Well, if I run, that's not cool. And if I stay and get tasered... that's not cool either. I'm in a bit of a pickle. 
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Main story and flashback)
Supporting Characters:
- Cassandra Gillespie (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Howard Stark (Mentioned)
- Maria Stark (Mentioned)
- Mrs. Gillespie (Cassandra Gillespie's mother) (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Giorgio Gillespie (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Alexander Gillespie (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Fabrice (Cassandra Gillespie's uncle) (Mentioned)
- Cambridgeshire Constabulary (First appearance)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Bulgaria
- Sofia
- Monument to the Soviet Army (First appearance)
- Sofia
- United Kingdom (Only in flashback)
- England (Only in flashback)
- Cambridgeshire (Only in flashback)
- Cambridge (Only in flashback)
- Cambridge University (Only in flashback)
- Cambridge (Only in flashback)
- London (Mentioned)
- Cambridgeshire (Only in flashback)
- England (Only in flashback)
- United States of America (Mentioned)
- Los Angeles, California (Mentioned)
- Chicago, Illinois (Mentioned)
- Bulgaria
- Hell (Mentioned)
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for 1st story
In the present, Iron Man finds himself defeat at the feet of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria. He's surrounded by different men in suits of armor, who wonder whether he's alive, unconscious, or something else.
Twenty years ago, in the dormitory of University of Cambridge, England, a young Tony Stark makes his way through a party to talk to a girl. When they begin to talk, the situation at the party escalates, and during a scuffle, Tony and the girl flee, leaving the girl's bodyguards behind. The two young adults run away, and the girl introduces herself as Cassandra Gillespie. The bodyguards catch up to them, tase Tony, and take Cassandra, as part of their objective to follow her mother's orders.
The following day, Tony encounters Cassandra during a lecture. Later that day, they have launch together. Cassandra's mother is a business rival of Tony's father, Howard. After discussing Tony's relationship, or lack thereof, with Howard, Cassandra invites him to have dinner with her family, to which Tony agrees.
Later that night, Tony meets Cassandra's family. At the end of the evening, a Hydra humvee appears on the scene, and a handful of Hydra agents engage in a shootout against the Gillespies' bodyguards. One of the Hydra agents manage to get close to Cassandra's mother and point a gun at her head. Tony takes a gun from one of the fallen terrorists, sneaks up on the Hydra agent and shoots him. Another Hydra soldier shoots at Tony and injures his shoulder, Cassandra protects Tony and shoots his attacker. The police soon arrive, while Cassandra and her mother are okay, her father has died.
Back to the present, Iron Man's assailants remove his face plate, revealing his face. Tony refuses to fight the leader of the attackers, who is none other than Cassandra. While she shares the thoughts, but she also refuses to let Tony stand in the way of her plans, she also promises him that fighting her will not get him closer to finding out the identity of his real father.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- A caption locates the party flashback scene at the University of Cambridge, which is located in Cambridge, England. However, during dialogue, Cassandra Gillespie asks Tony Stark why is he studying "here in London." This geographical mistake is furthered by Tony and Cassandra appearing at The Queen's Walk in South Bank, London when they walk out of the party.
- When Tony chats with Cassandra at Cambridge University's cafeteria, she mentions Tony googling her. At this issue's year of publication (2016), the scenes in the past take place in 1996. Google wasn't invented until 1998, and the first recorded use of "google" as a transitive verb comes from 2002.
- At Tony's dinner with Cassandra's family, her brother Alexander appears to be using a smartphone, which were not invented until the 2000s.
Trivia
- The soccer fans at the party in the flashback scene are singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", the anthem of West Ham United, a club based in London.