A Rock and a Hard Place

**A Rock and a Hard Place** is a case featured in *Criminal Case*. It takes place in the *Under The Sea* chapter of Graecita.

## Plot

**You are now experiencing the story in third-person view.**

It was daytime at Graecita and a huge mob have gathered outside the palace, which was heavily guarded by soldiers. The mob was angry and protesting to have Medusa executed, while the poor gorgon is observing everything inside the castle with fear and her sisters coming to her comfort. The queen was also observing the situation and decided to go outside and talk with the protesters, despite Kaleb telling her otherwise and Norah decided to accompany her in case things get violent. Leonora tried to keep a brave face as she stepped outside the palace and ordered the protesters to stay silent. Surprisingly, the protesters obeyed her and clueless about why they were here, the queen asked them why they had all gathered outside the palace. This made a few of the protestors chuckle at her ignorance, but one of them spoke up and revealed that they want Medusa dead because she had “murdered” many of there friends and family members and since the palace is not willing to protect the people, they came to kill Medusa themselves. Leonora showed sympathy for the protestors, but refused to have their back and tried to scare them away by pointing out that attacking Medusa will only turn more of them to stone, but the protesters refused to get manipulated and continued demanding Medusa’s execution. While the mob is protesting, Dimitrios is seen with a sword in his hand, trying to find a way inside the palace without getting people’s attention. While he was thinking of a way in, he was suddenly approached by his sister Gina who had caught him sneaking out and came to ask him what he was doing. Dimitrios admitted that he came to slay Medusa and Gina reminded him that he promised not to try and kill her which Dimitrios responded to by revealing that he only agreed to that to get Cedrick off his tail. While the two were arguing, Norah, who was standing next to the queen, noticed an arrow heading toward Leonora’s direction and quickly drew her sword and slapped it away before it could hit the queen. Leonora became terrified and everyone who witnessed the scene was shocked. Dimitrios and Gina caught it too and noticed that the arrow was shot from near their area. This is when Gina noticed someone running away with a bow on their hand and alerted Dimitrios. When Dimitrios saw the assassin, he ran after them, caught up to them and pinned the person to the ground so they can’t get away. Leonora started panicking and Norah tried to calm her down, Kaleb was notified about what happened and came out of the palace, ordering the soldiers to get violent with the protestors.

At the *Hamilton Laurent’s Revenge*, both Zachary and Mia are seen laying unconsciously on the floor, with Zachary putting his arms protectively around Mia. Soon they were woken it by a worried Natalie, and when they realized the awkward position they were in, they quickly backed away from each other and blushed. But Natalie brought them back together with a hug and expressed how happy she was that are awake and that for a second she thought everyone died. Zachary asked her if Maverick and Mary woke up, where Natalie revealed that Mary have yet returned to consciousness but Maverick did, however he seems to have gotten a concussion and kept talking about nonsense. Mia became worried for the rest of their friends and went inside the ship to check on them, relieved to see that they’ve all woken up. The crew were glad that Mia survived too, but freaked out when they heard a gurgling sound. Absolutely terrified, Ophelia asked what was that sound where Zachary revealed what he and Mia saw at the main deck and that they are inside the stomach of the Charybdis. This put Ophelia at panic down and Yoyo had to calm her down, but suddenly the crew heard Natalie screaming. Concerned, they all rushed into the main deck where they noticed pirates abroad their ship and recognized them as Anne Bonny’s crewmen. Zachary used his powers to make the water around them rise to sweep the men out of the ship, but Jorge & Agwé begged him not to, claiming that they’ve come for peace. Mary Read woke up from Natalie’s scream and was confused at seeing her former crewmates, demanding to know what they’re doing here. Jorge promised that they haven’t come to attack and that they only wanted a place to stay at until they get their ship back. Mary asked them what happened to *The William* and if she could speak with Anne, but all the pirates freaked out over a bunny that somehow entered the ship. Natalie held the bunny and started cuddling, wondering why the pirates were so afraid of it until it bit her and the pirates revealed that bunny used to be Anne. That made Mary chuckle and she asked her former crewmates how did she become like that. The pirates started talking about the Vikings, the battle they had with them and revealed that the end of it, a sorceress transformed Anne into a rodent and they took over *The William*. As much as it amused the crew seeing Anne as a bunny, they knew they couldn’t keep her like this forever, so, Natalie and Mia decided to go to the viking ship to try and negotiate with the chief and have Anne come back to how she was. Zachary tried to warn the girls that the Vikings can be very aggressive, but Mia assured him they’re be careful before getting Natalie’s back and they saw all the way to the Viking ship. The girls went abroad the main deck and to their relief all the Vikings were inside the ship itself, so they started walking carefully around the main deck to look for the chief. But instead of finding the chief, they found the dead body of a woman near the ship’s dragonhead, who had her head bashed in.

