Strange Allies
If the situation had not been so serious, the events taking place within the Bifrost would have been quite humorous to witness. While the Hulk had been dealing blows with Thanos and been dealt some severe ones himself, he had not been defeated merely winded. He was still quite conscious even as he and Athena were sent from the sanctuary ship towards wherever Heimdall had determined them to go. For as much as the trip was meant to save the both of them and spare them from Thanos, his children, and their attack, it was not a peaceful journey at all.
"Stop fighting, Tina!" the Hulk was shouting, trying to keep a grip on Athena as the woman struggled, seeming about to try and send herself back the way they had come, though making such a fuss that he was sure if he let her go she'd end up hurled out of the Bifrost completely.
The woman continued to struggle, not wanting to have left Thor on that ship, there was still so much she could have done to help. She had spent that time while struggling to get the beam off of her observing Thanos and his children. She had watched them, she had managed to glimpse at them when they were fighting the other Asgardians. She was sure now that she would be able to face them much better than she had before. She couldn't leave Thor, she couldn't, not there with such an enemy, not with the engines down and the life support failing. She had tried with all her might to get to him in time, but Heimdall had opened Bifrost before she could reach him. She had been sucked into the portal along with the Hulk, and while she knew he had done it to save them, she truly wished he had not. He should have left her there with Thor, he should have left her there to fight. Instead she was now flying across the universe with the Hulk, who refused to let her go to try and return to Thor's side and help.
She only stopped struggling, for just a moment, when she saw something at the end of the Bifrost, back the way they had come. It looked as though the one end of the Bifrost had already closed behind them...and was rushing to catch up to them. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it, "No..." she breathed.
If the Bifrost was coming now to catch up to her and the Hulk, then it meant that Heimdall had either died or closed the Bifrost. It would mean there was no way to get back to Thor in time or at all. And if Heimdall was dead, and that was why the Bifrost was closing behind them, it could mean only one of two things. One was that Thanos's children or the man himself had struck out at Heimdall and finished him...or that the life-support was fully down, and both Heimdall and Thor were now dead.
"Brace yourself!" Athena shouted at the Hulk when she saw the end of the Bifrost closing in on them.
The Hulk grabbed her tightly, curling around her almost protectively, as the end of the Bifrost reached them and seemed to slingshot them even faster towards their destination. They entered the atmosphere of some planet, but they were approaching too quickly to actually see which it was. They tensed, feeling a heat surrounding them and the loud rushing noise of the winds of the Bifrost. And the next thing they knew, they had crashed into something, forming a creator of some sort.
Athena grunted as she rolled onto her side. As much as the Hulk had tried to shield her, it had still been quite a landing. She could feel the wind knocked out of her as she moved to try and get herself back on her feet, only managing to make it onto her knees and use her sword to prop herself up once more. She could have used her sword while in the Bifrost to get the Hulk to let her go, but he was still a friend and she did not want to hurt him. And now it had proven it wouldn't have worked either way, the Bifrost had likely closed right after they'd been pulled in. She sucked in a hard breath as she turned the wrong way and seemed to twist at her ribs, forcing her eyes open so she could see exactly where they had landed.
For a moment all she could really see was darkness and the Hulk beside her, but as she tried to look up she could make out more of where they were. It seemed as though they had fallen through a staircase of some kind, there were boards of wood lying shattered around them. From what she could make out of the ceiling it reminded her of that Doctor Strange fellow and the lair he had invited she and Thor into only a short while ago. If it was that lair, then that would mean they had landed on Earth, which she supposed made sense, given the fact that two other Infinity Stones could be found on the planet. For as wounded as Heimdall had been, he was still conscious and able to hear everything Thanos was saying, he must have worked out what needed to be done. He had sent her and the Hulk to Earth in an effort to protect them as well as the other two Infinity Stones.
As though proving her thoughts, two figures stepped closer to the hole she and the Hulk had made, revealing themselves to be none other than Doctor Strange and another, slightly shorter, a little broader, Asian man. For all his practice of the Mystic Arts, as the man had called it before, Doctor Strange seemed thoroughly surprised to see them, whether it was from their entrance or their presence at all she couldn't guess.
