The Predacons are sore from their sound defeat, and it takes them some time to recover themselves and get to work repairing their injured bodies and their broken ship. With Upgrade and Oblivion in critical condition, and Epitaph missing entirely, Stahldrache takes temporary command, setting the other Predacons to work on reconstructing the Silence's hull. When Oblivion is finally repaired, he goes to work repairing the damage to the ship's security grid and main computer.
The Maximals, meanwhile, are undergoing some repairs of their own, as they have recovery to consider and at least one new Maximal face to meet. Darkwave, who is relatively uninjured from the combat, has a simple idea-to build a radar device which can track Stalker while she is cloaked, and use it to trap Tarantulas.
The next day, when Upgrade is fully functional, he commands Stahldrache to take a team and search out Stalker/Tarantulas, who should still be somewhere in the tunnels. He should also seek out Epitaph, and subdue him when he is found. He gives Stahldrache a single injection's worth of a Transmetal II Inhibitor venom—a concoction that Tarantulas had put together prior to Blackarachnia's capture. Taking Sellsword to track the scent and Blackout to light the way, the lieutenant crawls below ground.
Stalker, however, has already reached the heart of the Lair...and found Epitaph there, waiting patiently. He is startled to find her hideously malformed, as the body she now resides in has been repaired with parts of the long-dead Tarantulas. However, Tarantulas insists that the body will be fully restored once he is able to enter the Transmetal II chamber, which Epitaph guards. Epitaph promises to watch Stalker while she accesses the chamber, if the spider inside her is willing to talk when his recovery is complete. As the device's work nears its completion, Sellsword has finally tracked Stalker's scent into the chamber. Stahldrache is very calm as he approaches Epitaph, and has a conversation with him about the "real" structure of the Revolutionaries. It is revealed finally that the group's original commander, Stingwing, became so physically powerful only after incorporating into his body the spark of a dying lover, Whisperswift. After becoming Swiftsting, his command style changed, and he was increasingly withdrawn. He now gives orders less of his own accord, and more from the suggestions given to him by the whispered notions from his secondary spark. Epitaph suspects that Whisperswift may have been a Unicronian spawn. After overhearing a one-sided conversation the commander had with the deceased, Epitaph knows that getting Tarantulas's information is, one way or another, vitally important to the Revolutionaries' goals. Epitaph also accuses Upgrade of being a coward, knowing he is probably unwilling to change the Predacons' past to secure their future. When the conversation comes to a close, Stahldrache removes the still-unconscious and transformation-weary Stalker from the Transmetal II device, finding her now to be both stoat and spider in appearance. He then attempts to remove the driver itself, but his hands slip. When Epitaph rushes to catch the precious technology, his clawed grip crushes the driver's workings, causing it to detonate in a Transmetal II explosion. When Tarantulas revives in Stalker's improved body, he is furious at the mess. The Predacons will return to base and regroup, then head out to retrieve a replacement for the driver.
When the team arrives at the Silence bridge, Upgrade is surprised to see Epitaph still walking of his own accord, as he ordered him brought back in pieces. Stahldrache takes THIS opportunity to inject Epitaph with the Transmetal II Inhibitor. Epitaph panics when his powers suddenly fail him, and Stahldrache beats him into stasis lock. Tarantulas, however, takes control of Stalker's body, and uses the confusion to set off her new Transmetal II powers, which coat her body in a deep red light. Upgrade fires on the now Fuzored female, but misses, then jams his weapon. Seeing the spider legs which fan from her back like wings as Unicron's mark, he tells the other Predacons to lay down their weapons and back away. Stahldrache, finished with his target, takes his own commander aside and berates him for the sudden cowardice. Tarantulas, meanwhile, takes the bridge, telling the other stunned Predacons the overland route to the Vok device that produced the T2 driver. Upgrade commands that if Stahldrache is unafraid of the Unicron-spawn, he should hobble the lady fuzor on his own. Stahldrache grinningly complies. However, his attempt to hold Stalker down fails, and after she successfully absorbs two head-on shotgun blasts with barely a flinch, and vanishes to plain sight, Upgrade is significantly convinced of her invincibility.