＊＊＊

Frank Castle had to admit that his new gig came with some very good benefits. The pay was, for one, absolutely ridiculous. Frank could have spent the rest of his life in the military and worked his way up the chain of command and still not see this kind of money with the cumulative earnings of a lifetime in the service.

Then he'd been hit with Extremis. Fucking regeneration, and his boss even included families in that offer. You didn't get much better with healthcare benefits than being able to survive almost anything without a scratch. And it really helped Frank relax knowing his girl would be safe no matter what.

Of course being able to fight with a power suit that could have wasted Frank's entire battalion without issue, was another perk. A pretty sweet one he had to admit.

Now if only the people he worked with weren't so…

…

Much. Just much.

"I fire, problem solved, da? No more bunker." Vanko, or Whiplash as he was called right now, said. Codenames in use during the operation as per the protocol he'd set up, since no one else was doing it. Not that anything was likely to breach their comms, but no need to create bad habits. Bad habits invited bad ends.

Frank had nominally been put in charge, which he suspected the boss only did to punish him for not being as obviously excited as the other two to be working for him. He was, he just wasn't that kind of expressive kind of a person.

Frank grit his teeth together, "We're supposed to take the target alive, Whiplash." He reminded the eccentric scientist, for the third time. The man was way too trigger happy for a man capable of wiping a small town off the map with the press of a button.

Whiplash splayed his hands out, somehow managing an innocent look even covered head to toe in armor. "He hardy, no? Survive falling stones, no biggie."

Rumlow chuckled, the synthesizer in the Vulture armor making it come out fairly sinister. "He got you there, Scorpion." He said, likely more to annoy Frank than any actual wish to proceed in such a haphazard manner. Rumlow for his faults, had actually been trained in the proper ways to go about missions. He just didn't care.

Frank, crouched low in the Scorpion armor, his tail slightly raised above the ice ravine they were hiding in, using his sensor suite to watch the bunker that likely held the Winter soldier. "The boss has put a lot of money and resources on us, do you two chucklefucks really want to mess this up by going in half-cocked?" Was it too much to expect some manner of professionalism from the two? He thought with irritation.

Rumlow made an agreeing noise, "Eh, it's going to be more fun to go through the place with maximum carnage anyway, right Whiplash?" He said, nudging the smaller man. Compared to the beastly power suits of the Vulture and the Scorpion, Whiplash was positively tiny, being man sized. That said, between the three of them, Whiplash had the superior firepower.

Whiplash laughed, "Da, the men maybe cry like tiny girls when see us kicking the asses." He suggested, practically brimming with excitement, violence just leashed under the surface.

The genius behind the suits was insane, of course, why not, Frank thought with exasperation.

Frank really wished the members of his team had been recruited from the service, Rumlow didn't count, SHIELD had delusions of grandeur compared to proper soldiers. In his opinion the play soldiers of SHIELD were too arrogant to ever be good soldiers. "As far as the sensors can tell, he's likely there." Frank murmured, "Can't say for sure, but there's recent activity and the tracks show something large was moved in recently."

"If they were moving in equipment, he might be there… Or they're just setting up for him coming." Rumlow said, for once taking it seriously, "Intel might be faulty. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen that."

Frank hated agreeing with Rumlow, but he'd seen the same too, Intel, especially the kind that was almost too good to be true - very rarely turned out to be correct. "We'll have to operate under the assumption that intel is correct." He said, unhappy about it, but they had a specific time constrained mission, they couldn't wait.

"Fighting now better, waiting bad." Whiplash said, chuckling darkly, "Waiting means interference, mean tracking, mean boss pissy, take away toys." The rings around Whiplash's arms briefly charged, lighting up their little ravine, "I like the toys…"

The Vultures head turned to Frank, your call, Frank read from the movement. He tsked quietly inside his armor, at least Rumlow wasn't making anymore jokes now that crunch time was coming.

"Vulture, take to the skies, once we're inside, blow all the exits, your sensors should have it mapped by now." Frank waited for any word that Rumlow had in fact not used his own sensor suite yet, he grunted with satisfaction when Rumlow said nothing, "Then run interference, full jamming, anything comes within five miles of us, blow it to hell."

Blowing the exits meant they'd have to blow their own way out afterwards, so no quick exit for them, but it was necessary to ensure there were no survivors escaping them.

"Ahh, I wish I could be in there just to see these HYDRA fucks pissing themselves," Rumlow said with relish, "But I can't complain about being in the sky, either." He said wistfully.

Frank ignored him, "Whiplash you'll follow behind me as I tank my way through the opposition, snipe down anyone you want, but!" And here the Scorpion armor turned to stare straight at Vanko, impressing how serious he was, "Do not fire at full power. We are not blowing up the bunker while our target is in it! Once the target is found, tase him until he's out."

A simple plan, but Frank didn't think Vanko would follow anything too complicated, too likely to go off on his own to blow something up.

Whiplash snapped a mocking salute, "Okidoki, boring fighting, will do, but blow up bunker after, da?"

Rumlow chuckled again in the background as Frank just sighed, "Once the target is out… Yes." He said reluctantly. It would please the scientist and erase as much of the evidence of their presence as possible, so they might as well.

"So… Now then?" Rumlow asked eagerly.

Frank did one last sweep with his sensors, finding nothing had changed, the HYDRA team that had arrived at the bunker didn't even bother with guards outside, counting on their anonymity. "Go now." He agreed, vaulting out of the crevice, thundering towards the bunker at speeds exceeding an Olympic athlete, the claws of his armor having no trouble finding purchase on the icy ground. Whiplash shooting out after him, not bothering to even touch the ground, his multitude of Arc reactors keeping him in the air as he flew behind him, cackling loudly.

Behind them, with an unnecessary dramatic roar, the Vulture took to the sky, his long wings flared out as he readied himself for taking out any possible exit while already jamming the area to prevent communication or satellite monitoring.

