[IC] Hooked on a Feeling

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin raised an eyebrow. She didn't like the idea of pretending everything was fine and that some pedophile hadn't just been staring at Lance. She would have been slightly more comfortable with the situation if the man had been staring at her - she was in the news a lot more than Lance was. It helped (or rather hurt) to have a famous attention obsessed mother who was willing to use Guin's emotional struggles for her five minutes in front of the cameras. But Lance? He kept a relatively low profile, with few knowing he was the son of the Hulk until he chose to introduce himself as Lance Banner.

"Are we really going to pretend that everything's fine?" Guin asked. "Because you know who does that? White people in horror movies - the ones that don't end up with everything being just fine!" she pointed out. "You know when else we acted like everything was fine? When Hammer started schmoozing Lance. And look how that turned out - we had to have a roller skating dance battle against killer poorly programmed robots!" Guin then crossed her arms. "I don't think we should just go riding rides if someone wants to hurt Lando."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"We don't know what it is about Guin... Could have just been some weird coincidence that it seemed like he was staring at me, he could have been staring at your dad like everyone else... You worry a little too much Guin, besides what are the odds that some random person would be staring at me or something, wanting to hurt me, in a theme park that can hold thousands of people. The odds are very low in case you were wondering Guin," Lance said, looking at her and letting out a sigh. She was being a little ridiculous in his mind, and he didn't know what to say to make it so she was calmer.

"Look, JARVIS will have an ID on that guy in a few moments, takes a little longer since we are at a theme park, but don't worry, we'll figure out who he is real quick," Tony said, looking at her. This whole situation was starting to bug him a lot, and he was really glad that Banner wasn't there, since odds were he'd be flipping out right then. He did contemplate calling him to let him know, but decided against it, since Bruce already had had a pretty bad day so far.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"No," Guin said flatly, crossing her arms. She knew what she had seen and Lance had been freaked out by it as well. If he hadn't been, he wouldn't have bothered pointing it out to her. She wasn't just about to let Lance convince her she was crazy. Her mother tried that sort of tactic way too often in her opinion and she wasn't about to stand for it. "You said so yourself - he was looking at us and by us, you meant you. And as for the odds, I can fucking do math, okay?" She cut herself off before she made a comment about how her family's intelligence was better than his. She didn't want to hurt Lance.

"And it doesn't matter that the odds are low. The odds were low that Dad'd come out of that wormhole. Or that I'd be born, given Dad's aversion to children. Or that Ireland would beat Bulgaria, despite Krum catching the snitch. In all of those cases, the odds were low - but it still fucking happened. So lecture me on probability when we're dealing with a hypothetical, not when we have actual evidence that someone is interested in you and we don't know why." She was still moody from what Banner had said earlier and she took a breath, scratching at her wrist.

She didn't like this at all.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Guin, I still think you are over reacting just a little bit," Lance muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. This whole thing was weird, and freaking him out slightly, but he couldn't come up with anything to possibly explain why the guy had been looking at him. He knew deep down that Guin was right, but he wasn't just trying to convince her that she was over reacting, he was also trying to convince himself that there was nothing to worry about, since he did not want to turn into a free laser light show in front of over a thousand people.

Tony just shook his head, before pulling out his phone, frowning a little. "So, good news, JARVIS was able to ID the guy, bad news, wasn't able to find much info about him. Name is Philip Sterns, and apparently years ago he went to school with Banner... Doesn't really give us much to work with... I swear though, Banner has mentioned this guy, and I probably wasn't really paying attention during that entire conversation..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"So, for those of you playing along at home, someone who went to school with Banner - which means they likely did something in STEM - was staring at you, Lance," Guin mentioned. "And sure, maybe he just recognized you as his old friend's kid, but no offense - you're not as recognizable as I am, since I get photographed a lot more than you do. Or used to, anyways." She paused, scratching at her wrist a little more violently as she kept on thinking. It didn't surprise her that her father hadn't been paying attention when Banner mentioned this guy and she knew the obvious solution was to call Banner, but she didn't want to talk to him. Lance never wanted to talk to him. And she wasn't even sure her father was on good terms with Banner at the moment.

"...We should probably go back to the Malibu house, Dad," Guin then said, crossing her arms. She felt incredibly uncomfortable and worried for Lance. She didn't want some sort of crazy stalker to end up hurting him. Besides, anyone who associated with Banner in the past just sounded like bad news. The guy ended up turning into the Hulk, after all. Anyone from Banner's past probably had some connection to the psycho general that wanted to add Abomination to the Avengers roster.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Look, just calm down alright. Even though he probably doesn't want to talk to me or anything, I'll call Banner, see what he can tell me about this guy alright, just stay out of the crowd," Tony said, before he stepped about 10 feet away from Guin and Lance, before he dialed Banner's number. He was almost positive that the guy didn't want to talk to him, but the guy also knew that he was with Lance, and the guy cared about his kid. So he was hoping that Banner would answer if he thought that the only reason Tony was calling was because something was wrong.

