PREVIOUSLY IN IRON MAN: Iron Man was engaged in a battle with MODOK at the old AIM factory in London, Canada but failed in his attempt to capture and incarcerate him. He went to the headquarters of Alpha Flight to tell them of the news since they were the last super beings to encounter AIM. But he was too late; MODOK had already arrived to free the AIM agents imprisoned there, along with the Faux Alpha Flight. Declining Alpha's offering of help, Iron Man failed again to capture MODOK and AIM before they stole a nuclear device. As he was licking his wounds, Iron Man saw the arrival of Captain America, the Falcon, and Sharon Carter, Agent 13 of SHIELD...

"Fan out! Hit them from all sides! They mean business!"

One AIM agent recocked and loaded his laser weapon and started fighting at Captain America. Upon seeing the laser barrage approach him, Cap flipped backwards in a cartwheel. When Cap landed several feet away, he raised his shield to deflect the lasers.

"Sharon, move in! You're the only one who can match him, gun for gun!"

"You got it, Cap!"

As Sharon Carter pointed her service revolver at the agents and fired madly, Iron Man did not like that the Captain was barking out orders. They weren't even Avengers any more.* Now, they were just heroes. The greatest heroes of the world.

* (See Avengers #14-plugging Gregg.)

"Cap, look out!"

Iron Man vaulted in the air and fired a repulsor ray at the air, where MODOK had fired a psycho blast at Captain America.

"Thanks, Iron Man."

"Anytime, Cap."

Sharon Carter fired one shot from her revolver and missed on purpose; she singed MODOK's brow. He nearly fell unconscious.

"Retreat, we must retreat. AIM retreat!" MODOK screamed and used AIM's Teleportals to teleport them to another place.

"Dang. They escaped again," the Falcon said. He was swirling around and had just now landed. "Where could they have gone. Think they went back to Canada to exact their revenge on Alpha Flight?"

"No, they wouldn't be that stupid. They need to formulate a plan first."

"Iron man, this is your fight," Cap said. "Tell us what you want us to do."

"Cap, as much as I would love to have your help on this, I think I'll be flying this one solo. I have to go back to Stark Solutions to see what my next plan is."

Harold 'Happy' Hogan walked with Virginia 'Pepper' Potts through Central Park. It was for the 150th celebration of the formation of the park. They even watched the anniversary documentary on channel 4.

Happy looked over at the grounds of the park and saw two teenagers throwing a frisbee around. They were excellent catchers and he was wondering what had happened to him and Pepper since that battle with the King Snake. He saw Tony, his boss, his ex-friend, kissing his ex-wife. He knew that there was an attraction between the two many years ago but that was before Happy had married Pepper. He just couldn't explain his actions. What had he been thinking? Tony knew that he and Pepper were reconciling, to patch up their failed marriage.

"What's up, Hap? You look troubled.'

"Nothing," he whispered. It was almost a non existent thought.

"I know you, Hap," Pepper said, trying to appeal to his rare sense of sensitivity. He was a brash man, always given in to the bad parts of his anger when provoked and this was a time when he was genuinely provoked. He couldn't think of a way to explain to his soon-to-be wife again that he was jealous of his boss and friend, the high and mighty Tony Stark, the invincible Iron Man, for kissing her in plain view of everyone. Not to mention revealing his secret ID to those upstarts, Crisis and Sonik. What had he been thinking?

On second thought, Pepper called him affectionate names and she had been the one who kissed him.

"Did you really mean that when you kissed him? " Happy finally said. He couldn't believe that he got the nerve to say what he wanted to say for so long a time.

"I know it looked bad but I didn't kiss him. Tony had a long talk with Crisis and Sonik after the battle, and they explained that one of the King Snake's henchmen is a psychic and he used his powers to confuse Iron Man and me, too. That was why Tony had that weird experience with Jocasta. Apparently one of them is a computer hacker." She paused, and then, continued. "You know I love you, you big lug."

"Oh, Pep, yer the greatest."

Before they had a chance to fully kiss, they saw a large floating head overhead.

Then, darkness.

Complete and utter darkness.

Stark Solutions

"What hit me?? Did you get the license plate number of that AIM agent?" Pepper Potts groaned awake. She had a nasty bruise atop her head where she connected with the wall.

"There, there, rest easy. You're in Stark Solutions." This statement came from Tony Stark. He was attired in his Iron Man armour but his faceplate was up, so that she could see his face. "It's Tony. What happened to you? And where is happy?"

"I don't know. Last thing I remember is my head hitting the wall. Then everything went black."

