Red Heat

The political situation in the Eastern European nation of Slorenia is getting worse. The ruling Slorenes are ramping up oppression towards the minority Dudak people. To this end, Black Brigade — the country’s armored defender — and his drones prevent the Red Cross from providing aid to the Dudak people. As the cyborg mows down those foolish enough to fight back the Scarlet Witch and US Agent — disguised as refugees — are forced to watch in horror so as not to blow their cover.

While at the Slorene Parliament Buildings, Tony Stark is holding a press conference with the ruling Tabissara Assembly to announce that a deal has been struck to open Stark Enterprise facilities in the region. Tony gives a glowing speech praising Slorenia and its government. At Tony’s side is Julia Carpenter — aka Spider-Woman — who is posing as one of Tony’s aides. When they go inside to celebrate the business deal, Tony keeps the government officials pre-occupied with praises and gifts, including some smartwatches.

Julia reports this to Century who is monitoring things in a hex-ship in geo-synchronous orbit over Slorenia. The watches are outfitted with tracking devices that the alien can track. As Century activates the tracking device Recorder RE-404 — who has tagged along with Force Works on this mission — watches keenly as this is his primary function.

Back on the ground, Tony and Julia are shown their room for the night. After Tony sweets the room and confirms that there are no bugs planted, they drop their pretenses and get to work. Tony reflects back on their last mission in Slorenia. At the time their Chaos Computer warned that there was a civil war about to explode in the region. Iron Man figured that the danger had passed once they defeated Ember — the legendary guardian of the Dudak people — and left, even though the Scarlet Witch and the others thought there was more going on in the country.[1] At the time, Tony didn’t want the team to get embroiled in a global political scandal, particularly because War Machine had recently involved himself in an unpopular civil war to depose of the dictator of Imaya.[2]

However, Tony soon realized his error in not exploring things further when the team was recently contacted by War Machine himself. He had just recently been in Slorenia and reported ethnic cleansing happening in the country. The Dudak people were being herded into camps where they were put through genetic experiments, transforming many into hounds called the Targoth who rounded up their own kind.[3] With Tony away on a personal mission in Russia, the Scarlet Witch was able to get a unanimous vote to return to Slorenia and investigate things further.[4] When Tony finally returned he had no choice but to tag along on the mission.[5] While they still have yet to verify War Machine’s claims, Tony admits that he was premature in dropping investigations into Slorenia. He finds it interesting how the roles and animosity he had with Jim Rhodes and his interference in global politics have completely reversed.[6] When Tony is called down to a banquet being held in his honor, he tells them that his “assistant” won’t be joining him because she has jet lag. This gives Julia the cover she needs to sneak out of the room and snoop around as Spider-Woman.

Meanwhile, deep below the Parliament Building, Slorenia’s secret Supreme Commander oversees the completion of a new underground facility. This is the expansion of something called “The Program”. He is shown around by his mouthpiece on the Tabissara Assembly, a man named Boshlovor. He informs him that the final deal with Stark Enterprises is being hammered out as they speak. The Supreme Commander is pleased and muses how their plans suddenly flourished following Force Works’ previous interference in the country. As he marvels at the gifts given to them by Tony Stark, the Supreme Commander suddenly feels weak and in need of recharging from the Program. As he is led to one of the new recharging chambers, the Supreme Commander orders Black Brigade to go out with a group of the Targoth and harvest some more of the Dudak as they are running low on people to drain of their life forces.

Elsewhere, Scarlet Witch and US Agent have retreated to a welfare mission set up for the Dudaks by Doctor Irena Renko. They talk to her about what’s going on in the country and speaks of horrible violence committed by both sides. She also says that the this conflict has lasted for thousands of years. It has its origins with a clash between Volkhvy and Ember. Over the years the balance of power between the Slorene and Dudak people has shifted with one side maintaining power before shifting to another with no ultimate victor. That’s when the Targoth and Black Brigade attack the camp. US Agent wants to fight back, but the Scarlet Witch reminds him that they need to find physical proof of the atrocities being committed. As such, they allow themselves to be captured along with the other Dudak. They are soon herded into the back of a truck that will take them to the experimentation camps.

