The Mysterious Miss Direction - vol. 01

Your hand is allowed to raise. The Medium Madam smiles and stretches her own hand to meet yours. Fortuna shouts, "No you can’t!" and tries to prevent this deal from happening. She is unable to. Your hands clasp together and it feels as if a bomb goes off. Everything goes white for what feels like hours. Days. An eternity.

Slowly your vision fades back in. You are in the basement of the Crowfall Museum of Natural History and you are alone. The pain from the burns and bruises is gone. The entire Miss Direction getup is gone. You are Holly Morton, restoration historian.

‘Do you remember this day, Holly?’ The scratchy, whiny, high pitched voice again. It is in your head but you can sense the direction it is coming from. The storage room where new artifacts awaiting restoration wait. ‘This is the date we met. Lily Graham is upstairs, aimlessly wandering the halls of he museum, completely befuddled at what is happening.' You can hear her echoed cries in the distance. It is pleasant to hear fear in the voice of the woman who has been tormenting you. 'Don't let your guard down. She is still quite strong, but we are stronger. Put on the mask.'

Maybe she had made a mistake. The power that she was playing with was not one that could be easily controlled, and here she was, at the moment, completely at its mercy. She knew too little about it to know whether she should be terrified or exhilarated. But it was helping her.

Better to take advantage of that while that was the case.

She makes rushes toward the storage room. She knew where to find it. She could vividly remember the moment when she had pulled out the straw-stuffed crate, filled with little trinkets and bobbles from a time long past. Even know, lifting the lid and touching the smooth, cold surface of the mask's grinning face, she could trace back exactly how it had happened.

As she reminisced, she traced her finger along the pristine edge of its impossibly-wide grin. But she didn't have time to wait... she put on the mask, and she felt alive again.

‘Good. You like the way the power feels, don’t you? Do did I.’ Things aren’t entirely the same. Not the same as the day when this all really happened. Not the same as when you normally don the mask. Your costume has been replaced with something considerably more antique. A more period accurate portrayal of a jester. Thick wool, patched in many places, and well worn all over. The bells are brass and in need of a polish.

Something on the crate catches your eye that you didn’t notice originally. You had no reason to because the words meant little to you at the time. On loan from the collection of Avery Key. 1 of 3.

Loud crashes can be heard upstairs. Thuds of heavy movement and... the roar of a lion? ‘I think it is best we get to work before that woman gets any more comfortable inside your memory.’

You rush upstairs, glad to be free of the aches and pains of your recent battles. You can feel that you have full access to your powers here. ‘We are inside your head. She cannot directly control your actions here. Unfortunately, she is extraordinarily skilled. It appears she has worked out how to manipulate other forces within the memory we are in.’

As you walk into the main lobby of the museum, you are able to see first hand what this voice is referring to. The Medium Madam has brought everything at her disposal to life and lined them up in formation; ready to charge into battle against you. You find yourself staring down cavemen, grizzly bears, a family of mammoth, a skeletal t-rex... Why did the prehistoric past have to be filled with such massive creatures?

Suspended by cables in the air above you a 55 foot whale moans in displeasure at its predicament. Around the tail of the whale comes the Medium Madam. No longer distraught, she once again has a smile on her face as she glides through the air on Leoanardo Da Vinci’s ancient helicopter-like flying machine. A group of Meso-America chieftains have been conscripted to work the device, rapidly running in circles to spin the blades.

"Destroy her!"

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Miss Direction --- 3 HP

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam--- 3 HP

Of course it wouldn't have taken Lily long to turn things to her favor. It would be a long fight if she had to constantly fight on the defensive, but Miss Direction felt like they had all the time in the world for this little confrontation.

That put a smile on her face, and she advanced on the hoard of stuffed models. Perhaps they wouldn't be quite the same as how she knew they really were, considering that this was all in her head, but keeping that in mind made it feel much less like she was running towards her death.

Her cards were out in an instant, though they had taken on the appearance of antiquated, hand-painted cards than her standard deck of playing cards. She could still feel the magic coursing through them, though, as they shielded her from thrown spears from the cavemen, and created illusory copies of herself for the bears to maul and mammoths to trample.

She thought the T-rex would be tricky, since it was just a fossil. It didn't have eyes for her to fool. But a realization came to her. It wasn't seeing her through its 'eyes', but through Lily's. Her grin deepened, as she executed the improvised part two of her attack.

