| Real Merc's Don't Have Friends | |||||
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| What: Following the heated confrontation in Mutant Town, Shift invites Domino to hash things out, privately. | |||||
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It hasn't been more than six hours since Rachel, Nate, Kurt, and Domino all confronted Shift in Mutant Town. Enough time for the African to hop on his bike, ride out to the ferry, and end up in Brooklyn at an all-too-familiar warehouse on the east side, near Bushwick.
There, he spent the time letting off steam. There's an old boxing bag that has hung from the ceiling ever since Kwabena set up this place to become what is essentially his 'secret lair'. That punching bag has now been all but obliterated, pieces missing, many of them charred. Fortunately, that's all the damage that was needed. Next came Chinese food, and finally, a solid three hours perusing the internet. News feeds, conspiracy sites, deep searches into some of the nuttier blogs around the globe, all centered around three keywords.
Sentinel. Genosha. Magneto.
At long last, the African grabbed his cell phone. He'd had plenty of time to consider the risks. At this point, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. Calling up Domino's number, he sends a simple text message.
"D&P Import Export. No guns, no others."
Throwing the cell phone back onto the table, Kwabena stands up. A cigarette ends up in his hand, and he lights it with a click of a zippo, before moving to walk toward the warehouse garage door. Hefting the manual chain from the ceiling, he tugs and tugs as the door rises, then leaves the chain to dangle behind him as he walks out into the late afternoon sun, a cloud of cigarette smoke pouring from his nostrils as he goes.
In the meantime, Domino's gone her own way. The fifteen grand made from the last job got her a matte grey and black 2013 Yamaha YZF-R6 sport bike, something which she's been helping break in almost every chance that she gets with the weather being what it is and her habit of wearing heavy black layers. Some things never change.
Like the fact that she completely ignores the part of the message that states 'no guns.' Clearly Shift didn't know her all that well.
With a quick rev of the imported motorcycle's engine as if to announce her arrival she rolls up to the familiar old warehouse. It had been a long time since she set foot anywhere near this place, beyond a previous delivery run that didn't require her to leave the seat of her last bike to accomplish. The engine gets turned off then she hops back to her feet, looking about through blue lensed shades as the wind tosses short black spikes of hair about her face.
"This had better be worth my time," she quietly says to none but herself, heavy boots thunking across the concrete as she approaches.
Oh, Shift knew her well enough. No guns? Like she'd listen to that. It was an effort to let her know that he wouldn't be packing.
Shift is halfway through his second cigarette when the bike rolls up. His own eyes are shaded by black lenses, his leather jacket in place over what seems to be the same black muscle shirt and black pants he was wearing earlier. His eyes look left and right, as if to make sure Domino isn't being tailed.
If she was being tailed, it meant they weren't alone. It meant no conversation.
Whether he heard her or not goes unaddressed. He turns around without a word and walks back into the warehouse. He stands by the manual chain, waiting to see if she'll actually enter it or not. "Make sure you don't walk directly down de middle," he quips. "Or else you'll fall into de secret lava pit and burn a horrible, nasty death."
It normally might come across as a funny joke. But there's nothing joking in Kwabena's tone. It is bitter, nearly deadpan, and his shaded eyes are looking dead ahead and nowhere near Domino's direction when he says it.
Dom's gone through this dance before. No tails, no backup, no outside contact. No one else knows that she's here (unless SHIELD got a bug up their ass and decided to put her under satellite surveillance again.) She takes business seriously, even if this isn't a deal nor a contract arrangement so much as getting to the bottom of one big, unexpected pile of shit.
"I heard it can be a real bitch getting those past inspection," she nonchalantly replies while stepping inside of the warehouse. Normally her bike would come with her but she'd rather not have a high powered bike sealed away in an enclosed warehouse. It's much easier to get herself out than it would be to get her and a bike out.
"You called. I came. I'd like to know why."
Reaching up, Kwabena begins to haul on the chain, causing the door to begin dropping behind her. "Kurt is a liability because of his moddah. Rachel and Nate? Liabilities because of dere associations. You?" The door clangs shut, striking the floor with an echoing bang. "You know how to keep your mouth shut. Dat's why."
