The Soul of Ten
Chapter Fourteen
10 March 2011
They found the entrance to the base hidden under a cactus, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Connor and Nine tore it in half with their telekinesis revealing a metal hatch hidden underneath.
"I've got this." Connor announced confidently. Nine stepped away and the sand and rock which the hatch was embedded in started to shift until there was a sloping tunnel leading down into the tunnel which would lead them into the base.
"Ladies first." Connor waved Marina forwards in an exaggerated fashion. The two of them would lead the way because they could see in the dark. Marina stepped onto the slope and Connor followed. He heard the others step in behind them and together they made their way down the tunnel.
Connor had guessed right. There were no lights in the tunnel, the only light piercing the darkness was coming through the entrance that Connor had just made for them. Once everyone was off of his ramp Connor closed it off, plunging them into complete darkness.
He was expecting his night vision to kick in so that he could lead the others down the tunnel so he was surprised when nothing happened. He waved his hand in front of his face but he couldn't see anything.
"I can't see." He gasped as the realisation hit him.
"You and me both, Conman." Nine agreed loudly.
"No, you don't understand. One of my Legacies lets me see in the dark. I should be able to see everything." All of a sudden the tunnel was bathed in light and Connor thought that his Legacy had finally kicked in but then he saw that both of John's hands were lit up like flashlights.
"How do you lose a Legacy?" Marina asked. Clearly she was afraid that the same would happen to her. Connor frowned and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. We'll worry about it later. I've got other ways of seeing underground." He placed his hand on the wall and allowed his power to flow through the rock "There's a metal door about 200 feet that way." He raised his hand and pointed down the tunnel.
"How do you know that?" John asked. Connor smiled.
"I can feel the Earth when I touch it, I can tell what it's made of, what's in it. I can feel the metal, it's unnatural, not from Earth."
"Mogs." Nine laughed "Let's go get 'em."
Together the group set off down the tunnel with John in the lead and Connor right behind him. Connor trailed his hand along the wall as he walked, getting a feel of the corridor.
Just as he'd said there was a metal door filling the end of the corridor, cutting them off.
"How do we open it?" Sarah asked.
"Easy." Eight, Nine and Marina stepped up so that they were standing next to Connor and John and together the five of them slowly pulled the door open with their telekinesis. Two Mogadorians were visible through the hole that they were making. Eight disappeared and reappeared behind the two Mogs. He pulled a sword from one of them and thrust it through his back even as Nine hurled his staff right at the other.
They both turned to ash and Eight waved the others through. Ella, Sarah and Brad climbed through the hole whilst the Garde held the door open. Then it was time for the four of them still in the tunnel to make their way through, one at a time, until they were all in the base. Once they were through they let the door shut.
Connor turned around just in time to see four Mogadorian soldiers come around the corner.
"Get down." He called as they raised their blasters. One of them got a shot off even as a blast of purple energy shot down the corridor, right at the group. The blast exploded as it struck, taking down all four of the Mogs but as soon as it exploded red lights started flashing all along the corridor and a siren sounded throughout the base.
"What's the play?" Connor asked. They all knew that they didn't have much time now, the Mogs would be on them in seconds.
"We kill anyone who moves until we find Six." John replied.
"And our ship." Connor added.
"The ship's here?" Eight asked. Clearly they hadn't expected that.
"The ship's not a priority." John told them. Connor nodded and stepped forwards. Nine and Eight joined him as a large group of Mogs rounded the corner. The three of them put themselves between the Mogs and their friends. Connor heard Nine crack his neck before he flicked his wrist and his staff extended to its full form.
"Shall we dance?" Connor asked the two of them with a smile.
"Ladies first." Nine gestured, copying what Connor had said to Marina earlier.
"Then please, lead the way." Connor replied. Nine laughed and Eight cracked a smile. Then the Mogs opened fire and they were forced into action. Nine sprinted forwards in a blur and Eight disappeared from where he'd been standing seconds before.
Connor started sprinting and two blades appeared on his fists, trailing behind him. He reached the Mogs and dropped to his knees, sliding along the floor like a baseball player sliding into the base. He held his blades out to the side and all of the Mogs fell to the floor as he severed their legs.
He jumped to his feet and immediately leaned to the side to avoid being stabbed by a Mogadorian sword. He punched the weapon, his hand wreathed in purple energy, and the blade shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Connor deflected most of the pieces away from him towards the Mog with his telekinesis but one slipped through and struck him in the shoulder, even as the Mog was turned to ash. Connor brought his hand up to the wound on instinct and gasped as he felt an icy feeling flowing from his hand and into the wound.
He looked around, expecting to see Marina nearby, pouring her healing into him, but she was separated from him by a group of Mogs, all of whom had seen him wounded and cut off from his friends and were starting to converge on him, seeing him as the weak link.
But they didn't know that somehow, by some miracle, he'd just healed his own wound. He didn't know how he'd done it, that wasn't one of his Legacies, but he didn't have time to dwell on it then. He was surrounded by enemies who needed killing and he wasn't about to keep them waiting.
