Force Works #3
Deathblow
Force Works has just escaped an alien world decimated by the hive creatures known as the Scatter. However, the threat is far from over as their newfound ally Century warns that the Scatter will be coming to Earth next.
With the impending threat from these alien invaders, Iron Man decides to show Force Works his latest invention: The Chaos Computer. It is a central database that gathers information globally in order to determine and anticipate crisis so Force Works can stop them before they happen. The machine can interface with the Scarlet Witch’s hex powers to help her pinpoint where dangers will happen. Wanda gives it a shot but she can’t bring herself to focus on the Scatter because she is so focused on the recent death of Wonder Man.[1] As she continues to try, Iron Man suggests that the others take the downtime to rest.
US Agent goes down to the Vroom Room, a virtual reality combat simulator to blow off some steam. Spider-Woman watches from the sideline and the two talk about John’s mistrust of Century. He also notices that Julia looks a little pale and she says that she is still recovering from making mental contact with the Scatter with her psi-webs. She tells him that glimpsing their naked minds was a terrifying experience. While upstairs, PLATO — Force Works’ artificial intelligence — guides Century to a room that has been set up for him. Inside they discover Recorder RE-404 snooping around. PLATO is annoyed that the robot managed to cloak himself from his sensors and is about to give it a scolding when he gets a message that the Scarlet Witch has found something. Force Works all reconvene at the Chaos Computer where Wanda informs them that the Scatter are about to appear in Houston, Texas.
Flying to that location in one of their hex-ships, Force Works finds an advance guard of 25 Scatter drones and quickly destroy them. They discover that the creatures brought a dimensional gateway device but unfortunately it is protected by a force field that even Parallax can’t cut through. Suddenly the device shoots a beam into the air that opens a massive portal in the sky. Debris from the dead world the Scatter just destroyed begins falling through the portal. As Iron Man blasts the debris out of the sky, Century has a flash of memory and recalls that the Scatter uses the husk of conquered worlds to lay waste to their next target.[2] Century figures he can shut down the portal but will need to do it from the Scatterworld side of things. Scarlet Witch decides to accompany him with US Agent. When Iron Man protests this, wanting to go instead, Wanda pulls rank reminding Tony that she’s the leader and what she says goes.
While Iron Man and Spider-Woman continue to deal with the falling debris on Earth, the others find the machine on Scatterworld. They are soon surrounded by the creatures, prompting US Agent to clash with them while the Witch and Century try to figure out how to stop the dimensional gate. Century theorizes that the Scatter have been piggybacking on the instrumentation of Parallax, hence why the have followed him from world-to-world in the past. Wanda tells Century to plot another course while she tries to use her hex powers to transmit the specifics into the portal device. The gambit pays off and rather than being transported to Earth, the Scatter’s portal is redirected to an infinite void, sending the monsters into an unending oblivion. The moment this happens, the portal to Earth closes. Moments later, Century returns with Wanda and John who report back their success.
While Force Works is still away, the Chaos Computer back at headquarters brings up an alert about an escalating crisis in the nation of Slorenia. However, before this can be communicated to the team, the Recorder cancels the priority alarm as he finds what is going on there very interesting.[3]
Recurring Characters
Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Scatter, Recorder RE-404, PLATO
Continuity Notes
Wonder Man seemed to die in Force Works #1. In reality, he finds himself lost in the gulf between life and death. His essence will be summoned back to the land of the living by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers (vol. 3) #2. After a time living as a being of pure ionic energy, Wonder Man will be fully restored to flesh in issues #10-11 of that series.
Century has had memory issues since issue #1. He is, in reality, a creation of the Hodomurian race created to destroy their enemy Lore. His mind is not singular by the composition of Hodomur’s greatest warriors and survivalists. See Century: Distant Sons #1 for more details.
The reason is because the Recorder gets off on seeing Force Works in dangerous situations. See Force Works #11-14 for more on this.
