“I still can’t believe how much of an absolute idiot you are, Vezok.” Hakann growled as the two sat in the back of one of the carriages, his magma launcher laid upon his legs as he carried out minor maintenance, such as scraping a few layers of dried rock from the barrel.
“Hey, I wasn’t the one who got the intel wrong, magma head.” Vezok shot back, glancing outside. Canterlot mountain was in the far distance now, and after several hours the two had finally decided that they were far enough away to get out of their boxes, just in time for the sun to begin its rise. “If you hadn’t gotten shoddy Intel about the vault, we’d be riding away with buckets full of bits.” He gestured with his harpoon to the rows of empty boxes around them. “As you can tell, we’re riding away with about as much hot air as what's in that head of yours.”
“And missing some of our crew.” Hakann grumbled, removing a particularly large chunk of rock that had grown on his launcher. “Why didn’t you go back for them? We coulda held off those guards.”
Vezok shrugged. “And then we’d have gotten surrounded, and we’d all be captured.” He glanced over his harpoon. “I should get Avak to modify this thing to shoot water.”
“We could have fought them off.” Hakann insisted, irritated from how unworried Vezok was. “Instead, not only have we lost our only chance to rob one of the biggest banks in Equestria, the Royal Guard now have three of our ponies locked behind bars. And who knows how long before the guard tries getting them to talk?”
“Oh please.” Vezok waved the question off with a roll of his eyes. “What did they know anyway? At most, we’ll have to relocate the Manehatten branch. They know nothing of our main base, nor the Company. The guard won’t learn anything useful.”
“But what about the ponies themselves?” Hakann growled, grabbing his launcher and getting to his feet. “How are we gonna get them out after this? How do the Royal Guard treat their prisoners?”
Vezok looked up at him, before shrugging. “Simple. Who cares? Besides, I doubt we’ll be mounting a rescue any time soon.”
“I care, dammit!” Hakann shouted, flipping his magma launcher around and pointing the barrel straight at Vezok’s smug, unfazed grin. “If we don’t get them out, then that’s it. They work with the Piraka.” He pointed one of his claws at himself. “That’s basically a life sentence if they don’t talk! And it’s our fault!”
“Look, Hakann, think about it realistically.” Vezok said, cautiously pushing the gun pointed at his face to the side. “Right now, Canterlot is gonna be on high alert, which means getting in -and mounting a successful rescue operation- is going to be about as likely as Makuta giving ya a big ol smooch on the mouth.” Hakann cringed at that. “Besides, first we gotta hope Zaktan doesn’t rip us a new one for your screwup. I’d bet we won’t be allowed out of the base for a while for this one.”
“Who cares what Zaktan thinks?” Hakann growled, turning to stare at the mountain behind them. “We’re the Piraka. Just because he got lucky enough to be changed into Zaktan, doesn’t mean he’s our leader. He has just as much authority over me, as I do you.”
Vezok laughed at that. “Yeah, sure. Why don’tcha tell him that? I’m sure he’d be all about letting you do whatever you want, wasting time and resources saving a bunch of henchmen, just because you said so.”
“It won’t matter what he thinks.” Hakann growled, his eyes glowing. “I won’t abandon those who work for us, and if Zaktan tries to stop me…” Hakann rolled his shoulders, powering up his magma launcher as the barrel began to glow with a haunting red light. “Then he may just get burned.”
“You utter imbeciles!” Zaktan hissed, slamming his fist through his desk and several scrolls as he stood, and he walked through it to stand before the two skakdi, his lower body turning into a green cloud as he went through the solid object. “I cannot believe how close the two of you were to jeopardizing our entire operation!”
The two stood in the center of what the Skakdi considered their lounge room, with Zaktan’s desk set up against the wall facing the doorway. To their left sat Thok, who had been previously lounging on one of the two black couches that dominated the left side of the room, a magazine that neither of the two Piraka bothered to look closely at forgotten on the couch.
