Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In Beijing Madame Masque receives something from an AIM defector, and then kills him.
In his workshop Tony Stark is still coming to terms with the fact that he's not really the son of Howard and Maria Stark. And he's peeved that his armour is no longer state of the art. He can do something about the 2nd problem. He's created a new Iron Man suit that combines the best aspects of all his old versions. It can morph to suit the mission. It is still connected to his brain, but no longer to his biology (as the Extremis version was).
His holographic AI assistant Friday interrupts to remind him that he can't fly the armour yet because it needs a 3-hour initial charging. And anyway he has a date with Sri Lankan biophysicist Amara Perera. He'd better freshen up if he doesn't want to be late.
For the date he's reserved a whole restaurant, but Amara isn't impressed.
In Stark Tower in Osaka Madame Masque escapes from techno-ninjas by jumping out of a very high window, taking something else with her.
Meanwhile Tony takes Amara for desert to the roof of the Stark/Avengers Tower. She's still not impressed. When he casually mentions that the female Thor might drop by she's the opposite of impressed, and he frantically signals the flying Thor not to land.
He tries another tack and asks, as 1 genius to another, whether she has an invention that she's keeping from the world, for the world's own sake. Amara admits to having accidentally found a cure for the mutant gene. She says she's only keeping it in her head. But Tony says that that's no defense against psychics, and offers to help keep it more secure.
But they don't pursue that subject as he makes a flirting play for her. Amara turns him down - his womanising reputation precedes him. The situation is saved when Friday pops up to say Madame Masque has just been seen robbing Castle Doomstadt in Latveria. Stark dons the new armour and heads there.
Iron Man lands in a somewhat wrecked castle. Friday explains that since Dr Doom lost control of Latveria it's been fought over by revolutionaries and neighbouring countries. Armed members of 1 of those factions surround him. Friday translates that they want him to remove his armour. Before she can translate the other way his reply about hunting Masque, his opponents are all felled by a sonic blast.
He turns to see a man whom Friday identifies as Dr Doom. But this man wears no armour, and his face is only slightly scarred.