CW: violence, gunshots, language (I don't typically include warnings for my work, but with this chapter I feel like it's important).
The President and his staff had a fairly cut-and-dry routine for when he managed speaking events, and it was even more rote when those events were in D.C. They did all of the work at the office that couldn't wait for another day, they filed the paperwork that needed to be filed, Jason panicked over the President's speech, Percy re-wrote it until Jason decided he liked the original text better, and Annabeth downed a canned Starbucks energy drink with enough caffeine in it to convince her that she didn't hate the general public. They'd followed this routine many, many times, and today was no different.
"Remind me why we have to go to Rosslyn to talk about police reform?" Piper nudged at Annabeth's arm as they packed up the binder and pens that Annabeth usually brought along for the President's speeches.
"Because that's where the event venue people booked it, I don't know." Annabeth shrugged. "Did you pack the—"
"Copious amounts of notes that are there just to make Jason's head hurt, or so he swears? Yes." Piper tapped the binder.
"Thank you. Hey, speaking of Jason, are you two…" Annabeth made a vague gesture with her mostly-empty coffee can.
Piper smiled stiffly. "We're… fine."
Annabeth snorted. "That's what you said about half the guys you dated back in school, right before you dumped them. Try again."
Piper's shoulders slumped. "Honestly, the paperwork and the P.R. meetings and the fact that his sister knows way too much about my sex life really put a damper on things. I mean, I had to come out to Reyna in the middle of the White House because I've been casually fucking her brother-in-law. Believe it or not, that sort of puts a damper on the sexy, semi-secret relationship side of things."
"Is he being an asshole about it?" Annabeth crossed her arms. "Because if he is…"
"No." Piper shook her head. "Actually, he's been great. Look, he even sent me a good morning text today. But the thing is…"
She hesitated.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "The thing is?"
"I don't know." Piper sighed. "It's probably nothing. Just… is it completely stupid that I wanted him to defend me a little more fiercely? Like… he saw the headline and immediately just went to the paperwork and to Reyna and to making sure the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed. And then he went ahead to comfort me and make sure that I was okay and I think maybe he apologized somewhere in there. But…"
"He's military, Piper. And a top advisor the President," Annabeth said, not unkindly. "I think that's just the way they do things."
"I know." Piper grimaced. "I know, and it's the way he's always been. And that steadiness is something I like about him, for God's sake. I just…"
"You wanted him to want to take a swing at the reporter who wrote the article, or even the system that made things wrong for the two of you." Annabeth drained the last of her coffee. "Believe me, I can relate."
"But that's just not who Jason is," Piper admitted. "And even if it was, he's got far too much self-control to let that happen in public."
"Which, again, is something you like about him," Annabeth reminded her.
"How did you deal with it?" Piper asked. "Given that Luke, you know…"
"Ah." Annabeth let out a long breath. "Well, among other things, someone else apparently very much wanted to take a swing at the system, at Luke, and at the reporter. So, it sucks, but…"
Piper's eyes sparkled at that. "Annabeth Chase, are you telling me that you're finally succumbing to the feelings and that you and Percy—"
As if on cue, Percy knocked on Annabeth's office door and poked his head in. "Motorcade's out by the Rose Garden and we're loading the cars. Come on."
By protocol, Piper stayed behind to manage Annabeth's desk while they were gone. Annabeth sat in the car with Jason and Percy, while Silena rode ahead with the President and with Reyna. Annabeth took note of the agents in the car— Agent Zhang, who was just as heavily muscled and casually intimidating as usual, sat in the back with them, and a woman Annabeth hadn't met was driving.
"Silena will be pleased," Jason noted, looking down at his phone and scrolling through an email. "Looks like they contracted out Beckendorf for event security since his clearance is high and he already knows the protocols."
"I think they have lunch plans after," Annabeth half-remembered. "Didn't she say something yesterday about coming back a little bit later than the rest of us?"
"As long as she manages to get the press lines out of the way first, I don't really care what her lunch plans are," Jason stated flatly. "Are we really doing the open-cover people-greeting lines again?"
"The president likes them," Percy pointed out. "And besides, it's all perfectly safe, right Agent Zhang? If it wasn't, you wouldn't let him do it."
"As a general rule, the Secret Service doesn't comment on procedure, sir," Zhang replied. "But generally speaking, having a canopy over the walkway doesn't make a particularly big difference. If someone wants to get through and cause a problem, the canopy isn't going to be what makes or breaks their ability to do so."
"I… can't tell if that's reassuring, honestly." Percy turned his attention back to the folder in his hands. "Okay, Jason. I did one more round of edits. If you hate them, we can go back to your version…"
"I won't hate them," Jason insisted. "But give them over here anyway."
Approximately two seconds later, he let out a loud groan. Wordlessly, Annabeth passed over the binder that she'd brought with her. Jason took it and started jotting down new edits in the margins of the original speech that he'd written, copying over bits of what Percy had written and adding them to the old copy.
The event went more or less as expected. In a fairly nondescript hotel ballroom filled with reporters and college students and politicians, the President rubbed elbows with the requisite union heads and professors, then spoke for a few minutes about police reform. During the speech, a particularly trim-of-waist, broad-of-shoulder private security officer by the stage winked at the press secretary, who flushed prettily and grinned back. The livestream and live transcript that C-Span had requested went smoothly, given hotel wifi.
