The Age of Wrath

• Writer - Simon Furman
• Penciler - Joe Ng
• Inker - Tracy Ho
• Inker - Erik Sander
• Inker - Ferd Poblete
• Colorist - Josh Burcham
• Colorist - Rob Ruffolo
• Colorist - Eric Burns
• Lettering - Ben Lee

Summary

  As the Turbomasters listen attentively, Slamdance retells his story of how he escaped Starscream's assault on the High Council (see issue #1) and inadvertently discovered a mysterious artifact, possibly The Source -- a sentient mainframe that created all life on Cybertron. He's interrupted by Perceptor, who calls him to voce-code marker buoys, then summons the Turbomasters to help him find Optimus Prime...

  At Nova Cronum, Nightbeat's team are inspecting the last Aerospace Elimination trooper, who's shut itself down after its partners were destroyed (following events of last issue). Nightbeat, suspecting a trap, is hesitant to capture it with an inhibitor claw, but Blaster urges him on from Iacon Command. Suddenly, the drone reawakens, summons a phalanx of new weapons, then quickly tears through the Autobots!

  Elsewhere in Iacon Command, Perceptor explains to the Turbomasters that, since Megatron is now shown to be alive, perhaps Optimus Prime also survived the Space Bridge accident that claimed them both (from issue #1 of the Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages limited series). To that end, Perceptor has started a computer search that takes their original gateway vector and slowly adds extrapolated destinations; if a match is found, the Foldspace Chamber will immediately open a gateway there, and hopefully they'll find Optimus Prime. Override then summons Perceptor to Tactical, and he admonishes the Turbomasters to sit tight and don't disturb anything...

  At Decepticon High Command, Rumble and Frenzy are explaining to Shockwave how his apparatus scanning one of Megatron's Aerospace clones suddenly "imploded" on its own. Despite Shockwave's skepticism, he can do nothing but to salvage the data, and dismisses the two. As they're leaving, a section of the wall suddenly explodes, and the ensuing craters form a maliciously grinning face...

  Back at Nova Cronum, the drone continues to make quick work of the Autobots. Working together, Siren and Joyride slam it into a wall of shrapnel, impailing it on a spike, but it still manages to fight back and tear itself free. But as it closes in to terminate Joyride, it suddenly stops in its tracks -- locked in place by the inhibitor claw Slapdash slapped on it. At Iacon command, Blaster celebrates their victory, but Perceptor reminds him that this was trivial compared to what they must do next.

  In the meantime, the Turbomasters have been passing time by racing in a set of nearby tunnels. Eluding his comrades, Flash doubles back and returns to the Foldspace Chamber just as a correlation is found! In an instant, Flash is transported across the gateway -- to a strange, hostile landscape filled with blood-red seas and armored spikes...