**You are now playing as Mia Loukas.**

Both Natalie and Mia were shocked to see the body and wondered if the woman was killed by the Vikings, but as they were observing the body, a man came out and he was absolutely infuriated at seeing the woman’s corpse. That man turned out to be the Viking chief, Rune and the dead woman was his sister, Freja and when he saw the girls at deck, he demanded to speak with them. Natalie and Mia claimed innocence for the murder and so Rune immediately put the blame on the Vikings instead, but the girls advised him not to jump conclusions and instead give them the opportunity to look into his sister’s murder. From their talk with the chief, Natalie and Mia learned that these Vikings were the same ones that invaded *The Pedersen* and after learning that Freja was last spotted talking with the men at the yacht, the duo decided to head there not only to find clues against her killer but also hoping to find Madelina, but without luck. Eventually they found reasons to suspect Jorge de la Cruz and one of the yacht’s passengers, Wes O’Sullivan who Freja had spoken to so that she could learn about *Marvel*’s Thor, which confused Mia seeing that Freja came from an Ancient time period. Natalie and Mia returned to their ship to discuss the murder, but it was soon taken over by the Vikings who announced that they’ll be taking them to meet “Jane Foster”.

The crew were in total confusion, because they knew who “Jane Foster” and they were pretty sure she was a fictional character, but they agreed to let the Vikings take them to *The William* which “Jane Foster” adopted as her den. As everyone gathered at the main deck, the Vikings kneeled and forced the team to do the same, but suddenly someone got into the Vikings which forced them to dance against their will. After giving an embarrassing performance, “Jane” finally showed herself and standing next to her was a scrawny young man with a mop of brown hair on his head. It didn’t take a second for the crew to realize that “Jane” was actually Madelina and the scrawny boy with her was Chet Peretz, and so Natalie yelled her name out loud with shock. This confused the Vikings, and Madelina pretended she had no idea who Natalie was talking about, but soon she was being “abducted” by both Yoyo and Ophelia into the *Hamilton Laurent’s Revenge*. Madelina tried resisting but the crew forced her to have a seat and confronted for her foolish behavior and leaving the ship. Madelina rolled her eyes at all the concerns and she grilled the team over what she heard them say about her at the dinner after Calico Jack’s murder. This made Yoyo feel shitty, and she assured Madelina that she didn’t mean what she’s said about her and that they only badmouthed her because Anne was really mad at her and they were afraid the fight she had with her would make her call the deal off. After Yoyo apologized, Madelina asked the others if that meant she is a member in their crew and when they confirmed she is, she became happy, took a seat and yelled how “good it was to be home!”. Once the misunderstandings were dealt with, Zachary stepped in and questioned Madelina on why the Vikings kept calling her “Jane” and when Madelina revealed the whole facade she created, the crew became horrified. Zachary frowned and asked Madelina if she understands the severity of her and the price those who claim divinity have to pay, but Madelina brushed it off by pointing out that she didn’t claim to be a goddess, but instead she claimed to be the girlfriend of a god and besides it was Chet who put her in this situation and she had no choice but to play along. The crew glared at Chet, and eventually they decided to let the conversation go since they should be focusing on the murder instead. Madelina asked the crew what they were talking about and when they told her about Freja’s murder, she was shocked but at the same time a sense of relief came in her. Eventually, Natalie and Mia learned that Chief Rune matched one of the killer’s attributes from her before heading back to the investigation where they found reasons to suspect the Viking’s nurse, Gertrude who “Jane” was acquainted with. They also learned that Freja caught Jorge and Agwé kissing while they were drunk on mead which she reacted negatively toward and that Wes sent Freja a picture of his micro-peen hoping to seduce her. Suddenly, while they were recapping the case, Natalie and Mia heard the sound of a horn and went to check it out, where they saw the Vikings ready to have a battle with the pirates.

