Vanity Faire

[Deleted]

It made sense. An alternate reality meant that alternate events had happened. An alternate death of their planet. His optics remained focused on the bleeding core, faceplates deceptively smooth. It would have been painful. Agonizing. And, if Spacewarp had survived and Sideswipe didn't...lonely.

Dying alone. He would never admit it, but it was one of Sunstreaker's greatest fears. Not for the reason most would think. But, because he would no longer be there to ensure his brother was safe. He would leave him alone, departing to the Well and moving on while Sideswipe was left to fight on alone.

He couldn't do that.

His gaze moved back to Spacewarp's face. It was time to move on, past sentiment. His Sideswipe was alive, he could feel it. But...whether or not he made it to him would depend on this femme's actions from here on out.

"What do you hope to gain here, femme?" he asked, his voice lacking its usual bite, "You might be my counterpart, but, in this universe, there's still a war going on. And we're on opposite sides. Do we both walk out of this and just continue on our way?"

[Spacewarp]

He was right. If this were any normal situation, they'd both be at each other's throats by now. Luckily for the two of them, this was anything but. Spacewarp shook off the negative Sideswipey feelings to focus on the situation at hand, which could rapidly turn into a problem for both of them if she didn't conduct herself properly.

"I've already gained everything I need," she replied to his first question, "I wanted to know who I was shooting at, and got a whole lot more than I was planning for."

His second question was a bit more tricky. She'd been sent out here to find and destroy an Autobot, but Spacewarp had no intention of committing suicide via proxy; not today at least. Thankfully, her main cannon had already given her the solution she needed. "That's exactly what I think we should do."

The Decepticon turned her head away from Sunstreaker, and towards the smoldering husk of what used to be an escape pod. "Confirmed, target destroyed; vaporized. Transmitting.... affirmative, I'll head back immediately."

Once the transmission cut out, she turned her gaze back up to meet her in-universe counterpart. "I don't know about you, but whoever was riding in that escape pod was certainly vaporized by the first blast."

[Deleted]

Sunstreaker cocked one eye ridge, surprised by this turn of events. Huh. So they weren't going to fight. Normally, he'd call the offending party on cowardice, but, seeing as it was him...her...them...whatever, he'd hold off on that.

Besides, shooting his counterpart would be weird, to say the least.

He finally fully relaxed, allowing his blaster to slip back into subspace. Blue optics watched Spacewarp keenly as she relayed her message. Huh. Lying for him too. He wondered if that wouldn't somehow come back to bite her...

Sunstreaker shrugged in response to her observation.

"Likely."

Granted that they hadn't gotten out first. But, hey, he wasn't going to tell her how to pull slag on her superiors. Fortunately, his one distress signal should have called other Autobots to his position. They would likely arrive soon enough to retrieve him.

"Hopefully, we don't run into each other again," he said seriously, "I doubt either of us will be able to afford to be so kind in the future."

[Spacewarp]

"Oh, I don't doubt it. The next time we meet we'll more than likely be forced to dispatch each other. So let's try to keep it from coming to that."

She wondered though, who would win in a fight between them? Spacewarp found she had a heavy personal bias for herself, but was still interested to know; but not eager to find out. At any rate, it was high past time she left. Sunstreaker could find his own way to the Autobots for all she cared. With one last display, Spacewarp lept back up into the air and transformed, jets roaring as she flew off into the distance.