Hello, anyone who's reading this. I know it's been a while, but I'm still here, among the living. And now that my friend has caught up with the story, I can write more. But that's not the only reason I haven't continued. I've just been lazy lately, plus it just kept slipping my mind to update.

Oraman Asturi: Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll use some of them in later chapters…if that's okay with you. And no, sadly I don't work for Psychonauts. I'm only thirteen…anyway, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts, and I never will. goes off to cry in a corner

Chapter 13: Hidden Agenda

For a long while, nobody spoke. The three psychics simply stared at each other, speechless. Finally, Onyx (I'm just going to address them by their brains, not the bodies they're in.) broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, ah…what should we do now? We can't just stand here forever." Lili sighed, as though she had been holding her breath.

"Okay, first thing's first. We should…" Raz paused to shake his hair out of his face, "…we should find out where Adrian and Ivy went."

"And why they had our brains switched." Lili added, "But how are we supposed to do that?"

"Well, if this factory is their headquarters," Onyx said slowly, as if forming an idea in her head, "maybe there's something in here that can tell us what's going on."

"Like…a computer, maybe?" Raz asked.

"That's what I'm thinking. After all, every organization needs somewhere to keep their information, right?"

"But we don't know that this place is their headquarters." Lili interrupted. "All we've seen here is an old meat factory with only one new machine."

"I know," Raz said, "but it's the only plan we've got. And if we want to find this said computer, we'd better start looking…"

Easier said than done. As the three quickly found out, the factory was much bigger than they had expected. So big, in fact, that the kids decided to split up and meet back in the main room later.

Raz searched the entire east wing of the factory, only to find nothing more than several gruesome-looking grinding machines, covered in what Raz was quite sure was dried blood. After what seemed like hours (and it probably was), he returned to the main room, sullen and empty-handed. Onyx and Lili were already there when he arrived, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"I couldn't find anything." Raz said, the disappointment clear in his (still very high) voice. "What about you?"

"I couldn't find anything either," Onyx reported, "but Lili might be on to something." She jerked her head in Lili's direction.

"I'm not sure, but I found this big silver door in the west wing." Lili said. "It looked new, like it was built after the factory was. I didn't even need to try blasting through it, the doors were way too thick. And it was locked."

"Locked, huh?" Immediately, Raz's mood brightened. "Could you show me where it is?" Lili turned and ran towards the west wing, beckoning for the other two to follow.

After a little while, she stopped. The door loomed a few feet ahead of them. Sure enough, Raz saw, the handles were wrapped with a thick silver chain, with a padlock to match. He grinned.

"Now this I can handle." Raz stepped up to the door, then turned to look at Onyx and Lili. "Has anyone got a hair pin?" Onyx shook her head, but Lili nodded.

"Check your glove." Raz looked down and found several pins slid onto his glove. After wondering briefly why he hadn't noticed them before, Raz pulled one off and stuck it into the padlock. After a few moments of wiggling it around, the lock gave a satisfying click and dropped to the floor. Raz turned to see Lili and Onyx staring at him.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Onyx finally asked

"You pick up a few tricks when you live at the circus." Raz said, shrugging. "Anyway, the door's open now. We can go right in." And with that, he grabbed the handle and pulled. The door slid open without making a sound.

But there was more in store for the three kids. As they stepped through the door, they were greeted by a large, white tiled room. Raz was vaguely reminded of the old insane asylum he'd gone into during his stay at camp. On the other side of the room was another door. Raz started walking towards it, but Onyx stopped him.

"Wait a minute," she said, "this is weird. Why would Adrian and Ivy have built a big empty room here?" Lili shrugged.

"Maybe they're not done building it yet." She said. "But you're right. This is…ow!" Lili gave a cry of pain and clutched her arm.

"What? What is it?" Raz asked, alarmed.

"I don't know. Something just burned me." A large, angry red burn mark began to form on Lili's upper arm.

"I thought this was weird." Onyx said. "But what's…" she stopped when her gaze fell on a small, colorful patch on the wall next to them.

"What's that?" Raz asked, stepping towards it.

"It looks like a…control panel." Lili said, still rubbing her arm. "But what's it for?" Raz moved closer to the panel. Of all the buttons on it, one large, blue one stood out the most.

"This button's labeled 'De-cloak'. What does that mean?"

"Only one way to find out," Onyx said, "but I'm not sure we should go messing with it."

"I think we should." Lili put in, "It's the only lead we have."

"Are you sure?" Raz asked. Lili nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, Onyx did the same. "Okay, here we go." Slowly, Raz reached for the button and pressed it.

The moment the button popped back up, several red beams of light appeared around the room. Some began moving up and down, forwards and backwards, some stayed in place along the floor and walls.

