Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 10
Chapter 3: The Findings
Rogue tapped lightly on the door of the hospital wings infirmary, holding her breath, glancing down the dimly lit corridor, exhaustion still pulled her down, and she felt if she even leaned against the doorframe for a moment she might pass out. But she forced herself to stay awake, promising herself that once she found out exactly what was going on, then she could get some sleep – although taking time to sleep while no one knew where the real Remy LeBeau was did leave her uneasy.
The door opened slowly, Hank peered out, "Yes?" he asked.
"Can I come in?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.
"It's…it's not a good idea," Hank said, he stepped out quickly not allowing her access he closed the door behind himself, he was wearing a disposable apron – which was already smeared with blood, Rogue felt slightly sick at the sight of it.
"So…you cut him up…" Rogue chewed her lip.
"I didn't slice him up, just…a very small incision…surprised he bled so much really…" Hank explained, "is the professor back yet? What time IS it?" he asked.
Rogue glanced at her wrist watch, "it's ten to six," she yawned, "so what did you find…?"
"Some…very fascinating things," Hank admitted, and his tired indigo eyes glimmered with that intense expression of scientific excitement, "But, I still need time to examine the findings properly under the microscope. When I was examining him I did notice something very odd…" Hank admitted, "I opted for some forensic investigating just to determine if anything matches and find out exactly who this man is and if he's related to Remy," Hank explained, "I found a brown hair on Remy's coat, I would assume it's his…"
"Could be mines…I touched that coat," Rogue admitted with a sigh.
"No, this is his, I assure you," Hank assured gently, "it's too long to be on of your pretty hairs," he smirked.
"Isn't it sad that his hair is longer than mines," Rogue said, feeling strange about making the joke, when the situation was that even if he wasn't Remy LeBeau, a man had still died.
"Anyway, I made my way to the cadaver to remove a hair and while I was doing so I noticed a scar – very fine – on his head past his hairline, large but fine enough to ensure that his hair would never reveal it," Hank explained, "incredibly intricate work you know…"
"So? What does that say?" Rogue queried.
"That someone with exceptional surgical skills has been operating on this man – someone who can barely leave a scar…"
"Wow," Rogue chewed her lip.
"Not only that, but from the look of the scar I'd say at least three years had gone by since the incision – the healing was quite remarkable," Hank explained, "and as squeamish as I was…I decided to open that wound to see what had been done – feeling it may lead me into understanding exactly what is going on…"
Rogue turned away, nausea overwhelming her, "and?"
"A piece of his skull had been removed, and replaced with a small metal plate – which I removed to investigate further," Hank explained, "beneath the plate, and tucked into the brain I did find a small piece of metal, it looked barely bigger than a tiny splinter of iron against his brain but under a microscope I discovered that it is a microchip."
"A microchip?" Rogue gaped, wondering what someone would have with such a thing in their brain.
"Yes, one of the same kind of technology myself and Kitty found on the bullet last night…" he said, "part of the bullet that shot Rem—Uh, I mean mr John Doe—was an intricate piece of technology that would give an electrical shock on impact…"
Rogue listened, fascinated by this despite she wasn't a massive fan of technology. "So…if it's a chip, surely you can access it through a computer?" she asked.
"I thought so, but it's such sophisticated and complex technology that we may not have a chance at all in finding out what the chip is for – I have a theory that we may be able to hook it up to Cerebro but for that I will need the Professor's help," he explained.
Rogue nodded, "find anything else?" she asked.
"Not yet, I need to examine all the DNA, until then there isn't much more I can advise you…"
Rogue nodded, "You look like you could use some coffee, Hank."
"I think we both could," Hank said.
"I'll go make some up, while you go do that lab stuff…" Rogue said.
Rogue left Hank, and headed back up to the kitchen, she felt very uneasy once again, something very strange was going on, and Remy's involvement in it did confuse her a great deal. She found herself wondering if her dream – Remy's memories that she'd absorbed – had anything at all to do with this look-a-like. She wished she'd been able to access further memories than Jean had been able to bring forward. Maybe a name or a clue as to what Remy had been running from exactly would help.
It has to be a mutant, she thought darkly as she began to make a large pot of coffee. Liquid silver…god it reminds me so much of that movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day, she mused as she went about making the coffee. A rush of noise burst into the kitchen as five of the students clambered in, four of them chatting merrily amongst themselves.
