The Seven Souls

Chapter One - Ira Mortem

Ira Mortem was in an uncomfortable position to say the least. He was perched on a ledge over the mouth of a volcano with a good friend of his, Simon Anderson. They were both conduits on a mission, a search and rescue mission. The target of the search was a newborn baby. Ira turned his attention back to what was happening in the lava chamber below. About 50 feet down from where Ira and Simon were perched was an altar. On that altar was a women going through labor. Surrounding that altar were an elite group of soldiers from an organization that called itself the Templars. Standing over the woman was a priest, probably the most normal person of all the people there. The man was nervous, Ira could sense it, literally.

Ira was one of a small group of people called "Conduits". A conduit was a person who received powers from a tragic event, something that activated a gene inside of them. Ira could feel the emotions of others and feed off of them. The man next to him, Simon Anderson, who was called Eyes by all the people who knew him well, had the ability to find memories and traces by touching other people. Simon had to wear shades most of the time because his eyes were a neon green color and looked as if they were on fire...one of the cons for him being a conduit. Simon was great with electronics and gadgets, anything he could improve with technology. Ira was just a soldier. A super soldier. A commando. ira would be the one doing the real work here, with Eyes just there for back-up in case anything went wrong.

"No, it's...it's...it's not possible!" Came a cry from one of the leaders of the Templar group. The Templar raised his gun and shot the woman at the altar. Ira's head swiveled back toward the cavern below. The woman had given birth to twins. That wasn't in the plan. There was only supposed to be one. Ira reached to his back and brought out his crossbow, it was go time. The arrow notched in the bow had a rope tied to it, making for a sort of grappling hook. Ira shot it in a downward diagonal angle so that he could drop near the altar. The sound of the arrow piercing into the volcanic rock was covered by the next order from the lead Templar, "Kill one of them and grab the other. Make sure the one is dead...all the way." The Templar then left the room. The soldiers around him scooped up one baby (who was crying its head off) and lowered their sights to the other one (who was also crying). That was the exact moment that Ira zip lined down on the rope and kicked two Templars into the lava about a hundred feet below. The others turned their guns towards Ira who pulled out a smoke bomb and spiked it at his feet, filling the chamber with smoke. Ira reached toward his head and flipped down thermal googles to see, everything was going as planned.

That was when the explosions started. Ira knew the sound, it was C4, a cheap, but highly explosive, material. Ira had just reached the baby, he saw it was a girl and scooped her up. The smoke was starting to thin and the Templars saw the volcano collapsing in around them because of the explosives. The well-trained Templars simply cracked under pressure. The screamed and ran for it. Ira stood there and smirked. The sound of a helicopter could be heard over the explosions, and Ira knew it was his and Simon's ride out of here. He looked up to see the black helicopter, which he had affectionately named Hammerkop, appeared above the volcano, a ladder hanging out of it. The Hammerkop was a Huey that had been in military service since Vietnam. Ira had decided that the US military wouldn't mind if he...um, borrowed it for awhile. The ladder reached Simon first, and Ira watched as he grabbed on and was pulled up into the copter. Ira was the next one supposed to come up. He saw the ladder descending closer and closer, when he was hit by debris from no where. It landed on his arm, crushing it. Ira tried to pull it out, but it was clearly broken and hurt too much.

The volcano was imploding and the ledge with the altar began to tilt towards the lava below. Ira could see he had roughly two minutes. He pulled as hard as he can and his arm came loose! Only to get stuck again at the forearm. Ira tugged more and more, but it was no use. The debris crushing his arm was too much. In a last ditch effort, Ira pulled out his bowie knife. He raised it in his right hand and brought it down through his left elbow area, cutting cleanly through. Ira yelled in pain, but he was free. He ran, holding the baby girl and jumped, grabbing the ladder to the Hammerkop with his right hand. He was quickly pulled up to get his stump wrapped and try to stop the bleeding.

Chapter 2 - Ira Mortem ((I know that I'm not following the actual charrie histories for some of these people, but I really just needed their names and powers to use))

10 years later:

It had been a decade since the incident in the volcano. A decade since Ira had lost his left arm. A decade since Eyes had made him a bionic arm with amazing strength. A decade since the most important conduit to ever be born was born.

