Trang had long ago found out that there was a much greater market, both in Madripoor and internationally, for Western bootleg software and movies. He was an expert at funneling these materials through both above-ground and underground channels.

He was chewing on a betel-nut and smiling with blackened teeth at his profits for the month. In his hand he held a stack of American dollars.

Suddenly, thunder pealed overhead. His ears perked up - it was not a natural occurrence.

"Surely you weren't going to take all of that for yourself, Trang!" a voice boomed from the entryway.

Two very large men came in, almost blocking any light from entering the store. One had a full head of long brown hair - his sport jacket and pants could not hide rippling cords of iron muscle. The other one wore a costume with studded gauntlets and a mask covering his face. This one seemed to crackle with unearthly power.

"You know what to do, Trang," the masked man said.

Trang was quivering. It was like being in the presence of two angry gods - one could not defy their collective will, for fear of their inherent power. He cut the stack of money in his hand in half, and then took half of his half, and gave that to the two enforcers.

"General Coy appreciates your cooperation," the bearded one remarked snidely.

The two men stomped out of the storefront and down the dirty streets of Madripoor.

Tavis Williams was at the Madripoor Airport to meet Tony. He was wearing a fashionable suit - this outfit made him stand out a great deal from the average Madripoor citizens milling about in the Docks area.

"Mr. Stark! Happy to see that you have arrived."

"Hello, Mr. Williams!" Tony replied. He shook Tavis's hand. "I'm ready to see Williams Express."

"We'll take my car right down there," Tavis explained. He picked up one of Tony's suitcases and motioned to take Tony's briefcase.

"That's okay, Mr. Williams," Tony replied. "I'm fine carrying my own briefcase - I never let it leave my sight."

"Good idea, especially in Madripoor," Tavis replied.

They drove through the middle of the City of Madripoor. The ride was a long one; Tony was surprised how cosmopolitan the city center was, in comparison to the poverty that he knew existed in areas like Lowtown.

Tavis's new company near the Docks section of the City of Madripoor. It was a bold move, opening a company in that area of town. Stark thought he remembered that area being controlled by a crimelord of some sort, although he did not remember exactly which one.

The limousine pulled up to the door of Williams Express.

Tony knew how to look over a potential business prospect quickly. The building was in surprisingly good shape for this section of town, and he could see some workers efficiently loading up a number of boats off in the distance.

"This looks like a nice business," Tony said as Tavis walked him through the reception area up to his office.

When they sat down in Tavis's office, Tony noticed a framed picture on his new associate's desk. Tony couldn't help noticing that it looked as if there were two of Tavis in the picture . . . maybe Tavis had a twin brother that he had not mentioned yet.

Thunder rolled off in the distance. Tony was not surprised; it was getting close to the beginning of the West Monsoon season.

But Tavis reacted more fearfully than a Madripoor citizen should have. He picked up the phone and made a brief call to the receptionist.

"Leave the building through the rear entrance. Tell the workers that they have the rest of the day off. Make sure everybody gets out of here as quickly as possible."

Tony didn't know what to make of Tavis's behavior. "Is there something going on that I should know about? Is there a tidal wave coming or something?"

"No, my friend. Something worse. We are under attack!"

Thunder boomed again outside and Tony could hear the citizens screaming and running away.

Tavis motioned Tony to get up out of his seat and follow him out of the office, down the rear stairs. "We need to get down to the cellar quickly!'

Tony followed his host down the stairs to a cellar that was very tidy by Madripoor standards.

"Stay here until I come back for you. If I don't come back in an hour, use that emergency exit over there and get yourself as far away from the building as possible."

"Okay, if that's what you want."

Thunder was rolling louder and louder above. Then, a direct blow came to the front door of the building, as if someone were trying to break it down with a battering ram.

"Stay here," Tavis ordered. "This will be over in a minute."

"What are you going to do?"

Tavis rushed up the cellar stairs, and closed the door without giving an answer. Tony knew that he could not stand idly by - the thunder seemed like the threat was just a storm, but the direct ramming of the door meant that this was a direct attack on Mr. Williams' offices.

Tony was glad that he had his briefcase with him. The contents of it would probably come in handy very soon.

"Gan, why are you here? Why have you brought this ruffian with you?"

