This chapter contains several instances of canon dialogue from the book "Lost Hero" all credit to that dialogue goes to Rick Riordan.

I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.

Chapter 16: Piper becomes Cherokee Barbie... Oh, and She Hates Me now.

"So..." I asked one of the campers, Sherman Yang, "You're a son of Ares, right?"

"Yeah..." he murmured.

"So what do the children of Ares like to do for fun?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "Punch things?"

"Hmm..." I said, taking down notes, "fascinating."

It really was. This camp was like a dream come true for me. It was like walking into a real-life version of all those mythology stories I fell in love with—because it was!

I couldn't wait to tell Tristan. He had to think this was exciting too. The former love of his life was a goddess! That meant she hadn't left him for no reason. Maybe it would finally give him the closure he needed.

After I finished interviewing Sherman, I turned over to see Piper and Annabeth walking toward where I was at the Ares Cabin.

"Piper!" I said happily, "This place is amazing! I've gotten so much more info for my-"

In hindsight, I should have caught on that something was up. I was so excited, that I didn't notice at that moment, Piper looked mad. Really mad.

She walked up toward me and used what looked like a new dagger to stab me in my other foot.

"OW!" I shouted, "What did you do that for!?"

Piper pulled out her dagger and glared up at me. "I know Thundercracker," she said bitterly.

"Know what?!"

She just kept glaring at me with an angry look. Tears soaked her eyes.

It took me a few seconds to catch up. My optics widened.

"Oh..." I winced.

I was dreading this day.

"Yeah! Annabeth told me!" Piper shouted, "I had to hear it from the girl I just met first! Not the guy I've known for two years!"

"Why didn't you tell me you were a Decepticon!?" she asked.

It was my turn to have my expression harden. "Well, what was I supposed to tell you!?" I asked, "Oh, FYI, I'm a member of a faction of planet-conquering megalomaniacs! That's a super easy thing to say!"

"I still had a right to know Thundercracker," Piper shouted, pointing her finger at me. "I had a right to know you were one of the bad guys!"

I wanted to scream, "No. We're not the bad guys! We're fighting for a better Cybertron!" But could I really say that now? After I had spent two years getting to know the human perspective of our war?

Piper took in a deep breath. "Was it all a lie?" she asked. "Was this all just some Decepticon trick to get my trust for whatever Saturday morning cartoon scheme you have planned!?"

"No!" I shouted, "I really am a fan of your dad's work, Piper! I really am your friend! I didn't lie about that!"

"Why should I believe you?" Piper asked, "You've been lying to me all this time!"

"Piper, just because I'm with the Decepticons doesn't mean I believe everything they do!" I insisted.

"Then why are you still with them!?" She asked, "Why haven't you tried to leave!?"

"It's not that easy! I can't just desert! They'll kill me! The Decepticons don't tolerate traitors." I explained, "There's this guy, Tarn-"

"So you're a coward, is that it!? You won't even try!?"

"It's not that simple!" I protested,

"It really is that simple. Just stop being evil! And you know it!" she shouted.

I didn't know what to say to that. What could I say?

Piper sniffed and turned her back to me. "I used to think you were so brave. I thought you were a hero; you fought to save a world that wasn't even your own. But you're not a hero. You're a coward, a faker, and a bully. Just like everyone else in my life..."

Annabeth put her arms around Piper's shoulder to comfort her. "Come on, Piper. Let's finish our tour of the cabins," she suggested.

Piper put her hands to her face and sobbed in them. The two girls started to leave.

I stepped forward, reaching out my arm. "Piper, wait-"

Piper turned her head around, and she shot me a tear-stained look of pure venom. "Never talk to me again!" she ordered.

She walked away with Annabeth, leaving me alone...

After my argument with Piper, I found my way toward a hillside and just sat down by it, wallowing in self-pity.

I suddenly realized why Annabeth had looked so vaguely familiar. I think I'd seen her a few times with the Autobots. She was much younger then, though. She must have recognized me and told Piper the truth.

It wasn't fair. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just go back to the Decepticons, not after what Piper had just said to me, but I also had a feeling she meant it when she said she never wanted to see me again.

And I had no one to blame but myself for it.

