The restaurant that Maria chose was an extravagant Italian place not too far from the famous Avengers Tower. La Gondola di Venezia. The whole place was decorated in gold and marble, with frescoed ceilings, pseudo-Renaissance paintings, and Tuscan columns. Despite it's gaudiness, The Gondola offered a warm reprieve from the bitter wind and rain outside.

The menu promised delicacies of Venice and wines imported from the coastal city. Yet, none of them aged well enough to be worth the price point. The same applied to the cheese board placed in front of her several minutes ago. The goddess was no expert in fine cheeses, she left that duty to Dionysus, but she knew a proper imported Italian cheese from a cheap knock off from Whole Foods.

Maria and Jason sat at the table in front of Athena and her date, Michael, which made contact between the two friends hard. The only thing Maria told Athena was that he worked in technical communications. She failed to mention how he looked eerily similar to Adonis, who Athena had a short fling with back before Aphrodite grew attached. It was Athena who introduced the two when she grew bored and was desperate to be free of him.

No matter how many times Athena squinted her eyes and tilted her head, she still could not find a single way to make him look any less like her ancient ex. And the worst part was he took her squints and head tilts as confusion, so he kept prattling on about useless things. The waitress took the menus, so Athena took to setting her gaze on the ceiling, the walls, or taking long sips of her wine to avoid eye contact. Which wasn't strong enough to get her anywhere near buzzed.

Athena regretted going home to change her clothes. It was a waste of gas, time, energy, and a new white designer mini dress and louboutin heels.

"You see, the trick to getting a perfect pitch is to have the communicator on first, and while that is happening you twist the peacock colored wire until the static is completely phased out. Then-"

Oh my queen mother. Athena took another sip of her wine. Her sip turned into several gulps as he diverged from static to the reasoning behind colored wires. It was like a drinking game. Rule 1: Drink anytime Michael spoke, continue drinking until he finished or your glass was empty. She looked at her empty glass with disdain. A great yawn escaped her. Athena hadn't seen the waitress in a while and she needed two more bottles of wine.

And then the date took a turn from bad to much worse.

"You know, I don't go out very much, but you have to be one of the most attractive women I have ever been set up with." he complimented.

Make that three more bottles of wine. Athena contemplated asking one of the passing wait staff to hit her over the head with a serving tray.

"Oh, please."

She played nice and instead of an eye roll, she tucked her hair behind her ear. Someone had to pay the tab and Athena didn't want to. She gave the back of her chandelier earring a push and let it fall. The large piece clattered when it hit the imitation marble flooring.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry, I am just the klutziest person." Athena babbled.

"Here, let me get it." Michael offered and ducked under the table to retrieve her jewelry.

Before he came back up, Athena gave Maria a desperate look, but the poor girl was so engrossed in her date's story she failed to see her friend in need. How much longer did Maria expect her to sit through the date from Hades?

Michael handed her the earring and she put it back into her ear, smiling with faux gratefulness. Father give me an excuse to end this date. Please? For your favorite child?

No reply.

"Have you ever thought about modeling? It seems like a far more fitting profession for you."

Athena reached for a bottle of wine from a passing waitress and, while pouring her wine, stated, "And what did Maria tell you I do?"

Michael smiled, "She didn't have to. You're the second-highest rated doctor in New York, right behind Doctor Strange of course. But you're far too pretty to spend your life in an operating room.

"Thank you for what I think was supposed to be a compliment, but I didn't spend half my life preparing to enter the medical field to be told that modeling would be a more suitable job for me."

She took another long drink of her wine.

"I just thought…"

"Oh no, I understood what you said. You thought that I would blindly accept the words that just came out of your mouth as a compliment."

Michael tried to defend himself, sputtering over whatever excuse he thought would save himself. Athena rolled her eyes and took another drink. Rule 2: Drink until you can't feel anything anymore. Another yawn. Athena felt the weight of her eyelids. If this date took any longer she was like to fall asleep before the entrees arrived. Another yawn.

She could hide in the ladies room. Fancy places like La Gondola di Venezia had to have elaborate powder rooms, the kind that Marilyn Monroe sat and fixed her makeup at in those old movies. The blonde bombshell had to have avoided a few dates in her time.

A shiver raced up Athena's spine, the hair on her neck and arms standing. Something was wrong. The last time she had a sensation, a war broke out. She analyzed her surroundings with the critical eye that every warrior possesed.

The restaurant patrons were all dining, chatting as though nothing was wrong. Maria looked safe and there were no strange noises coming from the kitchen. The threat had to be in the street.

She pushed her chair back and headed for the doors of the restaurant.

"Is everything okay?" Michael asked.

He reached out and grabbed on to her arm, trying to persuade her back to the table while begging forgiveness for what he said but Athena persisted on. Maria followed her out the door and into the bustling crowds of late night tourists.

