Pod Part 2

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	"Pod Part 2" {{#if: \| {{#if: \|; (')}} {{#if:\|; ""}}}}
Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
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First published	September 22, 2021}}
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Cover date	September 2021}}
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Written by	Erik Burnham}}
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Art by	Winston Chan}}
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Letters by	Jake M. Wood}}
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Editor	David Mariotte, Jazmine Joyner and Riley Farmer}}
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{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

Blackarachnia's loose in the Axalon—will the Maximals be able to find her before she brings down their base?

Synopsis

Aboard the Axalon, Optimus Primal can't reach Cheetor on his commlink system, and although Rhinox writes it off as a practical joke, Nyx has her doubts. Indeed, when Primal consults the ship's systems to search for their missing comrade, they find that Cheetor's trapped in a back corridor of the ship; when they investigate, they find that he's been captured and webbed up in the middle of the corridor, and the moment they free him Cheetor shouts that a Predacon broke into the base and attacked him! Although Rhinox finds this unlikely, Primal reminds him that there are still stasis pods in orbit, carrying protoforms; is it possible that one could've landed without their knowing? This comment jogs Rattrap's memory; Tarantulas did meddle with some of the ship's computer systems, and might've even secretly landed a pod. But when Primal tries to order the ship to search for any other Maximal energy signatures, he discovers that the computer's locked him out—their uninvited guest has already broken into the system.

The Maximals split up to find the intruder, unaware that Blackarachnia's already two steps ahead: as she watches them from the ship's security cameras, she sets to work hacking into the ship's datafiles, downloading files into her own systems as she goes; although she's fast, she knows that she won't be able to extract all of the ship's files before she's found and devises an alternate plan of sabotage: by connecting to the orbiting stasis pods, she can upload the Predacon code into their systems and turn every protoform into a loyal Predacon soldier. As the program works its way through the pods, however, Rhinox finally finds her, and this discovery forces her to cut and run, despite having only infected 51% of the stasis pods; as she outmaneuvers Rhinox's clumsy grab, she hits the button that triggers the landing protocols for every stasis pod. Rhinox contacts Optimus to tell his leader what's happened: not only has their Predacon friend escaped, she's initiated the landing protocols for the pods, and with no designated flight path or landing zone some of them will not survive the descent. With the ship still locked down and sealed tight, Primal contacts all of the other Maximals and orders them to capture their mystery saboteur.

On Dinobot's suggestion, he Nyx, Rattrap, and Cheetor all converge on the ship's armory... until Dinobot suddenly tackles Cheetor and pins him to the wall! Although the suspicious Rattrap immediately suspects treachery, the ex-Predacon points out that they were blundering straight into a trap—if Cheetor had run into the web tripline just ahead, a set of talvox grenades webbed to a tripwire would've blown them all to bits. At that moment, however, another explosion rocks the ship, and Rattrap realizes that the Predacon has made her own exit from the ship by co-opting some weapons from the armory. Upon spying the hole left by her exit, Cheetor pursues Blackarachnia into the jungle; although he manages to pounce on her and even disables her primary blaster, the spider-bot fools Cheetor into thinking that she's laid a second booby-trap for his Maximal allies, and the moment he races back to the ship to check on his friends, Blackarachnia easily escapes.

Some time later, the Maximals have regrouped on the ship's bridge to discuss their next move. Rhinox's report is not encouraging: their Predacon visitor has uploaded a version of her corruptive shell program into just over half of the orbiting stasis pods, a code that will overwrite the Maximal values of the unborn Transformers with an amped-up, out-of-control version of the most aggressive Predacon traits. Ignoring Rattrap's cutting remark, Optimus admits that he's responsible for this—after Nyx's recent misadventure, the Maximal leader got too cautious. That ends now, however: after tonight, they're focussing on a new plan of attack... and hitting the Predacons where it hurts.

At the Darksyde, Blackarachnia easily enters the base, creeps past the sleeping Waspinator, and reports to Tarantulas as the mad scientist tries to contact the unresponsive stasis pods. Initially, Tarantulas doesn't recognize her and demands to know how she got in; when she explains that she used the access codes he provided, however, the Predacon puts two and two together and realizes that his experiments in the Axalon have paid off... but his upload was only partly successful, for Blackarachnia is not the obedient slave he programmed. Indeed, when he commands her to kneel at his feet she promptly kicks him across the room. Despite this minor setback, Tarantulas is pleased that another Predacon has joined the fray, but Blackarachnia just smiles—who says that she's the only new Predacon on the way?

