Prelude for the Twins {Sally}

(This takes place a couple months (weeks?) before everyone's capture.)

“Goddamn it! That fucking hurt!” Levi quickly grabbed the handle of the knife sticking solidly out of his arm, thick blood beginning to seep from around its razor edge. With a grunt he pulled, freeing it from his body, and tossed it carelessly to the ground below him. “You're going to have to try harder, though” With that he leaped forward, just catching the windowsill with the tips of his fingers before pulling himself up, balancing precariously on the thin ledge high above the busy city streets.

His pursuer was close behind, their limbs now climbing out of the window he himself had just escaped from. The other man lacked Levi's natural grace, though, and was making a spectacle of himself, narrowly keeping his footing as he looked about for a way to reach his prey. Levi had no intention of waiting around for the goon to figure it out and instead spotted a fire escape within reach. Pushing himself from the ledge with force, his lithe body flew through the open space stories above the cement ground and landed with nary a sound to alert the buildings occupants. He chanced a look back and grinned when he saw the other man looking up at him with a defeated grimace. “Better luck next time!” He called down, voice crackling with laughter. Before he made another dash to further his distance he rubbed the drying blood from his arm, his wound already fusing itself shut of its own accord.  

As he reached the roof of the building Levi stopped to take stock of the situation. He knew he shouldn't have trusted his so called 'partner' for this job. Of course the other man had planned on getting Levi out of the equation when they neared their destination, in order to receive all the payment himself. Hell, Levi was planning the same thing, the other man just got to it before him. It was no matter, though, as he had escaped and was again on his own with no worry that his ex partner was skilled enough to finish the job without him.

A slight shift in the air and Levi was on the run again, his body reacting faster than his mind. The roof was disappearing under his feet, running out of space as he spotted an open balcony across the gap of the street far below. Suddenly open air was all around him, nothing of substance to keep him safe. Effortlessly, he landed the jump on the railing of the balcony and tumbled in through the door, staying low to the ground.

He found himself right where he needed to be: the bedroom of his client. Scanning the room, Levi couldn't help but let himself fall backward onto the huge bed that was pushed against the nearest wall, enjoying the way his body sank into it. He was on his feet again in an instant, this time rummaging through the drawers in the nightstand before finally heading out of the room, trying his best to focus on the task at hand.

If his sources and client had been right, all the security would already be dealt with, courtesy of his target. The job was simple, but well paying. He was to sneak into his clients high end loft and interrupt a burglary that had been tipped off, knock the target out and hand them over to his client. Whatever happened after that Levi didn't care know; it was no concern of his. Right and wrong were so fluid in his mind that he did not give one thought to whether he was the good guy or bad guy in this situation, as those terms hardly meant anything to him.

The floor plan of the apartment was shown to Levi before he left this client this evening, but he had a hard time remembering it. In truth he had only glanced at it in the most cursory way, instead planning to rely on his instincts. It was in that way that he traveled through the dark hallways, his eyes flicking back in forth constantly, his body reacting to things his mind was slower to process.

As he stepped into the next lavish room Levi's eyes went straight to his target, their back to him and in the process of taking whatever stupid priceless jewelry his client was so worried about. Without a pause for tactic or planning, Levi pounced from his spot near the door and hurtled straight towards the intruder. He was in the habit of letting his body decide for him his actions; what had he to fear, anyway? He would not miss, not with them so close and him so responsive, and if they had a weapon to draw on him, well, it would do them no good.

(Probably a week before they get captured.)

Sally stood at edge of the world, looking down upon the masses. Even as the evening wore on, still New York city was a buzz with life. Bumper to bumper traffic, horns and yelling filled the air, even from these heights, she could still hear the cacophonous of noises, trying to overtake the city. For a New Yorker this was the sound of life, of serenity. The thrill, the excitement, the unknown it was intoxicating. The adrenaline pumped through Sally's veins, tempting her to go, to go over the edge, to push herself to new heights.

And that is what she did, not jumping over the edge because that would certainly kill her, but pushed herself to new heights, that was what she could achieve. In central of Manhattan, where the rich and posh lived, Sally was lurking on one of the million dollar lofts that overlooked the city.

For three weeks, Sally has been staking out the complex. Not only to figure out what types of security was in bedded in the pent house apartment, but to gain access to the keypad to one of three master safes. How Sally knew there was 3 safes, and that the passcode was 2209569? The passcode which was almost impossible to obtain...almost. She was ready.

Getting on the rooftop wasn't too difficult. Three buildings down their was a service entrance on the roof, and the buildings where not far apart. It just took Sally a leap of faith, and her gymnast training to get safely onto the roof she desired.

