“Hold on, that’s Norma’s brain?” asked Lurra Rus. “Gristol, what was the endgame in putting her brain inside a mech like that?”
“And how did you shake down Coach Oleander like that?!” asked Raz.
“I was supposed to use her to sabotage the Psychonauts!” replied Gristol. “She took control of the plan!”
“Well, Grulovia and its people ARE supposed to be dead,” said Norma. “And all I needed were the plans to his brain tanks, Raz. I simply…modified the design!”
“Okay, Doctor spinning uselessly in the Time Vortex here,” said the Doctor. “What’s going on?”
“My first bit of Psychonauts business,” explained Raz, “involved Coach Oleander using military stuff to bury his childhood trauma of seeing a bunny slaughtered by his dad. That was never addressed until two weeks ago when he was making tanks powered by fighters’ brains that could take over the world with psychic powers. I helped him address that trauma and I also addressed trauma that stemmed from what Dad said to me and now Coach is undergoing a mental evaluation. That whole thing is where I fell under the influence of the sneezing powder.”
“I see,” remarked the Doctor.
“She was supposed to help me restore Grulovia! To make all psychics compliant!” wailed Gristol.
“And I’m supposed to obey the whims of a prince of a dead nation?” scoffed Norma.
“Look, Norma,” called Raz, “I don’t know what this is all about, but we need to put Gristol Malik back in Psychoisolation so the Hague’s Psi division can try him!”
“You think they can convict him?” asked Norma.
“Norma, we’re not executioners!” called Sasha. “We help others deal with their inner demons without totally dealing with them ourselves!”
“And that’s the law?” scoffed Norma. “We’re blunted, Agent Nein. We have the power to take care of any villains before they rise! You think Oleander wasn’t thinking about that when he made the brain tanks?!”
“He wasn’t!” argued Raz. “He was only thinking about how he’d finally see some military action despite his height!”
“Well, guess who’s actually doing something about it!” retorted Norma. “Welcome to the new battlefield! You old guard right down to Raz vs. the new generation and I WILL achieve victory!”
“Miss Norma, are you really THAT paranoid about evil rising?” asked the Doctor.
“Let me answer your questions with one of my own,” replied Norma. “By what tortured logic did the Grand Head and the Psychic Six conclude that letting people like Gristol Malik or Lucretia Mux avoid real justice represented anything other than an insult to the memory of Grulovia and its people?! Seriously, can anyone explain to me how those unrepentant murderers can go about their business as if nothing happened?! The orders of keeping the status quo, the quelling of peaceful protestors, the flooding of an entire country, apparently, they were all missteps on the Gzesarevich and Maligula’s path of redemption!”
“Look, I get it!” called Raz. “When I heard about Nona’s past and what Ford did to lock it away, I was furious-!”
“And now look at you! Letting Ford date Lucretia again as if nothing happened! And not just Raz! All of you! What are you, the Grulovian Entourage!? By helping those maniacs find peace, you’re excusing their past behavior! And it falls to me, a representative of the 99%, to remind you how wrong this is! Forgiveness? Rehabilitation? Reintegration? No. Not Mux, not Malik, not now, not ever!” Norma raised her now metallic arm, ready to strike…but something shook. “What the-?!” She couldn’t finish her sentence before the legs of the mech fell apart! The arms automatically shielded the brain container as the mech fell. “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” demanded Norma.
“Hang on, where’s the Doctor?!” yelped Raz.
“Tinkering as usual!” called the Doctor as she stepped out from behind the mech and twirled the sonic screwdriver in her fingers.
“…So it IS a screwdriver,” remarked Amy.
“Of course!” replied the Doctor. “I told you, sometimes you have to assemble a bunch of cabinets!”
“What’s going on?!” yelped Norma. “I can’t move!”
“I also disabled the synapse circuits,” continued the Doctor. “That mech’s nothing more than a hunk of junk.” She then checked the readings on the screwdriver. “…Although, the TARDIS is still saying there’s a mental crisis somewhere and…Raz?” The Doctor noticed that Raz’s fist was trembling.
“Oh no!” yelped Sasha. “Raz’s mental energy is spiking!”
“Doctor, didn’t Raz say that Lucretia Mux was his Nona?!” asked Lurra Rus.
