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

Chapter 21: Help From Hermes.

The next day, Annabeth finished writing and then placed the letter for Hermes into its envelope. She made sure to address it to "Hermes, God of Messengers, Olympus Mail Service." Afterward, she walked outside the ship, where the rest of the Autobots, Luke, and Thalia were standing around a makeshift brazier with a full flame burning.

"You sure this is the best way to get in contact with him?" Chromia asked.

"Yeah, throwing a letter into a fire seems… counterintuitive." Prowl pointed out.

"It's the best option we got right now," Annabeth said, and she tossed the letter into the burning blaze. It vanished in a puff of smoke.

There was an awkward moment of silence once the deed had been done.

"So, now what?" asked Brawn.

"We wait," Optimus said.

"For how long though?" asked Prowl.

"Forever," Luke said bitterly.

"Luke!" Thalia responded.

"Well, it's true!" Luke pointed out.

"Unless I have a vested interest," said a voice behind Hound.

Hound jumped and swerved around. Hermes was standing right behind him, except now he was dressed in a traditional mailman outfit with his signature winged hat on his head.

Everyone was silent until Optimus stepped forward to Hermes. He cleared his throat. "So you are Hermes, god of messengers, travelers, and thieves?"

"Yes," Hermes said cautiously.

"I am Optimus Prime. Leader of the Autobots, it is a great honor to meet one of the gods of this world." He extended his hand in a show of good faith.

Hermes didn't take it; he just glared at Optimus.

"Is there a problem?" Optimus asked.

"I don't trust aliens," Hermes said coolly.

"Yeah, but… we're the good guys." Hot Rod pointed out.

"Everyone is depending on their point of view." Hermes pointed out. "But enough," he said, raising a hand. "You summoned me because you need my help; is that correct?"

"Yes," said Optimus.

Luke gave a bitter huff and started walking back inside the Ark-27.

"Luke wait…" Annabeth said.

Luke didn't answer; he just kept walking.

Hermes looked like he was tempted to follow his son, but Optimus held him back. "Don't," he said. "The boy needs his space."

Hermes sighed. "Yes… Yes, you're right… So what did you need me for?"

Ratchet stepped forward. "Well, you see, Hermes, we need to start getting more Energon to fix our ship and get it flying-worthy again; the problem is we're undermanned and we don't have the resources to go on a massive Energon collecting hunt," he explained.

"Energon?"

"It's a type of crystal that we use for energy." Chromia explained.

"Hmm, so that's what those strange crystals are that have been appearing around the Earth," Hermes noted.

"Yes," Ratchet answered. "You see the Allspark, a relic from our planet-"

"I don't need the full explanation," Hermes interrupted. "But in case you didn't notice, I'm not the god of mining."

"Yes, but you are the god of messengers, great Hermes." Annabeth said, "Surely, with your connections, you must know the right people who could help us."

Hermes had to admit she had a point. He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "And what's in it for me?" he asked.

"Uh? Your planet not getting wrecked by Decepticons." Brawn said.

"I need more than that to do a favor," Hermes responded. "And in Annabeth's letter she made a point that someone was willing to take my deal," he said, looking at Hound.

Hound gave a guilty look and nodded.

Hermes walked up to him and gave a smug grin. "Swear on it."

"What?" Hound asked.

"Swear on the River Styx that you won't tell Luke what you saw in his future, and I will get you the help you need," Hermes stated plainly.

"What's the River Styx?"

"It's this ancient river," Annabeth explained. "You see it's in the underworld and—"

"Hermes said it earlier; we don't need full explanations right now." Thalia interrupted. "Basically, it's the most solemn vow someone can make, and it's not to be taken lightly…"

"As in, there are consequences to breaking the vow." Annabeth finished.

"What kind of consequences?" Hound asked.

"Bad kinds," Thalia said.

Hound shuddered.

"Well?" asked Hermes.

Hound was silent, thinking it over before he sighed. "Okay…" he muttered. "I vow on the River Styx to not tell the full details of what I saw in my vision.".

The moment the words left Hound's mouth, an invisible electric tension seemed to hang in the air.

