A/N Thank you everyone for great responses to the first chapter! Enjoy! Also, I don't own Percy Jackson. Duh. It belongs to Uncle Rick and Disney. If I did, there were be way too much fangirly squealing, and not enough work done. ; )

(Leo's POV)

Leo silently sighed. He still couldn't believe he's been talked into this. He, Percy and Jason were in the Camp Halfblood van, which has been decked out by the Hephesus and Athena kids to look like a prison van. They were all dressed in bright orange prison jumpsuits and were in handcuffs. Argus and Coach Hedge had their own guard uniforms. Chiron and Mr. D were seriously taking this over the top. (Okay, Coach Hedge probably had to do with it, too. He was swinging his baseball bat a little too enthusiastically.)

"Wake up, Leo! You're the laughs in this group!" He looked around. Jason and Percy didn't look any happier than he did.

Leo quickly pasted on a smile. "Hey, Jason, Percy, who wants this bad boy for a cell mate?" He shoved each of them with his shoulder.

Jason was quick to grin back. " Not me, man! You'd end setting fire to my bunk! He's all yours, Percy! "

Percy didn't respond. He simply stared off into space. This was unusual. Even scarey. Leo wishes he had noticed Percy's problems sooner. The dude had just acted so cool after Tartarus that Leo hadn't thought anything was wrong. His mistake.

Everyone could guess was bothering Percy. Annabeth. Or rather, her absence. He's barely been separated from Annabeth since Tartarus.

That had been their chief argument against going. They'd have to leave their girlfriends. There was no way Annabeth, Piper or Calypso could sneak into a boy's prison. Not that they'd want to.

Jason had also pointed out that others could do this job. But Chiron had wanted a Super-Sized Mcshnizzle, a strong, sassy bad boy, and at least one goody-two-shoes to keep them all in line. (Well, he didn't put it like that. He said he wanted a son of of Hephesus to be able to control prison monitors, a powerfu kid who could fit in easily, and at least one young man with strong disciplinary values, but Leo translated quickly.) Plus, they needed to be able to work well together as a team. Which all fit Leo's, Percy's and Jason's descriptions.

So after a few precious hours with Calypso, Leo, along with the others, was dressed for the part, handcuffs and all. Then they had been frog-marched to the van, which Leo was pretty sure had been just for Coach Hedge's pleasure.

The coach now turned to them and informed them of their characters. "Okay, cupcakes. Your alternate aliases in the prison are going to be Peter Johnson, Jake Grayson, and Liam Vitro."

Percy came out of his stupor. "Are you serious?"

" Yep. Just deal with it, cupcake. "

Percy groaned. " You've got to be kidding me. " But he slowly sat up. Leo sensed, (or maybe just hoped for) a change. Percy's moods seemed to run in swings. But whatever was going on, if they were going to pull this off, they needed all of Percy present.

"So, what's the plan? The sooner we deal with these cyclops, the sooner we get home."

Jason nodded. Planning was his forte. "Okay. We're going in . . . Wait. Coach? I need a lot more information."

Hedge nodded, then spoke through a mouth full of pottery. So much for looking professional. "There are two cyclops, under the aliases of Joe Brown and Robert Frankston. You'll be in the prison for about two weeks, optimistically. If you can get them to see reason, great. Otherwise, send them to Tartarus the hard way." Jason had his coin, Percy his pen, and Leo his tool belt . "When it comes to your alibis, you are all being sent to this prison because you've tried to escape multiple times. Percy is a kleptomainiac, Jason was speeding and causing trouble, but was brought in because he fought with police forces, and Leo was an arsonist."

Percy gave a short, but real, laugh. " Arson? Really Leo? Why am I not surprised? "

Leo shot back, " At least I wasn't stealing people's stuff, Aquaman!"

"Don't call me Aquaman!"

Jason, meanwhile, was startled. " Fighting with police? Me? I've never done anything remotely rebellious in my life! "

"Hate to say this, but get used to it, Jake," Percy told him, " because we're going to be where all the bad boys are. We need to act like we fit in. At least you weren't designated a murderer and put on Death Row or anything. Lighten up, Sparky."

" Don't call me Sparky! "

Hedge turned to Percy. "You, cupcake, need some disguising. You already have a police record from all those incidents directly before and during the Second Titan War. A fake name won't do the trick. We've got easy-apply hair dye and contacts. Plus scissors and a razor." Hedge uncuffed him.

Percy reluctantly got up and moved to the back of the van, and the bathroom there. Honestly, the van was more like an RV. Jason and Leo simply talked it up while he was gone. Leo had only just gotten back to camp a couple of days before, so it felt good to catch up. When Percy came back a couple hours later, he was almost unrecognizable. His bright red hair, cut into a messy mohawk, clashed spectacularly with his orange jumpsuit. Standing out were his now emerald green eyes.

"Woah!" Leo laughed. "You look like a guy version of Rachel Elizabeth Dare!"

Percy tried to look angry. "Shut up, Valdez." Then he burst out laughing. "I DO look weird."

Jason was laughing too, but he tried to regain control of himself. "Look, guys, we need a plan."

Suddenly, the bus pulled to a stop. All talk died immediately. Because in front of them, in all its barbed wire glory, stood New York Roosevelt Rehabilitation and Restraint Facility.