A Quest of Eight; A Heroes of Olympus Fanfiction

Rescue Mission

Y/n's POV

When I peered inside the building, everything looked the same that it had when we were in here last. But that's when the smell hit me. The scent of burning oil and bad morning breath hit me like a truck, and it took everything I had in me to not turn around and walk back out.

"Y/n! Leo! Help!" Piper shouted from somewhere on the factory floor. Leo then grabbed my arm, and we ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly, we worked our way to the assembly lines, and when we got there, Piper called out again. "Leo? Y/n?" This time her voice was less certain, but it was closer than before. I peeked around the machinery we were hiding behind, and clustered in the center of the room were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. Nearby, dangling from some chains were two smaller shapes, but only one of them was moving.

"I told you it was nothing," one of the shapes spoke, its voice too deep to be human. Another shape moved, and called out in Piper's voice. 

"Y/n, Leo help! Help!-" the voice changed into a masculine snarl. "Bah! There's nobody out there. No demigods could be that quiet." 

The other shape chuckled. "They probably ran away if they knew what was good for them. Or the girl could have been lying about two more demigods. Let's get cooking." A bright orange fire then came to life, and I saw that the two things hanging from the chains were Jason and Piper. Piper was moving around trying to free herself, but Jason was unconscious. And with a glance at the dark shapes I had seen, I discovered that they were Cyclopes. Leo jumped into action immediately, pulling some remotes from his backpack before grabbing a control panel laying a few feet away from us.

"What are you doing?" I ask him quietly. 

"I have a plan," Leo responded. "Just stay here." I stood by and watched, amazed as Leo walked up to different machines and tinkered with their parts. When he came back to me, he put a few stray parts together and made a remote. But when the wires sparked in Leo's hands, all of the Cyclopes turned to look at us. While Leo had been busy messing with the machine parts, I had listened in to the Cyclopes conversation and overhead their names. Torque, the Cyclops closest to us, picked up a truck and launched it in our direction. My demigod reflexes kicked in, and I was able to move out of the way, but just barely.

"Don't just stand there! Get them!" Ma Gasket ordered. 

At that moment, the first robotic arm Leo had connected his remote to whirred to life, and slammed into Torque's back so hard that he fell on his face. The arm then grabbed him by one leg and threw him into the air. Right as he hit one of the support beams, he exploded into yellow dust, which rained down on top of us. The second robot arm came to life just as fast, whacking Sump in the chest. He flew backwards right into the third machine, and disappeared into dust immediately. Leo's last claw went straight for Ma Gasket, but she caught the arm and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but that didn't stop her either. She just grabbed it, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat, missing Piper and Jason by only an inch. When the arm came spinning towards us, I dropped to the ground, and it sailed harmlessly over my head.

"Leo, we really need a plan," I insist as I stood back up.

"Don't worry," Leo assured me. "I've got one. Lady, if you take one more step towards us, I'll destroy you with fire." 

"Would you really? You silly little boy," Ma Gasket teased. "Cyclopes are immune to fire. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help." Ma Gasket leaned down, scooped some red hot coals up with her bare hands, and then flung them at me. Somehow, they landed all around me, none of them even touching me.

"You missed," I alert her. But obviously, Ma Gasket wasn't done, because she picked up a barrel reading kerosene and threw it right at me. Before I could even process what was happening, Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the center of the coals just before they lit on fire. For a second, Leo and I were chest to chest, him breathing heavily, and me just a bit freaked out.

"You okay?" Leo quizzed.

"Yeah," I breathe out. "I'm fine. Thank you. Now's really a good time to share that plan you said you had."

"Right," Leo agreed and turned to Ma Gasket. "I'm a son of Hephaestus, and I told you I'd destroy you with fire, so I will." Leo pointed his finger into the air, and a bolt of white hot fire shot out of it, hitting the chain directly above Ma Gasket's head. Within seconds, the chain snapped, and an engine block fell right onto the last Cyclops, disintegrating her.

"Wow," I mutter. "Part of me is jealous, but the other part of me is wondering where else you can shoot fire from."

Leo laughed. "I don't know, nor do I really want to. Now come on. We've got to get Piper and Jason down from there."

"And fast," I add as I noticed that the Cyclopes were somehow starting to reform. "Come on."