"I knew this was too convenient." Onyx muttered, "This isn't just a big empty room. It's a security system."

"These lasers must have been what burned you." Raz told Lili. After studying the lasers for a moment, he added, "They don't seem to be moving over here. We'll be okay as long as we stay on this side of the room."

"But we have to get to the door on the other side." Lili argued. "Is there some way we can turn them off?" At the same time, all three heads turned towards the control panel. Just above the de-cloak button was an assortment of numbers and symbols.

"Hey, there's numbers on it," Raz noticed, "maybe there's some code we have to enter."

"Well, unless we know what that code is, we're not going anywhere." Lili said. Raz sighed.

"Okay, then I guess we're screwed." He said. Onyx stepped forward, her eyes roving over the lasers.

"Maybe not." She said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. "I'm thinking one of us could get through these lasers without getting burned. Someone really flexible, able to anticipate their movements." She turned to Raz and Lili, an odd smile on her face. "Someone like…an acrobat, maybe?"

Raz grinned.

"Now that, I can do." He stepped towards the red lights when Lili muttered,

"Good luck doing that in a skirt." That stopped him cold.

"Crud." He groaned, "I forgot about that." He turned to Onyx and said, "You have to do it, then." Onyx blinked.

"Me?" she asked, "Why?"

"I don't know if I'm up for it. Here, watch." He tried to bend backwards, then straightened back up. "Ouch." He grunted, "See? I'm not as flexible in this body."

Onyx sighed. "Fine," she said, "but if I'm burned to death, I'm blaming you." She moved to the edge to the lasers, took a deep breath, and stepped in.

Locking her arms at her sides, she moved across the floor, in and out of the lasers. One of them moved upwards and grazed her left ear. She winced in pain but kept moving. Two lights, one above the other, barred her from going any further. She sighed, crouched down, and squeezed through the space between them, receiving a few small burns along the way. Then, several lasers moved toward her at the same time. Moving slowly and carefully, she weaved her way through them. After several long, agonizing minutes, she reached the other side. Shaking slightly, Onyx moved to the door and slid it open. When it opened, the lasers vanished. Lili stepped forward cautiously and waved her arm through the empty air. When nothing happened, she ran across the room, Raz just behind her. The three of them stepped through the door and were greeted by the sight of a large, dimly-lit blue room. All around the walls were glowing, beeping computer screens.

"Well, here we are," Raz said, "the computer room…"

The three psychics spent the next few moments taking in the sight. For a long time, the only sound was the beeping of the computers.

"Hey, look." Onyx said, pointing to the far end of the room. "What are those?" She was pointing at three vertical, tube-shaped machines, each big enough for a person to fit inside.

"I'm not sure," Raz said, "But we should focus on finding out what's going on. Which computer should we search first?"

"We should split up," Lili suggested, "It would go faster that way." The other two nodded, and all three of them headed for a different computer.

Raz scanned the screen for information, clicking on random icons. He went from icon to icon, screen to screen, until his eyes fell on something interesting: a small icon shaped like a book. He clicked on it, and the screen turned white, and a bunch of words appeared on it.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something." He called. Onyx and Lili stopped what they were doing and gathered around the computer. Together, they read the page's title aloud:

"The Diary of Lydia C. Thorn."

After a moment, something seemed to click in Lili's mind.

"Wait a second," she said, "I know that name."

"Really?" Onyx asked, raising an eyebrow, "I haven't."

"Who's Lydia C. Thorn?" Raz wondered aloud.

"My dad told me about her once," Lili replied, "She used to be a Psychonaut. She was really good, too. She was always thinking of new inventions for the Psychonauts to use.

"But she had this weird obsession with mind control." Lili continued, "And a few years ago, the Psychonauts found out that Lydia was performing illegal experiments on two other agents."

"Adrian and Ivy." Raz and Onyx said at the same time.

"Well, he never told me their names, but it probably was. Anyway, the other two claimed that they didn't realize what Lydia was doing, so they were allowed to stay. But Lydia was banned from the Psychonauts."

"Hey, that's right," Raz suddenly remembered, "I think I read something about that in True Psychic Tales Magazine. Do you think Lydia is the boss Adrian and Ivy kept talking about?"

"Maybe," Onyx said, "but this diary should give us a good idea of what's going on." Raz leaned forward and began to read the first entry out loud:

"April the 9th

I have been living in solitude for the past two years. And now Adrian and Ivy have returned to me. They say they wish to help clear my name. All I wanted was to prove to the Psychonauts that mind control can be a very effective tool to their work. But those fools are far too closed-minded to see a good opportunity, even when it's staring them in the face.

