"A Tales of Two Tonys"

"I want Tony Stark!"

A figure in a black bathing suit and a gold facemask stands in front of Mrs. Arbogast's desk at Stark Enterprises corporate offices in Silicon Valley, California. This mysterious woman's name is Masque.

"Do you have an appointment?" the unflappable Mrs. Arbogast asks.

"Don't waste my time," Masque states. "It's a matter of life and death!"

Masque looks up at the large bay window behind Mrs. Arbogast. She sees a familiar metallic form decending into view. Iron Man speaks. "Step outside and we can settle this calmly. I don't know how you disabled all of the security devices, but-"

Masque leaps through the window and grapples with Iron Man in midair.

"Lady, you must be crazy!" Iron Man says as he sends an electrical charge through his armor, rendering Masque unconcious.

"Where am I?" Masque asks as she comes to.

"Stark Enterprises infirmary," Dr. Jonathan Clark answers. "I'm Dr. Clark, staff physician. I believe you know Mr. Stark's bodyguard?"

Masque turns to see Iron Man standing to her left. She struggles to get up, but can't. "That restraining field will hold you in place until you're willing to act a little more civilized. Doctor, if you'll excuse us?"

"Certainly." Dr. Clark leaves the room.

"I've just reviewed the Avengers files on you," Iron Man coldly states, "and apparently you call yourself Masque. It's unclear what connection you might have with my old foe, Madame Masque, although your appearance is certainly similar. Anyway, you aided the Avengers during their battle with Kang, in which an alternate version of myself betrayed the team. You stuck around the team for a brief period afterwards, apparently leaving after some disagreement with the Black Widow (all this courtesy of the Crossing and the Avengers issues immediately thereafter - Matt). There are no records of your activities since - until you showed up this morning demanding to see my boss. So to what do we owe the honor of this visit?"

"You can cut the phony bodyguard routine," Masque says, a hint of boredom in her voice. "I know you're Tony Stark."

"You have me at a disadvantage," Iron Man replies evenly. "But I think we can solve that." Iron Man removes Masque's mask to reveal - "Bethany Cabe?!"

The Paradox space station.

Mysterio watches as Jen McAllister vanishes, teleporting back to California.

"Our mole returns to her job," he says.

"Who is she?" Teen Tony asks.

"Her name is Jen McAllister. She is Vice President of Operations at Stark Enterprises. I have bent her to my will, using my powers to alter perceptions. The same powers I intended to use to drive Tony Stark insane, and take control of his company."

"Because you realize he is evil, and must be stopped?" Teen Tony asks.

Mysterio hesitates for a split second. "Of course," he lies. "I'm not sure what to make of this," Mysterio thinks. "All this business with alternate timelines and various Starks - but it doesn't matter, as long as it gets me what I want - control of Stark Enterprises!"

"Well, if you don't need anything else from me, I'll be in the lab," Teen Tony announces.

"What are you working on?" Mysterio inquires.

"Something to take down our mutual foe," Teen Tony assures his partner.

"Bethany? Is that you?" Iron Man asks increduously.

"How do you know my name?" Masque asks, equally stunned. Then she realizes what has transpired. "Oh. You're the Tony Stark from this timeline. I forgot that you and my counterpart were an item once."

"Who did you think I was?" Iron Man asks.

"I thought you were the Iron Man from my timeline - either the evil, older version, or the semi-corrupt younger one. I detected a chronal discharge a while back, with some equipment I had cobbled together to detect any further attacks from my Kang on this timeline. Weeks of investigation were fruitless, until your teenage counterpart accessed his bank account (in Iron Man #350 - the all-seeing Matt) and bought a ticket to fly to California. I thought he would have arrived here before me, and I expected to see him, not you."

"Back up a minute. You're the Beth from an alternate timeline? How did you get here."

"I was part of a group of freedom fighters who were rebelling against Kang. When he replaced you with a twisted version of yourself, I made the crossing to this dimension in order to stop you from carrying out Kang's plots. After Kang was defeated, I hung around the Avengers for a little while, but that didn't work out (as seen in Avengers #399 - Matt). I've been lying low since then, trying to detect any other crossings from my dimension to this one, hoping I could hitch a ride home."

"Well, I suppose that's as clear an explanation as I can get," Iron Man says. "But what's this about my younger self? Exactly when did you detect this?"

"On the fifth of last month," Masque answers.

