Chapter Three: Broken Mirrors
The man gave a friendly grin to the group and walked inside confidently, as if he didn't just intrude on the group's borderline treasonous talk. He did not seem to be arrogant, though it was clear no one seemed to know just who exactly he was. Raz looked over at Lili who shrugged; she had no idea who this guy was either. Milla looked curious, and a bit wary, but other than that she seemed calm, if a little confused. Oleander gave an outright glare at the stranger; that was the second time that someone had snuck in on his watch, Razputin being the first. Sasha watched the man closely, an unseen variable making its presence known in an experiment.
The stranger stood before Ford and gave a sharp salute as he spoke in that same soft, yet commanding voice. "A pleasure to see you again, sir. I've got the information you requested." Raz suddenly noticed that the man was holding a small zip disk in his gloved hand.
"Eh, at ease Larry. Y'know you don't have to be formal around me." Ford was inspecting the damage done to his bunny slipper, half of which was burned black and still smoking.
"Old habits die hard, Agent Cruller." Larry still had that friendly grin on his face as he handed the disk to Cruller and then clasped his hands behind his back, still standing at attention.
"Yeah, I know. Everyone, meet Larry Williams." Cruller motioned over to the stranger with his burned shoe while he popped the disk into the console nearest him. Translucent screens appeared around Ford and circled him much in the same manner as the screens Raz saw in the man's sanctuary. This, of course, made it exceedingly difficult to read. "He's head of the Midwestern branch of the Psychonauts, based out of Cedar, Kansas. He's the one who helped find th' parts fer yer brain tumbler, Sasha. Now, all of you make nice while I read this, ya hear me?"
One of Sasha's eyebrows quirked. The man couldn't be all that bad, then. The parts required to create the Brain Tumbler were highly advanced and often very hard to track down. He had enlisted Ford's help after several months of unsuccessfully finding them on his own, and the very next day after seeking Ford's help, he recieved several boxes full of the parts he sought--as well as spares, a list of everything in the box, and suggestions on how best to use them. He also found a condom; Sasha decided that it was best to ignore that.
"A pleasure to meet everyone." Larry smiled once more, completely at ease. He seemed to be very friendly, and gave off the vibe of a gentle and somewhat mischevious uncle. The man's eyes glanced across the other agents before settling on Raz. He turned away when Oleander spoke to him, though.
"Kansas? That's a backwater post for someone of your rank, Agent. Who'd you piss off?" Oleander gave the man a measuring look. He seemed harmless, but looks were all too often deceiving. Even if Cruller seemed to be completely at ease with the man, he was suspicious.
Larry only gave a wry smile and winked to Milla. "That horrible little goblin from Networking is not above petty rivalries, apparently. He saw me as an obstacle to gaining rank, and...well, he made sure that I was put someplace out of the way." A slight shrug followed. "He's been putting all of the 'troublemakers' in my branch, hoping they disappear or make me look incompetent. Naturally, they only cause trouble when I'm not around."
Something clicked in Milla's mind. She vaguely recalled reading an article once when she went to consult Ford in his sanctuary. Her green eyes narrowed and her previously warm voice turned cold. "Isn't your branch the one that was responsible for the incident in Australia?"
Oleander growled. "Where those junior agents burned that man alive? Trapped him inside some building and set it on fire."
Sasha had been reading over Ford's shoulder and speaking with him quietly while the others talked. Lili and Raz had been peering over Ford's other shoulder, but gave horrified looks towards the group at Oleander's statement. Sasha merely quirked a brow. That story had been in the international news for weeks; half the town had been burned to ruins. That only one man had died was a miracle. But...to find out that Psychonauts casued it?
The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. There would always be questions about that incident, he knew that. And he had a feeling that he would always have to answer for that disaster, as those agents were his responsibility. "There is more to that story than what you read in the news--"
Cruller's voice cut in, sharp and authoritative. "Morry, start the jet." Ford popped the disk out of the console, his face drawn tight as Sasha slammed the door shut through telekinesis and strapped himself into his own seat. Raz and Lili both skittered back to their own seats, looking vaguely confused. "Larry, sit down and put your seatbelt on."
"Ah, I was wondering when you'd get to that part of the report." Larry muttered, quickly moving into a seat near the back as Oleander saluted and fired up the engines to the jet. Milla gave Sasha a questioning look, one he simply ignored. Milla briefly considered setting his hair on fire, but given the circumstances, decided against it. She didn't know how long they'd be stuck inside the jet, and an angry Sasha was a lot like having a pissed off cat. You weren't quite sure what it was going to do, or what it was plotting to get back at you, but you knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant.
The jet shot up under Oleander's guidance, circling up and away from the sleek building and private airstrip, heading west at Ford's direction. The silence lasted for about three minutes, when Raz, unable to help himself, spoke.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" A sharp glare from Oleander did nothing to silence the young Psychonaut. "Seriously--this guy comes in and everyone's okay with it and then Agent Cruller gets spooky on us and makes us fly out like a bat out of hell..."
