Synopsis
Invincible Iron Man #13 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Iron Man comes ashore in France, and ditches the deep sea armour, which is found by HAMMER troops. A civilian spots Tony Stark at an electronics fair in Bayeux, and notifies HAMMER for a reward.
Shockwave comes after unarmoured Tony, for the reward offered by Norman Osborn to Hood's gang last issue. But Tony defeats him at close range with a repulsor blaster strapped to his palm.
In Austin the Controller has slapped a control disc on Maria Hill. But she calls up memories of all the authority figures she has hated, and resists him. She breaks free, and unhooks lines linked to his machinery. Some of his slaves are now free, and Maria slips away as they battle those still under Controller's sway.
Hill uses a USB stick Tony gave her to locate the hard drive he sent her here for, and makes her escape.
Pepper Potts has been taken by HAMMER to Avengers Tower in her Iron (Wo)man suit to meet Norman Osborn. he tries to get her to hand over the armour as a dangerous weapon. But they both know it has no offensive capabilities. He threatens her friends and family unless she tells him where Stark is. She replies that she doesn't know. Nor does she know what his plans are. Maybe some sensors can tell she's not lying, because Osborn abandons this line.
Pepper also truthfully says that the schematics of her armour are publicly available. Norman says that they've tried to reverse-engineer Stark-tech already, but they don't have any working repulsor power units. He wants her to let him have the one embedded in her chest. Pepper refuses. Osborn lets her go, but under severe restrictions, including denying her the right to use the armour for its rescue purpose, or to leave the US. He expects her to break one of the conditions, and then she will be arrested and the power source removed against her will.
Hood and Madame Masque report Shockwave's failure to Osborn. He asks Masque to come see him at Avengers Tower. He shows her the rebuilt ArmorMap system (from #1) which shows the location of Iron Man armouries throughout the world. Osborn expects these are likely places to find Stark. He has no jurisdiction outside the US, but Masque can tackle Iron Man anywhere, and conclude her personal business with him.
Stark is using electronics he's picked up to make Iron Man suits simpler, to suit his declining mental powers.
Pepper decides to ignore Osborn's orders, and flies off in search of Tony.