Mirrors.
Why did it had to be mirrors?

Maya swore under her breath as she shifted through another reflecting surface. The situation was irony itself. When the X-men got the call - potentially dangerous mutant, children on site - it sounded like just another mission.
She wasn't even suspicious when she was picked to go.

But.
Fun house mirrors?
Really?!

The guy was in there somewhere. Maya had her fingers on the string of the bow. She could see herself shift through other surfaces; every time she caught movement from the corner of her eye, she was never sure if it was her own reflection, or the a**hole who decided it was a good idea to scare children.

This time, it was the a**hole.

"Hey!" Maya raised the bow and shot an arrow. It pinged off of a hard surface that definitely wasn't a person. There was an annoying laugh from somewhere, and she lunged out of a mirror and into another one. A blast of light shot out and brushed her shoulder, leaving a burn mark. Maya spun out of the way.

Yeah, this mission was all fun and games so far.

Mirrors. Mirrors and the sounds of children screaming and running and laughing. The sounds of a birthday song being played in another room. 

Jiri paused for a very, very serious moment in front of one of the mirrors. A very, very serious eight year old boy stared back at him, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a birthday hat. It smelled like nachos and pizza and old ice cream dripped on floors and not cleaned up all that well. From somewhere, the chaotic nightmare laugh of a clown sounded.

He'd been working with the Mansion staff and his roommate Alex--mostly his roommate Alex--to figure out when he was dreaming or not. It was very important to figure that out. He was having trouble remembering why, and it didn't really feel that important, but Alex would be disappointed if he didn't even try. 

So Jiri puffed up his cheeks, and let the air out slowly. Okay. He'd try. What were some ways of telling?

Well, if he was awake, then things should stay the same. They shouldn't be all shifty-like and changing and not-sense-making. He nodded to mirror-him, and started walking, keeping an eye out. His image slipped and slid next to him, fattening out into squat little trolls and stretching like taffy until they nearly touched the ceiling. All signs pointed to sleep.

What else? Well, if he looked like himself, he was probably awake. But he was having trouble remembering what he should look like (which was exactly something dreaming-him would do.) He was pretty sure he was not blonde, or white, or eight, though. He did not think he was any of those things.

Okay. The most important test, then. He wasn't sure who had told it to him--maybe that Ghost-lady?--but it was super important. If anyone was screaming in the back of his head, he was almost certainly awake. He paused a moment to listen really, really hard.

But it was hard to tell if the back of his head was screaming, when everyone was screaming.

"Can you please be quiet," the little boy shouted, "I'm trying to not be dreaming!" 

"Why be dreaming," a sibilant hiss crept into his ear, "when you can be screaming?"

The little blonde boy was frowning before he'd even turned. "Was that supposed to be funn--"

...

Big red ball nose. Blue eyes inked above a too-wide smile. Light, light glowing in the depths of its eyes like the fires of hell.

...

His scream was loud and long and then he was running. Mirrors were everywhere and he didn't look quite right in any of them. He loomed over himself, he jeered at himself, he had outlandishly stretched arms and legs that mocked himself as he ran. 

The boy found a little corner nestled in the back of the mirror maze, a place where at least there was only one way in so he could watch it really close and not get snuck up on by that.

This was not a dream.

This was a nightmare.

Jiri was ready to go back to his own head, now. He did not remember much, but he knew there were no killer clowns there. He could not say the same about this place.

Mirror had been in a house with actual nightmares before, and it was not half as terrifying as this one.

"Stop scaring children and come play with the big boys, you a**hole!" Maya yelled as another terrified scream echoed through the fun house. There was an evil clown in there somewhere, and a whole bunch of mirrors.

She was going to have a headache from this.
Or maybe from the hangover after she's drunk the memory away.

There was a cackle and Maya spun around, letting an arrow fly. It pinged off a mirror, but she could see the reflection of the clown, waving his hand.

Why were clowns still even a thing? All kids hated them.