Seconds after they rushed into action. The massive Scorpion armor shoulder tackled the massive steel door, and ripped through it like it was butter.

The Hammer team had their first fight.

＊＊＊

Valeri really hated his job some days. It was an easy job, no doubt about that. Guarding the eggheads and equipment that scrambled the Winter Soldier's brain. Well paid too, as long as one could live with often being in areas where you couldn't spend it.

But it was incredibly boring, the most boring job he'd ever had. They were long past the point where the soldier fought back, he was nothing but a puppet at this point. This most recent posting in the ass end of nowhere, Siberia, coming from the soldier showing emotion for a moment, the brass taking no chances even with such a small deviation. Ordering him off any further assignments, wanting him scrambled harshly and frozen for a time, again.

Just in case.

Since the soldier had been nearby, having been on assignment in Kazakhstan, they'd been sent to this installation, for its remoteness and protected status, an ideal place to store him for a time. Which meant instead of hanging around in a hotel, or having his fun in a nearby brothel in-between guard duty - he was stuck freezing his ass off in a drab bunker with the rest of his team.

The only food available was canned. The morale amongst his men wasn't high, and the posting hadn't even properly started yet.

Valeri was desperately trying to keep warm, walking to check on his men by the front entrance, just going around the corner, ready to tear into them for nothing other than boredom, when a thunderous explosion brought any thoughts to an end, the steel doors ripped through as something smashed into the bunker, dust, rocks, snow and debris falling into the entrance antechamber, his men scrambling for cover.

Valeri couldn't even reach for his firearm, his cigarette dangling from his lips as he stood frozen to the spot and just gaped at the black and dark green monster in their midst. A metallic Scorpion, tall enough he barely fit in the room, Valeri's brain finally rebooted enough to hit the alarm button on his radio, they needed the soldier, now!

The Scorpion's tail raised menacingly, poking over its shoulder, as his men opened fire, their assault rifles not even scratching it. The thing chuckling at the pings of bullets bouncing off its armor.

As Valeri yelled for grenades, the tail opened up, and a green laser fired out, sweeping from side to side, cutting through his men with ease. Valeri could only watch helplessly as the 8 men he'd placed in the antechamber were cut down like wheat in seconds. He'd seen a lot in his years as a mercenary and then HYDRA, but never men cut in half like that, still standing, the halves of his men sliding off them almost comically.

Valeri wasn't laughing.

The Scorpion walked forward, it's claws piercing the concrete as it came further in, Valeri noticed with panic that another figure followed it, a suit of armor with concentric circles around its arms, wait! They were pointing at him!? He needed to -.

A blinding flash was the last thing Valeri saw, a dark chuckle with a Russian sounding accent the last thing he heard.

＊＊＊

"Vulture, blow the exits." Frank ordered as he and Vanko made their way past the antechamber, the small guard placed there cut down with ease, barely able to mount a defense at all.

Behind them, the entrance was destroyed in missile fire, concrete and steel burying it beyond anything the people here could do to escape it in time.

Frank could hear several other explosions as well, which meant the Vulture had found and detonated other avenues to exit the Bunker. Having a flier on the team was definitely useful.

Whiplash stopped by the lone body that had by appearances, just arrived upon their entrance, the mad scientist chuckling as he patted the scorched body on the cheek.

"Friend of yours?" Frank asked, sarcastically.

Whiplash stood up, before stomping down on the man's skull, crushing it completely, "Went to same childhood school, threw dirt in face, once." Whiplash chuckled, "Fun, seeing old friend!"

Frank shook his head. Fucking Russians. He thought as they left the corpses behind and made their way further into the bunker. He was pretty sure Vanko was full of shit on that as well. Russia was way too big for him to have a school chum hang around here of all places. Right?

＊＊＊

Oliver Werner, the person currently in charge of the care of the Winter Soldier, swore extensively as his fourth attempt to contact anyone outside the bunker failed. Whoever was attacking had excellent jamming technology. Better than HYDRA, which did not bode well.

The fact they knew to hit them right now, as they'd just arrived to put the Winter Soldier on ice, boded even worse. HYDRA had a leak. And he couldn't even reach anyone to warn them!

Pierce was going to fuck him up the ass with a cheese grater if he didn't fix this!

"Stop them from putting the soldat on ice!" He screamed at one of his attendants, who immediately took off running. Hopefully he'd make it on time before their best weapon went into the ice. This is what they were limited to… People delivering orders by hand.

Phones, radio, even fucking emails, nothing was going through.

He watched on the cameras as the two armored individuals casually strolled through their installation chatting with each other without a care in the world, any of his few men that were stationed here, slaughtered on sight. The larger one so big his head scraped the ceiling yet moved with a casualness that belied its size.

They worked as a rule with low manpower around the soldat, the whole point was to fly under the radar, so they did not have a large contingent of soldiers as a result. Why would they need it when they had the Winter Soldier?

He was not sure the soldat could actually beat these monsters, which added to his blood pressure and stress levels. Their soldat was an assassin primarily, he was a tough fighter, as a super soldier should be, but what exactly was he supposed to do against miniature missiles, lasers and shots of plasma? Pure electricity? Or whatever it was the smaller armor fired off.

Grenades did nothing, mines seemed to amuse them, weapons fire was beyond useless, they might as well have been firing rubber bullets. He seriously doubted one soldier, no matter how strong, would be able to fight these two.

He nervously tapped his chin as he studied their enemy, if they lost the Winter Soldier here… Because surely that's why their enemy was here of all places to begin with… He'd better be dead, because once the HYDRA heads got a hold of him, death would be a relief.

Pierce alone was a monster in human skin, but he was a puppy compared to some of the people in HYDRA.

His eyes hardened as he made his decision, if he was risking things worse than death anyway… "Wake them!" He ordered sternly to his second in command.

Luckily enough, they were in the only location that happened to have other Winter Soldiers.