"Hello, Ana, are you okay?" her friend called.

The cold night air chilled her as her eyes scanned the passing faces. She didn't grab her coat she realized. The autumn rain dampened her hair and exposed arms. A burst of light shimmered between two buildings before disappearing.

"Ana what the hell is going on?"

Athena pushed past people, forging through the traffic and into the alley, where a body sat propped against the dumpster. Shirt drenched in blood, soaked from the rain, unconscious. Just the victim of a mugging. So why did her senses perk up like that?

She approached with caution, in case the attacker lingered. Despite the rain, Athena recalled the blonde hair and handsome features of Steve Rogers. His picture was a common appearance in textbooks when Athena studied super human biochemistry. But that wasn't the only place Athena noticed Steve from.

To the other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and Athena, Captain America was a legend. A mythical creature that did miraculous things but was never seen. Like the heroes she watched when she commanded battles from the heavens. Captain America was as good as any Achilles, Perseus, or Heracles. In fact, he was better. He wasn't petty and he cared about the good of the people instead of his pride. Men like him were a rarity.

Athena knelt, the loose gravel pressing into her knees, and pressed her fingers to Steve's neck to feel his pulse. It was faint but present, it was hope.

Blood drenched his shirt and made it impossible to see where it originated from. Athena had no choice but to rip his shirt open.

There were three wounds. One on his heart, one below his sternum, and one near his liver. Black market? No, she encountered the work of black market scavengers before. They slit throats or used lethal injections after they kidnapped their victims, a scavenger wouldn't leave anything behind.

Even more interesting was the fact that Captain America, one of the fiercest warriors in the whole world, allowed an attacker to harm in that way. The wounds would have been life-threatening on someone else, but not Steve Rogers.

Athena tore clean pieces of Steve's shirt and used them to clear the blood away from the wounds to get a better look. The wounds didn't repair themselves as they should have and they were odd shaped. It was more efficient to use her healing powers, but she couldn't in front of people. And the events of the day exhausted her, another use and she would be lucky if she didn't wake up in her own medical wing.

She looked at Maria. Athena's coat was slung over her arm, her clutch tucked in Maria's elbow. Inside the small purse was Athena's emergency sewing kit. She never left the house unprepared and sewing utensils worked in place of medical grade instruments if one was desperate enough.

"Maria, my purse."

Slipping into full surgeon mode, Athena opened her purse and grabbed her travel size bottle of hand sanitizer and sewing kit.

"Fury's sending a vehicle. Is there anything I can do?" Maria asked.

"Thread these needles. I know it's not medical grade, but it's the best I can do on short notice."

Athena rinsed her hands with sanitizer and doused a piece of the shirt with it. She wiped over the wounds and held out her hand to request a needle from Maria.

"I need you to hold the two sides together, but keep your hands away from the open wound."

Maria did as told, her hands as steady as Athena's. With careful strokes, Athena closed the heart wound and placed a strip of clean tee-shirt over it before she moved on to the other two. Her rain slicked hands made the work hard, but she soldiered on, wiping her free hand on her coat to dry it between stitches. It wasn't the worst conditions she'd ever worked under. She was at ground zero on 9/11. There wasn't rain, but it was the most stressful work she'd ever done.

By the time the S.H.I.E.L.D emergency vehicle arrived, Athena had all her temporary stitches done. Blood stained her hands, legs, and dress. If no one knew better, they would think Athena committed the attack herself.

The medics hopped out of the back and loaded Steve onto a stretcher. One of them offered Athena a blanket and something to wipe her hands with.

"Be careful. He's lost a lot of blood and he isn't healing properly. Those stitches are weak and he'll need to be in the OR ASAP."

Director Nick Fury stepped down from a separate SUV flanked by two other agents. His imposing stature and clothing only more so in the dim light of the alley way.

"Did anyone see him?" Fury demanded.

"We're not sure. Whatever attacked him did it quick and discreet." Athena explained.

"I'm still not sure how Ana knew he was out here."

"That doesn't matter, what does is figuring out who the hell is attacking my employees. In the meantime, you two get back to the Triskelion."

Fury grumbled he turned to the two agents beside him and started barking orders. One of them handed Athena a clipboard with paperwork for her to fill out.

"So, do you think what's-his-name is gonna want to see you again?" Athena asked Maria as they climbed into the back of the vehicle.

"I'm sure I have a lot of apologizing to do."

"Just tell him it was important, top-secret agent stuff you had to do for Fury. I'm sure he'll understand."

Maria scoffed, "What did you think of Michael?"

"I think it would have been great if he stopped trying to explain everything to me like I was a child."

Maria chuckled, her shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Athena offered.