“Firstly, Vezok,” Zaktan turned to the blue Skakdi, though most of the witnesses would later debate if ‘turn’ was the right word for it. It was more like his entire face shifted, his features melting away into the swarm of Protodites that made up his body, before reforming in the direction of Vezok, all in a split second. “You were somehow dumb enough to lead a civilian right to your escape route, which, as I am certain you are more than aware of, has our cover company’s name stamped on the side!”
“Well, maybe if we had used unmarked carriages-“ Vezok started to protest. He wasn’t sure when Zaktan had moved, or when, or where, he had grabbed his Tri-Blade from, but the next thing he knew it was at his throat, silencing him.
“Unmarked Carriages would bring unwanted suspicion!” Zaktan’s voice hissed out from seemingly all around the blue skakdi, a chilling chorus of venomous rage that unnerved Vezok. “We take the risk of using Zakaz Industries as our infiltration route, because none of these foolish equines would suspect such a trusted company! You nearly brought our entire company down!”
“And now we also have two hostages.” Hakann shook his head, and Zaktan shifted to glare at him.
“Yes, but let’s also not forget your wanton acts of destruction!” The green Skakdi replied. “From what the radio has been saying, you brought down an entire building in your escape! Did you, at all, stop to think at how bad that will look?!”
“I needed to get the guard off my back.” Hakann shrugged. “It worked well enough.”
“Oh, but of course.” Zaktan hissed, tendrils of protodites leaking from his body as he stood face to face with Hakann, Vezok being temporarily forgotten. “The ends justify the means, do they? Do you know what they would call your actions back on Earth?” Before Hakann could respond, a wave of protodites burst from Zaktan’s chest, bashing into Hakann’s face like a brick and sending him into the air, only to crash against the wall a few feet away. “An act of terrorism, you miserable scum! We are just oh so fortunate that no one was killed by your rash thinking!”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it terrorism, Zaktan.” Thok spoke up, standing from his seat to approach the three. “The building in question was a small, vacant house. Only a few guards were injured when it came down, and they’ll be out of the hospital in maybe a month or two.” He gestured towards Vezok, who looked like he wanted to break the closest object in two. “Meanwhile, Vezok not only nearly jeopardized our operation, but also put three entire squads of pegasi in the hospital, and at least five are unsure if they’ll ever be able to fly again.”
“Look, I did what I had to do to get them off my back.” Vezok growled, his claws balling into fists. “If I hadn’t taken those pegasi outta the sky, they would have followed me all the way to the caravan. I just took the quickest approach to getting rid of them.”
“Oh yes, and then immediately decided that hiring a civilian to drive you straight to the caravan was the perfect plan.” Thok rolled his eyes.
“Listen here, you insufferable-“ Vezok started towards Thok, but soon found himself unable to keep balance, and the world spun in his vision as he collapsed to the floor. Thok’s eyes stopped glowing as he fell, and the white skakdi turned back to Zaktan.
“Sure, Hakann’s escape was likely the most destructive, but in the end, he barely hurt anyone, and also got one of our ponies to the caravan as well.” Thok said, helping Hakann up. “Vezok should be the one being punished for this failure, not Hakann.”
The leader of the skakdi looked down at Vezok, his eyes glowing crimson. “You are both lucky we’re friends, you miserable wretches.” He hauled Vezok to his feet, and Vezok tried his best to ignore the tingling feeling of millions of protodites wrapping around his arm. He was sure a couple thousand of them tried to bite him too. “You will be given another chance later. Get out of my sight.” With a shove that felt like a small tide crashing against his body, the blue Skakdi was pushed back towards the door, swiftly followed by their crimson fellow.
“Sure thing…. Boss.” Hakann grumbled, giving a brief, smug glare towards Vezok before walking out the door, his clawed feet scraping against the stone floor. Vezok glanced at Thok, before wordlessly following Hakann out.
“Alright, the plan is simple.” Avak said, placing his weapon to the side to start scratching into the dirt with his claws, sketching out the image of a large building, similar to the mansion that towered over the crimson forest they were hiding within, only a few dozen yards away from the fence, the sunlight glinting off of the metallic spikes adorning the brick walls surrounding the property.
