Coalescence
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 I hope you like this, you had to wait five years for it! | |||||||||||||
| "Coalescence" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive) | ||||||||||||
| First published | December 28, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| By | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Illustrations | Josh Perez | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Luke Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2009, 2011, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 84pp | ||||||||||||
Worlds collide when the Underbase and its attendants threaten the multiverse, as an ancient evil seeks new worlds to conquer...
Synopsis
Universes away, the Fallen is on the cusp of victory, ready to unleash his ultimate weapon. Unfortunately for him, the one being who can stop the god-like Transformer arrives to stop him. As the last descendant of his brothers tears through him, the Fallen finds a fold in space-time and, desperate to escape, plunges himself into it. He soon realizes he's made a miscalculation, however; tumbling through the multiverse, he falls to the edges far beyond where his brothers and sisters in the Thirteen reign, and the normally fiery fallen Prime finds himself shivering as the polarity of the universe inverts around him...
Two years later, Sephie Beller, now the superhero Emulator, confronts two thieves at the New Energy Resource Research and Development Laboratory in the middle of their attempt to steal a piece of machinery. Noticing the thieves—going by the aliases of Grindor and Sureshock—appear to have mechanical parts, Emulator radios in Rick, serving as her eyes in the sky, and lets him know that she's about to confront some more Transhumans the Autobots have created. Hanging up, Emulator readies her sonic pulses, but an unintimidated Sureshock lets loose her own special power, shocking Emulator with her electrical attack. Rick tries to advise Sephie, but when Sureshock prepares a second volley, Emulator reflexively fires off a sonic pulse. Sureshock collapses in pain, promoting Grindor to drop the machine and rush to her. Emulator tries to tell the furious Grindor that Sureshock will be fine, before noticing the blood dripping from the injured thief's ear. Before she can say anything more, an energy field blasts her back, as a third thief joins the others. With the field dampening her sonic powers, Emulator pushes away the stolen device and attempts to confront the newcomer—whose name Emulator mishears as "Highwire"—but he and the others escape, as the barrier begins to warp, preventing both Emulator's eyes and Rick's camera-drones from following them. Walking over to the ruined device, Rick tries to reassure Sephie, pointing out that she kept it out of the thieves' hands, but the Pyrrhic victory sits ill with her.
At Autobot headquarters, Rodimus Prime tries to find Huffer, who was supposed to take over comm duties after Hubcap, only to never show up. With several Autobots having gone missing in the past few months, Rodimus worries that his troops will begin to question his leadership. Prowl suggests that they ask Inferno about Huffer, since the childlike Autobot enjoys having playdates with the Minicars. Calling in the middle of Inferno's playdate with Tailgate, Rodimus interrupts the pair to ask about the missing Huffer. Inferno notes that he last saw him talking with Side Burn, and that for the first time, the cheery Minicar seemed to have a frown on his face. Satisfied, Rodimus sends Brawn off to Side Burn's lab.
Meanwhile, Starscream is attempting to write a speech commemorating the opening of a new Decepticon base on Earth. Struggling with his writers' block and with dubious help from Ravage, Starscream welcomes a distraction when Blitzwing comes to tell him that the Annex has arrived. Cyclonus, the ship's captain, arrives with Cliffjumper following his every move, extremely distrustful of the bot who assassinated Megatron, only to be pardoned by the Decepticon leader when he was revived as Galvatron. Starscream tries his best to mask his distrust of the gruff Decepticon, promising him that no one will bother him, but Cyclonus simply states that he'll wait onboard while supplies are being traded off. As Cyclonus heads off, followed by Cliffjumper, Blitzwing tries to let Starscream know that the Americans want to know about their decision on making further Transhumans, but the exasperated Decepticon sends him off, as Ravage tries to comfort his commander. Meanwhile, maintenance expert Darkwing struggles to recalibrate the current Decepticon base's sensors to pick up the Transhumans the Autobots have been creating. Crasher tries to assist him, but she's far more interested in flirting with Darkwing. Unfortunately for her, the clueless Darkwing doesn't pick up her meaning. Annoyed, she fixes the problem by plugging in the power conduit Darkwing forgot about.
