[IC] Hooked on a Feeling

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Banner sighed, figuring that his conversation with Lance was pretty much over. There wasn't much else to say or do in this situation. He glanced over at Guin, seeing the tell tale signs of a withdrawal induced rage. He had spent enough time in the gutter of society to be able to recognize an addict needing a fix. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Tony, having to watch his daughter go through this. Banner didn't know what he'd do if Lance became addicted to narcotics.

"Come on, buddy, let's go home..." Although they had their own apartment, they basically lived at Stark Tower unofficially. There was really almost no reason for them to even have the apartment, beyond a sense of independence from Tony - who just so happened to pay for it, so the point was moot. Guin rolled her eyes at Tony, but she allowed him to lead her home. It wasn't long before they were back at the tower, with the kids sat down on the couch as Banner and Tony looked at them.

Banner's phone buzzed and he looked down, seeing a message from one of the Avengers. He went over to the television and put it on, showing a news report. Kilgrave had been apprehended again by Daredevil and was once more in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, being transferred to the Raft. "This is why you two should have told us about this sooner," Banner muttered. "We've already fixed the problem." Of course, the report said nothing about Hammer.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance rolled his eyes, saying nothing as they went to Stark Tower. He did not want to really talk to his dad about what was going through his head, but he knew that his dad wanted to talk to him about what had happened that night. Being tired, he didn't really want to argue too much, since he felt like he didn't have the energy to really do that. Arguing was tiring, and if he got pissed off his powers would take up even more energy than he wanted to use.

When he saw the news reel, he was quiet for a moment. Either from exhaustion or the fact that he didn't really have anything to say, Lance just looked at them. Tony was looking over at Guin, but he didn't say anything when the news reel played. They had taken care of Kilgrave, job done, no need for anyone else to get involved in anyway. A thought occurred to Lance, and he looked at his dad. "What about Hammer?"

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin felt slightly relieved as she saw the news that Kilgrave was in custody once more. Hammer was rich and influential, but at the end of the day, he was just a subpar engineer that had to steal plans from others in order to continue to have success. He only had come into prominence because Stark Industries exited the weapons manufacturing business, leaving a large untapped sector for Hammer to take over. Now, Kilgrave was someone who Guin could already tell she'd end up having nightmares over. She reached into her pocket and took out her walkman, putting in one of her earbuds and pressing play on the tape. Ooh Child started to play and it calmed her nerves slightly, but she was still exhausted, scared, confused, tired, angry, and being hit by horrible symptoms of withdrawal.

"There's nothing concrete against Hammer," Banner murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked over to the glass wall and stared out at the city. Since there was no evidence that Hammer had done anything wrong - it wasn't illegal to have a business associate that once was in prison - they couldn't lock him away just yet. It'd be a lengthy legal battle first, with Stark Industries' lawyers going up against Hammer Industries' legal team. "It'll take a few weeks to bring him in....But in the mean time, buddy, Tony and I are going to send security with you two to school. It's either that or homeschooling."

Guin wasn't listening, just listening to her music and trying to pretend the world didn't exist.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Great, because I love being followed by some weirdos or whatever... Like I'm not a big enough freak at the school already. Though that's better than being stuck in here being home-schooled," he muttered, not looking over at his dad. He did not like the conversation, but he knew that they had to have it no matter what. "Yup, life basically gets turned upside down because of some idiot who just so happened to want to mess with Guin and me, great..."

"Look, we can't do anything about Hammer until we have some proof of him doing something wrong. We don't have proof right now that he was doing something with Kilgrave or something. We need to keep you two under surveillance, in order to make sure Hammer doesn't try to pull anything again. Especially since you mentioned he approached you a few weeks ago Lance."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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The next few weeks went by slowly and then suddenly, all at once. Happy drove Lance and Guin to and from school. Every hour, they were supposed to send either Happy or their fathers a text saying where they were and if they noticed any suspicious activity. For Guin, it seemed to be standard house arrest protocols and she just went through the motions. She pretty much just stuck with Lance while at school, and when at home, she'd sit next to him as he read and she'd listen to music, sketching designs for devices as they came into her head.

