Foundation and Wreckage Part 1: Deadly Aim
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| "Deadly Aim" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive) | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 27, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| By | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Story | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Illustrations by | Tomoya Hosono | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Josh Burcham | ||||||||||||
| Cover | Marcelo Matere and Josh Burcham | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Of Masters and Mayhem | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 24pp | ||||||||||||
The Wreckers recruit two more members in their attempt to get revenge against Thunder Mayhem...but they may have created an even greater monster in the process.
Synopsis
On the planet Abraxas, the former Aerialbot trainee Alpha Bravo has laid low on the planet, after the razing of Cybertron at the hands of Thunder Mayhem. Integrating himself as a helicopter in the emergency services, he believes himself to be the last Cybertronian left, and now spends his days as a seemingly ordinary vehicle, rescuing those in need. One day, however, changes all that: when reports of a meteorite blare across the Abraxan radio frequencies, Alpha Bravo's sensors are able to tell that the seemingly ordinary "rock" is actually a Cybertronian ship. Excited by the prospect of meeting another survivor, Alpha Bravo quickly activates a hologram of his pilot, Junior Lieutenant Jorrval, and heads out to the impact zone. Finding the crashed ship—more of an escape pod rather than a space-worthy vessel—Alpha Bravo lands and transforms, initially believing that it might have just been a derelict ship. However, inside the flames, he spots something he hasn't seen in years; a fellow Cybertronian.
Much later, Alpha Bravo and his new friend, the former Stunticon Offroad, have gotten used to their lives as rescue vehicles on Abraxas, growing close to one another. However, they are eventually are approached by Impactor and the Wreckers, who seek to take down Thunder Mayhem. Offroad—pretending to be bored by the prospects of living on Abraxas forever as a lifeless machine—quickly accepts Impactor's offer. Alpha Bravo, having grown to enjoy to his new life, is initially reluctant, but eventually accepts as well, happy to be with the remnants of his own kind. Brought onboard the Wreckers' ship, Impactor explains his plan: to create a combiner of their own to take down Thunder Mayhem. Alpha Bravo points out that they'll need an emotion strong enough to unite them, but Fractyl begins to explain that the Mayhem Attack Squad have a different source for their power. Counterpunch interjects, pointing out how all the other combiners had just as strong of a will uniting them up against Thunder Mayhem—a will to live—and yet they still fell before him. Counterpunch's comments cause Impactor, Alpha Bravo, and Offroad to grow gloomy, remembering what had happened to Superion and Menasor, while the warped Toxitron, trying to obfuscate his excitement to finally be a part of something bigger than himself, cracks some twisted jokes. Fractyl resumes his explanation: having hacked Shockwave's encrypted files at the base where Toxitron was frozen, he has discovered the source of Thunder Mayhem's power: a sixth spark! Not merely the result of a merging of personalities, Thunder Mayhem is his own entity, taking control of the combined Mayhem Attack Squad. The Predacon scientist then reveals that Toxitron also has a link with Thunder Mayhem. Created as a clone of Optimus Prime, Toxitron was used by Shockwave to grow a replica of the Creation Matrix's container—a revelation which causes Toxitron to fume with anger, remembering the torture he experienced under the hands of Shockwave and his assistants. Shockwave proceeded to implant a powerful spark within this "matrix", extracted from the Decepticon mad scientist Thunderwing, who turned his spark green when experimenting with his CNA. Finishing, Fractyl explains that while he can't replicate Thunderwing's process with any of their sparks, the greenergon that he picked up while on Chicxulania radiates the same energy signature as Thunderwing's spark. For the first time in a long time, Impactor smiles: the Wreckers have a shot.
On Abraxas, Offroad has taken well to his new job as the truck for excitable Junior Lieutenant Feenliess, while Alpha Bravo is still piloted by Jorrval, now promoted to Captain. For the most part, their tasks have been fairly menial, but their biggest rescue yet occurs when a Ghepisn Manufacturing chemical plant goes up in flames. Alpha Bravo and Offroad quickly arrive on the scene, and while the Decepticon wishes to join his partner in getting closer, Feenliess leaves him parked away from the flames. Alpha Bravo and the other helicopters try dousing the flames with water, but the highly combustible fuel additive the plant manufactures proves tenacious. Offroad radios Alpha Bravo, asking him to provide for a distraction; the Aerialbot begins to complain, but when one of the vats inside erupts in a tower of flame, Alpha Bravo is engulfed within it, distracting the rescuers on the ground as Offroad slips away. He drives around to the back of the facility and busts through, finding himself in the warehouse containing the fuel additive ingredients. Offroad's sensors pick up a muffled cough, and tries to push through the narrow aisles in vehicle mode, the heat melting his tires. Finding a freezer, Offroad uses his energy axe to free four Abraxan scientists trapped inside. They quickly enter Offroad's cab (with the Decepticon generating a hologram of his driver to calm them), and as he cranks his air conditioning to the max, Offroad tries his best to rush out of the warehouse, struggling to gain traction with his metal tires. He finally escapes, and the carbon monoxide emitted from his engines deprives the fire of oxygen, giving the rescuers outside a better shot at putting out the flames. Several hours later, Alpha Bravo and Offroad return to the station with the other rescuers; Offroad is given new tires, while Alpha Bravo is given a wash. After finishing up, Jorrval and Feenliess head out to get a celebratory drink together, allowing Offroad and Alpha Bravo to transform. Offroad is upset he didn't get a bath as well, but Alpha Bravo points out that he did get new tires. When Offroad mopes about missing his old ones, Alpha Bravo playfully tells the Stunticon that he'll get use to them, and Offroad smiles, noting that anything is possible now that he's gotten "used to" Alpha Bravo as well...
