>>"I don't suppose you can just...assassinate them instead, can you?"

Jillian and Maya arched an eyebrow at the same time, although the mother seemed a lot more amused than the daughter.

"Nope" the assassin shook her head "Bad for business if the buyer ends up dead. I can bend the rules, but not that far."

It was only business, after all.

"Also, trust me, you really don't want that on your conscience, whatever you might be feeling right now."

"She's right" Maya said, sitting back next to Eve "That's probably not the best way of going about it. And if you just walk away, they will find out that I'm still alive, and just hire someone else. We got to deal with this before it gets out of hand."

Yeah.

"... y'know. More out of hand."

"Bad for business if the buyer ends up dead."

Evelyn grumbled. "Maybe just a light mauling?" She muttered under her breathe. But those feelings soon settled too. She just felt the disappointment simmering. "I didn't say it was the best solution," She added, raising her voice back to normal volume. "I just.... It's not like, the first time they did something a bit extreme. Yeah, killing someone is a bit far even for them, but ruining peoples lives seems to be pretty ingrained in their systems. You don't need someone dead to ...punish them." Her pulse was picking up pace again, threatening to pull up unwanted memories. As much control as she'd gained over her powers, being emotion could set her back to square one.

"If you think rolling over and playing...dead...is uh, going to help, that's probably not the best solution either." This conversation was messed up in so many ways...

>>"Maybe just a light mauling?... I didn't say it was the best solution. I just.... It's not like, the first time they did something a bit extreme. Yeah, killing someone is a bit far even for them, but ruining peoples lives seems to be pretty ingrained in their systems. You don't need someone dead to ...punish them."

"Yeah, well." Maya sighed. As murderous as she felt right now against Evelyn's parents for putting them all through this, she did not actually want to murder anyone. And especially did not want Evelyn to carry the guilt of getting her own parents killed.

>>"If you think rolling over and playing...dead...is uh, going to help, that's probably not the best solution either."

"Definitely not" the mirrorwalker nodded "I'm not good at playing dead anyway, and I'm not spending the rest of my life hiding from... your parents. So."

"So... we need to find a way to get them to stand down, for good, without actually killing them off." Jillian concluded "Do you have any suggestions about how they could be... persuaded to call off the hit?"

"Do you have any suggestions about how they could be... persuaded to call off the hit?"

"Well, since you ruled out the mauling....I'm sorry, I just... They've been a problem I've spent most of my life trying to solve. They aren't usually trying to you know, kill anyone I'm kind of fond of, but their levels of extremes are pretty, well, extreme. They sort of expect to get their way. Always seems to work for them." She crossed her arms this time. She hated admitting how powerless they made her feel. She was the one with the super intelligence thing going for her and yet, they always outsmarted her. Or, maybe it was just financially overthrew her.

Financially...

"Unless...You don't know anyone who could like, lock up their finances, do you?" It was a faint possibility. An option, and idea, but it was something.

>>"Well, since you ruled out the mauling....I'm sorry, I just... They've been a problem I've spent most of my life trying to solve. They aren't usually trying to you know, kill anyone I'm kind of fond of, but their levels of extremes are pretty, well, extreme. They sort of expect to get their way. Always seems to work for them."

"Can we just say they are freaking psychos?" Maya added, rubbing her forehead. She had been in life-threatening situations before, but having a full-out assassination hit called on you? That had to be a first.

"Maybe we should tell Sam?..."

>>"Unless...You don't know anyone who could like, lock up their finances, do you?"

Well, there was an idea. Both Maya and Jillian considered it for a moment.

"Hurt them where it really hurts" Jillian nodded finally.

"It's clearly not their human heart." Maya muttered "So... they are all about their standing in high society, right? That needs finances, and reputation. Why not hit both of those while we are at it?..."

Not Sam, not Sam and her psycho parents and her girlfriend/boyfriend and their parent all at the same time. This was not the way she was planting on spending Christmas, even without the threat of death and killing and all that!

Ruining reputations though.... She could handle that.

"It would certainly knock them off their high horses. They currently seem to feel they're untouchable... Maybe it's time to prove that they aren't." Maybe it was a little evil, but they had to do something right?

"Although, maybe this isn't the best place to you know, try to plot this out." She glanced around the room, suddenly considering the younger mansion students. And the holiday... Jillian wasn't the sort of intruder they would be hoping for. And no presents.

>>"It would certainly knock them off their high horses. They currently seem to feel they're untouchable... Maybe it's time to prove that they aren't. Although, maybe this isn't the best place to you know, try to plot this out."

Well, at least that was a start. Jillian nodded and got up.

"I'll go." she said "You two figure out what the plan is. I can stall for a while before I have to report back on the job."

She placed a card on the desk.

"This is my temporary phone for this job, in case you need to reach me. Let me know what the plan is."

She lingered for a moment, looking at Eve.

"I'm sorry your Christmas turned out this way."

"I'm sorry your Christmas turned out this way."

Evelyn opened her mouth to say something witty, but the words sort of tangled in her throat. A rush of memories came forward at the word Christmas. Like a trigger, she drifted through countless years of wasted waiting. It wasn't like she was hoping for presents or something (the financial standing of her parents meant having a spoiled kid was somewhat of a given), but maybe for that magical feeling others seemed to have. Togetherness. Family time. That magical warmth that was missing. Mirror and her had a great Christmas last year, and yeah, this year that sort of blew up in her girlfriend's face. But she did wish it could have worked.

Sorry your Christmas turned out this way.

"Maybe I'm just sorry that I'm not surprised..." She sighed and moved to sit on the bed. There was no time to mope though. They still had an assassination to stop.