Of course, even though their parents had taken over the plans for dealing with Hammer, it didn't mean that Guin wasn't spending long nights in the garage. Her father had had her presenting at the Stark Expo since she was little and wired her first circuit board. This year, she didn't have any sort of grand idea - nothing that was going to shake things up and change the world. So instead, she had decided to go with something for her own personal amusement. She had created roller skates that relied on the existing Iron Man suit repulsor technology, essentially allowing her to propel herself forward on the skates at speeds reaching upwards of 200 miles per hour.

Eventually, it was the opening day of the Stark Expo. Guin had just finished her presentation, skating off the stage and going over to the backstage area where Lance was waiting for her. She grabbed her flannel jacket from where she'd set it aside and put it on, hating the fact that she had to wear a dress for these things. Hammer Industries was supposed to be up next and she couldn't help but dread it slightly. Banner and Tony hadn't managed to get concrete evidence against him just yet.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance did not like the fact that he was being followed around by security guards everywhere. For his entire life, he had never had to deal with something like this, especially because he had never been in any sort of major trouble. Hammer was some whacked out crazy guy, and he didn't want anything to do with him, so he'd easily avoid him if he could. Though if Hammer had tried to approach him or something, that would have resulted in that evidence to hopefully get him locked up or something, but no, they had to be followed by a security team. He knew that people at school talked about him behind his back, after all, he was the biggest freak at the school.

At the Expo, Lance stood backstage with Guin, he was dressed in somewhat nice clothes, actually resembling his father quite a bit. He knew that Guin hated dresses, and he had to stop himself from making a comment about it when she walked up. Lance gave her a smile when he saw her, and he glanced over at the stage. "So... Any bets on what's going to happen when Hammer walks out on stage? Something is going to go wrong, but I'm not sure what yet..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin stared at Lance for a moment. "You were going to make a comment about the dress, weren't you?" she quipped, rolling her eyes at him. She sat down on a chair and took off the roller skates, setting them aside. She'd play around with them more later. They looked almost identical to a normal pair of roller skates and she wanted to challenge unsuspecting Avengers to a race at a roller rink with them. She had managed to get a handle on using them, able to make sharp turns and the likes. Her next goal would be to be able to land a flip while wearing them - but with the speeds they could reach, any mistake would be a death sentence...So it was a project for another time.

"But as for Gilderoy Lockhart - his tech is always shit, so it'll malfunction spectacularly," Guin predicted. "I'll laugh so hard I forget how to breathe and then tonight, when we're playing video games, I'll keep on thinking about it - laughing more - and it'll cause me to be distracted enough that you'll win for once, Lando." She was largely thankful that security had stopped her mother from entering the Expo. Every year, Maddie tried - claiming that she wanted to be there to support her daughter - but Guin had had enough. After the stunt she pulled at rehab, Guin never wanted to see her mother again. Ever.

"Guess we'll find out now, though," Guin whispered to Lance, looking as Hammer danced his way onto the stage. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. He looked ridiculous.

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Hammer was strutting what he thought were expert moves, waving to the cheering crowd. Although it was called the Stark Expo, anyone was allowed to present at it. The purpose was to highlight improvements made in various STEM fields - especially those that could be a benefit to society. "In today's society, we face more threats than we ever have before," Hammer began. "With aliens invading from the skies and mutants from the streets, we need an adaptable response unit that can protect good people - innocent American citizens - from harm."

"The Avengers won't always be around to save us," Hammer explained, gesturing behind him as a group of robots came out onto the stage. "I present to you my Archangels - warriors that will protect us and ensure peace in our time."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Lance gave her a smile, shaking his head slightly. "Hey, I wasn't going to say anything about the dress Guin," he said with a small laugh, "But now that you mention it Guin, I think you look good in the dress, despite the whole, I know you hate dresses thing." He couldn't help but keep smiling at her, despite the fact that he knew she wasn't too thrilled. Letting out a laugh at what she had called Hammer, it was fitting.

