Since these suits were being mass-produced, Hammer's versions were naturally not made from expensive gold-titanium alloys like Tony's.
Hammer Industries' warehouses were stocked with the materials needed to produce standard alloy metals. However, creating miniature arc reactors required large amounts of palladium, a precious metal that was only needed in trace amounts, such as the 0.2 grams used in a missile. Hammer didn't have a significant stockpile of palladium.
Moreover, while Ivan Vanko couldn't create new elements, he did adjust the reactor's speed, just like in the movie, to try to match Tony Stark's arc reactor capabilities. This upgrade required even more palladium.
But Hammer Industries only had enough palladium on hand to meet its weapons orders for the Department of Defense for the year.
As a result, Hammer began secretly purchasing large quantities of palladium through small companies he owned. Although Hammer tried to be discreet by using different companies to make these purchases in batches, J.A.R.V.I.S., who was monitoring the market, detected the transactions immediately.
Soon, the ownership of these small companies was traced back to Hammer. Tony then had a complete report in front of him detailing Hammer Industries' palladium purchases over the past five years, the weapon orders they had received, and the amount of palladium required for both this year's contracts and the potential orders from the Department of Defense for the next year.
"All signs point to Justin Hammer. Could it really be him?" Tony muttered to himself as he reopened the data J.A.R.V.I.S. had sent to his phone the previous day. Justin Hammer didn't seem like the kind of person with the guts to pull something like this off.
"Hey! Fish Finder, what do you think?" Tony asked. Blake was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the fish swimming in the river below.
Originally, the base in New York was meant to be on a farm outside the city, but after Blake donated a billion dollars to the Avengers initiative, he insisted on getting this secret riverside base from Nick Fury. His reasoning? It had the class that a secret billion-dollar organization should have.
Yes, "class." To maintain this sense of class, Blake often mimicked Nick Fury, standing by the window with his hands behind his back, staring motionlessly at the fish outside. That earned him the nickname "Fish Finder" from Tony.
"What do I think? I'm not Watson, let's wait for Natasha to come back. She went to interview at Hammer Industries today," Blake said as he rubbed his eyes and sat back down at the table.
"Who's Watson?" Tony asked, pulling out a bag of chips from somewhere and munching on them.
"Watson, who solved many big cases with the Sherlock Holmes. Speaking of Holmes, Tony, I remember seeing a movie called *Sherlock Moor Holmes*, and the guy playing Holmes looks a lot like you. Do you have any relatives acting in Hollywood?" Blake said, suddenly struck by a mischievous thought as he looked at Tony.
"Nope!" Tony replied after thinking for a moment.
"You really need to change your taste in movies. Any movie I haven't heard of is probably a total flop!" Tony added.
"Exactly! Especially that lead actor—he's such an idiot. I've never seen a worse actor in my life!" Blake said with a wicked grin.
Tony had a feeling something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. In the end, he just shot Blake a frustrated look and said, "You should see a doctor. Spending all day around these people is messing with your head!"
Blake was about to shoot back with a retort when the doors to the base suddenly opened.
Natasha strode in wearing a red dress.
Blake quickly stepped forward, pulled out a chair for her to sit, and thoughtfully poured her a glass of water. Ever since spending a few wild days with Darcy in Monaco, he couldn't shake a strange sense of guilt whenever he saw Black Widow.
"Look at her! My God, how could anyone be so beautiful? I'll bet you a dollar that Justin Hammer is definitely trying to hire her as his personal secretary!" Tony said.
Of course, Natasha was a seasoned spy. Especially after all that chaos in Monaco, she had definitely noticed the woman hanging around Blake. However, she didn't dwell on the matter, only giving him a sidelong glance before sitting down and taking a sip of water.
"Actually, I didn't meet Hammer, but I spent the whole morning at his company and uncovered quite a bit. Tony, do you have the floor plans for Hammer Tower on your computer?"
Tony quickly typed a few commands, pulling up the plans on his screen and turning it toward Natasha.
"Here!" she pointed to a few areas on the map.
"These underground sections were originally set up as research bases for the military's armored suit development project. Hammer Industries has dedicated a lot of scientists and resources here. But a few days ago, he suddenly evacuated all personnel—scientists, security, everyone. Now, this area is completely off-limits."
"I got into the building's security room by bribing them. I found that on the afternoon of the evacuation, all surveillance footage of the entrances, exits, elevators, and even the parking lot connected to the underground research facility was wiped clean."
"Considering J.A.R.V.I.S.'s discovery of those companies buying palladium, I'm almost certain they're building arc reactors. Or, to be more precise, Ivan Vanko is in Hammer Tower right now. The problem is, getting access requires a special pass, and only Justin Hammer knows who has that clearance."
Natasha laid out her findings all at once, and it was almost a sure thing that Ivan Vanko was hidden somewhere in Hammer Tower.
"So what are we waiting for? You guys are part of the world's most powerful intelligence agency. Call in some agents, strike teams, special forces—have them raid the place and catch him red-handed!" Tony said, throwing up his hands.
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"That's a military collaboration project site. You, of all people, should understand what that means. Unless, of course, you want to convince two-thirds of the Senate to approve this?"
"Then what do we do? Should I just suit up and barge in myself?"
Since they were so close to confirming Vanko's location, Tony figured there was no need to overcomplicate things. Once they knew he was there, it should be a simple matter of breaking in and getting him.
"Well, that's not out of the question," Natasha replied, though after a moment, she dismissed the idea.
"But we have some smarter ways to achieve the same result."
"What do you mean?" Blake and Tony asked in unison.
"You two superheroes are going to have to stage a big action scene," Natasha said with a sly smile.
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170