FBF - To The Death #10

Title: Tooth and Claw

Story by: Simon Furman

Art by: Geoff Senior

Letterer by: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in the UK by: Mixam

Plot

At the Clouds taper, Veni crushes Dryagin's chest to try and kill him, however he stops when the Firedrake appears outside their window, blows out the glass and Bill proceeds to shoot through the Triumvirate. Dryagin gets up and vivisects Veni.
The remaining two try to grab him from behind, but Leone and Bette attack them in turn, Leone almost gets knocked out the now smashed windows, but Bette has her head crushed by Vici. Dryagin decapitates both of them, and sends their bodies plummeting down the building

Down below, King reports that the Asphodel weapon's defences are different to what they were expecting, so it'll take longer to disarm, all whilst the Dolmen are continuing to contact their homeworld...
The sky above the Cloudscraper turns dark as the evacuation Starliner hovers above it to pick up the rest of it's passengers.
Leone searches for a hidden switch in the room to find where the real Triumvirate are, since the ones they've killed were Simulacrums, whilst Lena talks to Dryagin, and tries to get him to leave it, and come with her, but he needs to finish this, since it's partly his fault that Asphodel was used for this weapon in the first place. Leone finds the switch and all the holograms in the room vanish, revealing a hidden staircase. Dryagin heads up, and orders Leone to join Lena and Bill in the Firedrake to escape and says goodbye to Leo too.
Dryagin makes it upstairs, and finds a stasis chamber with the Triumvirate's human bodies within, still living, and conscious. The roof opens and the Starliner abducts them to take them to the "New Earth".

Suddenly, the Dolmen portal opens above the Starliner, and a giant Asphodel dragon flies out of it.
Just as it appears, Flynn is rescued from the limo he was left in, and the Firedrake speeds away, just as King announces that he's disabled the weapon.
The giant dragon fires down, destroying the Starliner, the Cloudscraper and the ground around it before returning to Asphodel.
The Firedrake leaves the planet with its newly permanent residents.
Three Days later, Snow meets with "The Director" who has taken over the absence of Tri-Corp on Earth, but promised that she is still invested in Earth, unlike the Triumvirate, however, Snow can't hear her, as he has died from drinking poison, having completed his mission.

The Firedrake stop off on a planet to leave memorials for their fallen friends, before heading off for a new adventure, out in the stars...
Back on Earth, rescue work has begun on the crater where the Cloudscraper was when someone crawls out if the rubble, shocking a rescue worker, who tries to help the victim, however Killatoa, fully healed again, tears the poor human apart and starts crawling out of the crater, plotting his revenge on the Firedrake Crew....

Characters

Firedrake Crew

Aleksy Dryagin Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Diamond Bill
Leone
Bette Larsen Killed by Vici
Hash Flynn
Lena Dryagin
Leo Dryagin
Lupex, the Space Doggo

White Noise

"The Director"
Deacon Snow Poisoned to Death
Juddh King Likely Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction

Berenger Likely Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Forward/Tactical Bunker Staff

Tri-Corp

Veni/Beauregard Percy Simulacrum Destroyed by Dryagin, Real Body Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Vici/Sebastian Pelle Simulacrum Destroyed by Dryagin, Real Body Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Vidi/Lucius Warrender Simulacrum Destroyed by Dryagin, Real Body Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Killatoa
"The Chosen Few" (Implied) Killed in Starliner Explosion

Asphodel
Dolmen Trio Likely Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction
Asphodel Dragon

Other Human

Rescue Worker Michael McGarry Killed by Killatoa
Cloudscraper Rescue Workers
Cloudscraper Siege Livestream Audience
800,000 Casualties (Mentioned) Killed in Cloudscraper Destruction

Notes

• This marks the finale of To The Death, though the letter at the end mentions a future for this story, so we may get a  sequel down the line :)
• This issue does NOT have a character list at the start...this irks me....
• So Berenger survived last issue, despite how it looked...but I'm pretty certain he died this time....
• The original human bodies of the Triumvirate members are revealed to have been still alive, but in some sort of life support goop that allowed them to control the Simulacrum bodies...at least until the end of this issue...
• We dont know the "director's" name but it may be Baroque, based on her company name
• It's unclear is Snow poisoned himself, or was killed by the Director, but I believe it was suicide, as he feeling guilty about his actions with Asphodel and getting many people killed.
• The rescue worker killed by Killatoa at the end is based on  fan Michael McGarry, who won a contest on Simon Furman's website. I've decided to just name the character after him too, just for identity-sake.
• We don't see Killatoa's body too clearly at the end, but due to his apparent death last issue, and his call of "to the death" I'm going to guess that he took Dryagin's body for his own, just for future plot reasons

FBF - To The Death #6

Title: Killatoa

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in the UK by: Mixam

Plot

The Pacifiers proceed to "rescue" Dryagin from the White Noise team, when both groups notice a third party arriving, Killatoa. The newcomer tears his way through the White Noise members, killing all but King himself, but he is saved when Dryagin and the Pacifiers use incendiary rounds to dehydrate the monster (following a suggestion about Killatoa's weakness from Snow, over his communicator) and they take off in the Firedrake. They decide that no matter where they'd go, the Triumvirate will find them, so they may as well continue to Earth, and bring the fight to them.

