Born to wealth, his inheritance more then just monetary, Tony Stark received his fathers genius and business savvy, along with his mothers good nature and common sense . Bolstering these with a natural talent for engineering, along with a will of Iron, Anthony Stark became an even more accomplished businessman then his father. But tragedy struck the young Millionaire, trapping him , he thought at the time, forever, in a suit of Iron to match his inner resolve! Since then he has fought back against many trials and tribulations, conquering every one like a shining knight of old. His steel mesh armor acting as a weapon for good against the most hi-tech villains of all time! He is the shining warrior of the future! The Golden Avenger! He is the one and only, the invincible
Iron Man hovers a dozen feet above the ground, at the Stark International Long Island
airfield in Calverton, NY, clutching at his helmet and throat, as black tendrils of energy
invade the armor through the eye and mouth slits. The Time: A nano second after the
completion of our last issue! The situation? Drastic! Below Iron Man , on the ground
stands the dark cloaked Mr Styg . A villainous creature with a mastery of the Darkforce,
who for reasons unknown , has come here to kill Iron Man! And even now is dangerously
close to his goal!
"Squirm and fight all you want" The pilgrim suited Mr Styg begins,
"Twill do you no good Mr Iron Man. Your life is over, at the hands of Styg."
Suddenly Iron Mans Plexi-Steel eye and mouth slit openings close with an almost
instantaneous "click"
"Eh?" Styg's face goes blank beneath his hats shadow, as his eyes go wide at
the instant pain he feels through his broken tendril of darkness.
"Now that's better!" Roars Iron Man, as he ignites his boot jets to loop
around, and out of the reach of Stygs quickly grasping Darkforce fingers. Twisting in mid
air, Iron Man sprays the ground below him with repulser blasts, peppering the area where
Styg leaps about, until he suddenly leaps skywards, flying at Iron Man, his Darkforce
energy spreading wide, seeking to grasp Iron Man in a huge hand-like appendage.
"Uh-uh Styg, It's time to end this nonsense."
Suddenly Iron Man releases a blast of sonic energy from his armors emitters, aimed
directly at Styg's ears
"AAAGGH!" Screams Styg, as he grasps at his ears, but then Iron Man is there,
streaking past the reaching, groping hands of Darkforce , to deliver the final blow, a
flying punch that hurls Styg twenty feet, like a childs toy, to land painfully in a heap
on the hard tarmac.
"He's out, I hear a resting heartbeat. That final blow did it, but he almost
had me. He would've too, if it wasn't for the safeties built into the armor. If the suit
hadn't reacted to the invasive nature of his Darkforce, I'd be dead right now. His
Darkforce was wrapped around my face, trying to force my mouth open. When the shutters
dropped, they dissipated into nothing. The internal sensors show no trace of it. Still,
I'm spraying the inside of the armor with a harmless radiation, that will make sure of the
Darkforce's dissolution ."
Iron Man lands, in a cloud of dust, as several Stark Security personal run forward to
his side.
"Get that character in stasis gentlemen, and be careful he's extremely
dangerous."
"Will do Iron Man." The commander of the security contingent says with a
salute as he runs to Mr. Styg, and binds him with solid Adamantium shackles. "He
won't get free of those sir."
"Good. I'll call Code: Blue in Manhattan , and have their Long Island Unit pick up
this piece of trash."
The Security men drag the unconscious Styg away, as Iron Man jets away, towards his
corporate headquarters in Holbrook, LI.
"I don't like this, not at all. Whoever these people are, they're the same
ones who instigated that little power outage last month.* It was momentary, and luckily,
the casualties worldwide were minimal, but any death is one to many. And from what I
gather from my little conversation with that madman, his group of anti-technological
lunatics are seeking to turn the world back on its ear, back to at least two centuries
ago, when mankind had none of the technological wonders we take for granted everyday. They
frightening part of all this is, is that they may have the ability to make good on their
threats."
