39 “Power is taken, it’s never given.”

Two mercenaries wheeled Brian Burnside into the white walled laboratory on a bed trolley. His eyes closed and his limbs limp and his head turned to the left side. On another table next to him, the decrepit, rotten body hosting the consciousness that was Knightmare-Grimm lay next to him. His bright red blood shot eyes wiggling wildly in their sockets. The right ear had completely dropped off, as had most of the skin on his face. The metal plate on the left side of the forehead still lit but with a constant amber colour. The parts of the body not covered in metallic chassis had open sores, with large areas of skin but worse than before. Blood dripped from him around the edges of the table onto the floor, sounding like a drizzle.

"Connect his head to the brain machine now, I want his consciousness deleted, though I will keep his memories." Knightmare-Grimm's voice hissed. "This body of mine does not have much time."

The two mercenaries carefully hoisted over a white head cap attached to a long tube making it look like a suction device. They pushed it over the crown of Brian Burnside's head so that its edges expanded to fit around his skull. On both sides of the cap and at the front and back, were clips that they wedge into Brian's skin to hold the cap in place. Brian Burnside remained unresponsive due to the propofol intravenous anaesthetic delivered after he surrendered himself to Knightmare-Grimm. His submission was never needed for this process. The now genius-level Knightmare-Grimm probably made his calculation to use his body already, a large dose of propofol only being required to put Burnside to sleep. But his capitulation and position of kneeling delighted the sadistic monster. To be glorified, worshipped, fear and revered as a God was the elixir that propelled the ambitious Byron Grimm, amplified by the appetite for chaos and destruction so cherished by Knightmare.

Though there were two mercenaries tending to the bodies of Burnside and Knightmare-Grimm, there were at least ten to fifteen other mercenaries in the room. Watching, not interrupting; being silent witnesses to the ritual.

One of the mercenaries at the bedside asked for clarification. "So I press the yellow and blue buttons together at the same time?" His voice high pitched in spite of his huge towering frame and menacing eyes. This wasn't normal for him. It was effect of the leader's towering spiritual dominance. An awesome all consuming presence that sucked the air out of the room.

"Do it," Knightmare-Grimm croaked. "Then as I've told you before, after two minutes press the red button, so I can enter his body. Remember no funny business, I have copies of myself inside the Avatara kernel of the server and the internet. I am immortal. As I've created you, should you try to destroy me, I will come back to destroy you. As a God I am to you."

"Yes sire," said the merc. "Yes, sire," said the other one also. His voice was as meek and submissive as the first one.

A huge warping sound like an aircraft about to take-off rung out and the headcap shook with a mild ferocity on Burnside's head. The clips from the headcap heated up on his skin. Knightmare-Grimm's head attached to another headcap, pulsed as well. Both head caps connected by tubes to a central large mainframe computer. The first merc, pressed the red button. The open brain on Knightmare-Grimm expanded losing defined shape, with the metallic plate on the left side of his forehead, loosening and then falling off. The whole room shook with the violence of the transmitted energy. The reverberating sound like what you would hear from a washing machine.

Then the metallic plate fell off Knightmare-Grimm's head. The expanded brain looking like a poached egg, exploded open, splatting as a slop over the floor and the sides of the skull. The brain material, fried and burnt through overheating.His red bloodshot eyes rolled to face downstairs in a slump, becoming motionless. The rotting mouth hung slightly open. The metallic plate on the floor also without light from its emitting diode. His body lay on the table motionless. Lifeless.

But Brian Burnside's eyes opened. Now firey and fixed as if under the influence of a toxic substance or illegal drug. And the first utterance from his mouth were not so much words than a hiss. A hissing-like stirring of hot air, as if he would blow out fire like a dragon.

"Ahhhhhhhh it worked well," he said. Just those words confirmed the fact that the body looked like Brian Burnside but did not contain him.

"It feels better to possess the body of the living rather than the dead. That rotting flesh hindered me but a submissive, fresh body is perfect to occupy. Very clever of me and how I can hijack the brain tissue with my soul, my energy is fantastic." He spoke at a fast rate, accelerating through sentences faster than his mouth could keep up, making little sense along the way. "Shame this brain tissue is not as good as I would like… Find someone with good body and brain. I can't stop talking...each time I change, I get more power in my mind. It feels so good...It's very important… for now will do. Grace…"

He chuckled as he sat up from the table, gingerly. The mercs tried to help him but he shooed them away. His quick breathing settled fast and he calmed down, acclimatising to his new body. Knightmare-Grimm scanned around the room, eyeing up his foot soldiers, his minions, his vessels, his tools for use. Strong in the body, yes, but their minds feeble, as they should be. For there should only be one mind in control, one ruler, and that was him.

"When I was very young, I had something taken from me," he said. "Something precious that belonged to me. Because I was weak. But I'm grateful for that lesson because it taught me the truth about life. Power is taken, it is never given. So I take without mercy. With impunity." He stood up.

"Your minds belong to me but through me you are like Gods. Like Knights of the round---." Knightmare-Grimm fell back banging his head on the table and frothing at the mouth. Several of the mercs helped him up as he convulsed, jerking limbs in all directions. But it quickly stopped. He opened his eyes again.

"Ahhhh what luck. I just acquired the memories of this Brian Burnside and realise what we should do next. It appears I'm not the first person to possess this body. A young monk did. Of course, I remember. He's the one who can astral project and is based in Bhutan and has met Grace. It seems they formed a connection and understanding." He stood up again, staggering up and rare moment of what appeared to be acceptance of temporary weakness given his transformation, allowed himself to be helped up by his minions.

"Spector was right," he said. "We can't take on Suno Sadayuki's men to get to Grace. It would be bloody, attract too much attention and there's no guarantee of success. But we can smoke her out with the right bait. We'll go to Bhutan and fetch us a prize. Get me a plane and have it ready for departure. We leave at 0800 hours."

And at that his subjects scattered to enact his plans.

'To astral project from Bhutan to London must have weakened the boy. He should be too weak to possess my mind right now. It's a gamble but I'm willing to take it.'

Knightmare-Grimm took a moment to survey his new body. He still wasn't satisfied.

'Until my cybernetic body is complete, I will continue to have problems with these unsustainable bodies. This body won't last for more than a week with me in it. But maybe if I put it in a protective metallic casing it will prolong its life? A mask for the face as well would be good. And maybe a cloak? Yes, a cloak befits me.'

He concluded this to be a good plan and stayed in the lab to brainstorm and create a viable solution.