As Domino opened her eyes, she groaned. She ached all over, and was more than eager to just sleep for the next few days. The incessant blaring of the alarm however woke her up, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

She turned the alarm off and stretched. It’d only been ninety minutes since she’d closed her eyes, and she felt like she hadn’t slept at all.

As she gathered herself, she heard some footsteps down the hall. She waited a second to see if the footsteps would pass her room, but they didn’t. She cursed herself, thinking she had done enough to lose the kill team after her, but as Cable always said, “Dom, you have to adapt to the situation. I can teach you techniques, but they may not be for shit if the situation falls the wrong way. Adapt or die,” Cable had told her, in a long ago future time. She’d been so young then.

She grabbed the artefact and her bag of weapons and made her way to the fire escape as quietly as possible. ‘They must be prepping to breach proper,’ she thought to herself. She looked out the window, saw it was cleared, and climbed out. She raced down the fire escape, and was at the end of the alley before she heard a muffled explosion, as they kill team tried to enter the hotel room. Once again, her luck had held, and she’d woken up in time to get out. She was grateful she’d set up a booby trap for anyone entering the room. She’d attached a hook to the door, and an eye hook in the wall above the door, then run a string to the grenade she’d taped to the doorjamb, in such a way that whomever opened the door would walk into the grenades blast, and get a nice face full of shrapnel. It was one of the simplest traps she knew.

She made her way to the airport, and as Gabriel had promised, there was a ticket waiting for her to get her to Madripoor. Once there she’d be able to get her feet under her, get some rest, and some breathing room.

She waited in line, cleared security, thanked herself for dumping the weapons, and then went through customs. She made it to the waiting area an hour before the plane was scheduled to leave, and so she grabbed a bite to eat.

SHUFFLING THE DECK

By Aaron Stanley

Half a Day Later

As Domino arrived in Madripoor, she navigated the dense traffic of the airport. She hailed a taxi, and ordered the man to take her to the Jade Palace, a hotel that she had frequented in her days on the underground fighting circuit that was popular in Madripoor. She rolled the window down, and listened to the metropolis of the underworld. Despite the loud noise of the main part of the city, she’d always felt at home here.

She paid the cab driver, and climbed out in front of one of her favourite hotels in the world, which was notorious for cold beer, lousy beds, cheap rates and no questions. She let herself in the service entrance, and walked through the kitchen to the manager’s office.

She knocked, and smiled when her long time friend opened the door.

“Domino!” exclaimed Jade Tiger, a large woman some might call an amazon, to their eternal dismay. In reality, she was a Westerner, from Edmonton, Alberta. She’d come to Madripoor looking for work as hired muscle, and had ended up being a bouncer for the owner of the hotel. Now she was part owner, full time manager, and coming at Domino, wrapping her in a rib crunching bear hug. “How are you, Dom?” the big woman asked.

“Good. Little sore from that hug. Sore all over from driving a coffin on wheels for the better part of a week. Any chance you can rent a room to a merc with no money?” Domino asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course. You in trouble again?” Jade asked, smiling. She’d always been a great friend to Domino, and the mutant wondered occasionally if Jade hadn’t wanted more. She’d never made any overt moves, but something in Domino just made her think that might have been an option. Jade reached back into her office, and pulled a key from the rack. “Best room for a woman on the run. Views of all streets that approach, right above the garbage stack for a soft landing out the back window, and best of all, unless you know it’s there, you’d never see the door from the hallway.”

“You’re the best, J,” Domino said. “Any messages?” Domino asked. She always left the number of the hotel as her contact, and would check in periodically.

“As a matter of fact, a few. One from a man named Katsoff. He said something about wanting what was his. Didn’t sound too nice. So I told him where to stick his attitude,” the big woman said, smirking. She’d long ago stopped being intimidated by anyone. “Another from a man named Gabby J or something. He said he wanted to help you out, give you a plum job, and clear up a jam you’re in. And that’s it.”

“Thanks,” Domino replied, taking the message from Gabriel Jones, and the agent. “Hot water fixed yet?” she asked the manager of the hotel, as she was led up the back stairs to her room. She looked in, and saw a room that was exactly as advertised. She threw her things on the bed, and opened the small fridge, opening two beers and passing one to the other woman.

“So, tell me what’s been happening in the Mad city?” She asked.

“Not too much. Fight circuit is dying a slow death. More and more, people aren’t as interested in it after that UFC opened up, and went global. Other than that, not a lot has changed. Had some Russians try to muscle into the area, but they got steel drummed,” she said. Long had been the tradition in Madripoor of sending invaders home in steel drums. One had to pay their dues to gain position here. Or pay lots of money.

“Good times,” Domino said, throwing open the window and leaning out. She took in a big whiff of the city, and sighed. “So, what do you think I should do? Take a government job, or hide out in Madripoor for awhile, and do the merc thing until my luck runs out?” she asked, looking at her friend.

“You know I can’t answer that. And it don’t make much difference. You stay in one spot as long as a leaf in a wind storm. But you’ve done the merc thing, the black ops thing, the freedom fighter thing, the X-Men mutant rights thing. Maybe you keep doing different things because you haven’t found your niche. Maybe working for the feds is where you belong.”

