The
Mandarin's
Avatars are wreaking havoc in Hong Kong. They are
Q'Wake (earthquake power),
Deluge (water power),
Butterfly (bad luck power),
Foundry (fire power), and
Lich (super-strength but he looks like a decaying corpse).
Suzi Endo, head of
Stark Enterprises Far-East Division, sends out a call for help that is picked up by
Force Works. Meanwhile,
Bethany Cabe is also calling
FW about the sudden disappearances of
Iron Man and
War Machine (at the end of
IRON MAN #310). The team scrambles for action:
Scarlet Witch,
Spider-Woman (
Julia Carpenter),
U.S. Agent, and
Century while their AI
P.L.A.T.O. wonders why he didn't pick up the chaos alert. As they board their jet for Hong Kong,
Recorder RE-404 insists on joining them....
Meanwhile Iron Man and War Machine are prisoners of the Mandarin who has teleported them from Stark Enterprises to his lair in China. He reveals that he has created an aura around his castle within which all technology ceases to function, including the heroes' armors. The villain gloats and decides to start his revenge with
WM, unmasking him first and then electrocuting him, non-lethally....
Force Works arrives in Hong Kong and immediately attacks the Avatars, the two teams closely matched in power—until Century's staff
Parallax detects something odd about Q'Wake's energy signature and he decides to follow it up, vanishing from the melee....
At the Mandarin's lair, Iron Man pleads for mercy on
Rhodey's behalf and the Mandarin refuses. Then Century teleports in, seeking the
Ten Rings. As he goes to Rhodey's aid, Mandarin lashes out and disintegrates both of them, leaving only a pile of dust and Century's staff....
Story continues in
WAR MACHINE #9.
For the special marvelite in you