[IC] Hooked on a Feeling

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

No matter what she did, those words wouldn't stop echoing in her head. It was as if her brain had dedicated two frequencies for thought. The lower frequency was the commands of Kilgrave - to create a working prototype of Project Ultron and deliver it to him, without being caught. Yet the higher frequency - or perhaps higher speed would be more apt - those thoughts were her own. Throughout all of her drug abuse, she had wanted to slow her thoughts down to match the rate of the world. And now, it seemed that speed was the only thing allowing her some independent thought. But it was not without great cost, as while she could still think, she couldn't control her own actions.

"I've got something I need to work on - mind moving out of the way, Dad?" Guin asked, crossing her arms.

Banner frowned, looking at Lance and Guin again before looking at Tony. Guin definitely was on something. She wasn't fidgeting like she had been lately anyways. As for Lance...Tony's description of his behavior seemed off. He didn't look high, but he could have just been hiding it. He sighed and pinched his nose. "Maybe she slipped him something, would explain his behavior...You gotta get your kid under control, Tony..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Hey, she isn't that bad, I doubt she'd have slipped him something without him knowing. We should see if we can get them down to medical and do a scan or something on them. Something is definitely up and I don't like it whatever it is," Tony muttered back to him, before looking at the pair again. Lance still wasn't looking at them, but he did that on a daily basis anyway, and Guin was acting high, constantly fidgeting and what not.

"Can you two get out of the way please?" Lance muttered, looking at them. "Yeah, no, we need to get you two down to medical and looked at or something," Tony said still looking at the two of them. Lance let out a bit of a huffy breath, before he decided to try and shove past them, not caring anymore.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"I'm fine, honest..." Guin mumbled, not moving from where she was. She knew from experience that if she shoved past Tony right now to get to the lab, he'd only become more suspicious of her. The easiest thing to do would be to let him tire himself out with tests, until he admitted there was nothing wrong with her, and then she could complete the task. It would allow her to complete both sets of instructions from Kilgrave.

Banner looked livid as Lance pushed past him and in an instant, he turned to grab his son, only to shift into the Hulk. "Son!" the Hulk roared, grabbing Lance securely before looking at Tony for direction. The Hulk hadn't come out to smash or fight or destroy or any of his usual activities. Instead, he seemed to be there out of concern for Lance, wanting to make sure that his son (as in his mind, Lance was his and not Banner's) was okay. "Son hurt! Hulk angry!" he then shouted at Tony, clearly impatient.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Seriously Hulk? Let me go!" he said, and he started to glow now, out of anger. Lance was actually somewhat glad that the Hulk had shown up, it meant that they might be able to stop him from helping Hammer and Killgrave. He was surprised that the Hulk wasn't trying to destroy things at all for once. "Also, you usually smash things, what's up with that?" he couldn't help but ask the green beast that was holding onto him.

Tony was a little surprised that the Hulk wasn't causing mayhem either, but he turned to look at Guin. "Sorry kiddo, but tests first, before you go off to do anything, and you don't exactly get a choice in the matter, to medical, now," he said, before grabbing her arm and heading over there. Lance kept trying to get out of the Hulk's grip, but was unsuccessful.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"Whatever..." Guin grumbled, uncharacteristically not reacting to the Hulk. She hadn't seen the Hulk in person very often, but she wasn't yet at the point where she could completely ignore the green rage monster - and that was exactly what she was doing. She let Tony drag her to medical. The portion of her brain that was free was doing a happy dance - her father was brilliant. He had to be able to figure it out. The controlled part of her mind was currently going through every possible test Tony could run and the ways to ensure the results came out in a certain fashion.

"NOOOOO!" the Hulk roared as Lance requested to be released. And as if to make a point about smashing things, the Hulk punched the wall, creating a gigantic fist sized hole in it. Lance's glowing hardly seemed to bother him, as if Hulk and Banner were both in control and both enacting on their paternal instincts. He took his other hand and carried Lance practically like a baby to medical, letting out the occasional impatient roar. Something had clearly messed with his kid and Hulk wanted to smash whatever it was. Banner had his suspicions that it had been the Stark girl, but Hulk wasn't too sure yet. He was showing surprising restraint.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Hulk, let me go now!" Lance yelled out as he was carried into medical. He kept trying to get out of his grasp, despite knowing that it wasn't a good idea to try and fight him. If he had better control of his powers, he didn't doubt he'd be trying to blast his way out of this situation. He didn't like the Hulk, at all, though he did sometimes prefer him to his father, but this was not one of those instances. The Hulk was just being a pest now.

