[IC] Hooked on a Feeling

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Wait...Why do you wonder if it'd be better or not?" Guin asked him, unable to help her curiosity. Sure, there were some perks to being famous. Bill Nye followed her on Twitter, for example - and Neil DeGrasse Tyson once Tweeted about her Stark Expo project. Yeah, most of the benefits, at least for Guin, involved famous figures on social media...The downsides were easy to think of as well. Her personal struggle with addiction had been put into the spotlight thanks to her attention grabbing mother. She and her best friend were targeted by Kilgrave and Hammer. There were numerous kidnapping attempts, a few of them having some degrees of success. And while she could keep on brainstorming reasons for both sides, she still wanted to know her father's reasoning.

Banner nodded at Lance, vomiting a bit more but at this point, it was just stomach bile coming up. There were dark shadows under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping lately - and it was partially because he was working, but also because he was afraid to. He'd been having horrible nightmares and sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder in the middle of the day if he was living in a nightmare. Everything he loved was on the verge of being taken away from him and he was powerless to do anything but watch. "...I wish you had a normal life, b-buddy..." he whispered.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Think of everything that has happened over the course of your life. And I mean everything... Don't you think that it might have been better if I wasn't Iron Man? Or if I wasn't such a well known figure? Your life has been put in danger numerous times by people who know me, or want revenge on me. Take what happened with Hammer and Kilgrave... Hammer wanted to show me up, and it resulted in him trying to use you as a pawn in his game... For your safety, I sometimes wonder if it would have been better... Anyway, let's go find Lance," he said, walking out of the room into the hallway.

"...You should probably sleep," Lance muttered as he tried to think of how to respond to what his dad said. Sometimes he wished he had a normal life, since then he wouldn't have to deal with everyone thinking that he was going to turn into a monster or something. Things like that always bugged him, and he had no idea what else to do anymore about it. "Things like that... Well... I kind of stopped thinking about having a normal life a while ago..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Well..." Guin trailed off, not really sure how to say this. She then decided to just go for it. "Don't take this the wrong way, Dad, but before you were Iron Man...You never really paid attention to me," she said quietly, glancing down at the ground. She supposed it was way she tended to be an attention seeker - to try and make up for feeling ignored until the age of ten. Of course, it wasn't like Tony was a horrible parent back then. He had just been a little more distant than he was currently. "I'm not mad at you or anything...I know your dad treated you like that and there's some cycle or whatever..." she then added.

Banner nodded sadly. He thought back to something Lance had said earlier - that he preferred Puny Banner to the Hulk. He couldn't help but wonder if Lance was telling the truth - or if he was just saying that to keep the Hulk from coming out. Of course, it could have very well had the opposite effect and caused an angry, jealous Hulk come out to confront his "son" over his misplaced loyalty. "...I'm sorry for being a horrible father..." Banner muttered, looking away from his son. He had taken away Lance's chance of having a normal life. It couldn't have been easy, having the Hulk for a father. He couldn't help but wonder if Lance would have been better off in Vegas - or really, just away from him.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"...I know that I haven't been the best father to you Penguin, since before all of this, with me becoming Iron Man... I have always cared about you, but it took what happened to me that ended up with me becoming Iron Man, it put a lot of things in perspective for me, and made me realize that I hadn't been the best father to you, so I worked to do better," Tony said, not looking at her. It was true, and he didn't know what else to say about it as he headed out of the room.

Lance wasn't too sure what to say to that. His dad was not the best, he knew that, actually he was pretty sure a lot of people knew that. For him, the main problem was that his dad was always working, and he figured that he was better off living on the streets sometimes with how often his dad actually really talks to him. Most days, Banner's in the lab, leaving Lance to be by himself, especially when Guin went to rehab, and while she was at boarding school. "...It doesn't matter..." he muttered.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Dad....You're a good father," Guin told him softly, before giving him a hug. She remembered when Pepper had called her to inform her that her father had been captured by terrorists in Afghanistan - and that it was possible he'd never come back. It had been a terrifying moment and she could still recall it with perfect clarity. Not too long after that, her Uncle Obadiah had tried to have her killed, in order to prevent the company from passing to her. And then there had been the Battle of New York - another call at her boarding school, informing her that her father had gone off to fight aliens. She had been watching the live broadcast as her father vanished into the wormhole and almost didn't come back. Guin bit her lip slightly, not knowing what she would have done without him. "Plus we're stuck with each other...Only two Starks left, right?"

