Domino: Perfect Weapon

The following information concerns the second Domino limited series, and thus contains heavy spoilers. If you read this, and didn't want to know, please don't come whining to me. You've been warned. For more in-depth commentary on the individual issues, please see the comic reviews.

Recently, Domino undertook the task of learning about a past even she does not remember. (I'll go ahead and note right now that there is a bit of guesswork needed to place this story line in continuity, but as it was originally slated to debut in late 2001, we can probably safely presume it occurred sometime aster her work with the X-Corps and before the endeavor to shut down Weapon X's Neverland project.) Relying on the aid of a friend she believes she can trust, Domino finds herself drawn into a web of betrayal, bizarre cults, and top-secret government projects.

On the trail of a mother she remembers only in scarce, faded memories, she cuts a deal with an old friend named Jonathan. Her services, in exchange for being placed in contact with a hacker who can give her the info she needs to further her search. The hacker, unfortunately, meets an untimely end upon their meeting, during a daylight assault involving mysterious bullets and an unmarked helicopter. Contact dead, an undaunted Domino manages to retrieve the information, despite an encounter with a shady religious order that's been lurking in the background, and has apparently watched one too many Bruce Lee films. If Domino is perturbed by this strange encounter, she doesn't show it.

It's then revealed that Jonathan doesn't exactly have Dom's best interests in mind. In fact, he's been using her (most likely due to his own disability) in order to further his own ends and doesn't seem to have any particular interest in helping Dom with her search. All this matters little, however, as shortly after stealing the information Domino has acquired (not without her knowledge, however) he's set upon by the same kick-boxing monks who attacked Domino earlier in the issue. Jonathan, however, loses his life in the ensuing conflict (though not without taking a few of the bastards with him. Not bad for a guy with crutches.)

With Jonathan dead, Domino has no choice but to go it alone. The information given to her by the hacker indicates that her mother worked for a government projected, quaintly called 'Project Armageddon.' (With a name like that, you know it's not going to be any good--and it's not.) They have, apparently, got hold of some sort of 'perfect weapon' that could spell the end of all civilization. (Sounds like fun, fun, fun to me.) Her pursuit of this project leads her to the Florida Everglades, where she infiltrates the base, makes a mockery of its staff, and finds herself face to face with the 'perfect weapon.' A five year old boy with startlingly familiar features. Eventually it's revealed, the boy, Lazarus, is actually Domino's brother, a product of the same government program that created Dom herself. The two are the sole survivors of an attempt to breed a perfect genetic weapon using a precog named Beatrice, who agreed to produce children for the project, children who, one by one, perished due to the rigors of testing inflicted on them. Only Domino survived, albeit in a catatonic state, and was stolen away by Beatrice's pet cult, the Armajesuits (the self-same religious order that had tried to hinder Domino's progress), and delivered her to a priest in Chicago, where she remained until her powers manifested and, freed from her catatonia, fled. Beatrice never pursued her daughter, considering her a 'failure' for not possessing her mother's precognitive abilities. The Armajesuits had come to the base in search of Lazarus (who had originally been cryogenically preserved as an embryo) who possesses the ability to control the minds and feelings of others, leading to a sort of blind utopia that would bring about the disintegration of civilization. Beatrice's intent was to kill the boy in order to prevent this from happening. Domino thwarts this action, taking Lazarus both from her mother and the government who had been using him as a test subject, and leaving the boy in the hands of the same priest who helped her so long ago.

In the end, Domino is left to contemplate all the information she has learned, and Beatrice reclaims her son, though it is unknown if she will be able to carry out the death sentence she herself has imposed.

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