*Issue 361
Iron Man descends to Stark Internationals headquarters, as a special hatch irises open,
and Iron Man drops down through it, to finally land in a sub-basement section of the
building that serves as Starks private lab. Once inside, Stark deactivates the armor, as
it slides off of him, with a simple thought, back into the specially created suitcase-like
containment vessel.
"There, that's done. Now to see what I missed while I was dancing with that
retro maniac."
Up an elevator Stark ascends , to enter his private office. Once there he touches a
flat panel upon his desk, and an image of a seated Bambina Arbogast appears before him.
"Anything I need to know of Mrs. A?"
She turns towards him from her holographic desk and shakes her head "No".
"Nothing to report Mr Stark."
"Good , I'm going to be doing a bit of research in here. Only interrupt me if it's
something that requires Iron Mans attention, or something other wise earthshaking."
"Will do Mr Stark."
Her connection ends in a blur of disconnected graphic energy, leaving Stark alone with
his thoughts.
Elsewhere... Bethany Cabe awakens in opulence. Since she has been an unwilling guest of
her captor, she's been beaten, drugged and starved, but now she finds herself in a
majestically accoutered bed chamber. The high canopy above the bed is of the finest silk,
as is the flimsy night gown she wears.
"Great." She mutters to herself, "Now he's trying to woo me with riches
and comfort. The way I've been treated the past few months, I might almost buy into it, if
it wasn't for the fact that I KNOW Iron Man will get to me sooner or later."
Then, a voice interrupts her vocal reverie .
"Ah my dear, you put to much trust in the Iron Plated vassal of Stark. He cannot
help you. No one can. Only I, your host can accommodate you properly."
She turns towards the source of the voice, and a shadowed figure stands facing her, his
cloak blows loosely about him in the morning breeze that wafts through her rooms windows.
"What do you want from me ? I told you I don't know anything about your business
here. "
"Really my dear? Then why did you run from my agents those many months ago? Why
did fight like the tigress you surely are? No dear Bethany, there's more to your story
then you are telling, and I WILL know the rest of it, of that you can be assured."
And Bethany Cabe once again shudders involuntarily.
Starks office, Bambina Arbogasts desk to be precise, and a heated conversation between
Mrs Arbogast, and someone else who has an interest in the whereabouts of one Bethany Cabe.
"I'm sorry Ms MacPhereson*, I cannot disturb Mr Stark, when he is free, he will
return your call, and not before. Now have a good day."
*Ling MacPhereson is Beth's partner in their international detective agency.
As Mrs Arbogast hangs the phone up, another line rings on her computer desk. Touching
the button lightly on her computer keypad, a small holo-image leaps to life on her
desktop, of a harried looking Stark Security Employee. Behind him an explosion leaps to
life in a miniature cloud of smoke, coupled with the explosive fury of devastation!
"Send help!" The man screams at his wrist transceiver, "We're bein' torn
apart down here! Some big , Armored guy is rippin' through us like we're made outta paper!
Send Iron Man!"
With that the man screams once , and the line goes dead! The image winks out of
existence as if it were never there.
Immediately Mrs Arbogast punches another button on her desk, and a buzzer rings in Tony
Starks office, but Stark is not there, he's in his basement lab, sitting bleary eyed in
front of a computer monitor, analyzing what he already knows of "Mr Styg" and
whatever else he can piece together of this mystery.
"This is no good. Every piece of information I begin to track down, turns into
a dead end. So far nothing makes any sense. Whoever this group is, they've hidden their
tracks well, perhaps to well. I'm running into one dead end after another. There are
dozens of eco-terrorist groups out there, madmen who can't see the forest for the trees to
use an expression they might understand. But none of them are this well funded to come up
with a weapon like the one they used to shut down the worlds power."
Then , he snaps his fingers, as if a light had appeared above his head.
"But...what if it's not a weapon, what if it's mystical in nature? Something
where funding wouldn't matter, except to perhaps purchase supplies and what not. The Cost
factor drops appreciably then."
At that moment, Starks display Monitor blinks red in one corner, he touches the screen
, and a mini-holo of Mrs. Arbogast leaps to life atop his workstation.