Natalie and Mia went in the center to the battlefield to try and cease the fight, but Rune was not willing to listen to them and demanded that they stay out of his way so he could avenge his sister’s murder. Thankfully, Madelina was there and she managed to talk Rune out of the battle and let the duo find out who killed Freja first. After the Vikings have backed off, Natalie and Mia returned their focus on the investigation where they found out that Freja did not believe in science and had clashed with Gertrude many times over the treatments she practiced. They also discovered that the victim was lately arguing a lot with her brother as he refused to see that “Jane” was a fraud, making them re-interrogate both Rune and Madelina. Eventually, they found out that Gertrude was Freja’s killer.

Gertrude reacted to the murder accusations with shock, telling Natalie and Mia that she is a nurse, that her job was to heal people not to hurt him, but after the duo showed her their evidence, she panicked and revealed that she did it to save Madelina. Natalie was shocked to hear that Gertrude knew “Jane”’s real name and asked her how did she know, in which Gertrude revealed that she got to know it by eavesdropping on a conversation between Freja and Madelina. She explained that someone from *The Pedersen* gave away Madelina’s identity to Freja and when she learned about who she is, she gave Madelina an ultimatum: Either she comes clean about her lies or Freja would expose them herself. Gertrude knew that Madelina would be screwed if the Vikings came to know about her deception and tried to talk sense into Freja and convince her to keep Madelina’s secrets hidden. But Freja refused to keep her mouth shut, so Getrude did what she felt needed to be done to keep Madelina alive. As much as they didn’t want to, Natalie and Mia turned Gertrude in to Rune, who was surprised to see his sister was killed by the tribe’s nurse. Furious, Rune demanded to know why Gertrude did that, but Gertrude refused to talk, saying that it’s a secret she’ll take to the grave. Unsatisfied, Rune told his men to lock up Gertrude and told her she has one hour to reveal what’s her motive and if she doesn’t come up with a good reason, he will behead her.

Once they handed Gertrude over to the chief, Natalie and Mia head back to their ship where the crew were discussing how they could get out of Charybdis. Zachary then reveals to Mia that Alex came up with a plan and wants to talk with them, but before they could go to him, a panicking Madelina approached the team, saying that she needs to speak to them.

Concerned, Natalie and Mia agreed to speak with Madelina and see what was bothering her. Madelina revealed that she heard that Gertrude was the one who killed Freja and she wants to know what Chief Rune is planning to do with her. When Natalie revealed that she’s getting executed in an hour, Madelina broke down to tears, blaming herself over what happened and she told the duo that they have to do something and she can’t let the Vikings kill Gertrude. Sympathetic, Natalie asked Madelina if she could use her power to order Rune into letting Gertrude go, a suggestion that shocked Madelina, who explained that the Vikings are still doubtful about her story and unless she has proof that she is indeed *Worthy*, she wouldn’t dare ask Rune to pardon anyone, especially his sister’s killer. Natalie questioned Madelina on what she meant by *Worthy*, which Madelina responded by telling her about a hammer called *Mjolnir* which has provides its carriers many abilities, but only a few people are allowed to hold it and those who could are considered *Worthy*. Madelina revealed that Chet showed Rune a poster of an actress who looks a lot like her, carrying the hammer which is why he chose to shelter her, but because she didn’t have the hammer in her position, he has doubts about her “identity”. Hearing this gave Natalie and Mia an idea and they both went into the yacht to look for a reference of *Mjolnir*, hoping the crew could create a replica of it for Madelina. After look through a DVD case, they found a DVD for a movie called *Thor: Love and Thunder* which featured a woman that looked like Madelina on the cover, dressed like a Valkyrie and holding a large hammer. The girls sent the poster to Maverick, who finally recovered from his concussion and he managed to craft a hammer that looked a lot like *Mjolnir*. The duo were going to give it to Madelina, but Maverick told them he had a better idea and that they should give the Vikings a show they’ll never forget.

