Yes, There is something else I need

Meeting Dr. Vanko

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the Iron Man franchise in any way.

A/N: to all my readers, here is another chapter of my story. I hope you enjoy it!

***

“So, Dr. Vanko,” Justin Hammer said, “you’ve seen our facilities, what do you think?”

“Is very good,” the Russian said, chewing on his toothpick. “”I will be working alone, yes?”

“Of course. No one in the world except Tom over there and myself knows where you are. Or that you are even alive for that matter and I intend for it to stay that way. That is why you are never to leave the company grounds for any reason, unless under escort. It’s for your own protection, you understand.”

Vanko nodded slowly. He understood, all right. He understood perfectly. This business arrangement he now had with Hammer Industries was just another prison. Unable to leave until his time was up, he was as trapped within these four walls just as surely as he had been in his dank cell. But here at least, it was going to be a pleasure to exercise his mind again, following in his father’s footsteps and most importantly, carrying on his noble work.

It was all means to an end, after all—the destruction of the Stark family legacy, taking along with it, the last remaining member of that family’s dynasty. If he had to substitute one set of grey walls for another, it was a small price to pay.

However, just because he was here didn’t mean he had to be completely deprived of life’s little pleasures.

“Now before you get started, is there anything I get for you?”

“Yes. I would like to have internet access, a copy of “Pravda” delivered every day. Since I am forbidden to go outside, I will also need some, how you say, exercise equipment? And, where will I sleep?”

Hammer led the way to another room. It was equipped with a small kitchenette and a cot and dominating the east side of the room was a gigantic flat-screen television. Underneath that was a small entertainment unit that was stocked full of DVDs and CDs.

“There’s a bathroom on the left. I know this place isn’t much, but I think you’ll be comfortable. As for the gym equipment, we’ll get that installed tomorrow. Consider it done. Anything else you need?”

“Yes, there is something I want.”

“And that would be…?” Hammer queried.

“A woman. It has been a long time for me, you understand.”

Hammer winked. “I completely understand. You just want to get back in the saddle, so to speak and I can’t say as I blame you. Fifteen years is a long time. Any particular preference or nationality you have in mind? My company has many, er, somewhat clandestine connections that will provide you with your choice from many young women: blondes, brunettes, redheads and some of them are former models…”

“No,” Vanko interrupted. “I do not want a woman who is what you Americans would call skinny. You see, Mr. Hammer, Russian men like women who have meat on their bones.”

“Ah, I get it. You want someone who has a little beef in her borscht, right? Not a problem. All right, if there’s nothing else, I’ll get started on your list and I’ll send our best girl as soon as I get to my office.”

“She must be clean. You know…clean?”

“The girls we have on call do not have diseases of any sort. So clean in fact, that I will not even insist on protection. If you want to ride bareback, you got it.” Justin Hammer shook Vanko’s hand and walked away.

The Russian waited patiently until he was sure the pretentious CEO was out of sight before he wiped the hand that shook Hammer’s on his clothes. “Cochon,” he muttered. He shrugged his broad shoulders and winced slightly as the burns he’d received in France chafed uncomfortably against his sweatshirt. A good cold shower might lessen the sting, he thought as he headed for the bathroom.

lll

When Hammer returned to his office, he buzzed his secretary. “Send Kate Brady in now.”

As he tapped his fingers on the desk, the woman he wanted walked in to his office and closed the door behind her.

“You wanted to see me…?”

“Yes, Kate, I do. I have a special task that I want you to perform: in the R&D lab, a Russian scientist named Ivan Antonovich Vanko is waiting for you and what I want you to do is fuck his brains out.”

“Wh…what?”

“You heard me. Your sole responsibility for the remainder of today is to do whatever Vanko wants. If he tells you to go on all fours and bark like the dog you are, then you will do it. You will please him in any way and any position he wants.” Justin Hammer let his eyes rove openly over Kate’s figure. Sure, she wasn’t a size two, but he could see why a man would want a woman with a little meat on her bones…and in Kate’s case, it seemed to go straight to her breasts. And to Hammer’s way of thinking, a woman can never have boobs that are too big.

“But I don’t wa--!”

“…want to?” Hammer finished, a sneer twisting his face. “What you want is completely irrelevant. Not doing what I want you to is not an option, unless you’ve changed your mind after all this time and do not want me to locate your daughter. If you think you can do better, by all means, try to find her on your own. And,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair as he laced his fingers behind his head, “considering the trouble and expense I’ve had to go through in finding out what little I have, I’d love to see you do any better.”

“What if he hurts me?” Kate asked, her face blanching at the unexpected flare of defiance that raced through her.

Hammer shrugged. “So what? We have doctors here. Besides, Vanko probably won’t hurt you as long as you don’t piss him off.” The weaselly CEO’s smirk grew wider as he savoured the fear he would see on her face when he dropped his big surprise. “The reason you shouldn’t get on his bad side is that up until a year ago, Dr. Ivan Antonovich Vanko was in prison.”