"No buddy, it does..." Banner said softly. He reflected on his own relationship with his father. It wasn't picture perfect in any way. "My father...Your grandfather...We didn't talk...My mother...I loved her but uh....uh...Dad killed her..." Banner mumbled, trying to explain that he just didn't know how to be a parent. He didn't have any examples and the only one he had to ask, sadly, was Tony Stark. "...I don't want to be like my father, buddy..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Thanks Penguin... And you are definitely right about that, we are the last two Starks around," he said with a smile, leading her out of the room. The two of them had been through a lot when it came to their pasts, and odds were that it wasn't done yet. Guin was the only family he had, not counting Pepper, and he wanted to keep her safe and away from all of that crazy things. "Now, what do you say about us going to Universal? Got to go see if Lance wants to come to still."

Lance just listened to what his dad was saying, he had known about what happened to his grandparents, when he had found out who his dad was, he had gone through news articles and files, it wasn't too hard to find that little bit of information. To him, it still didn't really matter whether or not his dad was a "good" father or not, people still looked at him with weird expressions when they saw him and knew who his dad was, and nothing would change that. "...Like I said, it doesn't really matter..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin nodded. "Will you go on the rides with us? Or is the shrapnel in your chest enough to disqualify you from the rides?" she asked, poking the arc reactor imbedded in her father. She didn't get why he hadn't figured out a way to get rid of the shrapnel yet, but his heart was being powered and he wasn't dead, so she didn't have too much to worry about. She just sometimes imagined situations where someone pulled out the arc reactor and he wasn't able to get to it in time - like what had almost happened when Obadiah turned on him. On occasion, Guin wondered what it was like to live with that. She once even had a dream that she had an arc reactor powering her own heart - well, more powering a strong electromagnet keeping small pieces of deadly metal from entering her heart.

"It does matter, buddy...Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise..." Banner said softly, trying to get to his feet but he fell back down on the couch. He kept trying to think of what to do or say, but anything he thought of he had already tried. There was no formula that explained how to fix his relationship with his son - and none of his degrees had the answer as to what had gone wrong in the first place. He could wax poetic about the effects of gamma radiation on people, but communicating with a teenage son? "...I love you so much, buddy...I'm trying to be a better father than my dad was...and I hope that one day I will be..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Tony couldn't help but laugh at that. "I should be fine, especially since what I do on a daily basis is more stressful, and sometimes painful, than some roller coaster," he said as they walked. The arc reactor was a part of him, it wasn't like he could easily get rid of it. Not to mention the fact that he also used it to power his suits. It was sticking with him, and probably would for years to come, and there wasn't anything he could do about it as they walked into the main area where Lance and Banner were.

"No, it doesn't really matter," Lance muttered, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. He did not want to be having this conversation, at all. This sort of thing, heart to hearts or whatever you wanted to call them, were not the sort of thing he really liked talking about. Feelings and stuff like that were annoying subjects for him, and he preferred not to talk about it. He glanced up, and saw Tony and Guin, but he said nothing.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"What if the roller coaster we go on explodes while we're all on it and we die?" Guin pointed out. "Then I think it's got nothing on you playing superhero with Banner and Capsicle," she added, snickering a bit. While her father usually claimed that being an Avenger was his job, no one paid him for it. He basically just designed a bunch of costumes for everyone and showed up to random grudge matches against big time villains across the world.

Banner nodded, resting his head in his hands. Even his curls looked a little pathetic and droopy, as if they too were incredibly saddened by the course of events. He couldn't help but laugh slightly, agreeing with the Hulk. The Hulk really was better than Puny Banner. From what he could tell, Lance seemed to think his life would be better if Banner just died. "I'll go, stop ruining things..." Banner muttered, before he got up and walked outside, heading down to the beach, the razor blade still in his hand.

Guin raised an eyebrow, seeing Banner leave. "That was dramatic..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Ha, yeah right," Tony said with a grin, before looking over at Banner. He let out a sigh when he heard his words as he walked away, but he figured that it was probably best to leave him alone to calm down. That was the way he was, just someone who tended to need to be alone when he was having problems, it wasn't like Banner could kill himself, the Hulk wouldn't let him, so he didn't really have anything to worry about.

Lance was about to say something else when his dad walked away, but looked back down at the ground when he left, This was practically how his life was, he and his dad having some sort of conversation that turned into either this or a shouting match, and he preferred the shouting. He just wanted to be able to talk to his dad, and express his frustrations, without having to worry about the Hulk showing up and making a mess of things. "So... What's the plan?" he asked Tony and Guin.

"We were talking about going to Universal and wanted to know if you wanted to come... Guessing Banner won't join us."

