At Stark Tower, Tony Stark meets with
his team to decide what to do about the rebels against the Superhuman
Registration Act, led by Captain America. It is decided that Reed
Richards will try to break the code Cap’s team is using for their
transmissions which will give them an edge in the civil war among the
heroes. Tony’s day is a busy one: he stops by to oversee the
training of new heroes for the 50-State Initiative, visits the
criminal rehab unit, then ends up at the hospital where his old
friend Happy Hogan lies in a coma. Happy suffered brain damage at the
hands of the Spymaster (last issue) protecting Tony and the prognosis
is not good. Happy’s wife Pepper talks to Tony afterward and
describes a visit she once made with Happy to the Cauliflower Club, a
get-together of ex-boxers. There they saw Cobra McCoyle, a fighter
who was severely brain-damaged after too many blows to the head.
Pepper recalls that Happy said he never wanted to end up like that.
She appeals to Tony to use his new Extremis armor to shut off Happy’s
life support and give him a merciful death. Tony refuses and she
stalks out angrily.
Later, Tony rigs up a transmitter to
send Captain America a message to meet him at Yankee Stadium at
night. Cap arrives and Tony wants to know if Cap had anything to do
with what happened to Happy Hogan. Cap denies that he or any of his
team had anything to do with it. Suddenly the lights come on and Tony
is attacked by several renegade heroes. As Silhouette pulls Cap to
safety, Tony changes to Iron Man and easily takes out Luke Cage and
Ultragirl. In combat with Spider-Man, Iron Man reveals he was able to
manufacture his own “spider-sense”—and give Spidey a false
positive, distracting him long enough to blast him with his
repulsors.
Tony Stark returns home and pours
himself a drink of Scotch—which is suddenly knocked from his hand.
Invisible Woman appears before him and accuses him of manipulating
Reed, leading to the trouble in their marriage. He insists everyone
has paid a price in this civil war and she brings up Happy, which
sends Tony into a rage, putting his fist through a glass door. He
begs her to leave.
That night, as Tony Stark prays and
heroes all over the city try to snatch a few moments of peace from
the turmoil…Happy Hogan’s EKG flatlines….
Story #2[All I need is five minutes alone with him, but he's never alone.]
Writer:
Charles Knauf. Penciler:
Patrick Zircher. Inker:
Scott Hanna. Colorist:
Guru-eFX.
Synopsis
At Stark Tower, Tony Stark meets with his team to decide what to do about the rebels against the Superhuman Registration Act, led by Captain America. It is decided that Reed Richards will try to break the code Cap’s team is using for their transmissions which will give them an edge in the civil war among the heroes. Tony’s day is a busy one: he stops by to oversee the training of new heroes for the 50-State Initiative, visits the criminal rehab unit, then ends up at the hospital where his old friend Happy Hogan lies in a coma. Happy suffered brain damage at the hands of the Spymaster (last issue) protecting Tony and the prognosis is not good. Happy’s wife Pepper talks to Tony afterward and describes a visit she once made with Happy to the Cauliflower Club for a get-together of ex-boxers. There they saw Cobra McCoyle, a fighter who was severely brain-damaged after too many blows to the head. Pepper recalls that Happy said he never wanted to end up like that. She appeals to Tony to use his new Extremis armor to shut off Happy’s life support and give him a merciful death. Tony refuses and she stalks out angrily.
Later, Tony rigs up a transmitter to send Captain America a message to meet him at Yankee Stadium at night. Cap arrives and Tony wants to know if Cap had anything to do with what happened to Happy Hogan. Cap denies that he or any of his team had anything to do with it. Suddenly the lights come on and Tony is attacked by several renegade heroes. As Silhouette pulls Cap to safety, Tony changes to Iron Man and easily takes out Luke Cage and Ultragirl. In combat with Spider-Man, Iron Man reveals he was able to manufacture his own "spider-sense"—and give Spidey a false positive, distracting him long enough to blast him with his repulsors.
Tony Stark returns home and pours himself a drink of Scotch—which is suddenly knocked from his hand. Invisible Woman appears before him and accuses him of manipulating Reed, leading to the trouble in their marriage. He insists everyone has paid a price in this civil war and she brings up Happy, which sends Tony into a rage, putting his fist through a glass door. He begs her to leave.
That night, as Tony Stark prays and heroes all over the city try to snatch a few moments of peace from the turmoil…Happy Hogan’s EKG flatlines….