Deep beneath Cybertron a collection of races gathered for a nefarious purpose. The Decepticons of Cybertron towered over the others and believed they were the leaders yet were no more than pawns in one woman's plan. The Dire Wraiths of a nameless dark nebula, though widely unremarkable in intelligence, understood that they were the servants of another. The humans of Earth belonging to the terrorist organization Cobra, though weak in the eyes of the Decepticons, were the ones leading the group.
There were no more than six Decepticons present, among them being their leader Starscream, the second in command Shockwave, the death bringer Scorponok, the teleporting Skywarp, nefarious Nightbird, and the elitist Thundercracker. Starscream had led the Decepticons for the past seven months, after murdering their former leader Megatron and casting his body into space. Shockwave had been chosen to serve as his second in command and was loyal enough Starscream needn't to fear a betrayal but was sure not to make the same mistakes as his predecessor and so never allowed himself to take part in a battle he knew he couldn't win. Had he paid more attention to his underlings, he would have kept a keener eye on Scorponok instead, as the Terrorcon thirsted for more power.
Amidst the mostly unimportant humans was Cobra Commander, the newest in a long line of Commanders. Despite being the newest leader, she had been serving for more than thirty years, and had seemingly never aged, though she had never been seen without her visor. She was dressed in a black space suit marked with the signature Cobra symbol on each shoulder underneath a traditional white suit, and a white helmet with a reflective chrome visor. She carried with her an aura of authority and menace, as well as an unusual amount of charisma, that had allowed her to amass thousands of soldiers across the galaxy.
Her right-hand man, who in reality was no more than a supplier of weapons and disposable bodies was James McCullen, also known as Destro. He dressed in a similar space suit as his employer, without a space helmet but instead a perfectly shaped coat of metal that served as his face and eternal mask. Had it not been for the breathable air of Cybertron, Destro would have worn a spherical helmet with a red visor.
Her left-hand woman, assassin of choice, and Commander regent was Anastasia Cisarovna, also known as The Baroness of Cobra. Her space suit was similar to her allies for the most part, but with a large Cobra symbol on her chest, and more attention brought to her multi-million-dollar body. The three of them led Cobra and the Dire Wraiths efficiently and ruthlessly, and had spent years working towards their end goal, but until recently they never imagined it would be so easy.
A single being that was not part of either faction worked for the fear of death, molding the living metal all Cybertronians were made from into a weapon that was unheard of in scale. Her name was Anode, and she was the last Cybertronian blacksmith. Her fear only increased as she finished the weapon, a gauntlet made to be worn by a human, or a similarly sized creature. It was something that no living thing should ever have, let alone something as corruptible as a human. She nervously handed the gauntlet to Cobra Commander, hoping to be spared, silently praying to Primus for a safe release.
Cobra Commander dawned the golden colored gauntlet and flexed her fingers as it adapted to her hand's shape like a perfectly fitted glove, while still remaining large enough on the outside to perfectly hold each gem it still required. While she admired Anode's handywork, the Cybertronian finally spoke, "Can I please go now?"
The Commander did not respond to her but instead said to the leader of the Decepticons, "What do you think we should do, Starscream?"
The Decepticon grinned and said, "Scorponok, I think you deserve a treat for all your hard work lately!"
The Cobra members began to walk away, followed by the Decepticons, while Scorponok and a fair amount of the Dire Wraiths stayed behind to relish in Anode's torture. The screams that followed them as they left the cavern were a thing that would haunt most people for years, but it was something the Cobra unit had long since grown used to, and something the Decepticons found joy in.
The next step in their plan was to retrieve the first Infinity Gem, the Mind Gem, which's location the Decepticon Soundwave was more than happy to a supply. It belonged to the last of the Quintesson Judges, granting it an omnipotent like state when it judged those unlucky enough to be captured by it. It had taken the lives of countless space travelers unfortunate enough to encounter it and survive the hundreds of Sharkticons surrounding it, for few were strong enough to overpower it, or intelligent enough to outsmart it.
Each key member of Cobra was paired with a Decepticon for space travel, while the grunts were packed into space capable transport carriers developed by Cobra's RND department. Cobra Commander rode in the pilot seat of Starscream, as both believed it wise to pair the leaders together. Destro accompanied Thundercracker, for their personalities were deceptively similar once they looked past their own prejudices against each other. The Baroness had preferred the company of Nightbird but was displeased to discover her alternate form was that of a wheeled vehicle and not a ship. Instead she was paired alongside the erratic Thrust.
The Decepticons were capable of traveling at the speed of light, but this journey would take far too long for their human comrades to survive. Instead Skywarp took the lead, opening a rift in space for the others to follow through. Starscream and the Commander waited as their allies entered first, before heading in to the rift last. Just as they entered the rift closed behind them, and they were traveling through a vortex of blue light, with a wall of white light waiting for them at the end. Upon exiting the tunnel, they entered what the surviving humans could only call hell in space.
