Devisive

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« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #4
"Devisive"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 25, 2012
Cover date April 2012
Story by John Barber
Art by Andrew Griffith
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Shawn Lee
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2012)

A murder rocks the already-unstable political climate of Cybertron, and Prowl has to deal with his own instabilities while hunting down the culprit.

Synopsis

Things are starting to look up for the Decepticons on Cybertron since Starscream joined Bumblebee's government: no longer serving as enforcers because brutishness is expected of them, several of them have been given jobs in the reclamation tunnels beneath the city sorting refuse, including Dirge, Swindle and the Constructicons. Swindle is in the process of testing Dirge's patience, nattering on about the changes Starscream has made, but his day suddenly gets exponentially worse when he comes across the dead body of Skydive atop a mound of garbage, and turns to see the murderer.

Far less enamoured with Starscream's entry into politics than Swindle is Prowl, who grimly watches as the Seeker leader runs rings around Bumblebee and Metalhawk in a public speech. Arcee, lurking nearby, coldly taunts Prowl over recent events, including the death of Ratbat, how he has worked with Starscream to cover it up, and the fact that at least some Transformers believe he was responsible for destroying the Lost Light, but Prowl shrugs it off, telling her he doesn't have the luxury out doubting his decisions. Wheeljack arrives with the news of Skydive's murder, and Prowl leaves to investigate personally after learning that the only witness, Dirge, is "acting real weird". After sorting out the confusion over the victim's name—he's the Decepticon Predator, not the Aerialbot—Prowl questions Dirge, who merely repeats that he did not see anything over and over again. Fortunately, the mystery has an easy answer: Dirge is being controlled by one of Bombshell's cerebro-shells! Wheeljack is able to easily whip up a device to track the shell's signal back to its source, and Prowl sets off with Arcee and the mesmerized Dirge to track Bombshell down.

They soon find Bombshell in a techno-jungle on the outskirts of the city, where he has taken control of Sunstorm and is chittering about bringing their race closer to being part of "all-who-are-one". Arcee bursts from the foliage and disables Sunstorm by cutting off at the knees, but Bombshell reacts by reasserting control over Dirge and ordering him to seize Prowl. While Arcee is distracted by the crippled Sunstorm, Bombshell makes a break for it, racing back into the city and into the reclamation tunnels, with Blurr, ordered to pursue by Prowl, hot on his heels. Prowl soon gets the better of his hypnotized opponent, while Arcee simply kills Sunstorm outright, prompting him to chastize her for the unnecessary act, but she doesn't care in the slightest. The pair take Dirge and follow Blurr into the tunnels, only to find he has been set upon by the Constructicons. Prowl leaves Arcee to deal with the Decepticon team while he continues his pursuit of Bombshell, using Wheeljack's passcode to override the tunnel systems and corner the Insecticon in a dead end. Bombshell refuses to talk, and that's the last straw for Prowl: he remembers the time he believed he had changed for the better on Earth, how Spike Witwicky's treachery undid that, and how, after Ratbat's murder, he is now as guilty as Spike was of breaking the law and conspiring with Decepticons to hide that fact. Filled with anger and already having crossed the line, Prowl gives in to his rage, and mercilessly executes Bombshell.

With Bombshell's death, Dirge is freed from his control, and a very tense moment follows as Prowl aims his gun at this one witness to his brutal actions. A sudden wave of trash drops into the tunnel through a nearby chute, jostling Prowl's arm and causing him to shoot Dirge in the shoulder, and the Decepticon makes a break for it, prompting Prowl to call Arcee in to pursue him while he takes over her battle with the Constructicons. Prowl orders the 'Cons to back off or have their I/D chips detonated, but they merely laugh, knowing that the chips don't work. Having been made aware of this fact by Bombshell, Prowl simply uses Wheeljack's passcode to override the network and re-activate them, killing all five Construticons in one fell swoop. Arcee, meanwhile, corners Dirge, but when he promises to keep quiet, wishing just to live his life, she allows him to go...

Back at the Autobots' headquarters, the injured Blurr lambasts Prowl for breaking his own rules and ordering him in without back-up. Prowl counters with the claim that Bombshell's actions are evidence of a Decepticon conspiracy, but Blurr believes this is merely another symptom of his growing paranoia. Bumblebee attempts to calm Prowl down, but the police 'bot is beyond the point of listening: Cybertron is the Autobots' planet, and he's going to see it that they maintain control of their world, no matter who gets in their way.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons NAILs

Quotes

Notes

Covers (3)

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