Chapter Seven: Home Sweet Home

It didn't take Sasha, Milla, and Screak long to move through the basement halls to the sealed room. It took all three of them to blast the door open and the scene they found before them was one that spoke of a fierce battle--one that had not lasted long apparently. The room was utterly destroyed--pieces of splintered wood were scattered all across the ground along with strips of rotting wallpaper and shards of glass. In the center of the room was a child, chained to both the floor and a chair, ranting wildly and screaming for his father; across the room were two Psychonauts, one laying across the ground and bleeding from a small wound across his cheek, the other clearly recovering from a reaction headache--the kind that psychics tend to get after using too many powers at once, or for too long a time.

There was one telling absence... Sasha spoke, looking back into the hallway. "Where's Razputin?"

Screak immediately moved to his teammates' sides, spoke in a dark tone with the Australian, then as an answer to Sasha's question, pointed towards the broken window. Sasha stepped back inside, looked through the window, then muttered darkly in German. He then commandeered Screak's team, running out of the room and back down the hallway, leaving Milla with Screak and his two teammates.

Milla walked towards the ranting child and cautiously knelt down beside him. The boy whimpered and struggled against his bonds, trying to edge away from her. Smiling warmly, she reached out towards the boy, laying a white gloved hand across his forehead as she spoke in soft, soothing tones. "You're tired, darling. Rest." Almost immediately, the boy fell silent, his eyelids drooping downward and then closing. Satisfied, she turned to see how Screak was fairing.

"Sam? Hey, Sammy! Wake up! Shit." He was shaking the unconscious agent, who only groaned in response. The Australian, blinking dazedly, moved over to the two. Screak looked over to Milla, then waved her over. "Agent Vodello, we're gonna need your help with him."

"Of course." She walked over to the three, but froze when she neared them. Sam's previously still form suddenly went into a fetal position. He covered his ears and trembled, whimpering pitifully. Screak uttered a sharp curse and gripped Sam's shoulder, a confused and frightened look on his face. Milla recovered quickly and knelt down next to the three other agents. Sam's condition grew worse; in fact, the closer Milla was, the worse it seemed to get.

Rather tentatively, Milla reached out a hand towards the prone agent. "Darling, what's--"

The second she touched his shoulder, Sam jerked away, curling up into an even tighter ball and started to emit a high-pitched keening noise. Milla drew her hand away, and the reaction, whatever it was, seemed to subside a little. The keening stopped and he took to muttering under his breath, quickly and softly and impossible to understand.

"What the hell?" Screak looked at Milla, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. "Maybe you'd better just back off on this one, Agent Vodello."

"I...suppose." She was quick to stand up and retreat over to the door, where she stayed, staring at Sam.

Together, Screak and Nick grabbed Sam by his arms and hoisted him to his feet, supporting his weight between the two of them. Sam hung between the two of them, boneless. "C'mon, Sam," Screak muttered, grabbing his chin and giving it a good shake. "Waking up and not freaking out would be good. Sevrin'll kill me if you're hurt."

Nick moved around to look over Screak's shoulder, peeling back one of Sam's eyelids. "It's his gift, mate. He's not seein' us. Remember back at the hotel?" He jerked his head towards Milla, and she could sense the telepathic bond flash between them. Nick apparently had something to say that she wasn't supposed to hear. Whatever it was made Screak's eyes narrow, and he looked at her thoughtfully for a few brief moments before speaking.

"Agent Vodello, grab the kid and go ahead of us...We'll follow you."

Milla frowned, stepped inside to better grab a hold of the boy, but moved back to the doorway when Sam whimpered and drew away from her. Screak and Nick moved Sam all the way to the opposite end of the room, both of the other agents now watching her very closely as she reached out with telekinesis and lifted the sleeping boy from the ground. She could feel their stares along her back the entire way out of the academy; she had to keep herself from shivering.

Back at Psychonauts headquarters, Agent Murphy was speaking with the acting Grand Head. Andrews had moved into Truman's office (something that concerned and irked more than a few agents), and was currently found sitting very comfortably behind Truman's desk, looking over reports. He was a small man, middle aged and just beginning to lose his hair. He glanced up at Murphy as he entered, and sighed. "If you're here to give a progress report, just leave it on the desk. I'll get to it eventually."