The two men exchanged a look before they focused back down at her and the Hulk, "Alright down there?" Doctor Strange's assistant called down, not sounding at all sure of what he should say in an event like this.
Athena took stock of herself as she forced herself back onto her feet, noting how injured she may or may not have been. Her knee was already feeling better from where it had been injured on the sanctuary ship, her ribs were a little tender, and she felt winded, but quickly enough she could feel all of that fading as other emotions began to fill her. So she didn't answer, instead turning to look over at the Hulk. She may be a goddess and made of much stronger stuff than mortals, and the Hulk may have seemed like an invincible force while they had been battling him as the Grandmaster's champion, but he was still human to a degree. And he was proving it now as the green began fading from the Hulk, his body trembling and twisting slightly as he morphed back into Dr. Banner.
"I don't know," Athena murmured, still watching the Hulk to make sure Dr. Banner would be alright.
"Thanos is coming," Dr. Banner began to murmur as he returned to himself, his skin its normal pinkish color once more, "He's coming...we've got to..."
The two men above them exchanged looks at his words, not sure what to make of it. This was not at all how their day was supposed to go. Doctor Strange himself had been about to step out to get them something to eat from a local deli. They had been having a small joking argument about payment and food, both of them ready to partake of sandwiches when, out of nowhere, Athena and the Hulk had fallen through their ceiling and landed in their staircase. Instantly they had known something must be coming, some danger, for a magic that could breach the Sanctum and deposit two individuals within it without invitation was fearsome indeed. And from what Doctor Strange recalled of the last time he met Athena, she and Thor had been adamant about returning to Asgard, not coming to Earth. From what it appeared, Athena had not willingly come back, it seemed quite like she had been forced there or cast out of somewhere. And from what he knew of the goddess of wisdom and battle, for someone to be able to do that to her, must be something quite big.
"Who?" Doctor Strange asked.
Athena tightened the grip on her sword at the mere mention of Thanos, "The creature I'm going to take great pleasure in tearing to pieces," she told them.
She didn't bother to look up at the men's reaction, instead turning to grab Dr. Banner by the arm and hauling him up. Banner barely had any time to catch his breath from the change in position before Athena had leapt up, taking him with her as she jumped out of the crater they had created.
"What happened?" Doctor Strange asked as Athena stepped away and began to pace within the Sanctum. The woman was clearly agitated and clearly very angry. He had not heard such venom in her voice when she spoke of Loki, who he knew had caused a great deal of stress and danger to the people Athena held dear.
"Odin and Frigga are dead," Athena told the man, not ceasing in her pacing, "And with his death the gates of hell opened and unleashed the goddess of death herself on Asgard. Thor and I were cast out of the Bifrost when we tried to stop her, landing on a planet at the end of the universe where we found the Hulk and another one of Thor's people. We escaped and returned to Asgard, but it had already been laid waste to by Hela. Thor was forced to destroy his home in order to save his people and the universe from her wrath. But our ship was attacked by Thanos," she finally stilled in her pacing and turned to face the two men, "He has possession of the Infinity Gauntlet and two of the Infinity Stones," her gaze narrowed when she saw their reaction, how they stiffened, how they looked at each other. It was clear to her that they were aware of exactly what the Infinity Stones were and exactly why it was such a dangerous thing for Thanos to have even one of them let alone two, "Either he or his Children are coming to Earth for the others."
"He will never get the Time Stone," Doctor Strange swore, and Athena's gaze flickered down to where he was gripping the end of a necklace he wore. With just that movement alone she realized HE was in possession of the Time Stone right at that moment. And while he may think it safe, there was another stone still on Earth that was in far more danger.
"There is another stone on Earth," she told them, "The Mind Stone, guarded by a robotic entity known as Vision," she looked over at Banner for that, "Neither of us have been on Earth long enough or recently enough to know where it is."
"But I might know someone who does," Banner said quickly, "Tony Stark. If we can find him, we can find Vision and the Mind Stone."
Doctor Strange nodded at that, "I can open up a portal right to him and..."
"Um," Banner cut in, fidgeting slightly, "Could I maybe get some clothes first?"
The other three seemed to realize just then that Banner truly WAS quite naked and doing his best to cover his lower regions. Doctor Strange quickly waved his hands around in an odd motion, creating glowing symbols in the air, and, a moment later, a pile of clothing fell, neatly folded, right before Banner.
