IDW - Drift: Empire of Stone #4

Written by: Shane McCarthy

Breakdowns by: Guido Guidi

Pencils page 5-10 by: Marcelo Ferreira

Finishes by: Stephen Baskerville

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber 

Plot

Drift, Ratchet, Grit, Gigatron and his remaining troops all rush towards Hellbat and the awakened Army of Stone. Gigatron goes after Hellbat himself, whilst the others take on the Stone soldiers, but Hellbat has a larger Stone soldier take on Gigatron alone.

Drift manages to sneak up to Hellbat, and goes to attack him, but Vanquish steps between them, HOWEVER Grit then appears and takes on Vanquish due to his personal grudge with him.

Drift manages to reach Hellbat with Gigatron's help, and Vanquish badly injured Grit, however in his cockiness Grit grabs Vanquish's head and rips it off, killing the Decepticon, and he collapses from his injuries.

Drift takes on Hellbat himself, and manages to defeat him one on one, but Gigatron joins in on the fight as well, intending to take Hellbat's control panel for the Stone Army for himself to use, and turns on Drift in the process.

Whilst Drift and Gigatron are fighting, Hellbat programs all of the Stone soldiers to kill Gigatron, then allows Gigatron to kill him, along with the control panels, preventing the command from being cancelled.

With the power supply destroyed, the complex starts to detonate, so Drift, Ratchet and the surviving Decepticons all escape, just as the building blows behind them.

Following the destruction, Ratchet invites Drift back to the Lost Light, not as an Autobot, but as his friend.

Unseen by any of them, Grit crawls out of the rubble, removes his Decepticon insignia and walks off into the sunset.

Characters

Autobot

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Gigatron - Two Headed Dragon Possibly Killed by Stone Army

Hellbat - Jet Killed by Gigatron

Vanquish - Jet Killed by Grit

Grit - Van (Defects from Decepticons)

Gigatron's Troops

Cybertronian

Drift - Car

Wing (Mentioned)

Other

Stone Army Destroyed in Explosion

Notes

• This issue is literally just one big fight scene...seems perfect for a Drift story huh?
• Gigatron has still only transformed into his dragon mode, making it unclear if he is a Decachanger in this continuity or not.
• Gigatron's fate in the end is left a bit unclear, the Stone Army are swarming him, and then the building explodes around them. Though this IS Transformers, and this IS one of the stronger characters around too, so he probably survived somehow
• Also, since Grit survived the explosion and collapse of the building, it's likely that Gigatron could have too.
• Drift's decision is also left unclear at the end of this issue, Ratchet invites him to return to the Lost Light with him, but we don't get a final answer...guess we'll find out in MTMTE soon though!