AN: Hey guys, just to say- this will be the last update for about 10 days, because I'm going to a camp which may/may not have wifi, but I'm not allowed to take my laptop-so I will be physically unable to update- SORRY!
The winner was MaHal1337 congratulations, and review who you want to be in the story... (::) (::) (::) (::)! Since I don't have a clue about Halo (other than that angels wear them) I didn't review, have donuts instead! (0) (0) (0) (0)
More Hephaestus or Hestia? OK then...
I apologise for time zones, unfortunately I don't have the authority to do anything about them- I suggest you plead to Zeus.
Peanut butter the Pegasus- unfortunately not.
Just been on half-blood wiki serching Buford, I couldn't take it seriously when I looked at species... Species: Table. I laughed for about an hour. This species is divided into two parts, the hardwood table and the softwood table. Types include the Oak table, the beech table, and of course the Mahogany table! That is Mahogany!
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the plot, and not much of that either.
Chapter 6: In which camp has gone mad...
The Hephaestus cabin were in awe of bunker nine, and Leo tried not to laugh as all five of his siblings acted like five year-olds who had just been shown a house made entirely of candy. Shane could be forgiven, but when Beckendorf actually squealed over the machinery... Well, Leo could be excused for rolling on the floor laughing. Anyone in his position would be.
Jake had already claimed a bench as 'his' and had started assembling something based on a blueprint he had found in one of the draws. Leo thought it might be the blueprint of the mini-bombs that the Hephaestus cabin had made in bulk during the war with Gaia. While they were freaking complicated to make, being the size of a marble; Leo had memorised the method. A getaway bomb was always handy. He could make one in a minute, with his hands tied behind his back- and unfortunately, that had been proven.
Leo grinned at his family running all around the bunker, and the exclamations they were making.
"Holy Hephaestus! You have got to see this!"
Everyone turned to look at Chris, who had stuck his head though the padlocked door he had been working on opening for the past ten minutes, "I'm dreaming... No, I've died, and am now in Elysium. This is..."
Leo grinned, and watched as the others crowded round Chris to peer through the door too. Chris had found the H.C.E, short for Hephaestus camper's Elysium. It was a long warehouse shaped cave, full to the brim with Celestial bronze, jewels, rare parts, cogs, and everything anyone would need to make anything. Right now it looked like his siblings were all about to faint. Then there was a mad rush, as everyone claimed a bench and a blueprint from the stacks in the draws and along the sides, and settled down to make whatever it was that had caught their fancy- lack of materials no longer an issue.
Leo laughed at his siblings again, then returned to his bench, and resumed building Buddfetta. It was going to be a long project he knew- especially as he was planning to make her sentient. Right now he was just assembling the parts he would need to make her. Before he even started constructing her. He would need to take time on each piece. He was not going to rush her. She would be perfect!
Leo placed all the cogs needed on the table, then frowned as he caught one that was rolling of. Before he could even begin, he would need to make a stable box of some sort to store all the components. It would be just like him to get to the last stage and realise he didn't have the last screw, and then it would all fall apart.
That was the secret. Buford looked like an ordinary table, but he was in fact made of almost complete metal, with a wood coating, and Buford had been so mad when he realised Leo knew he wasn't completely wood, it had almost caused a massive disaster, but luckily Buford had calmed down enough for Leo to explain that he liked him just as much, even if he wasn't all wood, and this way meant that if He got burnt, he could be fixed, and wouldn't burn completely to ash. Strangely Buford like the- not burning completely to ash option- and the crisis was averted. Man, Buford was one touchy table.
Leo looked up from the blueprint that he realised he had been staring at, when he felt a touch on his shoulder. He looked to the left, and saw Nyssa standing beside him a frown on her face.
"Leo, next time you decide to go exploring, warn us first. There could be all sorts of monsters in the tunnels, and though we know that Shelob is friendly, the others probably won't be. I was so worried Leo, seriously, don't do it again."
Leo grinned, "I can look after myself Nyssa; you don't need to worry. I survived the streets of America, and believe me- they are swarming with monsters. I can handle myself, I promise."
Strangely enough, that didn't seem to relax Nyssa, she just looked even more worried. "How long were you on the streets for?"
Leo froze, why was he slipping so much? Seriously, he shouldn't have said that, Nyssa wasn't going to let it go now. He remembered the conversation he had with future Nyssa about the same topic. That had been really bad, ending with her treating him like he was an invalid, so what if he had gotten on the wrong side of a few gangs. The scars on his back didn't mean anything, he got over it. But he sure as Hades wasn't going to discuss it with this Nyssa; he was pretty sure that four years wouldn't change that much.
"It doesn't matter Nyssa. It was only a couple of months, and nothing bad happened. I was a bit cold, and a bit hungry, but I'm a boy, we're always hungry. So, could you... Just leave it yeah?"
