*I'm on so many drugs right now for an oral infection that I think I'm the equivalent of a Walgreen pharmacy* lol But hey, means I got time to write for you bastards lol Hope you enjoy it!

"HOLY SHIT!" I snapped up and hit my head on the slanted roof once more, which caused me to wince back into my bed. "WHERE'S BENNY!? Has anyone seen Benny?!" I looked over the side of my bed to see Bobby in pure panic. It was as if he actually cared for the kid that he would push around just as much as the rest of us. "Someone better talk or I'll be pounding heads open in a second!"

"Benny's his name?" I rubbed my head before swinging over the side of the bunk bed to land on my feet like a cat. "I thought it was Dumbo."

"Aquato!" Bobby ended up stomping over toward me so he could grab me by the collar. "Where is he?!"

"What the fuck man! Why do you think it was me!?"

"Who else would do something to him?!"

"I don't fucking know! I know I did jack shit to you're magical elephant buddy."

"You better fucking tell me what you did to him!" Bobby pushed me hard against the bunk bed's ladder, as I couldn't help but winch.

Lili, I don't know if you can hear me right now. I swallowed hard as Bobby's grip around my collar tightened, nearly suffocating me with my own shirt. But I really need your help!

"WHERE IS HE, AQUATO!?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Bobby switched from my collar to straight for the neck as he lifted up his spare hand.

"BETTER START TALKING, WATER BOY!" Suddenly, the boy's cabin door swung open with pure wrath as a familiar voice screamed out toward the red-haired boy.

"And you better let him go!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, ZANOTTO!" I felt Bobby squeeze my neck tightly, which caused me to gasp in pain. "Benny is missing and I bet your little boyfriend has everything to do with-!" Before he could even finish, Lili had stomped over and punched the boy in the stomach hard enough for him to drop his grip on me. I instantly fell to the floor in a gasp as Lili took a defensive stance between Bobby and me.

"If you dare lay a hand on him again, so help me God I will burn you all the way to hell, Zilch." She growled out her words like a wild animal before turning her attention toward me. "Are you okay, Raz? Anything aching?" I was trying at this point to even out my breaths, which caused Lili to pull me into a protective hug. "You're okay, buddy." I snaked my arms around her as she kept me steady at that point.

"You stay-!" I felt Lili's head snap toward Bobby as she held me tighter against her.

"If you dare to take a step closer, I will fucking kill you. Got it?"

"Stop," I muttered the word barely above a whisper as I put my head on her shoulder. "It's not going to help. Ford needs to know." I felt her turn her attention toward me once more as I felt her hand rub gently into my back.

"Yeah, let's tell Ford. He's the one in charge right now. Both about Benny and Bobby here being an asshole."

"Or can just tell him that the fucking Aquato kidnapping my friend!"

"Raz has nothing to do with Benny being missing, Bobby." Lili tried her best to keep her cool as she helped me up to my feet. Her protective grasp on me never faltered as she told the other boy off. "We were talking till dawn last night and I know my telekinesis isn't strong enough to keep a connection from too big of a distance. I could feel exactly where he was too and it was in this damn cabin all night. So if you want to keep jumping to conclusions and hurting others, be my guest, but you've got the wrong guy, okay?" Bobby didn't seem to take this seriously for a moment, but once Lili showed how heavily I was leaning into her at this point, he seemed to calm down quite a bit.

"Fine. Whatever. But Benny better be somewhere close. Or I'm going to pound heads in for sure!" Bobby stomped out of the cabin without another word as Lili grumbled in a near whisper.

"If he even dares-."

"Lili," She turned her attention toward me as it was obvious seeing me in this sort of state was bugging her deep within her. "Don't let him take our focus off of this. Ford's gotta know what happened here."

Most importantly, another kid is missing, and probably missing their brain, too.

Lili nodded at this as she silently helped me out of the cabin as the pain in my back was still making itself known to me.

I'll still burn him to a crisp if he hurts you again.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her thoughts as I tried my best to give her a side hug as a thank you.

At least I got you looking out for me.

Anytime, Raz. She rubbed gently on my shoulder as she kept me close to her. It was as if she was afraid of letting me go, honestly. Just call out and I'll be there.

My hero! I chuckled mentally, as I could tell she rolled her eyes at me.

Oh, whatever, damsel.


After a little bit of walking together and traveling to Ford's little lair, the slight pain in my back subsided enough so I could walk on my own, but it was obvious Lili didn't want me too far from her sight. She held my hand as we entered the sanctuary and never let go even after Ford noticed our presence.

"Ah! Children! Got me some news?"

"Another kid is missing," I spoke in a matter-of-fact tone as Lili tightened her grip on my gloved hand ever so slightly. "Benny in particular."

"Guessing Bobby isn't taking that too well." Ford's face fell a little as he looked over at his large computer screen. "It is like his only friend and all."