>>"Maybe I'm just sorry that I'm not surprised..."

Jillian nodded and slipped out of the room through the window to disappear into the night. Maya listened for a few seconds to see if the security systems of the Mansion would fire up - but it was dead quiet. Of course, Mom was trained better than that.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too" she said finally, picking up the blanket and wrapping it around Eve's shoulders in a hug.

"So... here is what's gonna happen" she said finally, with a little more confidence "We're gonna figure out a way to get back at your parents without... well, killing them. And then we're going to go to some place really pretty and really cozy, and celebrate Christmas."

That sounded nice about now.

"Is it too much to hope that your parents got something to hide? I mean, other than being bigoted racist jerks."

Gotta star somewhere.

Evelyn's Checklist:

[ ] Stop parents from killing boyfriend/girlfriend
[ ] Figure out how to stop them from trying again ever in the future
[ ] Cozy Christmas

The echoes were scrambling around madly in her head trying to sort out how to make those three little checks appear though. There were subchecks and sidebars and little mini checklists... She rubbed her head, careful not to share the slew of information with Mirror's brain. Then they would both have a headache.

"Everyone has something... The whole rich and powerful dinner party charade was basically one big dance to hide dirty little secrets...I just...don't know which dirty secret could be useful right now." Cheating wives, shaky financials, less than legal exchanges and transactions. She tried to think of clues, hints, something. But her parents were always careful. While they used her sometimes to get information on their peers, they were well aware that could backfire if they didn't guard their own lives.

"Maybe we can take a trip to dads work....He's got an office that I was never allowed into as a kid. Seems like a good place to start."

>>"Everyone has something... The whole rich and powerful dinner party charade was basically one big dance to hide dirty little secrets...I just...don't know which dirty secret could be useful right now."

It was a such a strange world, the one she came from. So different from Mirror's. S/he had grown up with only one secret: The mutant powers. The rest was always out, between Mom and Mirror. None of the court intrigues and soap opera secrets the rich seemed to find the time for.

>>"Maybe we can take a trip to dads work....He's got an office that I was never allowed into as a kid. Seems like a good place to start."

"Sounds like an excellent place to start." Maya nodded "Maybe we luck into something big. But even if we don't... if we can collect enough of the high and mighty's dirty laundry, and maybe have your parents air all of it somehow... I am pretty sure someone else would air theirs in revenge. Ta-da, reputation ruined."

The echoes continued their checklist. Click click click, sort sort file away. She paused, and held up a hand, coughing slightly. "Just uh, can we be careful to check what the laundry is before you know, just airing it? As much as I hate them I am sort of, related, and I don't know...what type of laundry...there could be. Metaphorically."

Smooth.

"I mean, there's the obvious me being a mutant part, and stuff. But I'd rather not you know ...turn into the dirty laundry." Smoother. "Metaphors hurt my head. I'd just rather not have any of my own personal drama get dragged into this if we can help it."

>>"Just uh, can we be careful to check what the laundry is before you know, just airing it? As much as I hate them I am sort of, related, and I don't know...what type of laundry...there could be. Metaphorically. I mean, there's the obvious me being a mutant part, and stuff. But I'd rather not you know ...turn into the dirty laundry. Metaphors hurt my head. I'd just rather not have any of my own personal drama get dragged into this if we can help it."

"I know what you are saying" Maya nodded "But believe me, I don't think airing anything related to you would hurt your parents anyhow. They have been pretty vocal about it."

Plus, in New York City these days, 'we have a mutant daughter' would not even make the news. Anywhere.

"Sadly, simply showing people how awful they are to you would also not get the right result. Even if not everyone agrees with them, they can just claim religious beliefs or some crap like that. So, no. You're not going to be in this."

Maya sat back and pondered their plans for a while.

"So... what exactly are we looking for?"

Just trying to ruin someones life in theory was much easier than trying to actually execute it. Evelyn felt a little flustered by trying to come up with something so soon. Her brain rattled through ideas, the echoes sifting and sorting through anything that might help them. Stuck in her mental sort, the color drained from her eyes temporarily, absorbed in thought.

So this was what being a robot felt like... Shaking her head she rubbed her temple and frowned.

"It's a social status. It's less about headlines, more about burning bridges. Relationships with powerful people we can sever. Tensions we can build. The way to break them isn't screaming all over town how terrible they. It's making people honestly believe that. Small things. Maybe they covered up something for a friend, bailed someone out of debt... It sounds kind of terrible, but we may have to upset a few other people and put some of their friends in hot water to really make an impact." Maybe that was playing dirty. But it felt like the whole attempted murder thing made everything one big muck they just had to swim out of now.

>>"It's a social status. It's less about headlines, more about burning bridges. Relationships with powerful people we can sever. Tensions we can build. The way to break them isn't screaming all over town how terrible they. It's making people honestly believe that. Small things. Maybe they covered up something for a friend, bailed someone out of debt... It sounds kind of terrible, but we may have to upset a few other people and put some of their friends in hot water to really make an impact."

"Well, hopefully we can do it in a way that puts them as responsible instead of us" Maya mused "I bet Mom can help us with that. It will take a lot of digging, and a fair amount of maneuvering... But I think it is fairly doable."

It was not a bad plan. Maybe a tad like something out of Card of Houses, but not impossible, especially with the help of an international super-assassin...

Maya sighed and turned to look Eve in the eye.

"Look, Eve, let's sleep on this. I know both of us think revenge right now, and it's probably still gonna be a good idea in the morning, when I'll still have a prize on my head. But..." she shook her head "Let's make sure we don't go to far in this. And it's mostly your family, so it's your call."