Whoo, this was so much fun to write!
Lots of action! ;)
Enjoy, I still don't own anything

Chapter twenty-eight: Flight and Fight

Carefully, Leo positioned himself so that he was right next to the door, but on the side of the hinges.
This way, when someone opened it, he would be concealed long enough for Pen and him to act.
He couldn't see Penelope anymore, as she'd done the weird concealing thing her and Chleo had used that night of capture the flag.
His lips still tingled from the kiss, and it was hard to concentrate on what they had to do, even though he knew he must.
Finally, Leo heard one of the demons arrive outside the door, but instead of opening it, it stayed outside. Obviously the transportation hadn't arrived yet.
Leo cursed inwardly. They had been counting on the door being opened, as they couldn't manage it themselves in a short period of time.
He was just about to motion to Penelope that they had do think of a new plan, when a ridiculous idea came to him.
It was so far fetched, Leo almost discarded it, but somehow he had a notion it would work, if the demon outside was the right one.
He decided to risk it.
"Hey, Edcychtous!" he called loudly, and there was a ripple in the corner as Penelope started forward, he face shocked.
Quickly, Leo motioned to her to stay where she was, and she nodded guardedly, disappearing again into the shadows.
There was no answer from outside the door, but Leo thought he heard a little hiss of annoyance. "Edcychtous?" He called again "Are ya there? We're kinda bored in here!"
This time, there was a definite hiss, but the demon seemed unwilling to talk to Leo.
"Come on," Leo coaxed "These cages are getting old. Can't you open the door so we can at least have a little chat?"
"Silence, demigod!" came a raspy cry from outside, and the anger made the voice even scarier. But Leo knew he couldn't stop now, so he spoke back loudly.
"Don't be such a kill-joy Edcychtous! Man, that name is like a real mouthful. Edcychtous. Haven't you got a nickname?"
"Demigod, if you know what is good for you, you will cease to talk now!" a shout came back, but still the door stayed closed. Leo would have to take it up a notch.
"So that's a no, is it? That' okay, I'll give you one. Let's think.." he paused, making sure the demon was still listening "Oh, I've got it! Cychy!"
A growl came from outside, muffled by the door but still distinctly audible.
"No?" Leo asked "Shame, I like Cychy. But okay. How about...Ed! It's not very unusual, but I think it kinda suits you!"
"Do not talk to me like that! Do you even realise who I am, son of Hephaestus?!" The demon's voice was now furious, and Leo knew it wouldn't take much anymore to make him open the door.
"Yeah, sure I do, Ed. But ya know, Eddy, I don't think you're that great. I mean, you lock us up in here, and then stand guard outside the door? What kind of demon does that? Are you, like, afraid of being in the same room as us? Afraid we'll hurt you?"
That did it. Leo barely had time to register the click of the lock as Edcychtous unlocked the door, before it was flung open with a huge crack.
It was a good thing the door was so big and heavy, making it stop swinging pretty quickly, otherwise Leo would be pancake.
The demon sprang inside, its claws raised, a growl ripping from his throat.
Yet when it saw the empty cages and the (supposedly) empty room, it hesitated, for only a second.
That was enough for Leo.
Like a canon ball, he launched himself onto the demon, knocking it clean over, and making it hit its head on the cage corner, hard.
"Now!" Leo yelled, and Penelope was there in a flash, running out of the door, and Leo was right behind here.
He knew the demon would only be stunned for a bit, and that the noise they'd made had probably alerted its brother, but he didn't care.
With a huge tug, he closed the door and they were off, racing down the corridor so fast he almost went flying when they rounded the corner into the huge storage hall.
"Where's the exit?" Penelope cried panicky.
Leo looked around, his heart beating in his throat. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a light shine through a window. A neon light.
"This way!" he tugged Pen along, praying he was right, and that it was indeed the neon sign he'd seen earlier shining in through that window.
There was no time to rethink though, and so they ran flat out to the end of the storage hall.
The room was so huge, and full of odd obstacles like boxes and crates and shelves, that it took them longer than Leo had anticipated.
Before they knew it, Ed's brother, the black demon, was baring down upon them.
Where had he come from?
It didn't matter though, all that mattered was that he was now towering in front of them, blocking their way.
"Demigods!" he rumbled in his deep, bone chilling voice. He was holding a long, wickedly thick sword, but before he could use it, a flash of light hit him square in the chest.
Penelope's tiny ball of flames didn't really do much, except make him stumble, but it was just enough to let them slip past him without getting skewered.
In the distance, Leo could see the door, and he ran if possible even faster.
Please don't let that be locked as well, he prayed.
"WITCH SPAWN!" the black demon cried behind them, as he took up the pursuit.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Leo saw Penelope's face contort in what he thought was anger, but he couldn't be sure because he'd never seen that emotion on her face before. Annoyance, maybe, but never anger.
