A/N: Hey there! :) This is the sixth story in my Thor/OC series, the Heroic Hymns, Cunning. The first, third, and fifth story (Humility, Strategy, and Strength) are listed under the THOR section of this site while the second and fourth story (War and Truth) are under the Avengers, like this one, as it follows the sequence of movies in the Thor series. This is not a Jane/Thor story nor a Thor/Sif one either, but a Thor/OC ;) This is going to be my attempt at working an OC into the Infinity War movie so it will revolve around the events of the movie, but also include some original segments :) This story will be about 10 chapters long, updated daily as best I can manage :)
To give a short description of my OC, Athena: She is a tall woman, pale, with blonde hair that is a bit long and gray eyes. She tends to wear her hair half up, half down, but with a bun in the top half. Her bun has a small stick in it that Thor gave her that is really a very delicate dagger. She tends to wear brown leather armor, a breastplate from her brother, with a coin necklace under it. She has a charm bracelet made by her siblings that she doesn't wear often. For a reference, I picture the OC, Athena, to look something like Rosamund Pike :)
I hope you enjoy! :)
~8~ is a scene break
Disclaimer...I don't own Thor or things from the movie/comic, just my OC and some original aspects...otherwise Infinity War would not have ended in a way that made me cry :)
~8~
A Past Come Back to Haunt
Athena felt like she was at a crossroads, for once in her very long existence unsure of what path to take. Well, that wasn't quite true. She knew exactly where each path would take her, she knew exactly what each path meant, and she knew, especially, which path she should never, ever set foot down. The difficulty was stepping off the forbidden path once she had already set foot on it. She hadn't meant to take that path, honestly hadn't thought it would be there. She had spent so much of her life being so careful, pushing and burying and working towards a new reason for being. She thought she had worked past this, she thought she had pushed past this, she thought she had been safe. But she supposed that was the true danger for every warrior out there, arrogance and pride and being far too sure of oneself.
Now she was in quite a predicament and the worst thing was...there wasn't anyone there she could talk to about it.
No, that wasn't entirely true either. She could speak to Thor, or Heimdall, or even Korg if she needed to. But it didn't feel right to do so. This was not their burden to bear, especially not Thor, not after all he had lost already. He didn't need this extra stress. She was the Goddess of Wisdom, she should damn well be able to figure out what to do on her own. She had done it before, pulled herself off this path, she could do it again. She just had to be careful.
She knew what she needed to do, she knew exactly what had to be done in order to turn back. The only problem was...it was impossible to do any of it right now.
She tried to shake her thoughts from her, to focus more on the small dual she was having with the Valkyrie at that moment. But it she couldn't seem to turn her mind away from the dark worries weighing on her.
She had been going stir-crazy, forced to rest by the healers of Asgard, and she needed action, to be doing something more than lazing about. The Valkyrie had, surprisingly, stayed sober for the last few days. The woman seemed to realize, now that she had a clear head, just how rusty she had gotten in terms of her fighting abilities. It appeared that Hela had taken out a large number of Asgardian warriors, soldiers, and guards. A majority of the refugees now housed on that ship were just the average citizens. There weren't many people still there who could fight the Valkyrie in combat without the woman worrying about injuring them. It was different to attack the Scrappers on Sakaar as opposed to her own people she'd sworn to protect.
Thor was busy leading his people, securing their flight to Earth. Heimdall needed to advise him and help tend to the people, Loki was someone the Valkyrie would likely 'accidentally' kill during a duel, and the Gladiators from Sakaar had been forced to fight for far too long, it wouldn't be right to make them fight anymore. Really, it left only Athena who she could turn to to brush up on her skills.
She knew she should have turned the Valkyrie down, in her current state it was very dangerous to pick up a weapon and fight anyone. Even now she was seeing the warning signs, how her thoughts kept drifting, yet it felt like she was still holding the upper hand in her spar against the Elite Asgardian Warrior. The best thing she could have done was to get herself away from other people till she regrouped. But it could not be helped, not in a ship full of refugees, there were people everywhere, she would never be alone long enough to sort herself out.
