Chapter 5
The few weeks following Hammer's lawsuit were a whirlwind and a half. Peter spent almost every day in discussions with Matt, Foggy, Karen and the SI team.
They taught him how to keep himself calm and collected on the stand, how to stick up for himself when Hammer's lawyers went in hard, and most importantly, how not to perjure himself under oath.
If Peter didn't know any better, he'd think he was being prepped for a murder trial.
The actual trial was to take place in the New York Court of Appeals in Albany.
Hammer had wanted to take it to Washington, but Tony was able to pull some strings to keep it relatively local.
Peter, his aunt, his legal team, and the SI team travelled there via Ms. Potts’ private limousine.
“Don't worry, Peter. Just stick to the script we gave you. It'll be fine.” Foggy said, his voice giving way to a nervous tremor.
“Mr. Nelson is right.” Ms. Potts said. “It'll be okay, hon.”
“Especially once the Court sees what a tool Hammer is.” Tony said, typing on his phone.
“Also what a weak-ass case he's got.” Karen chimed in.
“Hammer isn't able to prove anything.” Matt said, his voice calm as always. “We've got this Peter.”
Peter nodded and smiled nervously, squeezing May's hand for reassurance, smiling wider when she squeezed back.
__________
Peter was on the stand for an hour. Being grilled by Hammer's legal team about why he and Stark Industries should be trusted with the BARRY tech. Peter answered all of their questions exactly as he'd been instructed to. He never once lied about anything. Even when they brought up the lack of OSHA guidelines and properly conducted human trials.
Matt had no questions for Peter.
Next up was Hammer. He provided intelligent sounding answers to every clearly rehearsed question. Peter had to admit, he was doing really well.
And then it was Matt’s turn for cross-examination.
“Mr. Hammer, could you please explain your history with Anthony Stark?” He asked, leaning on his cane.
“Objection! Relevance.” The opposing counsel, Russell, demanded.
“Speaks to the witness’ feeling on my client's current employment situation.” Matt countered.
“Overruled.” Judge Harbour said, adjusting her glasses. “Answer the question, Mr. Hammer.”
“Tony and I have known each other for almost two decades now. Our paths have crossed many times; we run in the same circles, you see.” Hammer said, and Matt could hear his heart speed up in frustration.
“And what is your opinion of Mr. Stark?” Matt asked.
“He's an extremely arrogant man, with a God Complex.”
“And is it true that in 2010 you attempted this very same thing in order to force Mr. Stark's proprietary technology, the Iron Man suit, into government hands? And therefore, your hands?”
“Objection! Leading the witness!” Russell shouted, standing up.
“Your Honour, I think you'll find that I simply asked whether or not I asked if that was true. I never stated it as a fact. We could have the stenographer read it back to us.” Matt countered.
“Overruled.” Judge Harbour said.
“Mr. Hammer. Is it true?” Matt continued.
“You know that it is.” Hammer said through gritted teeth.
Matt heard his heart rate jump again, and smirked.
“So, this is payback.”
“Excuse me?”
“You couldn't steal his tech so you steal his protégé's.”
“Objection! Counsel is testifying.” Russel said, sounding frustrated.
“Sustained. Reign in Mr. Murdock.” Judge Harbour ordered.
“Apologies. I'll rephrase.” Matt said, then cleared his throat. “Given your history with Anthony Stark, attempting to steal his proprietary technology, attempting to poach his intern, then harassing said intern, how can we be sure that this isn't just some kind of revenge plot? If you truly have the public interest at heart, then you're going to need some kind of proof. Because I am seeing nothing that suggests that this isn't anything more than a self-catering theft of intellectual property.” Matt walked off as he finished.
“Opposition, your rebuttal?” Harbour asked.
“Mr. Hammer, can you explain for the Court your biggest concern about Peter Parker and Stark Industries retaining ownership of this technology?”
“Of course. It's well known that Stark Industries and Tony Stark work closely with SHIELD. A secret government organisation which has just been exposed for being overrun by a Nazi subunit. HYDRA.” Hammer was smirking now. “As a proud American, I could not stand the idea of such incredible technology being potentially developed under the supervision of what was one our nation's greatest enemies.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hammer.” Russel said.
“Shit.” Peter swore under his breath.
“Relax.” Matt said. “We planned for this.” Then he stood up.
“You say that you had only the nation's best interests at heart when you did this.” He said.
“I did.”
“Then why is Captain America nowhere to be found in your defense?”
“Objection! Relevance!”
“I'm getting to it, Your Honour.” Matt said, looking at the judge hopefully.
“Overruled. But you'd better make your point quickly Mr. Murdock.” She said slowly.
