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

Chapter 29: City of Ruins

Walking through Atlantis felt like it was walking through a graveyard. The ground was cracked and splinted, and wrecked architecture littered the landscape.

The Autobots kept their guard up as they looked around the old city. It felt like at any moment something would jump out at them out of nowhere. Fish darted in and out of the ruins.

"This place doesn't feel all that grand in person." Luke muttered, "Feels like something out of a horror movie…"

Hound looked sadly at a wrecked statue of a man holding a trident proudly in his arms. "What happened here exactly?" he asked.

"Well…" Frederick started over the comm. "According to the stories, Atlantis was destroyed by infighting. Some great conflict that caused them all to destroy themselves…"

"Like us…" Optimus muttered as he looked somberly at the ruins.

"Hey, Optimus, are you okay?" asked Prowl.

Optimus said nothing. He just stared at the ruined buildings. He clenched his fist silently.

"Everyone split up into teams," he ordered. "If you get in trouble, call for backup over the comms. Ratchet, spread out the survey drones over the whole city. Leave no stone unturned."

"Yes, sir!" everyone responded.

"Till all are one…" Optimus said quietly.

"Till all are one!" everyone repeated.

Hot Rod, Thalia, and Sunstreaker were in one team, and the three started exploring some of the eastern ruins. A few of Ratchet's survey drones hovered around them. They found themselves ending up around a wide-open area scattered with benches.

"This place must have used to be a park." Sunstreaker speculated.

"Where are all the trees though?" Hot Rod pointed out.

"Probably washed away by decay over the years." Ratchet explained over the comms.

"I don't like this." Thalia muttered. "Luke was right, this feels like something out of a horror movie…"

"I know Thalia…" said Hot Rod in a calm tone. "But we don't have a choice."

"Oh, stop angsting over nothing and get moving!" Sunstreaker groaned.

"Hah, that's rich coming from you." Hot Rod laughed.

"What!?" asked Sunstreaker.

"I mean, just a few hours ago you were freaking out over an octopus being stuck on you." Hot Rod said, laughing some more.

"It was small and gross and icky!" Sunstreaker shouted defensively.

"Brawn was right, you are a protoform." Hot Rod teased.

Sunstreaker groaned in frustration before he swung his arm back and shoved it forward, punching Hot Rod in the face.

"GAH!" Hot Rod grunted as he stumbled backward near some rubble.

"Hot Rod, look out!" Thalia warned, but it was too late. Hot Rod fell into the middle of the rubble.

"You okay?" asked Thalia.

Hot Rod groaned and rubbed his head. Then he noticed the robotic arm emerging from the rubble looped around his shoulder.

"AH!" Hot Rod yelled and stumbled forward in shock, throwing the arm off of him.

"I thought I was the protoform for being afraid of an octopus?" Sunstreaker asked.

"A dead body is not the same thing!" Hot Rod pointed out.

"What?" Sunstreaker went over to the rubble and saw the arm sticking out of it. Then he set to work clearing some of it away.

When the rocks were removed, it showed a gray husk of a robot, about Hot Rod and Sunstreaker's size and build.

"What...what is that?" Thalia asked.

Sunstreaker stared in amazement. "That's... that looks like a Cybertronian!" he said.

Hot Rod also stared in amazement and turned on his comm. "Ratchet? Mr Chase? Are you two getting this?" he asked.

"I am… and it's fascinating," Frederick said. "I never heard of Atlantis having giant robots before."

"That's not just any giant robot, Frederick." Ratchet pointed out. "Like Sunstreaker said, that looks like one of us."

"I'm going to need a closer look." Ratchet worked the controls on his console, moving one of the survey drones to get up close to it.

"Hmm," said Ratchet. "It's not Cybertronian, but it's close. Very close"

"How is this possible?" Hot Rod asked.

"How else?" asked Ratchet. "The Allspark. The people of Atlantis somehow must have discovered its ability to create life out of metal."

"So... is it alive?" asked Sunstreaker.

"No. My readings indicate its spark is extinguished. Ratchet said solemnly.

"Spark?" asked Thalia. "You said that before, when Annabeth's dad stabbed Thundercracker."

"It's the core of all Cybertronian life," Ratchet explained. "It's what gives a Cybertronian their personality, their being, everything."

"So it's like a soul?" Thalia asked.

"Yes," Ratchet answered.

"Oh..." said Thalia. She looked at the decayed robot again. "So this one is..."

"Dead as a doorknob," Sunstreaker confirmed.

"Maybe there are others." Hot Rod suggested. "Maybe there's at least one of these guys who still has some life left who can tell us where the Allspark is."

"Good idea, Hot Rod," Ratchet said. "I'll tell everyone else to be on the lookout."

Hound, Brawn, Luke, and some survey drones looked over their section: a huge, decayed metropolitan zone. In the center was a circular area with a big statue.

Brawn wasted no time and started tearing down the walls of several of the ancient buildings in order to get a look inside.

But Hound was quiet. He looked over the wreckage of the place with the same somber look Optimus had earlier.

"Hey, come on, Hound!" Brawn shouted. "Let's get going! You heard the doc! We need to find one of those robots here."

Hound didn't answer at first. He just stared at the rubble.

"Hound? Are you okay?" asked Luke.

"No," Hound answered.

