Leo spent the next two days with Louisa, but couldn't get her to talk no matter how hard he tried. She was stubborn, but she wasn't stubborn enough to not smile. Leo wanted her to laugh, seeing as he had imagined her to have a cheery, infectious laugh. He wanted to see if that was true.
"How about we play twenty questions?" He suggested. She shrugged, mixing sugar into her coffee. "Uh… fave colour?" Louisa looked round before looking down and picking at her red T-shirt. "Cool." Leo grinned. "It's your turn." Louisa tapped her fingers on the menu. "Favourite food?" She nodded. "Um… tofu burgers. Yours?" She opened the menu and scanned it quickly before turning it to him and pointing out hotdogs. Leo smiled. "OK, favourite animal?"
This continued for ten minutes and ended up being a game of charades, Louisa always being the mime. Leo was getting the hang of understanding her, but he figured it would be easier and less time consuming with Annabeth there, seeing as she had pretty much grown up with Louisa and understood everything she was trying to say.
"You should talk." Leo said. "It'd be nice to hear your voice." Louisa looked down at the plate of biscuits between them. "Obviously when you're feeling ready." Leo added quickly. "No rush." He smiled reassuringly. She gave a small, grateful smile, but it fell after a few seconds. "So… where do we go now?" She shrugged and looked around the café. "Do you like me?" She frowned at him, her eyes hardening. Leo kept calm. "Not in that way, just as a friend." Her tense expression relaxed slightly and she nodded. Leo smiled. "I can live with that."
"Leo?" Leo looked round. "Your penguin is a ninja." Frank pointed and they all looked.
Louisa was running full pelt down the street, passing the old carousel with its weathered and corroded rides. Leo didn't register she was being chased until after he had noticed what she was wearing- forest camouflage trousers, a matching jacket, a navy blue beret with a silver badge on and black military boots.
"She's in the goddamn legions." Nico muttered, voicing their thoughts. "Why's she ru- oh shit." Louisa jumped forward and dodged a jet of blue light that imploded and created a crater a metre wide but gods knew how deep. Whoever had fired came into view. He was flying, the hood of his cape fashioned to look like a menacing snowy owl, with a sharp beak; beady, calculating eyes and its feathers enlarging and forming a cape. He wore snowy blue clothes that matched his eyes- icy and deadly. He went barefoot.
Another sphere of blue light morphed around his hand and he hurled it at Louisa. She darted to the left, kicked off a bench with enough force to lift her up a few feet into the air. She waved her hand and a knife slashed through the air and slammed into her opponent's shoulder. She landed on her feet in a run and freed the bow she had slung over her back. She loaded it with an arrow from the quiver they had just noticed, skidded to a halt and finished in a crouch as a blue sphere seared over her head. She spun a 360 degrees spin, but at 180 she fired and scored an eye shot.
Instead of going down like normal people, which this guy clearly was not, he screamed in rage, yanking the arrow from his socket. There was a spurt of scarlet and it streamed out, staining the ground and then his front. He landed and chased after her.
Louisa put on a burst of extra speed, but that was when she noticed Leo and the others. She frowned, turned and fired. This arrow looked different and it certainly was, burying into the strange man's chest and exploding with the force of a nuclear bomb.
Leo's ears were ringing but his vision came back in time for him to see gobbets of flesh, skin, blood and other bodily matter raining down around them.
He hoped that was the last of it. They all hoped it was the last of it. He failed to notice the oncoming army of strange men, all identical to the recently exploded. Louisa notched an arrow and pulled it back, ready to fire when:
"Lou!" Leo called.
"Ssh!" His friends hissed urgently. Leo looked at them in confusion and then noticed the army.
"We can't leave her to that." He insisted.
"She's got help. Look." Nico pointed. More and more legions were pouring out from buildings and alleys. Trucks were pulling up and legions clambered out of those. All of them were armed with various guns, ranging from sniper rifles to fully automatics.
"Get all civilians away from the area!" A big muscly bloke in legion uniform with a red beret ordered. A cohort broke away from the other legions, Louisa included in those ranks. They set about clearing the area of civilians. Leo fought through the crowds to get to Louisa.
"So…" He said, when he found her. "You're in the legions. You never said that." He paused. "Actually, you never say anything."
"Lou, who is he?" One of her colleagues asked. Louisa flexed the fingers on her free hand. "Ah, this year's loner?" The guy smirked.
"Problem?" Leo asked challengingly. Louisa nudged him away with her bow, keeping him moving. "What's going on, Lou? Who was that guy?" There was an explosion behind them, relatively close. Gunfire responded, paired with the screams of civilians. The legions escorting them away remained perfectly calm.
"Lou, we're getting signals to send you back." Louisa nodded.
"Lou!" Leo tried again, but she was gone. "Where's she going?"
"Less talking, more walking." Someone shoved him forward with their gun and Leo stumbled.
He decided to go and see Louisa later. That would help clear up the confusion settling in his mind. The war between the legions and the strange men had gone fairly well, with minimal legion casualties but it had taken nearly six hours for the clean-up, which was actually still happening. Louisa hadn't given a shit and dived right into the midst of the battle, armed with a sword and a shield. She sliced down opponents like there was no tomorrow. Leo had caught a few seconds glimpse of her in action and was amazed that she continued despite any injuries she had received. Her fellow legions were by her side, shooting the enemies down as fast as she was killing them.
After that, Leo didn't see anymore.
Louisa was in. But judging by the state of the lock and the splintered wood of the door, she wasn't alone.
There was a dull thud from inside and Leo ran in. He noticed a splatter of fresh blood on the wall and his heart started racing. He didn't call out though as a pained grunt followed a second thud.
"Stop fighting!" Someone snarled. A sharper thud sounded and someone gave a soft whimper of pain.
Leo burst into the next room, the bedroom, and found a guy of his age pinning a half-conscious Louisa to the bed. Leo took a second to take in the blood seeping from an injury on her head, the lamp with a splatter of blood on the metal base and the fact that this guy was trying to take his trousers of with one hand.
Leo looked round frantically and snatched up a baseball bat Louisa had propped up against the cupboard. He held it two hands and swung it round. The butt of the bat collided with the guy's face and he toppled off Louisa. She looked up at Leo, dazed. Leo dragged the guy from the bed and held him on his feet, pleased to see that a graze had appeared on the man's cheek. There would be bruising with that later too.
"Get out. Now. And don't come back." Leo shoved him away and the guy staggered out, his blue eyes clouded in disorientation. Leo turned to Louisa. "Lou?" She groaned in reply, covering her eyes. Leo dropped the bat and sat next to her. "Stay awake, Lou." He said, checking her head for any breakages. She smacked his hands away as a grimace settled over her features. "I'm gonna take you to the infirmary." Leo told her. "You OK with that?" She managed a small nod. Leo shifted and picked her up in his arms. She complained and held her head. "Sorry." Leo gave a pained smile and carried her outside. Other girls moved out of his way and the guards looked ready to shoot him, but luckily, they didn't.
At the infirmary, Leo was allowed to stay with Louisa. Thankfully, there weren't any breaks in her skull or lasting damage other than a slight concussion.
"Lou?" She groaned in response, turning her head in his direction. "You'll be OK." She sighed and closed her eyes. He didn't get another response out of her after that.
Leo eventually had to go home.
Despite the events of today and the near-events Louisa nearly went through, Leo felt quite pleased with himself. By trusting him to get her to the infirmary, he felt like Louisa had subconsciously made a bond between them.
It was a start. Leo just hoped it progressed further.
And he hoped that she would talk as well. That would be nice.