𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 》 JASON GRACE ¹

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ᵗᵉⁿ

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𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶,
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴:
𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴!
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''TORQUE, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A CYCLOPS, GET HIM!''

Ma Gasket yelled, being the first to spot Leo get back to his feet. Torque barreled towards him, Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote.

Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet.

Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face. Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one arm and hurled straight back up.

Noelani couldn't help the joyous laugh escape her mouth as Torque yelled, ''Ahhh!'' Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark and too high to see what exactly happened, but judging from the harsh metal clang, Noelani guessed the Cyclops had hit one of the support girders.

Torque never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor - Torque had been disintegrated.

Ma Gasket stared at Leo in shock. ''My son... You... You...''

As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case full of salsa. ''Ma, I got the extra-spicy-''

He never finished his sentence. Leo spun the remote's toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a pinata and Sump flew backwards, right into the base of Leo's third machine. Sump may have been immune to getting hit with truck chases, but he wasn't immune to robotic arms that could deliver ten thousand pounds of force. The third crane arm slammed him against the floor so hard, he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.

Leo's ears picked up on yelling and he turned to see Noelani doing what looked to be a victory wiggle as she cheered him on. ''Whoo! Yeah! Go Leo!''

Leo smiled, but that was gone instantly as he spotted Ma Gasket lock her eye onto him. She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar. ''You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!''

Punching a button, Leo caused the two remaining arms to swing into action. Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but it only seemed to make her even more mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat. It missed Noelani, Piper and a still unconscious Jason by an inch. Then Ma Gasket let it go - spinning it toward Leo. He yelped and rolled to one side as it demolished the machine next to him.

Noelani made a mental note to herself that she never wanted to fight an angry Cyclops mother with a universal remote and a screw driver. Noelani watched anxiously as Leo rolled to the side - the future for Commander Tool Belt was not looking so hot.

She stood about twenty feet from him now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked ridiculous in her chain mail muumuu and her greasy pigtails - but given the murderous glare in her huge red eye and the fact that she was twelve feet tall, Leo wasn't laughing.

''Any more tricks, demigod?'' Ma Gasket demanded. Noelani began to squirm more than she had done for the past two hours, frantically wiggling in hopes she could free herself and protect Leo.

The engine block suspended on the chain caught Leo's attention - if only he had time to rig it. If only he could get Ma Gasket to take one step forward. The chain itself... that one link... Leo shouldn't have been able to see it, especially from this far down, but his senses told him there was a metal fatigue.