To his horror, she stopped running and whipped around, facing the oncoming monster.
"Pen! What are you doing?!" Leo cried, skidding to a halt himself.
But Penelope wasn't listening, she'd raised her hands and was holding them out in front of her, her turquoise eyes transformed into dark purple pools of power.
Energy seemed to radiate off her, and not only her hands burst into flames, but her whole arms, the purple-blue light illuminating her features in an eerie, scary way.
She looked terrifying and Leo could feel every inch of him wanting to back up out of pure survival instinct. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt this way, as the demon tried desperately to slow down, yet unsuccessfully.
Its weight propelled its body forward, and instead of leaping out of the way, Penelope sprang at it, sailing towards its scaly head. They crashed into each other with a loud smack, and Leo could barely make out Penelope shoving her flaming arms into the demon's face, before the whole thing exploded in a shower of dust.
Nothing moved for a moment, and Leo was too stunned by what had just happened to do anything other than stand there, open mouthed.
Then, out of the pile of golden dust, a figure rose, coming towards him.
Instinctively he jerked back, but then light fell onto the figures face and he saw it was just Penelope. "Come on" she said, her breathing ragged, and pulled him towards the door with her.
They opened it (Leo sending a quick thanks to whichever god was responsible for keeping doors unlocked) and slipped outside just as they heard Ed crashing through the hall, screaming
"Demigods! I will find you!"
They ran down the street, turned into another and ran down that one.
Neither of them had any idea where they were going, and so for the next ten minutes it was a nerve-racking turning into random streets and alleys, hoping to come across a main road.
Eventually they did, and for a second they allowed themselves a breath of air, while looking for
someone to ask for directions.
"What..was..that?" Leo panted, looking incredulously at Penelope, who looked like she was ready to keel over from exhaustion. Her eyes and features were back to normal, but a dark shadow remained on her face, as she shook her head.
"Later."
Leo nodded, and they asked a random woman how to get to the tourist outlook, something Leo remembered seeing on the hill where he'd parked the Argo.
Luckily, the woman knew what he was talking about, and told them to get a cab to St. Agnes street and then it was only a short hike up the hill.
"Thanks" Leo told the lady and they raced down the road, hoping they'd sidetracked enough to have lost Ed for good.
"Taxi!" Penelope cried, flinging out an arm, and a yellow car came to a halt beside them.
"St. Agnes street please!" Penelope panted when they'd climbed in, and the driver shot them a
suspicious look but didn't say anything.
Twenty minutes later, when the stitches in Leo's side had finally calmed down, the taxi stopped and Leo could see the hill rising before them.
"Thanks!" he told the driver, and then realised they didn't have any mortal money on them.
He shot a glance at Penelope, who seemed to have realised the same thing, and without needing to explain, they both opened the doors and shot out, leaving the driver yelling "HEY! Come back, you little brats!"
They didn't hear any more though, as they were already half way up the slope and had reached the forest.
Twigs and branches scratched their faces to bits, but neither of them slowed down.
"Where's the ship?" Penelope cried, obviously disorientated.
But Leo could feel where the Argo II was, as if he had an inbuilt compass that pointed him towards it. And maybe he did, of sorts.
After fifteen minutes of jogging through the woods, they finally found the clearing and thankfully the ship was still there.
Leo could see Jason about to climb onto it, obviously having been out to look for them.
"Heads up!" Leo yelled as they sprinted towards the blonde boy, making him wheel around in
surprise.
"Leo! Penelope! What the-" But Leo gave him no time to finish, as he grabbed Jason by the front of his shirt and hurled him onto the ship, jumping in himself and followed closely by Penelope.
With shaking fingers he shut the hatch and ran onto deck, yelling.
"Is everyone on board?!"
Annabeth, who was standing at the front of the deck with Piper, came running towards him.
"Leo! Thank the gods, where were you!? We have to get out of here, Phorcys -"
"Never mind Phorcys!" Leo yelled as he grabbed his wii control "We do need to get out of here though! Is everyone on board?"
Annabeth was obviously confused, but she nodded.
With a yank, Leo made the Argo II lurch into the air, probably making everyone fall over at the same time.
"Come on Festus, pour on the speed!" he shouted at the figure head, who obliged with a roar and
they shot up and into the night, Leo's heart still hammering in his chest.
As Atlanta shrunk to the size of a toy town beneath them, Leo couldn't help but shiver at how close they'd come to dying today.
"Leo, what happened?!" Annabeth demanded, while Leo set Festus on autopilot and then staggered downstairs into the sickbay, where he saw Penelope already passed out on one of the beds.
"Later" he mumbled, before letting himself fall upon a mattress as well, and instantly falling asleep.