The darkness and timelessness of sleep was interrupted by a voice.

[b][i]Zachary, wake up.[/i][/b]

This voice came from with-in his head, so Zachary's unconscious mind passed it off as a dream. However, the voice persisted.

[b][i]Damn it, Zachary, I can hear someone![/i][/b]

Blearily, Zachary's eyes opened. He could see faint light illuminate the edges of objects in the room, but that light was not sunlight or even moonlight. He was momentarily confused as to why this wasn't his familiar workshop, as he was yet to wake enough to remember that he was sleeping next to the carriage, but that was quickly overlooked when he found the source of the light. A man was in the room, with a light core which was just bright enough to walk by but too faint to wake anyone, and he was pointing a rifle straight at him.

Zachary screamed and sat up suddenly, throwing out his hand protectively. In doing this, he also used his powers to push the gun up. Three bolts of plasma shot over Zachary and left burning after-images in his eyes. Quickly he clambered upright and before the intruder could fire the plasma rifle again he was assailed by metal pieces, some of them quite heavy, from the scrap heap. Just as Zachary seemed to have the upper hand, however, fire billowed forth from the intruder and washed over Zachary. The intruder hadn't only taken Zachary's plasma rifle, but was also a host!

Zachary quickly ran for cover, going through a hole in the wall into abandoned corridors of adjacent buildings, but the light of the fire had left everything else in total darkness so he tripped on rubble and fell, scraping along the ground. Over his head more bolts of plasma were fired, prompting him to very quickly crawl up and flee further, going around a corner. It was then that he realised his jacket was on fire, so he hastily took it off and threw it on the floor as he fled, with Kaa'is telekinetically removing the iron knuckles from the pockets and slipping them onto Zachary's hands.

Now Zachary was in total darkness. He was only able to maintain a fast pace because Kaa'is was able to sense the walls from the re-bar and support pillars. Still, he could not see where to place his feet while he knew that his attacker was well-armed and had a light. He needed a plan, and quickly. As he sensed a large horizontal support beam above his head, an idea came to him.

[i]Kaa'is, I need you to let me have full control over the magnetism powers. I have a plan.[/i]

Also not wanting to die, Kaa'is was very compliant. Zachary then tried to pull the beam down towards him, but he did it differently from normal. Normally, as he had once observed, his powers defy conventional physics, especially the law of action and reaction. This time, however, Zachary made conscious effort to not circumvent the reaction force. Since the support beam was not coming down to Zachary, Zachary went up to it, and he stuck to it. The effort, however, strained him, and as soon as he had a good grip with his arms and legs he relinquished the powers. In seconds, the intruder walked into view, with rifle pointing forwards and dim light from the light core illuminating the corridor. He had not yet spotted Zachary.

[b][i]Nice move. Let's hope it works,[/i][/b] Kaa'is complemented.

The host walked quickly underneath Zachary, looking side to side and forwards for his prey, but not upwards. As soon as the man had passed Zachary dropped down. The noise caused the host to turn, but it was too late as Zachary delivered a mighty punch with his right fist, armed with his iron knuckles. The man was stunned by the pain of the blow, leaving him open for the second punch. A great rush came over Zachary and he delivered his next punch with even more vigour. As Zachary delivered his next punch, he did not care at the sound of cracking ribs. As he continued the barrage he did not care about the blood which was coming from the wounds his fists made. He felt magnificent as he delivered blow after bone crushing blow onto the man, on a high he had never felt before. It drove him to continue, delivering injury well beyond what was required to prove his victory over the host.

As the host stumbled backwards and tripped over, clutching his ribs, Kaa'is whispered into Zachary's mind. [b][i]Finish him.[/i][/b] Already Kaa'is was drawing him to a chunk of reinforced concrete on the ground. It was heavy, but not too heavy for Zachary to heft into the air over his head and then throw at his opponent's head, lying helplessly on the ground. A sickening, squelching crunch was made when the concrete crushed the man's skull. Zachary felt euphoric. The pains and troubles of the world seemed to fade in this ecstatic feeling. He breathed deeply, taking in and savouring the spirits of the recently slain man and his onikage. The growth of strength added to his high, which came crashing down as soon as Zachary looked down and realised what he had done.

Zachary stepped back in disbelief, unable to tear his gaze from the bloodied corpse with the smashed skull before him. Had he really done that? Inside his head, Kaa'is was laughing maniacally.

"What did you do?!" Zachary stammered.

Kaa'is eased his laughter enough to respond, [b][i]That was all you, Zachary.[/i][/b]

Zachary stepped back further, shaking his head. "No no no, that can't be."

[b][i]You don't seriously think I got you to do that reading because I was curious, did you?,[/i][/b] Kaa'is said, triumphant, [b][i]I don't have to break your will to get you to do my bidding. I can turn your own body against you![/i][/b]

Through the shock of it all, Zachary was starting to put the pieces together. Hormones. Brain. Fight-or-flight. The euphoric sensation. Zachary was reeling. Kaa'is had messed with his hormones enough so as to control his actions.

Clutching his head, Zachary screamed, "No, no, you can't do that!" He turned and ran from the crime he had committed, although he had no chance of running from his own mind or from Kaa'is, who was still gloating in victory.