“Nothing is simple with you, Avak.” His partner, Reidak, growled, his black and gold claws flexing around his buzzsaw’s handle. “It’s why I hate working with you.”
“Well, if you stick to the plan this time you miserable brute, then maybe we’ll be done a lot sooner.” Avak shot back, “Or do we want another ‘Sunshine Inn’ incident?”
“Well, it’ll definitely make being stuck with you more bearable.” Reidak grinned, rolling his shoulders. “So, how’re we busting into this place?”
“If you would shut up for more than three seconds, I could tell you.” Avak groaned, rubbing his eyebrows in exasperation. “The owner of this fancy mansion, some elitist guy from Canterlot named Iron Bucks, is out in Canterlot, worrying about his bits after Vezok and Hakann’s screwup heist.”
“Skip to the part I actually care about.” Reidak interrupted, waving his zamor sphere launcher impatiently. “If I wanted a history lesson, I would have asked for an Onu-Matoran.”
“Right…” Avak gave him a glare, but continued, “So, you and I are going to dig a tunnel from around here straight into the wine cellar.” He scratched a line between the mansion sketch and a visage of the black skakdi’s grinning face he had been making while they were talking. “Once inside we will… quietly sneak through the mansion, loot anything of serious value, and raid his safe.” The brown Skakdi accentuated the word ‘quietly’ as best he could, looking Reidak straight in the red eyes. “We’ll load up whatever we can carry onto the carriage, and head back to base before nightfall.”
He gave Reidak another look. “And I do mean quietly, Reidak. Do not make another scene.”
“Gotcha. Nice and stealthy, just how I hate it.” Reidak nodded, getting to his feet and stretching. “Well? Where should I start digging?” He asked, flipping his Buzzsaw around for its alternative drill function.
“Here’s good, gets rid of the drawings too.” Avak said, pointing to the ground between them. “We need it to be wide enough for at least one of us to walk through with cargo, so we’ll do it together.” He picked up his jackhammer, the twin tips coming to life as they pummeled the air before them.
“Great… stuck underground in a tiny hole with you.” Reidak growled, his drill whirring to life. Before he rammed it into the earth, a thought occurred to him. “Wait… I’ve got a better idea.” Before Avak could ask, the Black Skakdi slammed his clawed foot into the dirt, channeling his elemental power over earth to deep through the ground, and soon a hole had torn itself open, earthen stairs leading down into the shadowy underground. He gave a smug grin to a clearly surprised Avak. “There. Much easier than what you were thinking of.”
Satisfied, Reidak began walking down the stairway of his own creation, followed soon after by his dumbfounded partner. “I’ll need you to rip open the stone once we get down that deep.”
After a few minutes of walking, their progress was barred by a slab of solid stone. Avak gave his fellow Piraka a glance, neither needing light thanks to their vision-based abilities, before placing a claw upon the stone. After a few moments of concentration, the stone crumbled, collapsing under its own weight and making a path right into the basement of the manor. There was a sound of glass shattering amidst the rubble.
Avak turned to Reidak, giving him a confused look. “I didn’t expect a more quiet approach from you.” He said, stepping through the entrance he had made. “I thought you’d have enjoyed bashing through the wall with tools.”
“There’s a difference between tearing down whatever’s in your path, and pointless manual labor.” Reidak replied as he walked past, flicking up his buzzsaw. “I would have thought you’d known that.”
The two of them found themselves exactly where they wanted to be; the mansion's surprisingly large wine cellar. It was dark, the stone floor barely illuminated by lanterns, most of which had burnt out. What light the remaining lanterns did give off revealed grey walls hidden behind rows upon rows of glass bottles, their contents varying from blood red liquids to substances that looked nearly identical to water. They had come from one of the few walls that held lanterns, the one that had been mounted upon said wall being the source of the noise from earlier, glass shards scattered across the floor and blending in with the stone rubble.
