Forcing the proud Megatron to retreat, or to put it bluntly, to run away, might have been a bitter pill for the warlord to swallow.
But if Megatron had chosen to keep fighting, Skygnaw wouldn't have stayed to keep him company.
Facing Optimus Prime right now was nothing short of a suicide mission.
In the original timeline, Optimus was powerful, but he was never this ridiculous. Throwing hands with Megatron and stomping out The Fallen at the same time was an absolute slaughter.
Even if Jetfire was ancient and had some hidden ace up his sleeve to boost combat power, he was still just a commander-class warrior at the end of the day.
How could combining a commander and a leader allow someone to fight completely out of their weight class?
Or were the ghosts of the six original Primes secretly helping Optimus from the shadows?
Skygnaw's desire to study the Matrix of Leadership grew even more urgent.
He actually had his own ace in the hole, the Iacon relic known as the Extraction Staff.
Combining the staff's freezing ability with The Fallen's teleportation would make a flawless lockdown and execution combo, though he hadn't brought it out during this fight.
"You're right, Skygnaw," Megatron growled, putting his weapons away. His single remaining eye glared hatefully at Optimus, who was walking toward the Star Harvester.
"No one wants to be a coward, but sometimes, the cowards are the ones who survive."
"Tell the Decepticons we are pulling back. But this isn't over."
"Yes, Lord Megatron."
---
The damaged Star Harvester had already collapsed into a pile of twisted steel. Optimus stepped closer to the ruins.
Just to be safe and ensure it could never be repaired, he raised his cannon once more and fired.
A massive explosion rang out, and this time, the Star Harvester was completely vaporized.
"Optimus! Where is The Fallen? Where are Megatron and the Decepticons?" Shouting echoes came from the distance as Colonel Lennox and his men finally arrived.
Covering a distance of over a hundred kilometers meant the Autobots and the human military only arrived after the dust had completely settled.
This battle, which had come so close to destroying the sun, had been won entirely by Optimus turning the tide.
"The Fallen has been destroyed. He lies over there," Optimus said, pointing into the distance.
Lennox looked in that direction, seeing nothing but a pile of mangled scrap metal that held absolutely no resemblance to its original form.
"As for Megatron and the Decepticons, they fled."
"They got away?" Lennox asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice. But his attention was quickly grabbed by the flattened machine next to the Prime. "Is this the device that was going to destroy the sun? You smashed it?"
"Yes, it has been permanently dismantled," Optimus said, lowering his weapons.
"Thank you, Optimus," Lennox said, offering his sincere gratitude.
Without the Autobot leader, a final victory would have been impossible.
Although The Fallen had only spent a brief moment in the town before taking the Matrix and vanishing, his terrifying teleportation abilities proved just how dangerous he was.
To say nothing of his power to command someone as ruthless and strong as Megatron. It was a miracle they had Optimus on their side.
"Welcome back, Optimus. We have crushed the Decepticons' plot once again," the other Autobots said as they gathered around their commander.
Every single one of them was battered and scarred. Only the Arcee sisters looked to be in decent shape, mostly because Ironhide had kept them shielded through the worst of the fighting.
Ever since Jazz was killed, the position of first lieutenant had remained open.
Only recently had Ironhide been officially named as the new second-in-command, and he had automatically taken charge while Optimus was offline.
The core force of this war was the exact opposite of the battle in Mission City a year ago.
Back then, the Autobots had anchored the front lines, but this clash in Egypt was fought heavily by human soldiers. To be precise, the United States' Central Command had taken the brunt of the damage.
After this battle, saying that Central Command needed a complete rebuild was no exaggeration.
As one of the military's six major regional hubs, their strength was undeniable, especially since they guarded vital natural resources and several critical shipping lanes.
Yet a hasty battle fought under the banner of providing reinforcement had nearly wiped out their entire arsenal in less than half a day.
The hangars of every airbase in the region were completely empty, marking the worst loss since the command was established.
Lennox ordered the arriving soldiers to clean up the battlefield before tracking down Sam.
"Kid, everyone saw what you did today. I'm going to personally submit your name for a medal to honor your contribution to this fight."
"Uh..." Sam exchanged a look with Mikaela, hesitating. "Can we swap that out for a cash grant or something? You know I've never really been into that medal stuff."
"I mean, you can't eat it or drink it, and if I try to show it off, nobody's even going to know what it means. You get what I'm saying."