The African reaches up to remove his shades. He tucks them away in his jacket, then walks over until he's face to face with Domino, a few feet separating them. "Sentinels. But before dat." He holds up a hand, gesturing through the air. "Why don't you go ahead and spit out whatever snarky, pissed off, volatile shit you need to, Domino. Get it off your chest. Throw some few punches if you want to. I'm going to find my way though dis clustah fuck one way or de oddah, and you just might not want to alienate me completely before I do. Clearly, some pretty big mistakes have been made, but now? Well, when you're neck deep in a pile of shit, your only option is to sink or swim."
Taking a step back, Kwabena motions. "Go on. Let's have it."
Once inside Domino stands there, doing nothing more than watching and listening. She's stoic enough on the outside to fit right in with the rest of those Matrix flunkies while rocking the black trench and sunglasses. It's not until the 'let's have it' that she quietly plucks the shades from her eyes, holding them in a hand for the moment.
"It's not my place to discipline you, kid. You've got your own life, your own path. Our orbits happen to collide a bit less than they used to. What I don't get is what made you turn your back on the X'ers, the only people in this godforsaken town that would take in a volatile scrap like you, then go running to Magneto's doorstep like he's your damned long lost father. What did they do that has you so anxious to change sides? I didn't trust you before but now no one trusts you, and hell only knows what's happening with your powers. You're not a merc, you're not an X'er, you're not a hero, I'm not sure if you're even a villain."
"Do you have any idea what the fuck you're doing anymore?"
'I didn't trust you before'
There is a slight recoil when those words are spoken, and some of the hostility in Kwabena's expression fades. He holds back, listening until she asks him that last question.
"Christ," he spits. "I don't know up from down right now."
"I fit in with de X-Men about as well as you did. I'm not cut out for charity work." He snaps a fiery look her way. "I didn't go running to his doorstep like a littah lost child," he spits venomously, before backing down with his anger. "You really think I'm dat stupid? After all dis time? I went to Genosha with Kurt. He didn't neglect to tell you dat, did he? While we were dere, Magneto changed me. I'm not talking about some KGB brainwashing bullshit. He changed my moleculah structure. The X-Men want nothing to do with it. Dey say I'm too dangerous now. So where else am I going to go, Domino? You think I want to be walking down the street one day, when boom, up goes Shift, like a miniature nuclear bomb? I need to learn how to control it."
Here he stops, and turns back to face her. "I made a decision. A bad one, but I made one. There's no easy way out now. If I knew just how deep dis rabbit hole went, I'd have nevah hired you for dat bullshit job in Ohio. Magneto was testing me. He knew damn well what I would find. He knows what he's doing. And now? Now I have to eithah run away like a little scared boy, or I can try to do something about it."
Yeah, which is going to end up getting him killed.
"Does 'learning to control it' mean 'melting Sentinel heads with a new high yield plasma weapon?'" Domino quickly counters. "In that case maybe I should go steal myself a stealth bomber so I can learn to better control my own power. You're an idiot, Shift. So Magneto did something to you, guess what? Now you're relying on him like you had relied on Doom for your weekly nanite kick, and before that you relied on whatever you could buy off of the streets. Hell, for a while there you were relying on me. When are you going to cut out this middleman bullshit and start relying upon yourself?"
Here she answers herself, feigning surprise as she takes a partial step closer. "Oh right, that would be right now because you've got no one left to lean on."
"Do you know how I survive this game, Shift? I don't need anyone. I don't look for anyone, I don't ask for anyone, and I don't care if I wind up without anyone. At the end of the day one of two things are going to happen, either I'm going to do what needs to be done and live to see tomorrow or I'm going to screw up and be dead for it. Either way it doesn't really matter. Now, you've gone and screwed up again. I'm not at all surprised. You want to try standing on your own feet so you can do what needs to be done, great, but make sure you understand what the stakes are. If you start handing this data to Magneto on a silver platter then you're giving him a winning hand for World War Three. Christ, I had the common sense to bail on Cobra as soon as they tried to use me to put nukes into their arsenal."
"Oh, that's great," answers Kwabena. "Then why de hell are you here? Hmm? Why de hell did you come? Because I sent a text message and you thought, 'Oh, gee. Maybe I can get some infahmation from Shift that will help save my ass'? Bullshit, Domino. You're so goddamned closed off you don't even realize you have friends." He lifts a finger to his forehead, pressing it against his temple multiple times. "Does it even get through dat think skull of yours dat Kurt is your friend? Betsy? Remy? Fucking Logan?"