The baby girl that Ira had saved that day had grown into a beautiful 10 year old conduit. She was one of the two people alive on the earth who was born with an active conduit gene. It made her more powerful than any other conduit in the world. Ira didn't understand what the girl, who had been named Lily, was meant to do. No one did. No one would know for a few more days, when Lily's full powers arrived. Eyes and Ira lived in a safe house and raised Lily. The safe house was built specially for her, by a secret organization of Conduits called the Defense. Ira and Eyes worked with the Savers and were high in their ranks. Ira and Eyes weren't alone though. The safe house was occupied by three other conduits. Lucas Rice, a young wind conduit who was plucked off the streets by the Defense lived within the safe house. Amir Ibn-la Ahad used to be a member of an elite Israeli sniper squad until he became a conduit. Amir was still discovering his powers, but so far he had enhanced senses. His eyes could see extraordinary distances in thermal, night, or regular vision. His hearing was amazing. He could hear a pin drop from China if he wanted to. The last member was a wacko named Kyd Wykkyd. Ira saw him as a loose cannon who couldn't be trusted, but the Defense saw him as an excellent body guard for Lily.

That was their job. Every single one of them were supposed to protect Lily. Amir was an amazing lookout, Ira was brutal force, Simon had gadgets to protect her, Lucas just blew away anything that attacked her, and Kyd...well...Ira guessed he just annoyed people to death somehow. Kyd was a good conduit, but a little childish in Ira's opinion.

Lily? What was her power? She could read and speak in any language, even forgotten ones. In five days, she would be powerful enough to read the scroll she had been born to read. The scroll was from the Dead Sea scroll collection, but it was written in a language that no computer could ever decode, no matter how advanced. The only thing the Defense knew about it was that it contained directions to either save or destroy the world. Lily, and he twin brother, were the only two people who would be able to read the scroll. The Templars had her brother, and the Defense had Lily. The Templars thought the scroll would "cleanse" the earth and they would be saved. Ira was skeptical, and so was the Defense.

Chapter 3 - Amir Ibn-La Ahad

The call came whilst Lily and Amir were talking to each other in Arabic. Ira had sat and was laughing lightly at the way the language sounded. As the phone rang Ira picked it up, walking into the other room. Amir would hear every word of the conversation with his un controllable powers. Lily seemed to sense the importance and stopped speaking. From what Amir heard, the conversation went something like this:

"Hello?"
"They have the scroll, Mortem."
"What? Who?"
"The Templars. They stormed the base today. They caught us off-guard. So many dead. They're coming for Lily next. They know where the safe house is, Ira."

There was static for a second, followed by incomprehensible yelling and a gunshot. There was more static and then a disconnecting tone. The man on the other end, the general of the Defense, was now dead. Amir sat there for a minute, not believing it. He was an Ibn-la Ahad, he wasn't supposed to be scared, but now he was. And then Amir heard them coming. Multiple helicopters and troops. 

On the wall was a red button. Amir jumped up and pressed it. Immediately, sirens went off and a red light started blinking. The button was just for cases like this. It was linked wirelessly to the Hammerkop's engine, and as every conduit in the house started moving the Huey had started to spin its blade. 

Kyd Wykkyd was the first down the steps, as he teleported right in front of a very angered Ira. Ira growled and Kyd looked at Amir and said "Uh-oh" before teleporting, grabbing Lily, and teleporting again to the Hammerkop. Lucas was already in the helicopter since it was his second home. Eyes ran down the stairs and through the door carrying some weird gadget. Amir grabbed his sniper rifle and ran out the door with Ira. 

The noise from the approaching Templar group was much louder now. With his enhanced vision, Amir could see them on the horizon. He looked at Ira and said, "They're coming. We gotta hurry."

Ira simply looked back at him and asked, "Who has Lily?" Amir didn't answer. The Hammerkop was about a football fields length away and Amir began sprinting. In a few seconds he was there, followed closely by Ira.

