A Quest of Eight; A Heroes of Olympus Fanfiction

Side Story: Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford

Note: Very long since I put the whole story into one chapter

Y/n's POV

"Okay. Um, that one looks like a dagger," I claim and point to a cloud high up in the sky.

"Definitely. And that one looks like Festus," Leo declared and gestured to another one.

"It totally does," I agree.

Leo and I had just finished having a picnic in the strawberry fields, which had become one of our weekly traditions. Leo and I were very busy with our own separate projects, him working on the Argo II, and me always busy keeping an eye on the activities going down at the canoe lake. Plus, since we were demigods, we couldn't go out into the real world without attracting monsters. So, dates in the strawberry fields were our go to. And today, after finishing the food the dryads prepared for us, we decided to cloud gaze. My head was resting on Leo's chest, and he had an arm wrapped around my waist with our hands clasped together. Today had been the first time we'd actually hung out in days, and I was just glad to get some alone time with him.

"Ooh. Look at that one. It resembles a handsome demigod," Leo pointed out.

I frowned as I scanned the clouds above us. "Where?"

"Right here," Leo directed and tilted my chin so that I was looking up at him.

"Wow," I laugh. "Smooth, Leo. Real smooth."

"What? You didn't like that? I thought that was good," Leo confessed.

"It was good," I reassure him and lean up to press a quick kiss to his lips. "I'm gonna miss you this week. You'll probably be busy in Bunker 9, and I already know Chiron or Mr. D are gonna have me lead some type of camp activity. I'm just praying to the gods that I don't have to run the climbing wall exercises again. Way too many kids got hurt last time."

"Hey. We still have the whole rest of the day to hang out," Leo noted. "We could go back to Bunker Nine and put a movie on the projector I rigged up."

"Sounds great," I concur and stand up.

Once the two of us grabbed the picnic basket and blanket, we started the trek back to Bunker 9. It was situated deep in the woods and built into the side of a large limestone cliff. Leo had been spending most of his time here since it was the only place big enough to build the Argo II, the ship that would be taking us to find Percy in a few months. When we got to the workshop, I stepped over a pile of celestial bronze to get to the back space where Leo had a small living space set up. There was a couch, a makeshift bed, the projector, and even a mini fridge to hold drinks and snacks. And before I could get to where the projector was, I heard Leo swearing behind me.

"Schist," Leo cursed. "Y/n, we've got a problem. A big problem."

......................................................

"It's okay, Leo. Stop freaking out," Jason instructed. "Piper and I are here to help."

"Just tell us what happened," Piper urged.

"Buford's gone, and if we don't get him back, this whole place is going to explode," Leo rushed out.

"Explode?" Piper questioned. "Um, okay. Just calm down and tell us who Buford is."

"Follow me," Leo ordered and led all of us deeper into the bunker. He climbed through the hole in the hull, and the rest of us followed after him. At the back of the hull, we encountered the engine apparatus, which looked like a jungle gym made from all sorts of pipes, pistons, and gears. See. There's your problem."

"Leo, none of us are children of Hephaestus," I remind him. "What are we looking at here?"

Leo gestured to the empty core. "The syncopator goes here. It's a multi-access gyro-valve to regulate flow. The dozen glass tubes on the outside? Those are filled with powerful, dangerous stuff. That glowing red one is Lemnos fire from my dad's forges. This murky stuff here? That's water from the River Styx. The stuff in the tubes is going to power the ship like radioactive rods in a nuclear reactor. But the mix ratio has to be controlled, and the timer is already operational. That means without the syncopator, this stuff is all going to vent into the chamber at the same time, in sixty-five minutes. At that point, we'll get a very nasty reaction."