2
Orn waited in silence for Brinoa's return. He was the secret weapon within the secret weapon, a power that even his creators did not know about.

His element was Shadow.

Oh, he still used his old Earth powers every now and then, but they were pale in comparison to his new abilities. Only Brinoa knew his secret. She was the only Toa he believed to be his equal, as where he was slow and impossibly strong, she struck the balance between speed and strength, even without her Kakama, and her powers were strong enough to bring them to a total stalemate. Of course, every so often one would win a practice duel, but that meant nothing. The first time they'd met, he was under the influence of a Kurahk, and she had easily crushed him. Then she found a matoran Healer and helped in the effort to clean his system of the Rahkshi venom. After this, they formed a fast friendship. The other two Toa in the cave, Skyrax (an actually sane air Toa) and Hjorn (another air Toa), practiced their powers outside, causing winds to knock several Lohrak from the sky. Orn smiled as he noticed a faint orange and white blur. About time Brinoa got here. The female Toa of Plasma appeared next to him, her expression fearful underneath her mask.

"What's wrong?"

"The Makuta, they've turned. I thought when they banished Miserix something was wrong, but now I'm sure. They're going to kill every single Toa Hagah, and most likely all of the others as well."

Orn's smile quickly morphed into a frown. "We have to warn Helryx. She'd want to know, and she could probably use us."

Brinoa nodded. "Makes sense. Rumor has it she's somewhere in the Wolf's Tooth Junction."

"That's not quite an exact location. There are about four hundred small islands in the Junction, and twenty-three larger islands."

Brinoa nodded, but didn't answer. Both Toa lapsed into deep thought.

Untill Hjorn's scream split the night.

"Orn! Brinoa!"

That was Skyrax. Brinoa disappeared from Orn's side. Orn came behind her, running at his top speed, which was considerably slower than Brinoa, even when she wasn't using her Kakama. He drew his dual Nyrah daggers, and approached the battle. Five Makuta, led by Icarax himself, were locked in combat with Brinoa and Skyrax. Hjorn was clearly dead, his Antidermis spilling out of his Protodermis armor.

Employing his Mask of Gravity (customised to look like a Kanohi Pakari Nuva, in honor of future heroes) Orn sent the five Makuta flying into the air.

We've got to get Hjorn, thought Orn. I don't want to think about what the Makuta would do to him.

Fortunately, Skyrax literally read his mind (using his Kanohi Suletu) and threw Hjorn over his shoulder. Summoning a powerful wind to blow the Makuta even further away, Skyrax rushed to join Orn.

"They came out of nowhere," Skyrax gasped. "One of them stabbed Hjorn in the back, but I managed to dodge Krika's first jab. Then I yelled. Have you seen Brinoa?"

"Oh, no."

Orn had accidentally included Brinoa when he reversed the Makutas' gravity.

And Skyrax had just set them flying into the distance, leaving himself and Orn no hope of catching up.

Chapter 3
Brinoa dodged Gorast's claw, but was unable to evade Icarax's sword, with cut deep into her armor. She unleashed a bolt of chain lightning onto the weapon, causing him to drop it. Slowly, she and the Makuta began to drift in seperate directions. Brinoa seriously hoped that they had no means of following her.

Makuta have a way of getting underfoot, Brinoa thought. If they don't get out of the way, I hope they're ready to be trampled.

Brinoa avoided a Makuta's dark red blade, intended to behead her. Looking around, Brinoa saw that only three Makuta were still within fighting distance. Now two. Now only Gorast. Finally, even the green Makuta was gone. A strong wind began to blow, forcing Brinoa closer to the ground. Below her, she could see two figures: One green, the other black.

Orn and Skyrax! Brinoa thought. Explains this wind.

Suddenly, when Brinoa was about ten feet above the ground, normal gravity returned. She landed, breaking her fall with a roll.

"Thanks," she smiled. Then the expression faded. "Why didn't you grab Hjorn?"

"I buried him," Orn explained.

As a Toa of Earth, it had only taken him a few seconds.

"That's-"

Try as she might, Brinoa could not say good. Was it good that another one of her friends had died? And so soon after Drelac...

Skyrax and Orn nodded. They understood. Skyrax's expression was sobre. He had been closer to Hjorn that either Brinoa or Orn. Orn shook his head, seemingly emotionless.

That's Orn, thought Brinoa. He shows about as much expression as a rock.

Then:

That's not fair. It's his way of dealing with life. Skyrax admits his emotion, I try to go on, pretending the bad things never happened at all in front of the others. Orn puts on a brave face for the rest of us. There's no shame in that.

But what would Hjorn say if he saw us like this, mourning him?

Hjorn had been younger than any of the four of them. He'd had a good outlook in life: Try to stay ahead of the bad luck, but when it came, accept it and move on. He'd been bright. Optomistic. Spoke tree-speak so often it was difficult to understand him sometimes. He'd encourage them, telling them it was an honor to become one with Mata Nui.

"I'll miss him," Skyrax choked out.

Suddenly Orn slammed into Brinoa and Skyrax, sending them flying. They landed hard.

"What's wrong with you?" Skyrax gasped.

A mighty thud echoed around them, shaking the ground. Brinoa sat up, pushing Orn off of herself. Where they had been standing a few seconds before was a crater. In the center lay Icarax, unconscious.

"Oh," Skyrax said, his voice small.

"Thanks, Orn," Brinoa murmured, thinking how close to death they'd been.

"Don't thank me. You would have done the same."

Brinoa nodded. It was true, she would have. As would Skyrax. And Hjorn. And any Toa. Sighing, she slowly walked away from Orn and Skyrax. Looking around, she observed that she had landed on a grassy headland, with a slope leading down to a huge body of water.

The Great Southern Ocean, thought Brinoa. In the center, Voya Nui.