"Admit it, you don't know where you're going." Erik had been following behind Liesel for the last thirty minutes, rather adamant she was lost and was just leading them about for no reason. At least the routes she was taking were all back streets and alleys. He frowned and shot her a look when he distinctly heard her mimicking him. He decided to just ignore her, if she was going to act like a child; he certainly wasn't going to rise to it and reply, that would make him no better really. He didn't want to indulge her, when she had these moments she was rather annoying, used to them or not, still annoying.

Erik got bought out of his thoughts as he walked into her, Liesel had stopped for some reason, and he didn't quite know why. She was standing looking firmly ahead, a frown on her face and her hands clenched by her sides. She was shaking, but not from sadness or fear, but seemingly from anger. He looked up at the building she was staring at, he could easily see the dried painted word on the window in capital letters: MUTANTS, that's all it said, even without Trask and his sudden hunting, people were already doing it before him.

"Liesel," Erik said only to watch and as she stomped a foot and ran off from his side. "Liesel!" He called out to her in a firmer tone. Did it honestly hurt her to think first?

She skidded to a stop in front of the building and cupped her eyes as she leaned close to look in through the window. "You don't want in there," a voice said from the side. Liesel looked up at a man. "Who knows what's still lingering." He made it seem like the mutants who were within, were harbouring some sort of contagion.

Liesel frowned, reaching forwards she gripped onto the man's throat with lightning speed. "What happened? You seem well informed, tell me...what happened?" Luckily enough the building was situated in a back corner of a street; with the day drawing on the shadows lengthened along the roads and hid them within.

"You should probably listen to her." Erik commented while taking to leaning behind Liesel and watching with an unamused expression.

"They came...ransacked the place, some were shot on sight, others taken. That's all I know, I swear!" Liesel had loosened her hold enough so that he could speak. The man still looked up at her with wide fearful eyes.

"You did nothing but watch, right?" She asked lowly. Wouldn't surprise me, why would this man get involved in helping those in need? It was history repeating itself: the weak, and the afraid were attacked and rounded up, while around them people just watched. This wasn't some show to watch. This was people's lives, and now these people were ultimately dead, or dying.

"What would you have me do? Intervene and help a load of mutant-" the man didn't even finish his sentence before Liesel let go of his throat and pushed a hand to his chest. In a moment he collapsed to the ground with a quiet thud. 

She looked darkly down at the lifeless form before letting out a very angry noise, irritatingly lashing out at the window, she shot at it and walked away quickly. Erik stood feeling a little bemused to say the least, that all happened really quickly. Stepping over the man's body, he moved quickly after her. Anger and Liesel was never good.

Grasping onto her shoulders, Erik pulled her back and to the side. Finding themselves in yet another horrid alley, he looked down at her. She stood with gritted teeth glaring down at the ground. "What was that?"

"Someone back home had family here...and they're likely to be dead; so excuse me if I lash out, slightly."

"You just killed a man, Liesel. That's a little more than lashing out." He stated dryly while she slowly looked up at him. He didn't sound like he particularly cared about what she did. That man was just another who let the inevitable happen.

"I don't know anywhere else nearby. But between us we could probably break into a shopping centre of some sort." Liesel said off topic and stoically as she looked about with distant eyes. She pulled away from him and walked to the other exit, she hit herself on the forehead angrily.

"Don't do that." Erik reached out and held onto her hand to stop herself from doing it again.

"I just...I just can't stand it anymore. I'm tired, Erik...I'm so tired of all this angst. I hid away for a reason, I helped others for a reason...but this...it's never ending. Why does peace have to be warped into something nasty?"

"Because asking for peace is too much."

Liesel looked up at him as they stopped at the end of the street. "Can I come with you?"

Erik looked at her seriously. "I had intended to keep you close." He admitted while they continued to stand side by side and look at each other.

"Why?" Liesel asked curiously.

"Because I'm selfish." Erik responded and looked up suddenly when there was the echoing sound of a siren, Liesel too looked up sharply. Their minor pause came to a rather abrupt halt when a patrolling car had stopped over the street. The officer within had climbed out and was looking about, clearly any heavily populated area was being searched.

"Come on," Liesel pulled on Erik's sleeve and started moving down the street. He turned and followed after her, only to end up bumping into her again when she suddenly collided with someone else.

Erik reached over Liesel's shoulder and swatted the man's hand away, gripping on he pulled him around and to the side. Suddenly having some sort of conflict going on had aroused the attention of the officer back up the street. Hearing shouting, Erik glanced over his shoulder, Liesel flicked a finger to the man's forehead and turned and looked at the oncoming officer, who was evidently not going to be alone for long. 