"Sorry to disturb you Mr Stark, but there's an emergency requiring Iron Mans
talents in your Niagra region Branch."
"Fill me in quickly Mrs. A, what's happening there?"
She sends Stark the feed of the Security man that appeared on her desk, and then he
quickly cuts her off.
"Thank you Mrs. A, Iron Man will handle it from here."
As the screen goes blank, Tony Stark is already triggering his suitcases release
mechanisms , and the magnetic coupling system deploys instantly, to wrap the armor around
Starks form in mid step, within seconds , he's armored , and leaping towards his launch
tube*, and out towards his Niagara area facility.
"It'll take me a few minutes at full thrust to get up there, I pray they can
hold out until I do."
Iron Mans boot jets roar as his computers program the most direct route possible for
him to the facility.
At the Niagara branch...
Chaos rules, as several buildings lie in tatters, and the just arrived National Guard
are easily dispatched by the unknown assailant.
"This is no good." Yells one Guardsman to another, "This thing is
walking through us like we weren't even here!"
"Fall back!", shouts the other , to those around him, as the brave National
Guardsmen begin to back peddle from the armored tank-like figure before them, who sweeps
the ground with energy blasts, scattering the soldiers, and destroying more of the
complexes buildings.
Suddenly a running guardsman points to the sky and shouts "Look!"
All do, as a Gold and Crimson rocket descends from the heavens, to impact on the huge
armored figure dead center in the back!
Ta-KOOOM!
The dark suited behemoth rises immediately, as Iron Man circles around once more.
"I don't believe this, that's an "Iron Monger" suit. Whoever's
wearing it knows how to use it too."
The Iron Monger leaps skywards after Iron Man, firing pulse-like bolts after Shellheads
fleeting figure.
"So far so good, I've got to lure him away from any innocents . Every time I
see one of these things, I'm reminded of Obadiah Stane, the man who ruined my life for a
time. But Stane is dead, a victim of his own cowardice when I had him beaten several years
ago. He was wearing the "Iron Monger" suit then, and took his own life to avoid
capture, and disgrace* . There's no way this is Stane in there now."
*See IM #200
Suddenly Starks silent reverie is broken, as a pulse bolt smashes him from the sky!
Zaaark!
"NO!" He shouts as he tumbles Earthwards, "I'm exactly
where I didn't want to be, near innocents! I'm right above Niagara falls!"
He fights to right his flight, as hundreds of onlookers along the falls twin shores
point and stare at the two armored titans above
Finally the eerily silent (Until now) Monger speaks "Tool of the wicked, you WILL
fall this day so that just men might again walk the simple Earth, as man was meant to,
without the evil encumbrance of technology to destroy the one true way."
Iron Man pulls up in his flight, to fire repulsers at his enemy, but the Monger merely
deflects them with an energy field
"Did you think to trap me so easily with your weapons of the damned? "
"You seem to be making pretty good progress with the same weapons you
hypocrite."
"Ah, but I serve a true cause, and so would dance with the devil if need be to
ensure our victory."
"No more use in talking to this psycho, time to just put this lunatic
away."
Iron Man fires his own Pulse Bolts, they smash through his enemies shield, tossing him
across the sky, as Iron Man streaks in for the kill.
But suddenly the Iron Monger fires another weapon from his arsenal , a web of energy
that enwraps Iron Man, and suddenly, the armored Avenger can't move! He's frozen in place!
"A stasis field! He's trapped me in a stasis field! The suit is dead weight!
I'm helpless!"
Then, Iron Mans form drops from the sky, a puppet with its strings cut, to disappear
beneath the raging torrent of the falls, their waves covering his point of entry as if he
was never there!
Without another word, the Iron Monger streaks skywards and disappears over the
horizon...
Next: Plans revealed, but is Iron Man there to see them?
Armored Assaults
Hey Ralph! Well, I really like Mr. Slyg! He seems like
just the sort of retrograde villain that Tony Stark
needs in his rogue's gallery! The whole phone
conversation with Jennifer Anniston was hillarious,
and I was very glad to see Rhodey pop up again! Keep
up the great work!
TJB
