Title: Conversations with Rogue

Author: Unanon

Setting: Ultimate X-Men - Weapon X story arc.

Rating: PG-13ish. Some Language.

Summary: Ultimate Juggernaut

Disclaimer: Marvel owns the characters and does far better things with them then I do. I own nothing, nor do I mean to infringe on anything. Dictionary excerpts are from The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition.

Assumptions: Ultimate Juggernaut is a perplexing character to me, but also full of possibilities. We can assume that there are 2 major changes in Cain Marko's character as opposed to his 616 counterpart: a) He is no longer Charles Xavier's abused/angry stepbrother, b) his powers are genetic in nature, not mystical. Also, he is a teenager who has been forced to comply with the Weapon X project for an indefinite period of time (his number is 5… I'm figuring at least a couple years of slavery here!) I'm going to allow him to retain, as a mutant, most of the properties the bearer of Cyttorak usually enjoys: the ability to survive indefinitely without food, water or oxygen, unstoppable living engine with the ability to smash through any barrier, immune to pain and injury, etc…. I'm sure you get the picture.

Acknowledgements: My everlasting fic-devotion and allegiance is owed solely to the titian-tressed goddess, Mamfa, for emotional support, helpful beta suggestions, and for just being pretty damn cool.

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My feet are cold. No matter what I do, my feet are always cold. It makes me a little nervous because cold really isn't supposed to bother me that much. According to the wack-job scientists I'm 'immune to pain and injury'; they just give me funny looks and disbelieving smirks when I complain about my cold feet during my weekly physicals. There are sometimes even a few giggles. Screw them. My feet are freezing, dammit!

The lengths I go to trying to keep my toes warm are unreal. Steaming hot footbaths, triple layers of socks, open flame…. You name it, I've done it. Nothing seems to work, though. My toes are living ice cubes.

After sharing my cell for about a few days now, Rogue has gotten used to my foot quirks. First time she saw me wrap my entire blanket around just my feet though, she actually laughed. It was one of the spookiest sounds I've ever heard. That girl is seriously messed up.

At least she's company, though, and she's a decent roommate; keeps to her side of the cell, doesn't have bad B.O, looks the other way when I have to use that ridiculously tiny toilet. A guy's gotta appreciate that kind of thing. She's quiet too, always reading those books of hers. Only time she bothers me is when her Discman is on too loud and all I can hear is the bass line of that crap music she likes so much. I mean, c'mon! Either turn it up so I can actually listen to the shit or turn it off completely! In between is just plain torture.

Yeah, we get along ok… probably because we leave each other alone most of the time. Still, it surprised me when she backed me up when I argued with that Cyclops dude Wraith's got such a hard-on for. I wasn't expecting that.

Since the muckety-mucks got their new X-Playthings, we'd been spending more time in our cells. Part of me was happy that I didn't have to play nice and go on bullshit missions with those twits, but the other part of me, the louder part, tended to worry.

"Do you suppose that they're gonna kill us now?" The question had been boiling within my brain all day. Hell, I knew she probably wouldn't bother putting her book down to answer me, probably couldn't hear me over whatever screeching harpy music she was listening to, but I had to ask someone. I had to talk about it before the question burned a hole into my brain. With the X-Chumps on some mission, and empty cells surrounding us, now seemed like the perfect time.

She glanced up. "What? What makes you think that?"

"I dunno. I've been feeling a bit more expendable since we helped Wraith acquire that Colossus guy…"

"You're just being paranoid, Juggs. Go request a Valium or a Prozac or something and leave me be."

I fuckin' hate when she calls me 'Juggs.' "I am not being paranoid, Rogue. You should be worried too, y'know. That redhead doesn't even need to touch someone to get a peek inside their heads like you do."

Rogue actually looked up. " She can't steal their powers though. I'm irreplaceable."

"She can get them to do exactly what she wants. She doesn't steal their powers, she steals their minds and bodies! That's way better, Rogue. She doesn't ever even have to get her hands dirty!" My feet were getting cold again; I hunkered over and chafed them roughly, trying to get some feeling back into my toes. "They were talking about having Colossus stop a moving train, for fuck's sake! I don't know if I'd be able to do that."

"Well you've never tried, now have you?" Rogue huffed. "You never know what you're capable of unless you try!"

"Y'think? Shit. I don't know if I'd be able to do that, though. To stop a train… I fuckin' hate Colossus!"

Rogue put her book down with a sigh. "Since you're obviously not going to shut that huge yap of yours, I'm forced to try to make it clear what a friggin' moron you're being! Do you hear the words that are coming out of your mouth? You hate Colossus? What the fuck, Cain?! Think about it for a second here… you're jealous of him because our captors… repeat CAPTORS… are paying him more attention then they do you!? She was actually sitting up and waving her arms in my general direction, more animated than I'd ever seen her. "Are you insane?"

I grinned. "Glad to see that you can still get riled up about something, Roguey!"

"Fuck you!"

"What's the matter? Did I touch an ickle little nerve?"

"You are such an asshole." She moved to pick up her book. "I don't know why I even bother…"

That chafed me. I rubbed my feet harder. "You don't bother. You barely talk to me unless I say something stupid enough to piss you off." I started pulling on my many pairs of socks. "Then you just yell."

She glanced my direction. "I don't do that."

"Yes. You do."

"…"

"It isn't like I care or anything." I smirked as I wrapped my blanket around my feet and rolled over. "I don't need you to do me any favors."

Our cell was quiet for a long time, but I don't think either of us slept.

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