Malibu – Tony's Lab
Peter POV:
The Hammer suit lay across the workbench like a gutted fish. Panels were pried open, wires spilling like entrails. The gleam of titanium plating looked impressive at first glance until I pried a chunk off with one hand and tossed it onto the floor like scrap aluminum.
"Seventy-five percent chance of weapons jamming mid-fire." I muttered, scrolling through the diagnostic feed on a holo-screen. "Seventy-five. That's not a bug. That's negligence dressed up as patriotism."
Tony leaned over another console, eyes narrowed. "And look at this. They built in software back doors plural. You can take remote control of this thing with a laptop and a VPN. Honestly, I've seen college robot fight clubs with tighter firewalls."
Rhodey frowned, arms crossed. "What about the core?"
Tony tapped a schematic. "Palladium. Old model. Not just inefficient it's dirty and the Palladium is impure. And check this out." He enlarged a blinking red subroutine. "Failsafe built straight into the reactor. Translation: self-destruct switch. You disobey order, it goes nuclear. On you."
My face brows knotted in disgust. "And people call this a weapons platform? It's a death trap."
Tony chuckled bitterly. "Death trap with a shiny paint job and a Hammer logo. But hey, that's America's cutting edge for you."
I began dismantling the weapons systems, carefully removing a jammed shoulder mounted rotary cannon. "The hardware's garbage. But the drone framework? Not terrible. Rigid, easy to upgrade. If I can gut their software and run it through my VI integration software, we've got something useful. I want the drones."
Tony tilted his head. "Thinking of a trade, huh?"
I nodded, eyes never leaving the disassembly. "We upgrade this lemon into something Rhodey can actually use. In return, Hammer hands over his drones. We rebuild them from the ground up. And then…" My lips curled into a small, predatory smile. "We let Hammer hang himself."
Rhodey raised an eyebrow. "How?"
Tony grinned, tossing a fried circuit board onto the pile. "Simple. We use Hammer's desperation. He's betting everything on the Expo. He wants to show up Stark and Parker in front of the world. Fine. We'll let him. Only, his toys will be our toys, polished up and bulletproof, while his reputation sinks into the ocean."
Peter added, "Once the Generals sees Hammer tech crumble and my and Tony's systems outperform it by a factor of ten, Hammer's investors will scatter. Stocks will tank. Contracts will get canceled. And then Hammer Industries will be on the auction block for pennies."
Rhodey gave a low whistle. "So the plan is to fix his failure just enough to bait him, gut his company from the inside and swallow the pieces."
"Exactly." My hands moved with surgical precision, detaching the reactor. I held up the unstable Palladium core between two fingers. "This is what Hammer calls progress."
Tony snorted and took the Palladium core from my hand. "And this is what we call leverage."
We shared a look. Half amusement, half calculated ruthlessness.
For the first time, Rhodey felt a pang of sympathy for Justin Hammer.
He didn't stand a chance.
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