IDW - Revolution: Rom

Title: Field Test

Storytellers: Chris Ryall, Christos Gage & Ron Joseph

Colours by: Jay Fotos

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Six Months ago, Deepwave, and artificial intelligence development company is bought up by the EDC, and Joe Colton meets with the two scientists working there, to help them complete their new Axiom suit, which heightens reactions using brainwaves. Colton gives the scientists some Ore-13, which is explained to be a rare ore that is able to attune to machinery.

Within a week, the suit is working perfectly for Aaron, so Joe and the others, all revealed to be Dire Wraiths, attack Aaron, resulting in him being knocked out by an electrical shock from Colton. Soon, Aaron is restrained in a cave, where he is infected with a Dire Wraith, which merges him with his Axiom suit, creating Axiom, an augmented Dire Wraith.

In the present day, Rom and Camilla have abandoned Darby again, after Rom detects a strange Dire Wraith signature and decides to investigate it, they soon encounter Axiom, who immediately attacks Rom. Rom leaves Camilla on top of the Space Needle, and starts to fight back.

Rom and Axiom crash into the Space Needle in Seattle, where they continue their battle, causing a lot of damage to the area, during the battle, Rom uses the Analyzer to confirm, that despite his Dire Wraith appearance, Axiom reads as a human still, making Rom worry that his Analyzer is still being messed with.

The battle continues, and during it Rom tries to get Axiom to allow him to help him, with Axiom simply explaining that he doesn't want help, and he's happy being this new creature

Axiom realizes after a while that Rom is holding back in their fight, most likely due to him being unsure as to whether Axiom is a human or not, so he goes after Camilla to force his hand and fight back.

Seeing this, Rom does indeed start to fight back, and powers up his Neutralizer. Before the battle can continue however, Axiom is ordered to retreat as their test on the suit and Ore-13 is complete, after a short argument Axiom leaves, just as the Neutralizer fires.

In the aftermath, Camilla confirms that she heard the Wraiths speaking to Axiom, showing that he does appear to be a melding of Earth technology and Dire Wraith magicks. Camilla also gives Rom the name of General Colton, who was mentioned by the Wraiths as being one of them, giving Rom a new target....

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom the Space Knight

Human

Camilla Byers

Darby Mason (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

Axiom/Aaron Grundy

Joe Colton

Caleb Awan

Riggins

Kohl

Notes

• Since this story jumps about quite a lot chronologically, I'm re-arranging the story to flow easier here
• This issue establishes that Joe Colton is a Dire Wraith, and has been since he took on the job as new Director of the EDC.
• Part of the Dire Wraith's main scheme is revealed to include Ore-13, which has been a recurring theme in Transformers comics for some time. Ore-13 is mentioned here to have a great affinity with machinery here too.
• Axiom appears to be a Dire Wraith parallel to Rom himself, being a humanoid inside a metal suit, and granted extra benefits as a result.
• This story appears to be set a little after the current Rom issues, as Camilla is mentioned as a fugitive here too, which doesn't appear to have happened yet as of issue 3.
• Also, through dialogue we learn that Rom has left Darby by herself somewhere again....she must be developing an abandonment complex by now!
• Camilla's Wraithmark appears to have spread even further across her face by this time, showing that it is slowly covering her.
• Since the Wraiths know that Camilla can hear them, it seems likely that they gave her Colton's name as part of their big plan to turn GI Joe against Rom, since they know he'll kill the general on sight now.