Flashback: Four million years ago, on Cybertron, Orion Pax finds himself investigating the troubling case of suspected gun-runner Hefter, who has died in police custody. Pax promises Hefter's friend Tappet that he will investigate, but Tappet, emotional, angry, and unconvinced by Pax's assurances, believes he knows the truth already: police officer Outback killed Hefter for being a Decepticon. After Tappet leaves, Pax is met by Zeta Prime to discuss the situation. As the pair talk about the fake Matrix of Leadership Zeta carries in his chest, and watch as a protest outside turns violent, Zeta's carefully-chosen words and presupposition of Hefter's guilt make Orion wonder if the Prime he once thought of as his friend is truly any different to the lineage of corrupt 'bots who have gone before him...

Present: In the present day, in Mexico City, the future parallels the past as an anti-Cybertronian protest descends into a riot. Aileron and a team of new Autobot recruits from Cybertron's various colonies—Slide and Oiler from Devisiun, Gimlet and Bump from Eukaris, Roulette from Velocitron, and Midnight Express from Caminus—attempt to intercede, but one rioter produces an elaborate-looking weapon and blasts Midnight Express off his feet. The others are prepared to strike back in force, but Aileron gets between them and grabs the shooter. From Autobot City, floating in the air overhead, Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Arcee, and Jazz descend to help calm the panicking crowd; Jazz tries offering medical assistance to an injured woman, only to be rebuffed; Arcee checks on Midnight Express and finds that he is fine, but is concerned to observe that he and the colonists are all wearing mouthplates in order to emulate the idolized Optimus; and Optimus examines the gun recovered by Aileron, which he recognizes as an Earth Defense Command weapon reverse-engineered from Cybertronian technology.

Flashback: Pax follows Outback to a bar in order to question him further on the shooting, only to have Outback pull a gun on him and start ranting about the need to defend oneself against the Decepticons. Pax quickly disarms Outback and slams him into the bar, warning him that he is not his enemy and to stop acting as if he is. As Pax leaves, Outback spits after him that the world is only getting more dangerous, and a squeaky-clean hero cop like Pax isn't up to the challenges the change will bring.

Present: As Autobot City relocates to Washington, D.C., the colonists all talk among themselves about how incredible Optimus is, which even the once-idealistic Aileron finds tiring. She asks Jetfire if Optimus used to act this way four million years ago, before the war, but Jetfire remarks that Prime didn't even act like this last year, and blames all this "True Prime" business for affecting Optimus's opinion of himself. As if on cue, Pyra Magna enters with D.0.C. to report that a large, unknown spacecraft is approaching the Earth...

Down below, outside the White House, Optimus talks with the President, who prickles at his presence on American soil without permission and meets him with a G.I. Joe arsenal as backup. The President considers Optimus's hope that humanity can work together to join the Council of Worlds as one to be impossible, but Optimus tells her it must come to pass, and presents her with the recovered EDC weapon as proof. The weapon, he explains, is a breach of the Tyrest Accord, and will prompt a severe political and military response from Cybertron if Earth continues to remain unaffiliated. Before a conclusion can be reached, however, Soundwave interrupts the discussion to report on the mysterious spaceship's approach.

Flashback: Off the record, Orion takes Hefter's body to the Ultirex Technoversity so it can be examined by his old friend Ratchet, who quickly discerns that the deceased 'bots' injuries do not match what the official report says. Ratchet is less surprised than Pax to find that the system is still corrupt under Zeta; as they t

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