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

Chapter 31: Discovery In The Ruins.

After hearing Prowl call out, Chromia and Annabeth raced in and found him overlooking the body of another robot. The bot had a dark brown paint job with hints of white and a yellow head with three horns. On his chest was the head of a robotic cat.

"You found another one?" Chromia asked.

"Yes, I did," Prowl said. "But look carefully at him."

Chromia did and raised her eyebrow. The only other notable observation Chromia made was that his wounds were slightly smaller than those of some of the other wrecked robots. "What? I don't get it," she said.

"I do get it," said Annabeth, swimming over to get a closer look.

"Okay, what?" Chromia asked.

"Look at his wounds," Annabeth pointed out. "They're fresher than the other robots we've seen, and his paint scheme isn't as faded."

"Exactly," Prowl confirmed.

Chromia's optics widened. "So that means this bot was killed more recently," she realized.

Prowl nodded and turned on his wrist comm. "Ratchet, are you getting this?" he asked.

"I am," Ratchet said from his position in the Ark-27's communication room. "Scan him now."

Prowl pulled out a wrist scanner and looked over the robot, feeding the data back to Ratchet.

Ratchet looked over the info, and his optics lit up. "It's faint, but he's got a spark," he said, his voice rising.

"Are you serious?" Frederick asked from the seat right next to him.

"Yes," Ratchet confirmed. "Prowl, Chromia, give him some energon now!"

"Amazing…" Frederick murmured, "Imagine what he'll be able to tell us…"

"I know," said Ratchet. "But we have to remember this bot will be just waking up after what's probably a long wait. We need to give him time to recover."

"Oh… right…" Frederick muttered sheepishly.

"Did he have stars in his eyes, Ratchet?" asked Annabeth.

"Maybe a little, laughed Ratchet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frederick asked.

"Nothing Dad.' Annabeth chuckled.

"If we're done with bantering..." Prowl growled. He pulled out a spare energon cylinder and leaned over the offline robot.

"Inject him carefully, Prowl." Ratchet advised, "We don't want to hurt him. This could be quite a shock."

"I know," Prowl said. He activated the needle function on the cylinder and then injected the energon into the bot's right arm.

"Annabeth and Chromia, stand back," Prowl ordered, taking a few steps back himself.

Chromia and Annabeth did so in silence.

"It could take a bit for the Energon to sink in." Ratchet noted.

Everyone waited; the seconds ticked by, and it felt like a couple of hours.

Then the bot optics lit up, and he jumped up.

"DON'T TAKE IT!" he cried.

"He's awake," Prowl reported.

The brown and yellow bot looked around confused. His eyes locked on Chromia, Prowl, and Annabeth.

"Impossible," he said.

"What is?" asked Chromia.

"I'm the only one left; all the other guardians were destroyed in the fighting!" the bot stated. "Who are you!? Where do you come from!?"

Prowl stepped forward. "My name is Prowl, from the planet Cybertron; head of Autobot tactics. These are my partners, Chromia and Anna–"

"Where is he?!" the bot asked frantically.

"Where's who?" asked Annabeth.

"The one who came here to take the great cube!"

"Don't know who that is, but we just got here…" Chroma said.

The robot looked over himself. "Oh… Oh no…my injuries…" he stammered. His expression turned to one of horror. "How long was I out?" he asked gravely.

"At least a couple hundred stellar cycles," Prowl answered.

"Stellar cycles?"

"That's roughly a year in human terms," Annabeth explained.

The robot's look of horror deepened. "Then… he took it."

"The cube?" asked Prowl.

"Yes…"

"Then we're too late…" Chromia muttered.

Just then Optimus walked into the room with a worried expression on his face. "I heard screaming," he said. "Is everyone okay?"

"We're too late, Optimus." Prowl lamented. "Someone already took the Allspark from here…"

"What?" Optimus's eyes locked onto the strange revived bot. "Who's this?"

"Nightprowler," the bot introduced with a sorrowful expression. He looked at the floor before turning and looking out a nearby window.

"Are you okay?" Chromia asked.

Nightprowler swerved his head around and shot Chromia an angry look."What kind of stupid question is that?" he asked.

Chromia was guiltily quiet.

