Arc Seven. Chapter One Hundred Ninety. AIM To Be Better

Justin was having a great day. Not only had he heard that Killian's wife, who he thought was a babe, was going to be back at work soon but that Gwen Stacy and Oliva Octavious would be working at Parker Inc.

He snorted, Parker Inc, following the trend of the greats in naming their companies after themselves the kid would be under in a month. Hammer had tried to convince Killian to just give him the money and let the kid swing, but Killian needed him and so he just had to let it go.

As he watched the pair, he knew that the foxy young blonde was Gwen, show him around the warehouse he really didn't care for it. Faddy condos weren't his thing and he preferred his penthouse apartment. He couldn't fault the boy for his taste in women. Gwen was stunning but Olivia was a bit nerdy for his tastes, but he knew that if the boy could score someone like her, then he could too.

"So, you have the armour, and the glider still?" and Gwen looked over at Liv,

"Uh, kinda. Ultron broke the suit and the glider trying to attack Peter, so we have parts of them but not much else."

"You know those are mine right? Even if that crappy excuse for an AI was controlling them they were still mine." Justin saw the opportunity to get some of that money, the insurance should cover the cost of the glider and suit but getting a favour from Stacy and Octavious would be much better. Reaching into his pocket he opened his phone and scowled as he got no signal, "Hey what's with the reception?" and Gwen shrugged,

"We are in a bad spot, I can, if you want?" and as he handed over his phone Gwen copied the number and dialled it on her phone.

"Hey yeah, send Ivan over, I need an expert." and as he hung up the phone the trio stared uncomfortably at each other,

What a dick, Gwen mused and Liv nodded.

"Coffee, Mr Hammer?" she asked, and as Gwen handed him back his phone, he let his fingers rub over hers, giving her a creepy smile and Liv instantly hated the man.

"Just one sugar and creamer thanks." he smiled and Liv frowned, did he really expect her to make coffee for him? and as she lay down one of the good cups Peter insisted on getting for May, she left the sugar and creamer next to him.

Shaking his head he added in the sugar and as he stirred it the buzzer for the warehouse went,

As Gwen stared and shrugged at the large mobster at the gate, Hammer looked over, "yeah, that's Ivan, let him in." and Gwen frowned, but as part of AIM, she had to at least be nice to him.

As Ivan entered the warehouse he smiled at the pair, "Wat you want? I vaz buzy."

"Yeah, I still don't understand you, Ivan. Check the glider and the suit for dam-a-ges," Hammer spoke slowly and condescendingly to the man who shook his head,

"Mizz, vere is suit?" and Liv smiled,

"I'll show you, dear. We kept it secure upstairs in one of our labs." and as he nodded Liv left Gwen with Hammer.

"So uh, you work for Parker right?" and Gwen smiled and nodded,

"Peter and I worked on the Stacy formula together," and she gave him another smile, "but my focus is pharm, not mech, so Liv is your better choice," and she smirked as Hammer spluttered.

"Just making conversation," and he leaned back. "Still though, if you ever want to work in a real lab, you could give me a call and I can get Killian to offer you a position. That's our AIM," and he smirked, "we help you, you help me, it's all good. Like a big family."

"Killian already offered me a job, Mr Hammer, and I turned him down. Once Parker Incorporated gets running, you'll see some of the work we can do, and it'll blow your mind."

"Justin, call me Justin and yeah sure. I've looked over the CLS and its years away from a proper prototype, and that even once you get your space up and running. Listen, no disrespect but splitting the focus of a startup company is fatal. Stick to one thing and make it shine, otherwise, you're just blowing money on half-assing different things,"

"Rather than half-assing a single product." and as she smirked, Justin frowned. It was common knowledge the Hammer tech weapons he gave the ETF were unreliable and had failed to live up to their promised stopping power. Even against the Goblin armour, they had barely dented it and it was her own acidic concoction that caused Norman to flee. At the memory, Gwen frowned, which Justin took the wrong way.

"Now listen-" but as he was about to begin a tirade, Ivan shouted down from the walkway above.

"Glider is shit, suit is shit, only reactor iz good," Ivan shouted down from the workshop and Justin shook his head,

"Then grab it and let's go," he shouted back.

Gwen looked up, "that might not be possible Mr Hammer. The reactor Osborn used was taken from Liv, and we checked, she still holds the patent. I also thought that you were only here for the glider?" but he tutted and stood,

"I paid good money for them both. If it's installed in the suit, then I can take it." and as he walked up the stairs to the penthouse he stopped,

"Is that the War Machine armour?" and he instantly walked over to it, running his hand over its black and grey coloured frame,

"Uh, I could just take this right? I mean, if it's a confiscated terrorist weapon, then it doesn't belong to anyone right." and Peter was already out of the workshop and into the storage area.

"No, it belongs to Shield, and you can take the glider and the Goblin armour, but not that, and not Livs reactor."

"Iz fine boss, have own reactor, and plus, armour is shit. Look, fractures here, here and here, early stuff, can do much better." Ivan pointed a finger at barely visible damage and as Hammer squinted, he just shrugged,

"But still, I mean, as part of AIM we share right, and I could maybe take it to hold, somewhere much more secure than here." but Peter stepped in front of the armour and shook his head.

