In Which A Cyclops can't aim (but his brother can):

As expected Ben put up quite a fight at Leo leaving, but Leo promised to write to him from his super special new school. Ben was actually quite looking forward to having a pen pal, and almost stopped fussing. Newbie was just confused. He had taken to following Leo round like a duckling, just because he was a demigod. Leo didn't mind much, Newbie reminded him a bit of Shane. He had shared that he had turned ten the day he ran away from home, but wouldn't explain why he ran. Judging by the bruises that were littering Newbie's arms Leo could guess why he ran.

Leo was always ready to complain, even if only in his head, about how terrible his life was and honestly, why did being a demigod have to mean instant tragic back-story? But he could acknowledge that other demigods had it worse than him. Sure his mom died, and while that still hurt years later, at least he had those happy years to remember before she died. She loved him. That was more than some demigods could say. Leo knew that a lot of people at camp had envied Percy because he still had his mom- but Leo had been told about smelly Gabe, and well, no matter how Annabeth told it there was no way he would believe Gabe hadn't hit Percy. Newbie had the same look- once you've gone through something you can recognise others who have- and Newbie flinched every time Ben said Dad. It wasn't hard to figure it out after that.

So yeah, Leo didn't mind having a shadow if it made Newbie feel safe, besides they'd be at camp soon anyway, so he could just had him over to Travis and Conner till he was claimed. Leo didn't recognise Newbie at all – not even his name, which either meant he died earlier in the Titan war, or that he joined the Titans. Or that originally he had died in the ally Leo found him in. Probably the last one. Newbie being here was a sign he actually was helping people in this time.

Newbie and Leo were being driven out of New York by Harvey, who had been told to dump them in a specific field, and a camp van would pick them up. Government secrecy all hush hush, after all M.O.N.S.T.E.R couldn't have ordinary citizens knowing where their HQ was! Harvey was a bit dubious when he dropped them off, but obediently drove off- leaving Leo and Newbie to make conversation.

"Leo...?" Newbie began tentatively.

"Yep, what's up?"

"What's it like at camp?"

Leo glanced over at newbie, who was biting his lip, and smiled. "Basically camp is like any summer camp, but subtract the cheesy sports day and add monster fighting class, chariot racing, and good old fashioned fights to the near death. Since you're not claimed, that's when a symbol of your parent appears over your head, you'll be in the Hermes cabin. That's where all the non-claimed demigods go- him being the god of travellers and all. Good guys, they'll rob you blind, prank you till you scream and then talk their way out of trouble. My friends Connor and Travis are sons of Hermes, so I'll get them to look after you."

Newbie looked a little alarmed at this point. "Who runs the camp?"

"Well, Mr D (that's Dionysus) is supposed to be in charge, but Chiron runs everything, he's a centaur. This year though, Chiron won't be there, the replacement is a nasty piece of work." Leo looked over at Newbie's alarmed face and grinned. "Don't worry, he won't hurt you, he's just a bit mean, besides if anyone does scare or hurt ya, you come to your bro Leo, I'll beat 'em up for ya." Leo paused and shuddered. "That was a terrible accent and I will not be doing it again."

Newbie was looking at Leo with both relief and confusion. Good expression, relfusion? Conlief?

Leo heard a van come trundling up to the gate, and Argus stuck his head out of the window. "Pickup for Mr Valdez, and Mr Bewson".

Leo grinned and dragged Newbie over to the van, sticking him in the back and clambering in as well. "Hey Argus, just out of interest, what happens if you ever need glasses?"

"Contact lenses- a lot of them. Once I ordered a whole load of red ones and changed my eye color. All my eyes. It freaked Chiron out so much."

Leo burst out laughing- he wished he could have seen that, and who'd have thought someone made by Hera would possess a sence of humour. Newbie was sitting as close as he could to Leo without it seeming like he was sitting close to Leo, and Leo guessed he was a bit scared of Argus. Leo grinned and whispered "camp's security guard, nice bloke, very hard to sneak past, and the ultimate defence against a weeping angel."

Leo figured they were almost at camp, since Harvey dropped them so near, so when he heard a bellow from outside, he wasn't very surprised. What he was surprised about was when the van started flying.

Well, less flying, and more being flipped, but hey, almost there, and if they survived this encounter, he was so making all the camp vehicles able to fly. If Chiron agreed that was.

The landing wasn't as fun as the taking off. They landed at an angle, on the hedge they had been driving by. Leo was thrown into the back of Argus' seat, and Argus was thrown forward, fortunately his seatbelt kept him alive, but he was defiantly unconscious. Leo quickly checked on Newbie. Out cold, but still with a pulse, once he had a bit of ambrosia he should be fine, but Leo really had to get rid of the monster before it decided to throw the van again. He slid open the door... Make that monsters.

Two cyclopes to be precise. Like Tyson, just evil. Ok, he had his tool belt, no help and two cyclopes looking like they'd like a Leo kebab. Leo didn't particularly feel like being a cyclops meal. Well, not again. Leo picked out a hammer from his tool belt, and threw it with all his strength at the cyclops who was again preparing to throw the van. It hit him on the arm and he turned to look at Leo.

"Demigod! Brother, meal time!"

"No. Not meal time, unless you like the taste of failure." Wow, that was cheesy even for him. Thank goodness it was only the cyclopes around. Not like he had a load of people watching his life... He really hoped Hephaestus T.V. wasn't on. Knowing his luck it was.

While Leo had gotten himself distracted, the previously mentioned brother had charged at him, swinging his club. However, what he had in strength, he didn't have in spacial awareness. The club missed Leo, and hit a tree to the side of the road. The tree went flying. So did the club. Wow, he thought this battle might be difficult, but if that was the intelligence level...

The other cyclops seemed more intelligent, he swung his club at Leo, who jumped out of the way, and then swung in back, in an arc, to try and hit Leo from the side. Not a bad move, better if it had hit. Leo jumped onto the van, and pulled some oil from his belt. Oil spray in the eye.

The oiled cyclops was not happy, but since he didn't know which way to swing his club to emphasise his not- happiness, Leo figured he could focus on the other cyclops now. The club less cyclops reached his hand out to grab Leo, who immediately flamed on. The cyclops yelled and pulled his hand back, it wasn't like the fire could burn him, but the shock of the demigod bursting into flames made him retreat. But Leo didn't let him go. He grabbed on to the cyclops hand and jumped up, punching his eye with a fist of fire. Hey fireproof or not, a fist to the eye must hurt. The fist pushed the ten foot cyclops over, and Leo fell on top of him, grabbing the hammer that lay on the road from his earlier throw, and turning the cyclops to dust.

Unfortunately he didn't notice the oiled cyclops swing his club, he'd heard the commotion, and swung where he thought Leo was. Had the club his Leo directly, it would have killed him. It didn't. The club skimmed Leo's arm, knocking him to the floor, and yep, that arm was definitely broken. Leo shot a bolt of fire at the oil. The cyclopes couldn't burn, but the oil could. The cyclops fell over screaming. But Leo didn't see the monster turn to dust. He was already unconscious when an arrow shot the monster through the side.