Iron Man Annual 2001
Hunted
Iron Man had gone to the nation of Sarawak on business in his alter-ego Tony Stark. While this is one of the most technologically advanced societies in Southeast Asia, it is run by a totalitarian government that uses corporal punishment for even the most minor of infractions. As Iron Man entered the country, he didn’t realize he was flying into a trap.
He is blasted with an electromagnetic pulse that shuts down his armor. Suddenly, he is attacked by heavily armored soldiers. As his armor reboots, Tony discovers that the pulse also carried a computer virus that is now infecting every major system inside his armor. Unable to combat the virus on the fly, Tony initiates emergency shutdown protocols and bails out. The armor will go to ground and hide itself, buying him time to escape the soldiers pursuing him.
However, trying to keep a low profile in a city where Caucasians aren’t incredibly uncommon is going to make escaping Sarawak difficult. Tony keeps his head down and makes his way into the city in the hopes of reaching the American Embassy before the authorities catch him. With a few hundred American dollars in his pocket, a couple of credit cards, it’s going to be a hard time to go about undetected. He can’t even use his “Stark Card” a communications device to summon help as calling the Avengers could spark an international incident, more over, his attackers could likely trace the distress call back to his location before help arrives.
As he heads toward the embassy, Tony comes upon a young boy being hassled by a street gang. He comes to the boy’s aid, but these thugs are skilled fighters. That’s when the boy’s mother arrives and kicks the shit out of them, saving Tony’s life as well. When the authorities arrive, Tony gets the mother and her child to hide and allows himself to be arrested. Little does he know that the boy managed to steal his wallet during the altercation.
Without his ID, Tony Stark is treated as an indigent and run through the system. With no records in the Sarawak database, Tony is basically doesn’t exist and the authorities can do whatever they want with him. There is already talk about shipping Stark off to a labor camp outside the city. As lucky would have it, one of the officers manages to get a hit on the system and says that Stark is to be released as someone has already paid his fine. With no idea of what is going on, Tony is released into the custody of the woman he saved earlier.
Her name is Ana Wei, and she runs a family owned computer repair shop. She is a skilled hacker to boot and she used her skills to give Stark a false recorder in order to get him released from jail. When they arrive at Ana’s apartment, she is visited by some local mobsters led by a guy named Po, who reminds her that her loan is due at the end of the week. Tony realizes that Ana used the money to pay her debts to free him from jail and worries that the mobsters might not be happy when they come back a week later. Ana is unconcerned about the mobsters, as she can build a new business from scratch, her primary concern is making sure her son is safe.
Over the next few days, Tony spends his days doing chores around the house. He gets to watch Ana in action and sees that she is very skilled at repairing her computers. Not only that, she cares about her customers and they regularly come by just to visit. She is also devoted to her son, Kiki. That night, Tony decides to help out by sneaking down into Ana’s workshop and completing all of her work orders. The next morning, Ana busts him since he not only just fixed all the computers, he souped them up and made them even more powerful. She demands to know who he really is, but Stark believes that not knowing will keep her safe since nobody will have to lie. This is hardly comforting for Ana Wei, who worries that Tony will bring harm to Kiki.
He convinces her that he’s not a spy, and he impresses upon her that he needs to recover his armor. If the Sarawak government gets ahold of it, it could destabilize global peace and spark a war. Ana decides to help Tony, and the two put their skills to the test coming up with a means of counteracting the virus that has infected Tony’s Iron Man armor. They develop a Virtual Reality Skinweb that will help Tony counteract the virus. During the process, the two become attracted to one another. Ana tries to resist the attraction she feels because Po will become angry if he learns she has been with another man. Despite her reservations, Ana and Tony kiss.
Meanwhile, Kiko is aware of the trouble her mother is in, and has no idea who Tony is or that his mother is helping him escape Sarawak. Looking through Stark’s wallet, he the “Stark Card” and sees that it controls the Iron Man who is wanted by the authorities. The boy figures he has just found a way to save his mother. He follows the tracker to the middle of the jungle where he finds Iron Man’s armor. He knows just who to call about this.
By this time, Tony and Ana have discovered that Kiko has left without telling anyone where he was going. When searching his room for clues, Tony comes across his wallet and realizes that Kiko probably stole it when he was trying to save the kid’s life. Searching it, he discovers that his Stark Card is also missing from it as well. Knowing where the boy went, the two go out into the jungle. However, they arrive too late as Kiko called Po and they are just leaving now with the Iron Man armor loaded into the back of a truck.
The pair follow Po and his men back to their warehouse hideout. As the mobsters try to figure out how best to use the armor, Ana enters the room dressed in a seductive dress. This is to distract them while Tony sneaks around to the electrical box and blow it out. When the warehouse is plunged in darkness, Ana puts on night-vision goggles so she can find Kiko in the dark and get him to safety. As the mobsters shoot blindly in the dark, Tony manages to slip behind his armor and activates the armor. To protect Kiko from the gunfire, Tony places the boy inside his armor, giving him a front row seat when its automated defenses systems kick.
