Transformers: Infiltration #3

Credits

Writer - Simon Furman / Art - E.J. Su / Letters - Tom B. Long / Colors - John Rauch

Story

While Verity, Hunter, and Jimmy are kept in a small detention cell inside the Ark, Ratchet and Prowl have an argument over their fate as the other Autobots watch. Ratchet explains that he had tracked the palm computer to its previous owner's corpse when he was attacked by Decepticons, and rescued Verity and Hunter to keep them from harm. Prowl counters that his explorations have risked the Autobots' covert presence on Earth. Over Ratchet's protests, Prowl orders him to analyze the images on the computer, then get rid of the humans -- without informing Optimus Prime in the process. As Prowl leaves, Ratchet tries to appeal his case to Ironhide, who watches in stony silence.

In Tucson, Arizona, a sheriff is asking the owner of a trailer park about the home of the computer's previous owner. Before the trailer can be searched, however, a warp gate opens in the sky, two jets emerge, and detonate the trailer!

In their room, Verity is driving Jimmy and Hunter nuts with her incessant yelling. Appearing suddenly in his holographic driver form, Ratchet informs them that they're inside Ark-19, a spacecraft hidden on the bottom of Lake Michigan, then asks Verity for her computer. After some hesitation, Verity hands it over, and Ratchet begins to analyze it. He explains that "Siege Mode" is a protective configuration, an advanced step in the Decepticons' process of conquer that's usually taken long after they've covertly destabilized a world's society. Ratchet notes that the images depict two Decepticon command bunkers, one in Oregon and another in Nebraska, and include photos of abandoned interiors -- prompting Verity to ask "why'd they move?"

Meanwhile, in Riverside, California, a local news report on the unexplained destruction of Jimmy Pink's garage is interrupted when a tank rolls onto the scene, leveling the building before transforming into a jet and flying away. And at the Ark, Ironhide secretly sends a pulsewave communication to Optimus Prime...

Over Ratchet's protests, Verity, Hunter, and Jimmy try to convince him to let them help explore the abandoned Nebraska base -- more data is needed to convince the other Autobots of the immediacy of the Decepticon danger. As Ratchet retreats to consider this, Bumblebee comes out of hiding and notes that hesitation could doom the entire human race. With Bumblebee's help, Ratchet releases the humans and agree to roll out.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the bus that carried Verity is the next target of the Decepticons' purge. As Skywarp and Blitzwing radio for further orders, Starscream orders them to bury the Nebraska bunker...

Notes and Comments

• The text of the inside front cover reads:
  

  INFILTRATION:

  Having acquired both a palm computer and, in the process, a death sentence from a roving Decepticon hit squad, teenage runaway Verity Carlo and her companions, Hunter O'Nion and Jimmy Pink, have taken refuge within Ark-19, the Autobots' command vessel. There, Ratchet discovers unsettling photographic evidence on the computer that suggests the Decepticons' plans have advanced to a critical stage...

  Phase One continues...

• At the trailer park, the name for the palm computer's previous owner was "Finklerock." This might be interpreted by long-time Transformers fans as an amalgam of "Donny Finkleberg" and "G.B. Blackrock," two prominent humans in Marvel's original Transformers comic book series.