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"Luck is a very subtle thing. Sometimes it looks like a curse, sometimes like a blessing. But it's always there, always influencing our lives in ways we can't control."
- Neil Gaiman, (American Gods)
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<(Atem POV)>
While, numerous projectiles, blasts, and beams were fired randomly in every direction from almost every corner of the entire training chamber, Domino didn't even try to dodge them, she simply moved her body in an unhurried calm rhythm like she was dancing. She wasn't even interested in dodging but simply seemed happy to indulge in a slow and sensual dance as she moved her body with the beat of the music coming from her iPod.
All the attacks weren't exactly random, no, nothing in this world was truly random. So, just like everything else, the pattern of this attack could also be calculated by someone smart enough, someone who could do millions or billions of calculations in his mind every second but Domino wasn't one of them. She wasn't using her head at all, in fact, she wasn't even using any of her senses right now. She was only depending on pure luck as she danced in no fixed pattern.
I on the other hand just stood there unflinching with a stoic countenance, not even being affected or annoyed by the continuous assault of deadly projectiles on me that would have been fatal for any other mortal out there.
'For some reason, I have a feeling that I am not that lucky.' I thought to myself as I was hit with a mini-missile directly to my forehead.
After about another five minutes of this continuous 'shooting', the room finally became silent and Domino who still remained untouched opened her eyes with a proud and happy smile on her face.
"You are really talented in ballet, aren't you?" I asked from behind her.
"KYA." She screamed in surprise making me wonder how she was dancing in the midst of explosions a few minutes ago in the first place if she was this afraid of me just sneaking up on her.
"What the hell are you doing? You scared me to shit. Gosh, I think I almost peed my pants." Domino exclaimed as she caught her breath.
"Ugh, too much detail... Anyways, Neena, aka, Domino, I am here to recruit you into my newest team. Your particular set of skills will be quite useful in my missions, especially your luck. So, how about it, do you want to join us?" I asked without mincing my words much as I prepared myself for her rejection just in case she had suddenly become smarter.
But unfortunately, she was still as foolish and optimistic about going on a mission as ever.
"Of course. Let me guess, we will fight an evil Magneto clone who wants to annihilate humans or perhaps a freak of science who went crazy in an experiment gone wrong. Or, maybe we will have to deal with some secret alien race hiding amongst us, manipulating us from the shadows. Whatever it is, I am ready to do the hard thing that is needed." Neena stated with confidence and determination as she stood with a straight posture, making her considerable burst size in her tight black costume apparent.
"Good, you are hired. Welcome to the team. You are our official navigator." I declared as I opened a Boom Tube back to the briefing room.
"...Uhh..., I don't know if you know this or not but I don't have plenty of influence in umm, navigating. Are you sure you want me to be the official 'navigator' of the team because that sounds like an important job?" She asked with a doubtful expression on her face, looking like she was questioning her previous choices.
"Yeah, don't worry. You are plenty fit for the position. Now come on. We need to hurry up. The team ain't going to navigate itself." I said as I led her into the boom tube with me.
"Oh Atem, you are back... with Domino. That was quick. Let me guess, she just said yes the moment you told her about the mission without even thinking or hearing what the mission was about, didn't she?" Laura guessed with a teasing smile which instantly made Neena blush a little due to Laura's entire assumption being true.
"Well, something like that, yes," I confirmed while Hank took out a pen and a world map from somewhere.
"Here, Zoya said to use this." He handed over the things to me and stood aside with stars in his eyes.
"Of course she did," I murmured while placing them in front of Domino "Your first task is to try to use your luck to determine the current location of our enemy Romulus. He can be anywhere on the planet and you are one of the few people in the world who can try to find out exactly where. So, will you try Neena?" I asked as I stood over her, hoping that Zoya's guess was right and this would actually work instead of being a massive and childish waste of time.
"That's stretching the extent of my luck a lot but if it has a chance to help and complete this mission, then sure, I'll be happy to help today," Neena said after listening to what she had to do and she opened up the map in front of her, picked up the pencil and brought it to just above the center of the map.
"Ready, set, and... go." She uttered as she let the pencil drop and hit the map. The exact location where the pencil struck the map was immediately recorded by Zoya and the location began to be searched in real-time by the mother box.
Initially, Domino was supposed to repeat this process two more times in order to maximize her chances of finding Romulus but after just a few minutes of Zoya using her special Earth-scanning satellites or God's Eye to verify the exact location by scanning the entire area, Romulus was quickly found to be hiding in an uninhabited island near Greece, the exact place where Domino's pencil had struck the map without having to repeat the process more than once.
"That was... lucky" Remus concluded, breaking the unusual silence in the room.
"That is absolutely broken. Can she even be defeated by someone in a battle with luck like this?" Hank muttered aloud as he visibly gulped while wondering what else he could make her solve with her luck because according to him, she was completely wasting her gifts by just squandering them away and not taking them seriously.
"Neat... So, are we going to launch a surprise attack on this... 'Romulus' in his base right now? Or, should we wait before he actually tries launching his bioweapons on the planet?" Wolverine asked as he popped open a beer can and lazily started sipping on it.
"We will be attacking, while we still have time and the element of surprise to ourselves. If he attacks first with the bioweapons and even one of them succeeds in exploding because we weren't ready or something, then it will be a blood bath for humans with millions of both normal humans and metahumans dying for no reason at all. Plus, I kind of want to end this as soon as possible and go back to have some quality sleep." I whispered the last part to myself.
"Anyways, you should all suit up. We are probably going to need it. This might not be the hardest battle you have ever faced but it will definitely be the first time you guys will be facing a mini army of pseudo-animals on your own." I ordered, not really considering the coming battle a challenge or danger to myself in my thoughts despite my caution-laden words.
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