Once Lance had fallen asleep, Banner pulled a small teddy bear out of his pocket and set it down on the bed with Lance. Back before their relationship had been soured, Lance had given it to Banner for his birthday. He cherished the little bear, sewing its ear back on after it had fallen off over the years. And now, now he felt that Lance needed it more than he did. He sat down next to Lance's bedside, taking in a deep breath as he pulled out his phone and began to read to his son.
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort," Banner read quietly.
"It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle..." Guin just nodded at Tony, coughing as she moved again but she didn't care. She got closer to her father and reached out, taking his hand.
"It's alright. I'll just hold this over your head next time you tell me no to something," she said with a straight face, before she couldn't help it and she broke out into laughter, coughing up a bit of blood.
"But seriously, Dad, it's alright...We're fine."Three Days Later...
"There's really nothing you can do, Nick?" Pepper scoffed, on the phone with the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"I don't understand, I thought you were at least competent at your job. If you can't find a Hulk fanboy in California that's bursting with gamma radiation and has abducted two children, then maybe I should call an organization that can." She had half a mind to call the U.S. Postal Service, just to make a point. At this rate, she felt they'd have similar progress to S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Hey there, big guy," Natasha said with a smirk.
"Oh, and little guy," she added as she saw Tony. Banner didn't say anything, just pacing back and forth angrily with his hands in his pockets. The Malibu house had been turned into a mini Avengers HQ, with J.A.R.V.I.S. running every algorithm he knew in an effort to find Sterns. There was a crash outside and Thor walked into the house.
"He has hidden himself from Heimdall - a feat that I did not know was possible for those of Midgard," Thor mused.
Guin was sitting on the couch, throwing a sharpie at Thor.
"Hey Legend of Zelda, sign my cast?" she asked, before snickering.
"And I think he just called you dumb, Dad." Thor looked at Guin with confusion, before he opened up the sharpie and wrote his name in giant letters on her cast, covering up where Tony had signed it, which caused Guin to laugh even more.
