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

Chapter 17: Getting Your Head On Right.

The monstrous reptile known as the Hydra roared and jabbed its heads forward at the young demigods and the Autobots Avatars.

"Get clear!" shouted Luke, and the six scattered, going off in different directions.

"Disengage holomatter avatars!" ordered Prowl as his avatar faded away. Hot Rod and Hounds did quickly as well.

Back in the parking lot, the vehicle modes of the three Autobots roared, and they started driving toward the front of the Parthenon.

"Hound? Can you create a hologram surrounding the area?" Prowl asked. "I don't want anyone to notice three giant robots fighting in public."

"No problem," Hound said.

"Then let's go make some Hydra handbags!" Hot Rod cheered.

The three Autobots came up to the front lawn of the Parthenon, where the Hydra was using its multiple heads to chase Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia; the three zipped and dodged around the prehensile heads.

As Luke dodged one head coming at him, he jabbed his sword forward and stabbed the Hydra in the eye. The Hydra let out a massive roar.

Thalia tried to drive some of the other heads back using her shield, Aegis, but while a few of the heads were cowed by it, another looped around the shield and bit her in the shoulder.

"YEOW!" cried Thalia. "Guys!? We could use some help here!" she called.

"Engaging hologram!" Hound shouted, and around him, a bubble began expanding until it engulfed the entire front lawn of the Parthenon. Now to a hapless observer, they'd see nothing out of the ordinary.

"Alright, let's do this!" Hot Rod shouted; he transformed out of his vehicle mode and used the forward momentum to deliver a right hook to one of the hydra's necks. It roared in pain, and another one of its heads grabbed Hot Rod by the leg and threw him backward.

"Whoa!" he cried. Hot Rod flew through the air until he fell into some bushes.

"That thing is stronger than it looks!" Hound said. He pulled out his rifle and started firing, but the hydra swerved its necks around and dodged the shots.

Then the wayward shots hit the Parthenon's columns, causing two to collapse.

"HEY!" shouted Annabeth

"Oops," muttered Hound sheepishly.

"Live ammo is too dangerous," Prowl advised. He took a fighting stance. "I'll have to use my Metallikato skills on him.". He leaped forward and thrust his open palm at the hydra, then followed it up with a forward kick. The hydra grunted.

Hound rushed forward and grabbed one of the Hydra's heads, doing his best to put it in a chokehold.

"Man, this thing is slippery," Hound grunted.

"How the heck do we kill this thing!?" asked Prowl as he kept jabbing his fist into the Hydra's necks.

Hot Rod got up from the bushes and looked carefully.

"I got an idea!" he called, then he turned his right hand into a buzzsaw. "Hound! Keep that neck in place!" she shouted as he started running forward.

Thalia paused, instantly realizing what Hot Rod was trying to do. "No! Hot Rod, wait!" she cried.

But Hot Rod didn't listen; he raised his arm, and with a quick downward slice, he chopped off the Hydra's head that Hound had been holding.

"Hot Rod, stop!" ordered Thalia.

"It's alright, Thalia!" Hot Rod said as he cut off another head, "I got this!". He proceeded to cut off another head and then the next head.

"But-"

Hot Rod still wasn't paying attention as he beheaded the last head, causing the lifeless body of the Hydra to fall to the ground. Hot Rod then turned to face Thalia and the others, with his back to the Hydra's body.

"See?" he bragged. "No sweat."

"No, Hot Rod, you don't understand!" Thalia said. "If you cut off a Hydra's head..."

Hot Rod heard a weird mesh of squishing noises from behind him, and when he looked at the others, Prowl and Hound's expressions were growing with bewilderment and horror.

"Two more grow back…" Thalia finished.

Hot Rod turned back around and saw that the Hydra was fully recovered and standing up...with an extra six heads.

"...Oh scrap," muttered Hot Rod.

The Hydra roared, and its twelve heads shoved themselves forward as something green came out of their mouths.

"Acid!" yelled Hound.

"Scatter!" Prowl ordered.

Everyone swerved and dodged out of the way.

"Man, this thing is really pissing me off!" Hot Rod muttered. He pulled out his pistol, but before he could fire it, the Hydra shoved two of its heads forward into Hot Rod's chest. Hot Rod stumbled back, fell on his back, and flinched, causing the gun to go off.

