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

Chapter 32: Victory and Loss.

Nightprowler growled when he saw the orange bot standing next to the two, whom the ones who found him referred to as "Decepticons."

"Quicksand…."

"Nightprowler?" Quicksand asked. "Heh. Figures you of all bots would still have some life left in you…"

"Friend of yours?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah," confirmed Nightprowler. "He was one of the bots on the side of Atlantis who wanted to conquer the world."

"Hey, I just do what the bosses tell me," Quicksand replied.

"Enough," Starscream said. "Hand over your new friend now!"

"How about I hand over this?" taunted Chromia as she pulled out her laser rifle. She aimed, fired, and then the lasers shot out in random, unfocused directions with no impact or force.

"What the!?" she asked.

"You're underwater, Chromia!" Frederick explained over the comms. "Your lasers won't work due to refraction."

"Thanks for letting me know before we jumped in!" Chromia muttered sarcastically.

"Hah! Makes it easier for us then!" laughed Skywarp.

"Not quite," said Nightprowler. "I may be still waking up. But I got my own trick."

He lifted his right foot up and slammed it onto the ground; it hit the ocean floor with a massive boom. Nightprowler shoved his arms forward, and two pillars of rock shot from the ground beside him and started flying right toward the Decepticon.

"Oh scrap!" Starscream yelled right before the pillar hit him and sent him flying through the water. Skywarp teleported away before the pillar heading toward him hit, and Quicksand dove for cover.

Prowl, Chromia, and Annabeth exchanged amazed looks. "What was that!?" Annabeth asked.

Nightprowler turned to them. "Most of Atlantis's guardians had control over the elements," Nightprowler explained. "Do you not have bots like that on Cybertron?"

"Well, not normally." Chromia began, "But—"

"Can it, Chromia we need to focus!" Prowl pointed out.

"Prowl's right," Ratchet said over the comms. "We need to get Nightprowler out of there now! Before the Decepticons can get him!"

"Call the other Autobots Ratchet," Prowl ordered. Just then a nearby building collapsed. Prowl turned to look and saw Quake's tank mode and Skytread's tank half rolling towards them.

"NOW!" he ordered.

"Right!" Ratchet said.

Just a few minutes earlier, Hot Rod, Sunstreaker, and Thalia had been gathering up some of the downed robots they'd been finding all across the area of Atlantis they'd been ordered to look over. As expected, most of them were beyond saving, but if there was a chance to save any of them whose sparks still flickered, it was worth a try.

Sunstreaker grimaced as he carried one of them, a feminine-looking robot with wings like a hawk, to the outskirts of the city. "This is one of the worst details ever," he muttered.

"No kidding…" Hot Rod muttered. "Most morbid job I've ever had."

"See times like this; I'm glad I'm not a giant robot." Thalia laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…" Hot Rod muttered.

Just then the comm hummed to life. "Hot Rod? Sunstreaker? Are you there?" Ratchet asked.

"Hot Rod here; what is it, Ratchet?"

"Decepticons are here," Ratchet answered. "They're attacking Chromia, Prowl, Annabeth, and a bot they managed to reactivate."

"Oh no…" muttered Sunstreaker.

"We better get over there," Hot Rod said.

"Wait, what about all the robots we gathered up?" Thalia asked, "Who's going to take them to the ship?"

Sunstreaker and Hot Rod looked at each other.

"Not it!' called Sunstreaker.

"Hey!" Hot Rod protested, "No–"

"Hot Rod, this is no time to argue!" Ratchet reprimanded.

Hot Rod sighed. "Yes, sir," he muttered.

"Come on, Thalia," Sunstreaker said, gesturing towards the central plaza. "I've been needing a good outlet for my frustration."

Optimus was starting to agree with Sunstreaker. He was beginning to hate working underwater.

He and Megatron had fought so many times it honestly just blurred together after a while. This on the other hand was different. With the water pulling and tugging at them and the viscosity of it weighing them down, it made fighting more of a challenge than it normally would be.

And fighting Megatron was already a challenge in its own right.

The good news was, the water was holding Megatron back like he was, so the two were still on equal footing.

Mostly.

Right now, the two leaders were outside the central plaza building and fighting on the nearby streets. Optimus could hear the other Autobots fighting the Decepticons behind him.

Megatron swung his energon mace at Optimus again, and Optimus was barely able to dodge it in time thanks to the water around him. The mace struck a nearby wall, causing one of the ruined buildings to collapse.

"Oh, Frederick won't be happy about that." Optimus muttered.

