The Battle of Heaven's Hand!

At the tail end of 1981, Tony Stark's personal life was in a tailspin! We'd better get started patching it up, eh?

Here's the gist:

• Stark's girlfriend, bodyguard/P.I. Bethany Cabe, suddenly takes off on a mysterious quest to Europe. Soon after, Stark comes across a newspaper article which reports she's been arrested behind the Iron Curtain on charges of espionage.
• Unknown to Stark, Bethany has a husband--Alexander van Tilburg, formerly West Germany's ambassador to the U.S. and presumed dead until recently. In actuality, the Russian KBG had captured him and faked his death in order to interrogate him to gain data on N.A.T.O.'s long-term espionage sleeper agents stationed in Europe. When the use of drugs failed, the Russians decided to use Bethany as a lever; to that end, they leaked word that her husband was still alive as a way to lure her to his side.
• Stark finds out through social and political contacts that Bethany is being held in Der Hand von Himmel ("Heaven's Hand"), a top secret security/research complex in East Germany.
• When diplomatic outreach to the international community fails, Stark decides to use his new stealth armor to infiltrate and gain intelligence on the installation, barely making it out in one piece.
• Stark and his pilot and friend, James Rhodes, mount a rescue mission using the data gathered by Iron Man's previous stealth mission.
• Once inside the installation, Stark locates Beth and discovers to his surprise that she had set up her own capture in order to stage an attack with a band of mercenaries to create a diversion so that she could break her husband out. You can guess which news comes as the greater surprise to Stark.
• With Stark inadvertently interrupting her plan, Beth is forced to reveal her knowledge that Stark and Iron Man are one and the same in order to implore Stark to suit up and assist, knowing that Iron Man is now the only chance for everyone to escape alive.

It's admittedly a lot for Stark to take in all at once--but what do you think he's going to do?

Under the circumstances, the only thing he can!

All things considered, this rescue's going off without any significant hitch so far, thanks to the presence of Iron Man. But the East Germans have another guest at Heaven's Hand--one whose thirst for revenge appears to outweigh the need for secrecy in regard to his benefactors, and whose power brings down Iron Man with a single strike.

Well, Mr. Stark, it was either facing the Living Laser or a love triangle, sir.

Count your blessings.

The next thing Iron Man knows, he's trussed up in a death trap that would make even a certain caped crusader from a 1966-68 TV series doubting his ability to escape.

As for Arthur Parks, the Living Laser, he has quite the story to tell, one that ends with his becoming a power source for an array of Russian weapons--an arrangement which will, in turn, save his life.

For Iron Man, then, his escape becomes all the more urgent, in order to not only deal with the Laser but to prevent a war. But what to do? Fortunately, while he has no utility belt that would no doubt have just the right device to free him, his entire "costume" is one conglomerate utility repository which even the Laser is surprised by.

With the lines drawn, this shapes up to be quite a battle between the Laser and Iron Man, who has previously battled the Laser only in the company of the Avengers but now faces off against him solo. Parks has already demonstrated the ability to damage Iron Man's armor--and he's certainly been around long enough to know how to use his power both offensively and strategically. It's clear Iron Man has his work cut out for him, even though he's equally seasoned in both areas; but from the looks of things, this battle's outcome might depend on which combatant will be able to seize the advantage and keep it.

Game and set to the Laser--who might otherwise have Iron Man at his mercy but who now faces imminent death from his own condition, unless he can reach the equipment designed to siphon his power and channel it to the Russian satellites, even though the time set by the Russians for doing so has not yet been reached.

But Iron Man has one last card to play--one which the Laser is in no position to prevent, and which may well end Parks' threat for good.

Back in the states, it's a bittersweet homecoming for Tony Stark, as he discovers that Beth has decided to return to her husband's side after giving the matter a great deal of thought and turning the situation over in her head repeatedly. Neither she nor Stark is of the opinion that it's the resolution she wants; but in practical terms for the book, her departure sets up Stark for falling off the wagon soon afterward, and signals the exit of writer David Michelinie and artist John Romita, Jr. as well, as the book pivots to a new direction that draws to a close the "golden age" that Invincible Iron Man enjoyed from 1978-82.