“No,” the professor shook his head. “That’s not how Rogue’s mutation works. She absorbs energy, life force through skin to skin contact.”
“Says who?” Rogue challenged.
“I…well…me,” Xavier floundered.
“Uh-huh. Says you,” Rogue said, tapping her chin mockingly in thought. “You, who by your own admission can’t understand how Rogue’s mind works. You, who hasn’t been able to find the key to controlling her ability all these years. You, who can’t seem to grasp the fact that you don’t actually exist here. You, who was so blind to her abilities that you didn’t see that Magneto was after her until it was too late. Yes, certainly, Professor, after considering all that, it’s clear that you understand everything.”
“Logan?” Xavier questioned, looking to him for support.
Logan merely shook his head. “Sorry, Chuck. I happen to agree with her.” His voice suddenly lowered to an angry growl. “And you know I’ll never fully forgive you for letting Magneto get Marie in the first place.”
Hanging his head in tired shame, Xavier shrugged listlessly. “That’s something that I’ll regret until the day I die, Logan. But from our conversations the last couple years, I thought you had at least begun to forgive me.”
Logan snorted, the rude sound startling the professor into looking at him. “The me in here and the me out there are two different people, Chuck. He might have forgiven you, at least partially, but I don’t change all that much unless Marie absorbs me again. Then I get all the thoughts and experiences the me on the outside has had.” He shrugged. “And it’s been a while since that happened. So if there’s been any forgiving, it happened between the last absorption and now.”
“But if Rogue doesn’t need to absorb mutations to use them, why does it happen?” Xavier protested, trying desperately to understand.
“There are two sides to her mutation,” Rogue explained. “Think of it in terms of being defensive and offensive. The ability to copy a mutation through observation would be offensive, obviously, but the added ability to drain an enemy of his gift is the perfect defense. Plus, it would take a while to learn how to control a copied power. But, absorption gives almost instantaneous knowledge in that area. So, yes,” she shrugged, “Rogue can absorb abilities, but it’s not necessary. She can copy and eventually control any mutation she observes. Well, everything except physical mutations.”
Xavier’s eyes widened. “You’re saying that if Rogue absorbed, say Kurt, she would have the ability to teleport, but her appearance wouldn’t change?”
“Bingo!” Rogue said.
“How do you know? You haven’t tested it, have you?”
“No,” Rogue shrugged, “but when she didn’t sprout claws after absorbing Logan, it was pretty much a given.”
“Logan’s claws aren’t a natural part of his mutation, though.”
“They are,” Logan said gruffly.
“No,” Xavier protested again, stopping abruptly when he noticed the identical looks of pity Rogue and Logan were giving him.
“That’s somethin’ else Marie’s given me,” Logan explained. “There’s nothing you can hide from her here, even if it’s something you yourself don’t know. When I learned that, I asked Marie to look at all my memories. Mind you, the claws aren’t anything I’ve seen for myself – I don’t have any abilities here – but Marie told me all ‘bout them. I originally had bone claws before they grafted in the adamantium.”
“Why hasn’t she told you – the other you – about it then?” Xavier exclaimed.
“She doesn’t know,” Logan said simply.
Rogue continued the explanation. “Just like the Logan in here and the Logan out there know different things, the Rogue here and the one out there are different.”
“It is like Jean, then,” Xavier breathed, horrified.
“No!” Logan said, thumping his fist angrily on the wall. “Nothing like that. I – we,” he said, gesturing at the girl beside him, “think that it’s only a matter of time before Marie knows everything fully. That’s why she’s been changing lately.”
“I thought you didn’t know anything from the outside,” Xavier said suspiciously.
Logan growled. “You haven’t been listenin’, Chuck. Marie and I talk ‘bout everythin’, an’ the one here knows everythin’ the one out there does. Just not the other way around.”
“So the Marie in that room,” Xavier paused and pointed at the door behind them, “is more informed than the Marie sitting in front of the laptop?”
“Right.” Logan sighed in relief that the professor finally understood.
Xavier mulled the situation over for several moments. “It’s the separation between her conscious and subconscious minds.”
“Bingo again,” Rogue said. “And everything in the subconscious mind eventually comes to the surface. That’s something you do know, Professor,” she finished dryly.
“Yes, indeed,” Xavier acknowledged, unaccountably flustered. “Then, in your opinions, there’s nothing to worry about with Rogue?”
Logan and Rogue exchanged an uneasy look and shrugged in unison. “We’ll see,” Rogue said finally.
Xavier frowned and opened his mouth to demand a fuller explanation, but Logan cut him off. “Look, Chuck,” he sighed, “we know you came here lookin’ for answers, but the bottom line is none of us can see the future. So until it happens, until there’s only one Marie, we don’t know how it’s gonna turn out.”
