DISCLAIMER: They still arent mine.
"Good lord, Tallon. Put on some pants!" Daniel averted his eyes.
"Sorry, mate."
"And stop trying to play up the fact that we're both Australian!"
"Crikey, take it easy there fella. You're making me look bad in front of the Sheila. Why can't we just talk this out over a vegemite sandwich?"
Daniel rolled his eyes and laughed. "You're a walking stereotype."
Tallon took that as his cue to start walking. He put his arm around Katie's waist and headed up the path. "And you, Dan, smell like a dead dingo floating in the billabong. G'day to you all."
"What a moron." Daniel laughed and turned to the mostly American crowd standing behind him. "It's ok to laugh at that, you know. I won't be offended."
They let out a collective breath and a few of them started to chuckle nervously.
He shook his head. "Americans…" He picked up his bag and started up the trail, leaving everyone else behind.
"What was dat supposed t' mean?"
"Don't take it personally, Rem. He's a nanotechnologist. Not much of a people person."
"I am not American." Colossus raised his hand futilely.
"Nor I."
"Technically, you are, 'Ro."
"I grew up in Cairo..."
"You were born in Manhattan."
"He's got you there."
"Oh, has he? Well…You, James, are Canadian."
"Don't call me that."
"It's your name, isn't it?"
"Ororo, I said don't call me that. I haven't used that name since…"
"The late 19th century?" Storm offered.
"If you weren't so darn cute, I'd slice you into hundreds of tiny little Storm nuggets."
"Glad I've got that going for me, Canuck."
Logan grumbled and looked around. He knew that Sarah was trustworthy, but Trey… he wasn't so sure.
"Jean?" He decided to ask someone who would know. "Can we trust Trey?"
"Well, he seems like a classic mutant hater, right-winger, religious…but he's a good guy, for the most part. Has a huge crush on Rogue. And I'm picking up something about a party and Internet pictures of him in a sombrero…seems he has his own "Love Trey" fan club. I can't really tell how he'll react. Judge by how he's treating you guys. He'll find out later today anyways."
"That was real in-depth. Thanks, Jeanie."
"I've had plenty of time to psi-scan every single one of the contestants."
"I can tell."
"Uh… did he fall asleep?" Trey was tempted to poke the small man, whose eyes had been shut for a good thirty seconds.
"No, he's talking to someone."
"His mouth isn't moving, and no noise is coming out."
"He's talking through a psychic link."
"Meaning?"
Wolverine's eyes snapped open, startling Trey.
"Meaning I'm talkin' to Jean, that's what it means, bub."
"Jean? From the other tribe?"
"That's the one."
"She's a mutie?"
Logan nodded, and Anna sat down next to Remy, on Sarah's bag. "Ain't we all…"
Trey spun around. "YOU'RE a mutie, too?"
She laughed. "Ya act surprised. As Ah recall, you were the first one to bring up my resemblance to a certain X-Man."
"Wait… you ARE Rogue?"
"In the mutie flesh."
"Sarah's a mutant, too?"
"Well, she's a lawyer, if that counts…"
Sarah laughed. "Different kind of mutation, I think."
Trey sat down on a nearby stump. "Let me get this straight. Anna is really Rogue. Jean can read my mind, and the little hairy guy talks to people in his head?"
Logan unsheathed his claws. "That's MISTER little hairy guy to you, bub."
Trey backed up. "My bad."
Gambit took another drag of his cigarette. "You got it all right, up until de furball. Jeanie is de one who talks in people's heads."
"Hello, Trey."
"What the!" He fell backwards, and everyone laughed. As he righted himself, he looked around. "Are there any other famous mutants lurking on this island that I should know about?"
Kitty thought for a minute. "Bobby."
"What!" This time, the surprised shout came from Sarah.
"Oh, he never told you?"
Sarah was still dumbfounded. "No!" She looked at Rogue. "How come you didn't…"
"Figured he'd tell you himself when he thought th' time was right." She shrugged and stood up. "Anyone else ready to get a move on?"
"Non. Ten more minutes."
"This ain't nap time."
Everyone picked up their bags and started up the trail, leaving Remy sitting on the ground. Just before they turned the corner, Rogue looked back and rolled her eyes. She flew to him and flung him over her shoulder, returning to the rest of the group.
"Who wants t' race?"
No one took her up on the challenge. "Oh, come on, Ah'm carrying this bag and the swamp rat. that'll slow me down."
"No, it won't." Piotr pointed out.
"You're no fun."
She took to the air anyways and flew to the camp.
"It's incredible how much they actually catch on tape." Henry watched as a close up of him talking to Betty was projected onto the screen, every moment of their conversation being captured.
"No kidding." Rogue was still quite bitter.
"What surprises me," Jean broke in, "Is that they didn't manage to capture Mystique."
Rogue nodded in agreement, and just about everyone else shot them looks of confusion.
