Infiltration # 5
Written by Simon Furman
Penciled by EJ Su

Summary:

We jump right into the story as Bumblebee finds Ratchet's downed form dug somewhat into the ground after Blitzwing shot and apparently ran him over.  Thankfully, Ratchet is still functional and Bumblebee helps him to his feet.  The Decepticons seemingly don't consider the Autobots a threat anymore and have returned to their bombing of the area to destroy their abandoned bunker.  This is pretty bad news for Verity, Hunter, and Jimmy, who are all still inside it!  Underneath the surface, Hunter speeds for the exit point while radioing his companions.  Jimmy has already made it there but Verity is nowhere in sight.  The two wonder what could have happened to her.  Further within the bunker, Verity has made a shocking discovery; Decepticon commander Megatron is within the chamber she was exploring.  Megatron regards Verity as if she were a mouse, then turns back to working on some console.  Although terrified, Verity manages to raise her camcorder and record Megatron for a little bit, until the chamber starts shaking under the pressure of the bombing taking place above ground.  A few rocks fall on Megatron and he casually brushes them off; Verity however, has to frantically dodge them as they fall in her direction.  She's finally had enough and bolts in a panic from the room as the entire bunker slowly begins to collapse.  Above ground, Jimmy has made it safely outside, but doesn't find Verity there.  He radios down to Hunter that she isn't there, and Hunter decides to stay down and wait for her.  But Jimmy knows that it'll be faster if Hunter climbs up now, since there is only one rope.  Hunter reluctantly agrees, but feels like they are abandoning Verity.  Meanwhile in the Decepticon command bunker located in Oregon, Astrotrain radios Starscream with a status report concerning their mining operations.  The energy source that they have been harvesting, code-named “Ore-13”, is particularly plentiful in this location.  Astrotrain tells his commander that all that is left is to process it and then they can use it as energy.  Starscream eagerly awaits ingesting this new potent super-fuel.  Back at the Nebraska bunker, Ratchet and Bumblebee return to where they left the humans.  Seeing Jimmy and Hunter there, Ratchet orders them to get in quickly as the entire area is going to collapse very soon.  But Hunter and Jimmy won't leave without Verity, claiming that they are all in this together.  At that moment, Verity finally radios them; she's reached the exit point and the two boys move to pull the rope back up.  But the area starts to give out, filling the exit hole with dirt, and the tree they fastened the rope to snaps.  Quickly, Bumblebee transforms and braces the tree to give Hunter and Jimmy enough time to try and rescue Verity.  Hunter manages to snag Verity's hand and Bumblebee pulls the tree back up, getting the humans back on solid ground.  Quickly, the humans board Ratchet and the two Autobots speed off as the area completely sinks into the ground.  In the sky, Skywarp and Blitzwing admire their handiwork.  Blitzwing thinks that they should have destroyed this location first and says that they have “stopped being Decepticons” after this.  Skywarp shrugs off the Triple-Changer's concerns, citing that the prize that Starscream is seeking is worth it.  Suddenly, Skywarp spies some movement in the rubble of the bunker.  He peels off to get a better look as some of the dirt and wreckage on the ground begin to be thrown up.  Suddenly, an enraged Megatron erupts from the ground, breaking free of his would-be tomb.  Stunned to see him there, Skywarp abruptly begins to apologize but Megatron's response is the word “Traitor” and a blast from his fusion cannon that rips a substantial hole in the Seeker's frame.  Skywarp crashes to the ground, a burning wreck, as Ratchet and Bumblebee abruptly stop and turn about to see to their horror that Megatron has arrived on Earth.  Blitzwing flies in towards Megatron, initially beginning to try and reason with the Decepticon commander, but then abruptly gives up and transforms to tank mode, firing upon him.  Megatron is completely unfazed by Blitzwing's firepower and grabs his treacherous soldier by the tank barrel and violently bashes him on the ground enough times to incapacitate the Triple-Changer.  Meanwhile Bumblebee and Ratchet begin quickly retreating, knowing they are out of their league.  Ratchet knows they have enough evidence now to get Prowl to upgrade their alert status.  He tells Bumblebee to get back to base while he analyzes the data the humans retrieved from the bunker.  The Autobots need to figure out what's going on, because at the moment; it doesn't seem to even involve them yet.  Ratchet also figures that Megatron is headed for a confrontation with Starscream now, so they need to be ready to act.  A bit later, Ratchet is on the highway, radio-linked with Prowl and Ironhide at Ark-19.  He explains what he's gathered by analyzing the bunker data; the Decepticons have discovered an energy source similar to Energon but much more potent and able to be applied directly to their systems.  After exhausting the ore deposit in Nebraska, they moved to Oregon and initiated siege mode to destroy evidence of what they discovered.  By engaging siege mode, they broke infiltration protocol, which Ironhide speculates made Megatron come to Earth to find out why his soldiers had disobeyed his orders.  Ironhide figures that this new energy source Starscream's unit had discovered will make them much stronger and a confrontation between them and Megatron is now inevitable.  The Autobots are now in the middle of a Decepticon power-struggle that threatens to endanger the Earth itself.  TO BE CONCLUDED!


