The vibro-blade swept toward Carnage's neck, a lethal arc of cold steel.
Whish—!
Suddenly, a missile screamed across the tundra from the horizon.
BOOM!
The weapon in Skywarp's hand was only inches from Carnage's throat, but those final centimeters became an unreachable dream. The explosion tore into Skywarp's flank, sent him tumbling through the snow. A massive shadow plummeted from the sky, landing with a ground-shaking impact that radiated an aura of absolute, crushing authority.
"Skywarp. It's been a long time."
Hearing the voice, Carnage looked up, his optics flaring with frantic relief. "Lord Skygnaw... you finally arrived."
"Yes," Skygnaw rumbled. "I'm here."
Looking at the battered states of his three Horsemen, Skygnaw's faceplate remained a mask of cold indifference, but internally, he had already signed Skywarp's death warrant.
Skywarp rolled to a stop fifteen meters away. As the smoke cleared, a jagged hole in his waist hissed with sparks and leaking hydraulic fluid. In the past, Starscream had used a single missile to blow off Bumblebee's legs; now, Skygnaw—sporting a chassis far more powerful than Starscream's—had achieved a similar feat with a single casual shot.
Skywarp pushed himself up, recognizing the voice. His expression shifted from shock to a deep, venomous gloom. There was no mistake. This was Skygnaw. He didn't know how the drone had ascended to the Commander-Class, but he knew he was in deep trouble.
The sudden shift in power froze every Decepticon on the field. The dozen Seeker clones looked lost—they had come to hunt a drone, not to commit mutiny against a high-tier Commander. Acid Storm and Sunstorm stood paralyzed, their boots still resting on Famine and Catastrophe, though they hadn't even noticed their captives pulling away.
"You're in for it now, you scrap-heaps!" Catastrophe spat, a predatory grin spreading across his face as he scrambled up.
"If you crawl over and beg Lord Skygnaw for mercy now, maybe he'll make your spark-extinguishing quick!" Famine added, his voice rasping. One of his legs had been half-melted by Acid Storm's hyper-corrosive rounds, but it didn't stop him from mocking them.
Skygnaw scanned the field. Every Decepticon who met his gaze immediately lowered their head, unable to withstand the pressure of his presence. Even Acid Storm and Sunstorm were trembling, their cooling systems venting frantically.
So this is the power of a Commander, Skygnaw thought, a surge of triumph racing through his new processors. All the scheming, the resource hoarding, the "Cold-Casting"—it had all been worth it.
He turned his gaze back to Skywarp and began to walk. As he approached, Skygnaw reached to his hip and drew a massive metal longsword. It was ancient and unadorned, lacking any flashy human-style decorations, but the Seekers flinched. That was a Commander's blade—a tool designed to split heavy armor like parchment.
"Tell me, Skywarp," Skygnaw said, stopping a few meters away and leveling the tip of the eight-meter giant sword at the Seeker's chest. "How did you find me? And why are you here?"
Skygnaw was genuinely curious. He was technically under Starscream's command, and the Seeker leader had shown no previous signs of suspicion. The timing of this raid—just hours after his migration—smelled like a leak.
"If you want answers, Skygnaw, come and take them!" Skywarp spat. He was a proud Seeker. Even facing a giant nearly twice his size, he refused to bow.
"Very well." Skygnaw lunged.
CLANG!
Skywarp threw up his vibro-blade to parry, but the sheer weight of the strike forced him down to one knee. Skygnaw's sword—gleaming with a dark, reddish-black luster—bore down on him with the weight of a falling mountain.
"Gah!" Skywarp screamed, his servos popping as he tried to shove the massive blade away. He managed to lift it mere inches before Skygnaw retracted and thrust again from a different angle.
Skygnaw was taking his time. He was using Skywarp to test the balance of his new body and the "Wanderer's" combat data. To the onlookers, it was a slaughter in slow motion. Acid Storm and Sunstorm watched, hoping for a miracle, but miracles were for Autobots.
Skygnaw grew bored. With a burst of speed, he drove the longsword through Skywarp's neck plating.
"Aaargh—!"
Before Skywarp could swing his blade in a desperate counter, Skygnaw twisted his wrist.
SHING—!
A massive mechanical head spun into the air. The body collapsed into the tundra with a heavy thud—a sound that echoed in the hearts of the remaining Seekers.
"Lord Skygnaw, mercy!" Acid Storm dropped to his knees.
"We were only following orders! We didn't know you were the target!" Sunstorm blurted out.
Skygnaw ignored them. He took Skywarp's head from Pestilence, who had just arrived. Ignoring the head's lingering digital curses, Skygnaw crushed the skull and extracted the memory crystal, beginning a direct read.
The power gap was absolute. A Commander-Class chassis was a main battle tank; an Elite-Class Seeker was a civilian sedan.
"So that's how it is..." Skygnaw muttered as the data streamed.
He discovered that Onslaught had informed Starscream of his location, and Starscream had sent the Rainmakers to retrieve him.
"Bring me Brawl," Skygnaw told Pestilence. Brawl was the only Decepticon in the base not directly sworn to him. Whether it was intentional or not, Brawl's presence had allowed Onslaught to track his "scent." The tank-former had been hiding in Base Two while his comrades were being butchered.
"Yes, Master."
As Pestilence departed, Skygnaw pondered the second piece of intel in Skywarp's crystal. Starscream had given Skywarp a set of coordinates for an Iacon Relic.
These were legendary artifacts forged by ancient Cybertronian scientists in the Iacon research hubs. Every relic possessed reality-warping power, but most had been lost to the stars during the war. Starscream hadn't specified what the relic was, only that Skywarp was to retrieve it from a specific planet.
Interesting, Skygnaw thought, sheathing his sword into the electromagnetic lock on his hip.
Starscream couldn't have found these coordinates on his own. The logic pointed to The Fallen. The master of the Decepticons likely had sensors capable of tracking ancient relics across the galaxy. In the original timeline, Skywarp and his crew never appeared again, suggesting they likely died on that distant world.
The coordinates led to a planet in a star system thousands of light-years away. In a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars, the odds of encountering life were slim, but Skygnaw knew better. The universe was far more crowded than the humans suspected.
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