Sephie and Rick meet up after their failed attempt to stop the Transhuman trio. As Sephie applies salves to her electrical burns, Rick finds that the three have no results in Professor Arkeville's facial recognition software or the government's files. With no leads to go on, and not confident in her current abilities, Sephie decides to go see Jetstorm for upgrades, despite Rick's protest. Flying out to his secret base hidden in a mountain range in the desert, Emulator steels herself, and enters the base. Inside, Jetstorm sarcastically greets her, and when she asks for upgrades, he makes a show of refusing, having secretly goaded her into coming back by cooperating with Side Burn and his Transhumans. Furious, Emulator takes the bait, and demands that she have the rest of her human parts taken out. Satisfied, Jetstorm begins drawing up designs with his computer NAVI, as Sephie holds back her tears. Meanwhile, having followed Sephie to Jetstorm's hide out, Rick watches from the van, knowing that he can't let her do this to herself, but unsure of how to stop her.
Out in the desert, Demolishor is on patrol duty, along with his small partners, Squeezeplay and Fangry. Demolishor loudly complains about Starscream's unwillingness to produce Decepticon Transhumans, ignoring his small companions protests about him dragging them out past the perimeter. As Demolishor heads for the mountains, Fangry and Squeezeplay realize that their GPS is being jammed. The two attempt to escape, but Demolishor quickly transformers and lies to them, claiming that he came across a secret base, and that he's jammed the GPS so they won't be detected. Fangry is unsure, but the loyal Squeezeplay convinces him, and so Demolishor leads them into the trap.
At Autobot headquarters, Side Burn works on replacing Sureshock's destroyed ear drums with new auditory sensors, while Grindor throws a temper tantrum in the lab. Highwire, suspicious after Side Burn reveals that he didn't even know what he sent them to steal was, begins questioning why he's the one providing them with upgrades instead of the other Autobot scientists. Before he can give a satisfactory answer, Side Burn is interrupted when Brawn comes to confront him about Huffer. When his weak excuses don't work, Side Burn drops the facade, shifting his shape into a monstrous form, scaring Brawn off. The three terrified Transhumans watch as Side Burn reverts to normal, promising to take them to his real lab.
Out in space, the Fallen sits on his frozen throne, the flames of his body being suffocated by ice. His servant, Sunstorm, reports that Side Burn, Demolishor, and Jetstorm are all reporting that their work is going well, but with an accelerated pace due to unforeseen events. Nevertheless, the results should be the same. Satisfied, the Fallen orders Sunstorm to begin heating him once more. Sunstorm reluctantly wills the radioactive energies within his form outward, and strains as he attempts to melt the ice covering his idol...
Onboard the Annex, Cyclonus sits alone, reflecting on his past. He has realized how Alpha Trion manipulated him and his other followers, promising them a reunited Cybertron, only for the old Transformer to betray them. And yet, despite his allegiance to Alpha Trion and his assassination attempt on Megatron, Galvatron has forgiven him; something he still cannot do for himself. His thoughts are interrupted when Darkwing and Crasher approach him; assuming they're here to get revenge for killing Megatron, Cyclonus prepares himself for the pain, only for the two to announce they were sent by Starscream for maintenance repairs. Relaxing, Cyclonus introd explains that when the ship was built, Stonecruncher and Excavator played a bunch of pranks, causing the ship to malfunction. When Darkwing finds a plaque with the Constructor Squad's signature in place of the ship's operations panel, he informs Cyclonus that it's going to take a while before he and Crasher can fix everything.
Back at the Autobot's base, Rodimus prepares to storm Side Burn's lab, but his nervousness allows the arrogant Jetfire, gunning for his position as Autobot leader, to push past him with the others. Inside, Side Burn and his three Transhuman experiments are long gone, and Rodimus attempts to take charge once more. As he and Jetfire bicker, Blustreak finds a hidden passage behind one of the shelves. Jetfire pushes Rodimus back once more and enters the passage...only to be met by laser fire when he sets off a booby trap. Rodimus sends Prowl ahead to disable any other traps, and laughs at the corpse of his would-be usurper, before having Inferno put him out. Soon, Rodimus, Brawn, Prowl, Jetfire, and Inferno find the bodies of Saber, Fallback, Windcharger, Pipes, and Huffer dangling from the ceiling, having been used by Side Burn to reconstruct the Transhumans; Inferno falls to his knees in anguish, crying over the loss of his Minicar friends.