Now it was time to put what she has been working so hard for to the test. The desire to be in to places at once took hold. She had the need to escape, the need to be free. That undeniable need for freedom, broke the chains surrounding her mind, sending her self across space, and appearing in what seem like the closet. No not a closet, but the security room. What seem like every room in the penthouse was plastered on all the screens, all of them recording and doing a sensor sweep of any suspicious activity. With all this high tech gadgets and gizmos, you'd think people would have the foresight to install another security system for the security room to prevent tampering, even a camera inside the security room, but Lucky for her, people where idiots, especially the rich.

It was easy picking for her. She did not know one lick about hacking into a security system, by passing the codes and things of that nature, but she did know one weakness they did have. She took the chair that was in front of all the monitors and smashed it against the computer system. The hard drive, where all the memory was stored was a glorified paperweight, the hard drive was no more. But before she could look at her handy work or even set the chair down, her mind was being forced back into her body.

She found herself sprawled out on the rooftop floor, out of breath with a splitting headache. She had an out of body experience for only a minute, but her body did not agree, but she pushed forward. She pushed herself up. Her legs were liquid water, she had to brace herself several times for fear of falling over. But after a minute or two, she was strong enough to kick herself over the edge, and land on the stone balcony.

Everything she did next was a breeze. It was as if she had been here before. Technically, she had in her targets dreams, making it easier to navigate and find the room she was looking for. Everything was coated with statues of the man's wealth. It made her sick to look at some of the complete waste of money. She took pride in stealing from them. If they were arrogant enough to lather themselves in riches, Sally was arrogant enough to steal from them, to humble them.

No one was above her.

Through the bedroom to the office, behind the portrait of a rotund women, probably his mother, because no one would want to fuck with that...that...anyways. As she was about to remove the picture frame, her attention was diverted. She heard a crash someone in the vicinity of where she entered.

She wasn't expecting someone to break in, and especially someone moments later to barge in and attack. Her instinct took hold, living in the Bronx, being train on the streets, especially with a brother who always looked for trouble, she was quite adept of surprise attacks.    Her body moved, slower than she wanted it too because of years lying in bed, both she and the intruder slammed against the wall. Both of them hitting the wall hard, him harder than her because of his momentum, she recovered first, slipping out of his muscular grasp.

She grab the first thing in reach which was a stapler, and was about to hit the intruder over the head with it, when she realize who he was. "Levi?"It was Levi, her twin brother. He might have grown a few more inches since the last time she saw him, and he was cover in tattoos, but it was still her Levi.

Seeing him made her angry, angry enough to hit him with the stapler.

When Levi made contact with his target they both went crashing into the wall, his momentum working against him as he hit with a solid thud. He thought he got a quick glimpse of her face, surprised at how familiar the way her body moved seemed to him. Shock made him slow and the stapler was nearly to his skull when he finally grabbed the girl's wrist and held it, tight, above his head. With his other hand he ripped it from her grasp and threw it across the room where it landed with a crash, knocking something no doubt incredibly expensive shattering to the floor.

His name was spoken in her voice, the voice of his sister, Sally. The body, the face, everyone about this girl was the perfect image of Sally. Sally, who, for all of Levi's knowledge, was still behaving like a vegetable in some fancy New York hospital room. She couldn't be here now, he would have known if she was awake. He would have felt it, or at the very least the hospital would have notified him...somehow. So the girl in front of him had to be some sort of lie.

He had heard of the mutants who could shape-shift, turn into any person they wanted to at a moments notice. This had to be one of them, one who could react to what was in Levi's thoughts and memories, and transform accordingly. He grabbed the girls other wrist, then, and held both them of tight to her body, effectively keeping her there in his grasp. “You turn back right now.” Levi threatened, starting straight into her eyes. Her eyes...they were just like his. They reflected back his image, but changed, and deeper. Something was swirling behind hers and Levi could feel it beginning in him too; that old feeling he hadn't experienced in over five years.

“Sally?” Once the name left his lips he had no doubt: this was her, the real Sally, his little sister, his other half. Somehow some random act of who knows what, had restored her, given her back to reality. Levi's mind was having a hard time taking it all in, processing what it meant, and more importantly why she was here, hitting him with office supplies.

“A stapler? Really, Sal? Really?” He pushed up to a standing position, letting her slip out of his hands and remain on the floor. The marble beneath his feet began to sweep by him as he paced, hand in his hair in frustration and confusion. How was this possible and  why didn't he know she was out of her coma the instant it happened? “What the fuck, Sal? When were you going to tell me you were awake? When you split my head open with a fucking stapler?”

The years seemed to vanish as he spoke, his voice raised in the dark apartment in a very similar way to how he used to raise it in dark alleyways with Sally by his side. He allowed himself to smile and then turn back to her suddenly, grinning like a mad man and on the verge of laughter. She had been gone so long that he had lost hope of ever experiencing that whole feeling he had when she was around, when they were by each others side. It was rushing back now, though, and he couldn't help himself from the surge of happiness that was invading him.

