Wreckers: Finale Part II

From MediaWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search


It is being brought.
It is being brought.
Oh, he's doin' somethin'...

Another editor is doing extensive changes to this article right now, and is requesting that all other editors hold off on any edits until their work is finished, in order to make sure nothing important gets lost.

« Transformers Timelines
text story 		»
« The Wreckers #5 »

Tigatron cannot BELIEVE how much this guy costs on eBay.
"Wreckers: Finale Part II"
Publisher Fun Publications
First published November 30, 2007
Writers Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Pencils Guido Guidi
Inks Guido Guidi
Colours Drew Eiden
Continuity Universe
Page count 35pp

The final showdown between the Wreckers and Cryotek determines the fate of Cybertron.

Synopsis

Several hours ago...

Above Cybertron, now a technoorganic paradise, Quintesson leader Derodomontatus orders for the ships to descend. Crytoek cautions the Quintesson, but the arrogant five-faced alien believes that with the reformatting of Cybertron, most Cybertronians will be too docile to resist, and those that aren't can be tempted with promises of machine bodies. Cryotek simply expresses that he would prefer to not have his payment jeopardized by failure, and that the Wreckers are still out there. Derodomontatus scoffs, believing a small group could never defeat a whole empire...much the same as Megatron, Cryotek reflects. Reviewing recent events, including the manipulations of the Quintessons, and his agent Cyclonus' successful infiltration of the Wreckers, Cryotek knows there is still a chance of failure. And if the Quintessons do succeed, they are sure to betray Cryotek the second it is convenient. Interrupted from his thoughts by Derodomontatus, Cryotek smiles to himself, idly petting his pet Chro. Plans begin to form in the Predacon's head...

On-board the Wreckers' ship, tensions are raised. With Cyclonus having betrayed them, many of the Wreckers (especially Rodimus) believe Skywarp is the next to turn. Skywarp's demeanor certainly doesn't help; when Apelinq asks if they can go any faster, Skywarp states that if they do, the ship will explode, laughing at the thought. The former Seeker proceeds to mock the new crew member, the Quintesson Al-Badur, who does not give in to Skywarp's goading. Apelinq is weary from the events of the last few days, and with the inexperience Primal Prime leading the into what seems like certain doom once again, he can only hope Prime knows what he's doing. Elsewhere on the ship, Primal Prime makes contact with Alpha Trion in another vision. Alpha Trion assures him not to worry about the technoorganics; although the Oracle may have fooled them, Primus works in mysterious ways. Alpha Trion warns Primal Prime about the danger the Divine Light holds, but his connection begins to cut, leaving Primal alone in his chamber.

Arriving above Cybertron, the crew is shocked by the massive change the planet has gone through. Tigatron thinks it is beautiful, Rodimus and Arcee are reminded of Earth, Tap-Out is shocked, and Skywarp is disgusted. Skywarp points out the Quintesson ship over Polyhex; Apelinq tells him to avoid it, the Wreckers only possessing half a ship, and head towards the surface. Ramulus is eager to destroy some Sharkticons, but Al-Badur believes the Quintessons are only a distraction, and that they should focus on Cryotek. When Ramulus accosts him, the Quintesson scientist grows furious, stating that while the Quintessons are vicious, they are repetitive, and the only variable they cannot account for is Cryotek. Ramulus is ready to kill Al-Badur, but Primal Prime steps in, ordering the Wreckers to head for the largest group of ground troops, where Cryotek will surely be.

Now...

With the Divine Light placed within his spark chamber, Cryotek has been elevated to the power of the god. With only a few Wreckers standing in his way, Cryotek seems poised to win...but is shocked at what stands in front of him. Primal Prime and Apelinq, the former having taken a blast for the later, have been fused by the energies of Primus into a new being: Sentinel Maximus! Soon back to his arrogant self, Cryotek circles around Sentinel, proclaiming that after he kills him again, reality will be his for the taking. Derodomontatus objects, but Cryotek simply sics Chro on the Quintesson, the robotic bird tearing Derodomontatus apart. Cryotek lunges at Sentinel, and Cyclonus engages Devcon and Tigatron. Ramulus holds ranting Quintesson up, and promises to spare the alien the embarresment of defeat, pulling his fist back for the kill...