"To say he didn't take it well is an understatement," Lili growled out her words. I could hear her roll her eyes audibly as I rubbed the back of her hand to keep her calm. "Attacked Raz first thing in the morning and had him pushed up against the bunk bed like some kind of makeshift interrogation."

"Wouldn't expect less, honestly there."

"Luckily, I was able to reach out to Lili and she got me out of there before it could get worse." Ford turned to give me a confused look as he put his hands on his hips.

"You didn't bother to defend yourself, kiddo?"

"And prove everything he thinks of me? What's the point? It'll only make things worst."

"So you'll just let yourself get beaten up or possibly killed?"

"I'm an Aquato. Not a murderer or some shit." I narrowed my eyes at the older man as I tried to take a step closer, but Lili stopped me before I could. "Even if I did defend myself, I would get the guilty till otherwise treatment all over again!"

"What do you mean, Razputin?"

"I was thrown into an isolation chamber at the age of seven because of something like that! For forty-eight long lonely hours too. I'm not going through that ever again."

"They did that to a child?"

"An Aquato," I put a lot of venom into my voice as I spoke my own family name. "That was their excuse."

"I'm-." Ford seemed to hesitate as he tried his best to find the right words. "I'm truly sorry, Razputin." I fought back tears as I tried my best to focus on the feeling of Lili's hand grasping my gloved one.

It's your fault these things happened anyway, Cruller. You put me in this mess. You and your friends gave her up to the world and made your actions known. You have had us living in fear for the last thirty years. You saved her but didn't care for the rest of us. She's free from her sins, but the world may never let us be free. You just had to tell the world who she was. What she was. That line continued.

"It's not the worst thing I've been through," I spoke bitterly as I stared down at the tiled floor between us. "I can promise you that."

"Doesn't make it right."

"Doesn't mean it'll end."

"No one is going to truly trust an Aquato, Razputin." I snapped my attention up toward the man as a sorrowful look took over his face. "Even if you do all you can to clear your family name, no one is going to forget the Deluge of Grulovia. No one is going to just ignore the pains of the past generation and all those they lost. You can wash away the sins from bloody hands, but the feeling will always stay with them." He turned his attention back toward the screen as he decided to pull something up for us. "Trust me, I know."

Because you've tried for years to forget, haven't you, Ford?

I watched the man as he pulled up a picture of a building on the large monitor.

Must be quite pissed with Otto for destroying that machine you used on Lucy now, huh? I bet you would have made yourself forget everything, too, if he hadn't stopped you.

"But back to business." Ford stepped away from the screen to gesture toward what looked like an old abandoned building. "I was doing more research to think of any place that the lake is also connected to and I found out that there is actually an old asylum right in the middle of the lake. It's the same one that Dr. Loboto was actually sent to as a child."

"So you think he's still stomping around his old psycho grounds?" I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Lili tilting her head to the side curiously. "It would make sense, honestly. Maybe that's where he's taking the kids." I looked over the image for a moment as I noticed the tower in the background from my time in Sasha's lab.

"Lili, doesn't the tower in the back look familiar?"

"Oh yeah! Look exactly like the one from your time in Sasha's brain-machine!"

"So that was also in your mental world?" I nodded my head as Ford's eyes grew wide. "This is a lot worse than I thought then."

"How so?"

"This building is on the opposite side of the lake, kids. For that to be in your mind and you saw it, then someone else here at the camp that's working with him."

"Only other person that could be around enough to cause that would be-." I felt my eyes grow wide as I looked at Ford with shock. "Oleander! The meat flowers! The changes in his mental world! It all makes sense!"

"Would make sense with how another kid went missing too. Especially after Sasha and Milla left."

"What should we do then? Go to this asylum find the fucker and knock his ass down a peg?"

"Honestly, going to the asylum wouldn't be a bad idea." Ford reached up and rubbed his chin a little in thought for a moment before continuing. "Figure out what exactly is going on and take a peak at what the two have planned."

"What about the other kids?"

"Honestly," Ford let out a sigh as he looked back toward the picture on the screen. "We can't let them know we're on their tail. Kids are going to keep going missing and brainless bastards are still going to appear. But this way, you two are out of harm's way for when they do appear and getting more intel." I wanted to argue with him at first, but once I let the idea settle into my mind a little longer, I couldn't help but agree. We needed the information. We need to find the brains. We need to know their plan.

"Is there anything we can use to get out there?"

"There's a little submarine I have set up by the docks. I normally use it to make sure there's no trash in the lake, but it should be good enough to get you two to the asylum without much issue. She's a good old girl."

"Got it." I nodded my head before looking over toward Lili, who had a determined look on her face.

"Let's get down to business then."

"You two stay safe and reach out when you can. There's a computer AI in the submarine just like on the railway out down here." Ford gave us a serious look as he crossed his arms over his chest. "And keep an eye out for that creature too. Whatever it is, it's definitely helping these bastards too and I bet it's hostile." I nodded my head with ease as Lili took the lead.

"Alrighty, agents," Lili wore a proud smile as she tightened her grip on my hand. "Let's do this."