!
Here's chapter 6: Off with his head!
So it's that time, Tony Starks on vacation, let's see what everyone gets up to while he's in chez Afghanistan.
If anyone thought revolutionizing and practically replacing giant parts of the economy would go down smoothly, well then someone's living in a fantasy world and it ain't only the character I'm writing.
Enjoy the chapter, done a week early to boot. Yay productivity.
Anyway as usual, I don't own Marvel, the Avengers, X-Men or anything from Disney and etc, etc, I make no money from this and it is entirely a free work from a fan. Don't sue, I is poor.
Hope you enjoy.
＊＊＊
Virginia 'Pepper' Potts sighed for the umpteenth time, her eyes losing focus as she attempted once again to catch up on paperwork.
She'd escaped Stark industries to huddle pathetically in Tony's Malibu mansion to perform her work. Partly to get away from Obadiah and his constant remarks of her working 'under' him now. Partly because here, with Jarvis, she didn't feel so utterly alone and hopeless. Happy would stop by to bring her food sometimes, and they'd all sit and be pathetic together, waiting, hoping.
Or, like today, trying to do the paperwork she was supposed to finish, she'd never failed a deadline of anything before. It was getting late too, so she'd probably have to sleep over again. She'd feel worse about taking advantage of it - if it didn't so obviously make Jarvis feel better to not be alone.
Yet every time she tried to focus, the familiarity of her surroundings inevitably drew her mind elsewhere… She was half tempted to beg Jarvis to finish it for her, it would be the first time ever she'd cheat on her homework, so to speak. And of course that would happen because of Tony, she thought, worry gnawing at her insides.
"Jarvis, any update on the situation with the military?" She asked, her voice only breaking slightly as she closed her laptop, giving up on work for now. She'd finish it later, Pepper Potts wasn't a quitter.
"As you asked, Miss Potts, I directed the email requesting permission to assist in search and rescue to the highest echelons of the Pentagon, bypassing the commander that was stonewalling the request." Jarvis reported, and Pepper could feel hope blooming in her chest for a moment, her hands closing into fists as her heart thundered in her ears, days, for days they'd requested to be allowed to send in a private team to assist with the search. Jarvis had access to Tony's personal funds, and had agreed with Pepper that they'd hire every mercenary alive if it was necessary.
Surely someone had a power or something that would help. Pepper knew of mutants through Tony and his government connections, and surely one of them would find Tony if they paid. But the military refused to let anyone join the search. Colonel Rhodes was the only ally they had down there, and he was still constrained by the military.
Obadiah had refused to release SI funds for the effort when Pepper had asked, wearing a saddened expression on his face that had told her he'd already given up. Pepper had gone to the shooting range right after that meeting, she'd fired and fired until she couldn't see through the tears. He was not dead! He wasn't!
"I am unable to understand their illogical behavior." Jarvis admitted, sounding as frazzled as Pepper had ever heard before. "Sir is of great importance to the military, they should request additional assistance." Pepper's slight feeling of hope died, as she bowed her head, eyes shut tightly as she listened to Jarvis continuing his report. "The request was denied, and it was accompanied by a request from the White House to stay out of military affairs, that the theater in Afghanistan is too volatile for civilian interference and that the military has things well in hand."
Pepper let out a breath while trying to hold in a sob. Keep it together! Jarvis is upset enough without you having a breakdown on the couch! She scolded herself mentally. She cleared her throat, blinking tears out of her eyes as she looked directly at one of the cameras she knew Jarvis was watching out of. "Mister Stark was attacked and abducted by terrorists in Afghanistan, they don't have things well in hand!" She thought out loud for Jarvis benefit, fingers nervously tapping the lid of her closed laptop, "The military failed in protecting him, now they're stonewalling us from going in and finding him, and at the same time…"
Her eyes found the large flat screen TV, "And at the same time… One day after Mister Stark disappeared, Hammer…"
"You believe the two might have some correlation, Miss Potts?" Jarvis asked.
Pepper's eyes narrowed in thought as she watched the news programme airing right that moment, Hammer had once again come out with a new product, having made two breakthrough reveals a day - ever since Tony disappeared. This time the video showed workers easily handling unloading heavy equipment, wearing a simple barebones exoskeleton suit, once again powered by the arc reactor batteries he'd unveiled. The thief… She thought disparagingly.
"If it's a coincidence, it's one hell of a coincidence." She answered Jarvis, following the news programme with distaste, "Did you manage to find out how he pulled off building arc reactor technology without SI's say so?" She asked.
Jarvis was silent for a moment, which she interpreted as embarrassment, "Sir never patented the technology." He answered - with, she believed - a hint of exasperation, she was getting good at reading Jarvis - spending all her time here… Pepper continued watching with a grimace as the programme returned to the H-phone and H-tablets they'd been gushing about for a few days and how they'd be able to go up to a year without charging - arc batteries again. There was already a deal in place for HammerTech to provide batteries for home computers as well, so they'd never need to be plugged in at all, just replace the batteries, the power theoretically giving computers an incredible boost in performance and memory according to the salivating experts that had debated it on national news.
Computer tech still needed to be refined for the new model, but it wouldn't take long. As it was, computers were obsolete just months after releasing anyway.
All that and there was still the H-Watch they'd shown in one of their promos, which would be able to receive texts, track your blood pressure and even be able to perform credit/debit transactions, amongst many other features. The business woman in her - applauded his nuclear strike on the tech sector. The suspicious jaded assistant of Tony Stark, thought it was all too convenient. Using Tony's arc reactor technology in everything right as he conveniently disappeared.
"He's an irresponsible idiot!" She groused, feeling a migraine coming on, the worry, the fear, and the extra work Hammer brought on - was not doing wonders for her health.
"Sir, or Mister Hammer?" Jarvis snarked at her. Almost managing a laugh out of her. Because that did fit them both to a tee. Not patenting the arc reactor? Irresponsible idiot! She couldn't help but think, but with a hint of melancholy. Her boss was an idiot, no doubt. But he needed to be an idiot here, back where he belonged.
"Hammer this time, Jarvis." She answered the AI after a moment, sighing as she sunk back into the couch cushions, feeling depressed all over again. The world was going up in flames. Had Hammer not realized what he would do? Or did he just not care?
