But I Like When She's Mad

Rena couldn't understand just what was happening. One moment, she was arguing with some meathead who was all concern and cozenness and now some idiot had doused her brand-new jacket with some sort of goo!

Jebediah's accounts had paid a lot of money for her jacket. It had taken her ages to pick out just the right color and cut. She'd carefully color coordinated it with so many accessories, and now all that hard work was ruined because it was now starting to slough off her shoulders in so many vastly overpriced pieces.

Rena looked down, her jaw working as she watched the last piece of jacket plop to the ground and steam as it half-disintegrated in the puddle of ooze at her feet…which she now realized was trying to eat at her equally expensive boots. It wasn't working as well since they had a thin layer of rubber over a stainless-steel sole. She could hear the hiss and sizzle of the ooze trying to eat away the rubber and being stymied by the steel.

Rena looked up and back at the strange little machine that had ruined her current favorite jacket. It wasn't her favorite because she just bought it, but because Jebediah had said that she looked cute in it when she'd brought it to the hideout and strutted in front of him in it.

The machine responded with a hum that caused the people behind her to start to scramble away. She could hear mutterings about her not dissolving amongst them. Rena shot them a quick frown before taking a step towards the machine.

As she thought, the machine's hum was a precursor to launching another ball of goo. Rena felt her fingers slowly clench into a fist as it landed on her chest and slid downwards with another anger-inducing hiss as her overshirt followed the fate of her jacket, leaving her with just the customized singlet she'd coaxed out of Cassidy.

"I'm going to hurt you...very, very badly," Rena told the machine as she stalked forward. She could feel the fog start to form and then staggered, shaking her head. "Oh, so going to make you pay," Rena continued, continuing forward.

She blinked as she reached the muzzle of the tank. Rena could hear the hum again. With a smile, she took off the remnants of her overshirt and stuffed it into the muzzle. Then she circled around the side of the tank, locating a tightly closed iris.

Rena chuckled, just a little. The world was turning into a morass of wiggles and happiness. Still, she pressed her hand to the iris, leaning forward. She surprised herself with a hiccup, blinking owlishly.

"What interesting stuff you've got," she murmured to the closed iris, pulling out a stiletto from her boot. She carefully wedged it into iris, working it just a little until the iris slowly opened just a micrometer. "Boo," Rena cooed, sending her fog through the tiny opening.

*****

Rena walked forward, stumbling just a little. No one was bothering her. She'd taken off her boots and used her hair ribbon to tie them together. Currently, they were carelessly slung over her shoulder like hissing little skates. Every so often, she'd finger the ooze still stuck on the bottom of them, rubbing it together between her thumb and forefinger. It was a strange greasy feel that made her want to laugh. Whatever it was made of made her want to just rub it all over herself. Rena chuckled at the idea.

She stopped, fingers still rubbing that strange delectable substance. Rena pondered for a moment, a slowly increasing haze starting to form around her. The stuff on her fingers started evaporating, absorbed by the haze. Rena closed her eyes, luxuriating in the sensation for just a moment. The impact was starting to wane just a little bit as her haze incorporated the poison for itself.

She crested a little hill and stopped, her mind working. Her eyes flicked over the children there who were staring up at her, some with curiosity, some with mild interest. Rena frowned at them and then located Cassidy, sitting on some weird floaty platform with Leilani standing next to her, staring at Rena with wide eyes. A young Amazon, probably the one Aarti kept snarking about, was standing guard behind her. She finger waved at Paul who was sitting amidst a little cluster of children. Paul nodded back at her and then jerked his head towards Cassidy.

Rena frowned, cocking her head to the side. Then she continued down the small hill, nearly drifting along. The children in her path hurriedly moved aside. See? Even children knew better than stupid little machines. They didn't, however, possess tasty little bits of goo to shower her with.

"You're drunk," Cassidy said as Rena neared her.

Beside her, Leilani nodded her head frantically.

"You're all jumbled up and then not," Leilani added. She leaned forward just a little. "What does it feel like? Are you all floaty?" Leilani glanced at Cassidy who was giving her a frowning glance. "I heard you feel all floaty and weird, like you drank too much soda."

"Floaty, huh?" Rena said, pausing to think about it. Then she nodded. "Very floaty, but not that weird. Just strange, I think." Rena looked around, nearly turning a complete circle. "We should bottle that stuff for later consumption," she told Cassidy.

"No, not a chance," Cassidy promptly replied. "I don't think I ever want to see this again. You're a bit of an angry drunk, Rena."

"So not true," Rena said. "Where's Jebediah? Weren't you going to rescue him? And Trolli?"

"Trolli's with Jebediah," Leilani piped up.

"As she should be, cuz I told her to find him," Rena replied. She fixed her gaze at the smooth metallic wall of the creche. "He's there, right?"

"Uh," Cassidy managed before Rena stalked to the wall.

Rena glared at the wall. Then she directed the haze of fog towards the offensive metal. It surged forward and clung. Rena smiled as she heard that now familiar hiss-sizzle.

That goo was proving pretty useful.