Across the United States, Carr Enterprises remained an undisputed titan of industry. The devastating battle in Egypt three years prior had done little to stall the momentum of this corporate powerhouse, even after its initial ties to alien machinery had been exposed behind closed doors.
Over three years of relentless expansion, the company—which had started in mobile electronics—had driven its reach into aviation, telecommunications, defense contracting, and advanced metallurgy.
Its comprehensive financial footprint rivaled that of the nation's oldest banking dynasties.
It was another massive player sitting firmly at the head of the economic table.
Naturally, such rapid ascension was fueled by research capabilities that consistently stayed one step ahead of the competition, guided by the quiet strategy of its chief executive.
The current president of Carr Enterprises was a refined, middle-aged executive named Winner. He had held the top seat for nearly three years, with rumors circulating that he had been brought in directly from a classified department tied to Washington.
The reality, however, was entirely different.
Miami, the Carr Tower.
The Carr Tower stood as the corporation's monumental new headquarters, named directly after the firm's founder.
There was a bitter irony to it: while the public remembered Carr as an eccentric inventor who had met an untimely end, more and more structures and technologies bore his name with every passing year—a strange form of corporate immortality.
Rising over four hundred meters with one hundred and six above-ground floors and six subterranean research levels, the tower had been commissioned just two months prior.
That morning, Winner had just walked into the executive suite—a corner office that had already seen the departure of two previous presidents—when his private line rang.
Ring... ring...
He retrieved an unbranded, heavily reinforced phone from his jacket. A single glance at the display hardened his posture, his eyes flashing with reverent focus.
"Yes. I am in the office..."
"Understood. I will be on the roof immediately."
Had anyone else been present in the suite, they would have been stunned by the executive's complete subservience. In a country run on finance, seeing a titan of industry bow with such humble devotion would have sent a chill down anyone's spine.
Hanging up, Winner instructed his secretary to cancel all appointments for the day and lock the floor against visitors, then took the private elevator straight to the helipad.
The penthouse office sat directly on the one hundred and sixth floor, making the trip instant.
Standing atop a four-hundred-meter skyscraper, pedestrians on the streets below looked like scattered specks, and main avenues resembled drawn pencil lines.
Down on the street, no one could possibly see what was happening on the rooftop.
It provided the perfect isolation for meetings meant to stay completely off the record.
Winner walked briskly out onto the open helipad.
"You're here, Winner."
Waiting for him near the ledge were two familiar figures: an elegant woman and a massive, midnight-black mechanical panther.
The woman was dressed in a sharp designer suit. Had any veteran employee of the company seen her, they would have recoiled in shock.
Standing before Winner was Alice, the former chief executive who had mysteriously vanished years ago.
Following Alice's sudden disappearance, internal rumors had claimed she was quietly eliminated by federal intelligence agents sent to scrub the company clean.
Taking over a massive corporate empire required maintaining clean appearances, and a former leader who held classified knowledge was always a loose thread.
While the rules of influence on this continent differed on the surface from other global powers, the underlying mechanics were identical. Democracy and legal boundaries were celebrated publicly, but once national security priorities were breached, wealth offered little protection.
Federal authorities had been relatively restrained, avoiding a public witch hunt.
In truth, without locating Alice, they had no way to close the file anyway—they could hardly announce to the public that a corporate executive had been an undercover alien asset.
To this day, classified intelligence briefs merely listed Alice as an asset targeted by hostile alien influence.
Back when Carr was alive, the legal identities he created for his team were airtight. Alice had later deployed the mechanical panther to quietly erase several key witnesses, cutting every thread of evidence.
Her true nature was completely untraceable—unless she chose to drop her synthetic skin in broad daylight.
"Lady Alice," Winner said, stepping forward with a respectful nod. "Why did you call for me?"
"Winner, the master has returned," Alice replied, pulling off her sunglasses.
Her voice was calm, but a faint, suppressed tremor of excitement lingered in her eyes.
"What?" Winner's breath hitched, followed by a surge of identical anticipation.
Near the edge of the helipad, the mechanical panther lay stretched out, enjoying the coastal wind. It barely glanced at Winner's arrival, though the executive addressed it with equal deference.
