Chapter Text
“General.” Rhodey nodded politely to Ross, who gave him a sharp greeting in return and gestured to him to enter the office. Stepping past the man, Rhodey subtly glanced around and saw that the general had gotten a downgrade: less windows, several floors lower, and much smaller. No doubt because of Steve’s little escapade a few months ago.
Ever since then, Rhodey had been recovering from the airport fight and learning how to walk in Tony’s custom made braces. It had taken quite some time to get used to using the aide to walk, and it was still a challenge knowing he didn’t have much feeling in his legs ever since. But, he was a fighter and wasn’t going to let that stop him, especially not when he had Tony and Pepper next to him, supporting him along the way.
Now, with more mobility in his legs and able to perform almost just as well before the accident, Rhodey was ready to come back to work. Which Ross seemed all too pleased about.
Sitting across from the desk, Rhodey watched as Ross stayed standing and instead shifted his computer screen around to face Rhodey. On the screen was the last face he had been expecting to see.
“Is that Justin Hammer, sir?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. The picture was no doubt one Hammer had had taken by a professional photographer, making his glittering smile even shinier than possible. Unimpressed, Rhodey looked to Ross for answers.
“Yes. I know you and he have a bit of history,” Ross said casually, and Rhodey had to suppress his snort. “That’s why I want you to work on bringing him back in.”
Rhodey blinked. “What do you mean? I heard that after two years in prison, Hammer got out. Paid the judge off.”
“That’s what SHIELD wanted you to believe.”
A cold wave of dread washed through Rhodey. Who knew who had been actual SHIELD agents at that time when HYDRA had been so rooted into the secret organization. While he hadn’t been one of the main people to discover the hidden group, he had helped Sam hunt down many of the stragglers after the whole incident.
“What did SHIELD want with Hammer?” Rhodey asked. Sure, the man was a genius weaponsmith, but was he worth enough to fake being released from prison?
“Because of this.” Ross hit a key and the picture changed to a video.
The video had no sound, and showed a cafeteria, no doubt the one in the prison Hammer had been held in. The camera zoomed on a pair of men, one of which Rhodey could vaguely see was Hammer. He looked to be calmly talking to the other man and eating; this continued for a few seconds before the fork Hammer had been using flew out of his hand and the man’s body jerked horribly.
Rhodey watched in horror as Hammer’s body convulsed wildly, his arms twisting and hitting the tray of food in front of him and splattering it all over him and the man next to him. His head was thrown back, his neck straining horribly that for a moment Rhodey feared that it had snapped. Instead, his head whipped back and forth as foam started to fall from his mouth, his body finally falling backwards and off the bench he had been sitting on.
The man he had been speaking to had jumped out and tried to hold down Hammer’s arms, but his whole body kept jerking rabidly. If it was even possible, the convulsions seemed to come harder and faster as the video kept going. But, as suddenly as the convulsions had started, they stopped, leaving Hammer’s back bowed at an extreme angle and foam still coming from his mouth.
Rhodey gasped as he saw Hammer’s skin to start to bubble, almost as if his blood was boiling. His arms flung out and clawed at the concrete floor, and his legs kicked out at an invisible enemy. Mouth opened in a silent scream, or possibly a vocal one since the video didn’t have sound, and his eyes rolled back even though his body kept fighting something.
“Was he poisoned?” Rhodey whispered, trying to decipher the symptoms Hammer was showing. Even cyanide wouldn’t produce such extreme movements.
“Keep watching.” Was the only thing Ross said, absolutely no emotion in his voice. Glancing up, Rhodey noticed that Ross was watching him more than the video—most likely wanting to know his thoughts. Schooling his features, he looked back at the video.
Just in time to watch as Hammer’s body appeared to be shrinking rabidly.
In seconds, his body was covered in white hair and almost covering every inch of his skin. His mouth and nose began to shift and grow longer. Ears grew pointed and cone shaped, while he flung himself onto his stomach and threw his head back to scream again, in clear agony.
Before Rhodey could process what had happened, where Justin Hammer once was sat a small, white dog.
His clothes were gone, along with any indication that a human had been laying on the floor a few seconds ago. Instead, the small dog laid panting on the floor.
“What the hell…?” Rhodey choked out and looked up at Ross, who’s face hadn’t changed in the least.
“This was two years after Hammer’s incarceration. SHIELD came in a few hours later, whisking him away to one of their facilities.” Ross said evenly.