"Sure, sounds like fun, let's go."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Lando...You okay?" Guin asked softly. She knew he wasn't one to talk about his feelings, but she was guessing the conversation he had with Lance was pretty heavy. She had ended up crying on Tony after just one thing Banner had said - and she knew that Lance didn't get along with his father. Guin was slightly surprised that he wasn't glowing mildly, after whatever they'd discussed. And while her father wasn't worried about Banner committing suicide, Guin felt a bit anxious just at the idea that someone she knew was having those sort of thoughts. It wasn't like she had any sort of idea how to calm down Banner, however.

Pepper had noticed that Banner left the house from a window, before she sent a text to Tony that she was going to keep Bruce company and he was in charge of watching the kids. Pepper then couldn't help but cheekily add in a reminder of any allergies the two had, as well as behavioral issues to watch out for - mainly Lance going off to sulk and Guin lashing out. "But Universal should be super fun....We can skip House of Horrors since I don't think it's your thing, Lance, but there's a lot of fun rides there anyways. The Mummy ride even goes backwards at one point...And if we're lucky, Dad won't be mobbed by people the minute we get there..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"I'm fine Guin, don't worry... Anyway, Universal sounds like a lot of fun," he said with a smile, pushing away the thoughts about the conversation. He was glad that they seemed to be talking about getting away from the house, and away from his dad, he did not want to deal with that sort of thing right then. Tony nodded, looking at the texts from Pepper with a smirk, before messaging her to let her know where they were going. "I've never been to Universal before," Lance added as Tony led the way to the car.

The drive to Universal Studios was pretty uneventful, and by sheer luck when they parked and went through the entrance, they weren't immediately swarmed by the crowd of people, any who wanted to take a picture with Tony Stark anyway. They didn't seem to notice them, or recognize them, which was really lucky. Lance looked around the park, seeing everything that was there. He'd never been, as a matter of fact he almost never had been to any sort of theme park, and Universal was pretty big by itself. There were so many things to see and do, he had no idea what to do about any of it. "Wow..." he said, looking around.

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There was someone who did take notice of them, a man in a business casual outfit, but he blended into the crowd, making it impossible for any of them to notice. However, he was watching them silently, but there wasn't anyway for them to notice.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"You look like Harry when he went to Diagon Alley for the first time, Lando," Guin mused. She had to hold back a snicker at another thought that popped into her head - that it really was true what people said about the West Coast being so relaxed. Back on the East Coast, her father was almost always recognized within seconds of them arriving at any sort of public place. But here, it seemed a hat and a pair of sunglasses were all that they needed to hide him from the Californians. "And remember, Dad, your name is Clark Kent and you work for the Daily Planet," Guin then joked. "As long as you keep those shades on, no one will ever recognize you - no matter how glaringly obvious. But your secret weakness is the name Martha."

Once inside the park itself, Guin took a moment to get her bearings before she dragged Tony and Lance to the Jurassic Park ride. "This one's probably my favorite ride here..." Guin mused, still wondering when someone was going to notice that Iron Man was walking through Universal Studios. The line for the ride was fairly short, as it must have been an off day, and it wasn't long until they were all put into one of the boats. Guin was in the middle of Tony and Lance. "So they also have this 3D tour thing later that has a really cool virtual reality component, dinosaurs spray water on you there too...but I think this ride still is the best."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"...Cut me some slack, I've never really been here before," he said with a small laugh, still looking around at everything. There was so much to see and do there, he decided to just let Guin drag him places, figuring she knew where to go. He looked at the ride she had dragged them to, Jurassic Park, which he loved that movie. This was a good ride for them to go on, those movies were always one of his favorites. Tony just let Guin drag him to the ride as well, not being able to stop himself from laughing.

Lance was glad that there wasn't too many people in line, it meant that there wasn't that many people on the ride with them. He sat in the boat as the ride started, still somewhat surprised that no one had recognized Tony yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time. The ride was amazing, and as if right on cue, when people were looking at the pictures, they recognized Tony straight away, and when they got off the ride, Tony was almost immediately swarmed by people. Lance backed away slightly, before he looked through the crowd, until he saw the man who had been watching them before, and he was staring right at him.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin sighed, the thrills of the ride going away as her father was swarmed. She knew that he loved the attention and she supposed a lot of people thought she would have to - but she enjoyed attention from people she knew. It was meaningless, coming from strangers. But then again, she supposed she felt that way since she grew up used to this sort of thing. Her mother - Maddie - wouldn't have understood. Maddie spent a majority of her time coming up with ways to get more attention from people she'd never know. Guin bit her lip, remembering a particularly chilling thing Maddie had told her - that Guin better die young, so that way Maddie could benefit from the press surrounding it.

