A/N: Welcome to my first Bionicle fanfic. I've actually had this in my head for a while now, but this is the first chance I've had to write it.

I would also like to dedicate this fic to my good friend Saya Moonshadow, who is, in my opinion, the best author of Bionicle fanfiction on this site. This one's for you, Saya!

Disclaimer: All Bionicle characters belong to LEGO and Greg Farshtey.

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Dark Love

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Roodaka of Xia was not a sentimental being. Far from it, actually. In the several millennia of her existence, she had thrown away every personal relationship she'd ever had in order to advance her position amongst her fellow Vortixx and whatever organization she belonged to at the time. Heck, her name had become another word for "treachery" in the Matoran language… at least, if that lying pile of scrap metal Spiriah was to be believed.

So, no, she wasn't sentimental. But she wasn't heartless.

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Of course, there was a time when she would have agreed with those who called her a coldblooded monster (pretty much anyone she'd ever met). After all, during her rite of passage climb up the Mountain of Xia, she had allowed the sentient mound of rock to devour her climbing partner without a second thought. And ever since, she hadn't felt any remorse when she thought of that day. In fact, she usually got a laugh or two out of the memories.

And then, when she'd joined the Dark Hunters for training, she had once again proven her ruthlessness. That pathetic excuse for an Air Toa, Nidhiki, had come to her, all but begging her to help him get off of Odina. She had agreed- then had promptly ratted him out to the Shadowed One. She had even used her Rhotuka spinners to mutate the former guardian of Metru Nui into an insectoid mutant, as per the would-be dictator's instructions. The leader of the Dark Hunters had been so pleased, he had not only charged her nothing for her training, he had let her actually leave the island base without joining his ranks.

The last she had seen of Nidhiki, the now spider-like ex-Toa had been standing on Odina's beach, glaring at her with narrowed crimson eyes.

Roodaka had laughed until nightfall.

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Roodaka was sure she could have had a very nice career as a Dark Hunter. Assassinating important leaders, looting villages, wiping out entire islands… all while getting paid for it. She probably would have become influential enough to rival Lariska and Ancient for leadership of the organization once the Shadowed One finally died.

However, Roodaka had her sights set a little higher. She had always been attracted to power, so her ultimate goal was to join the most powerful organization on the planet: the Brotherhood of Makuta. The ancient race of Shadow beings must have heard of her and been impressed, for when she contacted them seeking employment, they hadn't simply ignored her or had her killed for bothering them. Instead, they had asked her to meet a representative of theirs on some Mata Nui-forsaken spit of land in the middle of nowhere.

She had arrived at the meeting place- only to be ambushed by a squadron of Rahkshi. She didn't remember much of the fight, but she did know that between her Rhotuka, her Catcher Claws, and her own latent Shadow energies, she had killed or incapacitated every single one of those disgusting, oversized lizards. It was at that point that she had become aware of clapping hands. Large clapping hands. She had spun around, weapons at the ready, only to nearly drop them in shock.

Standing on a rock ledge above her was none other than Teridax, Makuta of Metru Nui, and leader of the Brotherhood itself. "Your reputation is well deserved, Roodaka of Xia," he had said, his booming voice echoing throughout the island, "I am impressed. And that is not something that is easy to do."

At that particular point in time, Roodaka was very glad for her dark coloring. It covered up the embarrassing fact that she actually blushed at the comment. "T-Thank you, sir," she had stammered. She then proceeded to kick herself mentally for showing such weakness. Teridax hadn't noticed apparently, for he had continued on. "My brethren and I could use a warrior of your caliber in our service. In fact, I have a particular mission in mind that I think you would be perfect for. What do you say?"

Roodaka had needed only a moment to consider the proposition. She lowered herself to one knee, and said, "I pledge my loyalty to you and the Brotherhood, Lord Teridax." A grin had split the Makuta's Kanohi Kraahkan as she said that. "Excellent," he had said as he magnetically gathered up the remains of the Rahkshi, "Come. We have work to do."

Roodaka had followed her new master, a slight spring in her step. She had always considered herself heartless, caring only for herself. But she loved power… and she could tell just from this one meeting that Teridax was power wearing a mask.

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Shortly after arriving on the Brotherhood's home island of Destral, Teridax had filled his new solider in on her mission: A short while earlier, Teridax's bodygaurds, the Toa Hagah, had turned against the Makuta. They had raided a Brotherhood fortress and stolen an extremely important artifact- the Kanohi Avohkii, the legendary Mask of Light. Roodaka had nodded in understanding. As creatures that were effectively living shadows, the Makuta would be extremely weak against someone yielding such a mask. Especially if it were a Toa of Light, should such a being ever come into existence.