“Was it actually SHIELD or HYDRA?” Rhodey demanded. Even Hammer didn’t deserve to be given over to those bastards.
“Hard to say.”
Once again, Ross hit a key and another video came up.
This time, Rhodey couldn’t help his small flinch as he saw Hammer. This time, the man was standing in a stark white room in a grey shirt and sweatpants, the clothes practically swallowing him whole. The man was skin and bones as he stared into the camera with a harrowed expression. His eyes were sunken and obvious dark rings hung under his eyes, even more pronounced since he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
“Day 109 since subject was brought to the facility. Test one of the day.” A woman’s voice announced. “Begin.”
Without taking his eyes off the camera, Hammer’s body began to change. In less than a blink of an eye, instead of Hammer standing there, a woman with long blonde hair was staring at the camera. She was much taller than Hammer, but just as thin.
A loud click echoed through the room, and then the woman was gone to be replaced by a young child. Then another click and an elderly man waws standing there. Each click was instructing Hammer to change into something else.
Click after click, a new person was replaced with another, each one staring into the camera with a sightless eyes. Every type of person appeared on the screen: no matter the age, ethnicity, or gender. At a rapid pace, they came and went.
What had Rhodey almost jumping in his seat was when Tony’s face appeared on the screen for a short moment, then followed by yet another face he didn’t recognize. Eyes wide, Rhodey paid even closer attention to the faces and noticed that several more important or famous people appeared.
He had no idea how long this went on for, assuming at least a hundred different people must have shown up by this point. Finally, the woman’s voice sounded again.
“Test successful. Moving to test two.”
Once again, Hammer was standing in front of the camera, lifeless eyes staring straight ahead before Rhodey blinked and he once again saw the small white dog. However, before he could even process the animal the clicking started up. Soon the dog became a cat, then a crow, then a horse, and so on. Just as rapidly as the different people went by on the screen, dozens of animals flashed before Rhodey’s eyes before turning into something else. Before long, the woman’s voice spoke up.
“Test successful. Moving to test three.”
The small frog that sat the floor quickly became Hammer again.
“Acid.”
Pursing his lips, Hammer spat on the ground before looking straight at the camera once again. However, Rhodey’s eyes couldn’t leave the spot where Hammer’s spit had landed; where he expected to be a small wet spot was instead smoke coming from a small hole.
“Diamond.”
Hammer looked almost thoughtful as he worked his jaw as if he had something in his mouth. He lifted his hand and spit out a clump of clear rock into it. Squinting, Rhodey could see how it glinted in the harsh lights and he didn’t doubt that the man was holding a large diamond in his palm.
“Fire.”
Dropping the diamond to the ground, Hammer closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. Eyes flashing open, his lips barely parted before a thin stream of fire flew out a foot in front of him. It continued for a few moments before dying out, leaving Hammer panting slightly.
This was the first time Rhodey had seen the man even slightly shaken during these tests. For the most part, Hammer hadn’t reacted to any of them and had done them flawlessly and with no complaint. Everything came naturally to him, but during this last one, it seemed to actually take some effort.
Rhodey frowned. Had everything Hammer done taken effort and training? Was this video the result of many tests Hammer must have gone through the previous hundred days?
“Test successful. Moving to test four.”
This time, Hammer’s eyes flickered away from the camera. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that.
“Today, we wish for you to shift into this person.”
Hammer frowned slightly before nodding.
Standing where Hammer had been was Wanda.
Rhodey clamped down on the shocked noise that wanted to escape his throat. He knew that wasn’t Wanda. There was no way that was her. Every single person or animal that had been on camera had been Hammer, but even knowing that, Rhodey didn’t trust what was going on.
“Now, try to do what she did.”
Rhodey didn’t know what Hammer—not Wanda—was looking at, but after a few moments, she nodded and lifted her hand. Fingers moving in the similar way Rhodey had seen Wanda do many times, Hammer moved her fingers and small whisps of orange formed around them. Rhodey’s eyebrow’s rose in shock as he watched the orange whisps grew stronger around her dexterous fingers and traveled down her hands.
“Try to lift this.”
Without taking her eyes off her hand, a spark of wonder deep inside them, Hammer brought her hand up and a small cube zipped into her palm. Her mouth fell open as she brought her other hand up to carefully cradle the small block. It almost looked as if she had been given the thing she wanted most in the world, and seeing that look on Wanda’s face broke Rhodey’s heart. Especially when he had to force his brain to remember that his was Hammer, and not Wanda.
“Test failed. Subject will need more training. Punishment will be no food.”
