"Oh please," Brooke said drily. "As though my mother hasn't tried the same stunt on me a time or seven already, when I was acting up at Bergdorf's?" Her eyes narrowed at the decidedly less awesome Lady Mastermind. "Try harder, lady."

One of the fun things about being a tele-empath, at least for Brooke, was the fact that it gave her the ability to channel those powers being used directly on her and deviate them back towards her opponent.

Which she tried to do with Lady Mastermind. If it worked, than the other woman - her aunt, presumably - would see the same illusionary flames spring up around her.