She scattered cards around the museum's battlefield, each one sliding to a stop and beginning to spew forth thick, black smoke. It might impede her vision, but it would make it all but impossible for Lily to see her.

As she waded through, she could see the controlled creatures batting around wildly, trying to find her through sheer luck. She could barely see them, but they certainly could not see her. In fact, some of them even seemed to be taking each other out in the confusion.

You can hear the Medium Madam throwing a temper tantrum as her flying machines darts around high above the smoke screen. "You insolent little child! I can’t read you! I can’t see you! Get out here and face me!" A sabertooth tiger jumps through the smoke and lands at your feet. You deliver a kick to the face which shatters its jaw and dive out of the way of its swiping claws.

The floor of the museum is pure chaos. The Madam has brought these exhibits to life but she has now left them to their own devices while she searches for a way to deal with your tricks. In the absence of her direct control, everything seems to have reverted back to their natural instincts. Or maybe what your memories say should be the natural instincts of each creature? It isn't exactly clear how any of this works. All you know is that you are in the middle of a war zone.

While dodging attacks made at random, you have to be careful not to trip on pieces of stuffing, plaster, stray bones, and... is that vending machine shooting sodas?

"Archers! Ignite!" A new voice rings out high above you. It sounds like it is coming from the second floor walkway. "Draw. Fire!" Anguished cries ring out all around you as a new element is added to the chaos. The blanket of smoking cards is penetrated by a hail of flaming arrows.

You take a hit directly to the heart and collapse to the floor. The cards above you slowly start to burn away as the fire spreads. For a moment it will add more smoke to the room, but before long the veil hiding you will be gone. None of that really concerns you right now as you stare down at the arrow embedded in your chest. ‘It isn’t real. None of this is real. As long as you realize that and she doesn’t, we cannot lose.’

The arrow slowly starts to dematerialize. It takes a moment for you to catch your breath. You feel around where the arrow struck and find no signs of damage. Even the jester costume is 100% intact. You can still feel the sting of the blow but at least there doesn’t seem to be any lasting damage.

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Miss Direction --- 2 HP

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam--- 3 HP

Miss Direction begins to laugh hysterically as the arrow disappears from her chest, before clamping her hand over her mouth. It would do her no good to show herself now.

Lily may assume that she had all of the power, but she knew the truth. For once, Medium Madam was in her trap, and Miss Direction had no intention of letting her go. The unreal was where she thrived, and since she knew that Lily would have difficulty separating fact from fiction since the villainess knew of her powers, she could have some fun with this.

But first, to deal with the problem at hand. She could not let the smokescreen go out. Summoning the powers of the mask, she threw out more cards. More and more than littered the floor and created, thick, billowing smoke. But it was all an illusion. She could see just fine, but Lily and her animated statues would be blinded completely.

But that wasn't all. She started to dance. To swirl and twist and pivot as illusory smoke matched her dance. The field of smoke became a whirling maelstrom, and, although there was no real substance to it, it would be enough to trick Lily into thinking that it was all too real.

And then more movement came. From the depths of her imagination, a great beast began to writhe about, composed of the same smoke it swam through. Its body crested enough to be noticed above the field, for Lily's benefit. She didn't let it emerge fully. Just its long, snaking back. Enough for Medium Madam to take notice. Enough for her to fear what was coming.

It was time to make Lily go on the defensive.

The chaos builds as the Madam’s ability to launch a cohesive strike deteriorates. Her minions continue to do considerably more damage to each other. When one actually manages to notice you through the smoke, it almost seems to have forgotten you were ever an enemy and moves on to attack another denizen of the museum.

Lily is no longer making quips or threats. The looks on the faces of the chieftains that pilot her flying machine mimic the worried expression on her face. When she spots the first signs of your illusionary smoke beast, the Madam eyes actually show fear. The flying machine takes off in the other direction, flying deeper into the museum and away from the ruckus. Unfortunately, you only have a few brief seconds to celebrate before you are crushed under 200 tons of whale blubber.

Rolling back time will allow us to see the events which led to this. Some of the flaming arrows meant for the first floor flew a little too high and peppered the body of the whale suspended from the ceiling by steel cables. This sent the already scared and confused beast in convulsions as it desperately tried to get away. The force of its struggles eventually caused one of the cables to snap. Once one was gone, it was like a series of dominoes as the rest gave way one after another.

