Somewhere in the depths of space, an escape pod from the Kimia Facility is drifting, its fuel having run out in an attempt to reach Cybertron. Brainstorm and Chromedome lament their situation and the cramped conditions (to say nothing of the gaggle of survivors sitting on top of one another crammed into the pod's rear section), but salvation suddenly appears in the form of Arcee, who prepares to dock her craft with the pod.

On Cybertron, mayhem erupts as the escaped Megatron begins mercilessly tearing his way through the Sweeps with the added power of his new armor. The Autobots attempt to fall back, planning to allow the Decepticon leader to take out the enemy forces and then overpower him after the battle leaves him weakened, but their scheme goes out the window with the abrupt arrival of the other Decepticons, who they had believed were stuck on Earth. The Autobots still outnumber their newly arrived foes, but the tide turns again when the Constructicons merge into Devastator, proving capable of doing so even though Scrapper is dead. The non-functioning nature of one of his components does hinder Devastator's speed and mobility, however, giving Sunstreaker time to come up with a plan: he loads his hoverchair with all the explosives Garnak can find, and, pretending to still be crippled, taunts Devastator into stomping on him. Sunstreaker springs away at the last second, and the unsuspecting Devastator is consumed by the explosion he triggers, and toppled.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime, Rodimus, Ironhide, and Drift pursue Galvatron and Jhiaxus into the opening blasted in Cybertron's surface by Kimia, down into the planet's depths. They quickly catch up to the villains, but Prime's order for them to halt is met only by furious raging from Galvatron that "it's almost here!" Punctuating this moment of madness, Decepticons all across Cybertron suddenly become entranced and break off from fighting, gathering together on one spot, where their bodies merge to become a towering "Deceptigod". This unholy new creation begins a terrifying rampage, starting by smashing Omega Supreme to prevent the Autobots' escape. Even former Decepticon Drift feels the mental corruption of this mysterious effect, and turns on his Autobot allies, providing cover that allows Galvatron and Jhiaxus to escape and carry on their way. Just as Drift impales himself on his sword to stop himself, Cliffjumper gets on the comm to inform Prime of the Deceptigod's appearance. Megatron seizes the device and demands that Prime join him in battle against the beast, but Prime insists that he must pursue Galvatron. And so the fight is left to Megatron...

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