Appearing in "Stone Walls Do Not A Prison Make"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Fin Fang Foom
- Mandarin
- Chen Hsu
- Kearson DeWitt
- Marrs scientist
- Desmond Marrs (Mentioned)
- Phoebe Marrs (Mentioned)
- ⏴ Living Laser ⏵
Other Characters:
- Chinese army
Locations:
Items:
- Iron Man Armor MK VIII
- Encephalo-control circuit
- Mirror shield
- Mandarin's Rings
Vehicles:
- Chinese army vehicles
Synopsis for "Stone Walls Do Not A Prison Make"
Chinese soldiers converge on the location of the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon in southeastern China. Fin Fang Foom emerges and completely razes the entire region, destroying the soldiers. After doing so, the dragon addresses the Mandarin and Chen Hsu on a mountaintop. He thanks them for waking him and pledges to grant them a merciful death. Chen Hsu chuckles and blows pipe smoke into Fin Fang Foom’s face. The ancient dragon immediately falls over, unconscious.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Kearson DeWitt continues to try and control Tony Stark. His systems show that he is still in complete neurological control of him, even though he appears to be acting independently. Because they cannot actually “see” Tony, it is impossible for DeWitt’s team to truly understand how Tony is circumventing his current predicament.
Rhodey and Iron Man test out the armor. Rhodey removes Tony’s gauntlet in order to test Tony’s nervous system. Without the gauntlet to contain Tony’s arm, it begins flailing about madly, smacking Rhodey across the face. Tony uses his other arm to restrain his controlled one. To make things even worse for Tony and Jim, the Living Laser returns to Stark Enterprises to finish what he started (in issue Vol 1 260). Iron Man flies into battle, but Rhodey knows that Tony is going to need some backup so he doesn't overexert his system. Rhodey calls the Avengers, who sends Wonder Man and Hank Pym over to S.E. to lend a hand. Wonder Man tackles the Living Laser and the two trade blows. The distraction provides Tony enough time to recalibrate his repulsor again to an alternating frequency. He unleashes its full power upon the Living Laser and disperses the villain's atoms across the city. As the Living Laser is composed of pure energy, and can never truly die, Tony's conscience is clear. He states that it will take years for the Laser to reconstitute his form again.