Samples of different kinds of crude fuel that had been collected for testing were contained within sealed vials and set upon the table in the lab. Carefully, Mixmaster took an ormus-modified crystal from a batch that Shockwave had just handed him and placed it in an empty receptacle near the vials. Then he stepped back to allow Scrapper to examine the new experimental batch. The Constructicon leader took a vial filled with a dark golden, oily substance and gently removed the seal. Then he carefully dropped one of the bright pink test crystals into the vial. Straightening, he watched intently at the reaction that was already beginning to take place.

Through a delicate, seemingly miraculous process, the oil in the vial responded to the high-energy crystal. Before their optics, its color changed to an iridescent pink, while its consistency, too, resembled that of plasma. The transformed crude oil appeared stable in its new form, shimmering in its small vial and swirling gently, almost as if it were self-aware. But, most importantly, the seed crystal that Scrapper had dropped into the oil was still clearly visible, and largely intact.

"It's definitely an improvement on the last sample, that's for sure," Mixmaster pronounced, "definitely an improvement for sure!"

His team mate turned to acknowledge him, as did Shockwave and Bombshell, who had stopped what they had been doing to observe the simple test. "The recalibration Shockwave made does seem to be working. Now we just need to make sure it's viable," Scrapper said, and tipped the vial upside down. The pinkish substance splattered onto the tabletop and then spread out into a thin puddle, but its molecular structure remained stable. He turned to address the others, "Well, I'd still like to do some proper tests before we think about–" but stopped mid-sentence when the lab's electrical equipment and overhead lighting flickered and then shut down, before essential emergency systems activated in the background. Glancing about him in the semi-darkness, he quickly realized what had just happened.

"Looks like we've run out of time," Mixmaster said.

The sounds of welding and laser cutting were interrupted by Soundwave's voice in the gloom. "Starscream, it looks like we have company." The seeker stopped his work and straightened, then turned to acknowledge the communications expert standing by the entrance to the chamber behind him. "Autobots, and a large number of non-Cybertronian mechanoids have just arrived," Soundwave clarified.

The Air Commander responded with a small nod. "Well, I'd say we're just about done here." He granted Heavy Load another few moments to complete the rewiring on the reactor core, before brushing the mech's hand away to pick up the device. Examining the result of their handiwork, he smiled in satisfaction. "Scrapper would be proud," he said, before following Soundwave out of the room and back through the tunnels to the surface, Drillbit and Heavy Load bringing up the rear.

The Combaticon-led team of Decepticons and recruits at Kaon's titanium mine watched as a small number of Autobots emerged from the alien craft, accompanied by humanoid organic beings who were dressed in flowing garments and adorned with gold jewellery. Upon seeing the Decepticons, the organics turned to the Autobots in puzzlement before they exchanged a few words, though Onslaught couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Finally, two of the Autobots began to walk towards them.

"Did Sentinel send you here?" asked the golden colored one, not bothering with any introductions.

"No," Onslaught replied simply, and then added, "Megatron did."

"Who?" the Autobot asked in irritation, looking towards his companion in confusion. "Do you know what this Destron is talking about?"

"We're Decepticons," Onslaught corrected him, before the second Autobot spoke up.

"Oh, yeah, I know who they are! They helped us stop the army of zombies from taking over," he told the golden mech, and then cast his gaze over the group of Decepticons. "I'm not sure if we've met before, though I recognize a few of you," he said, indicating towards the two Constructicons. "I'm Kup, by the way, and this here is Xaaron," he said.

The leader of the Combaticons looked back at the teal colored Autobot who had just introduced himself as Kup. "Onslaught," he replied, "and the Combaticons." Then he nodded towards the organics waiting by the aircraft a short distance behind them. "They're here from Daros, right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Kup said with mild surprise, though Xaaron was completely unamused.

"Never mind that. If Sentinel didn't send you, then what are you all doing here?" Xaaron cut in.

The two Autobots looked at Onslaught expectantly, so he decided to get straight to the point. "Well, as a matter of fact, we're here to safeguard the titanium deposits from foreign interests."

The look of perturbed puzzlement had not left Xaaron's face. "Foreign interests?! By whose authority?"

"Actually, the authority granted to us by Cybertronian law," Onslaught replied, and that's when it began to dawn on Xaaron that these unfamiliar Destrons, who called themselves Decepticons, might represent a problem.

"What law? What are you talking about?" Xaaron demanded.

Onslaught answered him with as much diplomacy as he could manage. "The laws that govern exactly what should happen to rare or precious deposits found on Cybertron," he stated.

Xaaron paused in consternation as he tried to fathom what he was hearing. "Titanium is hardly rare!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "I've heard enough of this! Now get out of our way!" He felt a strong hand on his shoulder holding him back, as he attempted to walk around the large Decepticon.

"I'm not just talking about titanium," Onslaught informed him. "We've found small quantities of rhodium contained within the rocks at this very site. Now, tell me if I'm wrong, but don't we have a little law somewhere that says we have to immediately secure the site and report what we've found?" Xaaron looked back at him in bafflement, as if Onslaught had just turned into a giant squid. "Which means that no one is allowed anywhere near this site until an official team's been sent out here to investigate and confirm our find," he continued.

