As a Phase Sixer, Black Shadow is one of the most feared Decepticons, having tackled the Wreckers single-handedly, defeated the entire 113th Battalion, and massacred the population of Rigel IV. But when he accepted a bribe to blow up a fleet of War Worlds, he landed himself in the sights of the Decepticon Justice Division, a team of vicious killers fanatically dedicated to Megatron and charged with destroying all who cross him. It's not a pretty sight when the D.J.D. catch up to Black Shadow: melted by Helex, crushed by Tesarus, and electrocuted by Kaon, he is explosively finished off when DJD leader Tarn uses his ability of "weaponized conversation" to stop the pulse of his spark. Their task done, the DJD set off to find their next target on the planet of Clemency—a target guilty of simply living.

On the Lost Light, Ratchet, First Aid, and Ambulon combine their medical expertise to save the life of the wounded Rung, though the psychiatrist remains comatose. A few hours later, Red Alert visits Rung in secrecy, believing—in his increasing paranoia—that the attempt on Rung's life was a deliberate one after Red told him about the voice he heard from beneath the ship. Certain that he is next, Red hides a data slug containing video he has taken of the voice's owner—Overlord—on Rung's body and bids him goodbye. But a medical Diagnostic Drone has observed the entire thing, and soon, a shadowed figure arrives in the medibay and recovers the slug...

On Clemency, a band of Decepticon Scavengers consisting of Misfire, Spinister, Krok, Crankcase, and Flywheels are in the process of draining fuel from the vast array of Transformer corpses that litter the war-torn world when one of them, a chipper fellow named Fulcrum, proves to be still alive. After a slight panic over the possibility that he might be a zombie, the six 'cons settle down around a fire to talk about the great battle in Clemency's past, and the grim reality of war and how it reduces lives to statistics. Fulcrum is shocked to discover that the war is over, barely able to comprehend such a thing, and the other Decepticons mumble about how meaningless it all turned out to be and how unclear their goals had been anyway. In spite of this, though, when one of the Autobot bodies stoking the Decepticons' fire proves to still be alive, Krok casually kills the poor 'bot.

Back on the Lost Light, Chromedome visits Brainstorm in his lab to get the scientist's analysis of Skids's mysterious gun, which Chromedome palmed from the theoretician when he was distracted. The weapon immediately blew up when Brainstorm tried to examine it, but he was able to recognise at least some of the engineering, and has concluded that as impossible as it may seem, the gun may have come from somewhere known as "the Institute"...

As dawn breaks on Clemency, the Decepticons resume their scavenging, only for Misfire to suddenly break away from the group, thinking that he has spotted the Necrobot, a mythical Grim Reaper-like figure in Cybertronian culture. Instead, what he has discovered is a P-6 Worldsweeper, a famous model of gigantic Decepticon spaceship cast in the image of the faction's insignia. Investigating the vessel, the Decepticons make some horrifyingly strange discoveries: a ceiling covered entirely in brain modules, tanks of warped, malformed protoforms, a non-functional robot made entirely of wood, and a corridor composed of organic flesh that proves to have been responsible for causing the ship to crash, having bled into the fuel supply and polluted it. Misfire in particular is aghast and advocates immediate departure, but Fulcrum, coming around to the idea of new horizons, is eager to investigate. All emotions on the ship quickly turn to terror, however, when Krok receives a communication from the D.J.D., announcing that one of their number is on the Division's list. Tarn signs off with the promise that if the guilty party is handed over, the other six will be allowed t

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