Leo loved his job. He really did. It was just that sometimes, it brought him… unique customers.

Okay, he was lying. His job brought him the strangest customers that would do the strangest things and drag him into it. (That only happened once, but he counts it anyway.)

Take, for example, Percy. His motorcycle was acting up, so he brought it into the shop. Apparently, Percy was a racer, and he loved blue food. Leo had found out that particular fact when Percy had stayed and watched while Leo repaired "Blackjack" (the bike) and suddenly pulled out from seemingly nowhere a brown paper bag practically bursting with blue chocolate chip cookies. All blue. All completely violent, cobalt blue. Leo almost dropped his wrench on his head and got a concussion (again). Eventually, Percy explained the history behind the cookies, and invited Leo to watch his next race. (But that's another story for another time.)

Then, there was Jason and his older sister, Thalia, polar opposites in almost every aspect. Jason was friendly, with blond hair and blue eyes and glasses. He had chattered to Leo almost the whole time, and immediately hit off with him, even if he seemed more serious and… leader-y than his sister. Thalia had leaned against a wall the whole time, snapping her gum and occasionally snarking, though she was nice enough (Leo supposed), and was the heiress to a wealthy virtual empire (read: Zeus Industries). Emphasis on was. She had, apparently, wanted nothing to do with it, so she ran away from home and adopted a punk lifestyle. Leo vaguely remembered reading the whole mess on the papers. Now, Jason was the heir, and wanted almost as little to do with it as Thalia did (haha, sucker).

They had come in because they had an argument in their shared car. Why did they share a car? Because Thalia didn't want her daddy to buy her (another) expensive sports car that she would crash and break. What was the argument about? Thalia wanted to listen to Green Day and Jason wanted to listen to some weird classical music. Why were they in the shop? Because during the argument, they broke the steering wheel and the audio system. How did they break it? Leo had no freaking idea. Actually, he almost congratulated them on giving him the (second) strangest job he ever had.

The strangest customer, Leo decided, had to be the fiery whirlwind that had swept into his shop on an oddly chilly Monday afternoon in the middle of September (he would be lying if he said that he forgot the exact date, which was September 17th), every fibre of her being simply screaming trouble. Also, completely out of his league. He fell anyway.

It happened a little something like this.

A girl made her way into Festus Auto Repair, shaking out her caramel hair. A merry bell ding!-ed her presence. She was holding a biker's helmet under one arm, and looked like a picture-perfect motorcycle model.

She was wearing a green army jacket over a sleeveless white tunic with ripped jeans tucked into leather combat boots. Her face didn't match her bad-girl demeanor, though. She had fine features and soft almond eyes.

Basically, she was a bike-riding angel, and basically, Leo was head over heels in love.

She marched over to the desk. "I need to see Leo Valdez."

Leo said something real intelligent, like, "Uhhh… hi?" (He almost facepalmed. Nice one, Valdez. Nice.)

She gave him a once over, looking at him as if he were a bug in her drink. "You are Leo Valdez? Apparent mechanical genius?" She wrinkled her nose.

It sounded like it could have been a compliment. So why did it hurt so much? Leo winced. "The one and only." He chuckled nervously, tapping his nametag, which, in case you are really dense, read "LEO VALDEZ".

She squinted at him. Leo was reminded of a lioness evaluating her prey. He gulped. After a few moments, she seemed satisfied. "I have a job for you." With that, she whisked out of the shop, donning her helmet and climbing on to her red bike. Leo stood awkwardly in his shop doorway. She turned, and Leo swore he could feel her glaring through the helmet. "You coming or not?"

"I kind of have a shop to run, lady. I can't just run off with strangers telling me they have a job for me." He crossed his arms in what he hoped was an intimidating way, but it probably came off more like "Somebody save me, I'm scared".

She lifted the visor and gave him an incredulous look. "Well, close it. This is much more important than your petty little shop." She paused, then added, "The job pays well. Very well."