The whale lets out one last sorrowful moan as he slowly fades away like ash carried off by the wind. You feel how you imagine cartoon characters feel after getting run over by a steamroller. Physically, you are more or less alright, but you are left with the single most painful migraine headache you’ve ever experienced.

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Miss Direction --- 1 HP

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam--- 3 HP

She does her best to peel herself off of the ground. While her head pounded, she looked completely unharmed. Though it had taken her a moment to convince her own body that her bones were not actually liquefied.

She knew that Medium Madam was escaping (to the best of her ability). She could not just stay here and continue her orchestration, and risk being trampled, mauled, or crushed by some frightened beast. Sweeping her arms low, the creature she had summoned emerged. A great serpent of smoke, its great maw modeled after an eastern-style dragon, swooped down through the growing maelstrom of the same substance. Miss Direction jumped just in time to land on its shadowy mane.

Then, it began to ascend at her behest. It crested the smoke, its bulk plainly visible to Medium Madam now, with her enemy riding on it like some twisted crusader, seemingly unharmed by any of her machinations.

She beckoned the beast to charge the flying machine, and by proximity, Lily and her Chieftains. At the last moment, she jumps from the beast. Once it passed the flying machine, she would land on what was left.

If there was nothing left?

...she'd deal with that when she needed to...

Lily lets loose a terrible shriek. The chieftains around her add their own chorus of screams. The smoke monster rising above the flying machine and then smashes down upon it. The force knocks all of her minions from the craft. The twisting head of the serpent circles back and gulps all of them up in one smooth motion. The Madam somehow manages to grab onto the very edge of the machine, leaving her hanging precariously.

You drop down out of the air and land in a heroic pose right in front of her. The Madam looks down at the doom that awaits her below before turning to face you with a look that flashes back and forth from sad puppy dog eyes to pure rage. Her grip begins to slip but she can’t bring herself to ask for mercy.

With no one turning the blades, the flying machine starts to descend. Forward momentum sends the craft hurtling towards the plate glass windows that separate the museum from the outside world. Instinctively, you throw your arms up over your face and turn to avoid the impact as you, the machine, and Lily crash through the glass.

While sunlight had been pouring in through the windows just a moment prior, you are surprised to find that things have instantly grown dark. Not quite pitch black, but close to it. You are not falling from the second floor of the museum like you expected. You are standing at the base of the stairs of your childhood home.

You can hear your parents muffled voices arguing upstairs. It wasn’t something that happened everyday, but frequently enough that you cannot place exactly which memory you have stumbled into. Light cuts through the darkness along with the sound of a door creaking open. Your parents stop speaking at once. You hear your mother enter the hallway and tell a younger version of yourself not to worry and go back to bed.

The TV across the room suddenly snaps to life. Static gives way to a view of the real world. The Olympus is under siege by an army of SWAT and police officers. You see the unconscious bodies of yourself and Lily face down on the table. Fortuna is doing her best to fight off not only the officers compelled by the Medium Madam to attack, but your father and Jonas as well. It is clear that Fortuna is pulling her punches. She spends most of her time dodging and only strikes when she feels she must. Her uniform is torn in multiple places and a cut across her cheek bleeds heavily. She can’t keep this up for much longer.

‘Our foe fell into a different memory but I have located her. Go out the front door.’

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Miss Direction --- 0 HP

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam--- 2 HP

Miss Direction has no idea what she might be walking in to here. Stepping into the new memory, she can hear the faint bellow of carnival music. The sound of laughter, and cries of astonishment from the circus's patrons. The roars and grunts of exotic animals being paraded around. It filtered in through the temporary walls of the circus's famous Maze of Mirrors. She stood in its center, just as she had when she was a little girl, and she had chased her brother in here after he had stolen her doll.

Looking into myriad of reflections around her, she could see that, indeed, she looked just as she did all those years ago. Her face, red with tears, framed by her unruly mass of black curls. The little dress that her mother had painstakingly made for her, covered in dirt from her tumbling around with the other performers and, more often that not, ending up on her backside. Her legs even sported the cuts and scrapes that she always seemed to have.

