Desperado (X-Men - ROMY)

Chapter Nine

"What do you mean, the wrong idea?"

"Logan, we both know that unless I want to follow the example of a Black Widow, sex just ain't on the cards for me."

He had the good grace to look embarrassed at least.

"I was having a bad night and Remy heard me. He stayed with me 'cos he was worried about me, that's all."

"Your nightmares giving your trouble again?"

"No more than usual," she assured him. "And pleas don't be mean to Remy, you deserved what you got for not thinking things through."

"Fine, the Cajun can live... for now." He got up and stalked from the room, Rogue's laughter ringing in his ears.

Rogue and Remy were in the gym under the mansion when Jean and Hank came in. Hank was a frequent visitor to Remy, but Jean tended to stay in the lab.

"What's up, mes amis."

"It's about your test results," Hank said. "We have reached some interesting conclusions."

Remy grabbed a towel to wipe himself off and went over to them. Rogue pulled her hoodie and gloves on and joined him a few moments later.

"I thought it was odd when Rogue said that you had an improved healing factor, yet Sinister had performed brain surgery. Surely in that case, any any tissue removed would simply heal and grow back," Hank explained.

"What are you trying to say?"

"That there is no evidence of anything ever having been done to your brain, it is healthy and whole."

That threw Remy for a loop.

"Then what did Sinister do?" Rogue asked.

"The only alternative hypothesis we could think of, is that he put mental block in place to reduced Remy's powers."

"Mental blocks?" Remy asked, thinking such an idea ridiculous.

"The professor did it for me," Jean spoke up. I had a force inside of me that was so powerful, it could have burned the world. He set up a series of mental blocks and shields to keep that force locked up, so I couldn't access it's power. I'd like to take a look into your mind to see if perhaps Sinister is doing something similar to you."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but even if I wanted to let you, I can't. Psychics can't get into my head, so that can't be the way he did it."

"That's not quite true," Jean said, brandishing the suppression collar. "If we could think of this, I'm sure Sinister could have something similar."

Rogue put her hand on Remy's arm. "Jean's good at this kind if stuff," she assured him. "She's always in my head, helping me keep the voices in order."

Her endorsement counted for a lot but Remy still wasn't sure. "So say he did use mental blocks, that doesn't help stop him from taking them away again at a later date."

"Until I see inside your head, I can't say for certain, and yes, all mental blocks can be undone with enough time and a powerful enough telepath, but if you weren't the telepath who put them there, it's very hard to undo someone else's blocks."

"Fine, I'll let you scan my head. I guess it can't hurt," he said, sounding disheartened.

Jean wished she could reassure him but the truth was, she was no Charles Xavier, who had implanted her own mental blocks. Even if that was how Sinister controlled Remy's powers, she didn't know if she had the talent to remove Sinister's blocks and install her own.