Summary: The first three pages of the comic are taken up by a bit of exposition about Shockwave's plans. Captions tell us the plan, while the panels show what the captions are telling us.

"Scenario: The End of the World!

"Near the Western coastline of this continent, Alpha releases its intense waves causing great disturbances along sensitive fault lines...

"Deep beneath this globe's massive oceans, Alpha bores beneath the silty floors toward molten interior magma levels...

"In Earth's frozen Arctic regions, Alpha concentrates and releases its potent radiation, melting the polar ice caps...

"...creating worldwide havoc!

"utter devastation!!

"Great cities heave and crumble

"The earth erupts with volcanic fury from its molten core.

"Mighty waves consume enormous land masses.

"In the end, this very planet, at least as we have come to know it, ceases to exist!

"This world becomes nothing more than a furious fireball utilized as the ultimate natural resource!

"We will siphon off this planet's enormous energies! We will literally drain this planet of its life!"

Shockwave continues to expound on his plan: "Once unleashed," he says. "Its energies will be focused through Alpha and beamed across the void of space -- Alpha will become a giant battery used to repower our home planet, Cybertron, and assure Decepticon domination for millennia to come." Shockwave gloats more about how Megatron couldn't see the full extent of Alpha's uses. Only his logic could have created such a plan. As he says, "Who else but Shockwave could conceive a plan of such grandeur? It will take me a matter of mere days to accomplish that which has eluded lesser Decepticon leaders over the ages."

Shockwave tells the others to contact Cybertron and tell them of this new development.

Ravage agrees, but says that perhaps for now Shox might want to pay more attention tot he arrival of Cobra and Alpha.

Shockwave and Serpentor shake hands, greeting one another. Torch thinks that Shockwave looks like an overgrown tinker toy. Buzzer warns him to hush, Shox just might here. Ripper agrees, after all Shox has a huge set of ears -- err or something like ears at least.

Serpentor says there's no limit to the magnificence their combined forces can achieve. Of course, he's thinking that the alliance'll last until Cobra figures a way to take control of the 'Cons.

Shockwave says that the Decepticons are honored by Serpentor's presence. He refers to Serpentor as his "respected comrade." Meanwhile, he's thinking that even these fleshlings are stupid. After all, they've just handed over the means of their own destruction.

Serpentor leaves Mindbender with Cobra as an ambassador of the Cobra Nation. Shockwaves says they'll welcome him as one of their own. Mindbender says he's confident that the experience'll be most valuable. Meanwhile, he's thinking that this is the best way to keep an eye on the Decepticons. He only prays that they're doing the right thing by handing over Alpha to the Decepticons.

Dirge is left behind as the Decepticon ambassador. Shockwave insists. He's also devised a plan to further the goals of this alliance: with Dirge's help, Cobra will attack the Ark and return with he solar generator necessary for certain 'adjustments' to Alpha. After all, Shox thinks, why waste Decepticon energy when they can so easily manipulate Cobra?

Serpentor wasn't expecting this, but figures that they should go along for now. Besides, Mindbender is there to sabotage things if necessary.

Shockwave figures that whatever happens, it's all good for the Decepticons: any damage that Cobra manages to do to the Autobots only helps bring the 'bots closer to their own inevitable destruction. And if the Cobras are killed, well, it's no chrome off their shells. Mindbender bids the Cobras farewell as they take off.

As the Cobras fly off, the Baroness veers off on a mission of her own. She's got to attend to a situation that is more important to the situation at hand.

At Fort Lewis, G.B. Blackrock explains to Mainframe what and who Bumblebee is. Crankcase says that he'd think Blackrock was nuts if it wasn't for his credentials backing him up.

"Be that as it may, Crankcase," Blackrock says. "This Autobot's death is a dreadful reminder of the horrible consequences of a militaristic mentality! The poor unfortunate creature!"

Mainframe says that he doesn't think Bumblebee is necessarily dead. Blackrock asks how Mainframe can deny it, there were witnesses!

Mainframe explains that he's not denying that the Joes shot Bumblebee. what he's saying is that Bumblebee was damaged but that some bit of him might still be inside of him. Some fraction of his life force might be hanging on and if they can identify it, they might be able to communicate with it.

Meanwhile, the Autobots prepare for Optimus Prime's funeral (see Transformers #26). Blaster delivers the eulogy: "We thank you, Optimus Prime, farewell. We send you to join with the universe, to return tot he cosmic dust from which all life began and from which it will begin again.

