Chapter 12
“I’ll be blunt,” Tony says, twirling fettuccine on his fork, “I need a favor.”
“And here I was thinking you’d invited me and my wife to dinner to be polite,” Justin Hammer replies, sawing at his steak. “It’ll cost you.”
They launch into a negotiation that is barely in English, mostly consisting of patent numbers and robotics details, and Steve smiles at Hammer’s wife, Evangeline. “How did you two meet?” he asks, cutting his own steak carefully.
“Online, actually,” She says, flaking off a piece of her salmon. “How about you and Tony?”
Steve’s polite smile fades. He clears his throat. “Tony’s son, Peter, was wandering around the grocery store. I tried to help him and Peter punched me in the balls.” He wipes his eyes quickly. “Sorry,” he mutters. “Anyways, Tony found Peter standing over me, screaming that he was being kidnapped. He bought me dinner a few days later to make up for it and…” Steve’s voice cracks. “Well, I met Peter for real a few weeks later.”
“I’m sorry,” Evangeline says, “I didn’t mean to bring up hard memories.”
Steve coughs, wiping his eyes again. “It used to be one of my favorite memories to tell because Peter would get so embarrassed.”
“I’m sure you’ll find him,” Evengeline says.
“Thanks,” Steve replies, finally getting his eyes to dry. He sniffs, wiping the last traces of tears from his cheeks. “That’s what we’re trying to do with all this–” he gestures toward Hammer and Tony’s fierce debate, which has dissolved into a fair amount of name calling– “negotiation.”
Evangeline meets Steve’s eyes, and without looking away says, “Dearest?”
Hammer turns immediately, holding up a hand toward Tony. “Yes?”
“You’re doing it,” Evangeline says sweetly. “Whatever it is.”
Hammer and Tony gawk at her before Hammer holds out a hand. “You heard the woman.” Tony shakes his hand and then their verbal sparring begins again.
“My sister disappeared from the playground when I was ten,” Evangeline says to Steve. “I would do anything to spare someone else the pain.”
“Thank you,” Steve says. “You have no idea how much this means.”
Evangeline gives him a sad smile. “It’s no trouble, but I think I might.”
“That was refreshing,” Tony says as they exit the restaurant. “Did you have fun talking to Hammer’s dominatrix?”
Steve’s mouth falls open. “Don’t insult her like that, Evangaline is a lovely–”
“It’s not an insult,” Tony backpedals. “He literally hired her to be a dominatrix and they got married.”
“And how do you know that?”
Tony blinks. “Hammer and I talk.”
“My God, Tony, you have a friend that isn’t related to you. It’s a miracle.”
“Rhodey and I aren’t related,” Tony says, “And neither are you and I, thank God.”
“Maybe Evangeline and I can arrange a playdate for the two of you,” Steve says with a comical grin on his face.
“I have friends,” Tony grumbles. “I just prefer science.”
Steve pats Tony’s shoulder consolingly. The moment lapses and he sighs, his breath making a frosty cloud in the night air. “We’re close,” he says, “We’ll get him back.”
Tony lets his head fall to Steve’s shoulder. “What if I hadn’t forgotten? For that first month?”
Happy pulls up with the car, complaining of New York parking and traffic, and they climb into the back, pulling the divider closed. Steve sidles into the middle seat, pinning Tony against the door affectionately. “You don’t remember, but Tony, it was cold. There was nothing. Nothing on the explosive, nothing on the car, no witnesses. Less than nothing, Tony.”
“I just can’t help thinking,” Tony says, his voice cracking, “That when he left he was fifteen, and he’s almost closer to seventeen now.”
Steve hasn’t been allowing himself thoughts along those lines for that very reason. He’d spent Peter’s sixteenth birthday giving an incredibly painful and incredibly short press statement about Tony’s TBI and Peter’s disappearance. He’d thrown up at the garbage can by the exit and Pepper had guided him lightly from the room. “I know,” Steve says. “I know.”
Hammer calls the next day, having secured an invite into the secretive fight club. Steve, Tony, and Clint meet him at his house, where they argue. Steve and Tony both want to accompany him, not wanting to miss the opportunity to see their son again. Clint and Hammer disagree. Finally, they decide that Hammer will go in with Evangeline and a security detail made up of a disguised Clint and a few other trusted SHIELD agents.
“They invited me to watch a match to see if I’d be interested,” Hammer explains to Wanda and Pietro, SHIELD agents and siblings who’d agreed to work with Clint discreetly. He’d still been hitting a wall with Fury and had to pretend he’d given up on the case. “Most people bring security, and they made it pretty clear this is the only opportunity I’ll have to back out or change my mind.”
Clint picks up, “No wires, it’s not worth the risk. That also means we’ll be no contact. Hammer can’t be seen talking with Stark because it’s suspicious.”
“To a certain extent,” Stark explains. “I’ll be announcing a Stark Industries and Hammer Tech collaboration on remodeling the rec center. So we’ll be around eachother legitimately.”
“Try to avoid your…” Steve searches for a way to phrase it. Finally, he settles on, “amicable animosity.”
Hammer and Tony both exclaim, “what?” at the same time.
“It’s true, the two of you hate each other fondly,” Evangeline adds. “Keep it professional. Clint will be the liaison through Steve.”
Clint continues, raising his voice above the insistence of Tony and Hammer that they hate each other. “Pietro, Wanda, and I will gather intel until we have a case Fury can’t ignore. In the meantime, Steve is trying to track down someone we think might have escaped from the organization.”
“A former employee?” Hammer asks.
Steve frowns. “A former victim. He’s a mercenary that goes by Deadpool these days. I’m going to try and hire him then ask if I can buy information rather than a kill.” Steve doesn’t mention that he’ll be grilling the man on the conditions. His nightmares are already filled with the things he’s seen at SHIELD, all the worst things that can be done to a person. That kind of thing weighs heavily on a person and Steve doesn't know if the not knowing or the knowing will kill him first.