Rush Club Part 1: Streets of Philadelphia

A group calling themselves the Rush Club has outfitted their latest target in a suit of high tech armor they call the Quarry suit. Watching a demonstration of its capabilities, Locco — their resident inventor — is commended for his fine craftmanship. Now all the Rush Club needs to do is find someone suitable to pilot the suit. Carson, another member of the group, has already picked someone out. He shows Locco and Aaron the dossier he has compiled on one Owen Segar.[1] Segar is an ex-Navy pilot and former Navy Seal that he knew from back in the day. As it turns out Segar has been down on his luck and convincing him to participate in the Rush Club’s hunt will be easy as pie.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, War Machine has had his armor reconfigured and is heading back home to Philadelphia for the holidays. He is excited because he hasn’t been home in a while and looks forward to introducing his parents to his new girlfriend, Rae LaCoste.

While at WorldWatch, Ranald Jeffries is welcoming Archie Park onto the team. Archie was an inventor from Stark Enterprises who has been taken on to do repairs and upgrades to Jim’s War Machine armor. As Archie is being given a guided tour of the building, Ranald says goodbye to Sheva Joseph, as she is about to head out to investigate human rights violations down in Santiago, Chile. Ranald tells her to be careful, but Sheva is confident she’ll be fine as long as they have War Machine to pull her fat out of the fire.

Later, Jim Rhodes arrives at his old family home and is warmly greeted by his parents.[2] Things are going well until Jim starts telling them about Rae. The more he talks about her the more his parents start suggesting that she might not be the right person for him.[3] Jim can’t understand how they can be so judgmental of a woman they haven’t met yet. His parents give no answer when he asks if this is because Rae is white and this sets him off. He leaves the house, telling them he won’t be back until morning when Rae does show up.

Jim then spends the evening driving around the old neighborhood to see what has changed since he was last in town. He stops by his old high school to see that the place has shut down. He then heads down to the local bar and restaurant to catch up with old friends from the neighborhood. His last stop is at the veterans shelter where he meets with his old squad mate Joe Barnes, who has fallen on hard times. Joe tells him Carson Rowntree has been showing up recently and talking to another vet, Owen Segar. Joe isn’t sure what they were talking about but since Rowntree seemed to have found easy street he figured that he had come to rub it in.

As it turns out, Owen Segar was actually selected to wear the Quarry armor as part of a game played by Rowntree and his friends. Once in the suit, Segar feels right at home but is quickly attacked by Rowntree in his suit of Gunship armor. However, rather than play in the Rush’s life and death games, Owen quickly sends Gunship crashing to the ground and then takes off, deciding that he can make more money using the Quarry armor himself than what the Rush Club is paying out to him. Gunship chases after him and they end up clashing in the middle of the city proper. By this time, Jim has checked into a hotel and is having trouble sleeping. Looking out the window, he sees the two fighting in the middle of the street and decides to suit up as War Machine to stop them before any innocent people get hurt. After sending both combatants crashing to the ground, War Machine goes to Quarry and demands he explain what’s going on.

As this battle is raging, Rae LaCoste arrives at the Rhodes family home early, unaware of what transpired there earlier. Although she is warm and friendly when she arrives, this does little to impress Jim’s parents.

Back at the scene of the battle, War Machine rips off Quarry’s helmet and is shocked to discover that he is none other than Owen Segar. However, before he can get any answers the two are blasted from behind. As he recovers from the blast, Jim looks up and finds himself surrounded by the Rush Club. Their leader is in a massive mech suit and introduces himself as Locomotive Breath he introduces War Machine to his compatriots Warship and the alien-esque Sanction. They are unhappy with War Machine’s interference and give him a chance to negotiate his withdrawal from the proceedings or the details of his funeral.

Recurring Characters

War Machine, Rush Club (Locomotive Breath, Gunship, Sanction), Quarry, Terrance Rhodes, Roberta Rhodes, Rae LaCoste, WorldWatch (Ranald Jeffries, Sheva Joseph, Archie Park)

Continuity Notes

1. Locomotive Breath and Sanction are referred to as Loco and Aaron here. Loco is later identified as Laslo Magzel in War Machine #14. As of this writing in November, 2022, Aaron’s full name has yet to be revealed.

2. Jim’s parents go unnamed here. They are identified as David and Roberta Rhodes in Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury #1. The most recent War Machine profile in Iron Manual Mark 3 #1 verifies these names. However, there have been conflicting names given later. For example War Machine (vol. 2) #6 states that Jim’s mother’s name is Gloria while Iron Patriot #1-5 identifies his father as Terrence. As of this writing (November, 2022) there is no explanation but I wouldn’t be surprised if later handbooks or whatever identify them as David Terrance Rhodes and Roberta Gloria Rhodes, or some variation of these names.

3. In War Machine #24, Rae will tell Jim that his parents didn’t approve of him because, allegedly, he has a son that he doesn’t know about. Apparently, Jim’s parents wanted him to raise the boy with his mother. When this revelation is made, Jim thinks it is unlikely and that his parents could have made it up to break him and Rae up. As of this writing (November, 2022) this claim has yet to be verified. However, since Jim has since interacted with his parents in later stories and the issue of a bastard child hasn’t been brought up, I think we can safely assume it was all bullshit.

Topical References

• This story is stated as taking place during New Years Day 1995. Per the Sliding Timescale, Christmas and New Years could not have happened at this point in time. Since this story could be told at any time of the year without any changes to the plot, references to New Years should be considered topical.

• In this story, Philadelphia is presented as a city on the decline and a downtown full of adult movie theaters. This representation should be considered topical as Philly has undergone a great deal of revitalization and gentrification, particularly in the downtown core.

• A bar tender in this story is depicted smoking a cigarette. This should be considered topical as indoor smoking was banned in Philidelphia in 2008.