"So too, must we begin anew. We cannot let this stand in the way of our mission! Of course it will be difficult...we will all miss Optimus...but he would want us to carry on in his absence!"

Omega Supreme promises to stand strong against attack. He owes Optimus Prime for his very existence; he will remain true to his memory.

In Richmond, Virginia, Hawk is walking through an airport. He's been summoned back to Washington by the head brass. He's hoping that whatever the reason they want him back, it won't spell trouble for the Joes. And hey, at least he'll have the chance to see Senator Larkin again. She stirs something in him, something he hasn't felt in years.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Duranti speaks to the doctor working on Anthony's case. They're about to operate to get the implant out of his head. A special government group will investigate the implant once it's removed. Mrs. Duranti says she doesn't care about that, she just wants Anthony back.

In Washington, D.C., Senator Larkin is leaving a special session of the US Senate, called to investigate the disappearance of Power Station Alpha. She's met by a group of what are apparently reporters (and only three at that), who are asking her about allegations about Alpha. She ducks them, getting into a car; she's late for a very important appointment.

Arriving at a restaurant, she gives her driver the night off. Inside, she joins her appointment, ordering an Absolut on the rocks. A double, in fact.

Larkin is in a tizzy because she's in deep trouble: her appointment was supposed to have made sure that Alpha vanished without a trace. Now, there's going to be an investigation and her entire career is on the line. Apparently, everyone knew the station was really dangerous, and now the story'll come out.

Her appointment tells her to stop playing the martyr, she knew the risks, and she knew the danger. Besides, no one knew the Joes would get involved; there's always trouble when they cross the Cobra path.

That's right, Larkin's appointment was with the Baroness herself.

When Larkin leaves the restaurant some time latter, a man in a suit spots her. No need to follow her, he thinks, he's already got everything he needs.

Cobra attacks the Ark, only to be met by Omega Supreme. No question of who gets the upper hand here, especially after the other Autobots get involved.

At the Pentagon, Hawk is in a briefing about Project Alpha. Senator Garcia says it presents a dangerous threat to our survival. Hawk agrees, naturally the station is a threat now that it's been stolen.

Garcia disagrees: the threat has increased now that the station has been stolen. "But," he says, "since its inception, Alpha has posed a threat. The design itself when scrutinized, indicates incredible weaknesses and a lack of any substantial precautions or fail-safes. IT is a disaster waiting for an opportunity to "strike".

"In addition, we have evidence which indicates which indicates that the designers, as well as Senator Larkin herself, were aware of the inherent problems from the onset but proceeded without reporting their findings to the proper authorities."

Hawk protests, angry at the Senator's insinuations. Garcia tells Hawk to calm down and listen. Hawk doesn't believe any of this, Barbara isn't that kind of a woman. Someone asks Hawk how well he knows the Senator, which provokes another blow up from Hawk.

Then, Agent Kruchkow (the man from the restaurant), shows Hawk a photo of Senator Larkin meeting with the Baroness.

The Cobra/Autobot battle fight goes badly for Cobra until Serpentor leads Dirge into the heart of the fray. Previous to this, both Dirge and Serpentor were avoiding the fight for reasons of their own. Now, for Serpentor, the moment to strike is at hand.

Anthony is Okay! The shell is out and he can speak. His mother is very grateful.

At the Decepticon base, Bombshell and Dr. Mindbender are talking. Mindbender asks about the changes that have been made to Alpha but Bombshell waves his concerns off.

In the hospital lab, the doctor who operated on Anthony prods the cerebro-shell. At the lab, there's no effect, but at the Decepticon base, Bombshell transforms uncontrollably. He goes off to check his circuits as Mindbender considers possible Decepticon weaknesses.

A messenger picks up the cerebro-shell, grumbling about being asked to perform what he thinks of as a meaningless task. The doctor, on he other hand, hopes that the government can figure the shell out.

Back at Ft. Lewis, Mainframe and Crankcase have managed to bring Bumblebee back online. Bumblebee is understandably befuddled by the fact he doesn't have a body anymore, but otherwise seems fine. The Joes send word to Hawk that they need a recon team ASAP. "It's probably all he can think about!" says Crankcase.

Wrong. Hawk goes to Larkin's Washington DC apartment this time. He tells her to look him in the eyes and tell him that 'they' are wrong about her. About the Baroness. About Cobra.

