The X-Project

Monday night, Pete keeps his promise to give Domino a call.



Pete plugged his mobile into the laptop, and hit dial.  If anyone thought to check the records of where he was calling from, the set-up he had running should make it seem like he was somewhere in Texas right now.

There was a click, and a brief beep from the laptop as the call went though, and was picked up.

"It's me."

In Berlin, Domino let the air in her lungs out on a sigh and sagged into a chair. "Asshole," she said half-heartedly. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah.  Tired and fucked off with everything, but I'm doing OK.  How's your week been?"

"Oh, you know," Domino said, with a flash of ironic anger for the question. "Went to the Sudan, waded through bodies, had my luck decide to take a siesta... came back home to find a cryptic email from you, a grim one from Nate, and had to call and listen to Amanda trying not to fall the fuck apart over the phone. Great week, mine. Really."

"Ah shit, Dom, I'm sorry.  I got her email, and I was..."  He broke off and started again.  "I just couldn't think of anything else to do... Are you OK?"

"I'll live. You're lucky you didn't call before I got some sleep, though - I would have probably have lost my shit at you." Domino curled up in the chair, going quiet for a moment. "So. Manuel's piece of shit father."

"Yeah.  Probably a good thing I was away from Xavier's before I read the file."  Pete lit up with his free hand.  "Don't like to think about what might've happened if I'd known and seen the kid on my way out..."

"Then it's a damned good thing you didn't," she replied bluntly. "It's a hell of a mess as is, Pete. Putting a hotknife through Manuel's head on the way out would just have made it worse." Damned cordless phones. Nothing to fiddle with while you were talking. She settled for picking at the bandage on her arm. The cut was itching. "Do you need help?" she asked after a moment. "I don't generally operate in the States, yeah, but I can..."

Pete went quiet for a long moment, then sighed.  "No.  Stay clear of this one.  Too many ways it could go wrong, and even if there weren't, I need to send a message.  Can't let it look like I need help to do the job."

He took a drag on his cigarette.

"And I know it would've been stupid to do the kid. It ain't his fault, and I know it.  I just wasn't thinking clearly when I found out, you know?"

"Yeah..." Domino trailed off again, curling up in the chair. "You want me to stay totally clear, then?" she asked, a bit hesitantly. "I mean, I'm not going to jump into things if you don't want me in the middle of it, but..." She paused, awkwardly. "You know if things change, though... all you need to do is call me."

"I know.  Thanks.  I wish it were different..."  Pete hesitated a second, then changed the subject.  "How did she sound?"

A pained sigh slipped out before Domino could help herself. "Miserable, Pete. Doing her best to hold it together, though..." She smiled a bit feebly. "Helped her a lot to know that you were all right, I think. I told her I'd try to get over there soon, to see her."

"Why wouldn't I be...?"  Pete trailed off, sounding puzzled. "Hang on.  Did she say what they'd told her about why I've left Xaviers?"

Domino blinked, running back over the conversation in her mind. "She knew about Manuel's father. Said something about this LeBeau character telling her that what you were doing was going to cause trouble for the school that they couldn't handle." She sighed again. "She's blaming herself pretty badly, I think."

"Oh for fucks sake!"  Pete exploded, knocking his chair over backwards.  "That shitbag useless mangy ratfuck son of a bitch!" 

He paced up and down his room.  "Would it have killed him to engage whatever passes for his brain before opening his big fucking gob?  I always leave Amanda a
note!  Always!"  He took a deep breath, forced himself to be calm.

"I didn't want her to know.  Not until it was done, and I could have fucking told her myself!"

Domino winced, glad he was safely on the other side of at least one ocean and couldn't see the look on her face. She'd been right to be worried about him, she thought bleakly. "Listen to me," she said as steadily as she could. "I won't tell you not to worry about her, because I know better, but either you're focused on what you're doing or you're not, Pete. And if you're not, I swear to God I'm flying over there whether you want me there or not, because I am not going to stand back and watch you get yourself killed." She went on, not giving him a chance to answer just yet. "Amanda's as tough as she needs to be, and when she doesn't need to be, she's got plenty of shoulders to cry on back at the school. They'll look after her."

Pete took another breath.  "It's OK.  I'm..."  He trailed off.

"Oh, the horrible little cajun fuck." He started slowly, then continued, calmly and levelly.  "I'm going to finish off de la Rocha, and then I'm going to feed him his liver.  That wasn't a fucking mistake, telling Amanda.  He knew exactly what he was doing."

She might have been minus some of the important pieces of information, here, but that didn't mean she couldn't make an intuitive leap or three. Shit, what a mess... Why the fuck hadn't she just killed de la Rocha in November? She'd had it all planned out, damn it... Biting her lip, she forced herself to go on in a more moderate tone. "You're going to have to keep out of touch with her, then."

Pete took another drag on his cigarette, and picked his chair up again.

"I was going to have to anyway.  She's in a house with half a dozen telepaths, and she's joined at the brain with Manuel.  LeBeau knows that there's no way I'd get in touch.  But if he could wind her up enough, make her really want to track me down because it was all her fault or something, and she talked you or Nate into helping..."

There was a sudden vitality in his voice.

"Right, here's what we're going to do.  Starting tomorrow anyone that knows me reasonably well should be able to turn me up in Chicago anyway. I'm going to be stopping in there overnight every few days on an alias I haven't hidden that well. I'd rather know where anyone that wants to find me is going to show up, y'know?  Cuts the chance of surprises when I don't want 'em down a bit.  Anyway, tell Amanda that you've spoken to me, that I said I'd try and see her in New York before I finish the job, but that she can't tell anyone.  Don't tell her anything else just yet, especially not about LeBeau.  I'll let you know when I'm about to stop off in Chicago for the last time, and you get Amanda sorted out with tickets to come out here for an evening. I don't like stringing her along, but I can't afford to take risks, and I don't want LeBeau to know a damn thing if I can help it, especially not that I worked out his little trick."

Then Pete's voice turned very hard.

"And then, when it's all over, I'll have a calm and polite word with that cajun fuck so's I can explain that he shouldn't try to set the people I love up to stitch me up."

"Check, check, and check. I'll take care of it. And I have learned a little discretion, so don't worry," Domino said, striving for a wry tone and not quite managing it. "So... am I welcome to visit while you're hanging out in the Windy City, too? Or should I just stay well clear?"

Pete hesitated again.

"I should tell you to stay well clear.  There's every chance that it'll blow up in my face, and the leather mob will come and land on me.  Or if not them, then someone else."

A slight smile tugged at Domino's lips. "But you don't want to tell me that. Do you?"

"No, I don't.  I need to get a lot of things done, so give me a couple of weeks, but it'd be good to see you."

"All right." Domino took a deep breath, sitting up straight in the chair. "You should go, get to those things. I'll play your henchwoman on the Amanda front quite happily - if you don't want me in on this, the next best thing as far as I'm concerned is helping her get through this." She paused, her tone a little more bleak as she went on. "Just be careful, for fuck's sake. With de la Rocha, this LeBeau person... hell, I'm not even sure what Nate's got in mind, and if you're going to be visible in Chicago it's entirely possible that he'd come looking for you, too." She paused, grinning wryly. "No hitting, if he does. Or I'll kick both your asses."

"Just so long as you tell him the same thing."  Pete grinned, then replied more seriously "Thanks, Dom.  I appreciate it.  And I will be careful - if I don't come through this intact, then the whole thing is pointless in the first place.  I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"I'll see you then," Domino said quietly, then hung up the phone. Call her superstitious, but she didn't want to hear him say goodbye.