Chapter 15
The Deprived
"That's it?" Razor asked, nervous. "We are free to go…?"
Indominus Rex looked at the ceiling lazily. "But of course. Unless you wish to face an army of Predacon foot soldiers..." He grinned.
"That won't be necessary." Cross said, pulling Razor away as Stripes' team started to walk towards the exit, following Scorpinok.
The ship then shook sharply. Dust fell from the ceiling as the ship vibrated.
"What was that?!" One of the Predacons asked.
"Indominus Rex, someone is firing on us, and it's not the Maximals or the ships in orbit!" Blackarachnia said.
Indominus Rex looked to the main viewscreen in the room. "The Deprived… Scorpinok! Get the Son of Primus and his followers out of here immediately! We don't have a lot of time!"
"This way!" The group began to run through the decks of the ship as Scorpinok guided Stripes and the Autobots to the exit of the ship. As they ran, Stripes could swear he saw another motorcycle bot, kinda like Arcee, expect it was a chopper-style motorcycle with alien styling with a rider comparable to Arnold Schwarzenegger riding it! It seemed to be chasing them as they ran through the ship.
They quickly reached the outer hatch, just as it was opening. Right as they exited the ship however, they were greeted with even bigger problems.
"He is here! Lord Unicron was right! He lives, all this time he lives! But now he shall live no more!"
Stripes and his group were face-to-face with several different Cybrtronian transformers! One looked like he changed into a tank, the other a jet! Another seemed to hover above them, holding mini jets like a battlecrusier, another seemed to have a military attack helicopter vehicle mode! The last one, was all-too-familiar. It was an almost exact clone of Megatron, only with many improvements!
"What is this?!" Megatron demanded. "Has Unciron had me... cloned?"
"Not just cloned, fool… Rebuilt from the ground up!" His double shouted. "Behold! I am Galvatron, taker of sparks! And I intend to add the Son of Primus's to my grand collection! Cyclonus! Scourge! Swindle! Attack!"
"Oh, scrap..." Stripes made a gulping sound. The group scattered, avoiding the incoming fire. But the majority of the Deprived attacks were focused on Stripes!
"STRIPES! RUN!" Megatron yelled, tacking his double. The rest of the group then started to run interference against the deprived, blocking them from getting to Stripes!
Stripes had little choice but to comply. Despite fighting with the Predacon foot soldiers earlier, he didn't have enough strength, nor experience to deal with this threat. He changed to vehicle mode and peeled out, narrowly missing a few missile strikes by Cyclonus!
Cyclonus pursued Stripes, firing on him but missing many good shots with his machine gun, and every hit with his missiles! Stripes scanned the area around the base, and found a small mountainous region nearby with a network caves! He had little choice but to take that route!
Eventually, Stripes reached the caves! He dove in, full throttle as Cyclonus pulled up to avoid becoming part of the rockface! Stripes then used his sensors to find a way out of the tunnels, the transformed, intakes cycling rapidly. He looked around. He was alone. All that was left was to wait for the Autobots to find him again, hopefully before the Deprived caught up to him.
"Impressive driving back there." A voice said to his side.
Stripes whirled around to see the chopper motorcycle again, with it's rider! Then, the rider vanished into thin air, dissolving into light! A hologram!
"Who are you?!" Stripes demanded, readying his arm cannon.
The chopper motorcycle then transformed! Into robot mode, though it didn't' have an Autobot or Decepticon insignia!
"I'm not an adversary, if that's what you are asking." He said. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am a drifter, of sorts. My name is Sideways, and you've stumbled on one of my many hiding places."