𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 ( leo valdez. )

xi. CYCLOPS TRIPLE KILL

She walked over to Sump and shoved him, knocking the conveyor belt over in the process, and Torque backed up quietly. "The girl is Venus spawn. She's using her charmspeak on you." The big lady Cyclops stated.

Piper begged, "Please, ma'am — "

The lady Cyclops growled, and grabbed Piper by the waist, "Don't try your pretty talk on me, girl! I'm Ma Gasket! I've eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!"

Leo was afraid she'd crush Piper to death, but she let go and let Piper hang from the chain again, before turning to yell at Sump for being stupid.

Leo continued to let his hands work at a furious pace. He barely thought about what he was doing, allowing himself to turned switches and twist wires effortlessly. Y/n stood off to the other side of Leo keeping watch, making sure the Cyclopes didn't notice their presence. Leo finished the remote and crept over to the next robotic arm while the monsters spoke, Y/n following behind.

" — eat her last, Ma?" Sump questioned.

"Idiot!" Ma Gasket yelled, and Leo realized the other two Cyclopes must be her sons. He felt sort of bad, having her for a mom must suck.

"I should've thrown you out in the streets when you were babies like proper Cyclops children. Then you might've learned some useful skills, curse my soft heart that I kept you!" She continued.

"Soft heart?" Torque muttered.

"What was that you ingrate?"

"Nothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenails — "

"And you should be grateful!" She bellowed, "Now, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot, my case of salsa is in the other warehouse. Don't tell me you expect me to eat these demigods without salsa!"

"Yes, Ma — I mean, no, Ma. I mean — "

"Go get it!" Ma gasket picked up a truck chassis from nearby and slammed it over Sump's poor little Cyclops head, and he fell to his knees. Leo was sure it'd kill him, but Sump was apparently used to it. He pushed the chassis off his head, and ran off after staggering to his feet.

Now's the time, Leo thought, while they're separated.

He finished wiring a second machine and moved onto the third, when Piper saw him and Y/n. Her expression was, at first, terror, then disbelief. She gasped.

Ma Gasket turned to her, "What's the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?"

Piper thought quickly and looked away from the two, "I think it's my ribs, ma'am. If I'm busted up inside, I'll taste horrible."

Ma Gasket laughed loudly, and her and Torque reminisced over a son of Mercury they had eaten a while back. What fought Leo's attention, though, was how they described him; wearing a purple shirt and speaking Latin. Piper caught onto this too, and asked them about it. "Purple shirt? Latin?"

"Good eating," Ma Gasket said calmly, ignoring Piper's question. "Point is, girl, we're not as dumb as people think! We're not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not is Northern Cyclopes."

Leo's mind raced as he worked. A kid who spoke Latin, wearing a purple shirt, just like Jason's, was caught here? He decided to leave the interrogation to Piper and continued messing with the controls. If he had any chance of defeating the Cyclopes he'd have to hurry and finish before Sump came back with the salsa.

His eyes gazed up at the engine block suspended above the Cyclops campsite, and wished he could use it. It would make a great weapon. But the crane holding it was positioned on the other side of the conveyor belt, far too close to the Cyclopes for him to get it undetected. Besides, he was running out of time.