"All right, kids, listen up!" she yelled, hoping her voice would carry through the maze "It's gonna be okay. Go get out of here and find your parents. The clown won't follow, I promise."

The clown moved and she lunged after him. She might just ditch the bow entirely, and punch the guy into submission.

She turned a corner and spotted him again. Or maybe it was another reflection?...

Only one way to find out.

Jiri paused, his arms crossed over his head for maximum safety. 

Someone was yelling. Someone was yelling and cursing. It sounded like a girl, and it sounded like she was doing something. Her voice was all authority-like. Jiri uncurled from his ball of safety, and risked crawling over to peer anxiously around the corner. There were images, so many, he couldn't tell if any of them was real--

(--if any of this was real--)

Flashes of yellow and blue from the clowns billowing sleeves, and a horrifying white-smeared face. Smaller images, other seven and eight and nine year olds running for their lives. There seemed to be fewer now. They were finding their way out of the maze. How were they finding their way out? This place was a hellish construct with no end. Cackling echoed all around them, punctuating the point.

There were a girl jumping around, chasing the clown and his reflections. She wasn't old old, just teenager old. And she was shooting things. With arrows.

Badass.

The clown, by contrast, was shooting laser beams. Which would have also made him a badass, except that he was a clown. Now he was just a laser death clown.

He thought he saw the real one run past--there was briefly two of them in front of a mirror, and that meant it was the real clown and a reflection clown, right? He cowered around the corner, to be safe. 

Footsteps followed, in hot pursuit.

Jiri took a deep breath, and flung himself from hiding, hoping the legs he collided with were the arrow girl's and not the evil clown's.

"I don't know who my parents are!" The eight year old wailed, his eyes screwed shut. "And you are lying, you lying lie-face, clowns always follow children that's what they do!"

Maya moved towards the clown when something collided with her legs, bringing her to a flailing stop.

>>"I don't know who my parents are! And you are lying, you lying lie-face, clowns always follow children that's what they do!"

"Wh..." Maya blinked, trying to regain her balance - not an easy feat with an eight-year-old wrapped around her knees. She could see the clown grin and shift between the mirrors.

"All right" she leaned down, grabbing the kid and holding him at arm's length "Listen up. I am here to make the clown go away, but I can't do that with you clinging to my legs. So. Be a brave boy, get out of here, and don't look back. I've got this."

Right?

Peeling the kid away, Maya looked up to see where the clown was hiding. She did her best to step between the lingering figure (real or not real) and the kid, reaching for an arrow again. The clown cackled.

She would never sleep again. Good thing Evelyn wasn't around...

"No!" The little boy wailed. "I want to stay with you! You have arrows and you're going to shot him I am way safer with you if you make me leave then he's going to find me the second your back is turned and the last thing you'll hear is my scream and you'll feel really guilty but I'll be dead!" pause for breath "This is not about being brave this is the plot of every horror movie ever. Don't split the party!"

Despite his protests, despite his amazing display of logic and intelligent reasoning, the girl with the arrows still insisted on prying him off of her kneecaps. 

She stepped between him and the clown's reflection, all heroic like, but he wasn't fooled. She was clearly the main character in this movie, and if he stepped off screen for even a second, he was dead. Being genre-savvy was a terrifying way to live life.

Jiri stomped his foot. "I am not--

"--leaving!" The last word was said in the girl's own voice. Behind her, a little boy blinked in confusion before running away screaming.

>>"No! I want to stay with you! You have arrows and you're going to shot him I am way safer with you if you make me leave then he's going to find me the second your back is turned and the last thing you'll hear is my scream and you'll feel really guilty but I'll be dead! This is not about being brave this is the plot of every horror movie ever. Don't split the party!"

That was impressive lung capacity for an eight-year-old child. Maya would have been more thoroughly impressed, though, had she not been in the middle of the fight. Never split the party, sure, but he was definitely splitting her attention.
Also, her nerves had split ends now too.

"Stay back" Maya growled as she kept an eye on the clown, putting an arrow int he string. She had to be good to make sure the arrow wouldn't ricochet.
Maya was good.

