Chapter 30: Building Towards Thunder
Nine months until the invasion.
Justin stood in his office reviewing quarterly reports, seeing numbers that would have seemed impossible two years ago. Hammer Industries was thriving. Growing. Becoming something that mattered.
The intercom buzzed. "Sir, you have a visitor. Director Fury. He's... insistent."
Justin smiled despite himself. "Send him up."
Nick Fury walked into his office like he owned it, eye patch and leather coat giving him the appearance of a pirate who'd traded ships for secrets. He sat without being invited, studying Justin with the intensity of a man who'd built a career on reading people.
"Mr. Hammer," Fury said. "Let's talk about the future."
"Which future? The immediate one, or the one where aliens invade Manhattan?"
Fury's expression didn't change, but something flickered behind his eye. "You keep saying things like that. Like you know."
"Maybe I do."
"Or maybe you're setting up plausible deniability for when HYDRA or whoever causes chaos and you want to look prescient." Fury leaned forward. "But here's the thing: You've been right too many times. Vanko recruitment. Red Room operations. Technology development. So either you're the luckiest son of a bitch alive, or you have intelligence sources I can't identify."
"Does it matter?"
"It might. If we're going to work together."
Justin set down his tablet. "Define 'work together.'"
"Strategic partnership. Large-scale threat response. Hammer Industries provides logistical support, advanced materials, intelligence sharing, medical resources. SHIELD provides threat assessments and accepts you as independent ally instead of trying to control everything you do."
"You want me as backup for the Avengers Initiative."
Fury didn't even blink at Justin knowing that name. "Among other things. You've built impressive capability. Faster than anyone expected. I'd be stupid not to leverage that when things go sideways."
"And you think things will go sideways."
"I know they will. Question is whether we're ready when it happens."
Justin studied Fury. Saw calculation. Suspicion. But also pragmatism. The man didn't trust easily, but he recognized assets when he saw them.
"I'll agree to partnership," Justin said. "But I maintain operational independence. You don't get oversight. You don't get veto power. We cooperate as equals, not as director and subordinate."
"That's a lot of independence for someone I don't entirely trust."
"Trust is earned. I've earned some by being right about threats. You've earned some by not trying to shut me down." Justin leaned back. "We both know something's coming, Fury. Something big. When it arrives, we'll need every resource available. Fighting each other over control issues wastes time we don't have."
Fury was quiet for a long moment. "You know more than you're saying."
"Yes."
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Would you believe me if I said aliens will pour through a portal above Midtown in approximately nine months?"
"No."
"Then what's the point of telling you?" Justin pulled up a presentation. "Instead, let me show you what I'm building. And you can decide whether partnership makes sense regardless of whether you believe my predictions."
They spent two hours reviewing capabilities. PROMETHEUS Division's materials. ARES Division's operatives. Emergency response protocols. Medical infrastructure. Weapons systems designed for threats that didn't exist yet.
By the end, Fury looked thoughtful. "You're preparing for war."
"I'm preparing for disaster. There's a difference."
"Not much of one." Fury stood. "I'll agree to partnership. Independent cooperation. But Hammer? If you screw me, if you turn out to be playing some long game I don't see—"
"You'll end me. I know. It's what you do." Justin met his eye. "But I'm not your enemy, Fury. I'm just someone trying to save as many lives as possible when everything goes to hell."
"We'll see." Fury headed for the door. Paused. "One more thing. How'd you really know about Vanko? About Red Room? About any of it?"
Justin considered his answer. "Trade secret."
"You say that a lot."
"Because it's often true."
Fury left without another word, and Justin sat back, exhausted. He'd just formalized alliance with SHIELD. Tied his organization to the Avengers Initiative whether they knew it yet or not.
No going back now.
Through Natasha and Ghost Network, Justin tracked SHIELD's activities over the following weeks.
Steve Rogers had been thawed. Found in ice after seventy years, waking to find everyone he loved dead. Justin felt guilt about that—could he have prevented it? Should he have tried to warn someone about where Captain America was frozen?
But no. Interfering there would have raised too many questions, created too many complications. Steve needed to be found when he was found. The timeline required it.
Bruce Banner was being monitored in India. SHIELD keeping tabs but not approaching. Justin noted the location, filed it away. Banner was dangerous, brilliant, and exactly the kind of person who'd be critical when the invasion came.
