This chapter contains several moments of canon dialogue from Lost Hero. All credit for that original story goes to Rick Riordan.
I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.
Chapter 15: So That's Why They Call Them Decepticons.
For the record, I wanted to ride with Thundercracker, but the big guy—Butch, insisted I ride in the chariot.
It was a really surreal experience, riding in the open air with no cockpit around me. I was afraid I'd fall off at any minute. Luckily, Thundercracker was flying right behind us in his jet mode; I was sure if I fell, he'd catch me.
Of course, I wouldn't mind if Jason caught me again. He was so nice and gentle...
As the icy wind whipped around us, Annabeth told us where we were going—a place called Camp Half-Blood.
The name put me on guard. "Uh. Excuse me?" I asked, "Is this some kind of sick joke? Because I've been called half-blood before, and not as a compliment."
"She means we're demigods." Jason explained, "Half god, half mortal."
"Wait!" Thundercracker spoke up. "You mean Greek mythology is real!?". He sounded more excited than I'd ever heard him be before. "The Olympians? The Monsters? All those things!?"
"Yeah," Annabeth confirmed. "You see, my mother is Athena, and Butch's mom is Iris—"
"AWESOME!" Thundercracker cried, doing a barrel roll in excitement. The movement caused our chariot to shudder.
"Whoa! Watch it!" Butch yelled as he did his best to stabilize our ride.
"Sorry," Thundercracker said. He flew up next to the side of the chariot I was on.
"Isn't this exciting, Piper?" He asked, "You really are the daughter of a Greek god! Like in my story!"
I rolled my eyes. I had a feeling he was going to bring that up. "Yeah, yeah, you foretold the future. Rub it in." I tried my best, but I couldn't help but laugh and smile. It was kind of funny how he predicted that.
"So who's Piper the daughter of?" Thundercracker asked, "Zeus!? It's gotta be Zeus, right?!"
Annabeth and Butch shrugged.
"Thundercracker, my dad explicitly said I had a mom." I reminded him.
"Zeus made himself look like Artemis to seduce someone once," Thundercracker said.
"Yeah, another woman!" I pointed out.
"And Zeus kidnapped Ganymede because he thought he was hot! Anything goes with that guy!" Thundercracker shouted.
"I just don't think—" I stopped talking as I heard lightning strike.
"The left wheel is on fire!" Jason shouted.
It all happened so fast. One second, the clouds closed in on us, and I heard the sound of a crash. Thundercracker screamed, "Look out!" Then there was a splash, and I was underwater.
We all landed in a heap in the middle of a lake. Some water spirits straight out of those books me and dad read helped us out. They seemed really miffed to see Thundercracker for some reason, and they threw him roughly out of the water.
Campers gathered around us, giving us blankets and helping us recover from the ordeal. One of them, a blond guy with a bow and arrow, yelled at Annabeth for wrecking the chariot. Another Asian girl with dark hair inspected us.
"Well," the girl said, "I hope they're worth the trouble.".
Leo snorted and made a remark about pets.
The girl, Drew, walked over to me "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"
I smirked. "How about you take your concerns up with my friend here?" I gestured at Thundercracker, who smacked his fists together.
Drew went pale and gulped.
"Noted," she muttered nervously.
"Nice!" Leo said, and some of the other campers burst into laughter. Drew's face went from white to red.
Something hit me; the people here didn't seem very surprised to see a Transformer around. They must be an uncommon sight at this place.
Annabeth sighed "Alright, let's make our new arrivals feel welcome. We'll give them each a guide, and hopefully at the bonfire tonight, they'll be claimed."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Just then, a red glow erupted around us. There was a glowing hammer above Leo's head.
"That's claiming," Annabeth clarified.
"That's a symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?" Jason asked.
"But I don't even like Star Trek!" Leo protested.
"I do!" Thundercracker shouted.
"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth explained.
Before long, we all got our guides; the blond guy with the bow—Will, took Leo, and Drew took Jason (who threw me back an expression that might have been code for 911).
Annabeth had offhandedly mentioned Chiron, and that got Thundercracker excited. "Chiron? The Chiron!?" he asked.
