Synopsis
We start with a flashback memory to when Riri Williams was *very* much younger but she was already mechanically-minded. Her mother has hidden the welding goggles she needs to finish work on a hydraulic skeleton in order to get the little girl to play outside. While Riri is searching for them she comes across a box of photos of the father she never knew. Her mom and step-father decide it's time to explain that her dad was a bystander killed in hold-up before she was born. His name was Demetrius but everyone called him Riri, so they thought that was a good name for *her*.
In the present Ironheart is in Wakanda trying to stop Midnight's Fire and the rest of the 10 Rings group from gaining access to the Wellspring Of Power. She's teamed up with Shuri (Wakandan Princess), Okoye (leader of the Dora Milaje female warriors), and Silhouette (sister of Midnight's Fire). They've reached the building housing the Wellspring but the 10 Rings have beaten them to it. Silhouette used her shadow power to spy on them and has returned to say that 1 of the Rings is Riri's birth father. (Now that we've seen a photo of him *we* could make that connection, but Silhouette was working solely on a likeness to Riri!)
Riri protests that it can't be true because her father's dead. Silhouette reminds them that *her* mother faked her death. Shuri suspects a sorcerous trick. Okoye tells them all to shut up, they need to let Riri see for herself. Shuri hands Sil a Kimoyo Bead set up as a camera which will transmit back to Ironheart's helmet, and Silhouette disappears into the Darkforce again.
A little later the helmet displays a view of the 10 Rings in council. The only ones unmasked are Riri's dad and the 2 we've seen before Midnight's Fire (nearly every issue) and Eclipse (#7). MF says Eclipse failed (#7) to get them the zombie bodies they needed to power up the Wellspring and now it seems she's too weakened to try again. Eclipse ripostes that *she* found the Wellspring, and they are *all* needed to use it. Another female unmasks and reveals that she doesn't understand what they're really here for. Another member who is referred to as Ambition says he thought they were after some enriched uranium. Midnight's Fire castigates him for aiming too low, but 2 other members chip in that it's all very well aiming for godlike power if they don't have the means (zombies) to get it.
The possible Riri Williams Snr tells *them* all to shut up. He has the Stone Of Hala which will give them the power they need to access the Wellspring. MFire explains that he acquired it a while ago (in #8 Dr Strange said he used to have it but someone stole it from him) but had to find someone powerful enough to wield it - and he found that man in Dune (which is apparently RWS' codename). Other members doubt Dune's ability so he causes parts of the walls to crumble but the ground to raise him up on a plinth (this is his natural ability, nothing to do with the Stone Of Hala). And he sends a large mass of rubble towards his chief detractor until it's hovering before his face. Said detractor apologises.
Okoye and Shuri are trying to figure out the best thing to do. But Riri has seen the face of her 'dead' father and has gone into shock. The other 2 manage to bring her out of it but then Silhouette returns with the 10 Rings hot on her heels. The 4 prepare for a fight.
When the Rings arrive Ironheart is attacked by the 2nd unmasked female who she recognises as Tomoe, the Techno Golem, who she fought in Iron Man (2016) # 4-6. Riri easily bests her old foe but is then trapped by Dune's rocks and plant tendrils from some other Ringer. The others have also been subdued and all 4 are led away to be sacrificed in the ceremony to access the Wellspring. But Okoye breaks free, followed by Ironheart. Dune is ordered to kill IH but she removes her helmet and tells him she's his daughter.