A/N: Standard disclaimers, yada yada yada... Oh, and I haven't actually played the game (loooong story that one) so sorry for any possible laspe of character. I'm mostly guessing from cutscenes so cut me some slack!
PS: Oh, and warning. Yes, this indeed contains an OC. I say
this now, I make GOOD OCs. My track record is flawless. I don't make
Mary Sues, I loathe Mary Sues. I don't make Paulinias (whatever they
are) and even if my OC gets some screen time, it'll be worth it.
Think about it, don't you want to know about the mental patients
you run through? It's not the same if they don't have a story. My
character, has a story. And there's lots of dialouge at first.
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"You must be joking!" Truman Zanotto snorted apprehensively, striding about his office somewhat vigorously; extreme agitation was apparent in his expression.
"I have evaluated our options," continued Sasha Nein, seated at the front of Zanotto's desk, "Even our best mind infiltrators, working in tandem under simulation-perfect conditions, are simply not sufficient."
Zanotto snorted again.
"What about the elements of the field itself? The intimidation of a full squad of the agency's exemplary mind-hackers bearing down on the old coot!" He bellowed with great aplomb, his mind full of preparations for kevlar, SWAT support, those big double-blade helicopter-things...and maybe a taser.
"In all aspects, negligible." Sasha said simply.
Snort!
His agitation returned, and with greater force. Zanotto made a quick return to his swivle chair and slumped into it with passion.
Zanotto leaned back for a few moments, hands clasped and eyes squinted in thought; Agent Nein waited patiently, his mind on his calculations and its inevitable conclusion.
"Quantity over quality," Zanotto suddenly began, flipping forwards to face Sasha, "We put every person we can spare right out in full assault and-"
Sasha simply shook his head; Zanotto did not bother disputing the protest.
"Murray Thatch has encountered and dispatched of five intermediate agents within approximately 4.2 seconds of each other. He encountered and then dispatched of three senior agent within approximately 6.4 seconds of each other. All the while elluding their respective team mates and avoiding harm or containment throughout the entirety of the encounter."
Zanotto grunted at the dismal report.
Sasha continued uninhibited.
"Further attempts on arrest/capture met with similar results. Further investigation revealed that the amount of time in between the assaults on each agent has dropped to, at best, 2.3 seconds. It is concluded that the continual encounters with the agents have led to Mr. Thatch to assess and learn to subvert the configurations of the advanced mental blocks agents are trained to put up."
At this point, Sasha detracts from the written report, addressing Zanotto directly.
"It is ultimately concluded that any attempt to use the conventional resources of the agency would be...a waste of time."
Zanotto chuckled ruefully, hearing the argument all over again but still not coming up with a good rebuttal.
"So we use our 'unconventional resource' hm? You make our high security mental-criminal facility sound like a thinktank!"
"In many ways, it is," replied Sasha nondescriptly.
Zanotto chuckeld again, with little humor; his flicking hands barely concealed his...agitation.
"We need someone who, like Murray Thatch, uses such an alien method of mind-hacking that conventional mental blocks and trained agents cannot defend against it at all."
"Right, and that 'someone', like Murray Thatch I might add, should and is locked up in very much the way we want Thatch in!"
Sasha made a faint sigh; he was sure he would win out eventually, but Zanotto's apprehension was a slow-to-tranverse hurdle.
"And I'm not going to let her out, to get another psycho just like her in!" Zanotto veribly roared, slamming his fist into the desk.
'Why is he so...agitated?' mused Sasha, as he sought a way to speak to the fuming Head of the Agency to calm him down.
Something crossed Zanotto's face at that point, he grinned and Sasha felt a tinge of apprehension.
"You, you two, you took her in," he began, looking up at the agent before him, "You and Milla."
Sasha felt that this was not going in a good direction.
Zanotto smoothed back his hair neatly with one hand as he straightened up, "You two got her in, even when a whole squad got beaten up, tossed about, sent back with their tails between their legs!"
'Tails? Do we really need that expression?' Sasha's mind wandered as he followed his chief's line of thought.
"I could just send you and Agent Vodello, backed up with several squads of course, to bring that coot in as well, can't I? You've had the experience, you're the best we cou-"
"With all due respect sir," Sasha suddenly said sharply, cutting Zanotto off, "Even if Murray Thatch walked right into the Psychonauts Headquarters, we would still not be able to confront him. He's mind cannot be hacked, but he can hack ours in a heartbeat and turn any agent against another within seconds. We cannot physically subdue him because he masks himself with invisibility and levitation and is psychically undetectable. And even if we do manage to land a hand on him, it can be seen from Agent Whedon's 9 month hospice stay and ultimately tragic end on 11th November 2005, that Murray Thatch is a highly accomplished psychic in many other areas."
Zanotto became silent, surprised from what could be considered an 'emotional outburst' from the usually cool agent.
"Yes, I and Agent Vodello did managed to bring her in, but I would like to clarify that it was mostly the coaxing by Agent Vodello which calmed the girl down and made her agree to come to the agency of her own free will," Sasha continued, calmer now once he's gotten his key point across.
The chief grunted, shaking his head in continual disapproval.
"You forgot something, haven't you?" he murmured, "She commited 'mental-suicide' right after she was contained. Going on 5, 6 years now. Her mind's long gone, we just keep her alive and around to make sure if she wakes, she goes right back to sleep."
Sasha knew this; it was another obstacle, and a fairly large one at that, but one which had a fair greater success rate than the alternative.
"This is my final proposal," at this, Sasha pulled out the last page of his stack of reports and notes, "I, and selected individuals, shall enter Prisoner HT-982675J1's mind, and attempt to salvage enough of her original mentality and personality so as to convince and/or use her to neutralize the rogue mind-hacker known as Murray Thatch, of New Jersey," he read off.
Zanotto took the proposal, reading it outloud between clenched teeth. He snorted.
"'Selected individuals' eh?"
Sasha nodded, "Naturally, having had the closest contact with the prisoner, Agent Vodello would accompany me."
"And having had extensive experience with fractured minds of madmen," Sasha continued, "I suggest that Agent Razputin accompany us as well."
