Joel, Paelen, and Lorin (against Joel's wishes) were all standing outside of Emily's old apartment building. With a piercingly-cold wind at their backs, they were trying to figure out how best to get in and up to Emily's apartment without producing any skepticism from anyone inside.

That would be tough, however, since all three of them were dressed in Olympian tunics with gold sandals to match, Paelen having winged sandals.

Joel had decided not to bring Chrysaor along because he would arouse too much unwanted attention. He knew that when it came to something suspicious or out of the ordinary, the CRU would be first to hear of it. The last thing Joel wanted was to be captured in the middle of his own rescue mission.

Joel envisioned Emily crying for help, and him single-handedly battling and conquering all the members of the facility. He imagined breaking Emily free from wherever she was being held and of her thanking him and admitting just how much she loved him. The story ended with the two of them sharing a kiss, getting married, having children, and living happily ever after in Olympus.

Joel shook his head to shake the fantasy from his mind. He was getting too far ahead of himself. The first priority would be to actually save her. Time to plan for the wedding would come later.

"Joel, what is your plan?" Paelen asked, scattering his thoughts.

"What do you mean? Of course I would need to buy an engagement ring for her. Or maybe I could make one for her myself. Vulcan could teach me at the forge."

Paelen blinked, not quite catching on to what Joel was saying. "Joel, we need to focus."

Joel shook his head again. What was his problem? Thinking of marriage at a time like this! He was getting off-track and he knew it. He just couldn't help it...Joel only hoped that nothing horrible had happened to her.

"I uhh...I'm just worried about Emily. I hope she's alright," Joel replied.

Paelen placed a reassuring hand on Joel's shoulder. "Do not worry, we have enough experience to know that she can take care of herself. I am sure she is on her way back to Olympus right now and this trip was wasted."

Joel stared down at the ground. "I dunno Paelen. I mean...how do you explain the flame in the temple going out?"

"Well let us see for ourselves what has happened to her," Paelen said somberly while indicating the apartment building.

Joel scanned around them and saw that most people were giving them a simple glance as they passed by, before moving on with their lives. He figured that people wearing costumes were common in New York City, enough for Joel, Lorin, and Paelen to blend right in.

"Why aren't we going inside?" Lorin whined after a few moments of only the sounds of the cars whizzing by.

Joel glared at her and thought about how the trio could get in without drawing attention or security their way.

Evidently, Paelen was growing anxious too, considering he broke away from the group and marched up to the front double doors of the building.

"Come on, Joel," he called over his shoulder. "The longer we spend just thinking, the longer Emily is stuck with the CRU. Let us just go in."

"No," Joel said. "We need to come up with a plan."

He thought for a second about what they could do, but nothing came to mind. Perhaps they could pretend to walk up with the next person they saw going into the building. The man at the front desk might think that they were a family or something. Honestly, Joel didn't have any idea though.

Paelen tapped his feet impatiently for a few minutes before pushing open the doors and barging in.

"Paelen wait!" But Paelen was already inside and out of earshot. Joel grumbled and ran after him, cursing under his breath.

After a short moment, Lorin decided to follow the two of them into the building.

Inside, Joel reached Paelen just as he was arriving at the front desk. The man sitting behind it was old, with brown wrinkly skin like sandpaper and gray-white hair. For a moment Joel wondered if they could make a run for the stairs, but resolved against it. He would rather not be sprinting up a flight of stairs with security guards giving chase behind him.

Getting stuck in jail also wouldn't increase their chances of being able to free Emily.

"Excuse me, dear sir," Paelen began. "I would like to visit an apartment building upstairs."

The man looked Paelen over with a blank face. He fished a clipboard from one of the many drawers in his desk. He also seized a pen from a cup and placed it in front of Paelen.

"Well, sign these papers and you can go on ahead," the man replied with a weak voice.

Before Paelen could even touch the clipboard, Joel snatched it up and looked through it.

The majority of the questions were basic. Things like, 'Who are you visiting?', and 'Which room?' and also 'How long will you be staying?'. Joel answered each question as best as he could, trying not to sound too suspicious. Getting to Emily's old apartment was proving to be easier than Joel had anticipated. If it really came to it, Joel supposed he could easily knock out the old man, or outrun him, though he hoped it wouldn't get to that. Honestly though, he was glad they were dealing with a scrawny old man rather than a big and buff one.

After Joel was done filling in the papers (most of the answers to the questions being lies) he handed the clipboard back to the old man and thumped his fingers on the desk as he waited for him to look it over.

The old man seemed to think that Joel, Paelen, and Lorin all looked trustworthy enough, as he waved them off toward the elevators. "You kids have fun, and don't you go around causing trouble, you hear?"

Joel nodded enthusiastically and headed to the elevators, pushing Lorin and Paelen along with him. He couldn't believe their luck. Thank goodness that the old man hadn't checked the clipboard, or he might just have gotten suspicious.

