Chapter 7: Tell Me No Lies

Shadowmind evidently finds it amusing to cycle through the car’s music library and listen to every fire-themed song available as he screams through the streets toward the interrogation barracks. I have no idea where we’re going. He takes me through neighborhoods I’m very unfamiliar with and I lost any identifying landmarks early on in our trip.

We drive for about twenty minutes before Shadowmind hangs a quick right into a parking garage. He parks and I follow him into a small office building across the street. It has no identifying signs or anything anywhere near it, and I have no idea where we are. Shadowmind steps in and we head over to an elevator. After waiting for it for a moment, the door slides open and Shadowmind motions for me to enter first. He presses the button for the third floor and whistles as we ride up.

The door slides open again and I follow Shadowmind down a hallway in what appears to be some kind of hospital or medical-like setting. He opens a door and walks in ahead of me. I follow him in to see Darius leaning against a wall with his hands in his pockets. To his left is a table with a few chairs. Rhodes sits in one of them and directly across from him sits the Pyromaniac.

“Welcome, Shadowmind, Physion,” Rhodes says as we walk in. I take a sit to the right of Rhodes and nod to him. I try to avoid looking at the Pyromaniac but my avoidance of him is becoming obvious and I look at him to find a look of utter disgust on his face. His gaze shifts almost immediately to me and for a moment we lock eyes and I can almost feel the hatred searing off of him. I am almost instantly terrified that he will light me on fire or something. I break the stare we’ve engaged in and I shift in my chair. Rhodes must sense my nervousness and he pats my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, my dear, our friend has been temporarily extinguished,” Rhodes says to me with a smile. The Pyromaniac laughs a little and sits up straight in his chair. He pushes the sleeve of his right arm up and points to a giant red, swollen area.

“Yeah, by sticking a fucking needle in my arm,” the Pyromaniac says as he points. I look at Rhodes.

“Please try to refrain from the use of vulgar language, Pyro, there is a lady present,” Rhodes says sternly to the Pyromaniac. He immediately looks at me once again and smirks a little.

“I can guarantee she ain’t no lady, buddy,” the Pyromaniac says with a mischievous look on his face. “Not even close.”

“Shut up, you tool,” I hear Darius say from behind. I hear him shuffle around and a second later he is standing right behind me.

“Oh, what do we have here?” the Pyromaniac says as he shifts a little in his chair. He clasps his hands together and rests them on the table. “Are you trying to be a knight in shining armor? Some kind of protector? You gonna teleport her out of danger?” Darius breathes in sharply behind me and leans over me slightly.

“You’re gonna need protecting when I teleport my foot up your ass,” he says to the Pyromaniac as he slaps his hand on the table. Rhodes immediately stands up and pushes Darius backward.

“Now, boys, play nice,” Rhodes says as he glances back and forth between both of them. Shadowmind shakes his head.

“Yeah, let’s not turn this into a pissing contest,” Shadowmind chimes in. Rhodes sighs.

“What did I say about vulgar language?” Rhodes reminds him. The Pyromaniac laughs and throws his head back a little. He takes his glasses off and sets them on the table.

“Not in front of the lady, right?” the Pyromaniac says as he drums his fingers together. Darius walks back to his corner. Though I can’t make out what he’s saying, I hear him mumbling something under his breath. Rhodes sits down and looks at me.

“As I was saying, my dear,” he says to me in a much calmer voice, “Our friend the Pyromaniac has been injected with an agent that will temporarily stop his body from recognizing his mutated gene. He’s harmless for the moment.”

“That’s what you think,” the Pyromaniac says quietly. Darius shuffles around behind me again and I know I should start rolling my eyes soon.

“Oh, please,” Darius says. Rhodes sighs again and before he can say anything, the Pyromaniac has already jumped on the chance to be the antagonist.

“If I deemed you worthy enough, Darius, I’d bother to exert a little energy into embarrassing you in front of the lady, here,” he says and lays his hands flat on the table. I can tell Darius wants to engage him in some kind of verbal battle, at least, but Rhodes stands up and slams his hands on the table before Darius can respond.

“Darius, if you cannot keep your mouth shut, you will not be allowed to witness the interrogation!” Rhodes screams. Darius gets a disgusted look on his face and mumbles under his breath again. He crosses his arms and leans back against the wall. Rhodes sits back down and looks the Pyromaniac directly in the eye.

“Now, Pyro, how about you and I play a little game? How about I ask you questions and you answer me honestly and you don’t get to experience a mindscourge?” Rhodes asks him intently. The Pyromaniac shifts in his chair and shrugs his shoulders. Rhodes looks to Shadowmind and nods. Shadowmind grabs the Pyromaniac’s hand and his tattoos manifest almost immediately. The Pyromaniac goes limp for a second before Shadowmind lets go and the Pyromaniac jolts back to life screaming.

“Okay! Holy shit, okay! What the fuck was that?!” he yells. I hear the sound of something metallic jingling and I look under the table and notice that the Pyromaniac has his feet cuffed together.

