It was dim. Amoriel could make out lots of bulky shaped that looked like pieces of machinery, but she couldn't be sure. Leo was right behind her, pulling out his hammer. She activated her bow and quiver.
They silently looked around. The catwalk that they left Piper and Jason on was empty. Somewhere below, on the factory floor, Piper's voice cried out, "Leo, Amoriel, help!". But she and Leo looked at each other. That couldn't be right.
How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk and landed on with a broken ankle? They quickly slipped behind a cargo container, and then hide behind similar pieces of junk and machinery, they slowly made their way to the center, behind a robotic arm.
Piper's voice called out again, but less certainly this time, but very close, "Guys? Are you there?" Amoriel peeked around the arm. Leo couldn't bring himself to. Suddenly, it sounded like something was getting up. She turned to look.
"Told you it was nothing." said something. Its voice was way too deep and feral to be human. The thing opposite him got up too. There was something in between them. But she couldn't see what. The second one said,
"Leo! Amoriel! Help-" then his voice changing to deep and feral like the first one. "Bah. There's no-one out there. No demigods could be that quiet, eh?"
"Probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about two more demigods. Let's get cooking."
Suddenly, there was a burst of white light, and the scene was alight. There were two figures either side of the fire. There was a...spit, Amoriel thought. In horror, she realized there was a truck engine dangling above it. And two figures were dangling from it. They were Jason and Piper!
Jason looked alive enough, but he was unconscious, and there was a large red welt the size of an apple above his left eye. Amoriel winced. That must have hurt. Next to him was Piper, wriggling from side to side. At least she was alive and conscious.
They were wrapped in bandages like cacoons, and they had gags over their mouths. It might have been funny, except they were about to get roasted by...it hit her.
Monocle Motors. How did she not get it before? The cooks were Cyclopses. Three massive humanoids were gathered around the fire. The two on either side of the fire were around ten feet tall, and they were very hairy. One was wearing an uncomfortable-looking chain-mail loin cloth. The other was wearing a fuzzy robe made out of...was that fiber insulation wire? Anyways, Amoriel was pretty sure these two beasts wouldn't have made it into her top ten wardrobe choices.
The ginormous humanoid in between them was facing away from the arm she and Leo were crouching behind. They were wearing a metal...dress? and they had dark hair.
She'd seen some weird things so far, like a metal dragon that liked Tabasco sauce or Ventis. But this was different. These were flesh and blood 10-foot monsters who wanted to eat her friends for lunch. Their weapons looked tiny against these humanoids. This is what Dirt face was talking to Leo about.
Leaving her, Piper and Jason to be at the mercy of the cyclops menu. Leo took his bag, and slowly started unzipping it. She grinned at him. He had a plan. The cyclops in the chain mail loincloth walked over to Piper, who squirmed and tried to headbutt him in the eye. Amoriel smirked and did a silent, small fist pump.
"Can I take the gag off? I like it when they scream." He directed this question at the third cyclops, who was obviously the leader. The crouching figure grunted, and the cyclops pulled the gag off Piper.
She didn't scream. She took a shaky breath, trying to stay calm. Meanwhile, Leo was pulling stuff out of his tool belt and backpack. Amoriel crossed her fingers, hoping he would hurry. They were running out of time. He also had to stay really quiet. It seemed impossible that he could do anything without making a lot of noise. The cyclops in the fuzzy robe poked at the fire,
"Scream, girl! I like funny screaming!". When Piper spoke, her tone was calm and reasonable, like she was correcting a naughty puppy.
"Oh, Mr. Cyclops, you don't want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go." Piper rocked. Loincloth scratched his head.
"She's kinda pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go." Fiberglass robe guy seethed with rage.
"I saw her first, Sump, I'll let her go!". Amoriel felt herself making a sour face. Torque and Sump. Who actually came up with these names?
"Fools!" The third Cyclops growled, getting up. With a shock, she realized that the third Cyclops was a female and an ugly one at that. "That girl is Venus spawn. She's charm speaking you!".
This lady was bigger and beefier than both Torque and Sump (again, what with the names?), and several feet taller. She was wearing a chain mail dress-a muumuu.
Yeah, the lady cyclops was wearing a muumuu. Her greasy black hair was matted into two pigtails, that were woven with copper wires and metal washers. Her nose and mouth were smashed together as if she spent her free time ramming into walls, but her single red eye glittered with evil intelligence. She pushed Sump to the side, and Torque made no hesitation to get out of the way.
"Please ma'am-" Piper began to say.
"Rarr!" said the lady Cyclops, grabbing Piper around the waist. "Don't try your pretty talk on me, girl! I'm Ma Gasket! I've eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!" Amoriel was scared that Piper would get crushed, but Ma Gasket just let her dangle, hanging from the chain. Then she started yelling at Sump about how stupid he was.