“This guy must be loaded,” Reidak grinne, pulling one of the wine bottles from its alcove and examining it, his claws cutting small grooves into the glass, and Avak flinched at the sound it produced. “We should take some of this stuff back with us, and smash the rest. Really make him cry when he gets home!”
“We’re here to rob him, not hurt his feelings.” Avak rolled his eyes, snatching the bottle from Reidak and looking it over. “Besides, we didn't bring anything for transporting bottles.” He shrugged, before putting the bottle back in place. “Maybe take one on your way out, if you want it that badly.” He gestured to their right, towards a set of stairs that rose into the ceiling. “Let’s get what we actually came for.” The two Piraka quickly ascended the stairs, coming to a wooden door. Upon trying to open it, Avak discovered it was locked.
“Damn, give me a moment and I’ll get this open.” Avak said, crouching down and retrieving several tools from the brown utility belt wrapped around his metallic waist. Before he could begin working on the lock, Reidak pulled him away, incidentally sending him rolling back down the stairs they had come up from as he leaned back, before driving his fist through the door and smashing a hole as large as a small pumpkin into the door, wooden splinters flying across the carpeted hallway beyond. Grumbling at the fact that it hadn’t destroyed the door in its entirety, he quickly grabbed the doorknob, tearing it free from the door before kicking it off its hinges. Tossing the doorknob aside, he looked back down at the crumpled Skakdi at the bottom of the stairway and laughed.
“My method’s still faster, Avak. And more fun, too.” Reidak called out, grinning as he pulled his zamor launcher out from between his back and spiked spine before strolling through the halls, unwittingly stepping past a small, glowing blue line in the air at his legs.
Back in the cellar, Avak grunted, unfurling himself from the smashed wine bottles around him and getting to his feet. “Damn it, Reidak…” He looked down at his now soaked armor, a pool of wine surrounding him as he recovered his tools. “There goes our stealthy plan…” He quickly clambered up the stairs, using his X-Ray vision before he entered the hallway for signs of guards. When there were none, he stepped through the ruined doorway, rubbing his neck and grunting. “Well, if he wants to run distraction, let him. I’m not getting dragged into another fight…” Luckily, Avak had conveniently forgotten to inform Reidak on the location of the safe they were looking for, nor any of the other important locations within the mansion.
“Now, what about the security measure she mentioned?” Avak grumbled, using x-ray vision to search the mansion for anything that could be dangerous. He identified at least a dozen guards across the mansion moving towards Reidak’s position, and many more maids, one of which was likely his informant. However, he couldn’t spot anything that looked like it could be a threat to either Piraka. With a sigh, he deactivated his vision, and began sneaking through the hall, the sounds of Reidak breaking down another door echoing throughout the mansion.
However, had he kept his vision powers up for just a little bit longer, he would have noticed two bipedal forms uncurling from their stasis…
Reidak grinned as his buzzsaw hacked through another door, wood chips flying across the room and digging into the walls and paintings. Contrary to what Avak thought, he did have a plan. Sneaking a bunch of precious valuables and bits out was way too ineffective, and made it incredibly likely for them to be caught. “So,” He grinned, pulling open the remains of the door and stepping into a resplendent living room, its violet walls heavily decorated with several portraits, ancient blades, and dozens of other artifacts, especially around the fireplace. But what got Reidak’s grin even wider was the two unicorn guards standing their ground before a large piano, spears once held in their magical grips already flying through the air towards the Skakdi.
He battered the spears aside with his buzzsaw as he quickly advanced towards them, cackling as he grabbed the neon blue-coated unicorn with his free hand and lifting the struggling unicorn high, his purple mane falling out of his helmet as Reidak slammed him against the piano, its surface giving way as it all crashed to the ground noisily. Before he could turn to face the other unicorn, an ethereal blue lance knocked his legs out from under him, and a barrage of magical bolts rained down upon him from above and pinned him to the ground.
The barrage continued for several seconds before coming to a sudden halt, the other unicorn gasping for breath as the aura around his white horn dispersed. “Did… did I… g-get him?” He asked, sweat pouring through his coat as his legs trembled beneath him.