A blade of energy grew from the back of his right hand and from his left a whip fell to the floor, curling up next to him. He saw the moment that the Mogadorians realised that he wasn't as weak as they'd thought. They stopped their advance and a couple of them started to back away. Connor smirked victoriously.
"Come on!" he shouted at them "Come on!" Two of the Mogs raised their blasters and Connor burst into action before they had the chance to move. He flicked his left wrist and the tendril of energy shot through the air and wrapped itself around the first Mog's neck. Connor yanked the second forwards with his telekinesis and impaled him with the sword even as he tugged the whip and decapitated the other.
That was all the rest of them needed to start to panic. Some turned and ran but there was no escape. If they were lucky enough to get away from Connor they would be picked off by Eight or Nine or any of the others who were behind them providing covering fire.
Connor himself was a demon, the whip twirling around his head before flicking out to slice off limbs and destroy weapons. His sword wasn't still either. He danced around, blocking blows and impaling any Mogs who managed to dance past his whip.
In a matter of minutes he was covered from head to toe in dust, as were his companions, who he saw briefly before they disappeared back into the thick of the battle. The ash was piling up around him and as new Mogs piled into the corridor, mindlessly coming to kill them with no thought about tactics, they had to wade through the remains of their fallen comrades
Despite how easily they were cutting through the Mogadorians that kept pouring into the corridor the Garde and their allies weren't making any progress through the base, they were stuck fighting a seemingly endless number of enemies in the same place, unmoving.
Connor felt something stab through his chest and looked down to see the tip of a Mogadorian blade sticking out of his front. He jabbed his right elbow backwards into the chest of the Mog who had stabbed him even as a purple spike grew from the elbow. There was the tell-tale thud that indicated the Mog was dead and Connor let the whip dissipate as he brought his hand to the wound, the icy feeling that he had felt before flowing from his hand and into the wound, the skin knitting itself together under his care.
He took this time to study the battlefield.
The Garde had split up, each of them fighting their own battles, whilst Brad, Ella and Sarah were stood further down the corridor with their weapons, each of them picking off any Mogs who strayed from the killing zone. Eight was teleporting around to wherever the fighting was the thickest, appearing amongst groups of Mogs as a variety of terrifying monsters, ripping through the Mogs before disappearing before they could do any damage. He wasn't the only one who was shapeshifting on the battlefield. He hadn't noticed the chimaera that had come with John when they were outside but Sarah had told him about the dog and how well he had acquitted himself in battle. He was doing the same thing now, tearing through the Mogs as though they were made of paper.
Connor saw that if they kept fighting like this they would soon tire and then the Mogs would slaughter them. He knew that they had to push on whilst they still had the advantage. So, rather than plant himself in one spot he prepared himself to charge.
Eight appeared next to him, panting for breath. His curly, black hair was plastered to his forehead in stark contrast to his copper skin.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he doubled over, trying to catch his breath.
"Making a path. If we get bogged down here we've lost." Eight nodded and disappeared. A second later he reappeared in the same spot, his hand clasped around Nine's arm.
"Together." He said simply. Connor nodded in agreement. He could see the look in Nine's eyes, he recognised it as the same look that he'd seen in the mirror many times. He wanted to make the Mogs bleed, and Connor wasn't about to stop him.
The three of them charged forwards, an unstoppable force charging towards the mass of Mogadorians arrayed against them. Connor gave up on using skill to fight, instead he shrouded his body in a spiky, purple armour. Every time he shouldered a Mog out of the way they would turn to ash in front of him.
They reached the end of the corridor and turned right, not stopping as they charged through the Mogadorians that had amassed there. The three of them moved as one, working together to inflict maximum damage to the enemy, as though they'd been training together for years. Connor just charged forwards, cleaving a path right through the middle of the Mogs and Nine charged alongside him, running along the walls and the roof to get around Connor and finish off the Mogs that he missed. Eight was teleporting all over the place, helping Nine to finish off the stragglers. He would appear exactly where he needed to be and then disappear, the only evidence that he was ever there the cloud of ash that he left in his wake.
Connor could hear gunshots behind them and saw an occasional fireball fly past so he knew that the others were following, dealing as much damage as possible to whichever Mogs survived the onslaught that was Connor, Eight and Nine.
Eventually they slid to a halt in front of a huge metal door. It was the only door that they'd encountered since they entered the base which was actually closed, all of the others had been left open and, now that he thought about it, Connor realised that they'd been lead here by whoever was in command of the facility.
"Be careful." Connor declared as the others joined them in front of the door "This smells like a trap."
"That's just Nine." Eight supplied "I don't think he's washed in weeks." Connor smiled and Nine grumbled out a response but nobody was listening. They were all watching as the doors slid open.
"Sarah, Ella, stay here. If anything comes through that door without us, shoot it." Connor told them as he glanced over his shoulder at the two girls.
"We can help." Sarah protested.
"You are helping. I need you to make sure nothing sneaks up behind us." The two girls shared a look and Sarah nodded to show that she agreed, although she didn't look happy about it.
"Let's show these pasty-skinned wankers what we're capable of." Nine twirled his staff through the air, his demeanour showing his confidence. Connor nodded and a sword appeared on each of his hands. Together the five Garde stepped through the doorway and into the unknown.