Tony had Guin sit down on a bed with restraints connected to it, just in case they needed them, before he looked over at the Hulk who was carrying Lance. "Uh.. Hulk, can you set him down... And would you mind letting Puny Banner take over? I kind of need his help since he knows more about this sort of thing than I do," Tony asked carefully, looking at the green beast.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

Guin didn't protest when Tony put her in a bed, but she noticed the restraints. If she was kept in there overnight, that'd be no good. She began to fiddle with the restraints quietly, attempting to damage them without Tony noticing so she could make an escape if she needed to, create the prototype, and return to medical before anyone came to check on her in the morning. P.H.I.L. was still sending Tony a constant stream of data on her whereabouts and vitals. However, P.H.I.L. also started sending Tony the photos that the A.I. had captured during the event - the one Guin had taken of Kilgrave to run the database search.

"NO! BAD SON!" Hulk scolded Lance for still struggling to get free. He comically ducked his head in order to fit under the door of medical and took Lance over to a bed, holding him down in it with just one hand. The Hulk stared at Tony for a moment, letting out a roar before he shifted back into Banner. Banner wasn't even done turning back before he put the restraints on the bed on Lance to keep him from getting loose. Banner wiped off a bead of sweat, grabbing one of the spare shirts they kept in the lab. "Guin definitely gave him something," Banner mumbled.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Really? Turning into the freaking Hulk was a little over the top don't you think?" he said, glaring at his dad. Lance had started to fight against the restraints slightly, before he stopped, knowing that it was probably useless. Tony went over to the computer, and saw the images that PHIL had sent him. He didn't recognize the man in the photo, and decided to have JARVIS do a quick search for the man through the database. Something seemed off about the man in the photo.

"That isn't necessarily true Banner, now, let's run some tests now that you aren't the other guy, who punched a hole in the wall by the way. Surprised he actually was fine with you switching back. He seems as protective of Lance as you can be, which is really weird, but whatever," Tony said, as he looked at the information that PHIL kept sending him.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

Guin managed to do a decent job of damaging the restraints. It was enough that she should be able to slip out of them if needed, provided that her father didn't notice she'd damaged them in the first place. She doubted that Banner would notice - he seemed to have tunnel vision on Lance. She glanced at the monitor Tony was looking at, before realizing P.H.I.L. was sending him data and she slipped off the watch, causing P.H.I.L. to stop sending Tony information about her vitals. From the data P.H.I.L. had sent, it wasn't clear what was wrong with Guin. However, there was a match on the photograph. It identified the man as Zebediah Kilgrave, known on the streets as the Purple Man. He was a dangerous criminal, just released from the Raft, who had the ability to control minds.

"For once, I agree with the Hulk - punching a wall would be nice about now..." Banner muttered, as he started getting blood samples and the likes from Lance and running tests. He then went to get some from Guin and noticed her restraints were damaged. "Tony, she's your problem..." Banner mumbled. He was still convinced Guin had done this to Lance.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"I have a different theory," he said as he moved slightly so Banner could see the computer screen. "Before this all happened, Guin took a picture of this man, one Zebediah Kilgrave, also known as the Purple Man. Just released from the Raft. Looks nice enough, but it turns out he has the power of mind control. So why would he be at a Hammer Industries party? My theory, is that these two had a run in with him, which is why Guin attempted to disable the protocols on PHIL, and why they are acting strange, since I doubt you will find any drugs in their systems."

Lance looked over at Guin, wanting to get out, and wished that he didn't have to deal with being restrained. Tony looked over at Guin, and noticed the restraints were damaged. "Really Penguin? You had to break the restraints?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow at her, before he went back over and fixed them.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"You and I have a different definition of nice enough, Tony..." Banner mumbled, putting on his glasses as he looked at the screen. He kept a spare pair in almost every lab or medical facility that the Avengers - and by extension, Tony - had. The Hulk didn't really care about Banner's vision and any pair of glasses he carried on himself was inevitably crushed and destroyed. Banner frowned as he took in the information. He would have preferred Guin pushing drugs on Lance to someone trying to use mind control on his kid.