Slagged!:

-Well, Ratchet's a bit worse for wear after being shot in the chest and then run over by Blitzwing, but the doc manages to shake it off.

-Megatron ain't too happy about his troops going rogue and then trying to entomb him- even unintentionally.  He dispatches Skywarp with a fusion cannon blast and viciously batters tank mode Blitzwing into submission.  Both of them will probably be alright after some repair time, but they aren't going to forget this beat down any time soon.


Sightings:

-Interesting that Megatron apparently didn't bother with an Earth mode.  We don't see him transform, but it seems apparent that his alt-mode is a Cybertronian tank.  I guess he really doesn't need an Earth disguise since he probably won't be staying long, and this also shows that Earth is not the focal point of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict.  As mentioned in past issues, the Decepticons' campaign of conquest extends to countless worlds and civilizations.

-Megs isn't exactly shy about meting out punishment for treachery.  I wouldn't count Skywarp as dead just yet, despite the seriousness of his wound.  It takes a lot to kill a Transformer, as evidenced by Ratchet's fast recovery in the beginning of the issue.


Hearings:

-Ratchet mentions that the mysterious “Ore-13” is similar to Energon, but more potent and able to be “applied directly to their (the Decepticons) systems”.  So it's probably more like Cybertronian steroids than an energy source which they need to survive on.  There are vague echoes of Nucleon in this description.


Wreck and RULE!:

-EJ Su's art is gorgeous this issue, from the first page splash of a downed Ratchet to pretty much every rendering of Megatron.  My favorite bits include Megatron's furious eruption from the caved-in sinkhole and his walking straight through Blitzwing's shots.

-I love the characterization Megatron gets here, and he barely speaks!  In the first scene, his expression and body language as he looks at Verity screams one word; insignificant.  Verity isn't even worth killing, let alone giving her further acknowledgement.  He disciplines Skywarp and Blitzwing coldly and efficiently and if he notices the Autobots, he doesn't really care about them.  He's totally focused on finding Starscream and making his treacherous lieutenant pay for this betrayal.  I always hated the old Marvel comic characterization of Megatron as an insane fool.  Simon Furman has taken steps since War Within to make Megatron more of a threat.  It is clear here that Megatron is pure personified controlled fury and violence, rather than some berserk madman.

-Several funny moments with Verity here, like when she slowly raises her camera even though she is still nearly frozen in fear at the sight of Megatron.  Or when Megatron brushes off a falling rock like it was a pebble, and Verity has to dodge it or be crushed.

-Okay, we know some more things about the Earthbound Decepticons' agenda now, about why they broke infiltration protocol and what they were protecting.  There are still many things to be answered in the next issue though, and I'm eager to learn the full depth of the Decepticons' infiltration scenarios.


Wreck and ROT!:

-The human-centricity continues and some people are getting annoyed.  I actually prefer Hunter and gang to most other humans in Transformers history (Cough-Armada kids-cough), but really, most fans just wanna see some more robot-on-robot action (you know what I mean).  Hopefully, the next arc “Escalation” will feature more Transformers characters in the spotlight.

-This issue kind of reads really fast.  That's because this isn't a really dialogue-heavy issue, and several scenes like Verity and Megatron's meeting and Megatron's (admittedly kick-ass) schooling of Blitzwing and Skywarp go with a minimal amount of wordage.  Still, this installment seemed much shorter than last.

-With Megatron set to take on Starscream next issue, the Autobots don't have much else to do now.  Aside from Bumblebee and Ratchet, the others really haven't had spotlight.  Again, hopefully the next arc will change that.


Final Judgment:

Well, we're finally nearly at the end, and let me say that Simon Furman wasn't kidding when he said he was taking a “slow-burn” approach to this series.  There is some enjoyable violence in this issue, but the popular opinion amongst Transfans appears to be that there hasn't been nearly enough action thus far.  The humans really had a sizable amount of panel-time and let's face it; does anyone really care about the “Machination” or whatever yet?  There are still many unanswered questions and only one issue to go.  I hope #6 isn't going to be like #6 of Dreamwave's War and Peace series where all the information is dumped out at once and laid at our feet to sort through.  And we are still owed a Starscream/Megatron battle and an Optimus Prime appearance too, so we'll see how this wraps up.  I think if you consider Infiltration as a whole to be a foundation tale to the IDW Transformers universe, you can appreciate it later when there is much more material out there, like the upcoming Stormbringer and Escalation.  In any case, I'm expecting a lot from the conclusion to this series; let's hope it doesn't disappoint.  Peace.


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