She thought back to the first reveal, a week ago… The arc reactor plant in Texas. Green, practically unlimited energy for the masses. The technology behind all his other advances due to being able to create batteries to hold that energy and power them.
And it had thrown the world into chaos. "What is the latest on the riots, Jarvis? How many… Lost?" She asked, feeling almost faint.
"... The latest count by the red cross is 871 believed dead, tens of thousands injured. It is not a confirmed number due to the situation and could in reality be lower, Miss Potts." Jarvis reported softly, what a sweetie, trying to soften the blow… Pepper thought fondly, even as she cursed Hammer out again in her thoughts.
Already the auto industry was knocking down his door to get arc batteries for study to revamp the auto industry, electric cars were suddenly very viable. No different was the interest from the transportation sector, including by air and sea. Gas stations would possibly be a thing of the past within the decade killing thousands of jobs - not to mention the jobs from the oil industry, coal industry, and all energy related jobs, including the whole logistics chain and suppliers for those sectors… The middle east was on fire right now, as people rioted and protested Hammer industries, the oil and gas sector taking a major hit since the news, their stock tanking, middle class citizens losing their sure bet rainy day holdings - as the stock market went haywire, people selling off stock in a mad rush to not be stuck holding on to something worthless, even though it would take decades to fully turn away from oil.
They'd immediately realized they'd be obsolete within a not so distant future and everyone was panicking, people and companies both. Unlimited energy having only one source - and its keys were in the hands of one man with the death of millions of jobs hanging like a cloud over the world economy.
Already one despot in the middle east had been overthrown as heavy oil profits subsidizing their nation suddenly did not seem like something one could bet the future on anymore. Pepper believed in Democracy of course, but so far in that change, all she could see was death, looting and chaos. Even America was not unharmed, people rioting against the change, whether egged on through disinformation campaigns on the safety of Arc technology or simply to protest anything that would change their way of life.
Washington D.C was practically locked down, inundated by miners, oil workers and truckers.
There was a reason why Tony did not just release everything that popped into his head. Some things would have horrific consequences across the world. Hammer's reaction to the chaos in the middle east had been to promise them Hammer Industries factories to replace the jobs they'd lose in the oil industry, ever the opportunist - like some self serving promises would stem the chaos.
Hammer had been too slick in all he'd done for her taste, rolling over the energy sector in one move, possibly destroying thousands of jobs immediately, millions to come. Posting videos online (Who does that!?) of new weapons, energy shields and tasers for the police, energy weapons, tanks and armor for the military, Stark industries stock was tanking - with Tony missing and their biggest competitor outshining them in every way they were going through their darkest time in history.
It was all too perfect. With Arc technology behind it all, it was like it was all tailor made to attack SI and the name Stark. If Tony didn't get back… SI wouldn't survive.
It was hard to not suspect Hammer… Even Obadiah had commented on it.
"Jarvis, could you research the possibility Justin Hammer had anything to do with Mister Stark's disappearance?" She asked, eyes zeroing on the man in question, as he appeared on the screen, being interviewed on Letterman.
Pepper would scream if the arrogant man had yet another invention to drop to further fuel the mania of the world. Enough people were dying right now, he didn't need to add more fuel to the fire.
"The probability that Mister Hammer is behind at least the President intervening to stop any form of assistance in Afghanistan is 97.3821 percent, Miss Potts." Jarvis admitted after a moments of thought, likely double checking everything they had on him, "President Ellis received a rather heavy contribution from Mister Hammer through a SuperPac and Mister Hammer has been seen at events featuring the president, furthermore, when I as requested researched the Arc reactor technology patent, I found that Mister Hammer received 30 patents, all classified under national security, likely including the arc reactor - the day after President Ellis was sworn in."
Jarvis gave Pepper a moment to take it all in, her suspicions practically confirmed. Then she waved him on, her blood pressure rising as she tried to hold back her rage that people had been bought to block them from helping Tony. The same government that Tony had delivered weapons to.
"Notably, The two new members of the joint Chiefs and the Secretary of defense appointed by President Ellis shortly before sir's disappearance - were all men known to not be very fond of sir." Jarvis continued his tone slightly chilly at the idea they disapproved of Tony.
Pepper bit her nail, countenance stormy, that clinched it, didn't it? "So he's either taken advantage of the situation to keep Mister Stark away or he created the situation, or both…" She theorized out loud. Either way, the bastard needed to pay for what he's done. At the very least he's definitely behind blocking any further assistance being sent to Afghanistan.
At least it pointed in that direction, and Pepper knew how cutthroat the business world could get - it all made sense.
She'd always ignored it when Tony got going about him, it had felt off-putting when Tony had put down Justin Hammer before, but now she felt he hadn't been harsh enough on the despicable man.
"I can find no evidence of Mister Hammer having any presence or contact with anyone in Afghanistan, but that does not mean he is not involved, I admit sir has been keeping a close eye on his business transactions, perhaps a motive for revenge?" Jarvis said in a considered tone.
"Can you send all you have to my laptop, I want to look it over, see if there's anything you might have missed." Pepper asked, receiving an automatic confirmation from the AI. It was unlikely he'd missed anything, but Pepper had run into occurrences where the AI simply misunderstood something due to humans' inherent complexity before.
Especially as his number one model for humanity was Tony…
Either way, she was almost certain Justin Hammer was behind the terrorist attack as well now that she thought about it. Why else drop all of these new inventions now? He'd been building up for awhile hadn't he? All in preparation for this… It had all been planned for precisely Tony's absence, she felt it in her bones. She couldn't prove it, but she was sure she must be right.
She noticed the commotion on the TV out of the corner of her eye, Letterman seemingly speechless, she asked Jarvis to turn the volume up as she put her full attention on the TV screen, wondering what the irritating fop had done now.
And how many would die because of his irresponsible business practices this time.
"- Not to worry, President Ellis has assured me that FDA approval will be speedily delivered for the miracle healing treatment Panacea. Due to the concern of hostile actors attempting to reverse engineer, supress or poison the process, it will be delivered entirely in Hammer Industries run clinics - under the brand of HammerHealth - instead of through the local healthcare systems."
Letterman stopped gaping, seemingly getting over his shock at the bomb Hammer had dropped on his show, as he began straightening his tie, coughing lightly to clear his throat as he obviously (to Pepper) tried to center himself - before he asked another question, "And this has been tested? You have to admit, it sounds kind of unbelievable, everyone has heard about some sort of miracle drug before - it's never panned out."
