All Hail Megatron issue 8

	; O brother, can you spare an arm?
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 11, 2009
Cover date	February 2009
Written by	Shane McCarthy
Pencils by	Guido Guidi
Inks by	Guido Guidi & John Wycough
Colors by	Josh Burcham & Kris Carter
Letters by	Neil Uyetake & Chris Mowry
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	All Hail Megatron

The identity of the traitor is finally revealed!

Synopsis

All passages in italics are flashbacks.

Sunstreaker broods on a bench in a hallway. Ratchet appears, asking him how he feels. Sunstreaker says nothing, so Ratchet goes on, saying that the operation is a success and that Hunter O'Nion survived. The kid will never be fully human again, but he is fully conscious and asking for Sunstreaker. But Sunstreaker continues to sit in silence.

In the Autobot base on present-day Cybertron, Kup berates Ironhide for his attack on Mirage. Kup doesn't believe that Mirage was the traitor, and he certainly doesn't like that they now have one less soldier active in the fight against the Swarm. He says that he understands what it's like to have things messing with one's mind, much like Cybertron is making everyone suffer. Ironhide refuses to blame the planet for his own actions, and Kup agrees, declaring that Ironhide is suffering under his own guilt for not having anticipated the ambush. Kup reflects on how he, himself, had taken a command path in the military, while Ironhide had preferred to remain in the trenches, where he believed he could see things coming. Ironhide replies that he feels like he's been shut out, and indeed he should've seen it coming. They suddenly hear gunfire outside and rush to investigate. The other Autobots are firing at the incoming Insecticon swarm, and Blurr reports to Kup rather belatedly that the swarm has arrived. Kup asks where Drift is, and Blurr says he has no idea. Kup orders the troops to form a perimeter as they prepare to move out.

"You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in ruttin' command here."

In New York City, Spectro and Spyglass corner a group of humans in an alley. The Reflector-bots tell the humans not to be afraid, that they're only going to play a game. Some distance away, Viewfinder sits inertly on some rubble and passively parrots his fellows' conversation about how the humans come apart so easily. Starscream glances at him as he walks past, then steps through a large hole in the side of a building where the three Insecticons are gathered. Shrapnel rudely asks him what he wants, and Starscream reminds him that he's addressing a superior officer. Starscream suggests that perhaps he has mistaken him for someone else, and Bombshell quickly takes the opening to offer an apology. Starscream turns the offer around, saying that he has come to apologize to them for the mistreatment he had heard they endured. Starscream says that the Insecticons are too valuable to suffer such indignities, and the future of the Decepticon empire depends on transcending that kind of "mindless thuggishness", as surely someone of Bombshell's intellectual caliber would appreciate. Bombshell agrees and asks if Starscream often considers the future of the empire, to which Starscream replies that it's time they had a talk.

On Cybertron, most of the Autobots race down a street in vehicle mode, carrying Kup, Perceptor, and Cliffjumper. The three are firing at the pursuing swarm, but Kup has a surprise prepared: At his order, Perceptor silently stands up and shoots at two explosives planted on either side of the road. An absolutely massive fireball results, and Ratchet asks if Drift was still back there. Bumblebee asks if that matters, and Kup shuts him up. Perceptor is suddenly struck in the neck by a dart fired by the swarm, falling back onto Roadbuster. Kup, tending to Perceptor, orders the Autobots to continue their way across the bridge, where more explosives are planted. He says that it's the only way in or out of their bunker, and blowing it will delay the Swarm long enough to prepare. As the group reaches the other side and transforms, a debate begins about how to detonate the bridge. Kup's plan had been for Perceptor to snipe the bomb, but he's down for the count. Cliffjumper suggests that Springer take the shot from the air, but Springer says that he hasn't been able to fly since they crashed on the planet. Blurr volunteers to run in and back, but Kup doubts that even his speed would be enough. Then Ironhide asks where Sunstreaker is...

On Earth, Starscream looks out from the balcony of a very Cybertronian-looking building. Someone inside asks if things went according to plan, and if Megatron suspects. Starscream says that the plan is indeed proceeding and that Megatron "always suspects." Starscream goes on to say that there was once a time that he had idolized Megatron, but Megatron has lost his way. He tells his unseen visitor to "prepare the others" and await his signal.

On Cybertron, Sunstreaker stands alone on the bridge. Ironhide goes over to him and asks him if he's trying to get himself killed. Sunstreaker says he is, since he is the traitor they've been looking for.

Starscream asks Sunstreaker if they have a deal. Sunstreaker expresses his doubts as he faces Starscream alone in some secluded woods. Starscream tells him that he knows what had been done to him and how much it is hurting him to remain on Earth. Starscream asks for his help in taking Megatron down, with the proviso that the Autobots then leave Earth so Starscream and the Decepticons can rule the planet unmolested. Sunstreaker agrees "on one condition": That Starscream use his dominion to kill every last human being.

