Transformers: Spotlight #3 - "Hot Rod"

Credits

Writer - Simon Furman / Art - Nick Roche / Letters - Robbie Robbins / Colors - Liam Shallod

Story

Freefalling with a swarm of meteorites, the thrill-seeker Autobot Hot Rod manages a sensor-evading barely-controlled crash on the surface of a distant moon. He survives the impact -- barely -- and slips into unconsciousness...

The Autobots of K-Aleta: Download, Hot Rod, Backbeat, Gizmo, and Dealer

In flashback, Hot Rod is leading an Autobot tactical unit on the planet Ki-Aleta. Reaching the Omega Bunker, his team must now elude the Omega Guardians and slip inside to reach The Magnificence. As Gizmo, Backbeat, and Dealer complete the preparations for the next phase of their plan, Hot Rod gives the go-ahead order...

Back on the moon, Hot Rod reawakens, and prepares to infiltrate the Decepticon penal colony Styx. Hot Rod launches a probe that infects the Styx computer systems with a virus that scrambles its security sensors. As the Decepticons scramble to deal with the various failures and problems, Hot Rod slips inside.

Flashback: With the Omega Guardians distracted by Gizmo's holograms, Hot Rod and Download dig underground and quickly reach the inner chamber. Download is stunned by the beauty of The Magnificence, but Hot Rod reminds him of their mission -- to secure it before the Decepticons can get its omnipotent abilities for themselves. While Download proceeds, Gizmo suddenly experiences a generator failure, and the Guardians are attacking the outside team! As Hot Rod orders them to abort, Download breaches the Magnificence's containment field -- and is immediately destroyed by another set of Guardians!

Back on Styx, the virus opens all of the cell doors, and Hot Rod disguises himself as a Decepticon. Admist the chaos, Hot Rod finds the battered and shell-shocked form of Dealer, who was abandoned on Ki-Aleta and subsequently captured by the Decepticons. As Hot Rod steals a shuttlecraft and the two escape, we learn that Hot Rod was merely following his orders -- to secure the Magnificence by any means necessary, even if it meant sacrificing his team in the process. Despite the success of his mission, Hot Rod rescued Dealer to assuage his own guilt.

After Dealer has made a full recovery, Hot Rod meets up with him and tries to apologize. To Hot Rod's relief, Dealer selflessly forgives him, and simply wants to be friends once more.

Later, alone in his quarters, Dealer surreptitiously contacts the Decepticon Banzaitron and reports on Hot Rod's naivety, revealing that it was Dealer who sabotaged the mission. Though the Decepticons don't know where Hot Rod has hidden the Magnificence, Dealer will now work on exploiting his guilt to find it. Approving of such duplicity, Banzaitron comments that perhaps he should be called Doubledealer instead...