I'm not really one of those guys who gives his fics a "soundtrack," but I recommend listening to "His name is Shane and he drives" from the Transformers: Age of Extinction soundtrack while reading this chapter.
I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.
Chapter 53: Roll For It!
Starscream and Skywarp circled menacingly over an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Brooklyn in their jet modes. One of the allies Hades had given them, a "fury," named Alecto, had heard some kind of commotion inside. It was very possible the girl they were looking for was in there. She and some of the hellhounds had gone in to investigate.
"I still think we should have focused on destroying the Autobots ship when we had the chance…" Starscream muttered bitterly.
"Hey, you heard that Hades guy." Skywarp said. "The only way we got back up for this revenge mission is if we focus on the girl. She's our main target anyway."
"I just don't like being beholden to any–" Starscream's train of thought was interrupted when the Autobots, Hound, and Hot Rod barreled through the warehouse wall and skidded onto the streets.
"Autobots!" Stscream growled.
"Finally!" Skywarp cheered. He ignited his engine and began to chase the two Autobots, and Starscream followed behind.
As Hot Rod and Hound revved down the Brooklyn streets, they heard Skywarp and Starscream right behind them. The two Decepticons shot lasers at them, which Hound and Hot Rod barely missed.
"They're shooting us!" cried Grover. He winced inside Hot Rod, and Thalia braced herself alongside him.
"Calm down! Which way!?" Hot Rod asked as he and Hound swerved down another road.
"Uh…head down this way and make a left at the second turn!" Grover said nervously.
"Yeah right!" Luke stated dismissively inside Hound. "You're the one who led us into—"
"Luke, he's the only one who knows the way; we don't have a choice." Hound reminded him.
Luke was about to open his mouth when something hard landed on Hounds' hood and gave a screech. It was one of the furies.
Annabeth wailed.
"Get it off me!" Hound cried.
Luke wasted no time; he brought out his sword and leaned outside of Hound's passenger side and slashed at the fury. His sword impacted the fury's skin, and she wailed in pain and flew off in a retreat.
"Come back here and fight!" Luke taunted.
"Luke! I thought we wanted these guys to leave us alone!" Thalia pointed out.
Soon they came up to the turn Grover had instructed them to turn down, and Hot Rod and Hound both took a left. When they started driving down the road, though, both of them stopped.
"Grover, this is an alley!" Hot Rod stated frustrated.
"Oh…oops," said Grover meekly
"OOPS?!" Thalia shouted frustrated. She was beginning to get some of Luke's animosity towards the satyr.
At that moment, a massive hellhound came up behind them and roared.
"We're trapped!" Annabeth cried.
"Not yet!" Hound shouted. He started reversing and going full speed and backed right into the Hellhound. He impacted the creature right in its jaw, and the hound whimpered as it was knocked to the ground, and its head was crushed beneath Hound's wheel.
There was no time for celebrating, as more hellhounds started to appear around them.
Hot Rod revered out of the alley and joined Hound, and the two started accelerating forward again.
"Grover, do you have any directional advice that doesn't suck?!" Hot Rod asked.
"Go right!" Grover suggested.
"Worth a shot..." Hot Rod muttered as he and Hound turned the corner. Thankfully Grover was right this time, and there was no dead end.
"Heads up!" shouted Luke.
Starscream and Skywarp had come around for another pass, and the two jets swept down and started firing another round of lasers. As they came down, various nearby onlookers began to panic; most fled for their lives, but a few brought out their phones and started recording the whole thing.
"You know this fighting in the middle of a city is just gonna draw unwanted attention onto us!" Hound grunted as he dodged the lasers coming in around him.
"Hound's right." Annabeth said hurriedly. A laser grazed Hound, causing her to wince. "We need to get out of here now!"
"Grover, how do we get out of the city?" Hot Rod asked as he swerved away from a blast from Skywarp.
"Left!" Grover shouted.
"Got it!" Hot Rod said. He made a hard left turn, his tires skidding on the pavement as he did so. Hound followed close behind.
As the two Autobots went down the corner, Starscream and Skywarp tried to follow them, but their jet modes couldn't maneuver through the city skyline as well due to the massive amount of buildings. Starscream tried turning left to follow them, only to find himself nearly colliding with a nearby skyscraper.
"Gah!" He muttered. "This infernal city clearly wasn't built for our kind!"
"So what do we do?" asked Skywarp.
"We head outside the city and wait for them." Starscream proposed. "Where we'll have more room to maneuver. Let Alecto and the others have their fun for now."
"Sounds like a plan." Skywarp agreed.
"Now teleport us outside the city!" Starscream ordered. Skywarp got close to Starscream, and with a VOP, they vanished.