On Earth, the Triumvirate note his returning home, and lament his refusal to die, but also know that he cannot possibly win...

On the Firedrake, King gets grilled by the Pacifiers, he admits that he doesn't know if Dryagin's family are really dead, as Snow had just informed Dryagin, but he does know that they were all targeted for death, since the Triumvirate see Dryagin as a beacon for the regular people of Earth, and wanted that taken away. Dryagin isn't sure he can be this beacon of hope, but King says that he believes in him, whether he does, himself, or not.

Back on Earth, Snow is in his submarine, where he reminisces over when he learned of the Triumvirates true plans to use the Asphodel Extinction Weapon to stage an "accident" that will wipe out most of humanity, allowing themselves and a select group to escape and repopulate another world, to prepare to conquer more planets in the future. Snow couldn't allow this to be his legacy, so he faked his own death, and plotted for four years to save the world...

Four years later, in the present day, a boat approaches Snow's submarine, and he joins them, so he can meet with "The Director"

Back on the Firedrake, King gets locked into his quarters, and the team start preparing to return to Earth, with Dryagin asking Bill to try and find his wife and child, as he doesn't believe that they are really dead, and wants to rescue them. Elsewhere, above Earth, Killatoa makes his descent to the planet as well...

At the Tri-Corp Future Technologies Facility, the team there are preparing the weapon, as pre the Triumvirate's request, despite it being a little ahead of schedule, and they look into the chamber where it is being held....and is guarded by several abducted Asphodelians.... 

Characters

Pacifiers

Aleksy Dryagin

Jonas Huey

Bette Larssen

Diamond Bill

Megan Umber

Leone

Dolan Rekt

Hash Flynn

White Noise

Deacon Snow

Juddh King

Mazur Killed by Killatoa

Levy Killed by Killatoa

Trent Hubble Killed by Killatoa

Other White Noiser Killed by Killatoa

Boat Crew

"The Director" (Mentioned)

Tri-Corp

Veni/Beauregard Percy

Vici/Sebastian Pelle

Vidi/Lucius Warrender

"Future Technologies Senior Scientist"

"Future Technologies Boss"

"Spaceport Sniper" (Flashback Only) Killed by King

Other Human

Lena Dryagin

Leo Dryagin

Other

Killatoa

Asphodel Guardians

Lupex, the Doggy Thing

Killatoa's Co-Experiments (Mentioned) Eaten by Killatoa

Notes

• The Cast list page has been updated by adding Killatoa to it, and having a big red "X" over Kraken's picture
• So..I guess it was a bad sign after all that most of the White Noise guys were unnamed until now huh? (One's even STILL unnamed!)
• In the back matter of this issue we get a small profile for Killatoa, which reveals that his blade weapons are heated, explaining why they cut through things so easily.
• Snow sure seems to know a lot about Killatoa...considering it's mentioned that he was built in a lab, and that Snow used to work for them, it seems likely that Killatoa was built by Tri-Corp
• As I theorized last issue, we learn here that the flashback Triumvirate that we saw ARE the same guys as we see in the present, but inside artificial bodies.
• After about half of the series, we finally clearly learn what the Triumvirate's ultimate plan is, they want to use the Asphodel Extinction Weapon to kill off most of Humanity, allowing a smaller amount to repopulate a new world and start again.
• Snow mentions that he faked his own death, explaining why the Triumvirate don't seem to be searching for him.

FBF - To The Death #5

Title: Asphodel

Story: Simon Furman

Art: Geoff Senior

Letterer: Martin Baines

Design by: Amazing15

Printed in the UK by: Mixam

Plot

With Dryagin gone, Diamond Bill releases the others from the Firedrake's tractor beam, and resigns his commission, refusing to work for a monster like Kraken. Kraken has the team arrest Bill for him, and also bring Leone back to the ship, to be dealt with later, warning the rest that they'll be dealt with too if they betray him. They begrudgingly agree, whilst Kraken heads off to kill Dryagin himself.

On Earth, the female Sleepwalker is searching around a place called "Echo Conclave" to find her target, and is directed to it by a small child, whom she pays with some computer chips.

Back on the Moon, Dryagin drives the Luna-Quad he was left by Bill and heads towards the Luna-6 facility, rather than the closer Luna-4, assuming Kraken won't be there. Unfortunately, Kraken knows Dryagin too well and intercepts him along the way, causing both quads to crash, and Dryagin gets fired on by him, leading him to a rock to try and hide behind, but unfortunately one of the Cyber warriors find him, and aim directly at him.

