Hey amazing readers! I have another chapter ready for you. Thank you so much for all your faves/follows and reviews. You guys are amazing!
I hope you enjoy!
Natasha crossed the length of the room, shoulders pulled back and severe eyes locking on Hammer's hunched form as soon as she strode inside. As the door snapped shut behind her, his head shot up and a flash of fear broke across his face before he managed to cover it. Natasha did not react. She kept the detached expression as she snatched the handcuffs and yanked hard, pulling him off the bed before throwing him bodily into the desk chair on the other side of the room. From there, she deftly pulled a chair to the side of the chained man, sitting swiftly as she laid a manila folder on her lap. She stared at him for a moment, turning her head slightly to the side to study him before shrugging and turning to the documents on her lap. She flipped through a few pages, disinterest clear in her face as she examined the information. She waited, perfectly comfortable in the quiet and enjoying the sense of uneasiness slowly beginning to build in the room.
Justin watched the stoic woman deliberately sit down next to him and open a folder. For whatever reason, the silence and the disinterest she was showing in the documents heightened his tension. Justin could not help the sweat that he felt curl at the back of his neck, he knew her reputation and for the first time since he had woken up in this room, he felt true fear coil sickeningly in his stomach. It had just been Tony before, had he gone to the others? Hammer had just assumed it would have been his hotheaded friend asking any questions. The presence of the Black Widow unnerved him more than he thought it would. Were there other Avengers…here? Then he realized he was not actually sure where he was. The complete uncertainty and his lack of control of the situation caused that coil to tighten, almost forcing him to bend forward. He could not help but wring his hands in his lap, rubbing intermittently at the rashes created by the handcuffs, and attempting to anticipate what she was going to say. When she finally said something. Justin could feel his frustration building even as he tried to squash the feeling and maintain his unperturbed façade.
Natasha relaxed slightly into her chair, letting her shoulder drop slightly in exaggerated comfort. All while she continued to flip through the pages, inwardly smirking to herself while she watched Hammer squirm in his seat and attempt to hide it. Playing to his nerves, she let out a drawn, bored sigh as she let the pages flip to the front again.
Justin knew what she was doing. He might not have been the great Tony Stark but he was smart enough to understand what she was trying to do so he could not figure out why he could feel his hands starting to sweat where they were pressed against each other or why that thin bead down his back was repeating itself. For as smart as he was, he could not figure out why her presence was working.
Natasha was enjoying herself. She preferred jobs with some kind of meaning, its why she worked for Cap, but this was even more satisfying than normal. That thought satiated her for now. She bided her time and focused on the documents she knew to the word because the longer he sat there, the more off kilter he would be when he finally started talking to her. Natasha knew she did not need much, just Ross's name but she also knew that she needed to find it without the method of motivation that she badly wanted to use.
Justin's mind started to spin the longer he sat. Was there a ticking clock in the room he had not seen? Or was that just his mind's continuing reminder that he was, in fact, screwed? Clearly she had information on him, he could see his name on the documents, but she was not asking anything. Her silent presence was perturbing, distracting. What did she know? What was Tony actually able to get? He did not actually remember leaving Northampton so the trip had to have been fast which would have meant anyone who was left was charged with wiping the system. His software was good, it should have deleted everything so did she have information or was she just fishing? Obviously, Tony had found enough to know that he was involved but what else were they able to find? He could feel his hands start to shake as he thought about what she was going to say. Then his mind circled back to the ever growing question, did the Avengers already know? A drip of sweat slid down his forehead. He swore under his breath as the fear morphed into terror.
She heard the cursing and had to quickly hide the smirk that crossed her face, she was getting to him. Still, she let her mind wander as she waited for him to talk a bit more. Tony had wanted to come into the room with her, something she explicitly forbid. She could be patient, he could not and tearing Hammer limb from disgusting limb would not help them with anything. So she had made him promise he would wait for her to get what she wanted and then he was free to be in the room, with her, when they corroborated the information they already had documentation on.
They sat that way for another fifteen minutes.
The silence in the room made him want to curse, to yell, so in response he bit down hard on his tongue as he continued to try to keep himself from talking first. Why was this working?
