Annabeth couldn't say what exactly happened after she was flying forward. She landed on the hard floor of the van and was knocked out. The last thing she could hear was Percy shouting.

When Annabeth woke up, all she saw was darkness. She was leaning against a wall in a dark room. She took a few seconds to let her eyes adjust and saw two other people near her. She tried to sit up properly, but found that she couldn't. She had been bound with ropes to a bar of sorts that was beside her anchored to the wall she was leaning on.

One of the other people moaned. Annabeth tried to say something and discovered she had also been gagged. Well shit. She thought. The other person moaned again. It was the one sitting directly across from Annabeth. His head lolled a bit on his shoulders. She got a glimpse of his face. It was Leo! He was bruised and battered, but he was someone she knew and could work with.

Annabeth turned to look at the person that was tied up beside her. He was still out cold. She couldn't tell who it was though. She turned back to Leo who looked like he was slowly coming around. Annabeth noticed a problem though. They wouldn't be able to talk to each other or communicate in any way. They were both bound and gagged.

Leo's eyes focused on Annabeth and he seemed to wake up completely. He looked at her with wide eyes. She tried to give him a reassuring look, but it proved difficult given the state that they were both in.

Annabeth looked at the other man. He had also begun to stir. He lifted his head exposing his face to Annabeth and Leo. They both gasped. It was Travis and he looked half dead. From the look of it, he had put up a lot of fight and had been beaten down heavily because of it. What scared Annabeth the most was the fact that there were only the three of them in that room. The same thoughts seemed to fly through the others' minds as well as they looked around the small room.

Annabeth looked at Travis and saw that he was not gagged and the only restriction he had on him was a rope around his torso tying him to a similar bar that Leo and Annabeth were both tied to. She wondered why he was barely restrained and then noticed his struggle to sit himself up. He was so injured that their captors didn't need to tie him up. The pain would probably keep him down and as Annabeth watched, helpless, their plan worked. He couldn't sit up, much less fight someone.

Travis turned his head to look around again and noticed that Annabeth and Leo were both tied up and gagged. He started towards Annabeth who was closest. Annabeth tried to shake her head violently, to tell him not to injure himself more trying to rescue them, but it was pointless. He ignored her. When he was as far as his rope allowed, which was right next to Annabeth (the room was tiny), he offered a weak grin and took her gag out.

"Percy would kill us all if he saw you bound and gagged." Travis said quietly.

Annabeth let out a small sigh of relief. If Travis could still joke around, he would be alright. Travis turned slightly with the assistance of the wall. He kept turning until his back was halfway towards her. He pointed with his hand to his pocket and tried to talk, but instead coughed up blood. Leo's eyes widened and he nodded vigorously. Annabeth was confused and had no clue what they were trying to tell her.

"No time." Travis gasped out. "Knife in pocket. Quick. My hand's…. broke."

Annabeth understood. She reached with her hands that were bound together. She put her hands in her pocket and found the handle of a switchblade. She took it out and Travis fell, with another gasp, onto the cold floor again.

Annabeth managed to open the blade without cutting herself. She offered it to Travis who shook his head still gasping for breath. She flipped the blade around in her hands and began attempting to cut the ropes that bound her hands together. They only had one rope around her wrists and once it was cut, both her hand were free. She cut the rope tying her to the bar anchored in the wall.

"Good work." Travis said faintly. She turned to him and cut him free of his single binding and laid him down in a more comfortable position.

Leo gave a muffled "mmph!" and she turned to him. She cut the ropes tying her feet and legs together. She knelt by Leo and took his gag out.

"Thanks." Leo muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Annabeth replied while inspecting Leo's bindings. He had several more layers of rope surrounding his torso, feet, wrists and legs.

"Just cut my hands free and I can do the rest." Leo said quietly.

