Disclaimer: Not mine. Still.

Chapter 10

She sat with the other X-Men and Magneto and Gambit, looking at Moira in the War Room.

"Stem cells are blank cells, undefined; they can be used by any number of body systems. Most people lose stem cells when they reach a certain level of development. Every cell becomes defined and keeps a singular purpose. Rogue still has a surprising number of active stem cells, a large number of which are clustered in the part of the brain we believe responsible for mutant abilities. I believe that these cells are what give her her powers. Every person she touches triggers these cells to makes copies of the cells that they come in contact with. Possibly through electrical currents linking skin cells with neurons…

"Anyway," she said, forgetting the neuroscience and returning to the subject at hand. "Thanks to samples from Mr. LeBeau, it appears that the "Cure" didn't wipe the mutant DNA out, but rather suppressed it, made it so that proteins suppressed that section of DNA from being activated. The memory of that DNA survived. And for Rogue, a memory of every power she has taken also lies within that DNA, also dormant. Now, I have found a protein, undefined, in both Rogue and Mr. LeBeau that is acting to restart transcription of the dormant DNA. It is slow acting but by the time the body replaces all of its cells, these mutant's powers will once again be at full strength.

"I believe that Rogue's extra supply of stem cells have taken on some of the task, speeding up the process as it were, by increasing protein and DNA synthesis. I'm still unsure why." She looked around, the proud smile she had wore fading. "Now, consider for a moment the trillions of cells that we all have in our bodies, all with the same DNA. Mutations on an individual cell and organ basis is actually quite frequent. I believe that such a mutation has occurred with Rogue. I have reason to believe that the memories of power she has dormant in her DNA, is being transcribed along with her own DNA."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning Peter, that the powers she absorbed, or even interactions and mutinous versions of the powers she has absorbed, are being thought by her body, to be her own. And, as we all have noticed as of late, the number of powers she has absorbed, is quite vast."

Storm looked at the girl becoming woman. Rogue wouldn't meet the glance. "What can she do?"

Moira shrugged, "That has yet to be tested for sure. But so far invulnerability is among the potentially long list. My recommendation is that she avoids contact with anyone else until we know that her powers have once again settled, and if any powers she will absorb will also be hers permanently. I would like someone to run her through tests, to see what else she is capable of."

Logan, his face blank looked from Rogue to the Scotswoman. "I'll do it."

"What about reversing the "Cure"?" Eric asked after a moment's silence.

"I still have a few more tests to run the proteins through first. I would like to test it on Mr. LeBeau before we think to give it to you."

"Why do I get to be the lab rat?"

"Because, Mr. LeBeau, I would rather you receive your powers than Magneto. At least until we know for sure we can trust him."

--

Rogue avoided everyone's eye as she left the briefing. She felt dirty, evil, as though she was the puppy who had peed on the floor, and was just waiting for someone to notice to give her her beating.

Remy walked after her, "Chere?"

She shot him a look before speeding up, "Go away."

He caught her hand, only to have her swing it, slapping him across the face. It shouldn't have been hard enough to send him to the floor. When he looked up, surprised, blood was trickling out of his mouth.

"We adding strength to the super power list then?" Logan asked, walking past them, shaking his head.

"Gambit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay Chere." She helped him to his feet, "I wanted to apologize, for touching you. I had no right."

Her eyes burned hot as she looked at him, even having him close to her was triggering his memories to flash behind her eyes. His persona in her head was being difficult, "No, you didn't! I've had you running through my head all morning!"

He cracked a smile, "You sure that was from your powers, Chere?"

Her jaw dropping and she blushed despite her wishes not to. With fists clenched she looked to the floor, "Why did you come back? Why did you make me see those things?"

He shrugged, as he staggered to his feet. "I'm in your head, you tell me?"

When she looked into his eyes, he had wished that she hadn't. She knew, and she hurt because of it. And yet she was still trying not to judge.

