At the Autobot HQ, Wheeljack tells everyone to move in closer so they can all get a look at his new invention: the Wheeljack instant immobilizer! Cliffjumper wants to know what it can instantly immobilize, so Wheeljack has Hound project a hologram of Laserbeak. He explains that, say you were out on patrol one day, and Laserbeak shows up...

...before he can continue, Ironhide arrives in the room and sees Laserbeak. Believing him to be the real thing rather than a hologram, he yells out for everyone to take cover as he opens fire. But all he ends up doing is hitting the ceiling, causing a lot of rocks to fall.

He stops shooting, but Spike tells him Laserbeak wasn't for real. Ironhide helps Wheeljack up, but they found out the immobilizer has been damaged -the polarizer is wrecked. Ironhide says he can't believe he mistook a hologram for the genuine article... his scanners must be glitched. Wheeljack says none of them are perfect, and his demonstration will just have to wait a bit. He asks Bumblebee to go into town and get him a new polarizer. Bumblebee has Spike go with him.

The two get the polarizer, but decide to hit an arcade before going back. Bumblebee wows the crowd by getting double bonus points on the first go in Robot Resource. Someone taps Spike's shoulder and asks if she could cut in. Spike starts to tell her she'll have to wait her turn, but when he turns around he's gets a bit mesmerized by the woman: Carly. Carly says she saw him come in with that cute Autobot, and asks if he could introduce her to him.

Spike does so and Carly says it's a pleasure to meet him. Spike then reminds Bumblebee they should been back with Wheeljack's polarizer hours ago. Bumblebee says he hopes to see Carly again, then he and Spike leave the arcade. Bumblebee transforms and Spike gets inside him, as the two head back to Autobot HQ. As they leave, Carly follows them in her car.

As Bumblebee and Spike head back, they are flagged down by a cop, who is a bit worried when he sees Spike not even at the wheel of his car. Bumblebee transforms and explains about what Autobots can do, but down the street, Ravage is waiting.

Ravage attacks and pounces on Bumblebee. As the two struggle, Ravage plants a device onto Bumblebee without him noticing. Spike asks the cop if he has any jumper cables. He gets them and Spike uses them...

...to give Ravage a shock. He runs off, as the cop apologizes for not knowing he was an Autobot -but the speeding rules apply to him too! Bumblebee and Spike head back to the Autobot HQ, and give Wheeljack the new polarizer.

Wheeljack says it's demonstration time again, and says his immobilizer can stop any moving object in its tracks. They can use it to deactivate the Decepticons permanently! As he is explaining this, the Decepticons are watching -the device Ravage attached to Bumblebee was a camera, allowing them to see whatever he sees. Starscream wants to vaporize the Autobots, but Megatron tells him they will -and they'll use that immobilizer against them.

The Autobots decide to test out the immobilizer, so they transform and roll out to a clearing next to a river. Prime tells Ironhide to wait behind, as he can take the first watch -they don't want any surprise Decepticons visits. Wheeljack sets the immobilizer up...

...and has it blast part of the river. The river stops flowing and Wheeljack says the molecules of the water have been stopped in mid-motion. Wheeljack goes up to it and says right now this water is harder than any substance they know. Not even Brawn can crack it!

Spike goes running forward and steps on the remote. He hopes he didn't break it and starts messing with it, unknowingly making the immobilizer point at him. Before it fires, Wheeljack pushes him out of the way, but gets hit by the blast and is immobilized. Ratchet checks on him but finds he's frozen solid -and they don't know how to reverse the effect! Optimus Prime doesn't know what to do with Wheeljack, but they must make sure a weapon as powerful as this never falls into Decepticon hands.

Meanwhile, Ironhide thinks he sees a Decepticon spy and fires, hitting a tree. He goes in to check, only to find that it's Carly. He asks what she's doing here, as this area is off limits to civilians. She says she just wanted to watch, as she thinks the Autobots are totally incredible! Just then they hear the sounds of Decepticon laser fire. Ironhide heads off to check it out, and sees that the Decepticons have taken the Autobots by surprise -they're surrounded.

Ironhide thinks his friends were taken by surprise because he wasn't at his post -it's all his fault. The Decepticons fire on the Autobots, but Trailbreaker activates his force field to protect everyone. Starscream calls Megatron a fool -they could have wiped the Autobots out if he hadn't had to have this ridiculous immobilizer. He transforms and takes to the air...

...only for Sideswipe to tackle him just as he starts firing. His shots end up hitting the Decepticons, forcing them to move back as the Autobots move in.

Skywarp fires off a bouncer bomb, which starts flying around the battlefield and cutting up trees. Spike finds Ironhide and Carly, and asks what Carly is doing...

...and she says running for cover, as Skywarp's bouncer bomb tears through a tree next to them. The bomb is out of control, so Megatron transforms and Soundwave shoots it down, hitting another tree in the process.

This tree falls on Prime, causing him to drop the immobilizer. Ironhide goes to retrieve it, only to be shot by Starscream. Starscream manages to get it, but he drops it when Ironhide hits him with a sticky blast.

The immobilizer ends up on the frozen river, and Megatron finally grabs it as the Decepticons regroup with him. As Starscream stumbles around, Prime tells Megatron he's losing warriors, but Megatron tells him warriors are expendable -the most important thing is he gets what he deserves! Just then the river changes back to normal, leading all of the Decepticons to falling into the water.

Trailbreaker thinks he deserved that all right, as he and all the other Autobots laugh at the Decepticons. The Decepticons get out of the river, and Thundercracker wants to liquefy the Autobots, but Megatron says they'll pay for this humiliation soon enough -he swears it!

