Hunter O'Nion

## Biography

At school, Hunter's surname earned him the nickname "the Onion" due to its spelling, although it was properly pronounced as "Oh-Ny-Hon."

Hunter came to believe that the Earth had been invaded by giant alien robots with the ability to transform into terran vehicles. He started a website, Mechatopia.com, which chronicled the information and history behind these aliens. Hunter readily admitted it was a fanciful theory, backed up only by unreliable eyewitnesses and blurry photographs. However, his belief was not enough for him, and he needed to get out and see for himself. Packing his van, Hunter headed out with the intention of visiting the known hotspots and essentially looking for trouble.

Travelling to Desert Center, Hunter intended to head north from there on State Route 177. En route, he picked up the hitchhiking Verity Carlo. She was Los Angeles-bound but Hunter informed her that he could only take her as far as Desert Center. She asked him why he was going to Desert Center since it was in the middle of nowhere. After initially thinking Hunter was some kind of "back to nature boy" she settled on thinking he was looking for little green men.

As Hunter was about to respond, he noticed smoke on the horizon and pulled the van over abruptly. Verity believed it was a ploy to attack her, and pulled out two cans of pepper spray. Despite Verity's demands to take them back to the Interstate and let her out, Hunter took them to the site of the smoke and they found a bus crashed in the desert. The passengers talked of being run off the road by two cars, a blinding light, then one of them had vanished. The driver assured Hunter there was probably nothing to worry about, and help was on the way.

Hunter and Verity continued on, and Hunter explained that he did not believe in little green men, but was one of a number of people who believed that the Earth had been invaded by giant mechanical robots who could disguise themselves as Earth vehicles. Verity scoffed at his beliefs until they were buzzed by a low-flying F-22 Raptor. After the initial pass, Hunter realized that the plane was not a US military craft and pulled Verity out of the van just as the plane fired a missile and destroyed the van. Verity wanted to surrender, sure that Hunter had inadvertently stumbled into a military testing range. Hunter had gotten a look at the plane's cockpit and noticed there was no pilot. The pair began to run as the plane circled for another attack, until it was shot at by an arriving ambulance. Pulling up beside them, the paramedic driving the ambulance told them to get in if they wanted to live.

Crowded into the ambulance's cab with Verity and the weirdly smiling driver, Hunter noticed that although the speedometer said they were travelling at sixty-five miles per hour, he guessed they were actually going three times that speed. Hunter suddenly realized that this ambulance was one of the alien robots who he had been searching for. As the ambulance sped away from the plane, it was pursued by two sports cars, one black and one white. The paramedic asked Hunter if he could trust him, given that he had seen things he was not meant to, and Hunter replied in the affirmative. The steering wheel retracted into the console, to be replaced by a holographic map showing the ambulance and sports cars. The two cars tried to ram the ambulance off the road, but the vehicle employed concealed weaponry to destroy the front left tire of the vehicle on the right, causing it to spin out of control. Another concealed weapon damaged the left hand vehicle, although that vehicle managed to retaliate with hidden missile launchers. A second blast took the car out of the fight by scrambling its control systems. By this point, the F-22 had returned and was firing on them. The ambulance deployed a oily smokescreen from its exhaust which blinded and disorientated the plane.

Free of pursuit and needing a place to hide and repair the ambulance, Verity used the Internet to direct them to Riverside, California. Hunter was suspicious that she had an SM-40 Notebook in her possession due to its high-end nature. In Riverside, Hunter met Jimmy Pink, an auto-mechanic who Verity had befriended on the Internet. Hunter questioned whether or not they could trust Jimmy; Verity vouched for him and pointed out that Hunter was quick to trust the paramedic. Still suspicious about the SM-40 Notebook, Hunter took the palm computer from Verity's bag and began searching through it. He finally found the proof of extraterrestrial robotic aliens was on the palm computer in the form of clear pictures. Verity was angry that he taken her property. Hunter told her that he believed she had stolen it, and it was the entire reason they had been targeted because of the data on it. The paramedic confirmed Hunter's theories, and told them they were all in danger. Still disbelieving, Verity grabbed the palm computer and stormed out of the garage. Hunter began questioning the paramedic about their attackers, just as Verity came back in visibly scared and shouting the word "Decepticon!" The paramedic directed all three of them to get into the ambulance just as two large robots broke down the garage wall and demanded the data storage device.

