The problems started with mirrors.
Mirrors are very simple things. Based on the most elementary of principles, that light can be reflected, they allow us to see ourselves in merciless detail. The first mirrors had probably been nothing more than a particularly still piece of water, giving a caveman his first glimpse of his own hairy visage. Then would have come polished bronze mirrors, inferior in clarity to the water but far more portable. As time went on, mirrors were made of silver, steel, silvered steel, glass… every conceivable substance that would reflect has been used, at one time or another, as a mirror. Ranging from two mirrors positioned to create endless reflections, to the strangely shaped mirrors of a funhouse, mirrors could make interesting optical illusions. And in the modern age, mirrors are everywhere. From the restroom at the mall to the back of the bar to the fridge magnets, mirrors are there. Who could escape mirrors?
Axl certainly couldn't, but then, he'd never felt the need. He wasn't precisely vain about his looks, but certainly he wasn't the harshest thing ever to meet the ladies eyes. He had no self-consciousness about mirrors.
That only made the problems, when they began to happen, more peculiar. Mirrors are based on elementary physics.
So how could they lie?
But, perhaps we should begin our story with the first incident so you can judge for yourself…
Axl sighed, leaning against a pillar in the woman's clothing store. Bags and parcels were clustered around his feet like a bunch of tiny ducklings hiding beneath their mother's wings. Brightly colored, scanty clothing was on racks all through the store. Bright, pretty t-shirts and low cut jeans were the fashion this year. And right now, Marino was trying them all on.
"How does this look, Axl?" Axl didn't bother to look up at her. He was too busy watching the movements of a beetle making its way across the floor.
"Lovely." He said with a marked lack of enthusiasm. Marino glared at him. She was wearing a bright green tube top and tight jeans… not the sort of thing to usually get male indifference.
"You didn't even look!" She accused him, annoyed. Axl sighed.
"Marino, we've been here for three hours. Are we done yet?" Not three hours in this particular store, but three hours in the mall. Marino snorted and stalked back to her changing room, not deigning that with a reply. Axl morosely guessed that they would be in the mall for at least two more hours. Looking at Marino's new outfits, especially the bathing suits, had been fun for the first two hours. But after that it got old.
It's times like this I wish I'd stayed with Red Alert, Axl thought, but no… that was just as sucky in a different way. Sighing, he tried to find something to occupy himself.
…? Axl suddenly glanced sharply to the left. He possessed excellent peripheral vision, as was only to be expected of a good Hunter. He had detected some unexpected movement.
But directly to his left, there was only a mirror, set into the wall. A sales rack was nearby, but no one was looking at it. The store didn't have many people in it at this time of day. But it had probably been a stray flutter in the breeze. Dismissing it from his mind, Axl looked away.
And twitched his head back for a second look. Something had moved. He looked around for a fly… it had been too high for a mouse. But he couldn't find a fly.
He turned his attention to the mirror, wondering if perhaps a bug had run across it. But it was a fine mirror, flawless, with nary an insect in sight. He raised a hand to scratch his hair in puzzlement… and froze, staring at the mirror.
Oh, that can't be right. I'm imagining things! But ice crawled down his spine as he stared at his reflection. It had moved just a bit too slowly. His hand had been at his head just a moment before his reflection had followed, as if it was alive and trying to follow his movements but couldn't quite anticipate them…
He slowly waved his hand in front of the mirror, and there was no hesitation this time, to his relief. He was just imagining things. It was only a mirror.
It was still creepy, and he decided to find a better place to stand, where the mirror wouldn't be in plain view. He didn't need to watch himself, after all.
If he had noticed his reflection watching him just a moment too long, he would have been even more uneasy, and to no great purpose. So it was just as well he didn't notice.
If that had been the only incident, the phenomena would have been moderately annoying and hardly worth comment. Alas, it did not end there.
There are many myths about mirrors. Some people will hold forth that mirrors can give you a glimpse into other worlds, when the proper rituals are done over them. Such rituals often involve illegal drugs, leaving the validity of the myth in a great deal of question. In ancient days, mirrors were sometimes shunned because they were thought to split the soul. The trick with two mirrors to create multiple reflections was considered particularly unwise. It still isn't very popular, if only for reasons relating to nausea. Others in ancient times considered mirrors to be tools of arcane craft. What role they played was not specified, beyond helping the mage do his hair. But since they tended to break in odd ways, it was generally assumed they were for more than makeup.
What myth about mirrors is true? It's hard to say. And until mirrors started bothering him, Axl didn't care. But sometimes things creep up on you… without your noticing.
Axl was at a bar, pleasantly drunk. He'd gone on a mission with Zero earlier, and it had been a roaring success. Now he wanted to quietly unwind in the presence of some alcoholic beverages. Well… semi-alcoholic.
"Mmm, pina coladas…" Axl sipped at his milkshake mixed with rum, and sighed in pleasure. It was his third one so far, and the bartender had a heavy hand with the rum, so he was getting nicely sizzled in addition to full of sugar. It was a very pleasant combination.