Another twenty minutes passed, the only sounds in the room were the creaking of the Hammer's chair as he squirmed around his bonds and the flipping of pages as Natasha continued her perusing of the folder.
Finally, the fluttering sound of papers sliding back to the beginning again was too much for him. "What the hell do you want?" Hammer snapped as the beads of sweat started rolling down the side of his face.
Natasha again had to squash the smile as he started to talk. She heard his question, obviously, but she kept her eyes fixed to the pages for a few more moments until she slowly, almost lazily slid her eyes up the shackled man in front of her. She did not say anything, she just watched him with a cold, harsh look . She waited for him to talk again. This was almost too easy.
Again, Hammer knew what she was doing but he could not help himself, "Did Anthony send you?" He demanded.
Still, she did not say anything.
Justin felt his fear and anger grow exponentially the longer she stared at him but did not speak. Snapping again, "Why are you not saying anything?"
She blinked a few times before she looked back down at the paperwork.
As she looked away, it angered him more, "What do you want me to tell you?"
Natasha looked back up, fixing him with an unwavering gaze that made her look almost bored. He was going to give her what she wanted.
His mind told him it was a bad idea but he could not stop himself from practically yelling, "You want me to say that I was behind kidnapping Spider-Man? That I was planning on studying him so we could replicate some of his abilities? That I was hoping the Avengers would never find out?"
Natasha still just stared.
"Just tell me what you want to know!" He pulled hard on the chains around his wrists as he lurched forward on the chair. He felt the pain bite into his flesh but the anxiety simmering under just under his skin was enough to make him ignore it.
"Tell me! Tell me what you want!" He barked, his eyes manic as he snapped at her.
Finally, Natasha decided he had enough. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and she stared at him unblinkingly, "Everything."
Almost immediately, he started to talk. Most of it was information she already knew, information that they already had recorded but it was nice to have it corroborated. Just another nail. Then he started to get a bit more interesting.
There was a pause in the conversation and Natasha tried to redirect it to something more informative than what he had been giving her. Her voice was even when she asked, "Where did you get your information?"
Hammer's mind started to scream at him, telling him not to say anything but for the split second it took for him to think of that, his mouth was already moving, "Ross. He wanted a way to recreate a multitude of powers. Apparently, they want to circumvent the Avengers. The plan was to create a working proto-type of at least one serum in the next two years." He looked up at her, "We assumed we needed whoever would be the least missed. Since Spider-Man was in school and he only had one living relative, we concluded he would be the easiest one to taking, giving us enough time to study the first subject as thoroughly as possible. Plus, Ross said he wanted a strength and healing serum, Spider-Man is the only one of you with those abilities. And Ross promised he would ensure any patent for the next thirty years and so his abilities were the best ones to start with. We figured the more traction we could get for figuring out his capabilities, the more protection we would have from..." he held his chained hands up in front of him, gesturing toward her, "you. Plus, the plan was to figure out a sedative that could knock out someone with his power so that we could take on the Winter Soldier and Captain America next. Our people assumed that if we could figure out something that could stop Spider-Man it would stop the other two."
When Natasha heard the comment about Peter being the least missed she could practically hear Tony grinding his teeth on the other side of the room, she was actually pretty impressed that he did not immediately barge in at that just to prove Hammer wrong. Then he blatantly laid out the broad strokes of a plan to take two other Avengers, like it would be a simple undertaking. For some reason, that made her angry and she had to press back the burn of fury. As she took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down, she processed what he was saying. As she thought about it though, there were a few things that did not make sense to her, "Hammer, don't screw with me. What you're saying doesn't make sense. What were you planning on doing after you were done with him?"
At that Hammer had the decency to look ashamed, "We weren't planning on letting him go if that's what your asking…" he trailed off as he said it when he saw the furious scowl on Natasha's face.
But the assassin finished the thought, "You were going to kill him?"
"Yes." Hammer responded, his voice quiet.
Natasha barely managed to control her anger, "Why?"
Hammer shrugged, "Isn't that the natural end to any type of biological experiment? It's necessary to understand how the body functions after death."
For the first time since she had been made into what she was, Natasha felt sick and she barely managed to squeak out the next question, "You were going to dissect him, weren't you?"