However, I was able to perform my experiments long enough to make an amazing discovery: When the brain is in an unfamiliar environment, it becomes sharper, and thus, more powerful. Psychics everywhere could use this information to increase their mental abilities…"

"Wait," Onyx interrupted, "I just thought of something. You remember when we tried fighting Adrian, but all our attacks bounced off of him? And then he fired that huge Psi-blast. I've never seen anything like that. What if that wasn't Adrian we were talking to, but Ivy in Adrian's body?"

"Woah, you're right," Raz said, "and if our brains were switched too, that means we should have the same powers." Without waiting for a response, Raz headed back into the security room, Onyx and Lili following in curiosity. Raz stood at the far end of the room, facing the opposite wall. He put his fingers to his temples and concentrated. His mental energy seemed to be building up, and after a few moments, he fired a Psi-blast. Just like Adrian's, this blast was huge. There was a nearly blinding light, and a noise like thunder sounded. This Psi-blast left an enormous crater where it had hit the wall.

"I guess Lydia was right." Raz murmured.

"But why would she have our brains switched if it just made us stronger?" Onyx asked. Lili shrugged.

"Adrian said we were the first ones to test out the machines. Maybe we were just guinea pigs. And Lydia probably isn't expecting us to get out of here."

"Anyway, we should keep reading the diary." Raz pointed out. The three of them headed back into the computer room, and Raz continued to read the entries:

"April the 20th

Now that I am well-practiced in switching brains manually, I have decided to build a machine that will do it for me. I have yet to find a test subject though; I don't want to mess with Adrian and Ivy's brains too much. Those Psychonauts will pay for the indignity they caused me…"

"April the 26th

Adrian and Ivy have seen my anger towards the Psychonauts, and they have a proposition for me: to form a resistance against the Psychonauts, and rise up against them. After all, those fools are far too weak to defend the world. I have agreed, but we'll need to recruit more members if we are to succeed."

"May the 2nd

Adrian and Ivy have gone to recruit more psychics for our resistance. I was surprised to find that there are many of them around the country that are not Psychonauts.We are finding new members each day. To pass time, I am currently working on some teleporters, to make traveling easier."

"Teleporters?" Lili asked, "Is that what those things are?" She jerked her thumb towards the tube-like machines.

"Probably." Raz said, "And they might be our ticket out of here. Maybe the diary will tell us were Adrian, Ivy and Lydia went." He turned back to the screen:

"May the 10th

The teleporters are complete, but my plan has suffered a major setback. Adrian and Ivy attempted to recruit some of the Galochios, who I thought would prove to be valuable allies. But they refused, and now they are threatening to tell the Psychonauts about our plan. I need to think of something to do, and fast."

"May the 13th

The problem is solved, but I'm not very happy about it. I have ordered that all the Galochios be killed, in case the word has trickled to some of the relatives. Young and old, they're all dead now. I am worried that their deaths will draw attention to us, but it was the only way.

In any case, I have been working nonstop on my latest invention. It may prove to be the undoing of the Psychonauts once and for all. I just need to finish it before the agents try to track me down."

"May the 14th

My machine is nearing completion. It is now time to launch our first attack on the Psychonauts. I have decided to do this myself, as I have a score to settle with Truman Zanotto. After all, it was he who found out about my experiments, he who sold me out to the Psychonauts, and now he is their leader. It's time to put a stop to this."

"May the 16th

I have successfully kidnapped Truman Zanotto. We are hiding him at our current headquarters. I won't kill him yet. We may be able to probe his mind, find out what the Psychonauts' weaknesses are.

But I have received some bad news. It seems that one of the Galochios managed to survive the attack, a girl by the name of Onyx. She has told the Psychonauts of her families' murder, and she may prove to be a problem. I must decide what to do about her."

May the 23rd

It seems that the girl saved me the trouble of capturing her. She and two other children were snooping around where they shouldn't have, and now they are within my grasp. Ivy, who was in Adrian's body at the time, has used the three of them to test out my brain-switcher, and I am pleased to say that it functions perfectly.

And now, my ultimate invention, my masterpiece, is complete. But it needs fuel. I'll need to gather a large amount of Psitanium for it to work properly.

May the 23rd

Adrian and Ivy have managed to track down a sufficient supply of Psitanium for my machine. I am leaving soon to help gather it. It seems that there is an enormous underground deposit of the mineral, in the province of…"

Raz didn't finish the sentence.

"What? Where is it?" Onyx asked. Raz's head swiveled in the direction of Onyx and Lili, and he grinned.

"Guys," he said, still smiling, "I think it's time we paid a visit to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp!"

Umm…and that's the end. I'd like to apologize for taking such a long time to update. I'm also running out of ideas again. If anyone's got some ideas, I'd like to hear them. Review, please!