"Sir!?" The man protested, "They can't be controlled!"

He didn't care, at least they'd take out these interlopers, perhaps he'd be lucky and they'd both take each other out. "Do it!" He snapped, hand hovering above his holstered weapon.

"H-hail Hydra!" The man said weakly, before scrambling to get out of the room. The man was a coward, so he'd no doubt do as he's told, and then likely try to escape.

He was too busy watching their enemies' easy progress through the bunker to even bother answering his weasel like subordinate, let alone think more about what he would do, his mind racing instead, trying to find a way to get out of this situation alive.

He couldn't even abandon his men and get out, they'd managed to blow all the exits.

Who were these guys?

＊＊＊

"Seems the possibility outlined in the briefing is a go, boys, my sensors are picking up heat signatures in that missile silo." Rumlow reported over coms, his sensors able to penetrate through even the thick layers of the bunker when flying right above it. Hammer really had the good shit, or should he say Vanko?

There was silence for a moment, Rumlow could see miniature heat signatures disappearing one after one near Scorpion and Whiplash. He really wished he was part of the action, but the Vulture was better used in the skies.

"Copy that, they shouldn't be a problem." Frank responded with grim pleasure. "These suits are like nothing I've ever seen before."

Rumlow laughed, flaring out his wings, coming to a stop in mid-air hanging over the bunker, "Finally starting to enjoy yourself, Scorpion?"

"See, all good fun, da?" Whiplash said smugly, "Many good idea for upgrade."

Rumlow chuckled, "If you make them much better, Whiplash, we'll be unstoppable!"

"Is point." Whiplash said cheerfully.

Rumlow's sensors pinged, he turned and faced the other direction, "You better wrap it up boys, despite the fact we're supposed to be alone out here, I've got some friendly fighter jets coming my way."

The Vulture suit felt like a second skin around him as he aligned his wings and fired off several missiles as a nice hello, flying after them to ensure he'd take the bogeys down if they managed to evade, no survivors could make it out of here.

At least the jamming tech should prevent the pilots from reporting anything before their demise.

He honestly felt a little let down when the pilots didn't manage to avoid the missiles and exploded, swinging back towards the bunker, hoping his next outing would have some more action for him to get into, really take the thing for a spin.

In time baby, he mentally told the suit. In good time.

＊＊＊

They didn't bother with even attempting to be stealthy, they weren't made for it, and besides that, they were in a time crunch, whether it was Russia or HYDRA that scrambled jets so soon to meet them, they couldn't hang around too long or risk exposure.

Hammer especially didn't want exposure, not yet. He'd been very clear on that.

Frank would bet on HYDRA being behind scrambling the jets, they likely had some sort of automatic system to notify of a breach of the bunker. They'd already paid off the Russians so they shouldn't be mobilizing this quickly.

As they got to the entrance to the missile silo, Frank simply used his foreclaws to tear through it, tossing it like a frisbee at the six men and women standing inside.

They easily avoided it. But only one of them was properly dressed and armed to fire back. Seems the others had just been woken from a nap and didn't have their gear yet, how unfortunate for them.

The Winter soldier was there. Their target. Standing apart from the rest, his metal arm on display, he was absolutely loaded down with weapons, and he was already firing, each shot unerringly hitting Frank in the face of the Scorpion suit. And doing nothing. He'd need a lot more firepower for that.

The other five soldiers, with just having been woken up from the tanks, were barely dressed and had no weaponry, all five running full tilt towards him and Whiplash to engage in hand to hand. Almost amusing to see, if they weren't covering ground faster then a damn cheeta.

Frank swept his tail towards the female on the left even as he aligned his arms, inbuilt assault rifles firing against the approaching winter soldiers, forcing them to move, they might be super soldiers but they weren't bulletproof.

The female who wasn't being fired on, slid under his tail with a disparaging look on her face, one that turned to a scream as it turned slightly and fired the laser through her torso from behind, the woman cut in half in seconds, the super soldier serum apparently couldn't heal as well as Extremis, bad luck for them.

He idly noted Whiplash firing back and forth with their target, good. Of any of them, Whiplash was likely least suited to be pounded on by a group of super humans. Frank had a lot of armor covering the Scorpion suit.

It came into use as he continued firing. The soldiers splitting up, coming at him from different angles, one managing to hit him with a powerful haymaker that made him slide back ten feet, thanks to the inertial dampeners on the inside of his suit, Frank didn't even feel it.

The soldier paid for getting so close, Frank moved forward, back to the soldier, quickly the power inherent in his suit allowing him to leap forward. The suit was not as slow and cumbersome as it looked, his right claw ripped through the man's head as his left arm continued firing against the other soldiers, who annoyingly enough, dodged it all pretty well.

Oh, well, Frank thought, firing off his tail laser to deny them as much of an area to operate in, "They can't do anything to me, and they can't dodge forever.

Only a matter of time now.

＊＊＊

Whiplash versus Winter Soldier.

Whiplash flared the power of the arc reactor at the back of his right shoulder, spinning him perfectly out of the way of the metal fist of the winter soldier. At the same time he let off a paralyzing explosion of electricity, flowing out of his suit in an expanding dome from all the emitters he'd implanted in his armor.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Annoyingly enough, the soldier managed to throw himself out of the way and at the same time leave behind a bundle of grenades, forcing Whiplash to lose sight of him for just a moment as they exploded, throwing up debris in the air, stopping his next shot from hitting his elusive prey.

"Run run little rabbit, all you can do, huh?" He turned on his exterior speakers and taunted the elusive man.

He idly turned his right hand towards the other fight, the rings around his arm briefly lighting up, a bright lance of arc power shooting out, forcing the other soldiers into the kill zone of the Scorpion to avoid his shot and the laser that kept hemming them in that the Scorpion was making such good use of. It pleased Vanko to see his creations put to such good use. It would provide amazing data to allow him to continue to improve them.

