Hello readers!

Shoutouts to: Fantasysword92375, FierySapphire, HaloEssence111, HardlyDone, and arctickitten2005 for favoriting AND following!

Please enjoy Chapter 3 of Leo's Logbook!

-Ardoa88

Entry #3: A Rigged System

"It's the rigging, it has to be."

"It's not the rigging."

"Yes, it is."

"No." Jake folded his arms across his chest. "It's not."

"Then what else could it be?" Nyssa asked, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

The former head counselor huffed, pushing away from the railing he'd been leaning against for the past five minutes "I don't know what it could be, that's why I'm asking you!"

Why do these problems never show up in the morning? Nyssa thought grumpily as she stood up from where she'd been crouched next to the control console. It was almost time for their crew to break for dinner after a productive day of rigging the flight system to the main rotors. Come to think of it, Nyssa scowled, they would already be at the dining pavillion if Jake hadn't insisted on running a quality control check before they left.

But he'd been put in charge for a reason; and if nothing else, Nyssa could respect her half-sibling's repertoire of experience when it came to rigging cables and pulley systems. It had been Jake's idea to create a moving target range for the Apollo kids- one that would vary it's speed depending on what difficulty level it was set to. And not only had he been the main system designer, but he'd also personally routed each cable as needed.

So when he said to do a quick test of the ships control system, they'd done the test.

It had gone smooth up until the moment Jake had taken his hands off of the main yolk to assess the rudder alignment. Unprompted, the control surface had turned ninety degrees to the right.

Needless to say, they'd failed the test. And consequently, were forced to troubleshoot the issue: something they'd been doing for the past three hours. All of which culminated to the Daughter of Hephaestus being sweaty, tired, and hungry. Any of which factors, individually, would be reason enough for the brunette to be abnormally cranky.

Nyssa turned and glared back at their team leader with equal intensity. "And that's why I'm telling you, it's probably due to faulty rigging."

Jake shook his head stubbornly. "I double and triple checked the pulleys and turnbuckles. They're all rigged properly."

"What about the fairleads?"

"I told you, it's not the-"

"What's wrong?"

The two arguing campers startled guiltily at the new voice, Nyssa and Jake both turning to see Leo making his way up to the control board. The younger demigod had been cooped up all day in the back workshop, riveting together sheets of the outside skin with the other team.

They must've already left, Nyssa realized, casting her gaze towards the back room to see that- yup- the lights were out. Leo must've come to see what was taking them so long with the rigging. Speaking of… Nyssa turned back to her Cabin Head, seeing his eyebrows rise expectantly as he patiently waited for one of them to speak.

Jake cleared his throat, "Well, you see- after we finished rigging the controls, I called for a quality control check…"

Nyssa tuned out the rest of the explanation, instead casting a critical eye over the hispanic. She could tell that Leo was tired- hell, they all were- but the demigod looked a lot better after having gotten a solid eight hours of sleep. The Daughter of Hephaestus didn't care that she'd had to practically drag her Cabin Leader from the bunker; if the result was that the permanent bags under Leo's eyes had reduced, she'd do it again in a heartbeat.

"...and then it turns to the right." Jake finished, directing the Hispanics attention to the rear of the ship where- sure enough- the rudder swung to the right. Leo hummed thoughtfully, a pinch appearing between his brows as he glanced between the control panel and the offending control surface.

It was another five seconds before he spoke.

"Have you inspected the ball bearings within the steering control valve?" Leo asked. "They're probably improperly seated or something."

Jake and Nyssa just stared at the younger demigod, a long bout of silence stretching between the three of them. The brunette was the first to find her voice.

"How in Hades do you know that?"

Leo shrugged- shrugged!- at Nyssa. "I don't know for sure." He admitted. "But if you haven't checked that yet, then that's where I'd start."

"But- I mean how-"

"Anyway." Leo interrupted, fighting back a yawn as he stretching long arms above his head. "I'm gonna go get some grub and hit the hay. Since someone keeps insisting I eat and sleep like a proper half-human." And with those parting words, their half-sibling gave them a mock salute before making his way out of the bunker, hands tucked in pockets as he whistled an airy tune.

