"You know, when you first mentioned to me that you were going to set out to help those you could; I honestly didn't see a problem with it. But do you know what? I take it back. Do you know why I'm taking it back? Because now security alerts are flagging up at work. You know sooner or later, they're going to realise someone's leaked the information to you. And you know what, I really don't think it'll be long until they find out it was me. Not only that, I thought you were getting Charles's backing with this, what happened there?"

Liesel peered over the sofa arm and looked to Gretchen, Liesel had tried to sneak into the home and failed. She instantly collapsed on the sofa while Gretchen stood at the end of the sofa, causing Liesel to either look up at her, or roll onto her stomach and look up at her. "Do you know, it pains me enough knowing my sister works for the same company an utter lunatic owns and runs...it pains me even more that you can selfishly think of what would happen to you, at this point I think it's a little late for that, don't you think?" Liesel pushed herself up and frowned up at her sister. "You're the one who came home one day and blurted out what Trask Industries was scheming away. You're the one who seemed to forget, not sure how, that those which are being targeted are the same as me. You're the one who let me privy to information about certain bases. I'm good at finding things out. Even without my information gathering skills, someone else could easily find out, triangulate and infiltrate the bases and set those gathered free." She said while glaring up at Gretchen, who suddenly looked rather uneasy. "I didn't set down this path. By all means, you accidentally set me on it and I've been running down it ever since. As for Charles...I've not heard from him in years. He's stopped taking my phone calls, so I don't know what's going on there. From my snooping, the school is fine, so something else is going on but I'm not going to interfere there. Lord knows I've got other things to do than push my nose into any of Charles's business." Liesel pushed herself to stand with a heavy sigh. Tilting her head to the side, she let out a relieved sound when her neck clicked. "I'm not alone," Liesel looked at Gretchen from the corner of her eyes. "I'm not...I've got Newt, and some others lending a hand."

"But-"

"But nothing. I'm not going to leave people to that fate. Trust me...I would rather stick pins in my eyes...than leave...you wouldn't understand it fully, Gretchen. The things which I've stumbled on, what they do to them, it is not wholly dissimilar to me...and for that, no matter what, I will help." Liesel nodded, "Doesn't seem like anyone else is." Which was true.

"I don't ask about what you do. But how many?"

"This time? Twenty...maybe twenty-four?" Liesel said while moving over to the television and putting it on. Instantly the news flared up, she frowned and sat back down, her black suit creaked slightly from the action. She hadn't got changed as yet. She still had her gauntlets on, as well as her goggles, which were now down and resting below her chin.

"You heard about this?" Gretchen sat down beside her as the two looked to the report.

"Newt clued me in." Liesel replied at length while a frown was slowly appearing on her face. The words: bullet and curved caused her to frown even more. Bullets don't curve, not unless someone makes them curve.

"What is it?" Gretchen looked worriedly to Liesel as she suddenly looked tense and pale in her seat, she'd even taken to clenching her fists.

"Erik," she whispered while looking slowly to Gretchen, over the years she had admittedly spilt all about him, and them, and whatever...it was only fair that neither had any secrets between them. And as far as secrets went, he was a pretty bloody big one. Liesel wasn't an idiot, she knew he'd crop up in her life again at some point or another, the world was simply too small not for this to happen.

Gretchen naturally felt conflicted when it came to him. On the one hand: he had saved her sister's life, he had looked out for her, he had essentially been her family and then some. But on the other hand: he did let his little group of friends beat on her, though Liesel came away without major injuries, though the slash marks from Azazel's knife had scarred, it still didn't mean anything. He'd been so instrumental into how her sister turned out. Yet he had also been hugely instrumental into splitting the pair up, if Gretchen was on the scene at this point in time...hell have no fury.

"He killed the President? But why? What could he possibly gain from this?" Gretchen asked while Liesel pulled the strap of her goggles up and over her head. Placing them on the coffee table, she took to taking her gauntlets off.

"I don't know..." Liesel paused in her task and thought about the question for a moment. Looking up at the screen she mused over it some more. "But whatever it was for...it was for nothing." She said hollowly when the reporter said that someone had been arrested in suspicion for assassination of the President. "He can't be put in prison. He can't be put on death row. They will lock him up, and they will throw away the key. Whatever it was for, it seems it was for nothing if he's going to be in a cell for the rest of his natural life."

"Unless a certain someone wants to break him out."

"I don't want to." Liesel said while standing up and picking her things up. "What had the President ever done to him to warrant being shot in the head? Nothing. He didn't seem like a wholly bad guy...something doesn't add up here, but I'm not going to lose sleep on it. I've got work tomorrow after all. So good night, Gretchen." And with that Liesel turned and walked up the stairs, as soon as she got to her room she peeled off her suit, changed into a rather baggy t-shirt and collapsed on her bed.

----

Walking out of the elevator, Liesel looked about with a small smile on her face. She usually actually wasn't much of a morning person, especially considering her mornings usually started at about six. She liked to have a lay in. Yet no. Each day she was up at five to get in to work for six. From then she'd finish doing any research which was needed for the afternoon print, if she wasn't needed then she'd just stay in the building. At least she was being paid for sitting around.