For once, Hammer did not talk, just nodded his head a few times, an admission of guilt and a heavy conscience, but no apology.
It took a moment for Natasha to recover from that answer, she had heard some sickening things but what he said was beyond what she had imagined. So in a rare lapse, she paused, unsure of what she was going to say and trying desperately to control the mind-numbing fury building like a pressure at the base of her brain. Finally, she convinced herself that she was in control and that Peter was safe with them. Taking a deep breath, she continued, allowing some of the anger and sarcasm to seep into her voice, "So what was your plan when we started realizing our people were missing?"
Hammer was beyond lying and he shrugged a bit, "We were going to study them for as long as we could before we had to move on and use what we were able to find out to recreate as much as we could."
She still could not understand what gave him the confidence to assume they would not find him and kill him, "You really don't think we would have found out that you were involved?"
Hammer snapped his mouth shut, earning a feral grin and snarl from Natasha, before he quickly complied, "We had a guarantee we would be absolved of any repercussions and we were assured protection from you."
That caught her off guard as well, "You have a deal in place, with who?"
"Ross," he paused as he quickly weighed his options and decide on how cheaply to give up the information, "and a few others." Hammer finished lamely, still a bit too afraid of his other business partners to betray them.
"Who? Everything, remember." Natasha growled.
Hammer, for the first time since he had started talking stopped, ignored Natasha's threatening posture. She slid forward in the chair and looked at him, snarling. Then on a dime she flipped and instead turned to address the room, "FRIDAY…"
The door opened and as Hammer snapped his attention to the threshold, he recoiled, losing some of the defiance in his posture when Tony stepped into the room. Natasha took the fear in stride and leaned into his ear, whispering, "Go ahead, try to avoid telling him. Don't forget, you took his son and he heard everything you just told me." Natasha saw his eyes widen but he kept his mouth clamped shut.
Tony took the opportunity to break the silence of the room. As soon as he stepped through the door he locked eyes on the one person he wanted to kill more than anyone, "Hammer." He said coolly. Tony kept his face impassive but he could not help the swell of satisfaction in his chest as he watched the man flinch.
Justin knew he had to say something, try to take back some of the control, but his voice broke on even one word, "Anthony." Still, he tried to cover it with a confident expression.
Tony could not help but smirk as he heard the terror in the man's voice, "I'm guessing you know why I'm here?" He paused dramatically as he stepped threateningly toward the desk, Natasha had stood giving him room to move into Hammer's space, "I'm here because you're not being honest with her and you need a little more convincing. I can guarantee you that anything she can think to do to you is far kinder than the things I have been sitting on." He awkwardly knelt down in front of Hammer, wincing slightly as the residual pain from his battle with Thanos tore through him. But he did not let that hamper his intimidation, "Are you going to answer her questions or will I need to show you some of the things I came up with while I was waiting for my son to wake up?" He snarled, pressing farther into Hammer's space before laying his suit gauntlet on the man's arm. When Hammer did not respond, Tony started to squeeze. He watched with dispassionate fury as Hammer's face morphed under the increasing pressure, eventually the man yelped in pain but that just urged Tony forward. Squeezing incrementally harder, Tony felt bone give under his hand, finally smiling wickedly as he continued to crush the man's arm. Even when Hammer's bone curdling scream cut through the oppressive silence, Tony held on for a few moments longer.
Natasha flinched as Hammer screamed, she had an idea of what Stark was planning to do if the man did not cooperate with her but the un-ceremonial way he crouched down and broke one of the bones in Hammer's arm was…unexpected. Then she noticed that his own cast was covered by a nano skin, probably trying to keep Hammer from noticing his own weakness.
Justin felt the pain building in his arm as Tony's grip tightened. He tried to stay quiet for a while but then the agony built as Tony continued to crush his arm and he unconsciously yelped. But he saw a wicked gleam in Tony's eyes as he pleaded with him, "Anthony, stop. Please stop, that hurts." But he quickly realized the futility as the pressure continued to increase until he felt a bone give in his forearm and he could not help but scream. Still the pain did not stop, the metallic hand continued to tighten as the bone shifted under the skin and Justin felt a hysterical scream torn from his throat as he tried to pull away from the pressure and the crazed man. Then just as suddenly, Tony released his hold.
