[IC] Hooked on a Feeling

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"I'm gonna go to the restroom," Guin mumbled once Tony had finished bandaging her wrists. She wasn't able to calm down. Part of it was from the withdrawal symptoms, but it also had a lot to do with fear. Someone who could control minds had gone after her and her best friend that night. She used to have nightmares of the encounter with the Brotherhood, but at least then, she had been safe inside her own head. Guin got up and glanced at Tony for a moment, before heading into the women's bathroom and locking the door.

She bit her lip for a moment, before sitting on the ground and hugging her knees to her chest. She then pulled out her phone and pulled up a contact she had saved as Ginger. She had always meant to call the girl and thank her for what she had done for her, but she never had gotten around to it. But right now, she figured the youngest member of the X-Men might be able to help her feel a little less terrified. No one else could understand what had happened at the boarding school either. Guin pressed dial and held the phone up to her ear, hoping Ginger would answer.

Meanwhile, Banner hesitated and looked over at Tony, before nodding at Lance. "Alright..." he said softly, before heading over to his fellow Avenger. They needed to figure out some sort of plan to put Kilgrave and Hammer behind bars for what they had done to their kids - and what they were planning to do.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance was glad that his dad had walked away from him, already proving that he was slightly better than those pesky flies, but he still didn't rank very much better. It was annoying, but at least for once since he had moved to New York, his dad was leaving him alone when he had asked him to. The guy was vulture or something, and the Hulk clearly was another problem. Lance had not known that the Hulk was almost as protective of him as his dad was, but he also had the strength and size to try and stop anyone from getting near him.

Tony nodded to Guin, watching her walk away, and out the door. He turned to look at Banner as he walked over to him. "So... We need to find out what Hammer is planning, what he is using to pay Kilgrave with, and how to stop them. Any ideas?" he said softly to him when they were out of earshot of Lance, since it was apparent that Banner wanted to keep Lance completely out of it, like not even talking about it with him or something.

"Hello?" Mary's voice said on the other end of the line.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin was slightly surprised that Ginger answered the phone, given that it was almost midnight. Of course, she also wasn't very good at talking about her feelings. Had Lance not been lying in medical, she might have broken down in front of him. Her breakdowns had normally been private affairs, punctuated with substance abuse of some kind. "H-hey Ginger - it's Guin Stark," Guin greeted, though it was clear from her voice that she had been crying. "I know it's late and you probably have to join the EPA and save the world or something, but I was kinda hoping I could talk to you..." Guin mumbled. She contemplated pulling off her bandages as she cried softly. She knew it wasn't the case, but she felt so incredibly alone.

"Guess we could see about getting into Hammer's security system, see what surveillance has picked up," Banner suggested. It was illegal, but he didn't care if he had to break the law for Lance's sake. He'd broken the law plenty of times before when he had been on the run himself. "As for stopping them...I think we might want to talk to whoever brought Kilgrave in the first time, see exactly how they did it, as I don't think Hammer will be nearly as hard to bring in."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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He tried to listen in on the conversation, but his head was still slightly hurting. The Hulk had done a number on him, even though when he thought about it, the Hulk hadn't been deliberately trying to hurt him. The green beast was just a little over protective, and it was kind of creepy when he thought about it. Though it wasn't the first time that he did have the slight bit of curiosity as to which of the two was actually his true father, since they both were pretty bad at it.

"According to the files, Kilgrave was caught by Daredevil, using, and I am quoting this, "his sheer willpower to combat his powers, and wrapping him in plastic to block out the pheromones," no joke that is what the file said. Trying to figure out how a guy like Kilgrave ever got released from the Raft. Should be locked up there forever if you ask me."