Already his partner was climbing out of the car, drawing his gun out of the holster as he went. The man who recognised them laid unconscious, Liesel was very selective to say the least. Her eyes flicked up at Erik before looking around at those who were by now shouting and scrambling away from them. It seemed that even if they had not been recognised, the mere thought of being caught in the crossfire with the police and them was something no one wanted to be involved in.

"So much for staying out of sight."

"Well, if you didn't take us to a dodgy hotel, then we wouldn't even be here."

Erik shot her an incredulous look, "None of this is my fault." Liesel crossed her arms and looked at him frankly. "Whatever, Liesel." He said shortly while she smirked slowly and turned on her heels, she heard movement from behind and was not surprised to see other armed officers.

"Ah...dammit, Erik...you know I never wanted to be an accomplice, again, right?"

"I would apologise, but for that to happen I'd actually need to mean it."

"And be fair, you rarely apologise, so even if you did, it would be false. You wouldn't mean it even if you did say it."

"You are perhaps one of few I'd apologise to and mean it." Erik glanced over his shoulder briefly to look at her, Liesel frowned slowly. "I mean that."

"Thanks." She said quietly while flinching at the sounds of guns being cocked. "I think this may be more your area of expertise than me."

"Leaving all the work to me? Aren't you kind?" Erik shook his head, Liesel let out a low whistle and shrugged before leaning against his back. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the men who were shouting orders at them to stand down.

"I would rather not get on the floor."

"Not literally, Liesel."

"You know I could just teleport us away, right?"

"Where would the fun be in that?" Erik asked while she looked up at him with a small frown. "They started this."

"And you're going to end it?"

"We're going to end it."

"Lovely, so, you take half I take half? Try not to kill anyone, Erik. I think one dead man is enough today, don't you think?" Liesel felt her stomach drop over the thought of that man back in the street. She couldn't help it. She was just so angry. Bystanders who did nothing to stop great cruelties from happening were always going to be a sore subject to her. She felt him shrug in response, with a sigh she leaned away from him and disappeared, she reappeared in front of those trying to cordon off the street. "Bonjour!" She said happily while curling her fingers into a fist and hitting one man, she dodged out of the punch the other sent her way. Disappearing and appearing behind him, she tapped him on the shoulder and watched him convulse to the floor. She flinched from the sounds of gunfire and frowned deeply when she caught sight of the bullets being sent back to their owners. Though Erik didn't take kill shots, the shots to the legs and torsos could still prove hugely problematic to those who received them.

Liesel dived and disappeared around when her moment of pause allowed a small group to surround her. They levelled their weapons at her thinking that'd be the incentive to stop her. She instead spun on her heels and spiralled out a shocking arc of light. They fell to the ground and she stood dizzy for a moment, placing her hand on her head she shook it slowly and looked up in time to see that more people were trying to deal with Erik than herself. He was after all the one who was most wanted; the way they saw it, she was just someone along for the ride, an accomplice. Her head stopped spinning just enough to watch as someone distracted his attention, and another two barrelled into him.

Erik's focus was lost, and the person who was being attacked fell to the ground heaving breaths. Liesel started to run forwards yet faltered when there was a shot from behind. Her shoulder suddenly felt very heavy, and very painful. Reaching up she placed her hand against her shoulder and pulled it away and looked at the spots of blood which were on her fingers. She turned and looked at the man half lying on the ground, his gun still aimed in her direction. Though it didn't last because it strained and turned and ended up being placed against his temple. Liesel looked away and started running forwards quickly, despite of being disorientated from hitting the ground hard, Erik was still able to get an arm free to deal with the officer who'd shot Liesel.

She in turn vaulted into one of the officers trying to put him down, he threw her off and she rolled across the floor. Landing painfully, she cried out from the jarring of her shoulder. Taking  advantage, another officer placed pressure on it to keep her down while he tried to attach handcuffs onto her. Shouting and kicking about, she pushed and pulled and got her good arm free. Reaching up she shoved it against the man and gasped when her hand went through his shoulder. The man's expression grew distant, as Liesel's eyes widened, she kicked him off of herself and jumped up awkwardly. Her head was swimming, and there was a pool of blood on the floor from where she was just laying. Almost falling over she managed to kick and punch with her blood stained hand at the men who Erik was slowly but surely dealing with.