Nightprowler shuddered and looked at the floor again. "I've failed my mission," he muttered. "My people, Poseidon, and the world..."

"Poseidon!" Annabeth exclaimed. "You knew him?"

"He was the one who finally put an end to the fighting," Nightprowler explained.

"You mean the war that destroyed Atlantis?" asked Annabeth.

"Yes," Nightprowler confirmed. "Our rebellion failed, and we begged Posideon to help us; in turn, he sunk our whole island and offered sanctuary for the survivors."

"So what are you doing here?" asked Optimus.

Nightprowler hesitated, clearly not happy revisiting these old memories. "I…I was the last," he explained. "The last of Atlantis's robotic guardians... Posideon gave me a mission. Never let the cube leave Atlantis's ruins; never let this happen again. So I stayed here, making sure no one would ever take it.

He miserably stared at the floor again. "I failed…"

Optimus was quiet.

On board the Ark-27, Frederick listened with interest. "Ask him what caused the fighting," he suggested.

"Mr Chase. Maybe we should take this slow." Chromia pointed out.

"But there's so much he can tell us!" Frederick argued.

"How will this information benefit the search anyway?" Prowl asked.

"This is one of the most important archeological finds in human history!" Frederick insisted.

Chromia growled, "He's not an archeological relic; he's a–"

"Who are you talking to?" Nightprowler asked with a look of confusion.

Chromia gave a sheepish expression. "Um…mission control, over our comm line..."

"What's a comm line?" asked Nightprowler.

"It's a way to communicate with people from a long distance," Prowl said.

Nightprowler looked like he didn't understand completely. "What does "Mission Control" want exactly?"

"He wants to know what caused the fighting," Chromia answered.

Nightprowler's expression darkened even more.

"Please pay them no mind, Nightprowler." Optimus said finally speaking up. "You do not have to answer right now if you don't want–"

"No… I need to tell you." Nightprowler said. "Everyone needs to know what happened."

"Then tell us." Optimus said.

Annabeth briefly made a wincing motion.

"What?" asked Optimus.

"Dad just squealed over the comm." Annabeth muttered.

"Your father is a pig?" Nightprowler asked.

Annabeth groaned. "Just tell us what happened," she asked.

Nightprowler's eyes narrowed, and he sat down. "I was born long after the Empire of Atlantis was founded. But I've been told what happened from the history texts."

Optimus, Prowl, Chromia, and Annabeth listened intently, with Frederick doing the same over the comms.

"A very, very long time ago," Nightprowler began, "a huge famine swept across the land. A small fishing village was threatening to die because of it, but then some random fishermen found it. The Cube."

"The Allspark," Optimus said quietly.

"Why do you call it that?" Nightprowler asked.

"It's from our home. The planet Cybertron." Optimus explained.

"So it is from another world." Nightprowler muttered. "Some of our scholars speculated..."

"Your story?" asked Prowl.

"Right…" Nightprowler said before continuing. "The cube saved the small village. It allowed its people to create and build wondrous machines and buildings with little or no effort. Over time, it grew from a small village to one of the most powerful cities in all of the world. Then they discovered its potential to create life, and they used it to create robotic guardians to protect them."

"And that's how you were made," guessed Optimus.

Nightprowler nodded. "I was one of the first," he confirmed. "Now it looks like I'm the last."

"So what happened?" Optimus asked.

"Our leaders wanted more," Nightprowler explained, anger dripping off his voice. "They wanted to expand our utopia outward, conquer all of Greece, perhaps the world."

Optimus was stunned into silence at this.

"What?" asked Nightprowler. "This sounds...personal to you."

"Please continue." Optimus requested.

Nightprowler sighed. "Some opposed this; I was one of them. We fought to stop our leaders and failed. Most of us died."

"In a last-ditch effort, we prayed to Poseidon to save us, to stop our evil leaders before the conquering could start."

"And it worked?" Annabeth asked.

"He sunk the whole city," Nightprowler confirmed. "Most of the survivors spread out to find their own paths now that they had lost their home, but Posideon specifically had a request for me."

"Keep the Allspark from falling into the wrong hands." Optimus finished.

"Yes," Nightprowler said.

