Force Works #9
Dreamtime
In the Southwestern Australian town of Kagoona Corssing, officers Willie Walkaway and his partner Baz are on patrol on the grave yard shift, making sure none of the drunks heading home from the pubs are causing any trouble. Suddenly a trouble maker named Alf Robbins leaps onto the hood of their squad car in a panic. Moments later strange monsters begin emerging from a mist that has appeared in front of them.
Meanwhile, Force Works is flying to that very location in their hex-ship after their Chaos Computer detected a pocket of unreality in the region.[1] Force Works soo arrives in the town and begins helping the local police try to stop the monsters but there are just too many of the creatures. As Iron Man gets swarmed, he is saved by a boomerang that flies by and fatally strikes three of the monsters. This was thrown by Willie Walkaway who also operates as the Aborigine superhero Dreamguard.
Dreamguard leads Force Works to the source of the monsters, Alf Robbins. After Spider-Woman yanks Alf away from a group of monsters they suddenly disappear. After closer examination they determine that the monsters were a manifestation of Alf Robbins who is going through alcohol withdrawal symptoms. With the danger passed, Robbins is taken into custody by the local police. As it turns out, Alf and a man named Shane Mundy had recently robbed a nearby bank. Force Works also gets to know Dreamguard, who tells them that even though he became a cop he also practiced the traditions of his people. When he saw the monsters attacking town, he realized that his spiritual abilities as a walkabout would be better suited to deal with the monsters. Still, this doesn’t answer how Alf’s delirium tremens manifested into reality.
When they question him, Alf tells them that after he and Shane Mundy botched the bank job they fled to Gowana Gorge to lay low until things cooled down. Dreamguard tells Force Works that that area is an area that his people refer to as “Dreaming Country” and consider off limits to non-aboriginals because the region has the ability to make dreams into reality. That’s when one of the other cops comes to tell them that the people in town who weren’t woken up by the sound of battle appear to have gone into comas, almost as though they are trapped in their dreams. Suspecting that this might have something to do with Gowana Gorge, Iron Man asks Dreamguard to take them out that way.
They all load up into the Works Wagon, the team’s mobile headquarters and head into the Outback. They have brought Alf Robbins along with them and have him explain more of his story. Alf tells how when he and Shane arrived in the gorge an elderly aboriginal man warned them to leave the area immediately. When the two men refused, the shaman caused a creature to appear out of nowhere. This panicked Shane who shot the old man dead with his shotgun, making the monster disappear. The two then decided to camp out in the gorge. Alf was woken up in the middle of the night by a bright light that seemed to be emanating from Shane himself. When he checked on Shane, what he saw horrified him so badly that he refuses to remember what it was. The last thing he remembers was fleeing the gorge with the monsters on his trail. When Dreamwalker and the others try to make Alf remember what happened he refuses.
Suddenly, the Works Wagon is blasted onto its side by a massive glowing skeleton!
Recurring Characters
Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Dreamguard, Orphan, Alf Robbins, Shane Mundy
Continuity Notes
The narration makes a point of specifying that this hex-ship, the Bellerophon, is a secondary craft after their primary craft, the Pegasus, was junked during the Hands of the Mandarin storyline. See War Machine #9, Iron Man #311 and Force Works #7 for the longest plane crash in comics.
Memorial
Note: This story is told in two scenes that happen simultaneously: Century’s meeting with Amanda Chaney as well as the Scarlet Witch’s conversation with Spider-Woman. Each scene taking up a half of each page. For the sake of clarity, I am telling both events separately.
Amanda Chaney, Force Works’ public relations manager, is entering a persona log about the team’s recent activities and that they are all heading to the upcoming funeral for Wonder Man.[1][2] She is then visited by Century, who has a scheduled meeting with her so that she can better understand who he is and where he came from. He explains that he was brought to Earth randomly by the Scarlet Witch’s hex powers during Force Works’ battle with the Kree Starstrealth.[3] Upon his arrival he discovered that he had no memories of his past. All he knew was that he could travel though dimensions with the aid of his weapon, Parallax. Things remained unchanged for Century until Force Works recently fought the Mandarin. During that battle, Century was separated from Parallax for a number of days. During that time, Century experienced episodes where he fought with multiple personalities in his mind.[4] Although he was reunited with Parallax and the voices silenced, the experience apparently uncovered lost memories about Century’s wife and child. Unfortunately, he knows nothing else at this present time.[5] As Amanda offers her sympathy, Century notices that Iron Man and the others are waiting for the limo to take them to Wonder Man’s funeral and suggest that they get going.
Downstairs, the Scarlet Witch has just finished getting ready for the funeral and finds Spider-Woman waiting for her outside her quarters. Wanda expresses her sympathies to Julia over her recent troubles with an obsessed fan.[6] However, the Witch expresses how she feared that Julia might decide to leave Force Works and take her daughter Rachel somewhere safe. Julia assures Wanda that the Works is her home and she doesn’t plan on going anywhere. Spider-Woman admits that the thought did cross her mind, especially in light of Simon’s death. However, it was Rachel who reminded her of the commitment she made as a member of Force Works and the good she does as a superhero, and staying is the right decision for her. The two women then head outside where Iron Man and US Agent are waiting for Happy Hogan to pull up in a limo. Tony tells his friends that Simon’s funeral is not going to be easy, but it’s important and they owe it to Wonder Man’s memory to be there.
Recurring Characters
Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Amanda Chaney, Happy Hogan (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
A footnote states here that this story takes place between Force Works #8 and 9.
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.
Century’s arrival on Earth also happened in Force Works #1.
This of course is a reference to the then recent Hands of the Mandarin storyline. 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.
Century recovered these memories of a wife and child last issue. However, these memories are not his own. As will be explained in Century: Distant Sons #1, Century is a composite being whose mind is comprised of the Homodurians 100 greatest warriors.
Spider-Woman was harassed by an obsessed fan in Marvel Comics Presents #166-168.
Topical References
In her opening log, Amanda Chaney states that Christmas has just come and gone. This should be considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale, which dictates that Christmas could not have happened around the time of this story.