She didn't want to worry anyone either. While she knew that the Asgardians accepted her as Thor's chosen partner, their future Queen, as one of them, she knew there was always going to be a distinguishing factor in the back of everyone's mind. After the Dark Elves had attacked it had somehow gotten out to the people that she was not Asgardian. They all were now aware she hailed from Olympus. For all her sacrifices for Asgard, after saving their Queen, after nearly giving her life for their prince, they accepted her with all their hearts. But in her own mind, she felt like she still needed to prove herself worthy, to prove she could take care of the people and be a strong leader. Right now, with the state of things, with having lost their home and not having anywhere to call a safe haven, she felt like she needed to lead by example. The people needed her and Thor especially to be strong for them, to show there was hope and nothing to worry about. If any of the people realized she was struggling to cope with the aftermath of the battle with Hela...it would only serve to worry them, and once large groups of people grew worried or frightened, bad things always happened.
She could handle this, she told herself, and she knew she could. She had done it before she could do it again, she just kept repeating that to herself. It was just a little more difficult this time. She was alone yet not alone. Being surrounded by people who were not her family made things difficult. But she did not turn her back on the people, she could not abandon them, she just needed to work out a way to fix herself before things got out of hand. They were only a few days away from Earth, she knew, if she could just keep everything together until they got to Earth she could find some excuse, some reason, to step away from the people for just a moment, just long enough to sort herself out.
She registered a small pain across her arm, glancing down only for a moment to see the Valkyrie had managed a small cut near her right shoulder. It didn't even hurt much. She didn't slow her movements, she didn't shift herself in any way that would indicate pain, she didn't change any movement or tactic that could show some kind of weakness to her enemy. In fact, her arm felt a cross between tingling and numb, like she didn't even register if there was any lingering pain. She saw the wound, she saw the cut and the blood, she knew it should garner some kind of reaction from her. But one never came. In the corner of her eye she could register the Valkyrie's presence and in the back of her mind something was telling her the woman was standing down, drawing back, to show that she hadn't meant to cause harm and wanted to cease their duel to check on the wound. But she was so lost in her thoughts that her body reacted without her conscious thought, and she only pushed on, continuing the duel with the warrior. It seemed to take the Valkyrie by surprise, which a larger part of her mind told her was exactly what she needed. Never let your guard down, always expect the unexpected, and so she went on the attack.
She recognized the sensation filling her, how eager she was growing for the battle, wanting that rush of adrenaline that came with combat and the focus that came with stopping at nothing until you were victorious.
It had been buzzing beneath her skin ever since the battle on the Rainbow Bridge. It was like once her mind had been opened to the battle, to fighting all of those Undead soldiers one after another, she just couldn't shut it off. She had been so locked in, so focused, that it was like she could think of nothing else except for fighting some more. It was the power that had rushed through her every time she felled one of those soldiers, she couldn't get enough of it.
And that was what was so dangerous about picking up a sword and sparring with anyone so soon after. But here she was, and if someone wanted to fight her, they were going to lose.
She lost herself in the motions: blocking, parrying, swiping, pushing, the sound of metal against metal ringing in her ears. It was as though that was the only sound she could hear, the sound of her sword clanging against the Valkyrie's dragonfang. And, just like on the Bridge, her world narrowed down to this battle, nothing else mattered, just her and her enemy.
It was only when a sound that was certainly not metal against metal rang out that she felt her world expanding once more, her attention and her consciousness returning to her, and she could see more than just her opponent before her.
Somehow she had gotten the Valkyrie against wall, the woman's sword on the ground, and she had her own sword pressed right against the Valkyrie's neck, a faint line of blood dripping from the edge of the blade where it was cutting into the skin.
Instantly Athena backed away, dropping her arm from the Valkyrie, putting her hand down, unwilling to let go of her blade even after the shock she felt at besting her enemy in this battle...no, she shook her head, it wasn't a battle, it was a spar and the Valkyrie wasn't her enemy, she wasn't her opponent, she was a friend.
And she had almost sliced the woman's head off without realizing.
"I certainly understand why you are the Goddess of Battle," the Valkyrie offered, actually cracking a smile despite how her one hand went to her neck and wiped at the blood that was dripping there, "That was the best dual I've had in a very long time. You certainly don't hold back."
"Sorry," Athena spoke quietly, panting just a little bit.
She could feel the strain that the spar had had on her now, now that she had had a moment to process everything. She was panting and out of breath, her heart racing though she didn't know if it was truly the result of the spar or something else. She could feel the slight sting on her shoulder from the wound, but, just like before, it didn't feel like a true pain more an annoyance. Her body was a cross between tingling with exhaustion and feeling stronger than ever, as though ready for the next fight yet worn and weary at the same time. A pleasant sort of exhausted from such a workout.
