Decepticon Justice Division

The Decepticon Justice Division is a group from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

So it's just "Or Death" then?

The Decepticon Justice Division is a division of the Decepticon army that handles justice. And by justice, we mean "unmarked graves". Assuming there's enough left of their victims to bury.

Traitors, deserters and any manner of transgressors to the Decepticon cause end up on "The List", and are targeted by these enforcers of Megatron's will. If the rumors are to be believed, they always find their quarry, and execute them in the messiest fashion possible to make an example of them. Several of them are living torture devices, either having horrific instruments of pain built into their bodies, or having alternate modes that become such devices. As a group, they're even able to take down the mighty Phase Sixers. So fearsome is their reputation that many Decepticons prefer suicide to waiting for the D.J.D. to find them... unfortunately, many Decepticons only find out they were on The List right as the D.J.D. arrive. Obviously, this makes them incredibly unpopular among the rank-and-file, many wondering just what level of minor infraction will get you on The List in the first damn place.

Their usual killing fields are in the proximity of the planet Messatine, and they pursue targets in their spaceship the Peaceful Tyranny.

The group's lineup has changed over the years, but its core five members always use the same five code-names: those of the first five cities to fall to the Decepticons. Should one member die, another Decepticon is eventually selected to take their place and name. Only the group's leader, Tarn, is known to have been in the group from the start.

Known members include:

• Tarn (leader)
• Helex
• Kaon
• Tesarus
• Agent 113 (as "Vos")
• Vos
• Nickel

“	Find. Kill. Cleanse.	”
—The D.J.D. motto

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Tarn runs a tight ship. Each of his team have to do health and safety reports and are subjected to constant performance reviews. It's not all fun and games! The Permanent Revolution

The late and unlamented Crosscut was often mistaken for a Justice Division man, which he used to his advantage. Crosscut's Squadron X profile

The D.J.D. has killed quite a few of the renegade Decepticon warlord Deathsaurus's troops for their desertion. The Permanent Revolution But while the Division are primarily about killing Decepticons, they looooove killing Autobots too. They had a reputation of being Megatron's personal assassins and Gripper lost many good friends. Words Hang in the Air slaughterhouse

One time, the Division had learned the mysterious Necrobot was real and the existence of his planet. They didn't bother to investigate it. The Not Knowing

The last-but-one Vos had hooks for hands and feet. Footage of him doing his usual business with the rest of the D.J.D. was recorded and presented as evidence during Megatron's trial. Words Hang in the Air Unknown to the Decepticons, that Vos was an Autobot mole, the famous Dominus Ambus, codenamed Agent 113! The Not KnowingAt Close of Day He used his position to passing information to the Autobots, using info-slugs disguised as bullets to maintain his cover. Usually this information would be the turncoats and traitors that the Division was hunting down, whom the Autobots could protect from justice in return for information. It was Ambus that informed Springer and the Wreckers that any attempt to get near Garrus-9 was blown out of the sky with extreme prejudice. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 Bullets He also fired a warning about numerous issues into Swerve, when he was witnessing a typical D.J.D. atrocity. Unfortunately, Swerve was never aware this had been a message bullet and none of the alerted medics ever saw him. Life After the Big Bang The One Where They Go to Earth

(The shock rendered Swerve speechless for six months, which was quite a feat for him. Life After the Big Bang)

Shortly after the Swerve incident, the Division found out who "Vos" was. When a new Vos appeared, the Autobots assumed Agent 113 was dead The Not Knowing but in fact the Division had "domesticated" Ambus: a sadistic form of torture directed at beast-mode Transformers that leaves them lobotimised as a 'pet'. Now simply called "the Pet" and dragged around on a lead by Kaon, the once-mighty intellectual was used as a feral hunting dog and used as a propaganda tool (the Division pretending he was a tamed sparkeater). In a reverse Stockholm syndrome, Kaon developed a twisted affection for his "pet". At Close of Day

At some point, the D.J.D. discovered the ravaged Cybertronian colony founded by the Titan Prion and recruited its sole survivor Nickel into their ranks. She took up a job as their nurse. The Permanent Revolution

In order to ensure the safety of the Autobot medical facility of Delphi on the planet Messatine, deep within D.J.D. territory, the facility's chief medical officer Pharma entered into a deal with the Division's leader. In return for their leaving Delphi be, Pharma would provide the leader with a constant supply of fresh transformation cogs from Delphi's dead, in order to feed his addiction to changing shape that caused him to constantly burn through cogs. With the monthly quota of cogs constantly rising, Pharma was forced into drastic action, seeking to escape the deal by shutting down the facility without implicating himself. To this end, he hired Decepticon nobodies Sonic and Boom to pose as Monoformers and seek asylum at Delphi, professing to be on the run from the D.J.D. Once inside, they detonated a viral soundbomb that infected Delphi with a corrosive plague that would be blamed on D.J.D. chemical warfare. Life After the Big Bang How Ratchet Got His Hands Back

The D.J.D. caught up with Black Shadow and brutally tortured him to death after he sold his services to the Autobots. Despite popular conceptions, Tarn declared the war wasn't over until Megatron personally said it was over. Kaon then alerted Tarn to a signal on the planet Clemency from the undetonated K-Class named Fulcrum. When they arrived Tarn gave Fulcrum's companions fifteen minutes to give him up and watch him die, or be killed themselves. Rules of Disengagement

And the fandom collectively wept. Whether it was because they had souls or because they loved watching the DJD kill people has yet to be determined.