Annabeth nodded and began working on the ropes at his wrists. She had barely finished and handed him the knife when she heard loud voices and footsteps approaching the door. She quickly scrambled over to Travis and helped him sit up like they had had him. She barely had time to look like they had her when the door opened. She blinked in the light that had flooded the small room. When she looked again at the door, she noticed the word STORAGE printed on a plaque hanging on the door.

A man was standing in the doorway. He looked around at them and strode over to Leo. He cut the remainder of Leo's bindings and dragged him out the door slamming it behind him. Annabeth looked at Travis whose eyes were trained on the spot where Leo had been sitting. Annabeth also turned her gaze to it and saw he had left Travis's switchblade. She grabbed it and offered it to Travis. He shifted again and Annabeth slipped it into his pocket again.

"Why didn't he bring the blade to help him fight?" Annabeth asked.

"Wouldn't have been able to navigate…. We're in an unknown place. We wouldn't…. escape alive." Travis responded lowly.

Annabeth saw the knowledge, but she was anxious to leave.

"I know." Travis said. His voice seemed to have gained a bit of strength again. "That's how they want you to feel though. They're…. trying to get us to feel…. restless. We can't let them…. get to us."

Annabeth nodded and sighed. She looked at Travis sadly. The boy that she had known for so many years since they were both kids. They were in the fight of their lives and it wasn't against monsters like they had always dreamed of though. It was completely in the mortal world with a secret intelligence agency that employed itself.

"Don't think, Annabeth. It…. won't do you any good. You'll…. make the situation worse for yourself." Travis advised. His voice stronger than it had been previously.

"Alright." Annabeth said. "Let me see your hand."

"It's broken." Travis said bluntly.

Annabeth gave him a look. "You mentioned that. Give me your hand."

Annabeth couldn't see Travis very clearly, but she recognized him rolling his eyes as he lifted his arm for her to inspect.

"It's a fracture. Easily healed if we have - " she whispered, "- ambrosia."

Travis nodded and said, "Nothing I couldn't have figured out myself."

Annabeth thought about whacking Travis in the shoulder, but based on the state he was in, she decided against it. She didn't know the full extent of his injuries at that point.

"Got any advice, field strategist?" Travis asked after a pause.

Annabeth shook her head and said, "When I came, I wasn't expecting to be given a job. I'm not used to this part of the mortal world. I've got my job and it's easily relatable to what I've been doing since I was seven. This is completely different for strategy. I can't understand it."

Travis was silent for a few seconds, then he said, "It was a big…. switch for the rest of us too. I think it was…. hardest on Nico. He has such a high ranking position…. in the A2 and with his…. dad. In completely…. different worlds. It took him so long…. to adjust to the different…. threats we were dealing with. Percy took it in his stride though. He…. didn't even stumble."

Annabeth gave a small smile. She remembered the switch of herself and Percy going into the mortal world. It wasn't horrible for her. She became an architect like she had always wanted to. She still assisted in designs for both camps and Olympus, but she was able to do something she already did. Percy on the other hand had to go into another dangerous career that made Annabeth scared for his life sometimes. It wasn't as demanding of his time as it could be, but that didn't make it any less scary or irritating for her.

"He's a New Yorker. He's got it down." Travis said like he knew what Annabeth was thinking about.

"You'd think he would have had enough fighting after the giants though."

"He's Percy though. He's never going to sit still or settle down. Not really."

Annabeth thought about Percy Jr. back at home with her mother. Athena may not like Percy, but she seemed to like Percy Jr. which made no sense to Annabeth.

"What's got your thinking face on?" Travis asked.

Annabeth hesitated. She wasn't sure she was ready for all the men to hear that she gave birth to a child while Percy was away. She didn't want to face any of their reactions. She knew Percy hadn't said anything and she wanted to tell people together. The only people that knew, as far as Annabeth knew, was Poseidon, Athena, Sally (because she needed a mother figure), Leo and Percy.

"Alright." Travis said, breaking the silence. "What are you hiding?"

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" Annabeth retaliated a bit too quickly.

