DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men.
The door slid open and the X-Men walked down the ramp, and out into the hangar, followed by the contestants. Professor Xavier was already waiting for them, near the elevator.
"Welcome to the Xavier Institute. You are currently standing in the first subbasement of my home. This building has been in my family for ten generations. Of course, it hasn't always held some of the...amenities that it currently boasts. If you will follow me, I'll take you up to the main level, where Jeff and Warren are waiting."
He boarded the elevator and the contestants and X-Men followed. The doors slid shut and then re-opened, as they made room for the camera crew.
"No filming on any of the sub-basements."
"You're the boss."
The elevator doors re-opened on the main floor of the mansion, and the contestants were ushered into the library. Once there, the cameramen cued Jeff.
"Today and tomorrow should prove most interesting. By the time you return to the island, you will all know exactly who is and who is not a mutant. Two of you will have immunity, and two of you will be voted off."
Warren continued. "But all of you will experience firsthand what it feels like to be a member of the X-Men. In a moment, you will be shown to your rooms, where uniforms are waiting for you. Then you will go on a tour of the facilities, after which you will be free to use the pool, sauna, and gym, or any of the recreation rooms until dinner. Tomorrow morning, you begin training. You will train all day tomorrow and the morning of the day after. Then, that afternoon, you will have the challenge."
The professor wheeled forward and nodded.
"If the women would follow Psylocke to your rooms, and the men Beast."
Betsy held open the door, mocking gallantry, and ushered the women into the hallway. A cameraman and sound technician followed. She turned to the group.
"Jean, 'Anna'... do whatever you please. The rest of you, right this way."
The group kept on walking, and Jean and Rogue looked at each other.
"Ah suppose that means th' rest of th' castaways know who we are."
Jean stared at the wall, psi-scanning them. "Yes, they do."
"Well... If you'll excuse me, Ah'm going to go take a long nap in a real bed."
"Sounds good. I'll do the same." Jean started walking towards the men's dorms, where the room that she shared with Scott was. After a moment, Rogue followed her.
"Not your own bed, though?"
"Cram it."
Upstairs, Betsy had shown all of the girls except one to their rooms.
"Well, Sarah... Here's yours. Right across the hall there is Rogue's room, if you ever need to see her. But chances are, she won't be there."
"Where will she be?"
"In the men's dorms. She spends a great deal of time over there. Would you like me to show you Gambit's room?"
"I guess. I mean, I've got nothing better to do."
"Then off we go." She pulled something from one of the bands on her uniform and handed it to Sarah.
"Here's your key, by the way."
Sarah eyed Betsy's outfit, looking for pockets. She found none. "Uh… where exactly were you holding that?"
"Some things are best left unanswered, luv."
"Haha… show us that look again, in slow motion."
Betsy rewound it and pressed the slow motion button on the remote control. They watched Daniel's eyes grow wide as he was handed his uniform. Once everyone had stopped laughing, she pushed play again and they kept on watching.
"Where does everything go?"
"Inside. They're pants."
"Barely."
Onscreen, Cyclops sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to the door.
"Just put it on and come downstairs so that we can get it fitted right, ok? You can throw a robe on over it if you want."
"There aren't enough robes in the world."
Cyclops shook his head and walked out, closing the door behind him. Once out in the hallway, he grabbed another package from the large box and knocked on the next door. He turned to the camera.
"I hope Storm is having better luck with the girls' uniforms."
The door opened and Rogue popped her head out, her hair slightly messy. She looked at the camera and then at Scott.
"What?"
"Ah was taking a nap." Rogue clarified. Onscreen, the door was being slammed in Scott's face.
"I, um, thought that was Tallon's room."
He cleared his throat and kicked the box towards the next door.
"…forgot that was Gambit's room…All the cameras…"
"Well, at least Ah got th' chance to make Scotty look bad on national TV."
"Spandex? You want me to wear spandex pants?"
"Beats no pants at all."
"I like feeling free."
"Just put it on then come downstairs so we can adjust it right. Ok?"
"Sounds like fun."
"Uh, you might want to go change inside your room."
"Oh, sorry, mate."
The door closed and Scott turned to the camera again.
"For once, I'm glad that my sight is impaired."
Moments later, a camera caught Daniel as he poked his head around the corner. Thinking that it was all clear, he scuttled towards the stairs, yellow boots peeking out from under the thick black robe. At the bottom of the stairs Bobby, Tallon, Trey, Paul, and Malachi were already waiting.
"How come you don't have to wear pants, Bob?"
"They just get in the way. Besides, if I did, no one would be able to stare in awe at my sexy man-thighs."
"I still don't know why you wore that old nasty speedo." Jean wrinkled her nose.
"Like I said, no one can resist my sexy man-thighs."
"I can." Betsy raised her hand.
On the show, Bobby had stopped flexing his muscles for the camera and Katie was coming down the stairs.