Back in the desert, Rick notices Demolishor, tailed by a black sedan and an Autobot sports car with the thieves from earlier within. Initially believing that Demolishor is in trouble, Rick gets ready to move, but when he sees the three enter the hangar door of Jetstorm's base, he realizes something is up. Rick runs out the van as the door closes; noticing the touch screen panel, he follows Sephie's fingerprints from earlier, and successfully sneaks inside after inputting the password. Jetstorm's lab is empty, allowing Rick to quickly find Sephie strapped to a surgical pod, unconscious and ready for surgery. Hearing the voices of Jetstorm and the others, Rick quickly gets to work getting Sephie free. Meanwhile, Jetstorm meets up with Demolishor and Side Burn. The fake Decepticon demands to use Jetstorm's lab, as he's not made much progress with his Transhumans due to Starscream's unwillingness to experiment on humans, having been lying about his project progress. Side Burn, having nearly perfected his Transhumans, insists that he should go instead, and bickers with Demolishor. Jetstorm shuts the two up, telling them they'll both get a chance...but only after he's finished with his components. Elsehwhere in the complex, the imprisoned Squeezeplay and Fangry fume over Demolishor's betrayal. One of the two humans from the black sedan, Donnie, wonder why the Decepticons aren't excited for what's about to happen, but his friend, Nestor, points out that they seem to be here unwillingly. When Fangry angrily demands to know whats about to happen, the two reveal that they are going to become the masters of the small Decepticons. Back in Jetstorm's lab, Rick successfully frees Sephie, and drags the groggy superhero behind a server bank, as the strange Cybertronian returns. Finding Emulator's pod empty, Jetstorm accuses Demolishor and Side Burn of having hidden her to sabotage Jetstorm. The two point out that they've been with him the whole time, but the untrusting Jetstorm locks all the ports and hatches, refusing to let anyone out. As Sephie returns to consciousness, she confusedly asks Rick what he's doing, and her friend explains that Jetstorm's tricked her, planning to use her as a "component," unsure of what that entails. Their conversation is cut short when Side Burn begins crying out in pain. The others, realizing what's happening, hold hands with Side Burn, as the three partially convert into a communications device. In the center of their circle, a holographic purple head forms: their master, Cybaxx, sovereign of the Underbase. The annoyed, impatient hologram informs them that the Fallen is impatient, and that they need to hurry up with their components. Demolishor meekly asks for some more time, but Cybaxx, having read Demolishor's false report, tells them that they'll have plenty of time to finish their components on the way back, and hangs up. The three separate, and with no other options, Jetstorm reluctantly orders NAVI to activate the engines, revealing his base to be a ship. Rick tries to find a way out, but with Sephie too groggy to properly use her sound pulses, she decides to use another power she obtained from Soundwave: telepathy.
Onboard the Annex, Crasher doubles over in pain. Darkwing and Cyclonus rush to her, the latter recognizing that Crasher's brain is "special." Before he can explain to the confused Darkwing, Crasher yells about Sephie, whose "words" are slicing into her brain. Realizing she's getting a message from their human friend, Darkwing persuades her to listen to the message, and Crasher slowly explain Sephie and Rick's situation. Cyclonus realizes they'll need a ship and, wanting to help the first Decepticons to trust him in a long time, decides to pursue the ship the humans are trapped in with the Annex. Having recovered, Crasher joins Cyclonus and Darkwing in taking up their stations, and as the ship flies off, the Decepticons watch in confusion, as a furious Cliffjumper shouts at the "traitorous" Decepticons. Meanwhile, at Autobot headquarters, Skids picks up two ship signals heading into space. Realizing that one of them is Side Burn, and figuring that the other is from the Decepticons, Rodimus ignores Inferno's demands for revenge. After all, with the Decepticons preoccupied with chasing down Side Burn, now's the perfect time for an attack on the new Decepticon base...