She took a deep breath, looking down to see that her body still sported the antiquated jester's outfit, and her head still tinkled with tiny brass bells. When her gaze returned upward, her reflection matched what she knew to be reality. She wasn't some vulnerable little girl. She was a force to be reckoned with...

And she was in her domain.

She reached into her inner well of power, searching through the maze to find the frightened Medium Madam. She was trying to mask her presence somehow, but the distraction of trying to find her way out meant that Miss Direction was still able to locate her. With a smile, Miss Direction stepped forward, into one of the mirrors, and vanished from sight.

---

She could only imagine what Lily was thinking right now, as she watched her from just beyond the mirror's surface as she struggled to find her way out. Miss Direction certainly wasn't helping. She had found passages that might lead her to the exit and sealed them off by twisting mirrors into its place. Just as the villainess reached a junction point, she revealed herself. Not in any way that Medium Madam could use against her (she hoped). All around her, in the reflections of the mirrors, Miss Direction's image appeared, looking at Madam vindictively.

"What's the matter, Lily? Are you lost?"

The Madam jumps; startled by your sudden appearance. When she rebounds her face turns to anger but she won’t answer your question. She crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot upon the ground as if waiting for you to do something to impress her.

"You have a lot to learn about how the mind works, little girl." A sharp pain rings out in your side and then across your jaw. Try as you might, you can’t hide the fact that you are in pain. This brings a smile to Lily’s face. "Do you remember the girls who used to pick on you? The poor little daughter of two good for nothing carnival folk. I hope you don’t mind that I brought them into this memory to play with your younger self."

You feel your nose crack as one of the bullies punches your younger self somewhere else on the carnival grounds. "If you’re going to beat me, it is going to take more than parlor tricks."

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Miss Direction --- 0 HP

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam--- 2 HP

Miss Direction recoils from the invisible blows that she knows all too well. She leans against the other side of the mirror to brace herself, her rib aching from the blow, and the punch to the jaw making her whole head swim.

A hand goes to her face when she feels her nose break, and it comes away covered in blood. She clenches her fist in anger. Lily had not right. No right, to use these things against her. She looks up, still bracing herself against the surface of the mirror, as she meets Lily's eyes.

Something is there that wasn't before. No longer was this a fight against a villain. This wasn't even a fight born of anger at someone twisting her mind, or making their battle far more personal than was healthy for either of them.

There was death in her eyes. This was a fight for survival, as Holly knew that, if she didn't end this, she might as well be dead.

"Fine," she says, straightening up as she steps through the mirror and stands before Lily. "No more parlor tricks."

She channeled the same anger she felt that day, when those girls had picked on her, and she could do nothing but lay in the dirt and take it. All of that negative emotion that Medium Madam had tried to pull back up to make her feel like that same, scared little girl, pooled into her fist as she reeled it back.

And as her fist drove into the face of that at-one-point all-powerful-seeming villain, she could only hope that Lily understood her fatal error. She was no longer a scared little girl.

Just before your fist makes contact you revel in the look of worry that flashes across Lily’s face. The blow lifts her off her feet and she sails through the air, crashing into the mirror behind her. Shards of glass fall upon her. She does her best to shield herself but still suffers cuts on her hands, arms, and face.

You move in to finish this fight but the mirrors all around you suddenly explode. You too shield your face as the laughter of children sounds out. Your childhood bullies leap through the openings. They latch onto your arms and feet; laughing and ridiculing you.

The Medium Madam pulls her hands down from her face and you expect to see that evil smirk, but are instead met with a look of pure terror. Lily cowers away from you. Her hands and feet push her backward as she tries to get away, taking no care to avoid the shards of glass that are all over the floor.

The laughing children relinquish their grip on you. Many of them are crying as they turn tail and run away as fast as they can. You can feel a surge of power flow through your veins. The lights start to flicker and you feel an unavoidable urge to laugh. The loudest and hardest laugh of your entire life. It echoes through the room. Lily’s eyes are wide with fear and her hands are held tight over her ears in a vain attempt to shut out the laughter.

"My turn." The voice comes from you mouth but it is not your own.

Lily screams and everything goes black.

---

When you come to, an EMT is shining a bright light into your eyes. You instinctively flinch away and she shuts the small flashlight off. You are lying on your back on the floor of the Olypmus. There doesn’t seem to be any carryover of physical damage from the mental battle, but your head is absolutely pounding.