"Did…did anyone else feel that?" Hot Rod asked.

"Yeah, weird," Sunstreaker muttered.

"Happy?" Hound grunted.

"No," said Hermes mournfully before turning to Optimus. "A deal is a deal, though. I will get you the help you need."

"How soon can we get it?" Optimus asked.

"A few hours. I think I know just the people in mind for this…"

Optimus bowed his head. "Thank you again, Lord Hermes."

Hermes nodded before he started to glow. "You might want to look away," he advised.

"Uh, what's happening?" asked Hot Rod.

"He's turning into his true form; don't look!" Thalia yelled, and she and Annabeth shielded their faces.

The Autobots averted their gaze as well; when the glowing stopped, Hermes was gone.

Hound remained quiet; a guilty expression was on his face.

"We need to start getting to work." Ratchet reminded everyone.

"I… I think I'm gonna take a few minutes for myself…" Hound said.

Ratchet gave an annoyed look. "Hound we need as many-"

Hound turned away, transformed into his Jeep mode, and rolled off into the woods.

"Hound!" shouted Optimus. He moved forward, but Brawn blocked Optimus with his arm.

"I'll go talk to him, okay?" Brawn offered.

"...Very well," Optimus said.

Brawn transformed into his SUV mode and started following Hound's trail.

"Alright then," Optimus said. "Everyone follow Ratchet's lead and get to work."

Luke wandered the halls of the Ark-27 with his hands in his pocket, a bitter aura surrounding him.

It wasn't fair, he thought to himself. He thought he'd finally found a home away from the gods with the Autobots, but of course somehow his father had gotten himself dragged into this.

And now he wasn't sure what to think.

As he walked past Ratchet's lab, he paused. He looked inside and saw an open area he swore wasn't there before.

When he went inside to get a better look, he saw the open area had a Transformer on top of an operating table.

Luke couldn't help but inspect the robot with intrigue.

"Quickswitch."

Luke turned around and saw Ratchet had entered the room when he wasn't looking.

"His name is Quickswitch…" Ratchet said mournfully.

"You had a spare Autobot in the back this whole time?" Luke asked.

"Not exactly…"

"Why didn't you use him earlier?" Luke asked.

Ratchet was silent.

"What is he like in a coma or something?"

"Stasis lock yes," Ratchet answered.

"What happened?" asked Luke.

Ratchet sighed. "There's this Decepticon scientist back on Cybertron named Shockwave," he started to explain. "When the war first started, he developed a way to allow certain Cybertronians to transform into more than one alternate mode."

"Wait… Doesn't Skytread have the ability to split into two vehicles?" Luke asked. "Is that related to this?"

For the first time since they started talking, Ratchet smiled. "Observant kid," he complimented. "Yes, Skytread was one of the defects of "Project Triple Changer," but the Duocons are a whole other story…"

"Sometime after Optimus launched the Allspark into space, Shockwave started working on an even more advanced version of the project, giving a Transformer five alternate modes. A Six Changer."

"How's Quickswitch fit into this?" Luke asked.

Ratchet gave a sad look at Luke. "Well… after Shockwave upgraded one of the Decepticons, Sixshot, into a six changer, we started getting our tailpipes handed to us. and Optimus got desperate, and he did…" Ratchet trailed off.

"What?"

"It's something he isn't proud of… We created an artificial Transformer in a lab with an artificial spark. then using the data from some project Triple changer defectors, we made our own Six Changer."

"Quickswitch," finished Luke.

"Yeah…"

"So what's your connection to him?" Luke asked.

Ratchet hesitated.

"...It's okay if you don't feel like-"

"No… I need to talk about it." Ratchet answered. "I was… am Quickswitch's mentor. Optimus wanted a medic to be his guide and teacher so that he would understand how precious life was—to be an Autobot instead of being a living weapon."

Luke gave a blank expression.

"I guess in your human terms I'd be his father…" Ratchet said.