Annabeth scoffed. "Yes, him," she said, but she didn't look happy to answer his question.
"Wait so... If he's here, Then that must mean this is a training ground for heroes!" Thundercracker guessed.
"Well," Annabeth muttered. "Guess we got a detective here."
"I do like noir shows," Thundercracker said proudly.
Annabeth sighed. "Come on, Piper, I'll give you the tour."
"Okay. We're going Thundercracker." I said.
I swear I heard Thundcracker squee like a fanboy.
I could tell Annabeth's heart wasn't in the tour; it was pretty obvious she was still broken up by her boyfriend going missing. She did her best to give me and Thundercracker a proper explanation about what Camp Half-Blood was. As Thundercracker suspected, it was a training ground for the children of the gods. She showed us all the amazing stuff the camp had to offer: a volleyball court, multiple cabins each for one god or goddess, a forest to explore, an armory, and even a climbing wall with flamethrowers and lava.
She also told us what exactly Hedge was: a satyr protector meant to track down and find other demigods and bring them to camp. That's what he had been doing when we found him at the museum.
Me and Thundercracker had two very different reactions to all this.
Thundercracker was like a kid in a candy store. He kept pointing out and asking about various things. Why were there multiple pegasi? How could Athena have kids when she was a virgin goddess? How old was the camp? And was that climbing wall safe? Annabeth kept answering his questions, but she still didn't seem too happy about it.
Meanwhile, I was mostly quiet, taking it all in.
"You seem to be taking this very calmly," Annabeth noted.
"I guess I just knew there was always something weird about me..." I murmured. Plus, there was that creepy dream that was still on my mind. The words from it echoed in my head.
Soon you will find them demigod, and when you do, follow our directions. Cooperate, and your father might live.
"Well, hopefully, your mom claims you tonight," Annabeth said.
"Or father." Thundercracker corrected.
I stayed silent. I think Annabeth could tell I was still bothered by something. "Hey, look, Piper," she said. "You're not alone. You have friends here, actual friends."
Something in me snapped when I heard that: "What's that supposed to mean!?" I asked, "Thundercracker is my friend!".
Annabeth looked curiously at both of us. "How long have you two known each other?" she asked.
"About two years," Thundercracker explained.
Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but she held back. "And how long have you known those other two, Jason and Leo?"
"I just met them this morning."
Annabeth looked contemplative. "Look, the point is, we've all gone through some weird stuff. We've all been labeled troublemakers."
I gave a bitter laugh and said, "Been there."
"Piper used to take things." Thundercracker elaborated.
"Is your family poor?" Annabeth asked.
"Not even. I mostly did it for the attention. I stopped a while ago, though."
Annabeth nodded. "He said you took, not steal, what's that mean?" Annabeth asked.
"Well, nobody ever believes me, but I just ask people for things, and then they give them to me. One time I asked someone for an iPod, and they went 'Here, take it." Everyone accuses me of stealing, though. I guess because they're too embarrassed."
"Or jealous!" Thundercracker laughed.
"Yeah. That's it." I said, returning the laugh.
Annabeth didn't laugh; she said something about how I could be a daughter of Hermes and moved on with the tour.
Thundercracker went absolutely giddy at the next sight.
"Is that the actual Golden Fleece?!" he asked.
"Yes," muttered Annabeth.
The fleece hung on the branches of a massive pine tree, and wrapped around it was-
"A dragon!" Thundercracker shouted. He rushed over to it.
I stepped forward, "Thundercracker, wait, I don't think that's a good idea!" I said.
Thundercracker didn't listen. He kneeled over to the dragon. "Hey buddy," he said. He reached his hand out to pet it, but the dragon lept at him. It bit Thundercracker's hand and wouldn't let go.
"AH!" Thundercracker screamed, "Get him off me!". He rapidly shook his arm up and down, but it was all in vain; that dragon had a really strong jaw.
Annabeth and I chuckled. Though Annabeth's laugh seemed a little... sadistic.
When Thundercracker finally managed to pull himself free, he walked over to us. "You two couldn't have helped me?" he asked.