The winter soldier had still not shown up, annoying him, he swept the silo with his sensors, his lips curling as he found the man up on the catwalks of the missile silo itself, just finishing putting a heavy duty sniper rifle together. "You think tiny toy hurt me? Why not use fists? Scared?" He continued to taunt the bogeyman that Russian children were read bedtime stories about.

This whole thing was cathartic because of memories of little Ivan - who'd worried the winter soldier would come out of his closet to strangle him.

Except the soldier didn't fire at him, he fired, and one of the catwalks fell down upon Vanko, who gritted his teeth in pure annoyance. It didn't actually hurt him, but this bug was getting annoying. Refusing to engage properly.

He idly noted the Scorpion putting down the last of the other fools, his intervention enough to force them all in close to the behemoth.

Eh, I'll get yelled at… But… Vanko thought, every arc reactor on him flaring up with power as he glared up at the irritating bug that would only fade in and out in battle instead of fighting him properly. The rings around his arms were now glowing so brightly that anyone looking at Vanko wouldn't be able to see anything but the light.

"Whiplash, NO!" The Scorpion yelled.

The Vulture cutting in on comms at the same time, "Guys I'm seeing a lot of heat build up, what ar-"

Vanko let loose, a beam as thick as a pickup truck flew from his arms, obliterating the missile silo as it flew over the Winter Soldier, he wasn't stupid. The silo crumbling down with an incredible amount of noise, half of it having been erased from existence, the soldier falling, debris raining down on him. The shockwave itself likely having knocked him out.

"- Nevermind, it was Whiplash." The Vulture finished. "I think they'll notice that, jamming or not." He added.

The Scorpion turned to glare at Whiplash, as stone and cement rained down on them, a particularly large piece being punched away by the enraged man. "Whiplash, go get the target before he's buried, and we will be talking about this!"

"No life signs in the building except you guys." The Vulture reported, now visible above them floating over the ruined silo.

"Hey… Whiplash…" The Vulture said slowly as Vanko dug the Winter Soldier out, "When you fired that, how did you know I wasn't right above you guys?"

...

Whiplash paused, "forgot about you." He admitted, laughing to himself.

The Vulture and Scorpion both decided that they'd need a serious conversation with Whiplash going forward.

No wonder the boss thought the man was nuts.

＊＊＊

One week later, hidden lab, New Jersey.

Justin stood on the other side of the cell, watching through the almost completely unbreakable glass as the Winter Soldier lay unconscious on an examination table. Unless he was hiding the Hulk in his pants, he wasn't going to be able to break out of the cell. And it would be easy enough to knock him out again through the ventilation system, isolated just for his cell to apply knockout gas.

Phantazia let out a breath next to him, "He's a myth, I've heard of him of course, who hasn't - in our business, but I hadn't believed it, not really."

"Fuck that, the fact he's James Buchanan Barnes, is even crazier." Domino said, eying him through the glass with a thoughtful frown, "Did you know that ahead of time, boss man?" She queried suspiciously, turning to eye him. Phantazia as well giving him the evil eye.

Justin grinned, "You should just assume I know everything, my dear Domino." He said smugly.

Domino snorted, shaking her head, "You don't have enough money to pay me to believe that!"

Phantazia sighed, giving Domino a look, "Considering what's coming, that's both untrue and a ridiculous argument to have anyway, he obviously knew."

Justin knew she was speaking on the absolute windfall of money he was so close to achieving. He'd literally soon have the ability to buy anything he wanted, after all. Including countries. Not that he wanted any, they'd be beyond annoying to rule.

Maya Hansen left the cell, finished with her examination, "You are not going to stop shocking me with crazy things are you?" She asked dryly, eyes going to the unconscious world war two veteran.

Justin just grinned easily, "It makes life interesting, you know you love it, doc." He gestured to Bucky, "What's the prognosis?"

Maya frowned, crossing her arms, "Extremis might work… I'll need a lot of further testing. Parts of his brain have been scorched so hard I'm surprised he has any memories, I'm not surprised his long term memories have issues. Extremis should return his brain to a peak state that theoretically should fix the underlying issue."

"But?" Justin asked, frowning slightly, it sounded like she was not very sure about the effects.

Maya threw her hands out, 'He's a super soldier," She stressed, "I don't know how that will interact with Extremis, or if his brain healing will bring back memories, I'm not an expert on the human brain by any stretch."

Maya hadn't even finished Extremis on her own, so she wasn't an expert on that either, but Justin didn't say it. Pointing out she'd needed Cho and Vanko to help wouldn't win him any points with the woman.

Justin hummed thoughtfully, he did have a resource for her however that he didn't need for anything else too severely. "I do have another man with the super soldier serum, a more expendable subject. If you have a test subject you can play around with without worrying about consequences, would that help you work out any kinks?" He asked, uncaring if it meant the death of Isaiah Bradley, "I'll get you a brain specialist to bounce ideas off too."

Even if he'd need to bury them in so many NDA's their grandchildren wouldn't be allowed to talk until their deathbeds.

Maya smiled, eyes shiny with the madness of science behind them. "That would do perfectly," She chirped, all smiles now, "A subject to test everything on would drastically increase the chances of success on the main subject."

Justin texted Bakshi, putting his phone away right after, walking away from the comatose Winter Soldier. "Bakshi has been made aware, you will get access to Bradley again. Good luck doc, I expect results."

He'd fix Bucky up, and then have up to two years to condition the man to be in his corner, it wouldn't be hard to showcase the evils of SHIELD and the governments of the world compared to all the good he could do. He wouldn't even have to lie. The governments of the world were just that bad at taking care of their people.

Justin making Extremis available to everyone already would set him apart massively from governments who would have hoarded the invention and used it to make more super soldiers. The fact Justin wasn't but he could have - would win him a ton of clout with Barnes.

