Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 10
Chapter 4: Startling Discovery
Rogue started down the hallway towards the lab feeling absolutely exhausted, almost as if she were walking in a trance, her head almost seemed detached from the body. It had been most difficult trying to convince Monet to stick to the Program in the Danger room that she had already scheduled. Monet already had ideas of giving the team a much harder workout than had been planned, and Rogue was not convinced they were ready to handle it yet. Rogue felt uneasy now that she'd left Monet in charge down there, and wondered if she maybe should have got Jean to handle the exercise, but Jean had been up late as had most of the other instructors in the mansion – everyone had been unable to sleep with the stress of the situation.
Still, she'd finally convinced Monet to promise not to use a higher levelled exercise and she certainly hoped that the girl would stick to that promise and not be swayed by her own opinion that she was always right (which Rogue felt she was not).
Rogue was now most intent on finding out what Hank may have discovered, she knew how intelligent he was, and she knew even having been up all night that intelligence wouldn't let him down, especially when the curiosity had captured his attention the way it had.
"Simply fascinating," he rushed across to the other side of the laboratory holding a small sheet of glass, he placed it under a microscope-like piece of equipment quickly, adjusted a vice to lock the glass into place, and he switched the equipment on, it whirred with life as he hurried towards the computer.
"Coffee, Hank," Rogue said, watching him with interest, "what have you found out?" she asked, quite impressed he seemed to have found something so quickly.
Hank looked over his shoulder at her, "I'm not definitely sure yet, I'm still trying to verify what I found under microscopes and tests," he explained, he stood in front of the nearby computer workstation by the microscope equipment, it had two monitors hooked up to one computer, Hank typed a code into a small text box on one screen and hit the return key.
Rogue walked over, and put the coffee down on a nearby counter, "what am I looking at exactly?" she asked, the screen simply showed the word 'loading' upon it, blinking furiously, then the image of a structure presented itself on the screen as a spiral ladder, moving slowly, spiralling across like a screw across the screen.
"This…" Hank gestured, "is Remy LeBeau's DNA, from a sample I took years ago," he stated, he used a command prompt on the keyboard, and on the other monitor, he typed a code into the second monitor, the loading screen came up again, then came to life with another image of a DNA structure. "And this, is the dead Remy's DNA."
Rogue nodded, "alright…" she nodded, she tucked her hair behind her ear and yawned a little, she tried to pay close attention but it was hard to when exhaustion was trying to haul her into sleep where she stood.
Hank remained silent for a moment, he was examining both screens, glancing at them together, eyes darting back and fourth, "absolutely astounding!" he gasped.
"What's absolutely astounding?" Rogue raised an eyebrow, she moved a little closer to look at what he was looking at.
"Don't you see?" Hank asked, "it matches almost identically, except for one inconsistency," he said, he pointed to a section of the dead Remy's DNA with the eraser tipped head end of a pencil, "A major inconsistency, the very most important one," he explained.
Rogue examined the both monitors, to the untrained eye, she didn't notice anything really inconsistent with the DNA at all – but then she was not a scientist.
"The program I use to view the DNA at this level is highly intelligent – it even recognises the X-Gene – the gene that gives us our mutant gifts," Hank explained, "on this screen the X-Gene is depicted by the colour green, you see?" he pointed with his pencil, "and on the second Remy there is no X-Gene. Whoever this man was, he was not even a mutant," Hank's expression was one of most pride that he had discovered this so quickly, "so the theory that this may have been a shapeshifter is indeed ruled out," he added.
Rogue nodded, "Okay, so the DNA matches…so? What does this mean? Does it mean that they're maybe related like I thought? Twin brothers?"
"No, this is far more advanced than human genetics, Rogue...this is…" Hank shook his head, "an absolute breakthrough in science," he gestured to the second Remy's monitor, "an absolutely perfect identical clone…cloned from the original DNA of Remy LeBeau."
"A clone?!" Rogue gaped, "you mean…someone actually…actually took Remy's DNA and made a copy?! Why would someone want to do that?!" she was absolutely mortified at the thought of this, who in the world would want two of the same man, especially a man such as Remy.
"Why indeed," Hank said, although more of a comment than a question.
"Would cloning him have passed on any intelligence or skills?" Rogue asked.
"Not very likely," Hank admitted, "skill and intelligence need to be honed and gained through work…" he added, "which brings us to the question of why the clone was able to talk as we do and think for himself – but we'll figure this out at some point..." he brought up another screen on the clones DNA monitor and a white screen full of coded text appeared, he began to scan through it carefully, frowning in deep concentration, "ah-hah," he pointed the pencil to a specific code, "this is a very fascinating case, Rogue," he said, "look at this, this gene here, this promotes an accelerated growth – but at an astounding rate…" he explained, "I've never seen ANYTHING like this before."
