"I know," said Tony quietly by way of apology for his earlier behaviour, "but what I need right now is to make sure Pepper is safe and MC Hammeroid in there doesn't have something else up his incompetent sleeve."
Happy nodded his understanding and let Tony go inside without him. He was confident now Tony would call if he needed him. Once Tony had disappeared inside the prison, Happy pulled out his cell phone and dialled a familiar number. It was a relief to hear Pepper's calm tone as she answered the phone. Happy smiled, unconsciously exposing his gap toothed appearance. "Hey there, boss lady, I hear you had an eventful day without me yesterday. Are you okay?" he asked huskily. The three of them were a strange little family, but the long hours and oft times off-beat working conditions of being employed by Tony Stark had definitely made them into that. Happy felt a brotherly protectiveness for Pepper, and it pained him to think her life had been in danger and he never knew.
"Oh, Happy," she sighed on the other end of the phone, "it's so good to hear your voice, and yes, I'm fine." She hesitated. "Is Tony with you?"
"Yes."
"Is he alright?" she asked unevenly.
"No, not even a little bit." Happy could picture Pepper biting her bottom lip at this information, which was a nervous habit of hers.
"Take care of him for me, won't you?" she asked anxiously.
"You know I will," he promised her.
"And bring him home," Pepper implored him softly. "I want us all to be together."
"I know." Happy looked over his shoulder at the austere prison wall. "We're not far away. I promise, I'm going to bring him home to you, Pepper. Don't worry."
Tony nodded at the prison guard as he let him into the waiting room which held a shackled Justin Hammer. Tony had no compunction in using his name and money to get a private audience with the man and the prison warden had been very accommodating. He walked into the room and took the seat from where Justin was handcuffed to the metal table. Justin looked no different from the many other times they'd met in the past, prison obviously not having been as hard on him as Tony had hoped.
The man grinned that inane smile of his at him. "Tony, well, well, isn't this a pleasant surprise? To what do I owe the honour of a visit from the great man himself?"
"I'll give you one guess," Tony growled at him.
"You want me to lend a little brain power on a new design project you've got going on, couldn't handle it by yourself?" Justin suggested brightly.
Tony's expression didn't change, he just maintained his cold regard of the other man.
Justin shook his head and chuckled. "I jest, I jest." He fixed Tony with a knowing look. "Everyone knows you don't need anyone, isn't that right, Tony?"
Tony didn't answer, wondering how this idiot of a man could have almost stolen Pepper away from him forever. His jaw hardened at the thought.
"But seriously," a smirk crossed over Justin's face, "I've been expecting you."
Tony looked at him disgust. "Don't make out like you're some Persian-stroking, Bond villain holding court, Hammer. The only pussy here is you, going after a defenceless woman the way you did."
Justin snorted, all pretence of being easy-going disappearing. "Pepper Potts isn't defenceless, she's a money-grabbing, power-hungry bitch who does what and who she needs to get what she wants," he spat out.
Tony didn't even think, his body reacted for him. His hand snapped out and grabbed the front of Hammer's orange jump suit, pulling it down so hard that the other man was forced to follow and smash his face on the metal table. Hammer gave a grunt of pain and stayed face down on the table until Tony could hear little sounds of laughter.
Justin was still chuckling to himself as he straightened up. He gave Tony an amused look, ignoring the way his lip had been split open. "I guess we know the who of who and what now, huh?" He leaned forward, tone dropping to a conspiratorial level. "Tell me, Tony, I've always wondered, do the cuffs match the collar on that one?" He gave Tony a lecherous look. "I know I've always hoped so."
Tony grabbed the front of Hammer's jump suit again and slammed him face down on the metal table yet again. This time the other man was slower to get up.
Hammer gradually straightened up, spitting out blood. "You know, Tony, if you do that one more time, I'll begin to think we're not friends anymore," he said around a mouthful of blood.
Sheer rage was pumping through every cell of Tony's body and it was all he could do not to snap the other man's neck. "You go near her again, I'll kill you."
Justin spat out some more blood before replying. "Tut, tut, Anthony, haven't you read the hero handbook? Heroes aren't allowed to kill people."
"You're not people," said Tony coldly, "not now you've gone after Pepper." Tony gave him a hard look. "And you failed, by the way, Pepper is safe and sound." It felt good to be able to say those words. "I thought you might want to know so you can add this latest failure to the long list of all your others."
Justin shrugged. "Ah, what are you gonna do, right?"
Tony looked at him in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Justin looked philosophical. "Well, you only truly fail if you never try," he pondered. "So, I don't count this as a failure."
"Can I take it from that you're going to try again?" asked Tony sharply.
