Issue #3

• Writer - Brad Mick
• Penciler - Pat Lee
• Inker - Rob Armstrong
• Enhancement - Edwin Garcia
• Colorist - Espen Grundet Jern
• Colorist - Alan Wang
• Colorist - Gary Yeung
• Lettering - Paul Villafuerte

Summary

  The story begins with Shockwave reflecting on an encounter three thousand years ago, when he was cornered and battered by a swarm of Sharkticons. He was rescued by the imminent arrival of Scourge, who decimated the Sharkticons with uncanny speed and fury. Shockwave then muses to the trapped body of Alpha Trion, and how he will ultimately extract from Trion what he needs to destroy the Transformers race...

  In the Alaskan fields of Earth, Jazz and his team search fruitlessly for any sign of Scourge, unaware that they are being watched by a human hiding nearby. The human reports to a military leader, who mutters about the return of the Transformers, even as his technicians have Scourge held captive and are trying to understand his advanced design.

  Over Cybertron, a Decepticon warps into place, and Grimlock and the Dinobots steer it for a crash-landing in the Wastelands, whre its arrival is watched by three other mechanoids. Meanwhile, at Iacon, Shockwave dispatches Frenzy and Rumble with a data disk for a covert mission to the detention banks, then gets challenged by an angry Ulgra Magnus over deactivating the Autobots from Earth. To support his position, Shockwave plays footage of the Autobots rampaging through San Francisco (from the previous limited series), footage that is also shown to the captive Autobots -- and all other Transformers on Cybertron.

  In the Wastelands, the recovering Dinobots are confronted by Octane, but is quickly decimated by Slag. At the Detention Banks, Rumble and Frenzy use their data disk to reactivate the Stunticons from detention; before they could make their own escape, however, they are confronted by Starscream, with plans of his own...

  At the Central Hall of Iacon, Perceptor is arguing with some other Autobots over whether they should jepoardize the peace and investigate Shockwave's latest experiments when Ultra Magnus charges in and accuses them of giving away their freedoms. The debate is interrupted by news of the Stunticons' escape, and Ultra Magnus quickly assembles a posse to stop them before they can destroy the city.

  At the smelting pools of Iacon, Shockwave and Blitzwing are supervising the reactivation of the pools when the city is jolted by the rampaging Dinobots. Among the confusion, Optimus Prime and the Autobots are freed by Sandstorm and Broadside. While Broadside leads the others away, Sandstorm guides Prime through some ancient undergound tunnels. Sandstorm attempts to explain what's going on, but is immediately shot from behind by a Decepticon sniper. The sniper is then quickly devoured by a Sharkticon, who then turns his attention towards Optimus himself!