Above ground, Cheetor is contacted by the Oracle while fighting Sharkticons, telling him he is needed elsewhere. Not wanting to abandone the fight, he watches Snarl save an unsuspecting Maximal from an Allicon. Cheetor notices Matrix Templar something about him, but the leonine Maximal shouts for him to go. As Cheetor run off to the Oracle, Snarl demands a status update from Skydive. The reptilian Maximal informs his commander that T-Wrecks and his Dinobots have driven the eastern flank back, but more and more Quintessons are landing across the planet. At Ankmor, Judge Brinn leads his forces forward, looking forward to regaining Cybertron. Extempaxia, however, is concerned; with all the technoorganic foliage around, the Quintessons cannot detect any Cybertronians. Regarding a pice of technoorganic fruit, Extempaxia does not notice the Maximal cobra Night Viper sneaking up on him until it is too late. The scientist's screams attract the others, and more Maximals descend on the Quintesson forces. A furious Brinn orders his flamethrower troops forward, and Night Viper is scorched, shocking the other Maximals. Brinn laughs, and tells the Maximals in front of him that if they surrender, they might get new bodies rid of design flaws. Suddenly, Night Viper strikes the unsuspecting judge, filling him with cybervenom. Healing with energies obtained from Brinn's sytems, Night Viper transforms, and as the judge's optics go offline, his last sight is Night Viper grinning over him, a crystalline blade unleashed from his arm...

The Wreckers begin to abandon ship, the engines having been taken out. Rodimus tries to stay behind, despite Arcee's pleas, but Skywarp knocks the Autobot out, telling Tap-Out to take him and get off the ship. Arcee gets Rotorbolt and Fractyl out of the med-bay, and the ground based Wreckers descend using emergency landing packs. Watching as Skywarp seemingly sacrifices himself to take out an entire fleet of Sharkticons. Beginning to eulogize the Decepticon, the proceedings are interrupted by a still alive Skywarp, having teleported out of the ship at last second. The annoyed group heads forward; Rotorbolts advocates heading for Cybertropolis, but Rodimus, sensing what's going on below, has them begin to head for there. Suddenly, Cheetor meets up with the group. Excited to meet his idol, Cheetor quickly composes himself, and introduces himself to Rodimus.

Elsewhere, Overseer Rexian has come across an near-entirely technological area of Cybertron. Hoping to get a promotion from this discover, Rexian is distracted from his thoughts by a group of entirely mechanical robots. The group claims to be ancient Decepticons freed from the prisons...but when one claims to be Thundercracker, every one of them begins to fight, all believing themselves to be Thundercracker. When the Sharkticon forces begin to advance, the Decepticons decide whoever kills the most gets to be Thundercracker. When one questions if there is a tie, they declare that they'll flip it and whoever looses, gets to be Dirge. Rexian attempts to escape, but one of the other Decepticons attacks him, convinced that he's Sinnertwin.

