I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.
Chapter 42: Getting Closer...
At last, after a couple more hours of drifting through the sea, the Ark-27 arrived at the small island in the distance. It was mostly devoid of plant life and covered with rocks with three small mountains right in it's center.
When the Ark-27 hit the shoreline, Hound took the initiative. He jumped off the ship and landed on the beach, while everyone else stayed on the Ark-27 for now. Hound's first action was to deploy a scanning device from his wrist in order to get a good read of the island.
"Picking up anything, Hound?" Optimus asked over the comm.
"Not much yet, Prime," Hound reported as he walked across the beach searching around. "This place seems mostly barren. If Galen's coordinates were right, I can see why Nemo would want to use this as a base. It's completely isolated, and there's no reason for anyone to come here."
"Well, any idea where that base is?" asked Ratchet.
"It's got to be in some kind of natural cave network." Hound guessed. "After all, I doubt Nemo had the tools to—" the scanner started beeping when Hound got closer to one of the mountains. Hound stopped walking and aimed his scanner right at it, where it started beeping even more. "Guys, I got it!"
"The cave network?" Optimus asked.
"Yes, the scanner is picking up a massive one right in the middle of this mountain," Hound explained. He deployed a hologram right next to him that displayed what the scanner was picking up. "Big enough to hide the construction of the Nautilus, and it looks like it might have an underwater tunnel."
"Any sign of an entrance?"
"No, but there has to be if this is the island Galen told us about. I doubt it's big enough for us though."
"Well then," Optimus said. "I guess we're going to have to make our own." He turned to Sideswipe. "Still got that piledriver upgrade, Sideswipe?"
Sideswipe grinned. He lifted his arms, and his hands retracted inside them. They were replaced by a pair of small piledrivers….
A few minutes later, Sideswipe and Nightprowler were using their piledrivers and earth-moving powers, respectively, to dig a hole into the mountain. The other Autobots and the kids waited on the beach and observed as the two got to work.
"A shoulder-mounted missile launcher, jetpack, wrist swords, and now piledrivers." Luke murmured as he watched Sideswipe at work. "Is there anything you don't have Sideswipe?"
"Yeah– URG," Sideswipe grunted as he took a moment to bash a rock out of the way. "Mirage's invisibility cloak." He bashed aside some more rocks as, beside him, Nightprowler kept pummeling his way through the rock wall.
"You're good Nightprowler." Sideswipe said. "Maybe you and I should go into business together when this is all over."
"Business?" asked Nightprowler, a little confused.
"Yeah. We could start a mining business on Cybertron." Sideswipe said. "We're going to need more miners once we get the energon restored on there."
Nightprowler thought it over. "You know, that does not seem like such a bad—" he was interrupted when a portion of the wall collapsed forward and hit the ground with a splash.
"Hey guys! We found it!" Sideswipe called.
Everyone rushed over to see inside the cavern that Nightprowler had broken into. It was a large, open cave featuring a massive lake of seawater. On the opposite shore of the lake, there were old, rusty metal structures that resembled a makeshift shipbuilding yard.
"Autobots. I think we've found it…" Optimus declared.
After moving over to the cave and using some brute force to make the entrance bigger, the Autobots looked around. Over a hundred years had taken it's toll on the small area, with the structures rotting away due to rust.
Ratchet's first order of business was to inspect the small dock that went over the lake. It led to a metal structure submerged in the water with doors that could be raised or lowered to let the water in and out. In other words, it was a makeshift dry dock.
"I'm guessing this is where Nemo built the Nautilus." Ratchet surmised.
"Whoa…" Annabeth gasped in wonder as she looked over the structure in the water. "He built all this back in the 1800s?"
"It appears so," Ratchet said. "This Nemo really was ahead of his time."
Annabeth gave a huge smile. "This is... amazing," she marveled. "We're standing in the very location where the Captain Nemo built the Nautilus." She let out a small giggle.
"Gotta admit... it is a little cool." Luke said as he looked over one of the metal structures.
"Yeah, yeah, he was a very cool character from a book who was a real person, and we're standing in his glory," Thalia murmured. "Can we find the Allspark now?"
"How can you say that, Thalia?" Annabeth asked. "We're standing in a part of history nobody ever thought was real!"
"Yeah. I call that Tuesday." Thalia remarked dryly.
Hot Rod snicked. "She's got a point, Annabeth."
Annabeth growled.
Luke was quiet as he looked over another of the old structures. A lot of devices were scattered inside. They looked like mostly discarded inventions. Luke picked one broken device that looked like a gun up to his face and inspected it.
"Something on your mind, Luke?" asked Hound.
"Not much," Luke commented. "Just thinking…"
"Yeah?" asked Hound, kneeling down. "About what?"
"Captain Nemo.. he wasn't a demigod." Luke noted, "At least I don't think so."
"And?" Asked Hound.
"And he still found a way to make a big splash, no pun intended, even if people wrote him off as fictional…" Luke muttered.
"Yeah. I guess that's pretty cool." Hound agreed. But Luke still looked bothered at something. "Okay. What's the other problem?" Hound asked concerned.