Leo hesitated for a moment, conflicted. He loved his job, but he also needed the money.

"Oh, just get on! We don't have time to waste!" She started the engine.

Leo reluctantly flipped the sign in front of the shop to "CLOSED" and got on the red motorcycle (he held that his ride was much sweeter). He gingerly put his arms around the girl's waist.

They were halfway down the highway before Leo realized he was still wearing welding goggles and his t-shirt had grease stains on it.

Leo was taken through the highway into the next freaking state, where the lady wove through some shady streets and eventually pulled to a stop by an old, rundown building.

Old and rundown was an understatement. The building was falling apart at the seams. Four out of five windows were broken, and there was ivy climbing up the cracks in the concrete. The door was holding on desperately to its hinges, and there was nothing around the doorframe. Leo wasn't entirely sure why they even kept the door - maybe as a formality? - because a four-foot radius around the door looked to be blown up. There were faint traces of ash and a lot of debris littering the steps that led up to it. To top it all off, the building was practically smothered in graffiti. It could have been a poster child for a vandalism commercial. Most of the graffiti was fading, with ivy growing over it. However, some of the paint was covering the plant growth around it, and Leo couldn't help but feel pity for the poor ivy. Something clattered inside, making him jump. The building was definitely creepy, and the setting sun didn't help any.

None of this seemed to faze the girl (what was her name, anyway?), who tossed her hair over her shoulder (Leo noticed it turned a burnt copper with the fading light) and marched right up to the building. Leo stood, gaping at it. When she realized he wasn't following her, she turned around exasperatedly. For about the fourth time that day, she asked, "Are you coming or not?" Leo gulped nervously and followed her into the death-trap.

Mystery girl took out an old-fashioned kerosene lamp and led the way through the maze of collapsed corridors. They eventually reached a door (that was actually attached to a wall), but she surprised him by going past it and out a small, dark passage way he didn't see before. They went through it and came out into a small alleyway filled with long shadows from the sunset, covered from head to toe with cobwebs. (Leo was pretty sure he ate one at some point. Gross.)

She brushed herself off and continued through the alley (which, by the way, smelled of cat piss) to the wall at the very end, where she shoved her elbow against a metal box and opened a panel in the wall. Steel steps led down into the dark unknown, and a faint blue light was glowing somewhere in its depths. Leo, at this point, was seriously beginning to question this "job".

She turned around, grinned for the first time and asked, "Are you ready?"

Leo was pretty sure the answer was no, but he squeaked a "Yes?" anyway. (Who could resist a smile like that?)

"Perfect."

Together, Leo and his mysterious kidnapper descended the (questionable) staircase, their footsteps clanging too loudly against the metal. After an infinity and eight minutes, they reached yet another mysterious passageway (Leo was beginning to get sick of those) that the blue light seemed to originate from. A lot of twisting and turning through blue-lit halls led to a lone elevator. The girl placed her hand on a panel, and the doors opened.

The inside was sleek and modern. It consisted of stainless steel and mirrors, and was lit surprisingly well, considering the surroundings. There was elevator music playing, which he thought very out of place. Leo noticed, however, that there were no buttons. So it was a one-way trip... Hmm…

The elevator started moving, but instead of moving up or down, it moved sideways. Leo was somewhat intrigued. He absent-mindedly wondered what the point of a sideways elevator even was. Couldn't you just walk the distance? Leo came up with two explanations. One, the distance was really far, and walking it would kill the average American. Two, this was some sort of top-secret facility (well, he was pretty sure of the top-secret part) and everything beyond the elevator was either confidential or dangerous. After standing in the elevator for five awkward minutes, Leo came to the conclusion that it was probably both and he was tired. He sat down. Mystery girl glanced at him and raised an elegant eyebrow.

"What? I'm tired."

Silence.

"We just walked across half of America, and I never had lunch. Aren't I allowed to be just a little exhausted?"

She sighed and dug around in her bag. Eventually, she pulled out a granola bar and handed it to him. "Don't eat too much," was the only thing she said.

