Chapter 8: Running Through a Red Light

Annabeth lay on her back on a cushioned bench out in the grounds, aimlessly drawing in her notebook. For homework in Architecture, back in New Rome, she had been assigned to make a model of the Parthenon using Corinthian Columns instead of Doric, but she just couldn't concentrate. Besides, she could probably just tell her teacher that she had almost died on the way back to New York. Demigod teachers were refreshingly lax not being able to do your homework because you had almost died.

Repeatedly.

Normally she would have had it done in minutes, but today she simply couldn't focus. Her eyes felt tired after the night before. The angles of the diagram that she was trying to outline seemed to grow and shrink, and the lines all went crooked. Finally, she dropped the papers on the ground and sighed, scrubbing her palms on her eyes.

"So... you draw, kid?" A voice said, and Annabeth spun around. Logan was sitting on the cement step next to a fountain, taking a long drag from a cigar. She frowned slightly at it, but he didn't seem to notice.

He looked remarkably well for a guy who had gotten his soul sucked away.

"Nah." She sat up, stuffing her papers into her folder. "It's for my class."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You go to school here?"

She shook her head. "I go to college—it's winter break."

He grunted and took another drag. "It's Annabeth, right?"

"Yeah."

"Not, like, Supergirl, or something?"

Annabeth snorted. "Listen, I think the names are as ridiculous as you do."

"Well, you seem to be the only person here who's got their head on straight." Logan growled.

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Annabeth mildly. There was a pause.

"How'd you end up here?" He said gruffly.

"Same as you. Your car crashed, my boyfriend and I went out to help, and he got injured. Storm and Scott—"

Logan unsuccessfully tried to hide a smirk.

"—they said they had a hospital for him. And it turns out I'm a mutant, so..."

"You only just found out?" Logan looked her over again, like he was recessing her intelligence.

Annabeth nodded tersely. "My powers didn't manifest until the Professor tried to read my mind."

He ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up even more. "So, what's your thing, Supergirl?"

Annabeth chose to ignore that. "Telepathy."

"What, like Xavier?"

"Yes. I can't match him in sheer experience, of course, but I'm almost up to his level in power."

Something in her voice must have piqued his interest, because he said, "You don't like him." It wasn't a question.

She was silent, formulating her response. "He's a good man."

"But?"

"But... I think he'll do whatever it takes to achieve that good." She gave him a meaningful glance.

He seemed to understand. "I'm surrounded by mind readers." He muttered, then tossed his cigar into the fountain and stood to go.

"Logan?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"I want to apologize. I read your mind, when I first saw you, to see if you were a threat. I'm sorry for doing so without your permission."

He stared at her, his face unreadable. He blew out. "Well, at least you apologized. Don't do it again, and we'll be golden."

"Of course."

He started to walk off again, but he turned back one more time. "Rogue likes you." He said gruffly. "That counts for a lot."

"She's a good kid." Annabeth said, smiling a little.

"How old are you?" Logan raised his eyebrows at her use of 'kid'.

"Nineteen." She replied coolly. He studied her, opened his mouth, thought better of it, then closed it again.

"I'll see you around, Supergirl."

'Annabeth, would you see me downstairs, please?'

Charles Xavier's voice entered her mind. She jumped, surprised. They hadn't had any contact for over a day.

'The meeting room.' He added and sent her a mental image.

She walked to the elevator. Feeling tense, she checked her mental shields. Still strong—it was strange how automatic it had become. The Professor had explained to her why one could still communicate with someone if they had shields up.

"It's not going into a person's mind, exactly." He had said. "It's more of... a general communication, sort of like a loudspeaker being projected into a certain area. Of course, only telepaths can hear it. Communicating with a non-telepath in such a way does, in fact, cause you to enter their minds."

She hadn't apologized for her outburst and wasn't yet certain if she wanted to. She would have thought that he would have given her some space.

She made her way to the room, and the steel doors slid open automatically to reveal Professor Xavier, Scott Summers, Jean, Storm, and Logan. Annabeth could have sworn that the room crackled with ozone, and Storm certainly looked as if she could have struck someone down with a lightning bolt.

Annabeth chose a spot a few feet away from her, recalling a few notable times when Thalia had been angry.