You look around the room and see the results of the chaotic battle. Medical personnel are assisting everyone as best they can. Fortuna did everything she could to avoid harming the mentally compelled victims of the Medium Madam.

Lily is lying on the ground about 10 feet from you. Her eyes are still wide and her body is twitching as she mumbles incoherently. The EMTs give each other worried looks. It is clear they have no clue what to do to help her.

Fortuna is leaning against the bar and helping herself to a shot of whiskey while a medic bandages a cut on her shoulder.

Jonas is seated at a table opposite Officer Bailey. They both look relatively unharmed besides a few small cuts or bruises. Bailey has his notebook and pen ready as Jonas gives his statement.

A man groaning in pain gets your attention. You know who it is long before you actually lay eyes upon him. Your father is lying down, propped up on his elbows. His jaw is clenched in pain as EMTs work on his left leg. The bone hasn’t quite broken through the skin but it certainly tried to. You can easily see where his tibia has been fractured. The medics do their best to stabilize it. Another medic enters the building with a stretcher to help Tom Morton to the ambulance.

---

Miss Direction: -1 HP --- DEFEATED

Threat Rating
Boss: Medium Madam: 1 HP

Holly finds herself staring at Lily as she deals with the aftereffects of their mental battle. She finds herself struggling to remember exactly what happened but, since she was more or less okay and Lily was... well, Lily was not okay. She wanted to go over there and help her. Despite everything, it hurt to see someone in obvious distress, and Holly had never done well feeling helpless.

She tears her eyes away. The EMTs would do everything they could for her, and, if they couldn't do anything, Holly doubted she could either.

She should go talk to Fortuna, and probably Officer Bailey too, but her father's moans of pain were at the forefront of her mind. She struggled to stand at first, and the EMT who had been checking her out tried to insist she stay down, but there seemed to be some sort of protocol on their end about not getting in a hero's way (or maybe Holly was just too persistent or stubborn). She rushed over to where the EMT's were getting him on the stretcher.

She wanted to cry, seeing her father so helpless and confused, but she didn't. She didn't get time to say much to him, but offered him words of comfort and well-wishes. He seemed to forget about the pain for a second (though it may have also been the painkillers) as he said something about telling his daughter about getting to meet a superhero. He knew she'd want to hear all about it.

Suppressing tears again, she has a few words with the EMT's about getting with the police to inform his family that he was safe, but recovering at the hospital. She also gives them a playing card with her autograph on it. "I'm sure he'd love to give it to his daughter," she explained.

Bailey was busy with Jonas, so she elected not to interrupt them at the moment. Her eyes were set on Fortuna.

The senior hero was glad for a bit of a distraction from getting stitched up (though not at being referred to as a senior hero). She was very curious about what had gone down, and how Medium Madam now lay convulsing on the floor. Holly explained that she wasn't entirely sure herself, but would be happy to explain what she knew a couple days from now. She considered giving Fortuna a means of contacting her, but decided that having one other person who knew was enough for now, even if that person was a police officer and not a super hero. They work out a place to meet and part ways for the time being.

That left Bailey. Jonas was being incredibly difficult, as she expected he would be, and wanted a lawyer before he spoke with anyone. Regardless, she interrupted their interrogation to express that she was happy that he made it out of this situation unharmed. He disagreed, explaining that he was currently experiencing incredible amounts of stress and would be suing. He wasn't entirely sure who he would sue, but rest assured he would be suing someone!

She smiles and nods, letting him feel entirely justified in his viewpoint as she excused herself and pulled Officer Bailey away for a quick discussion. Out of earshot, she quickly muttered something about her employer's behavior. Taking a breath, she apologies to Bailey, and hands him a playing card. She explains that she wanted to talk to him about everything that had transpired here, but wanted to get home to clean herself up, take a handful of pills for her head, and head to the hospital to see her father. On the card was the number for both her office and home phone, should he need to get a hold of her.

With all of that done, she turns and leaves. Bailey could get her statement later, and cover for her as she leaves on hero business. Fortuna can soak up the limelight of a historic victory against Medium Madam. Jonas can continue to be an insufferable prick, though she can rest soundly knowing that he'll like take the next few days off while he sorts through his affairs. The police would inform her family that the situation had passed and they could return to life as normal.

And she can return home to prepare to save the city another day.