Chapter Four: The War Has Begun/The Invaders

And here's Chapter Four! I can't help but feel that some of the powers Rogue borrowed, including her newly acquired optic blasts, are gonna come in handy... ;). And it's perfect for International Women's Day! (Even if I'm a bit late)

thewriternextdoo: Yeah, that can happen sometimes. It just depends on what the original scenes give me in terms how I can adjust it to fit my AU. I did a brief check on the rest of this story, and except for maybe one, the other chapters won't be so short.

Laura201112: Thank you so much!

Bing-a-Ling27: Ah, okay. Thanks for clarifying, friend! And thanks for your feedback!

0001234: She kicks some ass in this chapter, and stands up to certain characters throughout the rest of the story. And she's gonna get angry a few times. I'm trying to be a bit realistic with this part of the trilogy because I'm not sure if she did any real X-Men training in this movie, but the next story...well, some of what she does in the next story scared me, lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

"How long you been here?" Logan asked Bobby after taking a swig of his now chilled soda.

"Couple years," the teenager said, turning back to his ice cream.

"And your parents just sent you off to mutant school?" He noticed Bobby hesitate.

"Actually," he said slowly, "my parents think this is a prep school."

Logan nodded. "Oh, I see. I suppose lots of prep schools have their own dorms, campuses –"

"Jets," Bobby added.

Logan almost chuckled. He decided to change the subject.

"So you and Rogue are friends, huh?" he asked. He didn't miss the faint blush on Bobby's face.

"Yeah," he said. "I've actually thought about asking her out, but when I bring it up in passing, she just says she's not interested. At first I thought she already had a boyfriend, but I haven't seen her hang out with any of the other boys."

Logan didn't answer. He knew exactly why Rogue would turn him down, but he didn't let on. He cared very much about the southern belle, so he would keep her relationship with Pretty Boy a secret like the rest of the adults.

"You know," Bobby continued, pulling Logan out of his thoughts, "I've seen how you look at Dr. Grey."

He narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing," Bobby said quickly, though he began smirking.

And Logan felt an odd wave of déjà vu.

"You haven't told him about his past, haven't you?" Erik accused Charles. Neither of them noticed Cyclops looking at them through a far away window.

"I've put him on the path," said Charles almost defensively. "Logan's mind is still fragile."

"Is it?" Erik raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Or are you afraid of losing one of your precious X-Men, old friend?"

Charles stared at him, looking deep into his eyes. "Erik, what have you done?" he whispered.

Erik just shook his head, actually looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Charles. I couldn't help it."

"What have you told Stryker?" asked Charles quickly.

Erik took a deep breath. "Everything." They both saw two big holes in the glass wall expelling some kind of gas. "The war has begun," said Erik, gently leaned against another wall before falling to the floor.

"Scott!" Charles yelled, pressing his hands against the cell doors.

"You should've killed me when you had the chance!" Erik bellowed.

Soon, both men passed out from the gas.

Cyclops heard the door behind him open. He spun around to see a sharp-dressed woman enter, holding up a gun made of plastic. She shot something at him, which landed on his coat. He immediately fired an optic blast at her and the security guard. As he fought off more guards, the woman slowly stood up. She pounced on him and pinned him against the glass door, kicking him in the face and knocking him out.

I'm sorry, Marie, he thought before he fully blacked out.

He couldn't keep his promise.

Jones was still watching TV, having landed on an animal channel.

"But now and then," said a woman's voice, "every mother needs to get away. Without her, the babies are helpless."

Suddenly, Jones thought he heard something. He slowly got up and looked around, leaving the TV on.

"Sensing danger, the mother rat races home. The babies can't even see the killer. And someone uninvited is coming to dinner. She arrives too late for one baby. The centipede is deadly..."

Jones stood in the hall and was nearly blinded by a distant flashlight. The light lowered, and he saw what looked like two SWAT men. One walked up to him.

"Hi," Jones said uncertainly.

Instead of answering, the man shot three sleeping darts at his throat, and he fell with a thud. He then directed more HYDRA soldiers to cover the mansion, looking for other mutants to capture.

In the kitchen, Logan heard footsteps. He placed his soda down and stood up.

"What is it?" Bobby asked, but Logan shushed him.

HYDRA soldiers broke into the bedrooms and shot darts at the sleeping kids. Kitty Pryde, however, woke up with a gasp and phased herself through her bed. She landed in a room with even more HYDRA soldiers, so she ran through walls and bookshelves, narrowly avoiding darts.

Logan and Bobby could faintly hear helicopters arriving. Logan cautiously stepped towards the the doorway of the kitchen while Bobby stood up to look out the windows. He didn't hear the HYDRA soldier enter the kitchen and aimed his dart gun at him. However, he was stopped by Logan, who held him firmly and said, "You picked the wrong house, bub!"

