Rogue sat on the edge of the building, looking down and around at the city before her. It was cold and night had fallen.
"Thinking of jumping?" asked a familiar voice behind her.
Rogue turned her head and glanced back, noted Mick walking towards her and then turned back to the view.
"No. Not that it would make a difference," she replied coolly. "Ah can fly after all."
Mick knelt down beside her.
"Have you ever thought about how life force works?" he asked her.
"Ah absorb it," Rogue replied. "That's all Ah need ta know."
"On the contrary," Mick said. "You need to know how it effects the people you absorb it from. Gambit, for example."
Rogue pursed her lips together and was silent.
"It's not a set amount, by the way," Mick went on. "It's a flow. Think about it; if life force was a set amount, then anyone who had a brush with death and recovered would still die before their time, just from the loss of life force. You're not slowly killing Gambit. The micro-absorptions are too small; he recovers the lost life force instantly."
"What makes ya so sure?" Rogue asked after further silence.
"This is the part you're going to hate," Mick said with a sly smile. "We've been monitoring you."
"Excuse me?" Rogue asked indignantly.
"We've been monitoring you. Come now Rogue, you have one of our best operatives inside your head. You can't honestly tell me you're surprised? There's no way we would have just let you walk away with all that sensitive information," Mick informed her. "I assure you, your privacy has been respected -"
"By your definition of 'respect'," Rogue snapped. "Not mine!"
"Listen to me," Mick said firmly. "We've only got monitors in your home -"
"Only!"
"- and I assure you that once we have the required intel, the original survelience is destroyed. Look, Rogue, initially we were simply concerned about your ability to respect the senstivity of what Ms Marvel would have known, and we're satsisfied in that department. However, instead of pulling out, we continued surveying on account of the trouble you were having with your powers. We would have kept it at just power monitors, but due to the fact that they would have registered Gambit and Ms Marvel's powers as well as your own, we have to keep the video surveylance in place."
Mick held out a disc.
"This is all the data we've collected. All of it. My people are taking out our equipment as we speak."
"How'd they even get in there in the first place?" Rogue demanded.
"Gambit does design a mean security system," Mick conceded, "but it could do with an upgrade or two. Look, Rogue, when you review the data, I suggest you start with the conclusions file. That'll explain how to read the data and what we've come to understand of your ability. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. You and Gambit."
Rogue looked down at the disc in her hand.
"Why?" she asked finally.
"Regardless of the fact that you turned down the job, Rogue, the Caretakers consider you one of our own," Mick replied seriously. "And we always take care of our own. Which brings me to this."
Mick held out a watch and a second disc.
"You can have your friends check it out, if you want, but it only monitors power use," he said. "Use this disc to set up the sync to your computer. While you're wearing it, you can let it know what you're doing or just did - using your powers or your own. Then you just upload everything to the computer. You can set it up to alert you to when you use powers too."
"So... it can tell me when Ah've micro-absorbed someone?" Rogue asked cautiously.
"Exactly," Mick confirmed. "All we ask in return is that you send us the data. Believe it or not, Rogue, you aren't the only mutant out there who's power involves life force, although it's a rare enough feature. Then too, one day you'll gain enough control to have children. Everything we learn now will help any of your decendants who mayinherit your abailities."
Rogue nodded slowly.
"Ah guess that depends on how many monitoring devices muh friends find tomorrow," she replied pointedly.
Mick chuckled knowingly.