‎The so-called Scavengers chose to fight, turning an incidental captive Grimlock against Tarn and the others. The initial surprise wore off, though, and the Scavengers got brutalized. Tesarus ground up Flywheels in his chest compartment, while Vos made Krok "wear his face". Even a Cybernought barely helped improve their odds. The remaining hapless Decepticons only survived because Kaon detected Overlord's spark signature, plus Fulcrum had seemingly died moments prior in a failed suicide-bomb attempt (he hadn't, but everyone was a little too busy to double-check). Tarn ordered the D.J.D. off to hunt for bigger fish, but not before warning the surviving Scavengers that their names had all been added to the List. Who's Afraid of the DJD?

Over at Cybertron, at Megatron's trial, the Decepticon Justice Division and their atrocities were part of the evidence. Words Hang in the Air

Only Brainstorm invites genocidal murderers not to genocidally murder everyone on his ship.

The D.J.D. would later catch up with the Lost Light (unbeknownst to anyone, one of two created by a quantum engine accident) over Ofsted XVII in their search for Overlord (following a tip-off from the Decepticon mole Brainstorm) and made short work of the crew (after learning that known defector Drift was also onboard) before reaching the rogue Phase Sixer in his slow cell beneath the ship and sawing off his head. The group, however, failed to kill one member of the crew — Rewind, whom they'd sadistically forced to record their atrocities in exchange for his partner Chromedome's life. (Chromedome, they killed anyway when he refused to erase all memory of Rewind from his mind) slaughterhouse The Road Not Taken The Permanent Revolution

Their work finished, the D.J.D. departed from the Lost Light but later returned at Nickel's urging in order to steal the ship's quantum engines. This turned out to be a mistake: the D.J.D. arrived in the middle of a battle between the Galactic Council and Black Block Consortia, both of which were also after the engines. Rather than leave Cybertronian technology in the hands of organics, the D.J.D. attacked both sides, which simply led to the two organizations teaming up against them. The Permanent Revolution

Pursuing Council forces to the surface of Ofsted XVII, Vos and Kaon were trapped on the planet when an overwhelming number of organic reinforcements forced the Peaceful Tyranny to retreat. The Permanent Revolution The two Decepticons were left badly damaged and close to death by the battle. The pair's salvation arrived when a trio of Autobots (from the main Lost Light) foolishly helped them, and after killing Trailcutter, Vos and Kaon were able to call for a teleport back to their ship, bringing with them the postwar edition of Towards Peace. Births, Deaths, and Interventions

The D.J.D. caught up with and murdered Blip in the interim. The Permanent Revolution

Watching Megatron renounce and denounce the Decepticon cause in Towards Peace shook Tarn's faith in the movement, and he nearly killed himself by Nuke overdose before realizing a better option. The D.J.D. leader organized a meeting with the rogue Deathsaurus, not to murder him, but to ally with him. In exchange, he and all of his troops would be stricken from The List. Despite some initial friction, Deathsaurus agreed to the alliance. With the D.J.D. now bolstered by the addition of Deathsaurus's considerable forces, Tarn declared their new objective: kill the traitorous Megatron and all of his allies aboard the "primary" Lost Light. The Permanent Revolution

Years after he'd been 'shot', the Lost Light medics extracted the message bullet from Swerve The One Where They Go to Earth but it had deteriorated, the only useable data being the location of the Necrobot Censere. The Not Knowing

When Getaway launched his mutiny on the Lost Light, he informed the DJD that Megatron would be getting marooned on Censere's planet. The Division butchered the Necrobot and ambushed Megatron, and his only loyal crew members, when they arrived. How Bright Their Frail Deeds As they'd been taught, and to Megatron's dismay, they made a display of strength before departing, promising to return at sundown: thus, they assumed, terrifying their foes. (Deathsaurus thought this was dumb) While some of the crew tried to see if they could find an escape ship, Megatron tried to negotiate his surrender with Tarn.The Sun in Flight

That's when things began to deteriorate: the DJD's "Pet" was captured by the Autobots and Kaon let two new arrivals, Drift and Ratchet, reach the others for fear of the "Pet" being hurt. Meanwhile, Tarn's enraged attack on Megatron was interruped by the unexpected appearance of Overlord! Megatron escaped in the commotion and Tarn reluctantly brought Overlord into the plan. As the Phase Sixer constantly sniped at him, Kaon came in crying about the lost Ambus and that they had to get him back... so, to Nickel's horror, Tarn killed him (and smooshed his head on Overlord to shut the guy up) for the sin of emotion. Your Fierce Tears

Shortly before sunrise, the Autobots learned the fate of Dominus Ambus and Rewind was forced to mercy-kill him. At Close of Day

Spoiler warning: Plot details for The Dying of the Light Part 6: Do Not Go Gentle follow. Spoilers expire in 60 days

During the final battle, the Autobots were worn down and Tarn ripped Ravage in half to draw out Megatron. This finally succeeded and Tarn, to Nickel's dismay, ordered the troops to wade in and soak up gunfire so he could get the drop. Eventually, Megatron was able to be disarmed and held at gunpointRage, Rage, surviving only because Megatron had a panic bubble forcefield. The Division pounded on it to get in, ignoring as Overlord wandered off and Deathsaurus had his army depart the pointless slaughter, a disillusioned Nickel in tow.

This, however, was a trap: Megatron had rigged the forcefield to let them in but not out. Once in, he could finally unleash the antimatter weapon he'd been working on for so many years. As they pissed themselves, Megatron raged that they'd ruined all his chances at redemption and leaving any conflict, and he wasn't going to give them the dignity of dying under their aliases. As he tore them to pieces, each was named: VosForestock, Helex Crucible, Tesarus Scissorsaw, and finally Glitch, who died with his mask off after bargaining and false bravado had both failed to stay Megatron. Do Not Go Gentle

Notes

• In an early plan for "Chaos Theory", the D.J.D. were going to attack.
• James Roberts elaborated that when a D.J.D. member dies, his replacement takes his name.