Tony Stark had brought along a contingent from Stark Enterprises, including his publicist Betty Brant. They were there to show off some of Stark's latest PDAs, as well as a new stealth airplane.

Tony was discussing some of Stark's recent product offerings with a group of well-dressed men. Betty was in charge of meeting and greeting the dozens of potential Stark employees who kept coming up to their booth. She accepted each résumé with a smile, and used her people skills to try to pick the people out of the crowd who would be good matches for Stark Enterprises.

She was certainly impressed at the turnout.

"I can't believe how many people want to work for Stark Enterprises, Mr. Stark!"

"That's thanks mostly to your efforts, Miss Brant. The world tour that Iron Man went on, and the other publicity efforts, have helped the company a good deal." He put a hand on her shoulder.

Betty was amazed at this personal attention. She had a boyfriend back in New York, but whenever the suave and sophisticated Tony was around, she did feel her heart beating faster.

Stark walked over to the table that held a pile of resumes that Betty had been collecting.

"Anybody who is worth meeting with in here, Miss Brant?"

"Oh . . . I really didn't get a chance to look over them . . . "

Stark pulled one résumé aside and looked at it intently.

"Hmm . . . Mei Chou . . . she has one heck of a résumé for having been out of school for only two years . . . is she still around here somewhere?"

"She walked off somewhere . . . "

"Well, make sure that you get her in to speak with me once we get back to Sunnyvale. I'm going to go around and look at some of the other exhibits."

Just as Tony was starting to look around, something flew through the window above, sending glass crinkling down to the ground. There were general shouts and gasps as the source of the crash was revealed.

A man in a red, orange, and gold metal suit, with a flaming fist as a symbol on his chest. He used his boot jets to soar above the quickly panicking crowd.

"You people think technology solves everything. I tell you that technology is false! Everything is false, except for the purity of fire!! So says Firebrand!"

Some people thought it was a publicity stunt. Other people were sure that Firebrand was for real, and they started rushing for the exits.

Firebrand released a blanket of flame that made everyone in its path jump pack. Everyone scattered as the flames tore through carpet and displays.

"Look at you techies run!" Firebrand laughed. "I'll send all your new toys up in flames!"

Tony could not figure out why Firebrand was attacking, but it was important to stop him before he did too much damage. Where had he put his armor?

He realized that he had put himself on the other side of the exhibit hall from his suitcase. There was a crowd of people standing between him and his Iron Man armor. Tony could not just reach into the midst of the throng and pull out his briefcase. There had to be another way to stop this villain.

He had attached a tiny camera to Firebrand's armor, and was remotely watching the chaos from the Dallas Tech Expo.

Everything was going exactly as Hammer had planned; everybody would think that Firebrand, nutcase that he was, was attacking on his own initiative.

And the next element of Hammer's plan was to come forth very soon.

A couple of security guards had fired their pistols at the villain, only to be scorched by blasts of flame.

Someone had to stop Firebrand. Tony searched for something that he could use against the villain. He suddenly noticed that a woman's hand had rested on his shoulder.

"I know how we can stop him," a woman's voice said from close by.

"I'll take any ideas you have," Stark replied. He turned to see a tall, lovely Chinese-American woman. Her hair and eyes were luscious, but her manner evoked her deep intelligence as well.

"My name is Mei Chou," she said. "I wish I had been introduced to you under different circumstances . . . that I would have the proper opportunity to show you this."

She brought out a small suitcase and opened it. Enclosed inside was a shiny suit of armor like Iron Man's.

"Does it work?"

"It works perfectly! I've tested the armor myself, but it's built for someone of a taller . . . more masculine stature."

"Well, my bodyguard's the one who wears the armor most of the time . . . "

Tony looked again at the terror that Firebrand was causing. Maybe this was not the best time to try to emphasize that he was not really Iron Man.

"But I designed and built the Iron Man armor, so I should be at least somewhat able to use any battlesuit. Is it hard to use?"

"No, I designed it so almost anyone could use it. Here," she said, removing the components from the briefcase, "try it on."

They ducked back into a side conference room, and Stark quickly donned the armor.

"Does it fly?" Tony said as he stood in the silver battlesuit.

"Yes, just order the computer to ignite the boot jets with your voice." The woman pulled a small headset from her purse. "This headset has a radio that is linked up with the armor. Talk to me if you need help using it - I'll be here for you on the ground."

