"Who the Hades would go live shooting in the center of a huge police city?" Luke yelled chasing after Zoë, and setting his gun his holster. Bianca had no choice but to follow them in their sprint to the doors.

If the office had been busy before hand, now it was chaotic. People were yelling and screaming orders, Paper stacks flung everywhere, people dropped whatever they were doing to focus on this problem at hand. A TV had been turned on in the corner displaying the news channel that had beat them to the center of the action. The News Lady was talking with a nice calm smile.

"...police ask that everybody stay indoors for the time being. Now for the Weather with Jim...."

Apparently it was going to be partially sunny today with a chance of rain tonight. 

Luke shoved a younger officer out of the way and barreled down the stairs to the front doors after Zoë. She was already bolting for a nice undercover police car with a slick new coat of paint on it. It shined in the sunlight. The car keys appeared in her hand as if by magic. 

"How do you have a drivers license?" Luke called to the undead huntress, "You're like sixteen!"

Bianca didn't bother pointing out that she also had a job and outranked him in said job. The Mist must have been woven extremely thick around all of them, if the police force was okay with sixteen- and eighteen-year-olds bossing around adults. Not that they didn't deserve it. Luke was insanely good at his job and Zoë was a Hunter of Artemis with a couple thousand years of experience in finding people and neutralizing threats.

Zoë was driving, Luke called shotgun, and threw herself in the backseat.

"What are you doing?" Luke shouted.

"Coming!" Bianca shouted back, buckling in. Luke looked like he was about to tell her off, but Zoë was already pulling out of the parking space. 

"In case you forgot, I am a hunter of Artemis!" Bianca told him, "I can look after myself, Luke!" 

  Zoë grinned in the rear view mirror, "Good! I was beginning to worry being with such immature males had softened thee, Bianca!"

"Hey!" Luke cried. She flicked on her police lights and ignored him. As if they had practiced it, half a dozen Police cars pulled out after them following Zoë's bright lead. 

Zoë drove like a maniac. The other cars barely had time to pull out of the way before they were racing past at speeds that should be illegal for even officers to go. Luke scrambled to buckle himself properly, but yelling at Bianca had cost him the chance. Every time Zoë rounded a corner he found himself plastered against the window, shouting curses.

"I'm going to wash your mouth with soap!" Zoë barked.

"Slow down, Di immortalis!" Luke clung to the arm rest, "Or we aren't even going to make it uptown!"

A woozy feeling passed over Bianca, and she gripped her seat belt. Zoë didn't slow. If anything, she had taken Luke's challenge and gone even faster around a tight turn. The cars were thick and they sped through an intersection. "I'm going to be sick!"

"Do not throw up in my car!" Zoë yelled at her, "Or at least do it in Luke's direction!"

"Don't!" Luke warned against it.

Appropriately, sirens wailed behind them. They were following them to the park where the shoot out was occurring but Bianca could pretend they were trying to pull them over and arrest Zoë for her reckless driving speeds. 

 Zoë swung the last corner, and her car screeched to a halt. Luke was thrown forward heroically and slammed his head into the windshield. Bianca felt her seat belt cut into throat but at least she didn't land in between the two police officers in front of her. Luke cursed again, prying his face off the now smudged glass. Bianca almost missed Zoë's coy grin. 

The huntress flung open her car door and jumped out into the ensuing chaos. 

Despite the warning on the News, there was a crowd of people gathered around the parks border. A thin police line was in place, New Broadcasts were all over the place. Luke forced out into the mess, nearly getting hit by another police car. 

Bianca undid her safety restraints and slid to the side to get out. 

"No." Luke told her, "Stay here, Bianca!" 

"I am perfectly capable-" Bianca started but she saw his face. In all the time that she had known Luke, ever since meeting him in that apartment, she'd seen him joke around and even smile when things were getting intense or dangerous. But she couldn't find a trace of his smile on his face. He was deadly serious. 

"Please, just... stay here." He said. Then he slammed the passenger side door closed before Bianca could speak a word.

For a second she could only stare at him retreating back as he yanked out his glistening badge and started yelling orders. Zoë commanded a bunch of pedestrians home and nearly socked a male news reporter in the jaw as she told him to buzz off. 

There was no way she was staying here. 

"I was beginning to worry being with such immature males had softened thee, Bianca!"  

She was not going to just sit around. There had to be something she could do to help. She was best friends with two of the highest ranking officers on this job right now. Bianca was sick of feeling useless with everything. She couldn't help Ethan; Luke wouldn't even return her phone to her for fear of another IHOP incident. 

Bianca yanked open the door handle and shoved herself out into the yelling mass.

Luke yelled at the group of people to leave but they all seemed intent on either being shot by the mysterious shooters or just get in the police way. 

Zoë shoved a camera out of her face, "You need to get back!" She shouted, "It is not safe for anyone here!" 

"Miss are you going to lead a team into the park?" Someone shouted, taking her picture in a flash so bright, Bianca could've mistake it for Apollo's smile.

"Do you know who the shooters are?"

"Do you have any clue how many shooters there are?"

"Has anyone been injured?" 

Obvious that last one didn't know she was going to be the one injured if she didn't get that microphone out of the Huntress's face. 

"Everyone, Back!" Bianca shouted, "Unless your goal is to get arrested for Police Obstruction!" 

That seemed to get people's attention. The people stumbled back knocking into each other. Many of them eyed the law enforcement units warily. Thankfully a good portion decided to follow Zoë's orders and evacuated the scene.

Luke made eye contact with her, shaking his head slightly, "I thought I told you to stay in the car!" 

"You did." Bianca stood against the state issued police car, "I didn't listen."

