Megatron had been thrilled with his latest addition to the Decepticon ranks: Optimus Prime—or rather, Orion Pax.

After he gave up the knowledge of the Matrix, the former Autobot leader had no memory of the war or his true identity. He was a clean slate.

Megatron bustled him away, regaling Orion with twisted tales of the Decepticons’ millennia-long battle against the Autobot villains, and the trusting archivist was all too quick to believe him.

But Megatron wasn’t taking chances. He had Knockout slip a small device under Optimus’s plating during a “routine checkup,” designed to inject a subduing agent if the ex-Prime ever turned on him.

But Knockout was a medic, not a chemist; the formula wasn’t very stable, especially not under spacial-warping properties such as those when traveling through a ground bridge…

When Orion eventually uncovered the truth behind Megatron’s lies and confronted him, the warlord almost killed him before his team found them and he regained his memories. Megatron activated the injection as Optimus made his escape through a ground bridge, but it didn’t seem to work—at least visibly.

Deep and unnoticed within the Prime’s frame, something had gone horribly wrong.

Weeks later, rumors spread—Optimus was changing. He was snappier, colder, spending more time outside the base. Something was off; but Megatron paid no heed.

The brief time he’d spent around Optimus had rekindled a horrible, twisted obsession, and now, Megatron was sending you to hunt down his lost archivist—a reward of your choosing awaits your success, of course, should you survive the forest at night…