Chapter 17
Revelation
Stripes did a double-take on Sideways. "Jigadawha?"
Sideways sighed, continuing on. "Right now, I pity the Son of Primus. I bet Unicron has my brothers, the Deprived hunting him now that he has awakened."
Stripes' optics brightened in shock. "...What exactly do they look like?"
"Give me a moment to access the files..." Sideways looked to the ground, and his optics emitted a hologram of each of the deprived. It was Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, and Swindle. The 'bots he saw earlier that attacked him!
It took Stripes a few seconds to process a response. "...Yeah, those look like some bad 'bots..." He finally said.
"Indeed, they are." Sideways replied. "Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, and Swindle. The Four Harbingers of our destruction, and they have now been unleashed upon the universe to find the Son of Primus..."
Stripes got an semi-bad idea. "...Hypothetically speaking, if the Son of Primus was right next to you at this very moment, what would you do? What would you say to him, Sideways?"
Sideways looked at Stripes. "Well… I would start by saying I'm not truly allied with my father. I would ally myself with the Son of Primus, because I know if my father was to defeat him, it would spell death, destruction, and doom for our entire universe. That, and my father would be guaranteed to go mad afterwards."
Stripes' felt at least some relief. At least this one had sense. "I've got a ship that's coming to pick me up. Why don't you come with me? It might be a while before another ship arrives to take you off this planet… Think about it."
Sideways looked up to the sky, processing his decision. "...You do make a valid point. Very well. I will come with you. One Condition: Tell me who you really are."
Stripes looked alarmed. He realized the jig was up. He had revealed a lot more information than he should have.
Sideways looked at Stripes straight in the optics. "Let me make myself clear, Son of Primus: I am not your enemy. I meant it when I said I would ally with you. Unicron has to be destroyed. There is no other alternative..."
Stripes stared back at Sideways. "You knew from the moment I mentioned the name, I guess?"
Sideways nodded. "Yeah. You kind of made it a bit obvious from that moment."
That's when the wind started to howl around them. Stripes looked up, and saw the Nemesis hovering above them in the atmosphere! A search light shined down on both Stripes and Sideways, illuminating the darkness around them!
"Here's our ride..." Stripes said.
A groundbridge then appeared in front of them! Stepping out of it was Megatron, with Ultra Magnus!
"Stripes, we must go! It's time to leave!" Megatron snapped with urgency. "We don't have a lot of time! Primal and Indominus rex are fighting a delaying action against the Deprived so we can escape!"
"That's our cue." Sideways said.
Stripes ran forward, with Sideways in tow. The next moment, they were all on the Nemesis, safe and sound. It burned jets out of the sky and out of orbit of the planet.