Rogue looked at him, "But you cloned spiders…so you haven't exactly not seen something like this before…"
"Yes but there's a large difference between a HUMAN clone and a spi—oh my…" Hank paused, "Oh my…" he suddenly looked quite alarmed, "oh my oh my oh my…" he looked at Rogue.
"What is it, Hank?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.
Hank brought the screen of the DNA structure back up again, "the clone is missing the X-Gene…" he explained.
"You already said that," Rogue reminded, folding her arms.
"Think about it logically, Rogue," Hank frowned, "the spiders I was working with, mutated Wolf-spiders that I had cloned – I had discovered that I couldn't apply the X-Gene to an already grown living creature, it had to have been born with the X-Gene to mutate," Hank explained, "It was that very thing that led me to clone the spiders, instead of cloning them as I had before, I added DNA during the cloning process…"
"How exactly DO you clone a spider anyway?" Rogue asked curiously.
"Very difficultly," Hank admitted, "the way I done it is almost in the way that test tube babies might be conceived…but with spiders, and eggs…its all very scientific, and I don't really have time to explain it all at this moment in time…what matters is that I think I know what happened to my research AND the remaining spiders…"
"I still don't understand," Rogue said, although at that moment she felt she might have understood had she not been so exhausted.
"Remy was here, with us, when he left, this was oddly enough the same time my research notes AND the remaining cloned spiders miraculously somehow vanished," he explained, "Obviously Remy is involved in this somehow…"
"But…Remy wouldn't do that…" Rogue shook her head, "He was a thief, but he had no interest in genetics, and he certainly wasn't intelligent enough to go and clone himself!" Rogue almost laughed at the concept.
"No, no, I don't mean he did this all," Hank said, "obviously he is working for someone who DOES. He obviously worked as both a test subject and was sent here to get the research."
"But…I don't get it, how could Remy – or whoever the hell he's working for – know about your research?"
"Easily," Hank sighed, "A few months ago I attended a conference in Washington regarding the incarceration of dangerous mutants – innocent mutants whose only crime was an inability to control their own powers…"
Rogue nodded.
"I explained a little about my research there – that, if my theories were accurate – then there may be a way to somehow remove the X-Gene from the DNA and replace it with another gene…"
"So you think someone from that conference may have hired Remy to get that from us? How could they have even known he'd had a history with us and that we'd let him in so willingly? No, I really don't buy it…" Rogue shook her head.
"Buy what you want, Rogue," Hank said, "but you know as well as I do that Remy is probably the only person we know tricky enough to get away with such a thing…and to replace himself with a clone without a memory – a sheer stroke of brilliance."
"Oh come on, you're overestimating Remy just a tad. He's smart, but only for conventional heists. Remy steals valuable items, but I think even he'd know the worth of your research and how if it fell into the wrong hands it could possibly destroy hundreds – even THOUSANDS of mutants. Remy is a thief but he HAS a conscience."
"And what if he was doing this for himself, Rogue? To rid himself of the very power that has been shocking those who touch him?" Hank asked, "or better yet…" he put his hand upon Rogue's arm gently, "what if he was doing this to find a cure for you, hoping that whoever he has passed this work onto…may find a way to remove your powers…"
"Remy didn't give a shit about my powers, and you know that," Rogue pulled away, "No, Hank, I don't believe you, I don't think Remy could have done this…"
"What about revenge for the way we reported him for murder, Rogue?"
"As long as I've known Remy, he's NEVER been out for revenge towards anyone…" Rogue trailed off.
"The man who raped you…and then Jared, I think it's safe to say that he does have a slight temper, Rogue. Being blinded by anger can turn you towards all kinds of vengeance tactics. And don't forget he was out for revenge regarding the 'mutant x' drug…"
The images of the dream came into Rogue's mind one again, the scared look of Remy's eyes in the reflection in the window.
"What is it? You look…like you've just thought of something," Hank said.
"I…I just…I know he was Scared, Hank. Something was going on, I don't think what he's done was malicious, Remy isn't a vicious person, and even if he wanted revenge, he isn't likely to take it after seven years, he does let things drop eventually."
Hank looked at Rogue, "I know you are defending him because you have feelings for him, Rogue, but I am almost positive Remy could have been the only one who stole my research. It may be that the man behind this all is trying to destroy all mutants with this information. We must start looking to a way to tracing the clone BACK to the man who made it, and stopping anything from taking place…"