Following Spike's open admission to executing Scrapper, Prowl interrogates him for some time, attempting to accuse the human of personal motive while Spike maintains that it was just another mission to him. Things grind to a halt before long when Spike points out that Prowl is not the 'bot to be taking this attitude, given his own underhanded plotting, and that airing the dirty laundry is sure to completely destroy the already-shaky Cybertronian/human alliance. Caught in checkmate, Prowl is left with Spike's frank admission that while he liked a lot of the Autobots, he never trusted any of them, and his own belief that due to their similarities, he ought to respect Spike, but cannot.

Acting on information from Sandra, the Autobots and Skywatch prepare to bring in Ben Simpson, but Ultra Magnus forbids Jazz from joining the mission due to his past transgressions. As Skywatch agents burst into Simpson's house, they find him under the mind-warping influence of one of the guns made from Megatron's body and open fire on him, revealing him to have been a facsimile construct all along. Simultaneously, outside, the Autobots detect a massive amount of radio waves surrounding the house, and track them to their source: Simpson's controller, Swindle. Apprehending Swindle and imprisoning him within Omega Supreme, the Autobots deduce that Swindle had been using Simpson to create his market for him, engendering a climate of fear that facilitated the distribution of the Megatron guns, and that he had used suppressors to shut down Brawl out of fear his fellow Combaticon would rat him out. But they are not prepared for Swindle's final revelation: most of Skywatch's armament came from him, via a deal he had with Spike. Unfortunately, Omega Supreme informs them that Spike left the base a short time ago, followed shortly by Pennington and Jazz.

Jazz heads for Skywatch's decommissioned New Mexico base, using Pennington's presence to gain free access to the compound. There, Jazz makes contact with General Allenby and explains the current situation: that Spike is now a fugitive, that he had been dealing arms with Swindle, and that Jazz is dissolving the Autobots' alliance with the government. After broadcasting his exchange with Allenby to the media, Jazz wipes Skywatch's computers of any Cybertronian weapon data with an electro-magnetic pulse, and then, offering an apology to Pennington for tricking him, burns the base to the ground.

And Prowl is left only to realize that with Jazz's actions, the Autobots' time on Earth is truly up. They have their own planet to return to now, and all that his Terran sojourn has left Prowl... are doubts.

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