Leo looked from the granola bar to the girl. "Thanks," he said. He took a bite and almost choked. It was pure caffeine. He read the wrapper.

GROVER'S COFFEE-TO-GO

Keeping you alert on the field and at home!

High in nutrition and caffeine

Made in a peanut-free facility!

Well. That explained a lot. He gingerly took another bite and chewed. It actually tasted okay once he got over the bitterness of the caffeine. Another minute was passed in silence as Leo ate his caffeine bar and the girl tapped something into a sleek smartphone. He suddenly realized he still didn't know her name, so he wrapped up the remaining half of the bar and stuck it in the toolbelt that was strapped around his waist.

"So, what's your name?" he asked.

She stayed silent for a long time. Minutes later, when Leo almost gave up hope on her ever answering, she suddenly said, "Calypso."

"It suits you." Then, hoping to get a laugh out of her, he added, "I'm Leo, by the way," and stuck out his hand.

She didn't laugh, but at least there was a hint of a smile on her face. "Hello, Leo."

His hand was ignored, so he eventually put it down. "What's this job about, then? Because you kind of just walked into my shop and kidnapped me."

"It's probably best for you to find out when you meet the rest of the team. I wouldn't be able to explain it as well as them." He wondered why on earth they would send someone who didn't know how to explain his job to kidnap him. Crazy employers.

The next few minutes were spent in another heavy silence. Leo wondered if his job would consist only of hot girls and awkward silences. He supposed he wouldn't mind it too much, but it would still be nice to have something to do. He looked down and found that he had dug out some old pipe-cleaners from his tool belt and had begun constructing a small, fully functional helicopter out of it. He smiled and continued his work.

Suddenly, the elevator lurched and began to move upwards. Leo looked questioningly at Calypso and opened his mouth to speak. Without looking up from her phone, she said, "Two minutes and forty-seven seconds." Leo wondered how she knew he was going to ask before he did. He decided not to ask her about it, as he really didn't want to know. He went back to working on the helicopter, thumping his leg on the floor.

A minute passed. Then - "Would you quit that?"

Leo stilled. "What?"

"Stop jittering. It's annoying."

"Sorry...?" Leo stood. He suddenly found he was almost as tall as Calypso. Only an inch or two, and they might be the same height. The light of her phone washed over her face and smoothed over the harsh edges, making her look younger. Her light brown eyes reflected the light, rendering them unreadable. Then again, Leo had a feeling she was normally unreadable. In the back of his mind, he wondered if anyone ever saw behind the mask. Then…

"Ready to meet my team?"

The elevator lurched and came to a stop. The doors hissed open dramatically, and the acrid scent of smoke rolled its way in. Leo coughed and looked over at Calypso. She grinned cockily and stepped out into the haze. "Come along, Valdez. We don't want to be late." He must have imagined the murderous gleam in her eyes when the elevator doors had opened. Tentatively, he edged his way into the shin-deep sea of smoke, following Calypso's silhouette. They came out into a room where several people were choking, coughing, running around for water, and generally panicking over the tiny fires that had caught on some of their clothes. Also this huge chemical fire in the back of the room. That too.

Calypso sighed in a world-weary way. Leo screamed. One of them turned around and froze, then grinned as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have. The boy held up a hand in an awkward greeting. "Hi."

A/N: So I got this idea. I don't know if I'll be able to finish it, mostly because I'm bad at plots, so I am asking you guys to send in some suggestions for scenes or ideas you want to see! I won't use all of them, but if I'm out of ideas, I'll look through them XD

I will try to update every 2 or 3 weeks, but no promises. I have a few chapters already written, and I will try to keep going. Thank you so much for reading and please review! I would love to see how I have done. Somebody please tell me if I missed something while editing. Critiques are very welcome here, but no flames but Leo's :)

EDIT: Formatting fixed!

EDIT EDIT: Thank you to my friend who noticed a mistake! It's fixed!

~Yumi