Arsonist's Lullabye ──── Leo Valdez

𝟏𝟖: 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬

─────𝐋𝐞𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬. The voice of the earth woman still rang in his ears, reminding him of his mother's death. The last thing he wanted to do was plunge into another dark warehouse. Suddenly he felt eight years old again, alone and helpless as someone he cared about was trapped and in trouble.

Vincent's hand was cold in his. His hands and body were always colder than Leo's. Over time, he started to take comfort in it. 

He took a deep breath and peered inside. Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few lightbulbs flickered, but most of the factory floor was still lost in shadows. He could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of his friends.

He almost called out, but something stopped him—a sense he couldn't identify. Then he realized it was smell. Something smelled wrong—like burning motor oil and sour breath.

Something not human was inside the factory. Leo was certain. His body shifted into high gear, all his nerves tingling.

Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper's voice cried out: "Leo, help!"

But Leo held his tongue. How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk with her broken ankle?

He exchanged another set of looks with Vincent. It went like—

Leo: Dangerous?

Vincent: Duh

Leo: Go in anyway?

Vincent: Duh

They slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly, they worked their way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis, sword and hammer in hand. Finally they reached the assembly line. He crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm. He pulled Vincent down next to him,

Piper's voice called out again: "Leo?" Less certain this time, but very close.

Leo peeked around the machinery. Hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive truck engine—just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned. Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller shapes—maybe more engines, but one of them was twisting around as if it were alive.

Then one of the forklift shapes rose, and Leo realized it was a humanoid of massive size. "Told you it was nothing," the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human.

Vincent grabbed Leo's arm, tapping on his elbow. 

-.-.  -.--  -.-.  .-..  ---  .--.  ...

C-Y-C-L-O-P-S

Oh shit. 

Leo gave him a questioning look, how could Vincent know?

...-  ---   ..   -.-.   .

Voice. 

Vince must mean cyclops had the ability to mimic human voices. It was so eerily similar, it made Leo shudder. 

One of the other forklift-sized lumps shifted, and called out in Piper's voice: "Vince, help me! Help—" Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. "Bah, there's nobody out there. No demigods could be that quiet, eh?"