Hey, so before we get into it, here is a quick update/reminder on the question on whether or not I should incorporate Daughter of the Deep into this fic. So far I got one vote for yes and two votes for now. We're still a ways away from the ultimate deciding point, so feel free to leave your vote either on the poll on my profile or in the reviews/comments.

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

Chapter 20: Assessing the Situation.

When Prowl, Hot Rod, Hound, and the kids returned to the Ark-27, they found it a complete mess. Walls had been torn down, systems were broken, and junk was scattered around all over the place.

"Primus," muttered Prowl as he looked around. "We leave you guys alone for a couple of hours, and you wreck the place."

"Yes, it was a bit of a mess," Optimus admitted. "For now, report to the repair bay so we can sort all this out.".

It was a long and boring two hours as Ratchet got to work on repairing the damage everyone had taken in their respective encounters.

"Giant multi-headed reptiles that breathe acid?" Ratchet asked after the trio had finished their story. "This planet is insane."

"You don't know the half of it…" Thalia laughed.

"Sorry, we couldn't be here to help out Boss Bot." Hot Rod said as he experimented around with his new replacement arm.

"It's not your fault, Hot Rod," Optimus said assuringly. "The Decepticons took us by surprise."

"How did they even find us?" Sunstreaker asked. "I thought Ratchet said this place was shielded thanks to the metals surrounding it."

"They probably pieced it together sometime after we attacked them to rescue Annabeth." Prowl theorized, "The Decepticons could have traced our steps and put two and two together over time."

"Which means they'll probably be back…" Ratchet added.

"I guess that settles what our next bit of business should be," Optimus said. "Before we do anything else, we need to get the Ark-27 airborne again."

"I thought you guys didn't have enough Energon for that." Annabeth pointed out.

"Yes, but at the time I made that assessment, we didn't know there was energon here on Earth." Ratchet explained. "With what we know now though, we can gather some of Earth's energon to refuel our ship properly."

"Yeah, but there's one problem," Luke said. "How are you guys going to get the energon in time before the Decepticons come back?"

"The human's got a point, Ratchet," Optimus said. "The Decepticons will come back once they recoup their strength. I don't know how long that will be, but it will happen…"

"Great. Any ideas?" Chromia asked.

Everyone was quiet, but Prowl looked a bit contemplative.

"Prowl, do you have an idea?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, I do…" Prowl said. "One of the gods of Earth, Hermes, offered us a deal-"

"No," Hound and Luke stated together firmly.

"Hound!" Prowl protested.

"Luke!" Annabeth added.

"I deserve to know my future Prowl!" Luke insisted.

"Yeah. I agree." Hound insisted.

Prowl stood up from the recharge slab he'd been resting on angrily. "Oh yeah? What about our future!?" he asked. "What about the future of the Autobots? Of Cybertron?"

Luke turned quiet and shifted his head away.

Hound however didn't. "Cybertron can burn for all I care," he responded.

There was a dead silence after Hound said that.

"Hound you… You don't mean that!" Chromia said.

Hound kept his mouth shut and looked down.

"Enough!" Optimus stated, and he raised his hands to gesture for calm. "As the one who is affected the most by this, I think this deserves to be Luke's decision."

Luke looked even more uneasy now.

Hound sighed. "You're right, Optimus," he admitted. "It deserves to be his choice…"

Luke scowled. "I need some time to think," he finally said.

"Have it," said Hound.

Luke got up and walked toward his, Thalia, and Annabeth's room.

Thalia and Annabeth found Luke sitting on their couch, looking down. Amazingly, their room had been one of the few not affected by the Decepticon attack, so all their possessions were intact.

"Luke?" asked Thalia.

Luke grunted. "My whole life, this has been hanging over me," he muttered. "She kept talking about my fate and how terrible it was, but she wouldn't tell me. I begged and pleaded, and she still never told me… I don't even know if she could. Now I finally have a chance to find out, and I have to give it up so we can play nice with the jerk who abandoned me!"