“That was an incentive for you to tell me what I want to know,” Rhodes replies. I see sweat on the Pyromaniac’s forehead. He is breathing a bit heavy. He nods.

“Who sent you, Pyro? Who do you work for?” Rhodes asks. The Pyromaniac looks to his left and then back at Rhodes.

“I don’t work for anyone, man. I was hoping I might get some people to work for me someday,” he replies. Rhodes sighs.

“Then how did you know about Physion? Where’d you get the name you found fit to burn into every wall you’ve torched in the last few days?” Rhodes shoots back.

“I…I don’t know. I think it was one of the voices.”

“One of the voices?”

“Shit, man, don’t you know anything about me?” the Pyromaniac asks. “I’m certifiably fucking crazy, man. Top notch, grade-A schizophrenic. Got documentation and everything.”

“You seem to be fine now,” I hear Shadowmind say with a hint of disgust in his voice.

“Maybe I took my meds this morning,” the Pyromaniac replies. Shadowmind reaches in his direction and he flinches.

“No, I’m serious. I don’t know any of you people, man.”

“You seem to know our Physion well enough to burn her name into walls,” Rhodes says back. The Pyromaniac looks a lot more sheepish to me now and I lean forward and rest my arms on the table. He studies me for a moment and then looks back at Rhodes.

“I dreamt her,” he says quietly. I sit up a little, startled, and look quickly at Rhodes.

“What do you mean you dreamt her?” Rhodes asks back.

“I don’t know, I kept having a recurring dream, maybe it was a nightmare, in which she was standing in a burning building. I heard someone yell the word ‘Physion’ and I saw her turn. I assumed it was her. I had the distinct feeling that fire in the building was mine. Now, where is my hat?” the Pyromaniac asks. I turn to Rhodes.
“I didn’t think he was wearing a hat when he came in,” I say to him. Shadowmind turns toward me and nods a bit.

“He wasn’t. I guess he wasn’t kidding about being crazy,” Shadowmind says with a laugh.

“What do you know about the Brotherhood of Pravus?” Rhodes asks the Pyromaniac. I see his eyes grow wide and he moves back in his chair.

“Shit, are you guys the Brotherhood?!” he yells. Rhodes seems taken aback.

“Not quite, Pyro. What do you know about them?”

“All I know is some guy called me last week and didn’t have an image show up on the videoscreen. He told me he was from the Brotherhood of Pravus and told me that I was under careful observation to determine whether or not I was worthy. Before I could ask him what the hell was going on, he hung up. I don’t know if it was real, though. With the riots going on, I haven’t been able to get my meds filled in a while. I…just don’t know,” the Pyromanaic replies back. Rhodes turns to Shadowmind.

“I’m skeptical,” he says and nods. Shadowmind grabs the Pyromaniac’s hand again but he does not go limp this time. He sits quietly as Shadowmind’s tattoos manifest once more and sighs a little when Shadowmind lets go.

“He’s not lying, sir,” Shadowmind says. “That’s really all he knows.” The Pyromaniac looks at me and starts hysterically laughing for no reason.

“You have no idea what day it is, do you?” he says to no one in particular. “I’d really love to hear your opinion on the race.” I shift my eyes slightly and sit back in my chair completely confused. Rhodes looks nervously at Shadowmind again. He once more takes the Pyromaniac’s hand and he remains mindlocked with him for a solid minute before he lets go and the Pyromaniac cradles his head in his arms on the table.

“He’s got nothing more to offer, sir. He’s told us everything he knows,” Shadowmind informs Rhodes and Rhodes nods. Shadowmind stands up and walks over to me and taps me on the shoulder. I stand as well.

“Thank you for joining us Physion,” Rhodes says. “And congratulations on your mission today.” I smile and thank him. Darius walks over to us and I follow the both of them out.

“What’s going on now?” I ask Shadowmind as we walk.

“Well, that creep is going to get rehabilitated,” he says to me as we turn a corner.

“What does that mean?” I ask back. Darius looks over to me.

“It means that one of our psions will completely reconfigure his mind. If he’s still a lunatic, evil son of a bitch when they’re done, his gene will be medically deactivated. It will either make him a normal person again with no recollection of previous events, or…you know,” Darius explains. I shake my head.

“I don’t know,” I say to him.

“Or it will kill him,” Shadowmind says in a low voice. I am horrified for a moment at the thought but I try not to let them see that I am so bothered.

“How will you know which one it will be?” I ask.

“Well, if you see him walking around the halls, you know,” Darius responds.

“What if I don’t? How will I know if he survived?” I ask in an eager voice.

“Physion, if you don’t see him around the halls, you will never see him again, let’s just put it that way. Pretend he never existed,” Shadowmind tells me. We are back at the parking garage at this point and Shadowmind and I get back into the car we arrived in. He starts the motor and I sit back, unable to focus. His words echo in my head the entire drive back to the Templar Agency.

Pretend he never existed.