A/ N: Thanks everyone for favouriting, alerting, reading and commenting on this story. I can't believe you're all still reading this beast! I truly appreciate every single one of you and thank you to those who gave feedback on the Budapest question, all points of view are currently being considered. :D

Sorry this chapter took an extra day, it's been a hellish week at work. Thanks for your patience...

Chapter Forty-Three

Hammer gripped the edge of the podium and looked directly into the camera. "My fellow Americans," he began importantly.

"Oh dear God," said Tony in disgust.

"I have a dream-"

"Kill me," said Tony in anguish already over this unoriginal attempt at a speech, "kill me now."

"Mr. Stark, are you planning on talking over the entirety of this speech?" asked Fury impatiently.

Tony folded his arms in front of himself. "No," he grumbled, "I'll probably be vomiting some of the time."

"-a dream that helped me through the dark days of my wrongful incarceration, a dream of how I could give back to this great country which I love with every fibre of my being. So, in the darkest moments of my despair, I asked myself, not what my country could do for me, but what I could do for it and I found my answer."

"Shut up, you idiot!" Tony yelled at the screen.

"Good advice," said Steve in annoyance at the continual interruptions, "why don't you take it?"

"How can I when the guy is raping some of the greatest speeches ever made," said Tony hotly.

Natasha looked at Fury. "This is being recorded so we can review this later, right, sir?"

He gave a curt nod. "Fortunately."

"-this world can be a dark place and there can be a lot to fear in it. I wanted to change that, to give hope to a world which was losing hope. To give light to a world that was growing darker-"

"Are my ears bleeding?" asked Tony in distress. "I feel like my ears are bleeding from listening to this."

"No," replied Thor, "thou ears are as normal, Tony Stark."

"I was being rhetorical," said Tony tersely.

Thor leaned into Clint. "This word rhetorical, does it mean annoying?"

"In this case, yes," said Clint wryly and Tony shot him a dirty look for that.

"Using my resources and deep seated need to make a difference in this world, I gathered the finest of men together, men of brave hearts and high ideals and helped equipped them with the technology which would let them live out those ideals." Hammer stood back and swept his hand towards the four costumed men standing behind him. "Today the world can embrace four new heroes, heroes committed to protecting this country and indeed, the entire earth with all of their skill, courage and strength." He pointed to each man in turn. "The Beetle, a valiant warrior whose skills in combat cannot be questioned and indeed, more than one Avenger owes his life to."

"Give me a break," grunted Clint.

"The mighty Rhino, his strength only matched by the size of his heart." Between each introduction the men would step forward and wave at the crowd as the people cheered and waved back. Hammer kept on with his role call. "The fearless Backlash, always ready to defend the helpless and face down all foes." More clapping and waving. "And then last, but certainly not least, the impressive Blizzard, his cold exterior incapable of containing the fire which burns within for justice and peace."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "And the really sad part about those little introductions is that I'm betting he spent weeks on them, practicing them in front of the mirror."

"That is sad," agreed Clint.

Hammer faced the crowd again, flinging out his arms as he spoke. "America, the world, I give you your newest heroes, I give you The Defenders!"

"And with that quick rethink of names, the world will never know how close it came to being to being given a camel toe," said Tony in disgust.

"I'm sure you all have questions," continued on Hammer triumphantly, basking in all of the attention. "I'll do my best to answer them now."

An eager interviewer shouted out his question. "Mr. Hammer, will you be working with the Avengers in the future?"

Hammer smiled. "I can see no reason not to, unless the Avengers have an issue with it. The Defenders are all about working together for the good of all."

Tony made an annoyed noise. "So we look like the jerks if we refuse to work with them. Saw that one coming a mile off."

Another reporter called out a question. "How did you put this team together?"

"I put a want ad in the Super Hero Weekly," said Hammer. The crowd laughed and he laughed with them. "I jest, I jest. I had a very exclusive screening process where I scoured the world to find men clever enough and brave enough to take on the challenge of making a difference in this world."

