Annabeth couldn't see anything, but she could feel the familiar rocking that meant she was in a moving car. She also could feel the floor and figured it was one of those sprinter vans and she was in the back on the floor.

She tried to sit up from lying on something, but when she moved, meaty hands gripped her shoulders and kept her down. She tried to cry out, but found that she had been gagged at some point. She tried moving her hands and found her wrists had been tied together. Her ankles had also been bound as she found out when she tried to use just her left leg to kick someone.

Annabeth knew she didn't really have any way to escape. She just started thrashing around. Her captor was completely silent, but he was struggling to keep her restrained. Several more pairs of hands gripped various parts of Annabeth and held her down. The van that they were in started to pick up speed. She started to roll against her will, but her captors kept her in one place. She wouldn't be moving again until they moved her.

An hour later, Annabeth felt the van stop. The people holding her down hadn't loosened their grip one bit since they first clamped down. Annabeth thought her legs might be stiff when she finally was able to walk again.

She had deduced that the people holding her were all men and there were only three of them. Not like she had volunteered for it, but she had felt all three of their, ah hem, dicks at some point in the journey. While traveling they had had to straddle her to keep her down or stop a certain body part from flying at them at one point or another. She just hoped they weren't as aware of it as she was.

Annabeth heard the back doors open and the men holding her picked her up. She tried struggling, but they tied a rope around her legs that someone must have been holding so she couldn't move them one way or the other. They also had tied a rope around her torso to keep her arms from moving at all as well.

All in all, Annabeth felt completely helpless. It was horrible. They hadn't even taken off her hood that they had rudely shoved over her head. If she was correct, they had tied another rope loosely around her neck to keep the stupid sack on. Luckily they didn't tie it tight enough for her to suffocate. Just enough that it wouldn't slip off.

The scariest thing for Annabeth was that they did everything in complete silence. They didn't grunt, they didn't talk, whoop, shout, nothing. It was like they themselves were gagged so well that the sounds were stopped in their throats instead of mouths.

For this reason, it surprised Annabeth when the man that was holding her (off the ground, mind) said, "Is Boss ready?"

He must have gotten some confirmation because he carried Annabeth somewhere else. She could tell they had gone inside a building with air conditioning from the change of sweltering hot summer air of New York to cool, spacious, factory air of somewhere. Annabeth guessed that they had brought her into some kind of warehouse of sorts.

Annabeth's heart was pounding when the man that had been holding her nearly threw her into a hard, wooden chair. She decided the chair had to be nailed down because it didn't move an inch when she was unceremoniously dumped into it.

"She's here, boss," the man said.

He must have been talking into a phone or radio of sorts because she could only hear a garbled reply. The other two men had clamped down on her once she was in the chair so she had no chance of escaping.

This would be a great time for Percy to contact me through the earpiece. Annabeth thought.

As if on cue, her earpiece beeped. The display came on. Apparently she had a head injury according to her person diagram. Then she saw in messages a new one had come in since she last checked it. Annabeth opened the new message.

Hey-

Percy has forbidden any contact with you. But we don't think he's completely serious because he didn't override your headset or gizmo when we took you back to the states. I just want to know if you're alright. I figured I'd wait a few days before trying to contact you and a bit of time just got away from me. If you could send a message back to tell me you're okay. I know Percy wants to know even if he's gone back to 'chairman' mode saying we don't need to know until we get back.

-Leo

Leo had sent her a message. That just seemed unlikely to Annabeth. As much as she was glad that someone had contacted her, she was surprised at who it was and even more about what the content was.

Before she really had time to think about it anymore, the men ripped the sack over her head and the display disappeared. She had to blink a few times at the brightly lit room. When she got her surroundings, she saw that her captors had stopped holding her so tightly. The one that was talking earlier was reading something out loud, but it sounded like it was in a different language.

Annabeth couldn't understand what they were saying, but she finally noticed the video camera in front of her and another man standing behind it. The red light that says it's rolling was also on, but seeing as how she couldn't understand what the man was saying, it was pointless to try to argue it.

