C107 Spider-Man (Patreon)
Content
Making their way through the fairly empty raceway, Peter walked up to the group of Avengers that have gathered around the now detained Ivan Vanko.
Logan was awake and sitting on the ground with a tired look on his face. He may be able to heal extremely quickly but the pain and experience of having his entire skeleton electrified seems to have taken a toll. At least mentally.
Victor, Nightcrawler, and Storm were standing guard over Ivan, who was tied up in his own whips with a conflicted look on his face.
On one hand, he completed what he set out to accomplish. Proving Tony’s words at the Committee meeting wrong.
‘... I’d say most countries are five or ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty...’
Tony said before the world that no one would be able to copy what he has created. In Peter's humble opinion that’s still true, as the only piece of equipment that resembles Tony’s Iron Man suit is Vankos arc reactor, but the public probably wouldn’t see things that way.
Those with ulterior motives would come out of the woodwork and start making a fuss, which would then rile up those with similar opinions and sway those that are susceptible.
On the other hand, He also wanted to injure the son of the man that ruined his and his father's lives. He knew that the odds were against him, as Tony’s suit was far better than his own. After all, the man had more money, time, and resources to put into his suit.
Although killing him wasn’t possible just yet, injuring him was certainly plausible.
‘...If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in him. There will be blood in the water, the sharks will come. The truth is, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you....’ Ivan said in the movie.
In order to truly set the public against Tony Stark, Vanko wanted to show that the hero they worshipped was only human. Sadly, he didn’t even get the chance to fight who he wanted.
Peter made sure of that.
“Hello, Ivan Vanko, correct?” Peter says as they stroll over with Tony and Pepper following closely behind him.
“Huh? What do you want?” Vanko says in distaste as he turns to see Tony standing beside Peter. “Stark! The son of a thief finally shows himself!”
Tony doesn’t reply just yet as he walks over and takes a look at Vanko’s equipment.
“Pretty decent tech. Cycles per second look a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations. You focused the repulsor energy through ionized plasma channels. It’s effective. Not very efficient, but it’s a passable knock-off.” Tony says as he examines the broken arc reactor on Vanko’s chest. ”I don’t get it. A little fine-tuning and you could have made a solid paycheck. You could have sold it to North Korea, China, or Iran, or gone onto the black market like your father. I’m sure he would be happy to share his connections with you.”
“My father is dead.” Ivan says as he glares at Tony. “He’s the reason you’re alive...”
“Well, my condolences, I guess...” Tony says, unsure of how to answer that.
“You come from a family of thieves and butchers.” Vanko didn’t care for Tony’s condolences as he spat in his direction. ”Now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. You forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed. Mine and my fathers are only small pebbles in that mountain.”
“Okay...” Tony says as he doesn’t know whether to feel bad for him or not. “Well, have fun in your prison cell. I’ll send you a bar of soap and some porn magazines.”
After stripping Vanko of his equipment and confiscating it, they handed him off to the police and went on their way. Of course, Peter dispatched some Hand ninjas to follow and keep an eye on things. Just in case.
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“...I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can’t exist anywhere else, don’t exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realizing that these suits exist now!”
Stern was giving a speech on the TV in the council room of Avengers Tower. Just as Peter expected, the clowns came out of the woodwork to capitalize on this incident.
“The snakes are out...” Tony mutters as he came to the same conclusion.
“Yeah, but they can do nothing.” Peter says as he gets a text and checks his phone. “I have to go. I’ll be back soon with a present for you.”
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In a pristine private airplane hangar, armed security patrols the area as Justin Hammer sits at a fancy dinner table with a glass of red wine in hand. Standing beside him like a sort of attendant, Hammer's beautiful assistant waits patiently to help with any of her boss's whims.
Moments later, a line of blacked-out SUVs drives in passed the security and park one by one beside a private jet. The doors open and similar-looking security guards come pouring out and escort a bound and blindfolded man to the dinner table, seating him across from Hammer.
Ripping off the blindfold, the man is revealed to be Ivan Vanko, freshly broken out of prison.
“Hey, there he is! What an absolute pleasure. Welcome.” Hammer tries his best to make a good impression, but Vanko looks at him as if he were an idiot. ”Oh goodness gracious. Can we get the handcuffs off my friend here? Forgive me, I’m such a huge fan of yours. I didn’t want to make a first impression like this. He’s not an animal. Come on, he’s a human being.”
Warily following their boss's orders, guards take off the restraints but stick close by, ready for any possible attacks from their ‘guest’.
“My name is Justin Hammer. I’d like to do some business with you. Please sit. Dig in. What do we have today Jack?” Hammer introduces himself and turns to speak to a nearby waiter.
“Salmon carpaccio, sir.” He answers instantly and dutifully.
“Anything you want here, we got it. I like my wine first. I had this flown in from San Francisco. It’s Italian though. Organic somehow as well. I have a bit of an obsession. Apparently, you do too, for Tony Stark. I couldn’t bare to have you shipped off to God knows where. It would have been such a waste of talent, but if I might make a suggestion. You shouldn’t just go and try to kill the guy. Go after his legacy. That’s what you kill. Then you can off him later on.” Hammer says and pauses, hoping for Ivan to join the conversation but he doesn’t.
“You and me, we are a lot alike in a lot of ways. The only difference between you and me is that I have resources. I think, if I may, you need my resources. Someone behind you, a benefactor. I’d like to be that guy. What do you think?” Hammer asks.
“Если меня убьют, не буди меня. Лучше умереть, чем жить в своем мире.” Vanko pretends that he doesn’t speak English.
“Okay, do you speak English? Because I can get a translator. I don’t know. Have you been understanding everything I’m saying?” Hammer asks, hiding his annoyance as best as he can.
“Very good, man.” Vanko says in broken English.
“Very good... man.” Hammer repeats, hoping that meant he understood.
“Very good, man.” Vanko repeats one more time with a nod.
“Cheers!” Hammer holds up his glass toward his new partner.
“Будем здоровы!” Ivan grabs the wine bottle and clinks it against the glass before taking a big swig of it.
As Hammer was celebrating internally, Vanko spoke up.
“I want my bird.” Vanko says in his fake broken English.
“A bird? You want a bird?” Hammer asks in confusion.
“I want my bird.” Ivan clarifies.
“I can get you a bird. I can get you ten birds.” Hammer says, hoping to solve this quickly.
“I want my bird.” He clarifies a bit more forcefully this time.
“Well, okay. Nothing’s impossible. I could... What are we talking about... Is this a bird back in Russia?”
As they were talking, a blue and red-clad man in a spider-themed suit walks down the runway toward the heavily guarded hangar. He walked in a casual manner as one by one the guards noticed his arrival and cocked their guns, aiming them in his direction and calling out over the radio.
A/N: 1445 words :)