Thor was in Asgard dealing with Loki's schemes. Justin knew generally what was happening—Loki's jealousy, Odin's disappointment, the spiral toward villainy. But Asgardian politics were beyond his reach. He could only prepare for the consequences.
And Tony Stark was improving his armor. Working through anxiety from Afghanistan. Dealing with Pepper and relationship complications Justin only knew through gossip.
The pieces were moving. Assembling. The Avengers weren't official yet, but the individuals existed. Soon, crisis would force them together.
Justin just needed to make sure his organization was ready to support them when that happened.
The milestone came quietly.
AEGIS announced it during a routine briefing: "Sir, Hammer Industries market valuation has exceeded $50 billion. Current ranking: Close second to Stark Industries in defense contractor valuation. Wall Street analysts now classify us as genuine competitor rather than secondary player."
Justin stared at the numbers. Fifty billion dollars. Two years ago, the company had been failing. Now it rivaled Stark Industries.
"Schedule celebration," Justin said. "Private. Core team only. Maya, Vanko, Natasha, Frank, Yelena. No press. No public announcement. Just us."
The dinner happened three days later in a private room at a restaurant that didn't advertise and didn't need to. The six of them sat around a table, successful and exhausted and alive.
"To survival," Frank raised his glass. "And whatever the hell we're building."
They drank. The toast was simple but honest.
Maya looked around the table. "You know what the original Hammer would have done? Thrown a massive party. Invited press. Made it about showing off."
"The original Hammer was desperate for validation," Justin said. "I already know my worth. Don't need strangers' approval."
"That's growth," Natasha said softly. "The man whose body you inherited wouldn't recognize what you've become."
Justin met her eyes. Saw understanding there. She knew. Maybe didn't know everything—didn't know about transmigration, about dying and coming back changed—but she knew he was different from the original Hammer in ways that mattered.
"Toast," Yelena said suddenly. "To Justin Hammer. Who is... acceptable."
Everyone laughed. Even Vanko cracked a smile.
"High praise from you," Justin said.
"Is highest praise. I don't give it lightly." Yelena's expression softened slightly. "You saved my sister. Saved me. Built something that matters. Could do worse."
"Could do better too," Maya added. "But we're working on that."
They ate and talked and laughed, and for a few hours, Justin let himself forget about invasions and corruption and moral compromises. Let himself just be a person celebrating success with friends who'd chosen to be here.
When they finally left, Natasha pulled him aside. "You did good. Building this. Bringing these people together."
"We did good. Couldn't have done it without you."
"True. But you were the catalyst. You saw what could be and made it happen." She kissed him. "Nine months until whatever's coming. We're ready. Or as ready as we can be."
Justin held her close, breathing in her scent, feeling her heartbeat against his chest. Nine months. Not much time. But enough to finalize preparations. Enough to hope.
"I'm scared," he admitted quietly.
"Good. Means you're not stupid." Natasha pulled back to look at him. "But Justin? Whatever happens when that portal opens—we face it together. You, me, everyone we've brought together. We're a team now. Act like it."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning stop carrying everything alone. Trust us to help bear the weight."
Justin nodded slowly. She was right. He'd been so focused on building, preparing, controlling every variable that he'd forgotten the most important resource: people who chose to stand with him.
They walked out together into the New York night. Somewhere in this city, Steve Rogers was adjusting to a new century. Bruce Banner was hiding from those who'd exploit him. Tony Stark was building armor and nursing trauma.
And Justin Hammer—wearing Justin Hammer's body, carrying void-touched powers, leading an empire built from failure—looked up at the sky and thought about portals that would open in nine months.
About aliens that would pour through. About gods and monsters and humans caught between.
Nine months to prepare. Nine months to fill his vault. Nine months to hope he'd done enough.
The void marks pulsed beneath his sleeves. 9% corruption and climbing. Twelve months left. Maybe less.
But tonight? Tonight he'd celebrate. Tomorrow he'd go back to preparing for the end of the world.
Because that's what you did when you knew the end was coming: you celebrated the moments between. Held the people you loved. And kept building toward a future you might not live to see.
One day at a time. One power at a time. One life saved or lost.
Until the portal opened and they learned whether it had been enough.
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