The states-mech shook his head and looked to Kup for some sort of explanation, but the Autobot sergeant simply gave him a shrug. He let out an exasperated sigh, glancing back at the waiting Darosians. "But that could take days – even weeks! Besides, I'm not familiar with any such law!"

One of the other Combaticons stepped forwards after Onslaught signaled to him with a nod. "Article four, section seven – it's straight out of the High Council's Declaration of Autobot Powers – you can look it up," Swindle informed Xaaron. "A similar law was also proposed and then later passed as a result of the Galactic Peace Treaty, or have you forgotten? Essentially, any exceptionally rare or valuable archaeological discovery, as defined under sub-section seven point three, part one, must remain on the world that it was found, and may not be surrendered to any foreign party without the consent of a public vote."

Kup whistled in quiet astonishment, looking away from Xaaron's flabbergasted expression; he couldn't help but feel embarrassed for the young states-mech. The Decepticons sure seemed to be well-informed, he had to give them that.

But Xaaron wasn't about to give up so easily. "If there really is rhodium here, as you so claim, then why hasn't it been detected until now? Do you really expect me to believe that all our geological surveyors would have missed it?"

To answer him, Hook spoke up. "As a matter of fact, yes." He indicated towards his fellow Constructicon with a wave of his hand. "Scavenger here happens to be the finest surveyor in all of Cybertron. I can guarantee you that he can detect and pinpoint any element or mineral you can think to name hiding within those rocks in the span of only a few minutes – the same elements or minerals that would take your Autobots weeks to find." Scavenger smiled unassumingly in response.

Xaaron glared at the Decepticons for a moment, but then abruptly turned and walked away in a huff. "We'll soon get to the bottom of this charade! I'll be back before you know it!" he declared over his shoulder, as he moved off to rejoin the Darosians, who were waiting impatiently for a good explanation as to why they could not inspect the mine. When he shared with them the unexpected turn of events, the Darosians became exceedingly agitated, but then began to pile back into their aircraft, followed soon after by Xaaron and the rest of the Autobots.

Watching the aircraft take off into the sky and then head northward again, Onslaught let out a sigh of relief. "Well done, team. We've bought ourselves a little more time, at least," he said, and began to lead the way back to their base.

Mixmaster and Bombshell walked beside Scrapper as he navigated through the darkened hallways of the Central Tower, holding a sample of the energon seed crystals that they had just created. In the meantime, Shockwave had informed Megatron of their progress via a private link, along with the fact that the fortress was now running on final emergency power reserves.

Having returned from the main space port after his personal meeting with Sentinel, Megatron was in the control room when Scrapper and his companions met up with him. "The shutdown has already begun. All major roads and cities from here to the Hydrax Plateau are in darkness, save for a select number of Autobot-controlled relief points," he said to the three of them as they entered the room, even before turning to face them. "Soon we will have no other option but to go into hiding, if we are to avoid forced stasis." He slowly faced the Constructicon leader, placing no blame upon any of them for their circumstances; he simply sought to convey to them all the harsh reality of the current situation, and the difficult choices that they all might soon have to face. "If we don't manage to find a new source of energy by next cycle, our fate and the fate of our planet will fall into the hands of the Autobots."

Scrapper stepped forwards, hopeful. "It might not have to come to that, Megatron," he said, then held out an opened hand. In his palm was a small cluster of light pink crystals. "I would have liked to have done some more tests, but…" He trailed off, and then gave a shrug. "Considering we've just about run out of time, I'd say they're good enough." He held out his other hand expectantly towards Bombshell, who handed him a small vial. Without another word, he repeated the demonstration that he had performed in the lab earlier, this time in front of Megatron, who watched intently as Scrapper placed one of the crystals into the vial. Before their optics, the oily substance was instantly transmuted into a vibrant, shimmering plasmatic fluid. Even more astonishingly, however, the pink crystal that had initiated the transmutation was still intact.

Scrapper carefully handed Megatron the vial. "Energon," he declared with modest satisfaction. Megatron held the vial up to examine it. "Go ahead, try it," Scrapper encouraged him.

The Decepticon leader hesitated for only a brief moment, and then brought the vial to his mouth. The pink fuel was energizing, and of a purity and quality that he had not enjoyed for quite some time. He handed the vial back to Scrapper, leaving only the seed crystal inside it. "Magnificent," he said, highly impressed and extremely pleased with the result of the many long and intense hours that Scrapper and his team had spent in the lab. "You have done incredibly well," he said, glancing at the three of them with much pride. Then he paused in thought as he was reminded once again of the energy crisis that all of Cybertron was currently suffering. "How soon do you think you will be able to restore power to this fortress?"

"I'd say just as soon as we can get a hold of a sufficient quantity of crude fuel; it shouldn't take too long at all," Scrapper replied, thinking. "I haven't tested the new energon with our existing distribution systems, but it should be compatible."

Megatron nodded. His mood had already lifted considerably with the promising news. "Excellent." He looked across to see Shockwave patiently waiting by the entrance to the control room. "Shockwave, these three need to get to a local source of crude fuel for conversion as quickly as possible."

"Understood, Megatron. The Oilplains near Helex offer a plentiful supply. We'll leave immediately," the purple Decepticon stated, and without another word, began to lead the way out of Kolkular as Scrapper, Mixmaster and Bombshell followed him out to the Oilplains.