"Here you go. Three days of guard rotations, Emma's notes on using the code-breaking algorithm you found, and sixteen DMC-branded mints."

Domino looked up in spite of herself, blinking at Vanessa in confusion. Vanessa shrugged. "They're good mints. And I have light fingers."

It was obvious from the sheen of innuendo in her voice that she'd intended for that to bother Domino, to get her all hot under the collar. "You're such a dick," Domino said, and took the guard rotations to study.

It had been a week since she'd slept with Vanessa, and nothing - almost nothing - had changed. The exception to that rule was that instead of hanging around the apartment making snotty comments, Vanessa spent most of her time gone, chasing after intel on DMC that would make their planned heist simpler.

The intel barely existed; DMC was as competent as they were secretive, and Domino straight up couldn't see many weaknesses in their organization. But Vanessa was out at all hours anyway, pounding the pavement, avoiding Domino like it was her life's calling.

Domino couldn't blame her. They'd eaten dinner together exactly once. Domino had cracked a joke about Emma locking them both in a pocket universe, Vanessa had said she was sure they could find a way to pass the time, and then Domino had lost her breath fantasizing about pushing their food on the floor and fucking Vanessa on top of the table. Disgusting; ridiculous. Really, really unnecessary, in every possible way. The point of this was to halt DMC's power, not figure out how easy it was to fist a shapeshifter.

"Get it together, Dom," she muttered.

"Get what together?"

Fuck. Vanessa was still there, watching her read with an amused smirk on her face. "Nothing," Domino said. "I'm just worried, you know, that we'll get captured and murdered."

"Unlikely. Captured, brainwashed, and our powers turned to serve evil, on the other hand?" Vanessa tossed an apple from hand to hand. "Odds are 300:1 in favor of that right now, or so Weasel tells me."

"What does Wade think?"

Only long practice enabled her to see Vanessa's response. She didn't flinch, because she didn't move at all. Every single muscle went very still. To Domino's eye, she might as well have screamed. "Haven't asked him," Vanessa said finally, and took a huge bite of her apple.

She should really just let it lie. "Why not?" Whoops.

Vanessa stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "Are you seriously asking me that right now?"

"I'm just curious. He cares about you."

"And I care about him. Like you care about your dying grandfather, or your childhood dog." Vanessa shook her head, looking away. "You know, when I touch him now, I can feel his fucked-up genes."

"Can't you feel my luck when you touch me?"

She realized her mistake a breath too late. Vanessa looked back at her and smiled cruelly - and then the bones of her face cracked and shifted as she turned herself into Domino.

"I couldn't forget it if I tried, baby," she cooed, walking towards Domino with a predatory prowl that Domino knew she'd never be able to imitate.

"Hey. Knock it off."

"Why?" Vanessa smiled slowly, looking Domino up and down. "I've got this weird little feeling that going through with this is a very lucky idea."

"That's not how it works." And that smile had no business being as hot as it was. Domino didn't want to fuck herself; she could just see Vanessa in front of her still, even wearing Domino's own skin. "Just - hang on."

"Tell you what. You want me to stop, I'll stop. All you have to do is tell me."

And Vanessa kissed her.

For a second Domino thought she was going to get her shit together enough to push Vanessa away. But then she felt it again, the weird tickle that was the only real indication that she even had a mutant power. It lurked in the back of her head like mockery, telling her that actually, continuing to kiss Vanessa was a great idea and she should definitely do it.

Unbelievable.

It wasn't a good idea. How on earth could kissing Vanessa be lucky? But her power just - insisted, lurking, driving her crazy. Almost as crazy as Vanessa's fingers biting into the back of her neck, pressing her against the wall. Fuck it, Domino thought, and bit Vanessa's lip, returning the kiss with vicious interest.

It wasn't until Domino reached down to get Vanessa's top off that she shifted back into herself, breaking away from Domino with a gasp, an almost predatory gleam in her eye. "Still interested?" she said, looking Domino up and down and licking her lips.

"Unfortunately for me, yes." Domino held out a hand and pulled her in, kissing her again, pinching her nipple. Vanessa shivered against her, and then laughed, flattening a hand against Domino's chest and dropping to her knees.