Desperate to get out of Charybdis, Zachary and Mia went to talk with Alex and see his plan. Alex explained that Charybdis may be a dangerous sea monster, however she is still a living-being and faces the same bodily processes as they do. This is where Alex suggested that in order to leave Charybis’ stomach, all what they had to do is to make her throw up and then everyone could get out of here. The plan confused Zachary who asked Alex how could they make Charybdis throw up, but Alex assured him that this won’t be a problem since they’re inside her stomach and if they punched her walls hard enough they could give her a stomachache and force her to vomit. Alex continued explaining by pointing out that they have cannons and that firing them would inflict enough pain onto Charybdis’ stomach. Zachary was satisfied by the plan, but when he went to check the barrels, he realizes that they ran out of gunpowder from their fight with the Atlantean guards. This pissed him off, but then he remembers there are other pirates here too and so he and Mia went abroad *The William* to ask their gunner< if they could use some of their gunpowder. Unfortunately, Cordaro revealed that *The William* could not afford to buy gunpowder, however he tells Zachary and Mia that they kept cannon balls inside a box in case they faced any danger and they could burrow them if they need them. Zachary and Mia thanked Cordaro before searching *The William* where they found a large box which had a lock installed on it. Mia opened the lock and inside she and Zachary found cannon balls they could use to shoot Charybdis. The duo took the balls, however before they could shoot, they decided they must warn everyone to stay inside their ships so that they won’t get hurt when they get thrown out of Charybdis.

**You are now experiencing the story in third-person view**

An hour passed since Gertrude’s arrest and Rune was ready to behead her. Her daughter, Valkyrie is seen in the crowd, crying and trying to reach her mother but was getting restrained by the female Vikings. Before Rune could swing his axe, Madelina barged into the execution and told Rune to stop and that she was the one he wants. She “confessed” that she “killed Freja”, that Gertrude was simply taking the blame for her and begged Rune to kill her instead. This “confession” shocked the Vikings and Mia intervened by telling Rune not to listen to her since all their evidence points to Gertrude and “Jane” is only saying all that to save her friend. But Madelina insisted that she was the culprit and admitted that she is not “Jane Foster” and this whole thing about her being *Worthy* is just a lie and she killed Freja because she was going to expose her. Mia intervened again by pointing out that if “Jane” was really lying then why would there be a picture of her holding *Mjolnir*? This whole thing was confusing Rune, who told both girls to stay silence before turning to Gertrude to execute, but before he could swing the axe, he was interrupted by the sound of a shock. The Vikings turned to see where the sound was coming from and they saw a hammer laying on the ship’s ground. One of the men tried to carry the hammer, but was immediately electrocuted and he had to back away. Mia looked for Maverick and was relieved to see him there with a remote which he used to create a shock on the hammer. One by one, the men tried to hold a hammer and failed, until it had come to Rune, who tried to resist the electricity coming from the hammer and put all his strength to carry it. But eventually he gave up after the hammer nearly fried him alive. Madelina was confused over what was going on but she went to carry the hammer, and while it was a little heavy, she was the only who managed to lift it without getting electrocuted. The Vikings then realized that this hammer was “*Mjolnir*” and they all bowed to “Jane Foster”, *The Worthy*. Madelina was amused by the spotlight and she decided to use her new-founded power to pardon Gertrude the murder of Freja. This of course did not please Rune, who protested against “Jane’s” decision but to his misfortune, the Vikings chose her side, out of fear of punishment. Resentfully, Rune gave Gertrude her pardon, which made Valkyrie happy, that she rushed to hug her mother then “Jane” to thank her for saving her mother’s life.