The stray shot flew through the air until it hit the Parthenon.

"Dang it…" Hot Rod muttered.

Prowl jumped up and tried to hit the Hydra on its back, but the Hydra's scaly skin caused him to slip and fall off.

"How the heck do you kill this thing!?" he asked.

Annabeth dodged and slashed at one of the heads. "You've got to cut its heads off-"

"I thought we weren't supposed to cut its heads off!" Hot Rod protested.

"I wasn't finished!" yelled Annabeth. She dodged another head jab. "Anyway, you need to cut off its heads, then burn them at the stump."

"Great!" Hound muttered. "Anyone got a flamethrower handy!?"

"Nope," Luke remarked.

"No…" muttered Thalia.

"Not yet," Hot Rod said.

"Negative," Prowl said.

Hound sighed "Well, that's just—AHHHHH!" he screamed as the hydra's heads grabbed one of his arms in his jaw.

"GAH! It's got me!" Hound cried.

Thalia spun her spear around as it crackled with electricity. She slammed the base of the spear onto the ground, and electricity flew everywhere. Some of it flew toward the Hydra, and some of it crackled around and crashed into the Parthenon.

"Stop blowing holes in my mom's temple!" Annabeth protested.

"Sorry!" Thalia muttered sheepishly.

As the Hydra was distracted and disoriented from the lighting, it dropped Hound from its grip.

Prowl made a choice right there. "Autobots! That thing is too strong! We need to pull out!" He activated his communication unit on his wrist. "Ratchet, this is Prowl; we need-"

"What!? We're just gonna leave?!" asked Hot Rod.

"Hot Rod, we don't have the tools to beat that thing, and we've got the Allspark data." Prowl pointed out. "Retreat is-"

"No way. I'm not giving up!" Hot Rod insisted. He faced the Hydra again.

"Hot Rod, stop!" cried Luke.

"Hang on, everyone!" Hot Rod shouted before he leaped into the air. "Hot Rod's got-"

The hydra roared and shot an acid spray at the exposed Hot Rod. Hot Rod screamed in pain; he hadn't expected it to hurt so much, but he was still flying toward the Hydra, who grabbed Hot Rod by the left shoulder in its teeth.

Then it bit down harder. Hot Rod screamed as the teeth sunk deeper into him, until eventually, with a loud crushing sound, the Hydra bit Hot Rod's left arm clean off at the shoulder. Hot Rod fell to the ground with a "thud.".

"Hot Rod!" cried Hound. He rushed over to his friend; not only had his arm been torn off, but the acid was still eating through the metal on his chest, exposing various wires and circuits and creating sparks.

"Hound?" muttered Hot Rod deliriously.

"Scrap, he's going into stasis lock!" Hound muttered.

The Hydra roared again as it prepared for another attack.

"Hot Rod, you stupid idiot!" Prowl yelled. "Now we definitely have to retreat!" He went back to his comm unit. "Ratchet, we need evac, NOW!"

A ground bridge appeared behind Prowl.

"I'll hold it off!" Thalia said. She got in front of Hound as he tried to drag Hot Rod toward the bridge. She shoved Ageis in the Hydra's faces.

"That won't keep him occupied for long!" Luke said.

"I know! So hurry!" Thalia insisted

"Prowl! Help me out here!" called Hound.

Prowl rushed over and grabbed Hot Rod, and he and Hound dragged the injured Autobot to the portal. Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia slowly started backing up with them.

"Almost there…" grunted Hound.

"Let's go, let's go!" shouted Luke. All of a sudden he heard Thalia scream. Luke looked back at her and saw that one of the Hydra's heads had managed to get through Aegis's fear aura and was now biting down on Thalia's-.

"My leg! It's got my leg!" Thalia cried as she struggled to pull her left leg away. Luke and Annabeth raced over and tried helping her pull away to no avail.

"This is so-" Luke grunted as he dodged another bite from another head. "Bad!"

"Just cut it off!" begged Thalia.

Luke raised his sword.

"Just to be clear, I mean the head-"

"I KNOW!" Luke shouted as he swung his sword downward, chomping the Hydra's head off.