“Thank you, Your Honour.” Matt said. “As everyone in this courtroom is aware, that HYDRA corruption was dismantled by Captain America, aka, Steven Rogers. Steven Rogers is known to be a friend and ally to Tony Stark and to SHIELD. Captain America, the symbol of America. The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. Captain America who fought the Nazis in World War 2 is a friend and ally to the organisation you just accused of Nazism. You're Honour, this man is either blatantly lying, or he's simply a fool.” Matt said, working his way to the middle of the room. “Either way, how could we possibly trust him with a technology such as this? Peter Parker had shown remarkable maturity and intelligence and integrity for a young man of his age. Even while being harassed by someone like Justin Hammer, he maintained all of those qualities. To rob him of his American right to own his own work, would be a blight in this country's justice system. And quite frankly it would be unconstitutional. Thank you.” Matt walked back to their station as Russell rose to provide his rebuttal.
Peter didn't pay much attention to that part. But he was snapped to attention when the judge's gavel slammed down hard. Peter watched as all six judges rose and walked into a separate room.
“What just happened?” Peter whispered to Foggy.
“Judges are going into deliberation.” He told him.
“How long will that take?”
“However long it takes.”
__________
Peter's side all gathered in the hallway to wait out the deliberation, nobody saying a word, instead choosing to gather around the teenager in a show of support.
That comforting bubble was soon popped by Hammer's approach.
“You know Peter, even after your patent is stripped, I'd still like to have you at Hammer Technologies. A mind like yours is too valuable to waste at Stark Industries.” The man said, looking down at the boy smugly.
“Oh, could you just fuck off?!” Peter snapped.
The other adults around looked at him shocked, he'd never sworn in front of any of them before.
Tony sniggered and spoke. “I second that. Fuck off.” He turned to Hammer.
Hammer merely chortled and nodded. “My offer stands, Peter.” He then walked off.
May turned to Peter and handed him five dollars.
“Here, honey. Go grab something from the vending machine.” She said.
Peter looked at her blankly. “You wanna talk about adult stuff but don't want me to be here for it.” He said.
May nodded.
Peter shrugged and took the money, walking off in the direction of the vending machine.
“What is it?” Matt asked May, well aware of the fact that Peter was still listening.
“What isn't it?” May asked, frustration and desperation seeping into her voice. “My teenager is in court, fighting for his right to his own work. The entire world is judging him, as if they have any right. And worst of all, some strange, wealthy, middle-aged man is seemingly obsessed with him! I don't know what Hammer's deal is, or why he's so fixated on Peter, but it isn't good. Whatever it is.”
“May, it'll be alright.” Pepper said, squeezing the other woman's hand reassuringly.
May took a deep breath. “I'm considering retracting Peter’s permission to work for you.” She told them.
Tony and Bruce looked up, shocked.
“Listen. I don't blame you for what's happening right now, but I don't want Peter anywhere near this world of yours.” May continued.
“I understand.” Pepper told her, voice soft. “But Peter is already in it. The world knows who he is and what he's capable of. Stark Industries is the best place for him to be. I can promise you that.”
At that moment, the bailiff called all parties to return for the sentence. It had only been 57 minutes.
“That was quick.” Peter said, appearing behind Matt, cola in hand.
“We'll talk later.” Pepper said to May under her breath as the group walked into the courtroom.
“Don't worry. It's handled.” Russell said to Hammer.
Matt's ears perked up as he focused his hearing on the other men.
“Are you sure?” Hammer asked, clearly nervous.
“Yes. The four of them took the money. We will get our verdict.” Russell responded.
“Shit.” Matt said.
“What is it?” Foggy asked.
“Hammer and Russell paid off four of the judges.”
“Shit. Which ones?”
“I don't know.”
“Well, find out!” Foggy demanded.
Matt went to refocus his hearing again, but was interrupted by the banging of a gavel.
He looked up in a panic, but instead of finding the six judges of the Court like he'd expected, he saw only two.
“It has come to my attention that a grave offense has been made against the sanctity of this Court.” Judge Harbour said. Anger seething in her tone. “I am ashamed to say that four of my fellow judges have accepted bribes to sway the outcome of this trial.”
A gasp rippled through the courtroom, and Matt heard speculations being made about which side did it.
“Mr. Hammer and Counsel Russell, your violation of the rules and regulations of this courtroom will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As head judge, I am dismissing this case in its entirety.”
Another gasp broke out at the revelation, and the murmurs started up again.
“The defendant is free to go. The plaintiff will remain behind to await arrest and arraignment.” Judge Harbour brought her gavel down in a harsh and unforgiving motion. The bang of the wood echoed through the courtroom, and Matt and Foggy quickly scrambled to get out of the line of fire.
“What the Hell happened?!” May asked once they were out of the building.
“Four of the judges took bribes from Hammer to rule in his favour.” Foggy explained.