"That's not very encouraging. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Okay. Me and happy were walking, trying to get back together and all. Then, before we knew what was going on, MODOK and AIM was there. They said they wanted only Happy. I tried to resist and like the good book says, the rest is history."

Tony put a pillow under Pepper's head and placed an ice pack where the bruise was. "So that is MODOK's plan. They want happy to get at me. But what are they planning to do with him is the operative question. Kidnapping civilians is not their modus operandi."

"What are you going to do?"

"Why, rescue him, of course."

"But you don't know where they're keeping him or what they plan to do with him or you."

"I may just have to wing it."

"I don't know if I love Happy or I'm falling madly in love with again, Tony," she said, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up. "But I won't have you go there half-cocked. He was my husband once."

"I know that. But he's my friend or was once. I have to rescue him. I have to do something. Anyway, even though I don't have much of a plan, I know that AIM would probably make their move, by way of Happy's incarceration, before I make mine."

"I know, Tony. But thank you, thank you."

Tony slid back his faceplate and flew out the window to go to search for happy Hogan.

AIM HQ

"What do you want with me??" Happy Hogan asked, as he was chained to a wall in something resembling a dungeon. "I haven't done anything to you. Anyway, Iron Man will bust in here any minute to clean your clocks."

"I don't think so, dear Harold Hogan." MODOK said slyly. "First of all, Iron Man doesn't know that we apprehended you. Only that foolish female does but we took care of her."

"I saw how you took care of her, all right. You are awful quick to hurl helpless females against a brick wall. Iron man must have heard about that by now and how you cowards kidnapped me..."

"Maybe, maybe. But that is not important now. Because we are not going to destroy Iron Man; you are!"

"What the devil are you talking about? I'm not going to destroy Iron Man for you. You can't make me."

"Of yes, we can. Observe."

A mental command from MODOK's brow and a metallic device came soaring into the dungeon from a hidden compartment in the main office. It landed on Hogan's head and bizarre energy swirled around his head. There was a severe discharge and Happy collapsed on the ground. One of the AIM agents removed the device from his cranium.

"Now, will you destroy Iron Man, Harold Hogan?"

There was silence for a while and then, happy spoke with a dull monotone: "Yes, I will destroy Iron Man."

"Good, good. But you will not destroy Iron Man as yourself. We have fashioned a suit of armour for you to wear, equipped with its own brand of weaponry. Come, put it on... faux Iron Man."

With a speed that belies his size, Happy Hogan puts the Iron Man armour on.

"Yes, yes, yes!!! You are the most powerful Man of Iron ever, more powerful than that bastard Stark ever was. You shall kill him."

"I will kill Iron Man!"

"Now, go and destroy Iron man!"

"I will destroy Iron Man."

Over the skies of Manhattan

Iron Man flew over the skies of New York City by way of his jet thrusters. It was truly a joy to behold. He loved flying because that was the time when he was really alone with his thoughts and could experience the beauty of Manhattan. But he couldn't be too alone with his thoughts, his inner most dreams because he was concerned about Happy.

Happy Hogan, his best friend, whom he felt that he betrayed him because his ex-wife Pepper was slowly falling in love with Tony. How could he deal with this? How??

A repulsor ray hit Iron Man on the back. Tony fell to the ground, stunned.

But then... did he just feel a repulsor ray? He thought he was the only one who possessed repulsor rays.

"I have been ordered to destroy you, Iron man."

Tony Stark saw another Iron Man facing him, wearing one of his older models. But he recognized the voice through the voice print.

"Happy is that you?!?"

"I am no longer Harold 'Happy' Hogan. I am Iron Man. And I must destroy you, Iron Man."

"I think you have something of an identity crisis."

Happy threw another repulsor ray at Tony's chest.

"Happy, don't! It's me, it's me, Tony."

"Who is this Tony?!"

"If you don't recognize me in my armour, perhaps you will recognize my face.' Iron Man lifted up his face plate revealing to happy that he was plain ol' Tony Stark, playboy, underneath. "I'm Tony. I'm your best friend."

"You stole Virginia Potts from me. She's me wife. She loves me."

"Yes, Pepper was your wife, but she is no longer your wife. You got divorced, remember? If you still love her, maybe she still loves you. But you have to let her know how you feel."

"Tony, I-I-"

Happy collapsed.

Tony lifted up the other Iron Man's helmet to reveal Happy's worn face. "Rest easy, my friend. It's over."

Author's Notes:

Captain America, the Falcon, Sharon Carter, and Iron Man: this story takes after Captain America #16, Avengers #14, and before Avengers West Coast #1.

Alpha Flight: this story takes places during Alpha Flight #26.