So bit of an update on my end. Hurricane Helena hit my area, and now I'm without power. Everything is fine; I'm safe, and my family is safe, but I'm staying with my aunt and uncle until we get power back, and that means I can't really properly write until things get sorted. So the next chapter after this might take a while to come out.

Still, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, so here's the next part as we get closer and closer to the Allspark...

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

Chapter 27: Reunions and Planning

After Frederick Chase was rescued, everyone decided it was best to explain what was going on at his house, with the Autobots using their holomatter avatars, as usual, to fit inside.

Janet was a bit unnerved by the fact that Frederick had gone to the police station to get his daughter and had returned with not just her but so many strange people and two other children. Still, she decided not to question it, especially since Frederick appeared at peace for the first time in forever.

Now that he was out of danger and things had cooled down, Frederick had gone back into full-on researcher territory. Right now he was in the living room with Hound and taking the time to inspect his holomatter avatar with intrigue. Chromia, Hot Rod, and Prowl's avatars were sitting or pacing around the room themselves.

"Wow, this is incredible," he said. "Actual hard light constructs. And they even have mental link capabilities! "

"Yeah, I know." Hound said, "It's one of my favorite gadgets. It's not just good for recreational purposes; it's also useful during a fight. Great way to distract an enemy, then give them a good smackdown."

"What do you call this system exactly?" Frederick asked.

"It's the SHS; the Synergy Hologram Sys–"

"Hey you two, I hate to interrupt your talk, but I think we have other business to attend to." Prowl reminded them.

"Oh right…" Frederick said awkwardly, his face turning red. "I mean, I suppose I was the one demanding to know what was happening earlier…"

"Right…" Prowl muttered.

Frederick sat down in a chair with the other Autobots in the living room. He took a moment to compose himself and put on a more serious face. "Now. Let's talk," he said.

Meanwhile, Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia were in the room of her twin stepbrothers. The two toddlers were currently taking a nap in their small beds, with Thalia and Annabeth looking over them.

Neither said anything. Thalia looked at the two boys with a wistful expression.

"Thalia?" Annabeth asked. "Is something wrong?"

Thalia didn't answer.

Luke on the other hand looked bitter. He was sitting down in the corner. "You ran away from this?" he asked.

"It's complicated," Annabeth said. "I just… I just felt like no one understood me here."

Luke looked at Annabeth with a mix of envy and anger, then he took a deep breath in and out.

"Luke, are you okay?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm fine…" Luke said as his hands clenched into fists.

Annabeth looked at Thalia, who was still looking at the twins, then she looked back at Luke.

"You guys don't think I had it as bad as you two, don't you?" Annabeth asked accusingly.

Thalia and Luke were both quiet.

"Admit it!" Annabeth shouted.

"Okay yes! I am thinking that!" Thalia shouted back.

"Thalia!" Luke scolded.

"Oh, come on, you were thinking it too!"

"I knew it!" Annabeth yelled.

"I just…" Thalia sighed. "I don't get it. Me and Luke's parents are crazy, but everything looks fine here. Why would you run away from him?"

"You don't get what it was like!" Annabeth shouted, "It may look nice now! But they ignored me all the time. Just you wait; eventually, Janet's gonna come in and start not listening to me again!"

As if on cue, Janet herself walked in. "Kids, is everything okay?" she asked.

"We're in the middle of something," growled Luke.

"Can I help?" Janet asked.

"Like you helped me with the spiders…" Annabeth muttered

Janet groaned. "Annabeth, I told you, I looked all up and down your room, and there were no–"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" Annabeth cried.

Janet sighed. "Okay. Look…. Listen, Annabeth; maybe now's not the time to get all worked up. Would you like me to bake some cookies?"

"Cookies?" Thalia asked, her mouth watering.

"I'll take that as a yes," Janet said. "And for what it's worth, Annabeth, I know we didn't always get along, but I'm glad you're alive and safe."

She motioned like she was going to give Annabeth a hug but stopped herself. Then she went to the kitchen.

Luke shot Annabeth an angry look.

"Don't say anything…" Annabeth said miserably.

Thalia sighed again.

The three kids eventually went to check on the Autobots and Mr. Chase in the study, where they were still discussing matters.

