The Predacons are the first group to arrive on Cybertron. They stake out their claim, not in their old sector, but in Beetalion's former sector, landing in the center of a trial arena. Swiftsting hopes to make the sector the Revolutionaries' new base. Deciding that he has too many lieutenants in his group, he sends them out in pairs to complete missions; whichever officer fares the most poorly will be demoted. Stahldrache and Blackout are sent to the heart of the sector, where they are to find out who is sitting in Beetalion's command chair. Quickclaw is also sent, to monitor their progress. Stalker and Angel are sent to Chromia sector to discover the results of the organization conflict which took place before the Predacons left the planet. Since he has no scout to send with them after Starfire's disappearance, he tells them that she with the best information will win.
Angel has a speed advantage over her fellow Predacon, as she is able to soar off in jet plane mode to explore the sector. Stalker, left to her own devices, cloaks and begins the long walk. As she is traveling, she begins to hear the intrusion of a new, third voice in her head. Tarantulas quickly identifies that the telepathic interference is an outsider, and the voice identifies herself as a "friend and sister." She offers to meet Stalker when she arrives at the Daughters of Tarantulas complex. Meanwhile, Angel is already in Chromia sector, where she meets up with a demolitions group that is knocking down the better portion of the Warder complex. She strikes up a conversation with the foreman, and with one of his experts, a Maximal penguin called Chill, who is more knowledgeable about the event than the foreman who is only doing his job. He is able to explain that the Warders, though not disbanded, have moved off of Cybertron. Their one remaining colony is off-planet, and the Maximals are renovating their area. Their rivals, Daughters of Tarantulas, have also fallen apart, now taking up Predacon activation codes, though still living within the sector. Angel decides to visit the Daughters' compound next, thanking her informant for his time. However, the Maximal recognizes Angel's former status as a Maximal Council member from the sector where he currently resides. Curious as to her intentions, he accompanies her during his "break." Angel speaks with a few of the Predacons at the Daughters' compound, then turns to go on her way. Only then does Stalker arrive, confronting the fish with her sourceless "cloaked" voice. Though the intrusion confuses Chill, Angel simply laughs, saying that the stoat/spider is far too late to make her report.
Meanwhile, the male Predacons are having a more eventful trip. Blackout insists that the job is "sneak in, sneak out," and his flight ability gives him an advantage over Stahldrache as well. Stahldrache, hoping to make better time and beat the insect to the compound, enlists Quickclaw to help him steal a passenger vehicle from a nearby public spaceport. Though the pair manage to locate a cargo lift big enough to hold the Ultra-class Predacon, and Quickclaw has little difficulty with the car's security protocols, neither of them are particularly sure how to drive it. They set off the alarm, alerting the owner who fires at the tires as they are speeding off. Quickclaw, in the drivers' seat, loses control, smashing into a parked vehicle that goes up in a blast. With half their vehicle missing, the Predacons pull out of the port and onto the road. The Maximals dock ships in outer space, bidding farewell to Beetalion who wants to check up on his home sector in the Predacon quarter. Optimus makes a call to the Citadel of Elders, where it is answered by a Guardianwing, a clerk working for the Maximal Council. The officials are very surprised to see Optimus returning in such a fashion, as he has been missing for several weeks and is still at large for escaping with the Covenant of Primus. Several of the Maximal officials meet up with Axalon II as it lands in the spaceport in Prime Sector, Cybertropolis, attached to the Council Citadel. They then take the Maximals through the councils' extensive security procedures. The crews of the Maximal ships stand on the council floor, taking position in front of Maximal Magnaboss himself, head of council. In a long discussion session, they relate the events of the trip to Earth, their reasons, and the discoveries that they have made. The council takes each piece of news and weighs it, and the Maximals come at last to the final revelation: the relationship between Tripredicus and Unicron. A stunned council demands a recess; they offer to temporarily house the Maximals in their sector while they debate their next course of action.
Stahldrache and Quickclaw have a confrontation with a guard at the gates of Beetalion's compound; he doesn't buy their story of being interested in information delivery, and inquires within the base as to whether to let them in. Stahldrache attempts to talk him out of the call, but when that doesn't work, he lets his fists do the talking. Quickclaw punches the car through the gate, and Stahldrache follows. Quickclaw ditches the vehicle, which is in poor shape from earlier combat, and it crashes harmlessly into the side of the compound. When guards round the corner, trying to investigate, Stahldrache confuses them by pointing them a different direction, and Quickclaw gives them Blackout's description. Blackout, meanwhile, has found a back entrance to the compound. He finds his blacklight gun a simple solution to disable the security cameras in the back, and is making his way through the corridors. He is checking a computer source for the information he needs when the guards spot him. Unable to handle such a force in combat, he sets off a flare to escape. The less subtle Predacons take the direct approach, entering through a side door, when they hear loud music in a hallway ahead. The source turns out to be a Predacon-dinosaur band called the Instruments of Destruction, who have set up their practice room in Beetalion's (now half-trashed) artifact museum. As Stahldrache approaches, he notes the band's lead, Heavymetal, being assaulted by Code-Hacker, the much smaller Predacon subcommander insect and former contact of Beetalion's, who keeps the sector in his absence. This problem easily solved, Stahldrache compliments the band on their music and makes an example of the young subcommander. He orders 'Hacker to lead him to the com-room, where he contacts his commander via videophone. Swiftsting mentions that Blackout's report has already arrived, and he congratulates his other lieutenant on getting to the source so quickly.