"Run for it!" ordered Thalia as she pulled her leg away and ran for the portal with Luke and Annabeth close behind.

The Hydra, now growing an extra head, lunged for the group and roared.

Prowl snarled at the creatures. "You want acid!?" he demanded. "I'll show you acid!" Using one arm to drag Hot Rod and the other to pull out his rifle, Prowl unleashed a shot of acid pellets at the creature. On impact, they exploded, and the hydra let out a roar of pain.

"That's our cue! Move!" Prowl ordered.

All six of them hit the ground bridge portal at the same time. It closed behind them just as the Hydra recovered. The now-alone Hydra looked around, confused as to where its prey had gone.

For a few moments, no one said anything; they just stayed silent as they traveled through the green swirl that was the groundbridge, and Hound tried to keep Hot Rod stable.

And then, out of nowhere, there was this short-circuiting sound.

"What's that?" asked Annabeth.

Prowl looked around suspiciously. "I don't—WAAAH."

All of a sudden the green swirl around them seemed to grow more intense before fading away in one massive burst. When it did, the group found themselves in some woods near a cliffside overlooking the ocean.

"What… What just happened!?" Thalia asked.

"Something interfered with the connection to the groundbridge, and it dropped us off in a random location," Prowl guessed. He turned on his comm again. "Ratchet? Are you there?" but there was no response. "Ratchet!" Prowl yelled.

"Do you think something happened back at the ship?" Annabeth asked.

"We can't worry about that now!" Hound said. "We gotta get Hot Rod some medical attention!" as if to accentuate his point, Hot Rod gave another soft groan.

"I think Hot Rod's not the only one who needs it…" Thalia murmured. She gestured to the leg the Hydra had bitten. It was bleeding badly. Thalia herself looked weak, probably a result of the Hydra's poisonous bite.

"Oh no," Annabeth said.

Through all this talk, Luke was quiet. He just silently looked around the location they had landed in. His expression was one of distaste and unease.

"Luke? Are you okay?" Hound asked. "What's wrong?"

"I know this place," Luke said.

"You do?" Thalia asked.

Luke hesitated. "This is Westport. This is my hometown," he said bitterly.

Everyone was quiet.

"Luke…" Thalia said.

"I know where we can get help for Thalia and Hot Rod," Luke said. "It's secluded enough so we don't have to worry about anyone spotting you; it's got some medicine for Thalia, and I think it has some tools in the garage…"

Annabeth looked uncertain. "Luke… are you sure? After all the stories you told us?"

"I'm sure. We need to get Hot Rod repaired. It's our best chance for now." Luke said, but he didn't look happy about it.

"What are they talking about?" Prowl asked.

"His mom…" Hound mused.

The group made a mad dash for the Castellan house, Luke leading the way, Annabeth guarding the rear, Thalia limping along, and Prowl and Hound carrying the injured Hot Rod by his shoulders.

"Just a little farther!" Luke said.

"Luke, are you sure about this?" Hound asked. "You swore you'd never come back-"

"I know I know!" groaned Luke. "But we don't have a choice!"

"Is your mom really that horrible?" Annabeth asked, "Can we see her?".

"NO!" Luke shouted

Annabeth slunk back, surprised by Luke's sudden outburst.

"I…I'm sorry… " Luke said. "I just-"

"Urg," groaned Hot Rod.

"Scrap! He's slipping!" Prowl muttered

"Hang on!" Luke said, "It should be over-"

Right in front of them, a brilliant golden flash illuminated the path through the woods.

"GAH! What is that!?" groaned Prowl as he shielded his eyes.

The golden light began to dim and then coalesced into the form of a man—a man wearing a blue jogging outfit with winged Reeboks.

The man stared at Luke.

Luke had never seen the man before, yet he knew exactly who it was. He gave a cold glare. "You," he sneered.

"Who's… Who's that?" asked Annabeth.

Luke could barely get the words out through his spit and bile. "My father."

"Hermes?" asked Hound.

The man looked at Luke with a blank expression, almost one of pity, then he looked at the Autobots.

"Hello, Mr erm… Hermes?" asked Hound.

"...You're not supposed to be here." Hermes finally said.

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