Infiltration issue 6

<table class="infobox" style="width: 20em;">

<tr style="background-color:#e7d492;text-align:center;font-size:12px;"> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> <table width="100%" style="background-color:transparent">

<tr style="font-size:14px;"> <td class="tti_buttonlink">« </td><td align="center">The Transformers: Infiltration #6 </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink">» </td></tr> <tr class="tt1_secondarynav"> <td class="tti_buttonlink"> </td><td align="center"> </td><td align="right" class="tti_buttonlink"> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 12px; background-color:#ffffff;" align="center"> <img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/b/b9/Infiltration_6b.jpg/230px-Infiltration_6b.jpg" width="230" height="357" border="0" /><br />"Megatron, is that you?"<br />"Here's a hint!" </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Publisher </td><td> IDW Publishing </td></tr> <tr> <td>Date published </td><td> July 12, 2006 </td></tr> <tr> <td>Cover date </td><td> June 2006 </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Written by </td><td> Simon Furman </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Art by </td><td> E. J. Su </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Colors by </td><td> John Rauch </td></tr> <tr> <td>Colors assist by </td><td> Simon Bork, Mark Englert, Aaron Myers, Sunder Raj, and Kevin Senft </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Letters by </td><td> Robbie Robbins </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Edits by </td><td> Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor </td></tr>

<tr> <td>Continuity </td><td> IDW continuity </td></tr> <tr> <td>Chronology </td><td> Infiltration </td></tr>

</table> A super-powered Starscream challenges Megatron.

Synopsis

In the Decepticon Command Bunker in Oregon, Starscream is on the tail end of a mega-cycle long "hit" of Ore-13. As they wait, Astrotrain and Runabout worry about what they've just heard regarding Megatron recently arriving on Earth and dispatching both Blitzwing and Skywarp in a fight. But when Starscream finally emerges from the Energon chamber, he tells them both that thanks to the Ore-13 they'll be more than ready to take him on when he comes.

Over in Iowa, Ratchet is busy taking Hunter, Jimmy, and Verity back to the Ark-19 after their traumatic scouting mission in the abandoned Nebraskan Decepticon bunker. Verity is angry at not being able to help the Autobots investigate the information they brought back, but Hunter and Jimmy tell her that they're more than happy to stay out of it. Verity eventually relents at their words and gives into joining the post-traumatic stressing out.

Meanwhile, the other Autobots who are busy investigating are speeding their way towards the Oregon Decepticon bunker. Bumblebee is already there, quietly monitoring the area, though nothing is happening... yet. Eventually, though, he sees Megatron bounce in just outside the bunker and scream for Starscream.

It's Astrotrain, the Battlechargers, and Thundercracker who come out to greet him first, however. Megatron warns them that if they fight him they will die, and gives them the choice of standing down instead, which they accept. Starscream flies out of the bunker at that point, declares them all "strutless cowards", and lays into Megatron with his now super-powered weaponry.

Bumblebee ends up getting tossed around by the backwash and flung off to the side. Prowl tells him to hang on, as his squad is almost there, but Bumblebee tries to warn them off, saying he he thinks they'll be bystanders at best, collateral damage at worst.

Megatron retaliates with his fusion cannon, clipping Starscream's wings and causing him to decide to transform and continue his attack in robot mode. He divebombs straight onto Megatron, throws him into the side of a cliff, and opens fire with everything he's got. Starscream starts crowing about how long he's been wanting to defeat Megatron... then reacts in horror as Megatron emerges from the cliff, very much not as deactivated as he was expecting.

Bumblebee finally gets spotted by the other Decepticons who have been watching the fight, but the other Autobots arrive just in the nick of time to bail him out of an attack. Prowl tells everyone they should all stand down and be content to watch the duel play itself out.

And play out it does, as Megatron berates Starscream for his actions and blows a hole straight through him using his cannon. He tells the gathered Decepticons to take Starscream's remains inside, and answers Runamuck's question about what to do about the Autobots present with, "Phase... two."

Sunstreaker asks Prowl if they're just going to let the Decepticons get away with going back into the bunker. Prowl says, "Yep," and Sunstreaker reacts with relief. They all head back to Lake Michigan and down into the water to return to the Ark-19... where it turns out that they're being watched by Machination agents, who are ready to enact the plan to kidnap one of the Autobots now that they've confirmed their location.

