BADDAM.
Another update!
Oh yeah and the sneak-peek from chapter 34 concerns this chapter, though I've changed
the wording a bit (a lot).
Thanks to everyone who reviews.
Please don't kill me after you read this...

Chapter thirty-eight: Explosion

~Leo's POV~

"Zhang! Come here, quick!" Leo yelled as he sprinted out on deck. The alarm was ringing like mad now and horrible images flooded Leo's mind.
He had to concentrate, had to go help them.
Frank appeared next to him, clearly confused. "What's up?" he asked.
"No time to explain! You need to fly me onto the island! Now!" Leo cried as he ran up to Festus and gave him some quick commands.
He must have been so alarming that Frank didn't even question Leo's orders, but transformed into an
eagle and waited for Leo to get on.
He did so, and they took off, leaving Piper and Hazel running onto deck behind them, yelling words
Leo couldn't hear anymore.
Fast as lightning, Frank zipped towards the middle of the island, dropped down and started to circle. Leo's heart was hammering in his chest. What had happened to the others?
Although the island was huge it didn't take them long to out where Percy, Jason and Pen had got to.
That was probably because it was kinda hard to miss the gigantic automaton looming into the sky,
roaring a battle cry and swiping at something in mid-air, which Leo guessed to be Jason.
"Frank, over there!" Leo called but Frank had already spotted the fight and was flying towards it.
Just as they approached, Leo saw Jason fall to the ground and not get back up again. He could see
Penelope sprint towards him, but the metal giant brought down his fist and sent her flying.
When she hit the ground, she didn't move.
Oh no.
Leo's brain was hazy with fear but he knew he had to think straight.
If he didn't do something now, that monster would kill his friends. Suddenly the giant raised his hands for a final blow.
"No!" Leo shouted and jumped off Frank's back and onto the giants head, smashing into his skull with all his might.
But it was too late. The machine brought down his hands, aiming right at Jason and Penelope, using its whole, incredible force.
But suddenly the gigantic arms were knocked of course, by a huge green dragon flying head-first into them. Frank had come to the rescue.
Yet the giant wouldn't be defeated this easily. He swatted at Frank and sent him spiralling away, into a clump of trees. Then the monster redirected his attention to the unconscious demigods on the
ground.
"No, no no!" Leo yelled. He had to stop this thing, had to disable it somehow.
But how could he do that? Somewhere inside his brain, something clicked and he realised what this
thing was. Talos, the mighty automaton his dad had once built for Zeus, who had given it to Europe
as a protector.
If he remembered correctly, he'd read about the automatons circuits being located inside his right ear, on a scroll he'd found in Bunker nine.
It was a long shot, but the best one Leo had.
He slipped down one side of the giant's head, kicking him all the while to distract him from the others.
Talos roared and tried to flick Leo off, but Leo had already found the entrance to the right ear and was now crawling through an oily passage.
Yuck, he thought, automaton's ear wax.
Soon, he found a control panel, and ripped off the covering, but to his horror the circuits were laid
in a way that made them impossible to disconnect.
The only way to destroy them was to liquefy the celestial bronze wiring, but he had no fire.
He felt Talos banging on the side of his own head, and knew that he wouldn't last long if he didn't get outta here soon.
He tried to light his hands, but still the fire didn't come.
Leo was useless, here was the one thing he was supposed to be able to do, and yet he couldn't do it,
and his friends would die because of him.
Penelope would die.
No, he couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.
A rage gripped him, so fierce it felt like his insides were on fire, and he did nothing to calm down.
Instead, he plunged his arms into the controls, screaming in rage.
He would not be the useless seventh wheel. He would not see his friends be killed.
He was no longer the helpless kid that had to watch as Gaia let his mother burn to death.
He was Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, and he was going to bring this monster down.
With all his might, Leo willed his fire to the surface and it did, breaking out in a blast of heat,
so warm that the circuits instantly caught flames.
His head was so filled with concentration that he didn't notice the alarming bangs and beeps going off around him, he didn't notice anything except how the wiring underneath his hands was melting to puddles of celestial bronze.
Suddenly there was a huge shudder as the whole automaton sank to its knees, finally shutting down.
But Leo had stayed too long. He'd burnt to much. The insides of the automaton became over-heated, the whole brain searing hot.
Leo tried to get out, but just as he reached the exit, there was an almighty explosion and he was blasted into the sky, jagged bits of metal and clumps of fire filling the air around him.
Well, this is it. Leo thought dizzily as he started to fall.
He might be immune to fire, but he was not immune to explosions that sent thousand of shards of debris right at him.
Already Leo could feel himself loosing consciousness, and he wondered if he would feel himself
hitting the ground, his brains probably going splat on impact.
He tried to brace himself, but the collision never came.
Instead, arms wrapped around him and held on tightly, carrying him away.
Leo tried to make out the face above him, and he got a glimpse of bright turquoise eyes, filled with tears.
Thank the gods you're safe he wanted to say, but he had no energy left.
All he could do was feel glad, as his vision darkened, that the last thing he would have done on this earth was save the people he cared for most in the world.
He caught one last flash of blue sky, one swish of familiar dark hair before everything went black
and Leo Valdez knew no more.

Ah don't kill me! *ducks out of the way*
So I have 92 reviews on this story, which is totally awesome, and I really want to see
if we can reach a hundred.
Which means I won't be updating until we have a hundred reviews.
Muhaha.
Love you (even if you don't love me)

Oh yeah, and of course I don't own PJO/HoO