"I'm sorry…' Thalia said, sitting next to him.

"What does Hermes even know about mining energon?!" Luke asked. "What can he do to help!?"

"He's the messenger of the gods." Thalia pointed out. "He probably has connections with a lot of-"

"You had to bring that up…" Luke muttered. He put his head in his hands.

"It's not fair…."

"Maybe it's for the best," Annabeth said.

Luke swerved his head toward Annabeth, looking furious. "What!?" he shouted.

"You know all those stories, don't you?" Annabeth asked, "Of the Greek figures who learned their fates, tried to stop them, and ended up making them come true."

"Your point?"

"Even if you learned your future, Luke…You couldn't stop it," Annabeth said.

Luke sat up furiously. "So I'm just supposed to give up!?" he asked, tears once again in his eyes. "Just accept I'm doomed to a horrible fate, and there's nothing I can do about it?!"

"I mean… Hermes said you'd get to be a hero before it happened." Annabeth said.

Annabeth had never seen Luke so sad and angry; he frowned and raised his arm. Annabeth flinched, gave a look of horror, and shielded herself.

"LUKE!" cried Thalia, and she grabbed her friend's arm.

Luke paused. He stood there in shock. Annabeth sniffed in fear.

Luke lowered his arm. put his head in his hands again and sat down on the couch. "I'm sorry…" Luke muttered. "I'm sorry…"

Thalia wrapped her arms around Luke and gave him a hug; Annabeth followed suit.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Luke finally spoke up. "I still don't know what to do…"

"Well… look at it this way," Thalia said mournfully. "If you do choose to let Hound take the deal, you'll be doing it for the Autobots, not your dad. I mean, you said it yourself. They've done more for you than he has…"

Luke didn't say anything, but he knew in his heart Thalia was right. This wasn't about him; it was about the potential fate of an entire race…

He heard the door to the room open, and Hound stood there.

"You okay, Luke?" he asked.

"No…" Luke answered.

Hound gave a sympathetic look. "Do you need more time?"

"No…" Luke repeated.

"And?" Hound asked.

Luke took a minute. Then he looked up at Hound with a look of determination.

"Do it," Luke said.

Hound nodded. "Okay…now how do we get in contact with Hermes?"

Meanwhile…

Spinster hovered in the air at a lone island in the Atlantic Ocean.

Megatron had an important assignment for him; while he and the other Decepticons attacked the Autobots home base, Spinster had been assigned to go after the latest sighting of Allspark symbols.

It was a small, insignificant archaeological site, with little coverage and lacking serious monitoring. Fortunately, Thundercracker had stumbled upon it during one of his research periods.

Spinster transformed into his robot mode and inspected the place. As the data Thundercracker had gathered suggested, it was nothing out of the ordinary, just a few scattered remnants of a civilization. It didn't look like the island had served as a permanent residence for whatever civilization had come here.

But one thing stood out: a massive slab of stone with a giant hole in the middle of it. Dotted around the hole were various marks, symbols, and drawings. They were cute little marks, but the biggest mark was one of a star that seemed to sparkle in the twilight that stood on the very top of the hole. The drawings were strange though; they were of some kind of equine creature.

According to the sources Thundercracker had read, no one had been able to figure out the mysterious symbols and drawings' meaning, the significance of the stone, or their importance to the islanders. As far as anyone could tell, the island had no horses or similar equine life.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered were the Allspark symbols that were also scattered around the hole.

Spinster took out the camera tech Soundwave had given him and took the needed photos of the symbols.

He activated his communications unit. "Megatron, this is Spinister. I got the symbols that Thundercracker found."

"Excellent," Megatron said over the comm. "We may not have killed Optimus and his team, but today was still a victory. I believe we're now all caught up with them on information for the search. Report back to base immediately."

"Yes sir."

Spinster transformed into his helicopter mode and flew away to regroup with his team.

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