"Lord Shadowpanther, is our creator returning to this world?"
The beast was indeed Shadowpanther.
Over the past three years, Alice and Shadowpanther had stayed deep underground, tracking Autobot movements across the globe while quietly providing muscle for Winner's expansion plans.
Given that backing, Winner's true nature was self-evident.
"He is," Shadowpanther stretched his metal limbs, not bothering to turn his head.
Winner took no offense; as the creator's personal hound, the beast answered to no one else.
"Winner, the master is arriving now," Alice stated, her gaze turning toward the sky. "Drop the disguise. Let our creator see our true frames."
"Yes, Lady Alice."
With a soft series of mechanical releases, the synthetic skin across Alice and Winner split open along fine seams, peeling away to reveal two sleek, metal endoskeletons beneath.
Moments later, a Cybertronian assault craft descended smoothly through the cloud cover.
Under their watchful eyes, the sleek vessel flared its thrusters, shifting in mid-air and landing on the reinforced roof as a towering, heavily armed warrior.
"Master!"
The two Pretenders stepped forward immediately, bowing low. Shadowpanther sprang up from the ledge in a few quick bounds, rushing over with low growls of excitement:
"Master! You have finally returned!"
The arrival was Skygnaw.
After departing the African savannah, Skygnaw had sent Laserbeak ahead on the assignment before making a direct detour to Miami.
"I have returned."
Skygnaw looked down at the units he had built with his own hands. Winner was the second Pretender he had forged, serving as the first operative in the covert unit he had promised Alice.
When the dust settled in Egypt three years ago, the threat of Optimus Prime's retaliation had forced him to withdraw alongside Megatron, leaving several assets without direct long-term orders.
Fortunately, Alice had managed the operational assets well.
The corporate front he had set up years ago remained entirely under his control, even if its strategic value had shifted over time.
"Master, you were gone for three full years," Shadowpanther murmured, nuzzling against Skygnaw's armored leg.
When Skygnaw had upgraded the panther into an advanced chassis, the beast had explicitly requested the removal of its transformation cog, choosing to remain permanently in its feline form. Skygnaw had found the preference unusual, but had granted it without issue.
Shortly after Skygnaw had left Earth, the mysterious fire that consumed the original Winner's residence had been staged by Alice and Shadowpanther. Replacing a targeted individual without raising suspicion was simple work for a Pretender.
"Three years indeed..."
Skygnaw looked out over the skyline, letting out a quiet vent.
Two and a half years overseeing operations on Planet Kugrage, followed by six months traversing deep space between planetary outposts, brought his absence to three years.
"Bring me up to speed on the situation across this world," Skygnaw said, setting aside personal thoughts to focus on his objectives.
"Yes, Master."
Fitted with an intelligence processing module during its construction and later upgraded with an advanced frame, Shadowpanther was naturally suited for reconnaissance.
Knowing Skygnaw would need local intelligence, the panther had prepared a full brief: "Master, the Autobots have established a primary garrison at a facility called Diego Garcia, supported by human military units."
"I avoided close-range infiltration to prevent detection, but their numbers are substantial..."
"...As for our own forces..."
Hearing the Decepticons mentioned, Skygnaw's optics sharpened slightly.
"Optimus Prime has been hunting Lord Megatron relentlessly across every continent. Onslaught and Brawl were cornered and terminated by Prime's strike team..."
"A waste..." Skygnaw thought with a silent grimace.
With Onslaught and Brawl gone, the Combaticons were completely wiped out.
Onslaught had been a tactical officer with real battlefield command ability. Skygnaw had intended to bring him under his own banner upon returning, given that his current strength was more than enough to command respect.
A capable warrior naturally sought the strongest leader, and Onslaught would have had every reason to align with him.
While Onslaught had caused trouble long ago by leaking information to Starscream, he had made up for it with reliable service later on.
It was unfortunate that Optimus Prime had caught him out in the field.
Barricade, on the other hand, had survived by staying entirely off the grid, keeping his signature so low that even Autobot hunter-killer units had failed to track him down.
Megatron drew enemy fire like a lightning rod; Onslaught and Brawl had fallen simply by staying in his operational orbit, while Barricade survived by operating strictly on his own.
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