Infiltration issue 4

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« The Transformers: Infiltration #4 »

"Bumblebee Holding Giant-Ass Gun" #392
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 12, 2006
Cover date March 2006
Written by Simon Furman
Art by E. J. Su
Colors by John Rauch
Letters by Tom B. Long
Edits by Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Infiltration

Ratchet and Bumblebee protect their human friends while a new player arrives on Earth.

Synopsis

Three years ago, a young Verity Carlo meets with a social worker after running away from yet another foster home. Her social worker sees right through Verity's tough façade and states that all she sees is a girl "in a world of hurt and pain".

In the present day, Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink watch as Verity rappels into the depths of an abandoned Decepticon fortress in the wilderness of Nebraska. Using their holomatter avatars, Ratchet and Bumblebee watch on; Ratchet is adamant that when this escapade is over, the humans are going home, while Bumblebee warns the trio to watch for booby traps.

As the two boys follow Verity into the shaft and split up to investigate, Bumblebee confides to Ratchet that he thinks that the Autobot medic might be right -- but to change Prowl's mind, they'll need hard evidence that something's wrong... and the humans fall into the "acceptable losses" category if it means getting that evidence.

In Dallas, Texas, Drake meets with a group of humans in the Epsilon Holdings building -- a front for the shadowy group known as the Machination led by Abraham Dante. Jolly reports on recent events: a series of anomalous vehicle attacks throughout the southwest United States have led the group to conclude that the "visitors" are moving into the next stage of their operations. Having received a homing signal from their deceased operative Stoker, Drake and his team of operatives are dispatched to "accelerate" their "acquisition strategy..."

Deep inside the Decepticon bunker, Verity discovers a strange sight: a jumbled series of glowing green tubes, each one big enough to hold a human. Ignoring Jimmy's warnings, Verity goes ahead and opens one... and is immediately confronted by the gruesome sight of a rotted corpse wearing a military uniform. Despite the shock, Verity manages to compose herself and move on; as she does so, however, she's unaware that, topside, the two Autobots have visitors of their own in the shape of Skywarp and Blitzwing. Paying no heed to the Autobots, the two fliers launch a massive bombing run on the base, forcing the two Autobots to outrun the explosions!

Ratchet yells for the humans to evacuate the base as fast as possible; while Jimmy and Hunter comply, Verity, determined to make up for losing her cool earlier, ignores Ratchet's orders and goes to investigate the last section of the base. On the surface, battle breaks out as the Autobots try to buy time for the humans; Bumblebee pits his superior processor speed against Skywarp's teleportation power and comes out on top, but when Ratchet goes to investigate the crash site, he's quickly taken out by Blitzwing in his tank mode...

.. and, underground, Verity discovers that she's not the only occupant of the Decepticon fortress as she enters the last room of the base and comes face to face with its other occupant: Megatron!

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

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Megatron is talking to Razorclaw. The full conversation appears in Stormbringer #3.
  • The Machination's plot and the purpose of the SM-40 is revealed in Devastation #1—a preview with the relevant pages is printed in "Spotlight: Optimus Prime".
  • The human corpse is that of a human abducted and replaced by a Decepticon facsimile construct; the pod it was in is a life support vessel, keeping it alive in case a new facsimile needs to be grown, but which was abandoned and allowed to fail. This is explained in Escalation #2.
  • First appearances: Megatron!

Transformers references

Real-life references

  • Some of the binary on Bumblebee's windshield on page 17 reads 'idw', 't' and 'f'.
  • The bunker is in Nebraska; the Machination's evil headquarters is in Dallas, Texas.

Errors

  • This issue has the same publish date as issue #3.
  • Drake's team is assembled. None of them particularly resemble any of the members of the team as seen in Escalation.

Other trivia

Covers (8)

  • Infiltration #4 cover A - Starscream shoots his shot... ewwww!
    Infiltration #4 cover A - Starscream shoots his shot... ewwww!
  • Infiltration #4 cover B - Skywarp likes it when bad things happen to Bumblebee. So do we!
    Infiltration #4 cover B - Skywarp likes it when bad things happen to Bumblebee. So do we!
  • Infiltration #4 cover C - Transformers equivalent of the Big Johnson shirt.
    Infiltration #4 cover C - Transformers equivalent of the Big Johnson shirt.
  • Infiltration #4 cover D - Hunter looks a little less goofy here.
    Infiltration #4 cover D - Hunter looks a little less goofy here.
  • Infiltration #4 cover A: Starscream by E. J. Su, would later become part of the wraparound cover RI-A for issue #5.
  • Infiltration #4 cover B: Bumblebee on Blitzwing's turret, by Guido Guidi.
  • Infiltration #4 cover C: Bumblebee with giant-ass gun, by Andrew Wildman.
  • Infiltration #4 cover D: Humans, by James Raiz.
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-A - Very Freudian
    Infiltration #4 cover RI-A - Very Freudian
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-B - Trigger crotch, yeessssss!
    Infiltration #4 cover RI-B - Trigger crotch, yeessssss!
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-C - Top o'the mornin' to ya!
    Infiltration #4 cover RI-C - Top o'the mornin' to ya!
  • Infiltration #4 cover RE-A - What are Prime and Megs doing? I don't think I want to know!
    Infiltration #4 cover RE-A - What are Prime and Megs doing? I don't think I want to know!
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-A: Foil stamp of cover C, without the background.
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-B: (Mostly) toy-accurate Megatron, by Guido Guidi.
  • Infiltration #4 cover RI-C: Saluting Bumblebee, by Guido Guidi (includes 3 mini-prints).
  • Infiltration #4 cover RE-A: Megatron and Optimus Prime, by Andrew Wildman (drawtheworldtogether.com exclusive).

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