Amir stared strangely at Eyes as he attached two strange metal devices on the outside of the Hammerkop. eyes didn't explain as he got back in the Huey. He simply told the pilot, Lucas, to take off.  Again, Kyd teleported in front of Amir. The Israeli sniper laughed. "I'd go put on your seat belt, Kyd. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Multiple helicopters and troops of Templars on the way."

Kyd laughed like a maniac, stuck out his tongue and teleported to his seat. Ira took a seat at the mini gun mounted on the chopper, and Amir sat so he could snipe if necessary. It was about to get rough.

Lucas took off and flew towards the East, heading for Israel. Amir would take care of renting an entire hotel for them there. The Templar helicopters caught up quickly to the old Hamnerkop, but couldn't seem to hit it. Amir found it funny and leaned over to Eyes. "Seems like the Templars can't seem to aim worth their lives!" Eyes looked at me and cracked up, there was definitely something going on.

After a few minutes the choppers were all taken down by either Amir or Ira. A few hours later they were in Israel, and Eyes was still smiling. Amir looked at him funny, "What's so funny?" 

Eyes pointed to the metal devices he had put out. "I call 'em Templar Terrorists. They put out a magnetic field that repels magnetic metals...like bullets. That's why them Templars ain't able to aim!" Eyes laughed and walked away.

Chapter 4 - Amir Ibn-La Ahad

With the world on the line and no idea how to save it, the last of the Defense crashed at a Holiday Inn in Jerusalem. Amir had paid about 100,000 dollars for the entire hotel to be cleared out just for them. The conduits crashed on the first floor of the hotel to make a quicker escape if necessary.

Amir was surprised to learn that Eyes had a load more of the gadgets the team had started calling "Shirley Templars" because of the reddish color they gave off when activated. Eyes had attached the devices around each of their rooms, purely out of caution. 

Ira called a meeting between all of the conduits besides Lily. The all sat in Ira and Simon's room, their faces lit up by the Shirley Templars. Ira began, "Today everyone in the Defense was wiped out. We're the only ones left. We aren't soldiers anymore, now we're just trying to live and save the world, got it?" Amir already knew this, but the thought still made him nervous. For once, Kyd even seemed at a loss for words. All eyes were on Lucas. He was the only one who had any experience outside of the Defense.

Lucas shrugged, "Back to instinctive survival then guys. We have no food, little money after buying the hotel, and only our bags that we managed to keep from the Templar attack."

Ira nodded, "Step one though is getting back the scroll. We don't know where it is, and as long as we don't know then the world is on the line."

Eyes spoke up, "I think I have a plan," All eyes were on him within a second, "We need to get to a high ranking Templar for it to work though."

Amir realized that he could help in this. "I know where we can find a fairly high ranking Templar...pack your bags, we're going back to Ireland." Amir was running off of a theory. A hint. A gut feeling. But he knew that it had to be right.

Thirty minutes later the crew was preparing to take off in the Hammerkop. Lucas sat at the controls, "I hope your right Amir, Hammerkop here is already low on gas." he said, pushing buttons and pulling levers as the chopper rose up into the air.

"Why do I have the feeling we're gonna crash into the Mediterranean now, Lucas?" Eyes said.

Kyd laughed and replied, "Crash and smash! HAHAHA! I CAN swim!" he then proceeded to turn invisible except for his white smile.

Lucas smirked, "I've seen you swim, Cheshire Cat, you're no Michael Phelps." a couple of the other conduits mumbled agreement as Kyd turned visible again, laughing manically again. Amir laughed as Lily giggled at Kyd. They rode through the night, arrival in Ireland would be near dawn.

I really like this story. Thanks for including Kyd!

Chapter 5 - Lucas Rice

Yeah, so while everyone was sleeping Lucas was forced to stay awake the whole flight, worrying about Hammekop, with only Ira's snoring to keep him company. Kyd would wake up and ramble something once and a while. Amir babbled in his sleep about sniping nyan cats ((Megz, inside joke))...Lucas tried to not think about what had to be running through that guys head. Halfway through the night, Lily climbed into the pilots sleep and fell asleep by Lucas. Even in their sleep the team was active...somewhat. 