"Thanks," Banner murmured, quickly gathering the clothing and moving to hide around the other side of the stairs for privacy while he dressed.
"Are there any other Infinity Stones on Earth?" Doctor Strange asked Athena.
"Which stones does he already possess?" Doctor Strange's assistant added.
"He has the Space and Power Stones," Athena informed them, "The Time and Mind Stones are on Earth. From what Thor and I were able to learn in our journey across the universe, the Soul Stone was lost long ago and the Reality Stone is well hidden. So no, there are no other stones on Earth. If we can keep Thanos from getting either of the Time or Mind Stones it gives us more chance of stopping him."
"Wouldn't it be better to find Vision instead of Tony then?" Banner called as he moved around steps to rejoin them, fully clothed.
"You said he was a robotic entity?" Doctor Strange repeated and the two nodded, "The time it would take to find a non-human or even a spell to locate a second Infinity Stone would take much longer than if this Tony Stark knows where your robot is."
"And if Thanos is coming for the stones," Athena added, "If he finds the Time Stone and us in the process of opening a portal to Vision, he would be able to find a second stone as well. We can't let Thanos find either. We will also need as many warriors as possible, Tony IS still Iron Man yes?" she looked over to Doctor Strange, who nodded.
"Right, right, yeah, sorry," Banner agreed, nodding his head as he realized the logic in that, "So how does this portal thing work?"
Doctor Strange just smiled.
~8~
While Tony Stark had not had the easiest last few years, what with his duties is Iron Man and as part of the Avengers, causing some tension between him and Pepper Potts, he could admit things had gotten somewhat better recently. They had, of course, gotten worse first, like when he discovered that the Winter Soldier had been the one to kill his parents all those years ago. Like going head to toe with not only the Winter Soldier but Captain America as well had not been easy. While part of him knew Steve would undoubtedly protect his friend, he had thought himself a friend that at least rated enough to be told the truth of what the Soldier had done as it directly affected HIM. The Avengers breaking up as a result of their falling out had been difficult to bear, but there was no helping it after lines had been drawn between all of them. Facing off the way they had, it really caused him to understand who had his back and who didn't.
The only good thing that seemed to have come out of it was the healing of his relationship with Pepper. He had proposed to her and she got accepted. She wore his Harry Winston on her finger and he was absolutely sure there would be a child in their future as well. It was what he was currently trying to convince her of. He'd had a dream just last night that seemed so real he'd woken up completely convinced that Pepper was pregnant. She kept telling him, though, that she wasn't, that it was just a dream, but it felt so real he just couldn't put it off. He understood her hesitation though, he hadn't exactly been the best person at keeping the promises he made to her. But he was determined to give her this one.
"You know what there should be?" he was saying to her at they walked through the park, "No more surprises. We're gonna have a nice dinner tonight. Show off this Harry Winston. Right? And we should have no more surprises. Ever. I should promise you."
"Yes," Pepper smiled.
"I will," Tony opened his mouth to do just that, to make the promise, when a bright light began to shine just a few feet away from them, expanding into a circle of some sort, before a portal was created in the middle of it.
A man with graying hair and a light beard stepped through wearing a red cape, "Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."
Tony took a step in front of Pepper, automatically on the defensive that this man knew who he was and knew about their plans, "I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?"
"We need your help. Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."
Tony frowned at that, suspicious, "And who's 'we?'"
Doctor Strange stepped to the side, allowing Banner and Athena to step through the portal after him, "Hey, Tony..." Banner greeted.
"Bruce?!" Tony actually gaped at the man, completely startled to see him.
"Stark," Athena gave him a brief nod, but said little else.
"Pepper," Bruce waved lightly at Pepper.
"Hi," the woman greeted.
Tony seemed like he was about to say something else, but then he caught sight of the state the two of them were in, how timid and shocked Banner looked, and how beaten down Athena appeared. They both looked like they had come from some sort of warzone, "You ok?" he looked between the two of them.
"No," was all Athena said, turning on her heel and stepping back through the portal.
"What's up with her?" Tony turned to Bruce, but the man could only shake his head.