Lance just stood there nervously, not even trying to hide that he was starting to freak out anymore. Some guy, who is dad knew, had been staring at him, when there were hundreds of people around. Hundreds of other people who he could have paid attention to, the guy had been looking at him. He didn't even notice the fact that the man had merged into the crowd, blending in, and heading towards them. Lance stayed close to Guin, just looking around, and hoping that Tony would be able to get ahold of his dad and find out who this guy was.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"What do you want, Tony?" Banner's voice came softly, once he picked up the phone. Tony would be able to hear the distant noise of the coast. Banner must have still been out along the shoreline, having not gone back to the house since he had stormed out after the fight with Tony and then the subsequent argument with Lance. It probably wouldn't be a while until Banner would return to the house anyways, as he needed to remain calm to avoid any green incidents. He had already broken New York on several occasions; he didn't want to repeat that in California.

Guin uncrossed her arms and put one protectively around Lance, not caring if he tried to shrug her off or something. She didn't like this at all and knowing that her father was similarly worried only confirmed her suspicions. "We might end up needing a vacation from our vacation," Guin joked to Lance softly. The entire point of going to California had been to avoid all of the stress in their lives, which was mostly from the incident at the Stark Expo. And now, it seemed like they were headed to another host of problems. At least no Anti-Mutant groups had shown up, but at this rate, Guin wouldn't have been surprised if they came too and tried to get Lance.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"What do you know about a man named Philip Sterns? You mentioned him before but I might have tuned out that conversation out of boredom. JARVIS ID'd him here at the park, but wasn't able to get much information about him from the files..." Tony said, really hoping that Banner helped him out, he was just glad that he had answered the phone. He had half expected him to ignore his calls. "This guy seemed to be watching us Banner," he added, being deliberately vague so as to not worry Banner too much.

Lance did indeed shrug off Guin's arm, stepping away from her slightly. He hated how she sometimes acted like he couldn't take care of himself, "Maybe..." he said simply. This guy, the whole situation was a strange one to him, and his dad had something to do with it, even if it was a bit indirectly. The man was getting closer now, but he was still able to blend into the crowd seamlessly, making it near impossible to pick him out of the car easily.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Oh, him..." There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. "He's supposed to be dead, Tony...Some freak lab accident trying to replicate the serum that made Cap, just like I did...We went to school together..." Of course, Sterns had always been jealous of Banner, becoming obsessed with his work and trying to one up him. It had been annoying when they were both studying to get their PhD's and Banner always wondered how much that jealousy resulted in Sterns' demise. Of course, apparently he wasn't dead at all. Either that or J.A.R.V.I.S. had identified someone that looked just about identical to him. "...I'd stay clear of him, Tony..."

"Lance, just let me protect you for once," Guin grumbled. "I know you can maybe this place light up like a disco ball, but Black Widow taught me some fighting techniques so I can help too..." She inched closer to Lance again, glancing over at her father and wishing he'd hurry up with his phone call. She felt incredibly on edge and despite her sobriety, her brain was screaming at her to run and get high, as if that would make all of these problems go away. She scratched at her wrist violently again and this time, broke skin.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Yeah, figured... Hey, listen, this guy, he wasn't just looking at the three of us as a group... He was more of looking directly at Lance..." Tony said, admitting it. He figured that if Banner found out he wasn't telling him the full truth later about this guy, and any chance of fixing his friendship with Banner after what had happened earlier would have been thrown out the window. Banner needed to know the full story, like this guy from school seemed to be interested in his kid.

"I don't need protecting Guin, I'm fine on my own..." he grumbled, before Philip Sterns popped up behind him. Lance turned around, and backed up slightly. "Hello there, Lance Banner right? Pleasure to meet you, Philip Sterns, I know your father," he said, looking at him and holding out his hand to him. Lance had no idea what to do, but he didn't exactly know how to easily get out of this situation.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, before Banner's breathing seemed to increase. Tony would be able to hear him stumble about and fall to the ground. "TONY, GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" Banner screamed, sounding incredibly panicked and stressed. There was then a roar and by some miracle, the phone wasn't crushed. "PUNY BANNER NO MATCH! MAD MAN HAS SON?! HULK KILL HIM! HULK SMASH!" The line then went dead, implying that the Hulk had crushed the phone. It probably wouldn't be too long until there were news reports of a giant green rage monster running down the California interstate. It probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen in California at least.