"Why make another team when there is already the Avengers?" another reporter quizzed him.

Hammer made a show of choosing his words carefully. "The Defenders are eager to work with authorities, seeing them as a vital part of our team." He looked to his right. "Senator Kidston, why don't you join me up here for this part."

The silver-haired man in a dark suit and glasses came to stand beside Hammer, shaking his hand. The Senator took over the microphone and looked very self-satisfied. "With the emergence of The Defenders, we have a group of heroes who are eager to work with other authorities and play by the rules. America was built on the back of collaboration and teamwork and The Defenders are a shining example of what those upholding those can of values can achieve."

"Reading between the lines, unlike the Avengers who do whatever the hell they like," said Clint flatly.

Tony's jaw hardened, knowing that it was completely Kidston's agenda to present the Avengers as renegade vigilantes while the Defenders were the ones playing by the rules and doing the right thing.

Senator Kidston flung his arm out towards the city. "Washington owes it continuing existence to the team work and bravery shown by The Defenders. It was them working in tandem with the brave forces of the US military which ultimately saved this city and our President."

"So, what were we doing, catching a movie?" asked Tony in annoyance. "This is unbelievable."

"The Defenders are willing to be accountable to a higher power, the government, the government elected by the people for the people. This spirit of teamwork is strong in them as they strive alongside your elected officials to make this a world a better place for all."

"This may be all the sugar from the donuts talking," observed Bruce around a mouthful of said donuts, "but how about we just kick this other team's ass and be done with it."

Tony nodded in approval. "I like you all hyped up on sugar, B. Makes you a lot more fun."

Hammer was back at the podium, winding up his speech which was just more of the same rhetoric.

"Beating up the Defenders would just make us seem like mindless bullies," Steve observed. "Something I'm sure Hammer is hoping for."

"Yes," argued Tony, "but it'll feel great."

"We have to be strategic in our response to his," Natasha noted. "Hammer is clearly playing a lot of angles here."

Tony cast an impatient look at Natasha and then Fury as the other man turned off the broadcast. "You know, when I joined SHIELD it was on the understanding that I'd provide the shiny suit and the witty one liners and you guys were meant to provide the intel." Tony's lips thinned. "How the hell did Hammer do all of this without any of us knowing?" he demanded to know. "How could he get the jump on us like this?"

"He was flying under the radar." They all turned to see Agent Coulson walk into the room.

"What does that even mean?" Tony demanded to know. "Aren't you lot meant to be the super spies who are up in everyone's business?"

"Hammer wasn't a concern of ours until recently, when he was released from jail," said Agent Coulson in that calm way of his. "We weren't keeping tabs on him, seeing as he was in prison."

"And that worked out just swell with Pepper almost dying," said Tony bitterly.

"Hindsight is always twenty twenty, Mr. Stark," said Fury evenly. "After what happened with Ms. Potts, we started to take a closer look at him."

"And you didn't see this?" Steve motioned at the now blank TV screen. "Putting together these other heroes would have taken him a lot of time and energy. This didn't happen overnight, he must have been setting this up for awhile now."

"Our intel suggests Hammer has a second in charge who has been handling things behind the scenes while Hammer has been behind bars," filled in Agent Coulson. "We've intercepted some email traffic that we managed to unscramble and they reference a person that goes by the code name Ghost."

"Ghost?" repeated Clint. "Do we know who this guy is?"

Agent Coulson gave a regretful shake of his head. "Unfortunately, no. Hammer's operative lives up to his name and we can't find a trace of him anywhere except for in a handful of emails."

Fury clasped his hands behind his back. "My feeling is that this Ghost figure is the one who is the one making all of this possible. We all know that Justin Hammer's past attempts at misdeeds have been clumsy and ill thought out but this time his operation is a lot smoother and well organised. My gut tells me that this Ghost is the reason why."

Tony nodded, his brain racing. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Hammer couldn't organise himself out of a wet paper bag, he has to be getting help from someone else and someone who isn't a complete idiot."

