A/N: Ahem. You guys are the first story I'm updating after...the incident, so I'm going to have this whole rant, mmk? You can just skip to the story if you don't want to listen to it, so...I don't own PJO. Yay.
So, my dad is in a fantasy football league with these twenty or thirty other guys or so. For those of you who don't know, fantasy football, in essence, is you pick a team based on players you think will do good, and the success of the individual players in real life determines how many points you get, thus determining how many "fantasy points" you get. My dad is in a special type of league, a simpler one, where you just pick a team every week that you think will win. At the beginning of the season, everyone puts in a decided amount (for them its $15) and every week, if you're right, you move on, and if you're wrong, you lose.
So this week, the Detroit Lions were playing the Tennessee Titans, and he picked the Lions to win, because they have a great offense that's underrated against a defense that sucks after they traded Cortland Finnegan, so basically the Lions were set. To make a long story short, the game was epic, and a real nail-biter, but the Lions managed to tie it at the last second, and the game went into overtime.
Fast forward into overtime- there are complicated rules, but basically, the Titans kicked a field goal (3 points) and Detroit was in field goal range (the area of the field where a field goal can be easily kicked). And it was fourth down and 1. Basically, if the Lions kicked a field goal, they'd be tied again and the game would go into sudden death (next team to score wins). However, if they went for it on fourth down and got a yard and then scored a touchdown (7 points) they would automatically win the game.
The Detroit coach decided to go for it on fourth down (which was stupid, because the field goal was easy to make, and a safer option) but he changed it to a trick play in which Detroit wouldn't snap the ball (start the play); instead, they would try to draw the Titans offside (they would try to make the Titans commit a penalty, which would, in turn benefit them). However, the center (the person in charge of starting the play) didn't know that, so he started the play. The quarterback was like, "WHADDAFUQ ARE YOU DOING?" and he tried to make it, but he failed and the Titans won.
SO NOW I FEEL LIKE GOING TO DETROIT AND TAKING SIX FRIGGIN THOUSAND DOLLARS OUT OF THAT CENTER'S PAYCHECK FOR MAKING US LOSE SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS! AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Anyways, thanks for listening/ skipping the rant! Enjoy the fourth chapter!
Percy impatiently tapped the computer screen, as if that would somehow hurry up the slow network connection on his webcam. Blame the ADHD. "Come on, come-" the smiling faces of his wife, Savannah, and his eighteen-month-old daughter, Hailey, filled the screen, and his face lit up. "Savannah! Hailey!"
His wife grinned and bounced Hailey up and down on her knee, making the little baby gurgle happily. "Hi, sweetie!"
Hailey grinned and reached her hand towards the screen, as if that would bring her closer to her dad. "Dada!"
Percy's grin got even wider. His daughter's first word. "How are my two favorite girls doing?"
"Well," said Savannah, "It isn't quite the same without you..." she wiped a glob of drool off of Hailey's chin, "When are you coming back? It's been two years, right? I mean, they've got to let you come back at some point..."
The Navy SEAL sighed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, an old habit. "That's the thing..." he began, "They said two months, six months ago. I don't know anymore. Hopefully soon."
Savannah's face fell, and even Hailey seemed a little downcast at that. It absolutely broke Percy's heart that he wasn't there to witness her birth. "Okay," said Savannah, and she tried to smile a little, "We'll do this again same time tomorrow, okay?"
Percy smiled back. "Definitely. I love you."
She blew a kiss through the computer screen and giggled. Her husband's boyish good looks had been the death of her ten years ago, and they were the death of her now. "Love you, too."
Percy closed the computer screen and turned to Travis Stoll- he couldn't tell which twin was which before they told him that Travis was a little shorter than his brother, Connor. "When's the plane leaving?"
"Ten minutes," replied the mischievous soldier, grinning, "The wife and kids still don't know?"
Percy shook his head and smiled at no one in particular. "I'm hoping it will be a good surprise. Yours don't know either?"
