Synopsis[]
After being on the run in Russia for two months, Bill Simmons managed to board a freighter to America. Now back in his country, he uses a secret twenty-nine digit number to call Sector 7 command. Out in orbit, Soundwave manages to catch Simmons’s end of the phone call.
Within Sector 7 headquarters, Howard Salazar hesitates to inform Director Walter Simmons of the call he just received, as Bill Simmons has long been assumed deceased, and was using an outdated code. He decides to inform the Director that his grandson might be alive after all, though he suspects the only reason he might be coming in contact now is that the Soviets have finally broken him.
Back in Russia, Soundwave contacts Alisa Morozov and their human ally, Dr. Voskhod. Informing the Pretender that their escaped captive has been located, he sends Incinerator to pick her up. The two Decepticons head to New York. Meanwhile, following an instinct that tells him he’s been made, Bill Simmons decides to head for the address inscribed on the back of the photo of his son.
Elsewhere, Seymour Simmons sneaks off to his hiding place; a secret room he has discovered beneath Mr. Cappuccio’s deli. An intelligent boy, Seymour has not only taught himself how to break into places through library books, he has begun to puzzle out that aliens have been hiding on Earth through his own research. As prepares to enter his sanctuary, he hears someone coming into the deli. The one-armed man that enters quickly spots Seymour and grabs him. Seymour soon realizes that the man is his father, recognizing him from the photograph that his mother keeps. The reunion is interrupted by the arrival of Incinerator and the Pretender outside. Bill leaves his son with the special 29-digit phone number to contact Sector 7, and his metal hand as proof. Bill also tells his son that he is right about aliens, and that men like them are needed to fight the good fight.
Bill then runs outside. The Pretender jumps out of the helicopter and gives chase. Seymour looks on as the two of them enter a building down the street, with gunshots emanating from it shortly. Incinerator launches a projectile that ignites the building, and only the Pretender exits the inferno. After the Decepticons leave, Seymour makes the call to Sector 7. This time around, Howard Salazar does not hesitate to inform Director Simmons about the call. By the next morning, Walter Simmons meets Seymour as he waits on the steps of the deli with his mother, who weeps as she clutches her dead husband's prosthetic hand. Seymour grows up as well-adjusted as one can after witnessing what he has witnessed, and is inducted into Sector 7.
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Notes[]
Continuity notes[]
- Bill notes that Walter should be "pushing ninety" years of age in 1965; this would put him at the sprightly age of around twenty when he found Megatron in 1898, as seen in "Original". He didn't exactly look it back then with his full silver moustache! As an aside, we also know Walter will live another four years at least, as he's still knocking about in 1969 for Ghosts of Yesterday. Is there a greater story behind his preternatural longevity?
- Speaking of ages, we'd assume that this issue's Howard Salazar is the father of the Agent Salazar from "The Reign of Starscream", since the stories are separated by over forty years.
- After being implicitly touched upon last chapter, the "Anne Fischer"/"Tova Simmons" name situation is clearly dealt with this issue, confirming the character's real full name to be Tova Anael Fischer, and explaining that she formerly went by the Americanized "Anne" before changing her name to make a clean break after Bill's disappearance.
- Similarly, Bill's alternate name of "Felix" is explored a bit more this issue, clearly confirming last issue's implication that it was related to cartoon character Felix the Cat. It appears that Seymour, perhaps never actually learning his father's real name, thought of him as "Felix" because they both had a "magic bag of tricks", hence his use of that name in the Revenge of the Fallen novelization.
- Passing mention is made of "Mr. Cappuccio", who is Tova's business partner in the deli. This character's sole previous mention was on the large sign visible on the deli wall in the Revenge of the Fallen movie, which identified it as "Cappuccio and Simmons".