Cheap Shots
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 Nightbeat in: The Case of the Bewildering Spatial Physics. | |||||||||||||
| "Cheap Shots" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| First published | October 27, 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Forest Lee | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
What are two of the strongest Dinobots, Slag and Sludge, doing with Nightbeat and his Headmaster ally Siren? And who is following the foursome to one of the most dangerous asteroid colonies in the galaxy?
Synopsis
Nightbeat and his crew have found themselves stranded on Azure, a dingy, miserable backwater planet. They were tracking an assassin towards Vestial Imperium space when they were chased off by Imperium defenders. While trying to land on Azure to effect repairs, they were further shot at by that planet's militia due to their communications being down, and managed to crash-land into the only repair bay equipped to fix their ship.
Some weeks later, while Nightbeat is busy trying to enjoy a can of oil in one of Azure's run-down, shifty-looking alien bars, he is accosted by a large thug who says that "someone wants to talk to him". Nightbeat tells the thug that if the person in question really wants to speak with him, he can come to the bar himself. When the thug gets cranky in response and tries to drag Nightbeat off, Nightbeat's "boys" come over to deal with the problem. After a brief altercation involving even more structural damage to the bar due to Slag throwing people around, it's determined that the thugs really do just want to talk, and the person who hired them can't fit in the bar. Nightbeat and company finally agree to come along peacefully.
They find out that the "person" wanting to talk to them is Amory, a sentient Shi-Lai ship. Amory tells Nightbeat that her pilot, Phyrion, has gone missing, and since Nightbeat is supposed to be one of the best detectives there is, she wants to hire him to find Phyrion. Nightbeat accepts the case, and his crew all board the ship.
As Amory flies them to Purgatory, where Phyrion was last seen, the Nebulans, Minerva, and Nightbeat all go over what little information there is available, including Amory's video logs of Phyrion's disappearance. Once they reach Purgatory, Slag, Sludge, and Lug go around "questioning" (read: manhandling) the local inhabitants on the street, while Nightbeat, Siren/Quig, Muzzle, and Minerva question (read: completely botch up questioning) the citizens in the more "respectable" areas. The end result is that Nightbeat and company fail to discover anything in the way of a lead on finding Phyrion.
Just as they start getting frustrated about the trail being cold, however, Amory volunteers that she did receive an encrypted transmission through her hull to Phyrion's quarters soon before he disappeared. Although she doesn't know the contents of the message, she says she was able to trace its origins to a building elsewhere on Purgatory.
Nightbeat and company stage a stakeout, and finally an exploration, on the building in question, only to discover it seems to be completely empty. That is, until the new and improved Mayhem Attack Squad shows up. Turns out Ruckus wants revenge for some old grudges, and he and the Decepticons he convinced to help him kidnapped Phyrion themselves to blackmail Amory into setting Nightbeat up. A melee ensues, and it seems to be going badly for the Autobots, especially when Amory herself brings her weapons to bear on them... until everyone finds out that Ruckus brilliantly brought Phyrion with him.
Slag promptly convinces Ruckus to drop Phyrion by slicing off the arm holding the pilot. Amory then turns her warmed-up weaponry on the Decepticons instead and tells them they should go, which everyone except Ruckus is more than happy to do. Ruckus is forced to reluctantly limp off without his arm (which Slag has decided to keep for himself).
Later, Amory thanks Nightbeat for freeing Phyrion by honoring the agreed-upon fee for his help (even though it wasn't a "real" case). She also springs for him to get a new head to replace his original one that was damaged in the fight. Amory and Phyrion then head off... and Minerva belatedly comments that, oh, yeah, they still don't have a ship (so hitching a ride might have been nice). Nightbeat snaps his fingers in realization, and says, well, someone on Purgatory must need a detective, right?
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Nebulans | Misc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"You missed window."
"Wasn't aiming for window."
- —Sludge comments on Slag's aim after he throws Vorg through the wall.
"Siren... inside voice, please."
"RIGHT. SORRY."
- —Nightbeat might have to give Siren a time-out
"Slag, did you have to chuck that guy through the wall?"
"Yup."
"Okay, but we need to conserve our cash."
"Don't care."
- —Nightbeat and Slag discuss tact and caution
"The type of folks who'd import ten dozen animals called "baby gnashers" probably don't blink at offing a guy who'd done 'em wrong."
"I think those are just young gnashers, Quig. They're like cows on Earth. Not animals that actually gnash babies."
- —Quig and Nightbeat
Siren: "RIGHT, NIGHTBEAT. ME AND THE DINOBOTS ARE STEALTH."
Nightbeat: Hope springs eternal.
"You brought the hostage with you?"
- —Octopunch and Nightbeat share a moment of marveling at Ruckus' stupidity
Notes
Art errors
- The cover features some bizarre spatial and proportion issues, including the fact that Nightbeat is standing in front of Sludge, but Sludge's foot is placed before Nightbeat. Siren, meanwhile, has a left leg that is not connected to any thigh.
Real-world references
- The introductory caption is a shout-out to the opening of The A-Team.
- The Amory was possibly named in honor of The Amory Wars, a story formed by the music of Coheed and Cambria.
Transformers references
- Siren is drawn with a pair of "normal" optics under his visor, a nod to the whole Nightbeat/Siren character-model head-swap deal. He even has his Marvel Comics nosebridge under there.
- Slag really lives up to his old box-back bio personality in this issue (basically, "unrepentant asshole"), moreso than he ever did before. Similarly, Siren's "loud" aspect from his bio is also brought to the forefront, as he basically shouts his way through the entire issue.
- This is possibly the first in-fiction appearance of several characters' toy weapons that had gone long-unseen. Slag and Sludge both have their missile launchers. Needlenose is carrying Sunbeam and Zigzag (though neither transform out of gun mode). Octopunch uses both of his toys' blasters instead of his "signature" trident.
- Along those lines, Siren's use of his sonic-screamer pistols is the first in-fiction use of the smaller Headmasters' helmet-guns in robot mode.
- Ruckus and Needlenose first crossed paths with Nightbeat and Siren in "Bird of Prey!", the "shooting in the back" incident spoken of here. The rest of the argument is about various events from the "Matrix Quest" issues of the old Marvel comic, though it's not apparent when Needlenose was thrown out into space... Needlenose seemed pretty cozily inside the Ark after Nightbeat jettisoned Thunderwing in "All Fall Down". It's possible he got sucked out unseen and the Autobots retrieved him.
Trivia
- Nightbeat getting a new head from Amory to repair the heavy damage he took in the battle, was done to reconcile the fact that the Timelines Nightbeat toy ended up with a head different from what the original design called for.
- When Slag waves goodbye to Amory, he's using Ruckus's arm to do it.