Sally stood there, utterly speechless. She did not protest as he wrenched the stapler from her hand and threw it away and out of reach. Neither did she fight back as Levi twisted her wrists until it hurt, yelling at her to change back, thinking she was an imposter. She was shocked, dumfounded. In all the places in the entire world, she meets him here, now. Even after he let her go, she hardly moved, hardly even blink, let alone utter a single word. She tried grasping the situation, but couldn’t. Even his questions seemed to not reach her as she looked upon her brother’s face; her better half standing right before her very eyes.

In a mimicking fashion, she stood up too. Where he showed bliss and happiness to see her, she showed nothing. It was only when he let a belt of laughter did her blood curdled, and every muscle seemed to be on fire as she watched her twin relish in the moment of reunion. She was angry. She was more than angry. She was pissed off. “YOU BASTARD!” This time, her fist made contact with his face. All her pent up rage and emotion was released in that one punch. A flow of tears streamed down her face, as she made another attempt to make contact with her fist to his face. All the while, she was screaming, “THEY TOLD ME YOU WERE DEAD!”

The impact of Sally's fist burst Levi's lip open, blood spurting down his chin and onto his shirt. “Fucking christ, Sally!” Levi yelled, spitting out a mouth full of blood. He sensed more than saw her fist returning for a second blow and blocked it effortlessly with an upraised arm. She had caught him off guard once, but not again now that he remembered her lack of concern over hitting him. With his other hand he wiped the blood from his split lip, which was already ceasing to flow. Sally's next words hit hin hard; she had been to see their parents before him. Of all the idiotic things she could have done....of course, she didn't know what they had said before, when she was in the first weeks of her coma. She didn't know just how soulless they could be.

“And you believed them? Hell, did your brain turn to mush while you were in that coma, Sal? Of course they said I was dead! I'm dead to them, at least. And I can bet so are you, now.” This close to Sally he could see the tears running down her cheeks and the strain of emotion in her eyes. He suddenly felt bad for yelling, even after she had started it, really. Moving swiftly he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug, silently apologizing for his words. Before he let her go he laughed and said, “Besides, I'm kind of hard to kill, remember?”

Hoping that calmed her down, he turned to survey the room again and the damage they had already caused. Well, there went his bonus. With a sigh he spun back around to face Sally, eye brows raised in question. “Now, will you please explain to me why the fuck you're here and not hooked up to some machine back in the hospital?”

Sally was crying more profusely than ever before. Even when her big brother wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace, she still did not stop struggling. She pounded her fist against his chest. Each blow growing weaker in intensity than the next, until all her energy was spent, and she was just left with wheezing sobs. Through those sobs she was mostly incoherent, but words like "birthday," "hospital," "you didn't show" made it somewhat clearer.

Of course Sally did not believe her parents. All their lives they were feeding Levi and Sally lies; lies about the wickedness, the evil of mutant kind and how there were treatments to "cure" their disease. Of course she did not believe them. But doubt always seems to creep its way in, and when Levi did not show at the hospital for her 24th birthday she knew. She even showed up at the hospital for her 25th birthday because she was holding on to wishful thinking. All this time she thought he was dead, and here he is, now, standing before her all inked up but with that same boyish grin she sought comfort in.

After Levi let go to survey the room, Sally used her jacket sleeve to wipe away the tears. She laughed for the first time in months that day when she realized all that cry made her mascara run. “I’m a complete mess,” she proclaimed as she tried her best to pull herself together. It was like turning off a light switch. She was happy, even smiling, seeing her brother a few feet away, but that air of bliss quickly died when Levi spoke once more. She turn rigid and cold. Her expression became blank and when she looked at Levi, she was looking straight through him, as if he was not even there.

Levi was relieved when Sally laughed, the same laugh he had heard nearly every day for most of his life. Hearing it now was like deja vu, the ghost of a time that he had almost forgotten. However, it was a brief reprieve from her anger, as when he asked her what had happened to her, she became still as stone.

“You don't want to talk about it, fine. Leave me in the dark. But don’t you think for one goddamn minute that it wasn't hard on me, too. I had to watch you waste away before my eyes and not be able to do a thing about it. FIVE FUCKING YEARS, SAL! Five years every time I saw you laying as good as dead in that hospital room part of me...part of me...” He spun away from Sally, her face still unresponsive. He couldn't deal with this now, this was too much. Instead he walked the length of the room, examining what had broken earlier. Seeing Sally awake and mobile was the best thing that had happened to him in years, but it sorely reminded him of the times when she wasn't. He couldn't choke out the words to tell her how it had damaged him to visit her every year, to talk to her like she was part of his world still. Each time he saw her on their birthday she seemed farther and farther away from the girl he knew, turning into a stranger before his eyes. More than once he wished she would let go, pass on. He was not proud of it, but watching her atrophying instead of growing was torture. Her's was a life he was supposed to share, but instead he got to live and she got to suffer. How was that fair? So no, he didn't visit her the last two years. Maybe he was a coward, but he was scared of what it would do to him to still see her lying there. If he stayed away he could pretend, just barely, that everything might one day be ok.