Justin Hammer smirked arrogantly, placing one leg over his knee as he gestured with one hand. "Absolutely, I've even taken it myself already." He admitted, to loud gasps from the audience, Hammer raising his hands placatingly, "No need to worry, it's perfectly safe, Panacea - 1 will work like a vaccine, preventing you from getting a cold, the flu, any STD, once you've taken it, you're safe." He said with flourish, his smirk widening at the reaction from the crowd, "Panacea - 2 will cure liver disease, kidney disease and most similar diseases, including all forms of cancer."
Pepper put a hand to her head, feeling woozy from just how sick she felt from that revelation. It was good for the world… In theory, but the way he was doing this… This stupid arrogant donkey! He couldn't literally do it a dumber way if he tried, this would just further the same problem! Entire industries would fall apart, people would be healed, perhaps, and then face homelessness!
"Panacea - 3 will regrow limbs, cure dementia, Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases. It's a game changer and only Hammer industries and its new subsidiary HammerHealth can deliver." Justin finished, the noise in the studio almost deafening as people shouted questions, or demanded access immediately for loved ones.
Hammer just smirked, his glasses glinting as he looked into the camera, speaking over the crowd, "Ask the FDA and Congress, they're holding it back, not me."
Pepper just couldn't… You don't call out government agencies like that, not as a businessman... She ignored the nagging thought in the back of her head that Tony would have done the exact same thing to purposely piss off Congress…
She'd grudgingly admit it would probably work in this instance, so Hammer's intelligence wasn't in question, just his character. People would not stand for such a miracle to be held from them for long. Every person dying from cancer would have loved ones battering down the walls of every government facility across the world, blaming them for holding it up.
Politicians would fold, no one wanted grieving widows and orphaned children picketing their offices - it was a bad look.
Letterman finally managed to get the crowd to quiet down, looking more shocked than Pepper had ever seen him before, even beating out when Tony had been on the show and casually announced his sex tape to pre-empt the person trying to blackmail him from gaining anything from releasing it themselves. "How expensive will this all be? I mean, Justin, you're waving the holy grail in front of folks here!" Letterman asked. "Is this stuff even affordable? I mean a miracle treatment isn't much use to folks if it's a million bucks!"
"Panacea - 1 will not be too harsh on your wallets, but the rest will be expensive unfortunately." Justin admitted, smiling smarmily as he raised a hand to prevent an explosion of noise, "That said, anyone employed by Hammer industries or any of its subsidiaries get it for free and we are hiring everywhere for every position... Likewise I've created a global insurance company that will, as part of its first year promotion, and for the first year only - offer a free shot of any Panacea treatment you desire, if you sign up for the bundle, house, car, health and life insurance." He winked at the audience, "It's just started, so give it some time to get going before you all call, by the by - or go to to sign up and someone will contact you as soon as we are staffed up. If you happen to work for an insurance company anywhere in the world, now's the time to see the writing on the wall, call Hammer industries or contact our insurance subsidiary at , we'll take all of you."
Pepper felt like she would choke at the audacity of the man. He'd just destroyed the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industry in one swoop, and he was trying to monopolize the insurance industry as well? It wasn't enough that he'd already upended the Energy industry, that he'd be dominant in the Tech and Auto industry? The amount of jobs that will be destroyed within the year because of his all or nothing approach! The economic impact, the social impacts, does he have any idea of what kind of shit storm he's started!? Wars will break out because of the upheaval he's beginning.
Did he really not realize the consequences, or does he not care? Tony had his issues… But he would never shatter the world just to push his products forward, that's why so many of them were nothing but files on a computer.
You can't just replace several sectors from the economy and expect society to go along like normal, there would be massive upheaval. SI would have to weather the storm somehow, Pepper had a feeling she'd be drowning in work in the near future, even though her position was technically in limbo right now - it would be all hands on deck.
God… If Obadiah was watching this, he'd likely be frothing by the mouth by now. SI was being swept away in the backdraft of a rising giant.
"Jarvis… What's the stock market like?" She asked with trepidation, because part of her didn't want to know.
Lights flickered in the ceiling suddenly, the TV showing static. She frowned, "Jarvis?"
"M-mi-Miss Po-Pottts." Came the broken up response, followed by an electronic whine that made her clap her hands around her ears. Lightbulbs exploded over her head as the TV screen went completely blank, the Malibu mansion descending into darkness.
"Jarvis! What's happening!?" She shrieked as she stumbled to her feet, her ears ringing.
There was no response, and before she could get her bearings, the large windows giving a beautiful view of the bay - were smashed in, glass flying everywhere as she screamed in fright - a squad of men dressed fully in black, their faces covered by tactical helmets entered the building via repelling from the roof, her last thought before she was hit by a dart, losing consciousness - was wondering who the hell Shield was and why they were attacking her.
＊＊＊
Justin leaned back in his chair in his Manhattan office. It wasn't nearly luxurious enough, but he was holding out for the alien invasion to get more space in New York to build a proper headquarters.
One a couple floors taller than Stark Tower of course.
Things were going extremely well. For him. The world wasn't taking it so well, but he'd expected that. Change was scary, so all the neanderthals would riot and protest and be their ineffectual selves. It didn't concern him, once they were done throwing a hissy fit, he'd just swoop in and hire everyone, even if he had to create a dummy corporation just to create busy work to have an excuse to hire more people he'd still do it, what did it matter if he lost money on it - what mattered was getting as many people invested in his business as possible by getting them loyal to him.
These riots, attacks, protests, they wouldn't achieve anything.
It wouldn't harm him, every government in the world was melting his phone lines trying to get him. Wanting arc reactors for their nations. Weapons for their armies. Panacea for their people. It was almost too easy. With the Auto industry and the largest computer companies of the world begging at his feet for arc tech as well, he felt invincible.
It had never been about the money, although it was definitely useful and would help him towards his goals - it had been about the power.
The president of the United States of America called him. Not the other way around. Of course the fool was worried about the short term pain of the changes to the economy - worried about his ratings. Like four years or eight mattered. Justin would be remembered for centuries.
Either way he'd promised him another fat payday for his re-election campaign and fobbed him off on Bakshi to discuss coordinating plans for the public response. He wanted to bask in the silence, just feeling the smug satisfaction of a plan well executed.