“We do know it’ll be soon, though,” Rogue chimed in, scowling at Logan when he narrowed his eyes at her angrily.
“How?” Xavier asked.
Logan sighed again and raked a hand through his hair in agitation before gesturing to his room. “She’s tired all the time now. Quieter. She doesn’t go out much anymore; says she doesn’t have the strength. We used to at least walk around the gardens, but now she just wants to stay in.”
As he mulled the information over, Xavier came to a sickening realization. “If she continues to weaken what will happen to the two of you? And the others?”
Rogue shook her head. “We just don’t know. I can guess that nothing much will happen to me. I’m not dependent on Rogue for my existence like the others are. And Logan’s different, too. The others…they might just disappear. Or they might try to overrun her mind. Logan and I agree, though, that we’ll do everything we can to prevent that.”
“And then again, it might be that nothing happens,” Logan said. “Right now it’s Marie’s subconscious mind keeping everyone under control. The transition to conscious control might be as easy as flippin’ a switch on a railroad track so the train changes direction.” Although he looked like he might say more, Logan was distracted by Rogue rubbing her temples with both hands. He frowned as he grabbed Xavier by the elbow and steered him down the hall away from Logan’s room, Rogue following behind them. “It’s time for you to go, Chuck.”
The professor turned at the top of the stairs to ask a final question, but a sharp shove in the chest from Rogue had him falling backward into thin air. Xavier gasped and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact. It didn’t come. Instead, a flash of pain accompanied by images of all he had seen in Rogue’s mind streaked through his head. Taking a deep breath, he cautiously opened his eyes to see Rogue staring at him quizzically from the computer screen as she massaged her temples with both hands.
* * *
“Well?” Hank asked as Xavier stowed the portable Cerebro back in its drawer.
“Rogue’s mutation is far different than what we imagined,” he said grimly and proceeded to fill the other man in on all that he had seen and heard. The detail and almost film-like precision with which the experience replayed in his mind left the professor with no doubt that Rogue had made good on her promise to “zap” the information to him as he was forcibly thrust from her mind. When he finished, Hank regarded him in stunned silence.
“I think,” he finally said carefully, “that it might be wise to regard Rogue’s abilities as two separate mutations that happen to work particularly well together.”
“Yes, that’s possible,” Xavier mused. “It’s rare that anyone would possess two such powerful gifts, though. Even Jean really only possessed one ability – to control and manipulate everything, even thoughts – with her mind. It was only after separating her from the Phoenix that her abilities were limited to telepathy and telekinesis. Yes,” he said again, more firmly, “two mutations makes more sense in Rogue’s case.”
Hank nodded his furry head. “Perhaps, then, Rogue’s inability to gain complete control is because the mental exercises you gave her are working at cross-purposes with her second, purely physical mutation?”
“You mean her skin as the physical mutation? Yes. Yes, I think you’re right, Hank.” The professor steepled his fingers together and tapped them broodingly against his chin. “Do you think that the exercises have been helping her with the non-physical aspect of her gifts? The ability to copy mutations through observation?”
Hank shrugged, the motion particularly ungainly with his broad shoulders and long arms. “I would imagine so. She’s certainly made progress in sorting out and containing the psyches she’s absorbed. That’s another point of interest, here. We always just assumed Rogue’s gift would be either off or on. I wonder if it would be possible for her to learn to control what she absorbs?” Hank frowned as he considered his own question. After only a few short moments, he shook his head decisively. “No. I imagine it would only ever be on or off.”
“Why is that?”
“I find my thoughts on the matter surprisingly difficult to explain,” Hank said in frustration. He laughed darkly. “It’s an oddly existential situation. A physical mutation either is or it isn’t. For example, I’m furry. There’s nothing I can do about that. Kurt and Mystique are blue – what is it about physical mutations and that color?” Hank asked ruefully.
Xavier, for the umpteenth time that day, found himself horribly confused. “Hank, my friend, I’m afraid you’ve lost me,” he admitted sheepishly.
The other man blinked at him and then threw his hands up in the air half-heartedly. “Oh, blast it all, Charles. Just read my mind.”
“I – really?” Hank had never made the invitation before, which Xavier took to mean that his eloquent friend was well and truly at a loss for words. At the firm nod in response, he sent out a questing mental finger, quickly latching onto Hank’s thoughts and perceptions of Rogue’s gifts. “Oh. I see.”
“You do?” Hank asked hopefully. “Perhaps you could put it into words for me then so we can work through it together?”
“I shall certainly try. I think that your earlier example of Mystique might serve us well here. She can control her physical mutation, yes? As can Logan with his claws to a certain extent.” Xavier had been surprised that Hank had merely raised an eyebrow and regarded his own clawed hands when he had disclosed that detail earlier. “Perhaps we need to classify physical mutations as…hmmm. Static versus fluid?”