When he made his way back to his sister he bent down so his face was close to hers and he could see the streaks her tears had made in her makeup. “Who wears makeup to  a robbery?” He mused, then shook his head, trying to get back on track. “Listen, Sally. I'm sorry for whatever I did you think I deserve to be hit for or whatever. I missed you. I thought you were never coming back. You can't blame me for that. I can only take so much self abuse, you know.”

Levi's words, which were sharpen to a point and harsh, had no effect on Sally. Her placated face showed no sign of sympathy towards those years Levi and herself been separated. In fact, she showed no signs of emotion at all as if she was an automaton. Instead of watching her brother break down at the realization that Sally was mobile once again, she turn to the safe that once had portrait of a women covering it, now shattered into pieces on the floor because of Levi's actions.

The safe was just a common dial safe. It was a little more expensive as the common safes that can be bought at Target but just as easy to crack. You would think someone with money, power and living the life of luxury they would spend on better security for their precious material possession. Sally pressed her ear to the door of the safe, while Levi was fuming over on the opposite side of the room. She slowly spin the dial until she heard a click. "42..." she whispered, watching Levi paced as if he was a trapped animal. Finally, he stopped. It was detracting, at least right at the moment while she tried to break in to safe. "A femme fatale of course," she mused in response to Levi as she slowly spin the dial the other way. "Right now is not- 12..." she cut herself off.

Again Levi received no light shedding answer from Sally, but just some nonsense about being a femme fatale. He chuckled, shaking his head at the idea. If she was still thinking in those terms she had a lot of growing up to do. Of course, if Levi had thought about it more he would have realized that she had just missed out on the last five years and whatever life lessons she would have learned in that time. She could very well be at the maturity level of a teenager still.

He crouched down next to her and the safe, watching as she fiddled with the dial until he heard a solid click as it unlocked from within. He was impressed; she had opened it like it was nothing more than a simple locker combination, and quick, too. Levi had never had the patience for such things. It was easier to smash them than unlock them. He and Sally would make a good team, he mused, as soon as she stopped being a difficult bitch.  

“So, I'm supposed to be knocking you out and taking you to my client right now. I would have, too, if it wasn't you. You've gotten sloppy, sis. You should have heard me coming the second I landed through that window.” He teased, though mostly serious. If it had been someone else besides him Sally might not have been so lucky. The thought angered him; if she was going to be doing this she needed to be more alert, or at least to have someone like him around to look out for her.

Springing back up from his crouching position Levi stretched, his arms reaching up with the grace of a predatory feline. His demeanor had went from angry, to curious, and now to relaxed in a matter of minutes. His mood swings could give someone who didn't know him whiplash. “Well, what next, Miss Femme Fatale? We going to go fuck a super spy in order to get information? Because I'd be up for that.”

19, she thought to herself, hearing the last dial fall into place, but when she reached for the handle it remained closed. She only gave the safe a slight frown before returning to the dial of the safe, pressing her ear up to the door and starting over again. If it were up to Levi, he would have punched the safe repeatedly until he shattered his hand multiple times or the safe door gave way. Lucky for both of them, Sally had the fortitude and skills sets to get through any lock. It just took patients that Levi had none of.

"Please," she said as if she was insulted by Levi's notion. "I could of kicked your butt six ways from Tuesday." She jabbed her index finger into Levi's tummy, like she used to do as kids. "I see you put on a little weight," she said jokingly as the locking mechanism behind the safe clicked into place a second time. "Is it sympathy weight," implying that Levi got a girl knocked up. Sometimes Sally had a crude sense of humor.

"Unlucky number thirteen," she said hearing the faint click, announcing that the safe door was unlock. Instead of opening the door right away, she turn to look at Levi, as if seeing him for the first time. She did not know the answer to his question. Her hesitancy to go with Levi, getting into trouble and reliving the old times, was evident on her face, as if scrolled on her furrow brow and strain lips. Fear was the only powerful enough force to stop her from saying yes. The fear of the unknown. The fear of being in Levi's way. The fear of being abandon. The fear of hurting Levi once more. All of these scenarios crossed her mind. Finally, she said in a hoarse whisper, "I'm not sure."