Guin shrugged at Tony. She didn't really have a good excuse to give him for attempting to break the restraints. "I was bored..." Guin eventually decided on. She heard them discussing Kilgrave and on one level, she was thrilled - as that meant they'd already figured out what was going on. Yet on the level of thinking Kilgrave was controlling, she was already running through ideas as to how to convince them she was cured when she hadn't been.

He then walked over to one of the monitors and pulled up the data files from the tests he'd run on Lance. Despite what Tony said, he had found drugs in Lance's system. Banner frowned, noticing that the drugs appeared to be overstimulating the pleasure center in Lance's brain. "It's a pheromone, Tony," Banner muttered, showing Tony a quick scan he'd taken of Lance's brain. He then walked over to Guin and tried to run the same brain scan, but the scan came out like a hot mess. It didn't make any sense to him. "What the hell..." Banner muttered. He rubbed the screen with his hand, in case that all had just been a smudge.

"Does Guin have any anomalies in her brain?" Banner asked Tony. "I know your entire family is....weird, but uh...This doesn't look right."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"No, she doesn't have any anomalies in her brain, odds are you probably messed up the scan or something, since that isn't right... Anyway, so mind control... Something tells me these two are not going to tell us what they were told to do..." Tony replied, before he decided to actually restrain Guin, just in case. He knew the way that she thought, and odds were that if she was being controlled, she was going to try and get them to let her go. "Also, do not listen to a word that comes out of her mouth, she'll probably try and convince us that she is fine."

Lance said nothing, knowing that there wasn't anything he could do, and they were probably going to try and get him to tell them what happened, it made more sense for him to keep his mouth shut if that was the case. He needed to do what Kilgrave had told him to do, and he couldn't do that while sitting around in the medical lab. He had to find a way out of this, but if they weren't going to listen to Guin, odds were that they weren't going to listen to him either.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"No one's making me do anything - honestly, Dad, you'd think you'd know your own daughter by now..." Guin muttered. "I'm doing exactly what I want to do - or I would be, if you'd let me go to the lab. Honestly, the nurses at rehab trusted me more than you are right now..."

Banner retook the scan of Guin's brain, wanting something clean to work from. This time, he was able to get much better resolution. There were still abnormalities, but they reminded him of scans of Tony's own brain. It was likely just a consequence of the heightened activity that Starks tended to show and he didn't think much more of it. "Well, in your classic mind control plots...they usually don't want to help the good guys out..." Banner mumbled, wiping his glasses off before looking at Lance's blood work again. He didn't have an idea as to how to counter the effects, but he did manage to figure out how long they would last for.

"The effects shouldn't last for more than twenty four hours from what I can tell...Then the chemicals will be flushed from their systems naturally," Banner explained. "Just need to try to figure out a way to flush them out faster and they should go back to normal..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"You two are just talking crazy if you ask me..." Lance muttered, looking at the two. He did not want to talk about this to them at all, especially since he did not like talking to his dad, at all. Guin was trying to convince them that nothing was wrong, but odds were that they weren't going to believe her. After all, Tony wasn't dumb or anything, and he knew Guin pretty well, despite what she was saying, it made him wonder what would happen if he didn't show up to Hammer's tomorrow or something.

"Yeah, no Penguin, I know you perfectly well, since I'm pretty sure you met this guy too, and I doubt either of you two are going to tell us the full story, and truth, as to what happened at the party tonight," he said, looking at her before he turned to look at Banner. "So, either we keep the restrained until tomorrow night, or we try to figure this out quickly and fix it. Get whatever it is out of their system. Sounds like a fun project."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"Yeah, almost as much fun as the Ultron project," Banner quipped. He walked over to the lone fume hood in medical and started to mix things together, throwing together something that he hoped would flush the drug out of their system. He wasn't certain how it would react to Lance, given the deviations in Lance's genetic makeup as compared to a baseline human. Guin complicated things as well with her history of drug abuse and Banner scratched his head. He then quickly tested the compound and he sighed. "Okay, this will cut it down to a six hour process for them to metabolize and flush out the drug..." he mumbled.