His exhausted look turned to fear as Reidak grunted, slowly picking himself up and rolling his shoulders. “No,” the black Skakdi grunted, popping his neck and flexing his claws. “But you gave me a good beating, that’s for sure.” Before the unicorn could say anything in response, Reidak lunged forward, his leg swinging upward and ramming his clawed foot into his underbelly, sending the guard flying into the ceiling. Reidak turned and recovered his weapons as the unicorn fell back to the floor, unconscious. “As I was saying… I’ll just have to beat the fight out of anyone I come across before I loot the place!” He grinned as another magic bolt slammed into his back, the energy dissipating uselessly against his body as he turned to look at the surprised guard.
“I barely felt that,” Reidak cackled, marching towards the grey unicorn, who began desperately firing blasts of magic at him and backing up towards the door. Unlike before, these blasts seemed to simply bounce off of his armor, blackened scorch marks soon coating the living room as Reidak picked him up by his face. “Do you even know how to use that horn?” Reidak asked, before tossing him out the window like a baseball. Glancing for anything he felt was worth any value, the Piraka left, intending to come back later to retrieve a few things. Several minutes after he left, a bipedal figure entered the room, a twin-sided staff in its metal claws as it’s small green head darted back and forth, noting the destruction in the room and the occupants inside. After scanning their rear hooves, it noted they weren’t the prey, and continued onward, glowing red eyes flicking back and forth as it entered the next hallway.
Avak was the first to realize he was being followed. He had slipped through several hallways and up a flight of stairs by now, avoiding maids and guards any time they came through the halls, the Piraka ducking between alcoves or occasionally jumping onto the ceiling to avoid being detected. Even from this distance, he could still hear Reidak bashing his way through everything in his way, and Avak shook his head in annoyance. However, there was another sound he could hear: heavy, methodical stomping as something moved closer. Something that wasn’t a pony.
He had holed up inside of a lavish study room, the brown Skakdi kneeling behind the desk in the center of the room. Hundreds of books lined the walls, many of which seemed ancient, and likely valuable. He had his seismic pickaxe held against the table, its jackhammer function held up like a gun. With a flick of a switch on the side of the tool, energy began coursing through it, tubes and several power cables glowing orange as its energy coalesced around the twin jackhammers.
Whatever was after him was growing close, and he could now hear a strange noise coming from outside the hallway. It sounded like distorted gurgling, as if whatever creature was making the noise was doing it from a bad radio.
By now it was just outside the doorway, which Avak had intentionally left open. He could see a bipedal shadow expand over the door, and for some reason it look somewhat familiar.
As it came into view, Avak’s heart froze.
The creature stood a few inches shorter than the skakdi, its reptilian head coming up to around his chest. It’s body was a metallic silver, with large spikes arching from its slug-like back and broad shoulders. A double-sided staff grew from one of its hands, spear tips flaring out on the ends as its head split open, revealing a disgusting, slug-like creature within that screeched unnaturally.
Avak knew what this creature was, and the shock of its appearance gave him pause as one word came to his mind.
Rahkshi
The silver Rahkshi used his hesitation to rush forward, running for a few feet before leaping up into the air, staff poised and aimed for the skakdi’s ugly grin. Avak snapped back into focus, aiming his weapon and firing a powerful burst of energy from the twin jackhammers, the energy blast screeching towards the falling Rahkshi.
And flew right through it, the monstrous creature turning transparent just before the blast hit. Avak rolled out of the way as the creature returned to normal, its staff digging its bladed tip into the rug where Avak had just been as his energy blast detonated on the ceiling, pieces of rubble falling in the doorway as the roof was about to collapse.
Thinking quickly, Avak ran towards the door, lunging forward and managing to roll into the hallway just as the rest of the ceiling fell onto the doorway, trapping the Rahkshi within. Avak let out a sigh of relief, only for it to catch in his throat when he saw the ghostly form of the Rahkshi seeping through the rubble at a fast pace, and Avak didn’t wait for it to come all the way through as he turned and booked it down the hallway.