Near 4:30 the eastern shores of Ireland appeared on the horizon and Lucas knew they were going to make it. Hammerkop had about 2 hours left in her tank. Ever since Lucas was introduced to Hammerkop, the two had made a great team. The old Huey hadn't had any nasty turbulence ever since Lucas joined the Defense. 

Lucas also thought that the way the heli had been named was amazing. The name Hammerkop originated from African mythology. The Hammerkop was a dragon that breathed lightning and protected villagers from evil. The Huey had been named after Cole MacGrath had ridden in it on a mission to help the Defense. Back then the Hammerkop was still a rustic green from Vietnam. When Lucas joined the team he had amped up the paint job. The Hammerkop was now a stealthy black with electric blue lightning streaking down the body. One long continuous lightning streak bent down the tail spelling out "Hammerkop"

Lucas patted the dashboard as they flew towards their destination. Just him and Hammerkop. And Ira's snoring.

After another hour or so the sun was rising behind the Hammerkop as it landed a few miles from the target that Amir had specified. The team was all awake except for Lily who was still by Lucas. Plans were made.

The place they were at was a few miles from the headquarters of the Defense, about 25 miles from the safe house. Amir said that the Templars had to have converted the place to a Templar camp. Thats where they would find a Templar officer who might know the location of the scroll. 

Ira was talking. "Kyd, you'll go in first and find a way to open the doors from the inside. Eyes and I will dispatch the guards outside while you're doing that. Amir, I want you sniping and scouting, got it? Rice, you stay here and make sure Hammerkop and Lily are safe."

Lily, the natural fighter, complained, "Daddy! I can help too! Just let me! I'll kick some Templar butt!" Ira shook his head and walked away, leaving Lucas alone with a 40 year old helicopter and 10 year old kid.

"Oui, I'm too young for this."

Chapter Six - Kyd Wykkyd

Kyd was what some people would call crazy, insane even. He didn't think of it that way. Kyd thought he was...creative and fun. A good laugh in a tight situation never really hurt anybody. Kyd had happily taken his assignment to sneak into the Templar base and open the doors from the inside. He was the best at stealth kills and knew the layout of the building. With his red and black face paint, he hoped he would terrify some Templars before sending them off to their dooms. The area that the team walked through now was a forest with very thin vegetation, the best cover, but very easy to spot someone in. Kyd would appear in a tree, then back on the ground, then just his hand pointing which way to go would be visible. It clearly drove Ira crazy, which Kyd was fine with.

After a little less than an hour, the team reached the old Defense base, which had clearly been used as a Templar facility in the past day. A nasty sight awaited the conduits on the front of the building. With the blood of, what Kyd could guess to be, conduits that were killed, the Templars had painted a large red and bloody cross over the door. Eyes looked at it with disgust, "Is that...?" Amir was probably up a tree somewhere a miles away, wondering the same thing.

Kyd cut him off, "Yes, of COURSE it is!" He then laughed like a maniac for the third time in the past 24 hours, and disappeared from sight. Kyd reappeared out of sight of his partners and pulled out two wickedly sharp knives. He laughed again, though quieter and went to work. The new Templar base was, literally, a castle. The building dated back to medieval times itself, without the latest innovations. Those innovations included quite a few satellite discs, an armory, living bunks, and a large command center. All Kyd needed to find was the door, though. The Templar guards guarded the base like the olden days, the sat, stood, or slept on top of the outer wall of the castle. Kyd found this as a major advantage, as he humored himself by killing the guards as he surprised them. He would tap a sleeping guard on the shoulder, smile, and stab his knife into the man's heart. Or he would teleport right behind someone standing, and buckle their knees and stab them on the ground. Kyd did that for about fifteen minutes until all the guards were dead, no alarm had even been raised. The Templars didn't know how to operate a security system apparently.

Kyd could see the relief on Ira's and Eyes's faces when he opened the door for them. There were no words exchanged though, it was go time. They ran through the silent streets of the medieval town until they got to the actual castle. The drawbridge was down, but Ira seemed to hesitate at the bride before pulling out his Bowie knife and crossbow. Eyes drew out his hunting knife in one hand and a smaller version of the Shirley Templar in the other. Kyd kept his two knives in hands, ready to go. There was less resistance than Kyd thought there should be when they arrived at the main building's door. Just five or six guards, who had been...put out of order by Kyd and his allies. The door was guarded by four guards standing shoulder to shoulder. They all had riot shields lazily strapped onto their arms and M-16's in their free hand. Kyd was reminded of one of his favorite quotes, 'What's better than an M-16? Two M-16's!'