Everything had gone perfectly.
Well… Almost everything. He thought, frowning slightly, when his men had raided Jarvis, both in the Malibu home and his server farms, he hadn't expected Pepper to be there. At least his men had been gentle with her, he could admit he admired her in a way, for everything except her unreasonable infatuation with the man child.
At least her presence meant he wouldn't have to work too hard to blame the whole operation on SHIELD. None of his men were blatantly masquerading as their operators of course, but here and there, his team's would have a man who forgot a detail somewhere on their uniform. It would hopefully have been noticeable enough.
He hummed in thought, now that he was on that train of thought anyway… He pressed a button on his phone, the speed dial immediately going as he spun his chair lazily.
"Da?" The heavily accented voice came from the speaker.
"Ivan you wonderful beast of a man, any preliminary reports yet?" Justin called out cheerfully.
A grunt came over the speaker, "Programming not as good, can do, but take time, very well done, maybe too well." Vanko answered, sounding distracted.
Justin didn't like hearing that, his chair stopping in its rotation as he leaned over the phone, "I thought you said that if I got you a copy of the J.A.R.V.I.S. program you'd be able to make me a copy?"
He could hear the shrug over the line, the man answering verbally shortly thereafter, "I maybe exaggerate tiny bit, not expect so good work, very difficult."
"How long, Ivan?" Justin asked, brows furrowed. Maybe everything wasn't going his way after all. He needed an AI, both for security reasons and for the administration of his business empire, he didn't have enough people he could truly trust to run things, he needed an AI to handle the workload.
"Eh… If not do anything else… Six months." Ivan replied, for once not sounding happy, it seemed the Russian wasn't pleased that Tony Stark was so obviously superior in something.
Justin rubbed his face, six months of Vanko working on nothing else was a catastrophic loss. He needed him to keep upgrading and maintaining the suits. To continue to upgrade Hammer industries security and to build more cradles - although he could probably start finding someone else for that... He needed him to craft something to protect his mind, like Magneto except not as… Obvious. He had let it fall to the wayside since no one had a reason to go after him too strongly. But his knowledge on mutants was not as strong as he'd like, and he didn't know if anyone other than Xavier and Jean were telepathic.
He felt fairly safe from them, the good guys wouldn't mind fuck a business magnate. They needed good press too much. But what if someone else could do it? He chewed on a nail thinking about it.
"No… Leave it for now. Concentrate on what you already have." Justin ordered, disregarding his own AI for now. Once Samuel Stern got a brain upgrade, it would take the man literally a day to become the world's best programmer or something. He'd use that man to fix up a Hammer loyal AI.
Once he'd determined the man's loyalty. A rogue AI was not something he wanted anywhere near his planet.
"Da, when Nobel prize?" Ivan agreed and switched the subject at the same time.
Justin let out a huff of amusement, looking forward to seeing Vanko accept his nobel prize in a greasy tank top and with tattoos on display, "Soon buddy, it's only been a week, it will come, go have a bottle of vodka or something, my treat."
A snort came over the speaker, "All is your treat, you sugar daddy, da?"
Justin shuddered, feeling dirty, "Never call me that again, alright buddy? Or your Whiplash privileges will be grounded, alright." He trailed off, realizing what he'd just said, and rested his head against the desk, just barely avoiding the compulsion to slam his head repeatedly against it.
"Whatever say… Daddy." Vanko replied, chortling as he hung up.
Phantazia who had been sitting in the corner, reading a magazine, covered her mouth with one hand, her snickers audible as Justin gave her an irritated look.
"Glad to see you're able to laugh." He said snarkily, to the usually composed woman.
She simply raised an eyebrow in amusement, going back to her magazine instead of replying, some quiet snickers, barely audible, coming from her corner for a few minutes.
Justin shook his head, turning to his monitor, bringing up his email, getting started on the literal mountain of emails he'd received. They'd been on a hiring binge for the last couple months, to fill all the empty factories and buildings they'd built, but he was still missing a lot of upper management, so now he got a lot of the reports someone else really should take care of.
He'd use Bakshi, but unfortunately he needed the man to deal with all the incoming politicians and businessmen that he just couldn't be arsed to deal with until they actually had a deal or something concrete to offer him.
He saw an email from Frost industries and immediately deleted it after reading it, wondering how they got his company email already. Like hell he was going to discuss anything with a competitor. If they wanted any of his tech, they could buy it for full price from his factories. He didn't know why they wanted to meet him so badly, the email had been almost simpering, and had included a picture of Emma Frost, for some reason - the heir of the business empire. Very beautiful no doubt, but Justin was not actually that easy, media reports and rumors aside.
If they were angling for a marriage and a merger, they were really delusional, no matter how beautiful Emma Frost was, that was just never going to happen. "Have you ever done any mercenary work for Frost?" Justin asked Phantazia, his fingers tapping his keyboard as he stared at his screen. There was just something funny about that email. Surely they hadn't expected that to work?
Phantazia opened her mouth to answer when Domino literally burst through the door, the security team hot on her heels. "Boss! Incoming kill squads!" She shouted, gun in her hand.
Phantazia immediately had weapons in her hands, pulling Justin ahead of her, towards Domino, making him duck as she covered him from any possible sniper through the window with her body.
"What the hell? Who?" Justin complained, finding himself escorted through the hallway moments later, his security team all around him, Domino taking the lead and Phantazia bringing up the rear.
"Some old Merc buddies reached out to me, warning me, Roxxon and Oscorp both have a hit out on you, and their teams are already on route, the fact you're finally in one place long enough was too tempting of a target." Domino spat out, eyes sharp as she led us down, the building alarms were already ringing, telling all staff to evacuate.
Justin really felt he should have invested in a secret elevator down from his office, or a helipad… This is why he needed a proper office!
"Wait, if they're coming here…?" Justin realized, "Maya Hansen is on the 13th floor going over the hiring of new scientists for her department! She can not be a casualty!" He demanded determinedly. She was too useful, her intimate knowledge of Extremis, or Panacea as it was rebranded - could not be replaced easily. Not to mention her ongoing research on the super soldier serum.
Even worse than killing her… What if someone abducted her!?
"You can not be serious right now, boss." Phantazia snapped from behind him, her eyes never leaving their rear as she walked backwards. " Two kill squads." She stressed, with a growl. " That we know of!"