Athena eyed her friend. Maria was a master at hiding her inner feelings, so Athena had to tread with care around her.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. This was way more important than some date."

"But you were having fun and enjoying yourself. You deserve to have a without work getting in the way."

"When your job is protecting the people, it comes before anything else."

Athena nodded. She had a lot of experience in protecting people. But the people she needed to protect were in danger and there was nothing she could do.

Athena settled into her desk chair as Director Fury and his guest took a seat. She abandoned her blood stained mini dress, heels, and jewelry for borrowed scrubs and shoes. The medical coat that hung over her shoulders wasn't even her own. Fury had come to collect her report on Captain America and Agent Stone. He was going to leave empty handed.

She slid two pieces of paper across the holo table. Then sat back and watched for Fury's reaction.

"Is this a joke?"

"You know that is exactly what I said when I first saw those results. Now we're down two spectrophotometers. However, we were able to retest Agent Stone with a fresh sample before machine number two went down. The only outstanding thing is the oxytocin levels. They're high and adrenaline is low. Adrenaline should be much higher considering there's evidence of a physical fight."

Fury had a look of focus on his face. He reached into the bag that he carried and took out a stack of files. The folders looked older. When he placed them on the holo screen, Athena read the date on the top. 1986. The year of her fall and subsequent residence of Earth.

She looked at the following dates. 1990, 1996, 2001. The dates were inconsistent and the most recent was 2001. Why were they relevant to an incident eleven years later?

"I've got the avengers focused on fighting an unseen threat that appears to be connected with your Agent Stone. These files will be able to give you more information. I think you'll be a valuable asset to this investigation."

"Thank you, Director Fury, but there's a reason I don't do field work anymore."

Director Fury considered her for a moment, his good eye sizing her up. His eye telling her- What happened to the big bad goddess who wanted to help people?

"You take a look at those cases and let me know if you reconsider. Now, for the real reason, I'm here. Miss Maximoff would like to talk to you, I'll wait outside."

Fury left the office, leaving the annoyed Athena to listen to Wanda's story.

Wanda Maximoff was a scared child when Athena first met her. She turned up at the Triskelion after New York claiming she escaped from an illegal testing facility and was looking for her brother Pierto. They lost each other in the commotion of the raid. Fury wasn't too happy to have another orphaned superhero to look after.

If the Avengers hadn't already stepped in, Athena would have. She had two empty bedrooms to occupy.

"You were the one who found him."

Athena nodded.

"Thank you. Steve and I have a very strong bond… our empathic connection is stronger. It is like a telepathic link."

Wanda was from Sokovia, proved by her accent. Human traffickers took her and Pierto when they were young and sold them to the testing facility that was later raided. Her empathic powers were a result of testing with dangerous sorcery.

"We- the Avengers- were getting ready to go out and eat, but we could not find Steve. He left after our meeting with Director Fury, but he never told us where he was going. That was when I felt it."

Her brows knit together, not in confusion, but in difficulty.

"It was this pain, dull at first, and then it grew. I realized that it must have been Steve and I could feel where he was. And then the visions started."

"Do you remember them," Athena asked.

If the attack was from the same predator that hurt Agent Stone the visions might have something to do with Ares.

"They came to me in pieces, very blurry pieces, but I think I can remember them."

Her brows furrowed again, "A woman in a red dress. Steve knew her, they had a strong connection. He was at peace. Almost as if he were… as if he were…"

"Blissful?"

Wanda nodded. The elevated oxytocin and decreased adrenaline in Agent Stone would have numbed any outside feeling. Like an intense drug trip.

"Then there was a pain. The room, darkness, but the woman is there. So, very, painful."

She gritted her teeth but continued on, red light pulsed around her hands that gripped the arms of the chair. Her eyes forced to shut as she tried to recall the visions. Her dark hair fell into her eyes. Wanda's eyes glowed red, powerful evidence of the effort it took for her to fight her way through it.

"Wanda if it's too much, you don't-"

"No, I must. There… there was something else there. Something… like scales, gold scales. The kind used to weigh. The woman, she's wearing white now and she's speaking… 'Your heart beats strong but your soul weighs heavy with all that you have lost'."

The vision released its grip on the young woman. Her eyes shot open and her hands released the arms of the chair, the red energy that surrounded her hands disappeared. Her tensed shoulders relaxed and she gasped. Athena let her catch her breath.

"Did I help?"

"Very much. Thank you for speaking with me, Wanda."

"Of course."

As Fury and Wanda left, Athena sighed and looked at her watch. 10:33. Athena thought she was going to be able to sleep, but it looked like she was in for another all-night, mania fueled deep dive. But instead of new information to go on, she only had more questions.

White dress, golden scales. Your heart beats strong but your soul weighs heavy with all that you've lost. Heart. Soul. Golden scales. Passion and balance. More questions, less answers.