The guards were quickly taken out either by a arrow to the head or random knife to the face. The way it should be in Kyd's opinion. Soon the doors to the command center were open, and the three conduits snuck in.

The command center was a marvel of modern architecture and science combined. A large war map hung on the wall. The Templars seemed to have used it to their advantage by placing red crosses where their troops were stationed. There was the Defense logo placed in Israel, making Kyd happy that they had gotten out of there. The room was dark, and filled with people on computers, Templar bosses. Suddenly, Kyd saw something. A scroll on the map. It was in...New York...Empire City. Ira must have seen it too, and he pointed it out to Eyes. Eyes nodded to show he understood. The group turned to make their way out of the command center, knowing now what they needed to know. As they turned around, though, there was a man standing there. A solid wall of meat bigger than the three of them combined. Kyd disappeared with a *poof*, leaving Ira and Eyes to deal with the man. “Well, well, well, look what we have here! Wanted conduit number one, and wanted conduit number two.”

Kyd wondered what number wanted he was as the man seized Ira and Eyes. He dragged the two of them for about five seconds before Kyd appeared mid-leap and stabbed the man straight through his thick skull. If the noise of the man apprehending Ira and Eyes hadn’t grabbed the Templars attention, then him falling over the rail onto a table did. The table broke and crashed to the ground, spilling one unfortunate Templar’s coffee. As the Templars grabbed their guns, Eyes, Ira, and Kyd hightailed it out of the command center. They would find the entrance blocked by more Templar guards. Just as they were preparing for a fight one of the Templar’s head exploded, quickly followed by the other one’s head. Two sniper shots were heard seconds later. “Thank YOU Amiiirrrr IIIIbnnn-Laaaaa Ahad!!!!” Kyd sang out as he teleported a few feet forward, before appearing, and teleporting again. The drawbridge out of the castle was beginning to close, they would never make it, even with Kyd teleporting. “Crap.” Kyd said in a high pitched voice.

A few miles away in a tree, Amir cursed as his gun jammed. He took out the magazine to see what was wrong only to drop it to the ground...”Damn, that was my last one!” He said loudly.

Surrounded and enclosed by the Templars, Kyd stood with his two companions. It would be a sh*tty way to go out, so he was determined to make that impossible. The Templars knew they had won and began yelling and jeering at them. Shouts of “Freaks!” could be heard along with “Demons!” or a chant for “Ex-or-cise, Ex-or-cise” Kyd saw it as almost humorous the way they reacted when he disappeared. Cries of outrage and confusion left the Templars lips until one man finally came to the front of the crowd. He had burns on his neck and talked in a raspy, crude, voice. “Kill the two and hunt down the other one, he cannot escape here! May the father understanding guide us.” The Templars repeated the last part and quickly raised there guns to Ira and Eyes.

Ira growled, “Bring it on, pr*cks, you’re goin down!”
Simon seemed scared and put up his hands, “Guys, can’t we talk about this sometime later? Please?”

The Templars simply laughed and then fired, of course, Kyd knew what was coming next. Bullets flew out of the Templar guns, but none of them hit Ira or Eyes. There was some confusion, until shouts of “Black Magic! Demons! The Power of Satan!” could be heard. The same man with the raspy voice looked confused and angry. He opened his mouth to give another order...
...when he was cut off by the sound of a chopper. Hammerkop landed in between the Templar’s and conduits. Ira and Eyes jumped on, and the Huey lifted into the air. Kyd became visible hanging off the landing gear of the Hammerkop, waving and making faces at the Templars who stood speechless.

As Kyd climbed into the chopper he was greeted by Lucas and Amir, but Ira and Eyes just smirked at him, saying nothing. Lucas broke the silence and spoke up, “Where’s out next stop?”

Ira smiled and replied, “We’re headin to your home town, buddy. Empire City, here we come.”