The Betrayers Part 5
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| "The Betrayers Part 5" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | November 4, 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | November 2009 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Chuck Dixon | ||||||||||||
| Line-art by | S.L. Gallant | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Andrew Crossley | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Neil Uyetake | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Andy Schmidt | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | Carlos Guzman | ||||||||||||
| Associate editor | Denton J. Tipton | ||||||||||||
It's chaos in The Pit, as Scarlett goes on the run and a Cobra virus strikes.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Springfield, Illinois. A single bomb falls, levelling the town centre. A little under two hours later, G.I. Joe helicopters arrive, and a team led by Stalker disembarks to locate Mainframe and Snake Eyes. As an "all clear" tornado siren sounds, they find the renegade Joes in the ruins of Lester's Drug Store, where Mainframe describes both the bomb and the lone Cobra soldier that nearly defeated Snake Eyes. Insisting that he finally has proof of the shadowy terrorist organisation, Mainframe hands over his sample from the bio-data storage tank before falling unconscious. As Springfield's population emerges from tornado shelters, Stalker wonders if the computer expert really is right...
In The Pit, Downtown greets Scarlett, who has unexpectedly changed her mind on accepting his legal help. Her true motives become clear when she attacks the former lawyer, forcing him to have her cell opened and then tearing through the Military Police on guard outside. She proceeds to flee into the ventilation ducts, and Tunnel Rat is sent in to hunt her down, though only after some loud convincing from Hawk. Meanwhile, Duke's team is en route back from Argentina. Brainstorm is anxious to confirm in the lab his suspicions about the readings from Castle Destro, suggesting that wherever Destro's experiments have been moved to is currently the most dangerous place on the planet.
At that very place, Section Zero, Destro and Dr. Mindbender have flown into a heated argument over equipment needed for the M.A.S.S. Device. The Baroness peppers the floor with machine gun fire to break up the debate, and reiterates that both scientists' lives will be forfeit if they do not achieve success in the project. To appease the laird, she agrees for the release of Glynis and Rory MacDougall to help on the work.
Inside The Pit's ventilation shafts, Scarlett shoots down a camera drone, even as Tunnel Rat enters to track her down. Hawk is called away from monitoring the situation for a demonstration in the labs: Labrat has found that Mainframe's goo sample is indeed an organic data storage system. The data contained in the genetically-modified yeast is fed into the computer... at which point it is revealed to contain a virus, which rapidly compromises The Pit's systems and deactivates power for the whole facility. And in the shafts, Scarlett soon realizes that it's not just the lights that have gone out: the pumps have too, and the lower levels are beginning to flood. Caught in a sudden torrent, Scarlett collides with a wall and falls unconscious, even as the water level rises around her.
In Section Zero, it is time for another test of the M.A.S.S. Device, and a former trooper caught stealing and fighting is to be the unwilling guinea pig. Destro is confident, and the device successfully teleports the man to Cozumel and back. The laird begins to celebrate, but his jubilation has come too soon, and they watch the subject disintegrate before their eyes...
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| G.I. Joe | Cobra | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"Just volunteer to be a test subject? And if I refuse?"
"I'll shoot you in the head. Then use you as a test subject."
- —The unfortunate test subject has his options laid out by Baroness
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Tunnel Rat is grateful to Scarlett for getting him medical attention after their previous jaunt into The Pit's air ducts, as seen in issue #4.
G.I. Joe references[edit | edit source]
- Springfield's cinema is showing Gamemaster's Bikini Island, a reference to G.I. Joe cartoon episode "The Gamesmaster", in which the Baroness wears a bikini.
- Leatherneck is noted to hail from a town similarly small as Springfield. Indeed, per his original figure's file card, he hails from Stromsburg, Nebraska, population 1,200.
- One of the Military Policemen has a mug with the film series G.I. Joe symbol on it.
Real life references[edit | edit source]
- Two stores in Springfield are "Dixon's Hardware" and "Guice's Grocery", nods to writer Chuck Dixon and artist Jackson Guice.
- Tunnel Rat is reading ancient Greek journal Xenophon's Anabasis.
Errors[edit | edit source]
- Last issue, the bomb was being dropped by a Mamba, now it's a regular helicopter.
- It was after dark and raining in Springfield last issue. This issue, we first see the bomb being dropped with sunset skies at 3:42PM, and then the Joe helicopters arriving in, uh, daylight at 5:04PM.
Other notes[edit | edit source]
- This issue's Cover A and solicitation text both seem to relate far more to the events of last issue than this one.
- This issue does not feature a printed title, but the arc was titled "The Betrayers" in the solicitation text for issue #12.
- The Military Police gossip about a basketball game with Bazooka.
- Name Watch: Back to "Covergirl".
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- Cover A: Snake Eyes grabs a Cobra trooper, by Howard Chaykin and Edgar Delgado.
- Cover B: Scarlett makes her escape, by Robert Atkins and Andrew Crossley.
- Cover RI: Virgin version of Cover A.