Domino mulled on that for a minute. She had done a lot in her young life. “You know, I’m not even 30 yet? I’ve had more careers then ten people. But there might be truth to what you say,” she said. She smiled as an idea occurred to her. She reached for the necklace she wore, and opened the small locket. She pulled out her lucky quarter. “What you think, flip for it? Heads, I stay a merc, operate out of Mad City, tails I work for SHIELD. Call it,” Domino said, and flipped the coin. She threw the coin in the air, and caught it, then slapped in against the back of her wrist.

“Heads,” Jade said, for purely personal reasons.

Domino smiled, and peeked. Her smile dropped.

“Sorry old friend,” she said. She moved her hand and showed the tails to her friend.

“That’s ok. Want me to leave ya to make your phone call?” Jade asked, finishing her beer.

“No. Crack another. I’ll call in the morning. Tonight we drink,” Domino said.

Early the next morning

“Domino,” said the man, as he knelt next to the bed. He put his hand on her shoulder, and shook her gently, repeating her name.

“What?” Domino moaned. Her head hurt, and she was sore all over. She was glad the room was dark, as she knew she’d be sensitive to light.

“Domino, wake up. It’s Gabby,” Gabriel Jones said, shaking her.

“I am awake. And what are you doing here?” she asked, sitting up and stretching.

“I’m here to bring you to New York. I need your help,” the man said.

“First off, I called you looking for a hand getting out of London. For which I’m grateful, by the way,” Domino said, as she got up and walked to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, and started the shower. “Besides, what’s one of the senior most SHIELD officers need my help with?”

“There’s a murderer targeting mutants, and we’ve had no luck or leads in catching him,” the man replied.

“So? That’s a problem for the FBI. They’ll get him inside of a few weeks,” she replied, stripping and stepping into the shower. She’d never been one to worry about being naked in front of others. Especially ex-lovers like Gabby, who she had had a fling with, back when she was contracted to SHIELD for a few weeks, and he had been working his way up the ladder. It’d ended as well as could be expected.

“That’s the thing, Dom, we’ve been tracking him for over a year and a half. I wouldn’t be here asking if I hadn’t tried every other option, and you didn’t owe me a favour.”

As Domino let the water pour over her, she thought about it. While she’d never been particularly interested in the welfare of the mutant race, she did feel of a pang of guilt at the thought of people being killed solely because they were a mutant.

As she got out of the shower, she grabbed a towel.

“So, what’s so special about these mutants that they’re being killed?” she asked.

“Their wings,” came the reply.

“Their wings? So, that’s how he finds them. Most mutants don’t have retractable wings, so they’d be easy to spot. So, what’s his ritual?” she asked, pulling on her clothes. She’d watched enough television to know that every serial killer had one.

“He enters their homes, strangles them, and cuts their wings off. The first five mutants killed had wings similar to insects, which is how he got the name of the Butterfly Killer.”

Domino frowned. As someone who’d flown as a passenger of flying mutants, she knew how great it felt to fly. To think that someone would kill mutants and take that joy from them was horrific.

“And you want my help? You know I’m not a cop, don’t have no training. And what’s SHIELD worried about a serial killer for? That’s a little pedestrian for one of the world’s best spy agencies,” Domino said.

“Well, things are coming Domino. Big things. The US government is starting to take more and more of an interest in the areas of the superhuman community. And SHIELD took it upon us to set up an independent division, the Mutants Affairs Division, which would handle things that needed to be dealt with, that relate to mutants. Part of that is taking over cases that would usually be handled by the FBI or related services,” Gabby said. Domino was moving about the room, packing her things, which wasn’t taking long. “And I’ve got a stack of files on the desk of whoever is put in charge that would take some time to clear up. The Butterfly Killer is the biggest case, and it’s all I could do to keep it under wraps.”

“And the person heading the division?” Domino asked. She didn’t want to work for some bureaucrat. If it was someone that she’d had a history with, she’d have to weigh her options.

“That’s the thing. At this point, the only person manning the division would be you. As it went along, the staff might grow, but it’d be a solo thing for now,” Gabby said. Domino waved her hand for him to leave, and locked the place. She walked down the stairs, and looked for Jade. She wasn’t around, which was explained by the fact that it was still early, and she was probably sleeping off the hangover that was currently running around Domino’s head.

“So, I’d get to run around, taking care of a whole division by my lonesome, with no support staff, and I’m guessing a large number of cases involving mutants that are at best deemed anti-social?” she asked. Domino hated to do it, but she wrote a quick note for Jade, and left it on her desk. Domino simply wrote ‘thanks, and I’ll have to take a rain check on that fight.’ The big woman would be upset, but Domino didn’t want to have to do it face to face, and see the hotel owner’s face.

“Pretty much. You’d get all the toys and tech of SHIELD, but officially you’d be your own, with a small office in New York, a US salary, benefits, company car, anything you need to get the job done,” Gabby said, hoping the stability of the position would work to the benefit of him. When he’d been ordered to find someone for the office, the list had been short of mutants without a criminal record, who’d worked for the government, and could be trusted. Two people long as a matter of fact, and the other was dead, so that left his options limited.

Domino left out the back, and stood there, looking around. She knew that Gabby probably had a jump jet on the roof of the nearby parking structure. To her left was the stairwell to the roof, to her right was the street. She mulled her options. She knew that she’d have to get help as soon as she got there, from someone that knew how to run an investigation. She didn’t know anyone, but she’d have to find someone quickly. Not a new cop, someone who’d been around the block, knew their stuff, wasn’t an idiot, and was reliable. She smiled, realizing that as she thought of the list of requirements, that she had already made her mind. She turned to Gabby.

“So, when do we leave?”