Annabeth also decided not to try to fight against her bonds that were restricting her. She didn't know what the men would do if she did. Annabeth was also in the dark about how they were using the camera. She didn't know if they were live streaming it to someone or if they were simply recording and going to send it somewhere.

When the man finished speaking, the man behind the camera shut it off. Annabeth looked at the three of them, wondering what they were planning on doing. The man who had been talking to the camera said something in the foreign language and the other two picked her up and carried her out of the room.

They took her to a smaller room with a cot, a chair, and a counter built into the wall. There was nothing else inside, which made it feel very bare especially since the walls were stark white.

They put her on the bed in a prone position, but when she tried to sit up, she found she couldn't. They had quickly tied the ropes around her torso and legs to hooks or something on the sides of the bed. So she couldn't move anything but her head. She looked at the men fearfully.

The worst conclusions of what they were planning on doing were popping into her head. Thoughts of torture, rape, etc. ran through her head.

The last man then opened the door and strode inside. He said something to the others and Annabeth noticed that while he spoke the foreign language fluently, he didn't have a strange accent. It still sounded like he was a New Yorker - his accent was just like Percy's.

"Well," the man said.

Annabeth looked from her place tied to the bed and didn't see him. Then the bonds on her legs loosened. He was freeing her? That seemed to be the case because he did the same with her arms and then proceeded to free her ankle and wrist bonds. All the while, Annabeth didn't do or say anything.

When the man had sat down in the one chair of the room, Annabeth cautiously sat up. The man watched her with sad eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"What do you want with me?" Annabeth asked quietly.

"I'm under orders that I can't disobey."

"Are you a mercenary?"

"No. I'm a victim just like you. They held my family hostage and I do whatever I'm told to so they can be freed." The man kept his composure, but Annabeth could see a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

"Who captured them?" Annabeth asked.

"I can't tell you."

"Then why are you even talking to me?"

"I don't know. Maybe just to talk to someone who isn't a mindless mercenary. Most of the people here are here because of the money. Not because they're forced to be here. I don't know what they want you for. I don't know to whom we were streaming that video. I just know my orders and I carry them out."

"So you're like a mercenary except for your reasons of being here." Annabeth said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement that the man did not deny. He just bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"Yes," he finally said quietly. "I don't really have another option though."

"Yes you do. You could tell me who you are and who you're working for. Telling me where I am wouldn't hurt either," Annabeth told him.

"I've already said I cannot do either of those things."

"Then there's no point for you to be in here if you're trying to be comforting," Annabeth said irritably.

"I've been told to keep watch over you until the boss gets here. He's anticipating problems, so I was ordered to stay with you until he's here with his own little guard." The man shrugged indifferently. He really didn't care about her.

Annabeth lied down again and just waited. It's not like she could do anything else. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the man was twice her size and looked to be in much better fighting shape if it came down to it. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat him in combat without a weapon of sorts and without a nice proper meal that wasn't hospital food. She just got out and she'll probably be hospitalized again after she got out of the situation she was currently in.

The door opened and another man walked in. He looked down at her lying on the small cot and smirked. "You comfortable there?" he asked in a husky, but somehow still threatening and intimidating voice.

Annabeth didn't know what he meant by that, but it made her nervous. He gave her a wolfish grin that made her squirm before he turned to the other man sitting in the chair. "Well?" he asked.

"You should be good to go," he said.

"Good. We wouldn't want Sarah to have to see another woman in the compound."

The man in the chair winced and the man standing over Annabeth grinned again. "She won't, Darin," the man in the chair said lowly.

'Darin' glared at the man in the chair. He looked ready to pounce on him and tear him to shreds. The man in the chair didn't back down though.

"Listen here, Richard, you and your wife are at my mercy. I wouldn't be trying to outsmart someone of a higher rank than you."

