Written by: Brian Ruckley
Art by: Angel Hernandez & Anna Malkova
Colours by: Joana LaFuente
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Editors: David Mariotte & Tom Waltz
Plot
Chromia, Windblade and Sideswipe head to the memorial, where they locate the entrance to the hidden base, once there, Chromia contacts Geomotus, who confirms her theory that the micro-fissures he found during their earlier mission had to be caused by mining, confirming to her that the base was built recently. Chromia bemoans that Barricade isn't responding to her calls and that they have to do this mission without him. The trio arm up with weapons with the armoury and head inside, with Sideswipe standing guard outside...
Elsewhere, Prowl tracks down one of his black market contacts, Headlock, and threatens him to give him all the information he has on the Voin and the recent killings, to which he admits that he's already given all the information he has to Barricade, who came to see him on "behalf" of Security...much to Prowl's surprise.
In the Rise base, the team are detected by Sixshot, Flamewar and Shadow Striker, who are the only members left after the evacuation, and Sixshot bemoans their actions that led Security straight to them.
Whilst exploring the base, Chromia and Windblade find a lot of supplies and equipment, but Chromia gets excited when she sees some Energon stations that haven't had their monitors disabled, so if they use a detector they can discover everyone who has used them! Windblade runs off to get the detector, leaving Chromia alone with the stations, unaware that Sixshot has arrived behind her...
At Ascenticon HQ, Bee is shocked to see the line of potential Ascenticon Guard members, and is surprised to see Barricade has been allowed to try out, despite him being current Security, which he waves off as him just having more to "offer" than Bee did...
Back outside the Rise base, Windblade grabs the detector and rushes back inside, when alone, Sideswipe is attacked by Flamewar.
Inside, Chromia and Sixshot fight it out, and Sixshot appears to be winning, until Windblade arrives and skewers her sword through his chest. Sixshot runs off, with the sword still in his chest, but throws a grenade to slow down the Securities. Chromia gives chase, whilst Windblade attached the detector, and they hear Shadow Striker on the intercom saying to escape before the "boom".
Shadow Striker and Sixshot escape, and Flamewar, seeing them leave, drives off as well, leaving Sideswipe alive behind her.
Chromia gets outside, but is shocked that Windblade hasn't escaped yet, just as the Rise base explodes, destroying the monument and Windblade's broken body is thrown miles away from the site.
Characters
Security Forces
Chromia - Car
Windblade - VTOL Jet Caught in Rise HQ Explosion, Thrown Miles away
Sideswipe - Car
Prowl - Police Vehicle
Barricade - Police Vehicle (Defecting to Ascenticons)
Security Trainees (Mentioned)
The Rise
Sixshot - Jet
Shadow Striker - Car
Flamewar - Motorcycle
The Rise Commander (Mentioned)
Other Risers (Mentioned)
Ascenticon
Elita-1 - Car
Bumblebee - Winged Hovercraft
Soundwave - Hovercraft (Mentioned)
Other Cybertronian
Headlock
Ascenticon Potential Recruits
Geomotus - Radar Mounted Rover (Hologram Only)
Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)
Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) Dead
Rubble (Mentioned) Dead
Landmine (Mentioned)
The Missing Cybertronians (Mentioned)
Other
Unlicensed Voin Scavenger (Mentioned) Dead
Notes
- Despite the main cover, and the solicits for the issue, Sentinel, Starscream Nautica, Orion Pax and Hound do not appear in this issue at all. At least Bumblebee has a page of content though I guess...
- Geomotus mentions a co-worker of his being named Landmine. Since this is a G1 series, we should assume this is the G1 character of the same name, but this series has had a fair few surprises so far, so maybe this is another version!
- Prowl mentioned that he was going to be looking into his black market contacts, just before Rubble died, implying that this is how Quake learned about the Voin Scavenger and went out to look for him.
- Shadow Striker outright names her group "Risers", pretty much confirming that they are the Rise, and not Ascenticons (unless the groups are connected like I originally believed)
- Oh hey! Sixshot is back! Let's hope he doesn't get lobotomized again this time!
- Also, we only see Sixshot in his jet alternate mode, so we don't know if he's a six-changer yet or not (though, based on the wheels on his shoulders, he most likely also turns into a car as well)
- Barricade getting information from Headlock about the Voin, and being instantly admitted into the Ascenticons instead of going through barriers like Bee had to would imply that he's been a mole for Soundwave for a while within the Security Forces, and likely gave them the information that led to the Voin and Rubble being killed by Quake.
- Sideswipe's Thermal Lance seems to be designed after the Decepticon Hunter used by his RID2015 counterpart.
