Conflagration

Force Works has come to the nation of Slorenia as the company teeters on the brink of civil war. Shot down by the entity known as Ember, Force Works was defeated but left alive. Moments later, the country’s resident superhero — the armored Black Brigade and his drone army — arrives and declares them enemies of the state for intruding on Slorenian land. However, before a fight breaks out, the Scarlet Witch makes a declaration of alliance in the Slorenian tongue.[1] This is enough to get Black Brigade to stand down and arrange a meeting between Force Works and the local government, the Tabissara.

Force Works is brought to the Parliment Building in central Tblunka where they are greeted by Boshlovor, who represents the Tabissara ruling council. In light of the growing civil unrest between the Slorene government and the Dudak minority, Boshlovor is delighted to have emissaries from Stark Enterprises there to visit their country. When Black Brigade mentions how Force Works was attacked by Ember, Boshlovor explains that Ember is a being out of Dudak folklore that has been committing acts of genocide around the country. The Scarlet Witch tells the rulers that her group does not wish to see people endangered by such a threat and agrees to help in any way they can. US Agent isn’t overly happy about this because Slorenia is a communist nation, but Iron Man tells him to check his “red menace” nonsense at the door since people’s lives are in danger.

As the rest of the team goes to plan a search pattern with Black Brigade, Iron Man receives a call that he goes to take in the hex ship. It’s from Captain America, who has called to warn Iron Man to tread carefully in Slorenia particularly after War Machine recently created an international incident in Imaya. Tony thanks Cap for the warning and assures him that his team will act responsibly, but this reminds Stark that he may have confront Jim Rhodes about his use of the War Machine armor soon.[2]

An hour later, Black Brigade and Boshlovor meet with the Supreme Commander, the secret ruler of Slorenia to update him on how they are dealing with the Ember situation. While they are concerned about the Americans meddling in their business, the Supreme Commander doesn’t care so long as Force Works can lead them to Ember so they can destroy the creature once and for all.[3]

Later still, Force Works and Black Brigade have travelled to the northern regions of Tblanka. There, the Scarlet Witch uses her hex powers in conjunction with Century’s Parallax to pin down the mystical energy signature of Ember’s powers so they can track the entity. The trail leads them to an abandoned palace outside of Tblunka. En route in their hex ship, Wanda tells the others that this is where the old Slorene dictator ruled before he was toppled by the current communist regime. Wanda also tells the team about something suspicious she uncovered when translating the word Tabissara, which means “elevenfold”, which strikes her as odd since the ruling class was consisted of ten individuals.

When they enter the castle, Black Brigade ambushes the team, seeking to eliminate them and have a clear path to deal with Ember. As the rest of the team is busy fighting their former ally, the Scarlet Witch and US Agent go looking for Ember. They too are ambushed as well but when Wanda speaks to Ember in the local tongue he stops fighting. Unmasking himself, Ember introduces himself as Pavel Chenklo, a Dudak and historian who was charged with cataloguing the palace treasures after the dictator was over thrown. He takes them down into the basement where he shows them the source of his power, a Holy Triptych. The mystical artifact was what transformed him into Ember and he believed that he was supposed to become the Dudak people’s champion and prevent a disaster foretold to plague his people. However, he soon came to realize that his becoming Ember might be causing these very events to happen and which his powers starting to wane, he decided to destroy the Triptych so its power can never be abused again.

That’s when Iron Man and Black Brigade come smashing through the wall. The ensuing clash causes part of the floor to collapse sending Chenklo falling to his death with the Tryptich clutched in his arms. With Ember apparently dead, Black Brigade stops fighting since he has accomplished his mission. The Scarlet Witch has figured there there is more going on than meets the eye and promises that Force Works are going to investigate it. That’s when Iron Man pulls rank and tells Wanda that they are going to do no such thing and that they’ll be heading back to America right away. Wanda is rightly furious about this because she is supposed to be the team leader. On the flight back she and US Agent insist that they turn around and investigate Pavel’s claims that the Tabissara is committing unspeakable crimes against the Dudak minorities. Iron Man however, pulls up the readings from the Chaos Computer. It shows that the crisis they it was prediction has been averted and as such they have no reason to remain. Wanda doesn’t like it, but Iron Man refuses to let Force Works become a gung ho organization that flouts international law.