“Pri…prison?”

“Yes, he did fifteen years in maximum security. Russian prisons are not like the Club Fed’s we have in this country. Hard time like the stretch he served will turn any man into a brute. Here,” he said, pushing a nearby chair closer to Kate. “Sit down before you fall down.” It took almost every bit of restraint he possessed not to chuckle at his subordinate’s stricken face and haunted eyes. “For Chrissakes, you look like you’re going to throw up,” he muttered. Reluctantly removing himself from his chair, Hammer went to the liquor cabinet, poured a generous amount of brandy in a crystal tumbler, and handed it to Kate. “Drink this; it’ll take the edge off.” When she did not move, he shoved the glass into her hand. “I’m not asking you again.”

Kate wrapped her hands around the glass as if holding it so could ease her shaking. Aware that Hammer was watching her every move, she took a sip. The brandy spread much needed warmth through her body and in less time than she would have guessed, the tumbler was empty.

“Want more?” Hammer offered. If his guess was correct, she would need all the fortification she could get. True, it was his best brandy but if getting her tipsy meant doing a bang-up job in banging the Russian, it was worth it.

“When is he expecting me?”

“As soon as you’re done with that. And don’t sit there and sip it; just chug it. Vanko doesn’t have the patience to wait for you all day and neither do I.”

“Why? Of all the women that you have at your disposal, why was I chosen?”

What little patience Justin Hammer had left at that moment snapped when he saw the confused look on Kate’s face. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “He wants to fuck a fat woman and your name was the first that came to mind. I don’t want some outsider to find out that Vanko is alive. I don’t have to worry about you opening your big fat mouth because you damn well know that you stand to lose if you don’t. Next, your services won’t cost me a penny. I get what I want—a way to show Stark up in front of the whole goddamn world and Vanko gets his rocks off. It’s a win-win situation for everybody. Well,” he amended himself quickly, “not for you, of course, but I don’t care about that. Ooh, that reminds me, it’s time.”

He leaned over the desk to the telephone and punched in the extension for security.

As soon as Kate saw who it was that was coming for her, she protested, trying not to reveal how desperately afraid she was. “Mr. Hammer, I know the way to R&D. I don’t need an escort.”

“I don’t care what you want. You’re going with them and that’s final. I wouldn’t want you to get lost; you’re too important and you have a job to do.” He looked over Kate’s strained face to the two bulky men that had already taken a position at either shoulder. “Once we’re done here, bring her directly to Vanko and then leave. There are a few exits from R&D and I wouldn’t want Kate to succumb to temptation, understood?”

She stood between the two brawny security guards that towered over her on either side. Feeling like she was going to her own execution, Kate slowly began the long walk to the lab.

***

As soon as the sound of the trio’s footsteps faded to silence, the door behind Hammer’s desk opened. His second-in-command, a quintessential yes-man came forward.

“You know, boss, as soon as Vanko gets through with her, you’ll have to tell her what she wants to know.”

Hammer scoffed. “What do you mean?”

“You know, give her the information she wants about her daughter.”

The CEO laughed cruelly. “I haven’t even thought of looking for the kid.”

Realization dawned on the subordinate’s face. “You’ve been stringing her along all this time?”

“Of course I have. She’s such a stupid cow, I’m amazed how naïve and gullible some women are. I haven’t told her squat because it hasn’t been in my or Hammer Industries interests to look.”

The other man laughed, as he knew he should. “If I may say so, sir, you are some piece of work.”

“Of course I am. That’s why I’m the youngest privately owned defense contractor the United States military has ever had. I suppose I will have to tell her something someday but until then, she just have to settle for eating the bullshit I feed her. Adoption records are sealed, you know,” Hammer said, a fake serious expression on his face. It takes a judge to reverse that.”

“But if push comes to shove, you could get that info, right? Not that I’m questioning you or anything, boss,” the lackey said hastily. “I was just curious.”

“I could have everything she feels the need to know in less than two minutes if I put my mind to it. However, as long as she gives me the best blow jobs in the world, she is useful. The day that I get tired of her is the day she’ll conveniently disappear.”

***

The sound of her heels quickly clicking on the spotless concrete floor resonated like gunshots in the vast part of building that was the heart of Hammer Industries’ research and development area.

Her two companions, also known as the worst of Security’s “Muscle for Hire” goons were broad in shoulder and frame, these men were known for their brawn, not their brains.

However, it wasn’t their size that made Kate afraid to be alone with them again, it was the memories.

As punishment for an error on her part years ago that cost Hammer Industries almost three million dollars, she had been given to each of the men as payback. The memory of that horrible night as their sex toy still haunted her dreams occasionally—the filthy words they had grunted at her during her rape and the inhuman and feral looks on their faces as they came simultaneously in her ass and cunt. Since that time, her skin crawled whenever she saw them—and their leering glances.

Kate silently fumed as the two men talked over her head as if she wasn’t even present.