Her hand grasped the heavy metal latch to the safe door. It took both hands and all her body weight to force the door open, because she was still not in tip top shape like she once was and she did not want to ask for Levi's help. She tugged and pull, taking a few steps to the left side because the door was so large. The door was about halfway open when a loud thunderous bang went off. It was a gunshot, coming from inside the safe.

She checked herself first, to see if she was shot or a stray bullet grazed any part of her body. She was fine. Only frazzled by the loud gun shot. "Levi are you alright?" she asked turning to him.

“Huh?” Levi's stomach tensed as Sally poked him, the muscles tightening under his shirt. “You're crazy, there's no fat on this body at all, just pure sex appeal.” As for her implication, the thought of him knocking some girl up was ridiculous...at least he hoped so. When Sally finally looked at him again, once the safe was ready to be opened, he saw the hesitation in her eyes; the one look that they never had in common. If she didn't know what to do next, what was she doing here? It didn't matter, though, Levi thought. The next step would come to him and he'd lead Sally along with him, weather she thought it was her idea or not.

He was in the middle of the thought when he heard the gunshot and sprang out of the way of the safe as the bullet grazed his abdomen. He felt the painful sting and his hand went to his side, feeling the warm blood begin to seep from the scrape. He would need to be quicker, next time.  

“I'm fine, just a scratch. Can't say as much for that wall over there,” he turned his head to glance across the room where a bullet had imbedded itself deep into the richly painted walls. There was no way he was still getting paid for this, now. He sighed as he looked back to Sally, imagining having to pick up a new job soon or he wouldn't be eating next week.

“Ok, Sal, out of the way, little bug. I am a bit more equipped to handle this safe than you are.” He removed his hand from his side, now coated in a thin layer of red, and pushed past Sally towards the safe. Grasping the handle with both hands he gave it one simple tug and it opened the rest of the way with a groan of metal against metal echoing throughout the apartment. Levi braced himself for another round of searing pain from whatever was inside but it never came. Inside the safe was a hand gun resting on some type of mechanism that must have fired it when the safe was opened.

“Guy thinks he's clever with this thing?” He pulled the gun from the mechanism in the safe and checked the barrel. No extra bullets; it was supposed to have done the job with just one. Levi spun it around his hands and slid it into the back of his pants, knowing it would come in handy sometime or other. Danger aside, he reached into the safe and picked up a very expensive looking necklace and a thick sealed envelope. “This what you're looking for?” He said, turning back to Sally. Instead of handing the items to her he held them above her head, his arms extending into the air again and a mischievous grin on his lips.  

As he was toying with Sally there was another blast, this time from the doorway. Levi reacted instantly, shoving his sister to the ground as he dropped as well in order to avoid the bullet speeding towards them. It only took one glance to see his ex-partner, the one Levi had thought he had been done with earlier that evening, standing in the doorway, gun still raised. “Shit,” he mumbled, ribs aching from the force he had landed onto the floor with. “Sally, we've got to get out of here.”

Crimson blood dropped like rain drops on the floor, staining the white carpet into poke-a-dot red. “No you are not,” she said, seeing where the bullet had “grazed” him. His hand covered the wound but blood started to flow over his fingers like water over a broke.  She took her wife beater tang top, which was underneath her black leather jacket and started tugging at the edges till it finally gave way. She pulled and pulled till she was satisfied that it was long enough to bandage Levi’s abdomen. It left her midriff bare, which made her more self-aware than the gun shoot. “Here, let me-“

But Levi pushed her out of his way with one of his gorilla arms. “Hey,” she said stepping back from the safe door before it knocked her off her feet. “You need to get that wound bandage.” But of course, Levi being Levi, he paid her little attention. Instead, with one great force and still being injured, he got the door fully open. Instead of letting her find what  she was looking for in the safe, Levi got there first.  He was not about to make this easy for her, as he held up multi objects over her head, just out of reach. She was tempted to jab him in the abdomen, seeing it was now the color of a black, puss filled bruise now, but her attention was diverted.

She heard something, like someone’s heel grazing the floor. She spun around to the door seeing a pissed off man holding a gun. The first bullet missed, just inches from her and Levi. Before she knew it, she found herself on the ground, Levi’s weight keeping her low to the floor. Once again, Levi, her big brother, was her knight in shining armor, and she was a little bit annoyed by that. She could take care of herself. Several more bullets were fired, but the wooden desk took the brunt of the force. “Leave it to me,” she said.

The desire to be in two places at once pulled at her, nagged her until she felt like she was being torn apart. Everything around her seemed to slow down. The wood chips and slinters that rained down around her due to the trigger happy shooter became frozen in midair. She felt every and all 100th of a millisecond as if in between beats of her heart was an eternity. It was not until her astral self fully corporalized did, at least for her, time went back to normal.

