Plan C (Or the chapter where in the real book we all flipped our shit because Leo controlled fire)

Hey Peoples, Apocalypse Update From Kansas: A tornado swept my house away to some semi-whimsical land. Please send help.

Review: FanFictionWorm01: Thanks, I try to get a chapter out asap, cause I know what it's like to obese over a story that is never updated (LUST ARROW), and I don't want to do that. Thanks, I tried really hard to get Leo, and he turned out way better than Percy, Percy came out as this weird hybrid of Annabeth and himself (like a bad fanfiction Percabeth baby). Um, I did kind of mean to imply it romantically, but if that's not your thing, that's fine. I just really like that ship, there will be no more mentions of them or another slash ship, so it's ok. Just to let you know, I really enjoy your reviews. *hugs*

Monkeygirlz3: Well, luckily it didn't, so I can still finish this story XD

Xxthe-time-thiefxX: I'm glad you enjoyed my Leo, I worked hard on him and Liper's a cool ship as well (probably my second or third favorite for both Leo and Piper).

JamesSonOfAthena; Thanks dude

Here it is, directly from, wait? Am I in Oz?

Leo's POV

"Hey guys," Will said, "This is your new brother Leo, um, what's your last name."

"Valdez," Leo replied as he started to look around at the kids. Are they all his siblings? It was a strange thought, he'd only had his mom when he was younger, and after that he was alone. The kids started to shake his hand and introduce themselves, but the names started to blur together; Shane, Christopher, Nyssa and Harley. Leo knew he wouldn't be able to remember all this. There were too many names, it was too overwhelming.

They didn't look anything alike. There were different skin tones, hair colors, builds and facial structure. You wouldn't look at them and think, "Hey, they must be related." The only constant were powerful calloused hands, which were all covered in engine grease. They all shared the same stoic demeanor, and it looked as though life (or the curse) hadn't been kind to any of them. Two sported slings, one crutches, wraps, and more hello kitty Band-Aids than you could count.

"I hear this is the party cabin," joked Leo, in attempt to lighten the mood. No one laughed, no one even cracked a smile. They just stared.

Will patted him on the shoulder, "I'll leave now so you can get acquainted. Could someone show Leo to dinner when it's time?"

"I'll do it," said one of the girls, Nyssa. She wore a red tank top that showed off her buff arms (Korra arms), cameo pants, and a maroon bandana over a mat of dark hair. Except for the hello kitty Band-Aids on her arms, she looked like a female action hero, like if the zombie apocalypse were to come, she'd be on the front lines with a machine gun.

"Awesome," Leo said, "I always wanted a sister that could beat me up."

"Come on jokerboy," she said, without even the slightest smile, "I'll show you around."

Leo was far from a stranger to workshops. He'd practically grown up in his mother's machine shop, but he had never seen anything like the camp forges.

A boy was working on a battle ax. He kept testing it on a slab of concrete, and each time it cut through like it was made of butter. He seemed unsatisfied, and continued working.

"What's that guy planning on fighting?" asked Leo, "An armored whale?"

"You never know," she replied, "Even Celestial Bronze."

Leo cut her off, "That's the metal?"

She gave a short nod, "Mined from Mount Olympus itself. Usually it disintegrates monsters on touch, but big powerful ones have tough hides, like drakons."

"You mean dragons?" he asked, confused.

"No, similar species," she replied, "You'll learn the difference in Monster Fighting Class."

"Oh," he said, "That. I already got my blackbelt in that."

Nyssa's expression remained the same, and he wondered if she ever smiled. Even Reyna, who had zero to no sense of humor smiled sometimes. If his siblings were always this serious, he thought he might go insane.

They passed two boys who were working on a bronze centaur. It went completely haywire and started shooting everywhere screaming, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" One of the two took a hammer to it, only after seven bronze arrows had lodged themselves in Leo's shirt.

"I just want a magic bug killer!" one of the boys shouted in response, "Fucking curse."

"Ouch," Leo said.

"You're fine," Nyssa said, rolling her eyes and pulling the needles out of his shirt.

"Stuff like that happen a lot?" he asked, rubbing his chest.

"Well yah," she said, "Lately this has been happening a lot."

"The curse?" he asked.

"I don't in curses," she asserted, "But something's wrong right now, and if we don't solve our dragon problem soon, I'm afraid that something will only get worse."

"Dragon problem?" he asked, hoping with all his heart this was just a dragon designed to kill cockroaches or fleas, though he knew he wouldn't be so lucky.

She showed him a large map of the camp, where a group of girls were studying and arguing.