"First of all, I generally stay up late somewhat, secondly why are you calling me? Wait, sorry, that sounded rude... Sure, I can talk for a little while, and don't call me Ginger Guin... My name is Marygold..." Mary replied.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin sniffled slightly, mentally relabeling Ginger as Mary, since Marygold was way too long a name to say. It was a bit ridiculous and reminded her of her own real name. She always wondered why her father had let Maddie name her, rather than naming her himself since he was the one that ended up raising her. Maddie hardly ever did anything for Guin, unless there was a camera around to catch it on film. It disgusted her that Maddie was her mother. She always wished that Pepper would one day explain that she was Guin's real mother.

Guin slowly took off the bandages on her wrists, letting them bleed again. "Got it. Mary then. Um, well...I know that you do the entire superhero thing but uh - what do you do when you get scared?" Guin asked her quietly. "Something happened and I'm freaking out and I may or may not be having flashbacks to when the Brotherhood came to my school...meant to call you sooner and thank you for saving my life..."

"Yeah, locked up forever sounds a bit right...Guessing we might want to go pay Daredevil a visit and talk to him?" Banner suggested. If Daredevil had caught Kilgrave once before, Banner didn't see any reason why he couldn't do it again. It was either that or Tony would need to make everyone completely plastic suits, that way Kilgrave's pheromones wouldn't work during the fight. And there'd need to be some sort of plastic coffin made for Kilgrave, to keep him from escaping as he was brought back to the Raft.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Sounds good to me, the guy shouldn't be too hard to find, I think... Probably could have JARVIS start looking for the guy or something unless you know exactly where we can find him," Tony said to Banner. Lance liked the idea of those two leaving Stark Tower, it would make it so he didn't have to deal with being watched all the time, though he was pretty sure that would mean that Happy would be watching him and Guin or something. Lance wanted to leave medical, and planned on leaving the instant he had the chance. It wasn't like he could find a good book or something in the medical area.

"Well... It is hard to explain Guin... Thing is that ever since that day at your school, usually I get paired up with someone almost the very first thing when we head off on a mission. Usually Remy and Rogue end up partnering up with me. I know that they've got my back, that they care what happens to me. I remember what I'm fighting for, I remember who it is I am trying to help. The instant at the school with the Brotherhood? I knew that I was no match for Quicksilver, even when you and I were outside, and the odds of me winning went even lower when we followed him into the dorms, but I knew what it was I was fighting for. My goal was to try and protect everyone else, and I was willing to risk everything for it. The thought of going up against Quicksilver again still scares me, but I know that next time, I'll be ready for him, and he won't be able to take me out that easily again... Does that answer your question?"

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Lance, buddy, get some rest okay?" Banner told him quietly. It was almost midnight. He and Tony could pour over records and resources for the rest of the night, in order to get a location on Daredevil. He knew that the superhero was active during the night rather than the day, so if they were lucky, they'd manage to catch him in time. Lance wouldn't be in any real danger from Hammer and Kilgrave until the next day. He gave Lance a bit of a smile, before heading out into the lab to go work on the problem with Tony.

"Yeah, thanks," Guin said briefly, after listening to Mary's advice. She truthfully didn't feel any better, but she also didn't have the energy to explain the exact situation to Ginger. "I'm gonna go," she then said abruptly, hanging up the phone. She set the phone down after putting on the next song she wanted to listen to, crying softly in the bathroom as her wrists bled. There wasn't an easy solution to her problems. There wasn't even a moderately challenging one - it was just complex and difficult. Part of her wanted her dad to come in and check on her, that way she could just cry as someone hugged her. But another part of her just wanted to bleed in there alone.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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As soon as his dad had left the room with Tony, Lance disconnected himself from the monitor and got up. "Yeah, not going to sit here and do nothing," Lance muttered to himself as he got up. His body was really sore, not to mention he was really unsteady on his feet, but he didn't care. He just wanted to get out of the room and away from the medical area, since he felt like he spent a lot of his time there. It was starting to get really annoying.

While Lance was doing a small jailbreak out of medical, Tony went to pull up all of the records that he could about Daredevil to make it easier to find him. They'd need to hurry if they wanted to talk to him tonight, especially since by morning the kids were going to be in danger again. They had to stop Kilgrave before he got anywhere near Lance and Guin, but it was going to be hard to combat someone who could basically control you.

