Elizabeth Sherman

**Elizabeth "Liz" Sherman** is a pyrokinetic Enhanced Talent Agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

## History

Born in Kansas City, Kansas on April 15, 1989,  Liz had a normal childhood until her pyrokinetic abilities began to manifest when she was ten. Raised Catholic, Liz felt that the fires were a result of her sins, and for a short time managed to keep the fires under control by a combination of prayer and sheer force of will. Her parents occasionally found evidence of the fires, but seem to have been unsure how to approach it or didn't believe it was pyrokinesis.

In July 2003, Liz thought the problem had gone away. But at a neighborhood birthday party, a boy pulled hard on her ponytails, surprising the young girl. In the ensuing fire, an entire city block was destroyed. Thirty-two people were killed in the flames, including Liz's entire family and home. Firefighters discovered Liz, miraculously unharmed, standing in the middle of the smoldering rubble among the bodies.

The B.P.R.D. was called to the scene and wanted to take custody of Liz immediately, but the request was denied by Liz's family, who refused to believe that she was the cause. They soon learned otherwise as small fires began to flare up out of her control. Over the next ten months, Liz grew increasingly depressed as she was passed from relative to relative; her extended family became understandably afraid of her destructive powers, and finally rescinded custody to the Bureau in May 2004.

At B.P.R.D. headquarters, Liz was kept in a flame-proof room while the Bureau scientists studied her power. With no real comfort or physical contact—only doctors and scientists in bulky fire-proof suits were allowed into the room—Liz withdrew further and further into depression, believing herself to be a danger even to those in suits.

Her isolation was broken by Hellboy, who came into the room with a lollipop as a way to break the ice. He eventually became her closest friend. Hellboy helped Liz to come out of her shell and adjust to life at the Bureau. For the next six years, Liz and Hellboy remained extremely close; he traveled frequently on assignment but made sure to check on her regularly as she trained with the B.P.R.D. and slowly developed tenuous control of her abilities.

In 2006, Hellboy encouraged his own mentor, Trevor Bruttenholm, to let Liz outside the Bureau more often. Though unsure, Bruttenholm took her with him to investigate a minor haunting in Massachusetts by the ghost of a woman who had been executed for the accusation of witchcraft. It was revealed that the woman had, in fact, been a witch who tried to possess Liz to get her revenge. Bruttenholm and a local priest were able to exorcise the spirit and rescue Liz. Through this event, she got her first taste of the supernatural and what it means to be part of the Bureau. She put her cross back on, seeming to regain some of her faith in the event.

In 2007 when Liz reached legal adulthood, she decided to remain with the Bureau and became a full field agent. But in the field, Liz struggled with her pyrokinetic abilities and sometimes lost control when in stressful situations. As a result, she was often assigned to quieter cases. Frustrated with her lack of control and believing that the Bureau wasn't confident enough in her, Liz began a long tradition of quitting and returning to the Bureau; between 2007 and 2021, Liz quit twelve times. But she always returned; no matter how much she wanted to leave, she didn't trust herself in normal society.