Genosha seemed much the same as before, when they snuck onto it.

Maybe some more buildings than before.

"They work fast here," Rogue said. "I don't remember those being there a few weeks ago."

"Remind me again what you all found," Scott said. "I wasn't here, remember?"

"We found indications that they are both supplying mutant blocking collars to outside parties, and that they have plans for more and better Sentinels," Mystique said. "Also, that they already have built some new Sentinels, despite the government halting their program. But the government of Genosha has a lot of backers in other countries. All under the bar, but, lots of people fear mutants."

"Somehow this whole thing is something I feel like I should have been able to predict," Shine said. "Isn't that always the way, people get a weapon, and everyone wants one. Like guns."

"And everyone wants to control mutants," Logan growled.

"They also have ways to sense who and who ain't a mutant," Rogue said. "In the Sentinels..."

"Not in their hands?" Scott said. "At home, they just carry that on their armor. The human soldiers, I mean."

"Ain't seen a mini version of it yet, but it don't mean it don't exist," Logan frowned.

"So sneaking in could be hard then," Scott said.

"Why do I feel like you're hoping we're about to say we'll just blast the wall in," Wally said.

"I don't really liked sneaking around," Scott admitted.

"Well, if we don't want every Sentinel on the island and half the rest of the army, and even potentially some enslaved mutants after us, you'll learn to like stealth," Shine said. "Our goal is to get in an out with minimal fighting. Which, of course, is where our two shapeshifters come in."

Morph and Mystique stood up.

"I can get in," Mystique said. "Looking the part. But if you don't just portal us in like last time, they're gates with key pads. No way to get in and out, and the prison cells will have the same. You can't teleport everyone, no way. So, we'll need ID."

"We can take out a few guards, right?" Wally said. "And Emma, you could pick the codes out of their head, right?"

"I can," Emma said.

"But should you," Gambit had been against her coming...even more so than the others, except perhaps for Scott.

"I can handle that," Emma said. "What are a few pathetic humans going to do to me?"

"Well, speaking as one pathetic human," Shine frowned at her. "Don't underestimate them. And do you mind the prejudiced language? It's rude."

"Oh please, I say that about other mutants also," Emma said.

"She does," Wally admitted, "I guess it's fair if she's rude to everybody."

Emma shot him a frosty glare.

"I doubt those humans can do what you can," Mystique said.

"You never know who you'll run into," Shine shrugged. "So...but, aside from sending you guys in undercover...I think we need bait. We talked about this before, but...we still didn't really decide on who."

"I think the answer is clear," Kurt said. "Little as I like it, If we use Fraulein Frost, ist too risky."

[Fun fact: Frost is already German, so Kurt basically just used her name with the correct prefix]

""And...we really can't use anyone else?" Rogue said.

"We need a teleport or a telepath, ist only vay," Kurt said.

"I do agree Emma is not a good choice," Shine said. "But I hate to risk it either way. It's just the best plan, doesn't make it a good plan. I mean, I could think of 10 things that could go wrong off hand."

"Don't list them," Morph said. "Always focus on what could go right...it could work. We could get directed to the right spot, and not have to do what we did last time and search for it all."

"And...yer sure you're okay with this?" Rogue said. "We thought there could be Sentinels before, but we're sure now...if ya want to just come back to  the plane afterward that's all right."

"Don't push yourself," Logan agreed.

Morph frowned. "I'm fine. I've been fighting alongside you guys for months now, so far nothing, I'm telling you, I'm cured."

They shrugged, but as everyone got off the plane, Shine tapped Morph's shoulder.

"I don't want to undermine your confidence," she said. "But it's not entirely impossible for your other self to reassert itself. We made it impossible for it to just happen willy nilly like before, and over every little thing, by taking out that chip, but Dark Morph is still a part of your fears, extreme stress can make it reassert itself...I don't think quite like before, but, if you feel strained, please don't push it. Take a step back. It's okay."

"I have to find out if I can do this," Morph said. "I did once. The chip is gone, there's no reason for it to be a problem. You guys worry too much."

Shine didn't buy his nonchalance.

Mystique looked over.

Morph walked away.