Massive shark like machines that were larger than most of the Decepticons were waiting in ambush beyond the rift, their teeth ripped through the living metal as though it was paper, while lasers fired from their backs at the disembarking Cobra troopers. Though they had laser weapons, the humans made no impact upon the flesh of the Sharkticons, finding the machines would only be affected if they were hit in the eyes, and even then, it did little but stall them. The Decepticons faired better against their opponents but were hopelessly outmatched by the thousands. Even the Decepticons found they were afraid, for every Sharkticon they killed was replaced with six more.
"Let me go!" Cobra Commander growled, slamming the eject button inside of Starscream as they approached the cackling Judge.
Starscream shot back, "You'll die if you go out there!"
"I don't care!"
"Fine!" The Decepticon yelled, opening the cockpit and allowing the Commander to fly out, before he transformed into his mobile form and turned to fight alongside his troops.
The Commander straightened her body and looked to the Judge, but found her path was off-track. She clicked her heels together and pulled her feet back as flames briefly erupted from the bottom of her boots. With the boost she was able to correct her course, and found herself heading straight towards the massive Judge, a five faced being with hundreds of cascading tentacles that were an incalculable length. It was easily twice the size of Starscream with just its core body, let alone its head or tentacles.
Upon seeing Cobra Commander the Judge stopped laughing and quickly wrapped the ends of five tentacles around her body. Four held her limbs apart while a fifth wrapped around her chest and neck, squeezing tight enough to cause pain but not damage the space suit. It was not time for her death yet, first came judgment. The heads rotated so Wisdom was the first to speak. It was a face with the structure of a beard and moustache, with white eyes that alluded to blindness.
It spoke into her mind, "The nameless one. The scientist. The Commander. From your earliest days among humanity, you tried to do the right thing. You tried to help people, no matter the cost. You have continued to do this even now."
The heads quickly rotated so Judgment could speak, a sneering face with a golden mane and a crown of black flaked with gold. It spoke, "You attempted to help humanity no matter the cost. You overthrew governments, slaughtered militaries and police forces. You destroyed monuments and burned buildings to the ground. You ordered your followers to open fire upon unarmed civilians who opposed your philosophy."
The heads rotated again, and now War smiled down at her with its child like face and crown of flames it said, "You waged war across your planet! You conquered hostile nations and liberated slaves! Ha ha, you made opponents of the most powerful forces on your planet and threatened to burn them alive! But your planet wasn't all you desired, so you took to the stars! You conquered an entire race of bloodthirsty monsters and assimilated them into your own forces to use as disposable bodies in future conflicts! You aligned yourself with a universally known evil just to gain the upper hand! Even now you attack us, hoping to gain a weapon to continue your war!"
The heads switch to the snarling yellow toothed Death, so it can simply say, "Your actions have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands."
The heads shift to the red eyed Samurai like Wrath to conclude, "You are the worst kind of monster of all. You are one who believes the ends justify the means!"
Five seconds pass before the heads rotate to Judgment who says, "We have reached a verdict. You have been found guilty of intergalactic war and the mass murder of countless beings. You have been sentenced to…"
"DEATH!" The signature head yells, cackling.
Cobra Commander feels the Judge's grips tighten as they begin to tear her apart, only to be saved at the last moment by Thrust crashing into right side of the last of the Quintessons, killing Wisdom and Judgment. The Judge released its grasp upon the Commander as each head wailed in pain, thrashing their tentacles erratically below them. Now free, The Commander slowly floated forward, before grabbing hold of the exposed interior of the Judge and pulled herself inside.
"How was that, Commander?" The Baroness asked over their communication system.
"You were late." The Commander simply replied, as she looked upon the Mind Gem lodged inside of the Quintesson's mechanical brain.
The Commander reached forward with her right hand and took hold of the Gem, ripping it free from the Judge's brain, before pressing it into the perfect place at the center of the back of the gauntlet. Almost instantly she felt a wave of energy wash over her as the Mind Gem determined if she was worthy, before it vanished. She looked down to her hand in awe for just a moment, before extending it to the Quintesson's brain and looked into its memories for signs of the other Gems, before stepping away with satisfaction while the Judge's brain shut down, taking the Sharkticons with it.
She now knew of the location of not just one Infinity Gem, but three. The first was located near the dark nebula the Dire Wraiths called home, guarded by three dozen Space Knights on a modest sized ship. The second Gem was located on Cybertron, in the possession of a Dinobot. The third was held deep inside of the planet devourer known as Omnicron and would undoubtably prove a challenge to retrieve. Unfortunately, she did not know which Gems they were, or their exact locations and guardians, only would the Quintesson had learned thirteen years before.
Cobra Commander looked to Starscream and said, "Ready the fleet. We're going to the dark nebula."