One word from Tony Stark sent the Silver Sentinel armor soaring. It was time to snuff out Firebrand.

Jake's pen pal girlfriend Anna Marie picked him up in her green Celica. He felt happy for the first time in a long while. He deserved to be free - he had been a model prisoner, and the new life he was going to embark on should be enough to help him forget the past.

The past that contained memories of how the police caught him twenty-two years ago, with the help of two teenaged boys, Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark.

"Who're you? A superhero?" Firebrand asked. "You got here awfully fast. You pull a quick change act or something?"

"Doesn't matter, Firebrand! Your flaming fun is finished!"

Firebrand chuckled. "My 'flaming fun', eh? What a cornball line! I'm having too much of a good time to stop now." Firebrand's mask was flexible enough to show his half-insane smirk. "Let's see if your armor can withstand a full-power blast of flame!"

Firebrand blasted the Silver Sentinel at full power.

"Force field up!" Tony ordered the suit. An energy-dampening shield appeared in front of him that spread the flame across a wider area, eventually dampening the flame.

"Try the energy rings!" Mei Chou suggested via her headset link.

"Energy rings on!"

Twin rings of energy lashed out from the gauntlets of the Silver Sentinel suit. Tony brought them over Firebrand as the villain struggled.

Tony used the rings to throw Firebrand up against the wall. Firebrand's armor was not as tough as either Iron Man's or the Silver Sentinel armor, so a few dents appeared around the impact point.

Firebrand revved up his own boot-jets and threw himself at the Silver Sentinel. When he got close enough, Firebrand blasted another huge blast of flame.

"There's something I want you to try, Mr. Stark!" Mei Chou said. "The gauntlets can generate fire-repellent foam. All you have to do is order the computer to spray it out."

"Easy enough," Tony replied. He pointed his gauntlets at the fiery villain, and plumes of foam erupted.

Firebrand shook himself loose of the clinging foam, but not before Tony used the villain's proximity to clock him across the face. Firebrand careened through the air and smashed through a nearby window. He arced through the air and crashed to the ground outside.

Tony knew he had to get to Firebrand quickly. He used the Silver Sentinel armor to fly out through the window and land in front of Firebrand.

Firebrand's armor had been pushed to its limits. The sensors in the Silver Sentinel armor allowed Tony to see that Firebrand's flame generators had been damaged; one more attempted blast and Firebrand would blow himself up. Firebrand's armor was actually smoking.

"It's time to give up, mister. Surrender now, and we'll get you out of that thing."

Firebrand was a revolutionary, but he wasn't a suicidal one. Besides, he had been paid to allow this to happen. So he gave himself up.

A couple of brave Dallas policemen stepped forth to arrest Firebrand.

Tony flew the Silver Sentinel armor back into the convention center. Cheers followed him as he walked through the building. He quickly found Mei Chou and they managed to duck away from the crowd to change him back to Tony Stark.

"There you are!" Betty Brant shouted as she saw Tony emerge from the dressing room area. She had Tony's briefcase in her hand. Tony hoped that she had not taken a peek inside, but he remembered that Betty was very trustworthy.

"Thanks for holding on to my briefcase!"

Tony held on to it.

"Get everybody from Stark outside, Betty. The firemen will need to be able to inspect the entire building to make sure all the little fires have been put out."

The fake policemen prepared to ditch the cruiser and pick up a getaway car from a place where Justin Hammer had arranged to place it.

It was all part of Hammer's plan.

"This is quite a set of armor you have here," Tony said. "The design is similar to that of my own, but I have to admit, it's better in a lot of ways."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. I am very honored to hear that." If you only knew exactly how similar, she thought.

"Who backed you to create this? You didn't just come up with the money for it yourself, did you?"

"An inheritance from my grandfather. There is only one suit right now, and that's why I was here."

"This armor could serve a lot of purposes. I'd like you to come work for me, at Stark Enterprises. We have a lot of good scientists and computer whizzes at S.E.; you could let your imagination run wild! Maybe even make another prototype like this one. What do you say?"

"Yes, of course!" Mei Chou replied. They shook hands.

Hammer was going to have sweet revenge upon Tony Stark. He was going to make a profit off Stark's own technology, essentially selling Stark's own invention back to him. But Stark would have to buy the alloy used to make the suit from a company that Hammer secretly controlled. Stark would owe his success to Justin Hammer.

Now that was revenge.