Lance made sure the coast was clear, before he went to try and find Guin. He had heard where she had said she was going, so he went over to the bathroom door and knocked on it. "Guin? Are you in there?" he asked her.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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While Tony and Banner were off attempting to find the devil of Hell's Kitchen, Guin was sitting on the bathroom floor, leaning against the wall as she cried softly. Lance would be able to hear her sobbing lightly. Calling Ginger hadn't helped like she thought it would - there was still a lot about that day with the Brotherhood that she had left to process. She hadn't talked to a therapist about the parts that bothered her the most and she doubted she ever would, as they'd likely brand her as crazy. She had hoped that Ginger might understand, but from what Ginger had said, she didn't. It all reminded her of DJ in the Last Jedi.

Good guys, bad guys, made-up words. Let's see who formerly owned this gorgeous hunk-uh. Ah, this guy was an arms dealer. Made his bank selling weapons to the bad guys. Oh… And the good.

The kids fighting for the Brotherhood - Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch...She wasn't sure, even now over a year later, if she could really call them bad guys. It used to bother her quite a lot, as the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't just write them off as evil and move on with her life. They weren't that different from Ginger, were they? Just kids following an ideology that someone else told them was the right way. Her Aunt Nat had been arguably the world's best assassin, getting red in her ledger that could never be wiped out...but Guin knew that Aunt Nat was a good person, just a victim of circumstance.

That was what she would never tell the therapists - that she thought it was possible that her captor might have been a good person.

Of course, that wasn't what bothered her right then and there. As much as she wanted to live an extraordinary life, to do amazing things just like her dad (she'd never tell him this, but he had always been her hero even before he put on the suit)...she was scared. Kilgrave had scooped Guin and Lance out of their minds, only to put something else back inside. Hammer wanted them to help him build Ultron - which Guin doubted would end in anything but disaster. And of course, she just had to fly an Iron Man suit into a collapsing building with the Hulk in order to save her best friend.

"Go away, Lance," Guin mumbled, drying her eyes on her arm.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance let out a sigh when he heard Guin's response through the door. He wanted to help her, to make her feel better about it, but he was at a loss for words. Something was bothering her, and he didn't know what to do. It was making him feel bad, knowing that he couldn't help her. The whole Kilgrave thing was really bugging her, it was bugging him too, but it wasn't like they could do much about it. After all, their last plan had ended badly, though they probably would never tell their parents that.

"Guin... I know that something is wrong... Look, I know this whole thing with Hammer and Kilgrave is messed up, maybe I shouldn't have even told you about Hammer talking to me... But just talk to me, alright Guin, let me help you if I can," Lance said through the door, not leaving her.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin sighed for a moment, before unlocking the door and pushing it open. Her eyes were a bit red and puffy from crying, and her wrists were bleeding. The bandages Tony had put on them were ceremoniously thrown on the floor a few feet away. Her dress from the evening's events looked, in a word, horrible. It had bits of blood and grime on it, as well as a bit of vomit from right after they had driven Kilgrave out of Lance and her's heads. Her hair looked terrible as well, as if she had been doing an experiment on static cling with it.

"I don't need your help," she mumbled, scratching at her wrists again. "And of course you should have told me about that creepy little fucko trying to seduce you to the dark side - and not even the fun dark side," Guin added. She stepped out of the bathroom, not really wanting to have this conversation with Lance inside of a restroom, before she headed to the lounge. Her eyes flickered over towards the bar and she headed on over, looking for the Captain Morgan's spiced rum bottle. Her dad and Banner had already headed out to try and find Daredevil.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance had thought that he looked bad, after all, he was the one with bandages and bruises all over his body, but Guin was another story entirely. She looked terrible, and that was a fact. He was surprised a little bit by it, but he chose to say nothing about it. In his mind, he figured that she was feeling horrible because of the whole Kilgrave thing earlier, and he totally understood that. His own mind was messed up a little from that experience, not to mention the fact that he was pretty sure that it was combined with something else that made it worse for her.

