Rescue
By Magewriter
Disclaimer: Why the heck would I be writing fanfiction if I could make another game?
See? I SAID I'd do some RazLili fanfic! So, anyways, they go to rescue Truman and… Why am I telling you this? You're gonna be reading it in a second!
"What would we do without our kidnapping expert?"
Raz, and his girlfriend Lili, and the sometimes-camp counselors Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, all floated into the psitanium-powered jet. Sasha and Milla helped the mentally tired psychonaut who had flown the jet before to get it to Psychonauts HQ, with Lili to help with navigation. After awhile, she got annoying.
"No! I said LEFT! Not strait!"
"Lili, we know how to fly a Psychonaut jet!" Surprisingly, the outburst was from Milla.
Raz walked over to Lili and put his arm over her shoulder, turning her to face him. He recognized that attitude as being really, really stressed.
"Lili, it's going to be okay. We'll get your dad back. All we need is a slight lead. I didn't even get any clues and I rescued a whole camp full of kids. How hard can it be to get your dad back?"
"But… but Oleander was insane!"
"How sane do you think these people are, if they've kidnapped the Head of the Psychonauts?"
That made Lili smile, in spite of herself.
"And when we do find them, let's make them sane again, so they know what's happening when they're in prison."
"Okay."
"Children, we're almost there. Sasha, darling, try not to set off any intruder alarms this time, okay?"
"Milla, that was only once. We were in Los Angeles."
"Yes? And your point is?"
"The point is, it's surprising that you haven't set off any in HQ yet, the way you dress."
"Yes darling, but you just looked so… conspicuous. I'm always recognized because who could forget my clothes? In L.A., you just didn't fit in."
"You don't fit in here."
"Yes, darling, but it's different here."
Raz was getting bored. "Uh… Lili? You wanna go get some Starbucks after this?"
"No, loser, I don't drink Starbucks. It's worse than soda. Let's just get ice cream. Or chocolate. Chocolate's good for stress. I know this place that sells chocolate with little bits of cocoa in it. It's really good."
"Um… if you say so."
The people of Washington D.C., of course, were perfectly used to psychics (especially Psicadets) levitating above the streets and holding things without touching them. And once in a while, a couple of rowdy Psicadets would ride their levi-balls on the bike lanes. The tourists weren't expecting this, however. Fortunately, Raz was used to being stared at, and Lili didn't care. Not that she didn't usually ride her levi-ball everywhere. It was a cover, though. She could levitate, and normally did, as well as Milla or Sasha. Her father made her practice all of her skills, every day, and if she wasn't working on them for at least an hour every day, he got mad. It sucked.
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As they approached Psychonauts HQ, the first one to run (or actually, levitate, with no pretense of a glowing ball) through the door was Lili. Sasha and Milla waited for Raz to catch up.
Lili, of course, raced up to the very top floor (where she wasn't actually allowed to go) and raced up to the second-in-command, Agent Jane Kim. Lili was one of the few people who knew her first name.
Agent Kim had a sharp voice. "Lili! What are you doing here? You are strictly prohibited from coming to the top two floors!"
"Do you know where my dad is?"
"No, Lili, we're trying to find a lead. That's why we need silence. Now, go downstairs."
"You know I could help you!"
"Lili, no you can't. We think we've just about got something. Now, go downstairs, hang out with some other Psicadets, and don't worry. We'll find your dad in no time."
"Agent Kim?"
"Yes, Lili?"
"I hate you."
And Lili walked back down to the bottom floor, where she saw agents Vodello, Nein, and Aquato.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to be in my room right now." She didn't wait for a reply, because she didn't know how long she could hold back tears. She certainly got some odd looks from the psychonauts that she passed on her way.
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Raz followed Lili, both to learn some of the layout of HQ, and to comfort Lili once she was in her room.
Suddenly, he got an odd vibe from her.
God, I hope Raz isn't following me.
He pulled out of the bond that he had unconsciously formed with her. He thought there might be more, but… Didn't Lili like him? Hadn't they kissed? Twice?
He walked back to the main room, where agents Vodello and Nein no longer were.
He decided that he should go to the reception desk. Psychonauts always had one room (and sometimes also an office) in HQ, whether they used it or not. Psicadets shared a room between two people, and all bedrooms were on separate wings of HQ. Oh my god, he though suddenly, I'm going to be on the opposite side of the building from Lili. Maybe it's for the better, though.
He talked to the receptionist at the front desk.
"Uh, I'm Razputin Aquato, and I'm a psychonaut."
"Identification please."
"Oh! Um, I have it in my backpack somewhere… I think it's in the little pocket."
Eventually, after a couple minutes of searching, he was able to present the desk lady with his school ID.
"He, ha, very funny. Proper Psychonaut identification, if you will and also your Psychic Practices permit."
"Uh, I haven't gotten those yet."
"Then I can't help you."
"Well, how can I get them?"
"You figure it out. Simple enough to do."