"So how's it going?" Thalia asked.

"I think we just about finished explaining all we could," Hound said.

Annabeth's father looked lost in thought as he contemplated all this.

"Dad I know it sounds crazy, but it's all true," Annabeth said.

"I know. I was there." Frederick remarked.

"Mr. Chase, I know you and Annabeth are in a difficult spot right now," Luke said. "But this is really impor–"

"Don't worry. I understand." Frederick said. "Although I do have one request."

"Yeah?" asked Prowl.

"May I see your ship?"

When the Autobots took Frederick to the woods where they had hidden their ship, Frederick almost immediately started fawning over it. The man clearly had a fascination with airplanes and other machines of flight.

It took almost an hour for the Autobots to get Frederick into Ratchet's lab so the two could start working on deciphering the symbols and matching them with Greek writing.

Luke and Thalia were oddly quiet when they got back. Hound found them sitting outside the ship, looking awkward.

"What's eating you two?" Hound asked.

Luke and Thalia didn't respond. Luke was looking bitter and angry, and Thalia was looking uncertain.

"Come on guys, talk." Hound requested.

"I just don't get it…" Luke muttered.

"Get what?" asked Hound.

"The way Annabeth talked, you'd think that her family was from Hades itself," Luke explained, "but her dad and stepmom seem..."

"Alright?" finished Hound.

"Yeah," Luke muttered.

"He does seem a bit absent-minded..." Hound remarked.

"We're sorry, Hound; it's just weird." Thalia said. "You saw Luke's mom, right? And I've told you about how mine—"

"I know," Hound said sternly.

"We just don't get how it compares," Luke said.

"It doesn't matter," Hound remarked.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Listen, I know you two went through a lot, but pain is pain," Hound stated calmly. "It doesn't matter if some was 'worse than" the other. It's not a competition, and it shouldn't be."

Luke and Thalia looked at each other uncertainly.

"Believe us, our losses in this war over the last thousand years could fill a mountain, but the bad experiences you kids went through is still your own pain," Hound said. "We all go through it differently, and it isn't right to try to diminish someone else's pain because yours "was worse"."

Luke hesitated. "He's got a point," he finally said.

"Yeah. I think we owe Annabeth an apology…" Thalia remarked.

"Good," Hound said.

Thalia and Luke went to check on Annabeth and found her sitting at a table with her father. Prowl's holomatter avatar and Ratchet's holomatter avatar were both present. The four of them were looking over Ratchet's notes and some old Greek textbooks.

"Is this a bad time?" Thalia asked.

"Nope," Annabeth said cheerfully. "We're almost done."

"Yes…" said Ratchet. "It seems Annabeth's theory was correct. If we combine the Allspark symbols with some ancient Greek letters, it finally gives us a proper location. I'm plugging the coordinates in now."

Just then, a hologram of the world appeared in the middle of the table; it spun around before it slowed down to a stop. A holographic bullseye appeared several miles off of the west Greek coast, in a large section of the Mediterranean.

"There!" said Ratchet. "Right in between Greece and Italy!"

"We did it!" cheered Annabeth.

Frederick was quiet. He just stared thoughtfully at the bullseye.

"Dad?" asked Annabeth.

"It's amazing," Frederick said. "Humanity has searched for years, wondering if it was even real, and now it may finally be found…"

"We couldn't have done it without you," Ratchet said. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Chase."

"If it's alright," Frederick asked. "May I come with you?"

"What!?" asked Thalia.

"Oh, no way, buddy!" Luke said. "This is for Autobots and their friends only. You only just got here!"

"Besides." Prowl pointed out. "The Decepticons will probably be there as well. It's not safe. You really wanna throw yourselves in the middle of their crossfire again?"

Frederick looked a bit guilty. "Yes, I suppose you're right... I'm sorry for—"

"Wait," Annabeth said.

Everyone went quiet and looked at her. "What is it, Annabeth?" Ratchet asked.

"Dad, how important is this to you?" Annabeth asked.

Frederick shrugged. "My area of expertise may be in American history, but the discovery of Atlantis is still... well, it's big," he said.

Annabeth looked shaky, like she didn't know how to feel.

"Listen, Annabeth, if you need me to–"

"You can come…" Annabeth said quietly. "Before I change my mind..."

