The Problem With Leo Valdez
Disclaimer: All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR.
Leo Valdez is-unfortunately- not my creation as with the other demigod characters.
They're pretty cool, though.
Good job, Rick.
A/N: For the length of this chapter, the quality is shit. I'm so sorry.
I haven't been doing too hot health wise lately (screw you appendix!) and on top of that twisted my ankle, so while I've been stuck in bed I've also been writing!
And, pssst. How would you guys feel if I put this story up on Wattpad?
EDITED ON 21/06/14: Because the next chapter won't be out for awhile and I'm too impatient to wait, I'm updating the cover now! It might take a day or two to show up, but I really like it.
Chapter: XII
Piper
Deception
Once they were inside the ship (half of it), Leo scurried off to search for anything he could salvage. Piper heard him muttering something about Buford as he went, and for the first time since they had crashed she wondered if the creepy little table was alright. Hopefully he still had all four legs, at least.
"It's probably not safe to be here. . ." Jason murmered as he ducked under a pipe that had fallen from the ceiling. "I mean, the place could explode any minute."
"Explode?" Piper repeated, finding the idea amusing. "This isn't an action movie, you know."
Jason furrowed his eyebrows and stepped over a hole in the flooring. "Do you trust him?" He asked suddenly, though at first Piper wasn't sure what he meant.
"Trust who?"
"Leo, obviously."
Piper stopped walking and stared at him. Did she trust Leo? If she had, she wouldn't have suggested that Jason should come with them into the Argo II. If she had, she wouldn't feel so nervous when around the guy. But. . .
Of course she trusted Leo. With her life, actually (though maybe not 100%, as Leo really knew how to screw things up). What she didn't trust was the Eidolon inside him.
"I don't think . . . No. Not fully." Were the words that blurted out of her mouth. "He's so unpredictable right now. Honestly, Jason, I don't know whether to trust him or not. I just-"
"Relax." Jason cut her off, a small smirk appearing on his face. "It's just a question, and I was only asking because neither Percy or Hazel seem to believe a word Leo says. I wanted your opinion."
Piper took that into consideration. "Do you believe him?" She asked.
Jason made a sour face. "Gods, no. That monster is definitely up to something, but I trust that it's not going to kill any of us."
"Yet." Piper added, her voice coming out heavy. He had already tried to.
"Yet." Jason acknowleged. "I wish you could charmspeak the Eidolon right out of him like you did last time. Everything would be so much easier."
"He'd barbacue me before I could open my mouth, Jason." Piper laughed, though she was dead serious. She couldn't erase the look Leo had given earlier her from her mind. She knew that it wasn't really him, but his face. . .
Leo Valdez had looked purely evil. And now, with his eyes glowing constantly. . . Piper couldn't shake the feeling that the boy scrounging around the ship at the moment was still the Eidolon. Her friend even before they knew they were demigods. Her- her brother practically. Piper hated not being able to trust or believe him, and she hated knowing that she had to stay suspicious.
"We'll make it out of this mess somehow." Jason muttered as he kicked one of the floorboards that had been pushed up. "We could build a chariot of some sort, or a makeshift ship if there's an ocean around here."
"Do you think we could find any drachmas?"
"For what?"
"To send an Iris Message to Reyna and Nico. I know that they're busy with their own stuff right now, but if we don't think of a way out of this place, then why not?"
Jason gave her a doubtful look. "We have no idea where we crashed. I don't think even Reyna could find us."
"Well what about Nico?" Piper pushed. She was growing desperate for a solution, and the two demigods felt like the only chance of giving them one. Yeah, the group could put together a chariot and get Blackjack and Tempest to fly it, or sure they could somehow get a ship going, but Nico and Reyna could get other demigods to help them. At the very least they could inform Camp Half-Blood what had happened to the Seven.
Jason only shrugged. "I... I honestly don't know, Piper. Even if the statue was delivered, our two camps could still be at war right now. Nico's probably busy fighting just like everyone else."
"Chiron, then?"
"Piper. . ."
"We have to do something, Jason." Piper groaned, folding her arms over her chest before lowering an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "I know you've got your Roman dignity to think of, or something. . . but-"
"Excuse me?"
"Maybe that wasn't the right way to phrase it." Piper sighed, frowning. "Listen, I know that you used to be a preator, but asking for help isn't a bad thing."
