𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xxi ━━ years of labor, locks, and ceilings (in the shade of how he was feeling)

03. chapter twenty-one

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

I WOKE UP TO SEE TWO SUITS OF ARMOR, one with the head of a wolf, the other with the head of a lion.

"bah!" the suit of armor with a wolf's head gestured to the other suit of armor with the head of a lion. "come! we will destroy the demigods ourselves."

"i don't think so, guys." it was leo. he turned toward lion head. his hands worked at a metal sphere.

lion head shuddered and lowered his sword.

leo grinned. "you're in leo world, now."

lion head turned and stormed down the stairs. instead of advancing, he marched up the opposite stairs and faced his comrade.

"we are you doing?" wolf head demanded. "we have to—"

BLONG!

lion head slammed his shield into wolf head's chest. he smashed the pommel of his sword into his comrade's helmet, so wolf head became flat.

"stop that!" wolf head demanded.

"i cannot!" lion head wailed.

both suits of armor dropped their swords and shields and slapped each other repeatedly. i was so confused by what was happening, but i knew it was leo's doing. i watched the scene like a movie.

"valdez!" called wolf head in a warbling voice. "you will die for this!"

"yeah," leo called out. "who's possessing who now, casper?"

the machine men tumbled down the stairs, and started doing the jitterbug like the flappers of my childhood. their joints began smoking. the other spheres around the room began to pop. too much energy was surging through the ancient system.

"millie, frank, hazel!" leo shouted. "take cover!"

i was dazed as well as distracted by the metal guys doing the jitterbug, but i managed to duck under a desk. frank pulled hazel under a nearby table and shielded her with his body.

suddenly, the armored warriors blew apart. rods, pistons, and bronze shards flew everywhere. on all the tables, spheres popped like hot soda cans. leo's gold sphere froze. his flying ruby orb dropped to the floor with the scroll cases.

the room was suddenly quiet except for a few random sparks and sizzles. the air smelled like burning car engines. leo raced over to us.

"you're alive!" he said.

hazel's left eye twitched, maybe from the taser shock. otherwise she looked okay.

i personally felt like i had the day jason summoned lightning on the giant enceladus before i pulled him into tartarus.

"uh, what exactly happened?" i asked.

"archimedes came through!" leo said. "just enough power left in those old machines for one final show. once i had the access code, it was easy."

he patted the control sphere, which was steaming in a bad way.

"the eidolons," frank said. "are they gone?"

i nodded warily. "i don't sense any evil spirits down here. did you get them, bronze boy?"

leo grinned. "my last command overloaded their kill switches—basically locked down all their circuits and melted their cores."

"in english?" frank asked.

"i trapped the eidolons inside the wiring," leo said. "then i melted them. they won't be bothering anyone again."

leo offered me a hand and hoisted me to my feet. instead of letting go, i used his hand to pull him closer and planted a kiss on his cheek. "thanks for saving us."