Inside the Underbase, Sunstorm strains to keep the Fallen warm, begging his idol to let him rest for a second. The Fallen ignores his please, but the hologram of Cybaxx rezzes into the room, advising him to stop before Sunstorm depletes all of his energy. Cybaxx then tells the powerful old Transformer that the array is almost ready, with Jetstorm and the others on their way to complete it and open the gateway, retrieving the "All-Knowledge" of the multiverse. The Fallen, unconcerned with knowledge, simply states that he's more interested in other negative universes, and again has Sunstorm warm him. Meanwhile, onboard Jetstorm's ship, Demolishor rebuilds Nestor and Donny with mechanical joints and armor. Side Burn urges him to hurry up, having allowed the fake Decepticon to work while his three Transhumans search for Emulator, and the two begin bickering once more. An annoyed Jetstorm tells them to shut up, trying to concentrate on finding his wayward experiment. Unbeknownst to him, she and Rick are still in the same room, having hidden themselves inside one of NAVI's floating monitors. As the three of Side Burn's Transhumans return from their search effort, Sephie tells Rick they should start moving to avoid being caught, but are interrupted when Jetstorm suddenly approaches the monitor. The two are worried they've been caught, but as it turns out, they're not what's caught Jetstorm's interest, as the monitor warns him of the approaching Annex.
Onboard the Annex, Cyclonus and Darkwing bicker, the latter having accidentally gotten too close to Jetstorm's ship as a result of his inexperience with piloting. Crasher breaks the two up, and with the Annex under-crewed, she's forced to drive back and forth between weapons and operations stations. Suddenly, the three see their target's destination: a large golden cube made up of lattices, glowing in space...the Underbase. Onboard Jetstorm's ship, Jetstorm tells Side Burn and Demolishor to begin coming up with excuses for their unfinished components. However, Demolishor proudly announces that he's finished his components; instead of replacing human tissue with Cybertronian components, he's simply rebuilt Donny and Nestor with metal joints and armor and binary bonded them to their new Decepticon slaves. Side Burn sheepishly goes to put the finishing touches on his three Transhumans, while Jetstorm miserably wonders about what he's going to do.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
"Stuck? No, no, no. You misunderstand. He can go back to any positive universe he wants. But that is exactly what he doesn’t want. You see there is balance in those universes, in the form of his brothers and sisters. He is alone here though since they’re reluctant to come this far… And he wants to go even further. You see he theorizes that there are more negative universes. And, well, I do believe he wants them."
- — Beta Maxx
"The ultimate truth, the real truth is… that there is no truth. None whatsoever. Our existence is merely to have our names added to the historical ledgers. And as Optronix, my name wasn’t even a footnote. But as Optimus Prime, ruler of the Autobots and conqueror of worlds, I think I’ve done better."
- —Optimus Prime
"Why does this universe hate me so?"
- — Doesn't matter what universe he's in, the universe will always hate Waspinator.
Notes
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: the Thirteen, the one thing that can stop the Fallen, Dr. Arkeville, the Witwickies, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Soundwave, Blurr, "MegaPapytonLuvr0147725331," Triggerhappy, Slugslinger, Misfire, Blast Off, Walter Barnett, Ratchet, Hoist, Krunix, the Mayhem Suppression Squad, Stonecruncher, Excavator, Darkwind, Darkwind's brother, Boltax, Outback, Fastback, Gears, Brahms, a small-minded alien, the Constructicons, Primus, Ultra Magnus, Teletraan-14, Nexus Prime, Aquarius, Classics Megatron, the Sweeps, Megatron, Scorponok, Tarantulas, Scavenger, Quickstrike, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Rhinox, Omega Terminus, the Mutants, Solarbot, the G1 GoBots, Takahasi-hakase, Rewind, Chromedome, Classics Prowl, Classics Silverbolt, Classics Ironhide, Shattered Glass Primus, Gaea, and Depth Charge's Megatron.
- Having spent years in the pipeline, this story follows up on the plot threads of "Transhuman".
- The main story, first epilogue, and second epilogue take place some time between "Reunification: Part 6" and "Invasion". The third epilogue takes place some time after "The Future Buried...".
- According to a post by Jesse Wittenrich on the Allspark Forums, the story's original outline was different, with the Underbase sending out agents who would attract Unicron's attention. This was scrapped since the events of Another Light brought Unicron into Shattered Glass via other means. Likewise, the original ending would have had the post-Shroud Nexus Prime components meeting the Shattered Glass version of the Fallen, but Wittenrich felt it better to resolve Depth Charge's story.[1]
- Wittenrich also stated the time skip was done to "smooth over" some of the inconsistencies without having to devote time on them.