Piper was right. I should have told her. I had two years to tell her. Maybe if Piper had heard it from me and gotten my perspective first and not the side of the story of someone who had been a victim of us in the past, she'd have taken it better.

I didn't, though, and now I had probably lost one of my best friends in the world.

Maybe I could at least explain myself to Tristan. If nothing else, I could at least end things on better terms with him.

I sat there on the hillside for who knows how long, staring blankly at the grass. Suddenly, my wrist communicator started beeping.

When I turned it on, I heard Soundwave's voice coming from it: "Thundercracker, where are you? You have been gone for one whole Earth day."

"Not now, Soundwave," I answered.

"Excuse me?"

"Soundwave look. Everything is fine; I've just got some personal stuff I'm dealing with. I'll be back in." I thought about it for a minute: "Three days tops."

I could feel Soundwave glaring at me. "Very well," he said. Then he killed the line.

I went back to staring at the grass when I heard the familiar sound of a cybertronian transforming.

When I looked up, I saw a red transformer with flame decals. It was the Autobot called Hot Rod. He stared at me for a bit.

I broke the silence between us. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm a friend of the camp's Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare," he explained calmly. "I was just coming over for a visit. Then I saw you on the hillside."

I scoffed, "So are you here to arrest me? Kill me?" I asked bitterly.

"Honestly, I thought about doing that first one, but you looked pretty depressed." Hot Rod admitted, "I wouldn't want to kick you while you're down.".

I should probably have been offended, but I found myself laughing at that. Maybe I was just desperate.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm a friend of the new arrival. Piper McLean." I explained.

"Oh, the Native American girl with the bad hairdo?"

"That's her. And she's proud of that bad hairdo, by the way. She puts in a lot of effort to look terrible." I laughed sadly.

Hot Rod was silent for a bit. "You know. Somehow I knew out of all the cons you'd be the one to befriend a human," he finally said. "You're not like the other Decepticons."

"Chromia said that too," I muttered.

"So why are you here and not with your friend?"

"What do you think, genius?" I snarled, "She found out."

"Oh..." Hot Rod noted.

I crossed my arms, scowling. "I don't even know what I'm still doing here."

"Because you still care about her and want to make sure she's okay." Hot Rod guessed.

"How would you know?"

"Because I've dealt with teenage girls before." Hot Rod laughed.

I didn't say anything.

"You want to come over to the bonfire?" Hot Rod asked.

I did actually...

We walked over to the Amphitheater. It was this massive area on the top of a hillside, with steps carved into it. I saw at least fifty or sixty kids around the area.

The fire was burning brightly tonight. I saw Piper standing over to the side next to Annabeth.

The second I stepped near the bonfire, she laser-focused on me immediately. "What are you still doing here?" she asked scornfully.

I stayed silent.

"Just go away, Thundercracker, PLEASE," she ordered, her eyes watering up.

"I'm not gonna just leave you..." I said.

Piper didn't seem happy, but she also seemed to accept that as an answer, for whatever reason.

I shrugged and turned back to the bonfire, where I saw something that cheered me up.

"CHIRON!" I shouted with glee as I saw the famous centaur step into the area.

He looked a bit taken aback for some reason. "Erm. Yes. I am Chiron. Director of this camp..." he said, "and I would like to give a special welcome to our new arrivals!"

After that, it just became a bunch of chatter. Something about a dragon; that Percy guy still being missing; a great prophecy. My focus was solely on Piper.

She noticed it eventually, and it bugged her.

"Would you stop looking at me?" she asked.

"...Would it make me sound like a stalker if I said I was never going to stop looking out for you? Because you're my friend?" I asked.

Piper suppressed a laugh. She seemed to immediately recognize what that meant, though, because her expression hardened. "I'm still mad at you," she insisted.

"And you have every right-"

I was interrupted when a bolt of lightning came down. I swerved to see what had happened. Jason had apparently summoned it down, and it was racing along a golden spear.

Chiron called it overkill, but I knew what it meant, Jason began to say as much.

"Jupiter- I mean-"

"ZEUS!" I yelled excitedly.

In fact, I was so excited that I engaged my jet boosters and jumped right next to Jason, landing near him. The impact knocked Jason off his feet, sending him stumbling to the ground.

"You're a real-life child of Zeus!"