The bar wasn't really very nice. It was a low dive in a bad part of town, with sticky floors to prove it. The lighting was dim, and there was enough cigarette smoke in the air to stun an ox. Axl loved it. Mostly because of the jukebox in the corner, which could always be counted on the blare out some classic rock. He also liked how he was treated. None of his former comrades at Red Alert would have been caught dead in this dive, so he didn't have to worry about being called a traitor or worse, and he was a novelty. As a Hunter, he always had a ready audience for his war stories and often the other patrons would buy him drinks. Not to mention the fact that the owner of the bar ran a side business selling ice cream during the day. This was the only bar he'd ever found that could make spiked milkshakes in twenty different flavors.
And speaking of which…
"Could I have a strawberry, please?" Axl said, pushing his empty glass towards the bartender who took it with a quick bob of his head.
"Sure thing." He scooped out some more ice cream, threw in the milk and rum, and blended it quickly, carefully wiping off the machine when he was done. He was fairly sure he'd be doing this at least twice more before Axl passed out or decided to leave. "There ya go."
"Thanks." Axl glanced up at the TV mounted in a corner of the ceiling as he sipped his drink. It was a nice, big TV and one of the main draws for the bar. Right now, though, the bar was almost empty and some science geek in the audience had requested the Discovery channel. Not that anyone really minded. It was a special on uncaught serial killers, which fit in with the general mood.
There was a large, wall-filling mirror behind the bartender. Axl wasn't sure why, but it was a common fixture in most bars. He rested his chin in his hand, and gazed fuzzily at his reflection in the mirror.
The reflection slowly yawned, then grinned at him. Axl blinked, then touched his face just to make sure he wasn't smiling. He wasn't.
But in his heavily buzzed state, this seemed more interesting then creepy. Axl grinned back, and waved. A few moments later, the reflection waved back.
"Holy shit man, how do you do that?" The bartender had caught most of it, and was staring at him, shaken.
"Do what?" Axl yawned… it seemed the mirrors yawn was catching.
"Make that thing grin at you like that. Man, don't do that again, it's creepy as all hell." The bartender started to polish some glasses, keeping a wary eye on the mirror. "Reminds me of a horror book I read."
"It's just a mirror." Axl said reasonably, and took a deep gulp of his drink. "Ah, strawberry… hmm?" The Axl in the mirror was pointing over his shoulder urgently. Axl turned around to see-
"Aw, damnit." Two Reploids had stepped into the bar. He only recognized one of them, but that one was one too many. "Lyos, you better be here for a drink." From the glare on his face, though, Axl didn't have much hope of that.
Lyos had been a member of Red Alert, before everything had come apart. He was a tall, golden armored Reploid with long red hair and golden, inhuman eyes. Large wings were folded neatly behind him, and even pissed off, he took care not to jar anyone with them.
A female Reploid was with him. She was much shorter, the top of her head barely reaching Lyos's chest. Her short black hair was naturally spiky, and she was wearing a red bandanna. Her skin was dead white, and her face looked almost wasted, like a cocaine addict on a serious bender. Black and red armor suited her very well, and she had two pistols holstered at her sides. Electric blue eyes regarded Axl curiously. He didn't recognize her, and she obviously had no clue who he was either.
Lyos was more than willing to solve that problem.
"Axl," he growled. "You little traitor! So this is where you've been hiding." Rage made his eyes glow, and from the looks of it, he had a serious rage going right now. Axl sighed, and took a deep gulp of his milkshake.
"No fighting in my favorite bar. Can't ruin the bar. You wanna take this outside?" Axl stood up, and discovered he was a little wobbly. Not good.
"Axl?" The girl asked, interested. "The one who broke up Red Alert?" She ran a hand down Lyos's arm, then frowned, looking over Axl's shoulder at something. She seemed disturbed.
"Yes, Rocco," Lyos growled. "That little scum…" He stepped closer to Axl, hands balled into fists. Apparently, his rage was too great to allow for using weapons, and that was fine by Axl. A fistfight could only damage so much. Lyos's sword and his gun could tear the bar apart.
But the girl intervened, gripping Lyos's arm tightly.
"Lyos, honey, I think maybe we should do this some other time." Her voice fell to a hiss on the final words, and Axl could see how she flexed her hand on Lyos's arm, digging in small claws. "A better time."
"Rocco, you-!" Lyos started, furious, until she jerked him down and whispered something into his ear. Then he blinked and frowned, also looking over Axl's shoulder.
"…Fine." He finally growled, glaring at Axl. "Your stupid parlor trick won't save you next time, traitor." Rocco almost dragged him out, and Axl blinked as they left. Then he gripped the bar as the world wobbled a bit more. Or was that just him?
"Weird," he said muzzily. "What parlor trick? Uck…" He grabbed the barstool, taking a seat before the floor did something unfortunate to his feet. He was drunker than he'd thought, which made him glad they'd left. He wasn't sure he could take Lyos in his condition. "Couldn't have meant my DNA copying…" It would hardly have been much of an asset against Lyos right now. Copying didn't get rid of booze and his old partner knew it.
"I dunno." The bartender was just as mystified as Axl, but far more relieved. "I'm just glad he's gone. Want another rum shake?" Axl looked at the strawberry shake, and was a bit startled to see it was almost gone.
"Sure… how about chocolate? With chocolate liqueur?" That was expensive, but worth it, and the bartender nodded.
"Coming right up."