"That must be horrible…" Chromia muttered. "Being on your own for so long..."

"No. I was more than happy too. Nightprowler said. "I had watched my city, my country, and my people be destroyed because that cube's power was too great for anyone to resist. I had to make sure it never happened again…"

He winced and took on a sorrowful expression again. "And I failed…"

"Who took it?" asked Prowl.

"A man from the country known as India," Nightprowler explained. "I sensed his approach and confronted him. He said he needed a power source to help create a new type of ship—one that could travel underwater. He thought Atlantis might give him the answer. I opposed this, and we fought."

"I'm guessing you lost," said Chromia.

NIghtprowler took on an embarrassed look. "Yes," he muttered.

"Who was this man?" asked Prowl.

Nightprowler turned his head to look at Prowl, his expression hardening. "Before I do," he said, standing up in the process, "I need to know. Why do you want the cube?"

"We need it to save our home," Prowl answered.

"I've heard that before," Nightpowler said aggressively.

"If you wanna be technical, they're its legal owners." Annabeth pointed out.

"What?" asked Nightprowler.

Chromia stepped forward. "Look, Nightprowler, the cube—the Allspark—is from our home, Cybertron; a whole other planet," she explained. "It's the last relic of Primus, the thing that gave us all our energy and power, and now that it's gone, our planet is dying."

Nightprowler listened intently but still seemed suspicious. "Seems awfully convenient," he pointed out. "You just 'happening' to be the true owners of the cube... And even if it is true, why should I give it back? You could be lying to me about your intentions."

"I know how this looks, but you have to believe us!" Chromia said. "We just want to save our home…."

Nightprowler looked at Chromia. Then he looked at Optimus. "Are you their leader?" he asked.

"I am," Optimus confirmed.

"I'm going to want to see proof," he said.

"I understand," Optimus nodded. "You're more than welcome to it once we get back to our ship."

Nightprowler sighed. "Very well, I'll help you," he stood up. "But I'm warning you; if you are deceiving me, I will not be bested a second time," he warned.

"That's fair," Optimus said. "Now, who was the man who took the Allspark?"

"His name was Prince–"

Nightprowler was interrupted when something broke through the nearby wall; pieces of marble and stone scattered everywhere.

The Autobots swerved to look and saw Megatron standing there, his right arm converted into its energon mace mode.

"Hello, Prime." Megatron greeted mockingly. "Mind if I join this history lesson? I think I'm in the mood to speak to the teacher personally!"

"Who are you?!" asked Nightprowler in shock.

"That's Megatron," Annabeth answered. "One of the Decepticons!"

"Decepticons!?"

"We'll explain later!"

Megatron gave a battle cry and charged at Nightprowler with his mace ready to strike.

Nightprowler shut his eyes and braced for impact.

Optimus thought fast. He retracted his right arm, brought out his energon axe, and used it to block Megatron's mace from striking Nightprowler.

"Not today, Megatron!" Optimus yelled defiantly before punching Megatron in the face with his free arm. Then he tackled him through the hole in the wall Megatron had made.

Prowl ran over to Nightprowler, who was watching the two faction leaders fight in confusion and disbelief.

"Nightprowler, we have to get you out of here now!"

"Right…" Nightprowler muttered. "I think I need a moment; I just woke up after all…"

"Tell you what," Chromia said. "We'll give you all the moments you want once we get back to the Ark-27. Sound good?"

Nightprowler nodded, and Chromia and Prowl each grabbed one of his arms and helped him move the building. Annabeth followed close behind.

When the four left the central plaza building, they were greeted with a nasty sight; there, right in front of them were Starscream, Skywarp, and an orange bot with pincers neither had seen before.

"Hello Autobots…" Starscream taunted. "Mind if we talk to your new friend?"

So a few notes.

First, much like Quicksand, Nightprowler is based on an obscure BW character. A repaint of Cheetor's toy in Snow Leopard colors.

Second, if you recall, I said that even though the proper Daughter of the Deep crossover where we meet the characters from that book is being held off until I can make it a story of its own, it would still get some nods and references here. If you've been paying attention, you've probably figured out what I meant, but for those who haven't, I'll hold off lest I give away too much.