“You’re going to make EVERYONE fail, Faye. Is that what you want?” Kamron fires a blast at her friend, forgetting the Mirror is even there.
Dodging it, Faye is tempted to answer Kam’s invitation for a fight, but takes a deep breath. “I’ll watch over Paul. You focus on your little ‘look-at-me-Imma-steal-all-ya-boys’ world, okie?”
“You want to play with me, little girl?!” Cannon aims her hands at the Mirror and tries to mimic Faye’s control technique. “What happens when your little minion becomes my puppet?!” Miss Meyers tries her hardest but just can’t figure out how Faye actually managed to take control of this thing. All she can do now is defend herself until she finds a way to push the fray to offensive.
“I don’t want you to think I’d legitimately hurt you,” says Faye, “even if I want to stuff you in a package to Juniper. I won’t set the difficulty on this thing to any higher than I know you can safely beat.”
“OH, I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SET IT TO! YOU CAN KISS OUR FRIENDSHIP GOODBYE, YOU SELFISH, PARANOID CONTROL FREAK!!” The betrayed, heartbroken girl makes her tearful stand against the Mirror, knowing who her real enemy is in this fight.
For a moment, Faye regrets her decision and starts to let the control go, but her rage takes over again. “IF YOU WERE A FRIEND, YOU’D STOP FLIRTING WITH MY BOYFRIEND AND BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR OWN MAN. YOU’RE SO CARELESS!!”
“HE’S NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!!”
“HE’S NOT YOURS EITHER!”
With all the shouting going on, Paul finally loses his cool. “Can you two take your drama somewhere else before I get killed? I’d like to pass something on my own for once!”
Timid Paul’s voice chills Faye enough that she starts to feel guilty for losing her temper, but it’s like Kammy said. The friendship is over. As soon as the machine is let go or destroyed, Kammy will come attack Faye, so it’s a matter of self-defense now. As she watches the two love birds struggling, Faye concludes that her wrath is satisfied. First, she teleports away to safety, letting out “Have your little date then.” Second, she makes the machine self-destruct at a safe enough distance that Kamron suffers no damage. However, the emotional damage is very, very deep.
Looking around to see nothing but Paul and his Mirror in the immediate vicinity, Kammy changes her cannon back to its normal state and collapses in a tearful mess. Paul barely catches this scene and wonders if Kam Kam won or what. The thing is gone, and Faye isn’t here, so Paul is sure Kam won, but just in case, he yells, “Babe, are you okay? Did you win?”
In between the sobbing, Kammy assures him she’s okay. “I won. The Mirror is dead. I’m okay, hon, so just focus on beating the Mirror for me.”
“Okay,” Paul responds as helpfully as he can with his hands full at the moment. “Just let me know if you need me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Whew,” Paul sighs in relief, “now that I can focus, I can do that thing I learned.” Only moments after saying this, Kammy shrieks as she sees Paul slammed to the ground, then punting for several feet. He’s thrown into the air and covered in a shower of glass-based attacks that explode, hiding him from view. As Kammy rushes for him, screaming like a banshee, she makes her way through the cloud and grabs hold of Paul.
“PAUL!!”
“KAMMY, LET GO! I’M DOING YOUR TECHNIQUE! I NEED TO CONCENTRATE!”
“Oh.” That’s right. Paul is letting himself get beaten up. Crystal Meyers wants to run away now that she feels both betrayed AND useless, but she is paralyzed with intense admiration as she basks in the revelation that Paul is wisely using the technique she showed him, exhibited his own expertise.
“Babe, please move. I’m fine.” Paul tries to be nicer as he knows she was only trying to help.
Inner Man Theatre 