Invincible Iron Man (1998 series) #2

Tony is off on a skiing trip to the Swiss Alps to meet with the first client for his new firm, Countess Stephanie de la Spirosa; they are getting along despite her having hired the Mad Thinker to uncover Iron Man's identity in a fit of pique. Stephanie has a lot of social activities planned but she is disappointed that Tony just wants to work on the problem she hired him to solve, namely irregularities in the accounting at the company her late husband left her. That night as Iron Man he checks out the Dufours Manufacturing Corps' plant and discovers there is a huge hidden chamber carved into the mountain behind it. He enters by a hidden hatch and discovers a secret facility for manufacturing weapons. Iron Man is caught by guards with powerful energy weapons and crashes out into the sky above where he is met by the Siege Engineers, armed guards on sky-cycles; he leads them through the mountain until he reaches the best place to trigger an avalanche, burying them temporarily as he escapes....

The next morning Tony meets Stephanie at breakfast where she is accompanied by two sinister bodyguards. He tells her that he has figured out that the job offer was a phony and what she really wanted was Iron Man. The two bodyguards who were actually keeping her prisoner prepare to kill them both but Tony sets off explosives he had placed outside the night before and fights his way past them while they are distracted. He dons the armor and again Iron Man faces the Siege Engineers and this time he's ready for them....

The Mandarin receives word that his Swiss supplier has been compromised and that Tony Stark and Iron Man are involved. He gives the order that everyone shall die....

Iron Man is met by a huge flying gunship which hovers menacingly above him but suddenly the chalet where he and Stephanie were staying is blown to bits by a particle beam—and suddenly he is facing a trio of Dreadnoughts, deadly robots that reveal they have killed Tony and Stephanie and now will deal with everyone else....

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Story #2

Hidden Assets

Writer: Kurt Busiek.Penciler: Sean Chen. Inker: Al Milgrom, Sean Parsons, Eric Cannon. Colorist: Liquid!. Letterer: Comicraft.

Synopsis

Pepper Potts resumes her duties as Stark's executive assistant. While taking a call from a colleague in the White House, Happy Hogan appears. Both have been given the opportunity to work for Stark in his new business venture, unaware that the other was involved. Their interaction is civil, clearly trying to avoid discussing some marital discord.

Their boss is currently in Zermatt, Switzerland visiting Countess Stephanie De La Spirosa. She has contracted Stark Solutions to do some consulting work for her company, DuFours Precision Manufacturing, to find the source of some financial irregularities. Passing on a chance to associate with De La Spirosa socially, Stark opts to visit the plant after hours as Iron Man.

When he arrives he finds a secret weapons lab embedded in a mountain. He is quickly detected by the security guards, referring to themselves as SIEGE Engineers. He leaves the facility, but is pursued by the high-tech guards. He creates a small avalanche to complete his escape.

The next day, he meets De La Spirosa for breakfast. She has two similarly dressed men she claims are from her company accompanying her. She once again tries to keep him from fulfilling his consulting obligations. When confronted about her reasons for hiring him, then preventing him from doing any work, her behavior changes. It is clear she is being manipulated by someone.

Her "employees" reveal themselves to be enforcers for the individual behind the financial irregularities. Stark causes a distraction and knocks them out. He then instructs De La Spirosa to call the police.

Once out of her sight, he puts on his armor and steps outside to find the more SIEGE engineers waiting for Iron Man to appear. Despite their efforts, Iron Man disables their equipment in short order. When he asks once again who they're working for, he is met with the custom airship of the unidentified mastermind.

The chalet where De La Spirosa is hiding suddenly explodes. Out of the smoke, a trio of Dreadnoughts. The spokes-bot states that any concerns Iron Man may have are irrelevant. Stephanie De La Spirosa and Tony Stark are dead. He and all those aboard the airship will soon join them.