She can't. Hawk storms off, not waiting for an explanation. He trusted her, he loved her and finding out that she was in bed with Cobra is a hard, hard blow for him.

Back at the Ark, Serpentor double-crosses Dirge, jamming his frequencies and causing him to explode. He then tells the Autobots that he's come in peace to offer his friendship. The Bots are understandably a bit wary of this, considering that Serpentor and his people were shooting at them just a few minutes ago.

In Washington, Hawk is wallowing in self-pity when the phone rings. The Joe (presumably Mainframe or Crankcase) on the other end tells him about Bumblebee, leading to:

"So, we nearly destroyed one of the first alien intelligences we've ever encountered, an alien who was trying to save a young by's life and warn us of the attempt to abduct Alpha. And all because of my shoot first and ask questions later mentality! Send a full force to the location of the Ark that Blackrock supplied. Be prepared to attack on my command."

Hanging up, Hawk thinks: "Ironic, isn't' it -- an order of force. Must I always act as a soldier first? That's just the way this whole fiasco began."

Hawk beats himself up a bit more about shooting Bumblebee and trusting Barbara. More on this in Commentary.

Meanwhile, the Florida Keys (location of the Decepticon base) is quiet. At least until the Decepticons launch Alpha. Mindbender awakes to find that Alpha has been launched and the Decepticons' plan has now begun! He radios Serpentor to notify him since there's "not a moment to waste if the human race is to survive!"

The Joes are underway to the Ark. Blaster meets up with Serpentor. Luckily, Blaster believes him about the Decepticons. A Tele-Viper brings Serpentor the message from Mindbender. SErpentor tells Mindbender to lie low, they need him as their man on the inside.

The Bots and Cobras ally to stop Shockwave and Project Alpha. The Joes arrive and realize that Cobra is trying to save the world (for once) and that they'll have to ally with Cobra as well to help them. As Slip-Stream says: "Ain't that a kick in the head?"

Commentary: Things come to a head in this issue. Cobra is working to double-cross the Decepticons, not for their own benefit but in order to save the world. Well, okay, Cobra does benefit from the world being saved, but mainly because they won't die and they'll still have a world to try and take over for themselves.

Larkin's collaboration with Cobra came as a rather nice surprise. Particularly since she didn't sign up with Cobra for the usual comic book reasons such as money, power and/or vengeance against Snake-eyes for the death of her brother/father/step-cousin/dog/that guy named Steve. Instead, she made a deal with Cobra because she wanted the jobs that Project Alpha would bring her constituents. She was hoping that Cobra would steal the power station and no one would know that Alpha was a dangerous mistake. At least until Cobra blew it up or landed it on a city or something like that.

There's a decidedly anti-military theme to the issue, particularly in Blackrock's chiding of the Joes about shooting Bumblebee. Now, granted, the Joes screwed the pooch when they nailed Bumblebee without much of a warning in issue #1. It certainly wasn't the kind of professional, intelligence behavior we've come to expect from them. But, when you consider that the Transformers were introduced in this mini-series as a potentially dangerous threat to humanity, it's understandable that the Joes might opt to err on the side of caution and shoot first.

And it's understandable that a civilian like G.B. Blackrock wouldn't necessarily understand how things might go down when you're under fire. Particularly when he knows the Autobots at least, aren't a threat to humanity.

Where it gets annoying is when Hawk is whinging about having shot first and asked questions later near the end of the issue. Particularly the line: "Must I always act as a soldier first? That's just the way this whole fiasco began." Uh, yeah Hawk, you kind of do have to act as a soldier first, considering that you ARE a soldier! Where the heck is the self-doubt coming from all of a sudden? And since when does acting like a soldier automatically mean shooting first without thinking? Who wants to place bets that the writer of this mini-series never served in the military? C'mon, hands up.

On the other hand, it's rather interesting that Mrs. Duranti isn't suspicious of the government taking an interest in the cerebro-shell in Anthony's head. Especially since we first met her during the protesting of Project Alpha. It's rather nice to see that she isn't turned into a complete anti-government stereotype simply because she's against the use of nuclear power. Particularly in the form of an apparently pilotless, mobile nuclear power plant.

The final alliance between the Joes, Cobra and the Autobots has been formed. Now it's time to take out the Decepticons and save the planet! Let's head on to the...

Next issue: "...All Fall Down."