Unleashing Monsters

Thor groaned as he hit the ground, rolling half across the floor from the blast that had sent him and Fury through a wall and into another room. He held up his arm, shielding himself from the debris falling around him, knowing that there was likely even more in the lab than in the room he'd fallen into. When he was sure that the majority of the rubble and metal had finished falling on him, he rolled to his side and looked over, seeing Fury on his one side, pushing away a sheet of metal that had fallen nearby that he'd grabbed to use as a shield, the man uninjured though seeming jarred and angry to have been attacked. He understood that feeling well. They had been aware there was a possibility of an attack, but they hadn't expected it to happen when it had. No one in the base had even warned them that there was something incoming. They had glimpsed, as the wall blew apart, a craft hovering outside it. The bridge, especially should have known that there was another craft hovering beside it, it was only too obvious it was there, but they had failed to warn anyone of it or even alert Fury to the fact it was there.

He pushed himself to sit up and frowned, looking around the room for Athena, but didn't see her. He turned to the other side of him, checking behind him, but she was nowhere.

"Athena!" he shouted, springing to his feet and moving back to the lab, trying to see if he could spot her, but had to grip the edge of the door frame as the wall was blown off, the force of the winds threatening to pull him out of the room, Mjolnir on the ground a few feet away where it had fallen.

"All hands engaged!" a cry came over the speakers above the doors and he didn't even need to know what the alert meant to know that it was likely that the entire base was arming up to fight the next battle.

"Hill!" Fury shouted behind him and he looked back to see Fury standing, moving towards the doorway after him.

"Number Three engine is down!" came a yelled reply, so loud that Thor could hear her over the earpiece.

For what it was worth, Fury didn't even flinch despite the fact the shout was likely stinging in his ear.

"We've been hit!" another woman reported in the distance.

"Did we get a run in? Talk to me."

"We got a fire in Engine Three."

"The line looks mostly in tact but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air," a second worker added.

"We lose one more engine we won't be," Hill retorted, before she seemed to focus back on Fury, giving her report, "Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine."

Fury grunted at that and tapped the metal in his ear once more, "Stark, you copy that?"

"I'm on it!" Tony reported.

Thor looked over in the direction he could vaguely remember Tony and Steve had been thrown to see they weren't there.

Fury just tapped his ear piece once more, "Coulson, initiate defensive lock down in the contingent center. Then get to the armory," and hit it once more, "Romanoff!" but there was no reply, "Romanoff!" he looked at Thor, "She's not responding."

Thor frowned, trying to recall what had happened just before the blast had gone off, trying to think of where Athena had been thrown. He had been standing there, near Natasha when Athena had set down the scepter and stepped around the table. Natasha had stepped after her and…

"Athena is with her," Thor turned to Fury, his eyes widening as he realized that wherever Natasha had fallen, Athena was likely with her. It had to be like that, the alternative was not something he wanted to consider, that she had been thrown out of the wall and into the air, that she could be falling to earth right now without any way to protect herself. No, he closed his eyes, he could remember it now, he could remember flying back towards the wall and seeing her and Natasha fly in one direction…

With Banner.

"I must find her," he turned and moved into the lab, fighting against the wind to grab Mjolnir, feeling more firmly planted with his hammer in his hand, knowing that it wouldn't let him be swept away, and spun around to enter the side room once more, having seen another door that would lead to the halls and not force him to walk through the broken open room again.

"Hold it," Fury grabbed his arm.

"Unhand me," Thor nearly growled pulling his hand away from Fury's hold, pointing his hammer at the man, "Athena is in danger and I will not have her face it alone."

"We're ALL in danger," Fury pointed out.

"But she is facing the greatest of all," Thor glared, "She and your agent were thrown away with Dr. Banner."

Fury let out a breath, "If he gets injured…"

"He WILL get angry," Thor nodded, pain could lead to fierce anger, he knew that. Often when a soldier was fighting, it wasn't till even a minor amount of blood was drawn that they felt truly angry and put their all into a fight. And for a man like Banner, that anger, that pain, was going to be his undoing and that of Athena and Natasha. Some could argue that anger was a sort of pain, that Banner had to be in extreme amounts of it to unleash the Hulk and being thrown through a wall by an explosion would be enough to harm and anger anyone.

