Destiny, Part Two

« The Transformers: Regeneration One #92 »
"Destiny" Part Two
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 12, 2013
Cover date	June 2013
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	John-Paul Bove
Letterer	Chris Mowry
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

While Optimus Prime tries to broker an alliance on Earth, Soundwave foments chaos on Cybertron, and when Blaster is forced to take matters into his own hands, he soon becomes a target for the new Mayhem Attack Squad.

Synopsis

In Wyoming, Optimus Prime attempts to reason with Circuit Smasher about a solution to renew Earth, but the super-powered human will have none of it. He viciously attacks Prime, taunting him that the Autobot had to see this coming. He is stopped from killing Optimus by the arrival of the leadership of the surviving humans. Commanding officer Linda Chang orders Circuit Smasher to stand down, and Optimus is taken into custody. She warns Optimus that any deviation from their orders will be interpreted as a hostile act and they'll let Circuit Smasher finish what he started. As he is led away, Optimus inquires if the woman is Circuit Smasher's commanding officer, but he replies that she is his wife!

Back on Cybertron, in The Garage, Huffer, Inferno, Silverbolt, and Blaster are being tested and re-tested by Prowl to confirm that the new bodies they've received are free from Nucleon's effects. Blaster implores Prowl to let them help, replaying comm-line chatter about all the chaos that's been going on, and saying that they need every able-bodied 'Bot they can get. He says that he can sense something more going on than just the chaos that Scorponok caused with his Gene Key, and angrily tells Prowl that he doesn't want to just sit on the sidelines. Prowl recounts the specific effects of Nucleon on each Autobot, and says they do need every pair of hands they can get, but when it comes to the four of them, they can't take the risk. He then leaves to take care of the latest batch of crises, while Trailbreaker urges the four to hang in there. Silverbolt wonders if maybe Blaster is just sensing some echo of his former state, but Blaster isn't sure.

Elsewhere in Iacon, Fang is leading a group blockading a main road, and Kup, backed up by the other Wreckers, is ordering him to stand down. Roadbuster starts to suggest something, but is immediately shot down by Kup, who says that they need to stamp out little fires like this one before it all explodes. Roadbuster then suggests that maybe Kup is the one making a bigger problem than it needs to be, by giving the angry crowd something to get upset about. As the two argue, two bots trying to pass the blockade transform and attack Fang and the others. As a fight breaks out between the two sides, Spinister hovers above, transmitting the fight to Soundwave who remarks that he can't get enough of the chaos. Noticing that their comm-line has been hacked into, Soundwave cuts off Spinister and activates the Mayhem Attack Squad to eliminate the intruder.

Back in Wyoming, Prime is brought to plead his case before the surviving humans there. He proposes uniting the humans with Nebulos in a joint effort to rebuild- the Nebulans' science and technology can help speed Earth's rebuilding, and the Earthlings' strength and tenacity could help the Nebulans recover from the mass mental trauma inflicted by Scorponok. Circuit Smasher immediately shoots down the idea, but the others, including G.B. Blackrock are more receptive, and agree to take a hard look at Prime's plan.

In The Garage, Blaster rips out the wires connecting him to the scanning equipment, and says that they all have to leave, and now. He says that he randomly just tapped into the old Decepticon comm-line subfrequencies, and overheard Soundwave tell Spinister that while everyone thinks the chaos is random, and a side effect of Scorponok's Gene Key, it's really all happening because Soundwave is transmitting an irritant, subsonic signal on a frequency that all Cybertronians share. The signal is fomenting the restlessness and causing the rebelliousness in Cybertron's population, so as to leave them defenseless. Huffer remarks that they're hardly battle-ready and ill-equipped to deal with the assassins sent after them. Blaster says they have no choice, as Soundwave has frozen the airwaves, so it's down to the four Autobots to survive the coming attack and get the information back to command.

Deep in the bowels of Cybertron, Hot Rod is leading the remaining Dinobots on a search for the bottom of the Sonic Canyons, on the chance that Grimlock may have survived his fall into them. Hot Rod is following a map in his head that was given to him via the Covenant of Primus. Though Swoop is somewhat unsure about it all, Slag says that Grimlock risked everything to recover Slag from his primitive state, so they're going on, regardless. When asked about the Demons, Hot Rod says that they don't need to look for them.....because the Demons will find them eventually.

