Oh man, I'm going to get so much hate for this chapter...

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

Chapter 16: A Trip to the Parthenon

While the Weekiversary party had been fun when it wrapped up, it was back to work for Ratchet; he still had to decipher the symbols from the slab Hound, Brawn, and Luke had recovered from Mexico.

A few days later, Optimus and Prowl walked into Ratchet's lab to check up on him. They found the medic hard at work at his desk, examining the slab with a microscope.

"Ratchet?" Prowl asked.

"Oh?" Ratchet turned around to face his friends. "Uh right. What is it?"

"We came in here for a status update. It's been at least two Earth weeks since you got the slab." Optimus said. "Have you found out anything new?"

Ratchet sighed. "Not much, sadly," he admitted.

"That implies you figured out something at least." Prowl pointed out.

"Yeah, I did." Ratchet huffed. "The best I can figure these symbols are trying to spell out coordinates. Presumably to wherever this Atlantis was."

"Well, where is it?" Prowl asked.

"That's the problem," Ratchet muttered. "They're incomplete; they only form a part of the coordinates."

"Have you tried cross-referencing them with the Cybertronian alphabet and the previous notes on the Allspark symbols?" Optimus asked.

"Don't you think that'd be the first thing I tried?" Ratchet asked. "The problem is that, from what I can gather, these residents of Atlantis basically co-opted the symbols on the Allspark for their own writing."

Ratchet leaned back in his chair, looking exhausted. "Imagine trying to decipher a language that's half your own and half completely different," he mused as he rubbed the back of his head. "That's what this is, and it's making my processor ache."

"So you're stuck," surmised Prowl.

"Not forever," Ratchet said, sitting up. "If I can get more Earth-based symbols, it would theoretically expedite the process."

"We'll get on it then," said Optimus.

"Thanks, Optimus," Ratchet said before getting back to it.

Optimus turned to Prowl. "Prowl, let's get everyone together. I think it's time to get all hands on deck for this."

Prowl saluted. "Understood Optimus."

Prowl went to the humans's chambers next; they needed everyone's help for this.

When he walked in, he saw their three human friends sitting on the couch they had given them with Hot Rod and Hound on either side. The two Autobots were plugged up to some sort of device that was itself plugged into the TV, and the humans were messing around with smaller devices connected to the larger device.

Prowl looked at the TV itself and saw various colorful characters fighting each other on a platform.

"Um, what is going on here?" Prowl asked.

"Playing Smash Bros.," Thalia answered.

"I'm playing Daisy," Annabeth replied.

"Okay. What is Smash Bros?" Prowl asked, confused.

"It's this fun human game." Hot Rod said. "Thalia asked me to pick up a game console and a few games on our last supply run."

"I thought you kids couldn't use most electronics." Prowl pointed out irritated.

"Yeah, but that was before we got giant alien war machine bodyguards," Thalia explained. "I think we're good."

Prowl looked at Luke.

"Honestly, I'm not one hundred percent on board with this," Luke admitted. "They talked me into it."

"Oh, that explains why you're sucking so badly at this," teased Hound.

"Hey, that doesn't mean I can't-"

"Enough." Prowl sighed. "The fun and games are going to have to wait. Optimus wants all of us to work on trying to find more of those symbols."

"Okay fine…" Thalia muttered as she shut the game off.

"Buzzkill." Hot Rod muttered resentfully.

"Thank you," said Prowl proudly.

As everyone walked out of the room to get to work, Prowl stopped Annabeth. "Why didn't you invite me?" he asked her.

"You seemed busy at the time," Annabeth answered.

Prowl wasn't sure whether to feel left out or thank the little girl.

The next few hours for the Autobots and the humans were spent in the briefing room, looking up information on human archeological locations to see if they could find another spot where those symbols popped up.

It took a lot longer than anyone had been hoping for. These symbols were a more uncommon sight than they previously assumed.

Sunstreaker groaned as he finished looking through another webpage for an archeological site in China. "Still nothing," he said.

"Same here," muttered Hot Rod as he looked through his datapad.

