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“Give me your grenades.” Sideswipe held his hand out to Excogitus Prime, looking focused and intent for the first time since they lost Sunstreaker.
Jazz wasn’t sure he liked the change. “Why? What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to buy you and the refugees time. And if I'm really lucky, I’ll take Magnetar with me.”
He shuttered his optics for a moment before nodding. They didn’t have time to argue, not if the refugees they’d managed to evacuate from Risa were going to have a chance.
Jazz reached into his subspace and pulled out the three grenades he had left. “Say hi to Sunstreaker for me.”
“I will.” Sideswipe took the grenades carefully. “Now, go. You haven’t got much time.”
“Thanks, Sides. For everything.” The Prime didn’t drag his goodbye out, because they didn’t have time and Sideswipe wouldn’t appreciate it, anyway. He just turned and ran when the red mech nodded back to him.
When he was on the shuttle, flying away from what was left of the orbital casino, he did take the time to look back. As he did, he saw the Unicronians blast their way through the airlock. Magnetar darted through the hole.
And then that entire section of the casino exploded, fire burning so hot it was white before the atmosphere was sucked into space, sending out a blast wave that rattled the shuttle and left bits of Unicronian and casino spread across the space. Sideswipe must have had more than just Jazz’s grenades to cause an explosion like that.
“Jazz, what happened?” Perceptor stepped into the cockpit with a concerned look on his face.
“We lost Sideswipe,” he replied. “And if we’re real lucky, Unicron lost Magnetar.”
“Ah.” Perceptor sat down heavily in the co-pilot’s chair. “I see.”
Excogitus Prime looked away from his second-in-command so that Perceptor could grieve in peace for a few kliks. He’d find time for his own tears sometime after they transitioned to lightspeed.