"That is kind of a dumb name for some whacked out robots... I'm kind of hoping he decides not to turn them on, because of them probably going crazy. He tried to make Ultron clearly... This isn't going to end well Guin..." he whispered to her as he watched Hammer up on stage. The guy was making a fool of himself or something, but there wasn't much they could do about it, let him look crazy and foolish to everyone else, it was his choice.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin turned slightly pink as Lance complimented her dress. She was used to her dad and Pepper making comments - even reporters who seemed to feel a need to sexualize her rather than focus on her work - but hearing it from Lance took her aback. She turned her head, watching Hammer prance around the stage like an idiot. Guin highly doubted that he wouldn't turn on his glorified battle bots. As she was still sitting down, she strapped the roller skates back on. They could be useful for a quick getaway - or dismantling the robots quickly - or fighting them.

"There's no way Hammer doesn't turn them on," Guin said bluntly, pulling out her phone. She hesitated over her father's contact. But then she felt foolish and she put her phone away. It was just Hammer tech, after all. It'd be a dud and likely fall over, only hurting Justin Hammer in the process - and she didn't see anything wrong with that. Sure, she figured Uncle Steve would give her some sort of lecture on morality and responsibility, along with the benefits of capitalism over different economic systems, but she didn't really care.

She wouldn't lose any sleep over something terrible happening to Justin Hammer.

"Now, what would a presentation be without a little demonstration?" Hammer called out to the audience. He pulled out a small remote and activated his Archangels, causing the eyes to glow blue as they came to life. Guin watched on the monitors as the robots rose a few inches. "Now, my Archangels are performing a scan to identify any hostile individuals in the area - shouldn't even find any here, unless someone's been dodging parking tickets?"

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Guin held her breath, watching the eight robots on the screen. They all hesitated for a moment before they turned around to face back stage, holding up their arms in unison. "You know, it's kinda silly how we always build machines that mimic the human form...." Guin murmured, ready to bolt. One of the eight robots malfunctioned critically - it was Hammer tech - and burst into flames. All of the Archangels then fired on the backstage area, with five of them missing. The other two managed to hit the rigging that kept the curtains up, causing all of backstage to be exposed to the camera.

"Hold on tight!" Guin told Lance, grabbing onto him and using her rocket skates to clear the area, narrowly missing further shots from the Archangels. "If I keep zipping around, can you fire on them and blast those sons of bitches to hell, Lando? Thinking they detected your X-gene or something..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"...Why are those things pointing backstage?" he asked her, before chaos broke out. Lance had no idea what was going on, but one minute, he was sitting there next to Guin, and the next minute she had grabbed him and took off on her roller skates. One of the robots or whatever they were called had burst into flames, and the rest of them were going crazy, and it looked to him that they were shooting at them. He managed to nod when Guin said that they had detected the X-Gene, but he didn't know how that would be possible.

Lance was trying to think, to come up with something useful. He had better control of his powers, but since he was freaking out a little bit, they might not work right. "Do you have sunglasses or something you could possibly put to cover your eyes Guin? I don't want to accidentally blind you if I panic a lot," he said, as several balls of light started circling around them.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"....Maybe," Guin said, reaching into the pocket of her flannel. She pulled out a pair of Star Wars themed sunglasses and put them on. Her entire outfit looked a little random. She was wearing a nice and tasteful dress, roller skates that had thrusters built into them, a flannel jacket, and cheesy sunglasses. If Guin had her way, it would have been her outfit for every event that required she wear a dress. She was still hoping that whenever she took over the company, she'd be able to get away with just wearing a power suit. "Come on, I'll drive, you fire," Guin told Lance.

Another one of the Archangels malfunctioned, sparking and smoking slightly as it fell to the ground in a pile of metal. However, of the six that remained, five of them locked onto Guin and Lance, sending off miniature missiles at the two. Guin kept on weaving as best as she could with the skates, narrowly dodging death. "Come on, Lando, use the Force!" Guin shouted at him. She figured they just needed to hang in there long enough for Banner and her father to show up.

"Well, that is some glitch...." Hammer murmured, before he ran for his life along with most of the audience.

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"I'm not too sure about this Guin... But let's try it..." he said, before he sent three balls of light flying at them. One of them managed to completely decapitate one of the robots, another ball turned into a spear, shooting straight through the chest of another one of them. Wow, did not expect that at all, he thought to himself, and the third ball cut off a robot's arm. This was going somewhat well for him, if only he could keep it up.