Thor leaned back in his chair, expression serious. "Does thou know of a way to entrap this Ghost? From the way you all speak, he is the one we must seek out and quell."

"We're working on it," said Coulson, "but this guy is good. I've never seen anyone cover their tracks the way this guy has. Ghost is nothing short of a genius."

Bruce took a break from eating donuts to contribute to the conversation. "It's not that hard to drop off the earth so that no one can find you."

Coulson gave a little smile. "With all due respects, Doctor Banner, my eighty-four year old grandmother could have followed the trail you left when you went to ground and she's been dead for two years."

Bruce made an annoyed noise at that comment and went back to his donuts.

Thor looked perplexed. "How would your grandmother achieve this wondrous feat, Agent Coulson?"

"He was being funny," Clint clarified.

Thor's frown deepened. "Dead grandmothers are funny in this realm?" he puzzled. "This I will never understand."

"We don't have time to help out Thor with his remedial comedy skills," said Tony impatiently. "We have to do something."

Fury had other ideas. "You'll do nothing, Stark, none of you will. We have to make a full assessment of the situation before making our next move and that isn't going to happen overnight. A wrong move now and we'll play right into his hands."

"Do nothing?" asked Tony in disbelief. "That's your master plan? Are you kidding me?"

"I said the Avengers should do nothing," Fury corrected him. "SHIELD will be working behind the scenes to find out exactly what Hammer is up to and track down this Ghost guy. Once we know what we're dealing with, then the Avengers will come into play."

Tony shook his head. "That's not going to work for me."

Fury's voice became ominous. "It's going to work for you, Stark. The Avengers already have enough bad press with your antics from last night which is making the news today, we don't need any more fuel for the fire Kidston and Hammer are trying to start. Hammer and his team have the power at the moment, particularly with them having stopped Noble Maniatis once and for all."

"Oh," said Tony sarcastically, "you mean the Noble Maniatis that was undoubtedly on Hammer's payroll and doing his bidding just to make his guys look good? Is that the Noble Maniatis we're talking about here? The one who is now conveniently dead and unable to answer any questions, that's the one, right?"

Fury's lips thinned. "We're all frustrated, Stark, but we also all have a lot to lose if this goes sideways on us."

"No one has as much to lose as me," said Tony angrily. "Hammer went after Pepper and this whole thing is about me and making me pay for not being a loser like him. He wants to take everything away from me and you're crazy if you think I'm going to sit idly by while Pepper's life is on the line."

"We still don't know his long range game plan," said Natasha, "and while I agree that his focus is on you, Tony, this does affect all of us. If he's planning to use the Avengers to plot your downfall, we all go down with you. This is a time for cool heads and considered actions. We're a team, all of our actions impact on the other."

Tony ground his teeth, accepting on one level that Fury and Natasha were right but then there was a more instinctive side to him that just wanted to find Hammer and pounded him into a bloody pulp.

"Verily, Tony Stark, I share your concerns for the maiden Potts but if we are with her, then no harm can come to her," offered up Thor. "I have learnt the value of knowing thy enemy in a battle and believe we should wait on Director Fury to do his work."

Tony looked around the table. "Is that how you all feel?"

"If it went on feelings I think we'd all love to just go with Bruce's plan," said Steve, "but we can't afford to get emotional about this because when that happens mistakes are made and you've already said there is too much at stake for that."

Tony sat back in his chair and blew out a noisy, frustrated breath but couldn't argue against what they were saying.

Agent Coulson stepped up to the console and pressed a few buttons. "If it helps any, we already have intel on the Defenders." A screen appeared in front of him of a dark-haired man with strong features. "Abner Jenkins, aka The Beetle, was a master mechanic at an aircraft parts factory. Our sources suggest that he became bored with his low paid, underappreciated job and was looking to branch out."

"Enter Justin Hammer," said Bruce, finally having had his fill of donuts now.

