Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The Illuminati are fighting The Pride. It's Dr Strange vs the Magicians. Prof X matching minds with the Outcasts, Mr Fantastic tackling the inventions of the Wise Men. Black Bolt swiftly downs time-Travellers, Dale and Stacey Yorkes, and Sub-Mariner does the same to the alien Colonists, Frank and Leslie Dean, while Tony Stark in a very old Iron Man armour subdues Catherine and Geoffrey Wilder, the leaders called the Thieves.
Then the 3 unencumbered heroes try the old switcheroo. Black Bolt hits Gene Hayes which takes some pressure off Charles Xavier, enabling him to mind-blast Tina Minoru and Stephen Strange to capture her with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Sub-Mariner KO's Robert Minoru and Iron Man blasts Alice Hayes. Meanwhile Reed Richards has defeated Janet and Victor Stein with their own weapons.
Tony goes in the Wilder house to look for his kidnapped friends, and Reed waits for the police while the rest of the team exit in the Shi'Ar craft. Young Alex Wilder is still oblivious with his earphones on as Shellhead locates Tamara and Tyree Robinson in a dungeon. They exit to find The Pride being taken away, but Geoffrey Wilder says it isn't over.
Next morning they are released with all records expunged. But Wilder isn't happy with the DA, 1 of his stooges. He heads home intent on destroying Stark and the Imperio Techworks he has set up in part of the area of Los Angeles under The Pride's control. But he finds a message from Stark telling him that he is giving up his stake in the company and going back to join his friends outside the city, so The Pride need no longer fear his intrusion in their affairs. But in return The Pride must leave Imperio Techworks alone. If they don't then Stark will bring the whole superhero pack down on them.
At the workers co-operative factory the investment that James Rhodes went to Japan for has come through. And orders too. The business is now on its feet. Tony tells Tamara that she is now in charge because he's leaving. He doesn't tell her about the deal with The Pride. Instead he says he's done what he set out to do, prove to himself that he doesn't need his inherited company and money to succeed. But Tamara, who thought she was building a romantic relationship with him, accuses him of abandoning her like every other man in her life.
The Pride hold a meeting to decide what to do about Stark. They can't make their minds up whether to continue pursuing Stark or not, and they ask Geoffrey Wilder for a decision. He obviously hasn't told them about the deal either. But he says it's time to move on to other business.
2 weeks later Iron Man (James Rhodes) comes to see Tyree Robinson who's off his meds again (so much for the automated pill dispenser he and Tony invented) and gone back to living on the street. Jim tells Tyree that Tony has registered the patent in his name, and now that Techworks is selling them he's getting a lot of money. It's in a trust controlled by his sister Tamara so he'll always have a safe home to go back to. But Tyree is happy where he is.