Their luck ended just as quickly as it had come.

Just as Joel was about to push the button of the elevator, a tall man in a black suit blocked his path. He had seemingly come out of nowhere, though Joel supposed the more logical explanation was that he had been standing to the far side, waiting to pounce at the next person who tried to go in the elevators.

"Don't you children have an adult to accompany you?" the man said in a tone that suggested he didn't trust them. "You can't go on your own, and I've never seen you before today."

Joel glared at the man and pointed at Lorin and Paelen. "We're teenagers, I'm sure we are old enough to go into an elevator on our own. And also, the man at the desk already approved us."

The man crossed his arms. "That old guy is useless, he should've been fired months ago. He just isn't capable of his job. Which is why I am here, to make sure only the right people pass. Which floor and room are you going to?"

"Umm...the room at the top floor," Joel answered while trying to remember what he had scrawled on the clipboard paper. "The room at the end of the hallway. We have a friend who lives up there."

"Oh really?" the man frowned and narrowed his eyes at the three of them. "That's strange, considering that no one is staying in that last room at the top floor."

Joel's face reddened and his heart beat started racing. Now what? This man was definitely on to them.

With a last desperate attempt, Joel said, "What? Last I checked, my friend lived there. Can my friends and I please go and check it out?"

"No," the man spat. "I'm gonna have to ask the three of you to leave, or I will be forced to call security."

"What is security?" Lorin asked, but everyone ignored her.

Paelen leaned over to Joel and whispered, "Should we fight him?"

The whisper was obviously not silent enough, considering that the man snatched up his walkie-talkie and said something like, "Security at bottom floor please".

Joel shot Paelen a dirty look. He quickly shouted, "No no no, he was kidding! He is such a jokester, HAHA!"

Joel punched Paelen in the shoulder in a way he hoped the man would think as playful.

"Good one, Paelen," Joel said, as he tried to come up with the most convincing fake-laugh that he could muster. "That was...hilarious."

Paelen scowled and punched Joel in return.

The man didn't seem to buy the act. "Get out now and maybe you won't have to be dragged out by security."

"You don't understand!" Joel cried. "We NEED to get to the top floor. I promise you that something is wrong there."

"Nice try kid," the man replied, tone unchanging.

Two men in similar black suits as the first were making their way towards them. They had stone-like faces that meant business. They reminded Joel of statues, walking statues with zero emotion in them.

Joel gulped. Rescuing Emily just got much more difficult.

"Joel," Paelen said, "If saving Emily means having to fight these people, then I will do it, and with no regret. That should be the same for you."

Joel closed his eyes in thought. He decided that Paelen was right. If they wanted to get to the top floor of the apartment building, they would need to take care of these men first.

"Ok, let's fight them," Joel said.

Immediately Paelen punched the first man, who was not used to Olympian strength and was taken by surprise. He grunted, fell backward, and lost consciousness when he hit the floor.

The other two men came rushing in at this. They looked strong, but they were nothing compared to the strength of Paelen and Joel. Even Lorin gave them a powerful kick at each opportunity she got.

One of the men swiftly grabbed his walkie-talkie to call in reinforcements. While he was distracted, Paelen knocked him down with a single punch across his face that caused several of his teeth to rip out of his gums and go flying into the air.

The last man was breaking into a sweat, and he seemed to know that he would be beaten in the fight if he did not get help. For once, fear revealed itself on his expressionless face, and he backed up.

Joel and Lorin worked together to drive him back against a wall. With one last blow from Joel, the man crumpled.

"That was actually kinda fun," Joel admitted. "But we need to get out of here before reinforcements arrive. Good job though."

He pressed the button for the elevator and the three of them stepped inside.

"What is this thing?" Lorin asked fearfully. She had never seen an elevator before.

"It's an elevator," Joel answered. "It will take us where we need to go."

"Like the solar thing?"

Joel rolled his eyes. "No, not like the 'solar thing', Lorin." He pushed the button that would take them to the highest floor.

A look of confusion appeared on Lorin's face. "That makes no sense. What is it like then?"

"It doesn't matter!" Joel shouted. "We are not here to talk about elevators! We are here to save Emily!"

"Ok ok," Lorin replied with slight annoyance. "Be like that then. I'll just ask Paelen."

Paelen turned the other direction, obviously wanting nothing to do with the squabble he was being dragged into.

The elevator reached the top floor and halted, the doors sliding open to allow them to pass.

With Joel in the lead, the trio walked down the hallway to the apartment at the end, which had been Emily's.

Joel held his breath, bracing himself for what he would see on the other side, and pushed open the door.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, I was up very late editing it. I know it was kind of short but I promise the next part will be longer. The thing is, school just started for me and I have a lot of work to do but I will still try to update my story as much as possible. For this chapter, the majority of it was written during school when I had a little bit of time leftover or a few spare minutes. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Also, stay tuned for more!