"We believe Hammer approached him with an offer to fund his ideas for an armour-plated, strength-augmenting suit which also had the ability to fly, thanks to the attached wing unit. Among his arsenal, apart from the suit are suction-fingered gloves and a cybernetic control helmet. He can also create an electrostatic burst of energy by touching his fingers together-"

"And it hurts like hell," muttered a still annoyed Clint.

"Our profiling says the guy is looking for fame and fortune and the Defenders is a definite way to achieve both," continued on Coulson. He put up another picture of a man with long blonde hair. "This is Mark Scarlotti, aka Backlash. Scarlotti was a brilliant student with a bright future. He graduated with top honours from college and was employed by Stark Industries."

Tony sat up straighter, staring at the image intently, trying to remember if he'd met him. He frowned. "I have a standing order that my teams recruit the best and the brightest from every university in all fields but I'm usually not involved."

"Mark Scarlotti was definitely that," agreed Coulson. "However, he made some bad choices when it came to the people who chose to spend his time with and made some ill-advised deals with hopes of a big payoff. Eventually, he ended up developing weapons for the Maggia and then ultimately for himself. We believe Hammer approached him with the technology he still possessed from his association with Ivan Vanko and there was a collaboration which resulted in Backlash's armoury." Coulson changed the picture again to show a head shot of a man with brown hair and eyes. "Donald Gill, aka Blizzard, was a minor thug hired for Hammer Industries. Again Hammer provided him with a suit, this time one with the capacity to create intense cold while the suit protects him. Not much else is known about him other than the fact that I suspect he, more than any of the others has real loyalty to Hammer." Coulson moved to the next picture of a man with dark brown hair and rough features. "And finally Aleksei Sytsevich, aka Rhino, was just another thug in the Russian Mafia who was all about easy money and would most likely have had a short and brutal life. He allowed Russian scientists to experiment on him with a series of life-threatening chemical and radiation treatments designed to transform him over time into a superhuman. He was chosen for his muscular physique and low intelligence which they believed would insure his loyalty. Two scientists, Igor and Georgi apparently chose his form and permanently bonded the armour they'd created to his body, which included his horns to enhance his look of a rhinoceros for visual effect, no doubt."

Steve's lips thinned. "Big and dumb, not a great combination."

"At some point Hammer has found out about this science experiment and most likely bought his way in," concluded Coulson.

"I want those files," Tony instructed Coulson. "I want to study these guys myself."

Agent Coulson looked over at Fury who gave a slight incline of his head, approving it.

"So, what now?" asked Tony impatiently. "We just sit around and wait, is that the plan?"

"And stay out of trouble," agreed Fury. "Let us do our job and then you can do yours."

"I don't like this plan," said Tony tersely.

"Duly noted."

oooOOOOooo

Justin Hammer gave a quick little twirl as he walked back to Senator Kidston, a glass of champagne in each hand. He offered one of the fluted glasses to the other man. "Senator?"

Kidston eyed the glass. "It's a little early to be drinking, don't you think?"

Hammer's smile widened. "It's a day of celebration," he cajoled him. "I think we can bend the rules just this once."

Kidston took the offered glass and half-smiled. "It went well today."

"Of course it did, Senator," said Hammer blithely. "Why wouldn't it? The world has a new band of superheroes, ones happy to work with the government and you're the man to ensure that such a thing was possible. You're a hero, Senator, an American patriot they will write books about in the years to come."

Kidston looked pleased at the thought of that. "And what about the Avengers?"

"Oh, they'll show their hand soon enough," said Hammer dismissively. "They're a spent force who will end up hoisting themselves with their own petard in the very near future, I'm guessing. They don't want what is best for the American people otherwise they would have worked with the government. We can't have these kinds of vigilantes running around without any kind of accountability."

"Exactly," said Kidston firmly. "The Avengers aren't team players and are out of control."

Hammer held up his glass. "To being in control," he toasted.

Kidston clinked his glass against Hammer's. "To being in control," he agreed and both men drank deeply from their glasses.