“Static versus fluid? Hmm, yes, I like that. Static being an example such as my fur or Kurt’s skin. Fluid being Mystique’s skin or Logan’s claws?”
“Yes,” Xavier nodded. “Artie’s tongue would be static. Angel’s mutation would be fluid then since he does, indeed, control his wings.” They spent the next several minutes categorizing the physical mutations of all the residents of the mansion, and known associates of Magneto. However, they again had trouble when it came to Rogue.
“We just don’t know enough about her, Charles,” Hank finally concluded. “With all the mutants possessing a fluid ability, there seems to be a period of learning and adjustment, yes?”
Xavier nodded. “Are you saying that Rogue just hasn’t been able to learn and adjust with her skin yet?”
“I’m saying that she hasn’t even had the chance. Think about it, Charles. All the other physical mutations we’ve discussed don’t require the participation of another individual to test their effects and limitations.”
“I see your point. However, how would you explain the minimal control she has learned thus far?”
“I’ve been thinking about that ever since you explained what you learned in Rogue’s mind. And I’ve been mapping the developments with Rogue’s mutation on a rudimentary timeline, the midpoint being when she took the cure. She only learned a degree of control after the cure, yes? I think what actually happened is that she mentally learned to duplicate its effects.”
The professor gasped in surprise. “Yes,” he breathed, “that makes sense.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he frowned.
Hank gave a toothy grin. “I surmise you have arrived at the same question I have. Leech’s mutation doesn’t negate his own ability, but only the ability of others, so how could Rogue use it effectively on herself?”
“Precisely.”
“I think it is because she actually took the cure and observed how it affected her specifically. She’s never met Leech, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. He was only here for a few short days before the Worthingtons took him in. I must admit, I was surprised that he wanted to go with them.”
Hank shrugged. “Despite spending most of his life in the laboratory, he was treated well and the scientists and Mr. Worthington were genuinely fond of him. But we digress. In the case of Leech’s mutation, Rogue’s copying ability had only the chance to observe how the mutation worked on her since it was injected directly into her bloodstream. I believe that, should she and Leech meet and she sees him drain another mutant, she will be able to duplicate that effect as well.”
“Her copying abilities are not under her conscious control yet,” the professor reminded him.
“That’s true,” Hank conceded. “This is all theoretical anyway. Now that I think about it, a meeting between Leech and Rogue would be most interesting. If she can copy his ability, would it work on Leech so that he would be unable to drain other mutants in her presence?”
Xavier blinked.
“And for that matter, would she be able to keep her skin under control indefinitely? For example, Logan’s claws retract automatically when he’s unconscious, and as we know, Mystique cannot sustain a transformation permanently, at least not in whole – her eyes, you remember? I imagine it is similar to holding one’s breath. People can do it, and for varying lengths of time, but everybody must eventually breathe again.”
Xavier blinked again. “Do you have any idea of how long Rogue would be able to keep her skin ‘off’?” he asked slowly.
“It could be anywhere from a few hours to a few months, I suppose. It would depend entirely on whether there are any adverse effects from maintaining the ‘off’ mode.”
“What effects would you expect?”
“I don’t know.” Hank shook his head. “We know so little about how Rogue’s skin actually works. The only thing that gives me pause is that she first and foremost pulls energy from those with whom she comes in contact. The memories, thoughts, and psyches are secondary.”
“Why would that give you pause?”
“I’ll use the breathing analogy again. Everybody must breathe to sustain life. I’m wondering if Rogue must periodically absorb energy to sustain her life.”
Xavier shook his head. “I don’t believe that. She’s gone months at a time – over a year at least – without absorbing anybody.”
“We can’t know that for certain,” Hank argued. “Her skin might always be absorbing minute traces of energy from the air around her – almost like breathing – except for the times when she’s suppressing it. We just don’t know enough about it yet.”
“What kind of tests would you be able to conduct to find out?”
Hank stilled in surprise. “I assume you mean long distance tests?” At the professor’s nod, he replied, “Well, ideally a skin sample would be a good place to start, but we can’t exactly have Rogue send that to us in the mail.”
“We’ll get you a sample,” Xavier stated decisively.
Hank gaped. “How?”
With a slight smile, the professor asked, “Have you forgotten our friend Nightcrawler?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Even though I'm the one writing this, I found myself confused several times during this chapter. There are just so many things to puzzle out, so many possibilities, that I'm finding it a little hard to maintain a single direction as I go along. I've been trying to rein myself in, though, and save all the "Oooh, wouldn't that be interesting?" items for other stories. I think I've managed, but if things are getting too complicated, or there's just too much going on, let me know. And as always, thanks for reading!