| Synopsis | - This story follows the events of ...
James Rhodes turns Stewart Caldwell over to the LA police following their battle downtown. As Cadwell is being locked up, Iron Man turns over his Shazam Award, the object that seemingly granted him his powers as Thundersword. However, alone in his cell, Stewart rationalizes that since his powers were derived from his imagination, that the limitations were also the product of his imagination as well. Through sheer will power, Stewart causes his Thundersword powers to return and uses them to escape from his cell, flying away on his winged steed Bromir. When Iron Man attempts to stop him, he is easily over powered in battle. Finding that Rhodney is beneath his notice, Thundersword rides off to freedom.
Feeling like a chump, James flies back to the headquarters of Circuits Maximus to report back to Tony. He arrives to find only Cly and Mortley are there, however Tony arrives shortly thereafter. James' attempt to talk to Tony is sidelined when Cly tells Tony that Bethany Cabe called, but said she would call back an hour later. As Stark attempts to keep his mind off his anticipation for the phone call, he listens to James suggesting that Tony take back the Iron Man armor following his crummy performance earlier that day. Tony tells James not to give up and when they hear reports of Thunderswords renewed carnage, Tony agrees to help Rhodney defeat him. However, the phone then rings and it turns out to be Bethany. While Cabe is in the middle of asking Tony to see her, masked men break into her hotel room and over power her.
Realizing that Bethany is in trouble, Tony puts aside all his other work and puts on an old suit of Iron Man armor to try and rescue her. At the hotel where Bethany is staying, the masked kidnappers try to load her up into a helicopter, however she revives and tries to fight them off again. However, they convince her to stop resisting by threatening to shoot her. When Tony arrives, they are taking her off in a helicopter and his outdated armor is not powerful enough to keep up with the chopper and the kidnappers manage to escape.
Although he failed at saving Bethany, Tony comes up with a solution to defeat Thundersword and rushes back to Circuits Maximus. He tells James to lure Thundersword to the Busta Point Reactor. As James is doing that, Tony, Cly and Mortley rush there and wire in the chest plate to Tony's new armor into the reactor. Running a guide wire outside they hook it into Rhodes' armor, super-charging it with electricity boosting it's power exponentially. When Thundersword arrives, he attacks James and finds that his weapons have no effect on him anymore. Iron Man then manages to defeat Thundersword with one single punch, sending him out into nearby Pacific Ocean. When James flies after him he finds no trace of Thundersword in the water.
When Iron Man returns to report that Thundersword got away, Tony figures that they'll hear from him again. When James asks about Bethany, Tony explains that she was captured and that he is going to try and get her back.
This story is continued next issue....
Secret Wars II continues in ...
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