The shooter had no idea that Sally was behind him, as he stepped into the office to take the prize for himself. He was a lot bulkier than she first realized, and with the gun that added a whole new level of danger. If it were a hand to hand combat, even though the man had bulk and strength, she had flexibility and agility which for the most part outweighed the man’s weight and size.

She had to act quickly. Even though her concisiousness was immune to injure, her body and Levi was not. She did not trust Levi’s healing factor, when it came to multiple gunshot wounds. She looked to her left, and her right but saw nothing that could be used as a weapon that could quickly and easily take down the brute with one blow. So she did the next best option. The man was now in the room entirely, giving her enough space to…”HEY!!!” she screamed, turning his attention away from the office. In that moment as he spun around, Sally grabbed the top of the door frame and with all her might kicked as hard as she could upwards. Her leather steel toed boots made contact with the man’s glass jaw. She heard the bones snapping lick twigs under the force of the blow; blood and teeth flew every which way as the man toppled onto the desk, unconscious by the looks of it.

All Sally did was huff as she fixed her shirt. Her other self still lying on the floor.

The words had barely left Levi's mouth when a duplicate of Sally emerged from her body, this one gliding over the flood and never feeling the bullets passing through her. Levi would have been surprised if he had never seen this before, but her ability to part from her body was just how her gift manifested itself. It had been long since he had witnessed it, and as always it slightly tripped out him, seeing both versions of his sister in once place. He watched and winced as she dealt an incredibly strong blow to the mans jaw and knocked him backward to the floor, blood and teeth flying through the air like fireworks.

After she had dropped back to the floor she adjusted herself and seemed to take a breath to settle herself. Levi could only continue to stare as he took in what had just happened. The Sally he remembered would never have done something like that so easily, and without any warning. Whatever she had been doing while in that coma had certainly changed her, and for the better, in Levi's mind. He felt his mouth widen in a huge grin, full of pride for his sister. Maybe she was finally learning what a gift she had, and how to use it best. It would be great if he didn't have to lecture her all the time about how silly her need to be normal was. It had always been a point of contention between the two of them, Levi knowing that there was no way Sally would ever get what she wanted, and absolutely confused over why she would want that in the first place. Why be normal when she, as well as he, was so much more than that?

“Nicely done, little sister. What'd I tell you, huh? You've got one fucking good skill up your sleeve.”

He dashed over to the body lying on the ground, blood expanding out from under him into a puddle that Levi's shoes made ripples in. It was a gruesome sight: half the mans teeth were missing and his jaw was hanging off his skull at a thoroughly unpleasant angle. If Levi hadn't seen, and caused, sights like this many times before he would have been sick. As it was, this was all normal business to him. He bent down so he was close to the unconscious man and began to check his breathing; he was still alive, though Levi couldn't have cared less if he was otherwise. What he was really looking for was whatever was in his pockets and of course his weapons. He rifled through the man's pockets and liberated his cash and credit cards, pausing only momentarily to look at the photos of a little girl and what he presumed was a loving wife. Levi grunted, and tossed the empty wallet into the pool of blood. Having people that depended on you only slowed you down, gave you a weakness and something to distract you. Now that Sally was back, though, he feared he had just gained all of those things quite suddenly. He would have to adapt. Taking the gun that the man had recently been shooting, Levi emptied the bullets from the cartridge into his hand and left the weapon in the mans jacket, now useless. He hoped that would come as a surprise the next time it was used.

Task accomplished, Levi walked back to where Sally's body was and picked up the envelope that he had dropped when he hit the floor. Instead of opening it, as he would normally have done, he handed it out towards the projection of Sally. This time there was no tricking involved; this was hers, she had came here to find it and she should be the one to open it. If he had still been hoping to finish his job he would not have let the paper leave his hands, but when a job goes this far south, well, you had to change your plan a bit. Levi was good at that. When a new opportunity arose he was the first to jump at it, no matter who he let down or screwed over in the process. Plus this was his little sister, and he couldn't deny her anything. “If you'd so kindly situate your clothing, because god knows no one wants to see that, and return to your body I would like to see what's inside this that everyone is so concerned with.”

It was a gruesome sight. Blood did not stop flowing out of his detached mouth. Even unconscious, he moaned like Ebenezer Scrooge from the Christmas Carol. If this was before the coma, or even two years ago, when Sally first got out of the hospital, she would have puked right then and there. She would be weeping, disgusted and horrified all at the same time but lately she had been feeling numb the past months, detached from the world. It felt like she was hurtling into oblivion, and no one was there to catch her.

