DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Percy
He was sitting on a bench in the small rectangle shaped private garden, looking at some files. Security guards stood at the four corners, arms crossed. I could tell he was well engrossed in whatever he was doing because a petite lady walked up to him with a cup of some drink (most likely coffee) but he just shooed her away, not looking up at her once. I could see everything almost perfectly from the side of a tall building next to the garden. I kneeled on the ledge with an elegant gargoyle as my only cover. Nobody could see me though. I was too high up. My position was uncomfortable, and I knew the sooner I did this the better. Aiming the gun, I fired. The soundless bullet sunk into the man's heart and he slumped forward, dropping the files.
I was on my way to the nearest coffee shop with the gun safely hidden in my coat as the police cars drove by. Their wailing sirens didn't attract much attention. It was common for petty crimes to be committed in Manhattan. What the people didn't know was that one of the most important people in the United States had just been murdered, and I had been responsible. Reaching the almost empty coffee shop, I took in the brilliant aroma of caffeine drinks.
"What would you like today?" asked the lady at the counter. Her large nametag said 'Hello there! I'm Sam! It's great to see you!' and it featured a large animated coffee bean with eyes and a toothy smile.
Personally, I found it creepy. No wonder business was slow, the staff had disgusting nametags.
"Just coffee, please," I replied, pulling out my wallet from my back pocket. She stared at me in confusion.
"Like, just black coffee? We have a variety of flavors to choose from, if you'd like to try one of those."
"No, thank you."
"Are you sure?"
Idiot salespeople…do they have nothing better to do except waste my time?
"I think I've made it perfectly clear that I just want black coffee. Thank you."
Setting a five dollar bill on the counter and shoving my wallet back in its place, I waited as she filled the cup with coffee and pressed the lid on it. She handed it to me and I began to walk to one of the empty tables, when she called me back.
"Wait, you forgot your change!" she said. I stopped where I was and turned ever so slightly, just to the point where she could see the grin on my face.
"Do I look like someone who needs and extra two dollars and sixty-eight cents? Keep it."
With that I strode to a chair and sat down, setting the coffee on the table. I looked around, and realized there was only one other person in the shop. She sat in a corner, facing away from the dark glass floor to ceiling windows. Her long, curly blond hair was tied up into a ponytail. She wore dark jeans and a buttoned grey coat. Her shoes were flats instead of heels (size 8 in women's), so she didn't need a height boost. I'd say about 5 feet and 7.5 inches-tall, but not too tall. Her eyes were a stunning stormy grey, but what could have been intimidating was now swollen and red. The ghosts of tears lingered on her cheeks as she absentmindedly toyed with the straw in her half-filled cup of iced tea.
I took a sip of my coffee, coughing after the extremely bitter liquid went down my throat. The aftertaste was even worse than usual. I hated drinking this stuff, but I always did after killing someone.
Killing someone…it still takes time to let that sink in.
I felt bored and drinking that nasty coffee made it a million times worse. Standing up and grabbing my cup, I walked over to the upset blond girl and sat next to her.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, setting the coffee down again. She looked up at me and I saw her intimidating grey eyes again.
"Is it your business?" she snapped, about to get up. I put my hand on her arm and smiled.
"I was just wondering. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. Please sit down."
She hesitated, but slowly eased back into her seat. Then she managed a wry laugh. "You're very well spoken aren't you?" Wiping the already dried tears with one hand, she held out the other for me to shake. "Hi, I'm Annabeth. I'm sorry I'm not in the best of moods today."
"Percy," I replied, taking her hand. "And it's okay to cry. It's not like there's anyone else here. I understand if you don't want to tell me what happened." I released her hand. Her left hand was still frantically trying to wipe away the rest of the tears that didn't seem to stop coming. Then I noticed a mark around the base of her left ring finger. She was engaged, just not anymore.
Her hands finally stopped moving and went back to her iced tea, picking it up to actually drink it this time. Her eyes were still red but she was forcing a smile now, probably so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable.
"Let's just say, I was going to get married and it didn't work out as planned," she finally told me, looking up again. Her eyes really were beautiful, even when she had been crying. "I mean, I was so sure about him. I thought I could live the rest of my life with him. The wedding was supposed to be in a week and…we just ended it. It was my fault really since I was complaining that he'd been working too much and wouldn't even talk to me anymore. It just went downhill from there. I know it was stupid, and there was a lot of tension and…I just feel guilty." Annabeth had spoken so quickly; she seemed to have almost regretted the words as soon as they had flown out. The tears began reforming in her eyes again and she tried wiping them away, but it was no use.
I took a sip of my coffee again. "Do you want to marry him?" She looked at me with an almost shocked look. "You seem like someone who would be very intelligent. The situation is getting the better of you Annabeth. Just answer the question: do you want to marry him or not?"
Her brow crinkled before she took a breath and answered, "Not really. No." She looked back at me and smiled, then let out a small laugh. "How is it that only strangers can help you with your biggest life decisions?"
I shrugged, grinning. "I wouldn't know, my mommy told me never to talk to strangers. Hasn't anyone told you that Annabeth?"
She shook her head, muttering something about never talking to strangers. I gulped the now cold coffee, which tasted even worse now. Luckily, I was almost done drinking it. Then the door to the coffee shop opened and a man walked in, a black briefcase in this hand. Coming over to the table where Annabeth and I sat, he set the briefcase down and smiled.
"Sir, you left this at the office today. Someone said you were probably going to be here, so I thought I'd check. I'll see you tomorrow."
I knew I probably wouldn't see that man for the rest of my life. As he left, I pulled the briefcase closer to my chair and held it in place with my leg. I couldn't risk anything happening to it. Finally I turned my attention back to Annabeth, who was awkwardly staring at her iced tea.
"Annabeth?"
She looked up and smiled. "Oh I'm sorry, that was just a little strange. I've never seen someone do that before. You know, give their boss a briefcase if they accidently forgot it."
"Well, everyone knows of my strange habits and my forgetfulness, so I wasn't really surprised. I'm grateful really. He must be annoyed by now at having to return this so much." I saw her hesitation in believing my story, but she seemed to push it to the back of her mind. Draining the rest of the coffee, I grabbed the briefcase and stood up. After tossing the cup in the trash, I held my hand out to Annabeth. "Well it was nice meeting you. Maybe I'll see you again sometime."
She shook my hand and looked at me with those piercing eyes. The intimidation probably doesn't go away does it? "Thank you, Percy." And that was all she said to me before I walked out into the cold air. It was getting darker, and the streets were as crowded as usual. I walked through the crowds easily, suppressing a small laugh as I watched others struggle to get through. They made it more difficult that it really was.
A/N: So if you read Living Proof then you probably already knew this story was on its way. Well now it's here so yay! Wait…did that rhyme?
It did…that's just…wow. My mind is so strange sometimes. Well if you haven't figured it out yet (but I know you have because it was in the summary) Percy is an assassin! Don't get any creepy ideas yet guys it's only the first chapter okay? This was just a little intro, if it gets a good response I'll continue. :D So yeah, I really hope you guys like it because I'm really looking forward to writing this!
Reviews guys? The box is there for a reason…ha-ha. :)