In the wastelands surrounding Crystal City, the Dinobots stand watch over those wounded by the Necrotitan's death-wave. Although badly injured himself, Slag expresses his desire to have gone with the other Autobots and Decepticons into the city; Swoop talks him down, but arguing is certainly something Slag has the energy left to do, including the insistence that his name is now "Slug", after Arcee told him his old name was "offensive". When the Necrotitan suddenly moves, a pair of binoculars donated by Astrotrain lets Swoop get a closer look at the action, as the small surviving crowd of 'Bots and 'Cons comes running towards them, the Titan hot on their trail and heading straight for Iacon!

On an alien world, deep underwater, the Rodpod carries its small crew deeper into the eye socket of the unmoving Metroplex. With Ratchet unsure if Metroplex is either alive or dead, Perceptor scans for lifesigns and finds eight: a positive outcome, as there are only seven 'bots in the pod. Brainstorm analyzes the water on suspicion it may have reduced Metroplex to his sorry state, and, upon finding traces of what he believes to be Admium, has Getaway—struggling to cope with the enormity of the situation—call Swerve for his metallurgical expertise. Swerve is too busy fighting Ammonites to answer his phone, but Ultra Magnus reasons that if they can save Metroplex, he can end the battle. That prospect suddenly looks a lot less likely when the Rodpod enters the Titan's brain chamber, and the crew find his brain module to be gone, surgically removed. The pod heads for Metroplex's spark chamber to investigate further, even as the Titan's internal lights die out around it, his lifeforce ebbing away.

In Iacon, Starscream seeks an update on the wounded from Flatline, though the medic at first misinterprets his request as a report on the spread of the mysterious "deathmark" left on his chest by the Necrotitan's wave. Medical aide Tankor loses patience with Starscream and bellows a stream of insults at him before stalking off; Flatline's immensely obvious observations of the situation do nothing to improve Starscream's mood, but just as he is yelling at the doctor, the Nectrotitan comes stomping into the city, and fiery chaos ensues.

In the Dead Universe, Orion Pax's team remained trapped in a containment field by Nightbeat, awaiting the arrival of Nova Prime. Hardhead tries headbutting his way out, to no avail, but Orion follows his lead, landing a hand-shattering haymaker on the cube wall. Orion appears to lose his composure, and begins screaming threats at Nightbeat, but when Rodimus tries to intercede, Pax punches him too—but only, he quickly explains in whispers, to keep Nightbeat distracted from the small crack he successfully made in the cube with his punch. Rodimus joins in the effort, raising his palms to the detective in an imploring gesture, but with unexpected results: the sight of the mysterious contents of Rodimus's hand affects Nightbeat's mind, bringing him to his knees... just as Nova Prime arrives.

The Rodpod berths at a dry dock within Metroplex (unsurprising, Magnus notes, as he is a city), where the team finds a series of hand-painted arrows drawn on its walls and floors that lead them on a disorienting Escher-esque tour of the Titan's insides. Alas, the final arrow brings them right back to where they started, and when Whirl starts to take out his frustrations on the Rodpod, Magnus stops him... but in the process gets close enough to the pod to hear ticking. Following a length of new cable running from the Rodpod with their eyes, the team spots a stowaway Ammonite—Perceptor's eighth lifesign—standing in a doorway, holding a detonator. Before any of them can move, the tiny 'bot pushes the switch, and the Rodpod explodes!

Nova Prime greets Orion as "Optimus Prime", waving aside Pax's attempted correction and instead musing that they are all trapped in the Dead Universe now, and that the two Primes may go down side by side. Spo

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