What snapped her out of these dark thoughts was the gurgling sound the man made, as if drowning in his own blood. Sally stood in Levi’s shadow as he rifled through his pockets. Petty cash and credit cards were what Levi was after. Levi’s m.o. was obvious like the tattoos up and down his arms: the quick get rich schemes, and fast action pack jobs. ‘Get in. Get out. Get paid.’ It made him predictable; by his very nature he was unpredictable. As she looked over his shoulder, he stopped; he hesitated over a picture of a little girl, playing on the swings of a rickety old swing set. It was only for a moment, but contemplated the significant before tossing the wallet in the pool of blood. This small act proved her point, that Levi was predictable. Maybe Levi was becoming a softy?

She did not say anything. She pretended she saw nothing as she tilted the man’s head to the side, letting the blood pool out and onto the floor. She was about to release the hold on her astral self, when Levi scooped up the envelope off the floor and present it to Sally. Instead of taking it, she vanished into thin air, but Sally’s true self remained on the floor stiff as a board. Levi knew it only took seconds for her to return to her body, but there was no sign that it had return. Her breathing was even. She looked calm, even peaceful as if she was asleep. Minutes passed but still she laid there motionless, when all of a sudden her eyes opens, and she snatched the envelope out of his hands as if nothing even happen. “Thanks for holding onto this sweet checks,” she said shoving the envelope and its contents into her leather jacket pocket without even opening it.

Levi was not patient. Never once in his life had he been happy to wait for anything, whether it be for cookies to bake or for someone to share a secret. He would rather eat the dough, or forget the person entirely, than be kept waiting. It was with great strain, then, that he counted the minutes until Sally's body, the real one, moved again. He expected it to be instantaneous after her astral form dissipated, like it had always been. Along with his sense of urgency he began to worry; she should be back by now. What if she had slipped away again? Was he destined to lose her over and over? When she finally opened her eyes like nothing was out of place, Levi rounded on her, his voice dripping with venom. “Taking a nap on the job now, Sal? Where the fuck were you?”

The envelope in his outstretched hand, by now forgotten to him, was ripped away as Sally drew near, and soon disappeared into her coat. “Oh come on. You're not going to open it? What the fuck was all this work for, then?” He groaned, watching her and her smug look of accomplishment. It would have been enough to make him mad if he hadn't missed it so much. Still, he was sure it was going to get old again sooner rather than later. “Fine, whatever.” Levi took one last look at the man laying across the room and at the remains of the safe. He shook his head with a sigh, knowing his reputation was going to suffer from this fuck up of a job. It was going to take some time to get another well paying gig once the word got out that he had made a mess of his orders. He had worked hard to become well known around here – known as someone who got things done, and got them done well. Maybe it was time to move to a new city, anyway. He heard Denver was nice this time of the year. Staying in one place for too long wasn't something Levi had the urge to do; planting roots had never worked out for him before, so why start now. With thoughts of snow covered mountains and learning to snowboard running through his head, Levi made his way to the nearest window and pushed it open, the chill night breeze raising the flesh on his arms.

“I'm going home. Follow me, and please try to to keep up,” He glanced over his shoulder at Sally, a glint of competition in his eyes. It was time to see if she was still in top form, if she could still enjoy a friendly game of follow the leader, like when they were kids. Of course Levi's course through the city was not for the faint of heart, and it showed immediately as he leaped from window sill and out into the night, the open air all around him giving him the rush he craved so deeply. Inside, closed in by the walls and the ceiling, Levi had a hard time concentrating. His eyes would jump around to find his escape route and the path of least resistance if something were to happen. Here, though, the world was his to rush through and anything that stood in his way was avoidable.

His feet hit the fire escape below with barely a sound and he paused to look up, watching to see if Sally would take the leap and catch up with him. He had little doubt she would; she always had when they were younger. While she might pick and chose a more cautious route she would keep an eye on him and follow to wherever he was leading. Now, more than ever, she had reason to. They had not exchanged any sort of information inside, no way of knowing where to find each other again if they were separated – they would be lost to each other again. Levi was not about to let that happen, but he was also not going to wait around in the apartment with a guy slowly choking on his own blood until the cops showed up. It was escape and survive; Levi's mantra to live by. Sally would follow if she knew what was good for her, and if not, well, he would just have to alter his plan to accommodate carrying her back to his place himself.

“Aww! My big bro was worried about me. How sweet!” she said layered with sarcasm. Sally stood in front of a broken mirror. Most of the pieces of glass littered the floor, seeing as how it was hit multiple times by the assailant. The mirror was fractured, but Sally saw what she needed to see.  One of her brown bangs fell over one eye. She twirled it around her fingers until the curl sprang back into place, revealing her dark brown eyes. “I went to see the Eraser. He owed me a few favors, and he will be here shortly to clean up this mess.”