Murphy was used to the type of greetings Andrews gave, and like most of his fellow agents, ignored what he said completely. He handed him a report and spoke excitedly, "Good news, sir! A group of agents has found Truman! Agent Williams says he's unconscious but there's no sign of physical abuse, and they're still running tests to check his mental health. We can have them bring him back here--"

Andrews cut him off, never looking up from the report he held in his hand. He'd always been a fast reader, and memorized each of the names detailed in Murphy's report. "No, we can't. What they did was ignore direct orders so that they couldd act on a reckless whim. What they did, Murphy, was kidnap Truman Zanotto. These people aren't our agents anymore. They are as dangerous as any psychic terrorist group. Worse, in fact, since they've stolen Psychonauts property to use in their own ends." He spared a bored glance at the man in front of him. "I want you to hunt them down and take care of this problem. Quietly. Is that clear?"

Murphy blinked, shock and disbelief playing across his features. "But, sir..."

"You have your orders, Murphy. I would hope that this task isn't beyond your skill." Andrews drawled, resting his elbow on the desk and idly scratching his chin. Murphy stiffened at his remark and prepared to argue with the man. There was no need for this! They found Truman! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. But he stayed silent. Ranting at Andrews about this would accomplish nothing; he wouldn't listen to anything Murphy said, and he'd likely demote the poor guy for raising his tone at him.

Murphy silently and reluctantly saluted Andrews before leaving the room. Three minutes later he called the Shaded Glen outpost. Five minutes after that, a small squad of elite agents broke into the Shaded Glen to find it completely empty.

Someone kept talking to him, trying to pull him from his dreams, make him wake up. Raz groaned and rolled over, away from the voice, curling around the warmth nearby. A warm hand pressed against his cheek, and he snuggled against it. That soft voice continued, speaking in warm tones.

"Raz, darling, you have to wake up..." Raz muttered incoherently as images and memories swirled around the edges of his mind, slowly coming into focus. A second voice spoke, monotone, carefully devoid of all emotion.

"Razputin, you must wake up."

The young Psychonaut slowly regained consciousness, and found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. Unfamiliar so far as his last memory was, anyway. He was sprawled one of the seats in the jet, where several people were milling about. Directly above him was Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, both of whom were watching him. Milla's eyes were full of concern. Sasha's were safely hidden behind the crimson lenses of his sunglasses, though his jaw was tense. Raz blinked at both of them, then peered around the room. Oleander was in the pilot's seat, separate from the others. Screak's squad was gathered around Sam, who still seemed to be unconscious, and dreaming. Lili was hovering over a pale, dirt stained Truman Zannatto slumped in a chair, while Ford was hunched over the unconscious child from the academy.

"You're awake. Good." Sasha said as Milla helped Raz sit up.

"What...happened?" The bleary-eyed agent muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Sasha found you outside of the building, collapsed. You were hit with a confusion grenade, darling. A powerful one by the looks of it."

"Well, that explains the singing insects." This earned him several strange looks from the others, and Sasha knelt down to Raz's eye level and began to examine him. Perhaps the younger agent had hit his head at some point? Confusion grenades did not usually cause outright hallucinations--at least, not the kind Sasha had experience with. Psychic powers were constantly shifting and evolving; perhaps Raz had come across a stronger or alternate version of it? If so, then the effects could be different from what they were used to dealing with.

While Sasha examined him, the young agent watched the others curiously. Milla moved over to Lili and gently laid a hand on the girl's shoulder and spoke softly to her. "What's going on, Sasha?"

"A great deal has happened since you've been unconscious. It seems our 'friend' from headquarters did not take kindly to the fact that we disobeyed his orders. We've been forced to flee the Shaded Glen." He cast a glance at the Shaded Glen agents, who seemed to be in deep conversation with one another. Agent DeLucion had moved to stand between his unconscious squadmate and Milla, as if he was shielding the man from her. There seemed to be some tension between the two; he'd have to inquire about it at some point later on.

"Oh. Where are we going?" His vision was returning to normal, much to his delight. He held his hand in front of his and waved it around just to make sure.

Sasha quirked a brow at him. "We're returning to Whispering Rock. It...well, it's really the only place we can go to since we're apparently fugitives from justice. In fact, we should be nearing it soon."

Oleander's gruff voice echoed back to them. "Alright, we're getting close. Sit down and strap yourselves in. We'll land in the parking lot--wait, what the hell? Aw, dammit. Iceclaw! Take the controls. Sasha, Milla, the campers are still here!" He stormed over to a hatch in the roof of the jet and threw it open, levitating outside.