"Gah, this is hopeless!" Brawn yelled. "What I'd give to have a Decepticon to punch right now..."

"Patience Brawn," Optimus said assuringly.

"I don't get it," Hound said. "Why hasn't anyone reported on these symbols? Surely someone would have noticed them by now, but I can't find any articles on them."

"Maybe they're obscured by the mist," Luke offered.

Ratchet looked confused. "There's no mist at some of these sights!" he pointed out.

"No, it's…" Luke sighed. "The mist is this thing on Earth; it obscures the supernatural world from the natural. If these symbols are tied to Atlantis, maybe that's why they aren't well known."

"Well, that figures," Chromia muttered.

"Guys, I think I have something!" Thalia cheered as she finished flipping through a book.

"What is it!?" asked Prowl.

"Ratchet, can you pull up this place called the Parthenon in Nashville?" Thalia requested.

Ratchet nodded and pressed some buttons on his data pad. On the briefing room viewscreen, a picture appeared of a huge structure resembling Greek architecture.

Annabeth's eyes widened, and she smiled the biggest smile. "That's a temple dedicated to Mom!" she cheered.

"Yeah," Thalia said. "I was looking through some pictures in one of the research books we got at the library, and in the back of the building were some of those symbols!"

"Great work, Thalia," Optimus said. Then he turned to Prowl. "Prowl, I want you to go there right away and get us a copy of those symbols."

"Understood, Prime," Prowl answered.

"Can I come?" Annabeth asked. "I've always wanted to see the Parthenon!" She looked absolutely giddy with excitement.

"Of course," Prowl said.

"Hey, if Annabeth's coming, me and Luke are coming too," Thalia said. "Right, Luke?"

Luke was unusually quiet. "Yeah. Sure," he muttered, but he didn't seem very excited.

Hot Rod turned to Hound. "Guess that means we're coming too," he said.

"Works for me," smiled Hound.

After passing through the Groundbridge, Hot Rod, Hound, and Prowl emerged on the outskirts of the city of Nashville, with Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth riding in them, respectively. Pretty soon, they found the Parthenon itself.

The closer they got to the Parthenon, the more Annabeth's eyes widened and her smile got bigger and bigger. She pressed her face against Prowl's window. "It's completely identical in size to the original; despite using different materials to build it, all the horizontal elements of it are arched slightly to the center; it's got forty-six…" Annabeth kept droning and spouting facts about it.

"Primus, this girl could make Grapple go "cool it"." Hot Rod's holomatter avatar muttered with amusement.

"Who's Grapple?" Thalia asked.

"He's an old friend of ours on Cybertron." Hound's Holomatter avatar, an army scout about thirty years old, answered.

"Expert in all things architecture." Prowl's holomatter avatar, an FBI agent with red hair, replied.

Annabeth turned to Prowl's avatar. "Can I meet him? Please, please, please!?" she begged.

"Maybe one day," Prowl murmured.

Hound noticed Luke was unusually quiet during all this. He just sat back in Hound's Jeep mode, not saying anything.

"Luke? Are you okay?" Hound asked.

Luke stayed silent.

"Is this about your dad?" Hound asked.

"Who else would it be about?" Luke asked

"But we're not visiting a temple for your dad."

Luke sighed and sat up. "No, but we are visiting a temple to the mom of a friend of mine; that's enough to make it awkward."

"Is he really that bad?" Hound asked.

"That's the thing. I don't know." Luke muttered. "At least Athena bothered to help out when Annabeth was captured. Hermes, he hasn't done anything for me."

When they arrived at the Parthenon, it was still daylight. Hound, Hot Rod, and Prowl made an effort to park as close to the building as possible.

"Alright, let's see how much distance these avatars can project." Hot Rod answered as his avatar left his Dodge Viper mode, with Thalia, Prowl, and Hound following suit.

As the six walked to the Parthenon, Hot Rod looked over Prowl, Hound, and the kids. "We must be the most unusually looking group here," he muttered.

"Nothing new for us…" Thalia murmured.