He didn't know what state Athena was in, if she would be able to defend herself, if Natasha was injured and would need her to protect her. They were largely immortal, yes, he and Athena, but they could be injured, they could be harmed, and they could be knocked out, as had been proven numerous times in their last visit to Earth. For all he knew, Athena could be lying somewhere buried under debris and unable to move. She could have hit her head in the fall and be left to the mercy of the Hulk. Or it could be the opposite, Natasha could have fallen and been gravely injured and he knew Athena would never leave a fellow warrior behind. He had seen the respect in Athena's eyes after Natasha had slammed her and pinned her to the mat of the gym with her thighs and helped her up. She would not allow Natasha to be left to the Hulk either and if she was half focused on protecting Natasha she would be putting herself at risk for the Hulk.

No, he needed to find her, he needed to see what state she was in and help her.

Fury nodded, knowing that the strength of a 'god' would likely be the only thing they had to equal the Hulk, seeming to realize what Thor had, that there was a chance Athena was down for the count, "Go," he ordered.

Thor gave him the briefest of nods before he turned and rushed out of the room, trying to back track and see where Athena and Natasha had fallen.

~8~

Athena groaned as she hit the bottom of a metal floor in a darkened room. She winced, landing on her back, but ducking and maneuvering herself just enough to not slam her head against the floor in her fall. But that did little to protect her back. She hissed, rolling to the side when she saw metal beams and parts of the walls falling towards her, managing to press just under some sort of tank running parallel to the wall to avoid it. She waited a moment, panting, listening for any other falling items that might strike her, before she took a breath and rolled back out. The first thing she noticed was that she had a small cut on her forehead, sticking out just about an inch from her hairline, but other than that she was relatively unharmed. She gave herself a pat over quickly, seeing that her armor was intact, her weapons were still attached, and nothing else seemed broken or injured. She pushed herself to her knees, looking around for Natasha and Banner, sure that she had been thrown back with them. She had seen Thor nearer to Fury and the two men flying in another direction than where she had gone so she knew Thor was likely ok. He would be able to face whatever there was that might infiltrate the base…

It was she and Natasha that were in the most danger she knew.

Because BANNER had been thrown out with them and, if the reactions of the warriors (and Sif) were anything to go by, he would be furious right now, he would be in pain and it was staggering to think just how often those two emotions blurred, anger and pain, and if Banner was about to get very angry, she and Natasha either needed to get out of there or find some way to keep him from transforming or a way to restrain him once he did. She knew that the second option would be the best one. She doubted that the last option was even possible. With Loki in the cage, there would be no way to restrain Banner in a means where he wouldn't be able to break out. And the first option was seeming more likely. They would have to flee and try to find some place they could lure him to where he wouldn't harm others or do too much damage to what was left of the ship.

But in order to see to it that the second option was the one that happened, she needed to find them first.

She spun around, hearing a groan of pain behind her, a groan that sounded like Natasha. She pushed herself to her feet and winced, ok, so she had been nearly correct in her assessment of her injuries, her ankle was killing her, she hadn't noticed till she'd put weight on it. She limped forward, focusing on putting more and more weight on her one leg so that she could try to dull the pain, push through it, not think about it, because chances were, at some point they would have to run and she couldn't afford to slow anyone down.

"Natasha?!" she called, pushing past a few large pieces of the wall that had fallen before her.

"Over here!" Natasha shouted.

She moved the wall away and found a bank of equipment blocking her way. It appeared like it was an equipment room not what her eyes had adjusted slightly and the lights around had turned on for the emergency attack. But she had little time to consider that as she saw Natasha on the ground, lying on her stomach with her leg trapped under a large pipe, her face crunched in pain. She could see from the angle that the pipe hadn't broken her leg, but it was putting a lot of pressure on her calf and would probably leave her bruised. She was currently trying to free herself but the pipe was too heavy. If she could just get there then she could lift it off her, being stronger than a mere mortal.

But what was truly alarming was Banner lying a few feet away, free from any debris, but he was crawling away, or trying to, his body stiff, his motions jerky, his hands clenching into fists as he let out a series of agonized groans that sounded like growls. His hand reached out and grabbed a grate on the floor, his fingers clenching around it, trying to focus on something else, trying to keep control, but she could already see the green tinge taking over his skin.

"Natasha," Athena called, making the woman turn her attention to her, "Are you ok?" she asked, shoving the equipment aside.

"Yeah, yeah," Natasha swallowed and glanced back at Banner, not even noticing the crack of fear in her voice, "We're ok, right?"