"You really need to come with us, Tony, now," Bruce responded, looking apologetically at Pepper.
Tony looked at the woman, apology written all across his face, but she merely nodded her assent to him, "Go," she told him, "If we're going to have that child you dreamed about, you better make sure there's a universe for it to exist in."
Tony gave her a wink, before turning to follow Banner into the portal, Doctor Strange close behind.
~8~
"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing," Doctor Strange's assistant, Wong, spoke as he used his magic to create an illusion across the ceiling of the lair, explaining the situation to Tony, "Then, boom!" the projection suddenly exploded, sending out six very specific colors of light, "The Big Bang sends six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."
"Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time," Doctor Strange added, waving a hand over the bottom of a necklace hanging before his chest, opening it to reveal a green glowing stone that matched one of the stones in the projection just before them.
"The Time Stone," Athena stated, keeping her gaze locked up at the image of the six stones, her focus resting on the purple and blue ones, unable to think of anything besides the two of them now resting on Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet.
"Tell me his name again," Tony spoke.
"Thanos."
"He's a plague, Tony," Banner continued the explanation, "He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That's him."
"This is it," Tony murmured to himself, before clearing his throat, "What's our timeline?"
"No telling."
"He has the Power and Space Stones," Athena remarked, pointing her sword at the blue and purple stones, "Which means, as of this moment, he is now the strongest being in the universe. We cannot allow him to obtain all six."
Doctor Strange nodded, "He can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of."
Tony blinked and turned to look at the man, "Did you seriously just say 'hither to undreamt of?'"
Doctor Strange just scoffed, looking at where Tony was holding one hand on a Black Cauldron on a pedestal as he stretched out his leg, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"
Tony glanced at the Cauldron, "Is that what this is?" he moved to peek into it...when Doctor Strange's cloak acted on its own and slapped him on the arm. He pulled back and turned to look at Doctor Strange, his gaze flickering down to the cape as it moved on its own again, "I'm going to allow that. If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"
"No can do."
"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," Wong added.
"And I swore off dairy," Tony rolled his eyes, "But then, Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..."
"'Stark Raving Hazelnuts,'" Doctor Strange commented.
"It's not bad."
"A bit chalky."
"'A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge' is our favorite," Wong remarked.
Banner looked at him with a scrunched face, "That's a thing?"
"If you are all quite done discussing ice cream," Athena cut in, her voice hard with an almost dangerous edge to her voice, "The fate of this universe is literally hanging in the balance. If I cannot rely on you to help me stop Thanos, I will hunt him down myself."
"No one's doing anything solo," Tony shook his head.
"You are not my king," Athena warned him, though it came out as more of a threat, "I do not listen to your orders."
"Good thing I'm not ordering you then," Tony countered, "I'm speaking to you as a friend. The point I was trying to make is that things change. To protect people, things have to change or they get out of hand. We have to do what is necessary to keep this planet safe. And if that means destroying your stone..."
"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," Doctor Strange cut in, "This stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."
"And still, conversely, it may also be his best chance against us!"
"Only if we don't do our jobs."
"What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?"
"Protecting your reality, douche bag."
"Enough!" Athena stabbed her sword into the table next to her.
All of this arguing, all of this banter, it was not helping her focus. She needed to focus, she needed to keep the mission in mind: stop Thanos, keep him from putting the Infinity Gauntlet together. Thor had died for his people, to keep them safe from this monster. His people were still out there in the life rafts, Thanos was still a threat to them. Whether she was Asgardian or not, she considered them her people, she needed to keep them and the others on this universe is safe. She didn't have time to mourn, Thanos could be there in a matter of minutes with the Space Stone in his possession, she had to concentrate on how to stop him, for Thor.
But it was so hard. It felt like everything inside of her was breaking into pieces, starting with her heart. She felt helpless and angry and hurt and lost and all she wanted to do was just breakdown and cry for what she had lost. This was why she had never allowed herself to feel love for another being in such a way, it could so easily be used against her, to weaken her. She had been lucky that no mortal had ever caught her eye, that the other gods in her life were family. She had so carefully guarded her heart...and then Thor fought his way in there. She hadn't realized it happened till it was too late. He was there in her heart and soul, but now he had been ripped from her by Thanos. She felt like she had lost her sword arm, her shield, her spirit, with Thor's passing.