That's when Amoriel realized that Torque and Sump must have been her sons. If so, Ugly most certainly ran in the family. Leo seemed to have finished what he needed. Amoriel grinned at him, silently encouraging him. He grinned back.
"-eat her last, Ma?" Sump was saying.
"Idiot!" Ma Gasket yelled. "I should have thrown you on to the streets when you were born, like proper cyclops children. Curse my soft heart I kept you!". Amoriel smiled to herself in amusement. Soft heart. Obviously, Torque and Sump weren't as stupid as they looked.
"Soft heart?" Torque muttered.
"What was that you ingrate?"
"Nothing Ma. I says you has a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenails-"
"And you should be grateful!" Ma Gasket bellowed. "Sump, my case of salsa is in the other room! Don't tell me you expect me to eat the demigods without my salsa!"
"Yes Ma," Sump gulped. "I mean, no Ma. I mean-"
"Go get it!" Ma yelled, chucking a truck at her son. But apparently, Sump got hit by trucks a lot, because he just pushed it off him, and went out of the door, legs shaking.
Amoriel looked at Leo. Now was the time, while they were separated. He seemed to be having the same thoughts, as he dashed between the machinery. Luckily, the Cyclops didn't see him, but Piper did. Oh, gods, she thought to herself. 'Please don't get us busted'.
Piper's expression of surprise turned to disbelief, and she gasped. Amoriel gulped and tried to stay as still as possible. Maybe that way, she could pass off as a statue. Ma Gasket turned to Piper.
"What is it, girl? So fragile I broke you?" Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away from them and said
"I think it's my ribs, Ma'am. If I'm busted up inside, I'll taste terrible." Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter.
"Oh, that was a good one. Remember the last one we ate, Torque? Son of mercury, wasn't he?"
"Yes Ma," Torque said obediently. "Tasty. Little bit stringy."
"He tried a trick like that. Said he was on medication. But he tasted fine!" Ma continued.
"Tasted like mutton," Torque recalled. "Purple shirt. Talked in Latin. A little stringy, but good." Amoriel's heart froze. Purple shirt? Like the one Jason and she was wearing said an annoying voice in her head. she was broken out of her thoughts when Sump said,
"Oh and remember that other demigod, son of Apollo, wasn't he?"
"Oh yes," Torque agreed happily. "Orange shirt one. Said he was lactose intolerant." He then made a face.
"Good eating." Ma Gasket commented, bringing Amoriel out of her bubble. "Point is, girl, we're not as dumb as people think. We're not falling for those stupid tricks, not us Northen Cyclopses!".
She looked over at Leo. His hand was skillfully twisting wire around wire, around a metal pole. Amoriel crossed her fingers, hoping Piper would keep stalling. Leo looked up at the dangling car engine, right above the Cyclops campsite. She smiled. That would make a great weapon. But then she realized that it was being suspended over by a crane on a conveyor belt across the other side. There was no way Leo could get over there without being seen. And besides, they were running short on time.
The last part of Leo's plan was the trickiest. He summoned some wires, a radio adapter, and a small screwdriver. Then started to build a universal remote. For the first time, he sent a silent prayer of thanks to Hephaestus for giving him the magical tool belt. 'Get me out of here', he prayed, 'and maybe you're not such a jerk'. He looked around. Piper was laying on the praise,
"Oh, I've heard about Northen Cyclopses! I had no idea that you were so strong and clever!" He figured it was bull, but at least it sounded convincing.
"Flattery won't work either," Ma Gasket said, though she sounded pleased. Leo suddenly heard a quiet snort, and he turned around. Amoriel was doubled over, trying not to laugh. For her sake, he seriously hoped she succeeded. She suddenly saw him grinning at her, so she gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and turned back around. Amoriel always managed to keep his spirits up. Some part of him wanted to just relax with her but Piper and Jason were on a tight schedule, and he figured they wouldn't appreciate getting turned into demigod roast.
"It's true, though." Ma Gasket continued. "You'll be breakfast for the best cyclopses all around!"
"But aren't Cyclopses good? I thought that they made weapons for the gods?" Piper asked. Leo winced. Maybe she'd busted it.
"Bah! I'm good! Good at eating people! Good at smashing! And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods. Our cousins, the elder cyclopses do this, yes. Thinking they're so high and mighty 'cause they're a few thousand years older. Then there's our southern cousins, living on islands, and tending sheep. Bah! But we northern cyclopses, we're the best! Founded monocle motors in this old factory- the best weapons, armor, weapons, fuel-efficient SUV's! But then-bah! Forced to shut down. Laid off most of our tribe. The war was too quick. Titans lost. No good! No more need for cyclops weapons."
"Oh no." Piper sympathized. "I'm sure you made some amazing weapons." Torque grinned. Maybe there was hope for this after all.