Back below ground, Chro transforms into crossbow mode, firing off bolts at the Wreckers. Devcon blasts him, causing the avian robot to transform back to robot mode, and as he divebombs towards Ramulus, the Maximal blasts the deployer, destroying the small Predcaon. Ramulus snarls, asking Cryotek if that's the best he's got, to which the Primus-empowered simply responds by sending a bolt of energy to his pet, mutating him to massive size. Devcon and Tigatron strafe Cyclonus, while Ramulus hops in beast mode to avoide the mutated Chro's mobile artillery mode. Ramulus asks Tigatron if he can use his Vok powers, but Tigatron is reluctant, not wanting to mix it with the energies of Primus already present in the chamber. Cryotek freezes Sentinel Maximus, but does not notice as Hyperlinq separates from Sentinel, unfreezing his larger body. The headless body of Sentinel strikes Cryotek, and unites with Hyperlinq in vehicle mode to ram Cryotek into a wall, crashing through to the other side. Cryotek uses his energies to reformat Sharkticon corpses into simulacrum of his old minions. Sentinel begs Cryotek to not use these energies, in case he attracts Unicron, but Cryotek dismisses the god as longer existing. Al-Badur contacts Sentinel, and Sentinel demands for him to get to the point. Al-Badur informs Sentinel that Cryotek is more than likely capable of killing him, and that their is an increasing chance that their battle will attract Unicron. Sending him co-ordinates, Al-Badur instructs him to lead Cryotek there, and heads off to Maximus' location. The Quintesson stumbles upon a group of Maximals: Rattrap, Botanica, and Nightscream. The Quintesson tells the suspicious Maximals of his connection to the Wreckers, and proves his goodwill by using a device to taking out 33.7% of the Sharkticon forces, their access codes remaining the same from his time on Quintessa. Botanica uses her roots to connect to a communication line, and confirms that Sharkticon forces at Mount Megatron have fallen by the hundreds.

At Mount Megatron, Oversser Vashik cowers in fear. Much of his front has already been decimated by Predacon forces, and with a half-complete fortres city already being built, he was left behind as In-Saba Nur's team sneaked into the city. Suddenly, Vashik is attacked by the leader of the Predacons, Galvatron, who crushes the Quintesson. Galvatron's subordinate, Waspinator, informs his leader that the Quintesson forces have swarmed into the western canyon. Pleased, Galvatron tells Waspinator to inform his brother to proceed. As the tiny Predacon darts off, Galvatron picks up Vashik, and asks him if he know just exactly where he is. Inside the canyon itself, In-Saba Nur is pleased at his progress, but is shocked from his thoughts as massive steel walls emerge, preventing their escape. Suddenly, hot poring metal flows into the canyon, melting the unfortunate soldiers within, while the Predacons above blast those trying to escape. Galvatron carries Vashik with him, and shows the Quintesson the melted remains of his fellow forces. Telling him that he should be glad that his base metals will be used to rebuild Darkmount, Galvatron throws the screaming Quintesson into the smelting pool.

Rodimus and his group race to the underground, reuniting with several of their teammates. Cyclonus and Rodimus stand off, with the latter demanding for Cryotek. Cyclonus grins, telling them that those of whom he doesn't kill can die in the final stand against Cryotek. Ramulus threatens the large Decepticon, but Skywarp suddenly blasts the Maximal, blowing the floor out from under him and causing him to fall into the darkness below. Cyclonus explains that although Skywarp's personality has returned, he still controls his fellow Decepticon...which Skywarp always hated. Teleporting behind his former partner, Skywarp blasts him in the back, telling him he only ever followed one leader...and Cyclonus was never him. An angry Cyclonus calls for his Sharkticon horde, acquired from the Quintessons, to attack. As the battle commences, an angry Rodimus pulls Skywarp aside. Skywarp tells him that for now, they have a common enemy, and Rodimus lets him go, promising a reckoning. Cheetor, meanwhile, reunites with Tigatron. Cheetor throws his blade into Cyclonus' chest, and the shocked Decepticon commends him for his bravery. Suddenly, large bolts of energy fill the cavern, striking Tap-Out and Skywarp, and the two simply disappear, confusing even Cyclonus. As the battle begin again, Cheetor orders Tigatron to get to the surface for reinforcements. Initially reluctant, Tigatron relents, and heads to the surface.

Above ground, the Dinobots are counting their kills, giving points for style. Dinotron and Triceradon are briefly shocked when Retptron displays his bloodthirsty nature, using a Quintesson Judge as a club against the Sharkticons. T-Wrecks, meanwhile, takes care of the remaining Sharkticons. As the smoke clears, he notices Triceradon has disappeared, just like Striker before him. Radioing Longhorn, he inquires if it's a Quintesson weapon, and whether they'll use it again. Longhorn doubts it, with it acquiring a large amount of Sharkticons as well, and looks over at Snarl's Beast Rider, it's pilot having similarly vanished.