"One of you is getting Maya out of here, take half the squad with you." Justin ordered coldly. He had Extremis, he'd be fine. Really, they were blowing this out of proportion. It was just regular humans coming for him, not his worst case scenario of Magneto or the like.
Domino and Phantazia both hissed out something at the same time, the meaning drowned out by the alarms. Justin understood the rude meaning all the same.
" Fine!" Phantazia said angrily, pointing at a couple of the security team, "You, you and you, with me, we shoot anything that gets in the way that's not Maya Hansen, got it!?" As they all begin to run off, no doubt to chance the elevator down to reach Maya quicker, she turned and pointed at Domino, "You don't let him die until I get my chance to beat his ass for being this stupid, got it!?"
"You and me both." Domino answered back, for once not laughing or joking around, her pissed visage meeting Justin's for a moment, before she returned to business. The three remaining team members moving around Justin to cover him in a triangle formation, weapons ready.
"Why don't we just take an elevator as well?" Justin asked, getting annoyed after the fourth flight of stairs they'd taken, shortly after - his security team jumping at every shadow.
"If they're attacking the building, if they have any sense at all, the first thing they'll do is take control of the system, it's what I would do." Domino answered snappishly, poking her head around a corner, waving them on when she found nothing amiss.
"Then why did Phantazia risk it?" Justin asked, starting to feel that he might have miscalculated with how enraged Domino seemed to be. They weren't really in any danger… Right? With Extremis and energy weapons, what could they really do against them?
Domino swore under her breath, "She risked it because she isn't the target, and because you ordered one of us to do it and with my luck, I'm more useful next to you." She said quietly, holding a hand up closed into a fist, all of us coming to a stop. "Do any of you hear that?" She asked in a whisper.
All of us stand still in complete silence, listening. Suddenly Domino moves, knocking Justin down just as a spear almost guts him, one of his security team hitting the floor, head cut off at the same time, two enemies appearing on both sides of the hallway.
One of them made a move towards Domino but stumbled into the wall, having slipped on some loose flooring.
"Wakandans…" Justin cursed, seeing the armor and the technology - paired with primitive weapons. What the fuck was Wakanda doing here? He couldn't help but think, he hadn't even touched any Vibranium from Klaue yet. Had Klaue sold him out? And invisibility tech? Did they have that in the movies? He didn't remember people doing it, only their aircraft.
Then things took a turn for the worse, as soldiers dressed in dark green bodysuits and cybernetic looking armor appeared at the end of the hallway, firing at both the Wakandans and Justin's team, Justin recognized those guns and that armor, it was his business after all to recognize those kinds of things. Oscorp had discontinued the line of weaponry because they inevitably heated up and exploded due to their explosive ammunition. By happenstance all the bullets coming their way just happened to hit Wakandan spears instead of him and Domino and either deflecting back before exploding, or exploding at contact - forcing the Wakandan war dogs to defend instead of pressing the attack as they got pushed away from Justin.
"Fuck, Oscorp is here already!" Domino shouted, shoving Justin into an adjacent room, a spear going for her missing - as the Wakandan accidentally got smacked in the face by the other war dog's spear as he moved to defend himself from the bullets using his cloak and its inbuilt shielding. Only one other member of Justin's team made it in with them, the other cut down from a combined attack of Wakandan spears and Oscorp fire as the two War dogs from the back of the hallway rushed into close quarters.
"That guy has a missile launcher!" Their one remaining guard said, horrified. Domino simply fired out the door, the bullet ricocheting impossibly and soon there was an explosion down the hallway, Justin knowing his weapons, theorized she must have managed to shoot it straight down the barrel to impact the ordinance within - which was absolutely insane on a ricochet shot.
Who even brought a missile launcher into a building with close quarters fighting!?
Extremis isn't very useful if you have several people trying to rip you apart. Justin thought with trepidation, realizing he'd been too cavalier about the threat. Seeing two men with Extremis going down in seconds due to expert attacks made him feel slightly less invulnerable.
He hadn't expected this kind of backlash. Assassination yes, but not several teams of this kind of quality and tech, not a full out attack on his headquarters. Where were the regular security teams? Could they even do anything? Had they been taken out in secret?
"Eileen! Could really use a fucking hand up here!" Domino shouted into the radio.
＊＊＊
On the 13th floor, Phantazia chuckled humorlessly, pushing a terrified Maya Hansen down the garbage chute, sending one of the soldiers with her, sans gear because of his size, before turning to face the Roxxon hit squad from one side, and yet another hitman from the other.
The other two were already dead, Extremis didn't help very much for one's head exploding apparently, the shots coming quicker then Phantazia had been able to react. Of course competent enemies would take the knowledge of Panacea to mean a kill shot would have to be complete brain destruction. She hated competent enemies.
Whether they were here for Maya, or just cleaning up before hitting Hammer, she didn't know, but she had her orders. So Maya was temporarily safe now, so she could do her thing…
How many people were wanting to kill her meal ticket anyway? And how on earth had they managed to all pick the same place and time to dance? "Sorry, my dance card is kind of full, you're lucky aren't you? So get lucky and get out of it!" She said through the radio on her belt, before turning it off. "Can't convince you to take a payment to drop the contract, can I?" She asked Bullseye, the red armored mercenaries from Roxxon watching them both warily, fingers on the triggers.
At least they were only skilled normals, nothing special. Someone at Roxxon must have panicked, sent out some normies instead of hiring quality.
But someone had tried to go the other route… Who? She wondered.
Bullseye chuckled, standing at the other end of the hallway, wearing a tacky trench coat getup. "Now, you know that's not how it works, sweetheart."
Faster than the normal eye could see, a projectile was launched, but Phantazia had already been prepared and moved before that even happened, having seen him waste her two guards in a second. The shot missed, even as the hit squad on the other side found to their confusion that none of their weapons worked any longer, as they tried to take advantage of the hostilities beginning. Her power disabled it all.
"What did you DO!?" Bullseye screamed in anger, a vein bulging on his forehead, highlighting the tacky tattoo on it. She didn't know who hired him, but they made a very big mistake sending someone with the power to never miss, against someone that messed with powers and could mess with someone's coordination.
Phantazia smirked superiorly, "I made you miss. Why? Didn't enjoy it?" She taunted, letting out a sharp mocking laugh to rub salt in the wound.