She turn around, not to look at Levi, but the man bleeding out, the man who had a daughter, love ones waiting for him. She couldn’t leave him to die. He did not deserve it. “I am hoping he can help cure this man.” Sally said it like this had a disease or an ailment, not that his jaw was unhinged from his skull, or the amount of blood he was choking on, but if anyone could right this wrong, the Eraser could. He was an enigma to Sally. She knew he was a mutant but what powers he had, he wouldn’t tell her, or showed her. He did his work in secret. She only saw the aftermath of his works, which puzzle her even more.

But she had other more important mysteries to unravel than the Eraser. Her hand went straight for her jacket pocket to double check if the envelope was there. She found what she was looking for. In fact, she found who she was looking for and he was standing right in front of her, smiling like the a bubbling idiot, but she could not shake this nagging feeling she had. Why would Senator Dean hire thugs to take out a thief and not his own security and one, a mutant no less? Senator Dean and a few others in Congress are pushing forward to pass radical mutant laws. Mutant tagging was one of his ideas, or so Sally reed, trying to catch up on the years she missed. And out of all the mutants in the world, why her brother? All of these unanswered questions swam around in her head. She needed to know, what was going on and find out why. The answers got to be in the envelope, she just knew it.

There was more to it that meets the eye.

She was snapped out of her own thoughts by Levi. She did not know what was going on until Levi leaped out of the window and onto the fire escape on the next building fifteen, maybe twenty feet away. The fire escape and the windowsill were about the same height, not like the two buildings she jumped from to get to this one. Levi was being idiotic like usual.  There were other, safer paths than using yourself as hot potato with buildings but she wouldn’t back down. He challenged her with that look in his eyes. She wouldn’t yield, so she ran to the window, used the windowsill as a baseboard and leaped out into the night.

Sally felt so light. The wind flourished around her, guiding her to the fire escape. She landed with a loud thud beside Levi without any signs of fear. Her heart was pumping a mile a minute and she took deep breaths, but other than that she was fine. She was more than fine. She was excited.

“I am not going to live in an abandon subway line or a rat infested shithole you call a home,” she said jokingly as she climbed down the fire escape. “My loft is close by. I’ll take you there.” Sally did not let on why she wanted to go to her apartment, than his, but she needed to figure things out on her terms. She wouldn't get that in her new surroundings.

Levi didn't pause to think too hard on the name drop Sally made. So she knew someone named Eraser; he knew plenty of people with ominous sounding names. It was nothing new. If this friend of hers could clean up this place, whatever she meant by that, then good for him, and good for them, too. There was less likely of a chance that they would be linked back to this crime if there was less evidence. Levi wasn't too worried about it either way; crimes were not frequently pinned on him, even if he did commit them, and when they were he was quick and slippery enough to avoid whoever was looking for him.

A smug smile transformed Levi's face as he heard Sally emerge from the window and follow after him. He knew she wouldn't let him run away without having something to say about it. Typical. He slowed and turned his head to watch her, listening as she insisted they go to her place instead. “Hey, I do not live in an abandoned subway station or a shithole.” Levi called over his shoulder as he continued racing along the rooftop. Rat infested, maybe, but he only ever saw one and one rat was hardly an infestation. It just didn't make sense setting up base somewhere fancy and homey; Levi moved around so often it just wasn't worth it. A studio in the more grungy part of town suited him just fine. So what if it was a dangerous neighborhood? It meant Levi fit in perfectly, blended into the crowd as he walked through the streets or returned in the dark hours of the morning. The people there knew better than to study anyone’s face, or to mess with a man who walked the sidewalk with his tattooed arms showing plainly. He was able to live the way he needed: among the shadows and left alone.

He did not have time to protest any farther as Sally took off in a different direction, presumably en route to her loft. God. A loft? How pretentious was she? With a sigh of resignation Levi made a split second recalculation in his course and followed his sister's trail. They wound their way through the alleys and fire escapes, often running over the roofs of buildings and balconies, all the while the night continuing on around them. City noises drifted through windows and up from streets, a cacophony that was music to Levi's ears. He loved New York at night. Fast paced, unpredictable, loud, yet laced with danger down every dark ally and abandoned tunnel. He thrived here, his childhood home and only city that ever felt like he belonged in. Dirt and grit and mold hidden within the pomp and fortune – it was the perfect backdrop to Levi's life.

The buildings were getting taller, the street lights brighter. The two of them had reached a nicer part of town, complete with less chatter and car sounds from below them. Levi guessed they were getting close and found himself wondering how Sally scored a place around here, and how long she had been living, awake, in the same city as him. He wanted to ask her again, to take her by the shoulders and shake her until she answered him, yet knew it would do no good. She hadn't been compelled to answer him the first two times he tried and Levi remembered clearly how stubborn his sister could be. He would have to wait until she felt she could trust him well enough again to tell him her secrets. It wouldn't take long, he imagined. They were twins, after-all. They had to trust each other.