"I've known you for how many years? Plus…. your response just now."

Annabeth flushed. "I'm not ready to talk about it, okay?"

Travis stayed silent. He sat up straighter against the wall. He grunted with effort, but waved Annabeth away when she tried to help him. "You might not talk now, but you'll…. have to at some point." Travis said lowly.

Annabeth nodded and replied, "I know. Why do you think they took Leo?"

"Probably questioning…. I assume under torture." Travis responded. The tone of his voice didn't change but his eyebrows furrowed and his expression looked more concerned and worried.

"Where would they take him to torture him?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh I don't know. They probably aren't torturing him though. I…. don't know who these people are, but they…. should know they won't…. get anything out of us by torture."

"But you said they're questioning Leo under torture." Annabeth said.

"Yes I did. But…. they won't torture him. They'll torture an innocent. Someone…. completely unconnected to the A2 who would be…. absolutely clueless."

Annabeth was sickened, but she forced herself to continue finding out more about their kidnappers. "Why didn't they take Percy if they're going to torture someone else? He would crack sooner than anyone else, wouldn't he?"

"Probably. I think they're going to try questioning with all of us. At least all of us…. that are…. physically capable. If they…. haven't questioned Percy, it might be because he…. is too physically damaged to undergo questioning. Even if…. he isn't the one they're beating." Travis answered in a darker voice.

"What happened to you that has you so injured?" Annabeth asked before she could stop herself.

"Put up a fight…. first chance I got. They outnumbered me much more…. than I had anticipated when…. I threw the first punch." Travis answered.

Annabeth nodded. She figured it would be something like that. What scared her was if that was Travis's injuries, what about the other men. She knew if they had the chance they would fight as long and hard as possible. She wanted to see the others. To know how bad of injuries they all had.

"Don't worry about…. the others. If I remember…. right, Frank and I got beat down the worst. And…. unless they've beaten him again, I was in the…. worst shape out of the…. two of us." Travis said.

That did nothing to reassure Annabeth. She wouldn't believe anything until she saw all the men in whatever condition they were in.

"Why am I practically unscathed?" Annabeth wondered out loud.

"You're not, first of…. all." Travis said looking at Annabeth directly. "You're just not as bad as…. the rest of us."

"I said practically." Annabeth said, a bit defensively.

"Well, I think you probably have some…. sort of bruise on your shoulder and it looks like something hit…. your face."

"That's virtually nothing on all of your injuries!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I'm…. willing to bet that Percy will be fussing over you for a lot longer when we get…. out of this than he will to me." Travis said with a grin in his voice.

Annabeth felt her face heat up and Travis roared with laughter not even bothering to keep his voice down.

Then they heard footsteps outside the door again. Travis's laughter died out quickly. Annabeth looked at the door apprehensively. It swung open and hit the wall behind it with a loud bang.

The same that had grabbed Leo was standing there and grabbed Travis. It didn't even seem to faze him that Travis wasn't tied down to the bar jutting out from the wall. He roughly pulled Travis from the room. Travis gave Annabeth an attempted reassuring glance before the man shut the door.

It was just Annabeth in the tiny closet. She was starting the fear all the knowledge they A2 had already given her. She didn't want to spill it, but she wasn't going to be able to watch someone torture an innocent when she could put a stop to it. However, when she thought about it, the group hadn't really told her anything important. She didn't have any information. She nearly laughed when she figured it out. These people wouldn't get any information out of her because she didn't know any!

Well it wasn't a real comfort two minutes later when the man came back again and dragged her out. He dragged her down a brightly lit hallway that the closet was leading off of. There were many doors on either side of the hall as Annabeth was dragged on.

The man shoved her in a different room. It looked like a doctors off. There was a table and a few chairs, a desk with many different device, and a stool with wheels instead of legs. On the desk sat a desktop computer. The man that had brought her left and didn't bother to lock the door. Just as well, Annabeth was held down by fear.