>>"I am not----leaving!"

... HUH?!

Suddenly, her body was not her own. Maya's eyes widened in a look of horror the same time the clown made an appearance again, with a terrifying grin and glowing eyes.

The clown was powering up the lasers, and here she was piloted by an eight-year-old.

Maya was pretty sure the letters F-M-L were going to be emblazoned on her gravestone.

"Aaah! Shoot it!" The clown was clearly charging up for a boss attack, but she wasn't shooting it. Why wasn't she shooting it?

Oh, body snatcher. Right. For some reason, it felt easier to think straight in her head. He had far less desire to find the nearest adult and cling to them for safety, too. In fact, bow and arrows in hand, he was feeling pretty badass.

"You are going to die, clown." The teenager jerked the muscles around Maya's mouth into a grin. 

But he couldn't just shoot the thing. Well, he could, but where was the fun in that? The action? The adventure? This wasn't a horror film, it was Indiana Jane and the Secret of the Lost Mirror Maze. 

Jiri released the bow string while simultaneously throwing him(her)self to the side in an epic rolling dodge.

This went about as well as you would expect, given that he'd never shot a bow before, and that he'd forgotten they were surrounded by highly breakable objects.

Maya said some weird stuff, snarled, shot an arrow into empty space, then rolled straight into a mirror.

Ouch.

Whoever was piloting her body had clearly never done any of these things before.

Maya's body collided with the reflecting surface and bounced off. Apparently whoever was in her head could not use her power to merge into the reflection - or didn't know how. Instead, she left a spiderweb of minor cracks in the glass, and got a bruise on her side.

Come on you idiot, let me do this.

The plus side: The laser beam missed them. So far, so good.

There was a scathing commentary of emotions emanating from the back of his head, ending in some truly pithy criticism.

I'm not an idiot, Jiri protested, I'm a recovering eight-year-old.

It might be a condition unique to him, but it was a real one. As his(her) shoulder hit the mirror, and things broke (but happily not on her) (much), Jiri came to the unfortunate conclusion that he had no idea what he'd been thinking, either.

But it had been cool. Or it would have been, if he'd pulled it off. And a guy had to try, right? To look cool? In front of a girl? Whose body he was in?

Jiri resisted a real and urgent impulse to look down at his own chest. Later. There were more pressing matters right now, including the cackling clown who was charging another attack.

I would let you do this if I knew how to let you do this! He said, as he hastily sprint-stumbled behind a corner, chased by images of the teen. But I kind of suck with my power right now! So if you could teach me how to use a bow very very quickly, that might be a good idea!

Bows were easy, right? They didn't have many moving parts. If Jiri's caveman ancestors had been able to figure these things out, they couldn't be that bad.

I'm not an idiot. I'm a recovering eight-year-old.

Oh good, there were voices in her head now.
Recovering?!
She would have to sit this guy down with Jude.
Preferably in a nuclear shelter with a lock on it.

I would let you do this if I knew how to let you do this! But I kind of suck with my power right now! So if you could teach me how to use a bow very very quickly, that might be a good idea!

He what?!

Are you freaking kidding me?!

A mirror shattered behind them. The clown was still around. Maya would have been hyperventilating from panic now, except, she was not even remotely in control of her own body.
Where was the kid's body, anyway?!
She hoped he was legal to punch.

Okay, okay. Cool down.
Archery 101, straight int he brain. She was going to Matrex this sh**.

You'd better hope you're right-handed. Bow in the left. Point it downwards. Put the arrow on the left side, above your fist. White feathers on the string, blue to the left. Index finger above the nock, two below. Aim first, and only draw after.

Don't panic.

I freaking kid you not.

Also, now that he wasn't an eight year old, the odds of this being just a dream felt like they were dramatically decreasing. It was... easier to think in this girl's head. And really, her disbelieving rage seemed a very normal, very not-a-dream reaction to possession.

So. Weird question time. The voice in her head asked. Are we awake?