"Guin Stark, pleased to meet you, Taserface," Guin said, taking Sterns' hand and squeezing it tightly enough to make it hurt. "Now this can go one of two ways. You fuck off and never so much as breathe in the same state as Lance. Or you get publicly humiliated by a fucking Avenger and die a sad little bag of shit that no one could ever love. If I were you, I'd pick the first one - unless pain is your thing, then sure, go for a round or two against the most sophisticated suit of armor money can buy and brains can design. And let's not forget the Hulk. Couple of master assassins on standby, just need to call 'em in. And there's also Pointbreak, the freaking God of Thunder and the living fossil, Captain freaking America!"

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Banner? Damn it!" Tony yelled as he hung up the phone. Sounded like Banner might not have been fully truthful about what he knew about Sterns, the Hulk had been more helpful about that than Bruce had been, though he wasn't going to ever tell Banner that. Problem was, now they had the Hulk on a rampage in Southern California, which was probably going to be all over the news in a few minutes. This was going to be a long day, and he put his phone back in his pocket and turned towards Lance and Guin, except there was a slight problem, he couldn't see them anymore because of the crowd. "Lance? Guin?" he called out.

"Pleasure to meet you Ms. Stark," he said, before he hit her with a needle in the neck, administering a sedative. Lance's eyes widened, his hands starting to glow, but Sterns was quick and there was a pinch in his neck as Sterns hit him with combination of a sedative and an inhibitor. He then grabbed both of them before they passed out completely through the crowd of people off to the side, already having had his escape route planned as he dragged the two of them along. Lance tried yanking his arm free, but couldn't, Sterns grip was too strong.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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As predicted, social media began to blow up with sightings of the Hulk pounding down the freeway, screaming about wanting to kill someone. It wouldn't be long before it hit the news or before the autotuned parodies of his words along to hit pop songs appeared on YouTube. Of course, Stark Industries would inevitably end up paying for any damages, as well as at least three different civil suits for acute emotional distress. It was easier to just end up settling them outside of court, rather than having Banner have to go through another trial where some lazy person with a lawyer claimed that they were traumatized by the Hulk - when more often than not, the Hulk didn't even do anything to them.

"Dad....Help..." Guin mumbled, starting to sway. Her vitals were all becoming irregular and it triggered P.H.I.L.'s primary protocol, sending an alert to Tony that she appeared to be in the process of being kidnapped. It sent her coordinates to him as well, updating him with any change. Guin was stumbling and ended up tugging on her sleeve, hiding her watch from sight. "Dad..." Guin called out again.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Guin!" Tony called out as he started pushing through the crowd trying to find the kids, he pulled out his phone, hearing the alert from PHIL. "Ok, she's still in the park, can't you give me more info on her whereabouts than that? This isn't very helpful!" he said to the AI as he continued searching for them, he couldn't hear Guin's voice, and now he was panicking, but he couldn't find them.

"Please, no need to be alarmed Ms. Stark, we're just going on a little trip. I feel bad to have to involve you in all of this, however you saw me, and there was nothing more that could be done about it," Sterns said as he led the pair out of the park, and to a van. Once there, he grabbed any electrical device that the pair had on them, including Guin's watch, and tossed them aside, before pushing the two of them into the back, slamming the side door as he got into the driver's seat.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"I am sorry, Mr. Stark, but the signal appears to have stabilized in Parking Lot E," P.H.I.L. announced. The AI displayed the exact coordinates on Guin's location on the screen. "However, Ms. Stark is no longer in range of my detectors," P.H.I.L. then added. The AI was remotely appearing on Tony's terminal, despite the fact that Sterns had tossed Guin's watch. And despite the grave subject matter, including the fact that Tony couldn't track Guin anywhere beyond the parking lot using the watch, P.H.I.L.'s tone was even and calm. It always was.

"I liked my last kidnapper waaaaay better..." Guin muttered - or at least, she thought she did. She wasn't thinking or seeing clearly, despite how much she was focusing on trying to see out the back of the van - he couldn't have splurged for white paint? Could've been honest about being a pedophile. Her mind then swayed drastically and she felt tempted to tell Lance I told you so. She had been right all along to be freaked out about this guy. He was probably going to kill them or something. "Aaaand that's a bunch of bullshit, Captain HYDRA or whatever your name is...If you felt bad you wouldn't do it...Y'know, Sorry isn't just the name of a board game...."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Over an hour or so later, Tony was back at the Malibu house with Pepper and Banner. When he had lost the kids completely, he suited up to go calm Banner down. It hadn't taken him too long to pull it off, but the problem was that he wasn't too sure if he wanted to talk to Banner about what had happened at the park, but he knew that he couldn't avoid it. They had to find Guin and Lance, they just had to, and he was hoping that Banner would tell them more about this Philip Sterns guy.