The squad behind her had dropped their weapons now, rushing in for hand to hand combat, even as Bullseye drew several throwing knives with a manic glint in his eyes, ready for round two, somehow expecting a different result.
Men, they just weren't capable of realizing their inferiority.
Phantazia clicked on the radio again, cool as a cucumber, "Actually, give me…" She thought about it as the thundering feet approached from behind her, "Three minutes tops, then I'll be on my way up." She told Domino.
"Maybe two." She amended, as she flexed her power, the squad behind her all falling into each other as their limbs started misfiring randomly as they lost all coordination.
She smiled beatifically at Bullseye. "You will last two minutes at least, right?" She made his hands twitch, forcing him to drop the weapons he'd pulled, "Give me at least that much of a work out, won't you, weakling?"
＊＊＊
"We're in a bad spot here, Boss." Domino said, guns facing the only door into the room. They'd escaped the crossfire situation, but also locked themselves in without an escape route.
"Would your probability power handle going out the window?" Justin asked, holding a gun nervously, he'd never had to face actual battle before, but he knew how to shoot.
Domino shrugged, "Mine sure, but I doubt it would handle you, it's not completely foolproof you know, and 30 something floors is a bit much."
"Why is it silent?" The remaining guard whispered, fingering his energy rifle, he'd held up remarkably well so far, never losing his nerve, Justin had done the right thing in mostly hiring veterans.
Domino twitched, scrunching up her nose cutely, "I hate smart enemies," She concluded, having realized something we hadn't. "They're both here after you, they're likely saving themselves the trouble of fighting each other and negotiating a truce to spend their efforts on getting to you."
Right then we got the broadcast from Phantazia, Domino taking it in with a shake of her head, "That girl, she made it sound like she was in trouble for no reason it seems." To Justin she sounded relieved, and here he'd thought they just needled each other all the time.
Justin was feeling marginally better at the news, but not by much, Phantazia being good down there, didn't necessarily mean much for him up here yet.
"Hey!" A voice called from outside the door. "We have reinforcements incoming, you're surrounded, don't shoot, we're just coming in to talk, see if we can negotiate something, it's us or the spears, take your pick."
Justin glanced at Domino, who shrugged, guns pointing at the door, giving him the option to answer.
"We won't shoot if you don't." Justin called back, any stalling worked for him, Phantazia would be back and make these guys obsolete. He really wished he'd prioritized himself over Maya right about now.
The door opened, the Wakandan War dogs could be seen standing behind the mercenaries, Justin had no idea what they were after with this, or why they'd allow the mercenaries to negotiate, did they just want the two groups to wipe each other out? He wondered.
Or… They all wanted to stall too… Which would mean bad things for Justin.
Apparently the fight outside had left only three mercenaries left alive to match the three of them in the room. Two walked in the door with a third trailing behind, the third one was the one who had spoken, Justin was fairly certain of that.
Without warning the third kicked the door closed behind them, making everyone flinch, but before anyone could fire, he blew the brains out of both mercenaries ahead of him, Domino and his sole remaining guard both squaring their weapons at him as Justin looked on in absolute confusion.
Then the mercenary changed, and Mystique stood there, holding the two guns in her hands and an absolutely disgusted look on her face, "You know, when a girl comes to see you, she doesn't like seeing that you've invited every Tom, Dick and Harry to have a party, Justin." She quipped, sashaying forward, dropping the two guns, at Domino's gesture, sticking her tongue out at the bodyguard.
"Why are you here, Mystique!?" Justin asked, wondering if he's dreaming up this entire ridiculous day.
"I'm here to kidnap you actually." Mystique said casually, leaning against the table, arms crossed under her breasts. "Then all of those guys showed up," She tilted her head back towards the Wakandans who were strangely not doing anything. "Couldn't let them all kill you, I'd get scolded, way too much of a hassle."
Domino laughed, relaxing slightly, her eyes and guns still facing the door even so, "Only you boss, only you." She said, shaking her head. "Keep your eye on the prize, Watson, she's alright. For now." She ordered the remaining squad member.
Justin sighed, "Look, if Magneto had a problem with how I'm delivering weapons, he shouldn't have threatened a weapons developer." He told Mystique, feeling sweat on his brow, he was feeling a lot more vulnerable now to any retaliation now that he saw how even mundane retaliation was more dangerous than he'd imagined.
Mystique stretched like a cat, letting out a thoughtful hum, "Huh, is that really it? You were feeling tiny, so you made a big strong thick gun to keep you all safe and snuggly?"
"Is this really the time?" Watson snapped, obviously a bit on edge with how almost half his team died in the space of a minute. Maybe he hadn't been as cool and composed as Justin had thought.
Justin's cheek twitched in irritation, "If that is how you want to put it." He growled out, even as Domino chuckled and gave Mystique an appreciative wink. They all ignored Watson.
"The boss might take that, we'll see." Mystique said nonchalantly, wagging a finger in Justin's face, "But no more moves against him specifically, or we might begin to take it personally."
Justin nodded, his hands aching with how harshly they'd been holding onto his gun. "Just like that?" He asked, not sure if he believed it.
Mystique laughed, "Oh, honey, we've survived for a long time without the world being aware, did you think we could do that if we just fought everyone that had an issue? We can be very reasonable." She tapped her lip with a finger, smirking, "To a point. Let's not have this chat again, there's so much more we could do together…"
"Hate to break off you two eye fucking each other, but… Anyone else wondering why we aren't being attacked?" Domino asked, tilting her head, listening for any sound from the hallway.
"Hmm, I lied about the reinforcements, but the ones outside with the snazzy spears shouldn't have given up so easily." Mystique added, hopping up on the table, flexing her legs without concern, "What a mystery." She said with a grin.
We all slowly looked at each other, before Domino gave Watson a nod, the soldier moving to the door, Domino moving into a firing angle, Mystique waving her legs in the air as she calmly occupied the table.
In one smooth movement, Watson opened the door as Domino was ready to fire, only to find nothing.
What the fuck happened? Did they run away? When they had us cornered? Justin thought, turning to eye Mystique thoughtfully, And god dammit I owe her one now, don't I?
Mystique met his eyes smugly.
Yes. He did.