Prime says they can deal with the Decepticons later -right now they need to take Wheeljack back to HQ, and hope that the immobilizer's effect on him is as temporary as it was on the water. As the Autobots leave, Carly asks if she can come with them, and Spike tells her to follow them. At the HQ, as Ratchet repairs Ironhide, Ironhide blames himself for the Decepticon attack, as he was away from his post when he should have been sounding the alarm. He thinks he's too old to be useful any more.

As he gets up, Prime tells him he doesn't believe that. But Ironhide believes it, and says he's retiring from active service. Prime lets him as he feels so strongly about it, but says they'll miss him. Elsewhere Carly tells Spike if she hadn't been sneaking around, Ironhide wouldn't have left his post.

As Ironhide passes by, Carly tells him what happened in the forest wasn't his fault, it was hers. Ironhide says he can't let his failings put his friends in danger. Carly asks him to promise to think it over, and whilst he is, can he show her around the HQ? Ironhide says he can at least do that much, and takes her on a tour. He shows her where all of the ammo is kept, stuff they'd rather not have around, but until the Decepticons change, or are pacified once and for all... Carly says someone should pacify them and their underwater HQ.

Carly manages to secretly take a bomb without Ironhide noticing. Elsewhere, Wheeljack becomes unfrozen, and Ironhide fills him in on what's happened. Wheeljack worries that the Decepticons will make the immobilizer's effect permanent. Nearby Spike asks Bumblebee if he's seen Carly, but he thought she was with Ironhide. Spike points out Ironhide is over there, but Carly isn't.

They head out of the HQ and see that her car is gone, so they decide to go and look for her. Moments later, Prime and a group of Autobots head out to find the immobilizer. Out at sea, Carly has used a boat to get to a certain spot.

She dives into the water and swims to the Decepticon's HQ, and places the bomb onto one of the base's walls. Soundwave notices they have an intruder, and dispatches Laserbeak to get her. As Carly gets back to her boat...

...Laserbeak manages to grab her. This gets picked up on Teletraan I thanks to a Sky Spy, and Sparkplug lets Ironhide know. Ironhide is reluctant to do anything, believing Spike will find her, but Sparkplug says his son can't take on the Decepticons by himself. He tells him he's Carly's only hope.

Carly is dropped before Megatron, who wonders who she is. Skywarp says he saw her at the forest, she was with the Autobots. Megatron thinks she must be their friend, and they'll come to rescue her... and they'll be waiting! Meanwhile Bumblebee and Spike and wondering how to find Carly, when they see Skyfire passing over. Ironhide drops out and flags Bumblebee and Spike down. He explains to them what's happened to Carly, and the three of them set off to the Decepticon's HQ.

Meanwhile, at the Decepticon HQ, Carly's bomb explodes, creating a hole in the wall that lets lots of water seep through. The Decepticons quickly get things under control, and Soundwave reports that only the north quadrant was damaged. Thundercracker says they've halted the water flow... expect in that chamber their female prisoner is in.

Carly tries to open a door but can't do it, as Megatron thinks this could be most interesting. The Decepticons watch and Megatron laughs, as the water floods the room with Carly still in it. He declares that the show is over.

Carly isn't dead yet through and dives down, only to be knocked back when part of the wall explodes. It's Ironhide, and he quickly grabs her and takes her back to the surface. They get back onto dry land, and Carly says does he really think he's too old to make a difference? Bumblebee and Spike then drive up.

Bumblebee is glad Ironhide is back in action, and says they can get out of here. They start to drive off, but notice Ironhide hasn't moved. Bumblebee transforms back and realizes what's happened: Ironhide has been immobilized!

Megatron and the Decepticons appear and tells Bumblebee they've perfected the immobilizer, as the effect is now permanent! And he and his friends will be the first to go. Prime says not if he has anything to say about it, as he and the Autobots arrive. A battle begins, but Rumble takes control of the immobilizer...

...and several Autobots fall victim to it. Carly has an idea and asks Brawn if he can tunnel under, and them come right up beside the immobilizer. He transforms and she and Spike board him, as he starts drilling into the ground.

As they get closer, Spike sends a signal to Jazz, who drives close to the Decepticons and dazzles them with a light and sound show, that disorientates them.

Whilst the Decepticons are distracted, Brawn bursts through the ground, allowing Carly to get out and re-wire the immobilizer. With her work done, she and the others head back the way they came, and Jazz ends his show and retreats.

Rumble attempts to use the immobilizer again and blast Optimus Prime, only for it to fire on Ironhide... and unfreeze him! Rumble says he can't control it, but is then blasted by Ironhide, which results in the remote being destroyed.

Laserbeak is sent out to recover the immobilizer, but Ironhide grabs him and tosses him aside. Ironhide then gets the immobilizer and as Prime covers him, he uses it to unfreeze the other Autobots. Once that's done, he throws it to the ground, which completely destroys it.

Megatron tells Prime to savior his victory, as it's only temporary. The Autobots return to their HQ, and Ironhide asks Prime for permission to return to active duty. Prime tells him he thinks he's already on active duty!

Carly is happy to see this, as now she doesn't feel so bad about the trouble she caused. Wheeljack asks how she knew how to reverse the effect of the immobilizer. She says when she saw the Decepticons working on it, she realized the ion flow could be redirected by a simple wire crossing. She wasn't sure it would work, but it was a theory she'd had ever since she accepted her science scholarship at MIT. Bumblebee then whispers something to Spike.

Spike asks Carly if she'd like to go out for an emulsified CO2 with lactic acid? Carly asks him what that is, and he replies: chocolate soda! Carly laughs and says he's on, and as Sparkplug smiles in approval, the two of them drive off.

NOTES

-This episode introduces Carly, who will appear in several more episodes in this season, the third season and The Headmasters.

-Some of the background sounds during the arcade scene were taken from Galaga, an arcade game by Namco which was released in 1981.