"Mr Hammer. I forgave Killian for his little stunt, and while AIM is a great idea, I'm sure we can all work together. Stealing armour is not doing you any favours. Whereas me having to explain to Shield why you stole their armour and that I let you, is in fact a giant pain in my ass. Right now I have enough pains in my ass without you adding more." Justin raised an eyebrow,

"Then don't tell them. I can have this under a tarp and gone in five minutes, maybe I took it by accident rather than whatever Ultron left of the Goblin armour. Maybe you weren't here and I walked it past your two assistants."

Before Gwen launched into a tirade of her own, Peter raised a hand and both Gwen and Liv huffed and stood with their arms crossed.

"Mr Hammer, the best I can do is let you take pictures of the internals, and Ivan and Liv can go over the finer details of the work she did. But, as you've been nothing but a condescending ass since you got here, why don't you take your scrapped shit and get the fuck out of my home before I throw you out."

Justin tutted and looked over at Ivan, "And If I just took it, I mean, I'm not much but Ivan here is a pretty big guy, plus I've got a crew outside waiting, you think a scrawny kid and two women could stop me."

"Hey, we are not taking nuthin, stop being jackazz," Ivan spoke up. "I am sorry, he is, how you say, stupid." and he shook his head at Justin. "We will take armour, for analysis, but if mizz wants to talk about the reactor I will be happy. Ivan, Ivan Vanko," and Liv raised an eyebrow,

"Your father helped create the original, with Howard Stark," and Ivan laughed and stuck out a hand to shake hers,

"Fazher got screwed, Stark took dezign," and Liv nodded,

"I know all about that. Osborn stole most of my work as well, the armour and the glider were both my babies before he took them. Before they were taken from me twice," and she gave Hammer a pointed look. "But, while I can say this now, it's all water under the bridge. I'm glad they are in good hands Mr Vanko, and if you need help, time permitting then I would be happy to discuss things with you." and Ivan beamed,

"See, ziz is how you do things yez. Not be asshole, make friends, drink vodka" and he raised an eyebrow, "you do drink?"

Gwen laughed, "I'll be right back," and after a few moments brought in a glass filled with a shot of clear white liquid, "I grabbed the bottle from your place," and Peter nodded. Knocking it back Ivan coughed and put a hand to his mouth,

"You make ziz?" and Gwen beamed and nodded, "puts hair on your ass yez?" and he laughed. "Oh yez I come back, we talk robots and drink, get good caviar and work on designz" he handed the glass back to Gwen and, putting his hands together, bowed, "spasibo," and as he looked over at Hammer, who was stood with his arms crossed, scowling. "Honest, junk glider and suit, not good, even to examine, might as well scrap and start again. If the offer on War Machine is good then I come back with camera, maybe get a look at the controller too yez?" and Peter shrugged.

"Honestly, Shield have kinda forgotten about it, but it still doesn't mean you can take it Justin." and Justin tutted,

"Mr Hammer." and Peter shook his head,

"Whatever. Let's head back downstairs, If you're not taking anything we don't need to be up here" and he motioned for the party to move. Justin ran his hand over the armour one last time before sighing and moving out of the storage room which Peter closed behind him.

I don't need to read his mind to know he's going to try and steal it, Liv sent to him and Peter nodded, scowling.

Do we get Shield involved or just let him, I don't really want to start fending off more assholes in our home. I'd rather throw his ass at Shield and let the WSC deal with it. Meeting Selene and then Shaw is bad enough without this sleazeball as well.

Dear, we normally leave things like that up to you, it is your property, our home but you are still the landlord here.

Yeah but I don't want you to miss out on your new friend, I saw that look. Shield might take them both.

I'm sure Fury would do us one last favour before he leaves. If Ivan is here without papers we can always hide him. I'm sure nobody cares if a Russian engineer disappears and suddenly gets sponsored by Parker Inc right?

I can do that?

Yes, dear, you can. As well as your enhanced team perks you can sponsor immigrants with exceptional talent. If Mr Vanko is half as smart as his father then you might have just struck gold.

Fine, once Hammer leaves I'll get Shield on the line and have them take it, preferably today, If Hammer shows up with goons they can fight it out, off the property.

As Ivan and Liv continued their discussion and Hammer and Peter continued their glaring match he showed them off the property while Gwen called Fury through Natasha. They had all put in notice but he was still Director and was nice enough to wait until they got his replacement in. Word was General Ross had been earmarked, and that the military's Thunderbolts were being rolled into the Avengers Initiative, but it was all hearsay.

He promised an escort and engineer would be there within the hour to get anything War Machine and Goblin related, and Peter was just glad to have it all off the property. Liv busied herself with a screwdriver and soon enough the cracked and useless reactor was out of the Goblin suit, but she left the War Machine alone, its arcstar reactor was Shields and even though it was based on her tech it was part of her plea bargain for assaulting two high ranking military officers.

As Peter expected he was greeted at the front gate by Hammer and a lawyer. Hammer was claiming the War Machine armour was the real Goblin armour and the scrap was just to throw him off. As the convoy of Shield agents arrived Peter let them onto the property and under a tarp, they took the armour away.

"Look, I told you Shield wanted it back, go wave your writ at them," and with a smug grin, he closed the chainlink fence and walked back into the warehouse.

"Yeah, this isn't the last you've heard of this Parker." but with enough on his plate, Peter ignored him.