Tony Stark is a prisoner of the Mandarin at the villain’s fortress in China, and what’s worse is that the Mandarin has hurled Tony’s briefcase—containing his Iron Man armor—out of the window and into the moat. The mastermind is full of glee as he describes how he brought the giant android Ultimo to life in the bowels of a volcano, and now he is preparing to use his creation to conquer the world. Suddenly the villain is distracted by the viewscreen showing Red troops preparing to attack his castle; having lost interest in Tony, Mandarin executes him with a power blast that hurls the captive American out of the room and down a flight of stone steps. Saved from death by his iron chestplate, Tony hears the footsteps of the giant Ultimo approaching the castle and hurriedly leaps into the moat to retrieve his briefcase. Not far away, the Red Army is locked in combat with the massive monster and is unable to harm Ultimo or stop his deadly eye-beams. Iron Man arrives to engage the enormous enemy but must play a defensive game against Ultimo’s quick-moving eye-beams….
Meanwhile, in the United States, Senator Byrd announces that Tony Stark is being cited for Contempt of Congress in his refusal to cooperate with the Senate hearings on Iron Man, and that all of Stark’s government contracts have been cancelled and his factories closed…just as Ultimo grabs hold of the armored hero in far-off China….
Story #2If a Hostage Should Die!
Writer:
Stan Lee. Penciler:
John Romita. Inker:
Frank RaySynopsis
Steve Rogers watches a TV documentary on the
Liberation of Paris in which
Captain America is the central player. The narrator is puzzled that Cap’s expression seems to be one of near-panic rather than jubilation and has no answer. Steve, however, knows the circumstances: it was the loss of his
wartime love, whose name he never knew. He recalls the aftermath of the
D-Day invasion, with the desperate Nazis fighting back against the advancing
Allies, and Cap himself arriving to lead the French partisans to victory. Cap meets up with his beloved
Agent Thirteen, and they confess their love for one another. When duty separates them, they vow to each other that they will not be separated in the end. But further missions intervene, and Thirteen is captured by the
Nazis and she is marched before a firing squad. The
French underground attacks at this point allowing prisoners to escape and Thirteen leaps on a Nazi officer to prevent him from shooting at the fleeing partisans. A shell lands in the courtyard at that moment, knocking her unconscious. As the Nazis are being driven from Paris, Cap learns that his beloved was captured and races to Gestapo headquarters, where he is unable to find her. As the Allies celebrate the liberation of the city, a distraught Captain America masters his fear and hopelessness and allows himself to be honored as a hero. It is revealed that the explosion has rendered Thirteen amnesiac, and in the present we find Steve brooding, having never learned her fate.