Virology

by Phil Hartman

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Somewhere in rural Peru:
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It had that ... smell about it.

#That, and it's damn thin,# the pale-skinned mercenary thought, sniffing the air in the village's marketplace. She walked, sighing, and shook out her raven hair, tucked as it was underneath a large hat against the less-filtered rays of the sun at this altitude.

#Thinner protection, just like the training,# the violet-eyed woman thought, shaking her head and muttering another curse as she followed the trickle of what she called "mental diarrhea" towards her quarry.

#Damn psi-link's leaking worse than Theo's ass after that night in Shanghai -#

She cut off the thought, cursing herself for the jolt of emotion that almost certainly would have given her away to her "prey," and entered the boarding house.

It was early yet; the bar was empty, waiting for the survivors from last night's party to stagger in and waste another few pieces of currency in their never-ending quest for destruction of their livers.

#I'd join them, if not for him,# Domino thought, snorting as she grasped at the nonchalance which was keeping her moving.

She walked up the stairs, unchallenged, and found his door.

#Kick it in ? Turn the knob ?#

The irrational side of her screamed to run.

"Fuck it," Domino growled, reaching for the door. it swung open at her touch, letting her step inside.

It was dark, and stank of sweat and blood and rust.

"You came," he rasped, and the psi-link flared, nearly knocking her to the floor with his nearness -

~painAGONYblissFREEDOMlonging~

- before she cursed again and kicked him in the side of his right leg.

"IDIOT !" Domino spat. "Fucking IDIOT ! Pulling this type of shit on me, and not TELLING me !"

"y' were gone," Nathan Summers rasped, sitting in the corner of the dark room. "Well, not quite -"

"No fucking shit, Nathan," Domino growled, sitting backwards on the chair at the desk nearest the half-closed blinds of the room. "You could've died. You SHOULD'VE died, you know - using your damned TK at the damned genetic level like that. Fuck, are you even in one piece ?"

"Look f'r yourself," Nathan rasped again - in that not-quite-together voice, Domino realized, daring to reach for the pull-cord of the blinds.

#Do I REALLY want to do this ... ?#

"Hell with it," Domino muttered, flicking the blinds open enough to let more light in.

And she saw.

Saw the distortion of his left arm and left leg, puddled on the floor, veins and arteries and muscles mingled with sickly silver-white "metal."

Saw his twisted lower jaw, which TRIED, feebly, to assume a more jaw-like shape.

Saw the antenna jutting from his right eyebrow, twitching.

And he saw her, running.

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"Senora ?"

"Shut - HUACKK - UP," Domino muttered, coughing up what was left of the burrito she'd eaten for breakfast. She stood, glaring at the policeman in the alley behind the boarding house, then pushed her way past him.

~Dom.~

~GODDAMNIT, NATHAN !~ Domino thought back, gritting her teeth and managing to make it to the nearest bench on the village square. ~NO consideration for anybody else, huh ?~

~Well, I thought it was what you wanted,~ Nathan thought, with surprising coherence and a formidable amount of defiance. ~Penance -~

~Penance is in Monaco. You ... Christ, Nathan, I don't want you melted like a bad burrito in a microwave,~ Domino thought, frowning. ~Besides, penance for what ? Stryfe's dead, the damn Legacy Virus is cured, and that Grey punk disappeared weeks ago.~

~Sam ? Tabitha ? James ?~ Nathan asked, suddenly tired.

~WHAT !? Jesus, Nathan, didn't you at least read my memory !?~ Domino thought, surprise and a fresh bloom of anger filling her. ~They're alive ! They're pissed about the whole X-Force thing, but they're not DEAD. They and Jesse survived the bioship disaster ! They came and found me, and we tried beating on those punk-asses who stole the name, but -~

She tried not to cry out joyously at Nathan's reaction.

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"Well," Domino said, several hours and a bottle of local liquor later, "you're looking better."

He was stretched out, wearing boxer briefs, on the bed, without the melted look he'd had. His arm and leg were solid once more - still a rather sickly color to the metal, but the limbs were functional.

"God, I was a flonqing idiot," Nathan muttered, crossing his arms behind his head. "Attempting psionocellular microsurgery after spending days fighting the Shining Path ... I thought I'd try it."

"You thought you'd abuse yourself at the cellular level ?" Domino mock-laughed. "Taking angst to a whole new dimension, Nate ?"

The look in his eyes silenced her.

"Take me to them," Nathan breathed, letting Domino slide onto the bed beside him. "Take me home, Dom. I just want to ... settle things. I'm tired, and I miss the kids. I definitely miss Scott and Jean, and Rachel ... hell, I miss LOGAN."

"OK, you're officially delusional," Domino tried to laugh. "Not that Scott couldn't use some shaking up ... that mess in Hong Kong, he was off, somehow. And what's this about Rachel ?"

Nathan grinned at her, pulling her close, and just nuzzled her face.

"In time," he whispered, without the rasp. "Just let me hold you close and beat my former macho avatar to death with unadulterated mushiness ..."

"Reinventing the Nathan ?" Domino giggled.

"Why not ?" Nathan mumbled, dozing off as she wrapped herself around him. "No more virus, no more restraint on my powers ... no more ..."

Domino let the bottle roll to the floor, and looked at him in the dimming afternoon light.

#It's back,# she realized. #That innocent little-boy look is back.#

#Damnit, that look is SUCH a mood-killer ...#

She sighed, then held on to him, as they drifted off.

finis ... ?

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