Domino's luck thrummed in smug satisfaction as Vanessa made her scream.

-

"Neena."

It was a dream. Domino knew it was a dream, because her mother was dead and had been since Domino was seven. Give or take. The orphanage hadn't exactly been good at record-keeping. "I want to wake up now."

"Don't be dramatic, hon. This isn't that kind of dream." Her mom sat down at the kitchen table across from her, steam coming from her mug. Domino figured that if she looked in it, it would be full of blood, or bugs or something. Or maybe looking away from her mother would make her turn into one of Domino's old torturers.

"I said I want to wake up. You're not real."

"Don't you give me that sass. We don't have much time here." She reached out and covered Domino's hand with her own.

Domino looked down on instinct. It was a normal hand, a little worn-looking, rougher than Domino's own. She looked back up, bracing for the worst.

Her mother smiled back at her, a sheen of tears over her eyes. "I miss you, you know."

"You're dead."

"Sure, and magic doesn't exist, but my daughter's full of it." Her mother squeezed her hand. "Darling, what you're doing is dangerous."

"Lots of stuff is. We have to do it."

"If you're going to put your life in danger, you should tell her how you feel."

Domino blinked. "What?"

And the hell of it was, her mother looked at her and Domino remembered. She remembered the look, the don't-try-it attitude, the gentle love and kindness and -

The dream was fading. "Wait. No."

"I love you, Neena. Get back to living your life, whatever that means to you."

Domino woke in a cold sweat. She didn't manage to get back to sleep.

-

"I think it's time for a trial run."

Domino blinked. "You do?"

"Mhm. I think we're ready."

"All three of us, huh?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Do you want to involve X-Force? I listen when you talk, you know. I remember you saying it was a disaster."

"Only because it was Wade's pet project. X-Force 2.0 wasn't so bad." Though really, needing to involve time travel probably counted as a bit of a disaster. Thanks, Cable.

"So you want to bring a bunch of other people on board before we do a trial run?"

"I'm not so sure a trial run is really the best way to do this."

"I think you're chicken."

Vanessa was trying to bait her. Domino knew it, because it was super fucking obvious, and Domino wasn't an idiot. Unfortunately, knowing and not letting it work were apparently two wildly divergent things. "Okay. Look."

"...I'm waiting."

"I can't think of anything," Domino admitted. "I am scared, okay? What if they shoot us?"

"We'll get better." Vanessa frowned. "Or we won't. We probably won't care either way, though."

"That is not reassuring."

"You know, it's funny, I wouldn't have thought you'd need reassurance, what with the luck and all."

Domino gritted her teeth.

"Wade told me you were like, Frank Sinatra levels of cool. All, 'don't worry baby, I can jump out of a helicopter and hunky celebrities will appear out of nowhere to carry me on their shoulders all the way to the caravan'."

"Wade's a lunatic."

"Sure, but when you peel away the editorializing, he's usually also right." Vanessa pointed at her. "You're scared. Why? Is it the luck?"

Because Vanessa trusted the luck, Domino realized, at least as much as she trusted Domino herself. Great, fine, they were having casual sex anyway, it wasn't a feelings thing. Vanessa didn't need to trust her. Who cared about trust, not Domino.

"Hey." Vanessa snapped her fingers in front of Domino's face. "Is it the luck?"

Domino batted her hand away, more sharply than she really needed to. "No. No, it's just -" Feelings. Ugh. "I'm just feeling a little down, okay? Tragic orphan shit, not anything you need to care about."

"Trust me, I don't."

"Well. Good."

They stared at each other, a parody of awkwardness. Vanessa, Domino noticed for the hundredth time, was beautiful. Really, truly, movie-star beautiful. Domino really didn't want to be the kind of person who was ready to U-Haul someone she'd fingerfucked a few times, but -

Well, she totally was.

"We can do a trial," Domino said. "Let's just. Be careful, okay?"

"When have I ever not been careful?"

Domino crossed her arms and glared.

