"In Shining Iron," part two!

When last we saw Tony, he was trapped in the year 1002 and facing torture at the hands of the witch Aislinn and her henchman Emile...who was a lot more threatening before we learned his name. Worse, in 2002, archaeologist Dr. Mallory has just shown Pepper Potts the Iron Man helmet she found on a dig, and the skull inside it.

Presented with the choice of long, brutal questioning, or a quick death if he reveals the secrets of his armor; Tony bravely...gives them the information.

See, torture only gets information if you're Jack Bauer.

In the future, Pepper prepares the time machine to go back herself, but is stopped by Dr. Mallory. Mallory offers to go in Pepper's place, and has several good arguments to why: Mallory can't work the machine if something goes wrong, but she is an expert on the time period, and knows the general layout of the countryside.

Meanwhile, Tony wakes up in a cell, next to the cell of the horseman that attacked him when he first arrived. A bit of a glum sort, the horseman is a little peeved at Tony for stealing his horse and the sword he was supposed to be delivering to the king, which led to him being captured by Aislinn's men. But unwisely, they've left Tony's armor right outside the cell...the horseman snags it, passes it off to Tony, who gets the gauntlets working and tears off the cell doors. The horseman introduces himself as Brann Mak Arn Mak Minyfordd Mak--Tony asks if he can just call him Mak, and he prefers Brann.

Fighting their way outside, they see the sudden arrival of Dr. Mallory, but Brann stops Tony from making their presence known, citing that sudden appearances and sorcery usually go hand-in-hand. This time Brann's right, and things get weird: 'Dr. Mallory' was really Aislinn, only a thousand years older! The two combine, giving the new Aislinn her full power and an extra thousand years of knowledge and experience. After they escape, Tony has no idea how Aislinn pulled that one off, since it creates a paradox: "Why didn't she...explode or something?" Brann quite wisely shrugs it off, that a creature of magic like Aislinn wouldn't be affected by normal laws: quite literally, a wizard did it.

That seems like a pretty restrained costume from Grell, by the way.

Forced to take shelter from a thunderstorm, Brann and Tony hole up in a cave. Brann, who seems like he's always one to see the brighter side of things, notes that he's fifty years old and rather looks forward to the idea of dying in battle, instead of in a hovel. Tony, however, has no intention of dying in his past, and plans on making it to his pickup midday tomorrow. Aislinn, spying on them with a crystal...crystal, has her own plan though...

Man, that is one roomy cave, and those guys must sleep like logs...the conclusion to Mike Grell's "In Shining Iron" on Thursday!