Ruins

« The Transformers: Autocracy #5 »
"Ruins"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 14, 2012
Story by	Chris Metzen & Flint Dille
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Robbie Robbins
Editor	John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Before the war

Faced with the truth about his government, Orion Pax must decide which side he is on.

Synopsis

Orion Pax and his team travel to the Acropolex in Nyon, an ancient building in which their target, Hot Rod, is taking refuge. As they pursue him, Hound waxes poetic about how much better Cybertron must've been back when the Acropolex was more than just a ruin and the Knights of Cybertron were supposedly around. He also finds some plasma mines that Hot Rod has for some reason neglected to arm, but Orion doesn't care for these distractions and orders everyone to press on.

Next, the Autobots find a shrine in the shape of the Matrix of Leadership. Hound goes on about how it symbolizes hope and peace, while Ironhide doubts it exists and thinks it's just propaganda for the Primes. As Orion again loses patience and continues onward, Laserbeak watches from the shadows, transmitting the Autobots' actions to Megatron at Kolkular. Megatron is impressed by Hot Rod, and looks forward to seeing what Orion Pax will do when he learns the truth from him.

Finally reaching the heart of the Acropolex, Orion's team finds tanks of energon surrounded by collapsed Transformers. Hot Rod approaches them, explaining that the civilians have had their energon absorbed to further Zeta Prime's plans, and they are not the only ones. Instead of killing the Autobots, Hot Rod baited them to this place so that they could witness Zeta's corruption with their own eyes and join the insurgent movement. Having seen videos of Orion Pax standing up to the Senate, the insurgents believe that he is different from Zeta and truly believes in justice. Bumblebee leans toward joining them while Prowl doesn't like the idea of fighting their own government, but they leave it up to Orion. As Orion looks out over Nyon, he sees Zeta Prime's Omega Destructors setting the city ablaze, and states that they have no choice...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Errors

• Hot Rod is misspelled as "Hod Rod" on page 6, panel 3.

Notes

• While Kaon has appeared several times in IDW continuity, this marks the first appearance of its capital Kolkular.
• Mention is made of Starscream's role as a recruiter for the Decepticons, as seen in Spotlight: Blurr.

Reprints

Other than collections of the full series.

• N/A