Hammer’s head snapped up to stare in betrayal at the woman behind the camera, and the expression fiercely reminded Rhodey of the one Wanda herself had worn at the airport. Luckily, Hammer turned into himself again, still holding the block.
“But, I did what you wanted.” He chocked out, voice hoarse. Probably from lack of use if Rhodey had to guess.
“Test failed. You did not replicate the subject perfectly. The punishment will be implemented.”
Hammer’s face fell further as the video stopped.
The room was silent as Rhodey stared at the still image of Hammer’s gaunt face staring at him. Taking a deep breath, Rhodey finally tore his eyes away from Hammer’s and looked over at Ross, who was looking at him curiously.
“Where is he now?”
“He was at the Raft,” Ross told him and finally sat across from him. “That was, until Captain Rogers decided to help several inmates to escape.”
“Steve broke Hammer out?” Rhodey narrowed his eyes at the man. Tony had told him what Steve had done, but he didn’t think Steve even knew about Hammer. They had never met and neither Rhodey or Tony ever talked about him to the team.
“We don’t think Captain Rogers did.” Ross said carefully, stressing Steve’s name and flashed an irritated look at even the mention of him. “All of the escapees left at the same time. However, it wasn’t until a day later that Hammer escaped. The facility was running at full capacity again during that time, but we don’t know how he escaped.”
“Do you have footage of him before he escaped?”
Ross nodded before clicking through several more images and videos, until landing on one. The image showed a small cell, with basic amenities. However, the cell was circular with glass walls all around it, the cell sitting in a much bigger room with guards all around it. There was nowhere for Hammer to hide inside the cell.
The man was curled up on the bed, looking just the same from the video Rhodey had seen before. He was still skinny as can be, in simple clothing, barefoot, and almost as pale as the white sheets of the bed. The only difference this time was that he was wearing glasses.
For several minutes, the video showed Hammer staying perfectly still, only his chest moving up and down proved he was at least breathing. Some of the guards around him fidgeted and moved slightly in the few minutes the video played. However, as Rhodey kept his eyes trained on Hammer, the man disappeared.
One moment, he was laying on the bed, perfectly still, and the next, Hammer was simply gone.
Rhodey watched as it took a moment for the guards to realize that Hammer was gone, before they all began to move. Several flung open the cell door and charged in, long tasers pointed in front of them. As they jabbed at the air in front of them, Hammer didn’t appear.
After a few more moments of watching the guards bumbling around, Rhodey looked up at Ross.
“Why was he at the Raft?”
Ross narrowed his eyes at him.
“The man was a danger to everyone around him and to himself. A ticking time bomb.”
“HYDRA used him as a weapon?”
“They were planning to, yes.”
“But they weren’t able to use him just yet.”
“Where are you going with this, colonel?” Ross hissed.
“If he didn’t harm anyone, then why was he at the Raft?” Rhodey demanded. “He served his time in prison, and at the hands of those assholes. He should be a free man.”
“He’s an escaped convict.” Ross growled. “I thought you of all people would know how much of a danger Hammer was.”
“He sent a maniac after me and Tony, I know how stupid and dangerous he can be.” Rhodey snapped. “What I don’t know is how he plans on using his new powers. Or if he intends to hurt anyone with them.”
“That’s precisely what we don’t want happening.” Ross glowered. “You saw with your own eyes what he can do. He can turn his own spit into acid. Just think about how he could hurt people.”
Rhodey could see exactly what could happen. Hammer could seriously hurt someone with the acid alone, or the fire, or anything else his body could produce. If he could produce acid, then he could easily create poison, or other toxic things. These substances didn’t appear to harm Hammer himself, so he could create an abundance if he desired.
Worst of all, if Hammer did want revenge, it wouldn’t take him much effort to disguise himself to get close to those he wanted to pay for what they did to him.
“So, colonel?” Ross broke him out of his thoughts. Meeting the man’s eyes, Rhodey could see the distrust in them. “Will you take this mission?”
Glancing over at the small, clear cell Hammer had been kept in, Rhodey made his decision.
“Yes, sir. But with one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“You give me every video and image of Hammer since he became like this. I’ll need to do my research on him before finding him and bringing him in.”
He could clearly see Ross didn’t like this at all, but couldn’t come up with any excuse to deny him.
“Fine. I’ll have someone send them to you.”
“Thank you, sir.” Rhodey nodded and stood. Without a second glance, Rhodey turned away and left the office.
He needed to see Tony.