“Oh my word!” realized the Doctor. “He’s blisteringly angry! And Norma’s attack must have exacerbated it!”
“We can’t help him at this state!” warned Sasha. “We need him to release his anger somehow!”
“You Psychonauts can make psi-blasts, yes?” asked the Doctor.
“Yes, an excellent idea,” replied Sasha. “Razputin, listen. I need you to put your marksmanship training to use! Psi-blast…that tree right there!”
“The tree?!” hissed Raz. “After what Norma did, you want me to settle for a tree?!”
“But she didn’t follow through with it!” urged the Doctor.
“She was going to!” argued Raz.
“Razputin, this isn’t you! You’re not an executioner! You’re not Gristol! You’re not Norma!” Raz growled…then fired the biggest blast of mental energy he ever created at a few trees. Raz then sighed, still angry though.
“Just get Norma back into her body!” he snarled as he stomped off. Gristol tried to get away, but a hammer belonging to a certain pink hedgehog stopped him.
“Where do you think YOU’RE going?” asked Amy as Sasha made a few calls.
Over the next few days, the Doctor observed Raz as he went about his day. The events Norma started clearly affected the poor boy. She headed to Sasha’s lab…and noticed that Amy and Lurra Rus were there. “…Erm, Agent Nein, what are you doing?” asked the Doctor.
“It’s all right, Doctor,” assured Amy. “I asked him to check if summoning my hammer is a psychic ability.”
“I’ve known of other people able to pull objects seemingly out of nowhere,” explained Sasha. “But to test whether or not it’s a psychic ability has eluded me.”
“And?” asked the Doctor.
“…Both Amy AND Lurra Rus have psychic abilities,” answered Sasha. “Hammerspace, sub-space pockets, bag of holding, whatever, Amy uses her mental energy to tap into it and summon her hammer. As for Lurra Rus, it seems the mental energy here at the Motherlobe has energized telekinetic abilities that were buried deep in her bloodline.”
“It’s true! Watch!” Lurra Rus raised her hand and made a tool from the other end of the room float all the way to her hand!
“…You know, I think I can teach you all the mental martial arts of Gallifrey,” mused the Doctor. “Really helped me when I was learning Venusian Aikido. You two seem to be in the right mental state for it and may need it for the Grouping. …Speaking of mental states, I came here to discuss Raz.”
“You’ve noticed his current withdrawn state as well, hm?” asked Sasha. “Even after facing Maligula, he kept up his outgoing optimism. What is it about what Norma said that caused him to withdraw?”
“I think I need to find out,” replied the Doctor. “Let’s just say I’m making a house call.”
“We should go with you!” said Amy.
“Amy-!” protested the Doctor.
“Doctor, we might be able to help him,” interjected Lurra Rus.
“And, to my knowledge, this is your first time entering a psycho-portal,” continued Sasha. “I’ll need to monitor your vitals and Amy and Lurra could help you better in Razputin’s mind. You seem to do your best work with people helping you.” The Doctor considered for a moment.
“…You know, you’re right,” she admitted. “All right, you two, you can come. But stay close to me.”
The Doctor, her friends, and Sasha found Raz trying to create a levitation ball, but failing. “Come on!” he complained. “Agent Vodello herself taught me! Don’t let the Mental Minx down!”
“Razputin!” called Sasha. Raz turned to see the group.
“Oh, Agent Nein!” he said. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I-! …Wait, what’s this about?”
“Raz,” said the Doctor, “we believe that what Norma said to you has affected you.”
“…She wanted to kill my Nona!” growled Raz. “I just-!” The poor boy snarled. “…I have never felt so mad at anyone!”
“Well, this IS a member of your family we’re talking about,” remarked Amy.
“Would you mind if my friends and I made a house call?” asked the Doctor. Raz blinked.
“…You wanna use a psycho-portal on me?” he asked.
“I’ll be monitoring you all,” said Sasha. “I’ve got smelling salts on me to snap you all out of it should the situation call for it.”
“…Well, that IS what Psychonauts are supposed to do,” mused Raz. “…All right! Let’s get started!” He lowered his goggles over his eyes, then put his psycho-portal on his forehead. The Doctor and her friends then shut their eyes and felt their minds entering the little door. For once, Raz was the one being treated.