Battle Lines, Part 1

The Autobots and Decepticons regroup after the fallout of Bruticus' attack.

Synopsis

As Dion is being repaired after Bruticus' attack on the Elite Guard's headquarters, his story is related. Before the war, he and his friends Orion Pax and Ariel worked on the docks, and lived happy lives. That all changed when Megatron came onto the scene; Dion watched as his friends were gunned down by Megatron, and Dion himself is soon gunned down by the Decepticon grunts, falling into the embrace of death. However, Dion finds that life is not done with him yet, as the Elite Guard have reformatted him so that he may join their ranks. Dion bonds with his new comrades, in particular becoming good friends with fellow young cadet Kup. Soon, however, Dion is once again jerked into the past, as his new friends are murdered as well, this time by the traitorous Combaticons...

As it turns out, however, Dion’s story has been related by Side Burn, who has impersonated the Guardsman in an attempt to pick up Road Rage and another fembot. His deception is soon ended when Prowl calls him by name, revealing his true identity. The fembots and Prowl are disgusted by Side Burn’s actions, the latter noting that aside from the fact that impersonating an Elite Guardsman is a federal offense, the Decepticon attack only just happened. However, with Prowl’s lecture failing to get through to Side Burn, and more important matters at hand, he lets the issue go, and the two transform and head off to the High Council.

Meanwhile, at Deathsaurus's lair, Starscream reports that Bruticus has destroyed the Elite Guard, and that the Combaticons are en route back to base. Starscream proceeds to ask Deathsaurus why he has given the Combaticons the honor of wearing the Decepticon symbol; after all, they're only using Deathsaurus to further their ambitions, and are bound to stab him in the back at some point. Deathsaurus tells his lieutenant that ambition makes the perfect Decepticon, unlike the stagnation the Autobots have had in their rule over Cybertron. Deathsaurus sends Starscream off to Lyzack to ensure that the med-bay is ready for the Combaticon's arrival. Starscream is bemused by Lyzack's supposed timidity, and walks off, ready to crush the Autobot's will. An annoyed Lyzack places the dishes she was carrying on a shelf, right below a massive sword, muttering to herself about timidity...

At the High Council's Citadel, Magnum has gathered the remaining Elite Guard members for an emergency session, focused on the security of the Autobots. Kup believes they should be out in the fields preparing for the next attack, but Magnum insists on all of the being here, to show the Council that the Elite Guard isn't finished yet. Thunderclash tells Dion that he still is injured and that he doesn't have to be here, but Dion insists, both for the comrades he's lost, and himself. Prepared to make their case, the remaining Elite Guard members are shocked when they walk in to find that Optimus Prime has been appointed the new commander of the Autobots!

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• This story takes place shortly after the conclusion of last year's "The Coming Storm" storyline, in which the Combaticons killed most of the Elite Guard members, and Dion gained the injuries he displays here.
• A "Paradron medic" appears as one of the Autobots repairing Dion; they (along with the planet Paradron) appeared in Transformers episode "Fight or Flee".
• Various scenes from cartoon episode "War Dawn" are recreated on the first page, including Dion socializing with his friends, and Megatron firing on them. In particular, you can spot five silhouettes in panel 3; presumably, these are the Aerialbots, who were sent back in time by the Kronosphere.
• Also seen in flashback is the Combaticons being introduced by Magnum, from "The Coming Storm: Part 2".
• Prowl transforms into an alien vehicle, despite having obvious Datsun vehicle kibble, much like the Transformers seen converting on Cybertron in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
• Starscream became Deathsaurus's lieutenant in "A Team Effort". Also seen in that story was the death of the majority of remaining Decepticon Warlords in Kaon, an event to which Kup refers.

Transformers references

• Both Ratchet and Ironhide are depicted in their BotCon 2005 "Descent into Evil" bodies.
• Orion Pax is holding a gun-like device on panel 2 of page 1; this is Barrelroller, a redecoed version of Recoil from the Orion Pax e-HOBBY toy, who represents a version of Roller from before Orion Pax was rebuilt into Optimus Prime.
• Road Rage was an e-HOBBY exclusive redeco of Tracks, using the original Diaclone colors.
• The waitress Transformer seen in this story is based on Side Burn's fellow Robots in Disguise character T-AI.
• Prowl's relationship with Side Burn references his Robots in Disguise counterpart, who was Side Burn's brother.
• The Autobot High Council is based within the Council Citadel from Beast Machines.
• Several generics in the crowd scene on the last page are colored based on pre-existing characters, including Wreck-Gar, Ratchet, Trailbreaker, and Hubcap.