Iron Man #161
If the Moonman Should Fail!
Tony Stark decides to test out the underwater capabilities of his Iron Man armor ahead of his tour of a new undersea research facility called Project Neptune. This earns the ire of two scientists who have to put aside their work to help run the test, but Tony deems it necessary to make sure his armor is in tip-top shape.
That that moment, operatives of Advance Idea Mechanics have attacked Project Neptune. They are anticipating the arrival of Stark and the other guests invited to see the project and subdue the staff on board.
Later that day, Tony Stark arrives at the pier with three other potential investors: wealthy playboy Steven Grant, the snooty Sissy Holt II, and her assistant. When they take a submarine down to Project Neptune, they are taken hostage by the AIM operatives. However, Tony Stark manages to flee from their captors. In one of the adjacent rooms he quickly changes into Iron Man. While he is doing so, the AIM scientists depart from the underwater facility, telling their would-be hostages that they have an appointment on Prince Street.
The AIM operatives depart using the escape pods and when Iron Man tries to pursue them, they set off an explosive that threatens to flood Project Neptune and drown everyone inside. Iron Man rushes inside and discovers that AIM has set up a number of traps and deadly robots and in the ensuing fracas one of the airlocks gets damaged. In order to keep the facility from flooding, Iron Man is forced to hold the outer doors of the airlock closed to keep the water from rushing in. While he is doing this, Steve Grant calls for help but the Coast Guard can’t be there for at least 20 minutes. It’s during this call that he learns that Project Neptune was designed by a technician named Darryl Flowers and they need to find him in order to figure out how to fix the airlock. Suddenly, Sissy begins suffering an asthma attack. When they discover that there is still an escape pod left, the others decide that Sissy should be sent up in it because of her medical condition.
However, Steve Grant shocks them all when he jumps into the escape pod himself and leaves. They assume that Grant was only looking out for himself. However, in reality, Steve Grant is more than meets the eye. After being brought to shore by the Coast Guard, Grant finds the taxi cab he drives in his other identity — Jack Lockely — so he can change into his costumed identity, the Moon Knight. With the help of his friend Frenchie, Moon Knight gets a line on Darryl Flower’s location. He learns that he was fired from Project Neptune due to his drug addiction. The only lead he has is a bar that Flowers frequents and inside, Moon Knight is attacked by the patrons when he begins asking around about Darryl. Unfortunately, nobody knows where he can kind Flowers.
Luckily, Crawley — Moon Knight’s informant — is able to learn who has been supplying drugs to Darrly. When Moon Knight arrives at the dealer’s apartment he arrives just in time to save Darryl who is about to be killed by the dealers after they renege on the drugs they promised to get for him. Grateful to still be alive, Darrly agrees to help save the people trapped on Project Neptune. Patched through via the radio, Flowers instructs them on how to repair the damaged airlock so Iron Man can finally let go of the outer door.
With the situation back under control, Iron Man leaves and follows the Prince Street clue to AIM’s hideout where he quickly trounces the rogue scientists and rounds them up for the authorities. Racing back to Project Neptune, Iron Man sneaks back aboard just as a rescue sub is arriving to pick up the people stranded inside. He changes back into Tony Stark just as people start searching for him to tell him they can leave.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Moon Knight, AIM, Frenchie, Crawley,
Topical References
Televisions in this story are depicted as CRT models that need antennae to receive broadcast signals. This should be considered topical as this is obsolete technology.