"They're going to splinter Truman's mind." Sasha's voice was surprisingly calm, as if he were only commenting on the weather.
Raz blinked as Lili stared at Sasha blankly. "Like they did to Agent Cruller?"
Sasha looked towards Ford before looking back to Raz. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Cruller. "No, Raz. I did that to myself."
"You what? Why?" Raz stared at Cruller in shock.
Cruller sighed. "I had to make a difficult choice, and chose the lesser of two evils. Got caught in a psychic duel with one of the most powerful terrorists the world had ever seen--he was also buggier than horse crap!"
"But...what made you destroy your own mind?" The young man just seemed lost.
Oleander spoke up then, his voice quiet, though it still held that seemingly constant undertone of anger. "You've never gotten into a psychic duel, private. You don't know what its like to fight another psychic."
Raz blinked. "But I faced you--"
"You faced my brain, not me in the flesh. It took Sasha, Milla, and Ford to bring me down.Remember that, kid." Oleander whirled back around to the controls, growing silent.
If you're all done yappin', I'll continue. Geez, interrupt an old man in the middle of recounting a traumatic experience..." Raz looked back to Ford, blinking up across at him. "Bah, screw it."
Ford pulled a psychoportal from his pocket and tossed it up to his forehead. It was a smooth, black door with the Psychonauts insignia carved into it. The door swung open, and a strange light emitted from it. Raz grabbed his goggles from his backpack (he just couldn't seem to bring himself to throw them away) and strapped them across his head, lowering them down over his eyes. He was all set to jump in head first when Sasha, after receiving a sharp jab to his side from Milla, spoke up.
"Sir, is that wise? Razputin is still young, his mind is still developing, if he gets trapped--" He fell silent when Ford gave an irritable wave of his hand towards him.
"The kid's faced worse things than my mind, Sasha. Besides, y'know this door only leads to my memories. You helped design it, remember?"
Raz had a feeling that there was a lot more going on than he knew about, but...Well, how often did you get a chance to rifle through the memories of a multiple personality disorder ex-Grand Head of the Psychonauts? With a final adjustment of his goggles, Raz stared into the doorway to Cruller's mind and left his own body behind.
Raz found himself standing in the ruins of an office building, surrounded by rubble. Smoke hung in the air, seeping out from beneath a pile of smoldering debris. There was very little light--most of it seemed to come from a single flourescent bulb that was tilted at a dangerous angle, and even then the light flickered, shooting off arcs of sparks into the still air. The rest of the light came from the two dueling psychics standing in the middle of the room, circling each other and testing defenses with the occasional psi-blast or telekinetic shove. One was an older man, balding at the top with a small mustache above his lip, his brown eyes unevenly set across his head. He wore the tattered black uniform of a Psychonaut, parts of which were burned, other torn, and all of it was dirty. Raz recognized him as Cruller.
The other was a man he didn't recognize. In fact, Raz was barely able to see him--he moved with his face constantly in shadow, either by luck or design. His clothing was similar to Ford's, save for one telling difference--his clothing was not worn or dirty; in fact, it was in pristine condition. The man circled Cruller with an easy grace that suggested knowledge of both martial arts and acrobatics. He sent a psi-blast towards Cruller, who deflected the shot with his shield.
"C'mon, old man...this is getting boring. I just need some information." The man's voice was smooth, silky. It was the kind of voice that promised nothing but good things--it was the voice of a serpent offering an apple to young woman.
"Ha! Over my dead body!" Ford returned fire with his own blast, temporarily lowering his shields in to aim properly. The other man sidestepped the blast and immediately seized Cruller by the neck through telekinesis, lifting him up off of the ground.
"Agent Cruller!" Raz screamed and jumped forward--only to find himself rooted to that same spot on the floor. A voice entered his mind. Milla's voice, warm and gentle. This is a memory, darling. You can only watch.
The shadowed man sighed, tightening his 'grip' on Ford's neck. Ford's legs kicked out, his eyes were impossibly wide, and the sound of his gasping breath echoed in the broken room.
"You are a worthy opponent, Agent Cruller. My employers would have benefited from your skills, if you chose to accept our offer. We could have been partners..." He regarded the Psychonaut coolly for a moment before slamming Cruller into a pile of splintered and smoking wood that may have once been a desk. Cruller gave out a strangled cry.
Raz attempted to go to his mentor's aid once more. He couldn't just watch as this jerk tossed Cruller around like a rag doll! Milla's voice once again spoke to him, and there was a soothing edge to it. Please, baby, just watch. You'll be stuck if you don't. It will be over soon...
I even tried to strike a deal with you. All you had to do was tell me what I needed to know and I would have let you be. Yet you refused again..." He lifted Cruller up and brought him down to his eye level. "And now I have to rip into that powerful mind of yours and take what I need. If you have any last words, now would be the time to say them."