As they get inside, Prowl states that he thinks it's finally time to contact Optimus Prime. But it turns out that Prime is already here...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

<table border="5" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" align="center" style="border:#800000"> <tr> <th style="background:#FFEEEE"> Autobots</th><th style="background:#EEEEFE"> Decepticons</th><th style="background:antiquewhite"> Humans </th></tr> <tr> <td style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top">

• Ratchet (4)
• Wheeljack (8)
• Jazz (9)
• Sunstreaker (10)
• Ironhide (11)
• Prowl (12)
• Bumblebee (13)
• Optimus Prime (18)

</td><td style="background:#EEEEFE" valign="top">

• Runabout (1)
• Astrotrain (2)
• Starscream (3)
• Megatron (14)
• Thundercracker (15)
• Runamuck (16)

</td><td style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top">

• Hunter O'Nion (5)
• Verity Carlo (6)
• Jimmy Pink (7)
• Drake (17)

</td></tr></table>

Quotes

<big>"STARSCREAM!"</big><br />

—Megatron, showing that even in a different reality, some things never change.

"You will stand down. If you fight, you die. There is no room anymore for mercy. In the end, you are all expendable. Choose.

—Megatron's ultimatum to Starscream's forces.

"Prowl? Are we just gonna let them sneak back into their cozy siege bunker?"<br /> "Yep."<br /> "Thank the primal source for that!"<br />

—Sunstreaker lets Prowl know that he actually does believe in a being greater than himself.

"Er, excuse me...what are the humans doing out?"<br /> "There's a local Earth expression, Sunstreaker. Something about equine lifeforms the egress from their given habitation."<br /> "Eh?"<br /> "Never mind."<br />

—Sunstreaker and Jazz discuss the concept of wild horses.

Errors

• In the very first panel, "Oregon" is mis-spelled as "Orgeon". This was corrected in the TPB.

Items of note

• Cameos: More Machination dudes
• The Machination sub-plot continues directly into Escalation #1.
• Starscream reveals that most of the Transformers are surviving off artificial Energon substitutes.
• Megatron and Prime's arrivals turn Earth into "the pivotal front line". Both of the leaders are treated by the cells as awe-inspiring, supremely powerful entities—which Megatron demonstrably is.
• Megatron states that he believed he and Starscream had long since moved on from "such power plays". While it's obvious Starscream has been treacherous before (because he's Starscream), this implies he stopped long ago. Starscream's dialog suggests this was due to fear more than anything else.
• As with Bumblebee, Sunstreaker's holomatter avatar (and presumably voice) is female.
• The "Decepticomments" section featured mail answered by Chris Ryall and an image of a cover for Escalation #1.

Covers (7)

• Cover A: Optimus Prime by E. J. Su
• Cover B: Megatron blasting a hole through Starscream by Guido Guidi
• Cover C: Optimus Prime by Klaus Scherwinski
• Cover D: Megatron vs Starscream by Nick Roche
• Cover RI-A: Megatron vs Starscream wraparound cover by Andrew Wildman
• Cover RI-B: Arcee vs Decepticons wraparound cover by Bob Lefevre
• Cover RI-C: Optimus Prime by Guido Guidi (includes 4 mini-prints)

<table class="gallery" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/5/5f/Infiltration_6a.jpg/77px-Infiltration_6a.jpg" width="77" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Prime chokes a bitch.

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/b/b9/Infiltration_6b.jpg/77px-Infiltration_6b.jpg" width="77" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Megatron does Galvatron proud.

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/1/18/Infiltration_6c.jpg/77px-Infiltration_6c.jpg" width="77" height="119" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Another Optimus Prime cover

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/7/7e/Infiltration_6d.jpg/77px-Infiltration_6d.jpg" width="77" height="119" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Starscream winning, for all of 2 seconds.

</div> </div></td> </tr> <tr> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 26px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/7/79/Infiltration_6ria.jpg/120px-Infiltration_6ria.jpg" width="120" height="93" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Megatron won't even let Starscream have his own cover.

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 26px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/5/54/Infiltration_6rib.jpg/120px-Infiltration_6rib.jpg" width="120" height="93" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Um, I missed these folks in the comic.

</div> </div></td> <td><div class="gallerybox" style="width: 155px;"> <div class="thumb" style="padding: 13px 0; width: 150px;"><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 120px;"><img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/a/a7/Infiltration_6ric.jpg/79px-Infiltration_6ric.jpg" width="79" height="120" border="0" /></div></div> <div class="gallerytext"> Yet another Optimus Prime cover.

</div> </div></td> </tr> </table>

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