That was baffling enough for Tony to slow down again, twisting enough to catch how serious Steve's expression was about keeping them separated. He still had to ask, "What--why?," because last time this happened, Billy had technically, for a few seconds, killed him, and it hadn't occurred to him to hold it against Billy. "Don't they know each other? They're, like, in-laws," he said. That should have been enough for Hargrove to understand that Billy wasn't in control.

By then, they had dived over the library to touch down in the weeds growing up around the sunken back entrance, where another family of lobsters had huddled in the seclusion and were startled into scattering at the static of Tony's tail. Tony's shoulders sagged, looking reluctant to go in as he considered Steve's request, because the next best venue might have been his shop. "Maybe..." he grasped, and fell back on his next strongest instinct, "you could ask Jon? If he can't just tell you what to do--he's brilliant, he probably can--he's an accomplished chemist, has something of his own lab, down the hall here." That sounded very reasonable, enough to encourage Tony along inside and into the shop, where it didn't look very conducive to biological experimentation, hopefully.