‘Shit shit shit shit!’ Avak mentally cursed, turning and loosing a few energy bolts down the hallway before turning a corner. ‘Why is there a freakin’ RAHKSHI here?! Since when did Makuta start leasing out rahkshi to the pony elite?! And since when was there a Makuta?!’ He cursed noisily as the rahkshi refused to slow for even a second, relentlessly chasing after Avak and letting any attacks phase harmlessly through its body. ‘Gotta find Reidak, he shouldn’t have been having any problems.’
Reidak was having a problem. Things had been great, with him bashing heads and clearing rooms out one by one. After he had adapted to that initial magic barrage, most of the unicorns were practically useless against him, and the others fared little better.
But then he’d nearly been impaled by a rahkshi.
‘Where did this freak even come from?’ Reidak grunted, holding the rahkshi back from bringing its staff down on his neck. He had barely any time to avoid its initial strike, the poisonous staff almost running him through from behind, but he had managed to notice it before it instantly killed him. But now it was working hard on rectifying that mistake, having bowled him over and was trying to drive its staff into his neck. Reidak drove his knee into its abdomen, letting it momentarily lose its balance before throwing it over him and into a bookshelf. As it fell to the floor, books tumbled from on high onto its head. ‘Right, this is a library…’ Reidak glanced around at the rows of bookshelves they were surrounded by, getting an idea. ‘Alright Lehrak, let’s see how much we can break?’
Before the Lerahk could get to its feet, Reidak grabbed it by its staff, yanking the green rahkshi forward before spinning it around and launching it through the library, crashing against a bookshelf a few feet away. The shelf snapped in half from the impact, the upper half falling forward and burying the rahkshi in a pile of books and wooden planks. He could see the Lehrak’s poison already at work, the books turning a sickly green before withering away into dust, but it would still be a few seconds before it freed itself.
Reidak retrieved his weapons he had dropped when it had first attacked him, and after a moment, began running towards the pile.
By now the lehvak had started to get to its feet, only to be shoulder charged by Reidak, who slammed it into another bookshelf. Before it collapsed onto the rahkshi, however, the Lehvak managed to roll out of the way, hissing angrily at the Piraka as it stabbed its staff into the ground, letting its poison spread across the floor.
“Well aren’t you just the best party pooper.” Reidak growled, looking around. He doubted stepping on the poisoned floor would be doing him any favors, so keeping his distance would be wise. However, this would also mean that he couldn’t beat the mechanical monster into a pile of scrap and kraata guts. He almost wished Avak was here to help.
Reidak decided to, instead of wishing for a nerdy tinkerer to randomly show up, unleash his elemental powers, and slammed his fist into the ground. He reached out like before… only to feel as if a wall stood between him and his powers. “Excuse me, what?” Reidak growled, slamming his fist in again. Once more, he tried channeling his power over earth, only to feel as though it was slipping away from him. “Are you kidding?! What, do Rahkshi negate elemental powers now?!” He began backing away slowly, the quickly spreading poison eating away at anything not made of stone or marble. He pulled out his zamor launcher, but before he could fire it, he heard a crash from above.
He had enough time to look at the falling Skakdi above him before Avak fell on top of him, slamming them both to the ground and scattering Reidak’s tools as wooden chips rained from above.
“Gah, there you are.” Avak grunted, pulling himself off of Reidak and staggering to his feet, the sound of the rahkshi screeching from above. “Bad news. Rahkshi…” Avak noted the green rahkshi in the center of the library, its dual-pronged staff tip dislodging from the floor as it advanced towards them. “Oh, I see you already know.” Avak raised his jackhammer gun and fired two quick shots at the Lerahk, the energy bolts hitting true and digging into its right kneecap. It fell forward, using its staff to catch itself from falling over completely as it’s head split open, and the Kraata inside hissed angrily at Avak as he hauled Reidak to his feet.
