"Thanks, Carlton. I love Alfred's cooking, but sometimes, there's nothing like one of Joe's submarines!" He walked inside the deli.

"Bruce Wayne!" a man in a short-sleeved paisely shirt called out from the back of the deli. "Good to see you ain't so high-falutin' that you can't come into Joe's for a submarine!"

"Hi, Joe!" said Wayne. "Can you give me the usual?"

"Yeah, Wayne...whole wheat bun, no mayo, extra peppers, no onions, jack cheese, ham and turkey!"

As Bruce was standing, waiting for his sandwich, his attention was turned by a noise from outside.

"Do you hear that, Joe?"

"Hear what?"

"That buzzing sound from outside...getting louder and louder."

"I tell you, Bruce, working in downtown Gotham, I've learned to tune out just about everything. I'd go nuts if I listened to every strange sound..."

Bruce walked outside where he heard the sound getting louder and louder. He saw Carlton looking up in the sky with his mouth wide open.

"What is it, Carlton?" Carlton pointed and Bruce looked up to see the shape of a jet plane, getting closer and closer to them.

"Oh, God!" Bruce said. "Come with me! Leave the car here! Just get inside!"

They rushed back inside Joe's Deli.

"Gotcha sandwich ready, Wayne. That'll be $5.00 like usual. If you're gonna get somethin' to drink, you better get it from the cooler now, so's I can ring you up...what's the rush?"

"You have a basement, Joe?"

"Yeah, I gotta basement. Where do you think I keep my mayonnaise?"

"No time for talk..." Bruce raised his voice. "Everyone follow me down into the basement! Hurry!"

"Whadda you, nuts?" Joe put down the sandwich and stared quizzically at Bruce. "You're gonna start a stampede or somethin'!"

"Trust me! Come on!"

A few of the patrons followed Bruce, Joe, and Carlton down into the basement while some of the patrons walked outside laughing at Bruce.

Bruce stood at the basement door. "Wait! Where are you going? A plane's going to crash into the sidewalk any minute! Don't go outside!"

Carlton pulled Bruce down into the basement just at the moment that the plane impacted the ground.

An explosion shook the building, blowing the first floor off. The skyscraper across the street had its first floor blown out, then each floor above began to fall sequentially, while people fell out of the windows and smashed on the street below.

Dust and debris from upstairs fell down into the basement where Bruce, Joe, Carlton, and three customers were hiding. "Stay down, everyone!" Bruce yelled. "Stay below the tables!"

The din of the explosion stopped and was replaced by ringing fire alarms and the screaming of dozens of people. Fire engine sirens could be heard off in the distance. After a few minutes, Bruce Wayne and the others crept out from where they were hiding.

"What the heck?" said Joe, uncovering his head. "I'm glad they built this thing sturdy! This cellar used to be a hideout for booze runners back in the 20's! The mobsters used to brag that not even dynamite could get the cops inside!"

"Don't anybody move," said Bruce. "Let me see how bad it is upstairs." He walked up the cellar stairs and felt the door, which was hot. "Everybody stay down here for a minute."

Bruce heard another light whooshing sound, like a small jet engine, then some heavy footsteps.

"Hello! Is anybody in here?" asked an authoritative voice through what sounded like a loudspeaker.

Bruce recognized the voice, but didn't let the others know this. "Yes! There are people down here in the cellar!"

"I'm almost done putting out this fire...OK, it's safe to come out now...be careful!'

Bruce opened the door to see that the entire deli's first floor had been blown away. Standing there amid the wreckage and the charred bodies was a tall man in red and gold armor. He gave off an eerie glow in the light of the small fires that were breaking out everywhere.

"Iron Man?"

"Yes...aren't you Bruce Wayne?"

"Yes. We'll talk later. There are other people down in the cellar, but I don't think they're hurt."

"We should get them out of here, just in case a gas main explodes from the impact of that plane."

Bruce Wayne and Iron Man gradually shepherded the people who were in the cellar out to one of the ambulances that was there to cart the many dead and wounded away.

