safe || leo valdez x oc

eleven: whammy your ass

~•♡•~

as soon as leo caught his breath, i threw the doors open.

everything looked the same. gray morning light was already flowing into the hole in the roof, a testament to how long we'd been out here. a few lightbulbs flickered, and as i looked up, piper and jason were no longer on the catwalk.

leo breathed in to call out, but i clamped my hand over his mouth and shook my head. he nodded, both of us understanding that something inhuman was here now.

we could smell it- burning motor oil and rotten breath.

"leo! aruna! help!"

leo and i froze and looked at each other. first of all, piper couldn't have gotten off the catwalk with her snapped ankle. second, she never calls me by my full name, even when she's serious.

leo pulled my behind a cargo container. he held a finger to his lips as his grip on his hammer tightened, and we worked our way closer to the sound. we hid behind various boxes and metals, and finally, we reached the assembly line. we crouched behind a crane with a robotic arm.

"leo? aruna?" piper's voice called less certainly. we were dangerously close.

leo and i peeked behind the machinery, his head just above mine. hanging directly above the assembly line from a chain on the crane (i should totally be the poetry god) on the opposite side was a massive truck engine. i was shocked to see it just dangling thirty feet up. below on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. nearby, dangling from two smaller chains were two humanoid shapes, only one thrashing.

my breath hitched and i yanked leo back.

"piper and jason." i whispered. leo's eyes widened, and we went back to watching.

one of the large shapes rose, and i realized it was a massive humanoid shape. "told you it was nothing." his voice was so deep, it was impossible to be human.

"leo! help me! aruna plea-" the other shape grunted and stopped, changing to a masculine snarl. "bah, there's nobody out there. no demigods could be that quiet, eh?"

the first monster chuckled. "probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. or the girl was lying about two more demigods. let's get cooking."

an orange light sizzled to life- the light of sn emergency flare. leo was blinded and he took a step back, but i grabbed him by the collar and held him in place until he could see again.

i choked on my own breath. piper was flailing, trying to free herself, her mouth gagged. jason wasn't moving, and a red welt the size of my fist was swelling over his left eyebrow.

on the conveyor belt, the bed of a truck was being used as a firepit. the flare ignited a fire, which rank of kerosene, and a big metal pole was suspended over the fire.

they wanted to cook us.

they, being cyclopes.

they were each ten feet all, with one crouching, his back to us. they were hairy and looked red in the firelight. one wore a fuzzy, fiberglass toga, and the other wore a really bad looking chainmail loincloth.