"Don't worry," Mystique told Shine. "I know how to handle Dark Morph."

"Didn't it almost kill you?" Shine asked.

"The key word is almost," Mystique said with a sly smile. "But the chances of it have to be low."

"Yes...low," Shine said. "If I had seen Morph defeat it on his own, completely, I wouldn't be concerned, but if he hasn't fully faced his fear, there is still a chance...we tend to give into things we are still afraid of, the fear itself make them stronger...without fear, he'd have no reason to worry. So it's true, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"Uh huh," Mystique said. "Cryptic...I'm more worried about if the same thing happens as it did at the warehouse."

"No guarantee of that," Shine said. "But, if it does, run. Get as far away from it as possible. It takes some time to snatch people, at least we know that. Don't give it time."

"I've done a lot of stupid and dangerous things in my life," Mystique said. "But continuing this might be the worst of them...and it's not even one that can really be avoided."

"I think you'll find the greatest risks are the ones we can't really avoid," Shine said. "So...yeah... Good luck. Don't break character."

"Don't start with me," Mystique said, with more sass than ire.

***

Wally easily snatched a few guards without them seeing him coming, and took their IDs and weapons off them.

Morph and Mystique both assumed their shapes.

Shine thought to cuff Kurt using some cuffs Hank kept on board that could block mutation.  A precaution only recently implemented.

(They made sure they weren't turned on.)

"You know, I haven't done infiltration on a big scale in  a long time," Morph mentioned. "It's hard not to break character and start laughing about it."

"Hard?" Kurt said. "I vould think you'd be too nervous."

"Nothing like the thought of impending death to help keep a straight face," Mystique said flatly.

"Both of you are just a barrel of sunshine," Morph complained.

"I hope they can handle this," Emma commented, crossing her arms.

"Person who can't do crap says what?" Mystique muttered, but didn't say it that loud. Emma probably still heard it though.

"You act like you hate Frost," Morph noted, while they were moving toward the front gate. "But I think you feel sorry for her, deep down."

"Who vouldn't?" Kurt muttered.

"What would give you a crazy idea like that?" Mystique said coolly.

"I dunno, just feel like you hold back from saying as much as you could, considering..." Morph said. "Maybe it's just me though."

Mystique shrugged.

He wasn't wrong, actually. Mystique made her share of snide remarks to Emma, but she lacked the drive to really go as far as she could have to make her feel small. Most of it was stuff Emma could brush off like water off a duck.

Mystique knew it too, but she...really just wasn't that mean. It had never come that naturally to her, for all her negativity. Emma's open disgust with other people wasn't one that she shared so easily.

But rather than see this as a good thing, Mystique kind of just saw it as a problem, she was weak and lacked the drive to really assert herself against Emma enough to shut her up. If she had more of a killer instinct, she could have put a stop to Emma's snide treatment ages ago by outing her. But reacting like that had always been much more of a thing Sabretooth would do than one Mystique would. What did she care if someone said things to her that made her feel like rubbish? At least she was alive.

But she wondered why Morph was pointing it out at all. It didn't seem relevant.

[My sisters said that if Morph is clueless to flirting then Mystique is clueless to anything positive...so yay...balance is restored.]

They had a terrible moment at the gate with wondering if the guards would see through them.

But Genosha, while never a nice place for mutants, couldn't be said to be the most careful about humans. The guards didn't seem to really care to double check who they were at all. They just saw them bring in a mutant and let them through, directing them to take any Teleporters to building 4F.

"That's a little insulting," Mystique said, as they walked away.

"That they didn't catch us?" Morph said.

"No, 4F, the military uses that to say someone is physically unfit for service," she said. "It must be a code for mutants who can't be put to work because of their powers."

"That's clever," Morph said. "Deeply insulting, maybe, but clever."

"I don't really care about insulting," Kurt said. "But now vhat? Ve do not know where this building is."

"You got me, before we were on the part of the island that's more civil looking," Morph said. "Not the prison part. I didn't even know they had more cells than what was under the center."

"Oh please, that must have been their low level threats," Mystique said. "But...I have to say, this looks new...I don't remember all this being here before," she frowned. "It's only been a few weeks, how did they put up so many buildings?"

