[That was a cheap shot and she reacted instinctively:] It worked out just fine for Logan. We had ta keep him locked up an' guarded from the first night.

[She wasn't going to get through to him if she was angry, but heaven help her, it made her shake. They had come so close to it being all for nothing.

Rogue took a controlled breath.]

Your life isn't worth so little, Billy. You've got people who care about you. Killin' off all the folks who got infected might've been the safest thing ta do... but what would that make us?

[No different than them. No different than the ones who wanted to kill mutants just because they were dangerous. No different than the Malnosso. Above all things, you had to value life. Or else why was she even alive at all? She was a walking monster, a weapon, anything in her that was good or natural had been twisted to steal the very souls of other human beings. She should be dead, if all the value to life was other people's safety.

And she didn't know it, not fully, but this was at the core of why she wouldn't allow anyone to kill Logan, why this had affected her so strongly. Because by Billy's reasoning, she should have been killed a long, long time ago. And so should have most mutants.]