On the Maximals' recess, Optimus makes a call to the greenhouse, hoping to inform Rhinox of their return. They instead get a hold of Rattrap, who is watching the greenhouse for a while. He explains that Rhinox was working with a toxin which effected his spark, and that he is taking a couple days off to recuperate. He also warns Optimus to save any bad news for a few days later, when Rhinox is back on his feet. The news is so abundant that Optimus opts not to tell Rattrap over the phone, saying he will save it for an in-person conference.
Stalker enters the Daughters' complex, where the battle-torn building is being renovated by hardworking females. She meets the telepath at last: a female spider who decloaks at her side. The telepath directs Stalker to a hidden elevator in the back of the building. One sector underground, the pair walks through a field of fallen Warders, as well as Unicronian cultists who were putting on an apparent mockery of worship here. Mindrazor, as the telepath is called, explains to Stalker that she may be a person she has been searching for, her so-called "Seventh Seal." She then shows Stalker a row of seven marks on a wall hidden in the corridor. Three are already crossed off, and, below the third rests the sacrificed body of Mantisoar. Stalker is unfazed, only frustrated that she could not have been the cultist holding the dagger. She also notes with some trepidation that the seventh seal is unmarked...and that the sixth has the shape of a dragon...
The Maximals are again brought before council, and the verdict is read. All new or renamed Maximals are to register with the Department of Records, and then are free to go. Cheetor and Blackarachnia, for their roles in hiding information from the council, are stripped of any military rank. They are to live from now on in council-approved housing, where they will be monitored until the next Megatron trial, and made to testify. Waspinator is also asked to testify; in exchange, he is welcome to register as a Maximal citizen and be granted reprieve from his crimes. The Axalon II is put in hold; the performances of her crew will be evaluated, and they will likely be reassigned. Daybreak, having proven ready to command, is heading off to the commanders' academy. The Maximal council, however, is most obviously suspicious of Darkwave, whose Decepticon appearance shocked them all at his approach. They send him to speak with a few of their agents in another part of the citadel.
Angel calls her commander, telling him all the information she has learned from the Maximals in Chromia Sector. Swiftsting processes what he has learned, and decides that the next plan is to storm Beetalion's compound, using it as the new Revolutionary base. Having heard nothing from Stalker, he will not be waiting for her before the Revolutionaries make their assault. However, Angel is not aware that Chill has still followed her progress. Hearing only half of the conversation between Angel and Swiftsting, he falsely assumes that the Predacons are planning on invading the Maximal sector, and not the other Predacon one. He contacts his foreman, who contacts the Maximal Guard. Optimus, leaving the council hall, hears the news that Rawhide's unit is being activated again. He has promised to lead the Maximal Council to Iacon, where he has stored the lost Covenant, but he feels it is important to aid the war effort if war should brew. On his way out he is approached by Guardianwing, who had leaded the Maximals on their earlier tour. Guardianwing explains that he believes he was once a soldier, and he would like to enlist in the battle unit to keep the Predacons away at the border. Optimus and Daybreak, both heading for the military sector, offer to take him along as well.
Stalker is still exploring the underground sectors, and is finally taken deeper below the surface by means of a second secret passage. Here she finds that, though the "cover" cult was destroyed, the real cult still flourishes. Tarantulas presents himself, in Stalker's body, before the cult's leader, a female spider that bears obvious Unicron markings and more than a passing resemblance to Tarantulas himself. The cult's Mistress assures that more will be explained once Tarantulas is separated from his host body. Her priestesses have prepared a protoform to transfer him into, but, now having discovered the procedure to restore a faded spark, have made two failed attempts to resurrect him. Tarantulas laughingly assures them that if they were trying to restore him from the Matrix, they were simply looking in the wrong place. He says that, as the holder of both his and the Pit's greatest secrets, only Stalker would be truly qualified to make the attempt. She downloads his personality into the protoform, and assures the cult leader that she would be more than willing to die in the attempt to revive he whom she considers her true love. Surprised at the turn of events, Unicron's priestesses connect Stalker to the protoform, and she begins the long and painful descent into the Inferno.