At that same moment, Spider-Woman follows the signal of the watch into the underground facility where the Project is being expanded. She is surprised to see how ancient things are down in these tunnels. As she looks for clues she is suddenly ambushed by an impossibly old armored warrior with a glowing sword who has come to kill her for seeing too much. Spider-Woman tries to call for back up but unfortuantely, the Recorder has knocked out Century. Instead of alerting the others, the robot sends camera drones down to the surface to record what happens next.

A short while later, Tony returns to his room and discovers that Julia hasn’t returned yet. Checking his laptop computer he is shocked to see that the chaos level has spiked since he last checked. Suspecting trouble, Tony suits up as Iron Man and tries to fly back to the Pegasus to see what’s wrong. Unfortunately, he is caught by Black Brigade and his army of robots and is blasted out of the sky. At that same time, the trucks carrying the Dudak people to the camp is suddenly ambushed as well. US Agent and Scarlet Witch are shocked to discover that the attacker is none other than Ember, who has apparently returned from the grave.[7]

Recurring Characters

Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Volkvy, Black Brigade, Targoth, Recorder RE-404, Ember, Irena Renko

Continuity Notes

1. The team last visited Slorenia and battled Ember in Force Works #4-5.

2. War Machine helped liberate the Imayan people in War Machine #1-4.

3. War Machine witnessed the atrocities happening in Slorenia first hand in War Machine #14.

4. At the time, Tony Stark was on business in Russia which led to a clash with the Titanium Man alongside the Crimson Dynamo. See Iron Man #315-317.

5. Although the Scarlet Witch was appointed leader in Force Works #1, Iron Man has gone against her orders, even overruling her position. This particularly happened during their previous visit to Slorenia. This has created tension between the two, even after Tony admitted to being a dick in Force Works #8.

6. Tony mentions the recent strain his friendship with Jim Rhodes had suffered recently. It all started when Tony faked his death between Iron Man #284 and 289 and kept it a secret from Jim. Rhodes then quit and went solo for a time. The animosity between Iron Man and War Machine heated up after the whole Imayan affair. However, the two made peace during the Hands of the Mandarin event. See Force Works #6, Marvel Comics Presents #169-171, War Machine #9, Iron Man #311, Marvel Comics Presents #172, Force Works #7, War Machine #10, and Iron Man #312.

7. In Force Works #5, the members of Force Works discovered that scholar Pavel Chenklo was transformed into the modern day Ember from a mystical triptych. However, he seemingly fell to his death shortly after this discovery. When Laslo Magzel attempted to recover the triptych in War Machine #14, Ember was reborn as a result. It is unclear if the Ember seen here is Chenklo or if the power took possession of Laslo Magzel. The only mention to Ember is in Marvel Atlas #1, which does little to clarify which is the case either.

Topical References

• Black Brigade is referred to an operative of the former Soviet Union that remained in Slorenia after the collapse of the USSR. While references to this collapse happening recently should be considered topical, Black Birgade’s connection to the Soviets wouldn’t necessarily be deemed such. Next issue we’ll see Black Brigade’s armor ripped open revealing that he is a withered old man kept alive by technology. One could assume that this process also extended his lifespan.

• Tony gifts the Slorenian government officials with what he calls a combination wrist-watch and Television. This description should be considered topical since such technology would be obsolete in this day and age of smartwatches.

• The Slorene official gifted the watch asks if it can get MTV. This should be considered a topical reference as MTV is a real world television station.

• When Tony and Julia are shown their room, Julia — pretending to be a PR manager — says it would be perfect for Tony’s photoshoot with Hello magazine. This should be considered a topical reference as Hello! magazine is a real world publication.