If Megatron heard Optimus say that he didn't respond to it, he just growled and swung his mace from the right, trying to cut down Optimus.

Optimus thought fast and jumped up, the lower gravity in the water giving him a boost. As he floated upwards, he had the high ground over Megatron. Optimus raised his axe above his head and swung forward; Megatron wasn't able to react in time before the axe was jammed into his shoulder.

"GRRR…" Megatron growled. He lifted his legs up and placed them on Optimus's chest, then kicked forward, knocking the Autobot leader backward into another nearby building.

Optimus groaned as he picked himself up. "Is it just me? Or is fighting underwater not very fun?" he asked.

Surprisingly, Megatron not only laughed at Optimus's remark, but he smiled. "Indeed," he said. "I can't tell who's the tougher opponent, you or this accursed liquid!"

"I'm more deadly in the short term," Optimus responded. "The water's more deadly in the long term. It'll make you rust."

"Hah! Good point," laughed Megatron. But the moment of camaraderie didn't last long before Megatron charged forward and swung his left arm at Optimus, punching him in the face.

Optimus recovered quickly and slashed at Megatron again with his axe, which Megatron blocked with his mace.

"Reminds me of those battles in space during the age of Wrath." Optimus shot out.

"When we landed on Quintesson ships and they tried to throw us off into the vacuum of space and we had to fight in zero gravity?" asked Megatron.

"Yeah," said Optimus.

"And how did we win?" asked Megatron.

"We used the gravity to our advantage!" Optimus yelled, and he gave an upppercut with his left hand, knocking Megatron into the air. He then jumped up and grabbed Megatron in midair; the two started floating together in the middle of the water.

"Thanks for the tip, Prime!" Megatron yelled before kicking Optimus off him. "Now, die!" he ordered as he swung his mace again.

"Try it!" Optimus taunted as he swung his axe, and it collided with Megatron's mace as the two leaders began to fight in the water above the ancient city…

Prowl grunted as Quake threw him to the ground; the impact sent dust scattering all across the sea floor.

"I've been sick of this damn water since we got here," laughed Quake. "I can finally take out my frustration."

"You ever consider anger management?" Prowl asked.

Quake laughed again before punching Prowl across the face. "That's rich coming from you!" he said. "I've heard the stories; how ruthless you can be."

"I just use my anger constructively!" Prowl taunted as he slipped out of Quake's grasp and kicked upward, his foot hitting the bottom of Quake's jaw. The upper kick sent Quake flying up into the water.

"Whoa, whoa!" cried Quake. He rapidly moved his arms and legs around as he struggled to gain balance as he floated in midair.

Prowl pulled out his katana and prepared to strike when he was rammed into from behind. Skytread's tank mode had jammed right into him and pushed him flat onto the ground. The weight was too much for him to throw off right away, so he was stuck.

"Hah Hah! Gotcha!" Skytread's voice from the tank laughed.

Skytread's jet mode, on the other hand, flew towards Quake and caught him. "Why do I have to be the one to save Quake?" it asked.

"Because you're the one who can fly, idiot!" Skytread's tank mode responded.

"Still better at bashing Autobots better than you!"

"WHAT!?"

Annabeth was watching all this from the sidelines with ample confusion. It looked like Skytread was having an argument with himself.

This wasn't the time to get distracted, though. Right now she was just keeping her distance as Prowl and Chromia fought the Decepticons, waiting for a moment to strike.

She got an opening when Skywarp teleported behind Chromia, who was trying to fight off Starscream currently. Skywarp moved to grab her, but Annabeth jammed her dagger into Skywarp's leg.

Skywarp screamed in pain before Chromia broke off from Starscream and kicked him in the face.

"Nice stab Annabeth!' Frederick said over the comm.

"Thanks Dad…" Annabeth huffed. It felt kind of weird to say that.

Nightprowler, meanwhile, was swinging his sword at Quicksand, who was trying to jab his pincers at the guardian.

"Quicksand! Stop this!" insisted Nightprowler. "Our conflict is over; we don't have to fight anymore! Come with me!"

"Yeah, but they found me first," Quicksand stated. He managed to get through Nightprowler's defensive stance and grabbed his arm in his pincers.

Quicksand lifted Nightprolwer into the air and over his head before sending him down to the ground, face first with a massive thud. "Besides, I still hate your guts," Quicksand taunted.

"Should have figured," Nightprowler's muffled voice muttered in pain. He lifted his arm up, and a mound of earth slammed Quicksand backward, giving him an opening to swing.

