As Nova Prime and Galvatron slowly squeeze themselves through the narrow space bridge in Megatron's chest, the united forces of Bumblebee's Autobots and Soundwave's Decepticons come blasting into Crystal City. Soundwave tackles Shockwave, disgusted to see him allied with a Prime, but Shockwave summons Metalhawk to his aid, shocking the assembled Autobots with his living presence and evident desire for revenge. While Ironhide gets proactive, straddling Megatron and trying to shove Nova Prime back through the portal, Skywarp tries to shut down the machinery controlling the space bridge to free his leader. Unfortunately, he finds that his teleporting power has started to malfunction, leaving him stuck in mid-phase-out and unable to touch anything—though that does at least provide him some protection against Dreadwing's attempt to stop him. Arcee and Blitzwing, meanwhile, are trying to harvest some of Shockwave's resurrection ore to heal the wounded when Rumble is knocked into their midst by an attack from Waspinator. Spotting the two, Waspinator is about to zoom in to stop them when Shockwave instead calls him to his side, and orders him to hand over his stinger-gun—the device which he used to inadvertently forge his connection with the Necrotitan. But where Waspinator has never been able to fathom the depths of the Titan's vast consciousness through this link, this is no challenge for the focused, emotionless mind of Shockwave. Jettisoning the barrel of his gun-arm, Shockwave attaches Waspinator's weapon in its place, granting himself control over the Titan, which comes crashing into the cavern at his command. In the chaos that follows, Skywarp dematerializes completely, and Ironhide manages to punch Nova back through the portal just before the Titan's fist comes crashing down.

In the Dead Universe, Orion Pax's team express their skepticism at the appearance of Nightbeat, but a quick recounting of the circumstances of his death (at Hardhead's hands, at his own request, after he discovered he had been brainwashed into a sleeper agent for Nova Prime) seems to convince everyone. When Pax introduces Nightbeat to Cyclonus, Nightbeat is able to carry out an impressive cold-reading of the ancient 'bot that allows him to deduce that a friend of Cyclonus's is unwell but recovering. Cyclonus is furious at this invasion of his privacy, but Orion calms him and the team gets back on track, with Nightbeat now leading them toward the Dead Universe's contraction point.

Back on Cybertron, the remaining Autobots and Decepticons extricate themselves from the rubble of the collapsed cavern. Bumblebee tries to take stock of the fallen, but from the smoke, Megatron emerges, carrying Ironhide, expressing the hope that the Autobots have something they can actually effectively throw at the Titan. No sooner has Megatron appeared, however, than another figure steps from the clouds—Galvatron has made it through the portal, and immediately tears Megatron in half! And over all, the Necrotitan looms, as Shockwave stands at its feet and calls for it to obliterate everyone!

As Orion's team continue their trek through the Dead Universe, Rodimus tries to make sense of Nightbeat's return to life; Nightbeat opines that he has not returned to life, but merely survived death. Hardhead wants to know why, when he appeared before them, Nightbeat told them not to touch Cyclonus, and the detective explains that he had discovered a piece of Cyclonus's forcefield generator at their landing site. The device broke when Cyclonus "landed badly" on it, and without its protection, the Dead Universe has infected him once again. At that moment, a containment cube suddenly springs up around the group, trapping them all save Nightbeat. In horror, Orion realizes that Nightbeat has led them here and allow this to happen: he is still under the control of Nova Prime, who, elsewhere in the Dead Universe, comes tumbling down out of the heavens in a fiery rage!?