Job done, Tony left his hand on the, now broken, forearm and leaned forward, snarling, "Are you going to answer her questions now?"
Justin could not help but sharply nod his head, snapping it up and down as tears slipped out of his eyes and he took a choking breath, "Ye – yes," he stammered.
"Good, then speak," Tony ordered, standing up and taking a halting step back out of the way so Hammer could focus on Natasha again.
The woman easily slid back into her role, any surprise that had briefly flashed across her face was gone, "I believe I asked who else, beside Ross you were working with. I told you I wanted everything." She smirked as she said it.
Hammer's voice broke but he answered immediately, "Ross, Ryker, and a few of the other higher-ups in the Command structure."
Natasha looked over at Tony, allowing some of her frustration to peak through, "How did this man ever build a company? I thought he was at least of average intelligence."
Tony shrugged but had not stopped staring at Hammer, a hungry look on his face. Natasha used that palpable anger and rounded again on their prisoner, "I told you I wanted everything, that is not everything."
Justin swallowed hard and stared between the two incredibly intimidating individuals. Realizing that he did not much of a choice, it was obvious the moment the last of his defiance broke, "Fletcher and Slade, a few of their highly ranked aids," he recoiled when she glared at him again, "I swear, I don't know their names."
"I'm guessing you have ways to corroborate this?" Natasha asked, slowly.
He just nodded, knowing that events were about to happen to hell a lot quicker than anyone had expected.
"Good, then you'll be able to help us bury them." She turned to face the seething man behind her, "I'm good, Stark." She said dismissively as she turned again back to Hammer, a wicked gleam in her eyes, "I think he'll be much more cooperative now."
They had gotten the information and Tony knew he should have felt relieved but he could not stop his hands from shaking and his breath from hitching almost imperceptibly. He meant to listen to her, he meant to leave but instead he ignored her. Tony could feel his hands shaking within the gauntlets and then his humanity that betrayed him. Without knowing why, Tony blurted out something that did not make sense to him, "What happened to you, Justin?" Tony could not help the empathetic disappointment in his tone, "We were rivals but never would I have thought you would have stooped to this level. Why did you do this?"
The odd juxtaposition of violence and empathy was enough to catch Justin off guard and he could not help but continue to answer honestly, and with anger, "What happened to me, Anthony? Is that what you want to know?" He paused as he waited for the man to nod, when he did, Hammer continued with incredible resentment clear in his tone, "What happened to me is you." The man snapped, "You ruined my reputation, ruined my company, and sent me to jail. But that was not the worst of what you did to me," he paused, a crazed look reappearing on his face as he spat, "Oh no, that was the way you destroyed how my daughter looks at me. She hates me and that is your fault. She brought me back into the company because she felt it was her duty, not because of any relationship we have. So what else did you expect me to do? Ross offered me a contract, a chance to get my life back and I took it. You would have done the same."
Tony was already shaking his head, "No I wouldn't have, Hammer. I would've never experimented on a person to get a contract, it's not worth it."
But Justin was not buying it, sneering anger in his tone caused Natasha to take a step forward, defensively. Hammer did not seem to notice it though, "Bullshit, Stark. You would have done it in a heartbeat."
Now Tony's anger worked its way back to the surface, and he could feel a tightness starting in his chest as he continued, "No I wouldn't." He responded adamantly, "that's where we're different. I would rather live in squalor then ever stoop to that level."
"You're only saying that because you think of him like a son." Hammer snapped sardonically, "You're lying to yourself if you think you would have reacted like this if it had been anyone else."
For once, Tony felt the shake still even if the pain in his chest did not lessen, "Again, you're wrong." Tony looked Hammer in the eye, "I'm trying really hard not to kill you because he's my son but I don't have to think of him like that to know that I would never have done that to anyone." Tony paused for a moment before he continued, honestly, "Especially not to him."
