Orphaned in Tibet, Daniel Rand was raised in the mystical city of K'un L'un. He grew up to master the martial arts better than any of K'un L'un's native citizens. At the age of nineteen, Danny plunged his hands into the molten heart of the dragon, Shou Lou. He then gained the power of the Iron Fist, and to this day he fights to protect the innocent from the corrupt.
* * * * *
"I'm not going to repeat myself again! Either tell me why I'm here, or I'm gone!" thundered Iron Fist. He was in the SHIELD helicarrier, SHIELD's airborne headquarters. The two guards looked at each other doubtfully.
"Once again, sir, we must ask that you take a seat. The General will be with you shortly," said one of the guards, even as he flipped the safety off his stun gun. His orders had been to keep Iron Fist in the office until the briefing, and he was afraid he was going to have to act on that order.
"One minute, and I'm gone," said Fist coolly. The people of New York needed him, and nothing was going to stop him from helping them.
Least of all a couple SHIELD guards.
"One minute and counting..." said Fist as he recalled how he had ended up in SHIELD headquarters.
Daniel Rand is
In
"Doomed"
"Return fire, men!" cried the SHIELD squadron commander. SHIELD had been out trying to help with the crime spree in New York as a result of Onslaught and the Hulk. Now they found themselves in the middle of a firefight.
And they were losing. The gang they were at war with wasn't worried about keeping innocents safe, and were willing to take wild shots. SHIELD, on the other hand, had to worry about hitting what bystanders there were, collateral damage, and so forth.
Iron Fist watched all of this impassively. SHIELD seemed to be holding their own, and other people were in danger. As Iron Fist turned to head for another street, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. From his vantage point on the roof, he could see the gang pull out a rocket launcher.
Before they could fire the rocket, Fist leapt down at the gang. As he fell, he summoned his life energy, his chi and focused it to his fist, making it like unto a thing of iron. Fist swung the Iron Fist as the rocket launcher, and completely destroyed it with that one blow.
Fist powered down the Iron Fist even as he pulled his feet up into a forward roll to slow down his momentum. The gang had stopped firing in shock, and that was all the time Fist needed.
A front snap kick took out the closest gang member, even as Iron Fist blocked a fist swinging at him. Using a wide variety of martial arts moves and techniques, Fist made short work of the gang. SHIELD ran forward to apprehend the gang quickly.
As Iron Fist turned to go, a SHIELD agent approached him. "Mr. Iron Fist, sir, we need your help."
* * * * *
"...3, 2, 1, 0. I'm gone," said Iron Fist as he began to walk towards the door. A voice from across the room stopped him.
"Please have a seat, Mr. Rand," she said. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but we were trying to co-ordinate our response to the New York crisis."
Why didn't they tell me that in the first place?! he thought. She offered her hand, and Fist shook it. They both sat down as she continued.
"Now Mr. Rand, we need you for a special mission in Latveria," she said as she tapped her fingers lightly on the desk.
"Excuse me, Miss..."
"Ericsen. Moira Ericsen."
"Miss Ericsen, I don't see why SHIELD needs me to go to Latveria. SHIELD has plenty of capable agents. So why me?" questioned Fist.
"Mr. Rand, we have many specially trained operatives, but they are specialists. What we need is a well-rounded agent to send in. We want that agent to be you," said Ericsen.
"I'm sorry, but the people of New York need me more right now," said Fist as he began to rise out of his chair.
"Those men and women were just doing their jobs! How can you abandon them?!" thundered Ericsen.
"I'm not abandoning them. I didn't send them there. The people I want to help didn't sign on for the danger. The people you sent to Latveria did. And don't you dare to presume I'm abandoning the people that need me!" shot back Iron Fist.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Rand. It's just the stress of the situation in New York. It's getting to me," said Ericsen as she leaned back in her chair. "But I can give you one more reason why you should go to Latveria."
"And that is?" asked Fist in a doubtful voice.
"Misty Knight and Colleen Wing are also captive in Latveria," said Ericsen.
"What?! What's Misty doing there!" stormed Iron Fist.
"She and her partner were providing protection to a group of international delegates SHIELD was transporting to Latveria. The delegates displeased Doom, and Nightwing Restorations was also imprisoned," said Ericsen in a measured tone.
"When do we leave?"
* * * * *
"Danny, Colleen and I are going away on a job," said Misty softly.
"What job?" asked Danny.
"We're providing protection to a group of delegates visiting another country," replied Misty.
"Need one more bodyguard?" asked Danny with a sheepish grin.
