A seemingly-unending army of Legislators has invaded the Lost Light, teleporting aboard and striking at the Autobots all throughout the ship simultaneously. Both Swerve and Skids, battling on separate fronts, recognize the robots from their last encounter with them, and while Swerve is able to use the impressive armament built into his bar by Brainstorm—as well as the comical but effective My First Blaster™ the scientist made specially for him—to dispatch his lone attacker, Skids finds his super-learning abilities pushed to the limit by the much larger force he faces...

Down on the surface of Luna 1, while Pharma takes the incapacitated Ratchet prisoner, the rest of Rodimus's team retreat from Lockdown's forces, save for Whirl and Cyclonus, who disobey orders and counterattack. In fleeing, the others discover the awesome sight of a Titan graveyard, and Rodimus orders them to fly inside their giant bodies in hopes of losing their pursuers. Weaving through a Titan's cavernous interior, Rodimus is able to dispatch the Decepticons on his tail... but unfortunately, his comrades are not so lucky and are taken captive by Lockdown's men, forcing Rodimus to surrender.

Rodimus and company are escorted to a prison on the moon's surface, where they discover a silent Ultra Magnus who pays them no attention, a mysterious ancient space bridge, and meet face-to-face with Lockdown's true master: Chief Justice Tyrest, primary lawmaker of Cybertron, failed arbiter of peace, broker of the Tyrest Accord, and creator of the Aequitas computer, who vanished from public view years ago. Tyrest charges them all with "crimes against creation" (prompting a tirade of verbal abuse from Rodimus) and confines them to a cell with another Autobot named Ambus. After Rodimus relates their plight, Chromedome inquires of their cell-mate if he is Dominus Ambus, Rewind's old partner, but the moustachoied 'bot explains that he is Dominus's spark-brother Minimus Ambus, a trader imprisoned for selling enriched nucleon. Rodimus notes Ambus's lack of an Autobot badge, prompting Rung to offer him his, but Ambus politely refuses. Tailgate, meanwhile, is especially eager to find a way to escape, given his impending death by cybercrosis, and hopes Brainstorm or Chromedome can use their special abilities to bust them loose, but Ambus warns that escape attempts will be seen as admissions of guilt, and Rodimus agrees, noting they need to figure out the bigger picture first.

Back aboard the Lost Light, Skids tears into wave after wave of Legislators, fighting with a righteous fury sparked by the blame he assigns himself: there's no question that the Legislators are here for him, and the rest of the ship's crew, who took him in without question, are suffering as a result. Swerve races to the oil reservoir to aid his friend, arriving just as the doors open and a torrent of fuel spills out... followed presently by a battered, weakened, but victorious Skids. Just as Skids steps through the doors, however, another large red, white, and blue robot materializes behind him and stabs him through the torso with a gigantic sword. Swerve opens fire, but fails to land a single shot, and is promptly knocked out by the newcomer.

Elsewhere, Ratchet awakens to see Pharma leering down at him. After showing off his new hands, which can "turn into anything", the deranged doctor gestures to a large yellow box in the middle of the room, and challenges Ratchet to guess what is inside it. Intent on not humoring Pharma, Ratchet claims he does not care and refuses to play the twisted game, so Pharma simply opens it to reveal... Ratchet's body! With great horror, the medic realizes he is nothing but a decapitated head and spark hanging from a med-slab!

Back in the prison, Rung hands out energon sticks to calm everyone's nerves, and tells Tailgate—who remembers Tyrest from Nova Prime's days—about the history of their jailor. Rodimus takes over to recap Tyrest's role in the Aequitas trials, even as both

---