"I stand corrected on the spandex-is-bad issue." Trey watched as she walked down the stairs. Soon, Betty followed, wrapped, like Daniel, in a bathrobe. Moments later, Sarah, Jean, and Rogue all walked down the stairs, dressed in identical yellow and black spandex uniforms. Jean and Rogue did not look happy.
"I like this part." Bobby rubbed his hands together, remembering what happened.
"Bobby! Where did you get that?"Jean
pointed to Bobby's uniform.
"It was in my closet. With all of my other uniforms."
"WHAT!" Rogue looked around for any of the other X-Men, someone who might know where they had hid their uniforms.
"Jean, find out where they are. Ah don't care if Ah get kicked off this bleep show, Ah refuse to wear this bleep!"
"And usually you're so comfortable in uniform." Bobby chided her.
"You're obviously very comfortable in your masculinity there, captain panties." Her reply was laced with irritation.
The television version of Rogue was arguing with one of the staffers on the show.
"Ah didn't have t' wear one of these pieces of bleep when Ah first joined this little club, and Ah don't intend t' wear one now."
"Ms.Raven, the producers…"
"The producers! bleep the producers! bleep this, and bleep you! Ah don't bleep need this. Ah'll be in mah bleep room. Packing. Ah'm gonna go back to th' bleep brotherhood! At least Ah get t' wear mah own bleep clothes with those bleep. bleepthis all!" She stormed off, and moments later a door could be heard slamming so hard that it shattered, from the direction of her room.
"Ah'm surprised they didn't cut that whole brotherhood bit out."
"Yeah, I thought that was a little too much, myself." Jean agreed.
"They said to flip out. If they didn't want me t' really flip out, they shouldn't have said to flip out."
"You mean that was staged?"
"Only if it doesn't make you lose faith in television, Jubes."
"They actually told YOU to flip out?"
"They must not have done their homework."
"They wouldn't let me fly out either, they said Ah had t' stomp mah feet."
"You can't see it de way dat dey shot it, but dey actually laid a fake floor in case she stomped too hard."
"The secrets of television, children. Y'all will notice, later on in the danger room, Ah have my own clothes on again."
"That's good for everyone."
"This is the danger room. It may just look like a big gray room, but it isn't. This room is infused with more technology than any other training simulator on earth. These unassuming walls are made of a nickel-titanium alloy. Within them, there are localized force fields, which are triggered by a Master Control Intruder Detection System. Electromechanical security devices also regulate entry to the Ready Room Elevator and the Control Room."
"And what does that mean exactly?"
"That means, don't try to break in, you will end up in incredible pain if you are unable to provide both a retina scan and a voice print."
"That's reassuring."
"I know." Beast ushered the group into the center of the room and looked up into the control room. "Gambit?"
The speaker crackled. "Oui, Henri. One classroom coming up."
Instantly, the walls faded and the room turned into a small lecture room. Beast motioned for the contestants to sit down.
"What you are now sitting on is not real. It is a hologram. We can create these solid, realistic images thanks to the same technology that was used to enhance our jets. Four high- capacity computers generate these 32-bit color images at 300Gb/second. The force field resolution is on the order of 16 cubic centimeters. The entire room is mounted on a zero gravity field, which resists all induced motions from users." He nodded to the control room. "Library?"
The room changed right underneath them, and the people who were not used to the Danger room were all immensely shocked to find themselves sitting in a literal library. Beast chuckled. "Funny."
Rogue looked up at the booth, where Remy was grinning from ear to ear. She turned to Beast.
"Excuse me, teach, but Ah gotta use th' little girl's room."
Beast raised a furry eyebrow, and nodded. She flew off and disappeared into the Ready Room.
"Anyway," Beast continued, "The World-View Model Library includes digital models of over 50 million different objects, including every single one of their attributes." He picked up a bowl of fruit that was on one of the shelves and tossed an orange to Paul. "Go on, peel it. Inside and out, it is an orange. Take a bite; it tastes like an orange. But there's one small difference. It isn't really there." He nodded up to the Control Room and waited. After a moment, he started to grow impatient. "Gambit? REMY!"
The intercom sizzled again and Gambit's voice came over it, slightly out of breath.
"Désolé…somet'ing, erm…came up." They could hear someone giggling in the background, as the orange in Paul's hand disappeared. "Remy's going to step out for a minute. De room is on voice. You can handle t'ings, hein?"
"Sure." He turned his attention back to the assembled group. "You will all be issued temporary rights to access this room shortly, with the exception of Jean and Bobby, of course… and Anna, wherever she may be. In order to access this room, you must have one of the X-Men with you to work the controls. Now, we'll do a tutorial. Bobby, Jean… you can go now if you wish." He turned to the Control Room. "Run sim. 232" The room changed again and Jean and Bobby left. Now standing in a gym, complete with running track and weight benches, Beast began to instruct the contestants on the proper usage of the danger room.
A/N: A slightly quicker update. Still, reviews are nice. Hint, hint.