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The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part One

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"The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part One"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published June 12,2019
Cover date June 2019
Written by Brian Ruckley
Art by Angel Hernandez(pg. 1-3, 7, 10-15),Andrew Griffith(pg. 4-6, 8-9),Anna Malkova(pg. 16-20)
Colors by Joana Lafuente&Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor David MariotteandTom Waltz
Continuity 2019 IDW continuity

As questions pile up for the 'bots of Security Operations, a grieving Bumblebee heads down a new path... but is life as one of Elita-1's Ascenticons everything he hoped it would be?

Contents

Synopsis

From the roof of an apartment, above theIaconianskyline,Bumblebeegrieves forRubble,the 'bot whose duty it was for him to protect... and althoughWindbladeattempts to reassure him that Rubble's death wasn't his fault, her words do nothing to assuage his pain—or his guilty conscience, for Bumblebee can't help but feel responsible for not being there when he needed him most.

Elsewhere,Prowl's thoughts also drift towards Rubble and his last words; his rueful memory is cut short when xenobiologistGreenlightsnaps him back to reality as they conduct an autopsy on the two murder victims, recovered from Iacon'sXeno-Quarter:theVoinscavenger present on the night ofBrainstorm's murder... and Rubble himself. Greenlight confirms that the Voin was crushed to death, while her compatriotRatchetconcludes that simple blunt impact trauma was enough to kill Rubble. Disturbed by the sheer level of violence as evidenced by the two bodies, Ratchet's assessment of the two bodies instantly dash Prowl's hopes that the three murders were all carried out by the same culprit. Now, Ratchet asserts, there aretwokillers on the loose. As Greenlight departs, shaken by the sheer tragedy of the incident and worried for her andArcee'sownyoung Transformer, Chromia reassures Prowl that this wasn't his fault...but, like Windblade, her reassurances fall on deaf ears. Cursing himself for not being able to find the Voin sooner, Prowl swears that the culpritwillbe brought to justice.

As he makes his way down the stairs, Bumblebee is approached byOrion Pax,and the Senator offers his own condolences for Bumblebee's loss. In no mood to deal with politics, Bumblebee snarls that he's fine before leaving. Orion retreats to a nearby balcony alone as the stars come out, only to receive a sudden communication fromIronhide.Ironhide warns him that his news is both good and bad: due to recent eventsSentinel Primeand his inner retinue have cut their tour of the colony worlds short and are on their way back to Cybertron to take control of the situation. As Ironhide's hologram winks out, Orion can only mumble his apologies to Bumblebee, who's already left the building....

Transforming and zooming down the streets, Bumblebee soon arrives at theAscenticonheadquarters, where he's greeted byElita-1,surprised to see him, of all 'bots, as a new recruit to theAscenticon Guard:especially so soon after Rubble's death. Bumblebee tells her that he's there to help his planet and protect his fellow Cybertronians, and although the thuggishSkytreadandRefraktorsneer that they've signed on just to beat up anyone who tries to cross the Ascenticons, their commander sharply reminds them that Bumblebee is right: the Ascenticons are all about change, throwing off the shackles ofAutobotlaw to guide Cybertron towards a better future, and the Ascenticon Guard is there to ensure that that change comes in a safe, orderly fashion.

Though Bumblebee points out thatSoundwavehas left it up to Elita to decide, Skytread is immediately skeptical of Bumblebee's potential, and mocks the scout for his expulsion fromSecurity Operationsand his inability to keep his protégé safe—at which point Bumblebee snaps and punches the Ascenticon in the face, dropping both him and Refraktor before Elita steps in to separate the three. As Elita helps him up, Bumblebee grumbles about his less-than-friendly reception, and wonders what would have happened if the fourth member of the Ascenticon Guard had been there... and that's when he realizes... whereisQuake?

Far away from Iacon, at theMemorial Crater,Cyclonuscarries out his lonely vigil, steadfastly continuing to guard the monument that marks the last battlefield of the war against theThreefold Spark.In his head, however, it's a different story... for the old veteran is haunted by his ghostly compatriots, who ceaselessly bicker amongst themselves.Highfireworries about Cyclonus's deteriorating mental health,Gridlockcheerfully questions the sanity of their corporeal friend,Grudgeexpresses his desire to finally die a proper death, andProvokegrimly reminds the purple warrior that the only thing that matters is standing guard over the crater. Gridlock shouts thatExarchonis long-gone, but Cyclonus refutes that: in his mind, the leader of the Threefold Spark could come back any day.

Kicking off a lichen-like carpet of microbes that threaten to encrust the crater, Cyclonus finds an unfamiliar wire embedded in the surface of the crater. Before he can investigate further, however he's confronted by an unfamiliar Cybertronian:Flamewar,who immediately opens fire! Cyclonus transforms and tries to get airborne, but a shot from Flamewar's weapon nicks his wing and sends him spiraling into the crater. As he transforms and strides towards his attacker, Cyclonus warns Flamewar that he's not going down without a fight!

Featured characters

Characters initalic textappear only in hallucinatory form.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Ascenticons Others

The Rise

Quotes

"We aresohard to kill. It takes real determination.Commitment,I suppose. Not many of us have it in us these days. We've forgotten what it takes to do this. What you have to haveinsideyou. "

—Ratchet


"You know how sometimes news can't make up its mind whether to be good or bad? Like that time Perceptor upped the plasma pyre output by six percent, but melted his hand off doing it?"

—Ironhide


"You just say the word, boss. We'll shut up soon as he wants us to,won'twe, Grudge? "
"Sure. I'm about ready to try beingproperly dead.Have been for kilocycles, to be honest. "

—GridlockandGrudge

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Greenlight mentions her partnerArcee;like Bumblebee and Rubble, the pair recently became mentors to a newly born Transformer, which occurred on-panel inissue #4.
  • Bumblebee expressed an interest to join the Ascenticon Guard inissue #5,where he met with Soundwave.
  • Sentinel Prime was previously established to have left Cybertron inissue #3;his retinue for the duration of the trip is noted to include bothStarscreamandNautica—this is the first mention of the latter in the new continuity.
  • Ironhide briefly refers to aplasma pyre,which cremated Brainstorm's body in issue #4.
  • Issue #4 also had Cyclonus mention that "bioluminescent microbes" were making their way into the Memorial Crater, a fact borne out in this comic.
  • Cyclonus's spectral visions were not named in their prior appearance: this issue reveals that they're namedHighfire(partially disintegrated),Gridlock(missing an arm, shot in the head),Grudge(melted upper body) andProvoke(bullet wounds, but otherwise intact)

Transformers references

  • Nominus Prime's historic speech, in which he introduces theNominus Edict,praises the notions of "peace through stability" and "[peace] through restraint," in what seems like a deliberate call-forward toMegatron's famous "peace through tyranny" motto.
  • Rubble's corpse, at least the visible half, is now colouredgunmetal grey.
  • Flamewarreturns! After a single cameo in the2005 IDW continuity,the obscure Decepticon femme fatale makes her reboot debut in a new body that mixes and matches various features from her twoBotContoys.

Other trivia

Covers (3)

  • TF201907-cvrA.jpg
  • TF201907-cvrB.jpg
  • TF201907-cvrRI.jpg

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