**Now that Rogue has gotten some freedom, thanks to Magneto, what is she going to do with it? Read on to find out.**

I slipped around the corner and paused. No one was in the hallway. No one watching me. I quietly turned the lab door handle and eased inside. No creaks. No squeaks. No noises. I as in.

Hank was hanging upside down from a round black bar attached to the ceiling. His goggles covered most of his face. He carefully extended a slender pipette toward a small test tube in a rack, letting one glowing green drop of liquid fall into the purple oily goo it contained. He then pulled his body upward and grabbed the bar with his hands as the fluids met with a loud bang. Blue fog flowed out of the tube and swiftly filled the room.

I jumped as the fluid exploded and he peered at me through the spreading blue fog. "Rogue?" He swung from bar to bar until he dropped gracefully to his feet before me. I clapped. "You're just amazing sometimes, Hank."

He bowed deeply. "I endeavor to please."

"I hear you got some information on my special project." I yawned. He took my arm and walked me away from the site of his fog experiment to the more technological area of the lab, where buttons blinked and random beeps punctuated the silence.

"I have done my utmost to reveal some of its secrets. It has proven to be a most interesting specimen." He pulled the gray strip of metal Magneto had given me several months ago out of a locked drawer in his desk.

Why didn't I use it, you ask? Well, I had held onto it a while hoping he'd come back or something, I guess. Typical man. Never called. Never wrote. Hung up on me the one time I got through to him on the phone.

I was also kinda scared. What if I started using it and men just tried taking advantage of me? How'd I know if someone was really interested in me or my body? Would it work on me? What if it needed batteries or something? Could someone else wear it, or only certain people? It's kind of like being a bird with a broken wing. I had a hard time believing I could really heal and fly again.

So I decided to swear Hank to secrecy and tell him about it so he could research it for me. He was fascinated, of course, and vowed to not tell anyone anything unless I said it was okay just for the opportunity to see how it worked. A few days ago, he'd sent me a note saying he had some information for me.

Now, he held the metal before my eyes. "This is an ingenious device. I wish Magneto published his scientific findings in a peer reviewed journal. It has many applications for mutants who suffer from various difficulties with their unique abilities." He pulled back my sleeve and then slapped it to my naked left wrist. The metal wrapped around it and tightened until it fit perfectly. "The material appears to be almost alive, but is actually conducting itself in accord with magnetic principles. It stifles the application of your powers, either to the person wearing it or by you." He carefully tapped a finger above my wrist. My absorption powers did not turn on. He touched me again, longer this time. Nothing happened. He grinned, stripped my glove off, and enthusiastically shook my hand with both of his.

"God, Hank!" I pretended to flinch and pulled my hand from his grip, shaking it out. "You've got very strong fingers there."

He smiled smugly. "Some of us have it and some of us don't."

"So, what about long-term effects? Does it need re-charging or anything?" I pulled myself onto a stool and swung my legs around to the rung beneath.

"Of that, I am not certain, but I believe prudence dictates that it does not. You stated that he created it anticipating a combat situation, correct?" I nodded. He continued. "Then I would venture to say that creating a device which needs re-charging, which one anticipates using in combat, is foolhardy. Magneto has great intelligence, perhaps greater than I realized, studying this creation. I doubt he would fashion it merely to have it give out in time of need."

I took it off and scowled. "I still don't know that I can trust it, Hank." I pulled my glove back on. "I'm not sure I can trust other people with it, either."

"What do you mean?" He leaped onto another stool nearby and watched as I covered my body again and put the metal back in my pocket.

I hesitated. I didn't want to say anything mean about my friends, but…

"Well, what if they think it means something it doesn't? I mean, I've been flirting with people for a while for fun, but I never meant any of it to go beyond just playing. You know? It was safe because we couldn't do anything about it. Now, I don't know if I should stop doing it now that I can touch people. It's like, once I gain the ability to touch others, they'll find out what a sham I really am." I blushed and stared at a small blue container. It looked a little like a mini flying saucer.

He rested his head in his hands. "Are you so positive that the others do not understand that you have been behaving toward them in a flirtatious fashion based on your inability to make physical contact?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "For once, Hank, speak English. Or French. I understand those, but not all this stuff you're spouting."

He sighed melodramatically. "This is why our language is deteriorating. Very well. How do you know that the other X-men don't understand that your flirting is based in your inability to touch them? They may well understand more than you realize. I myself recognized your behavior for what it was."

"You did?" I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd been so careful.

"Of course. No one believes that if you gained the power to touch others and not drain them, you would become interested in sexual intercourse with everyone you have gently teased." He thought for a moment. "Except, perhaps, horny teenagers. And who cares what they think?"

I laughed. "Advertising executives do."

He winked. "You're not an advertising executive, my dear." He sighed and beckoned me close. "*Vous êtes trés charmante, cheri.* But there is no need to worry. Now, go change and tell the others. Take charge of your life. Come back tonight, if you like, and tell me how it all went. I confess some interest in how things work out."

I pulled the metal out of my pocket and shook my head. This was the whole reason I came here, to gain control of my powers. I couldn't be scared of it once I found a way to do it.

I slapped it into place around my right wrist this time, taking off my gloves. "**Merci beaucoup, mon ami. Tu es trés beau, sais-tu?**" I took his hand in mine again, kissing the back of it gently, then walked to the door. He said nothing. Was something wrong with him? I paused, my hand on the door knob.

When I looked back, he was staring at his hand. A perfect, round tear ran down his left cheek, staining his fur. He said conversationally, "No one has called me beautiful since I experienced my mutagenic transformation, Rogue. I find it a trifle overwhelming. Please leave so I may deal with my raging emotions."

I quietly closed the door behind me, leaving him alone, confused and excited. I had to plan my first outfit. But I still worried about Hank and thought about him as I made my way to my room and started turning my closet upside down.

*You are very charming, dear. (non-intimate form of "you")*

**Thank you, my friend. You are very beautiful/handsome, you know? (intimate form of "you")**