"To make me hate you, before I did it for myself. Here's the thing Gambit, I've seen what happened through your eyes, through your own emotions… remembering what I saw through my own eyes—well, I don't think anyone could hate you as much as you hate yourself. And that's a difference that only you can change."

She left him, walking towards where Logan was waiting for her further down the hall.

"You okay Stripes?"

"Getting there... Wolvie."

"Wolvie?"

She smiled at him before she went into the women's locker room, "I had to find something as annoying as 'Stripes'."

--

They met outside the Danger room once they had changed into uniform. As she had changed she had thought a lot. Not just about Gambit's self hatred, not just about her mutation, and not just about Magneto's ever present threat. But how they all came together in her mind. She looked at Logan as she approached him, he had always been truthful to her, even in moments when the truth killed, he gave it, because he also knew that the truth also healed.

"Logan, do you think it's true? That everyone has evil in them, hiding in their subconscious?"

"Yes, some of us have more than others, and some of us don't bother to hide it either. What's wrong? You were never that good at hiding from me."

"I blame your nose," she allowed before looking to the ground. Somehow, not seeing how others judged her words made it easier to be honest. "I have a lot of subconsciouses in my head, sometimes they ain't too quiet about it. So, by the Professor's reasoning, that means I have a lot of evil in there, on top of my own. Logan, I can feel myself changing. I feel darker; I think I'm starting to get a taste for it. I'm starting to get a thrill out of taking things from people... of trying them on. And I don't like that. I don't want to be the evil I see in the shadows of my mind."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "You'll find a balance, somewhere between light and dark, where you can see everything perfect."

"Just so long as I don't see in as much dark as you do."

She smiled at him when they entered the Danger room, surprised to find Peter, Kitty and Bobby already there, in uniform.

"What are you three doing?" Logan asked.

Kitty beamed, "We're helping."

"They're helping," Bobby admitted, "I was hoping to get a rematch with Gambit."

Rogue rolled her eyes, then noticed, to her surprise, that he wasn't there. "Where is he?"

"Moira wanted him for some more tests. She thinks she has mastered the protein synthesis. She's thinking of calling it the 'Rogue' protein. She hopes that everything will go good enough that she can give him treatment tomorrow. Onslaught is on the move, and Storm is afraid that if we don't go to him soon," Kitty broke off looking to Peter who smiled down at her kindly.

"He may come to us." Peter finished for her. "Which is why it is important that we help. We need all the help we can get."

Bobby held up the pad that he was holding, "Moria wants us to take notes."

Logan nodded, "That's your job then."

Bobby sighed, as he maneuvered the pad and pencil, ready to write. "First, she wants to know everyone you've touched, so we have list of possibilities for power manifestation. So, Rogue, who all have you touched?"

She looked inside as she counted shadows in her head, "Logan, Peter, Pyro, Emma, Scott..."

"Knew it," Logan mumbled.

She ignored him, and the look she was given when she said the next name on the list. "Gambit, Magneto and Jean."

They all stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

"When?"

"Whoa!"

"It was when I first arrived, after Ellis Island. She was running tests to make sure I was okay and she touched me. She told me not to worry about it and that it would be our little secret. She never mentioned it again."

She watched their expressions, and she knew that they were worried, knew they wondered what part of Jean she had inherited, what kind of threat could lie in wait. She knew this because, it was something that she herself had wondered.

After the prolonged silence Peter broke into a grin, "I noticed that Bobby wasn't on that list."

Both he and Rogue rolled their eyes before he looked to Logan, "I'll run the controls."

Around them the scenery changed, and shifted into a training yard. It was a common scenario that all X-Men recruits were run through.

"Okay, we're going to play a game of reverse mutant tag." Logan said with a smile, "Rogue's it, now we count to 10."

--

Coming up next, Rogue vs. Kitty, Peter and Wolverine. Man, this is too much fun.