In fact, now that she thought of it, the general feeling of the room seemed charged. "What happened?" She asked, ignoring the Professor's eyes boring into her.

"Why don't you explain that yourself?" All earlier friendliness (gruff or otherwise) that had been in Logan's voice was gone.

"Logan." Charles Xavier said sharply.

"No, no, I'd like to hear what she's got to say." Storm crossed her arms.

Annabeth felt a little unbalanced. She was starting to wish she had contacted Percy before coming down here with a large number of mutants who could almost certainly injure her before she could call for help.

She tried to not think about that. "What are you talking about?"

Scott looked at Professor Xavier, who nodded.

"Show her the tape." Cyclops said tersely. An image flickered on to the screen.

"This is footage from the library earlier today," said Jean, the only one besides the Professor who sounded calm. Some part of Annabeth vaguely wondered if it was a telepath thing—if so, she wasn't doing very well on that front.

She involuntarily met Charles' eyes but saw nothing behind that blue ice.

The security footage started to play, directed to Rogue and... and Annabeth?

She hadn't even known there was a library.

"You need to leave, Rogue." Her own voice said.

This was completely bizarre.

"What? Why?" Rogue said, obviously confused.

"The Professor's furious about what you did to Logan." Fake-Annabeth continued. "Rogue, you can't trust him. He's going to imprison you because of your powers."

"I can't believe that..."

"You'd better." Fake-Annabeth said grimly. "He's going to try and take them away."

"Let him. I don't want them."

For a split second the other Annabeth's face hardened, but then it was back to normal. "Marie, I'm telling you. Leave."

"W-Why?" Rogue asked again.

"All the students hate you. Rogue, you never use your powers against another mutant."

"It-It was an accident!"

"That doesn't matter. I think it might be better for you and everyone else if you leave."

"But..."

"What? Did you think I actually liked you?" The other Annabeth's lip curled. "Rogue, you were just something on the side. Everyone's afraid of you, but I'm just disappointed."

Rogue's lip trembled, and she stuffed her books into her bag and stalked off. Fake-Annabeth watched her for a moment, and then she left, too.

"Well?" Scott demanded.

Annabeth was at a loss. "I... I don't—"

"Professor, why is she even here?" Logan interjected. "You heard what she said." He was glaring at Annabeth.

Charles Xavier was unreadable, as always. "Let her speak, Logan."

"I would never say that to Rogue." Annabeth said, her voice loud. "I didn't even know there was a library. You have to believe me."

"Oh yeah, that's likely—" said Scott.

"Read my mind, then!" Annabeth said, surprising even herself. "I don't know what's going on here, but the Professor can check if I did it!"

"Oh, come on, she'll just block you or whatever—" Logan scowled.

"Enough." The Professor said quietly. "Annabeth, are you sure?"

It was as if the argument the day before hadn't happened. "Yeah." And she was. "Do it."

"Don't block off parts of your memories or I will be forced to assume you are guilty."

"I won't. Just... please only look at today."

"You have my word."

Logan clearly didn't like that at all, but he subsided with only a few mutters. Annabeth's heart thudded in her chest as Xavier held his hands to her temples. Apparently, it was easier when you were in contact with the person. Slowly, she lowered her shields just enough to let him in. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing as she felt him in his mind.

It wasn't painful—he was careful, and as far as she could tell, he only looked at recent memories. Still, a telepath as skilled as him could be capable of masking himself.

After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled out. "She is telling the truth." He announced. Logan still looked skeptical, but the others seemed content to take him at his word. Jean even gave Annabeth a slight smile.

"Who else could it be?" Jean asked.

"Raven." Charles murmured under his breath. Then, in a normal tone: "One of Magneto's most faithful followers calls herself Mystique. She has the ability to transform herself into whatever she sees, down to the DNA."

"I thought you said Magneto wanted me." Logan looked stricken.

"I made a terrible mistake. Annabeth, if you would accompany me?"

"Where are you going?" Storm asked.

"I'm going to find Rogue."

A/N Hope you enjoyed this... both chapters are fairly short because I originally wrote them to be one chapter, but the pacing was a bit weird, so I chopped it in half.

Next update should be next week! Have a wonderful day!