Ironhide began to back away, his heavy treads grinding against the dirt. He was stalling. As long as Optimus received their distress signal, the leader could pilot the ship here in no time.
Skygnaw watched the retreat. Perhaps influenced by his past memories, he preferred integrating heavy ordinance into his close-quarters combat rather than relying on blades alone. As the distance grew, his chest plates shifted, revealing the dark maw of a Fusion Cannon. Simultaneously, two missile pods rose from his shoulders like miniature vertical launch cells.
Each pod was packed with six heat-seeking missiles, primed to fire the moment they locked on.
BOOM!
The Fusion Cannon roared first, followed by the rapid-fire screech of twelve missiles.
Whether it was a targeting error or a stroke of luck for the veteran Autobot, the fusion bolt whistled past Ironhide's chassis. It slammed into the slopes of Mount Jasper in the distance.
CRASH!
A massive mushroom cloud erupted from the mountainside. The impact triggered a chain reaction; the entire peak began to shudder, and thick, black smoke belched from the vents.
"Whoops. Missed."
Skygnaw sounded regretful, but his optics held no pity. If anything, there was a trace of schadenfreude. The cannon had missed, but the twelve missiles rained down around Ironhide in a calculated symphony of fire.
Skygnaw retracted his weapons before the smoke even cleared. He knew the math. No one survived a barrage like that at point-blank range. Sure enough, as the haze drifted away, Ironhide lay crumpled on the ground, his systems flickering on the edge of darkness.
"Ironhide, why bother?"
Skygnaw sighed. He grabbed the veteran by a shattered limb and dragged him back toward Bumblebee and the others, seemingly oblivious to the trembling earth beneath him.
Above, four Cybertronian jets shrieked through the clouds. Before they even finished transforming, several humans were unceremoniously dumped onto the hard ground.
"Agh! My back!" Robert groaned, clutching his waist as he rolled in the dirt. He looked up, and his heart turned to lead. Between the towering thirteen-meter shadow of Skygnaw and the broken bodies of Ironhide and Bumblebee, the reality set in.
"It's over..."
"My Lord, the fleeing human units have been neutralized. These are the only survivors," Carnage reported, his metal frame shifting into a humanoid stance.
While Skygnaw dealt with the Autobots, his lieutenants had wiped out the NEST tactical squads. Faint scratches on their armor showed the humans hadn't gone down without a fight; their firepower was top-tier, but ultimately insufficient.
"Good. I've seen enough." Skygnaw glanced at the soldiers. "Pestilence, take them back to Base One."
"Yes, My Lord."
This wasn't an act of mercy. Skygnaw wasn't a saint. Every dead soldier was a lost bargaining chip. If he wanted to trade for that ship, he needed leverage.
Plan A had been to seize the ship directly, but with Optimus Prime guarding it, that was suicide for a Commander-class warrior. Plan B was the pivot. With Decepticons appearing in both the Capital and Japan, the Autobots were forced to split their strength.
Skygnaw didn't care which way Optimus went. He would simply strike where the Prime wasn't. The Autobots were famous for their brotherhood; Optimus wouldn't let his soldiers and friends rot in a cage.
"Hey, Decepticons! What do you want?" Robert shouted, finding his voice despite the terror. He valued his life, but he feared a grander scheme more.
"What do I want?"
Skygnaw leaned down, his red optics swirling with a predatory light. "Human, tell me your name."
Robert didn't flinch. "Robert! Deputy Commander of NEST!"
A Deputy Commander. Skygnaw's interest spiked. A high-ranking officer was worth far more than a handful of grunts. This was a win.
"Robert," Skygnaw said, his faceplates shifting into a jagged, malicious grin. "Is this your first day meeting us? This is how we Decepticons do business."
"What? You—"
Skygnaw didn't let him finish. "Pestilence, move out."
Once the humans were stuffed into transport holds and hauled into the sky, Skygnaw tossed several metallic disks to his lieutenants. "Shackle the Autobots. We're leaving."
The Stasis Cuffs were slapped onto the Autobots' chests, cutting off the energy flow from their Sparks. It didn't kill them, but it paralyzed their servos and jammed their comms. It was the same tech that had filled the prison camps during the Great War.
"My Lord, your weapon." Famine scurried over, holding a long, dark blade.
Skygnaw took the Black Hell Blade and slid it into his hip sheath. His minor battle damage was already knitting back together. He looked at the four silent captives and gave a sharp hand signal.
"Retreat!"
The Capital: A Deserted Town
"Optimus!!"
Sunstorm's head was caught in a crushing grip. In his final seconds, he fired his lasers wildly into the Prime's chest at point-blank range. Optimus didn't even flinch. The Seeker's resemblance to Starscream only fueled the Prime's cold fury.
CRUNCH.
The Seeker's head popped like a crushed stone, components and glass grinding into dust inside Optimus's fist.
"Nineteen," Optimus rumbled.
He looked up at the survivors: Onslaught, Acid Storm, and Brawl. They were all scarred. Onslaught was missing a massive chunk of his back plating where Optimus had literally torn his weapons array off by hand.
This hadn't been a battle; it was a slaughter. The town was littered with Decepticon limbs and twisted metal. A dozen drones had fallen just to buy the commanders a few seconds of breath.
"Onslaught! When does Skygnaw arrive?" Acid Storm gasped, his vents wheezing with panic.
Onslaught hadn't told them the truth. He had fed them a lie to keep them on the line. "Just a bit longer. He's almost here."
Onslaught looked at Brawl and gave a sharp nod. He reached for a disruptor grenade and hurled it at the Prime.
"Move!"
Onslaught and Brawl transformed instantly, roaring out of the town without looking back. Acid Storm, thinking it was a call to charge, fired his sulfate rounds and lunged forward. He was halfway there when he realized he was alone.
"Onslaught!!"
He tried to transform and flee into the sky, but a missile streaked in from the direction his "comrades" had just fled.
BOOM!
The missile clipped his tail fin, slamming him back into the dirt. Optimus, shaking off the effects of the disruptor, surged forward and drove a fist clean through Acid Storm's chest.
"Ugh..."
In his dying moments, Acid Storm understood. Skygnaw had never planned to save them. They were the sacrifice.
Optimus dropped the body and reached into the ruined chest to extract the memory core. As he read the data, his brow furrowed. Acid Storm had met with Starscream recently. The coward was hiding on a warship near Mars—a ship that felt hauntingly familiar to Optimus, though he couldn't place why.
Lennox walked down the ship's ramp, his face pale. "Optimus, we have a problem. Robert's team has gone dark. We can't reach them."
"Dark?" Optimus's optics dimmed with concern. He looked at the graveyard of metal around him. "William, have your men secure these remains. We're taking the ship to Robert's last coordinates. Now."
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