Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: EJ Su
(Covers by EJ Su, Andrew Wildman, Guido Guidi and Nick Roche)
Synopsis: Bumblebee asks Ratchet if he's alright (he was run over by Blitzwing last issue). Ratchet gets up and the two watch as the Decepticons continue bombing their former base. Bumblebee says they have to get the humans out before the base becomes their tomb! Inside the base, Jimmy's gotten to the cable they came down while Hunter is still on his way. Hunter hopes Verity is safe, wherever she is. Verity, meanwhile, has found Megatron in another chamber. He looks at her and she at him. He seems to turn back to what he is doing and she gets a shot of him on her camera (not sure if he doesn't see her or if he does but doesn't consider her a threat). Then, the chamber starts falling in on them and she runs away. Jimmy gets to the surface and convinces Hunter to come up as well--in case Verity needs to get up there in a hurry, he won't slow her down. Elsewhere, Astrotrain switches on a drilling machine of some sort while Starscream waits impatiently. Astrotrain tells him there's much more yield of ore here--all they need to do is take it. Starscream is gleeful--he can't wait for his medicine. In Nebraska, the Autobots show up and get the humans out as the base begins to collapse in on itself. Verity comes back just in time and they save her from being buried along with it all. Above them, Skywarp and Blitzwing watch the base collapse with satisfaction and as they start to withdraw, Megatron bursts up out of the ground. He takes out Skywarp in one shot. Ratchet, Bumblebee and the humans stop as they realize he is there on Earth. Blitzwing attacks Megatron but is also quickly subdued by him. Megatron hisses "Starscream" and moves off. Ratchet tells Bumblebee to return to base and he'll transmit all their collected data to Prowl and the others. Afterward, Ratchet transmits to Prowl and Ironhide, telling them that it appears the Decepticons found some kind of new super Energon/unclassified ore and moved to the new base in order to get more of it. In doing so, they engaged "siege mode" which broke protocol and Ironhide comments that Megatron's here to put his house in order. The trouble is, there's no telling how powerful his infiltration unit is and the Autobots are stuck in the middle.
Comments: Another excellent issue of Infiltration with one more issue still remaining of this arc (before it turns into Escalation). The story and art are consistently good. This issue revealed precisely what Starscream was up to and why he was defying Megatron openly... the picture comes clearly into focus now. From what I've seen, Prime should come along next issue... One minor complaint--no Raiz cover this issue (which sucks! I was buying all his covers and really liked them). Instead, I went with Su's Megatron cover (which part one of a split cover with next issue's).
Highly Recommended.