"Okay, fine. But I'll be careful this time." Vanessa shot her a ridiculous, bone-meltingly sexy smile that Domino knew was practiced and calculated, and that was still insanely hot. "For you, babe."

"Fuck off."

"Come make me."

Against her better judgment, Domino did.

-

The plan was relatively straightforward. Vanessa was going to go in with Emma, who'd managed to work her way up to having a broad security mandate and minions, one of which Vanessa would be pretending to be. While in, she'd transmit data back to the surveillance van -

"Creep van," Vanessa wouldn't stop saying.

- where Domino would be observing. If they needed backup, Domino would be the one to go in.

"I get to stay safe," Emma said, "Because I'm a valuable asset, and because I don't want to risk my life for this frankly insane plan."

The worst part was that Domino really couldn't even argue with that. So she sat in the van, watching as Emma led Vanessa in and then haughtily informed her that she was on her own with the 'file collation', as Emma had a meeting.

It was a flawless performance; Domino half believed Emma really thought Vanessa was her employee by the end of it. Except, of course, that something felt really off about the whole thing. She'd ignored her feeling this morning; she already knew this heist attempt was kind of a bad idea, she didn't need a superpower for that brilliant insight.

But now...

Mostly, in the past, she'd only followed the little nudges that told her if she did something, she'd have good luck. She never had to think about, say, dodging a car, or avoiding getting killed by a falling piano. She just stepped away at the right moment, and then she was fine. Whatever the inverse of her good luck sense was, it didn't generally make itself known to her.

So it was kind of a problem that she was sitting in the van, practically crawling out of her skin with the way her senses were screaming at her.

"Everything okay?" Vanessa murmured into her earpiece.

"Sure," Domino lied.

"You sure about that?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're breathing impressively heavily. Like, guy-in-a-porno kind of breathing."

Domino gritted her teeth. "Let's just get this done, okay?"

And then, of course, it all went to shit.

She watched someone walk into the server room. Vanessa's button cam caught distinctive features: a blotchy red scar on the left side of the woman's face, brilliant blonde hair, a birthmark on her neck. Domino knew her, though she hadn't seen her since they were both in their pre-teens. Her name was Jessica, and -

"You're not supposed to be here, Copycat."

- her power was that she could counteract every other mutant's power.

"Motherfucker," Domino said, and started running.

The power cut off as she ran up to the entrance. She took advantage of the confusion to slide past the security guards. Down the hall, she came across a dropped ID and DMC coat; she put them on. The higher-security zone Vanessa was in had a stuck door when she got there; she ran past. In all, it took maybe two minutes.

She got to the server room in time to see Jessica put a knife against Vanessa's throat. "Stop!" she screamed.

Jessica did, in fact, stop. She turned to Domino and froze, her eyes widening. "Oh my God. Neena?"

Domino opened her mouth to say - something, who the fuck knew how to resolve a situation like this? But it didn't matter. The fluorescent light above Jessica flickered and then broke on one side, swinging with heavy finality, right into Jessica's temple.

She crumpled to the ground. Before Domino could move, Vanessa was at her side, grabbing her hand. "We leave. Now."

Domino found their way out, going down halls her luck nudged her towards. They didn't encounter a single person, and the exit they found was covered by a single, dead camera. They got back to the van, and Domino saw that only fifteen minutes had passed.

"Holy fucking shit," Vanessa said. "That was incredible."

Domino collapsed into the driver's seat. "I..." Say something, she told herself. Be normal! You know how to be normal!

But she'd just watched someone from the old days die. Someone who knew her before she knew how to be normal, before she was Domino. The last time Jessica saw her, she'd been small and scared and stupid as hell.

How much could she possibly have changed, if Jessica recognized her right away?

"Hey." A warm hand on her arm. Vanessa looking up at her, her normally impassive face concerned. "What's going on in there?"

"I can - I can drive us back. We shouldn't contact Emma. Till later."

"Yeah, her cover would be blown right now if you hadn't saved our asses. I'm not asking if you're okay to drive, though. I'm asking what the fuck happened back there."