In order to retrieve the Avohkii, Teridax had assembled a force to hunt the Hagah down and capture them, and he wanted Roodaka to lead the hunt. Roodaka had asked if he wanted them dead or alive, to which Teridax had chuckled and responded, "Either one, as long as you retrieve the mask, my dear." A warm feeling had run through Roodaka's body when he called her "My dear." She didn't know why, but she liked being called that.

She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She couldn't let a little lust distract her from her mission, after all.

A little while later, Teridax had introduced her to the Brotherhood servant who would be co-leading the strike force hunting down the Hagah. Roodaka had eyed her new associate with a critical eye: red and silver armor, horns, clearly a member of the ruler-caste of Stelt… and judging by the look in his crimson eyes, he was a complete and utter coward. She didn't know how this Sidorak (and what kind of stupid name was that, anyway?) had gotten this far in the Brotherhood's ranks, but quite frankly, she didn't give a stone rat's ass. She didn't need him to get the job done; she'd drive the Toa Hagah into the ground, retrieve the Avohkii, and earn her place by Teridax's side.

The Makuta of Metru Nui had then shown his two lieutenants the force they would command: hordes of Visorak spiders, automated Exo-Toa suits, and a few Dark Hunters on loan from the Shadowed One. Roodaka had barely registered that fact when a familiar voice shouted at her from across the valley where the Brotherhood soldiers had assembled, "YOU!"

The Vortixx female had spun around to find a familiar green being racing at her. "You treacherous witch!" Nidhiki shouted as he opened his claws in anticipation of grabbing her in them. "I'll kill you for what you did to me!"

Roodaka had readied her Catcher Claws, but she didn't need them. Teridax waved one of his hands, and the former Air Toa went flying through the air, ultimately crashing into the servant-caste Steltan who seemed to be his partner. "Try that again, Nidhiki," Teridax had stated coldly, "and I will send you back to Odina in pieces." Nidhiki had growled as he stood up, but didn't try anything.

Teridax then turned to Roodaka with a raised eyebrow. "So," he said, "the rumors concerning Nidhiki's transformation are true. I should introduce you to Mutran sometime. I think you'd get along nicely." The leader of the Brotherhood had then turned on his heel, and continued to inspect the small army before him. Sidorak followed closely, while Roodaka trailed behind, deep in thought.

She didn't bother trying to figure whether her master's statement was a compliment or an insult (it was probably both). She was too busy trying to figure out something far more important: Why had he protected her, knowing full well she could take care of herself?

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It took only a few days for the forces commanded by Roodaka and Sidorak to find the Toa's encampment, somewhere on the northern continent. Roodaka had allowed herself a small laugh at the time; the fools had gotten cocky, and had left themselves vulnerable. Apparently, they thought their betrayal of Teridax meant that the Brotherhood would be too weak to come after them. And people said Vortixx were self-centered…

Roodaka nodded at Sidorak, who in turn shouted out the command to attack. The Visorak swarmed down into the valley where the Hagah were spending the night, followed shortly after by the Exo-Toa and the Dark Hunters. The Toa were taken by surprise, but soon they started making a dent in the Brotherhood forces; even as she watched, the Toa Hagah of Earth activated his Mask of Growth, growing to the size of one of the Exo-Toa, then sent several of the machines flying into the swarm of Visorak with a swing of his Seismic Spear. Before any of them could get up, the Toa Hagah of Ice froze them solid with his Sub-Zero Spear.

"If you want something done right, do it yourself," Roodaka muttered, before jumping down into the valley herself. She soon found herself trading Rhotuka spinners with the Toa Hagah of Water, who glared at her from behind the boulder she was using as cover. "The Makuta must be desperate," she shouted over the din of battle, "if they're sending Pit-spawn like you to do their dirty work." Roodaka growled, but then a smirk appeared on her face. "It appears you are the desperate ones, Toa," she said with a laugh, gesturing towards the rest of the battle.

The Toa Hagah of Stone had been caught in one of Nidhiki's energy webs, and as Roodaka and the Water Toa watched, several Visorak launched paralysis Rhotuka into him, leaving him incapacitated. The Ice Toa was locked in hand-to-hand combat with the Dark Hunter Krekka, who was clearly overpowering his smaller opponent. And the Earth Toa was being backed into a corner by the remaining Exo-Toa. Suddenly, a group of Suukorak jumped down from the ridge above the distracted Toa Hagah and simultaneously launched their shock Rhotuka at him, encasing him in an energy field that got right to work shrinking him back to normal size.

Out of the corner of her eye, Roodaka saw that the Water Toa appeared to be in a state of shock from the sight before her eyes. Seizing her opportunity, Roodaka launched herself into the air, and fired a blast of Shadow energy from her Catcher Claws. The Toa of Water brought up her shield to protect herself, but the blast hit the ground in front of her, sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, and when Roodaka landed and walked over to her, the Vortixx found her opponent to be quite unconscious. Turning around, Roodaka saw that the Toa of Ice had finally been knocked out by Krekka, meaning that the battle was now finished. Roodaka smirked- then noticed Sidorak calmly strolling down the path from the top of the valley to the floor.