Quake rubbed his head and started to refocus himself while riding on top of Skytread's jet mode. He looked down and saw everyone fighting below.

"Heh," he murmured. "I got an idea."

He stood up on top of Skytread's jet mode and started to shift his weight.

Quake leaped off of Skytread and screamed a massive battle cry, shifting all his weight to the bottom. He rapidly fell to the ocean floor, slamming his fist right into it. A huge tremor erupted all around Quake, and the ground shifted and the water turned.

All the combatants in the fight were knocked off their feet and sent flying backward. Chromia struggled to hold onto something, Skywarp rapidly teleported around to keep himself stable, Nightprowler jammed his sword into the ground to latch on, and Quicksand, Annabeth, and Starscream flew helplessly around.

It was just the opening Prowl needed; Skytread's tank mode was sent flying off of him, giving him the chance to jump back onto his feet. He swerved towards Quake and swung his sword at him.

"Oops,' Quake muttered right before the sword hit him in the chest and sent him flying through the water again.

As Chromia struggled to grab onto something, Skywarp grabbed her by the legs. "Gotcha!" he declared.

"Not quite!" yelled a familiar voice as Sunstreaker tackled Skywarp, knocking the con off of Chromia.

"What took you so long?" asked Chromia.

"This stupid water!" Sunstreaker yelled. "It's slowing everything down!"

"Will you shut up about the water already!?" Thalia asked as she swung her spear at Starscream.

"No!" Sunstreaker fired back.

Thalia looked around frantically and saw Annabeth struggling to regain her balance. Her arms and legs waved helplessly around in mid-water.

Thalia swam over to her friend and grabbed her, allowing Annabeth to get stable again.

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Thalia…" she murmured.

"You know Sunstreakers got a point; I'm getting really sick of water," Thalia admitted.

"Me too… Maybe this is why Mom and Posideon never get along. Annabeth murmured.

Amidst the chaos, the skirmish raged on. Nightprowler kicked Quicksand in the face, Quake punched Prowl, and Sunstreaker and Chromia teamed up against Skywarp and Starscream. In the distance, they could hear Megatron and Optimus battling it out.

"Wait, where's Skytread?" asked Annabeth.

"Right here!" yelled a voice behind them as Skytread, now in his robot mode, made a grab for the two kids.

"No, you don't!" cried another familiar voice as Hound showed up and grabbed Skytread from behind, throwing him off Annabeth. Alongside him were Brawn and Luke. Brawn charged right at Quake with his usual cry of "Might over Microchips" and slammed him into a nearby building. Luke swam over to Annabeth and Thalia.

"Are you two-"

"Yeah, we're fine, Luke," Thalia answered.

Just then, they heard a yell. As Barricade came out from hiding to attack Prowl, Soundwave had also arrived to help out with the fight.

"We need to get out of here," Luke said.

"Kinda hard right now!" Hound pointed out as he resisted one of Skytread's punches.

"We just need the right opening," Annabeth said. "But what?" she asked.

"Um… I might have a suggestion." Frederick said over the comms.

Annabeth's face took on a shocked expression. "You do?"

"You do?" Ratchet repeated.

"Yes."

Megatron was tired of playing around. With all his fury, he launched a barrage of punches at Optimus. Optimus tried to block them but he failed to stop a few of them, and he was brought to his knees.

Megatron snarled. "This is why you're weak, Prime," he taunted before kicking his enemy in the face. "You never go all out."

Optimus was knocked back a bit. Then his comm flared to life.

"Erm… Optimus right? Are you there?" Frederick asked

"Yes. I'm–" Optimus grunted as he took another blow to the face from Megatron. "Here!"

"I have an idea, but we need your help."

"Okay, what!?" asked Optimus, his usual calm demeanor sounding increasingly exasperated.

"We're going to create our own ocean storm as a distraction," Frederick explained. But we need you to bring Megatron closer to the central plaza."

"Sounds risky," Optimus noted as he deflected another swat from Megatron. "But I don't think we have a choice right now. Let's do it!"

As Megatron launched a rolling kick at Optimus, he grabbed the Decepticon leader's leg in his arms before throwing him toward the direction of the plaza. Then he ran after him.

Quake bunched his fists together and slammed them down on Brawn, but the small Autobot managed to leap up and uppercut the Decepticon.

Quake growled. "Why don't you ever just stay down, Brawn?" he asked. "Like a good little Autobot!?"

"I'm too tough for that." Brawn boasted as he wiped some energon from his mouth. Then he cracked his knuckles.