"Squeaky war hammer!" he replied happily. He picked up a large pole with an accordion-looking metal box on the end. He slammed it onto the floor. The cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the world's largest rubber ducky getting stomped on. Leo heard a snort from behind him. This was just too much for Amoriel, who went of into silent peals of laughter. Leo shook his head and turned back to the task.
"Terrifying," Piper agreed. Leo heard a soft thump from behind him. Rolling my eyes, he turned around to see Amoriel silently rolling about on the floor, trying her utmost best not to giggle. Leo grinned, the temptation to join her on the floor was too much, but he turned back to his hands, which were furiously working on auto-pilot. Torque was looking pleased.
"Not as good as the exploding axe, but this can be used more than once."
"Can I see it?" Piper asked. "If you would just free my hands..." Leo smiled. There was hope, in the end. Torque stepped forward eagerly, but Ma Gasket said,
"Stupid! She's charm speaking you! No, slay the boy before he dies on his own. I like my meat fresh!"
'Maybe I was wrong,' he said to himself, his fingers flying across the wires. Just a few more minutes! He almost thought of sending Amoriel out there to act as a time stalling ambassador.
"Hey, wait, can I just ask-" Piper was cut short, as the wires in Leo's palm sparked. The Cyclopes looked in his direction, and Torque threw a truck at him. He ducked. If he had been a half a second later, he would have been impaled. Suddenly he heard a sickening, 'Ow' from behind him. His heart skipped a beat. Amoriel. He had to pretend it was nothing. Pushing the depressing thoughts of what happened to his girlfriend out of his head, he focused on what was happening now. He got to his feet, as Ma Gasket spotted him.
"Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclopes, get him!" she yelled. Torque barreled towards him. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote. Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet away. Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton metal claw smashed the Cyclopes in the back so hard he went straight to the ceiling. It was hard to see, but he never came down. Instead, it was a rain of metal dust. Leo really wanted to go and check on Amoriel, but now wasn't the time.
Ma Gasket stared at him in shock. "My son. You...you...my...son..."
As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the room.
"Ma, I got the extra spicey-" he never finished his sentence. Leo spun the toggle, and a robotic arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a pinata, and Sump flew backward, right into the base of Leo's third machine. Sump may have been immune to getting hit by trucks, but he wasn't immune to robotic arms that could deliver 10 thousand pounds of force. The third arm slammed him onto the floor so hard, he disintegrated into dust on impact. Leo turned behind him. Amoriel was slowly getting the truck off her. He marveled. Dang, that girl was strong. He turned back around. The floor was now mottled with gold and brown. Two Cyclopes down. He was starting to feel like Commander tool belt, but Ma Gasket had to come in and ruin it. She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off with menace.
"You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!" Leo punched a button, and the two remaining robotic arms swung into action. Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but this only seemed to make her mad. She grabbed it, hurling it. It missed Jason and Piper by inches. He managed to duck it, but poor Amoriel fell the victim once more. She managed to dodge it-mostly. It hit her fair and square on the shoulder. Leo turned around to look. Ma Gasket was seething with rage. He was starting to realize that fighting an angry mummy Cyclopes with a universal remote and a screwdriver was not a great idea. The future for him was not looking so hot. Ma Gasket stood about twenty feet from him now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked funny in her chain mail dress or her matted pigtail, but her red-eye glowed with so much malice that he wasn't laughing.
"Any more tricks, demigod?" Ma Gasket asked, sneering.
"Heck, yeah, I got tricks," Leo replied, in what he hoped was a more nonchalant voice than he felt. But was it him, or was his voice a pitch higher? He raised his remote control. "Take one more step, and I'll destroy you with fire."
Amoriel's eyes were zooming in and out, in and out. She thought it was the truck. She tried to push it off of her, and she got up to a certain point, but then, her arms drooped again. She stayed there, not wanting to move a muscle.
"Take one more step, and I'll destroy you with fire," Leo said. 'What?!' Amoriel thought. 'What was he talking about', Ma Gasket laughed.
"Oh, would you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with fire, then let me help!" She scooped red hot coals into her hands, and she chucked them at Leo. They scattered around his feet.
"Missed!" Leo said, trying for a nonchalant tone. Only then did Amoriel understand what would happen.
"Leo, n-" Amoriel began to say when Ma Gasket took a barrel named kerosene and threw it. She gasped. Flamed erupted around Leo, engulfing him. Her heart started pounding like crazy.
"Leo!" She yelled in horror. The flames died down, revealing Leo, clothes a bit tattered, but still well alive. Amoriel's face fell.
"How-"
"You live?" Ma Gasket looked astonished. "Who are you?" She took that extra step forward. Amoriel looked up and saw Leo's plan. She grinned, as much as it hurt. That boy was a freaking genius. Leo. Freaking. Valdez.
