Transformers: Escalation #6

Credits

Writer - Simon Furman / Art - E.J. Su / Letters - Robbie Robbins / Colors - Zac Atkinson

Story

Standing triumphantly over the body of Optimus Prime on the battlefield of Brasnya (from last issue), Megatron declares victory and demands the Autobots' surrender. While Hardhead, Jazz, and Wheeljack fight back to little effect, Prowl orders Hot Rod to secure the Georgi Koska genetic template while he goes to help.

Unknown to them all, Optimus Prime is not dead, but merely adrift in a near-death transitional infraspace while his consciousness is being downloaded into his trailer section. During this time, he gets a chilling sense of being examined by an oddly familiar mechanoid presence.

In Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Ratchet is quickly cutting through the floor behind the Custom Wheels auto shop to reach Verity, Jimmy, and Ironhide. Ratchet notes that he's tracking local authorities, arriving in response to the burgular alarms, and Ironhide observes that they have less than two minutes left before the underground bunker explodes...

With his strength augmented by Ore-13, Megatron continues to advance, forcing the Autobots to fall back. Prowl suddenly gets a call from Prime, who's noted a similarity between Megatron's Ore-13 and Bludgeon's Ultra Energon. Hoping to exploit the same weakness, Prime tells the Autobots to keep attacking Megatron. To the west, Hot Rod is arranging for Nightbeat to beam him and Georgi aboard the Ark-32, but is suddenly fired upon by Thundercracker and Skywarp! Hot Rod staggers under their heavy fire, but is soon beamed out.

Finally breaking into the bunker, Ratchet and Ironhide quickly load the unconscious humans into Ratchet's rear bay. As Ratchet quickly leaves from behind the building, Ironhide smashes out through the front just as the police arrive -- and the store explodes!

While the other Autobots continue to attack Megatron to no effect, the Decepticon Commander is suddenly surprised from behind by Optimus Prime, who fires point-blank into his face! Megatron falls, then finds himself unable to recover when his body starts to lock up from Ore-13/Ultra Energon depletion. Before the Autobots can finish him off, Megatron transforms into his pistol mode and is rescued by Skywarp, and the Decepticons promptly retreat. While Optimus Prime and the Autobots recover, Nightbeat informs them that while Hot Rod survived the attack, the genetic facsimile was destroyed in the crossfire...

At Ft. Wayne, Ratchet watches the rescue crews as they contain the fire from the exploded auto parts store. Caught in the blast, Ironhide has been knocked out, and there are too many humans nearby for him to be rescued. Ratchet frets over their losses and wonders what to do next, unaware that Verity is clutching a business card with the Machination logo on it.

Inside a factory in Tampa, Florida (from last issue), Dante presents the recuperated Hunter O'Nion to an unseen disembodied robot head, noting that his "upgrades" have been successfully assimilated. Ignoring Hunter's questions, Dante says that Hunder's usefulness is over, unless he is reconditioned to join the Machination -- and Hunter turns, seeing a row of headless Sunstreaker bodies...

In an indiscreet Washington D.C. office building, "Agent Red" informs a subordinate that Russian spies have confirmed the presence of alien mechanoids in large numbers. In response, the assistant reports that the Eureka excavation in Nevada is continuing, while their existing agents -- Laserbeak and Ravage, secured with heavy chains at the bottom of a deep pit -- are eager for action.

In the Decepticons' Oregon Command Center, the recovering Megatron thirsts for retribution, and orders Astrotrain to summon Sixshot immediately. And on the planet Mumu-Obscura, the Reapers have noted Sixshot's departure and begin preparations to follow him. Their plan is to wait for Sixshot to wreak destruction on Earth, then finish the razing of the planet themselves...

Notes and Comments

• The text of the inside front cover reads:
  

  The no-holds-barred battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron in Brasnya has ended with the apparent death of the Autobot Commander-In-Chief. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime's troops fight on, the precious facsimile cargo (in the shape of dissident Georgi Koska) now in the hands of Hot Rod and Prowl. And in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Ironhide and Ratchet attempt to extricate the trapped and unconscious Verity Carlo and Jimmy Pink from a Machination sub-basement before the countdown to detonation reaches zero...

  Phase two concludes...

• Bludgeon's work with Ultra Energon was covered in the Transformers: Stormbringer limited series.
• Buzzsaw and Ravage were last seen in Transformers: Spotlight #6.
• The relationship between Sixshot and the Reapers was documented in Transformers: Spotlight #4.
• This issue is the end of the Transformers: Escalation series; the story continues in Transformers: Devastation.