FBF - To The Death #4

Title: The Kill-Zone

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in UK by: Mixam

Plot

At the Luna-5 facility, Dryagin holds a meeting with his crew to decide what to do with the captured insurgents, either take them to Earth to be executed for trying to stand up against a corrupt system, or release them and risk being martyred themselves. They can't come to an agreement, but Bill detects a large heat signature in the prisoner's holding area. The team realise that Kraken isn't with them, and rush off towards the section.

On Earth, the Triumvirate are concerned that their new asset, Kraken, might not be able to deal with Dryagin himself, due to his war-record, so they decide to summon another asset to help him, Killatoa...

Back on Luna-5, the team confront Kraken, who admits to incinerating the insurgents and relieves Dryagin of his command, attacking him, revealing that he has been placed in charge of the team now. Leone attacks Kraken, and holds him at knife-point, giving Dryagin the chance to escape into the snowy landscape outside.

Kraken is quickly freed, and has Leone imprisoned, whilst he chases after Dryagin, managing to injure him in the process...

The White Noice Tac-team approach the Moon, where King receives a message from Snow, saying that Dryagin may be in trouble, and he begins to worry that they may to too late to rescue and recruit him to their cause...

On Earth, Deacon Snow, who is monitoring both situations activates two sleeper agents, so they can cause a distraction on Earth, giving King a little more time to rescue Dryagin

At Luna-5 again, Dryagin reaches a motorpool, but is caught by Kraken, who starts destroying the vehicles there. The rest of the team arrive, but aren't willing to intervene, they know Kraken is now technically the team leader, but they can't bring themselves to turn against Dryagin.

Larssen is having trouble figuring out what to do, even through the rest of the team appear to be willing to follow Kraken if they have to, and even imply that Leone is at risk now too for turning against Kraken earlier, to Larssen's distress.

The two "leaders" fight it out, with Dryagin managing to pin Kraken into some machinery, and getting into an exo-driller, and tries to put him down, however he gets distracted when Kraken lets it slip that the Triumvirate have had his family killed.

The remaining Cyber warriors arrive to try surround Dryagin and finish him off, however the air around them suddenly turns white, and only Dryagin can move within it!

Diamond Bill, aboard the Firedrake, uses the tractor beam on the area, freezing everyone in place, but allows Dryagin to escape, having left a quad and a med-kit outside the perimeter, and wishes Dryagin luck as he is allowed to escape from his usurper...  

Characters

Pacifiers

Aleksy Dryagin On the Run, due to Betrayal 

Josiah Kraken

Leone Imprisoned by Rest of Team, on Kraken's Orders

Diamond Bill

Bette Larssen

Dolan Rekt

Jonas Huey

Hash Flynn

Megan Umber

White Noise

Deacon Snow

Juddh King

Mazur

Other Tac-Team Members

Abducted Spaceport Flight Technician

Bar Patron Sleepwalker

Scavenger Sleepwalker

Triumvirate

Vidi

Vici

Veni

Other

Brood-Class Vyber Warrior Operator #1

Brood-Class Vyber Warrior Operator #2

Lena Dryagin (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead, Abducted by White Noise

Leo Dryagin (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead, Abducted by White Noise

Killatoa (Mentioned)

Luna-5 Insurgents (Mentioned) Most Killed by Kraken

Notes

• The start of this issue is actually the middle of the story, so rather than jumping around, I just put it in linear order in the above Plot section.
• For the first time, neither Lena or Leo Dryagin appear in an issue, though both are mentioned a couple of times.
• Larssen has joined the ground team on the Moon now, either she was with them from the start, and just stayed out of sight last issue, or she joined them after the fighting ended, leaving Bill alone on the ship.
• Killatoa finally gets a mention this issue, he is the monster-looking character who appeared on the cover to issue one, who was also announced as a main character in the pitches...nice to see him appear (or at least get mentioned anyway) after just four issues (five if you include the prequel story)
• Kraken is revealed to have killed the insurgents on the orders of the Triumvirate, not just out of his own warped sense of right and wrong.
• Leone is the only member of the team to openly defy Kraken after he takes over the team, Dryagin did mention in issue one that she was the most loyal to him. Though saying that, the rest of the team seem very reluctant to go against him either. Bill also later helps Dryagin by using a tractor beam to give him time to escape, but he does this from the ship, meaning he could technically claim a mechanical failure was to blame for it. 
• The former sea of Japan is shown to be full of waste, further showing how polluted this future Earth is.
• Despite them being in a relationship, Umber doesn't appear to be too fussed that Leone may be in trouble for pinning down Kraken, instead Larssen appears to be more worried about her!
• Larssen's dislike of Kraken was actually hinted at in issue one of the series, where she seems disgusted by him hitting on her after their Cryo-sleep.
• Based on their apparent thoughts this issue I can see Leone, Bill and Larssen joining Dryagin, or staying loyal to him at least, with the rest either following Kraken, or just turning against their former leader due to it being their orders.