"Now Danny, we talked about this. Colleen and I are quite capable of taking care of ourselves," began Misty in a lecture Danny had heard many times before.
"I know, I know. It's just, if anything happened to you--" started Danny before Misty silenced him with a kiss. After Misty ended it, Danny asked, "Can I help you pack?"
Misty threw her head back and laughed.
* * * * *
God, if anything's happened to her-- Iron Fist killed that thought right away. He knew that Misty and Colleen could take care of themselves. But still, he couldn't help but worry. Then again, he thought, it would be worse if I didn't care at all.
"Landing in one minute!" called the pilot from the cockpit. The plan was that Iron Fist would go in, get the agents and Nightwing Restorations, and get out. SHIELD couldn't provide blueprints to Castle Doom because Doom would never let such strategic information out of Latveria, much less to an organization like SHIELD.
"Good luck!" the pilot said as Iron Fist exited the plane.
I'm gonna need it, thought Fist. He quickly took in his surroundings. The sun was beginning to set, casting an imposing shadow from Castle Doom. A moat surrounded the castle, with an archaic-looking drawbridge at the front. From the outside, Castle Doom looked like any old castle. Fist knew better than that.
Doom had refitted his home with many state-of-the-art defenses. No doubt there was a wide array of technological defenses guarding the exterior alone. The interior would be even more fortified.
Iron Fist looked for an opening somewhere on the outside of the castle. A lone window loomed above Fist, but it was at least three stories high. Fist knew he was no Spider-Man, so jumping that high was out of the question.
Spider-Man... An idea formed in Fist's head. If there was nothing to climb to get to the window, he'd have to scale the wall. Fist backed up several feet. He began to run, quickly building up speed. At the edge of the moat, he leaped.
In the air, he summoned his chi to his fist, forming the Iron Fist. He pulled it back, and slammed it into the wall. A small crater formed, and Fist quickly decharged the Iron Fist, and grabbed the ledge he had formed.
Now that he was on the wall, scaling it was a simple matter. He had done this many times before, and was quite confident in his ability to climb it without mishap.
Upon reaching the window ledge, Fist peeked above the ledge to see a Doombot standing guard. Fist ducked back down. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself not to think, and flipped up and inside.
The Doombot started to turn, but Fist wasted no time. Taking a step, he leaped onto the robot's back. He brought his arm around the automaton's neck, and, grabbing his wrist with the other hand, he pulled, hard. The robot crumpled to the ground, its mechanical mind separated from its body.
Iron Fist hoped no other Doombots had been alerted. A quick look into the adjoining hallway confirmed none had.
* * * * *
Iron Fist was wrong. Dead wrong.
In a small room in the lower confines of Castle Doom, a Doombot stood monitoring a computer terminal. The terminal kept track of all heat sources inside Castle Doom. An unidentified heat signature had just appeared in the third floor of the left wing.
Per its programming, it began to initiate a total lockdown of Castle Doom. A klaxon began to wail. The orders left by Dr. Doom had been quite clear.
Shoot first, ask questions later.
* * * * *
Oh no, an alarm! thought Iron Fist. I've got to get them out before I get caught! Iron Fist began to run, looking for a staircase, an elevator, even a laundry chute.
Rounding a corner, Fist found himself confronted by a battalion of Doombots. A barrage of energy blasts fired at him. Fist dove behind a suit of medieval armor. The blasts ricocheted all over the hallway, and a few even singed Fist's costume, but nothing more. The robots advanced.
Do or die! thought Iron Fist as he charged at the automatons, ducking and weaving, leaving no set pattern to follow. He leaped straight at the Doombots, somersaulting in the air. He came down between two of them on his hands.
The Doombots' fire blasted empty air as Fist executed a quick handspring. Their fire instead found their respective partners. The two went down in a heap.
Two down, five to go!
Fist doubted the trick of breaking their necks would work again. He would just as likely be blasted as he performed the move. He dropped down and executed a perfect savate kick at the shins of a Doombot. The robot didn't move.
Iron Fist hurt his foot.
"All right, that's it!" he cried as he once again summoned his chi, calling upon the Iron Fist. He delivered a devastating punch to the Doombot. It fell to the ground, sparks flying.
A blast caught him in the back, and then two more. He fell to the ground. His back ached, and he couldn't get up. Misty, I'm sorry. Oh God, I'm s--
"CHARGE!!" boomed a voice from behind Iron Fist. He managed to crane his neck around, fighting the darkness. He witnessed a miraculous sight.