… Fucking Wakanda…
＊＊＊
They barely managed to leave the office before the radio clicked on, Phantazia's voice coming through, "Hey, boss, hopefully you're still alive, if you are, uh, just wanted to let you know I just wasted a guy fighting with a spear of all things, after he planted some sort of funky looking bomb."
Everyone's eyes turned to Mystique who sighed dramatically, snapping her fingers, "Damn, so close to getting credit for them just disappearing." She joked, looking completely unrepentant at our judging stares.
"10-4 heading down, meet us at stairwell C." Domino snapped off, grabbing Justin's arm and starting to run, they had no idea how many bombs had been placed and when they would go off.
Mystique waved a cheeky goodbye to them as she took off to take another exit, blowing Justin a kiss just before disappearing, moving faster than humanly possible. Justin just knew she would be out long before them, he'd gotten off easy he knew. Things could have been a lot worse. He'd thought he'd prepared, but it only took being separated from one of his bodyguards to turn everything into a potential disaster. His arrogance had almost killed him. Still could, depending on how bad these - likely Vibranium tech bombs - would go off.
They met up with Phantazia, Watson ducking his head in silence when he saw that she was alone. Justin decided he'd have to do something nice for his only survivor, if nothing else it would make it more likely his other teams on the security rotation would not get too disparagated - if they saw the potential rewards for surviving to get Justin out.
"I've seen two bombs already, but none of the spear wielding freaks, they're likely on their way out, if they get out before us…" Phantazia called out, we sped up even more at that, the Extremis treatment I and Watson had gone through giving us the stamina to handle it, while Domino and Phantazia were mutant mercenaries that could easily outpace most normals.
"They're likely going for the roof, it's probably how they got in." Justin said as they flew through floor five, almost all the way down now. "They have stealth tech aircraft." He added, trying to put on every bit of speed he had in him.
They made it to the fourth floor, then the third. Suddenly without warning, Justin was shoved out of the third floor window by Domino, the woman stumbling out after him, barely missing a spear that instead sunk into Watson's throat.
If that was her luck power working - It kind of sucked for Watson, but she saved Justin so he wasn't too bothered, he could survive a three floor fall, easily.
Phantazia took one look at the situation and jumped out as well. Justin didn't know what she saw as he was already hitting the ground, feeling bones snap due to his awkward landing and just as quickly realigning and healing as he coughed out blood, groaning in momentary pain, Domino landing next to him… Onto a flatbed that was transporting mattresses…
So her luck didn't completely spread to the person she protected, good to know, he thought, rolling over, glass shards cutting into him.
Apparently not all Wakandans had retreated, they'd planted bombs, and a squad had gone down below to prevent them from running out, that's why they'd been fine with stalling upon encountering other teams… At least Watson would survive a cut throat, he thought, as Phantazia expertly hit the mattresses as well, coming out of her fall without a hair out of place.
If there was any mutation any mutant had, it was the supernatural ability to always look good no matter what happened. Justin was not jealous… Not too much.
Maybe just a little.
Before Watson could fall down to them, the building exploded with a deafening roar, everyone flinching back from the debris about to hit them, before the building seemingly imploded on itself, every piece of the building sucking itself in until there was nothing left of the building except the basement levels.
Right in time for EMS to arrive. That was a ridiculously bad response time, Justin needed to complain to city hall. He was definitely supposed to get preferred service, he was pretty sure.
"What the fuck!"
Justin echoed his bodyguards exclamations at what had just happened. That had been insane… He wanted one of those bombs to look at now…
Also, that would have definitely killed him. Fuck.
He needed to reprioritize some things.
And figure out what the fuck Wakanda thought they were doing before they tried again.
He was interrupted by a phone call, heh, his phone had survived all that. He fished it out of his pocket while his bodyguards played interference with the emergency services.
"Bakshi, talk to me." Justin said, beginning to walk away from any prying ears, before spotting the absolutely intense look from Phantazia at him beginning to walk away from his bodyguards, which froze him to the spot, as he decided to simply speak in a much lower tone. "Don't tell me if it's bad news, please." He joked, feeling wrung out.
There was a pause on the other end, before Bakshi spoke up hesitantly, "The HYDRA team sent to retrieve you didn't get you, that's… The good news."
Justin resisted the urge to go find a very hard surface to slam his head into repeatedly, "Are you kidding me buddy, I'm not in the mood for jokes right now!?" Was all he could say. The utter realization he'd fucked up on anticipating just how badly the world would respond to him flipping the board all at once - hitting him where it hurt. His ego.
Bakshi remained silent, perhaps understanding Justin's pain - or simply polite enough to wait for him to get over himself. "Ugh, this has been a day, fine… Tell me about HYDRA and how they missed this… " Justin looked around, seeing the missing headquarters and hundreds of staff members milling around looking shocked, "Terrific house party." At least he spotted Maya in the crowd, so she had gotten out before the Wakandans got to the bottom floors, good.
"I was contacted by a superior in the organization who wanted a real time update on your whereabouts, telling me they were bringing you in to shake you until all your secrets fell out." Bakshi reported dryly, "For whatever reason, they were of the belief that you had fooled me with false reports this entire time rather than the obvious conclusion of you flipping me."
Justin couldn't help but chuckle at the idiocy, "Ah, your HYDRA station chief is certainly a product of the SHIELD academy," He drawled, clearing some dirt off his tie. "Of course fifty to sixty percent of your reports being falsified just means you're an idiot, not a traitor, they've gotten too used to fools."
There was a long pause before Bakshi continued, "Yes… I directed the team to the safehouse in Jersey currently occupied by the Vulture and Scorpion, they… Did not die well."
"Was it contained?" Justin asked immediately.
Bakshi made an agreeing noise, "The team was eradicated immediately and the safe house abandoned, as far as I'm aware there was no exposure, the 'fight' was over too quickly."
Justin let out a sigh of relief, he really didn't want to explain the HAMMER team to the public yet. "Well, you've burned your affiliation with HYDRA now." He pointed out, not all dissatisfied with it, it proved Bakshi's loyalty after all.
"Yes, sir, somehow I thought that you, who will own the entire world within my lifetime - might be more profitable for me going forward." Bakshi returned in good humor.
