Dancing with Death

Building the Argo II

Eliza sat on the edge of the dock as the sun rose over the Long Island Sound. She was waiting for Leo to wake up so she could help him start work on his warship, which he had dubbed the Argo II.

Footsteps approached from behind and Eliza turned to find Jason walking up the dock.

"You're up early." She turned her gaze back to the water.

"Couldn't sleep." He lowered himself down beside her. "How about you?"

She took a deep breath. "Besides the nightmares, I'm a little antsy to help Leo get this warship started."

He chuckled. "Me too."

She couldn't stop her wry smile. "I'm sorry, how did you expect to help?"

"Hey." He nudged with his elbow. "I'd forgotten how mean you could be."

Eliza chuckled. "And yet, you still stood up for me."

He shrugged. "Of course."

She stared at the water lapping against the legs of the dock. "How you ever convinced the fifth cohort to accept me, I will never know, but thank you."

He smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Eliza leaned against Jason's shoulder. "Yeah."

Something crashed in the distance, making them both jump.

Eliza turned towards the woods. "Sounds like Leo's awake."

Jason chuckled. "You better go help him before he blows himself up."

She laughed and pushed herself to her feet. "See you later."
                                   *   *   *
Eliza crossed her arms as they examined the engines. "There's no way it'll get us off the ground like this."

Leo fidgeted with his tool belt, a crease between his eyebrows. This was the most focused she had ever seen him. "I don't know why I can't figure this out."

Eliza gave him an annoyed look. "Maybe because you won't let me help."

He met her gaze. "You grow plants. How could you help?"

A smirk spread across her face. "Well," she walked over to the engine. "if you tighten the valves here," she pointed to the spark plug. "it should increase the spark, which would fire up the engines quicker when we need a fast getaway." She followed the pipes and hoses with her fingers. "Then, we can make up power over here in the converter by increasing the output to the engine block." She tilted her head. "That should give us enough power to run the oars on the starboard side. Then we just duplicate that on the port side and we're good." She turned to face Leo, who was gawking at her.

He forced himself to close his mouth. "How did you?"

Eliza shrugged. "I taught myself basic mechanical engineering."

Leo just stared at her in awe.

"You get a lot of free time when no one in the Roman legion likes you." She turned back towards the engine. "I'm gonna start on those alterations." She walked into the tangled web of tubes and pipes and hoses of the engine.

Leo turned to look at Jason, who was observing their progress.

Jason raised his hand and chuckled. "Don't ask me."
* * *
Eliza wiped the sweat off her forehead, smearing grease across her skin. Her fingers were black with oil and her cargo pants were stained with grease and singed from the sparks of Leo welding the celestial bronze with his bare hands.

Leo hopped down from the skeleton framing of the upper deck. "Lunchtime. Let's go. I'm starving."

Eliza dropped down from the bronze beam she'd been sitting on. "You're always hungry."

He shrugged. "Can you blame me? I'm doing this all day." He gestured to the immense bronze structure of the trireme.

Eliza rolled her eyes. "I guess not."

They maneuvered their way out of the bronze mess and walked to the pavilion for lunch.

Eliza sat next to Jason at the Zeus table. It was technically against the rules, but she didn't want to sit alone.

Jason couldn't keep from smiling as he saw her grease-smeared face. "Someone's been busy."

Eliza met his gaze. "I would've cleaned up, but I'd just get dirty again."

They both laughed and talked as they ate.
* * *
Eliza spotted Aubrey and Thomas standing by the beach talking. She turned to Leo. "I'll catch up with you. Don't finish without me."

"No promises." He called over his shoulder.

Eliza chuckled and trotted over to the pair at the beach. "Hey Aubrey!"

The redhead turned and smiled. "Hey plant girl."

Eliza slowed to a stop.

Aubrey stood noticeably close to Thomas. "I hear you got your memories back."

Eliza's gaze wavered from Aubrey to Thomas. "Yeah. It's kind of weird having two lives in my head."

"I can imagine." Aubrey sympathized.

Eliza turned to Thomas. "How's the whole 'curse on Cabin 9' going?"

Thomas shrugged. "Honestly, better since Leo took over as head councilor."

Eliza shook her head. "Right. The head councilor who's never around."

Thomas chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

Eliza dropped her gaze to Thomas' mechanical leg. "Why don't you help us with the Argo II?"

Thomas tried to hide his excitement. "You really think I could?"

Eliza shrugged. "I don't see why not. Just... be careful. Leo can be pretty possessive of his projects."

Thomas chuckled. "The sign of a true Hephaestus kid."

"Well," Eliza turned towards the woods. "Come on."
* * *
Thomas stared up at Festus' head, mounted on the front of the ship. "Maybe... if we tweak the wiring to his mainframe?"

Leo sat on scaffolding next to Festus' head. He shrugged. "It's worth a try." He shoved his hands into the dragon's head and messed around with the wires.

Sparks flashed out of Festus' head and Leo recoiled.

He brushed smoldering sparks out of his hair. "Well that didn't work."

"Here." Eliza climbed the scaffolding. "Let me try." She pushed aside some of the wires and studied the main panel. "Well, we cleared all the corrosion and the wires are all connect in the right spots." She furrowed her brow. "What if I..." she reached into the mechanism and turned one of the cogs fastening the circuit board to the dragon.

Golden sparks flashed through the space and Festus' eyes flickered and glowed red.

A/N
Well... it's another filler chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it. 😁
I thought this was a great way to use Thomas more, because I love his character. 🥰
Anyway, thank you all for the support.
-Cheshire