"Of course, kid," Lennox said, glancing at Mikaela with a knowing grin.
"True heroes deserve to be taken care of. You'll get both the medal and the grant. I'll explain your situation to the Secretary, and the old man has never been cheap with his people."
"Thanks, Lennox."
---
The end of one story is usually the beginning of another.
The massive alien war in Egypt had concluded, and every single Decepticon, including Megatron, had completely vanished. They had either gone deep into hiding or left Earth entirely.
A sense of calm returned to the world. The desert war didn't cause any major waves among the public, mostly because global governments quietly agreed to cover it up together.
Nobody knew that during a perfectly ordinary day or night, the star that gave them warmth had almost been wiped out forever. People simply kept going about their lives.
Yet beneath this peaceful facade of normal life, deep currents were already shifting in the shadows.
Once people realized that gods could bleed, those gods stopped being divine. They became nothing more than creatures that could be killed, even if they happened to be incredibly powerful ones.
Fear comes from the unknown. When technical reports evaluating the destructive power of modern weapons against Decepticon armor landed on executive desks, the leadership of several nations experienced a sharp awakening.
They weren't about to hunt down every single alien on Earth, but kicking a defeated enemy was standard protocol.
Comprehensive, country-wide searches for Decepticon signatures were launched across multiple borders.
Advanced alien technology was sitting out there, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie.
Before, they hadn't understood the situation and let America monopolize all the salvage, but if they had known how vulnerable the robots were, they would have harvested them long ago.
But to the confusion of global intelligence agencies, no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find a single trace of an alien presence. It was as if the Decepticons who had been terrorizing the skies had simply vanished into thin air.
In truth, just as a few people suspected, Earth was currently completely devoid of active Decepticons.
At least, there were no conscious units moving across the surface, because every last one of them had relocated to the moon.
---
On the dark side of the moon, two sleek Decepticon vessels drifted slowly across the vacuum.
Inside the cockpit, Blackarachnia looked over in confusion. "Skygnaw, why did we come to this place?"
"Perhaps Lord Megatron has a specialized plan arranged," Skygnaw replied casually.
Even though he played along out loud, his internal thoughts had already mapped out the exact destination. What else could possibly be waiting on the moon? The answer required zero guessing. Megatron's goal was transparent.
Looking through the viewport, Skygnaw watched Blackarachnia align their course to follow the ship ahead.
There were two vessels in total (one belonging to Blackarachnia and the other to Starscream) and both were packed to capacity with Decepticon soldiers.
Not only were his direct subordinates like Dirge on board, but Barricade had also emerged after being missing for a long time, and even Soundwave had finally left his orbital satellite post to touch down on solid ground.
During the battle in Egypt, aside from the total loss of the newly birthed troops, Soundwave's tracking panther, Ravage, had its head torn clean off by Bumblebee.
Skygnaw had only found out about it after the withdrawal. Immediately after escaping Egypt, Megatron had consolidated their forces and charted a direct course straight to the moon.
The cratered lunar surface expanded across their screens.
As the lead ship pulled parallel to theirs, Blackarachnia suddenly spotted a massive basin, her eyes widening at the colossal, crashed vessel buried inside. "A starship? How is there a wrecked ship out here?"
A moment later, she caught the symbols etched into the hull plating. "Skygnaw, that's an Autobot ship!"
Skygnaw looked over smoothly.
The last time he had sneaked into Sentinel Prime's flagship to scavenge for high-value treasures, he hadn't even noticed the Autobot badges on the exterior hull, having been entirely focused on the loot. "It seems this is the destination Megatron calculated."
"This ship feels incredibly familiar," Blackarachnia murmured, narrowing her eyes. "I think I've seen it somewhere before."
"Is that so?" Skygnaw replied neutrally.
Blackarachnia had arrived on Earth long before Sentinel Prime's vessel crashed, meaning she lacked the final logs of how the war ended. It was entirely possible she had crossed paths with the legendary flagship back on Cybertron before she severed her ties with the Decepticons.
The two ships touched down along the rim of the massive crater, and several Decepticons walked down the ramps.
Megatron stood at the front, studying the wreckage inside the basin for a long moment before turning to the group.
"Maintain a perimeter at this coordinate. Without my explicit command, no one is permitted to approach this ship."
The directive was absolute, issued to every Decepticon present, leaving even Soundwave, his most trusted officer, bound by the restriction.
"Yes, Lord Megatron."
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