As more than one one tweet in response to the livestream pointed out, the speech wasn't especially groundbreaking: yes, police necessary, police violence bad, oversight needed, decades of boys' club mentality prevented it, the White House was adopting a new resolution to push back, etc, etc. Even the resolution wasn't especially new, all things considered— the press release had gone out over a week ago, and Annabeth had spent half the week meeting with various police union heads outwardly smoothing their ruffled feathers while internally seething with a general resentment towards the institution they represented. But the speech picked up the necessary sound bites, and Jason looked pleased with the overall product, and Annabeth didn't even need to jot down too many notes about who looked pleased or displeased and who she'd have to set up meetings with later. All in all, it was about as successful as a mildly-but-not-terribly controversial Presidential speaking engagement could go.
"Right, then." Annabeth turned to Percy. "I guess it's time to head out. Since Silena's obviously occupied, what are you doing for lunch?"
"Hadn't really made plans yet, I was thinking…" Percy's shoulder's stiffened. "Hang on a second. Does this feel like more security than usual?"
Annabeth frowned. The usual two agents flanking the President, Zhang in formation behind the rest of the staff, two more agents between the President and Reyna and another next to Silena…
She didn't have time to finish her count, or to respond to Percy.
"GUN!" The cry rang out, sharp and clear. Had Annabeth had more of her wits about her, she might have recognized that the voice belonged to Agent Zhang, but in the moment she was far more focused on the cacophony that erupted around her. Zhang moved forward to block her, Beckendorf surged forward to leap between Silena and the rope lines, and there was a gap between Percy and the crowds and he was tall and not ducking and Annabeth—
Annabeth leapt forwards, tackling Percy and taking them both to the ground.
Pop, pop, pop. The noise of gunshots was unmistakable, yet somehow not quite what Annabeth had expected it to sound like. Suddenly, she understood why combat veterans had panic attacks over backfiring cars.
Pop, pop.
"CARS, GO, GO GO," an agent yelled.
There were hands on her back, and blood from the impact to the pavement, a searing pain ripping through her side at the impact, and Percy's suit jacket, the one that he wore every other day and had a packet of M&Ms in the inside pocket, was torn, smashed bits of melted chocolate rubbing off on her arm—
Pop.
"I've got eyes on shooter," someone else said.
"GET THE PRESIDENT INTO A CAR," Reyna yelled.
More hands, then, shoving the staff forwards, and Annabeth stumbled, nearly kicking the heavy velvet and elastic of the rope line in the process.
"CHARLIE!" The scream ripped through the air, shrilly cutting through the noise. "Charlie, no, get up, get UP!'
Two more shots rang out.
"One shooter down, one on foot, two agents in pursuit."
Hands on Annabeth's head, shoving her into a car, bundling her in like a sack of laundry. Percy was next, torn jacket and all, half thrown on top of her in the agents' hurry to get them away.
"Two civilians down, get the damn ambulance here faster, CODE TWO ONE SEVEN."
"Second shooter down, scene clear."
The door closed, and the sound was muffled after that.
"Is everyone here? Are you both okay? Where's Silena?" Jason, who Annabeth hadn't even realized was in the car, asked them both.
"I'm here, we're both here, I didn't see Silena." Annabeth blinked frantically, tears springing to her eyes and breaths rising in her chest but not making it all the way to her lungs. "I think— God, I really think just before we got in the car…"
"Beckendorf. Her fiance was… he threw himself in front of the President and Reyna, and it— I'm pretty sure..." Percy fell silent.
Annabeth's heart sank heavily in her chest, a rock in her stomach. "And Reyna, and the President…"
"They're okay, they're in the car ahead of us." Jason looked down at his phone, the screen cracked now, his thumb bleeding where he'd swiped over its screen. "Shit. Shit. The informant she was meeting with, though—"
"Bianca?" Percy's eyes widened. "She wasn't even supposed to be here until later— what happened?"
"She's in the car with them, she was hit— Reyna's bleeding, too, but she says she's fine— they're on the way to Sibley now." Jason shook his head. "FUCK."
Annabeth tried to raise a hand to pat his shoulder, to offer comfort, but her limbs were suddenly sluggish, the adrenaline sapped from her system in the aftermath of their flight, and a haze rose up over her vision. There was a smudge on her hand from where it had been pressed up against her side, which was wet-
"Annabeth," Percy's voice sharpened, his arms moving forward to catch her as she slumped back in the seat. "You're bleeding."
"Huh." Annabeth looked down at her hand. The smudge was red, like she'd dragged it through a big blot of spilled ink. Maybe, it occurred to her, the searing pain in her side wasn't from the impact to the pavement after all. "So I am."
She was dimly aware of Jason and Percy both shouting as her vision flickered, an unnatural sort of darkness diffusing out the harsh flashing police lights and the too-bright sunlight. She felt Percy's arms around her, tight on her shoulders and supporting her head, and she heard the sound of sirens, and then nothing at all.
I think a lot of you knew where this was going, between the notes on the last chapter and the title of this one...
Thank you, thank you for reading. Please, leave comments/reviews, let me know what you think. I'm grateful for each and every one of you who keeps giving this fic a chance. ~GT