Athena shook her head and rushed forward, seeing the man's body starting to tremble and shift and contort and grow, the man starting to change into what she assumed was the Hulk. She moved to the pipe, trying to find the end that she'd be able to lift.

"Doctor?" Natasha tried again, tried to keep him focused, "Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me."

"You two," Athena shouted, seeing two maintenance men run in, about to ask if they needed help, "Get out!" she snapped, not wanting any more people there than necessary.

"We're gonna be ok," Natasha swallowed hard, trying to talk Banner down, "Right?"

"Natasha," Athena shook her head, finally finding the end to lift, "Don't."

"I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never ever…"

"Your life?" Banner hissed, his voice deep and growling, the change taking him over, his shirt tearing as he half threw himself across the room, still trying to get back as Natasha looked on in pure terror.

"Bruce?" she called, her voice shaking and breaking and just scared.

Athena grit her teeth and hefted the pipe up, freeing Natasha, dropping it once the woman had scrambled free. She reached out and grabbed the woman's arm, pulling her out of the room as she saw Banner turning green and growing in size. They made it a few feet away but Natasha kept looking back, her eyes wide and locked on Banner's form.

"Natasha!" Athena snapped, grabbing the woman's shoulders and shaking her to look at her, "Look at me," she nearly growled herself, "Pull yourself together, and run," she ordered.

Natasha looked into Athena's eyes, seeing an understanding there, seeing that Athena knew how frightened she was of the Hulk…but she wasn't saying it out loud, mercifully.

"Go!" Athena shoved her off, "I can handle him, you find the others! Find Barton and seize him," she pushed Natasha once more and spun around to block the woman's fleeing path, facing the Hulk as he shakily got to his feet at the end of the walk way, roaring in anger.

Athena took a breath, bracing herself, the Hulk already barreling towards her, before she turned and ran, there was not enough room there to properly fight the man and she couldn't risk him destroying anything that could cause a larger explosion. She ran for the stairs, rushing up and up and up, needing more room, needing a bigger space. She nearly breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the carrier room of the craft.

"GET OUT!" she barked at the men and women scrambling around inside it, "NOW!"

She winced, ducking and throwing her arms up as the Hulk burst through the walls after her, roaring and sending the humans scrambling and fleeing the room. She spun around and pulled out her sword, tightening her grip. She didn't want to kill the man, having been told that, in this form he had little control at times, that he was controlled by the Hulk and it wasn't Banner anymore. But if he forced her hand, if he attacked to kill her, she WOULD fight back.

She stepped back slowly as the Hulk approached her at a stalk instead of a run, "You may frighten others," she told him, "But you don't frighten me. I've fought far bigger brutes before I trained with Thor and after. You are nothing compared to them."

That seemed to enrage the Hulk as he let out a bellowing roar and swung at her. She jumped back, swinging her sword at him, nicking him in the wrist. She noticed that when he roared, he clenched his body, like he was focusing all his energy on the roar instead of concentrating on the next attack. She ran at him, ducking and jumping as he swung at her, as he tried to beat her down, as he tried to kick at her. She groaned as she was thrown back into one of the aircrafts in the room, before she dropped to the floor, the Hulk managing to get in a lucky swing. She pushed herself to her feet, and ran at him, throwing a shield she'd had strapped to her back at him, hitting him in the chest as he let out a roar, his arms out, his head up, staring at the ceiling as he did so…giving her the perfect opportunity. She slid down to her knees, sliding right under him as she swung around, managing to slice at his legs, near his ankles, bringing him to his knees.

She rolled up to a defensive crouch, turning to watch as the Hulk turned and glared at her. He reached out for her, moving to grab her with one hand and she swung at it with her sword, only to get grabbed by his other hand and squeezed. She let out a grunting hiss as she felt a rib or two crack when she was suddenly falling to the ground, released as the Hulk went flying back.

She looked up, seeing that Thor had flown into the room, tackling the Hulk back across it towards the docking area of the carrier room. The two rolled to the ground and pushed themselves up quickly to circle the other, both looking at each other and sizing the other up. She pushed herself up and ran to grab her sword as the Hulk smashed at Thor, throwing a wild punch, but Thor ducked and weaved his way back, avoiding it, till the Hulk brought his fist down on Thor, ready to pound him down into the ground but Thor managed to grab the Hulk's fist above him, holding it up though it drove him to his knees.