The door opened again and another man walked in. He looked like a doctor as well. He was wearing a blue button-up shirt with khakis and brown loafers. He wore glasses that looked like bifocals to Annabeth. He looked middle aged and have thinning brown hair with a mustache. He gave her what looked like a very weary smile.

"Hello. My name is Dr. Andropov. I will be examining you. I assume you have had an annual check up before?" He sounded like he had a Russian accent. His name also sounded Russian.

Annabeth nodded wordlessly.

Dr. Andropov nodded as well and asked, "May I ask your name?"

"I don't know if it's safe to tell you my name." Annabeth replied softly.

"Your friends told me their names." Dr. Andropov said.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Did they? What are they?"

Dr. Andropov chuckled and walked over to sit in the rolling stool. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just saying that it makes things like this slightly more complicated if I don't know what to call you."

"Prove the others told you their names and I'll tell you mine." Annabeth said.

Dr. Andropov sighed softly and said, "Very well. You're Latino friend is Leo. The twins are Connor and Travis. The burly Asian is Frank and the one that has a New York accent sounded like he said Perry, but I can't be sure. His lip was a bit swollen and his nose broken making his voice distorted."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "My name is Anna."

Dr. Andropov raised his own eyebrows for the first time. It occurred to Annabeth that he might already know her name.

"Did you know my name already?" Annabeth asked him suspiciously.

Dr. Andropov said nothing. He just sat on the rolling stool watching her carefully. Eventually she began to fidget under his gaze. Not that she could help it. She was still a demigod and therefore ADHD.

"I did know your name prior to stepping into this room, but I did not hear it from who you think I did." Dr. Andropov finally said.

"Who told you then?" Annabeth asked.

"He did say she would be very suspicious." Dr. Andropov muttered. "Perry told me. Although with the distortions in his words, I'm not positive of your name. I just know what it sounded like when he said it." He continued.

"Where are all the others?" Annabeth asked.

"That, I'm afraid, I cannot answer."

"Why not?" Annabeth asked fiercely.

"Because it's out of my hands. Out of my area of expertise and control." Dr. Andropov said sadly.

Annabeth picked up multiple meanings to what he was saying. There was a pause in the room before Annabeth asked, "Where are we? Who took us?"

"We are just outside Xi'an inside a great facility. We are in the medical wing right now."

"Why are you here?" Annabeth asked. Her voice had turned to a whisper.

Dr. Andropov regarded her sadly and answered in a similar quiet voice, "Because I have nowhere else to go. They have me here to look at people. To check their medical conditions before questioning. I never know anything about the people except what they themselves tell me and most of the time that is next to nothing. I don't speak. As a trained doctor, I know what happens in my examination rooms, stay there. Your group has been the most open with me about who you are and what you are doing."

"They told you everything?"

"Oh no. I doubt it. They just told me much more than any others have. The men you are traveling with have great trust. I am happy to say I gave them the most information I knew and I hope it helped them." Dr. Andropov's shoulders seemed to sag as he said this.

Annabeth remained silent, trying to think of something to say to Dr. Andropov. He seemed lost in memories for a few moments before he said, "We must hurry your examination before they get suspicious."

"Who's they?"

"I'm not sure even I know. I only interact with their lackeys. Please come and sit on the table."

Annabeth complied setting herself gently on the examination table. Travis was right when he predicted that she did indeed sustain injuries. They just weren't as noticeable as his or Leo's. Probably not as much as the rest of the men either. There was something that was making it hard for her to use her right arm. A sharp pain in her elbow kept acting up.

"Is there anywhere that is a constant pain?" Dr. Andropov asked her.

"Like a constant throb?" Annabeth wondered.

"Any kind of pain." Dr. Andropov answered.

"Not that I can tell." Annabeth answered honestly.

Dr. Andropov's eyes lingered on Annabeth's right temple before he nodded and wrote it down in the computer.

"Any pain when you do a certain action?" Dr. Andropov asked.

