Hey peeps, back again. I would like to acknowledge that this chapter is the largest contribution of my editor, ell13. She actually did a lot of work on this chapter (granted with me breathing metaphorically down her neck), and as a result, I must give her a lot of the credit for it. That's also why you might notice the writing style is slightly different. With that, I hope you guys enjoy, and stay awesome.

-ROC6

By all means, it was a typical meeting in the Rec Room. The Stolls were tossing cheese curls into Seymour's mouth. Leo was constructing a miniature fort out of plastic spoons and tapping out what seemed to be a tune in Morse code. Will was chatting amicably to Malcolm, who had been reading a book on medical science. A group of completely normal monster-fighting, demigod teenagers hanging out at camp.

Then Chiron walked in, and the mood dropped as deep as Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus (too soon?). The centaur's morbid expression gave a clear message to the counselors. With the stress lines etched in his forehead and the grim frown bending his mouth, it could only signify an upcoming conflict. The campers were immediately put on edge. If there was another world crisis to be solved, then they were exhausted. The life of a half-blood was never easy, but was asking for at least more than a year between world crises too much?

Silence engulfed the room as they were left to ponder what news Chiron would bring.

"Well… don't leave us hanging here," Connor remarked, finally voicing everyone's thoughts.

Chiron inhaled deeply, "Percy and Annabeth have been wrongly interred into a mental hospital. They've been confined at Happy Hills: Correctional Facility for the Mentally-Troubled Youth for six weeks."

15 pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at their activities director, their expressions devoid of emotion.

Then, "Ay, great joke! I never knew you had it in you, Chiron, leading us on like that. Aha!" Connor grinned around brightly at his fellow counselors as if expecting them to burst into laughter with him. They turned their gazes to him, exasperated.

"My bro, I think this isn't a joke," Travis responded.

Connor had the decency to appear partially embarrassed, but was more shocked if anything, exclaiming, "Wait, it isn't?!"

"I'm afraid not," Chiron intoned with melancholy.

Clarisse stood up, her chair screeching backward about a yard, "Then why couldn't you have told us earlier? If we had known what was going on, we could've stormed in, bashed a couple heads, and tow those two idiots out of there in a day!"

"We needed more time to gather information," Chiron replied, his voice strained, "Of course, we wanted to send help immediately after we knew what happened, but there wasn't much we could do without first knowing where they were and before having information on the mental institution."

"Okay, we need to stay calm here-" Piper announced, but was interrupted by Leo.

"To be fair," he retorted, "it's a little difficult to be calm when our friends have been kidnapped."

"So we need a plan! We'll think of something, and we'll get them out of there. But to do that, we can't panic."

"About that: do we just so happen to have a dozen of mental institution infiltration plans on hand?" Travis asked.

"Fine, so this may not be the typical 'quest' we're sent on, but comparing this to what we've had to face in the past, I believe we can do it," she announced, "For the sake of the two people who I admire more than anything, we have to pull ourselves together and do this."

"What's our plan, then?" Clarisse asked, arms crossed, "Since obviously we can't go in and just storm the place."

"Forcing our way in will not help in this situation, or even prove detrimental," Chiron inputted, "Perhaps the best approach is to be as quick and quiet about it as possible. The fewer disruptions we cause, the better."

"Pull them out right under their noses," Leo nodded, "Take 'em back and leave without a trace."

"I believe we have the perfect team for that," Malcolm announced. Smiles tentatively began working their way onto the campers' faces. The plan, now, seemed so much clearer.

Piper, with her charmspeak, could negotiate her way through any of the security and personnel at the asylum, and play the role of anyone she wished. She was a given choice for the operation. To transport Percy and Annabeth away from Happy Hills, Nico would position himself outside, where he would shadow travel the group to safety without the risk of getting caught himself within the institution. That was already two people for the operation, but having only Piper to infiltrate and break out two people would prove difficult.

"Do you think the Romans would be willing to help us out?" asked Lou Ellen.

If there was any other demigod key to this plan, it was Hazel. With her ability to manipulate the Mist, she would greatly assist with the effort to remove Percy and Annabeth from Happy Hills and would bring the number of participants to three for this endeavor. Regardless of the strange circumstances, they figured this would be considered a proper "quest," and should thus be treated as such.

"I wouldn't doubt it," answered Will, "I know they have their own things to do, but I figure they would definitely offer their time for something like this."

"So we should call up the Romans?"

"We should call up the Romans."

A new sense of determination filled the room as they realized how theoretically doable this rescue mission was. All they had to do was actually carry it out successfully, and their friends would be freed. Unfortunately, they came to realize as they hashed out the details, it was easier said than done. After all, they were still talking about breaking into a mental institution. Nevertheless, after an hour or two work out the details, the plan seemed relatively solid, and the demigods left the Rec Room significantly calmer. Assuming the Romans agreed to help, they'd probably be ready to go in a couple of days.

They just had to hope their leaders would hold on that long.