"We're not your enemies, Banner!" Thor shouted, trying to reason, "Try to think!"

"Thor!" Athena shouted as the Hulk punched Thor with his other hand, sending him flying across the room, through a craft, and landing a few feet away from where she'd been running to. She moved to his side, helping him sit up, her gaze fixed on the Hulk, "He cannot be reasoned with," she reminded him, "He entered this form in pain, he will rage till he feels calm and in his rage he will attack."

"And others will attack back," Thor nodded, "Feeding his rage…"

It was a trap, a never ending trap that would just keep happening. Because they couldn't stand there and allow the Hulk to harm anyone, but equally they couldn't calm him enough to get him to stop either.

"Then we take him down," Athena looked at him, "We knock him out, hopefully in sleep he shall calm."

"Together," Thor grabbed her hand as she helped him stand, seeing the Hulk panting, blowing huffs of deep breath out his nose, pacing before them as though waiting for an attack. They had only taken a step towards him, hadn't even lifted their weapons when he let out a roar, proving he couldn't be reasoned with at the moment, and charged at them.

Athena rushed forward first, since Thor had just recently taken a blow, it was a tactic and a pattern that they had taken to during training and sparring and battles lately. When one was injured the other would step in, once a harsh blow had been dealt the other would take over, it allowed them time to save their strength and to also study the other opponent. She managed to get the Hulk to turn his back on Thor, but was sent flying through a few stacks of containers from a kick, leaving her rolling on the ground, nearly dropping her sword but managing to hold onto it. Thor summoned Mjolnir to his hand and threw it at the Hulk's back, sending him stumbling forward and howling in pain.

The Hulk spun around and ran at Thor who swung Mjolnir around and slammed it up the moment the Hulk was close enough, sending the brute flying backwards into a plane and landing harshly on the ground. It didn't keep him down for long as the Hulk jumped to his feet and grabbed a wing off a plane and threw it at Thor, but Athena jabbed her sword into the back of the Hulk's leg at the last moment, making the aim off, giving Thor enough room to duck and avoid the wing, allowing it to hit a jeep behind him. Thor quickly threw Mjolnir again as the Hulk swung around to try and strike Athena, this time managing to hit the man in the back of the head but the Hulk turned and grabbed it before it could fly back to Thor…the hammer just falling to the floor uselessly.

The Hulk tried to lift it, but couldn't, and focused on it, struggling more and more to try and hefted but nothing happened. Not even his strength could lift the hammer, it even dug his feet into the metal floor with the force of trying to lift the hammer. Thor caught Athena's gaze and grinned at her, winking at how that had seemed to trap and draw the Hulk's attention off them for a moment.

But his grin soon sunk when an alert echoed through the room, "We've got perimeter breach! Hostiles are in SHIELD gear! Call out to every junction!"

"It's Barton and his agents," Athena turned to Thor. And now they knew they were in trouble, "Hulk was a distraction to break Loki out."

Barton would know the base, he'd have told the others about it, they were heading for Loki and they wouldn't stop till they found him. Unleashing the Hulk had only been a part of the mission and a large one. If they were willing to upset Banner in order to get the Hulk, knowing the destruction and damage and death he could cause in this form…they could only guess what the intruders had been ordered to do, what they'd be willing to do. From what Fury had described when talking about Barton's compromising, it appeared that the scepter made those it touched completely and utterly loyal to its holder. There would be nothing that those men and Barton wouldn't do to get to Loki.

Athena closed her eyes, and she had sent Natasha to confront him, knowing that Natasha herself was compromised when it came to Barton. What she'd said to Loki, it was how Natasha operated, she gave an open and honest truth, she made herself vulnerable to make others think she was revealing some sort of startling information and some sort of control over her, but she owned it. She didn't let what she revealed get to her, she never let others get so far as to use what she gave them against her. But she had revealed her concerns for Barton to Loki, all her comments from the moment she'd met the woman had at some point referenced back to Barton, he was a constant thought on her mind and she knew that no matter what, no matter what training Natasha had she would never be able to bring herself to kill Barton, much like she herself would not be able to kill Thor no matter what training she had. Barton though…under Loki's control, he would fight Natasha to the bitter end and he would do anything to get her out of the way.