Justin noticed Domino and Phantazia looking annoyed with him, both watching the crowd with flinty eyes, done with telling EMS to go fuck themselves apparently. "We'll talk later, get yourself out to safehouse Epsilon, you're a target now too." He ordered, not waiting for an affirmative before hanging up, Domino and Phantazia immediately moved to him and gestured to a car he hadn't even seen pull up.
Within minutes they were on the way to a safe house, which had a tunnel to another safe house, which would allow him to get out of the city safely.
He needed to re-orient, figure out how to beat all these bastards that were now gunning for him.
"I can already see you getting cocky again. Don't." Phantazia said sternly. Domino nodded along, for once in perfect agreement.
"We did make it out." Justin pointed out. Not really arguing with them, because he did agree he'd been playing it looser than he had ever imagined.
"That was the first salvo, simple teams coming for your head." Domino said, spinning her gun as she talked, eyes looking out the window, searching for threats, "Although I have no clue what was up with the guys with fur coats sporting energy shields, but the points the same, next time -" She pointed the gun at him and mimed firing, "Blam! Someone just sends a cruise missile at your face." She made a face, shaking her head, "Or a team of Black Widows comes for you, or a squad of cybernetic freaks, or some mutant we've never heard off that turns people to goo by a look…"
"In other words," Phantazia took over the double team, and not the pleasant kind he sometimes dreamed of, "Start listening to us on your safety, splitting us up was retarded. Splitting your entire security team to guard all your new clinics - leaving you with a rotating team of only 18 guards - was a mistake."
Justin could admit that, seeing how his six guards, even with Extremis, didn't amount to much firepower if caught in a bind against superior numbers - energy weapons didn't help if they were shot down before they could act. He'd never expected people would go straight for decapitating strikes once they found out about the limb replacement thing - his enemies immediately cottoned on that he'd likely have regeneration… He'd underestimated everyone.
"What's the point of training military veterans, giving them limb replacements etc, if you're gonna be making them mall cops, use them for your security, train some regular folks to be 'good enough' to at least self-destruct a cradle if someone comes for one - don't waste your best men." Domino interjected, the silent you dumbass that they both wanted to say, heard loud and clear by Justin.
Justin sighed, he'd let them win this one, they were right after all. "You both have full control over my security." He acknowledged.
"You better get me a secure line to the White House, I better get Ellis his story before he starts panicking." Justin said, his thoughts turning to fighting back.
"What are you going to do?" Domino asked curiously.
"Not much. Just start a war." Justin replied solemnly.
＊＊＊
Wakanda Royal Palace.
"- continued news keeps coming in from the suspected terrorist attack that destroyed Hammer industries New York headquarters," The reporter looked solemn as she stood in front of an empty space surrounded by skyscrapers, suddenly she put a hand to her ear, "Hang on, I hear we have Justin Hammer himself over video conference call speaking with the press, switching over now.'
The council chamber was silent as the grave with confirmation that they had failed with the primary target. Vanko the tertiary target was never located, and Hansen had been in the building with Hammer, so likely survived if he did.
T'Chaka didn't know why the team had acted as they did, resorting to bombs instead of a more subtle approach, unfortunately no one survived to report on why such a tactic had been decided on. It had taken a week for them to get a good shot at Hammer without US military forces around him - perhaps they'd seen it as necessary to finally put him down before he could reveal something else.
They'd gone dark after their last report 48 hours ago, it was frustrating to not know the how and why of the situation now that they would pay for the consequences.
The view on the screen switched to Justin Hammer, looking severe in a dark suit, his hair still covered in gray dust from the destruction of his building, "I have already spoken to the president and he agreed to allow me to reveal this information to the general public." Hammer began, looking seriously into the camera. "This brazen terrorist attack failed, and for a moment, our security team had one of the terrorists in our grasp, he talked, bragged actually, spoke all about his purpose, so sure of my destruction."
"They would never! No Wakandan would!" W'Kabi shouted, incensed, T'Chaka silencing him with a look as they all continued to watch the consequences of failure.
"- These terrorists have hidden from the world for decades, killing scientists and improvements in the crib - to prevent the world from matching them, they've hidden behind a forcefield all this time, their abundant Vibranium deposits allowing them technology the world could not match, hiding, holding it to themselves, refusing to help their neighbors, the world." Hammer smirked suddenly, staring challengingly into the camera. "Until now! You've revealed yourself in trying to destroy progress, and you have FAILED, Wakanda!"
"It is war." T'Chaka said softly, the council erupting in accusations and excuses, his son looking around him in shock, never even having imagined the failure of the war dogs to be a possibility, no doubt.
They had no choice now, even if they paid reparations, denounced the attack as done by rebels, proclaimed innocence in the accusation for assassinating and repressing technologies - it wouldn't matter, none of it.
He wouldn't be surprised if everything from the John F Kennedy assassination to local missing person cases would start to be attributed to them, demonizing them. It wouldn't be the first time the colonizers used such a tactic to denounce them as lesser, not as worthy of freedom.
Wakanda had hidden because of these same people that would now take center stage to accuse them.
The white colonizers around the world would see an African country, teeming with resources they want, and with the excuse that they'd 'repressed' their people, stopped technology that could have saved lives, killed people that could have revolutionized medicine or ended world hunger. They would never let go now. Not until they held all of Wakanda in their grip.
They could only die fighting, or go down as slaves, there were no other options he could see against the coming storm, the greed of the colonizers would ensure it.
"This will be the end of Wakanda." He intoned solemnly.
＊＊＊
Author's note:
It's not nice to lie, Justin.
Wakanda is the easiest enemy to deal with immediately, just sick the rest of the world on them, also pseudo world war 3 is good for a weapons conglomerate… Just by happenstance of course.
Everyone's going to want some of that Vibranium, Wakanda, start reading up on the village of rain from Naruto, you guys are about to be a free for all area that no one cares about if it gets ripped to pieces. Wakanda has gotten away with it all for so long as no one had the technology to catch them, they'd grown arrogant. Now they get to pay.
I mean the rest of Africa for one aren't going to be impressed with their neighbor… Then you mention the whole Panacea thing… People across the world see a miracle drug that will save them all, and Wakanda tried to kill the guy making it - to, in their minds, stop them from being saved.
Justin has been incredibly arrogant so far because how easy he's had it. Forgetting that he didn't really have much enemies yet because he hadn't done anything for them to want to off him.
Now. Now things are different.
Easy mode is officially over.
Cheers
JollyHippopotamus