"My deli...my beautiful deli..." Joe hung his head as he was guided into an ambulance by the paramedics.

"Okay, team, let's spread out!" the leader, who carried a golden shield, barked. "Photon, turn into your light form and go inside the wreckage to see if you can find any survivors. Doc, you and Powerman look through the plane wreckage to see if you can find anyone, too. Black Condor, you look in the top of the building over there to see if there are any survivors. Trapster, come with me so we can talk to the cops who've already arrived."

Some of the people on the street who were being guided away cheered.

"Hey, it's the Super Unit Police!" they called. "Go, SUP!" called others.

"Keep your minds on your jobs, people!", the leader admonished his team. When he saw Iron Man and did a double take. "Hey, super-vigilante! You know you're not supposed to be here! Clear out before we have to cite you!"

Iron Man grumbled. "I'm just trying to help!"

Trapster patted Guardian on the shoulder. "Iron Man has to be here, boss. He's Tony Stark's bodyguard. That was Stark's experimental plane that crashed. He's probably trying to find Mr. Stark in the wreckage or something."

"Hmmm.." said Guardian. "Well, you can help out, but you better not get in our way. That civilian with you... is he injured?"

"No...," Bruce Wayne replied. "but I want to stay and help out. I know some First Aid."

"Well, you go with Trapster and see if there's anybody hidden under the wreckage or still in hiding. What a mess...we've got a lot of work to do."

"Tragedy struck downtown Gotham City today as the experimental Stark C-3100 CleanJet airplane malfunctioned and crashed into the 2000 block of Exchange Street. The explosion rocked the surrounding buildings and killed 600 people, wounding 300 more. It is the biggest tragedy Gotham has seen since Dr. Phosphorous's destruction of the Ajax Chemical Plant three years ago. For more information on the crash, here's Trish Tilby."

"Thank you, Peter. Added to the tragedy of the deaths of hundreds of Gothamites are the deaths of top industrial leaders who were riding on Stark's experimental plane when the crash happened. The remains of six of them were found on the scene: Ted Kord, head of Kord Industries; Morgan Edge, venture capitalist; Scott Lang, head of the Internet startup wholesaler Lang Electronics; Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's personal secretary; Melissa Queen, industrial magnate and aunt of millionaire Oliver Queen, and Will Magnus, inventor extraordinaire. Twelve crewmembers, including both pilots, were killed as well. Tony Stark was also aboard the plane at the time of the crash, but his body has not yet been recovered...."

"I don't know, Tony," said Bruce.

Iron Man took his mask off to reveal the face of Tony Stark. A cold sweat ran across his brow. "I don't know how I'm going to tell the public that Tony Stark didn't die on that plane crash..." He sat down hard in his chair and faced the window.

"How did it happen?"

"The ceremony for the launching of the plane had just finished. We were in the air and heading out from La Guardia toward the East River..I was passing out cigars and getting lots of congratulations from everybody. The whole point of this plane was to travel at great speed with almost no emission of pollution into the atmosphere...it ran really quiet, too."

Bruce Wayne poured a glass of water for Stark and handed it to his friend. "Anyway, we're high up over New York when the engines just go dead. The pilots tried to get it started again, then to guide it into a into a softer landing, but we were going so fast that we just headed straight down toward the street. I used the confusion to go in the back of the plane and change into Iron Man. I opened one of the hatches quickly and flew out. I could hear them screaming as I flew out to try and use my armor's strength to slow the plane's descent. It crashed anyway."

"Was it a defect in the plane?" Wayne asked.

"No, we checked everything before we launched it...someone must have gotten into the hangar just before we took it out and damaged it somehow...."

"Who would do such a thing? One of your rivals?"

"I don't have any that would do something like this...except Hammer."

"Both of us have history with him, Tony."

"If it's Justin Hammer, and he's out to get me, I know where his stooges are going to strike next." Tony put his mask back on. "Let me get some things from my office. We've got to get out to the West Coast...and fast!"

"You know what's in those big boxes down there, Batman? My new PDA's that are supposed to go on sale tomorrow."