"I never said it was. . .?"
"We're stuck in Gods-Knows-Where with a murderous Eidolon who probably killed Frank, and you're rejecting every idea I have that calls us asking for help." Piper pointed out.
Jason stared at her. "Fine." He finally said after a few rather awkward moments of silence. "We've got six days before August first, I think. If we can't figure out anything by tomorrow, the we'll try to get help from Camp Half-Blood, alright?"
Piper nodded. She was happy that he was finally agreeing to something, that they were finally getting somewhere, but something in her gut told her that the delicate moment wouldn't last. Figured, too. Nothing good ever lasted for demigods, apparently.
"Do you hear that?" Piper asked, suddenly alert. It had been faint, but she could have sworn that she heard a creaking noise coming from somewhere up ahead of them. "Jason, listen." She whispered.
The son of Jupiter narrowed his eyes, and the two of them fell completely silent. When nearly a minute passed and neither of them heard anything further, Jason shrugged. "Maybe it was Leo?" He suggested.
Piper nodded, but the feeling of uneasiness didn't subside. "What if it is?"
"Do you want to go check it out?"
". . . It couldn't hurt."
Piper felt horrible. Was a creaking noise, coming from a ship that had been torn in half and 1/2 destroyed, really enough to make her automatically assume Leo was up to no good? She knew he was dangerous right now, she knew he could switch to attack-mode at any minute, she had just been talking about how terrible he was at the moment, but thinking of him like that made Piper feel sick. A big part of her still wanted to believe that no, her friend Leo Valdez wasn't a threat. A smaller part of her argued that she was being dumb.
Tentatively, Piper reached for Jason's hand, and the two moved forward.
"Leo?" Jason called, peering out into the darkness of the hallway. Piper had tried to tell him that going to the darkest part of a broken ship wasn't the brightest idea, but obviously he hadn't listened to her complaints. While Piper couldn't say she hated him, it was true that the guy was an idiot.
Something clanged in the walls, and Piper immediately felt childish for jumping at the sudden noise. She was the daughter of Aphrodite, for gods' sake! Though admittedly the goddess of love wasn't much of a fighter, and much preffered ruining lives rather than battle, Piper could easily imagine her mother scowling down at her as she sat on Olympus and watched Hephaestus TV.
Grow up! Piper imagined her muttering. C'mon, throw in a few punches!
How embarassing.
Another clunk sounded, followed by a series of creaks. At first Piper thought that Festus was somehow speaking to them, but the noises were too inconsistant to be caused by a working machine.
"Jason," Piper said, annoyed that her voice shook. She wasn't afraid that she would get hurt, and certainly wasn't worried about fighting, but what Piper feared was seeing Leo being ready to attack her and Jason.
"Do you think he's here?" Piper asked, forcing the words to come out steady this time.
Jason slipped his hand away from hers and took a few steps forward. "Come on dude, if this is a joke-"
"What?" The voice asked, sounding so familiar and yet astoundingly different. Piper didn't believe that it was really Leo talking. It couldn't be.
"I mean," Jason continued, not at all fazed. "You're freaking us out with all that creaking and stuff, man. Watcha doing?"
The set of glowing gold eyes popped out from the darkness, and a few seconds later Leo strolled over, a grin on his face and a roll of duct-tape in his hand.
"Shoot," He apologized, scratching his head. "Didn't mean to, honest. There's this freakin' pipe that got torn off, and I've to stick it back on with this, but..." He continued, holding up the tape and shaking it in the air. Leo's frown fell from his face when he saw Piper glaring at him. "...Uh, everything okay?"
Piper didn't understand. Halfway through his explanation, his voice had changed again. It had sounded odd and different for the first bit, then suddenly it had switched back to normal.
"What do you think you're doing?" Piper snarled.
Leo blinked. His eyes quickly glanced at Jason, then back at Piper, and the boy seemed completely at loss. "I don't..."
"Don't play stupid," Piper hissed, jabbing a finger at him. "You're not Leo, so don't think for one second that you can-"
"Hey hey hey," Leo interupted, furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm not who? I'm sorry, did I suddenly change into Hazel or Will or Clovis in the past hour? I-" He snapped, then froze. His expression relaxed and nervously Leo began tapping his fingers against his pant-leg. "I know what you meant. Sorry. Really though, it's me."