"You guys are still doing Project Ultron? Thought you shelved that," Guin said. She figured the least she could do would be to trick Banner into talking about it. She knew that once she got one of them going, the other would get started and then they wouldn't shut up about it. With more information on it, it'd be easier to deliver the working prototype and meet the deadline, even accounting for the inconvenience of being restrained in medical.

Banner just ignored her, unfortunately.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"So, you are going to inject us with some weirdo drug that will do something to this non-existent thing that's in our systems? Sounds weird if you ask me..." he said, just shaking his head at them. It was clear that the two of them were doing their best to ignore them, and he knew that there was something he could say to his dad that might make him mad, mad enough to either shift or start yelling at him, distracting him from the drug or something.

"Well, that's helpful, makes it so we don't have to keep them locked up forever, just basically as much sleep as we sometimes manage to get around here," he said, before dropping his voice so only Banner could hear him, "She reacted when you mentioned Ultron, don't talk about it, since something tells me that they might have asked her to do something with it..."

"And people wonder why I seem to have better conversations with the Hulk, and why we never talk about anything," Lance said, hoping to piss his dad off.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"Yeah, I thought the idea was to get me off drugs - not have me be some glorified lab rat," Guin pointed out. She was disappointed that the subject of Ultron had been dropped. There truthfully wasn't much she knew about the project, beyond its status as a peacekeeping initiative that somehow involved a robot. In fact, she had the most talent when it came to computers and electronics - robotics weren't exactly her area of expertise. She simply had had faith when she told Kilgrave that she could have the prototype finished in the morning.

"Hold that thought, Tony," Banner muttered. For once, he and the Hulk were on the same page. He administered the drug to both Guin and Lance, setting it down before only his head turned into the Hulk. "Son unwell! Puny Banner help son! Son be quiet!" the Hulk screamed before turning fully into Banner once more. He then looked back at Tony. "So - any ideas on how to get the time cut down any more on the flush?"

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Ok... Like that wasn't creepy or anything... Since when could you do that? It's weird..." Lance said, a little surprised that his dad managed to keep in control like that. He wasn't lying when he said that it was a little creepy, like, only his head went green, and he never thought that his dad would agree with the Hulk on anything. Though from what he knew, the Hulk thought that he was his kid and not Banner's, and he sometimes wondered if they argued about him like an old married couple.

Tony looked at Banner for a moment, even though they had known each other for years, it still was weird when something like that happened. Who knew that Banner and the Hulk would ever be in agreement. After that little distraction was out of the way, his mind went back to the problem at hand. "No I don't... This sort of thing is kind of out of my main area of expertise... There has to be a way or something to do it though."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Peace in our time...Peace in our time...Peace in our time...

"Since about two minutes ago," Banner told Lance quietly. He had thought it would be a full transformation, not even knowing that he could partially transform like that. He wasn't complaining, however, as it meant he only had to pick up his glasses - he didn't have to look to replace his shirt and his shoes like normal. He then looked back at Tony, thinking on it again. He glanced back at the photograph on the screen - from the distance, it seemed like they hadn't even been close to him. His eyes widened slightly as he realized how potent the pheromone had to be and he went back over to the hood, trying out another approach.

A few minutes later, Banner grinned as he gave Guin and Lance an additional drug. This one would have the compound out of their system in less than a minute. "Is there uh a special prize for beating Tony Stark at a science challenge?" Banner asked Tony with a smirk. Guin's head was already beginning to clear rapidly and the echoing words of her father faded away.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance felt his head begin to clear, and he glanced over at Guin. "Please tell me that I didn't agree to something that I know I'm going to regret," Lance asked her, referring to the internship with Hammer Industries. He was hoping that he remembered it wrong, and that Kilgrave hadn't made him flat out agree to it. His mind was a little cloudy still, not wanting to remember the full thing. The one thing he did remember most, was the little speech by Kilgrave, until he had gotten to the last words he was saying, it was mostly a blur after that.

"Who knows? Nice job though," Tony said with a smile at Banner, before he heard what Lance had said. "What are you talking about Lance? How the hell did you two run into this guy, and what was it that they had asked you to do? Since I'm guessing it probably wasn't a good thing," Tony said, looking at the two of them.