"You know why, Tavis. You have to pay General Coy just like everyone else in town. And you're two months overdue."

"We know you got enough to pay us, Mr. Legitimate Businessman," Roughhouse chuckled. "Go back in that office of yours and draw up a check to General Coy, like you are supposed to."

Tavis suddenly got a look in his eye that Gan recognized. Gan knew what his brother was going to do. A fight was coming; Gan wanted it to be fair, so he let Tavis go back in the building without warning Roughhouse.

"He'll be right out," he told his partner.

Moments later, a bolt of lightning lashed out of the skylight of the building.

A figure dressed in orange and gold rode the lightning bolt down to the street. He threw two lightning bolts at Thunder and Roughhouse.

"My boss gave you the chance to leave unharmed," the figure shouted. "Now it is time for Lightning to strike!"

Thunder stepped aside, but Roughhouse caught his bolt full on. It shook him a bit, but it was certainly not powerful enough to knock him down.

"Looks like Tavis has his own protection," Roughhouse said to no one in particular. "Gotta bit of a spark in you for such a small boy," Roughhouse said, dusting himself off.

"Let's double-team him, Thunder. He'll put up enough of a fight to make it interesting."

Through one of the windows, Tony caught a glimpse of an electrically-powered superhero facing two very large super-villains outside. Iron Man was definitely needed here.

Tony walked quietly out the back door - his entrance into the fight would have to seem as if Iron Man had answered Tony's call for help from a great distance.

The hero fell to the ground. The heavy clouds up above burst, and it began to rain.

"This is too easy," Roughhouse said. He readied his giant fist to pound Lightning into unconsciousness.

But then they heard a jet-like roar, and saw the figure of Iron Man land right in their midst.

"My boss told me you two were trying to give his business associate some trouble," Iron Man said. He warmed up his repulsors; the sight of him doing this would be enough to send any minor thug running.

But Iron Man faced the combined power of Thunder and Roughhouse. They were not afraid of the Iron Avenger.

Iron Man stepped up to Roughhouse, looking the large man over.

"I would suggest that you surrender, mister, before I do you some physical harm."

"Lay your best one on me, chump. I'll give ya a free one."

Iron Man deliberately pulled his punch. He expected to feel his armor cracking the bones of Roughhouse's body, but the effect was like hitting a brick wall. His armor's systems were working to repair damage to the gauntlets after Iron Man's fist impacted on Roughhouse's chest.

Roughhouse just stood there. The raindrops pelted his huge, solid form.

"Was that it?" he asked.

He grabbed Iron Man and threw the Iron Avenger into a ramshackle building on the side of the dock. The momentum carried Iron Man through the back wall of the building, out and into the murky Madripoor water.

A moment later, Iron Man soared out of the water. His sensors scanned Roughhouse. His opponent was clearly more than human - with more time, Iron Man could have figured out whether he was from Earth or from some other place. But it was time to give Roughhouse a taste of Iron Man's power.

He fired a mid-level repulsor blast at Roughhouse. Roughhouse was knocked back a little bit, but he seemed to shrug it off. With a little bit of effort, he pulled a lamppost out of the ground, grabbed it like a caber, and began swinging it in Iron Man's direction.

"Get down here, ya coward," he yelled. "Or ya can fly around up there like a fairy or something. Your choice."

Lightning was coming around. Thunder picked him up and threw him down the street. The smaller hero landed in the dust.

"I'll take care of Lightning! You handle the American superhero," Thunder yelled.

Iron Man hovered for a moment, pondering his next move. He knew that he did not have to pull his punches anymore during this fight. Roughhouse could probably bear the full brunt of the Iron Avenger's power.

Iron Man was happy to not have to hold back for once.

Thunder's drug use had a bad effect on him when he used his powers. Since he used drugs to keep his need to use his powers in check, when he used them, he caused himself considerable pain.

Lightning was rusty at the use of his power; years of mental discipline had buried the need to use his powers down deep.

"It is pointless for us to fight, brother!" Lightning said, standing over the crackling form of his brother.

"I cannot leave General Coy, brother! The drugs calm me . . . they let me use my powers when I want to! Don't you understand?"