Without question or even the slightest moment of thought, Jason nodded. "Alright," He said with a shrug. "We should get back to Percy and Annabeth, don't you think?"
Leo beamed and nodded his head, though Piper shot Jason a sharp look of 'What in the name of Zeus do you think you're doing?'
As Leo fumbled to put the roll of tape back in his toolbelt, Jason shook his head slightly and mouthed the words 'I have a plan'.
Piper lowered an eyebrows in question, but didn't have enough time to ask before Leo hopped in step beside her, and the three of them began to make their way out of the ship.
Of course, Piper knew that things were going to go wrong. With the ship crashing, the Eidolon, and Frank probably dead, there was no way in Hades that everything would suddenly just get better. Noo, of course not! It'd be an outrage if life were to be so simple.
What Piper should have known, however, was that no matter what Jason's plan had been, it wouldn't work if the field was smothered in flames.
"When do you think Hazel will be back?" Leo asked, kicking a pebble and sending it a good few feet forward. "I really think she's starting to hate me, you know. Kinda wanted to apologize."
Piper plopped herself down on the grass and shrugged. She hoped that Annabeth had woken up, and her and Percy had gone to look for Hazel, explaining why neither of them were present, but no doubt that probably wasn't it.
"I don't know." Piper huffed, rolling her eyes. "Just be quiet and don't do anything, alright?"
Leo scowled, then layed down on the grass and began flicking strands over at Jason.
"Stop," Jason said once his knee was covered in grass. "That's gross."
Leo smirked and tossed another handful at him. "You lived with wolves when you were a baby," He pointed out in a sneering tone. "That's gross, Dog-Boy. I bet you still have fleas."
"What?"
"Do you want to go for a walk, puppy?"
"That's not funny."
"How about the park, huh? Dogs love the park."
Piper let out an annoyed sigh. "Leo, knock it off." She muttered, glancing around for any of the three missing demigods. The way her friend was acting was starting to put her on the edge of her seat. That is... if she actually had a seat to sit on.
Leo's grin turned in to a smirk. "What did you say, Piper? Sorry, I don't speak canine."
"...Excuse me?"
"Well, you're a dog too, aren't you?" Leo asked, cocking his head to the side. "Yeah... I think, an ugly little mutt, right? No wonder why your dad ignored you for so long, I don't blame him!"
"Leo!" Jason snapped, obviously angered by the boy's comment. "What the hell?"
Piper could only stare at him. A mutt. He had called her a mutt. Not only that, but had dared to bring up her dad into the insult as well. She didn't like to admit it, but the words genuenly stung.
Whatever Jason had planned, Piper wished that he'd bring it in to action now.
"Aww, you two," Leo said as he rose to his feet. "Don't look so offended, it's only the truth!" He sneered, the golden colour in his eyes somehow glowing brighter. "You both are basically worthless, aren't you? But sacrifices... oh! A daring son of Jupiter and a lovely daughter of Aphrodite would be perfect!"
Piper saw Jason reach for his sword, but paused when he realized the weapon was still on the ship.
"You really think we'd come with you willingly?" Piper laughed, trying to buy time. "How are you going to get us out of here? You can't!" She spat at him, making sure to throw a little charmspeak into her voice. Talking was what she was good at, Piper reminded herself. Words were stronger than swords. Sometimes.
Leo waved the words away. "Do you think I'm an idiot, Piper McLean? Do you think I'd simply ask for you to come with me? Expect that you would dance your ways over to Gaea? Don't mistake me for such a fool, because I, thankfully, am much smarter than my host. I have different methods of getting what I want." He growled, his voice pitch altering again.
Piper didn't know what he was talking about until Leo held out his hands and two burst of blue fire erupted from them. Even from where she was sitting, she could feel the heat of the flames.
"Truthfully Gaea wishes it to be Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase to be her sacrifices, but personally I think one Roman and one Greek would be better suited for the occasion." The Eidolon mused as it took a step forward. "Now, if it could be Perseus and Hazel... well, that'd be even better! To bad they didn't show up."
Piper's eyes widened, and Jason squinted. "Fighting a son of Jupiter isn't a good idea." He snarled.
Leo's left eyebrow raised, and the smirk on his face deepened. "You're right, it's not." He agreed, fixing his eyes on the blue flames sprouting from his hands. "But luckily for me, I don't think I'll be doing much fighting."