As soon as he was gone Nyssa whirled to Jake. "Impossible." She stated. "There is no freaking way he could know how to fix this."

Jake just shook his head in bewilderment. "And yet… c'mon, let's go check and see."

He led the way down the stairs, all the while Nyssa continued her insistence. "I mean, he takes one look at the two outermost system components and then- bam! He identifies the problem? Nu-uh, no way Jose. I am calling Minotaur-shit on this one."

"Nys!" Jake admonished lightly. "I thought only the Aires kids were so vulgar."

"Like I give a damn." She snapped. "I am hungry. I am tired. I smell like an engine. And if we just spent three whole hours searching for an issue that Leo could spot in five seconds... I am going to hit something." She stated matter-of-fact.

"As long as that something's not me." Jake muttered as they reached the main flight control closet.

The access panel swung back on oiled hinges, revealing an orderly array of wires and components. Ignoring most of the closet, Jake reached towards a small, rectangular black box mounted to the base of the panel. He quickly unscrewed the mounting hardware, removing the component with care.

The former Cabin Head then raised the box to his ear, rocking it slightly back and forth. After repeating the motion a few times, he huffed.

"Well I'll be a Satyrs uncle…"

"No." Nyssa snatched the component from his hands. "No way. You cannot be serious-"

But the accusation died on her lips as- sure enough- she heard the telltale rattle of misaligned bearings as she gently shook the steering control valve. The two experienced mechanics shared an incredulous look. One thought pushing to the forefront.

How did he know?

Nyssa found him back in the bunker after dinner, bent over a light table and staring absently at a schematic under the light. They were the only two in the workshop, the others having gone back to the cabin. She marched up to him, the younger demigod completely oblivious to his surroundings.

BAM!

Leo jerked up from the drawing, seeming to come back to the present as he stared down at the control valve Nyssa had just plopped onto the desk. Well… slammed, more like. He blinked a few times, then looked up at her with a question in his wide, chocolate eyes.

Nyssa had a question of her own. "How." She demanded. "How did you know?"

Leo grimaced guiltily, a rueful smile curling his lips. "I, uh… kinda ran into a similar problem a few years back when I was trying to make a flying bike."

The Daughter of Hephaestus blinked. That… was not at all what she'd expected to hear. Her shock must've shown because Leo's cheeks began to grow red under her stare.

"To be fair," he said. "I was using a car steering control valve so…"

"You tried to make a flying bike?"

The Head of Cabin Nine's cheeks were flamin now. "I had just watched the movie E.T. for the first time, and it was close to Halloween." He admitted. "So I borrowed my neighbors bike and… temporarily commandeered some components from Mr. Gerosi's Chevy convertible to try and get the bike to fly."

Nyssa shook her head. She wasn't sure whether to be impressed by her half-brother's spunk, or disappointed by his lack of forethought. Maybe a bit of both?

Leo seemed to read her mind as he chuckled. "I pretty quickly found out that I would need more than car parts to truly get airborne. So instead, I settled for having the bike self-steer while being in a continuous wheelie. It took me a while to figure out how to steer with only the back wheel," Leo waved a hand dismissively. "I'll spare you the details, but long story short, it kept making unwanted left turns."

"And that's when you found out it was the control valve?" Nyssa concluded.

Her half-brother nodded. "Took me a whole day to figure it out."

The brunette shook her head with a small scoff. "And what did Mr. Gerosi have to say about you 'temporarily commandeering' his car parts?"

"Nothing." Leo smirked triumphantly. "When he found out, he actually paid me forty bucks to overhaul the whole system"

Fin! Thanks for reading!

if you are enjoying these little one shots, I invite you to drop me a comment or review :)

I have a lot more stuff planned for this side project, including some classic Leo whump age/angst/hurt-comfort. Most of them will still deal with actual fun facts about maintenance, but I do want to focus on the characters as well!

That's all for today! See you next time :)

-Ardoa88