The War of Arca chapter 13

Killersup

The change came quicker than he expected.  The detective collapsed on the floor, for a moment Killersup believed the act, even going as far as telling the secretary behind the desk to call for an ambulance.  He knew that any second from now the detective would try piloting him.  He went through the doors that led to Ghrogar's tattoo room.  He had reached the top of the stairs and was halfway down the hall when the daggers entered his head.  He felt his mind stretching to fit the presence of another being inside.  
His training came back to him: "if someone attempts to enter your body you will know it, the first thing you must do is protect your thoughts, they are the only true freedom you have in this world, build a wall around them and protect them with your life." Out of practice he struggled to build his wall, pieces of it battered from past encounters; one incident came to him the Isle of Demons.  He had been a devote believer in protecting his mind then, and the demons attempts of possession failed but not with out causing major damage.  
Slowly he lifted the sections of wall with his thoughts.  Before the pain and expanding finished he had a shoddy wall built that he would hope suffice.  Something told him it would not.
The next step, his teacher's words resounded off the wall. "Search your mind, feel the intruder, then find the culprit trying to scale the walls, do not hesitate to kill him." He ran beneath the wall, its long shadow hiding his own.  He found the Pilot scrambling up the wall, using the small holes in his wall to scale to the top.  
Using his own mind, he pulled the section the agent clung to from the wall.  Careful not to crush the fool with it, he grabbed four more slabs imprisoning the Pilot inside.  He formed bars on the wall side facing him so he could see his possessor.  The pale-skinned Pilot was breathing raggedly; his pale eyes glanced around the cell looking for a way out.  
"Who are you?" Killersup demanded his brow furrowing as he stepped close to the bars.  It made him look much older than he was.  
The agent averted his pale eyes, not wanting to look Killer in the face.
"I will ask you one more time Pilot, who are you?"  He reached through the bars but could not grab the Pilot.  With one hand he pulled the wall behind his interrogate closer, forcing him into his free hand.  He pulled the Pilot hard by the collar into the bars.  
"Tell me or I'll crush you in your prison." He grimaced at the idea of killing him, it was one thing to kill a man, but to kill one in your mind was to kill his soul.  He had done that before, but he was no killer now even if it was in his name, that life was past.  He was just a man looking for answers now.  He pulled the walls in around the Pilot until his shoulders were pressing against them.  
"Okay I'll tell you, damn.  Just get me out of this deathtrap."  The Pilot's voice was confident.  Killer released him from his death grip but did not let down the walls.  He looked at the agent expectantly.
Killersup heard the noise before he saw it coming.  Vines sprouted from the ground beneath, latching around his legs, slinking up to his throat.  He struggled to pull them off, but his mind's power was waning.  How was this possible? He thought.  It was unheard of for someone to have power within another's mind.  
"If you let me out, I'll release you as well and we can discuss this like human beings, unless that is beyond your capacity."  The Pilot said, his arms were sticking through the bars flexed, his hands aimed at Killer's throat.
"Fair enough, I am an assassin no more, I never was."  Killer strained to answer.  The vines were crushing his neck.  He dropped the walls around the Pilot, and the vines melted back into the ground.
"Now would you mind telling me who the hell you think you are attacking my mind like this?" He hissed the words.
"My names Skeleton, I'm a detective on the M.O.P. case, I heard the Linorian at the desk call you Ten, and I knew who you were. I have been tracking you for years, until of course you disappeared.  I had to see if you knew anything about your organization."  
Killersup read Skeleton's face for the hint of a lie, but the guy was staring him cold in the eye.  He was telling the truth.  "I wish I could help but I have not been with M.O.P. for a long time now.  When I was there they did not tell me anything anyway, not that I wanted to be in it."
Skeleton looked surprised.  "You didn't want to be a part of it?"
He laughed, "No I didn't and I'll be damned if you arrest me for killing against my will.  They threatened to kill my family, what would you have me do?"  He did not mean to reveal so much; perhaps this man had more control over his mind than he could feel.
Skeleton's cheeks turned red, "Well that just blows the top off everything I've found on the case so far."  Killersup was shocked by how open this Pilot was.  Especially for being a detective, for all this guy knew he was still working with the M.O.P.
"Listen I have an appointment to keep, can we continue this conversation when I'm out."  Killer forgot about Ghrogar when this fool tried to get inside his head.  Ghrogar was not a patient being.  
"Oh I'm sorry, you were headed in to see Ghrogar no?  Any information you get from him I'll pay you for it is the least I can do.  He's the only tie we have to M.O.P."
Killersup stifled a laugh; this guy was as in the dark as he, and too trusting to be so.  "I will see what I can do but I don't want your money."
"I have to give you something.  If I solve this case I'm going to go down in history."
"Listen I will meet you outside the shop when I get done, and I'll share everything I find out.  We can talk about payment then."  Killer said hurriedly, he did not want to piss Ghrogar off.  All he really wanted was answers anyway; this guy had to know something he did not.
Skeleton's eyes flashed, "I have a better idea…I can come with you."  
Killersup knew Ghrogar would not allow an agent into his shop that was a death sentence.  The M.O.P. had him under twenty-four hour surveillance.  Then it hit him.  "I am not letting you stay in my mind, no way.  I will be distracted my thoughts are going to be at your disposal."
"I won't read them."  Skeleton said, "I will even let you read mine afterward if you are unsure."  
Killersup did not know how that would work.  He was no Pilot, nor did he want to be.  He looked Skeleton up and down, he was a damn superior liar, or he was the most honest detective he had ever met.  Either way he could tell by the look on Skeletons face that he would not take no for an answer.  Killersup furrowed his brow.  "Very well, you can stay, if I feel you read anything, and I mean anything.  I will kill you in front of Ghrogar."
"Thank you." Skeleton gave a wide, pale grin.  
That was that Killer thought, he was sharing his mind with a stranger he had just met.  Somehow, he knew it was his best bet at getting the justice he wanted.  He shoved the thoughts out of his head quickly to keep Skeleton from seeing them.  Pulling himself from his own mind, he took control of his physical self again, and continued down the hall to the double doors where Ghrogar awaited.  He could feel Skeleton sitting in limbo within him, as he pushed open the doors.