She felt so, so tired. The kind of tired that shifted the entire axis of her existence and made her consider -

Well. Stuff she didn't think about most of the time. "I'm okay, don't worry. I'm just tired. I'm fine. I can drive."

"The hell you can. Get out of the car."

Domino blinked. "Excuse me, what?"

"You heard me." A blade pricked her elbow. Oh, right, Vanessa was a sociopath now. "Out. Right now."

Domino followed directions, mostly because she couldn't do anything else. The problem with Vanessa pulling knives was that Domino had absolutely no doubt that she'd use them. So she let Vanessa drive them back to the rental place, then hail the taxi that got them back to Domino's apartment. She didn't even say anything when the taxi driver told them the previous passenger had paid their fare. She stayed silent, and tried to breathe, as Vanessa locked the door behind them and steered Domino over to her couch.

"Tea? Coffee?"

"Um. I think I have some vodka, actually."

"Healthy." But Vanessa poured her some of the good stuff - them, actually, two glasses. Instead of stalking off into the guest room, she sat down next to Domino, close enough to lean against.

Domino didn't. Couldn't. But she said, "Thanks," and drank her vodka.

"I just need to know one thing."

She held herself very still, ready to spin a lie about who Jessica was, how Domino knew her.

Not that she thought Vanessa had somehow forgotten DMC's file on her, or whatever. But she didn't want to talk about it.

"Did you have a bad feeling about today?"

The question was so far afield of what Domino'd been expecting that for a second her brain just didn't process it. Vanessa didn't mock her, though. She just waited.

"Yeah," Domino said finally. "Actually, I did."

"Tell me."

So Domino explained, how she'd felt a little off but had discounted it, how her luck really never spoke to her about avoiding things. "It was just - strange," she said finally. "I didn't expect it. I chalked it up to nerves."

Vanessa took a sip of wine, very slowly. "Your powers are changing."

"Excuse me, what?"

"It happens. Just look at me."

"You died! And I'm an adult!"

Vanessa shrugged.

If she'd been asked, Domino probably would've said she expected Vanessa to argue, trying to persuade her. That was, after all, what Wade would do, and in Domino's head they were almost the same person. But Vanessa watched, and waited, and it occurred to Domino - hey, better late than never - that Vanessa wasn't the same as Wade at all.

"It changes sometimes," she admitted. She'd read the same news articles as everyone else.

Vanessa nodded. "Like your hair if you have a kid."

"Kind of not your only problem, then."

"Still. It changes."

"Yeah." She took a deep, wobbly breath. Fuck. "I'll tell you, then, next time. If I feel it."

"Good." Another sip of wine, another long silence. "You shouldn't have been able to get in."

"Into DMC? I got lucky."

"I know. It shouldn't have happened. They hedged against it, everywhere, at all times."

Domino knew what she was trying to hint at. She did her best to let her down gently. "I don't actually control my luck. It was a coincidence, or they didn't know what they were doing."

"DMC's best-in-class. And plenty of people want to shut mutants down." Vanessa quirked an eyebrow. "You're definitely more powerful than DMC thought, probably more powerful than Xavier realizes. You'll have to deal with it at some point."

Domino shrugged.

"Like, the stock market might be super good for literally the rest of your life because all your money's in it, and you're lucky."

"I can't control world economies with my luck. Come on."

Instead of arguing, Vanessa kissed her.

Domino should've called bullshit right then. Vanessa kept doing this, and it was clearly her favorite avoidance maneuver. But instead of doing something reasonable, like talking, Domino felt her whole world spin out of alignment. Vanessa's lips on her own felt like - still a bad idea, Domino thought wildly, in spite of everything. A mistake, every time. But they also made her wet and desperate, turned her into someone she hadn't realized she was before. She became determined to make Vanessa beg, and when she slid to her knees on the hardwood floor, opened Vanessa up and licked her till she was close -

Vanessa begged until Domino let her come, then screamed, thighs locked around Domino's head. And Domino felt something deep and primal inside her curl up in satisfaction, hollowed out and full all at the same time. Vanessa dragged her to bed and got her off, and Domino didn't even care that they fell asleep in Domino's own room, tangled together, hearts beating almost in time.