"Yeah, those are the hot new thing, aren't they?"

"Well, they were, until yesterday. I wonder if anyone will buy them now that they think Tony Stark is responsible for that tragedy in Gotham City." Iron Man shook the thought from his head. "Anyway, if anyone wanted to damage my company's reputation further, they would strike here...they would do something to these PDA's. I've sent out a publicity leak that I'm seeing to some of Tony Stark's affairs in the Midwest, so no one will think that Iron Man is here waiting for the saboteurs."

"Well, if they're going to sabotage your PDAs tonight, we'll be waiting for them, whoever they are."

Iron Man used his sensors to scan the shipping area floor. "I'm not picking up anything yet...wait! Over there by the shipping dock doors..."

"I don't see anything," said Batman.

"You aren't meant to. They're cloaked against everything but radio waves...but I still have some old countermeasure technology left over in this suit of armor." Iron Man rushes to the door of the security box. Hurry, let's get them before they realize we know that they're here."

Iron Man speaks to his armor's cloaking system. "Full cloak for me and my guest. Jets on stealth mode." He grabbed Batman and they flew out over the shipping area floor, following the path of the two intruders.

Suddenly, a laser blast flew at them. Two figures decloaked into full view. One was clad in blue and yellow armor, and had weapons all over his belt and chest. The other was dressed in red and silver armor, with one eye of his masked made into a gunsight.

Batman recognized the red and silver one. "Deadshot! Watch out, Iron Man! He's dangerous...don't let him draw a bead on you!"

Spymaster threw a smoke bomb to try to cover the villains' escape. "I'm okay, Iron Man! I've got a Bat Gas-Mask!" Batman put on a small mask and attacked Deadshot. After Iron Man placed him on the ground, Batman put his mask on and leapt at Deadshot.

Iron Man flew on at Spymaster and blasted at him with his repulsor rays.

"Sneaking around my boss's factory, now, are you?"

"Your boss is already toast, Iron Man! And soon, you will be, too, thanks to this power surge bomb!"

Spymaster threw the bomb at Iron Man, but the Golden Leaguer easily blew it up with a pulse bolt. "Now to show you a new trick, Spymaster!"

Iron Man generated an energy prison around Spymaster, which stayed around the criminal. "I wouldn't try those bars, Spymaster! You'll get quite a jolt!"

Iron Man called out to Batman. "Got one of them, Batman!"

Batman was busy fighting Deadshot, but he was distracted by his friend's call. "What?"

At that moment, Deadshot fired a round into Batman's side. "That'll teach ya to keep your eyes on me, Batman! Now to finish you off for good!"

"Batman!" Iron Man called. Spymaster wasn't going anywhere, so the Armored Avenger flew over to his fallen friend's side. He started firing pulse bolts at Deadshot, who barely dodged them.

Deadshot called out to Iron Man as he stopped by the shipping dock door. "You may have stopped us this time...but how do you know there isn't something else out there, waiting to blow up any minute?"

"You! You sabotaged Tony Stark's plane!"

"Yeah! And everyone sees it as Tony Stark's fault! Looks like you'll be out of a job soon, chump!" Deadshot turns and runs toward the shipping deck doors. Iron Man fired repulsor rays at him, but then Deadshot pressed a button on his wrist and teleported away.

"Cripes! We only got one of them!" Iron Man gazed at his fallen friend. "I'd better get you to the infirmary, Batman! We're lucky we have a nightime physician there!"

Batman moans. "Don't forget...Spymaster!"

"Oh, I won't!" Iron Man shouted at the trapped villain. "You hear me, Spymaster! I'm going to make you squeal like a stuck pig...you'll tell me who put you up to this!"

Batman motioned Iron Man over just as the Darknight Detective was about to go unconscious. "Call...this number. Ask for...Batman's partner, Robin! He can help us track down Hammer...if this sabotage is his doing."

Iron Man called for the Stark paramedics through a cellular phone wired into his armor. "I'll do that, friend...and then we'll find who did all this, and make them pay!"