Annabeth just stayed in the prone position and observed the battle of wills. She figured from what Darin had said, he must be the boss that Richard was working for.

"I'm not stupid, Darin. I know my wife is going to be alive until you don't need me. If she's gone, you don't have any leverage over me. If you kill me, you'll kill her. You have to have her to kill her though."

Annabeth was scared. She could admit that. She was sure that a fight was going to break out and she would be stuck in the middle.

"What do you mean I have to have her? I already do." Darin said angrily.

"That's what you're supposed to believe. It's not necessarily the truth," Richard said.

"Then where is she? Did she just magically escape all on her own?"

"Of course not," Richard responded, "Help came. They would have broken her out by now quite easily."

"Yeah?" Darin asked testily. "Who's they?"

"You'll find out. Don't worry."

Darin pulled a gun from it's holster on his hip and pointed at Richard.

"You can kill me. I guarantee you won't find someone else that can do what you need from me."

"You think I care?" Darin shouted. It was clear he didn't think when he was angry. Annabeth wondered if Richard was trying to get Darin to shoot him because he didn't seem surprised with anything Darin was saying.

"I think you should. But I'll also say that you know you need me, but I don't have anything forcing me to stay anymore."

"Well what's the good in having someone free your wife if you aren't even going to be able to reunite with her?"

"There's plenty of good because I didn't request they free her for me."

"Oh. So you were trying to be the hero by freeing her and knowing you'll never make it out alive."

"That's about it," Richard confirmed.

Darin nodded and said, "Alright, alright." then he pulled the trigger and shot Richard right through the head.

Annabeth jumped, but before she could try to do something, Darin turned to her. He had a wild, feral look in his eyes. He started to take a step towards her, but then the wall behind him exploded.

Annabeth didn't have time to cover up. She just barely had time to throw her arms over her head. Pieces of wall were flying everywhere. Darin had gone flying into the wall behind Annabeth with the explosion. The ceiling caved in down the direction of the exploded wall.

When the initial explosion dust had cleared away, Annabeth took her arms away from her face and looked around. She saw Darin buried under rubble. She could only see from his waist down though. The rest was completely buried. He wouldn't be up and about any time soon. Annabeth looked away and looked at where the opposite wall used to be. She could see figures standing up through the explosion dust that was still clearing away. She knew she wasn't going to be able to identify them unless they came closer.

Thankfully they didn't seem hostile as they moved through the rubble. Annabeth could make out the outline of guns strapped to their backs, but they didn't look like they were reaching for them so she just stayed where she was on the cot. When they came through all the dust, Annabeth made out the face of Will Solace and her doctor, Jake Mason.

"Hey Annabeth," Jake said.

Annabeth didn't respond. She was shocked to see them, but they looked like they were expecting her to be there.

"Listen, we don't have a lot of time, so we've got to get stuff moving," Will said quickly.

Jake nodded and offered Annabeth his hand to help her up. Annabeth accepted and stood up. When she reached for his hand, she noticed that she had deep red marks on her wrists and if she were to bet, they were from the ropes and were probably going to bruise and stay like that for a while.

Jake led Annabeth through the hole in the wall and Will brought up the rear. They met up with two other men, but Annabeth didn't know who they were. They certainly didn't seem to care who she was, then again, they probably already knew.

Jake led them through the rest of the debris and out into open air. Not that Annabeth was a huge environmentalist, but the air was horribly polluted. It was sad. There was a haze hanging over wherever they were. Annabeth had spent plenty of time in New York to know it's not exactly clean there, but that wasn't as bad as it was wherever they were.

The last time she had seen smog as bad as it was would have been during her short time in China. She knew, however, that they couldn't be in China because the buildings bared the architecture style of one of her colleagues. It was a style that could not be replicated. That meant they were somewhere in Canada.

At least the location Annabeth had decided wasn't unreasonable. They had probably knocked her out and put her in the van taking her so far north that they got into Canada. She was hoping that they weren't too far north though. She wasn't horribly cold since it was summer, but at the same time, it was still chillier than New York. She had never really been farther north than Maine, so Canada was a bit of a shock.