"You know... If they weren't trying to kill us before, they definitely are now, how fast can you get these things to go and allow me somewhat clear shots? These things I don't think are going to stop anytime soon, and they are going to try and kill us or something. Still though, why would they think of us as a threat before I even shot at them? Hammer is an idiot to think that... How did they detect the x-gene is my next questionm..."

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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"Safely? About 120 miles per hour, bit hard to navigate while wearing sunglasses and carrying someone. Max speed clocks in around 180 miles per hour, however," Guin explained. Her current strategy was to weave as much as she could, finding that the Archangels tended to predict that they'd move in a straight line. She was about to make a comment about how it was rampant homophobia when she saw Lance being a complete and utter badass. Sure, Guin knew that his mutant abilities were extremely powerful - of course, mutants in general tended to be incredibly strong compared to individuals with the same powers achieved by different means - but he was Lance. He was the boy she'd grown up with - the one she'd scared silly the first day they met by firing off a blaster.

"And that's a very good question..." Guin muttered. As she weaved, she got a good look at one of the Archangels. "Hey Lance - target what would be their upper chest. It looks like that's where the important circuitry is housed. If you hit that, I think it might shut them off...or maybe damage whatever told them to break Isamov's laws of robotics..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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"Alright... This is not going to end well Guin, they just keep on coming... We can't keep fighting them forever," he said, already starting to sound a little tired from his shots. He never used his powers this much, and it was starting to take its toll on him., he didn't know how long he would be able to keep this up before he passed out or something. Lance held onto Guin for a moment, to steady himself, before he could fire off more shots.

He sent light flying, and totally demolished the first one he hit. The rest of his shots weren't so lucky, proving that he was getting tired. He managed to hit two more, but not enough to be able to take them out. The rest of the light went flying off in different directions, and he wasn't able to summon up anymore. "I-I-I can't keep doing this Guin," he said, in between breaths, he was exhausted.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Of the eight robots that Hammer had started off with, only three remained. One of the robots was missing an arm, while the other two had lost both arms and only had legs left. Guin bit her lip, glancing at Lance before she suddenly found herself transported to the icy world of Hoth. "It's okay, I got you!" Guin told Lance. She held onto him tightly, partially using him to keep the Archangels distracted. She skated back stage, grabbing up the large spool of extra rigging. She zoomed in a small circle around one of the support beams, tying the rope up.

"Just like in Empire Strikes Back!" Guin shouted to explain. The Archangels kept on moving towards them to follow and Guin took a deep breath, as she used the skates and the thrusters to weave in through their legs, holding onto the rope. The Archangels kept on trying to fire shots off at her and Lance, but each shot missed. Guin finished weaving through, eventually zipping over to another support beam and hooking the rope up to it. She then shot her and Lance as far away from the robots as they could get without leaving the stage area. Two of the robots stumbled forward and fell, exploding on impact with the ground. The last one was sparking heavily, but managed to avoid Guin's trap.

"...There's always one..."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Everything around him was starting to spin. He was having trouble even focusing on Guin who was right there with him holding onto him. They were zipping around at top speed, and they only had three left to deal with. As soon as she mentioned Episode V, he knew what she was going to do, but he couldn't find much strength to tell her that he approved of her plan. It was a great one, and it totally worked in their situation. Problem was, there was still one damaged bot left.

Lance pulled together every ounce of strength that he had left, he only had enough strength for one last shot at it. He shoved himself away from Guin a little, so he didn't accidentally burn her with the light he was about to fire off. Swinging his hands together, almost like a clap, and a burst of light sprung forward from his fingertips. It slammed into the robot at full force, and completely destroyed it. Lance didn't really see much of what happened, as the darkness surrounded him, and he fell unconscious.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin kept a firm grip on Lance, finding herself relatively alone amidst all of the destruction. However, even though she was wearing sunglasses at night, it didn't stop her from hearing and seeing the photographers flood in, taking pictures of her and Lance. They started to pester her with their usual questions - only this time asking what had happened to cause Hammer's robots to malfunction like that - and she was ready to flip them off and storm off. Instead, she thought for a moment. The cameras were never really going to leave her alone. "Justin Hammer showed gross negligence, attempting to steal Stark Industries designs - and it just goes to show how bad he is at even that, since his machines triggered on me and tried to kill me," Guin said. People already suspected the Starks of being mutants. She had herself angled so the cameras hopefully wouldn't catch images of Lance too much - hopefully not at all. She didn't want him to be exposed as a mutant to the world. It was like coming out - had to be done on his own terms.