Zoë waved them down, re-shouldering her quiver and silver arrows. Her dark eyes were bright when she saw the daughter of Hades. She looked...proud? "Okay here's the plan: According to eye witnesses, there were two shooters. Both were teenaged guys, in hoods. No one got a clear look at their faces. They were shooting at each other, rather than the pedestrians. Luke, you and I are going to lead a team into the park to neutralize the threat.

"Bianca, I want you here, just in case things get a little dangerous. Bullets are a lot faster than arrows. And you don't have a badge, so we'd be stretching the Mist really thin pulling you out there." Zoë put a hand on her arm, and nodded, "This time you've got to listen, okay? I know how great of a hunter you are, but this one isn't something you can come into."

"Right, Just go sit in the car, Bianca." She said bluntly. Luke and Zoë winced.

"I did not mean it like--"

Bianca felt the wind before she heard the gunshot. The air seemed to tense. Then the bullet shattered it. It came right through the window of the police car tunneling right through the glass. Luke shouldered her to the side, palming his gun. Bianca hit the ground heavily. 

Screaming broke the smaller crowd. Bianca wasn't sure exactly what happened. Zoë disappeared but her voice lingered yelling at people to move and others to get to cover. Luke was right by her side shouting as he pointed his gun over the hood of the car.

"Bianca! Are you okay?" 

She nodded. She was fine. The bullet had missed. Luke's eyes flushed with relief. Then he turned back to the shooter. He nearly dropped his weapon. 

Bianca peeked up, but he shoved her head back down. 

But she had seen it already. 

It was him. The shooter was the same guy from that morning. The black hoodie and the same short stature. Bianca couldn't breath for a second. The man ran head down, but that didn't seem to matter. He hit targetswithout looking as if he'd done it his entire life. Zoë stood tall on the hood of her own car and shot three arrows at once with perfect accuracy. 

He dodged them all with an impossible twisting jump. Bianca wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. Luke yelled at Zoë to move but she was too slow. The gunman returned fire and Zoë tumbled of the hood of the car with a scream. 

"Zoë!" Bianca yelled. She ran towards her friend without thinking. 

"Bianca!" Luke shouted, reaching for her, but he missed her. 

Everyone had scattered. The police was shooting but it seemed like the man was impenetrable. He kept moving forcing the police themselves to break rank. Bianca skidded to her knees, ripping her jeans on the asphalt. Zoë was laying on her stomach not moving. The daughter of Hades couldn't breathe. 

No, not again. There was no way Zoë was dead. 

She...couldn't be.

"BIANCA!" 

She didn't get the chance to even check the other girl's pulse. A strong grip ripped her up from the ground, dragging her away as if she weighed nothing. Bianca thrashed. She dug her heels into the road, tugged at the arm squeezing the life out of her, but she couldn't break the hold. She could feel the hooded gunman's gun against her head.

Luke screamed.

Well this was a huge mistake, Bianca could only think. I should've stayed in the car.

Behind them, from the empty park another figure emerged from the shadows of the trees. A red hoodie that looked normal, ripped jeans and sneakers that Bianca could see ever from where she was. The other guy could have been any college student ever except that he had his own gun and he sniped off two shots right at them without missing a beat. 

She felt them wisp through her hair, missing by margins so small she couldn't process it. She screamed, ear piercingly. Bianca could feel her heartbeat in her throat, it's erratic thumping that sounded like a mini explosions. Her lungs burned and she felt ready to pass out.

"Shit!" voice of her captor hissed in her ear.  

Bianca kicked back, trying to catch his knee before he dragged her down the alley. The Police wouldn't take a shot, not with her in the way, but that other figure didn't seem care at all. The force was torn in two, Luke and a couple uniformed men running after them, and the others attempting to wound the other fighter. 

The Red hoodie guy mowed them down easier than the Black hoodie guy had. It was effortless to them. Bianca wanted to throw up. How could they intentionally hurt another person like that?

"Will you stop fighting me, Bianca!?" The guy snapped at her, "I'd really hate to accidentally shoot you back to the underworld!" 

The sound of her name shocked her so much she forgot he was kidnapping her. He knew her name. He knew about the underworld. He had to be the same one that had broken into their apartment. The same one who had the Camp Half Blood necklace.  He dragged her around the corner down an alley cursing so profusely, he put Luke to shame. A bullet chipped the corner of the brick wall.

"Come on!" Her kidnapper released his grip enough so that she could stumble after him. The last thing Bianca wanted to do was follow this lunatic, but she had even less of a desire to die in the back alley surrounded by trash and creepy cats that looked half dead already. She figured she had a better chance at not being murdered by this guy who knew her, rather than the guy he was running from.

She tripped over a discarded box of metal parts, but the guy did not slow down.

"You have to trust me right now," he said, vaulting an over turned trash can. "I am your only hope at finding Ethan."

Bianca stumbled at the sound of his name. "How'd you-"

The hooded guy wrapped an arm around her neck, pinning her in front of him like a human shield. Through the haze Bianca saw a glimpse of face: brown eyes and a scrunched up nose. But her back was to him before she could could memorize too much. He palmed his gun rounding off more shots without hesitating. They hit their marks perfectly-- the gaps in the Police bulletproof vests.

His heavy breathing was in her ears. Bianca screamed. "Stop! Stop shooting them!" She struggled against him but despite he height he was usually strong.

"Bianca!" Luke yelled dodging her captor's shots and ducking behind the cover of a dumpster.

"Sorry," The hooded guy muttered and he dragged her through the door of a building nearby. Bianca got one last look at Luke's terrified face, before the teenager holding her slammed his gun into the back of her head and Bianca fell completely limp.