Turning away, he lifts his hands into the air, winging them about mockingly. "Congratulations, Domino. You've managed to keep dat cloud of ignorance around you, to protect yourself from evah getting hurt again."
Shift turns back around, eyes hot with anger. "You think I'm a fucking idiot," he spits. "Listen to yourself, Neena. Melting Sentinel heads with a new high yield plasma weapon? Relying on Doom for my weekly nanite kick? Thinking Magneto needs me to get his information on Sentinels? You nevah heard of de pawn bringing about a stalemate? You're fucking delusional, and I don't need to defend myself from somebody who clearly has her head so stuck up her own ass dat she can't see what's really going on."
Walking back toward the chain, he grabs it with his hand and begins hauling it downward. The warehouse door gets cranked upward with every heave. "Word of advice. Do Kurt a favah and get out of his life. It'll hurt him a hell of a lot less dat way."
"You're right," Domino confirms in a cool, level tone. "I have. And if you had half a brain on those shoulders you'd learn to do the same."
The rest of Shift's rant is allowed, even when using her real name. She's a tough gal, she can take it. Seems like he's got more anger to get out into the open than she does.
Right up until that last part.
"I've tried!"
Her voice barely gets to finish rebounding across the warehouse walls when she snarls "I've tried to get him out of my fucking life for months and every fucking step he's been right there throwing himself into harm's way! I've told him it's a bad idea, I've shown him it's a bad idea and still he insists on hanging around, so don't you think for one fucking second that I'm leading him down some blind path out of my own selfishness! And you say I'm delusional! It's my choice to ignore the fact that others consider me a friend but at least I still have that option!"
"I'd rathah burn in hell den be that alone," he answers.
Halfway through raising the door, however, Kwabena stops. He looks back at Domino when she cries out, then glowers at her when she explains her own failure to keep Kurt away. A smirk starts to draw across his face. "Just your luck. Getting a teleportah to crush on you. Guess dis is my fault for bringing you to Westchestah." Because, honestly, had he not agreed to help Scott recruit Domino, would she and Kurt have ever been introduced?
Leaving the chain hanging, Shift walks across the way, coming close to Domino until he's in her face, lest she back away. "You see?" he challenges. "You care about him so much that, in your own twisted way of looking at things, you're screaming at me about failing to cut him out of your life." He shakes his head, and there is a brief moment where his own snark and anger melt away. There in his mismatched eyes is an honest look of concern.
"What happened to you?" he asks.
It runs deeper than Westchester. "No, it's Betsy's fault for bringing me to Latveria," Domino growls back in a much more sane volume. "First time we met I was throwing him a live grenade. He knew what he was getting involved with from the start." How's that for a first impression?
Checkmate. "What happened to me?" she blurts out in a forced, disbelieving laugh. How did this suddenly become an argument about her! Yet, before she can snipe back with some other hurtful, rage-fueled comeback her shoulders start to hang, the weight of the question really starting to bare down upon her.
Cheng. Fury. China. Now Kurt. Did she really care so much that she's chosen to reveal it like this, trying to avoid it all this time?
"I forgot my third rule of survival," she says in a more tired sounding tone. A second later and she's looking back his way with a cold blue stare. "And I've remembered myself."
With the door now partially open she starts to walk toward it, feeling closed in despite standing inside of an empty warehouse.
She wouldn't see the rising and falling of Kwabena's chest in its silent sigh. Turning, he begins hauling on the chain again. "War's coming, Domino," he warns. "It's gonna happen unless someone walks in dere and chops Lehnsherr's head off. I fear he'll kill every last human on de planet before he lets dat happen."
Those words sound like Kwabena Odame, the man Domino has known.
The next words do not.
"And... and I think... I think he's right." The door reaches its zenith, and should she look back at him, she'll see it. His face is all screwed up now, confusion knit across every nuance. He blinks rapidly, as if struggling with something in his mind. "I-it's what dey have coming to dem. Now it's up to us to survive."
The look of confusion remains for a short two seconds, before it's soon replaced by a sterile expression; the look of someone bidding a friend farewell, perhaps for the last time.
There again Domino comes to a sudden halt, turning just enough to look at the man that she had at one point in her life worked alongside, whether as freelance mercs or as part of the X-Men. There again he tells her something that she simply does not see as being true.
'I think he's right.'
"No, you don't."
With the door open the sunglasses go right back onto her face, not bothering with eye contact for her last remark. "Find yourself before someone else does, Kwabena."