"It's got to be in the hills," said the brunette.

"No," said the blonde, "That's not right. We've already checked there, multiple times. It has to in the woods, they're a better hiding place."

The first replied, "Molly, we've already set traps."

"Wait," Leo said, "You guys lost a dragon. A real, fire breathing, flying, dragon."

"It's a bronze dragon," the girl named Molly replied, "But yes, it's full size and breathes fire. The Hephaestus cabin built it few years ago, and it used to help guard the camp, until it was lost. Beckendorf found it and rebuilt it, but since his death it's gone a little wild."

"Wild?" he asked.

"It goes haywire. Sets things on fire, smashes cabins and tries to eat satyrs," clarified Nyssa.

"That's wild," he replied, unsure how to respond to that particular realization.

"Beckendorf was the only one that control it," she said, "But yeah, when he died the dragon got worse and worse until it finally just cracked. Sometimes it shows up and destroys things, but everyone excepts us to track it down and destroy it."

"You want to destroy it?" he asked, scandalized, "You have a life-sized bronze dragon and you want to destroy it?"

"It breathes fire," said the other girl, "It's dangerous and out of control."

"But it's a dragon!" he asserted, "Can't you try talking to it? Can't you try to control it?"

"We did try, Leo," said Nyssa, "Or at least Jake Mason tried. You saw how well that worked for him."

Leo thought of Jake, wrapped in gauze, alone on his bunk, "Still."

"There's no other option," Nyssa said, turning back to the other girls, "Set up more traps here, here and here. Bait it with motor oil."

"It drinks that?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, with a pained look on her face, "He used to like it with a little bit of Tobasco sauce. If he springs one of the traps, we can come in with acid sprayers and melt through the hide. Then we can come in with metal cutters and finish the job." They all looked sad, and Leo realized that they didn't want to kill the dragon any more than he did.

"There has to be another way," he said, seriously.

"Like what?" a red head asked, "That things breathes fire. We can't get anywhere near it." The things he could tell them about fire. He had to be careful, because these were his brothers and sisters. He'd have to live with these people, and he didn't want to let anything slip.

"Well," he said hesitantly, "Hephaestus is the god of fire, don't we have some sort of fire resistance?"

Nobody acted as if it were a crazy question, but Nyssa shook her head, "Leo, that's a Cyclopes ability. Children of Hephaestus, we're builders, craftsmen. We don't have those abilities, we're just good with our hands."

Leo's shoulders slumped, "Oh."

A guy in the back said, "Well a long time ago."

"Ok," Nyssa agreed, "Long ago, some children of Hephaestus were born with power over fire, but it was very, very rare, and always dangerous. No demigod has been born like that since." She didn't finish her thought, and looked to the other kids for help.

"Sixteen sixty six," Molly supplied, "A guy named Thomas Fayner. He started the Great Fire of London and destroyed most of the city."

Nyssa continued, "When a child like that is born, it means something catastrophic is about to happen, they're the harbingers of disaster, and we don't need any disasters now."

Leo tried to keep his emotions from showing on his face, "I see your point. Too bad though, if you could resist flames, you could get close to the dragon."

"Then it would step on you," Nyssa said, "There's no other way. Trust me, if anyone could come up with another answer."

She didn't finish, but Leo knew where she was going. This was the cabin's big test. If they could do something only Beckendorf could do, then maybe the curse would be lifted. They were stumped, and any camper who could do it would be a hero.

A conch horn blew and Nyssa said, "Come on, Leo, dinner."

"Up at the pavilion, right?" he asked. She nodded in response.

"You guys go ahead," he said, "But could you give me a minute?"

Nyssa hesitated a moment, then her expression softened, "Sure. I know it's a lot to process, my first day was crazy. Just don't touch anything. Almost everything in here can kill you if you're not careful."

"I won't touch," Leo promised. Moments later, Leo was alone with the sound of the machines. He gaped at the map of where his siblings were putting up traps to catch the dragon. It was just wrong.

"Very rare," he thought, "always dangerous."

There was always plan C, though he'd sworn a long time ago never to use that again.

He felt a strange urge to try it again, something he hadn't done since the incident with his mother. He extended his long fingers and felt them tingle, like the feeling of pop on your toung.

Small flickered to life and danced across his palm. He watched the flames burn, just like everything he ever loved.

A.N: Not much changed this chapter. A mention of Reyna every once in a while, but mainly just so I can keep the story flowing and have more practice writing Leo before I really have to deviate from canon. Thanks for following this story and putting up with my ridiculous author's notes and bad jokes. I love you guys.