As the Mayhem Attack Squad busts into The Garage, they find Huffer, alone. When Snarler asks if he has any last words, and charges, Huffer says he's a 'bot of few words and knocks Snarler out cold with a single punch, surprising the other two Decepticons. Carnivac then attacks, but is taken out by a blast from a modified energy siphon wielded by Inferno and Silverbolt. Blaster uses his abilities to knock Roadblock's internal sensors off, causing him to miss hitting Inferno and Silverbolt, then Huffer punches the Decepticon unconscious. Exiting his Pretender shell, Carnivac attacks and hits Silverbolt with a blast of napalm. Blaster sonically attacks Carnivac, who is incapacitated, and Inferno is able to contain Silverbolt's damage.

Later, Blaster having informed Prowl of the Decepticons' plans, the intracomm is taken down "for essential maintenance" as a cover for disabling Soundwave's disruptive influence. Prowl thanks the four Autobots, especially Blaster, but notes that now that all communications are down, they'll have no way of knowing if an attack is coming until it's too late.

Deep in space, both the Ark and the Warworld continue their approaches to Cybertron...

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Gonna huff...and puff...and cave yer freakin' heads in!"
"Hey! Get your own lines, Snarler-RRR!"

—Snarler and Carnivac: Poets.

"'Energy siphon to weapon in sixteen astro-seconds...Huffer...I will never doubt you again."

—Silverbolt is thoroughly impressed by Huffer's engineering prowess under pressure.

"Unfortunately, didn't Huffer say it takes twenty-five astro-seconds to charge? Which we don't have."

—Inferno realizes that they still need to blast Roadblock, who's standing right in front of them.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity errors

• The idea that the Nucleon victims are being quarantined puts the error into Inferno's appearance out in the open as a member of Hot Rod's crowd control last issue.

Continuity notes

• In this issue it is finally confirmed that the four Autobots in The Garage, as well as Slag, received new bodies sometime between issues #89 and #90.
• Blaster's claim that he once "practically was the resistance on Cybertron" is a somewhat-exaggerated report of his days as part of Perceptor's anti-Decepticon unit, but an understandable one given his lone-wolf tendency. While his personality from this time is at the fore (having basically disappeared from the character during his sparse appearance at the end of the original Marvel series), he's lacking the toy-accurate visor-eyed appearance he had for most of the US Marvel run, and is instead sporting the more cartoon-based noggin that Andrew Wildman and the other artists of the UK comics always drew him with, which carried over to the last few US issues.
• Kup and Roadbuster argue about what Springer would have done as leader of the Wreckers. Springer was killed by Megatron in #85.

Real-life references

• The surviving humans of Spike/Circuit Smasher's group are gathered in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, which is in the southwest corner of the state.
• At the very end, Bludgeon quotes the line "Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war" from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Other trivia

• Andrew Wildman stated on his personal Twitter-account that this was his final Transformers issue (for now)...

Transformers references

• Fang originated in the Marvel UK story "Target: 2006", showing up in a brief cameo and going on to make an appearance in IDW's Generation 1 continuity as a member of Squadron X. He doesn't really look like himself here, lacking any of his distinctive spiky armor.
• The Autobots measure the timing of Huffer's weapon in astro-seconds, a unit of time from the original The Transformers cartoon. We don't want to call it an out-and-out error, but it is a little odd to hear this term in a story set in the Marvel Comics continuity.
• Blaster makes use of his weaponized sonic abilities in this issue, which were more of a cartoon thing of his; he rarely used them in the original Marvel US stories (where he would usually achieve similar effects through the use of his trusty electro-scrambler), or in the UK stories (and even then, only in alt mode).
• While unlikely to be a deliberate reference, Soundwave's attempt to subliminally influence the population of Cybertron to become more violent brings to mind Shockwave's attempt to do the same thing in Dreamwave's "Passive Aggression" and Megatron's attempt to do the same in IDW's "Before the Dawn" (published only a mere four months before this issue)

Furminated

• At least one generic by Carnivac as the Mayhems infiltrate The Garage.
• The three Mayhems take some heavy hits from Blaster's team, but survive.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: The new Mayhem Attack Squad charges into action, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
• Cover B: Circuit Smasher blasting Optimus Prime, by Guido Guidi.
• Cover RI: Huffer laying Snarler out flat, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham.

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External links

• Simon Furman's Script (W)rap