Sure he wasn't lily white, but someone like the previous Winter Soldier wouldn't care about that overly, not if it made the world greatly better against minor sacrifices.

Of course he'd have to make sure that Bradley wasn't revealed, that part of his operation would probably have to be buried by the time Barnes was up and about. But really, it would be worth it.

And he'd make sure Bucky didn't follow Captain America around like a puppy. It wouldn't be that hard to get the man a therapist that would subtly work the man away from that unhealthy relationship. Constantly hinting that Steve had used him. How selfish he'd always been, taking up military resources by lying and trying to get in when he was obviously unfit. Caring more about himself than the service. It could be spun that way. After all, if that Steve had been allowed in - he would have gotten people killed.

Even when he became the super version of himself, even if he won by doing it - he didn't follow orders. The damage he could have done, just because it worked a couple times, what would happen to all the regular soldiers that didn't have his protection if he messed up the general staff's strategies?

The best way to lie was to mix in so much truth that the lie didn't sound so unreasonable. Of course this would have to be done very slowly over the process of two years by the therapist, but it had potential.

He'd likely never make Bucky an enemy of Captain America, but he'd settle for making him friendly, but with no interest in going to work for the spandex idiot. With Bucky as his man, Captain America would not move against him unless he announced an intention to conquer the world or something equally asinine.

He'd made an investment in the one armed man, whether he agreed or not, he belonged to Justin now.

＊＊＊

Justin just couldn't help it, chortling to himself as he watched, in his new Manhattan office, having just returned from New Jersey, as his computer screen played a video of Natasha Romanoff being heckled by noobies. He'd utilized Bakshi to find out what effect his lovely little ploy with the Black Widow had on SHIELD, mostly just for fun, and, he admitted to himself, a slight bit of curiosity to see if it had worked, in making her seem less competent.

He wanted to know If it had worked in making the deadly bogeyman of the spy community (Other than the Winter soldier) seem human and just as much a failure as anyone else. Maybe a little more than anyone else actually, considering the embarrassment of having her mark know about her the entire time and just stringing her along because she was good on her knees.

Bakshi's stock had risen in HYDRA the more waves Justin had made with his mad spending, with what to their eyes must be some sort of hidden plan laying behind it, one that no one else knew about. And with the steady drip of misinformation Bakshi was feeding them, Bakshi was now considered a reliable asset to the organization - at least until they'll realize it's all bullshit anyway when Justin truly steps out. So it was not any hardship for Bakshi to use his HYDRA connection to get a good view inside SHIELD's system.

It was in fact hilariously easy. SHIELD really was infested.

Perhaps Justin had made himself an enemy he needn't have made by playing with the naughty little spider. But he held strong opinions on most of the Avengers and the Black Widow, just like Captain America and Tony Stark, were high up on his list of people he held in absolute contempt, due to a mix of his memories from his original world and a mix of Justin's own dislike of Tony Stark. To boot Justin had never liked it when people were put on pedestals and idolized and then did nothing with it.

Stark and Banner at least, could have revolutionized the world. Instead they were too busy with personal drama to do fuck all. Yeah, yeah, saved the world, whatever. Half those issues they created themselves.

Their characters might have been fun or interesting, if he was watching a set of movies. Here, where their decisions actually impacted his life and the world he was living in… He was not thrilled to be sharing space with such complete morons.

Their only solution to any problem seemed to be to hit it with a stick - and if it didn't work, make a bigger stick and hit it again. What problem in the world did they actually solve? What did they do, that couldn't have been done better with someone that actually thought ahead. Movie logic…

So many of the threats were self-inflicted or could have been diverted by just stopping and thinking for one moment.

He did not intend to have Ultron happen… Also, there were other ways to defeat HYDRA other than burning every agent of SHIELD and their families - without even once seeking other options or the help of someone like the AI they knew… Or his slightly useless, but could have probably helped - drunk landlord.

As much as he detested Tony Stark, he could, grudgingly, admit - that he'd have been able to do more in Winter Soldier then all the actual combatants combined - if he'd been involved. Without ever using his suit.

His AI, his hacking skills, and the fact helicarriers were built with his tech! Even his connection with Rhodey could have brought in a small cadre of military brass to authorize an operation - HYDRA couldn't be everywhere. If anyone could sift through someone's life and confirm they were clean - it would be Jarvis.

Only movie logic had someone like Nick Fury back down to Captain - doesn't matter who dies, as long as Bucky lives - America.

Movie logic dictated the absolute stupidity that led to the world losing half its population. But Justin had seen nothing from his informants and the literal HYDRA spies Bakshi had access to - that said the notable people of interest were any different then their movie selves, which is why he treated them with such contempt. If anything everything he'd seen confirmed that Stark, Banner and the members of SHIELD were exactly as portrayed. Even the mutants being in the mix hadn't changed any of that - apparently their mostly hidden status meant the future Avengers themselves hadn't dealt with many, even if SHIELD itself certainly had.

Badly. They'd dealt with them badly.

Justin had seen the files. Just wow. HYDRA hadn't even needed to sabotage anything. SHIELD messed up that first contact situation all on their own.

Fury had a cadre of shapeshifting aliens doing his shit and he still couldn't deal with his own backyard. Luckily anything sensitive in Justin's company was specifically hidden away in a way that even shapeshifters wouldn't find easily.

So yes, his memories had certainly had a big part in how he'd acted with Natashalie.

He vividly remembered the arrogance of the Black Widow, mouthing off to the elected representatives of the country she lived and operated in, after carelessly killing god knows who many. Justin didn't particularly care one way or the other what Congress wanted either. Other than donating (bribing) his money to them to ensure his business didn't encounter difficulties.

The illusion was there for the common rabble however, that the people in Congress worked for them - so it took a certain kind of person to tell them to stuff it, because all the murder was fine, because reasons.

