Into the Abyss: Dark Cybertron Chapter 4

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"Into the Abyss"
Dark Cybertron Chapter 4
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published December 4, 2013
Cover date December 2013
Written by James Roberts and John Barber
Art by Atilio Rojo, James Raiz, Nick Roche, Livio Ramondelli and Robert Gill
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Gilberto Lazcano
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

The Lost Light deals with an aquatic Ammonite attack, while on Cybertron, Shockwave puts Megatron's space bridge to use.

Synopsis

In the depths of an alien ocean, the Lost Light finds itself surrounded by a huge army of mechanoid lifeforms. Illuminating their mysterious aggressors with a spotlight, the bridge crew are quick to observe that they are armed, have alternate modes, and are combiners, causing suspicion they may be Decepticons. Perceptor—struggling to get the words out over the top of the showoff Brainstorm—deduces that the small 'bots are not natives of the world, but have followed the Lost Light's quantum slipstream there. Ultra Magnus attempts to communicate with the strangers, but in response, they open fire on the ship.

On Cybertron, Starscream requests a status update from Rattrap on the aftermath of the devastation of Iacon, but all that Rattrap can tell him is that the Necrotitan's energy wave seems to have affected citizens entirely at random. Spying Starscream, Scoop turns on him, reading from the ancient prophecy for all to hear and pointing to a dark blemish that has appeared on Starscream's chest as evidence that Primus has marked him for his role in bringing death to the city. Under the auspices of defending Starscream, Rattrap snidely remarks that his "boss" is running out of time...

Back on the Lost Light, the Magnus and his men evacuate and seal the flooded bridge before meeting up with Skids and Getaway, the former identifying their attackers as the omnicombinational Ammonites. The crew decides to take the fight out into the water, deploying all their marine-equipped soldiers and vehicles, including the "Rodpod"—a submersible designed in the shape of Rodimus's head that everyone (except Whirl) is a bit hesitant about using out concern for Rodimus's reaction if they damage it. While individual troops take on the enemies at the ship's base (with Rung giving a particularly good account of himself in a staff-fight with one of the combiners), the crew in the Rodpod defend the ship's top-mounted fuel quills against a large swarm of Ammonites. The little 'bots react by combining into a huge, monstrous form, but this proves to just be a bigger target for the Rodpod, which blows it to bits.

In the Dead Universe, Rodimus, Hardhead and Orion Pax discuss the progress (or not) of Rodimus's quest, whether or not he would return to Cybertron if needed, Starscream's election, and the sorry political history of the planet. When asked for his opinion on Nova Prime, Cyclonus looks up to reveal fluids leaking from his face, which he attempts to pass off as a product of the heat despite it being freezing. Cyclonus refuses Orion's medical aid... at which point Nightbeat appears, encouraging them not to touch Cyclonus, and to listen to what he's go to say.

Back on Cybertron, at the feet of the Necrotitan, as the Autobots and Decepticons recover from the wage and argue over what to do next, Prowl has Soundwave scan for any chatter from Iacon. With the Titan blocking all transmissions, he can detect nothing... nothing except the sound of Megatron screaming from miles away, as Shockwave cuts his body open to access the space bridge within. Strapped to a table in Shockwave's Crystal City lair, Megatron questions Shockwave's motivations, but the cyclopean Decepticon remains unreadable, merely commenting that Nova Prime and Galvatron are means to and end. Shockwave had hoped to offer Megatron the choice to comply willingly, but it is obvious the Decepticon leader has no intention of doing so, so Shockwave forcibly activates his space bridge, and Nova Prime begins to emerge through a portal that swirls out of Megatron's chest!

Meanwhile, the Rodpod has broken off from the rest of the battle, chased by the Ammonites, which have combined into a colossal marine mollusic to follow them. The pod dives into an abyss to try and shake off their pursuers, but as they dive deeper, they discover that the abyss is metal-plated, with what appears to be a broken pipeline protruding from its depths. A cursory glance from Ratchet quickly confirms the pipe's true nature, however: it is a severed retinal cable. The Rodpod hasn't entered an abyss—it's just entered the gaping optical cavity of a badly-damaged Metroplex!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Underwater! Lucky for us the Lost Light was built as a submarine, eh, Perceptor?"
"Is that true?"
"Yep."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Really, though?"
"No."

—Brainstorm and Perceptor


"They've got alt modes, they're armed and they can combine. They're Decepticons, aren't they? Miniature Decepticons."
"'Minicons,' anyone? No? Suit yourselves."

—Ultra Magnus and Brainstorm


Hardhead: "Hey, I'm not judging!"
Rodimus: "You are judging. Orion, he is judging."
Orion: "Stop judging, Hardhead."

—Orion and Rodimus tell Hardhead to not be so judgmental.


"Look what that Titan did to us! How long do you want to stare at it?"
"I'm with the dog—"
"Cat."
"—whatever."

—Ravage and Prowl.

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Ultra Magnus is about to introduce himself to the Ammonites as the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord before stopping himself mid-sentence, following his departure from the position after the events of the "Remain in Light" saga in issues #17-21.
  • Magnus refers to the "Ambus Test", explained in a footnote to be "A universally recognized question-set designed to detect sentience in mechanical lifeforms." This'll be one of the tests created by Magnus's brother Dominus Ambus that were described in issue #12.
  • As explained in a footnote, the Ammonites previously appeared in issue #22.
  • Also footnoted is Rodimus's reference to the effects of Tyrest's killswitch, seen in issue #20. Hardhead was indeed shown to be one of the switch's victims in that issue.
  • Chronologically, Metroplex last appeared in the Ironhide mini-series in 2010, heading off into the depths of space.

Transformers references

  • While listing the aquatically-skilled members of the Lost Light crew, Magnus name-drops Aquastar. This character was one of the Japanese-exclusive human Masterforce Warriors, but like Robots in Disguise bit-parter Zetca before him, this version of Aquastar would logically be a Cybertronian, rather than an Earthling.
  • Prowl mistakes Ravage for a dog, something that's not uncommon in both the fandom and some pieces of fiction.

Real-life references

  • The Ambus Test may also be a reference to the real-life Turing Test, essentially designed to test when human-engineered "artificial intelligence" in computers has reached the level of sentience.
  • The Ammonites live up to their name by combining into a giant Ammonite to pursue the Rodpod.

Trivia

  • Artist breakdown: As with preceding chapters, Rojo draws the scenes on Cybertron and Ramondelli covers the Dead Universe. The three Lost Light scenes are divided between Nick Roche, James Raiz and newcomer Robert Gill, in that order.

Covers (3)

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