“Come on, we’ve got another one of these things coming soon.” Avak said, spitting off three more stronger energy bolts at the Lerahk, tearing through its other knee, and tearing the lower leg completely free. It hissed in pain, only to earn a fourth bolt straight into its ugly face, vaporizing the kraata slug within. As the now dead Rahkshi fell forward, Avak held up his weapon, smirking. “Boom. Headshot.”
His amusement immediately died out as he heard heavy footsteps approaching from above, and he quickly fired upwards, energy bolts punching through wood and whizzing past the rahkshi’s body as Avak moved away from Reidak
“So what’s the trick with this one?” Reidak asked, gunning the ignition on his buzzsaw. The angry whirring noise almost drowned out the angry hiss of the beast as it slammed down between them, before rushing towards Avak, who ducked under the swinging staff to roll safely behind it.
“Density control. We’ll need to catch it off guard, and kill it in one shot.” Avak grunted as the Rahkshi turned, only just now noticing Reidak’s existence.
“Oh yeah? Then why not just use your whacky magic prison powers on it?” Reidak asked, holding his golden weapon ahead of him. “Or is it performing about as well as any of your personal ‘inventions’?”
“I need to concentrate in order to use it, you bonehead!” Avak responded, backing away. “Keep it from attacking me, and I’ll give you an opening.”
“Or,” Reidak laughed, grabbing Avak by the shoulder. “We do things my way!” Without waiting for Avak’s response, he tossed the flailing Skakdi at the Rahkshi and breaking into a run. The silver machine turned transparent as Avak flew unwillingly towards it, the brown Skakdi screaming incoherently as he phased through his target and slammed through a crumbling bookshelf.
The rahkshi hissed as it turned physical again, and before it realized what had happened, Reidak rammed his buzzing blade straight into its head, sparks flying as protodermis met protodermis and soft kraata bits. The rahkshi’s arms jittered, dropping its staff as the kraata controlling it was ripped to shred, viscous purple fluids spraying all over Reidak before it finally fell still.
Satisfied, Reidak tore the still roaring buzzsaw free, grinning as the destroyed head of the Rahkshi flopped aimlessly as it collapsed before him. “And that, my dear Avak, is why my plan is always better.” He said, kicking the machine aside as he went to help pull Avak up.
“Never… do that… again.” Avak panted, before punching Reidak in the jaw. “I will not be your damned distraction!” The black skakdi staggered backward, grin never fading even as he rubbed his jaw.
“Yeah, well it worked, didn’t it?” Reidak cackled. “Besides, it’s not like you weren’t using me to lure the guards away from our objective.” Avak blinked, surprised. “Yeah I figured that was your plan when you didn’t chase after me.” Reidak swung his buzzsaw through the air, freeing some of the kraata chunks from its blade and splashing its purple vitae across the floor.
“Well, I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t gone rushing into the manor.” Avak growled, his eyes hardening. “Why can’t you ever stick to the plan?”
Redial shrugged, irritating his friend further. “Because your plans are boring. Anyways, did you find the target?”
“I… no, the Rahkshi attacked before I could get to the room.” Avak replied, turning towards the door. “It’s upstairs.” Before they left the library, Avak turned to look at Reidak with weary eyes. “And, please, don’t run off this time. I don’t have a leash on me.”
Reidak huffed, rolling his eyes as he shouldered past Avak, flipping his buzzsaw around into its drill mode. “Riiight. Just don’t bore me to tears, and you’ll have no problems.”
Reidak’s clawed foot smashed through the oak door, wooden splinters scattering as he tore a skakdi-sized hole in it, before stepping through. “This is the right room, right?” He asked, turning to look at a clearly annoyed Avak.
“Yes, it is.” He huffed, looking down the hallway to the three other doors, which were in a similar state thanks to his partner. “Unlike the last dozen doors…. do you intend to ruin this pony financially by making him replace all these doors? Or are you just… oh who am I kidding, of course you’re doing it just to annoy me.” Reidak’s grin widened as Avak ran his hand across his face in frustration, before taking a brief look around the room.
