It was a relief to be free of the armor after having pushed it to near its limits in the battle with the Manhunters*. He would have to give it a diagnostic once-over to check for any fried circuitry or components that were about to fail.

*(Iron Man #8, Batman #13, and Avengers League #3).

Before he could get his mask off, he received one final instant message on the screen that displayed itself in front of his eyes. It was from his rogue Iron Man robot, who had changed sides and helped the heroes defeat the Manhunters who were attacking NORAD.

The message read: "The Manhunter is not Pamela. It is someone closer to you."

After his armor had put itself away, Tony sat down in a plush chair and thought deeply about the few people he had actually allowed to get close to him during his life. He had lots of contacts, but he let few people get past the dashing playboy façade he kept up most of the time.

He had, of course, a great number of ex-girlfriends, so many that he would have to have seen them standing in front of him to guess their names. He thought about the line from Paul Simon's song "Kodachrome" that referred to getting all the girls he knew in one room together . . . they would probably have some notes to compare.

Still, he didn't see any of his old flames having the ability to steal a robot, let alone know the security codes to get into the area where it was being stored. He didn't give that information to hardly anyone.

It had to be someone with a close knowledge of Stark Enterprises, someone who was working or had worked at the company before.

After a few minutes of thinking, he came up with three people who would be most likely able to steal the Iron Man robot. The thought of any of these people being his enemy was quite fearful.

She had managed to escape Stark Enterprises without having to admit the sabotage she had performed on the company. Tony had apparently not had time to deactivate her security clearances, or to detain her in any way. She had simply left behind a letter of resignation. She had gotten out before any investigation had been started, and Stark would not be able to track her down.

As one final act of mischief, she had put a small amount of a plant toxin that had been specially requested by Lex Luthor into Tony Stark's personal supply of bottled water. She did not know why Luthor had not requested a more deadly concoction; he had suggested a mix of herbs and flowers that would put Stark into a mellow, suggestible state for a couple of days.

Oh well, she was just doing her job after all. However, a small pang of regret sounded in her heart that she was surprised to feel. Had all that time with Tony, and their trip to Kunlong, created something in her heart for him? It had been so long since she had felt anything for anyone that the feeling was hard to recognize.

Love was not a feeling that Pamela Isley . . . that Poison Ivy could allow herself. She frowned when she thought that it would have been better for her to kill Tony Stark, because that would forever preclude the possibility of her ever loving him. She pictured the many ways that she could have killed him, and relished each one as she went through it in her mind.

Her work was done for now, and it was time to visit Luthor to confirm that the work was done and to collect her money. Tony Stark would soon just be another one of the poor schmucks whose life had been ruined by Poison Ivy.

He probably deserved it, anyway, Pamela thought as she settled down to a restful nap.

The one with the finned helmet turned the ignition of the truck back on. "Okay, you know what the boss wants you to do and say, right?"

His partner, who had a helmet with owl-like fins, opened the door and stepped out of the truck. He put a compound bow on his back and quickly checked his equipment. "I'm all set on that, partner."

The finned-helmeted one's brow furrowed. "Funny that you and me should be working together again, isn't it?"

"After all this time, yeah. Fifty million has a way of bringing people back together, doesn't it?"

The other figure pointed his bladed weapon threateningly at the other out the window. "Hey. Rumor has it you've been going a little soft, Barton. When it comes down to the big thing we have to do, you better fulfill your bargain with Mr. Luthor. I don't want this conscience you seem to be developing to get the better of you."

"It won't . . . not this time."

"It better not. You just remember . . . I trained you. I know all your tricks. If you and me end up on opposite sides, like that time back in Madripoor, you know who's going to win!"

The bowman skulked off into the night as the pickup drove away.

Happy Hogan had been his chauffeur since Tony took over Stark Enterprises. He was a good friend, and had proven a loyal ally in a number of encounters with supervillains and common criminals alike. Happy was certainly not an overly intellectual person, so it was hard to see him hiding a Manhunter identity. Such deceit was not like his former boxing champ friend.

Oracle, Jim Rhodes, was another person who could have stolen the robots, but he had helped Tony so much during the battle against the Manhunters. Furthermore, he was, or at least seemed to be permanently a paraplegic, so the notion of him running into Stark Enterprises unnoticed and stealing the Iron Man robot was not very believable.

That left Mrs. Bambi Arbogast. She had been his father's secretary for a number of years before his death, and had always been more than loyal. Mrs. Arbogast had actually given Tony a lot of advice during the early days of his management of Stark Enterprises. He had trusted her judgment implicitly.

She had been a little secretive lately, sometimes even forgetting to say hello in the hallway. God, if she was the one, he would have to explain why he was firing her to the other employees who almost loved her, and maybe even to the Board of Directors. Would they even believe she was a Manhunter, without concrete proof? Would telling anyone else reveal his identity as Iron Man?

All of these questions made Tony almost break a sweat.

It was time for a drink of water.

Hawkeye picked up his bow, notched a special arrow, and aimed at a place on what he knew to be Stark's private office building. He then attached part of the arrow to the wall, and then pulled a small metal attachment from his belt and put it on the taut wire.

Hawkeye slid skillfully between the tree he had attached the line to and the building. He alit on the roof and waited. If he maneuvered quickly and quietly enough, the security system would not sense him. He took a tiny unit from his belt and attached it to the roof. A wireless ear attachment would let him hear whatever sounds were in the room below.

"Mr. Stark," a woman's voice said.

"Mrs. Arbogast! I wasn't expecting . . . "

It sounded like Stark, but his voice was very groggy.

"That's right you weren't expecting me. But you know about me, and about the Manhunters, and that's too much to know."

"Um . . . I guess you did steal the Iron Man armor, then . . . "

"No man escapes the Manhunters!"