Thalia leaned outside Hot Rod's window to get a look around and saw that Starscream and Skywarp were no longer chasing them. "Hey guys, I think we lost those two."
"But we didn't lose them!" cried Grover pointing ahead.
Thalia swerved her head forward and saw three monstrous hellhounds coming right at them.
"Whoa!" she cried.
"Hang on!" Hot Rod yelled. The frame on his vehicle mode began to buck downward and got lower to the ground.
"Wait. What are you doing!?" Grover asked, starting to panic.
"Oh no, not again!" Thalia exclaimed, remembering the last time Hot Rod had done something like this.
Hot Rod released his buck and began to fly into the air, over the heads of the hellhounds. Grover screamed, and Thalia braced herself for impact.
Hot Rod landed right behind the hellhounds and accelerated as fast as he could.
As for Hound, he chose to simply use the weight of his Jeep mode to his advantage and charged right through the Hellhounds. He collided with them with a bang, and the Hellhounds were sent scattering.
"Okay, good, we're good." Luke muttered.
"Any sign of those bat ladies?" asked Hot Rod.
Thalia gave a quick look around. "Doesn't look like—"
"LOOK OUT!" cried Grover.
Hot Rod and Thalia both looked forward and screamed. They were about to go through an intersection with a green light, and some moron in a 78 Camaro had just run a red light and was right in front of them.
Hot Rod braked, but it was too late. He hit the side of the Camaro with a CRUSH, and he started pushing it forward. The driver, a fat man with a bald head, started yelling at him using several words that Thalia had told him were very naughty on this planet.
"Sorry!" Cried Grover.
"Hot Rod, get him off us!" Thalia begged.
Hot Rod shifted to reverse, but his front bumper was wedged into the Camaro. "I can't; I'm stuck!"
"Who's talking!?" The driver of the camaro yelled. Everyone ignored him.
"Uh guys!" called Luke as Hound passed right by them.
Thalia looked back around and saw the pack of hellhounds had caught up with them and was heading right toward them from behind, with the furies leading the pack.
"Oh no!" Thalia cried.
"Move move move move!" yelled Grover frantically.
Hot Rod hit his accelerator, pushed himself to full speed, and tried to catch up with Hound. He was moving, but the weight of the Camaro was holding him back, and he was only barely managing to outrun the hellhounds.
"I can't get to top speed!" Hot Rod yelled.
In front of them, Hound, Annabeth, and Luke were observing the predicament Hot Rod had gotten himself into. "Someones gotta get them free!" Annabeth called.
Luke pulled out his sword and got himself ready. "Hound, Get up right next to Hot Rod."
"Okay!" Hound said. He braked and reversed and got up right next to Hot Rod. Luke began to climb out of Hound's seat and started leaning as far forward as he could.
"Turn left!" Grover instructed.
Hot Rod and Hound both followed the order and made a left turn; it was so sharp that Luke lost his balance and started to flail around. "Whoa! whoa!" he said.
"I got you!" Annabeth cried as she grabbed onto his legs to keep him steady.
"Guys!" Thalia called. "They're catching up!"
Luke looked back and saw Thalia was right; the pack was getting closer, and one of the furies licked her lips as if delighted by the slaughter that was about to happen.
Luke gulped and got back to work. "I need to get closer, Hound!"
"I'm trying!" Hound said. He moved as carefully as he could to Hot Rod without slowing either of them down. The driver of the camaro was still yelling and getting more and more annoyed that no one was acknowledging him.
"You kids better hope you have insurance!" he shouted.
"Go home and get stoned, loser!" Luke shouted back. He jumped onto the back of the Camaro and started to shimmy his way to where Hot Rod's bumper had gotten latched.
"Hey, get off!" The driver yelled.
Luke resisted the urge to shove his sword down the guy's throat. When he got to where Hot Rod was hooked onto the camaro, he raised his sword and, in one clean swipe, sliced the latched parts off.
Now free, Hot Rod braked hard to get himself out of the Camaro's area. Luke jumped onto Hot Rod's hood and held on for dear life as Hot Rod swerved around the Camaro, the driver yelling more naughty earth words along the way.
As he held onto the hood, Luke looked up at Thalia. "So when do I get to go on a car-hopping adventure like you and Annabeth?" asked Thalia, smirking.
"Not all it's cracked up to be." Luke said with a nervous smile. "I give it 2 stars."
Hot Rod rolled up to Hound, and Luke jumped back onto Hound and scrambled back into Hound's seat.
Grover looked back and saw the Hellhound hoard was almost on them. "Can we go full speed now?!" he asked.