Luke's eyes widened. He looked back at Quickswitch and then at Ratchet with a knowing expression. "Oh…" he said. "So… he…"

Ratchet looked heartbroken. "Yeah... He gave his spark to stop Sixshot once and for all. Dragged both him and the con into a stockpile of Energon and pleaded with us to detonate it…"

"When it was all over, we recovered his body, but we never found Sixshot's. We can only assume he's gone for good."

"So he's not-"

"No," Ratchet said. "Like I said, he's in stasis lock, but the damage he took was close to fatal. I've been trying to get him fixed up, but… nothing has been working."

Ratchet walked over to the slab Quickswitch was on and put a hand on his ward. "A lot of Autobots think I need to give up. It's been years; nothing has worked, and he made his choice. But if there's even a chance I can bring him back, I have to try… If anything can save his life, it's the Allspark."

Luke was quiet for a few moments. "You're a good dad, Ratchet," he finally said.

Ratchet gave a sad smile. "Thanks, Luke."

Luke was quiet again before muttering something under his breath.

"You guys are better than them."

Hound drove around for a couple of hours until he found himself near a giant field of flowers. He just walked around in it, gazing at its natural beauty.

It was a good escape from his current situation.

"Hey, Hound!".

Hound swerved around and saw Brawn walking up to him.

"What are you doing here?" Brawn asked. "It's so… boring."

Hound shrugged. "Brawn, I know your preference for Earth environments tends to be the stuff that can give you a challenge, but my preference are the nice quiet spots like this."

"Eh. Whatever." Brawn shrugged back.

Hound went back to looking at the flowers.

"Hey look, don't feel guilty," Brawn said assuringly. "It was Luke's choice. You know that."

Hound was still quiet.

"We've had to make worse compromises." Brawn pointed out.

"I know, but it never feels good…" Hound muttered. "Luke deserves to know what's gonna happen to him…"

"Yeah, but that's the thing," Brawn said. "You do."

"What do you mean?" Hound asked.

"Just because Luke doesn't know doesn't mean you can't try and do something about it," Brawn suggested with a smirk.

Hound smiled. "I guess not," he said.

"That's the spirit!" Brawn said, slapping Hound on the back. "Now come on. Let's go somewhere that's more my style."

"Fine," Hound said. The two Autobots turned into their vehicle modes and started heading towards the mountains.

After a few hours of challenging mountain climbing, Hound and Brawn returned to the Ark-27. Upon arrival, they noticed the ship was undergoing maintenance by several individuals.

When they got closer, Hound could see that most of the workers were kids, just like Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth.

He walked up to one, an African American kid about twelve or thirteen years old.

"Hey," Hound said. "I take it you're the help Hermes promised to give us?"

The kid nodded. "Yeah. Names Charles. Charles Beckendorf. Son of Hephaestus"

"Hound."

"Brawn."

"Hermes sent a message to Camp Half-Blood explaining the situation," Charles explained.

"So you're from that Camp for Demigods Hermes mentioned to us?" Hound asked.

"Mhmm."

"Hope this isn't too much of a bother," Hound said.

Charles laughed. "Are you kidding? A chance to get up close to some brand-new, never-before-seen technology? This is the kind of stuff me and my siblings live for."

"Good to hear," said Brawn.

Hound and Brawn walked back inside; the rest of the Autobots were hard at work doing their part to fix the ship.

Hound found Optimus helping to fix one of the walls that had been knocked down during the fight.

"Everything going okay, Optimus?" asked Hound.

"Yes," Optimus replied. "These "children of Hephastus" may be young, but many of them show just as much skill as I've seen from the best Cybertronian engineers."

"Yes," said Ratchet, walking up. "But it's not going to do us much good until we get the Energon we need."

"So where do we get it?"

"I'm working on that," Ratchet answered. "Hopefully I'll have an answer by tomorrow."

"For now, it's important that we fix the problem we can solve," Optimus said. "Getting the Ark-27 repaired."

"We can do this Autobots. Til All Are One."

Hound and Ratchet nodded. "Til All Are One."

Gotta admit, when I first started writing this, I didn't expect Charles Beckendorf to show up. Just how it happened as the story developed.

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