Black Mirror

Chapter 16 - Mad About You

"You hurt my brother." Gabe tightens his grip on Penner's wrist, which he's forced behind his back like he's about to handcuff him.

"Like I said, I didn't know! I'm sorry! But he wanted to be a hero, so-"

"I know Alex likes to make rash decisions, but that's not why he got shot." Gabe grabs Penner's other wrist as well. I notice, on the underside of that wrist, a dark green mark of some kind. Irregularly shaped like a birthmark, but the color tells another story. "You fucked up, Renner, or whatever the hell your name is. Own up to it. For real."

"I'm sorry!" Penner repeats.

"Not good enough," I whisper as Gabe forces Penner back to the ground.

"But look," Penner says, his voice muffled because his face is half-pressed into the dirt. "We're not here for your brother. We're here for the Black Mirror. We tracked it here, and if Ariel Mazouz is here, we'll take him in as well. Bonus."

"That's nice," I say idly, "but could you, uh, maybe let us use it one more time? We kinda fucked up the timeline."

"If so, then no." Hostile undercurrents belie Penner's chiming rhyme.

"I just want my boyfriend back, man," Gabe says, dialing up the pleading tones a bit. "Is that too much for you to understand?"

"No, but-"

"Then don't stand in our way." Back to angry Gabe.

Penner looks up at me beseechingly. "Hey," I say with a shrug, "I'm just the one who fucked up the timeline. It's him you're gonna hurt if you don't stay out of our way."

"But we're not here to hurt anyone," Penner insists. "We're just here to ensure Peppermint gets their property back."

"They'll have to wait."

Penner blinks a couple of times, then his hazel eyes harden. "They won't." He pushes against Gabe with all his might, surprising him enough to send him sprawling back into the nearest tree.

"Hey!" I don't care how evilly adorable Penner is, I want to break his nose for this. And more besides. Hurting Alex was bad enough, but hurting Gabe when I'm right there to see him do it? I'm gonna Furiosa his ass so hard he won't remember-

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Did that ginger assbutt just taze me?

Okay, come on, Fionna. Shake it out. Shake it out like Florence and the Bloody Machine. Just a few thousand volts of fuuuuuuuuuck, that hurts! Walk it off, tough girl. Furiosa, remember? She wouldn't take this shit lying down!

Wobbly, unsteadily, I get back to my feet, as does Gabe. "You picked the wrong fight." He wipes his mouth, and a few drops of blood shine on his knuckles. Blood from his mouth or his hands? I don't know, but either way, that's another Snow Bro that Penner's hurt, and he's not getting away with it.

"You're going down, sweetheart!" I wave flaming hands at Penner, though I'm very cautious about actually using my elemental in such a flammable environment. At least I have Gabe to be my fire extinguisher if I need one. No wildfires will be started on my watch.

"Are you saying you wanna be fugitives too? Like Mazouz?" Penner's own hands are ready to go, ready to fight. One hand crackles with glowing light, and the other, he's moving in a sort of circular motion. Is he an air elemental too? That might explain how he was able to push Gabe so far. He literally blew him away. And if he's a demon, he must have one of the four classic elementals...

...but that's not important. What I need to worry about is, can he blow me away?

Let him try. Yoda would say he can't, and I say he'll fail.