After a minute, he thought of one of the skills that had helped him to do many things, including release a person's inner Milkman personality. He used clairvoyance on the receptionist.
He saw all sorts of things, including room numbers that had made her think about their mathematical properties, names of people that she had laughed at, and (since it was all arranged in lists) a list of useful people, arranged by occupation.
"So, I have to go see Agent Johnson?"
"Maybe."
He left the trivial receptionist and went to look at the map. It was kind of like those maps in malls, with the little stickers that say "You are here." Johnson's office was… floor one, over in that part of it. So… Just walk over there.
"Uh, Agent Johnson?"
"Yes, cadet?"
"Uh, I'm not a Psycadet. That's why I'm here. I'm a psychonaut now. Agents Nein, Vodello, and Oleander will vouch for me, and so will all the kids that went to Whispering Rock this summer."
"Young cadet, I don't have time for pranks. Something big has just happened, and –"
"Exactly! I'm one of the people assigned to get him back, so I need my Psychonauts ID and a Psychic Practices permit!"
Agent Johnson turned around to face him. "If I call Agent Nein, and he says you aren't a Psychonaut, then will you leave me alone?"
He had obviously expected for Raz to run away at the threat of Sasha Nein possibly being mad at him.
He wasn't.
"Sure, But he's gonna say I'm a Psychonaut. He was there when I became one."
The call went the way Raz had expected it to, leaving Agent Johnson very surprised.
"Okay, then I have to ask you a few questions."
"Sure."
The better part of an hour was spent with Raz answering Agent Johnson's questions and Agent Johnson taking his picture. Finally, the two cards had been developed and Raz went to talk to the receptionist again.
"So, do you have your identification yet?"
"Yep! Here they are!"
The receptionist sent him a dry look, but she glanced at the little plastic cards he handed her.
And was almost knocked out of her seat.
"Okay, Mr. Aquato, let me see…" She typed some stuff into her computer.
"Oh, you're… you're in the Psycadet wing."
"It's okay. I don't mind. They're more my age."
"If you're okay with it, I guess…"
"Really, I am."
"Okay. You're paired with… Are you sure you don't want your own room?"
He remembered Lili's thought when he had followed her down the hall. Fortunately, the receptionist didn't seem like that strong of a telepath.
"Uh, maybe that would better."
"Okay. You'll be in…" She typed some other things into her computer (isn't the electronic age wonderful?) "Room 316. Third floor of the Psychonauts wing, over in a corner. Here's your key."
"Thanks!"
He grabbed the little "316" key and ran to the Psychonauts Wing.
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He remembered reading somewhere that Psychonauts didn't spend too much time in their rooms. Now he knew why. It was baisically composed of a bed, a small refrigerator, an electric stove, an oven, and a bathroom with a shower. The lighting, frankly, wasn't that good. He went to Agent Vodello's room. She ought to have some good ideas of how to decorate her room.
He knocked on her door.
"Come in, darling! It's open!"
He opened her door. She and Sasha were sitting on her bed, and they had most likely been talking about something.
The room of Milla Vodello was an absolute burst of color. There were cloth panels on the walls, two or three lava lamps of assorted colors, bright pillows and a fuzzy bedspread on her bed, a bright carpet shaped like a hippie daisy, and all sorts of stuff that was often associated with the 60's. Milla herself appeared to have been taking notes, for the notepad in the air in front of her with the fluffy-topped pen writing on it had a font of a type that more girls used than guys, in a color that Sasha would cringe at.
"What did you want, darling?"
"Well, my room kind of sucks, so I wanted to see if you had any decorating ideas."
It suddenly occurred to him that it would normally be considered odd that a ten-year-old was looking for decorating ideas.
"Well, you look around all you like, darling. Sasha, could he go in your room?"
"Sure."
"There you go, darling. You can explore either of our rooms as much as you like."
Raz had been looking around for a couple minutes when Lili came in. She looked like she'd been crying.
"If anyone dares ask, I'll rip their heads off."
Raz knew she probably didn't want him to be there. "Um, I think I'll, uh, go now."
"No, Raz, I want you to be here." She didn't seem mad at him.
"But… weren't you mad at me?"
"No, dork, what gave you that idea?"
"Well, you thinking 'God I hope Raz isn't following me' was kind of a hint."
"God! If you're going to invade my MPS, you should at least listen to the whole thought!"
"Uh… MPS?"
"Mental personal space. But, the whole thought, for your information, was, 'God, I hope Raz isn't following me. I can't let him see me cry! I can't!' So, if you're going to be immature, go ahead, but if you invade my MPS, at least think about what you're hearing. And don't pull out of my mind so fast. I think that's what made my headache into a migraine."
"Oh, uh, sorry."
"Whatever, dork."
That is so totally Lili. Especially as the end of a chapter. The network was down all day yesterday, so then I had to wait for my mom to finish reading all her news on all her news sites and then I had to answer my email, then I had to write this little paragraph. I could've upgraded yesterday otherwise. Don't expect any other chapters to be this long, by the way.