"Are you cold?" Jake asked falling into step next to her and letting the rest of the group continue without him leading.

Annabeth shook her head and said, "No, don't worry about it."

"I didn't ask if you wanted my jacket or something. I just asked if you were cold. I know you aren't used to slightly colder weather in the middle of the summer, so I thought I could just check."

Annabeth let out a sigh and nodded. She wasn't used to really needing anything. She was always prepared for anything. Being kidnapped repetitively was not sitting well with her. It messed with her planning.

Annabeth stopped short. She realized that she probably hadn't been into work for a couple weeks at this point. What scared her is that she had never called in to tell them. What would they do when she got back? They might consider demoting or even firing her. She started having an internal panic attack.

Jake was calling Annabeth's name, but she didn't respond. She was trying to think of what Percy would tell her, but all she could remember was when he asked her if she was alright with him going on the emergency combat mission. Except the memory wasn't the one she knew from the actual event. This was more of a vision as if she knew that she was pregnant even though she had just conceived the night before. She saw herself trying to keep Percy from leaving and he was forcing his way out.

Annabeth shook her head slowly a few times and saw Jake looking at her with a look of concern. Annabeth shook her head again and looked around. Will and Jake were closest to her, but the other men were also crowding around her.

"You okay, Annabeth?" Jake asked.

Annabeth nodded again and started walking forward. Jake gave a sharp nod to the other men who were just standing where she had left them waiting for orders. With Jake's nod, they started walking forward again, quickly catching up to Annabeth and taking the lead. Jake fell into step next to her again with Will bringing up the rear again.

"Annabeth? What happened back there?" Jake asked.

He just wouldn't give up. He was determined and that didn't make Annabeth's job much easier. Annabeth tried for a half shrug, but Jake just gave her a look that told her he wasn't going to put up with it.

"Look don't worry about it," Annabeth said.

"Right now, worrying about you is my job."

Annabeth glanced over at Jake, but his expression betrayed nothing. It was very unhelpful. He must have been trained well. Then it sunk it. Annabeth looked over at Jake again who was wearing a grin and an earpiece. An earpiece? Yes. Annabeth couldn't tell if it was the one for the gizmo or the other wire that only the inner circle of the A2 used.

"You work for the A2 don't you?" Annabeth asked.

Jake grinned at Annabeth. "Yep. Will and my orders are to keep you safe and you slipped out right under our noses. Percy will have our heads once he hears," Jake said with a chuckle.

"Then don't let him find out," Annabeth said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jake stared at her and she could feel Will's eyes on her back. Annabeth began to get uncomfortable until Jake said, "You don't just not tell him what happens. That ruins trust. Plus what's the point. I'm sure he'd find out anyway."

Annabeth shrugged again and said, "I'd cover for you guys."

Jake chuckled and said, "I think we'll be okay."

"Yeah," Will chimed in, "It's not like he'll actually kill us or whatever."

Annabeth was silent. I wasn't like she had actually thought that Jake was being serious when he was saying Percy would have their heads, but she didn't like the idea of angry Percy at all. Especially after she'd seen it up close and personal. And that wasn't even directed at her!

Annabeth shook her head and said, "Don't worry about it. I guess I'm a bit out of it."

Will snorted and said, "That much is obvious."

Jake shot Will a look. Annabeth looked back at them, but they showed no emotion. She shook her head again and sped up her pace.

"Listen Annabeth-" Jake tried.

"No. I don't want to hear it. Just take me home." Annabeth snapped.

Jake gave her a look that Annabeth couldn't decipher, but nodded nonetheless. He and Will both sped up to keep pace and led her to another van. Jake stepped in first, Annabeth followed and Will climbed in after her. He also shut the doors just as whoever was driving pulled forward.

A/N: Not my best ending, but either way...

Thanks for reviews, they're always appreciated. I usually accept constructive criticism as well.