Illyana Rasputin laughed gleefully at something Alison Blaire had said, Rusty Collins was explaining something to Paige Guthrie about a homework problem he'd been having, and as usual, Monet St Croix remained silent, stepped over to the refrigerator to retrieve some Cranberry juice – the only thing she ever had for breakfast.
Rogue gaped, noting they were all in uniform, and then she realised she'd forgotten all about the Danger Room training session at six thirty which she herself was meant to be instructing – something they were no doubt getting prepared for by having a quick breakfast to boost their energy.
Don't panic, she thought at herself, all she'd have to do was explain to them that because of an unexpected incident there would be no training today. She glanced back at them all again, and realised that this might not be the best thing to tell them as they'd be immediately curious.
Monet St Croix walked over, opened the small cupboard near Rogue's head and retrieved a glass for her juice, "You're not training us today, are you," she said, quite matter-of-factly rather than questioning this.
Rogue glanced at her, wondering how in the world the girl could have known, "How did you—"
"You're not in uniform for one thing," Monet admitted, "and I heard you pacing up and down this mansion all night," she added, "could have only been you in those shoes," she pointed out quite dourly, she poured her juice from the carton.
Rogue grabbed a hold of Monet's arm, "you didn't make that observation just from how I'm dressed…"
Monet just gave a wry smile, removed Rogue's hand from her arm, and walked away to put the carton back in the fridge.
"Rogue, are you alright, you look awful…" Alison commented, she was sitting at the table waiting on breakfast – which today would be toast judging by the way Rusty was throwing slices of bread into the air and blasting with his pyrotechnic abilities.
Rogue felt even worse now that the students had noticed it, but she realised that she was still wearing yesterday nights clothes, her makeup was mostly gone except for the faint remnants staining the skin around her eyes making her look like a panda.
"It was a very long night," Rogue managed to say, "and the reason I'm not in uniform yet is that I won't be training you today…" she said, she glanced over at Monet, who was sitting at the table primly now sipping her juice and glancing around the room absently. "Monet will be doing it."
"Monet?!" all four of the mutants excluding Monet burst out in objection.
Rogue looked firmly at Monet, "it's a new training tactic" she lied.
Monet raised an eyebrow, "of course," she said, knowing full well of Rogue's quick lie. "And, uhm, which tactic would this be?"
Rogue paused for a moment, thinking, "to…to brief the most mature and responsible student in handling a team exercise in the danger room – to check for…for maturity levels…"
"Maturity levels?" Alison asked sounding quite confused, "for what?"
"For…" Rogue swallowed, "for picking a team leader."
"A team leader?" Monet raised an eyebrow, "since when do we need a team leader?"
"It's about time you did," Rogue said quickly, hoping she'd pulled this off, "when I was your age in training, we had Scott as a team leader."
"You were part of the X-Men then, we're just students," Rusty pointed out.
"Well, you are in some way your own small team," Rogue reminded, "X-Men Juniors," she smirked nervously, "and…well, I'll explain it all to you later, Monet, you do know how to run the Danger Room don't you?" Rogue suddenly asked.
"Yes, we were briefed on that by Storm," Monet stood up.
"Right, come with me, I'll just recap for you," Rogue gestured for her to follow. A quick instruction in the control annex and then she could take Hank his coffee and find out any more information he may have found.
Monet followed, once they were down the hall and out of earshot, she said, "that was very quick thinking considering you've been up all night," she commented.
Rogue glanced out of the corners of her eyes at Monet, "is that a compliment?"
"If you like," Monet said, stepping into the secret elevator that led down to the floor the danger room resided upon, "so what could possibly be SO important that you need to skip training us?"
Rogue frowned a little, "Nothing for you to concern yourself with."
Monet glanced at her, "wouldn't have anything to do with Mr LeBeau, now would it?" her expression became most dour.
"Just be quiet," Rogue muttered.
Monet was about to speak again, and Rogue quickly dismissed her by putting her hand out and pointing at Monet to warn her against saying anything else.
Monet hushed, normally she'd be smug, but the seriousness had not left her flawless face.
Rogue sighed, it was beginning to stress her out just how much this young woman knew about her life and her feelings about Remy – she seemed far too perceptive for a normal sixteen year old should have been.
Shaking off her uneasiness, she took Monet to the Danger Room control annex, intent on quickly teaching her everything she needed to know about the training session, so that she could get back to finding out what was going on with Remy's look-a-like.
Little did she know that in the lab, Hank was already making a fascinating discovery.