"I just...I haven't been feeling quite like myself lately," was all Athena could offer as an explanation for her behavior.
The Valkyrie actually seemed amused by that, grinning, "If that's you when you're off your game, I can't wait to spar against you when you're at full power."
Athena forced a smile on her face, starting to doubt herself. The Valkyrie didn't seem shocked or concerned or frightened by her and the duel they just had. Maybe it was all in her head, maybe she was making a bigger thing out of this than it really was. It had to be, the Valkyrie had only just started to trust her, if she truly thought something was off or wrong or that there was something terrible about Athena the woman would have said it. Especially after getting herself thrown into a wall with a sword at her throat, but it didn't seem to alarm the warrior. She seemed quite impressed instead.
It made Athena feel as though her concerns were truly just all in her head, it made her feel reassured.
"Give me a few more days," Athena told her.
The Valkyrie leaned over to pick up her fallen sword, pointing it at Athena in a playful manner, "I'm going to hold you to that."
Athena watched as the woman moved over to a small crate, that had pitcher of water and a few cups sitting on it, grabbing herself something to drink that wasn't alcohol.
Athena sighed and moved to go sit on another crate on the other side of the room, putting her sword to rest on the ground against the crate by her leg and rubbing her forehead with her right hand. She swiped her hand down her face, resting it by her mouth for just a moment as she looked across the room at the Valkyrie. Her gaze flickered back down to her sword, where there was still a small streak of red on the edge of the blade from where it had drawn blood on the Valkyrie's neck. As much as she truly wanted to believe that she was just making something out of nothing and that there was nothing to worry about, she couldn't help but feel on edge.
She rested her elbows on her bent knees, hunching forward just a little as she tried to get her breathing under control. She was trying very hard to look at everything logically, to come up with any other explanation for what happened on the Rainbow Bridge and also just now during her spar with the Valkyrie. But there was only one thing that kept coming to mind. She shifted her head just slightly, her gaze drifting down to her left hand. It was wrapped in a series of cloth strips. Thor had been slightly concerned when he had seen it, when she had gone in to meet with him for a moment just to tell him that she would be sparring in this room with the Valkyrie should he need to find her. She had smiled and waved it off, saying she had merely wrapped it because she was going to be sparring with the Valkyrie and didn't know if it was to be a spar with fists or with swords. Many warriors would often wrap their hands when they were going to be sparring like this. She had taken care to wrap her right hand as well when she had first gone to visit Thor. But once she had realized the Valkyrie wanted to spar with their swords she had unwrapped her right hand so she could better grip the sword handle.
Now that she was looking at her left hand, she felt her heart starting to race once more. She could worry about this all she wanted, she could try to convince herself that things were not happening, but the proof of it was there just under the cloth. Her lips pursed as her jaw tensed, still staring at the cloth wrapped around her hand. She didn't want to look, she didn't want to check, but she knew she had to. There was only one way to learn whether or not her spar with the Valkyrie had helped or hindered her.
She glanced over across the room at the Valkyrie once more, but the woman was merely taking another cup of water to drink, distracted for the moment. She took a deep breath and reached out to undo the wrappings on her hand, her gaze fixed on the skin that was slowly being revealed. She felt the breath leave her lungs, when exactly what she was afraid to see appeared on her skin.
Right in the middle of her palm was a gray patch of skin.
It wasn't a disease, wasn't an injury, it wasn't an infection brought about by a wound. Some might look at it and think nothing of it, that perhaps it was just a dry patch or some sort of skin discoloration. But she knew it wasn't that, it almost looked like a circle in the palm of her hand, just half an inch away from reaching the edges of it at the moment. It was noticeable, in the shade of gray that it was compared to her skin. For being a warrior one would think her skin would be quite tan, being outside on the fields of battle or training with the other warriors. But she had always been quite pale, which only serve to make the gray tone of her skin stand out.
It was a horrifying to her to see that color on her hand, but as she stared at it she knew her body language and her expression would not mirror that to anyone that might glance at her in that moment. That fear and disgust that came with seeing it would be well hidden. Instead she was sure she appeared to just be staring at something with a blank expression, almost as if she were lost in thought...and perhaps she was.