Liesel sat at her small desk and flicked through the paper in front of her. She picked at a file which was next to her and sighed. Raising her eyes she looked over the rim of her glasses and listened to a group of people talking about the assassination of the President. She tried to make it seem casual, that she wasn't actually blatantly paying attention to what they were saying. But because they kept dropping the M word, she couldn't help but listen. It seemed whatever problems were happening in the world, mutants were the ones who got the blame. Bank stock falling. Mutants. Build up of traffic. Mutants. Oncoming bad weather. Mutants. Killed the President of the United States. Mutants. Only the last one could be possibly founded.

Liesel would be totally lying if she said she hadn't kept track of what Erik had been up to since they parted ways. She was curious. And she was a complete idiot. But whatever, she'd kept some tabs, noted some minor points of success, and had discovered that he was in Dallas. Liesel had grown quite a wide web of helpers. She had freed a lot of people who were more than happy to help to repay the favour. She drummed her fingers on her desk. She was essentially a mutant spy master. Though she didn't like to think of it as that. But any useful pieces of information anyone found out was usually phoned through to her, via safe lines, or posted, through loads of different states so it couldn't actually be tracked back.

This was how her days usually went. She got up. Went to work. Did whatever was needed of her then went home. It was all a bit boring really. But the one saving grace was managing to help those who were shut and locked away. But moments like last night only happened once in a blue moon. People were getting actually rather clever in some part that they've finally realised someone was freeing their apparent subjects.

"So, they've cottoned on, huh?" Newt asked later on in the day. He lived in a quiet suburb which was actually quite dodgy. His little hideaway appeared at first glance as a bunch of rubbish garages, but in fact he'd made them into a totally liveable space. Newt was an interesting character. One who Liesel always believed would get on with Hank. They could've totally been technology geniuses together. Rather like Hank, ironically enough, Newt's mutation was rather obvious. His skin was littered with scaled patches which ran up his arms, his neck, and the sides of his face. His nose was similar to a lizards, and his eyes were rather large yet slitted. He was one of the most interesting people Liesel had ever come into contact with.

"Not you too." Liesel groaned from her seat in an overly stuffed chair. She was sinking in amongst the pillows, yet was comfortable enough to almost nod off to sleep.

"Oh come on, Lis," Newt said while turning from his desk and looking to her.

"I ain't defending him. You as well as Gretchen know that. Just...why is it the automatic? People have been killing each other for years. Because it's someone important it's immediately a mutant that's done it." Liesel said while patting her hands on the arms of the chair and physically pulled herself up. "How's it going anyhow?" She moved over to where he sat. He was brushing up her gauntlets. Making them more streamline, more fitted, not so heavy.

"Good." Newt said while nodding happily. His tone was curt, but short. He was clearly dwelling on something, and Liesel rolled her eyes, knowing he'd keep it to himself if she didn't ask.

"Out with it." Liesel said while turning and leaning against the desk.

Newt tapped a clawed finger on the wood and looked hesitantly around. "Don't you feel anything?"

"Immense sadness." Liesel pushed away. She picked up her coat and pulled it on, fully aware to Newt turning and looking at her. "For the family. Not him. As confusing as this all is. It was only a matter of time before Erik did something stupid and got caught." Liesel looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"Right, right," he said waving her off. He turned to his work and listened to her open the door and slam it again. He took comfort in the automatic lock clicking in place as soon as the door was shut. He took general comfort in the fact that no one could break into this place.

Liesel patted the shut door and turned and moved down the alley. She was still trying to figure this out. It was like those dot to dot pictures she did when she was a child. There was one point. That led to the connecting one. Then from there it led to another. But somehow, somewhere along the way the line got jumbled and tangled up. It was actually really annoying. Many things annoyed Liesel, but not understanding something was right up there. Running across the road she moved from the darkened alley to the brightly lit street. Pulling her hood up, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and kicked her feet along the ground.

Looking around she merely glanced at everyone she passed. They seemed totally ignorant to her current troubles. But then why would they be privy to her thoughts? With a sigh she rolled her eyes, pushed her glasses up her nose and continued onward. Truth be told she didn't really need to wear glasses, she just thought they made her look unsuspecting. It was an odd moment of thinking, but she'd grown quite used to them.

She'd grown used to many things, her monotonous days bleeding all into each other. Her nightly adventures whenever they cropped up. The balancing between day and night was something which she had grown pretty good at. Though Gretchen could disagree with her because she apparently spent weekend days looking withdrawn and half asleep. For someone who worked for one of the most important companies to possibly ever exist, Gretchen wasn't exactly the most alert person she knew.

Truthfully, the pair of them spent more time half asleep, trudging through the days as they came, sticking to the same routines, not changing anything because all seemed to be so good. Only, the good would eventually come to an end. The monotony would end, and it would end in such a way Liesel did not even see coming; only it would be years to come yet.

----

Edited: 13/June/2019

Reedited: 24/August/2021