With only inches to spare, Tyrest is stopped from passing through his portal by Tailgate leaping onto his back, immune to Tyrest's paralytic thought weapon thanks to cybercrosis-induced loss of hearing on the signal's frequency. Tailgate hits the switch on Tyrest's staff that deactivates the signal, freeing the other Autobots from its effects, but is then seized by the deranged Chief Justice, who threatens his life if Rodimus does not let him enter the portal. Tailgate urges Rodimus to open fire since he is soon to die anyway, but the quandry is soon removed from Rodimus's hands: Tyrest is shot in the back by Minimus Ambus!

Outside, Cyclonus responds to Star Saber's call for challengers, but the resultant duel goes poorly for him. When Star Saber asks him what he fights for, however, Cyclonus replies that it's personal, and drives his single horn into Star Saber's eye. The blinded Saber drops Cyclonus, but manages to teleport away before a killing blow can be struck.

With Tyrest dispatched, Ambus—now in a truly diminutive state, not even as tall as Rodimus's waist—explains that the form they have seen him in up until now was another suit of armor, and that he was knocked unconscious when its head was crushed. As everyone tries to deal with the killswitch and its victims, Pharma tries to make a run for the portal, only to discover than he cannot pass through it. Rung concludes it operates on Aequitas technology, barring entry to those who carry some form of guilt, but Skids, at peace with himself for the first time after the mystery of his missing memories has been solved, finds he can step through. Pharma is unfazed by the whole affair, and his incessant smugness is the final straw for First Aid, who blows his head off in a moment of unchecked anger.

Across the room, Perceptor wires Rodimus into the killswitch, intending to use the Matrix-half within him to reinstate the "sparkcode" common to all constructed-cold Transformers that the killswitch is scrambling, thereby undoing its effects... but in the process destroying the Matrix map, and potentially Rodimus himself as well. With this hanging over them, Ambus confesses that he did indeed lure the Lost Light to Luna 1, having opted to let his Magnus Armor manually return to Tyrest rather than teleport away, thereby allowing them to follow it. Unaware of the Chief Justice's insanity, he assumed Tyrest would discipline Rodimus for the reckless leadership that Ambus had been unable to deal with. Rodimus, however, admits to being responsible for much worse than poor leadership: he had actually conspired with Prowl and the others to bring Overlord on board the vessel, goaded into doing so when Prowl accused him of being afraid. Rodimus vows not to die in an act of self-sacrifice, so that he can make recompense for his misdeeds. The switch is then thrown, the Matrix shatters... and those affected begin to recover!

Outside, the Legislators abruptly cease their battle with the Circle of Light, detecting the activation of a new imperative: the crippled Tyrest has managed to activate Part 1, Section 1 of the Tyrest Accord, recalling the robots to defend his broken form. Unaware of this, Whirl begins celebrations, congratulating Cyclonus and asking if their deal to let bygones be bygones still stands. Cyclonus grimly agrees... though not before a brief, silent fantasy of pushing Whirl into the smelting pool below.

n the other side of the portal, a confusing sight greets Skids: he finds himself standing on the surface of one of five multi-coloured copies of Cybertron itself, the other four floating in the sky above him, as a huge iridescent ball of energy hovers in front of him. The orb communicates with Skids in a synesthetic medley of sensations that he cannot comprehend, but his struggle for understanding is cut off by a cry for help from Rung from the other side of the portal. Skids sprints back through to the control room, now flooded with Legislators, and dives into battle... t

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