Hawkeye's ears heard the cock of the hammer of a pistol cock. Tony Stark was going to be dead if he didn't act fast.

Hawkeye used his line to swing over the side of the building, and his momentum to crash through the window.

Both Mrs. Arbogast and Tony turned in surprise.

Hawkeye had done a flip and had pulled out his bow before Mrs. Arbogast could fire on him. He pulled out an arrow, notched it, and fired it at the floor in front of Mrs. Arbogast. A puff of toxic smoke blew into her face.

Hawkeye waited for her to get knocked out, but this did not happen.

"What the . . . ?? That was my best knockout gas arrow!"

Tony tried to get up quickly, which was difficult given his drugged state. "She's a robot, Hawkeye!"

And she was coming after him. Mrs. Arbogast charged through the cloud of gas toward Hawkeye.

"Run, Stark! I'll take care of her!" Hawkeye shouted.

Mrs. Arbogast leapt forward and seized Hawkeye's throat in an inexorable grip. Hawkeye struggled to break free.

Tony almost fell into his closet and tried to think of what to do. He had to shake a desire to just lie down and go to sleep, to just let things happen.

Tony thought that it might be a good idea to change into Iron Man now, if only he could think hard enough to signal his armor to emerge from its place in his secret closet.

"A little help . . . Mr. Stark . . . a little . . . " Hawkeye gurgled outside the closet. He was going to pass out soon from lack of air, even though he struggled with all his might against Arbogast's iron grip.

Iron Man's armor drifted on to him, coming slowly because of the lack of Stark's drugged willpower. Once the armor was on, Iron Man walked out to the room to see if he could remember what he was supposed to do.

Hawkeye did not look like he had much time left. Mrs. Arbogast had to be stopped.

Iron Man lifted his gauntlets and fired a repulsor array into Mrs. Arbogast's chest. Each connecting blast stripped away more flesh and revealed the inner circuitry of the Manhunter. She finally let go of Hawkeye's throat.

He rolled across the floor, and then looked up to see the Manhunter clinging to life, determined to kill one or both of them. The archer grabbed an explosive arrow from his quiver, notched it, and fired it straight into the Manhunter's mouth. He shouted at Iron Man.

"I don't care how much armor you've got! My arrow packs quite a punch! Duck!"

Both of them ducked as the arrow exploded inside the Manhunter. A ball of flame lifted out from her robot body, sending metal fragments everywhere. The sprinkler systems in the intact areas of the office went off and the Stark security forces could already be heard running up the hallway.

"Thanks for that last minute save, Iron Man." He clutched his neck. "Stark's secretary had quite a grip."

"I should thank you, Hawkeye. You saved Tony Stark's life."

"Well, I figured since I was around, anyway . . . you're going to ask me what I was doing sneaking around here, aren't you?"

"Well, now that you mention it . . . "

Hawkeye set his bow down on the ground and looked at Iron Man.

"I was saving this speech for your boss, but since he's not around, I'll give it to you. I wanna go straight, Iron Man. I've been doing the mercenary thing for a while, and it pays pretty good here and there . . . but, I just kinda discovered I got some responsibilities to take care of . . . "

Iron Man was surprised at Hawkeye's tone. Did he discover he had a family or something that he didn't know about previously?

"Anyway, I figured I should come to you, since we've fought a couple of times in the past. You know what it's like to be a hero . . . I always envied that of you. You could show me a few pointers . . . maybe your boss could help me get back on my feet . . . "

Iron Man could not believe that Hawkeye was rather humbly asking for a loan.

"Judging by your actions today . . . and what I've seen a few times before . . . I would recommend you to my boss, Hawkeye. Maybe we could set up some training for you, with the Avengers League or something . . . "

Hawkeye extended his hand to the Iron Avenger. "Thanks, Iron Man. This is the beginning of a new direction for me . . . "

"Hawkeye reporting to Swordsman. My mission is a success."

"Then we'll both go to New York soon . . . to proceed with the second part . . . "

"Over and out."

Tony was still trying to shake whatever had come over him. He wanted to do some paperwork, but he couldn't clear his head. Maybe he needed something stiffer than water.

He pulled some fine Puerto Corto rum from a cabinet that he hadn't opened for quite a while. As he poured some into a glass, the indicator for a new message signaled on Tony's laptop.

It was Oracle. Oracle told him that after having searched through numerous law enforcement resources, he had found that Pamela's face was a close match to the super-villainess Poison Ivy. Ivy had previously been involved in an attempted takeover of Wayne Enterprises, as well as in numerous other crimes. Her power over men was legendary.

Tony looked out of his doorway toward the empty desk where Pamela used to sit. Even know, knowing everything he knew about who she was and what she had done, he still felt something for her.

Well that was no surprise, Tony thought. What an easy mark he was, especially for a woman with pheromone powers.

But he wondered why Poison Ivy would come after him. He had never fought Poison Ivy before as Iron Man, so there was no existing grudge between them. And Pamela had gone to painstaking lengths to protect her identity, as well as to establish herself as Tony's right hand woman.

In an e-mail response, Oracle said he was dumbfounded as to why Poison Ivy would be sending money to terrorist groups, since she had been working independently every other time she had appeared.

Tony thought about the number of times he had walked in on Pamela unexpectedly, only to have her put the phone down. Stark had pretended not to notice, but maybe there was something more there.

Maybe Pamela wasn't working alone when she had signed those checks to terrorist groups like ULTIMATUM. She had to be doing this for someone, someone who wanted to see Stark ruined. But who could it be?

"Hello, Mr. Stark? Lex Luthor here. Pleasant to speak with you. I know you're going through troubled times . . . if you don't mind, I'd like to talk a little business with you."