"Giant robots maybe?" Morph said.

"Another, thing, we didn't find any indication they were looking for specialized mutants before," Mystique said. "Was that new?"

"What are you getting at?" Morph asked, nervously.

"I'm not sure yet," Mystique said. "Just that this place feels different than last time. Somehow. Like all this came together quickly. Why Psylocke only vanished the other day, and not sooner, when we'd never have noticed it happening. Either I'm crazy, or something about that is just too convenient."

"Like this is a trap?" Morph said.

"I don't know if I'd go that far," Mystique said. "They want to stay under the radar, don't they? But she said she already told them where the others were...It's...almost like they adjusted the facility to accommodate more mutants like that. But...within weeks."

"Vith veeks, they prepare to hold more mutants with powers that they don't even need," Kurt said. "But Vhy?"

"I'm sure they're getting paid for it," Mystique said. "Someone wants special mutants, they're paying this place to keep them. You know why? Because no actual government investigates Genosha. The other countries in the world try to pretend it doesn't exist, no one cares what they do to mutants as long as it's out of sight and the public opinion doesn't get riled up about it. If you want to hide anything shady about mutants, why not do it here? For a price."

"That is terrifyingly dark," Morph said. "But plausible, I guess. But in weeks? You can't set that kind of thing up in weeks...can you?"

"Who knows?" Mystique said. "Depends on how good your connections are. And how far along it is. We know at least they have one cell block just for teleportation, and that wasn't a weird concept to those guards. So what do you think that means?"

"They already have people here," Kurt said. "Or...they are prepared to receive them at any time."

"Good," Mystique seemed mildly impressed for a moment. "Exactly."

"Well...that's not anything new," Morph said. "Just...kind of confirming our worst fears about it, is all... I guess I better tell everyone that."

He made sure no one was looking too hard before he used the com-link to fill the others in.

"Great," Logan was sarcastic. "So this is the right place to come to, after all. We got some bad news. The dumb Cajun went off alone."

"Why?" Morph almost choked.

"He said he knew a different way to get in, and he'd meet us there," Logan said. "Rogue went after him, but they ain't back yet, so either he went in anyway, or they got caught."

"And you didn't tell us this before?" Mystique said crossly.

"Didn't know if you were too close to the guards for it or not," Logan said. "Just hurry up and get somewhere the rest of us can join you, we don't have long."

"Well..no pressure," Morph swallowed. "This is fine."

"I vill pray," Kurt said.

"I'm sure that will help," Mystique said sarcastically.

"It has before," Kurt said seriously.

She looked uncomfortable.

***

"This idea is plumb crazy," Rogue kept insisting to Gambit.

"No one say you hafta follow," Gambit said.

"It's crazier to try it alone," Rogue said. "What are you doin'?"

"Thing about stealth, Chere, is you hafta be quiet," Gambit warned.

He'd gone around the base of the island.

"Gambit thought so..." he found a drain pipe.

"What's that for? The dam?" Rogue wondered.

"Maybe," Gambit said. "Maybe something else. Good place to hide explosives."

"Why would anyone do that?" Rogue asked.

"To sabotage Magneto," Gambit said. Peering inside the drain.

"To...what?" Rogue said.

"Ta..." Gambit suddenly paused. "Wait...Magneto ain't on Genosha."

"No, he ain't," Rogue said. "He ain't never been except to liberate mutants..."

She frowned at him. "At least...not in our dimension...Didn't Emma say he was in charge of Genosha is in their dimension?"

"She did say dat," Gambit said.

"And you got mixed up just over that?" Rogue said. "We've been thinking about this way too much, clearly," she shook herself.

"For a moment, Gambit swear he actually remember dat," Gambit said. "Like I saw it."

"Like you...saw it?" Rogue said.

"Or did it," Gambit said. "But, dat not right. Gambit have no memory of dat world."

"Yeah, you better not," Rogue suddenly looked spooked. "You...you think you kinda picked up something from it? How could that be? Shine said we wouldn't start changing till...till the final stage, probably. Or was it the next to final stage?...It can't be that bad yet, we'd have noticed."

"Gambit don't think he have two souls," Gambit said.