“How did they find out?” Pepper asked.
“I don't know.” Matt said.
_________
Nick Fury sat staring down the trio before him. Barton and Romanov, he'd handled countless missions with them before. But Barnes was new. Barnes was wild. And he had almost no clue about how Barnes would react to being given orders.
Fury listened intently as they explained the deal they'd made with the vigilantes. And then he listened to them explain Justin Hammer's role in this whole mess.
And with every explanation, Fury just knew that they were keeping something from him.
“He bribed the judges?” Fury asked, not shocked.
“Yes sir.” Barton said. “Four of the six judges of the New York Court of Appeals. They were supposed to sway the verdict in his favour. That would've had bad results for everyone, so the three of us, plus Frank Castle, handled it.”
“Handled it? Handled it how?”
“With methods which were less violent than I would've liked.” Romanov answered.
Fury flicked his eyes towards Bucky Barnes. The man hadn't spoken once during this whole debrief. He almost seemed distracted, but Fury didn't know him well enough to be sure.
“Anything else?” Fury asked.
“No sir.” Barton answered.
“Did you find out anything about the identities of Spiderman and Daredevil?”
“No sir.” He said again.
There.
He just lied.
And Barnes and Romanov did nothing about it.
“Okay.” Fury said. “You're dismissed. Keep it up.”
It was cute that they thought they could lie to him of all people.
He'd let it happen for now. Let it play out. Let them come to him when everything inevitably goes to shit.
Romaov and Barton are his best agents. Not like he could send anybody after them. And Barnes is another thing altogether. Where he's involved, Nicholas has no idea.
Once they've left his office, Fury relieves himself of his eyepatch and sinks into his chair. He pours himself a bourbon that he knows its way too early for, and he goes over the footage of that first fight over at the docks. Blurs of blue and red and black take down over a dozen men with practiced ease.
He didn't know why his agents were protecting these vigilantes’ identities. But he'd find out.
__________
During the weeks leading up to the trial, it had fallen to Bucky, Natasha, Clint and Frank to continue the investigation into HYDRA's dealings.
Each of them ran down every lead, spoke to every contact, threatened as many men and women within the Yakuza and the Triads as they could.
But everything had gone quiet.
The vigilantes’ raid on the Triad warehouse had sent the rats into their holes.
Until the arrest of Justin Hammer.
Micro spotted a heavy uptick in the chatter amongst and within the groups, reaching for his phone before he could blink.
“Alright. Thanks Micro.” Frank said, pressing ‘end call’ and tucking his cell phone away.
The six of them were gathered on a rooftop, listening to Micro explain that the Yakuza, the Triads, and Nemean (whose HQ was now known to be the Hammer Technologies building) were gathering and preparing to jump ship.
With Hammer getting arrested, the gangs know its just a matter of time before he squeals. Triad and Yakuza have left it up to Nemean to silence him.
“They're gonna assassinate him.” Peter said, trying to push down the guilt he felt for the man's current predicament.
“Yeah. They're going to do it tonight.” Natasha said. “They can't risk him talking.”
“And let's be honest. He's willing to talk.” Matt said.
“Which also makes him our best bet at taking this operation down.” Clint commented, rubbing a hand over the base of his skull.
“We have to protect him.” Bucky groaned.
“Yeah.” Matt said, straightening up. “Peter. He's being held at the 38th precinct. You go there and keep watch. If anything happens, you'll be able to get him out the fastest.”
Peter nodded. “I'm gonna need backup.” The teenager said.
“Bucky, you go with him.” Natasha said.
Bucky looked at her with wide eyes.
“I know. But he'll need someone to cover his back if and when he needs to take Hammer and go.”
“What about the rest of us?” Frank asked.
“The Yakuza and the Triad are trying to cover their tracks and get out of the city by tonight. We're going to stop them.” Matt said. “Frank, send Micro's map of their current whereabouts to all of our phones please.”
Frank did so.
“Thank you. We'll go in teams of two.” Matt explained. “Natasha and I will head out to the Yakuza, Frank and Clint to the Triad, Peter and Bucky to Hammer.”
“Why am I going with him and not you.” Frank asked in a low voice.
“I need someone who can knows Japanese to translate any documents and chatter on site. And you need someone to do the same for you in Mandarin. They speak those languages.” Matt explained softly.
As they spoke, Clint made eye contact with Peter.
‘What's that about?’ The archer said in sign language.
‘I know right?’ Peter signed back. ‘They've been like that for weeks. It's exhausting.’
“Okay, is everybody set to go?” Natasha asked, fiddling with her wrist bands.
“Yep.”
“Yeah.”
“Uh huh.”
“Confirmed.”
“Let's go.”
Came the responses from the men.
__________