Inside her mind was racing at the implication of what this could mean. She had first seen the spec of color when she had woken to find herself lying on a bed wrapped in Thor's cloak with the man kneeling before her missing an eye. She had reached up to touch the side of his face and, in the moment when he had pulled away to stand, she had caught a glimpse of it on her palm and felt as though her entire world was crashing down around her. She had hidden that fact, focusing on Thor, on how he was now about to take his place at the king of his people. A small splotch on her hand was nothing compared to the loss he and his people had suffered.
And it was so small then. It truly had looked like just a speckle, like the smallest splattering of dirt or mud that had perhaps dried on her hand. She managed to hide it quite well, standing before Thor and his people she was sure to keep her hands clasped together in front of her. Surely the only sign that there was anything wrong was the way she wrung her hands together, rubbing her thumb against the palm of her hand as though it would wipe away the gray. If she had hoped that wiping and rubbing at the splotch would make it disappear, she had been quite wrong. After this spar with the Valkyrie it had only grown larger.
It was why she desperately wished to get away from the other Asgardians, to just have that moment alone to recenter herself. Being so constantly surrounded by other people, it was too tempting, being in front of them as their Queen was not helping.
"You alright?" a voice spoke.
Athena quickly curled her hand into a fist, bringing it to her lap as she looked up, straightening, to see the Valkyrie approaching her, but not having been close enough to see what she was staring at. She offered the woman to smile, "Yeah. I was just thinking about how lucky we were to defeat Hela. She was able to destroy Thor's hammer with a single hand."
It was, quite possibly, the worst excuse she had ever come up with in her life. But at the moment it was the only thing she could think about that would explain or justify why she was just staring at her hand.
The Valkyrie didn't seem to notice as she was nodding, "I wish Odin would have been as wise as Thor," the Valkyrie spoke, before laughing a little to herself as she added, "I suppose that was your doing though."
"I'm just an adviser," Athena told her, "Thor worked it out even before me."
"I wonder if Odin knew," the Valkyrie had to wonder, "If he knew that destroying Asgard destroy Hela, why didn't he just destroy Asgard and move us all to a new area. He had conquered the other Realms by that point. He could have found a home anywhere."
"It is always difficult to leave home," Athena remarked, "It's even harder to leave the place where you hold the most power."
"You did it," the Valkyrie reminded, for once sounding truly impressed with Athena, "You and your family left."
"You've been talking to Thor?" Athena looked up at her, not entirely sure exactly when the Battle of Asgard had happened the first time against Hela. She wasn't quite sure exactly what the Valkyrie knew of the Olympians after the Dark Days or if she only knew them from that time. The Valkyrie had seemed to greatly mistrust her at first, and rightly so given what she knew.
"Perhaps," the Valkyrie shrugged, not exactly answering Athena's questions about what she may or may not know, "It was a very brave thing," the Valkyrie decided, "If you could do it, Odin should have been able to."
Athena could hear the clear resentment in the Valkyrie's voice when she thought of Odin. She could understand though, the woman had lost all of her friends, her home, perhaps even someone she loved dearly because of Odin's decision to let Hela free instead of stopping her before she grew out of control.
"It was very brave to go back," Athena countered with a pointed look to the Valkyrie, "Don't think I don't know how difficult it was for you. Words can never express how grateful I am that you chose to help us. And I know it means a lot to Thor that one of the Valkyrie believe in him as well. To have lost respect for the throne because of what Odin did, but then to find it again in his son?" Athena shook her head, "Despite everything, I think it was just the sign he needed that his reign would begin with hope."
The Valkyrie cracked a small smile for Athena's words, "Thank you, your majesty."
"Oh don't start calling me that now," Athena mock-begged her in jest, "Tina would be better than that."
It was a joke, they both knew, she had been very clear just how much she had hated when people called her Tina on Sakaar. But it served its purpose in lightening the mood that had settled upon them. Things were going to be very serious just outside the door, with all of the refugees gathered and crowded and waiting till they reached Earth. It was good to still be able to laugh.
And even as Athena sat there with her hand still clenched into a fist, it gave her hope that things would still work out in the end.
Athena had just stood up, about to go get some water of her own, when the ship shook with a violent motion.
"What the hell was that?" the Valkyrie shouted, looking around.