"Nice of you to join us," Roodaka said with a sneer. "No reason to get my hands dirty, not when there's someone else to do the job," Sidorak said, shrugging. Roodaka muttered a few curses in Xian, and then switched back to Basic and said, "In any case, we've caught the traitors. Send message to-"

"But, we didn't get all of them."

Roodaka's head snapped up to glare at Krekka, who had been the one to interrupt her. "What?" she asked coldly. Krekka whimpered slightly, and said in a small voice, "We didn't get all of them. There's supposed to be six, but we only got four. That leaves… uh, that leaves…" Krekka trailed off as he tried to do the simple arithmetic to figure out how many Toa were left. "Two, you idiot," Nidhiki snapped, then muttered, "Mata Nui above, what did I do to deserve being partnered with this moron?"

"Besides selling out your team and city to the world's largest group of mercenaries?" Sidorak asked with a laugh. Then Nidhiki snarled at him, and the Steltan suddenly found something interesting to do on the other side of the valley. Roodaka ignored the exchange and walked over to the Stone and Earth Toa, who were the only members of their team still conscious. "So, tell me," she asked, her voice soft as silk, "where would I find your two missing friends?" "You really wanna know?" the Earth Toa asked, struggling against the energy field still holding him. "Bomonga, don't!" the Stone Toa hissed, his mouth barely moving, as he was still mostly paralyzed. "Relax, Pouks, I know what I'm doing," the Earth Toa- Bomonga, apparently- snapped back at his friend.

"Well, if you two are done," Roodaka interrupted, the forced patience evident in her voice, "Where. Do I go. To find. Your friends?" Bomonga muttered something under his breath. "What was that?" Roodaka asked, leaning down so that she was almost face-to-face with the Toa. Bomonga then suddenly reared his head back as far as he could in the energy field, then shot it forward and spat in Roodaka's eye. "I said to go to Karzhani, you piece of Kikanalo dung!"

Nidhiki burst out laughing, followed closely after by Krekka- although, it seemed quite obvious that the big white-and-blue brute was only laughing because his partner was. Roodaka glared at the two Dark Hunters, then shot a blast of Shadow energy into Bomonga and Pouks, knocking both unconscious. "Lock them up," she snapped at the still snickering ex-Toa/ex-gladiator team, "Inform Lord Teridax that we've captured four of the traitors. And since that the other two are likely to come after them, tell him that we're going to use them as bait."

As Nidhiki, Krekka, and the rest of the Brotherhood forces carried the captive Toa away, Sidorak walked back over to his Vortixx partner, looking relieved that Nidhiki had left. "Is this such a wise move?" he asked, "Lord Teridax told us to-" "Retrieve the mask," Roodaka cut Sidorak off, "And I'm going to retrieve the mask. But seeing as these fools don't have it, I'm willing to bet their two missing friends do. So when they come for these four, we get the remaining Hagah, and the mask." "Oh," Sidorak said, sounding impressed, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Roodaka could think of several reasons, but decided against saying any of them out loud. Instead she thought of the praise that she would receive from Teridax for all her hard work. For some reason, she felt that a few kind words from him were worth more than any monetary rewards she could be given.

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A few days later, word reached the Brotherhood forces that the remaining two Toa Hagah- a Toa of Fire and a Toa of Air- were on the warpath, crossing the continent, wiping out any Makuta servants that stood in their way. Roodaka was still confident, however, that nothing the Toa did would- or could- result in victory.

Then she heard that the pair had defeated Teridax in battle.

Her heart leapt into her throat as the thought of Teridax being hurt twisted in her stomach like a knife. She was distracted from her pain when Sidorak snidely commented, "Driven from the field of battle by two Toa? Ha! Either he's not nearly as strong as the stories say, or he's just a coward." The Steltan had then burst out laughing, only to be cut off when Roodaka slammed her foot into his crotch. She left her comrade writhing in pain on the ground and stormed off.

As she did, she wondered why she reacted the way she did when she heard of Teridax's defeat. Then it hit her- the way she acted when she met him, the way she felt when he complimented her, her reaction to hearing he was possible hurt… she was in love with Teridax.

As that thought came to her, she looked up to see the four captured Toa Hagah in their cage. She then thought of the day she had met Teridax, and she looked down at her mutation Rhotuka. An evil grin split her face, and she started to laugh. Let the fools come for their friends. There would be a little surprise waiting for them.

She loved her master, and she would make these fools pay for what they did to him.

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To be continued

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A/N: Wow- I'm worse at writing romance than I thought. Oh well, at least I'm getting this written down and out of my head. Oh, and this was supposed to be a oneshot, but now I realize its going to be too long for that, so it'll probably be a two or three parter. We'll see happens. Read and review!