Meanwhile, back at the Works, the Chaos computer is giving another warning of unknown origin coming out of mainland China. This is observed by Recorder RE-404 who once again tampers with the computer to stop the alert. Caught in the act by PLATO, Force Works’ artificial intelligence, the Recorder hacks the AI and makes it forget this even happened.[4]

Recurring Characters

Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Ember, Black Brigade, Volkvhy (unidentified), Recorder RE-404, Captain America, PLATO

Continuity Notes

1. As explained last issue, the Scarlet Witch knows how to speak the Slorenian dialect because she grew up in neighboring Transia.

2. At the time of this story, War Machine had just assisted a civilian uprising to overthrow the dictator of Imaya in War Machine #1-4. This scene teases the upcoming clash between the two old friends which will take place in War Machine #8 and Iron Man #310.

3. The identity of the Supreme Commander is unrevealed here. We learn that he is Volkvhy, is the immortal leader of the Slorene people. He has been alive for thousands of years thanks to “The Project” which transfers the life forces of others to extend Volkvhy’s life. See War Machine #14 and Force Works #11-12.

4. The Recorder previously erased the alert regarding the Slorenian situation in Force Works #3. The reason is because the Recorder gets off on seeing Force Works in dangerous situations. See Force Works #11-14 for more on this.

Topical References

• In this story, it is stated that Slorenia was part of the former Soviet Union until its collapse. These major political event is referred to as though it happened recently. The collapse of the USSR happened in 1991, which was a few years prior to the publication date. However, references to this happening relatively recently should be considered topical. Black Brigade is referred to as a former Soviet operative who remained in Slorenia. This is not necessarily a topical reference as when Iron Man rips apart BB’s armor in Force Works #12 we see that he is a withered old man being kept alive by his armor’s life support systems. One could assume that the armor also kept him alive beyond the normal human range, making the issues pertaining to the Sliding Timescale a moot point.

• When walking around the abandoned Slorenian castle, Spider-Woman quips that the decor is very Charles Addams. Addams was a cartoonist best known for the creation of the Addams Family. The Addams Family started off as a series of single panel cartoons in The New Yorker in 1938 and expanded into a multimedia franchise. Since Addams died in 1988 this reference should be considered topical as you could slot in the name of a more contemporary person best known for their “spooky” work.

Breakdown

While her mother is off on a mission with Force Works, Rachel Carpenter has grown bored. This has prompted Fisher Todd — Force Works’ new technician — to show her around the facility and demonstrate how everything works. He takes the young girl down to the Vroom Room, the virtual reality simulator where Force Works trains. He shows off the Vroom Room’s capabilities by creating a VR simulation of the Rhino. While they are in the room, they don’t see the Recorder outside tampering with the controls. Turning off the safety interlocks he summons up holographic projections of the Scatter. Trapped inside, Fisher tries to shut things down with his remote control but it is not responding.

Upstairs, Force Works have just returned from their mission in Slorenia. They find Amanda Chaney, the team’s PR consultant, waiting for them. She is very upset with Iron Man for taking team on a mission a politically sensitive region. She is also not happy about how little information they have on both Century and the Recorder and demands to talk to Tony Stark.[1] Iron Man, who is secretly Tony himself, tells her that he reports to Stark and that she reports to him.

Recurring Characters

Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Amanda Chaney, Fisher Todd, Rachel Carpenter, Recorder RE-404, PLATO

Continuity Notes

1. Force Works have picked up Century and Recorder RE-404 during their battle with the Kree Starstealth and the Scatter in Force Works #1-3. Century was created by the Hodomurians to destroy their foe, Lore, as explained in Century: Distant Sons #1. The Recorder was captured and reprogrammed by Starstealth into becoming a twisted voyeur who delights in recording life-and-death situations as we’ll learn in Force Works #13-14.