Athena looked up as alarms started blaring, "We're under attack," it was the only explanation.
The Valkyrie ran back across the room to grab her sword, Athena quickly rewrapping her left hand and grabbing her own sword as they rushed for the door. It was chaos just on the other side, Asgardians running down the hall, the ship shaking once again, worse.
Athena pushed her way through the frantic Asgardians as gently as she could, heading for one of the larger windows she could make out just at the end of the hall. She knew this particular window faced the back of the ship which, she assumed, would be the direction the attack was coming from. Had the attack come from the front, Heimdall or Thor or someone would have seen it approaching and sounded the alarms before they could get a strike on them. The sight that greeted her was one she had hoped would not happen when they began this journey. She and Thor had known journeying through space with such precious cargo aboard would be a very dangerous feat. They had hoped they would reach Earth before they encountered any other danger.
Clearly the danger had come to them.
There was a massive ship just behind them, far larger than any ship they had seen before. Athena had seen her fair share of ships, the Chitauri ships, the Dark Elves, the Grandmaster's storage unit, but this would put them all to shame. It was enormous and fast and heading straight for them, she could already see lights on either side of it powering up, ready to deal them another blow. Their ship had shields, according to the computer systems, but the ship had never been intended to leave Sakaar to travel far, so very powerful shields were not necessary, not for the Grandmaster who was in control of everything. The ship coming upon them was certainly not one of the Grandmaster's, it was clearly another enemy.
"Brace yourselves!" the Valkyrie shouted back at the Asgardians as the two light beams on the other ship converged and fired right at them, shaking the ship even harder than before. The shields wouldn't hold much longer, that much was obvious.
The moment the ship had stabilized enough for them to stand, Athena spun around and yelled out to the Asgardians, "Get to the life rafts!" she ordered.
She began to lead her way through the Asgardians, shouting to any who could hear her to follow her, the Valkyrie shouting from behind them to lead the way as well. It was something she had looked into as soon as she was able, examining and determining exactly what protections this ship could offer. According to Loki and the Valkyrie, the Grandmaster had this ship as a life raft in and of itself. It had been built and constructed with the intention of escape from Sakaar. While the Grandmaster had been all-powerful, he had always been cautious as well, somewhat paranoid. Korg and his failed revolution were not the first ones to try and take place, nor was it the only one to fail. But there had been other revolutions that had not, ones that had succeeded...or succeeded for at least a little longer. If ever the day came where the Grandmaster lost control of his people or his planet, he needed to be able to escape, and not only that, but to survive until he could find sanctuary somewhere else. With all the wormholes around the planet, the Grandmaster had to have a few picked out that would lead him close to a safe planet.
The ship had been constructed as a life raft, but also with its own smaller life rafts included. If the Grandmaster could be attacked on his own home planet, there was no saying he couldn't be attacked traveling through space in his escape. If he was attacked, he would need to find a way to escape his ship undetected. The schematics for the ship indicated that there were two main life rafts located on either side of the ship. If her calculations were correct, it could hold almost all of the Agardians, they just had to get the people onto the boats.
She ran up to the entrance of one life raft, slamming her hand on the panel on the wall to open the doors, "In, in, in!" she shouted to the Asgardians. She looked over to the Valkyrie bringing up the rear, "There's one on the other side," she told the woman, "Get them in and then get in with them."
"What?" the Valkyrie demanded, striding up to her, "I'm not leaving."
"Thor is never going to abandon this ship while there are still people on it," Athena told her quickly, "And I can't leave him, I can't let them lose their King again. But they are going to need someone with them to make sure they're safe wherever they go," she reached out to grab the Valkyrie's arm, making sure she looked the woman in the eye, letting her know that this was not a request from a fellow warrior, but a command from her future Queen, "I am trusting you with their lives."
The Valkyrie gave her a firm look, not happy with the order, but understanding the reasoning behind it, "Let's go everyone!" the Valkyrie shouted, "In, get in," she continued to call even as she started to walk backwards and then run down the other hall heading for the second life raft and grabbing any Asgardian she could find on the way.
"Korg!" Athena called, seeing the gladiator rushing up with Miek under his arm, "Korg, I need you to stay with this life raft," she told him, "The ship is under attack and this may be the only means of escape, I need you to make sure they're safe."
"You can count on me, boss," Korg told her, taking her place next to the door and ushering Asgardians in.