"You okay, Lando?" Guin asked, noticing him back away. She had taken her father's hand, subconsciously falling back on the habit she had when she was little. Pepper and Tony had basically trained her to just hold Tony's hand when in front of cameras. It was something that helped her get over her stage fright at the first Stark Expo she had to present at - though to be fair, Tony had done most of the presentation. "You look spooked..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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It took him a moment to register Guin's question. Tony was still being talked to by everyone around them, and he was being himself happily in front of the cameras. Lance did not like crowds, or cameras and stuff like that, but he knew that it was inevitable considering the people he hung around with all of the time. This sort of thing was not his favorite pastime ever, but he was used to it by now, but he was still focusing in on the guy who was staring at them.

He didn't even turn his head to address Guin's question, "You know me, I hate large crowds..." he said, still looking at the man, but he decided it might be best to point him out to her. "See that man over there? Everyone else within 100 feet is looking at your dad, the rest are trying to see what is with the crowd, except him... He's not focused on the crowd, he's the only one not focusing on Tony, is it just me or does it look like he's staring at us..." he continued, choosing to say us as opposed to the word me, which he felt would have been better.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin frowned, following Lance's gaze. The man's stare was unnerving and although Lance had said he was staring at the two of them, it looked more like he was focused on Lance to her. Guin instantly felt protective over Lance, though she figured it was possible the man recognized them from the incident at the Stark Expo. But then again, that didn't explain his obsessive stare. Guin bit her lip, taking Lance's hand before tugging a bit on Tony's arm.

"Dad, think we have a stalker situation," she mumbled so that way Tony's adoring fans couldn't hear. She knew he was enjoying the attention and eating it up - and she supposed that one day, she'd have to learn to deal with this if she was going to be the next owner of Stark Industries. She had seen the old reels and from what she could tell, her grandfather had enjoyed the attention as well. There were moments where she wondered if she was destined to turn into her father - and that Tony would slowly turn into his father in turn. "They seem interested in Lando..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance was just staring back at the man. Tony turned to look at Guin, before following the kids' gaze to where the man was. He only was able to look for a moment before the crowd yanked his attention away from him. There wasn't much he could do about it, but something about that man seemed familiar, but he wasn't able to place where he had seen him before. "Stay close to me you two and don't go near him Lance alright?" he said, looking over at them with a quick glance.

The crowd started to disperse after a few minutes, and Lance lost sight of the man, but he knew that odds were he was still close by. Some weirdo had been staring at him or something, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Where'd he go? I lost sight of him," Lance said, still looking through the crowd to try and find the man again. "Pay no attention to him Lance, something was definitely weird about him, funny, I felt like I've seen him somewhere before..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin nodded, but she didn't relax. In her opinion, it was actually more concerning that he appeared to be vaguely familiar to her father. "Please don't tell me we're about to live out the plot of the Incredibles and Mr. Mysterio is going to turn out to be some little kid you snubbed, now all grown up and back to haunt you," Guin muttered. It honestly wouldn't have even surprised her if that turned out to be the case. Her life had stopped being normal the day her father put on the Iron Man suit. She even had vague memories of a holographic solar system from when she was extremely little - whereas other kids would have just been given a small plushie. Nothing had ever been normal for her and she doubted it ever would be.

"...Wait, if that is someone that you fucked with back in the day, Pepper's right - we really out to start keeping a list of people you've pissed off, just in case they ever show up," Guin then added, not letting go of Lance's hand. She couldn't find the man in the crowd either, and had she been wearing her watch, she would have asked P.H.I.L. to get her camera feed. "Dad, can't you hack into the park's security cameras and run the guy's image through J.A.R.V.I.S.' database?"

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Yup, I'm already on it, JARVIS?" Tony said simply tapping his watch. JARVIS immediately found an image of the man who had been watching Lance, and started searching through the database. It would probably take a few moments for him to be able to get through everything and figure out who the guy was. "Don't worry, we'll figure out who the guy is, and hopefully figure out what the hell he is constantly staring at you for... So, where to next Guin?"

Lance wasn't too sure about that, but he trusted Tony to figure out what the hell they should do about it. He trusted Tony more to figure something out than his own dad, and sometimes he wondered if that was a good or bad thing. It didn't matter really, as he stuck by Guin, not exactly sure where to go, or what to do. "He's right, we can't do anything about it now... What else should we do here?" Lance asked her.