Zero Unit

The Zero Unit is an Autobot subgroup from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Zero Unit is an investigatory unit with a wide-ranging remit to collage information and take action on any pertinent data to the Zero Effect.

Fiction

Regeneration One

After "Primus" turned Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime, he witnessed in Zero Space an event that could spell the end of Cybertron. These events included the return of Galvatron, the residual energy of the Dark Matrix, former Senator Jhiaxus, and Spike Witwicky. This led to him creating a group tasked with finding the cause of the Zero Effect, formed around the nucleus of Nightbeat and Bumblebee.

Working out of Ops-Command HQ, the Zero Unit decided that out of the four disparate strands of the Zero Effect, their time would be best spent investigating the missing Senator Jhiaxus, realising that as a prominent Cybertronian he would most likely have had offworld dealings. They sent bulk pulsewaves to any mech civilisations that might have encountered him asking for information but received nothing back in reply until they launched a probe... and suddenly Jhiaxus's entire fleet materialised in the skies above Cybertron! The War to End All Wars, Part 1

Rodimus returned to the Presidium to consult with the Zero Unit and along with Perceptor they cautioned against making any aggressive moves, instead advising the Autobot leader to meet with Jhiaxus at the Eugenesis Plaza where he could be covered by snipers nearby. The Zero Unit monitored the situation as Prime took the Cybertronian leader to Nova Point to continue their conversation in "private", moving in along with Jetfire the moment diplomacy went out of the window and Jhiaxus turned violent. Blasting Bumblebee and Jetfire and leaving Rodimus Prime buried beneath a pile of rubble, Jhiaxus returned to his ship. Nightbeat directed First Aid to attend to the casualties while he, Blurr, and Huffer dug out their leader. Appraising Prime of the situation, he noted that all the Zero Unit had managed to capture a large amount of data during the Cybertronians' visit and had perhaps come up with a way to hurt them, convincing Rodimus to take the fight to the enemy. The War to End All Wars, Part 2

Along with Ultra Magnus, Kup, and Hound the Zero Unit landed at area 59, subdivision 17.4, branch 5: Z-9-#J-4 of the Hub Network and using telemetry from the probe they had launched and structural analysis of the Hub itself, Nightbeat postulated that striking a key link of the superstructure—with the warhead yields synchronised with the local frequency harmonics—would cause a chain reaction, destroying the whole network. While the Autobot ships Lancer One and Lancer Two launched the warheads successfully, Jhiaxus had anticipated this entire strategy and taken steps to protect the Hub. He then sent his troops to retaliate against the invading Autobot forces, damaging the command vessel Priam and forcing Rodimus Prime to surrender. The War to End All Wars, Part 3

Locked up in the Corral and forced to watch their comrades being arbitrarily executed, the Zero Unit and the rest of the Autobots were eventually freed when Rodimus Prime took advantage of the distraction afforded by the Starscream/Underbase and Shockwave/Ark hybrids. The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Upon their return to Cybertron they found that it was a ghost planet, populated by energy-draining shadow-leeches that Nightbeat quickly surmised were deadly to the touch after they sucked the lives out of Hosehead and Slingshot. As Rodimus Prime headed into Zero Space to confront the leeches' Dark Matrix master, the rest of the Autobots secured the Star Chamber where Nightbeat deduced that the situations unfolding on Earth and Nebulos were also part of the Dark Matrix's plan and dispatched teams of Autobots via space bridge to deal with them. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Notes

• This is one of Simon Furman's many references to the number zero throughout Regeneration One.