Continuity notes
- Cyclonus betrayed the Decepticons in "Reunification: Part 4" but is later seen back with Galvatron, his toy bio saying he realised his mistakes while in jail. This story fills in the blanks as the chronologically first story after he was let out. Galvatron has pardoned him of all crimes, to everyone else's distaste.
- Stonecruncher is noted in this story to have a penchant for changing his chassis, accounting for his differing body designs in "Do Over" and "Distant Fissures".
- Readers who followed the previous Shattered Glass stories may notice Jetstorm is suddenly a teeny bit more, ah, "effusive" than he used to be, acting much more like his Beast Machines counterpart, which goes without explanation or comment.
- Star Saber (referred to as just "Saber" in this story) was the first to find out about the Underbase, back at the end of "Transhuman".
- The Nexus Prime components return, but with a few differences, their names having been changed around–minus Heatwave's–because they are now all native Shattered Glass versions, save for Heatwave as Wittenrich decided to let him keep his name.
- After years of only existing in his profile and second-hand references, Beta Maxx finally gets to personally appear and star in a Transformers story, in which he is depicted as a companion of Shattered Glass Alpha Trion, as previously noted in his original profile.
Transformers references
- Per the writer, the opening with the Fallen being killed is not actually Revenge of the Fallen, but it could be a variant Tyran reality.
- Highwire was actually called Haywire, a more obvious villainous name, but his voice being muffled means he handily has to have a Street Action Mini-Con Team name.
- Sephie accidentally crippling a foe who is subsequently fixed mechanically harkens back to Circuit Breaker's own origin.
- Jetstorm, Demolishor, Hot Shot, Windblade, Strongarm, and Side Burn are in fact sentient droids made out of Transformium. Beta Maxx follows up on that by grumbling about the silly name being coined by a small-minded alien, referring to Joshua Joyce, the man who gave the substance its unoriginal name in Age of Extinction.
- In a cheeky nod to how he originally had control over fire, The Fallen has semi-control over ice in a negative universe, incidentally answering a question long posed on the multiversal singularity page.
- Demolishor lands in Crystal City shortly before its being attacked by a female Devastator, additionally spotting Doc.
- Two of the hostages are from planet Beest (that particular spelling of the planet's name originating from the Dreamwave Summer Special story "Welcome to the Jungle"), with one being that universe's version of White Leo, who in turn is also that universe's version of Daburu.
- Beta Maxx's former occupation as the "sovereign" of the Underbase is likely a reference to the Titan Master Sovereign, whose design is based on Beta Maxx's.
Real-world references
- Darkwing jokes about intruding on Cyclonus's Fortress of Solitude.
- Sephie refers to the recent development of touchscreens.
- Ravage talks about the TV show Stranger Things, specifically mentioning the Upside Down.
- The revelation about Crasher's unique brain is a subtle nod and wink to her origins, being based on the GoBot Crasher–GoBots of course being cyborgs with organic brains.
- The game Windblade created for Strongarm is based on Pokémon Go.
- Hanzo, McCree, Zenyatta, and Genji all hail from the popular PvP game Overwatch. A hero released after this comic was published, named Moira, also has an ultimate ability called "Coalescence". It's probably a coincidence.
Errors
- There's some inconsistencies in this story compared to the earlier Shattered Glass prose stories, to be expected with a different author. However, those that are outright errors include:
- Early on, the story notes that Sephie and Rick are in San Diego. However, previous stories showed that California was destroyed in World War III.
Other notes
- Not strictly an error, but the Shattered Glass version of Arkeville is referred to as "Dr. Arkeville" like his positive-universe counterpart, whereas previous stories have referred to him as "Professor Arkeville" to distinguish him.
- Jetstorm is depicted in this story as being essentially the same character as his Beast Machines counterpart, whereas in "Transhuman" he was monotonous and emotionless. While this may seem like an error, author Jesse Wittenrich noted that he deliberately changed his personality, and had wanted to include a scene where Sephie noticed his change in behavior, but couldn't figure out a way to incorporate it organically.
References
External links
- "Coalescence" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
