The Pathetic Hammer

The first month of Darcy going to the Professors school turned out to be just what she needed. Even Tony could see that despite the part of him that wanted her to stay by his side every second of the day.

She had been nothing less than a nervous wreck when he and Pepper had dropped her off that first day, not even responding to the teasing jabs that normally got her going. Now barely a month after enrolling, the teenager seemed happier than Tony had ever seen her.

The cloud of doom and fear that had hovered above her since the full manifestation of her powers was gone and had left behind a girl that was a lot more confident and frankly, a whole lot more eager to let the past go and attempt that whole being a kid thing.

Tony was not as forgivingly inclined. His blood pressure still rose whenever Fury or any of his other former team members tried getting him back into the fold. In return, Tony did his best to be as annoyingly uncooperative as possible, citing more than once that he'd only ever been a consultant and thus was under no obligation to continue working in an environment wherein his services were never really appreciated.

Bruce was the exception of course. The moment the mild-mannered scientist had shown up at his door two days after Tony had kicked everyone out, Tony had stepped aside and let his friend in. He didn't have too many of those to let one such as Dr. Hulk slip away after all.

Tony's trust in Bruce had been solidified when, a few days after his arrival, Fury had sent Natasha and Clint to reason with him. It had not gone well and only Bruce's immense self-restraint stopped things from going into Code Green mode.

It was nice and oddly humbling to know that the other man truly wanted to just be his friend and willing to fight for that right. He didn't seem to expect anything tangible in return and since it was a rather novel concept for Tony, he did his best not to tease the man too much about it. Instead he showed his appreciation by delegating an entire floor of the labs just for Bruce's research. That had gotten the two of them the title of "Science Bros!" from a grinning Darcy, the first time she'd ventured inside to grab Tony for some fancy meeting that Pepper was forcing on him and he'd completely (not) forgotten about.

Anyway, the incessant wave of attempts to get Tony back into the Avengers was annoying at first. Tony's anger at the Captain and the Black Widow in particular was a continuous simmer just beneath his skin, needing no more than the slightest gust of wind to reignite. Pissing off Fury was just a bonus that the billionaire took immense pleasure in.

The only thing that was starting to get to Tony was the whole bit about not actually helping when he was needed. He had to bury himself in his labs, Pepper or Darcy whenever the news exploded with another battle that the Avengers had been involved in. It was only the fact that Rhodey was helping the group out now and again and had sworn to call him in if they ever truly got in over their heads that gave Tony a little peace of mind.

Now, one morning on his way to dropping off Darcy at Xavier's school, Tony was itching to go to the newest site of combat. Apparently, someone had deemed it necessary to build yet another almost Iron Manish prototype that had proved way more than the creator could handle.

Tony had gotten JARVIS to schedule a meeting with Hammer Industries, just to make damn sure that the idiot CEO hadn't tried to repeat his mistake with Vanko. He was dropping by as soon as Darcy was safely inside the school.

Darcy interrupted his planning by gently hitting his shoulder with a closed fist. "Dude," she smiled, "you don't actually have to stay in the car until I get inside. I mean, it's been a month and nothing's happened and there's literally an army of mutants ready to have my back in case anything does happen."

Tony smirked and placed an arm around his daughter's slowly filling form. "Baby-Girl, I'm the Dad, I'm not just doing this to keep you protected but to uphold the sanctimony of embarrassing ones progeny. I've even prepared a few dozen Dad Jokes in case any of your classmates ever venture outside with you at the end of the day to meet me."

Darcy rolled her eyes and shook off his arm with a grin. "That's exactly why I'm not letting any of them meet you. They'd be scarred for life, Dad."

The sound of her calling him Dad never got old to Tony, his insides growing uncomfortably warm and fuzzy. He barely managed to keep the smirk on his face and not smile sickingly sweet at her instead. He had an image to uphold after all.

"Kid, I'm a patient man and the more you wait the worse it's gonna be. Trust me. Now, have a great day and go learn stuff."

With one quick hug, Darcy left the car. Tony watched her like a hawk as she quickly made her way to the entrance. It was a little weird how she always seemed to stop at the foot of the stairs to look around, usually toward the small forested area of the huge garden, and nod firmly to seemingly nothing before she entered.

Tony figured it was just some personal ritual she'd invented and let it go. After all, he was no stranger to OCD tendencies.

Happy starting the car to drive toward Hammer Industries brought Tony back to the present and he settled back into his seat to prepare. He wished that he was still drinking heavily, as any meeting with the egotistical CEO and eternal runner-up always went better when Tony was a little buzzed.

It had been surprisingly difficult to get Hammer to agree to a meeting in the first place though, so Tony figured bringing alcohol into the mix wasn't the best way to go. Alternatively, he just downed a bottle of sparkling water and tried to mentally prepare to meet the man that had almost killed not only Pepper but several innocent bystanders trying to one up Tony Stark.

0o0o0

Later that day, Tony was once again sitting in his car with Happy driving them toward Xavier's school to pick up Darcy.

He was tired and a little cranky after having spent way more time in Hammer's reception area than planned only to be told that "Mr. Hammer is in a meeting, would you like to reschedule?"

Tony had acted like the mature man that he was and burst into Justin Hammer's office before any of the stationed security even knew what hit them. Happy had almost had a fit, it was hilarious.

Nothing beat the terrified look Hammer sent him at his sudden arrival, though. That amusement died rather quickly when it became clear that the other man was way too nervous and pathetic after his stint in jail. Evidently, he'd lost his kiss-ass abilities and had moved firmly over to the boring side of things. He was having meetings to try and secure sponsors for a new charity event. Hammer was in dire need of some good publicity. As such the man had no idea about the damn robots flying haphazardly around and giving the Avengers hell.

Just before Tony had left, Hammer's voice had stopped him and he'd eyed the other man closely.

"…Congratulations on getting your kid back, Stark. I…I'm glad for you. I read that she's not entirely traumatized after whatever happened to her."

Tony stared at Hammer for a long while, watching with hidden surprise as the man actually sweated with nerves, it was unsettling.

"Darcy is perfect, Justin. Thanks. Anyway, stay out of trouble and I won't ruin your entire business."

Now sitting in the car, Tony couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. He was sure that although pathetic, Hammer was up to something. No jail time in a luxury prison changed a man that much after all.

At least this way I can keep my eyes on him, Tony decided and put the matter behind him as Happy finally pulled up the long driveway at Xavier's school where Darcy was waiting in the massive doorways.

"Hey Baby-Girl!" Tony grinned exaggeratedly, rolling down his window to wave obnoxiously. Darcy's face was priceless and the girl stormed over to yell at him about being majorly embarrassing, which served to make Tony's entire day.

He wasn't kidding about the Dad-jokes either…

0o0o0

TBC