Travis shook his head and grabbed Percy's hand, hoisting him up off the rocky ground of the Iraqi desert. "I just want to friggin...go home. See Katie and Alex. What kind of father isn't around when his daughter's born?"
Percy stayed silent as the final boarding call for the flight back to Manhattan sounded over the loudspeaker (as if they'd leave anyone behind, or as if anyone would miss the flight) and threw an arm around Travis's shoulders, taking the weight off his fellow SEAL's shattered leg. "You'll be home before you know it."
Savannah frowned as she read the new text message on her Iphone.
"Get in the car. You and Hailey."
It was from Percy, but she still didn't quite trust the ominous-looking black stretch Hummer sitting idly at the end of the block...
Then Silena Beauregard popped out of the passenger seat, waving hi to her, and she grinned, grabbing Hailey and her shoes, and going down the driveway to meet her old friend. "Hi!"
Silena grinned and tickled Hailey under the chin, causing her to giggle happily. "Hi, cutie!"
Savannah smiled. She trusted Silena more than most people, save Percy. "What's up with all of this?" she gestured towards the Hummer.
Silena shrugged. "I got a text from Charlie, and Katie got a text from Travis. The driver's someone we don't know, but they want us to go somewhere. Maybe they planned a surprise for us?"
Hailey turned her head around to look over Savannah's shoulder, and she hoisted her up, trying to shrug at the same time. "Sure. Let's go."
The ride was uneventful. Hailey seemed to be having a serious conversation with Alexandra in baby talk, while Silena (baby-less) sat up front with the driver. Katie and Savannah, besides the original greeting, stayed silent, contemplating what could the boys have done this time.
The ride was short, too, and after barely ten minutes, the driver turned around. "We're here."
Still wondering what was going on, Katie (holding Alex) and Savannah (holding Hailey) got out of the car, along with Silena. They were in what seemed to be a deserted parking lot.
Savannah turned around to look over her shoulder- and her heart stopped.
Hailey was pointing towards a Coach bus, gurgling happily, but Savannah was more focused on the tall, handsome man standing in front of it with a huge grin on his face.
She shoved Hailey into the arms of a laughing Silena and ran over to Percy, leaping into his arms and knocking him against the side of the bus. "OW," he said, "BUS. STUPID BUS."
She shut up his mindless rambling by kissing him, and at one point, someone came up to them, but Savannah just waved them off and kept on kissing Percy.
When they finally pulled apart, though, she socked him in the arm before throwing her arms around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder. ""Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" she said, tears of happiness spilling down her face.
She could hear the grin in his voice as he drew circles on her back. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
The man in the blue button-down shirt walked down the hallway at a brisk pace, throwing a black blazer on his shoulders. He turned to the Mechanic next to him- a new recruit, sandy blonde hair and electric blue eyes. "You know the plan?"
He seemed a little nervous (expected for his first job) but nodded. "I've got it down."
The man nodded. "Analysts don't know shit about us. We've only got one leader, why would we need any more?"
The new Mechanic seemed a little hesitate. "You- you are the leader, right?"
The man's golden eyes pierced through the Mechanic's blue ones. "Why would you think otherwise?"
"I- I didn't-"
The boss waved him off. And when the boss told you to do something, you did it. "Get this done quickly and discreetly."
"I will."
The man in the jeans and blue shirt wiped the tears off of his wife's eyes. "Now you know."
She nodded and drew him in for a hug. "Percy, I just- when you said you were going out to do the groceries, and you came back hours late with all of those cuts, I just- I didn't know what to think, you never told me..."
It crushed Percy's heart to see Savannah like that and he pulled her closer to him, kissing the top of her head softly. "I didn't like lying to you. But you understand, right?"
"I would be more okay with it if you didn't do a...dangerous job like that, though."
