Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus.

So, remember how in The Lightning Thief Ares sent Percy and the others on a mini-quest to retrieve his shield from an amusement park ride, which was a trap set up by Hephaestus for Ares and Aphrodite? Well, he did, and everything that happened on that ride was broadcasted to Olympus by Hephaestus TV, originally meant to humiliate Ares and Aphrodite.

I was wondering why I haven't seen that concept used at any point after that, and I don't remember any stories on here using that either. There are probably dozens of places where Hephaestus has set up those cameras, so why not make a story of it?

Warnings: kidnapping, child neglect and abuse/torture by the kidnappers, mentions of slash later on, etcetera

Enjoy!

"This should be interesting." Apollo muttered, glancing at the huge screen that had appeared. He and the other Olympians were on Mount Olympus in the throne room, lounging around because apparently they had nothing better to do. Needless to say, they all welcomed the tell-tale sound of the screen that Hephaestus used for his spying channel, meaning someone had tripped the security system.

The fourteen of them, as Hades and Hestia were also present, watched in either curiosity or boredom as they saw a young demigod come into view.

"I don't remember putting a camera in this place." Hephaestus muttered in confusion, not recognizing the location.

Hades' eyes widened as he saw his only son, Nico, stealthily make his way down a large hallway. For a moment he wondered why the boy wasn't bending the shadows around him to hide more effectively, before he remembered that he was still recovering from nearly becoming one of those shadows.

"Why are we watching this boy?" Zeus asked, slightly irritated that his own son, Jason, wasn't the one onscreen.

"He is currently on an assignment from Chiron." Dionysus answered, yawning as he looked balefully at his can of diet coke. Those damned restrictions…

"What do you mean an assignment?" Athena asked in surprise. "Not a quest?"

"No, he hasn't technically been on a quest, though that's debatable." Hades muttered distractedly, watching over his son, even though if something happened he couldn't protect him. "He does 'favors' for people. He gets along with the new Oracle, but he shares my…wariness of prophecies, so he likely prefers not needing to visit her before he leaves."

Apollo scowled at his uncle, still upset that his poor Oracle had been trapped in the mummified corpse for so long due to the curse Hades had put on her. At least this kid apparently didn't share his father's bitterness for Rachel Elizabeth Dare, even if he wasn't too fond of the concept.

"Favors?" Poseidon asked, startled. Demigods usually only did 'favors' when it was part of a quest, not in place of one.

"Yeah." Ares, of all people, spoke up. "The little punk grants favors in exchange for information." The others wondered what information Ares knew that the boy could possibly want.

"Or he grants them because he likes you." Hestia said with a warm grin, thinking fondly of her nephew. "He was the first demigod in a very long time to notice my presence and come speak with me."

"You are his favorite deity." Hades told his older sister with a wry grin.

"That doesn't bother you?" Hera asked skeptically. "That it isn't you?"

"Why should it?" Hades asked with a snort. "She's my favorite, too."

Hestia beamed, running up to her brother and giving him a hug. She was the only one who could get away with doing something like that. Hades just shook his head at her.

"Anyway." Hephaestus said gruffly. "What's this 'assignment'?"

"Demigods have been going missing, just vanishing before the satyrs can get a lock on their location to get them to camp." Dionysus glared at the floor in irritation. "Chiron sent the kid to try and find out what's going on."

"Why him, though?" Poseidon asked, pouting that Percy hadn't been chosen.

"He's more mature than most of the others, and knows when to fight and when to withdraw and regroup." The wine god responded. "Peter and Jacob wouldn't even bother to think and analyze the situation before they charged in."

Ares and Athena both nodded, contemplating how important it was to examine the situation and make a plan before blindly charging in. Ares wasn't too fond of doing that himself, not having to worry about dying, but for a demigod it was different.

"How many are missing?" Demeter asked, frowning. She was wondering internally whether or not Hades would have fallen in love with Hestia if their sister hadn't made the vow to be a maiden. Would her precious Persephone have been spared her fate?

"At least five of them." Dionysus answered, glancing at the screen to see that the boy was right at the end of the hallway. The others followed his gaze, watching as the boy silently opened the door, and they gasped in shock along with Nico.

There were ten or so demigods strewn throughout the room, all of them chained to the wall, some of them unconscious, all of them bruised, battered, and noticeably underfed.

Nico scanned the room, horrified at what he was seeing. These kids all seemed to still be alive, but they certainly weren't in very good shape. The youngest, a girl no older than four years old, was nearest to him, and was sobbing into her arms. She was shivering, too, and Nico quickly took off his hoodie and wrapped it gently around her thin frame.

The girl, startled, glanced up at him with fear in her eyes. Seeing that she was seconds away from screaming and announcing his presence, Nico slowly put a finger to his lips, and the girl nodded.

"Hello, little one." He said, in the gentlest voice he could muster. "What's your name?"

"Olivia." She said, barely a whisper. "Olivia Vynes."

"It's nice to meet you, Olivia." Nico greeted her with a smile, shaking her hand, slowly so that he didn't scare her. He mentally catalogued her as a child of Dionysus, considering her name. He'd noticed that some of the gods had the tendency to choose lovers with ironic names. "My name is Nico di Angelo. I came to help you all leave this place. We need to be quiet and wake up the others."

Looking into this boy's eyes, Olivia allowed herself to hope that she and her friends really would be able to get out. With that, she gave a determined nod, wiping her cheeks to get rid of her tears.

Review please!