Annabeth hesitated before saying, "Yes. When I use my right elbow a sharp pain acts up. Also when my head is moved too fast, a pain in my right temple." The same one he was looking at earlier, Annabeth thought.

"When did you move your head too fast?" He asked after he had typed her response into the computer.

"I didn't. The lackey, as you called him, did. When he grabbed me and started dragging me down the hall." Annabeth said a little irritably.

Dr. Andropov grimaced as he typed that in the computer. Finally he turned around again and said, "Alright. I'm going to do basic checks. I already know you're health is going to be below what it should be from the injuries you've already sustained. How many of them were from fighting them?"

"None as far as I can remember." Annabeth responded.

"Really?" Dr. Andropov asked, incredulous.

Annabeth nodded. "When the van got hit, I flew forward and whacked my head or something. I passed out cold after that. I was probably the easiest capture out of the group."

Dr. Andropov nodded then said, "Well, from what Frank told me, he also got knocked out very soon into the attack." He started the usual inspections of a doctor check up. "Frank told me the airbag didn't deploy correctly and it did more damage than good from the look of him. He also said he would have been an easy capture."

"Sounds like it." Annabeth muttered under her breath.

Dr. Andropov chuckled and Annabeth figured she hadn't said it quiet softly enough. Dr. Andropov continued the usual check up procedures. They did breathing check, height, weight, eyes, ears, mouth, etc. When Annabeth thought they were finished,she made a move to get off the table when Dr. Andropov shook his head.

"Since your case is a bit different seeing as we both know you're injured, I need to examine the injuries and report the severity of them." Dr. Andropov said apologetically.

"But why would they care what injuries I have? Aren't they just going to create more?"

"Probably. I don't know that much. I am just a doctor. I follow orders and check people's health levels. The unfortunate part is that all my patients health levels start off low when they are brought to me now." Dr. Andropov said helplessly.

Annabeth looked down. She gave Dr. Andropov time to regain his composure before raising her head again. When she did, he was standing by the counter putting a strange tool together.

"As you are a female, some of the tests you undergo are different than the ones your friends did." Dr. Andropov told Annabeth in the same professional apologetic voice she had heard so many doctors use when doing certain procedures for Percy Jr.

"What kinds of tests?" Annabeth asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

Dr. Andropov paused then said awkwardly, "The uncomfortable ones."

How reassuring. Annabeth watched Dr. Andropov more apprehensively than she had before. She wasn't sure she was too keen on taking the 'uncomfortable tests' that Dr. Andropov had to perform. Especially without anyone she knew with her. She hated to take tests in the hospital without another person with her that wasn't the doctor.

She wasn't ashamed to say it was an awful reminder of her pregnancy spent alone. She had always spent the time wishing Percy was with her and even more that he would survive and come back whole. When he did, it was the most relieving moment turned sour. He immediately left and she ended up being a stowaway to be with him. She still didn't know why she decided to go. All she knew was she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to leave her son with her mother, but it was too late at that point.

The doctor performed tests for different things around her body. Not the most awkward tests she had ever taken since she went through some of the more uncomfortable pregnancy procedures.

When Dr. Andropov finally finished, he said, "You're done. We're lucky that they haven't come in yet. You're the first girl I've had to inspect in a long time. They probably don't know that the usual procedure doesn't really take too much longer than it does for a man. The walls and doors are soundproof though, so we're pretty good until they come in."

As if on cue, the door opened and the man that had brought Annabeth to the examination room walked in and looked at Dr. Andropov. Dr. Andropov helped Annabeth off the table. When she was standing on her feet, he briefly touched her butt. Annabeth gave no sign of noticing, but as the man grabbed her elbow leading her out she looked back at Dr. Andropov with a questioning glance. He just shook his head a fraction of a degree.

Not overly reassured Annabeth went with the lackey, as Dr. Andropov called him, and walked with him without a struggle. All she could hope was that the rest of the men would be wherever she was being taken to.