"If you still have questions - you can...you can send them to a Stark Industries' rep. It's literally what their job is, so make them do that or they just get paid to play Galaga all day," Guin muttered, before using the skates to zip with Lance out of there. It felt weird. It had been the first time she had been able to really control the narrative. She came to a halt when she saw Banner and Tony, still holding onto Lance tightly but her arms were getting tired.

"Lance, buddy!" Banner exclaimed, taking Lance from Guin. He quickly checked his vitals and let out a sigh of relief. He just seemed to have worn himself out from using his powers that much. Guin took off the cheesy sunglasses and put them in her pocket, looking at her dad. She wasn't sure if she should expect a lecture or not. "...So, I think I'm definitely an Avenger now, since I just handled that for you."

[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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Tony looked at Guin, he wasn't too sure about whether or not to lecture Guin, or be proud of the kids. They took down Hammer's rogue robots, by themselves, with no help at all from them. He felt bad about the fact that they had to deal with that alone made it even worse. "You aren't an Avenger Guin, though the two of you shouldn't have had to do that... The two of you took out those things alone... I'm actually a little impressed to be honest," Tony said, looking at her.

Lance had heard all of the commotion around him, but he just now was starting to feel a little better. He started to stir, before he eventually opened his eyes slowly, not really focusing on anything or anyone right then. "So... Did we win?" he muttered softly. He shut his eyes again, as the world starting spinning faster and faster around him, he didn't even notice that his dad was there really.

[Morose]

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin took off her roller skates, setting them aside. They looked a little beat up, but they had held together enough for her to help Lance take out as many of Hammer's rogue creations as possible. She was slightly curious as to who he had hired to design them, as she doubted that Hammer had done anything beyond ask for a killer robot. Of course, it also brought up a question about Project Ultron, but she decided to save that for another time. "Yeah, well...I guess being a badass runs in the family," Guin said softly, before giving her dad a hug. She had been getting a little better each day, to the point where the cravings had become few and far between.

Banner kept holding onto Lance, letting out another sigh of relief when he saw his son start to wake up. He wasn't sure how long a recharge period Lance had on his powers. It varied for Banner as to how long he'd be out after shifting back from the Hulk into human form. Sometimes, he wasn't unconscious at all - yet on other occasions, it could be hours before he woke up. It was another thing in life that he hoped Lance would never have to deal with - and probably another way Banner had failed him. He loved his son, but being a mutant in this day and age wasn't easy.

"Yeah, buddy, you did," Banner said softly.

"Can we go get Thai food? It's hard being an Avenger on an empty stomach..."

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[BlueSky44]

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Lance Banner

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It had been over a month since the incident at the Stark Expo. With no more threats from Hammer or Kilgrave, things quieted down somewhat, at least as much as was possible when your parents were Avengers. Justin Hammer had been arrested for the incident he had caused, and Lance was grateful for that, since to him the guy deserved to be locked up. The newspapers and magazines all over were reporting stories about what had happened at the Expo, and how Lance and Guin had saved the day. They ended up staying in the Tower for a while since they couldn't step foot outside without being swarmed by reporters.

However, a month later, much of that had died down, though on occasion a reporter or two would try to get in for an interview or two. The lifestyle was annoying to him, and he had started to wonder how Guin could stand it. Tony was pestering him a lot, trying to get him to ask Guin out on an actual date. "Look, just listen to me and it'll be fine," Tony said whenever Guin wasn't around. Lance was starting to get really annoyed by him.

"Look, just leave me alone," he muttered, and Tony shrugged his shoulders and walked away, leaving Lance. He was in Stark Tower, the place where he spent most of his time despite his protests, and he let out a sigh, before grabbing a book from his bag, sitting down on the couch, and started reading. He was wondering where Guin had gone though.