Charging at the Doombots was a large group of Latverians, wielding shotguns, knives, and even a couple pitchforks. Among their ranks were the SHIELD agents, as well as Misty and Colleen.
"
misty?" croaked Fist, blinking back the dark. In a haze he spotted the leaderof the Latverians. He was tall, with piercing blue eyes filled with fury. As the SHIELD agents and the Latverians surged on the Doombots, Misty and Colleen dropped down on their knees by Iron Fist.
"Danny?" said Misty in a worried voice. "Are you all right?"
"
misty," Fist managed to choke out before the darkness seized him, welcoming him into its dark embrace.
* * * * *
Danny stood in a daze. He was extremely dizzy, and was surrounded by darkness.
"
Danny!" hissed a voice. "Danny. You failed them. Failed them all. Where were you when the heroes needed you? Where!?!""No, it wasn't my fault. The tournament..." whispered Danny as he fought to keep his balance.
"
Yes, the tournament. You were away, giving a special demonstration, while they died! The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, all of them!! Because you had to go show off!!!" the voice boomed."No, I didn't know, there was no way I could have known! I've done all I can, and," Danny trailed off, "
it hasn't been good enough.""
Yes, Danny. You weren't good enough!!" From out of the darkness stepped a figure clad in an apparition of Iron Fist's costume, with red trim where there should have been yellow and black where there should have been green. The tattoo on the man's chest was that of a ferocious dragon, in a battle crazed frenzy. He assumed a fighting stance. "You Never Will Be!"The man leaped at Danny, intent on striking a killing blow. Danny blocked it, and used the man's momentum against him. He slammed the man into the ground, yet he seemed to be lacking the drive he would need to win this battle.
"
Give in to me, Danny. Submit to dragon fist!!"Maybe I should. I wasn't there to help the heroes. I should have died with them, if it came to that.
"
Yes, Danny, you should have died with them!" snarled Dragon Fist. Danny's eyebrows perked up in surprise. "Surprised I knew what you were thinking? I should, for after all," Dragon Fist ripped off his mask, "I am you!!!"Suddenly Danny found himself clad in his Iron Fist costume. Dragon Fist launched a flurry of kicks and punches at Iron Fist. Fist blocked them, but his world was spinning around him. More and more blows landed, and Iron Fist felt extremely nauseous.
"C'mon Danny, give in," came a familiar voice.
"Oh God, not you too!" cried Iron Fist in horror.
"Oh yes, Danny. It's me, Misty. You know you should have been with those heroes. But you're not a hero, Danny. You never have been," said Misty harshly.
"
no," Fist croaked. "not you, misty." Fist thought me might lose consciousness from all the blows that were landing."I mean, you don't honestly care about people that much, do you Danny? Just admit it, you don't care."
So confused. He's landing too many blows. Wait, don't care--?) Iron Fist thought back to earlier that day when he had thought, "Then again, it would be worse if I didn't care at all."
"NO!!!" cried Iron Fist. As Dragon Fist pulled his fist back to deliver the killing blow, Fist charged his Iron Fist. He swung it at Dragon Fist with all his strength. It connected, and Dragon Fist fell back.
Iron Fist's chi continued to flow, and from the energy emanating from his fist, a mass began to solidify. To Dragon Fist's amazement, an energy dragon formed. It grabbed Dragon Fist in its jaws and swung him around. From Iron Fist's other hand, an energy cage formed. The dragon threw Dragon Fist to the ground, and the cage trapped him.
"Anyone can be a hero! The people who risk their lives every day as policemen, and firemen, all of them are heroes! The child that isn't afraid to be himself is a hero! Those who simply continue on when faced with extreme adversity, they are heroes! They are true heroes!!" The cage began to constrict around Dragon Fist. "And I'll fight to my death to make sure they can stay that way!!!" The cage closed completely on Dragon Fist, and in a burst of light, cage and Dragon Fist disappeared. The dragon vanished, and Iron Fist felt himself floating up towards the light...
* * * * *
"Wha--?" strained Iron Fist as he regained consciousness. The Doombots had been destroyed, but nobody was moving.
A voice Iron Fist had heard much too often before spoke. The barely contained rage and insanity was quite evident in the man's voice. "And now, mein freunds, Latveria is under the control of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker!!"
Next: The battle is joined when Iron Fist and the Latverian forces battle the sinister organization HYDRA. Can Fist and company prevail against the terrorist agency that gave the mighty Avengers some of their most life-threatening battles? And what will become of Latveria now that Dr. Doom has passed on?