Tony Stark and Captain America both showed equal disregard to the governments of the world. Again… Justin held disregard for the government too, and would become powerful enough where he could completely ignore them - but these people's arrogance broke the universe. So Justin felt perfectly entitled to rank his feelings above theirs.

He didn't need to become a tyrant, ruling the world was just plain stupid, he'd just have to deal with riots and rebellions all day long, everyday. His plan would have his companies become so interwoven with human life day to day - that no government would ever dare offend him, knowing he was untouchable - or he might withdraw his services from that particular country. Much simpler.

Of course he could be simply defeated by all the governments of the world making him an ultimatum.

But they couldn't even agree to stop bombing each other, so that frankly was never going to happen.

Justin was practically within reach of world domination. A decade tops. Without ever having to deal with elections or rebellion or anything silly like that.

And yet, he felt his arrogance, (justified, he thought, with his coming achievements) was matched by the so called heroes. Who, except for Spiderman, the one hero Justin could really respect, even if he thought him ridiculously self limited - seemed to disregard the common man and elected officials like they were trash.

Natasha Romanoff had not yet had the chance to betray every SHIELD agent. Nor the secrets that likely protected many lives - that also were leaked and led to numerous deaths. She had not yet helped Captain Righteous hold secrets from a teammate that ruined everything. She had not yet played both sides in a civil war that ensured Thanos won.

Justin was a villain however, even if he wasn't the spandex type of villain. So he didn't quibble about minor things like punishing someone for something they hadn't done yet. And either way, it was hardly like she was an innocent woman to begin with.

So therefore, he could, with conscience clear, eat popcorn while chuckling along as SHIELD noobies heckled the feared Black Widow. Her sex tape having spread faster than the speed of light in the spy community.

Of course, dear Natasha took them down for the sheer temerity of the baby ducklings daring to talk smack to her - backed up by the ever loyal Hawkeye who seemed none too pleased at what he was hearing. But it didn't help her, as immediately one of the members of the STRIKE team that was around in the canteen, made a loud comment on having seen her make those exact moves in bed and asked if she was doing a reenactment with the recruits.

Justin would never admit that he giggled and almost choked on his popcorn, as the Black Widow looked around in barely hidden frustration, finding no real allies.

Thank god that SHIELD was paranoid enough to have mic's as well as cameras spying on even their own people at their most relaxed - this all wouldn't be as fun without the sound.

Guess being a duplicitous cold bitch that likes betraying everyone and everything isn't working out for dear Natashalie, Justin thought, smirking to himself, practically feeling her reputation lowering amongst her fellow agents.

Justin turned the monitor off with a pleased sigh. That worked out really well.

Good luck spying on Stark industries as a well known porn sensation, Natashalie… He thought viciously. Even Stark couldn't miss that!

One Avengers reputation shot down…

Who should he go after next?

＊＊＊

One week before the Afghanistan situation.

Justin might not have the reputation of Tony Stark, but he could still arrange a meeting with a US general on short notice without an issue. Especially this type of general. The one willing to make deals that were not all above board as long as it benefited America.

He sauntered into the testing site, the general he'd be meeting having already cleared him, his bodyguards and security detail, and the equipment they were bringing with them, ahead of time - so they could skip the tedious frisking process.

Justin wouldn't have done that for his mother, god rest her soul, so he couldn't understand that carelessness, but it did save him time today, so he was pleased. Never interrupt someone making a mistake after all. Letting stupid people stick around, just made it easier to continue to get one over them.

"General Ross, an absolute pleasure! Still as fit as ever I see, how ever do you do it!?" Justin called out as they entered the area specifically built to test small arms and rifles.

The bunker had targets scattered throughout, barriers interspersed to test how much damage to a structure a shot could do - as well, they also had those see through dummies with fake organs in them, so that they could see what a shot would do to a human body.

All of it behind a clear line to one side of the bunker, making the safe side set apart from the unsafe side. Some barriers hiding dummies behind them, some allowing just part of a head peeking out. Giving many options to test a weapon.

Justin couldn't quite bring out the big guns yet, and risk leaking it to Stark and his pet AI. But some small stuff that he'd ask Ross to sit on for a week or two in exchange for a deal of mutual assistance, as well as help with the top brass when the time came?

It would help to have even the tiniest bit of insider knowledge inside the government that Justin wasn't full of shit - once he kicked things off.

Ross would play ball. It helped that he was really not Tony's biggest fan. And having Ross in his corner would really help speed up Justin's plans once he really started releasing innovations left right and center. He was a notable patriot with a bevy of very useful connections, he would push ahead stubbornly at full speed if he believed Justin was the wave of the future.

No need to tell the poor old man yet, that Justin had no intention of only selling to America or NATO. His innovations needed to be worldwide if they were going to be able to defend themselves from alien invasions. If people warred with each other and killed each other with his weapons? Well they were going to do that anyway, what did he care. That had been Tony's mistake, people were always going to kill each other anyway.

With the innovations he was bringing to the market, and his buddy the president in his corner, he could handle the PR hit of selling his weapons to China and Russia. And as angry as people like Ross would become at that - they couldn't exactly stop buying from Justin - if their enemies now had the weapons too.

Ross would be useful for now, until he turned on Justin, he hadn't yet tarnished his reputation as much as he would one day, either, so it was the perfect time to strike when it came to take advantage of his zealous lust for carnage.

He'd be easy enough to drop away if he became a problem later, just using the information from Banner and Blonsky when that went down. Maybe. Somehow the guy had managed to weasel into secretary of state after all. So he obviously had some hidden dimensions.

Although this time around, when they'd throw down, maybe Hulk and the Abomination would be hit by a little bit more than bullets thanks to Justin.

They could take it.

Flanked by a few aides and another lesser general that Justin did not recognize, Ross stepped forward, in full uniform, to shake Justin's hand, "Hammer, this better be something worth my while, I don't appreciate having my time wasted." Ross said sharply, "Don't waste my time with flowery language, show me what you have or get out!"

