IDW - Rom #9

Title: Reinforcements Part 5 

Plot and Script by: Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Pencils and Inks by: Paolo Villanelli

Colours by: Alessandra Alexakis

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assist by: David Mariotte

Edited by: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Wraith sorcerers work with The Absence to complete their mission, despite the Space Knights having defeated all their troops above, but they have an unexpected ally, Rom is distracting the other Knights from attacking them...

Above, Orphion starts to charge his energies into the drill heading to the core of the planet, but Rom continues to fight him, despite being weakened himself. Livia is forced to fire on Rom by an order from Orphion, and knocks him out. Before anything else can happen though, The Presence appear and slams his arm through Livia's chest, draining her of her energy. He turns to Orphion, who tries to attack him, only to find him intangible. The fight continues to go bad for Orphion, but Rom suddenly appears, and fires his Neutralizer from inside The Presence, causing him to explode.

Orphion thanks Rom for his help, but goes back to charging the drill, whilst informing him that Livia is close to death now, and he has to choose, either save her life, or stop him from destroying the Earth.

Meanwhile, in Pawtucket, Darby has brought Ruan home with her, and her grandmother is surprisingly understanding about it (though still shocked that he's an alien). They explain that they are going to try and stop the Dire Wraiths from conquering the world, so she gives Darby a suitcase filled with weapons to help her out (she'd been stocking them up since the Transformers returned to Earth)

Rom tries to save Livia, but his energy is too depleted to heal her, Orphion continues to send his energy into the drill, unaware that the energies are being syphoned by the Wraiths below into a device.

Luckily, Rom is able to convince Orphion that saving his loyal and obedient partner is more important that rashly destroying a planet, which manages to convince Orphion of his mistake, so he helps Rom to heal Livia.

Livia wakes up, but is angry that they would "sacrifice" this world to the Wraiths just to save her. Orphion reveals that he hasn't given up on his plans to destroy Earth, but wishes to allow Rom a chance to prove to him why it should be saved instead...

Down below, the energies of Orphion's Neutralizer has killed the Sorcerers, and The Absence reforms following his fight with Rom. He is annoyed that their plan is not complete yet, but is also glad, since it is still within his sights, and he is still waiting for "The Presence" to awaken....

Characters

Solstar Order

Orphion

Rom

Livia

Dire Wraith

Ruan Sablik

The Absence

Acolyte Sorcerers Killed by Orphion's Energy

The Presence (Mentioned)

"Friends of our Enemies" Staff (Mentioned)

Human

Darby Mason

Grandma Gay-Lyn Mason

Grandpa Mason (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Orphion mentioned "The years of solitude" regarding Rom, this implies that his partner died a while ago. We know that the upcoming Shining Armour crossover is set about 200 years ago, so it's likely that we'll see the identity and death of his partner in that (Most likely the Cybertronian member)
• "The Absence" refers to him as the absence of a Wraith, and is shown to be impervious to most attacks, implying that he is either ghost-like, or simply projecting himself to Earth in some way.
• Grandma keeps a suitcase filled with armed guns in her house?! HIDE!!!!
• "The Absence" mentions someone else named "The Presence" who seems to be his opposite....wouldn't ALL of the Wraiths other than he be classed as "present" though...