A/N: Wow, third X-Men movie ruled! I'm a bit disappointed in their lack of Rogue though, but they made up for that with lots of Wolverine scenes and having Wolverine nearly get raped by Jean. That was classic, I loved it. So anyway, I guess this fic is now an AU cuz it doesn't follow the third movie but that's okay. Sorry for the long wait, I've been kinda lazy for the past few months, and I just graduated high school, so I'm going through a freak out phase where I have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of my life and how I'm going to survive college and live away from home, but I'm slowly getting over it.
Chapter Four: The files
Rogue was sitting the control booth that overlooked the danger room. This was not the first time she had been up in the control booth. Her first time up there was right before her first danger room session. Students new to the danger room were required to sit in the control booth and observe the danger room sessions of another team of students or one of the teachers before they were allowed to a session themselves. There were other times also when on occasion a student challenged another student in the danger room. During such occasions a certain number of students and a supervising teacher were allowed to watch the challenges from the control booth, so Rogue was very used to the way things worked in the control booth.
Storm took a seat beside Rogue, files in hand. "It'll just be a few minutes," Storm informed Rogue, handing her the files. "Their still suiting up."
Rogue nodded and began flipping through the files, reading off each name in her head, Henry McCoy, Elizabeth Braddock, Warren Worthington III, Remy Lebeau. Rogue groaned inwardly. She recognized that last name, the name of the man who nearly touched her earlier that day. Rogue turned to Storm who was busy setting the program for the danger room, "So their all here auditioning to be X-Men?"
"Something like that," Storm replied as she finished with the settings. "Nearly all of them used to be X-Men, and two of them were on the original team."
"Really?" Rogue asked, surprised. "Which ones?"
Storm smiled, happy with Rogue's curiosity and told her, "Warren and Hank."
"Hank?"
"Henry McCoy," Storm said. "He looks a little different than he did when he was first apart of the team."
Rogue looked down at the picture attached to Henry McCoy's file. The man in the picture didn't look like a man at all, but more like something out of planet of the apes with the only difference being that his fur was blue. Despite the animal appearance Henry McCoy had a pleasant and friendly face. "He looked human once?" Rogue asked.
"Yes," Storm replied. "His could have easily passed his mutation off as family genes. His hands and feet were larger than most humans, and he has the strength and agility not common with most humans, but other than that he looked completely normal."
Rogue stared at the picture, feeling a small amount of pity for this man. "What happened?"
"Well," Storm continued. "Hank spent a lot of time trying to come up with a serum that would suppress his mutation but instead of making it go away he made it come back stronger than ever."
Rogue brushed her gloved finger over the picture, feeling a twinge of sympathy for him, "poor man," she muttered under her breath.
Moving on, she looked over the files of the other participants. Warren Worthington III, codenamed: Angel. Apparently he was the son of multimillionaire Warren Worthington II and had also inherited his father's company. Angel had the ability of flight thanks to the use of a pair of white wings, also giving him the appearance of an angel. Rogue looked at the picture attached and couldn't help but smile. Warren Worthington was possibly one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen, with a full head of blond hair, and clean shaved face, strong chin, and the most beautiful sky blue eyes.
Storm noticed the smile on Rogue's face and laughed, "Handsome isn't he?" she asked, leaning over to look at the picture. Rogue couldn't help but nod. "Jean and I thought so too. He sure gave Scott a run for his money when were all students here."
Rogue couldn't suppress her surprise at this news. She looked up at Storm with an astounded look. "Jean and this guy?" She asked unbelievably.
"Yes," Storm grinned. "Didn't last long though. They went on a few dates and then Jean decided it didn't feel right. A month later she and Scott became an item."
"Wow," Rogue mused. "I really can't see Miss Grey with anyone but Scott." Well except for maybe Logan, Rogue added silently in her head.
"I know," Storm said in a quiet voice. Rogue knew immediately that she was thinking about Miss Grey now, and how much she missed her. Rogue felt bad for her teachers, all of them. She missed Miss Grey too. Everyone did.
Feeling uncomfortable with the grieving silence, Rogue decided it best to move on to the next participant. She looked at the next file and read the name out loud, "Elizabeth Braddock, aka Psylocke." The picture attached was that of a woman with long purple hair. She was very beautiful and looked to be in her mid twenties. The file said that she was a native of England and her brother Brian Braddock was also a mutant. Her power was telepathy. Although it was pretty strong, it was no where near a match for the Professor's or even the late Jean Grey.
Rogue moved on to the last file. The one she didn't really want to look at. Remy Lebeau, codenamed: Gambit. The picture attached gave her a full view of his red on black eyes, and like he had been the night he came, Gambit was wearing his long brown leather trench coat, but underneath the coat Rogue recognized the leather X-Men uniform. "Ah guess he really likes that coat," Rogue said out loud. "Enough to wear it out on missions anyway."
"You have no idea," Storm replied, amusement in her voice.
Rogue continued to read his file. His powers gave him the ability to kinetically charge any object he touched, making it explode, and he was also capable of sensing the emotions of others and even on occasion he was able to manipulate those emotions and make people feel what he wanted them to feel, much like a telepath could do with thoughts. The file stated that he referred to this ability as his "charm."
"Here they come," Storm said suddenly, her head nodding to the danger room door as it slid open.
Rogue tore her eyes away from the file she was reading and looked to the four figures emerging from the door. Henry McCoy, aka Beast walked in first, full of confidence, looking around the danger room as if it were an old friend that he hadn't seen in a long time. Following close behind him was Angel, looking as confident as Beast with a look of firm determination on his face. He reminded Rogue much of Cyclops the students watched him and the X-Men do their rounds in the Danger Room. A few feet behind him was Psylocke, who looked like she could care less about what was in the danger room but more about what was in front of her, mainly Angel's butt. Gambit, who was right next to Psylocke seemed to notice this and gave a whistle. When Angel and Beast turned to look at him he just pointed at Psylocke, who gave him a playful glare.
"Some things never change," Storm mused shaking her head.
The four participants walked to the middle of the danger room, each looking up at the overhanging control booth, waiting for things to get started. Each one of them wore an X-Men uniform, as was required even for non x-men members to wear in the danger room. Gambit, Rogue noticed was wearing his coat over his uniform just like he had been in the picture, and Beast's uniform was actually just a pair of leather pants that still seemed to small.
Storm pressed a combination of keys on the computer keyboard and then the lights of the danger room changed, a feminine British voice spoke, "Sentinel Program Level six, commence"
Rogue looked over at Storm and asked, "What's a sentinel?"
