Transformers: Escalation #5

Credits

Writer - Simon Furman / Art - E.J. Su / Letters - Neil Uyetake / Colors - Zac Atkinson

Story

In an industrial building in Tampa, Florida, a man named Dante is speaking to a damaged, disembodied robot head. Dante reports that the latest experiments are proceeding nicely and the latest subject is not rejecting the implants. Prasing Dante's efforts and self-interest, the robot seees a brightt future for their partnership...

At the breakaway soviet state of Brasnya, Megatron and Optimus Prime fight openly while the humans watch in astonishment. Optimus chides Megatron for brazenly revealing his presence, which Megatron credits to the liberation of his Ore-13 enhanced powers and vows not to leave any witnesses. When Optimus destroys Megatron's fusion cannon, he closes in for close-quarter combat.

With Hardhead battering Astrotrain, Jazz and Wheeljack fight off Skywarp, who leaves for reinforcements. And while Prowl and Hot Rod argue over who botched the capture of the Decepticon facsimile Georgi Koska, he staggers towards the Russians, to provoke them into killing him.

Outside Custom Wheels in Ft. Wayne, Ratchet and Ironhide grow worried over the silence from Verity and Hunter. Abruptly throwing caution to the wind, Ironhide crashes through the store and soon finds the underground workshop. While Ratchet tracks police dispatches to the store, Ironhide uses his holomatter drone and finds the two humans unconscious with three minutes remaining on the countdown.

Megatron: 2, Everyone Else: 0

In Brasnya, Optimus and Megatron continue their fight, with Megatron's superior power giving him a major advantage. Blinding Optimus with a blast in the face, Megatron punches into his chest cavity and squeezes his spark core. Meanwhile, Georgi tries to provoke the Russians into shooting him, but Prowl blocks their gunfire while Hot Rod captures Georgi. Transforming to their robot forms, Prowl and Hot Rod tell the humans to stand down and go home, and they quickly comply.

With Optimus Prime near death, Megatron prepares to deliver the killing blow but is suddenly fired upon by Roller. Megatron shatters a mountain to bury the drone in an avalanche, then notes with mild regret that the distraction caused him to miss the moment of Optimus' death.

At Eureka, Nevada, a university archaeology site is suddenly taken over by mysterious government operatives, to the consternation of the students and researchers. A large tented area has been secured by the group Skywatch, where they are busy tending to the discovery of Shockwave and the Dinobots...

Notes and Comments

• The text of the inside front cover reads:
  

  In the breakway Russian state of Brasnya, Optimus Prime clashes with Megatron, while their respective (Autobot and Decepticon) forces seek to either capture or eliminate the artificial human Georgi Koska, his cellular template the key to identifying all the other facsimilies currently active on Earth. Meanwhile, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Ironhide and Ratchet wait outside Custom Wheels, while Verity Carlo and Jimmy Pink investigate a secret underground workshop, in search of clues to the whereabouts of the abducted Sunstreaker and Hunter O'Nion...

  Phase two continues...

• The similarity between Dante's Tampa office and those of the Zarak Consortium is undoubtedly intentional...
• Shockwave and the Dinobots were last seen in Transformers: Spotlight #1.