"You're a giant alien war machine, and you needed help with a lizard?" I laughed.
Annabeth seemed to think this was a good time to bring up a question that was likely on her mind: "Why is a Transformer so interested in Greek stuff?" she asked.
"Oh. I'm writing a story." Thundercracker said happily as he nursed his hand.
"A story?" Annabeth looked skeptical.
"Yeah." Thundercracker said, "Me, Piper, and her dad read all about Greek mythology last year. Those stories really inspired me."
"He's got it into his head; he's good enough to make his own stories," I explained, rolling my eyes and smirking.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Thundercracker asked, "I'm a good writer!"
"You named your main character Piper Analog." I pointed out.
"I changed it, didn't I?! I'm making progress!"
As me and Thundercracker had a friendly bicker, something seemed to explode inside Annabeth. "Thundercracker?" she asked with her teeth grinding. "Can I have some time to talk to Piper... alone?"
"What am I supposed to do until you're done?" Thundercracker asked.
"Interview some people?" I suggested, "Get some notes for your story?"
Thundercracker's face lit up. "Good idea, Pipes!" he rushed off down the hillside toward the cabins.
I sighed contently and chuckled. "Man, he's such a dork for—"
Annabeth grabbed my arm in a steel grip. She gave me a worried look. "You don't know who he is, do you?"
I gave her a confused look. "Who? Thundercracker?"
"Yes him!"
"What are you talking about?"
Annabeth took a deep breath. "Piper," she said calmly. "That guy you're 'friends' with, he's not your friend."
I glared at her, "What is the matter with you?!" I asked, "He is my—"
"He's a Decepticon!" Annabeth shouted
I just stood there, not saying anything for a moment, trying to process what Annabeth had just said. Because it sounded like she just said Thundercracker was a Decepticon. But that couldn't be true.
Right?
"How would you know?" I asked.
"Because I've been friends with some of the Autobots since I was seven." Annabeth explained, "I've seen Decepticons in action before. He's one of them, Piper.".
I couldn't believe I was hearing this. "No. You're wrong!" I shouted, "Thundercracker is not a Decepticon! He can't be!"
I went off into a furious ramble. I told Annabeth about how he saved my dad from an accident (leaving out exactly what that accident was), how he bailed me out at parents' night, all the fun we had talking about his crappy stories, and how he helped me see my busy dad more so I didn't feel the need to steal stuff...
Annabeth released my arm. "Piper, has he introduced you to any other Autobots?"
Now that I thought about it, he hadn't. "Well... No." I admitted.
"Has he taken you to an Autobot base?"
I didn't say anything.
"Has he given you his contact info? Prowl gave me his."
"He said..." I winced. "He said Autobot comm channels were restricted...".
"Do you want me to show you proof?" Annabeth asked.
I didn't really, but I had to know.
Annabeth took me into the Athena Cabin. She pulled something from one of her personal drawers. "Here," she said, handing me a file. "I have a file on every single Decepticon. All written by me."
I opened the file, it took me a while to go through it because the more I read, the more I started to tear up, and the more my dyslexia made the letters float off the page.
Thundercracker: A member of the elite Decepticon warrior group known as the Seekers; often used as a living opening salvo for a battle. Uses his thunderboom abilities to draw enemies out into the open, leaving them open for the other Decepticons to slaughter. Despite possessing a moral code and refusing to kill any human or Autobot without a fair fight, he is still complicit in many acts of violence against humans and Autobots.
There was more, but that's the part that stuck out to me the most.
It kept repeating in my head over and over again.
My friend, the person who helped me finally enjoy my miserable life, was a Decepticon...
I turned my tear-stained face at Annabeth and looked her right in the eyes with a fierce expression.
"Where's the armory?" I asked.
Sorry for skimping out a bit on some of the "canon" moments in this chapter. I didn't want to just repeat what Lost Hero said too much. Besides, this story is mostly about Thundercracker and Piper's relationship, and that's where most of the focus is going to be.
Also, wait a minute. Annabeth has known the Autobots since she was seven in this universe? Is that a story for later down the line? Perhaps... ;)
Thanks for reading, and as always, please leave a review!