"UH. Yeah. Apparently," Jason said, looking up at me fearfully.

This was incredible. I was writing a story about a child of Zeus, and now a real-life one was right in front of me.

I knew I had to get all the information I could.

"What do you like to do for fun!?" I asked.

"I don't know!"

"What are children of Zeus like!?"

"I don't know!"

"What's your diet!?"

"I don't know!" With every "I don't know," Jason sounded more and more freaked out.

Everyone in the camp except for Annabeth and Chiron burst into laughter. Piper was quiet too, but she looked like she didn't know how to feel.

Normally I would have been mortified at all the laughter at me, but I got the sense the camp had needed a good laugh for a while. I couldn't hold that against them.

Eventually, Hot Rod came up and pulled me away.

"Okay, Mr. Research, give the poor guy some space." Hot Rod giggled.

"But I wasn't done yet!" I complained, even though I knew he was right.

Chiron was about to get into more talk when a red-headed girl, Hot Rod's friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare, spoke up. Her eyes glowed green, and she recited a poem.

"Child of lightning, beware the earth, the giants revenge the seven shall birth, the forge and dove shall break the cage, and death unleashed through Hera's rage."

She fainted and was helped to the side by Hot Rod.

"Is that normal?" Piper asked.

"She's the Oracle, so I guess so," I remarked.

They talked a bit about what the prophecy could mean. Sounded like it was a mission to rescue Hera, queen of the gods. It was meant for Jason, obviously, and he was more than eager to go since he had pieced together Hera was the one responsible for his memory wipe.

He had to pick who he wanted to come along with him. Leo volunteered, and he was a natural pick because of that "Forge" line. Son of Hephaestus, after all.

The dove pick was evidently more tricky.

Drew spoke up first: "The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours," she said.

"No," Piper said, stepping forward. "I'm the one who had the vision of Hera. It should be me.".

"Oh, please, dumpster girl, back off," Drew responded, rolling her eyes.

Piper was about to say something, but before she could, I did.

"Dumpster girl!?" I shouted. My eyes filled with rage. "DUMPSTER GIRL?!"

Piper's eyes widened. "Thundercracker, wait!" she protested.

For the second time that night, I jumped up and landed right in front of a camper, knocking them off their feet. I loomed over Drew, pinning her to the ground with my finger.

"She is not a dumpster girl!" I yelled, "Piper is the bravest, kindest, most strong-willed person I know!"

Piper's face turned red.

Everyone else just stood there. Some of the other campers murmured about how hardly anyone stands up to Drew.

"Can we keep him?" one guy in the Aphrodite cabin asked.

As for Drew herself, she was wincing and struggling to get free. "I...what can she-"

"Quiet!" I shouted, "You should be begging her to take this quest!"

I thought I was doing the right thing, but someone clearly didn't think so.

"Thundercracker, stop!" begged Piper.

I turned my head at her with a confused look. "But... I'm trying to help-"

"STOP!" she ordered in a commanding voice. The word echoed in my head. It was an order I had to obey.

I let Drew go and calmly walked back to where I previously was. Drew picked herself up and gave me a death glare.

A few seconds later, my brain computed what had just happened: "Did...did you just-"

I didn't get to finish because, at that moment, Piper's clothing changed instantly. One second she was wearing her signature snowboarding jacket, and the next she was in a white one-piece dress. Even her hair changed. That hairdo I said she was so proud of for being bad? Now it was in a perfect side braid.

Everyone gave a collective gasp.

"What!? What happened!?" Piper asked, scared.

Annabeth pointed at Piper's dagger, and Piper used its reflection to get a look at herself. She looked horrified. Drew looked equally horrified for different reasons.

"You're beautiful." Jason said, "Piper, you... you're a knockout."

Yeah. She did.

But it wasn't her.

"This isn't me," she protested. "I- don't understand."

Chiron folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the other campers followed his example. Even Hot Rod bowed, so I followed suit.

"Hail Piper McLean," Chiron said gravely, "Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of doves, goddess of love."

I feel a bit bad for taking away Piper's big moment of standing up to Drew at the bonfire, but there's no way Thundercracker would stand for Drew insulting Piper like that.

Don't worry, Piper will get some time to shine soon.

As always, thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!