Title: Darkness, Once Gazed Upon, Part One
Written by: Brian Ruckley
Art by: Winston Chan & Guido Guidi
Colours by: John-Paul Bove
Colour Assist by: Ed Pirrie
Letters & Design by: Jake M. Wood
Editor: David Mariotte
Assistant Editor: Riley Farmer
Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz
Plot
Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime meet with the Immersant Codexa, who relates how they learned of Exarchon's altered state during the original war, but by that time it had cost them many lives, including those of Cyclonus' team. Optimus asks his mentor if she thinks Exarchon is back, and she, connected to the many sparks of the planet, agrees that it is likely, even conjuring the name Ruckus as a potential victim of his...
Back in Iacon, Cyclonus barges into Swindle's bar, to see a fully revived Ruckus, claiming to have recovered from his near-death state, and is now learning what he's missed. He tries to question him about what happened, but the new Decepticon seems uninterested in talking to him.
Swindle ushers Cyclonus out, since he's not a Decepticon, and might get his place shut down by Megatron. Cyclonus leaves, but is getting suspicious by these recent miraculous recoveries...
Magnus and Prime start to leave Codexa's chamber, when Magnus notices that the entrance has been shut, despite him leaving it open, leading to him leaving, ready to fight, immediately finding a Decepticon crew led by Soundblaster holding the rest of the guards at gunpoint.
The Autobot general smashes through them, freeing the other Autobots, allowing them to defeat the Decepticons, and distracting them enough to allow Optimus to escape with the rest of his guards
Ultimately, Magnus is forced to be left behind, leading to him being knocked out, and taken towards Iacon, for Megatron to deal with him later. Shockwave then orders Soundblaster, over the communicators, to seal Codexa's chamber, so Optimus cannot consult with her again...
Characters
Autobot
Optimus Prime - Truck
Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport Captured by Decepticons
Ironhide - Van
Groove - Motorcycle
Grotesque - Winged Beast
Backstreet - Car
Pyra Magna - Fire Truck (Mentioned)
Decepticon
Soundblaster - Hovercraft
Slipstream - Jet
Shadow Striker - Car
Ruckus/Exarchon - Buggy
Roughstuff - Truck
Astrotrain - Trackless Train/Space Shuttle
Flamewar - Motorcycle
Hyperdrive - Car
Blackjack - Car
Tracer - Helicopter
Rumble - Cassette
Frenzy - Cassette
Swindle's Bar Patrons
Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Voice Only)
Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)
Starscream - Jet (Mentioned)
Sixshot - Tank/Jet/Car/Gun/Winged Beast (Mentioned)
The Threefold Spark
Exarchon - Jet (Image)
Clone-Drone Soldiers - Jets (Flashback) Dead
Turmoil - Tank (Mentioned)
Other Cybertronian
Cyclonus - Jet
Swindle - Van
Codexa Immersant, Sealed into Chamber
Other Immersants
Paragon - Treaded Vehicle (Flashback) Captured by Turmoil
Provoke - Motorcycle (Flashback) Shot in Chest, Infected by Exarchon off-panel
Gridlock - Gun-Mounted Vehicle (Flashback) Kill by Headshot, by Unknown Weapon
Highfire - Jet (Flashback) Killed off-panel
Grudge - Truck (Flashback) Killed off-panel
Nominus Prime - Jet (Flashback)
Highbrow - Helicopter (Flashback)
Dai Atlas - Drill Tank (Flashback)
Quake - Tank (Flashback)
Brawn - Van (Flashback)
Seekers - Jets (Flashback)
Other War Cybertronian's (Flashback)
Flatline - Van (Mentioned)
Strika - Battle Tank (Mentioned)
Croaton - Titan Ship (Mentioned) Dead
The Titans - Titan Ships (Mentioned)
Strika's Heavies (Mentioned)
Turmoil's Prisoners (Mentioned)
Other
Exarchon's "Re-Makers" (Mentioned)
Neutronians (Mentioned) Mostly Extinct, due to Turmoil
Rust Worms (Mentioned)
Notes
- With Cyclonus' team being shown in colour for the first time properly here, it makes it a lot easier to figuring out what their alternate modes are. So I have made my guesses based on these in the character list above.
- Provoke's eyes are shown to be yellow in the flashback scenes, while the version of her seen in the present day has red eyes, making it quite clear those are a side effect of Exarchon's body snatching. Interestingly though, when we see an image of Exarchon later this issue, we see his eyes were blue...
- Optimus theories here that the person he speaks to when he meets with the Immersant Codexa is not actually her, but the collective consciousness of Cybertron's sparks, possibly the afterlife.
- There's a mostly grey scale jet transformer hanging around in the command room when Nominus was being briefed on Exarchon's abilities, he never speaks or makes much notice of himself, but he seems too detailed for just a background character...I think that may be one of Exarchon's bodies...
- We learn here what has been predicted already, Exarchon is able to take over another Cybertronian's spark, overwriting it, and can possess multiple bodies at once, we do learn here though that once possessed, the process seems to be irreversible, and he is limited to controlling three bodies at any one time.
- Cyclonus previously claimed that he lost track of Provoke's body after her apparent death, but we learn here that he was dragged away before he could recover her body, before Strika's Heavies could arrive to finish the battle.
- Roughstuff is shown to be Decepti-branded now, he was a part of the Rise originally, but was arrested before being branded, and allied with Swindle's crew. The latter is shown here, but I can't see a Decepticon badge on him, meaning he's probably still unaligned, despite his bar being Decepticon-only now.
- Ruckus, really Exarchon, is shown to have joined the Decepticons, most likely to try and spread his influence again, and either recruit new soldiers or just cause trouble.
- Soundblaster is shown to be able to hold Cassettes in his chest, an ability that his mould-mate Soundwave hasn't been shown to have yet in this continuity.
- Ultra Magnus, in his Siege body, is being captured by the Decepticons and brought to Megatron? I sure hope this goes better than it did in the War for Cybertron cartoon...