The HYDRA soldiers busted open a door to another bedroom. A girl named Theresa Cassidy immediately sat up and opened her mouth, letting out a scream so loud and shrill, it not only broke glass, but was echoed throughout the entire mansion. Everyone that hadn't been knocked out by sleeping darts were covering their ears in pain. The HYDRA soldier in Theresa's room managed to shoot a dart at her, knocking her out and ending her screams.

Thanks to the girl who called herself Siryn, everyone in the mansion was wide awake.

And Rogue, who had already been awake, immediately got up out of bed. She had heard Scott's apology thanks to Xavier's telepathy, and felt angry at whoever attacked her boyfriend. As soon as she stepped out of her room, she was met with a HYDRA soldier. Before he could shoot her, she quickly pulled his gun from his hands with Magneto's power and hit him across the face with it.

While Rogue ran through the halls to find any other soldiers to fight off, all the other students had left their rooms and began screaming in fear.

Logan, Bobby, and the HYDRA soldier had all grimaced when they heard the continuous shriek; the soldier had shot bullets all around the kitchen. Once the screams stopped, Logan went back to apprehending the soldier. He managed to push the soldier against the fridge and stuck his claws into his chest. Bobby hid behind the kitchen island, watching the soldier cry out in pain before Logan stepped away to let him fall to the floor. Breathing heavily, he turned around and saw Bobby's eyes peeking over the island. "You all right?"

Bobby nodded meekly.

After this, Logan led Bobby out of the kitchen before he went eliminating HYDRA soldiers. Bobby heard the students' screaming upstairs and quickly got in the elevator.

In Theresa's bedroom, two HYDRA soldiers picked up the sleeping girl and turned to leave when they were stopped by Piotr Rasputin, a young man with the ability to transform his entire body into pure metal. The soldiers shot at him, but the bullets just bounced off of him. Piotr, who also called himself Colossus, simply threw the soldiers through the wall and carried Theresa. As he stepped out, he and several other students saw the helicopter shine a light through the window.

"This way!" he called to them.

Bobby reached the second floor and began searching for his friends. He quickly found John and called out to him. "John! Where's Rogue?"

John shrugged helplessly. "I don't know!"

Rogue safely led two young girls to a hidden escape tunnel. They ran inside, but they stopped and turned around.

"Aren't you coming?" one of them asked.

Rogue quickly shook her head. "No, I have to find someone first," she said. Then she instructed them, "When you get to the end of the tunnel, head straight through the woods so you get to Graymalkin Lane. Then go to the first house you see and tell them you ran away from your boarding school. No matter what you do, don't tell them you're mutants. Do you understand?"

The girls looked scared, but they nodded.

"Okay, go!" Rogue shut the door as they ran away.

As she left to find Logan, or anyone else, she was stopped by yet another HYDRA soldier, who quickly fired a bullet that landed in her chest, narrowly missing her heart. She yelled out in pain, and two bright red optic blasts shot out of her eyes, knocking the soldier back.

The force of the blast was so strong, she was flown backwards against the wall. She quickly shut her eyes, forcing Scott's power back. Slowly opening them, she was overcome by the immense pain in her chest from the bullet that the soldier had fired at her. Shaking, she took a deep breath and used Magneto's power to force the bullet out. Holding back pained whimpers, she then quickly used Logan's healing ability. Once the wound healed, she then saw that the HYDRA soldier was slowly getting back up. She quickly snatched his gun and struck him across the face, knocking him out. Then she ran to find the others.

Several students crowded around another escape hatch, Piotr handing Theresa to a pair of students. He hit the wall with his fist, and the secret door slid open. He ushered them inside. "Go on, get in."

Logan walked around the corner, holding Jones. He handed the boy to Piotr. "Take him. He's stunned." Then he turned to run back the direction he came from.

"I can help you!" Piotr called after him.

"Help them," Logan ordered him. He went to take out more HYDRA soldiers as Piotr ducked into the escape hatch.

And there's Chapter Four! That scene with Rogue and the kids was another deleted scene that I just extended. It's such a shame that pretty much all of Rogue's best scenes were cut from the films. It's almost as if Bryan Singer (and Brett Ratner) had no clue what to do with her character...

How do you feel about me writing her getting shot, then using Magneto's and Logan's powers to fix herself up? Was it too much, or just right? By the way, no, she didn't take the gun with her. I thought about it, but I think that she wouldn't take any of the soldiers' guns, because extra gunfire would've scared the younger students even more. She's definitely fighting the bad guys, but she's also thinking of the children, :)