"Don't even say that," Rogue said, real fast. "Don't."

"Calm down, Chere," Gambit said.

"Calm down?" Rogue grabbed him and shook him. "Don't you start merging on me...that sounded completely crazy out loud. Oh dagnabbit...how do they do this all the time? I'd have gone cuckoo ages ago."

"Gambit don't like it either," Gambit said. "Have ta keep our heads."

Rogue drew a deep breath.

"Well...Shine did tell me once about the kid who switched souls..." she said. "Or...shared? I dunno. She said he turned off and on with it....so...yeah, none of that...maybe it's someone else. Maybe...maybe we're sort of...pickin' up on something that's being merged...What she said before, that it would start off as symbolic. It's real cryptic and all, but could that mean it starts off as just something we think? Or remember? Like with Emma telling Logan 'bout that house...but then it might be real?"

"You think I know? Gambit try to avoid dis kind of magic claptrap," Gambit said.

"Well this magic claptrap is becoming real," Rogue said. "So work with me on it..."

"It gone now," Gambit said. "Whatever I was thinking...don't remember it really."

"Okay," Rogue sighed. "Maybe it's just a fluke...we gotta ask her, but...meanwhile, I guess we could use that to sneak in...it don't look guarded.

"Something about that don't make no sense either," Gambit said. He went into the drain pipe, which was big enough to where he only had to bend over a little to climb in.

Rogue flew in afterward, they came out on the other side, it wasn't that long.

Inside they found pretty much what they remembered, just a lot of flat land, or dug out grounds for shaping it, from the mutants labor.

But nothing really seemed to lead to the pipe, it was just standing there.

Either it was going to be connected to something else, or...was it just not supposed to be there at all?

Rogue didn't even know that idea occurred to her, just something about it seemed like Logan finding a house that might or might not have been there. Maybe it always was...maybe it wasn't...

The pipe looked wrong, basically, against the other parts of the yard.

But then Gambit nudged her and indicated something else, something standing up against the skyline...something they should have seen when they landed on the island, but no one had noticed it.

[Could not get a bigger image than this, sadly]

"Is that a...tower?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, it a tower," Gambit said. "And it not match da rest of the building at all."

"It...looks like metal," Rogue shielded her eyes to peer at it. "Just...metal. No bricks or anythin'."

"Metal," Gambit repeated. "Like Magneto."

"Gambit there's no way," Rogue was shaken up because she was afraid there was, in fact a way. "There can't just be one random tower here that's out of place, right? They probably just built it here."

"In da last three weeks, dey built a tower dat tall?" Gambit said. 

"Well, it ain't that tall," Rogue said.

"Maybe not be a skyscraper, but you don't put together tower dat size in a few weeks," Gambit said.

"But...you can't just...there can't just be a tower here...they'd notice." Rogue said.

"We don't know dat," Gambit said. "Maybe dey think it was always dere. Who know if anyone remember what really happen anymore. Fact is, we don't know how dis merging work. Likstar say, more things would happen, events lining up, minor ones, but dat it would build.  Dat look like a minor event to me."

"It better be minor!" Rogue squeaked.

"Shh," Gambit yanked her more inside the pipe. "Might be people near here even so."

"At this point, who says they'd even know who we are if there were," Rogue was freaking out. "This is like some ghost story at a campfire....jeepers."

"Magneto make all da building out of metal," Gambit mused absently. Almost like it wasn't him thinking it. "Dat so da whole island basically one big trap for anyone he not like."

"Remy..." Rogue said, in the ghost of a voice. "How'd you know that?"

"Know..." Gambit realized what he said. "Dat ain't right dere, is it...but dis crazy. How I remember something I didn't do?"

"We don't know...I'm not having it...whatever it is...why only you?"

She grabbed his arm. "If you disappear on me, I swear I'll kill you."

"Not sure you could if dat happen, but Gambit not going anywhere, Chere," Gambit didn't actually know if that was true, but he hoped so.

"Maybe I can help..." Rogue said suddenly, pulling off her glove.

"Chere--" Gambit began to say that wasn't a good idea, but before he could, Rogue touched him.

She'd gotten somewhat better at controlling this with more practice since the camp, though she hadn't had a lot of field experience of it so far.