"I understand as well as someone who was once your Siamese twin does. Try as you might, you can't block out the link that connects our minds. I know everything that you do . . . every merciless act that you have performed for General Coy."

"His mercilessness been very useful to me," a voice said from behind Lightning. "But you, 'Lightning', are a hindrance."

A bullet tore into Lightning's shoulder, and he fell to the ground.

"Tavis!" Thunder cried out.

Thunder turned to look into the eyes of his employer, General Coy. Coy was flanked by five henchmen armed with submachine guns.

"If you and Roughhouse weren't so incompetent, I wouldn't have had to get so personally involved in this matter. You know what you are supposed to do, Thunder. Use your powers to knock Tavis's building to the ground, so we can go home and dry off."

Iron Man turned on the airseals to his armor and pushed forward with the power of his boot jets. He would not be able to keep up this effort for too long - he did not want to strain his armor's systems.

Roughhouse thrashed about as Iron Man drove him deeper into the water.

They reached the wreckage of a Japanese battleship that had been blown up in the harbor during World War II. Iron Man chose this moment to let go of Roughhouse, the effect of which was to send the large man flying into one of the metal bulkheads.

To Iron Man, it seemed as if Roughhouse was knocked out. To be safe, he fired a repulsor ray at a sheet of the deck's metal, causing it to fall slowly, blocking Roughhouse's escape, at least for a little while.

Iron Man knew that Roughhouse, with his supreme strength, would awaken quickly and easily escape his watery prison. But it would take the villain long enough to escape to teach him a lesson about pushing people around.

Thunder paused and thought about what General Coy wanted him to do. He looked up at the classy décor of Tavis's offices. His brother had worked very hard to get the money to build his company. And Gan could knock everything to smithereens with but a wave of his hand.

"No, General Coy. Drugs or no drugs, I no longer work for you!"

Thunder pointed in General Coy's direction and a blast of concussive power knocked him and his henchmen down. Iron Man swooped down out of the sky and began strafing the henchmen with repulsor blasts.

While his henchmen ran one way down the wharf streets, General Coy ducked into an alleyway. Iron Man landed on the street and tried to adjust his sensors to lock onto Coy's biosignature.

"He's getting away," Iron Man said to Thunder.

"He would get away no matter what," Thunder said with grim resolve. "He owns this place. We could defeat every one of his henchmen, and he would still own this part of town. His connections guarantee that."

Lightning began to come around. He slowly got to his feet, clutching his wounded shoulder.

Iron Man walked up to Thunder. It was obvious the young man had had a change of heart.

"We need to get your brother to a hospital," Iron Man said.

"My brother . . . could use some medical help, too," Lightning said weakly. "He cannot control the release of his powers."

"My boss has many contacts who know about medicine," Iron Man replied. "It wouldn't be too hard to see if people he knows could synthesize something to help control your urges to use your powers."

"I will try, American. You are very kind to those who, moments before, were your enemies. But General Coy's reach is long. It will be hard to stay in Madripoor and to defy his will."

"We were once one being, Gan," Tavis said, putting his hand on Gan's shoulder. "Together we will keep Coy's forces at bay . . . maybe someday we can drive him from Madripoor altogether."

"My boss told me that he accepts the terms of the contract," Iron Man stated. "I'll go get him . . . tell him it's safe to come out now."

Iron Man zoomed into the building faster than Lightning and Thunder could follow him.

Soon, Tony Stark emerged from the cellar. "My bodyguard told me what happened." Tony said. "You two will be doing this place a great deal of good by opening a branch of Stark Industries here."

"Your generosity and honor are without compare, Mr. Stark," Tavis replied.

He called his new publicist, Betty Brant, on his cell phone.

"The World Tour's a success, Tony," Betty exclaimed. "The stock is up, and there are articles in a bunch of newspapers across the world about the good that Iron Man has done."

"Just what I like to hear," Tony replied. "I'll be home soon."

"We'll get you a new partner before long, Roughhouse. Thunder was good, but he didn't have the killer instinct you have. And let no one forget . . . " one shadowy figure spoke, "that I control Madripoor, and every unlucky soul who chooses to dwell here. And I will have both Thunder and Lightning, and their little branch of Stark Enterprises, under my control before long."

General Coy cackled with satisfaction.