“Have you seen him?” Tom said.

“Nope. I haven’t laid eyes on him yet. Why?”

“The guy is supposed to be some genius in physics, so automatically you think nerd, right? Lab coat, pocket protector and thick glasses, the whole shebang? Hell no! Get this: he’s covered from head to toe with tattoos, built like a fucking freight train--the guy probably did some weightlifting in the can, and he’s got this “Don’t-fuck-with-me-or-I’ll-rip-your-goddamn-head-off-attitude” that he’d make a Hell’s Angel member think twice before messing with him. Tell you what though; he wasn’t anyone’s bitch in prison. I’ll stake my mother’s life on that.”

The thug known as Rob said, a sidelong look at the diminutive woman beside him. “Who knows what he’ll do to you, Cupcake? Considering where he’s been for the last fifteen years, you won’t walk right for a week.” He winked as he chucked Kate beneath the chin.

Even through her fear, Kate’s temper had boiled up. The brandy gave her courage and she used it in the most hurtful way she could think of. “Any man will be better than either of you. And don’t forget I know that from experience.” She smiled sweetly, batting her lashes looking at each her guards in turn. “Both of you didn’t last six minutes, if I recall.” She was too angry and too tipsy to think of any repercussions of her actions, but she was damned if she would just stand there and not say anything!

Like most men, the insinuation that their sexual stamina had been lacking, the truth hit too close to home. Kate gasped with shock and pain when Rob grabbed her arm in one smooth maneuver, twisting her arm behind her back until her arm was fully extended behind her with palm facing up. He bent her forward at the waist until her face was at groin level with Tom.

“Take it back, you little slut,” Rob hissed. “Or Tom and I will make damn sure you get fucked in all your pretty little holes once that Commie bastard’s done with you. Do you want that? Huh?”

After each question, her arm was twisted a little more until Kate could take no more. The pain made her incapable of speaking.

“We know where you live and what car you drive, slut,” Tom hissed. “And we’re not too proud to accept sloppy seconds, are we, Rob?”

“Certainly not, Tom. To me, a hole is a hole and I think you’ve come up with a very good idea. Or, we might decide not to come over. Now, are you sorry for what you said?”

Kate nodded, as she knew she had to if she didn’t want her arm broken. The iron grip that held her arm pinned was released and she cautiously straightened up, shaking her arm to restore the circulation. Tom raised his hand and slapped her across the face.

“I can’t hear a nod, bitch! Say something…or do I have to smack you again?”

“No, no. I am sorry for what I said.” Kate kept her head lowered and let her hair cover her face. She was grateful that neither Tom nor Rob could see her clearly, for they would have taken great pleasure in her tears of pain and humiliation.

The contented squawking of a bird and a soft murmur of a heavily accented voice up ahead made Kate shiver. It wasn’t far now. As the trio rounded the corner, Kate instinctively slowed her steps, so she could delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

“Get going,” Tom snarled, propelling her forward by giving her a sharp jab in her lower back that made her gasp. “We don’t have all goddamn day. Doctor Vanko, she’s here as promised.”

Kate looked at the Russian scientist for the first time and found that utter terror constricted her throat. The buzz and accompanying warmth she had gotten from the brandy instantly dissipated, leaving her sober and cold. As he slowly circled Kate, she resisted the urge to look at him. She felt the sting of humiliation well up in her eyes but she swallowed hard and forced the tears back by sheer will. She raised her chin and stared straight ahead, ignoring the fact that the more Vanko circled her, the more she felt like a piece of goods for sale than a woman, a slave about to be auctioned off to the highest male bidder at an open-air market.

Let him stare, she thought. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.

To make matters worse, Tom spoke up. “What do you think, Dr. Vanko? When Justin Hammer promises something, it gets done.”

“No, he does not! He is a liar and cannot be trusted….This is the last time I will settle for second best,” the bulky former physicist snarled, catching Kate, Tom and Rob off-guard. The parrot, ruffled its feathers and squawked indignantly, informing the humans that it possessed a desire for quietness, not raised voices.

“Let us know when you’re ready to leave, Kate, and we’ll see you get home safely,” Rob said, an unpleasant glint in his eye.

Kate’s face turned white and it was a struggle to keep her knees from buckling beneath her.

“No, she will stay with me,” Vanko interrupted. “I will say when she can go.”

With nods that barely concealed their glee for stirring Vanko’s rage and what it would invariably mean for Kate, the guards turned abruptly on their heels and walked away, neither of them looking back.

Vanko took her elbow in a grip that was firm but surprisingly gentle. “Come with me,” he said, “I want to look at you properly.”

“Please, don’t do this to me …” Kate was not above begging if it meant that the man holding her would be a little gentler. However, since her nerves were already shot to hell, her worst fear of being violently raped were heightened when the last thing she heard before the door to Vanko’s private room closed was Tom’s malevolent cackle as it echoed through the laboratory.