Iron Man and Captain America come
rolling onto the shore of a Caribbean island inside a force bubble
generated by Shellhead; they come immediately under fire first by
automated defenses then an A.I.M. flying squadron. They work together
to defeat their enemies but all is not right between them....
Flashbacks explain: Cap was fighting an
A.I.M. detail in service of the villain Mentallo. Using a stasis
field stolen from Reed Richards, Mentallo has been able to amplify
his telepathic powers to a godlike level—and proceeds to take over
the minds of everyone on Earth—with one exception: Tony Stark,
whose circuitry shields him from any mental takeover. Tony's
consciousness is sucked into cyberspace where he battles Mentallo;
the ESPer is stronger but when Tony's Iron man identity is suddenly
revealed, the villain is so surprised that Tony is able to overcome
him and erase the knowledge of his identity from his mind. While
connected to all minds on Earth, Tony also takes the opportunity to
wipe his secret from everyone''s brains. Back in the real world Cap
and SHIELD clean up the A.I.M. Base, freeing ten hostages from
cryotubes but not able to understand what happened to the
now-comatose Mentallo....
Flashback Part 2: Iron Man reveals his
secret identity to his Avengers partners but Cap is disturbed. The
star-spangled Avenger resents Tony having taken it upon himself to
mess with people''s minds; the Golden Avenger argues that it was
relativity harmless and all for the best. The two cannot come to
agreement with Cap standing for individual freedom and Shellhead for
the good of the group. They are then informed by SHIELD that the ten
comatose hostages shows an aberrant pattern: Iron Man recognizes it
and he and Cap head toward the Caribbean island labs of Dr. Mark
Cushing. On arrival, their Quinjet is shot down, leading into page 1
of the issue....
And now, having disposed o the A.I.M.
Defense forces, the two Avengers move inland and discover—Zenith
City, a free and perfect society founded by the late Dr. Cushing.
Cushing was a brilliant researcher for Stark who came up with
Operation: Gengineering, which would give physical and mental
perfection to the old and the ill—but also rob them of
individuality, creating a hivemind. Leaving Stark Industries, Cushing
created his perfect city on this island where a transmitter in the
town spire turned the citizens into the human ideal—and then A.I.M.
discovered them. Cushing chose to die rather than reveal the secrets
of Gengineering to the villains and A.I.M. Took ten citizens to power
Mentallo''s brain machine (seen in the flashbacks). Now MODOK knows
the two Avengers are on the island and alters the treatment beam to
command the citizens to destroy Cap and Iron Man. The heroes try to
reach the spire and turn off the machine but MODOK uses the psionic
power of the people to give himself a giant mental form. Cap uses his
hologram shield to disrupt MODOK's energy matrix and Shellhead's
repulsors destroy it the rest of the way. With a massive A.I.M.
attack force on their way, Tony fixes the transmitter so that when it
is shut down, the citizens will not die but revert to their original
frail forms, robbing A.I.M. of any benefit they may get. The
groupmind tells Tony they would rather be killed fighting A.I.M. than
revert to what they once were. It is Cap's decision: to let the
people have their way—or to make the choice for them. He throws the
switch....
Epilogue One: As SHIELD takes care of
the former citizens of Zenith City, Cap tells Iron Man he understands
Tony's position....
Epilogue Two: Tony re-reveals his
secret identity to Pepper and Happy Hogan; they feel betrayed and so
Tony comes to understand Steve''s position on individual freedom....