Justin showed no reaction to the harshness in the general's demeanor. Hammer Industries had not exactly blown the market apart with innovation, so he supposed he did not yet have the reputation to move past Thaddeus Ross's skepticism.

Well… Time to change that. Justin stepped away from the general, snapping his fingers theatrically, a small black rod immediately being tossed through the air by Phantazia, which Justin caught and twirled dramatically in front of him with a playful smirk on his face. He held it out in front of him horizontally, "Oh, I think I can deliver…" He said sliding his thumb over the activation button. A blue forcefield expanding in front of the baton, forming a riot shield looking forcefield, the handle protected behind it. It covered most of Justin's form. Yeah Wakanda, suck it! He had forcefields too!

Every eye in the room was drawn to him as he casually waved the shield around, showcasing how weightless it was, and the ease of maneuvering it. "The battery on this baby, proprietary Hammer tech of course, can last for over 12 hours once activated and without taking any fire, and over 4 hours with sustained small arms fire."

He put the shield in front of himself, ducking down a little to cover himself fully, "Now, for assault rifles or anti-tank weapons and the like, they'll hold for a bit, but further testing is needed to figure out how long."

Either way, it would be superior to anything else on the planet. Except cheaters like magic users or mutants. It would also by happenstance give the police something to use to protect themselves against power users, at least the straightforward ones.

Wasn't much anyone could do to protect themselves from the likes of Magneto. Well… The baton was not metal. For that reason exactly, Justin could be petty, who knew. Still wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

Justin, the blue glow of the arc battery powered force shield reflecting off his glasses, grinned at the surprised general who had a covetous look on his stern face now, "I see you have a personal weapon strapped on, general, if you would pl-" Justin didn't get to finish before General Ross swiftly removed his pistol and from just six feet away fired six quick rounds at different spots on the shield. Each unsuccessful in piercing the shield. Justin sighed, "You could have let me finish before you shot me." He chided, not really annoyed, he had supreme confidence in this product, and extremis would ensure he'd suffer no real damage if it should fail.

Plus, Domino and Phantazia were here, it would take some pretty fine shooting by the general to truly hurt him.

The aides were muttering to each other with the other general in the mix, all of them looked excited. Ross himself - put his gun away, grunting shortly, giving Justin a cool nod, trying to play it like he wasn't extremelyinterested. "Nice toy, got anything else?" He said callously.

This product was something Justin knew would sell well. For one, every police service in the world would likely buy them en masse. And since they were battery operated, a battery only Justin would produce - his sales would continue for the life of the product. Arc reactor powered batteries would be the backbone of his entire company.

SHIELD had played around with the tesseract to achieve the same thing, except with weapons. Battery operated phase weapons - Tesseract batteries. But the Tesseract was not a continuous resource, his batteries would be. And of course… Justin and Vanko and their arms department hadn't only produced a shield.

"Oh, we got all the toys, general." Justin said excitedly, Domino stepped up and took the deactivated baton from him, handing him a small gun, where instead of the smooth barrel, it was blocky and more reminiscent of a taser. He held a glowing battery in his hand, showcasing it to the general, before slotting it into the magazine of the gun. Notably… This also wasn't made of metal. Yeah, SHIELD and every police service in North America was going to throw money at him.

Justin wondered how many days after this it would be before he had another visit from Mystique. Hopefully Magneto wouldn't bother to come himself. Phantazia could shut him down if in close enough, but couldn't do anything if Magneto rained metal from the skies.

Well, Justin had other contingencies if Magneto showed up. He would not be caught with his pants down like last time. Not ever again.

"Taser, by the look of it." Ross said, unimpressed, "These are all more suited to police action than war, why aren't you bothering the NYPD with this?"

God, this man really was a contrary cunt no matter what… Justin thought. He knew Ross was interested still, even if he was also correct in a way, these things would be more suited for policing. But they were the taster, the prelude to the main menu, the proof of concept, before he brought out the truly good stuff.

"The good stuff is coming, my friend." Justin said, before pointing the taser at Phantazia, this had already been set up beforehand. He pulled the trigger, and instead of working like a regular taser, a quick bolt reminiscent of something from star wars, more than conventional arms, shot off and impacted the mutant.

She immediately fell unconscious, one of his men having stood ready to catch her as she slumped down.

Justin drew the general's attention from where the frowning man was looking over at the downed woman, "From testing, the general baseline of someone hit with this - is that they stay unconscious for two hours, give or take a few minutes." Justin showed the side of the gun, showcasing a dial with one red side and one green. He switched the dial to green." If you need them awake sooner, well, beside being a night-night gun, it's also a wakey-wakey one!" He said playfully, aiming and shooting off another shot, Phantazia opening her eyes soon after, being helped up on her feet, only slightly woozy from the effects.

Arc reactor power, especially with Justinium behind it - was literally magic. It was pure bullshit, and Justin and Vanko could do so much shit with it.

Tony Stark was a god damn asshole for not doing more, instead being busy punching people in a suit of armor.

Ross still remained stone faced, making a gesture like, get on with it then. Not seemingly aware of the excitement behind him, where his aides and lower general were all practically wetting themselves.

"Tough customer, huh, nothing less than I expected, let's get to the real firepower then." Justin said, his grin a little bit strained, he knew the man would be an asshole about this until he saw the finale, but still, Justin was showing him a revolution, where was the - Oh my God's and the - How did you do that!?

"How about I let you take this next one for a spin general?" Justin said, waving one of his security detail forward with a case.

The man put the case on one of the tables meant for precisely this kind of thing, Ross and his coterie crowding around as the case is unlocked and flipped open, showing an assault rifle, one slightly blockier than normal.

Yeah, he was going to piss Magneto off… It wasn't made of metal either. It was a proprietary hard plastic alloy that needed the power of an arc reactor to pull off manufacturing properly. If Magneto had never threatened him, he'd likely never would have bothered to push Vanko to find a solution, so really, it was Magneto's own fault.

