Title: Shadowplay Part 2: Patternism
Written by: James Roberts
Art by: Alex Milne
Colour by: Josh Burcham
Letters by: Chris Mowry
Editor: John Barber
In the past, Chromedome is chasing down the killer of Senator Momus (the guy who was killed at the end of the last issue) on his skydart when he notices how bad his target is at flying, despite having a jet mode, just before the target crashes and explodes. Chromedome reports back to Prowl and they talk with Red Alert, the warden in the area, who's been spying on Momus. He then turns on a UV light, revealing Momus has a Decepticon shrine of sorts in his room. Prowl deduces that there were two killers, just as the second one attacks, declaring "Death to the Decepticons!".
In the present again, Magnus returns to the ship after a recon mission and learns that Rodimus has detained Cyclonus on the suspision of Red Alert's attack. Drift tries some bad cop interrogation, but Cyclonus isn't impressed and just subdues the Autobot instead. Afterwards, Cyclonus says he didn't attack Red, as if he did he wouldn't leave any evidence and he would have succeeded (Red has a faint spark which First Aid is working on now) and says that he actually likes Red. First Aid calls Rodimus and says he know's who attacked Red, and that it wasn't Cyclonus.
Back in the past, Chromedome, Red and Prowl are rescued by Orion Pax, who appears all of the sudden and forces the attacker to crash, who then immediately has a spark failure, which Orion attributes to spark rejection, which is likely from a spark transplant from the Relinquishment Clinic, which Chromedome links to why his earlier target was so bad at flying, because he wasn't meant to do that. The group also figure out that Sherma and Momus weren't killed by Decepticons, they were killed because they WERE Decepticons. Orion asks Chromedome and Prowl to investigate the R.C. whilst he answers an emergency call to go to Luna-2.
Orion meets with Whirl on Garrus-1, located on Luna-2 where Whirl tells Orion that he heard from a visiting Senator recently that there's a bomb that's being planned to be detonated on Cybertron, which is intended to kill his senator friend and others. Orion thanks Whirl and leaves, just as the warden brings in Impactor as a new cell-mate for him, who proceeds to beat on the imprisoned Autobot.
The Senator is taken into custody by Roller for his protection, whilst Chromedome and Prowl meet with Trepan of the Relinquishment Clinic, and immediately take a disliking to him. Chromedome handcuffs him to a monitor and the two Autobots investigate the area, and find the place is filled with cerebralsurgeons and other horrors, which leads Chromedome to realize that this is actually The Institute, a mysterious, thought to be made-up location. The two of them believe that the council are using them to lobotomize the registered Decepticons from Proteus' Promise to make them forget their ideals. The duo leave after downloading a list found there of the registered Decepticons. Trepan escapes before they leave, but the present day Chromedome mentions that they meet up again.
The team in the past all meet up, and collate all their imformation, but believe that the council are going to use the bomb that Orion learned about to cause damage and blame it on the Decepticons, turning them into the enemies and not a political party like they want. Orion realizes where the bomb is when a news report about Nominus Prime's funeral starts airing, and hears that the Matrix he holds (which he knows is fake) will be viewable. He works out that the fake Matrix is in fact the bomb, and it's going to kill all the mourners as well as destriying a religious artifact (everyone believes the fake Matrix is the real one still). Orion and the team decide to steal the Matrix before it's too late.
Plot
Characters
Autobot/Future Autobot
Rodimus - Car
Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport
Drift - Car
Rewind - Memory Stick
Rung - Maintenance Buggy Bain Dead
Red Alert Being Repaired after Decapitation
Swerve - Van
Chromedome - Car
Skids - Van
Whirl - Helicopter
Ratchet - Ambulance
First Aid - Ambulance
Ambulon - Leg
Rad
Rollout
Gears
Slapdash
"White Guy"
Orion Pax - Truck (Flashback Only)
Roller (Flashback Only)
Prowl (Flashback Only)
Impactor (Flashback Only)
Slamdance (Flashback Only)
Nominus Prime Dead (Flashback Only)
Flatfoot (Mentioned)
Sentinel (Mentioned)
The Wreckers (Mentioned)
Mechaforensics (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Senator Momus Killed by Fallout and Streaker (Flashback Only)
Senator Sherma Killed by Fallout and Streaker (Mentioned)
Megatron (Mentioned)
Other
Cyclonus - Space Jet
Tailgate - Car
Diagnostic Drone
Pax's Senator Pal (Flashback Only)
Senator Proteus (Flashback Only)
Trepan (Flashback Only)
Fallout - Jet Killed in Crash (Flashback Only)
Streaker - Jet Killed by Spark Rejection (Flashback Only)
Senator Empurata (Flashback Only)
Pious Maximus Captured by The Institute (Flashback Only)
J.A.A.T. Speaker - Car (Flashback Only)
Garrus-1 Warden (Flashback Only)
"Orange with Hat Guy" (Flashback Only)
Relinquishment Clinic/The Institute Staff (Flashback Only)
Relinquishment Clinic/The Institute "Patients" (Flashback Only)
Civilians (Flashback Only)
Registration Act Protesters (Flashback Only)
The Senate (Mentioned)
Senate Enforcers (Mentioned)
Cyberutopians (Mentioned)
Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)
Anti-Vocationist League (Mentioned)
Primus (Mentioned)
Solomus (Mentioned)
Notes
- One of the speakers at the J.A.A.T. Lectures is the NAIL who transformed himself to death in issue one of this series
- Pious Maximus is shown inside the Institute/Relinquishment Clinic in the flashback, implying that his sudden change in heart mentioned in the news reports was part of the council's plot
- Whirl mentions how a bomb would be named after the guy who detonated it. This is likely a reference to Serma and his bridge, as explained in the previous issue
- Red Alert has the puncture marks of a mneumosurgeon on his neck, which is only visible under UV light, as mentioned by Chromedome in issue 8
- It's unsure where Magnus has just come back from, but I'm sure it'll be explained some time soon
- In the flashback, Prowl was still a battle-virgin, and seemed to have a bit more of an idealistic view on life, compared to his modern day counterpart
- Garrus-1 was located on Luna-2...wonder if any inmates are still on the moon?
- Ratchet believes that Whirl beating up Megatron in his cell is what caused him to go so evil
- Orion's (STILL) unnamed Senator friend's colour scheme continues to change, to the extent where he now looks sort of like Ultra Magnus...hmmm....
- It's still not sure if Roller has any connection to Opitmus' future buggy drone buddy.
- First Aid is working on the diagnostic drone that spied on Red back in issue 7
- Proteus' Promise is that when 10,000 Decepticon supporters register they will make them a political party. This is a ploy by the council to know who are Decepticons, and to lobotomize them however.
- It's implied in this story that Duo Combiners existed in the past, meaning that they probably aren't counted as gestalts (also this sign in the Clinic is shown directly under Slamdance on the screen, possibly meaning he's been replaced)
- It's been shown twice now that head damage isn't very fatal here...wonder if that means Nightbeat is still okay after all, he was just shot in the head once.
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