Infiltration issue 6

	; "Megatron, is that you?"; "Here's a hint!"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 12, 2006
Cover date	June 2006
Written by	Simon Furman
Art by	E. J. Su
Colors by	John Rauch
Color assist by	Simon Bork, Mark Englert, Aaron Myers, Sunder Raj, and Kevin Senft
Letters by	Robbie Robbins
Edits by	Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	2006-7

A super-powered Starscream challenges Megatron.

Synopsis

"You cannot harm me while Dark Energon flows through my veins!"

In the Decepticon Command Bunker in Oregon, Starscream is on the receiving 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 O'Nion, Jimmy Pink, and Verity Carlo back to Ark-19 after their traumatic scouting mission in the abandoned Nebraska 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 are more than happy to stay out of it. Verity eventually relents at their words and gives in to 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 call for Starscream.

It is 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 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 fusion 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 two words: "Phase... Two."

Dramatic entrances are the right of all sentient beings.

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 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 as he says so, Hunter points to the door: Prime has already arrived!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Ratchet (4) Wheeljack (8) Jazz (9) Sunstreaker (10) Ironhide (11) Prowl (12) Bumblebee (13) Optimus Prime (18)	Runabout (1) Astrotrain (2) Starscream (3) Megatron (14) Thundercracker (15) Runamuck (16)	Hunter O'Nion (5) Verity Carlo (6) Jimmy Pink (7) Drake (17)

Quotes

"STARSCREAM!"

—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? We just going to let them slope off into their cosy siege bunker?"
"Yep."
"Thank the primal source for that!"

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

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

—Sunstreaker and Jazz discuss the concept of horses.

Notes

Continuity notes

Ironhide sent a coded transmission to Optimus back in issue #4.
Starscream makes a comment about "foul local brews;" this one-off line will go on to be explored in other media set around this time period, expounding on the fact that both sides are fighting for usable energy sources.
Megatron states that he believed he and Starscream had long since moved on from "such power plays". In the IDW continuity, the last time Starscream was involved in an open mutiny against his leader before this point was in Monstrosity, where he conspired with Scorponok to overthrow Megatron; in the Shining Armor miniseries, set 200 years before this issue, he contemplated the possibility of using alien technology to overpower the Decepticon leader, but other matters demanded his attention and Megatron never got wind of the adventure.
Starscream's dialogue suggests that it was his fear of Megatron that stopped him from any future coup attempts, a character trait that would be explored in more detail in 2017's Till All Are One.

Errors

In the very first panel, "Oregon" is misspelled as "Orgeon". This was corrected in the TPB.
Starscream says that Megatron was "sewing" the seeds of his destruction, instead of "sowing".

Other trivia

Megatron berates Starscream's treachery, noting that his actions have disgraced the "Imperium;" this was evidently Furman's early idea for the interplanetary space conquered by Decepticons but this concept was not borne out in later issues, which presented the modern Decepticon threat as a series of decentralized infiltration cells who pillage and raze planets rather than colonizing them. More than Meets the Eye #7 would mention that a "Decepticon Empire" had existed for a brief time in the past, but collapsed in on itself before the present day.
The "Decepticomments" section featured mail answered by Chris Ryall and an image of a cover for Escalation #1.

Covers (7)

Infiltration #6 cover A
Infiltration #6 cover B - Megatron does Galvatron proud.
Infiltration #6 cover C - Another Optimus Prime cover
Infiltration #6 cover D - Starscream winning, for all of 2 seconds.

Infiltration #6 cover A: Optimus Prime, by E. J. Su.
Infiltration #6 cover B: Megatron blasting a hole through Starscream, by Guido Guidi.
Infiltration #6 cover C: Optimus Prime, by Klaus Scherwinski.
Infiltration #6 cover D: Megatron vs Starscream, by Nick Roche.

Infiltration #6 cover RI-A - Megatron won't even let Starscream have his own cover.
Infiltration #6 cover RI-B - Um, I missed these folks in the comic.
Infiltration #6 cover RI-C - Yet another Optimus Prime cover.

Infiltration #6 cover RI-A: Megatron vs Starscream wraparound cover, by Andrew Wildman.
Infiltration #6 cover RI-B: Arcee vs Decepticons wraparound cover, by Bob Lefevre.
Infiltration #6 cover RI-C: Optimus Prime, by Guido Guidi (includes 4 mini-prints).