Cruller stared into the shadow--Raz suspected it was wherever the man's eyes should have been--and smirked. His rasping voice was steady. "Yeah. Stop, drop, and roll."
The shadowed man tilted his head slightly and gave a low chuckle--that quickly grew into a painful cry and finally into a terrified scream. Flames had erupted across the man's upper body and now licked hungrily through the cloth to the flesh beneath. He released Cruller in his panic, trying to beat out the flames that reached his face as he dove to the ground and rolled across broken glass, splintered wood, and twisted metal in his effort to put out the flame.
Cruller landed on the ground heavily, looking unsteady and drained. He pulled himself up and staggered a few feet away. He was alone in enemy territory, wounded, and near collapse. There was no way he could defeat this man--he was just too powerful. Neither could he give up the information the man sought. So he did the only thing he could do.
Ford, with as much psychic energy as he could muster, withdrew himself into his own mind and broke it apart. The effect was like taking a hammer to a mirror, with results just as immediate. He fell backwards into a pile of rubble, his eyes staring blankly up through a hole in the roof, to the stars above.
The room started to go dark as Cruller fell, so Razputin could barely hear the shadowed man's ragged breathing, his sharp curse, and finally the sound of his footsteps as he ran away.
He was flying. He could hear the engines churn, the gas bubble through pipes, the oil slipping through the gears.
There were voices echoing, floating around him. Razputin groaned, opening his eyes to find himself staring into the faces of his comrades. Lili was front and center, looking over Raz worriedly. When she saw he was awake, she promptly smacked him and then pulled him into a hug.
"Don't you ever do that again! Jerk."
Raz got the idea that Lili's way of showing affection involved bruising. He looked around with a dazed expression on his face, pulling the goggles up above his eyes.
Milla was giving him a concerned look. "Raz? Are you alright? You look pale, darling..."
Raz nodded dumbly, looking past her to Ford. His voice was subdued at first, but returned to its usual tone in a few short moments. "Who was that guy? What was he trying to find out?"
Larry, who had sat in silence throughout the entire ordeal, finally spoke up. "That man, the one in the shadows, is responsible for Truman Zanotto's kidnapping. Despite years of chasing him, we know precious little about him. We don't know his name, nor what he's planning, exactly, but based on our previous encounters, it can't be good. We do know where he is, however. That's why I was at headquarters, to report my findings."
Raz looked around. "If he's so bad, then why didn't that one guy--the Green Goblin--listen to you?"
"Politics, Razputin." Sasha's voice was low, tired. "One of the reasons why I did not volunteer for the Grand Head position when it became open. Andrews is a gloryhound, and he has always sought a way to gain more power. Rescuing Zanotto would put the Grand Head in his debt--putting him in a sort of power behind the throne position."
Raz grew quiet, looking down at the polished floor of the jet with a puzzled frown on his face. He had always seen the Psychonauts as the good guys. The ones that came in, saved the day, and occasionally taught a lesson to the general public. Yet, he found out that they were responsible for the death and destruction of half a town, discovered that they were capable of being greedy just as much as the next guy, and paranoid to boot. He became lost in his thoughts.
Lili just looked around and sighed. She had missed something, and no one seemed to be very forthcoming with any explanation. Oh well, she thought, I'll just get Raz to tell me later.
Oleander spoke up from the controls. "Getting close to Cedar, sir."
Ford nodded, pocketing the black door. "Keep goin'." At Raz's curious look, he explained. "We headin' to Larry's base; he's got a fix on Shadow Man's location, but he doesn't have enough agents to make a move against him."
"So we're disobeying orders and, instead of going back to Whispering Rock like the Green Goblin told us to, we're going to help Larry rescue my dad." Lili grinned.
A few minutes later, a small alarm went off on Oleander's console. Sasha moved to stand over Oleander's shoulder, and spoke. "We're being hailed."
Larry spoke up, "Gentleman, allow me."
Oleander looked over to Ford for permission, and at his nod, opened the radio channel. A voice, covered in static, spoke through a speaker built into the console.
"You are entering restricted airspace. Turn back now, or we will shoot you down."
Larry, with a small grin, spoke. "This is Dumbledore. Is that you, Fearless Leader?"
The others stared at Larry as if he'd just lost his mind. A few moments later, the voice returned.
"Yes, sir. Should I clear the road for you?"
"Yes, please. And prepare the lodge for visitors."
"Roger that, Dumbledore. Fearless Leader out."
Larry directed Oleander to hover the jet over a thick forest, seemingly in the middle of the nowhere. They stayed in the air for a few moments, then slowly lowered to the ground--which was splitting apart to reveal a hangar beneath. Several small figures ran about on the ground, making preparations to receive the landing jet.
Raz stared in awe. "That is so cool."
Larry shot a grin to Raz as the jet set down on the ground and Oleander began to shut off the engines. "Welcome to the Shaded Glen, my friends. We're glad to have you."