The two gods looked at each other and nodded, Athena sheathing her sword and taking a running jump at the Hulk, locking her arms around his neck, trying to strangle him, just enough to lose consciousness, holding on and gripping tighter as the Hulk turned and twisted to try and get her off of him. She winced as the Hulk stumbled through a wall, her back first, and sent them crashing onto the ground of the lab, the brute falling back and slamming her to the ground and rolling over to grab her neck, pinning her down.

"We've got the Hulk, Athena, and Thor on Research Level Four!" a call came out, "Levels Two and Three are gone."

Thor rushed forward, summoning Mjolnir and using it to send himself flying at the Hulk, knocking him off of Athena as the woman gasped and sat up with a cough. He rolled over instantly and covered her body when the sound of gunfire rang out and bullets rained over them, aiming for the Hulk from outside. They looked over when it stopped, hearing a roar, to see the Hulk leap out of the base and onto a small helicopter that was hovering outside and had been firing on them. They watched as the Hulk grabbed the nose off the craft, sending it swerving and made it explode, the pilot just barely getting out, but sending the Hulk hurtling towards the earth.

"Engine One is now in shutdown!" a warning rang out and Thor grabbed Mjolnir tightly, slamming it into the floor and grabbing Athena as the craft tilted dangerously, nearly sending them falling out through the opening.

Thankfully the lean only lasted a moment and the two were up and racing out of the room, not knowing how much time they had before the lean happened again, not knowing how much time they had before Loki's cell was breached. They headed for the glass cage room, knowing that they had to get there, they had to be there to stop Loki's men coming for him, they had to be there to stop Loki escaping if he was already out.

They paused only a moment, Thor in the lead, as they reached the room to see the door to the glass cage opening as Loki stepped out. Thor immediately ran for it but Athena gasped, seeing another Loki standing at the controls and she knew which one was real, the projections he made were incorporeal, unable to operate the controls.

"Thor no!" she shouted, but it was too late.

Thor lunged at Loki before the cage as he crouched down into a defensive stance, and Thor flew right through him, into the glass cage, as the doors slid shut, Loki disappearing in a flicker.

"Stay back!" Loki, the one by the controls, ordered, holding his scepter at Athena as she tried to rush forward and help, the end glowing and crackling with energy that she knew would act like a blast and send her flying back if he used it, it was like the blasts that had been described that had helped topple the first SHIELD base when Loki appeared on Earth. Loki tilted his head at her, grinning widely and turned to Thor as the man stood, "I wonder, brother, are you ever not going to fall for that?" he laughed.

Thor glared and rushed at the glass cage, slamming Mjolnir against it but only succeeding in cracking it, making it shake and shudder but remain largely whole.

"The humans think us immortal," Loki mused, "Shall we test that?" he turned to the controls, opening the base of the cage as had been done to him, but before he could release the cell and have it drop, Athena rushed forward, swinging her sword at him.

Loki moved swiftly, blocking her blow, moving to stab her but she swung her sword around, pushing it to the side and grabbing his wrist holding the scepter with her free hand, bringing the sword above her in a wide arch to point at Loki and try to stab him from above. But Loki grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward, slamming his head against her and sending her stumbling back as he went with her, grabbing her arm guard and sliding it up only an inch so he could slam her wrist against the railing behind her, forcing her to drop her sword. He knew she wouldn't be expecting that move, he wasn't usually one to use his precious head and brain and skull to unarm an opponent. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

He grinned at her, "Jealous brother?" he called to Thor for how he was pressed against Athena, but he had little time to enjoy the angered expression on Thor's face when Athena shoved off the railing and tried to shove him back against the control panel, trying to unbalance him, but he slipped his foot behind her and turned, sending her to the ground and thrusting the scepter at her, catching her in the chest as the orb within it began to glow a brilliant blue like the Tesseract.

"Athena!" Thor slammed a fist against the glass case, fearing Loki would try to take control of her as well.

But Athena only sank to her knees, screaming in pain, her body contorting in agony.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Loki mused as he watched the power flow into her, "It's not powerful enough to take us over. It can't alter our minds…but it can try. Ooh," he smiled dangerously, as though he were enjoying her pain, "And when it does…excoriating agony…isn't it Athena?"

Athena could only scream at the pain and agonizing torment ripping through her, starting with her mind as it fought against the control Loki was trying to exert on her. It made sense, a small voice in her head sounded, Loki had only been able to take over humans so far, maybe it wouldn't work on people like the three of them, not of this world. But he was telling the truth, it was excruciating!