Hammer just scoffed but did not press the issue any farther, instead deriding the pair in the room with him, "If you're done breaking my bones and intimidating me, do you think you could send someone in to deal with my arm?" He sneered at Tony, and then pressed just a little farther, "If not, I guess you can continue telling me about how you would never injure anyone to get what you want. Your choice." Knife sufficiently twisted, Hammer slumped back into the chair, pulling his broken arm with him and pressing it carefully against his chest.
Natasha saw the affect on Stark, quickly jumping in, she pressed the now dazed man toward the door, hissing at him, "Leave now, Stark."
Tony let himself be pressed toward the door and he pressed down on the handle of his own accord as Natasha pushed him into the hallway before snapping the door shut behind him.
As soon as he was out of the room, Tony collapsed against the wall just outside. He quickly brought his shaking hands up to cover his face as he slid down, awkwardly falling with his bad leg out in front of him. He crumpled his head into his knee and felt the familiar pangs of a panic attack settling in his mind. In the buried recesses, Tony had known that Hammer had every intention of killing Peter but he had not imagined the brutality of what he had planned to do. And he had not planned on using that same brutality in turn.
Suddenly, Tony was hit with the overwhelming need to move. To run. To see his son. He awkwardly jumped up and took off down the hallway, his steps hitching only slightly as the brace moved along with him. He did not really remember reaching the door but he recognized when he was there because he instinctually slammed the handle down.
Immediately, the eyes of the four occupants of the room snapped to the door and recoiled as one when they saw Tony standing in the doorframe, chest heaving and wild eyes darting over to Peter. As soon as he saw him, Tony made a beeline for the bed. He gathered Peter up into his arms as quickly as he could, awkwardly grabbing at him before he was even sitting on the bed. Only then did he let the tears start to fall.
Peter saw the look on his dad's face as soon as the door snapped off the back wall and instantly felt fear coil in his stomach, the acidic feeling crawling up the back of his throat. Something spooked Tony and he had no idea what it was. It freaked him out even more when almost in a flash, his dad crossed the room and demandingly wrapped him up in a crushing hug. Peter tried to sit up quickly enough so that it was not completely awkward but he did not quite make it. Instead his dad picked him up off his mound of pillows and quickly engulfed him in a desperate hug. Then Peter feel Tony bury his head in his neck and start to cry. Peter looked over Tony's shoulder at his Aunt and Pepper but both had a an equally mixed look of confusion and horror on their faces. When they did not have an answer for him, Peter wrapped his arms a bit tighter around his dad and slowly started to rub circles across the man's back.
Peter's gentle ministrations finally pulled him out of it somewhat. The focus they created allowed him to sob that he was sorry, that he should have been faster, should have been better. But along with the confessions, Tony could feel his heart constricting and his breath become harder to pull in the more he talked and the more he cried, still he continued. He had nearly killed his oldest son. All of this was his fault.
Peter could hear his dad's uneven heartbeat and labored breathes worsen the longer he held him. Not only that but Peter could feel his dad's arms increasingly tighten around him. It was not enough to hurt but the lack of control was terrifying to Peter nonetheless, "Dad," he whispered quietly, "dad, you have to calm down, okay? I think this is a panic attack so that means you need to relax because I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't let anything happen to you." Peter spoke slowly and continued to rub his hand over the older man's back. "I don't know what's happening but you didn't do anything wrong. You saved me remember? You helped me."
Tony could hear the quiet voice in his ear but it was difficult to comprehend the words. Even so, the sound of his voice was enough to start to break through the panic. The careful patterns the younger man was rubbing on his back were helping too. Slowly. Slowly, Tony was able to refocus and to start to get control of his breathing.
Peter could feel something working so he continued to do both things, "Dad, you have to take some deep breaths because you're scaring me. I know you don't mean to but you are. I'm right here, I'm safe and you made sure that happened. Please come back." Peter begged, "Please come back, dad." Peter could feel his own tears creeping up as he tried desperately to calm the panic attack.
For whatever reason, Peter's pleas did it. He took a few deep, stuttered breaths as he slowed down, as he figured out where he was again. Finally, he lifted his head off his son's shoulder and pulled back to look at him.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Peter spoke, fear clear in his tone, "Dad?" He asked quietly, studying the man in front of him before asking, "Are you back?"