Nyssa looked doubtful, but dropped the subject and made to move back to her bench, then stopped, turned round and grabbed Leo in a hug. Rushing back to her bench with a smile on her face at his bewildered expression.
The work in the bunker went on for hours and hours, no-one worrying about the time at all, at least not till Shane started snoring over his half-finished quiver of arrows. Leo looked up and met Beckendorf's eye. "How long have we been here?"
Beckendorf gave a shrug, and Nyssa gasped, and joined the conversation. "Our entire cabin is missing, Chiron's gonna be worried."
Jake dropped his hammer on his foot and cursed, then hobbled over to where the others were discussing, passing by Chris and Shane's snoring bodies. "No-one but us know about the descending beds right? If someone who isn't a child of Hephaestus tries to lower a bed, what happens?"
"The cabin goes into lockdown and all of the beds refuse to budge, until the all clear button is pressed." They all looked to Beckendorf in surprise, and he shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "I installed a security system when the Stolls came to camp, so what?"
Leo cleared his throat, "So, what do we do, we can't lug these guys back through the tunnels, and Shane won't like being woken up. I vote we all sleep here tonight and walk back in the morning, it's like a three hour trip, if you run all the way, and none of us want to run now."
"Right, but Chiron's probably going to contact Olympus first thing tomorrow, if he hasn't already, so we need to let him know what's going on."
"Sure Nyssa," Jake added, "little problem of how."
Nyssa snarled at him, and Leo grinned- there was the sleep deprived Nyssa that all those working on the Argo two had come to know and fear. "Oh I don't know Jake, a little thing called an Iris message... Ring any bells?"
"Ok, ok, I'm an idiot, no need to get nasty."
Beckendorf brought a spray gun out of one pocket, and a drachma out of the other one. He turned on the spray gun, and flipped the coin into the spray. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please show me Chiron at camp-half blood."
Percy's P.O.V.
Percy hadn't been that worried when the Hephaestus cabin had run through camp like they had hellhounds on their trail, Leo had probably just set his bed on fire or something- seems like a thing Leo would do. But when no-one from the Hephaestus cabin turned up at dinner, or at the campfire, something was clearly going on. Hades, even Chiron looked worried, and that didn't happen often. After the campfire, he stood up and said that the Hephaestus campers were neither in their cabin, not the forge, nor anywhere else at camp, and if anyone knew where they were, would they please speak now.
There was an unnatural silence, and you could hear crickets chirping, well you couldn't, but Percy was sure that, had there been crickets there, then it would have been possible to hear them chirping. Then the campfire rose up higher, and a figure walked out from it. Chiron bowed immediately, so the rest of camp, Ares cabin included, much to Percy's surprise, followed his example.
"Lady Hestia, may I ask why you have deigned to visit camp?"
The lady smiled, and looked around the campers, her eyes warm and friendly, "There is no need to bow my friends, I am not here to be worshiped, but to bring news. You asked of those, Hephaestus's children. I assure you they are quite safe, though they will not be back till sometime tomorrow. They have merely..."
The goddess was cut off by an Iris message forming by the fire, a fait voice, Leo's voice, echoed from it, as the vision cleared.
"Dude, why do you even have a spray gun in your pocket? What if it leaks?"
The message showed Beckendorf, Nyssa, Leo, and that other kid... Jake, they all looked pretty tired, and Chris could been seen in the background, slumped against a workbench and out of it completely. Beckendorf grinned at Chiron, then seemed to notice the lady standing beside him, and hastily bowed, followed by the rest of his siblings, at least the awake ones. He almost stuck his head through the Iris message, and the camp began to snicker at his blush when he came back up.
"Um, I hope we didn't worry you, but someone," Beckendorf gave a small glare at Leo, who Pfffed and shrugged it off, Beckendorf rolled his eyes, shocking half the crowd who had never seen Beckendorf do something like that, and continued. "Someone, decided that it would be a good idea to explore the tunnels underneath the Hephaestus cabin, and since that someone, is new, the rest of us were afraid there would be a load of monsters in the unexplored tunnels, and rushed after him."
Leo broke in, "Anyway, getting to the actual important bit, I found this awesome underground forge, called bunker 9, and cus it's so awesome, we kinda lost track of time, so, um, yeah. We're calling so you don't start a search party for us or anything, and we should be back sometime tomorrow." Leo rubbed his neck, as he did when he was embarrassed, and Percy grinned, unconsciously matching Hestia's expression as she popped away. Leo spun around as Chris slipped of his bench and crashed to the floor, and his flailing arm cut through the iris message.
Next question:
What sort of tree was Thalia turned into?
Just trying to reach 2000 words...