He followed her out into the lounge area, and shook his head when he saw her looking for alcohol. "Guin... You shouldn't be drinking..." he said, before he proceeded to walk over, take her wrists, and put bandages on them. "Look, we have problems, but drinking won't solve them... Our dads are off, trying to figure this out, but if it weren't for us, I don't think they would have even noticed... Guin, why don't you go change your clothes real quick, we're going out, since I don't think hanging around here is doing us any good." he said, giving her a smile.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin sighed slightly as Lance bandaged up her wrists, even though she knew that the scratching wasn't helping her emotionally, mentally, or physically. Nothing really was helping - her eyes flickered back over towards the bottle of spiced rum she had finally found - though she did know something that potentially could. She knew that it wouldn't solve her problems, but if it made them a little easier to bear, even just for a little while...She couldn't help but think, deep down, that might just be worth it. "Did you just ask me out on a date?" Guin asked, raising an eyebrow.

He wasn't wrong, though - their parents probably wouldn't have noticed what was going on with Hammer Industries until later on, if they hadn't done anything about it themselves. She glanced down at her wrist, looking for her watch before she realized she left it in medical. If it hadn't been for P.H.I.L., they probably would have still been under Kilgrave's control. "But alright, give me a few minutes," she told Lance quietly, drying her eyes again as she went off to her bedroom.

Guin got herself cleaned up quickly, returning to where Lance was a few moments later. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but otherwise, she looked a lot more like herself. She had black skinny jeans and a Stark Industries hoodie on that was way too big for her, but she preferred it that way. It was about comfort. "Where are we going?"

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Nope, not a date, just a friend wanting to help you get your mind off of things," he said with a smile. Though he wouldn't mind going on a date, he knew that Guin was oblivious to his feelings, so he just went along with it. This was probably the closest thing he'd ever said that suggested them going off somewhere, and maybe hinting at going on a date. It made him a little sad to know that she didn't see him that way, but he was willing to put that behind him in order to make her feel better.

He waited for her to come back, giving her a smile when she finally did return. "I got bored a lot, so I used to wander the city a lot by myself, so I know where some of the best places to get your mind off of things are. They also come with some of the best views in the city if you ask me," he said, before heading to the elevator and hitting the button for the bottom floor.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin nodded, sticking her hands into her pockets. It was past midnight, but at least it wasn't a school night. Tomorrow was going to be a terrifying Saturday morning, whereas she wished the biggest problem they'd have would be finding their way home without getting mugged. New York City wasn't always the safest place to wander at night, but she'd be lying if she claimed to not have done it before. Whenever she was home on breaks, she usually ended up doing this at least once a week. At first, she'd just wander around and then find the apartment of some Avenger - usually Uncle Steve's place up in Brooklyn - and crash there for the night. Eventually, the name of the game had been scoring substances, in order to make her thoughts slow down. Or catching a bus to run away from her problems.

"If we get mugged, I'm blaming you," she said, sniffling a bit but also smiling slightly at Lance. He was like a brother to her in a way - a live in best friend. While he and Banner technically had their own place, she knew from experience that the two Banners practically lived at Stark Tower. They were only pretending that the two guest rooms on the first floor down from the top didn't actually serve as Lance and Banner's permanent bedrooms. She then paused for a moment, taking out her earbuds and offering one to Lance. "Want to listen while we walk?" she offered. "It's technically a country song, but probably one of the only good ones out there..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance lead the way outside, he never really had gotten the chance to wander the city at night. His dad never let him go off by himself this late, and he was always working, so he never got the chance to really see the city this late. "Hey, what makes you think we'll be mugged? You always want to blame me for something," he said with a laugh as they walked. It was nice, seeing Guin act more like herself. It seemed like his idea to get her mind off of things was working somewhat.

