Synopsis
Iron Man (1968 series) #220 synopsis by
T Vernon
Rating:
James Rhodes discovers Tony Stark in his Iron Man armor sitting alone in his apartment, which is the only way he can be sure that the Ghost is not stalking him....
Meanwhile, at Roxxon headquarters, big boss Carrington Pax tells the board that their operative the Ghost, hired to force Accutech to sell out to Roxxon, has failed and compounded his failure by threatening Tony Stark. Pax phones the Ghost and tells him he is fired; Ghost refuses to leave the job unfinished, determined to destroy Tony Stark. Pax then places a call to another operative....
Tony, driven to paranoia, works feverishly in his lab to improve his armor's defenses. Then they learn that “Tony” has been sighted on his way to the penthouse and realize it must be the Ghost. Tony's armor is disassembled, so he takes Rhodey's gun while Rhodey heads over to his office to pick up the old armor. Ghost arrives at the penthouse and shoots Tony with an energy weapon; “Tony” falls but jumps up again, firing an energy siphon into the Ghost, disrupting his suit's power. “Tony” is the Spymaster, hired by Roxxon to kill the renegade baddie. The real Tony walks in on this scene and Spymaster suggests he leave since killing Tony isn't part of the job and there is nothing the industrialist can to to stop him. Tony shoots anyway to prevent Ghost's murder and Spymaster fires back with razor discs. While Tony and Spymaster start shooting at each other, Ghost manages to recharge his outfit and retreat. Noticing his quarry is gone, Spymaster leaves Tony to pursue the Ghost; the two meet in the ladies restroom and Spymaster can track the invisible Ghost with a special device. Tony catches up with him as Rhodey arrives with the old armor in a case; he doesn't want to put it on, so Tony is forced the wear it to tackle the baddies. Realizing he can't take on Iron Man, Spymaster prepares to depart; the Ghost gives him a portable circuit so that he can dematerialize too. Spymaster can't understand why Ghost would want to save him; turns out Ghost is killing him by snatching the circuit away while the poor schnook is only halfway through the wall. When he discovers the body, Tony blames himself for the villain's death. A message comes over a printer for Iron Man: the Ghost repeating his vow to kill Tony Stark—only this time, Tony is going after the Ghost.....
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