However, the virus becomes active as well and soon the suit takes off into the air. It is soon being followed by government agents in flying combat armor. With the mobsters deal with, Tony activates the skinwear that both he and Ana are wearing. This gives them remote access to the Iron Man armor. While Ana uses her fighting skills to defend her son, Tony uses the database to try and counteract the virus it has been infected with. Eventually, the virus is destroyed, and with more soldiers coming, Tony orders the armor to fly back to the warehouse and pick him and Ana up and fly them out beyond Sarawak’s border.
As they do so, the same electromagnetic pulse cannon that got Tony in this mess is fired off again. This time however, Tony has called in the Avengers and they have been standing by at the border. Seeing the EMP blast heading toward his comrade, Thor tosses Mjolnir in its path, deflecting the blast and destroying the cannon.
To thank Ana for helping him out when he was stranded, Tony brings her and Kiko back to America with him. Setting her up with a citizenship and a brand new identity, she gets her a job at Stark Enterprises’ new San Francisco R&D facility. She is blown away by how much Tony has gone out of his way for her and promises to pay him back someday. Tony tells her not to worry about it, friends don’t keep score. Kiko is excited to be living in America and proclaims that when he grows up he wants to be worthy enough to wear Iron Man’s armor for real.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, Warbird),
Topical References
Kiko’s cell phone is depicted as a flip phone that has an visible antenna to pick up signals. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.
Tony refers to that year as being part of the “new century” and “new millennium”, this story was written and published shortly after the turn of the century when the 2000s were brand new. Any indication that it is the early 2000s in this story should be considered topical as they are relative to the date of publication.
Black and White
Tony Stark is back after a period where he gave up his entire life and assumed a false identity. He has also learn that his sudden change was due to a subliminal suggested planted in his mind by Tiberius Stone while he was trapped in Dreamvision.[1] After learning the truth, Stone send him a message saying that he is still trapped in Dreamvision.
Knowing this is bullshit, Stark decides to pay Ty a visit at his head office. He confronts him about the message. Stone insists that its true, that they are still trapped inside Dreamvision. In fact, the surge of energy Tony felt when the program ended wasn’t a shut down, but a reset, and they are still trapped in the program. That’s the only explanation for the utterly ridiculous idea that Trevor Donahue would have willed Tony his fortune and company, as they are too preposterous to believe. He even points to Iron Man’s new armor, which looks suspiciously like the psychic armor that Tony willed into existence during their last battle in Dreamvision.
That’s when Rumiko Fujikawa, Tony’s ex-girlfriend comes barging in.[2] She walks around Ty’s desk to show Tony the real reason that Stone called him here. She pulls a plug from a computer causing Tiberius to freak out because his connection to Dreamvision has been severed. As it turns out, Ty has become heavily addicted to his newest creation. He freaks out and scrambles to plug himself back in. With the truth about his condition revealed, Ty admits that it is true. He is addicted, but also can’t survive without Dreamvision as part of his mind was left behind when he and Tony last battled.
The whole point about tricking Tony into thinking he too was still trapped in Dreamvision was to deceive Stark into helping to free him from his prison. Tony cannot believe that Ty cannot bring himself to simply ask for help. Since he still seeks to manipulate people, Tony turns his back on him, saying that he deserves his fate. Rumiko pleads with Tony to save Tiberius, telling him that she knows that Ty fed her a bunch of bullshit lies about him. However, after everything that has happened, Tony’s answer is still no. He tells Rumiko that he genuinely loved her and that while he wasn’t as attentive as he could have been, there was no justification for her to hurt him the way she did. He tells her that she and Tiberius made this bed for themselves, now they have to sleep in it.
After Tony walks out, Tiberius mocks Tony’s sentimentality. Rumiko, on the other hand, realizes that Tony is right. She went out of her way to hurt him and she is ashamed by what she has done. Ty doesn’t feel any sympathy for her whatsoever, really dialing in how much of a heartless monster he really is. Ru then slaps him across the face and storms out of the office. Stone then calls his assistant and orders him to leak the intimate photos he took of Rumiko and have his news programs pick up the story. Satisfied with his latest scheme, Stone is confident that his little game will continue.
Recurring Characters
Tony Stark, Tiberius Stone, Rumiko Fujikawa
Continuity Notes
Tony was trapped in Tiberius Stone’s Dreamvision in Iron Man (vol. 3) #40. A subliminal message convinced him to give up his fortune and assume a new alias in the following issue. Tony discovered the truth in Iron Man (vol. 3) #45.
Rumiko and Tony broke up in Iron Man (vol. 3) #37. She then started dating Stone out of spite. She dumped him because he wasn’t around after she overdose following the use of MGH in Iron Man (vol. 3) #34. This was because he was busy stopping Ego from transforming the Earth into a new host body in Iron Man (vol. 3) #35 and Maximum Security #1-3.