The six walked into the entranceway. Everything seemed calm at first, but then Luke noticed something.

At the doorway, one of the janitors for the building, a guy dressed in red overalls, was glaring at them.

"Hello?" Luke greeted.

The man didn't answer.

Luke would have said more, but then she heard Annabeth gasp. He turned and saw the sight that had distracted everyone else. Right in the middle of the temple was a giant golden statue of a woman standing tall; in her right hand was a small statue, and in the other, she held a sword and shield.

Prowl's avatar put his hand on his chin and inspected the statue. "Impressive," he said in admiration.

Annabeth nodded. "Mmmhmm. That's my mom," she said proudly.

"Your mom is incredibly cool.' Hot Rod said.

"Yep, she is," Annabeth said.

Luke scoffed.

"Oh right, guys, we should focus on finding those symbols." Hound pointed out.

"Right, job to do, on it." Hot Rod said. "Thalia? Do you remember where they were?

"Yeah. Follow me." Thalia

While looking around, Luke paused.

It was another janitor, and this one was glaring at him too.

"Luke you okay?" hollered Hound.

"Uh. Yeah, I'm fine!" Luke answered.

Then he quickly rejoined the others.

Thalia took them to the back of the Parthenon, and at the back of the building, they found them. Numerous Cybertronian symbols were dotted all over the temple's wall.

"Nice work, Thalia," complimented Hound.

"So now what?" asked Hot Rod. "It's not like we can take the whole wall out of here."

"Way ahead of you," Luke replied as he brought out a camera and started taking photos of the wall.

"Great thinking, Luke," Hound said.

But Annabeth looked a bit more preoccupied with her thoughts. She examined the wall carefully. "I don't understand," she said.

"Understand what?" asked Thalia.

"Well, the Parthenon is a temple to Athena; Atlantis is traditionally associated with Poseidon." Annabeth pointed out.

"Why's that important?" Hot Rod asked.

"Poseidon is the god of the ocean, and he and Mom don't get along all that well," Annabeth explained. "So what are symbols from Atlantis doing here?"

"Well, I've speculated that those symbols ended up in Mexico because a descendant of Atlantis drew them there," Prowl explained. "Maybe it's a similar situation here; perhaps someone on the Parthenon's design team was a descendant from Atlantis too."

"Yeah, but why place the symbols here at all?" Annabeth asked.

"We'll worry about that later," Luke said hurriedly. "I got the photos; let's get out of here and let Ratchet look over them."

"Are you okay, Luke?" Hound asked.

"Yeah, I just..." Luke looked around. "I think we need to get out of here; I got a bad vibe about this place."

Annabeth frowned. "Luke, I know you're not a fan of your dad but my mom-"

"No, not that!" Luke stammered nervously. "I just mean in general, like..." He looked at Annabeth's glaring face. For a seven-year-old, she had a pretty intense stare. "Uh, there's no right answer, is there?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

Prowl sighed. "Let's just go," he said as his avatar grabbed Luke by the shoulder and started walking them off—Hound and Hot Rod's avatars, and Thalia and Annabeth close behind.

When they walked out of the building and into the outside, they found themselves blocked by six janitors; two of them were the janitors Luke had seen earlier.

"Move!" ordered Prowl.

"No," they said in unison.

"What's with the creepy talking at the same time thing?" Hot Rod asked with a laugh. "What are you guys practicing for…" Hot Rod suddenly stopped speaking, and he started staring in horror.

"Hot Rod? What's wrong?" asked Hound.

"Don't you see the monster!?" Hot Rod asked

"What monster?" Annabeth asked.

"Uh, guys…" Thalia said. Everyone looked back at the janitors as they seemed to melt into each other; their necks got longer, and their skin became covered in scales.

"Holy Primus…" Hound said softly.

"Get back!" Prowl ordered. Luke pulled out his sword, and Thalia pulled out her spear.

And that's when the janitors finally finished transforming into their true form, a giant lizard creature with six heads.

"Hydra…" Luke said.

"Not good…" Hot Rod muttered.

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