Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Feilong has taken over Stark Unlimited and used Stark tech to create the giant Iron Sentinels for Orchis to attack the mutant nation of Krakoa. He's harassed Tony Stark by demanding that he stop using Iron Man armour, because *he* now legally owns the tech, and by framing James Rhodes for murder. Meanwhile Orchis have forced most mutants to leave Earth (in the latest Hellfire Gala 1-shot). Emma Frost is 1 of the few X-Men left here and last issue Iron Sentinels tried to arrest her. Iron Man intervened in his remaining (Model 70) armour and saved her by making that armour encase her and take her away. But that left him at the mercy of the Sentinels. He defied Feilong, watching via the Sentinels, to kill a defenceless Avenger in public.
Now his bluff works and Feilong backs down, fearing retribution from the Avengers. He sends the Sentinels off to capture White Queen and confiscate the armour, just as Captain America turns up on his motorbike. Steve Rogers offers to get badly beaten Tony to hospital but he declines. Stark wants Feilong to think he's lost the team as well as everything else. But he lets Cap know in a whisper that he has a new suit of armour that will let him continue in secret as an Avenger.
Tony limps down into an empty(!) underground station and onto the tracks to get to a side passage to an abandoned room occupied by rats and an overturned shopping trolley. And his stationary armour which he's used a tracker on his phone to find. Now he gets the armour to open up and Emma lunges out of it angry at being cooped up against her will. Until she notices the bad state Tony's in. He explains how he bluffed his way out, until Feilong decides he really wants him out of the way and arranges for him to be found dead of alcohol poisoning or something.
It turns out this is part of the old Morlock tunnels from past X-Men adventures, but which the armour's AI chose just to get out of range of signal reception. But Stark had downloaded some news headlines on the way, 1 of which informs Frost that all human ambassadors at the Gala have been killed, and the mutants are blamed. (She didn't know about this because she and some others teleported to the Hellfire Club before it happened - as seen in the Gala issue and our last issue.) We are reminded also of the medicines that the Krakoans gave humanity but which now seem to be poisoned. So now there are Interpol arrest warrants out for the remaining X-Men.
And now Emma finds that she can't sense the mutants who accepted exile at the Gala, including her daughters (the Stepford Cuckoos), and she fears they may be dead. Tony reminds her that the mutants have a resurrection system, but Emma also fears that may have been rendered inoperable. But if they *are* dead Tony suggests they avenge them. Stark redons his armour and suggests she stay here until he returns with a disguise for her.
On the surface attorney She-Hulk is talking to her imprisoned client Rhodey who has obviously been beaten up. She sees the warden about it but gets no sympathy because he's an Orchis supporter. She gets contacted by Tony who's returned to the abandoned cab office he calls home. But Jen Walters has to tell him she can't be his lawyer as well as Rhodey's because of conflict of interest. Stark gets the suit's AI to self-delete and then takes a welding torch to its internals before sending it on autopilot smashing into SU's lobby to crash at Feilong's feet. Outside Stark threatens him then stalks off ... to go to a wig shop.
Tony then returns to Emma underground. They release their anger by accusing each other of not stopping what happened before it was too late. But they both stop that when Tony almost collapses from his injuries. He accepts the blame, especially for Feilong having Jim at his mercy, and he asks her for help. Telepath Frost takes him into his own mind where he's comfortingly surrounded by a rack of his armours. They agree to a smart alliance to kill Feilong and the others of Orchis. Tony's part is to find a way to destroy the Iron Sentinels.
Back in the underground reality Tony takes a ring out of his pocket. It's a miniaturised version of the psi-shield/blocker he developed in the flashback in #6 where he also 1st met Emma, and which he removed from the Model 70 armour before sending it to its doom. He also pulls out a brown wig for her and suggests she revive the Hazel Kendal identity she used back then. Wearing the ring she can hide her mutant abilities.
With this disguise (and civilian clothes to go with it) Emma takes Tony to the Hellfire Club. She says that when she got there she transferred all her assets to someone because she guessed Orchis would get them frozen. Inside they are ushered into the presence of the Club's new White King, who turns out to be Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin (an ex crime boss and ex-Mayor of New York).