Percy shook his head. "That's the thing- you know how I couldn't deal with normal life after coming back from Iraq! I have to do something to take me out of that, something to-"
"Percy, this isn't the Hurt Locker! We aren't actors, it isn't a movie set! This is real life!"
Percy's eyes flared. Both he and his wife had extremely short tempers, and to rile either one up was to court death (quoting the dude from the Avengers).
He just couldn't bring himself to yell at his wife, thought- especially not with Hailey sleeping upstairs. He loved them too much,
Tears brimming both of their eyes, he grabbed his hoodie and headed out the door, calling over his shoulder. "I'm- I'm going for a walk. I'll be back-" after a moments hesitation, "- I love you. Both you and Hailey. Never forget." And then the door shut.
He had barely taken two steps when the house went up in flames, and the loudest boom he'd ever heard in his life filled his ears and knocked him off his feet.
The man with the gold eyes grinned as he watched the camera capture the final dying screams of two people he knew were fully innocent. He didn't care.
He turned to the sandy blonde haired guy with blue eyes. "You did well."
"Thank you."
"Make sure to keep it out of the papers. I don't care how much money you spend, who you kill, who you fuck, whatever. Freeze Jackson's phone lines, too, and set up the invisible fence. No one can see this, no one can know what happened."
"I'm on it."
"Good..." his gold eyes bored into the blue ones, and the Mechanic gulped, "You know what has to happen? What he needs to think?"
"What? Didn't we-"
"You know what I want him to think? That two people died. And no one cared."
Percy POV
I sat up straight in bed, a thin layer of sweat covering my body. For a second, I didn't know why I was in a blue hospital gown, or why my ribs felt like they were shattering, or why there was an IV sticking into my hand, or why a bunch of people in lab coats were worrying over a stupid thing like a loud, fast beeping sound. All I was thinking was my wife and daughter were dying, burning alive or crushed in that house, and I had to do something, I had to save them, I had to-
Then the needle sank into my arm, and everything immediately went dark.
The next time I woke up, everything was much better- it was a dreamless, thoughtless sleep (due probably to the knockout drugs), and when I looked at the calendar above my bed, I saw it was a week since I dove through the glass to save a life.
I sat up in bed, feeling much better- my ribs weren't too bad (at least, they didn't hurt whenever I breathed), and most of my cuts were patched up. I was even dressed in my regular clothes again. Modern medical marvels. Amazing what you could do in a week with a patient who isn't going to protest.
I swung my legs out of bed, and Nico and a doctor were immediately by my side. The doctor said some stuff about how I was fine to leave, and how if I experienced anything out of the ordinary, I was to contact them, and blah, blah, blah...
What I was really focused on was the look on Nico's face. The boy had something to tell me, and it wasn't anything good.
We walked out of the hospital and down the street (mostly empty at this time of the morning), and I turned to him. "What's up?"
He got right down to it. "The target you saved? He died. Two shots went off of the Mechanic's gun, and one of them hit him. You were lucky..." he trailed off, unable to finish.
I didn't answer for a while. I survived and he didn't...he probably had a wife, kids, a life to go back to. How could-
Nico decided to interrupt. "I mean, why do people even give a shit about these Mechanics or Analysts? It's not like-"
Something inside of me snapped. Maybe it was because the memories of my wife and daughter flashed through my head coupled with what just happened, news of a failed mission, but I completely lost it.
I grabbed Nico's arm and twisted it behind his back, causing him to wince in pain. "Just shout it out to the world, why don't you?" I hissed into his ear, "Anyone out here could be one of them, they hear anything, they'll paint a bulls eye on your back, understand?"
He grimaced in pain as I let him go, and he fell to the ground. "Two people died ten months ago," I said, walking away from him, talking about my wife and daughter.
"Percy-" he said, holding his elbow, "I didn't mean-"
"And no one cared."
A/N: That came out pretty dark, didn't it? Anyways, reviews would be greatly appreciated! Review!
-epicsilverbullet