Quake smirked and charged at Brawn, only for Brawn to kick him in the leg joint. Quake gave out a cry of pain as he fell to one knee. Brawn grabbed the con by the head and began to smash him against the rock wall of one of the nearby buildings repeatedly. Quake eventually collapsed onto the ground in intense pain.

Brawn wiped his knuckles and looked down at his fallen foe. "Still standing," he laughed.

Just then he heard a crushing sound behind him. Brawn looked around and saw Megatron had landed nearby before Optimus tackled him.

"Brawn, that's your cue!" Frederick shouted over the comms.

Brawn grinned. "On it!" he shouted. He rushed into the center of the plaza where all the Autobots and Decepticons were still fighting and jumped up as high as he could in the water.

Then he bunched himself up.

"CANNONBALL!" he cried.

"Everyone grab onto something!" ordered Prowl as he jammed his sword into the ground; Nightprowler did the same; Optimus grabbed a nearby rock; and others like Chromia, Hound, and Sunstreaker prepared for impact.

"What?" asked Megatron. He looked just in time to see Brawn hit the ground hard. A massive shockwave went out from around him. The wave spread out and hit all the combatants in the fight, but the unprepared Decepticons were hit the hardest as they were caught off guard. Most of them were sent flying through the water.

"Not again!" cried Starscream as he was knocked backward, and he flailed around helpless in the current.

"Whooa!" yelled Barricade as the current took him away.

"GAH!" Skywarp screamed.

"NO!" cried Megatron as the wave hit him and knocked him backward away from Optimus. "No! PRIME!"

"See ya Megatron!" teased Optimus as Megatron floated farther and farther away. "I'll send you a postcard from wherever the Allspark is found."

With that, he started moving toward the edge of the battle zone, where all the other Autobots were meeting up.

This time when the wave had hit, Chromia, Hound, and Sunstreaker made sure to move along with it instead of against it. This allowed them to get some distance from the Decepticons they had been fighting.

"I think it's working!" Hound said as he glided along with the shockwave.

Prowl began to inch his way toward the "safe zone" the Autobots had designated. "Brawn! Keep pounding the ground!" he ordered. "Make sure those Decepticons are as far away from us as possible and keep them busy!" he ordered.

"You got it!" Brawn grinned. He slammed his fists together before slamming the ground with them. "Might over microchips!" he hollered as he beat the ground down repeatedly, sending shockwave after shockwave.

Prowl turned to Nightprowler, who was looking exhausted. "Can you create an earth wall between us and the Decepticons?" Prowl asked. "We need to get some distance between us if we're going to get out of here!"

"I can try." Nightprowler groaned. "It'll probably take a lot out of me."

"Do it!" ordered Prowl.

Nightprowler took on a determined expression and faced towards Brawn. He dug his feet into the dirt and raised his arms, creating two massive rock walls around Brawn. The walls were angled specifically in a way that concentrated the shockwaves Brawn was creating right in the Decepticons' direction and stopped them from trying a wide approach to flank them.

"There... that should..." Nightprowler staggered. "That should..." he started to fall down.

"Nightprowler!" yelled Chromia. She and Sunstreaker raced over and caught him.

"He must have exhausted himself," Annabeth said.

"Get him to the Ark-27 now!" ordered Optimus.

Sunstreaker and Chromia started carefully carrying Nightprowler off at the meeting zone they had agreed on.

Optimus started to inch his way toward the meeting zone. He took a moment to turn on his wrist comm. "Ratchet? Is the Ark-27 in position?" he asked.

In all this mayhem, there was one Decepticon that the Autobots had failed to account for...

Ratchet got out of the pilot's chair and looked at the readings. The Ark-27 was right above the ruins of Atlantis.

"The Ark-27 is in position Optimus," Ratchet reported.

"Then launch the grappling lines!" ordered Optimus over the comm.

Ratchet nodded and dashed to the loading bay, reopening the doors. He pressed a button on the wall, releasing several grappling lines that fell into the water and began to float down.

Ratchet turned on his comm. "Hot Rod? Status?"

Hot Rod looked up from his position on the outskirts of Atlantis. Next to him were the bodies of all the scattered and damaged robots that could still be saved and that he, Sunstreaker, Brawn, and Hound had managed to retrieve.

"I can't see the ropes, Ratchet; it's too dark to see anything," he reported.

"Just give it a few moments," Ratchet said.

Hot Rod winced. Right now his friends were all in trouble and fighting Decepticons, and he was stuck here watching over some good as dead bodies.

