Dominic Rusher

**Dominic Rusher**, more commonly known as Dominic or Dom, was one of the supporting characters in the Vicious series. He was a former soldier in the military, and at the time of his death worked using his EO ability for Victor Vale alongside Sydney Clarke and Mitchell Turner.

## History:

Dominic served in the military for multiple years after an IED explosion, "killing" him before he returned to life as an ExtraOrdinary, or EO. After this time, the ex-soldier suffered severe chronic pain, causing him to rely on alcohol and his prescription of 35 mg of "methahydricone". Due to this, Rusher was a regular at The Three Crows bar, arriving almost every night at nine o'clock, which is the moment where Victor and Eli discover him, each for their different reasons.

### *First Interaction With Victor*

During this time, Dominic is at the bar as usual, while he is oblivious to the fact that Eliot Cardale (or Eli Ever) wishes him dead. At the same moment, Victor Vale and Mitch Turner are in the bar as well, wishing to meet Eli at precisely 12 o'clock. Dominic's first interaction is with that of Mitch, who insists that "if he wants to live, meet Victor outside". Despite Dominic's rather depressed state and constant state of chronic pain, he meets Victor outside, first interacting with him. Victor can clearly understand and manipulate the pain Dominic experiences, and uses this weakness to get Dominic to work for him. The soldier agrees and makes a deal with Victor without a second thought, using his teleportation abilities in order to help them with Eli.

### *Two Years Later:*

Victor is informed of EON, and asks Dominic, being the ex-militant he is, to infiltrate it. Reluctantly, the soldier agrees, and for three years, he works there, remaining paranoid that he may be discovered.

### *Eli's Release:*

When Eli is set to be released, Dominic attempts to prevent this from happening, using Mitch's help. However, this was unsuccessful, and Rusher ends up arrested by Agent Rios.

### *Escape:*

Later, the soldier escapes by using his teleportation ability, and rescues Victor, as well as frees all of the other EOs. Dominic was successful in doing so, though in the process, he was shot and killed.

## Characteristics:

### Appearance:

Dominic has been described to own tan skin, as well as shaggy hair that was long enough to hang past his eyes. His eyes are two different colors, one black, and the other blue, the blue eye being fake as a result of being caught in an IED explosion during his time on active duty. He sustained multiple injuries from his time as a soldier, which resulted in many scars, as well as most of his bones on his left side having some interaction with a synthetic. His posture is still that of someone in the military, being described as straight and upright. As Dominic interacts with Victor for a few years, he is mentioned to be much better looking health-wise, and with a clean cut.

### Personality:

Dominic has shown his loyalty to Victor throughout both *Vicious* and *Vengeful,* most often due to the pain relief that his services award him. Due to this, he would do almost anything for Victor, if it would stop his pain. However, during his moments before he first interacted with Victor, Dominic developed a tolerance for the incessant pain he was in, though as it is removed, he loses his tolerance for such a thing, and as a consequence, is severely affected every time Victor "dies". Dominic has displayed empathy for those he does not even know very well throughout *Vicious*, such as sadness towards Serena Clarke's death or the moment when Mitch has been shot by Eli.

### Powers and Abilities:

Dominic is able to "walk into the shadows" where time is frozen so that he, and anyone he has with him, can move to a different location. To any onlooker, it looks as though he teleported instantaneously. He seems to have limits as to how many people he can transport and whilst in the shadows, his movements are slowed and require a lot of effort. In *Vengeful*, he develops his powers further so that he is able to stay in the shadows longer and be able to move with much more fluidity and ease than he was previously able.

His power stem from the desire to return to the "dark place" he was during his coma.

## Relationships:

### *Victor Vale:*

Dominic feels an indescribable loyalty towards Victor due to Victor's ability to take away his constant pain. Victor describes his wants and needs to be simply transparent, and he uses this to his advantage. However, Dominic becomes more desperate and angry towards Victor during *Vengeful*, due to the pain he experiences every time Victor "dies", as mentioned earlier.