Arcee, reluctant to leave Fractyl, but knowing they need her below, is wracked with indecision. Rotorbolt promises to look after his fellow Predacon, but as Arcee rushes off to join the others, Rotorbolt contemplates turning off Fractyl's life support. Knowing that the Allspark is real, and feeling that a Predacon, even a scientist like Fractyl, does not deserve to die in such a weak way, Rotorbolt considers the ethics. Before he can do anything, however, Tigatron interrupts him. Tigatron attempts to heal Fractyl, but the Vok contained in his spark that if he does use them to heal Fractyl, this will be the last action they preform for him. Tigatron considers, and eventually, decides to let the aliens go free. Fractyl's bodies is healed by the Vok, and as he awakens, Rotorbolt tells him to be ready to be ready to fight.

Cyclonus blasts the ceiling as he takes his chance to escape, setting up a barrier between him and the Wreckers. Rodimus, however, manages to get under the barrier, and engages the Decepticon in combat. Savagely attacking each other, the two insult each other, with Rodimus mocking Cyclonus' need to follow leaders like the insane Galvatron, and Cyclonus mocking Rodimus about his feelings of unworthiness during his time as a Prime. As the two train their weapons directly on each other's chests, Cyclonus attempts to call Rodimus' bluff. Rodimus smiles, and the two fire.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots/Maximals Decepticons/Predacons/Vehicons Others

Dinobots

Quintessons

Others

Mutants

Quotes

"My dear Derodomontatus, a contract is simply an agreement bound in law. In order for it to have binding power, you must be capable of enforcing it."

—Cryotek tells Derodomontatus that he's dead.


"Desssign flaw? No, no, no... It'sss a feature, ssstupid."

—Night Viper doesn't mind being incinerated.


"Prepare plasma arrays for orbital bombardment."
"But what of our forces still remaining on the surface?"
"I am certain our brethren will appreciate our proactive solution to the unexpected impediment to our forward progression in this unparalleled business opportunity."

—Admiral Krahulik totally went to PR school.


"What?"
"I said, that was for stabbing me in the back on Archa Nine! And this... this is for making me repeat myself!"

—a dying Cyclonus and a vengeful Rotorbolt


"Goodbye, Heirodyus. I will call your people to meet me again the next time I have need of an evolutionary crisis."

—Primus, Lord of Light, wise in all things...turns out to be something of a smartass.


"I have known quite a few geniuses, Quintesson. I have killed quite a few of them, in fact. Your inclusion in their number speaks poorly for all of them."

—Cryotek doesn't think much of Al-Badur.


"I... I don't know how! I don't fraggin' read Quintesson!"
"Just start hitting things!"
"That's a language I understand!"

—Ramulus and Sentinel Maximus


"Even when you were a bug, I hated your stinkin' circuits."