In Fractyl's lab, the Predacon geochemist gets to work extracting a sample of the greenergon to test in conjunction with Toxitron's fluids, believing that it should work similarly to Thunderwing's spark and its relationship with the artificial matrix. Toxitron, however, makes his work difficult, his passive aggressive comments annoying the smaller Transformer. When Fractyl mentions Thunder Mayhem's name, Toxitron works himself into a tantrum, complaining about how Shockwave only cared about his "perfect" experiments, leaving him and all the other "ugly" ones to be forgotten. Toxitron lets out a roar of frustration, startling Fractyl; the energy scalpel he was using accidentally cuts all the way through the greenergon crystal, sending it flying across the room. Falling into a beaker of thiotimoline, the crystal causes the usually innocuous solvent to foam, and Fractyl throws it out of his lab. The beaker flies past Alpha Bravo and Offroad as they head towards the command deck, and Alpha Bravo pulls Offroad back as the beaker explodes, knocking the doors off the cargo bay. Alpha Bravo worriedly checks over his friend, while Impactor comes to investigate. After Fractyl explains what thiotimoline is, Impactor orders the scientist to put all the remaining thiotimoline in the hold. Fractyl grabs the flasks, asking Toxitron as politely as he can to leave. Satisfied with getting Fractyl's timid responses, Toxitron heads off. Alpha Bravo and Offroad sit still for a second, before bursting into laughter over all the little drama.
Featured characters
Characters in italics appear only in flashbacks or in visions.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons/Predacons | Others |
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Quotes
Notes
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: the Mayhem Attack Squad, Thunder Mayhem, Superion, Defensor, Bruticus, Menasor, Wheeljack, Powerglide, the Aerialbots, Shockwave, an information thief, Optimus Prime, Jetfire, Thunderwing, Needlenose, Gnash, J'oh, and the Vespoids.
- In case you didn't pick up on it, there are serious romantic undertones to Alpha Bravo and Offroad's relationship – so much so that the subtext is practically text. However, they're only ever referred to as "friends" – this is, apparently, due to the Of Masters and Mayhem universe being a Marvel-style universe, where there are "no men, no women... no mates".[1] This doesn't account for the female Transformers present in the earlier OMAM stories, however.
- It is heavily implied that Impactor planted a kill-switch in Wreckage. This makes Alpha Bravo's actions all the more tragic, for being unnecessary. Of course, Impactor couldn't exactly have TOLD anyone about the kill-switch.
- Originally,[2] Rook was going to be in this story in place of Offroad; however, Fun Publications decided to make Wreckage 1.0 a Decepticon by majority.
Errors
- On page 22, the Agonizer Blade is misspelled "Angonizer Blade".
Continuity notes
- Impactor and Counterpunch picked up Fractyl and greenergon in "Life Finds a Way".
Transformers references
- Alpha Bravo and Offroad were introduced in the Combiner Wars toyline as new limbs for Superion and Menasor, respectively, both of whom are mentioned as deceased in this story.
- Alpha Bravo compares the whine of Cybertronian engines to the jingle of the Cosmic Carnival.
- To no one's surprise, it is explained that the all-powerful planet-devastating combiner Thunder Mayhem in some fashion houses the consciousness of Thunderwing, whose 2005 IDW counterpart devastated Cybertron, a story element which Of Masters and Mayhem homages.
- Abraxan Blue Lava Fireball was a drink featured, appropriately enough, in the story "Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?".
- The planet of origin of the aforementioned drink was previously identified as Abrax, but is here called Abraxas. Oops.
- With Cybertron in ruins, Alpha Bravo and Offroad disguise themselves as civilian rescue vehicles on another planet, working covertly to help the natives while disguising their true nature. Coincidence...?
Real world references
- Fractyl at one point says "I'm a geochemist, not a medical doctor", paraphrasing Star Trek's Doctor McCoy's famous line of "I'm a doctor, not a...".
References
External links
- "Deadly Aim" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