Gambit didn't feel any energy loss for a good 3 seconds at least.

Rogue pulled her hand away just when it was about to get painful.

"I ain't gettin' any odd memories..." she said. "Not now...so...it can't be inside then...so how did ya think of it then?"

"It spooky is what it is," Gambit said. 

Still...better to know it wasn't inside his head.

"You okay Chere?"

"I might blow something up now..." Rogue said.

"Well pick something good den," Gambit said.

"Gambit!" Rogue said, putting her glove back on.

Still they were a little calmer.

***

The shape-shifters found a spot between two buildings that everyone could enter in.

Shine portalled them all to it.

"This place is so freaky," Kitty said in a small voice.

"It looks different," Jubilee said. "What's that tower there? I don't remember anything like that."

"What tower?" Logan said.

Everyone looked.

"Am I the only one who does not remember seeing that before?" Morph said.

"Nein," Kurt said.

"You saw nine?" Jubilee said.

"Nein means no, Jubilee," Kitty said wearily.

"Nyet, I no see it either," Colossus said.

"Please, say that does not mean it just appeared because we're here." Emma turned to Shine.

Shine was staring at it hard.

"Well...if we all see it, it can't be a projection, I don't think," she mused.

"I think it's there," Wally said. "I see birds on it--why'd you see that if it was a mirage or something?"

"If that's the case," Shine said, "either it appeared since we arrived, or we simply didn't notice it before because we don't have the susceptibility to this merging the others do."

Rogue buzzed in right about then to tell them about what happened, and hearing that didn't make anyone feel better.

"Is Gambit changing?" Jubilee said.

"No, no, we'd know if he was," Shine said. "It would be more than memory--he'd be acting like a different person. I think Rogue may have guessed it, actually. I think...this is some kind of convergence point. The Merging...it must be stronger on Genosha, perhaps because it's such a key aspect of both dimensions' history with the X-men and other mutants. It concerns Frost and Cyclops and us too. One question--did the Gambit from your dimension go there?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, I think he blew it up," Cyclops said. "I mean, not the island, but we heard he trashed part of their water systems. Working for Kelly, I think. Wolverine's the only one who actually met him, though. He's a mercenary for hire there."

"What?" Gambit was listening to this on the line. "Gambit ain't no mercenary."

"For the last time, it's not the same person," Emma said, frustrated. "But close enough. So...this Gambit is remembering something that Gambit did? How is that possible if they aren't connected yet?"

"You ever hear the theory of Collective Consciousness?" Shine asked. "It's one Owen Barfield, a contemporary of C. S. Lewis, held, I believe--that all humans have a link to some kind of Consciousness, or knowledge or spiritual awareness, that tells us things. So if one of us suffers, we all suffer. You'll find the idea in the Phantom Tollbooth, among other classics. Influenced me when I was a kid. Of course now I see that God threw such stories in my path to prepare me for world walking."

"Are you telling us there's such a thing as that?" Scott said.

"Telepaths apparently have it already," Shine said. "The Astral Plane serves as something they can all access, can't they?"

"But...other people can't," Emma said.

"You don't really know that," Shine said. "They just can't as easily--which is probably a good thing. Some things should not be messed with. My point is, I don't know if I buy that humans all have our minds connected in some way to each other, but the whole idea of reality travel is that the Ultimate Reality connects all smaller reflections of it, and that every being is connected to the Ultimate in some way. We're the reflections of it, you could say, the little piece of it that you can see and interact with, though you are never fully aware of our full identity. Even as you do, your mind couldn't hold it if you were. But some of us see it a little more clearly than others-DJs, Telepaths, and very spiritually aware people, usually. Consider this thought: remember the zipper metaphor and how we're the pull?"

"I remember," Scott said. "Are you saying that collective consciousness is like that pull?"