Kraken orders the Cyber to let him get the kill, takes aim, and then the Cyber suddenly turns on him, filling Kraken with bullet holes, before telling the confused Dryagin to run away, unaware that the original operator has been killed and replaced by the Sleepwalker on Earth.

An alien spacecraft arrives at Earth, and Killatoa exits to meet with the Triumvirate, to learn who his new target is.

On the Moon, King's team arrives and find Kraken's body, and communicates with Snow through the Cyber, who has remained next to the dead body, who explains that he now has full control of it's sensory output, but also urges King to hurry up, as their enemies may have called in someone stronger to take out Dryagin now that Kraken is dead.

Elsewhere, the Pacifiers defy Kraken's orders and free both Leone and Bill, intending to go after Dryagin and rescue him, regardless of their orders, since they're all fed up of being used now.

Dryagin arrives at a Lunar Spaceport, where he finds King's shuttle, and attempts to take it for himself, inside he finds the technician, and Mazur, the latter of whom he manages to defeat in battle, assuming he's an enemy. He is stopped from killing the White Noise member when King returns and activates a holo-communicator, allowing Dryagin to talk to Snow, who explains that he used to work for the Energy Corp and that his team's first mission to Asphodel was so they could create an extinction weapon, which his team is now trying to disable, before it can be used. He also informs Dryagin that the Triumvirate ordered the deaths of his wife and child, causing him to be devastated.

The Pacifiers arrive in the Firedrake, and order King and his team to step away from Dryagin, also assuming them to be the enemy too

Characters

Pacificers

Aleksy Dryagin

Josiah Kraken Killed by Sleepwalker in Cyber Warrior

Jonas Huey

Leone

Bette Larssen

Hash Flynn

Megan Umber

Dolan Rekt

Diamond Bill

The Echelon (Mentioned)

White Noise

Deacon Snow

Juddh King

Mazur

Trent Hubble Still Kidnapped into Team

Female Sleepwalker

Rest of King's Tac-Team

Energy Corp/Tri-Corp

Veni

Vidi

Vici

Sebastian Pelle (Flashback)

Lucius Warrender (Flashback)

Beauregard Percy (Flashback)

Crowe (Flashback)

Future Technologies Scientists (Flashback)

Cerberus (Mentioned)

Other Human

Recycle Café Cyber Soldier Operator Killed by Sleepwalker

Random Civilians

Lena Dryagin (Mentioned) Claimed to be Dead by Snow

Leo Dryagin (Mentioned) Claimed to be Dead by Snow

Last Cyber Soldier Operator (Mentioned)

Other

Killatoa

Asphodel's Denizens (Flashback) Now Extinct

Notes

• So it turns out that the opening scenes last issue where Dryagin is approached by a Cyber-Warrior was actually set during THIS issue, not the previous one, like I thought before.
• During the brief visit to Earth early in the story, we can see that the feed from the Moon has been stopped, and replaced with re-runs of previous missions, most likely because people may start rioting if they learned that Dryagin is the one being actively targeted for death.
• Kraken says "All that is over, finished." A very Furmanism-filled line :D
• Oh and then he says "End of the Road"!! I love this series 
• We learn that one of the sleepwalker's missions is to replace a Cyber-Warrior, and to use it to help Dryagin survive, so we should be able to assume that the other one was sent to take out the other remaining one too.
• We finally get a view of Killatoa, who basically looks like an amphibious version of Death's Head, a character that Furman created back in the 80's, and is also a hired gun of sorts.
• The kidnapped engineer from the past couple issues is finally named as "Trent Hubble"...oddly this is probably the most normal name we've had in the series so far!
• Still no names for most of King's team however...this doesn't bode well for them!
• We learn that the man we saw with Snow in the prequel story is Beauregard Percy, who along with his equally old and decrepit fellows, Sebastian Pelle and Lucius Warrender, were the heads of Energy Corp and ran the same positions as the Triumvirate do in the comic's present. From how large they look, and how Killatoa questions whether they are still "gentlemen" we can either assume that these are cloned or robotic bodies used by these older characters.
• Snow decides to tell Dryagin that Lena and Leo were killed in the explosion, rather than him rescuing them. This is either the truth, but the ones we've seen before are AI based on them, or he is lying to Dryagin to get him angry enough to take down the Triumvirate for him (I personally believe it to be the latter)
• Snow also mentions that he would have tried to redirect Dryagin's mission, had he of known he was the one leading it, implying some hidden connection. Considering his unwillingness to show himself to Lena, despite happily doing so with Dryagin, we can probably assume that he is related to her, possibly her father or grandfather.
• The Asphodel Extinction Weapon, as previously seen in the prequel story, is confirmed to be an extinction weapon made from the resources of Asphodel, and not a weapon to destroy the planet, or something related to it at least.
• The Cerberus mentioned in this issue is likely just a code-name for the Triumvirate, but knowing this writer, I'm going to class it as another "character", just in case.