No more pulling guns out of people's hands, asshole. No bullets for him to fire back. He'll have to learn to dodge or it's night-night time. Of course this does nothing to prevent him from lifting a tank up and tossing it at the people firing, but at least it's something. Regular grunts is no longer something he can complete ignore.

Ross grunted in apparent satisfaction, "That's more like it Hammer," His visage darkened as he met Justin's eyes," This better not be to something that just makes people sleepy, war isn't like some street corner in Manhattan…" He barked.

Tch, like the motherfucker can't see exactly what I see, one of his jobs is deploying after threats like Magneto… Justin thought. No matter, he wouldn't allow the surly general ruin his day.

Justin smiled slyly, waving to the assault rifle, "Well, an eternal rest is something this baby can give anyone."

Ross scoffed, but he couldn't quite hide the eagerness in his eyes as he lifted the weapon out of the case. Easily handling it as it wasn't too different from normal US military equipment. More lightweight though, which would likely be an adjustment.

"Battery is already in, this baby is ready, all you gotta do is aim, and press the trigger, general." Justin said eagerly, rubbing his hands together. The rifle, except for its slightly blockier design to make room for the battery and to shape the firing beam, was otherwise modeled after any regular assault rifle.

Ross stepped over to the firing range, getting a feel for the weapon, putting it in a proper firing position, then he removed the safety, and with an eye on the human doll target.

He fired.

Between one moment and the next a blue beam left the rifle and impacted the doll, its entire lower torso burning away on contact, the steam of the organs exploding rising up. It was without a doubt, a kill shot.

Everyone on the general's side were gaping in shock for a moment, the aides soon tittering with each other while the general amongst them looked like Christmas had arrived and Santa brought weapons of mass destruction for everyone.

Ross hummed, firing off another shot at one of the barricades, the gun firing almost completely silently, the shot hammered a decent size hole into the barrier, proving its versatility as no regular assault rifle would have done that damage to a structure, pleasing the general. He turned towards Justin, for the first time since they arrived, he smiled, eyes glittering with greed.

"Alright, you got me, Hammer, I want all of it, yesterday!

"What else you got?" He asked after a moment, caressing the rifle.

Justin's grin turned positively evil.

＊＊＊

Wakanda royal palace,

The meeting was tense, the different representatives from the various tribes of Wakanda seated in a circle ahead of their king and his heir.

"We can not allow this, the outside world can not be allowed the technological level to threaten Wakanda." W'Kabi argued passionately. Receiving more agreeing mutters than opponents.

T'Chaka sighed deeply, the arguments had been ongoing for hours, the information their war dogs had returned after months of efforts on spying on Hammer Industries having clued them in on how close they were on matching or even potentially exceeding Wakanda's technological advantage.

"Baba, you need to say something." T'Challa whispered to him, bent close so none of the tribal council elders could hear him, or read his lips.

T'Chaka knew he needed to make a decision. He just wasn't sure what the right one would be. For the future of Wakanda they could not allow the entire world to reach a parity in technology. They would not react kindly to the hidden nation having kept to themselves this entire time.

Yet to deprive the world of green energy and advancement, was that the right choice? He knew his son was steadfast in his belief, but he was yet young, had not seen the consequences of making the wrong decisions.

The enemy did not have Vibranium, but this Arc reactor technology was capable of feats that almost matched their vaunted metal. But it also stood to do a lot of good for the world.

Never before has he had the choice where so much good could be done, but such a choice would weaken Wakanda to an extreme level.

In the end, he's the king of Wakanda. There is only one choice. He raised a hand, stopping the arguments. "Justin Hammer will need to be removed." He said tiredly, a sad undertone to his judgment. "The war dogs will kidnap him, learn who is the head researcher on these technologies, and then execute a raid to destroy these and remove the researchers." He smiled sadly, "He is too much of a threat and will have to be killed once all useful information has been extracted."

T'Challa gave his father a proud smile as the arguments in the council ceased, the majority praising his decision, their loyalty visibly rising with such wise judgment.

Wakanda would remain ascendant.

＊＊＊

Mystique was annoyed, she double checked her orders, a frown on her face.

Why did Hammer have to be so obstinate? Did he really think she wouldn't find out and report it to Erik? She might not be able to infiltrate the upper echelons of his organization due to all the crazy obstacles they'd put in place to verify their staff on a daily basis.

But a regular low level grunt did not face that kind of scrutiny, she had no problem walking in and out and finding out information, even if it was never the top secret stuff she was so used to getting.

So Hammer was about to provide an arsenal of highly effective non metal weapons to all comers. That is a remarkably bad decision, she'd thought him smarter after his little chat with Erik.

She'd have to go after him now, she looked over her orders again, what a pain…

At least Erik just wanted to talk, for now.

Unfortunate for her however. It was much easier to plan out an assassination than a kidnapping. Especially with someone with such a paranoid level of security as Hammer.

She'd find a way.

There was always a way when you were a shapeshifter.

See you soon, Justin. She thought, licking her lips, she'd make him suffer for making her work for it this hard.

It was only fair.

＊＊＊

Justin was waiting, filled with anticipation and he admitted, some fear as well. What if something went wrong?

His plans needed Tony Stark out of the way for maximum success. He could work with him not being captured in Afghanistan, but it would be less than ideal.

He hadn't remembered the exact date for his kidnapping, but spying on SI through Bakshi's HYDRA allies, had gotten him advance notice of the weapons demonstration in Afghanistan.

So now he was waiting. Impatiently.

His phone buzzed, and Justin almost knocked it off the desk in his rush to reach it.

One text from Bakshi filled him with euphoria.

He's taken.

Justin laughed, "It's my world now! Tony!" He screamed to the ceiling of his penthouse.

＊＊＊