He looked over at her when she offered to let him listen to her music. Thinking for a moment, he gave her a smile. "Sure, not one for country music, but I'll trust you when you say it is a good one. Though I don't think there is any good country music out there," he said with a laugh as he took the earbud from her and put it in his ear as they walked.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"See, the trick is that it doesn't sound like country music, even if it is classified as being country," Guin explained with a laugh. She had always loved 80's music, and while she wasn't too sure of the reason why anymore, her father likely had an idea. Growing up, she had been at Stark Tower until she was seven years old. Tony, Happy, Pepper - whoever was watching her at the moment - realized that she'd sit patiently through press events and the likes if she was listening to Tony's old walkman. All of the tapes they had for it were primarily filled with 80's music, though some of them featured hits from the 70's and even one had 90's music on it. It was why Tony had given her a walkman for her twelfth birthday - she had almost worn his out from use.

"And for the whole mugging thing...We're two wimpy white kids walking in New York City past midnight on a weekend night," she pointed out. "Now, that's bad enough - but if anyone recognizes me, then they know I'm made of money so yeah...we will probably get mugged," she said with a bit of a laugh, wiping her eyes again. She was still sniffling on occasion, but walking outside in the cold and dark New York streets did seem to be helping slightly. There was too much pollution for them to really get a good view of the night sky, but it was a relatively clear night as far as the city went.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"That is true," he said with a smile as they walked the streets of New York. What happened in the morning would have to wait, they couldn't do anything about it, and it wasn't like it was happening right then. Lance was a little worried about what the morning would bring, but they'd face it eventually. Right now, he was more concerned with Guin, and helping her to avoid relapsing or something, and distracting her from what had happened earlier in the evening, then all the better.

"Ok, I'd call me wimpy, not you though... Probably could do more if I knew how to use my powers properly, instead of just freaking out and my powers going off that way..." Lance said, still smiling at her. It was true, and it wasn't like his dad was going to help him control them, the bright light he caused as it turns out, likes to cause the Hulk to go crazy a lot of the time for some dumb reason. "So... Do you want to go to the places I suggested? Or do you just want to wander the city?"

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin turned her face, blushing slightly in embarrassment. She knew that Lance probably thought she was a badass (and okay, she did know the basic principles of hand-to-hand and how to handle a sword...), but it wasn't something she thought of herself as. She still felt like the helpless kid running into the woods to avoid the Brotherhood - or running into the basement and hiding by the furnace to avoid the Ten Rings - or any of the other countless times where someone had attempted to kidnap her. Sometimes, it felt like the more she learned from Aunt Nat about how to defend herself, the more it became useless against those who wished to do her harm.

"Let's go to those places you mentioned..." Guin said, the song switching over to the next one. Walking with Lance was already helping to take her mind off of things, but something he said had started to bug her. He had actual superpowers - and as much as Guin hoped she'd wake up one day and be able to fly, she knew it probably wasn't in the cards. She would've known if her father carried an x-gene by now. "And maybe...Maybe we figure out how to use your powers. I'll be Han Solo, you be Luke Skywalker. Or I'd be Leia....Nah, I'd rather be Han. Not into dresses."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance let out a small laugh at her comparisons. He had powers sure, but in his opinion they sucked, because it just helped to prove that he was more like his dad than he wanted to be. It was apparent that it was because of his dad that he had the x-gene, due to the alterations in his DNA, Lance had always had a higher risk for being a mutant, it didn't mean he had to like it. "Me learning how to control it? The first thing I'd need is to make sure I don't blind someone by accident..." he said, looking over at her. He did not like the idea of powers still, but he had to learn to live with it.

"We could go some place now if we wanted to try and figure out how to control them... Right now they go off when I panic or get pissed off, which is not a good thing when you have a dad who turns into the freaking Hulk. Actually I tried using my powers when he went on a rampage, but that didn't exactly end very well..." he said as they kept walking. His powers were not something he wanted to mess with, but it caused him a lot of problems.