As the murderous Freak approaches the weakened Iron Man, the feedback from the Enervator is heating the hero’s armor to deadly levels of intensity. Suddenly Iron Man’s scheme works, and the Freak quickly reverts to the form of the faithful chauffeur Happy Hogan. In the nick of time, Iron Man shuts off the Enervator and changes to Tony Stark. He awakens the unconscious victim, concerned about the fact that Happy knows his secret identity (because it’s all about you, Tony) from issue #70. To his relief, Happy has amnesia and doesn’t even remember his own name. Success! Senator Byrd then bursts in and serves Tony with a subpoena ordering him to Washington to testify before Congress about Iron Man’s secret identity. Leaving the helpless Happy in care of the perplexed Pepper, Tony Stark enters a police car. Suddenly strange lightning appears in the heavens and the car carrying Tony and Senator Byrd fades from reality….
In the remotest area of China, the Mandarin is using an artificial hailstorm to drive away Red Army officials who have been demanding the autocrat’s aid in fighting the West. Mandarin returns to his original task, sending the captured police car back where he found it—minus Tony Stark, who is now his prisoner. The Asian villain explains that his primary target was his archenemy Iron Man but since the Golden Avenger could not be located by scanner, his employer would have to do. Stark has been brought there to witness the birth of Ultimo, Mandarin’s greatest creation. To minimize distractions, the villain hurls Tony’s briefcase (which contains the Iron Man armor, remember) out of the castle window and into the moat. Now, as the Mandarin slowly moves a lever into place, a gigantic figure arises from a nearby volcano….