"Ratchet, you sure I can't—"

"Hot Rod! This is important!" Prowl reprimanded over the comm "This plan has to go right!"

Hot Rod sighed. "Yes, sir," he muttered.

It was only a few seconds, but it might as well have been several hours when Hot Rod finally saw the grappling lines above his spot.

"Okay, I see them Ratchet! We're clean!" he shouted.

"Got it!" said Ratchet. "Frederick's plan is working! Time to get back everybody!"

By this point, the shockwaves Brawn was creating combined with the walls Nightprowler created had managed to put a sizable distance between the Autobots and the Decepticons, but it wasn't gonna be long before the Decepticons recovered.

Sunstreaker and Chromia were on their way to the rendezvous point, helping the exhausted and battered Nightprowler move. Optimus was right behind them, with Thalia following close behind. Prowl, Hound, Luke, and Annabeth were the only ones left at the battlezone, waiting for Brawn to finish up.

"Dad's plan worked; it actually worked!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Luke muttered unsurely.

Hound looked over at Brawn. "We're clear, Brawn!" Hound shouted. "Time to move and get out of here!"

"You sure?!" Brawn laughed as he kept pounding the ground. "I can keep going for a bit longer!"

"Pretty sure!" Hound hollered. "We got word from Hot Rod; he's loading all the deactivated bots we found! It's time to get out of here!"

Brawn laughed again and stopped his pounding. Then he turned around to face Hound, letting his guard down.

"Alright, alright," Brawn said. "I'm com–"

Just then there was a large CRUNCH that echoed all around them and the sound of metal tearing apart.

Everything seemed to freeze; nobody said a word.

Brawn looked down at his chest and saw Quake's fist sticking right through it. The con had rushed from behind and punched Brawn right in the back, his fist going directly through the Autobot's body.

Hound's eyes widened with horror. "BRAWN!" he shouted.

"What just happened!? What's happening!?" asked Annabeth.

Luke knew exactly what was happening. "Annabeth, don't look!" he begged, trying to cover her eyes.

Brawn tried to say something, but nothing came out. His mouth just opened, and liquid energon started to leak from it, floating away with the water.

"Who's standing now?" Quake taunted with a cruel smile. He pulled his hand out from Brawn's back, pulling out some vital wires as he did so.

Brawn's blue eyes went dark, and he fell forward onto the seafloor.

All rational thinking vanished from Hound's mind as he screamed "NOOOOO!".

"Hound come on!" Prowl shouted. "You said it yourself! We need to get out of here now!"

Hound just shook his head. "We can't just leave his body-"

"MOVE!" yelled Prowl as he grabbed Hound by the arm and dragged him away. Luke did the same with Annabeth, who was confused and scared.

Hound wanted to argue with Prowl, but he knew it would be useless. Prowl was right.

Brawn was gone.

Hot Rod waited in the Ark-27's cargo bay with Chromia, Optimus, Thalia, and the rest of the bodies they'd recovered. Ratchet had taken Nightprowler to his lab to start a proper repair job, and Sunstreaker had raced to the pilot's chair so they could start putting some proper distance between them and the cons the second everyone was on board.

Hot Rod was glad. He was ready to get out of this place and move on.

A few moments later, Prowl, Hound, Luke, and Thalia climbed into the cargo bay. Hot Rod breathed a sigh of relief and gave a big smile.

"Great! You guys are here!" he said jubilantly. "Now all we need is Brawn and—"

"Start going now, Sunstreaker!" Prowl ordered over the comm. Hound was silent and somber as he moved to close the cargo bay door.

"Wait, we're not waiting for Brawn?" Hot Rod asked confused.

Hound swerved his head and glared at Hot Rod.

"...Where's Brawn?" asked Hot Rod.

"Yeah, where is he?" asked Chromia.

Prowl gave the two bots a somber look, as did Luke; Annabeth was crying.

Hot Rod's eyes widened. Then his face fell. Chromia clenched her fists.

"What? What is it?" Thalia asked.

"I think Brawn's gone, Thalia…" Hot Rod said.

"Oh," said Thalia, catching on.

Optimus was stoically silent as he observed all this, unsure of what to say or do.

This wasn't the first time he'd had to deal with a situation like this, and he knew there was nothing he could say or do to make it better.

While all this happened, Sunstreaker followed Prowl's orders and started flying the Ark-27 away…

You know it wasn't until I finished writing this that I realized I forgot to put Spinister into the fight scene. Oops.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!