Iron Man #5

Black Widow's on back-up! Check out the fiery (and final), confrontation between Firebrand and Iron Man!

Firebrand has just activated an extinct volcano back to life. He has come to Isla Suerte with the mission to destroy the island’s tourism industry and the millionaires gathered here and seems to have hit upon quite a plan.

As lava makes it way towards the city, the mountainous regions are in the most danger. Iron Man is busy plucking people off the path of the lava flow. As he sees the already damaged hotels and resorts, he thinks how the people will rebuild them. He sees James Rhodes, former War Machine, now actively evacuating people from the endangered area. He sees Rumiko Fujikawa, organizing instant hospitals and tending to the wounded. He thinks that he was wrong to see her as a flirtatious and careless girl.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stark comes forward and orders Iron Man to evacuate him instantly. Iron Man rejects his order and goes to aid the wounded elsewhere. Morgan grumbles. Iron Man places a call to Pepper while going above the radio damping field over the area. Pepper tells him that Firebrand was active in the East recently. Also, he is associated with a group named the Flaming Sword, who appear to be linked with the Arms Merchant.

Iron Man finishes gathering the report and asks Pepper to talk with Happy. Pepper cuts off and accuses Happy of making their divorce public. Happy goes into a rage and walks out of the office after Pepper accuses him of supposedly projecting her as a betrayer.

As Iron Man accesses the files on Firebrand, he learns that the new one’s name is Richard Dennison, a former terrorist. He was abandoned in a factory containing supercharged plasma. When the bombs were set off, his body merged with the plasma. The Flaming Sword made use of this incident to mutate him further and gave him a containment gear to control his powers.

Iron Man hears the sound of gunfire and comes down to be briefed by Rhodey that they are holding the Flaming Sword at bay from escaping with the island’s money. Iron Man blasts into the casino and attacks the group. He is impaled by a rocket, but shrugs off and mops up the floor with the Flaming Sword. But suddenly, Firebrand attacks him from the rear. Iron Man takes the fight into the open and attacks his gear. Firebrand changes his tactics and punches Iron Man into the ground. Then he flies away to sabotage rescue missions. Iron Man blocks him again.

Iron Man places a call to his friend and volcanologist, Dr. Ramona Napier, asking her the way to stop a volcano. She tells him that creating a path for the lava to flow out before it reaches the top might help. Iron Man thanks her and returns his attention to Firebrand. He hacks his gear’s computers from outside and reshapes them into a wideband dispersal cannon. Then he says that he will need Firebrand to burn a path through the volcano. Firebrand makes threats, but Iron Man ignores them. He channels Firebrand’s energy to burn into the mountain and they reach the core within seconds. The lava, finding a new way, hurls them back and comes out into the ocean. After that, it’s over.

Later, Tony meets Rhodey and thanks him for coming here to help. Rumiko comes and offers them water. Morgan just wants to get off the island. A resort manager invites them to stay as guests for a sumptuous meal of lobsters and sand-dabs.

Elsewhere, Black Widow ducks security guards and bullets and places a call to Pepper, telling her that she wants to meet Tony quickly.