"Let her go Loki!" Thor slammed Mjolnir on the glass, "Stop this madness!"

"No, actually I don't think I shall," he turned his head to smirk at Thor, glaring at him at the same time, "Shall we see what happens if it never stops? Shall we see just how much your precious Athena can endure? Shall we?!"

Thor could only keep his gaze locked on Athena, he could see it, the strain it was putting on her body, the tears in her eyes, the way she was shaking, he knew from experience what it was like when she pushed herself to her breaking point in battle, when she was in dangerous chance of her body shutting down and it was this…but if Loki didn't allow it…what then?

"Stop this Loki, you're going to kill her!" he cried.

"Am I?" Loki seemed unperturbed by that, "Well then, that's one less concern of mine, isn't it?" he asked, turning back to Athena, his grip on the scepter tightening as the glow grew brighter.

And Thor realized...

Loki was truly going to kill her.

A/N: Sorry this was late :( Bit of a medical emergency with my mother last night. She fell on our stairs and hurt her leg. I had to take her to the hospital to get it checked because she couldn't stand on it. She's ok, she severely bruised her leg, but I had to help her get around this morning to just get it checked out again at her work as there seemed to be internal bleeding that wasn't there last night :( She's doing ok though, she can walk a little more :)

As for this chapter...ooh, the battle is coming! I really wanted to sort of have a little tag-team going with the Hulk lol :)

Some notes on reviews...

Since we don't know what Loki's time with the Chitauri was like, it's entirely possible that, at one point, they might have tortured him. Athena and Coulson don't know for sure, they can guess/believe/speculate, but they can't prove anything so it's really looking at one possible past Loki could have had. I do feel, however, that some of the canon moments from the movie, could be seen as subtle references that Loki might have endured torture (just like there were moments that showed us that Natasha was terrified of the Hulk without her outright saying it, not all things are spelt out for us or crystal clear but we can interpret). For me it was that his memories of the events of Thor were warped, there's mental conflict about them, which can be a sign of torture (can be, it's a possibility). The after-credit scenes of Thor with Erik Selvig and the reflection of Loki in the mirror has a large wound/burn on his head that he did not have at the end of Thor, which could be seen as the start of torture if he was with the Chitauri by then (could be, it's a possibility). Appearing in from the Tesseract he didn't seem to be well but pale and potentially sleep deprived (which is a type of torture). My mother is a nurse and seeing that first scene she remarked that he looked like he was suffering heat exhaustion too, one way to harm a Frost Giant, I think, would be with heat :( There is the pain on Loki's face crouching down on the jeep, the fear and bowed head when the Chitauri were speaking in his vision seeming submissive of them by the end, shaking and a pained expression when he was shoved out of the vision like it was an instinctive reaction to move away from the pain he knew was coming (I have seen the exact same reaction and expression from one of my friends who was in an abusive situation). It is all an interpretation of how Loki was portrayed to viewers and we all have different outlooks on it, no one person is 100% right and this is just my interpretation of a possible event, that's all fanfiction is, looking at the possibilities :) I can assure you though, that I am not going to use the 'torture' of Loki as an excuse, he will not be shown leniency for his actions, he's very much in control of himself and his mind by this point. I do attempt to keep bias out of my stories though, for example, I dislike Rose Tyler from Doctor Who yet I have written stories where she's a very respected/wounded soul to a jealous/clingy cow to like a sister/wonderful to a hopeful/disillusioned companion. So, if I failed here as you believe me to be a 'Loki fangirl,' then I apologize, but I like to think I've proven in the past that I do a fairly good job of keeping bias out of my writing and I can only say to have patience and see where I am going with the mention and idea of the torture before believing I'll be using it as an excuse, that's a little jumping the gun ;) As I've mentioned in past notes, I stretch things out along a story and don't throw everything into the first chapter, twists galore tend to happen in most of my stories, in which case patience is a virtue. We'll actually hear the 'torture' being brought up and shot down as an 'excuse' in a future chapter ;)

We won't physically meet anyone from Athena's family (they won't physically be there) till the 3rd story. I can't say that we'll meet her whole family, but at least two people will physically be there ;)

I probably wouldn't do a Poseidon/OC, just because he's married and has children and I can't quite see making an OC that would be able to get him to give up all of that and all his ways to be a one-woman person...because that one woman should be his wife :)