Tony could not help but scoff at that and he tugged his son closer again, "I'm back, Pete. I'm so sorry, I'm back." He mumbled.
"What happened?" Peter asked.
Tony stiffened at the question, everything coming back up to the forefront of his mind but he squashed it down, promising, "I'll tell you later, kid, I can't talk about it right now. I'm sorry."
Peter immediately felt guilty for asking, "Yah, of course." He answered quickly, instead just wrapping his dad up tighter. The two held each other as they both calmed down and only then did Tony slide away from where he was awkwardly sitting in front of Peter, instead slipping to his side, throwing his arm over his shoulder, and pulling the kid in close and allowing him to face the others in the room. Seeing the concerned looks on the women in front of him, he immediately felt guilty but he knew he could not explain at the moment. So instead, he did the only thing he could do, squeaking out, "I'm sorry." He stopped as he tried to figure out if there was anything he could say but nothing was coming to mind so he shrugged and repeated the sentiment, "I'm so sorry for that."
Pepper, Morgan, and May left a few hours after that to grab something for a late lunch, leaving Peter and Tony alone.
Tony realized he should try to address what happened, so he swallowed hard and asked, "Do you want to know what happened, Pete?"
Peter could hear the trepidation in his dad's voice so he stomped out his own innate curiosity and responded, "Only if you want to tell me. I can wait."
"I don't want to tell you the whole thing but I talked to Hammer," the anger was clear in his tone again, "I talked to him and he told me what he was going to do and it just – it made me realize how close it was…how close I was…" Tony let the implication hang in the air because he could not bring himself to say it. "I'm sorry for the way I came in Pete, I just – I needed to see you, I needed to make sure you were okay."
"It's okay." The younger man whispered.
They did not talk about it for the rest of the afternoon, instead choosing to focus on the fact that both were still alive and breathing. May and Pepper came back and instead the small family distracted each other. It got easier when Steve, Rhodey, Natasha, Clint, and Bucky came down. Tony had not left Peter's side but it was nice to have others in the room to divert the weight of Tony's earlier appearance. It gave them the chance to interact again without the allegations from earlier hanging over them. Eventually, the doctor came in to take off Peter's cast and ensure the younger man was ready to go back to his own room. He was cleared quickly and the small, assorted group of Avengers helped escort him back to his room. As Peter quickly settled in, Natasha pulled Tony away from the group, "We need to figure out what we're going to do with Hammer." She hissed, trying to keep her voice from carrying across the room.
"Nat, I know you're right but unless you think he has more information to give us, I think he can just sit tight for a few more days." He looked her in the eyes as he asked the next question, "Do you think he has something more to tell us?"
The assassin stayed silent for a minute as she thoroughly contemplated the question. Finally, she responded, "No. I think he told us everything."
"Good. Then he can sit and stew for a few more days while I make sure my son is alright."
Natasha nodded slowly as she thought about what he said, "I'll take care of him."
"Thank you, Natasha." Tony said appreciatively before he turned back toward the rest of the people in the room and again settled next to Peter on the bed. The kid leaned into his shoulder as the conversation flowed around him, even if he did not participate as often as he normally would have. The rest of the night went quickly as Morgan started to nod off and Pepper excused herself to take him to bed, saying goodnight to the gathered Avengers. Peter did not last much longer than his brother. His healing might have kicked back in but he still needed the energy for it. As the youngest Avenger started to nod off, the others moved out of the room as well, leaving Tony and Peter alone.
"Kid, do you want to stay on your own tonight?" Tony asked carefully, aware that younger man was already mostly asleep against his shoulder.
"No." Peter murmured.
"Done." Tony whispered in an equal tone. In a practiced motion, Tony settled them both back into the pillows and laid his hand back in Peter's hair, whispering, "I'm sorry I scared you earlier."
"It's alright, dad." The kid mumbled as he quickly started to fall back to sleep.
I hope that was alright! That was my first time writing any kind of questioning sequence like that and I really hope it was believable.
Please feel free to let me know what you think. I know I said two more chapters like two chapters ago but I'm thinking maybe two to three more after this one. Thank you guys so much for all your support!
I hope you have a wonderful day/night and stay creative!
-Lily