Force Works #13
War Crimes
In deep space, an alien ship is intercepted by a much larger vessel that is demanding the data they have aboard. The captain of the ship orders his crew to comply with the order and once the data has been sent, the larger ship blows up the other vessel.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the Scarlet Witch is suddenly stricken with a headache strong enough to make her yell out in pain.[1] This is during a meeting with Iron Man and US Agent. She assures them she is fine and resumes chewing the Agent out for running off on a solo mission in San Rivella without telling anyone. Jack explains that he left to help out Hawkeye and War Machine bring peace to the Central American country.[2] While this was a noble goal, Wanda scolds him for not informing them first and he promises to do better. When Iron Man takes Wanda’s side, but she also reams him out because Tony has been too busy with his personal business that he is leaving the team short handed as well.
This argument is overheard by Rachel Carpenter who runs to tell her mother. She finds Spider-Woman and Century working with the Chaos Computer. However, Rachel’s concerns are ignored as Julia has detected that there is a growing situation at the Vault super-max prison and she needs to warn the others.
At the Vault, Warden Eric Jzemlico and his staff are trying to contain a situation in the Bug-Eyed Monster wing, the section of the prison reserved for extraterrestrial criminals. The members of the Kree Starstealth who had been apprehended recently are causing a riot in the block.[3] As Jzemlico sends Guardsmen down to try and contain the riot, the Starstealth bust out of the cell armed with weapons they lifted from the guards. Their leader, Kalum Lo, tells their captors that he’ll see his people free and will kill anyone who gets in their way.
That’s when Century teleports onto the scene and begins attacking the Starstrealth. Unfortunately, he is unable to prevent Kalum Lo from grabbing Warden Jzemlico and taking him hostage. However, the Scarlet Witch manages to get the drop on him and threatens to scramble his brain with a hex bolt unless he surrenders. The rest of Force Works arrives and quickly secures the other prisoners. That’s when the warden tells them that something has locked them out of the computer core and unless they regain control soon, all of the other prisoners will be released from their cells. With the clock ticking, the Scarlet Witch orders Century to go to the core and try and regain control of the system.
Inside the BEM wing, US Agent and Spider-Woman are dealing with the rest of the rioting Kree prisoners. As the Scarlet Witch heads off to join them, Iron Man heads to the main control room to interface with the computers there so he can help Century unlock the computers. By this time, Century has gotten to the computer core and discovers that the system has been hijacked by Recorder RE-404 who has somehow gotten loose and wired himself into the computer system.[4] When Century tries to attack him, he discovers that the Recorder has rerouted the security to create a force field around him. Luckily, Iron Man is able to send a power surge through the computer and short circuit the Recorder, shutting him down. As this is happening, the others detain the rest of the Kree Starstrealth.
In the aftermath of the battle, everyone is trying to make sense of what happened and figured they underestimated the Recorder’s self-repair systems. That’s when the Avengers — Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Hercules, the Black Widow, and Crystal — arrive on the scene. This is the first time the two teams have met in a professional setting and Natasha is pleased to see that Force Works was able to contain the situation. While there are some happy reunions, US Agent is quick to boast about Force Works being proactive enough to stop the breakout. That’s when the Black Widow points out that four of the Starstrealth are still unaccounted for. Although this causes members of the team to bristle, the Scarlet Witch and Black Widow both agree that the best course of action is to work together to recover the missing escapees.
Before they can start to search, an army of Skrulls and two strange aliens teleport in front of them all. The leader of this group is a Skrull named Hokk Algol and it’s learned that they had arranged to have the Starstealth extradited so they can face intergalactic justice for their crimes. The other aliens, members of the Quo Modari have come as diplomats for inter-species communications. They explain that the Kree have committed crimes on 16 different worlds and are guilty of 907 counts of slaughter. This upsets most of Force Works who want the Kree to face punishment on Earth for the death of Wonder Man.[5] Wanda and Natasha then step aside to discuss what they are going to do. They both agree that the important task is recapturing the escaped Kree and that they can discuss the Skrulls extradition after. It’s here that the Widow notices that there are tensions between Wanda and Iron Man over leadership of Force Works.[6] Reconvening with their teams, its agreed that Quicksilver, Hercules, Crystal, Iron Man, and US Agent will go looking for the Kree. When Pietro and Tony start arguing over whose ship to take, the two team leaders can see things are going to get off to a rocky start.
As the Avengers and Force Works prepare to mobilize, the escaped members of the Starstrealth — including Kalum Lo, Stug-Bar, and Zamsed — have retreated to a rail yard in Chatwin Falls, Colorado. There they find the remains of their ship and recover the weapons stashed inside. Three of them suit up in high tech armor, while Zamsed pilots a mech constructed out of the remains of a Kree Sentry. Kalum Lo takes the command, telling his troops that they have bloody work ahead of them.
Recurring Characters
Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Avengers (Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Hercules, Black Widow, Crystal), Hokk Algol, Starstealth (Kalum Lo, Stug-Bar, Zamsed), Recorder RE-404, Rachel Carpenter, Eric Jzemlico, Guardsmen
Continuity Notes
Wanda will suffer a second headache next issue and a third of this type in Force Works #16. The cause of them are never explained. I assume that perhaps this is a premonition of some kind warning her of the events of The Crossing.
US Agent, War Machine, and Hawkeye helped de-escalate a conflict in San Rivella as seen in Force Works #12, War Machine #15, and Iron Man #317.
The Starstrealth came to Earth to avenge the fall of the Kree empire only to be stopped by the team in Force Works #1. They were hauled off to the vault in issue #2. Their leader, Kalum Lo, has been plotting a break-out since last issue.
Century states here that he destroyed the Recorder before and he’ll do it again. The Recorder betrayed Force Works while they were on a mission in Slorenia. During a fight with Century he was decapitated and his remains were turned over to the Vault. See Force Works #11-12.
Wonder Man seemed to be killed in Force Works #1 on the team’s inaugural mission. In reality, Simon Williams is now floating on the brink between life and death. The Scarlet Witch will begin pulling him back to the world of the living starting in Avengers (vol. 3) #2 until he is fully restored in issues #10-11 of that series.
Tony appointed Wanda leader of the team in Force Works #1. However, he has been stepping over her authority since issue #5, much to her annoyance.