"Mystique was there?" Jubilee thought that she had known all about everyone who was a part of the crew. She herself had combed the island a number of times, whenever the taping was getting too slow for her liking.
Logan nodded. "Big, beefy cameraman. Handlebar mustache. Balding."
Bobby thought for a second. "Stu? Stu was Mystique?"
"Yeah. Stu."
"Ah didn't know that either. Ah just knew that she was around."
"She was Stu." Bobby still couldn't believe it.
"That fact has not changed in the last few seconds, Robert."
"Shut up."
The scene changed again to a time-lapsed montage of the two tribes moving into the new headquarters. Over the course of the montage, Sarah confronted Bobby about his little secret, and Tallon and Katie made themselves scarce yet again. Rogue and Gambit, however, resisted the urge to do the same and instead continued to unpack.
Once they had all settled in to their new campsite, Warren and Jeff re-appeared, this time with the Professor. The group assembled to hear what the three men had to say.
"Some of you already know Professor Charles Xavier, but others do not. He is the founder of the X-Men, and quite possibly the world's strongest telepath. Tonight, all of you will receive a home-cooked meal and a place to sleep, courtesy of Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-Men." Jeff nodded to Warren, who continued the speech.
"In fifteen minutes, you will board the X-Jet, and travel to the X-Men's headquarters, where you will train briefly as an X-Man. After two days, you will undergo your next challenge. Following the challenge, you will stay the night at the Xavier school and return the following morning to the island for elimination."
"You guys have no idea how happy Ah was when y'all said that, Warren."
"Really, that was the single most satisfying moment of the whole game." Jean agreed.
"Yes, even those on the island who were wary of us were grateful for the chance to take a shower." The professor spoke up. "Jean and Betsy can agree, I'm sure, that they were barely able to contain themselves."
Betsy nodded. "Katie was starting to worry about the lack of deodorant."
"Weren't we all." Bobby looked at Jean, who held up her hands.
"How was I supposed to know that I would run out that fast?"
"You didn't have to steal mine, you know."
"I couldn't go around smelling like garbage, now could I?"
"Well, neither could I."
"You didn't have to! You're made of Ice. Ice doesn't sweat."
"I'm not made of ice."
Jean took a framed picture off of the wall telekinetically and floated it into Bobby's lap. He looked down. It was the cover of Newsweek that the whole team had recently posed for. He was there, in his iced up form.
"Shut up."
"Clever retort."
"You could have just brainwashed everyone into thinking that you smelled good!"
"That would have been cheating."
"And icing up to disguise my own smell wouldn't?"
"As lovely as this conversation is, the show is starting again." Hank put an end to their little fight, much to everyone's pleasure.
"This is the X-Jet. An RS-150 Blackbird, it is the only remaining of a number of aircraft built by the international law enforcement agency, SHIELD, based on designs by the head of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's Advanced Development Project Group. Of course, since it was built some time ago, we have enhanced it with a number of other technologies, courtesy of our friend, Forge, and some technologically advanced aliens. It is a vertical take off and landing craft, and it can fly at speeds of up to Mach 4.2 at high altitudes. It is also able to fly into outer space, provided we stay within Earth's orbit. We have two of these, the gold and the blue. This one is the gold. It is larger than the blue, and has recently been fitted with DVD players. Unfortunately, we only have a few movies with us, but don't worry, the flight will be short enough that you won't go crazy."
"Out of curiosity, Scott... How long did it take you to memorize that little speech?"
Scott glared at Bobby as best he could through his glasses, and Jean answered the question for him.
"Two weeks."
Bobby laughed. "Figures."
The camera followed them onto the aircraft, and caught the looks of awe on the faces of most of the contestants. Rogue and Jean just looked relieved to be back on familiar ground, and Bobby feigned surprise as he went around the cockpit, pushing buttons. Scott stepped up and swatted Bobby's hand away from the control panel. With a grin, Bobby hopped into one of the passenger seats. Scott crossed his arms and tried to look important as the rest of the contestants filed onto the plane. He didn't even notice as Rogue sat down in the pilot's seat. Storm, however, noticed, and approached Scott. She whispered something that was not discernable on TV, and Scott nodded, moving to sit next to Jean. Once everyone was loaded onto the aircraft, Storm nodded to Rogue, who switched on the intercom.
"Oh, God... I hate this part."
"Shut up Scott, we're tryin' to watch." Rogue threw a pillow at him.
"This is your pilot speaking. We are prepared for takeoff. Please make sure that your tray tables are up and you seat back is in its full upright position. Your stewardess, Cyclops, will be around shortly with salted peanuts."
Scott tried to stand up, but Jean held him down, so instead, he shouted. "Rogue, what are you doing!"
She turned around and winked, as the airplane lifted off.
"This thing doesn't happen to come with airsickness bags, does it?" Betty buried her face in her hands.
A/N: And there it is. The next chapter. Keep the reviews coming! I have a good part of this story already written, so it all depends on reviews! Did I mention that I like reviews?