Much like herself, focussing was getting harder, he had hit his head rather hard against the side of the road and was pretty certain that a concussion was kicking in. His reaction time was slow, so he naturally faltered backwards from the hit which was sent his way. Laying on his back he struggled to open his eyes, and when he did he looked at the gun which was aimed down at him. Lifting up an arm, he had it in mind to turn the gun on its owner; only he never got the chance because of a shard of sparking light which was piercing his chest.

By now the street was void of bystanders. Those who had been around at the beginning of the fight had ran off as quickly as possible, screaming and hysterical. So after getting her arm free, Liesel collapsed to her knees by Erik's side. She reached out and shook him gently, "Erik...Erik? You can't lay here and either sleep or die, I won't allow either, you know?"

"When did you get so bossy?" Erik's eyes opened and he narrowed them to focus on her.

"I learn from the best, yes?" Liesel joked with a struggled laugh, by now her shoulder was completely numb, and she was really struggling to stay awake. Erik propped himself up onto his elbows and almost fell back down again. He had really only marginally recovered from his fight with Hank and the injuries from that, this was just adding to a whole new pain level.

He looked at the hand which was suddenly held out to him, Erik slipped his hand into hers and tensed from the sudden shiver which ran through him at the feeling of tingling sharp stabbing sensations. Like Liesel he fell back to the ground when they had landed, he looked about confused. They were in a hotel room, he looked to the side where Liesel now laid on her side looking at him. "We came here...so long ago, don't you remember?" She pushed herself up and knelt by his side. "It is funny, in part how we seem to be going down memory lane." She put pressure on her shoulder and winced. By feels of things, the bullet went right through; not that that was much consolation seeing as how she now had a bullet hole gaping and bleeding.

Erik managed to get his arms and hands underneath himself, he pushed himself up and almost fell down, again. He went to put a hand to his head, only for his hand to come into contact with another. Opening his eyes, he looked to Liesel, she was looking at him worriedly. She turned his face to the side and looked over the wound on his temple, only just visible near his hairline. The trail of blood which was coming from it was nasty though, thick smears were going down his face and pooling around his neck.

"Be right back," Liesel waved a hand, or tried to, her hand just limply waved at him before falling back to her side. 

Erik placed a hand to the bedside table and with great difficulty, he pulled himself up. Turning and sitting on the bed, he watched as she reappeared with a towel. Liesel practically collapsed by his side, yet reached up and placed the fluffy white material to his head. Erik leaned into her hand and looked her over, she had a few scrapes and grazes on her face and hands. He could spy the blood which had travelled down her shoulder to her fingertips though. Frowning steadily, he pushed her arm away and reached up to put a hand against her shoulder. She let out a pained noise and went to push him away, only to have him press harder. 

"Get off! It hurts! Let me go!" Liesel shouted and kicked weakly out. He couldn't feel any metal, which meant thankfully the bullet wasn't there anymore. Though he looked at her sadly, she'd definitely need stitches. With an exhausted sigh, he managed to lean his forehead against hers. He shut his eyes and hoped the room would stop spinning while she looked at him. "We are quite the pair, don't you think?" Erik's eyes slowly opened when he heard her voice speak up quietly. Liesel put the towel back over the cut and smiled. "Can't stay out of trouble. When did trouble get so painful?"

"It always has been, Liesel...just, I always tried to keep you out of direct contact."

"Ah, ja, you have always done that haven't you?" She commented a little dryly, not wishing to bring up the obvious past annoyance. She was trying to slowly get over that, and with some small success. "Thank you."

"I don't see why you need to thank me." Erik let out a slightly cynical laugh. Liesel frowned at him and pulled the towel away to see if the blood had stemmed yet. Luckily it had more or less, so she just threw the towel onto the floor. 

Looking at her hands, she winced, she went to stand only to fall back down again. She seriously needed to wash her hands, they were stained with blood, both hers, his, strangers. The thought of that was making her feel a little unwell. Erik stood, though he wasn't much better than her, and reached out to loop an arm with hers. Hoisting her to stand, he placed his other arm around her to steady her swaying form. Liesel gripped onto him and between them, they managed to get to the bathroom. She sat down on the edge of the bath, awkwardly holding her hands out, she put them in the sink as Erik turned the taps on. 

"Well..." Liesel said while looking away from the bloody water to him. Erik slowly moved away from leaning against the counter and sat down by her side. She didn't need help washing her hands, she wasn't that out of it. Though she was steadily on her way, she dramatically thought. "That was all rather eventful, wasn't it? So, what's on tomorrows agenda?"

----

Edited: 14/June/2019

Reedited: 25/August/2021