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.)
{{#if: ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:* Optimus Primal (1)

Nyx (2)
Rhinox (3)
Rattrap (4)
Dinobot (5)
Cheetor (6)|

{{#if:* Optimus Primal (1)

Nyx (2)
Rhinox (3)
Rattrap (4)
Dinobot (5)
Cheetor (6)|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
Optimus Primal (1)
Nyx (2)
Rhinox (3)
Rattrap (4)
Dinobot (5)
Cheetor (6) }}{{#if:* Blackarachnia (7)
Waspinator (8)
Tarantulas (9)|

Maximals }}{{#if:* Blackarachnia (7) Waspinator (8) Tarantulas (9)\|	Predacons }}{{#if:\|	Humans }}{{#if:\|	Others }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}
Blackarachnia (7) Waspinator (8) Tarantulas (9) }}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}

Quotes

"Intruder! Do you know what you've done?!"
"Of course! I'm keeping you busy!"

–Rhinox and Blackarachnia

"Traitor!"
"Get off me! You can't betray someone when you've never had their trust, you idiot!"

—Cheetor vs. Blackarachnia

"I let myself get cautious after Nyx. I let us hide behind a shield, working on repairs and studying the planet, just biding our time until we could find a way to deal with the Predacons more decisively. And it's gotten us nowhere. So we're changing tactics. We're going to focus on a new plan of attack, and, when it's as perfect as we can make it... we're going to hit the Predacons where they live."
"I approve, but... well, Maximals aren't exactly known for launching preemptive strikes."
"Things change."

—Optimus Primal and Dinobot

Notes

Continuity notes

Rattrap recalls his encounter with Tarantulas during the Maximal/Predacon battle in issue #6.
In an inspired bit of obfuscation, the readout on the Axalon's screen shows a holographic view of the planet... only for a red-alert box and Rhinox's head to block most of the readout and leave the shapes of its continents and islands ambiguous.
During their final meeting regarding the corrupted stasis pods, Rattrap makes a snarky comment that Rhinox could "give the Preds a chance"--the Maximal engineer had previously expressed his desire to find a nonviolent solution to the conflict in issue #1.
Optimus alludes to Nyx's recent misadventure that ended with her falling into Predacon captivity, a storyline which ran from issues #2 to #4.

Transformers references

Rattrap's constant suspicion of Dinobot's motives evoke their turbulent relationship during the early episodes of the original Beast Wars television show, where he'd frequently accuse the ex-Predacon of sympathizing with his former allies.
In addition to his famous quasar rifle from his original toy and the Beast Wars cartoon, Cheetor also uses a whip-weapon based on his recent Kingdom toy.
After Cheetor takes out her blaster, Blackarachnia resorts to using the repeating blasters located in her beast mode legs, a common fallback weapon for Blackarachnia in the original cartoon.
The complicated dynamic between Tarantulas and Blackarachnia goes all the way back to their earliest episodes together in the original Beast Wars show. As Tarantulas was the Predacon responsible for creating her, Megatron occasionally speculated that the scientist had... ulterior motives for creating a female spider-bot, but Blackarachnia eventually got out from under Tarantulas's thumb during the cartoon's second season and eventually went her own way by joining the Maximals. A version of this dynamic survives into the comic, as evidenced by Tarantulas ordering his creation to kneel before him—just like her cartoon counterpart, however, Blackarachnia has no time to be anyone's slave...

Other trivia

Waspinator sleeps with a teddy bear!
This comic puts an interesting spin on the protoforms. In the original cartoon, the Maximals and Predacons have to wait for each stasis pod to descend before racing each other to add another member to their ranks. The Predacons had to do additional reprogramming to turn the protoform into another Predacon. All of the stasis pods didn't land until the activation of the Planet Buster. Here, the stasis pods are all landing much earlier and it's already predetermined whether each pod contains either a Maximal or a Predacon.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Optimus vs. Megatron, by Andrew Griffith
Cover B: Blackarachnia weaves a tangled web, by Martin Gee
Cover RI: Tarantulas and Blackarachnia, by Ryan Miller

Reprints

The Transformers: Beast Wars Volume 2 (June 29, 2022) ISBN 1684059038 / ISBN 978-1684059034
- Collects Beast Wars issues #7–12.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers, and an one-page sketch by Burcham.

Beast Wars, Vol 2; cover art by John Yurcaba

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