“Appetite for Destruction: Chapter 1”
Pencils: Kevin Hopgood.
The resurrected
Ultimo is on a rampage and heading toward Futura, California. The National Guard's air and ground units are unable to affect the monster. While
Tony Stark lies paralyzed,
James Rhodes—
War Machine—has been called in to help. And
Rhodey has gathered a team of people who have worn the
Iron Man armor:
Happy Hogan,
Eddie March,
Michael O'Brien, and
Carl Walker, plus
Bethany Cabe. He explains the mission then has them suit up in some of Tony's obsolete armors, though
Abe Zimmer can't guarantee their quality. Nevertheless, the
Iron Legion suits up and heads out....
“Chapter 2: The Soft Machine”
Pencils: Tom Morgan.
Veronica Benning comes to visit Tony Stark, comatose from the neural feedback of Ultimo destroying his remote control armor (last issue). Dr
Erica Sondheim allows Veronica to be alone with Tony. She talks to him about the danger of memories, how her husband was killed and she was critically injured in a car accident; when she recovered after many grueling months, she determined to become a physical therapist and the she would let no one get close to her again—but now Tony has distracted her from that decision. Meanwhile, Tony, locked deep inside his own mind is doing battle with multitudes of bad memories that gather and form themselves into a giant machine with the face of
Howard Stark, berating his son for not measuring up; Tony musters his will and strikes back against his father, and emerges from his coma. After a brief kiss with Veronica, Tony gets up from his bed, determined to destroy Ultimo....
“Chapter 3: The Iron Legion”
Pencils: Tom Morgan.
War Machine and the five members of the Iron Legion unleash their weapons against the rampaging Ultimo. The monster grabs Eddie March and slams him to the ground; Carl Walker goes to his rescue but Ultimo's eye-beams melt Carl's armor, critically injuring him. As Rhodey and Mike O'Brien attack the monster, Bethany Cabe and Happy Hogan rescue their two fallen comrades and whisk them to safety. The four remaining armored heroes again pour out their power on their gigantic foe but it seems to have no effect. When Happy is smashed to the ground, Rhodey call for a tactical retreat. Out of sight, they are forgotten by Ultimo who continues his path to the city. Rhodey has Happy take Eddie and Carl to the hospital, sends Mike ahead to evacuate Futura, and he and Bethany take on Ultimo one more time....
“Finale: Armored and Dangerous”
Pencils: Kevin Hopgood.
Tony Stark arrives in his armor lab to see what his AI
H.O.M.E.R. has for him: it's a brand new armor, modular not a single system. He forces himself out of his wheelchair and with difficulty dons the new armor. Then the new, improved Iron Man heads out for his date with Ultimo. Arriving at the town of Futura, Ultimo seizes Bethany Cabe and Rhodey is distracted rescuing people who are trapped in their homes so that he doesn't see Tony's arrival. The new, improved Iron Man covers the monster's head with a polymer compound which drinks up his energy; Tony then launches a probe which allows him to see the creature's weakness, followed by his placing an EM field generator on its back. The generator pulls millions of volts of electricity from the sky, wiping Ultimo's operating system, knocking it flat. Tony muses on Ultimo's origin then turns to try to patch things up with Rhodey, who, bitterly angry at Tony Stark's letting other people hurt themselves then walking in to claim the victory one more time, punches him in his armored face. Rhodey threatens to kill Tony if he calls him again. Tony offers Bethany a job with the company again.
Epilogue 1: Tony finds Veronica waiting for him at home and they go into the bedroom together....
Epilogue 2:
Marcy Pearson's private hacker
Philip “
Raven”
Grant cracks Stark's security on his files—then the two start sending out all the dirt to the media, causing the news companies to begin reporting allegations of fraud and other crimes by Stark. Marcy's mysterious employer watches and approves, plotting more and deadlier strikes against Iron Man....
“Personnel Bios”
Writer: Scott Benson. Pencils: Kevin Hopgood.
Brief accounts of current Stark staff members Felix Alvarez, Bambina Arbogast, Abraham Zimmer, HOMER, Erica Sondheim, Victoria [sic] Benning, Harold Hogan, and Bethany Cabe.
Give that special marvelite a timely gift