Sunstreaker attempts to explain himself to Ironhide, telling him that Starscream claimed only to want the Earth. Their plan, had it succeeded, would've left the Autobots' greatest enemy defeated at the cost of just one planet—the planet he hated so badly. Knowing that Optimus Prime would never go for it, the two plotters arranged the disinformation ruse that led the Autobots into their fateful ambush, where Megatron was intended to perish.

Guh?

Just as Sunstreaker is beginning to apologize to Ironhide, they're pelted with the swarm's darts. Sunstreaker tries to get Ironhide to leave without him, but the Swarm overwhelms them both. Suddenly, Drift appears from out of nowhere and takes Ironhide to safety. Sunstreaker then aims his gun at one of the explosives and blows up the bridge, destroying both himself and the Swarm. Ironhide angrily checks himself into Ratchet's repair room, and Jazz orders Drift to stay outside and keep watch.

As Ironhide lies on a med-table in silence, Drift decides to talk with him. Drift says that their calamities aren't all Sunstreaker's fault, since he couldn't have provided the Decepticons with the access codes and the means to infiltrate their systems the way they had. Drift doesn't believe that there's another traitor, but he does think that "there's more to this than we know".

On Earth, Bombshell looks up at Hunter O'Nion, whose body has been disassembled horrifically. Numerous cables stream in and out of his torso; even his right eye socket now has a tube coming out of it. His expression is of slack-jawed horror, and he looks very much like Sunstreaker did under the Machination's experiments.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Decepticons

Humans

Perceptor (8)
Cliffjumper (9)
Blurr (10)
Hot Rod (11)
Hound (17)
Drift (19)
Jazz (20)

Hunter O'Nion (21)

Quotes

"So I just sit here then? Watching you chew on that thing? Considering they haven't made those for hundreds of years, that's got to be pretty—"

—Ironhide, making Kup's sparkplug-cigar-thing even more inscrutable.

"They're on us!"
"Some early-warning system you are."

—Blurr, alerting Kup to the obvious.

"Oh, dear... they come apart quite easily, don't they?"
"Such a mess."
"Shall we put them back together again?"
"Yes, let's!"

—Viewfinder, idly parroting his fellow Reflector-bots' conversation about "playing" with humans some distance away.

"What about Drift? Isn't he back there?"
"Does it matter?"

—Ratchet and Bumblebee, playing audience-surrogate.

"You tryin' to get yourself killed?!"
"Yes."

—Ironhide thought he was asking Sunstreaker a rhetorical question.

"This war, it's changing all of us."
"Well, you're the expert, right?"

—Drift and Ironhide, hinting that Drift has a mysteeeeeeeeeeeerious past.

Notes

Continuity notes

The implication in the last page is that Hunter is the missing link referred to by Drift: Hunter unwillingly gave Bombshell the codes and Sunstreaker was only responsible for the Earth trap, not the whole surge as he couldn't provide the codes necessary. It does seem strange that Hunter somehow has access to those codes but Sunstreaker did not. How could Hunter have greater knowledge or access than that of the Transformer he was bonded to? Did Bombshell hack the Autobot network using Hunter to access Sunstreaker's own link to the network? Issue #10 has Bombshell pretty much confirm this...

Errors

The Reflector-bots' behavior reflects their original The Transformers cartoon portrayal, where lines were often spoken simultaneously by all three units. This contradicts their previous appearance in "Spotlight: Wheelie", where their lines never overlapped, and in fact Spectro and Spyglass carried on whole conversations between each other. Notably, this was after Viewfinder's apparent death, which may have interrupted their mental bond. However, no such explanation is presented in either comic.

Trivia

Originally, Kup was going to be the Autobot traitor, directly due to "Spotlight: Kup". This idea was thrown out before Shane began writing #1, because he thought Sunstreaker would be a more interesting and less obvious traitor. (It certainly is less obvious when the guy isn't around until #7...) McCarthy believed this level of trauma would've been serious enough to turn him into hate,^[1] though this strains credibility in light of Sunstreaker and Hunter's demeanor and behavior in Devastation and Maximum Dinobots. In an effort to further explain the origins of Sunstreaker's abrupt betrayal and hatred of humanity, the later All Hail Megatron issue 14 rewrites a crucial scene in Devastation to slant it to McCarthy's point of view.
- Mirage initially being pinned as the traitor is, of course, a reference to the episode Traitor.

Covers

Cover A: Sideswipe stands over a fallen Sunstreaker; art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente.
Cover B: Human fists raised in front of the Autobot symbol; art by Trevor Hutchison.
Cover RI: Starscream sketch by Guido Guidi.