Frederick was quiet for a moment. "Annabeth–"

"I'll see how Optimus feels about it," Prowl said. "Now maybe we should all go tell him. Together," he said rather insistingly to Ratchet, Thalia, and Luke.

"Uh right…" Ratchet stammered.

"Sure," said Thalia.

Luke didn't say anything, but as he walked out with everyone else, he shot a small shot of envy at Annabeth and her dad.

At last, Annabeth and her father were left alone. Both of them were quiet at first, neither sure what to say.

"Annabeth…" Frederick sighed. "It's funny. I thought I'd have more to say, but now that you're finally here…. I have no idea what to say or do."

Annabeth kept silent.

"Were things really that bad?" he asked.

"For me, they were," Annabeth admitted. "I felt alone. Thalia, Luke, and the Autobots don't make me feel that way."

"I'm sorry, Annabeth..."

There was another moment of silence before Annabeth spoke up again.

"I'm not going back with you," she said.

"What?" asked Frederick.

"I don't wanna leave my family... my other family," Annabeth explained. "They need me."

Frederick looked very sad to hear this. "It's okay," he finally said. "I understand… It's enough to know you're safe.". He looked conflicted, not sure if he was making the right choice or not.

Annabeth gave her father a sympathetic look. "I'll call you okay?" she suggested. "We can talk and... sort this out, okay?"

"I'd like that," Frederick said, perking up a little.

Annabeth finally got herself to smile. "Nice job taking out that Decepticon," she said.

"I don't know what came over me," Frederick admitted. "I didn't know I had it in me."

"Well, you gave him a stab he's never going to forget."

Frederick smiled.

At last Frederick and Annabeth finished their talk and left the room. Ratchet and Prowl were waiting outside the room for them.

"How did it go?" Ratchet asked.

"Our problems…" Frederick trailed off. "I don't think they can be fixed right away."

Ratchet nodded. "I understand…"

Frederick shook his head and clapped his hands together. "Now then, may I see the engine for this vessel?" he asked.

"You still wanna come along?" asked Prowl.

"Of course," Frederick said. "I'm not missing this chance."

Prowl sighed. "Very well… but you have to do everything we say."

Frederick nodded and walked off with Ratchet to see the rest of the Ark-27, leaving Prowl and Annabeth alone.

"Are you okay?" Prowl asked her.

"I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "I thought it'd be different."

"I guess it's easier when you could write it off as him never caring about you," Prowl said.

"Yeah," Annabeth murmured.

"Don't worry, Annabeth, we'll get through this." Prowl turned his head aside.

"At least you still have your family…" he muttered to himself.

Onboard the Nemesis, Thundercracker, and Frenzy were loaded into cryogenic regeneration chambers by Soundwave. While all the Decepticons involved in the chase had been badly injured in the fight, those two had taken the worst of it. Thundercracker in particular had his spark damaged due to the stab from the human Frederick Chase and needed to be placed in the chamber for several days.

"I can't believe I get to miss the trip to Atlantis," Thundercracker muttered bitterly as he was placed inside the giant round cylinder.

"Don't worry, TC." A nearby Skywarp said. "I'll make sure to give the Autobots a good smackdown for ya!"

"Yeah," Thundercracker laughed. "Give them hell, Skywarp."

"Closing CR Chamber," Soundwave said.

With that, the lid to the chamber closed, and Thundercracker was locked inside. He felt the calmness of stasis lock come over him as he drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Megatron watched all of this with burning fury. Somehow a human, not even one trained in military combat, had managed to take out one of his best soldiers.

He was still trying to figure out what Thundercracker's punishment would be.

"Um. Megatron?" asked Starscream, breaking his leader out of his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't we be underway? Now that we have the coordinates?"

"Yes, of course," said Megatron. "Soundwave set a course immediately!"

"The Allspark will soon be within my grasp…."

So bit of a fun fact, when I was planning this, I wasn't intending Frederick to come along on the trip to Atlantis, but then I realized a huge history buff like him would not want to miss the chance to see the place.

Also I'm aware the location of Atlantis has varied from place to place in not only real life studies and other works of fiction, but this is my story, I get to pick where it is. So there. :P

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!