When she saw that the people were being tended to, Athena turned and started to run, heading for the front of the ship, where she knew Thor would be in the command room. She ushered any Asgardian she passed back towards the life rafts. She burst into the command room, seeing a handful of Asgardians still there, some men and women, likely those who refused to leave their King, there was Loki, Heimdall, Hulk, and Thor as well, standing near the front, "Thor," she shouted, rushing up to him, "I've sent the others to the life rafts."
"Good, good," Thor reached out and pulled her closer to him when the ship shook once more, the worst yet.
It wasn't even a few moments later, that they saw the life rafts breaking off of the ship, quickly flying away from the attack. Thor stood, solemn, as he watched his people fleeing, hoping everything would be alright and they would be able to meet up once more. The life rafts should be shielded and cloaked as well, which appeared to be working as the ship attacking theirs hadn't turned its fire on the life rafts.
There was another large crash behind them, alarms of a different sort starting to blare, the machinery going mad around them and indicating that part of the ship had been destroyed in the last blow. One of the alarm started blinking...the shields were down, one more blow and they would be finished.
"May Odin protect us," Thor murmured to himself, when the ship that had been behind them drifted in front of them, turning to face them once more. Athena reached out and grabbed his hand tightly, seeing the familiar lights blaring on the ship as it powered up to send out one finishing blow...
A/N: Woo! I wanted to have a little bridge chapter from the end of Strength/Ragnarok to now, so I hope you liked a bit of the Athena-Valkyrie bonding :) I know there was some sort of director commentary about Valkyrie's fate, but I haven't seen it because then I can keep pretending she's alive even if they say she's not, so I'm just going with what I think happened. Thor mentioned Thanos only slaughtered HALF his people so I assumed some had to have escaped...and if Thor wasn't with them, someone else must be to protect them, Valkyrie :)
I am SO excited for this story you have no idea, quite a few people are going to be quite sneaky and cunning in this story }:D
Just putting this here because I've promised my sister I would tell people about it, I made a page called ko-fi, where people can show support of a person by contributing a 'cup of coffee' to them. It's not a real cup of coffee, it's a donation that is roughly the cost of a cup of coffee, or about 3 dollars. The link is up on my profile or on my tumblr's LINKS page if anyone is interested. There's no obligation, requirement, or commitment, it just sort of feels to me like a little 'let's talk about your work over a cup of coffee' ;)
Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Strength)...
I understand :) It was a little harder for me to get Athena just right in Ragnarok mostly because I felt like the movie itself didn't really fit correctly in the Thor saga. We had 4 movies of a very specific characterization of Thor that was really different than what we got in Ragnarok, so it was hard to try and get Athena in there when Thor himself felt OOC in canon :/ Athena definitely made up a large role in the last part of the story with how she handled the undead army and it is something that is carrying over here. Athena is going to have a very large role in this story, but I don't want to give away too much ;) I didn't want to do a makeover for Athena mostly because I didn't want her to have one just because Thor got one and also because, in my head, she'd be getting one in a different future story ;) And no worries, I never let reviews stop me from continuing stories, I just use them as motivation to do better next time and I hope you'll enjoy where this story goes ;)
Oh the wedding between Thor and Athena...I have plans for that };) But lol, I could have definitely seen Thor try to pull a Will and Elizabeth, yet at the same time I could also see him be like 'no, we need a proper wedding' too :) I mention a bit of Medusa in the Truth story ;) It's not a tale Athena looks back to with happy memories though :(
I am definitely a fan of Thor's new look, even his lost eye grew on me, a nice parallel to his father as king but with him being a different king than Odin :) So far the updating is going well, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed it stays that way :)
I can say Athena has plans to try and get Olympus open to the Asgardians...but it may not be 100 percent for selfless reasons, but we'll find out her thoughts on it in this story ;) I held out a lot of hope that the Asgardians lived because Thor says at one point that Thanos already slaughtered HALF his people and if he was trying to wipe out half of all life, I can't see it hitting the places he's already been because then it would cut that down TOO much, so I'm going to just stick my fingers in my ears and ignore anyone else that says they were affected by Thanos's actions at the end of the film :)
I can say Hulk won't be alone when he gets sucked to Earth, but I can't say who will be going with him just yet ;) We'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out }:)
We'll actually find out what Tony's codename for Athena is in this story ;)