Meanwhile, with Lance and Guin, a few minutes into the drive, the sedative would have completely knocked them out cold, so they couldn't see where they were going at all. When Lance woke up, he was in what looked to be a lab of some sorts, his hands were tied behind his back, and he saw Guin on the ground next to him. Sterns was no where in sight as he looked around the room, he still felt dizzy and a bit queasy from the sedative, and he found he couldn't use his powers. "Guin? You alright?"

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin was a little better off than Lance, purely because her body had developed a bit of resistance to drugs. It wasn't as helpful as it could have been, given how long she had been clean, but she had actually woken up before Lance. The dizziness had already worn off, though there had been a moment where she seriously wondered if she was going to puke or not. "I'm fine - you?" Guin asked softly. She imagined that Lance was freaking out, since he'd never been kidnapped before. She was remaining fairly calm, trying to memorize the lay out of the lab and get an idea as to what Sterns wanted with them based on the equipment present.

"How's the knot on your bonds? Mine's pretty tight..." Guin whispered.

Back at the Malibu house, Pepper was trying her best to stay calm. Tony had made her aware of the deal he had made with the government, in order to keep them from trying to take Guin away for experimentation. But every time she was kidnapped, Pepper couldn't help but be afraid that she'd end up living the rest of her days as a glorified lab rat, despite just being an ordinary human teen. "What the hell happened, Tony? You had one job - watch the kids!" Pepper exclaimed. "I'm calling in Natasha."

Banner was trying to keep calm, gripping the edge of a table. "Tony, you knew something was going on and you let them out of your sight?! No wonder your kid is kidnapped all the damn time!"

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"...Could be better, some weird guy who apparently knew my dad years ago or something just kidnapped us... I can't move my hands very much, seems like he knows how to tie knots... Most of what happened after the inhibitor and sedative hit my system is a bit of a blur... Do you remember what happened when he dragged us away? Like if he said something about what his plan is?" he asked her, glancing around the lab. It actually resembled a medical lab slightly, but he wasn't able to focus too much on any one thing.

"I know alright! I know I should have stuck closer to them than I did when I called Banner to figure out who this guy was. Which by the way, you didn't exactly explain much about how you knew this guy! I'm trying to figure out what the hell he'd want with the kids or something..." Tony said, trying to remain as calm as possible. Yelling at each other about what happened in the past wasn't going to fix anything, the best they could do was move forward. Figure out what the guy wanted, and find out how to find Lance and Guin.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Nothing incredibly helpful, but our surroundings tell us a lot," Guin mused. Basically, she knew the only reason Sterns had kidnapped her as well was because she saw his face. However, by that logic, Tony should have been kidnapped as well - but she wasn't about to inform him of that. "He wanted you and we're in a medical facility, so since he mentioned he knew your dad...This has something to do with the Hulk, then...Maybe he thinks the secret to the Hulk is in your DNA or something..."

"You know I have a hard time explaining things when I'm about to have a freaking Hulk incident!" Banner snapped, before he forced himself to take another breath. Pepper had gone off to the side of the room and was on the phone with Natasha, asking her and anyone else on the team who was available to rendezvous in Malibu as soon as possible. She was glad that she had let Tony bring the suit with him - though it hadn't done any good yet. The one situation it would have been useful in and he didn't even have it on him.

"Look, Sterns was a year behind me in the PhD program at CalTech...He was kinda obsessed with me, sorta like a groupie or something...But eventually he just started acting jealous and became obsessed with beating me. After I became the Hulk, he got really interested in gamma radiation for the super serum and tried it out on himself, died in a lab accident...Or apparently not. Either way, Tony, the guy isn't right in the head."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"...You don't think whatever his plan is will involve me getting hit with radiation or something do you? See if there is a reaction or something..." Lance asked, continuing to panic. This guy thought that the key to the Hulk was in his DNA, and for all he knew, that could be true. He tended to try and tune out any sort of discussion regarding the Hulk, generally choosing to ignore what was being said about him. The Hulk was the worst part of his life at the moment, since the beast was kind of weird around him. Lance had no idea what to do, and Sterns still wasn't showing up.

"Look, relax a little bit Banner, we need to stay as calm as possible if we want to have a good chance of finding them!" Tony said, though he was hiding the fact that he was panicking. It was kind of impossible for him not to, his kid was missing, and it was all his fault. He hadn't been watching them as closely as he should have been, and now they were missing. "I figured that he wasn't right in the head Banner, but we will find them, okay?"