abstract
| - Savannah, Georgia: the Autobots survey the big smoking crater where the All Spark used to be. While rebuking Strongarm for inopportune jokes, Optimus Prime points out that the crisis is still ongoing. The Decepticon occupation of Earth has done too much damage to the planet and its people, and humanity is now frightened and paranoid. Arcee points out the Autobots saved Earth — but Optimus points out they brought the war here. The humans won't distinguish between the two factions... Meanwhile, Starscream and Dreadwing are off doing a Bludgeon: any attempt by the humans to rebuild the infrastructure in America is going to be bombed flat, starting with a refinery in Providence. The humans need to realise the Decepticons are here to stay! Over in a still-devastated Washington, D.C., Tom Banachek is arguing with the Vice-President that they should engage in dialogue with the Autobots. The VP refuses: to America and the world, all Transformers are the enemy, and he intends to take back the initiative. In the Savannah medical shelter, Mikaela Banes is shown that dozens of people, previously healthy, have fallen drastically ill for no reason. The only answer the doctor can give is that the Transformers have done something to the planet, and the illnesses are just a symptom. Outside the shelter, Mikaela meets up with Bumblebee, a source of fear and terror for the doctor. She tells Bumblebee that people just need time to adjust to the Transformers, but she doesn't know about the large build-up of American tanks nearby... Meanwhile, Skyblast has found a tiny fragment of the All Spark that survived the explosion — a fragment that could conceivably possess all of the original's power. Optimus decides to isolate it, out of concern it may have been corrupted by exposure to Megatron, and Ratchet is made its guardian. That night, Armorhide and Elita-One stand on sentry duty: however, the idea of looking in more than one direction is a strange concept, and they don't notice the Decepticon attack force until it's flying past them. The jets begin blitzing the Savannah Shelter, and the Autobots scramble to protect it while Mikaela helps evacuate the patients. But this is all playing into Starscream's hands — via an implant, he controls the mind of a tank regiment commander and is having him lead the regiment into Savannah to kill every Transformer there...
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