Luke was quiet for a minute. "People wrote him off as fictional," he repeated. "He tried to do the right thing, stand up to the bullies in charge, and he failed... and no one remembers he was a real person with real struggles. That the cause he fought for mattered…" Luke began to squeeze the makeshift gun in his hands.
"Whoa Luke," Hound warned, "Take it–"
Luke crushed the gun in his hands, and it shattered and broke apart into pieces on the cave floor. "That's not gonna happen to me…" Luke stated determinedly.
Hound was quiet. "Luke… are you okay?" he asked.
Luke didn't look at Hound; his eyes stayed locked on the cavern floor. "I'm fine." Luke said, but his voice was cracking a bit.
"This isn't the first time–"
"Comrads!" called Nightprowler. "I believe I have found something!"
Everyone turned to look at where Nightprowler was. He was by the largest structure in the place. It was big and boxy, and it looked like at one point it might have been heavily fortified.
It's doors were also blown wide open.
Everyone felt their hearts sink all at once.
"Do you think that's where..." Chromia began saying.
Thalia rushed inside the structure and looked around. The interior looked like a small workshop, with even more scattered, broken, and discarded inventions littering the place. Right in the center was a pedestal that looked like it held something that could fit in a Transformer's palm.
"Guys…" Thalia said. She was vaguely aware of Luke and Annabeth stepping inside with her.
"Yeah…I think we found it…" Annabeth muttered sadly.
"Someone took it, didn't they?" asked Sunstreaker.
"...Yeah." Luke stated lamely.
"NO!" cried Sunstreaker. He punched the wall of the cavern, and the whole place shook.
"Sunstreaker, cut it out!" ordered Prowl. "You'll bring the whole cavern down on us!"
"Sorry," muttered Sunstreaker, but he still looked miserable.
"I don't understand... did Galen take it?" asked Annabeth.
"I doubt it," said Ratchet. "I didn't get the sense he was lying to us.". He brought out a small handheld device with a screen on it and started scanning the workshop.
"What are you doing?" Asked Thalia.
"I'm trying to pick up any traces of Allspark energy," Ratchet explained.
"Wait, why didn't you have us do that back in Atlantis?" asked Hot Rod.
"The water combined with age would have washed it all away." Ratchet further explained. He kept scanning the structure. After a minute or two, the device started beeping. "Alright. It's picking up something." Ratchet said.
"Allspark energy?" asked Prowl.
"Yes," confirmed Ratchet. "It was here... and someone seems to have taken it."
"Can you track it?" Asked Optimus.
"Should be able to, once I input the energy signal into the Teletrann-1 hub on the Ark-27." Ratchet confirmed.
"Well, what are we waiting for!?" asked Sideswipe. "Let's do that so we can get the Allspark and get out of here."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ratchet pointed out, gesturing to the various metals and gadgets scattered around.
"Oh right…we still gotta fix the ship.." Sideswipe murmured.
"You'd think you'd remember that since you crashed it." Sunstreaker teased.
Sideswipe gave an irritated grunt.
The next couple of hours consisted of Ratchet and the rest of the Autobots going through the remains of Nemo's workshop and salvaging what they could to repair the engines. Nobody felt like speaking at the moment. Somehow they were so close and yet so far away, so the tension and suspense were eating away at everyone.
As Hot Rod carried a box of metals from Nemo's workship to the Ark-27 across the beach, his thoughts were interrupted when Thalia spoke up to him.
"Um... Hot Rod?" she asked as she carried her own box of metals.
"What is it, Thalia?" Hot Rod asked.
Thalia looked down, almost embarrassed.
Hot Rod put down his box and kneeled down next to his friend. "You can tell me. What's wrong?"
Thalia hesitated before finally saying, "Do you think that after we get the Allspark, we can go see my mom?"
Hot Rod raised an eyebrow. "I thought you hated your mom," he asked.
"I do but... " Thalia hesitated again. "I don't know, I just..." she shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it."
Hot Rod wasn't sure he knew how to either, but he gave a reassuring pat to Thalia's back. "I promise. We'll go see her when this is all over."
Thalia smiled. "Thanks, Hot Rod."
Later, after the Autobots had finished getting as many metals and gadgets as they could from the place, Optimus found Ratchet, integrating the parts into Ark-27's engines.
"Nightprowler and Hound are almost finished patching the hull." Optimus reported. "How are things going with the engines, Ratchet?"
"Surprisingly well." Ratchet answered. "Nemo's tech is old, but it's very modern. He really was a man born in the wrong time period. It's not perfect, but it should be enough to get the engines fixed."
"Keep going then."Optimus said. "Have you inputted the energy signature onto Teletrann-1?"
"Yes," Ratchet replied. "We'll be all set to go and track it once the engine is repaired."
"Good. Keep it up," and Optimus turned and walked away, leaving Ratchet to his work.
Unknown to either bot though, in the nearby vent system, a small mechanical bee took note of the whole conversation he had heard...
The Autobots had finally found the key to finding the Allspark once and for all it had seemed. And soon the Decepticons would as well...
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