"Yeah." Hot Rod said. "Of course–"
He was interrupted when one of the fury's landed on Hot Rod's hood. It spread it's wings out and roared at Thalia, showing her teeth and disgusting face.
"Oh, come on!" Thalia yelled.
Out of nowhere, a lightning bolt came down and struck the fury. It cried in pain and went limp, falling off of Hot Rod and onto the street.
"Nice job, Thalia!" Hot Rod yelled as he accelerated as fast he could, narrowly avoiding a hellhound biting down on his trunk.
Thalia just sat there in disbelief, looking at where the fury had been. "It…It wasn't me," she stammered quietly.
No one had time to contemplate what this meant as Hot Rod and Hound made a beeline to one of the city's exits. As they headed there, thunder roared in the sky, and a heavy rainfall began to fall down on them…
Hound and Hot Rod managed to successfully maneuver and drive out of the city and into a nearby forested area. The pack of hellhounds and the three furies were still on their heels, but now that nothing was obstructing any of them, they were able to get a decent distance.
"You sure we're going the right way, Grover?" asked Hot Rod as the rain kept falling down on them.
"Or are we just going into another dead end?" Luke asked rudely.
"Yes, I'm sure." Grover insisted. "I can smell the strawberries from here."
"I can't smell anything…" Annabeth remarked.
"That's because you're not a satyr." Grover explained.
"So we're gonna be safe there?" asked Thalia.
"Yes," said Grover. "The people at CHB can—"
"Decepticons!" cried Hound.
Everyone looked forward and up and saw Starscream and Skywarp in their jet modes coming right toward them.
"We're back!" yelled Skywarp.
"Oh, come on!" cried Luke.
The two Decepticons fired their lasers at the two Autobots, and Hound and Hot Rod quickly did a serpentine maneuver to dodge the incoming shots.
Once the Decepticons passed overhead, they circled back around and did another pass at the group.
Hot Rod grunted as the lasers flew by him. "Grover, how much farther!?" he yelled, strained.
"I don't know!" Grover shouted, freaked out.
"Good to know!" Hot Rod yelled sarcastically.
Hound and Hot Rod both raced down the road as fast as they could, but between the Decepticons shooting at them, the encroaching hoard of dogs, and the rain and thunder pouring down on them, it was hard to focus.
Eventually, a few of the hellhounds got far enough ahead and got right up next to Hound and Hot Rod. One of them bit down on Hound's right side rearview mirror, and the Autobot grunted in pain. Two others ran up to Hot Rod and each went over to one side to try and trap him in a box.
"Yes! Yes!" screamed Alecto. "Take them out! For Hades!"
The hellhound on Hound bit down harder, and Hound grunted in pain again. "Get him off me!" he yelled.
Luke thought fast and brought out his sword, stabbing the Hellhound in the eye. With a whimper, it let go and started to dissolve into dust.
Grover looked at both of the hellhounds cornering Hot Rod and whimpered. "Can't you go any faster!?" he asked.
"I'm at top speed!" Hot Rod yelled.
The two hellhounds both began to bump Hot Rod between each other, and Hot Rod groaned. He couldn't focus. Skywarp and Starscream let out another volley of laserfire, one of which hit Hot Rod right in the back, causing him to cry out in pain and frustration.
Thalia brought out her spear and started to jab it at the hellhound on her side, but the dog dodged out of the way; it was pretty nimble for something the size of a car.
Just then there was a loud HONK noise and a light coming on in front of them.
Hot Rod looked forward and saw a massive tanker truck coming down the road right towards them.
"FRAG!" Hot Rod yelled. "Thalia!? Remember that trick we used when the two-headed dog was chasing us!?"
"Yeah?" asked Thalia.
"I'm gonna need you to–" Hot Rod was interrupted when one of the Hellhounds side bashed him again, causing him to grunt.
Thalia didn't need him to finish though. She put her hands on Hot Rod's dashboard and sent an electric shock through it. Hot Rod felt his systems be supercharged, and he accelerated forward ahead of the hellhounds trapping him. Grover let out a terrified shriek at the sudden burst of speed.
The tanker truck got right in front of them, Hot Rod swerved out of it's way, Hound did the same Starscream, and Skywarp let out another volley of shots, and then the tanker truck barreled through the hellhound hoard and skidded on it's side before a stray shot from Starscream caused the tanker part to explode.
Hot Rod and Hound tried to regain their traction, but the slippery road made it impossible to get any. Hound skidded and banged Hot Rod from behind, and the two Autobots lost control and started to uncontrollably plunge into the forest nearby, rolling and flipping down the dirt hill.
The last thing Hot Rod remembered hearing before everything went black was a bonecrushing CRASH.
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