Crap. That made the psychotic laser clown even scarier. 

Don't panic, she said. The last of her instructions. Don't panic. It should have been the first thing she said.

There were images in her mind to go with the words, like a photo collage of the hundreds of times she'd done it before, how natural it felt to slip her fingers into place, the trial and error of finding that perfect aim point until it was an unconscious feeling of rightness, of knowing before she even released her fingers whether she'd be on target or not.

Which was all really nice for her, but didn't stop his hands from shaking as he tried to put all that information into action. Blue feather on the left, white on the string (why was that?), finger positioning (why two below?)

He aimed, drew, fired. And, thanks to the crash course in his head, he knew as his fingers released, knew it in his gut, that he'd utterly missed. He ducked behind a mirror, not waiting to see the result.

Can we run now? Why are you fighting the evil laser clown instead of calling the police?

>>So. Weird question time. The voice in her head asked. Are we awake?

Maya would have blinked in surprise had her body not been controlled by a panicking... what, eight year old?... This dude... person couldn't be an adult, no way.
Then again, judging solely by Mirror's own track record with dream worlds, it was actually a valid question.

Yes we are awake.
...
Well, I'm awake, anyway.

Maya observed as her body fired an arrow and missed. They ducked behind a mirror.

>>Can we run now? Why are you fighting the evil laser clown instead of calling the police?

Because I'm with the X-men, Mays sighed mentally, big freaking blue X on the uniform?

Glass shattered somewhere nearby.

We can move through the mirrors. We can get a clear shot if we get behind him. Just... walk into a mirror like you mean it.

And please do mean it.

The girl vouched for her own wakefulness, if not for his.

Fair enough. 

So he should... not get her killed. That would be the best for both of them. Even if this did still feel a little like one of those running-from-a-monster-you-can't-escape dreams.

Oh god no.

...Was probably not the reaction she was expecting, when she mentioned the X-men. He took a moment to glance down at her chest (he definitely hadn't been looking for an excuse to do that since the beginning). Big freaking blue X confirmed. 

Umm. I think I go to school with you? Well, not right now. Because you're not in summer school. Or I guess we'd already have met. But I started, like, two weeks ago--

He was rambling and he knew it. He shut himself up with an effort.

Walk into a mirror. Sure. Okay. Can't be harder than aiming a bow.

If it was, they were dead. Jiri let out a long breath, closed their eyes, and walked face first at the mirror they'd been huddled behind. This is totally going to work, he chanted in their had. Definitely. Completely. Hundred percent. 

He figured if he didn't know exactly when they were going to hit it, it had a better chance of working. Still. They really should have faceplanted by now, shouldn't they?

He cautiously pried open an eyelid, and stopped walking. They were in some kind of black hall, surrounded by... well, mirrors. It was like the world had inverted itself, and only the mirrors had stayed the same. So this was the other side of the looking glass. 

Jiri O'Leary. Nice to meet you. If you tell me your name is Alice, I'm giving up on reality.

So. Is fighting laser death clowns really a school club?

That's what the X-Men were, right? The spandex club?

>>Oh god no. Umm. I think I go to school with you? Well, not right now. Because you're not in summer school. Or I guess we'd already have met. But I started, like, two weeks ago--

Oh joy.

You are a Mansion kid?!

How did all these kids keep popping up at the Mansion without her noticing? She would have to take her greeter duties more seriously.
Also, now that he was a Mansion kid, Maya felt doubly responsible for not getting him killed.

>>Jiri O'Leary. Nice to meet you. If you tell me your name is Alice, I'm giving up on reality. So. Is fighting laser death clowns really a school club?

Maya Morris, codename Mirror.

Okay, that was barely better than Alice and she knew it. But it had stuck a long time ago.

It's not a school club. We... work with the police.

Sometimes. Hopefully the kid could not hear hesitation in her freaking head.

Also, if a mirror breaks on us, we die, so keep moving. Circle around. W need to get behind him. Pull another arrow. Get ready.