World’s Most Wanted, Part 4: Breach

Pepper Potts has put on a suit of armor that Tony Stark has made for her. Turning it on, she is greeted by JARVIS (Just Another Very Intelligent System), the onboard artificial intelligence. It explains that this suit was designed specifically for her and amplifies her abilities through the reactor in her chest. JARVIS is there to assist her in the suits operation. When it asks if she is ready to begin her training, Pepper says “Hell yes.”

Meanwhile, Tony Stark is on the run after HAMMER director Norman Osborn issued a warrant for his arrest.[1] These are trumped up charges in the hopes of getting access to top secret files that Stark has kept from him. Having disguised himself, Tony travels to Los Angeles and meets up with his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Henry Hellrung. Tony is nearly unrecognizable as he has shaved off his mustache and given himself a crew cut.

Henry agrees to talk to Tony in private and is told that he won’t be around for a while. Henry tries to convince Tony to surrender, but Stark can’t do that because it would mean the end of his life. Henry then questions why Tony came here since doing so put a target on all the recovering alcoholics who come here for support. Tony knows this and says that he left a 2 million dollar cashiers cheque so they can look Henry can look after his people. He then turns to leave, telling him that 10 minutes after he is gone, HAMMER will come busting in. He tells Henry to tell the truth and don’t try anything smart and they’ll release him in time to get home for dinner.

In Austin, Texas, Maria Hill is on a mission for Tony Stark. Since she too is a wanted criminal so she is maintaining a low profile. She purchases an old pick-up truck in cash and drives it down to Futurepharm where she is supposed to recover a hard drive for Tony. After staking the place out she finds no outward sign of danger and decides to go in.

Back in Los Angeles, Henry Hellrung is soon visited by HAMMER agents who take him into custody where Victoria Hand — Norman’s assistant — questions him. As they do, Henry thinks back to when Tony Stark was still in charge of SHIELD. He had called in Hellrung (who was still operating as the hero named Anthem at the time), War Machine, Pepper Potts, and Maria Hill. This was to tell them about a burner e-mail address that he has set up. He tells them that it is an emergency account so that they can ping each other. It is only to be used from a public computer but not to actually send e-mail. When using it, they are to put their first initial in the to field followed random characters then the first initial of the person they want to reach with more random characters. Once they hit send, the e-mail will bounce back. This will make the messages undetectable. Everyone is to check in to the e-mail address for messages and if they are being pinged they are to meet the sender at a predetermined location. At the time, everyone thought Tony was being exceedingly paranoid as none of them think Stark Industries or SHIELD could ever be compromised. Tony says that he likes to think of everything.

Now it doesn’t seem so crazy and Henry uses the e-mail address to ping Jim Rhodes, aka War Machine. The two meet incognito at a diner where Henry tells Jim about his encounter with Tony.[2] He tells Rhodes that he needs to track Tony down and talk some sense into him and get him to surrender before he gets himself killed. Jim agrees to do what he can and soon he takes to the sky as War Machine. He uses his armor’s scanners to track down Tony because he is wearing an older suit of armor, making it easily tracible.[3] Jim tries to convince Tony to turn himself in before he gets himself killed. Stark refuses and warns Jim that unless they fight, Osborn is going to think that Jim is helping him. Jim finds it insane that Tony would try to attack War Machine in outdated armor. As the two fight in the air, the energy signature from his repulsor rays are detected by HAMMER.

In Texas, Maria Hill has spent the last nine hours searching for the hard drive Tony Stark sent her to get.[4] She ultimately finds a room where the Controller is hooked up to machines full of human slaves. Maria realizes that his victims are all people who she saw on missing person posters and street memorials in town. She decides that her mission for Tony can wait until she saves these people.

Meanwhile, the battle between Iron Man and War Machine continues. War Machine is much more powerful that Tony’s old suit. Tony uses this to his advantage, intentionally making Jim shoot him down so he crashes into the ocean. As he falls, Tony diverts all power to his repulsors and hits War Machine with a blast that breaches his armor, making it impossible for him to follow Tony into the sea.

This battle is observed by Norman Osborn from his office. He’s amused by what he just saw and gives orders for his men to continue tracking War Machine. Norman then asks Victoria Hand to open his private line and leave the room. Once the line is opened, Norman contacts the Sub-Mariner and tells him to kill Tony Stark.[5] This is something that Namor will take pleasure in doing.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Rescue, Anthem, Maria Hill, War Machine, HAMMER (Iron Patriot, Victoria Hand), Sub-Mariner, Controller, JARVIS

Continuity Notes

1. This story follows a failed Skrull invasion of Earth which saw all Starktech compromised by a computer virus, crippling SHIELD in the process. After Noman Osborn killed the Skrull leader he was made the new director of SHIELD, which he renamed HAMMER. Stark erased sensitive information from SHIELD’s database to prevent Osborn from getting his hands on it and has been on the run ever since. See Secret Invasion #1-8 and Invincible Iron Man #8-10.

2. Jim Rhodes appears as a cyborg here. His body was seriously injured in War Machine (vol. 2) #1.

3. Here, Tony is wearing the model 16 Iron Man armor first built in Iron Man (vol. 3) #1.

4. This hard drive is a back-up of Tony Stark’s mind which will be integral to restoring him back to normal following his mind wipe. See Invincible Iron Man #20-24.

5. Norman Osborn and the Sub-Mariner are members of the Cabal, an secret group of super-villains that have entered a partnership that will allow them to accomplish their own goals following the Skrull invasion. Other members include Doctor Doom, Loki, the Hood, and Emma Frost. They first formed in Secret Invasion #8.

Topical References

• Tony’s burner e-mail address is hosted by Gmail. This should be considered a topical reference as Gmail is a real world e-mail provider.