Justin wiped his still bleeding lip on the shoulder of his jump suit and then smiled at Tony. "Ah now, that's the million dollar question, isn't it?" He cocked his head and regarded Tony steadily. "You want me to tell you that I'm no kind of threat to your little Pepper, don't you?" He smiled. "But you want to know the truth, Tony? It doesn't matter what my answer is, because it doesn't change Virginia Potts ultimate fate."
Tony's eyes narrowed menacingly, but Justin didn't seem to pick up the visual clue that he was skating on very thin ice.
"I've seen you on the news, saving the world," Justin continued on blithely. "Now, you and all your super pals are shacked up in your secret cubby house, ready to play heroes again at the next alien invasion or wannabe super villain attack, I guess." Justin moved in his seat as he held Tony's gaze unflinchingly. "Only, it's not really a secret, now is it? The whole world knows, because hey, what's Tony Stark without an audience, right?"
Tony's jaw hardened, but he let the man speak. The words were cutting him deeply, but it felt like his penance somehow, a pain he had to endure because his carelessness had gotten Pepper hurt.
Justin cocked his head and regarded Tony unflinchingly. "You need that audience to your brilliance, to your magnificence so badly, you'll risk the life of everyone around you to get it." Justin moved forward. "Tell me, Tony, did you even think for one second what it'd mean for the people in your life when you revealed to the world you were Iron Man?" He didn't wait for Tony to answer. "No, of course you didn't, why would you? No one is as important as the great Tony Stark." A humourless laugh crossed Justin's broken lips. "And now you come here, demanding that I help you get yourself off the hook for something you started in the first place."
Tony could feel the muscle ticking in his jaw as he stared Justin down. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Justin sighed with feigned sympathy. "If only that were true, I bet you'd be a happier camper right now, Tony. Deep down you know that you're the cause of all this and that your choices are ultimately going to be the reason you'll be putting Pepper and everyone else you ever cared about in a box and burying that box six feet under. Your ego has signed all of their death warrants." Justin nodded in mock approval. "I have to say, good move in never actually being able to make friends in the first place, T. What have you got, Pepper, Rhodey and that beefy Happy guy? If it's true the measure of a man can be judged by the number of his friends, you're pretty screwed." Justin licked his lower lip. "Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to you watching them die one by one, because I know what you're pretending not to, that their deaths are going to be all your fault."
Tony's heart was pounding in his chest even as he maintained the outward look of uncaring disdain. Everything Hammer was saying was true, they were Tony's deepest fears which he had no way of knowing how to deal with. He'd always acted first, thought later, but since his captivity and taking on the Iron Man persona, his actions were having much bigger consequences then he could contemplate or deal with. He was totally fine with his own self-destructive behaviour, it was a part of him, but now he was being forced to deal with the ramifications of that behaviour affecting other people and it was almost too much. Tony felt like he was drowning, like he couldn't draw his next breath.
"You don't look well, Tony," Justin commented in amused satisfaction. "I hope you're taking care of yourself. After all, the world needs its heroes." He gave a low chuckle. "Funny when you think about it really. You spent all those years making sure you were always the most unreliable guy in the room and now, all of a sudden you've got the whole world on your shoulders." Justin wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Man, that's gotta weigh on a guy, right? Am I right or am I right?"
"Are you done?" asked Tony coldly.
Justin shrugged. "I guess, for now. Being in here gives a guy a lot of time to think, you know? I bet you practice not thinking too much and why would you have to, all snuggled up in bed with your little sweet-smelling Pepper, enjoying all of her softness and I don't begrudge you that, Tony. I know you think I do, but I don't." His voice hardened. "Because I know that there is going to come a day when you're going to be alone in that bed. All you'll have left is the memory of the woman you lost and it's going to eat you up inside. I want you to have everything, Tony, because only then does it mean something when you lose it all and trust me, you're going to lose it all."
Tony slowly stood up. His dark eyes were full of ice as he stared down at the other man. "This little revenge fantasy you've got going on is over, Hammer. You're going to rot away in this jail and no one is going to remember the pathetic little life you left behind. You're nothing, you never were anything to anyone, and you never will be." Tony made sure Justin could see he wasn't kidding. "If Pepper gets so much as a sniffle, I'm going to blame you and trust me, these walls are no kind of protection. I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe, do you understand me?"
"Oh, I understand you, Tony, better than you'd like, I'm guessing."
"This is over, or you are, got it?"
"You can't kill us all, Tony."
"As long as I can start with you, I don't care," Tony ground out.
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‼️🎈hello everyone thank you so much for reading this chapter! 🙏 If you'd like to read the full novel "The Price of Legacy", you can find it on my Ko-fi page: ko-fi.com in the store section in PDF format. This fanfic will consist of 30 chapters .
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