"Very good, Scottie." Shine smiled. "Close. I'm saying that, as the merging breaks the dimensions more and more away from what they are supposed to be, and into an alignment that is not correct, and event are shared and so on, then, it's highly likely that our memory of those events will change. I won't say it will be replaced, not yet. But if the process completes, everyone would remember both histories as one. Which event dominates could depend on a lot of factors we don't know. Or, we might just remember things inconsistent period, and have total chaos. A minor problem really, compared to the other ones we discuss. And I didn't think of it until now, because of that. But Gambit remembering something that didn't happen here, but did happen there, it's like a symptom of that. He's not merging, not yet, but his life history could be. As could any of yours. Logan had it already, but Logan is clearly not merged. Like I said I think it would have to get way, way worse for people themselves to begin merging. It's just more symptoms of the same thing as before."

"How did we get to the point where that sounds like relatively good news," Morph said.

"Yeah, I'm shocked that I can feel relieved that you said that," Wally said.

Shine shrugged. "The point is, we can't do anything about it anyway, it's going to keep happening till we fix this. But it's not a huge cause for alarm. Just remind each other of the truth, it's unlikely it will affect all of us at the same time."

"But why hasn't it affected us at the Mansion then?" Scott said. "That place would be full of memories."

"Perhaps for that exact reason, Scottie, the memories you all have are too strong to be easily confused," Shine said. "But Genosha, you've barely been here, easy to misremember even in normal time. More so when it's being scrambled on purpose. You ever want to get freaked out, read up on experiments that tried to create false memories in people's heads, our imagination is quite a powerful thing. Sadly, it's going to be worse because we're all aware of it enough to be worrying about it. I bet the people here haven't even noticed a discrepancy yet, because they don't care to notice one."

"I'd rather know it," Emma said.

"I suppose," Shine said. "But to the point of not being able to relax? I'd rather just deal with what I have to. So I'm not going to think about it if I can help it, I suggest you do the same. Symptoms, not a cause."

"On the other hand," Morph said. "This could be good sign. This place has to be where we'll find the people we're looking for right? Why else would it be so badly merging here already."

"Leave it to you to find a silver lining to this," Mystique said.

"But he's right," Wally said. "This is good sign, in one way. Try to be grateful about it, and not freaked out."

"Gambit be grateful when we get off dis Island," Gambit said over the line. "Now what?"

"Kurt has to be taken to 4F," Shine said. "Try to get in, not cause any alarm, and find out if anyone else is being held there. We also must find out where the Telepaths are being kept, it doesn't seem to be the same place."

"I got it already," Emma said. "Unit 1A, "

She was looking around a corner, hand to her head. "It's on the opposite end of this compound from 4F, clearly they don't want them to be near enough to help each other escape."

"Makes sense, bad combination for them," Wally said.

"This means we have to split up, doesn't it," Jubilee said.

"Sadly, yes," Shine said. "We can't hit one at a time, we're bound to set off an alarm as soon as we break anyone out, so we have to try to do both at once."

"Then the rest of us will go after the telepaths," Logan said.

"Wait a minute," Shine said. "We can't expose ourselves so quickly...let's see...Wally and I won't be detected as mutants, we can sneak around here for now. Just need the outfits."

"On it," Wally disappeared.

"We have another issue," Emma said. "I just read out of someone else's mind. There's a third unit with teleporters in it. Specialized ones...not sure what that means, but they are in E81, somehow, that sounds significant."

"E81?" Morph said. "Yeah, that sounds weirdly familiar."

"81 sounds too high for a barracks number," Shine said.

"If 4F is code," Mystique said. "Then it's it possible that A1 and E81 are also code. A1 for Telepaths makes sense. They're all type A fools."

"Oh ha ha," Emma said.

"Also, most of them are considered Alpha level mutants, at bare minimum," Mystique added. "By nature of having such a dangerous power."

"Alpha=A, you mean," Shine said. "That makes some amount of sense, I suppose. Not bad, Raven."

"Code cracking is easy, you just need to know how these people think," Mystique said.

"Does that help us at all?" Logan said. "Who cares what sick nickname they gave it."

"Because Logan, whatever a specialized teleporter is," Shine said. "Don't you think figuring the code number out might help us. The level, the reason they're kept in there, that sort of thing. It is helpful."

Logan frowned. "All I need to know is where to find them and bust them out of their tin prisons."

"Got it," Wally came back with more outfits, and some knocked out soldiers. "So, what's the plan?"

[Gotta love The Flash]