"The day Titanium Man exposed me to his mystery weapon," Iron Man thinks. (remember Iron Man #342? - Matt) "The Onslaught effect bounced my teenage self to some other dimension, but Titanium Man's beam must have pulled him back somehow - which would indicate the two of us have some sort of link."

"Will you help me find my counterpart if I free you?" Iron Man asks.

"Yes. That's why I'm here," Masque replies.

"Good." Iron Man switches off the containment beam. "Now where do we begin?"

Jen McAllister absentmindedly answers, "Come in" when she hears the knock on her door. James Rhodes enters.

"Hi Jen! How's it going?"

"Fine," she says as she shuffles a few papers out of the way. "How've you been?" she asks. Although she is looking at Rhodey, her eyes appear to be gazing somewhere else.

"Are you okay?" he asks with concern in his voice. "I know you had a wreck the other day (in Iron Man #349 - Matt). Still feel a little shaken up?"

"Huh? Oh, that," she answers, seemingly coming into focus for the first time, if only for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a little shaken up still."

"Maybe you should take a few days off. I'm sure Tony wouldn't mind."

"No!" she exclaims. "Um, no," she says, softer this time. "I've got things I need to do... files I need to look at...." She begins to stare intently at her computer screen, punching away on her keyboard as if she suddenly remembered something important that must be done immediately. "Thanks for stopping by, Rhodey."

"Uh, yeah," Rhodey replies with a confused look on his face. He exits.

"Something is up with Jen," he thinks. "Maybe I need to find out what."

"I'm ready to launch our attack," Teen Tony announces as he steps out of the lab.

Mysterio looks him over. He is wearing a black chestplate. The unibeam assembly on the front of the chestplate has cables which extend out of it and attach to a rocket pack on the back. The shoulderpads of the chestplate each have a cable extending down to the guantlets on his arms.

"Wouldn't full armor be better?" Mysterio asks.

"I have no desire to copy the designs of my evil older self - at least not fully," Teen Tony explains. "Besides, what I've rigged here offers me as much power and protection as his armor does. Let's get this over with."

Teen Tony steps over to the transporter and disappears. Beneath his helmet, Mysterio grins.

Iron Man and Masque are walking across the SE campus, on their way to the hangar. "I have some skycycles like Hawkeye uses - with some modifications, of course," Iron Man says. "You can take one of them and -"

"Hold it right there!" a voice from above shouts. Iron Man and Masque look up to see Teen Tony flying above them. He comes to a landing in front of the pair. "Masque - I never really trusted you. And here you are, siding with the enemy!"

"What are you talking about?" Masque asks.

"My evil future self!" he says, as if it were obvious. "I don't know how you came back," Teen Tony says to Iron Man, "but I'm going to end your threat once and for all."

Iron Man feels torn inside - he knows that this teenage version of himself is actually the same person who will betray the Avengers (as revealed in Avengers #416 - Matt), but it is, in a sense, himself. Does he possess the capability of the evil acts that have been described to him by his fellow Avengers? And is there a way to prevent this young version of himself from following that path to destruction.

"Look," he pleads, "you don't know the whole story. Let me explain -"

"No," Teen Tony says, "you won't talk you're way out of this one!"

"If that's the way you want to play it - !" Masque says as she leaps at Teen Tony.

Somewhere, someone watches. "It is time for my next pawn to enter the playing field."

Masque and Teen Tony grapple hand to hand. Iron Man watches, looking for an opening to knock Teen Tony unconcious without injuring Masque. Then Teen Tony flings Masque away from him. "Enough!" he yells. He fires his repulsors at full force - vaporizing Masque!

"NO!" Iron Man yells. "What have you done?!"

"What needed to be done," a voice from behind the two Tonys answers. They turn simultaneously to see a blind woman who looks very much like Merideth McCall (remember this Merideth wanna-be from Iron Man 326-331? - Never-believed-it-for-a-second-Matt).

"Merideth!" Teen Tony exclaims. "But how - ?"

"I'll explain everything," she says, "as soon as you kill this impostor."

"Consider it done," Teen Tony says as he turns to face Iron Man, his eyes burning embers of hate.

Next Issue: Its Tony v.s. Tony as a confused Jim Rhodes looks on. It's a battle neither can win and the fate of SE rests in the hands of an unlikely saviour. By the end of the story there'll be only one Tony left, and it might not be who you think!