"What's eating you this time, you whiner?" Brawn asked with a mix of assurance and teasing.

"I just don't like seeing beautiful stuff get destroyed," Hound said. "I saw this same thing happen to Cybertron."

"I know, I was there, remember?" Brawn pointed out. "But we're going to get those Decepticons, get the Allspark, and save our home, got it?"

"Got it," Hound said with a hint of hesitation.

"Great! Now come on!" Brawn went back to digging through the rubble.

Hound started looking around, but it was clear his heart wasn't really in. Luke noticed that and swam over to him.

"I agree, you know," Luke said. "It's sad seeing what happened here…"

"Yeah." Hound agreed.

"...and the Olympians didn't stop it," Luke muttered.

"Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch." Hound pointed out. "We don't even know for sure what happened exactly."

"Atlantis is a Greek legend." Luke pointed out. "They had to have known! So why didn't they stop it?"

"Luke, I know you're still annoyed at your dad, but like I said, that's a bit of a stretch," Hound said sternly.

"Maybe I'm just bored…" Luke muttered.

"Yeah, maybe that's the real reason we're so down right now," laughed Hound. "We're bored."

Luke returned the laugh.

"Hey guys!" called Brawn. "I found another one of those robots!"

Hound and Luke turned and ran/swam over to where Brawn was. Inside one of the buildings was another of the strange robots. This one had wings on its back and had the remnants of a brown color scheme.

Hound pulled out a scanner and looked it over. "Ratchet, any signs of life?" he asked.

Ratchet looked over the data Hound sent him and sighed. "Well, the good news is there is a trickling of spark energy in there," he said somberly.

"Bad news?" asked Brawn.

"It's gonna take more than giving this one some energon to fix them…"

"So it's like Quickswitch?" asked Luke.

"Yeah," Ratchet said after some hesitation.

"Hey, if there's even a chance to save them, we should take it." Luke pointed out.

"Luke's right," Hound responded. "Should we bring it back to the Ark Ratchet?"

"Do it," Ratchet confirmed. "And any others with traces of life. I'll put out a notice to let the other teams know."

"Got it." With that, Hound and Brawn picked up the winged robot and started to take them to the edges of the city…

After getting the new order from Ratchet, Prowl, Chromia, and Annabeth looked around their area, a big central building.

The scene around it made Prowl and Chromia cringe. More of those strange robots that Hot Rod and Sunstreaker had found were littered around the structure. They all looked like they had been in some massive battle; each of them had different fatal wounds and injuries that covered their bodies.

Chromia knelt down to inspect one. "This one doesn't have its spark either," she said mournfully. "They all don't."

"Is there anything intact? Anything?" asked Ratchet over the comms.

"I don't think so," Prowl replied. "Centuries of being underwater must have fried most of their circuits...

Prowl brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Even so, we have to try something," he said. "Chromia. Start to see if you can dig out some of their memory banks; it might take a while, but we can probably piece–"

"Hold it," Annabeth said. "Doesn't that seem kind of morbid? I mean for you guys at least."

"It is," said Prowl.

"So maybe we should just let them rest," Annabeth suggested.

"War doesn't care about respect for the dead," said Prowl.

"What?" asked Annabeth.

"War requires sacrifices and compromises," Prowl said.

"Prowl," Chromia chided.

"You know I'm right, Chromia," Prowl said.

"That doesn't mean we should be doing morally questionable things all the time." Chromia pointed out.

Prowl scoffed. "You'll understand. Once you've lost someone close to you..."

A thick silence hung in the air after Prowl said that.

"Prowl," said Chromia.

"Enough," Prowl muttered. "How's this? Why don't we look around a bit more for a bot that still has some life left, and if we can't find them, then we try and salvage these ones? Does that work?"

"...Yeah," said Chromia.

"Sounds fair," Annabeth repeated.

"Good. I know just the bot to help sort through all these bot's memories anyway." Prowl remarked

"If he even wants to talk to you." Chromia laughed.

Prowl huffed and headed toward the central building's entrance and walked inside it.

Annabeth turned to Chromia. "Chromia?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"What did he mean by... once you've lost someone close to you?"

Chromia's expression was one of surprise. "He didn't tell you? You've spent all that time together coming up with strategies and meditating, and he didn't tell you?"

Annabeth shook her head.

Chromia took on a somber look. "Maybe I shouldn't be surprised... He doesn't like talking about him.

"Talking about who?" asked Annabeth.

"Prowl's brother Side-Burn was killed by the Decepticons," Chromia answered.

"Oh," said Annabeth quietly.

"It really changed him." Chromia explained. "It just became about beating the Decepticons, no matter what it took."

Annabeth didn't say anything.

"I like to think you've helped with that," Chromia added.

"Huh?"

"When he's spending time with you... I haven't seen him be so happy in a long time." Chromia explained.

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks Chr–"

"GUYS!' shouted Prowl.

"What?!" asked Chromia.

"I found something!"

Before ending off today, I'd like to give a special announcement. My close friend ArtIdiotGuy222, as a commission for me, wrote a short story detailing how Quickswitch and Ratchet first met (he's done two other short stories for me, but this is the first one that's "fully" canon). It's called "Healing the Future," and you can find it on his DeviantArt page (I'd give a direct link, but Fanfiction . net doesn't allow for it).

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