To their immediate left, the wall was mostly covered in bookshelves, with a few paintings of the unicorn they were robbing in snobbish poses. To their right, the wall was mostly dominated by a metallic fireplace, the charred wood inside unlit. It reminded Reidak of one of the brown skakdi’s inventions, and sure enough he could see the familiar brand name of Zakaz Industries upon its steel.
The sight of it made him want to tear it to pieces, but he resisted the urge.
The wall before them was blocked mostly by a mahogany wood desk, a small light stand sitting upon it as well as several piles of paper. Reidak slid over it, scattering likely important papers across the floor and turned to the safe behind the desk.
“Hey!” Avak growled, moving next to him. “I’ll handle the safe.” He shot Reidak a death glare as he shoved him aside. “I won’t run the risk of you destroying whatever is inside.” He knelt down in front of it, before starting to fiddle with the lock. Reidak, being entirely uninterested, took to looking around.
“So, what’s the deal with this unicorn anyway?” Reidak asked, examining one of the portraits of the dull gray pony. He found how the unicorn had rolled his mane up amusing, several curls rolling down his neck. Finding his blue eyes uninteresting, he spotted a pickaxe mounted above the fireplace that he hadn’t noticed before.
“Well, he’s the son of some wealthy guy in Canterlot.” Avak said, not turning away from the safe. “From what I hear, there’s rumors he’s an illegitimate child the elitist had with an earth pony mare in the town north of here.”
“Huh, so how come he’s got an entire mansion to himself then?” Reidak asked, pulling several books from the shelves, glancing at their titles, and tossing them to the floor dismissively. “I doubt daddy dearest wanted to recognize him as his son.”
“Well,” Avak grunted, searching the sides of the safe for something. “Rough Diamond, the guy who lives here, built himself up. Managed to find a huge cavern full of valuable gemstones, and built a business around it. Ol papa showed up soon after and claimed him…. aha!”
Reidak heard a loud click as the safe swung open, and Avak moved around its handle to look inside.
“Oooh, we’ve got a lotta goodies in here.” Avak grinned, pulling out a small bag from his belt. “A bunch of super valuable jewelry, some deeds to the mining operations he runs…. huh, what is this?” Avak gingerly pulled an oddly spiky black orb from the safe, frowning for a moment before tossing it to Reidak. “This is by far the weirdest token we’ve found.”
Reidak caught it, wincing slightly when the sharp spikes dug into his claw as a haughty female voice echoed in his mind. ‘This token belongs to Chirox, greatest scientist of the Matron Lords! Only summon me forth should you truly require my presence… or of my creations.’
“A Matron Lord?” Reidak frowned. He recognized the name. “Isn’t Chirox a Makuta? And, you know, male?” He looked over to Avak, who shrugged as he gathered what valuables he could fit in his bag.
“Well, it would certainly explain the rahkshi we fought downstairs…” Avak said after a moment. “But hey, it is a multiverse. Plenty of chances for a group of female Makuta to exist.”
“You think there’s a group of them?” Reidak asked, and Avak shrugged again.
“Well, she did say she was the ‘greatest’ of the Matron Lords, so I’d assume there’s more than one.” Avak said as he got to his feet. “Otherwise she just has serious ego problems.”
“You got everything we need from the safe?” Reidak asked, frowning when he noticed Avak covertly putting a slip of paper away in his belt.
“Yeah, let’s loot whatever else we can take with us and go.” Avak nodded.
As the two left the office, Reidak’s mind processed several bits of information after smashing the fireplace into a lump of scrap metal.
A group of some of the most powerful beings in the Bionicle universe, that for some reason is mostly, if not all female, on call would be an extremely powerful ally… or a dangerous threat. And what was it that Avak hid in his belt? Was there some secret objective to this mission, or just something he didn’t want the rest of the Piraka to know about?
Reidak decided he’d just take the paper the first chance he got, and potentially throw Avak into that lake they passed by on the way here if he didn’t like it.
That thought made the black skakdi’s smile grow wider as the two of them walked through the hallway, the sunlight from the windows glinting off his golden armor.