Once Gertrude was rescued, everyone rushed inside their ships and the *Hamilton Laurent’s Revenge* as well as *The William* began filling up their cannons. Madelina caught “Mehitabel” running around and went to check what she was chasing, which turned out to be the ginger bunny which used to be Anne Bonny and she began to giggle. Mary Read was glad to have found Anne and she asked Madelina if she could bring her back to human, and at first Madelina refused but then she sighed and reverted her own spell. When Anne became human again, she was absolutely infuriated and tried to attack Madelina but was restrained by Mary who expressed how glad she is to see her pal again. Eventually, the ships were ready to shoot and they aimed their cannons on Charybdis’ stomach wall. The pressure coming from the cannon balls was enough to make the stomach gurgle and the water inside started rising until Charybdis threw up. This helped free all the 5 ships inside, but they started flying into the air and were about to take a strong fall into the water which could potentially wreck the ships. But before they could hit the water, something held the ship and when the crew turned to see what it was, they were horrified when they saw it was Skylla. To their luck, Skylla saw Zachary and remembered him as one of the heroes who saved her from *Mr Sparkles’ Land* so instead of attacking the ships, she chose to let them go. The *Hamilton Laurent’s Revenge* crew were all relieved, but Mia decided to pick a fight with Madelina by telling her how she nearly fucked up their plan by outing herself to the Vikings. Madelina got defensive, and she told Madelina that this wouldn’t have happened if one of them told her about the plan beforehand instead of waiting until the last minute to let her know. The crew tried to break up the argument, but Mia refused to let it go and called Madelina the r-slur for trying to sacrifice herself to the Vikings. Madelina was starting to get pissed off and she defended her actions by saying she did that to save her friend and any of them would’ve done the same thing if they were in her position. She then continued by pointing out that if they had treated her as an actual member of the crew and talked to her about their plans she would’ve have done anything foolish and confronted Mia for her behavior and that she was getting sick of the way she’s treating her. But Mia did not stop taunting, and she told Madelina that none of them would care if she ran away again and that she was nothing but a burden to them. This was eventually Madelina’s breaking point and she’s had enough of Mia, so she took off her chancla and threw it at her head, making her bleed. She then jumped at Mia and began beating the shit out of her until someone from the crew restrained her. Looking at what she’s done, Madelina felt immediate guilt and rushed inside one of the cabins and Chet followed her. While Mia was whining about how Madelina assaulted her (even though bitch provoked it), Madelina was having a panic attack inside the cabin. Chet started comforting her, put his arms around her waist and started kissing her neck, all while assuring her that Mia “got what she asked for”. Eventually, Madelina calmed down, turned to face Chet and started laughing about beating Mia up, then she and Chet had sex.

Back at Graecita, Leonora is getting bathed and she still felt traumatized over the assassination attempt directed at her. Meanwhile, Norah is trying cheer up Atalanta by giving her gold from Leonora’s jewelry box, however the lioness was in a really bad mood and did not feel like playing, which was concerning Norah. Suddenly, Shirley Kennedy barges into the room and she announced to the queen that her attacker was caught. The maids quickly dressed up Leonora and she rushed to the throne room with Norah to find out her attacker’s identity. At the throne room, they saw Dimitrios, who was restraining a person who had a feminine appearance but was dressed up in traditionally male clothes. The queen thanked Dimitrios and asked him to leave the throne room, and once he was out of sight, Norah drew her sword at the assassin, ready to kill them. However, Leonora told her friend to back away and asked the felon about their identity. The assassin revealed themself as Vivian Astley, an aspiring genderfluid actor and playwriter. Once the assassin introduced themselves, Leonora asked them why they tried to kill her and given the opportunity to open up, Vivian decided not to hold back. Vivian called Leonora a “dictator” and how she made Graecita a dystopian reality. They explained that thanks to her dividing the city based on their ancestry, citizens are being judged on who they are related to and are forced to take occupations they don’t enjoy simply because of who their godparents are (Example: A child of Demeter has to be a farmer, a child of Hephaestus needs to be a mechanic etc). And while demigods are being put in boxes, it leaves the mortals with no career opportunities except low-income jobs and that Vivian really wished they could join the House of Apollo to become a theatrical actor, but was turned away because they have no relations to Apollo himself. After Vivian was done venting about their problems, Norah was ready to execute them, but Leonora order her not to and let Vivian go free. Vivian was shocked that the queen let them go, however fearing she may change her mind, they ran out of the palace immediately. Once Vivian was gone, the queen thought about what they said and knew as a leader, she had to make changes and fix her mistakes.

## Summary

### Victim

* **Freja** (Found with her head bashed in)

## Suspects

Chief RuneWes O’SullivanJorge de la CruzMadelina AlonzoGertrude
## Quasi-suspects

Alex StamosCordaroAnne BonnyCharybdisSkyllaVivian Astley
## Killer’s Profile

* The killer drinks mead.
* The killer uses soap.
* The killer speaks Old Norse.
* The killer wears fur.
* The killer has blue eyes.