The paramedic managed to temporarily incapacitate the two robots, revealing himself to be one himself by transforming in front of Hunter, Verity, and Jimmy. While the Decepticons reeled from the paramedic's attack, he transformed back into an ambulance and fled the scene after urging the three Humans to get inside his cab. Fleeing down Interstate 15, the ambulance began to explain how he and the Humans had crossed paths since he was trying to save a Human targeted for termination.

The ambulance was caught up to by the F-22 Raptor, as well as the two cars. The resulting chase down the Interstate resulted in multiple civilian cars being crashed into or destroyed. The ambulance managed to get some breathing room from the chase by forcing the two enemy cars off the road, long enough for Verity to demand to be let out to calm down. While Jimmy attempted to talk to her, Hunter began talking to the ambulance, learning his name was Ratchet and trying to get more information out of him. They were interrupted by Verity and Jimmy getting back in the vehicle, having noticed the F-22 on an attack run. The vehicle got underway again, chased by the fighter aircraft. The ambulance eventually met up with three other vehicles, who used concealed weapons to drive off the F-22 before transforming into robots themselves and placing the ambulance under arrest.

Hunter, Verity, and Jimmy were taken by the Autobots aboard their spacecraft, *Ark-19* and placed in a secure cell. While the Autobots discussed their situation, Verity threatened to wipe the data on the notebook. When her complaining did not have the desire result, Hunter and Jimmy asked her to stop. Ratchet, acting on orders from his commanding officer, Prowl, talked to the Humans and revealed information to them about the Autobots and Decepticons that convinced Verity to hand over the SM-40 Notebook and download the data.

The data pointed to an abandoned Decepticon Command Bunker in Nebraska which Ratchet felt needed to be investigated, but did not want to take the Humans into danger again despite their enthusiasm to help out. Bumblebee was eavesdropping on the conversation and convinced Ratchet that investigating was the right call. Together, the two Autobots prepared to leave for Nebraska. Hunter and Jimmy decided to ride in Ratchet, while Verity chose Bumblebee.

Arriving at the site of the abandoned command bunker in northwest Nebraska, Hunter, Verity, and Jimmy secured a rope to a tree and rappelled down into the facility. They were warned by Ratchet and Bumblebee that the Decepticons commonly booby-trapped their abandoned installatons, although they hoped that the Humans small size would not trigger any of them. Each was equipped with flares, scanners, and comm patches and split up to cover more ground. When the Decepticons Skywarp and Blitzwing arrived and bombed the base, the Humans were ordered to get back to the surface. While Hunter and Jimmy listened to the Autobots and headed back for the entry point, Verity wanted to check out on more thing.

Hunter returned to the entry point to find that Jimmy had already made it back to the surface. As Verity had not made it back yet, Hunter wanted to go looking for her, but Jimmy convinced him that if he stayed down there and they needed to get both of them up in a hurry, none of them would make it. After Verity climbed out, almost caught in a landslide of debris as the ground collapsed in on the base from the Decepticon's attack, the three climbed into the back of Ratchet and were swiftly driven from the area.

As Ratchet drove the Humans back to *Ark-19* via the I-80 in Iowa, they questioned why they were not heading for Oregon with Bumblebee. Ratchet told them that Prowl wanted them out of harm's way, and Ratchet agreed with that assessment, telling them that had done amazingly well in the face of a drastic situation.

## Personality and traits

Hunter enjoyed pop culture, and among the items he kept in his room were numerous DVDs of science-fiction movies including *The Matrix* and *Ghost in the Shell*, a Yoda toy from *Star Wars*, and a copy of the "I Want To Believe" poster from *The X-Files*. He was also a fan of the band Alien Deathray.

## Appearances

* *The Transformers: Infiltration #0* (First appearance)
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #1*
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #2*
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #3*
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #4*
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #5*
* *The Transformers: Infiltration #6*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 *The Transformers: Infiltration #0*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *The Transformers: Infiltration #1*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The Transformers: Infiltration #2*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *The Transformers: Infiltration #3*
5. ↑ *The Transformers: Infiltration #4*
6. ↑ *The Transformers: Infiltration #5*
7. ↑ *The Transformers: Infiltration #6*