"Wait, wait...why are all of the campers here? Didn't we send them off?" Milla asked, looking over at Sasha who merely shrugged in reply and followed Oleander. Milla sighed and did the same. Razputin jumped up after the two of them, nearly braining himself on the jet's hatch. There was no way he was missing this!

The four of them levitated down to the ground, with Oleander charging forward to the group of milling campers. Even the bus to take them home was still sitting in the middle of the parking lot. It occurred to Sasha that no one had stayed behind to actually drive the campers back home; they all piled into the jet and left. Oh God, he could see the lawsuits now...

Oleander looked annoyed, and did what he did best whenever he was annoyed. Yell. "Alright recruits, someone better explain what's going on this instant or so help me, you'll be running laps til Christmas!"

Vernon stepped forward. "Well, you see, it's really a funny story--"

Oleander frantically pointed at Dogen. "You! Tell me what happened!"

Vernon droned on as if Oleander had never spoken, narrating his own version of the events while Dogen shyly stepped forward. "Well, we were all gonna get on the bus to go home, but everyone left--"

"And then I forgot to pack my toothbrush, so I ran back inside the bunk house, and then I realized that I did pack my toothbrush and started to leave--" Vernon was lost in his own story. Everyone pretty much ignored him.

Dogen continued. "Franke said she was gonna call her dad, but Milka started to have one of those scary visions. You know, like...like when she was in the main lodge during dinner that one night?" He looked over at Milla who gave him an encouraging smile. Heartened, the cadet continued. "Bobby screamed like a little girl when it happened."

"Did not!" Bobby said, deeply offended. A few of the other campers snickered in the background and he turned to glare at them.

"And then I saw this huge jet lift off and I thought, wow, that was cool! Then--" Vernon continued.

Sasha pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to ten. Where he summoned the patience necessary for dealing with children day in and day out was beyond his comprehension. The fact that the children had not returned to their parents was going to anger their families. He was not looking forward to taking those angry phone calls. Or the lengthy trials.

Dogen finished his story before Bobby pummeled him. The boy stared at his shoes, kicking at the dirt a little. "Well, when she woke up, she told us that we needed to stay. She said that Raz needed our help. So...we stayed. Chloe made this thingy--"

"A Voice Altering Modulator Device. Or VAMD for short." Chloe corrected. Sasha quirked a brow at the girl.

"--and made her voice sound like Coach Oleander's and called everyone's parents."

Chloe produced the VAMD, placed it against her throat, and spoke in perfect imitation of Oleander's voice. "Sorry for the inconvienence, but camp isn't over yet. Your child has yet to complete his or her training in the psychic martial arts and will not be allowed to leave until he or she has finished. Once agian, I apologize for any inconvienence."

"And then I saw Bobby running away from the parking lot, screaming in terror, so--"

"I did not scream!" Bobby said, glaring at Vernon, before beginning an argument with the would-be storyteller.

At this point, Oleander seemed at a loss for what to do. He looked to Sasha for help, realized that nothing good would come of it, then looked to Milla. She rolled her eyes at the two of them, stepping forward. "Well, children, since you all seem to have made up your minds...Unpack your bags and be ready for dinner. As you all know, it's at six o'clock sharp, and if you snooze, baby, you lose."

The campers all grinned then scurried off in various directions. Vernon walked off, continuing his story, with Bobby close behind him insisting that he did not, in fact, scream like a little girl. It was more like a yelp of surprise, or an angry, manly grunt.

Sasha, fighting off the beginnings of a migraine, idly wondered if it wasn't stupidity that brought him back to Whispering Rock year after year.

Milla sighed, "We can't let them stay, of course. We'll have to contact their parents."

Raz rubbed the back of his neck. "Won't they be suspicious if they get another call telling them that they actually do have to come pick up their kids?"

Oleander shifted from one foot to another. "Yeah, that'll make 'em kinda leery of us, Vodello."

"We can't put them in danger like this! They--"

Sasha interrupted the two of them before their argument escalated. They could argue for hours on end, each one too stubborn to listen to the other. "Enough! We will contact their parents tomorrow. Or at least argue about it. Right now, we have more important matters to tend to."

Oleander and Milla glared at each other for a short period of time, but both walked away. Oleander muttered something about finding enough food to feed the recruits while Milla muttered some obscene phrase in Portugese. Sasha looked up to the jet hovering above them and sent a set of orders to Iceclaw, instructing him how best to land the jet. When he was done, he looked over at the young agent. Raz was grinning from ear to ear. Sasha gave him a curious look.

"What?" Raz said, then shrugged. "It's good to be home."