—Skywarp

Notes

Continuity notes

  • This story occurs one week after the reformatting of Cybertron in the Beast Machines finale "Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future".
  • Many events from the Wreckers series are recapped in the opening section of the story, including the tasks of the Mutants and Dinobots, and Cyclonus' betrayal in #2, and Al-Badur joining with the Wreckers in Disclosure. Additonally, Apelinq remembers his role in Point Omega in Terminus.
  • Technorganic fruit previously appeared in Beast Machines episode Forbidden Fruit.
  • Cheetor refers to his days at the MCSF acadamy, mentioned in his BotCon 2006 bio.
  • Backslash first appeared in Theft of the Golden Disk.
  • The story gives a name to the plant world that Botanica and crew were studying, seen in Home Soil: Regalis V.
  • The disappearance of Skywarp, Tap-Out, Snarl, and Triceradon (and a contingent of Sharkticons, apparently), is due to them being kidnapped by Unicron. The latter would be freed in the Universe story "Escape", while Skywarp would not be seen again until a one-panel appearance in a flashback in Revelations Part 2, among Unicron's forces.
  • Rodimus refers to Galvatron as Cyclonus's old master from the era of the Great War, in keeping with the reference in "Possession" to Galvatron, but "Terminus" showed Megatron as one of the denizens of J'nwan. Guess Galvatron got his old name and body back by the end of the Great War?
  • Obsidian and Strika were launched into orbit near the end of Beast Machines, in "Endgame Pt. II: When Legends Fall".
  • The formless dimension, along with the Quintesson banishment chamber, originated in the Generation 1 Season 3 episode "Madman's Paradise". The evil presence within that dimension calls to mind the beings who tortured Universe Ramjet when he was stuck between a formless void.
  • Primus's energy usually makes people better, but this time it killed poor Rodimus.
  • So Devcon left Slizardo floating in space... for three hundred years? One has to wonder if Devcon knew what Slizardo did after their last meeting in "The Gambler"?
  • Windrazor was last seen at the conclusion of "Terminus". For Apelinq/Sentinel Maximus, it has only been a few weeks or months, but for real-world readers, that story concluded almost 8 years earlier, with no information on Windrazor's fate.
  • Chronologically speaking the Universe issue "Abduction" is the next step in the storyline. What happened to Sentinel Maximus and where Windrazor took him would be detailed in the Transformers Club magazine comic Transformers: Cybertron: Balancing Act.

Transformers references

  • Cryotek notes Sentinel Maximus uses Headmaster technology.
  • Multiple toy only characters show up, including Quickstrike, Skydive, Longhorn, Che, Night Viper, Buzz Saw, and Hammerstrike, all of whom are from Beast Machines. Injector, meanwhile, is from the Beast Wars toyline.
  • Ankmor Park first appeared in the previous club prose story, The New World.
  • "Pre-reformatting synthetic-flesh cyborgs"—the Cyborg Beasts—are noted as part of Galvatron's forces.
  • Darkmount and the smelting pool first appeared in Marvel's Transformers issue #17.
  • Galvatron and Megastorm come from Beast Wars II.
  • Rook reports from the "Cybernet Space Cube". This was a reference/gag that Glen Hallit had wanted to put into an issue of the Wreckers or Universe comics, but was ultimately unable to when the license was revoked and both comic series were canceled.

Real-world references

  • In-Saba Nur is named for Marvel Comics villain Apocalypse's real name, En Sabah Nur.
  • Struck by Unicron's bolts, the text describes Tap-Out and Skywarp "screamed and were suddenly silenced," a quote from Star Wars.
  • Admiral Krahulik is named after Mike Krahulik, creator of the webcomic Penny Arcade.
  • "He makes me laugh," says Botanica of Rattrap—echoing Jessica Rabbit's reason for marrying Roger Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame.
  • Ramulus riffs on a famous movie title in dubbing Rattrap "Cheesy Rider".
  • He may be a bear, but Icebird is not a godless killing machine.

Errors

  • Yes, the first half is titled "The Wreckers: Finale Part 1" while the second half is titled "Wreckers: Finale Part II". Sigh.
  • Page 2: Mish-mash, not mish-mashed
  • Page 17: Cyclonus hovered in the tunnel between the Wreckers and their goal. His missiles trained on the warriors before him.
  • Page 18: "the chamber it up"
  • Page 23: "I said; that was for..." Colon, or comma, but not a semi-colon.
  • Apparently the shield in the portal chamber somehow protected Al-Badur from the Wreckers, but it's not quite clear how.
  • While mourning Rodimus, Arcee says that he will be with friends like Optimus. "Termimus" showed Optimus Prime as one of the inhabitants of J'nwan. So perhaps Arcee considers living in J'nwan to be death, she doesn't know Optimus is still alive, or Optimus no longer retired to J'nwan in the revised version of history.
Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Wreckers:_Finale_Part_II&oldid=1241368"