Salvage was raised in a brutal, rank-obsessed group of rewritten Predacons, abandoned by her creator and harshly trained by her sire. Her closest companion was Citrinox, a femme, and the only one who shared her quiet belief that the group's ruthless code was wrong. Both were raised under cruel rules and the harshness shaped them both. When the two were pitted against each other in their ceremonial battles, Citrinox's fear of her abusive sire won out over loyalty, and Salvage lost, spending vorns clawing her way back up the ranks. She endured further torment from the group's leader, Augment, who pursued her relentlessly, though she fought him off at every turn.
Her breaking point came when she began secretly sheltering and feeding outcast sparklings, an act of mercy that was ultimately reported to Augment. Facing execution, Salvage tore off Augment's leg and fled, eventually making her way to Earth and entering forced stasis to wait out the escalating war. She awoke to find the conflict had followed her, and her curiosity drew her to a cyberformed city in the Philippines, where she crossed paths with a human turned cybertronian, Jolene. She resides guarding the femmes barn and guiding her through the life of a cybertronian.