Shell Game

This article is about the 3H stand-alone story. For the canceled Beast Wars mini-series, see Shell Game (Dreamwave).

"Shell Game"
Publisher	3H
First published	June 31, 2004 (OTFCC 2004)
Story	Simon Furman
Pencils	Andrew Froedge
Inks	Andrew Froedge
Colors	Joe Givens
Letters	Simon Bowland
Continuity	unknown

A Decepticon tyrant hunts down the last surviving Autobot.

Synopsis

The Cybertron of a nightmarish alternate universe has been ravaged by a powerful tyrant, Megazarak. Appearing amidst the remnants of a crumbling Decepticon empire, he has slashed and burned his way across the planet, leaving few survivors in his wake and driving the Autobots to the brink of extinction.

Determined to wipe out the last pockets of Autobot resistance, Megazarak and his Targetmaster partner Caliburn force their way deep into Cybertron. Their objective: the Oracle, which Megazarak believes will yield the location of Base Sigma, the last pocket of Autobot resistance, and the hiding place of the last Matrix-bearer.

Only the Oracle's ancient caretaker Ultra Trion stands in his way. Megazarak bashes him aside effortlessly and demands to know where the Oracle is. Ultra Trion reveals that he's not so helpless, and launches a missile from a hidden launcher, intent on fighting to the death. But the tyrant simply catches the missile and destroys Ultra Trion with it, remaining unscratched himself. Megazarak finishes the job with his own main gun.

But Trion's final gambit is successful — the Oracle has been removed from its chamber and is gone. Denied his final victory, Megazarak howls in fury, but at the same time, he knows... there are only so many places on Cybertron to hide.

Quotes

"How quaint. A cleric with a cannon..."

— Megazarak is not impressed by Ultra Trion's armaments.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Ultra Trion (3)	Megazarak (1) Caliburn (2)

Notes

• Among the ruins of Cybertron can be seen the head of an Optimus Prime as well as that of Sky Lynx.
• This story constitutes its own micro-continuity, as no other storyline has built on it. The only further elaboration came from the bios for Megazarak and the unreleased 3H version of Defensor.