"The son of Hephaestus," Leo said. "And I warned you I would destroy you with fire." He pointed his finger at the chain above Ma Gasket and shot a bolt of white-hot flames at it. Amoriel's heart was racing. It seemed like it would do the trick. But nothing happened. Her heart fell into the depths of the underworld. Ma Gasket laughed.
"A nice try, son of Hephaestus. It has been many years since I saw a fire user like you. you'll make a spicy appetizer!"
That's when the chain broke, heated beyond its tolerance point.
"I don't think so," Leo said in a deadly calm voice. Ma Gasket didn't even have time to look up. The engine fell on her, and there were no more cyclopes left, just a pile of dust.
"Not immune to engines, huh? Boo-Yah!" Then he fell on his knees. That had drained all the energy out of him. Amoriel finally managed to get the truck off of her. She winced in pain. Piper started calling his name. Leo didn't notice for a bit. Then he jerked up.
"Leo, are you alright, can you move?" Amoriel asked. He tried getting up. Wow, he was really drained.
"I'm fine," he muttered before asking, "What 'bout you?". Amoriel gritted her teeth. Her shoulder was bruised and dislocated.
"I've been better." She said. He started coming over to help her, but she shook her head. He got the message and went over to help Jason and Piper.
It took a long time to get Piper down from the chains, then they tried lifting Jason, who was knocked out, unconscious. Piper trickled some nectar into his mouth, and the welt shrunk a little, along with some color returning to his face. Leo frowned at the welt.
"Yeah, he's got a nice thick skull. He should be fine."
"Thank god," she sighed. Clutching her shoulder, Amoriel managed to limp over to them. Piper looked at Leo with some fear in her eyes. "How did you-the fire-have you always..." Leo hung his head.
"Yeah. I'm a freaking menace. Sorry, should've told you guys before, but..." When he looked up, Piper was grinning at him. She punched his arm.
"That was amazing, Valdez, you saved us! What are you sorry about?" Leo blinked. Then Amoriel did something he didn't expected at all. She pulled him into a hug. It hurt her, but he needed it.
"You. Are. Magnificent. Don't you dare ever say that again, mi amore. You are not a menace. You saved all our asses today." She pulled back.
"Oh, gods what happened?!" Piper said in alarm once she saw the state Amoriel was in. Amoriel shook her head.
"Trucks and cyclopes happened." Then she noticed something next to Piper's foot. The golden dust, maybe Torque, was reforming, like invisible winds pushing it together.
"They're forming again." She said, frowning. Leo and Piper looked down. Jason, the poor dolt, was still unconscious. Piper stepped away from the dust.
"That's not possible. Annabeth told me that monsters dissipate when they're killed. They go to Tartarus, and can't return for a long time." Leo shook his head.
"No-one told the dust that." Leo watched slowly, as the dust started to slowly gain shape.
"Oh, god," Piper turned pale. "Boreas said something about this- the earth yielding up horrors. 'When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.' How long do you think we have?"
Amoriel immediately thought of the face of the sleeping 'Mother'-Dirt face.
"Not long," she confirmed. "We need to get out of here."
They were flying across Detroit, the busy city bumbling below them. Amoriel had cleaned herself up a bit, so now with the magic of ambrosia, her shoulder was well and good. Piper's ankle was doing okay, though the nectar's magic was wearing off. Leo was newly energized, driving Festus with gusto. Suddenly, Jason's eyes snapped open, and he yelled,
"Cyclopes!"
"Woah, sleepyhead!" Piper helped keep him balanced.
"Detroit, d-din't we c-cr-crash land, I thought-"
"It's okay," Leo told him. Amoriel flashed Jason a grin. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How are you feeling?" Jason rubbed his temple.
"How did you-the cyclopes-"
"It was awesome!" She said, going on into classic Amoriel with the big hand gestures. "Leo ripped them apart, single-handed, and he can summon fire! It was very hot." Leo went red and he looked down at the floor.
"It was nothing," he muttered.
"Shut up, Repair boy," She laughed. "I'm gonna tell him all about it."
And she did. About how Leo defeated the whole family of cyclopes, got Jason out of there, started to notice the dust re-forming; how he'd fixed the dragons remaining corroded circuits, and had gotten them airborne as they'd started to hear cyclopes yelling for vengeance in the factory. Looking at Jason's face, she could tell he was impressed but was that...regret in his face? Amoriel started to realize that being a son of the king of the gods, Jason was under a lot of pressure, being the star. And being knocked out the whole 'cyclopes ambush' while his friends had to come and save him, that wasn't the image everyone expected. Piper told him about the other kid the cyclopes had eaten, the son of mercury, Jason went pale. Amoriel's inner gut strings pulled.
"So, the son of Mercury," Jason said. He looked at Amoriel "That means we're not alone, then. There are others like us."
"You were never alone, guys." Piper placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've got us."