But the words of Tony Stark actually came back to her in that moment.
She may not have been able to save Thor, but she would sure as hell avenge him!
"Ok guys," Banner cut in, seeing how this arguing was getting to Athena, "Can we quick cable this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him, now."
"Yeah, that's the thing..." Tony began.
"What do you mean?"
"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline."
"What? Tony, you lost another super bot?"
"I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving."
Doctor Strange shook his head, "Who could find Vision, then?"
Tony shrugged, "Probably Steve Rogers."
"Oh, great."
"Maybe. But..."
"But what?" Athena turned to him, her grip on her sword still buried in the table tightening as she heard a note of reluctance in his voice.
"Call him," Banner insisted.
Stark sighed, "It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"
"No."
"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."
"Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?"
"Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms."
"This is not a time for petty squabbling!" Athena stated harshly, "Whatever your issue with Steve Rogers is..."
"His best friend murdered my parents!" Tony cut in with a glare, "That's my issue."
Banner frowned, "The Winter Soldier?" he asked, recalling Steve speaking to him before Ultron attacked about the fate of his friend, asking if he might know of any technology or science that could help undo brainwashing, "From when they brainwashed him into an assassin? HE killed your parents?"
"Yes," Tony ground out, not wanting to have to keep hearing that phrase over and over about how his parents were murdered.
"Tony..." Banner began, shaking his head, "You know I'm your friend, and I know how much it hurt losing them, but the guy was brainwashed, he had no control over what he was doing..."
"You sound just like Rogers."
"No, I sound like someone who has some experience with not being able to control themselves," Banner countered lightly, "When I'm the Hulk I can't stop him, he does things and I have no memory of him doing it sometimes. If they found some way to get inside this guy's head and empty it of everything else, I really don't think he could have stopped it."
"That's not the same thing," Tony began to argue.
But he was cut off suddenly by Athena's voice, "The blame ought never be put on those who have lost their wits due to the will of others. THEY are not in control of themselves. Or do you hold Clint Barton accountable? Dr. Selvig?" Athena pointed out to Tony how hypocritical it was that he had accepted Barton back into the fold after Loki took control of his mind yet would not forgive this Winter Soldier. And it wasn't as though she were doing this to be cruel, taking this Soldier's side, she understood the hurt caused by the Soldier was closer to Tony's heart than what Clint or Selvig had done. But she had experience with this, she had CAUSED it at times, her entire family had used humans as their puppets on more than one occasion.
It was never the human's fault.
She could recall a number of times where she or her family did something to the humans that left them little more than mindless slaves. Dionysus and Hera were two examples that stuck out in her mind. The followers of Dionysus could sometimes end up in such a revelry that they would tear people apart limb from limb and have no memory of it. Hera herself had interfered with Hercules, turning him mad for a brief time, to the point where he murdered his children. And, closer to the Dark Days, she knew Aphrodite would sometimes seduce men and women into such a frenzy that they would murder anyone that they felt love for, to prove their devotion to her. Ares would instill bloodlust in his warriors so they fought to the death, fought without limbs or with terribly wounds. Even she had broken down the minds of others and left them nothing but shells. She had ample experience dealing with those who could not help themselves because of outside forces.
"Whether this Winter Soldier killed your family or not," Athena continued, almost callous in her words, "If Thanos makes it to Earth and finds those stones, it will not just be your family that suffers. He killed the man I love, and I refuse to allow him to take another person's heart from them. And that is what he will do. He will murder every family he can until half the population throughout the universe is dead. Do you want that resting on your head?" she began to make her way over to Tony, staring him down as she spoke, "Do you want Thanos to succeed? Just because you could not put aside your hurt long enough to keep the Infinity Stones out of his hands?" she tilted her head as she eyed him, "Or would you rather have to look a child in the eye and explain to them that the reason their family is gone is because you were 'too angry' to make a phone call?"
"Athena..." Banner began, eyeing the woman with a deep concern, he had heard her be brutally honest in the past, logic to an almost matter-of-fact degree. But this was bordering on cruel.
"Thor is dead, Thanos IS coming...make the call," Athena ordered, her voice so low that only Tony could hear it.
Not in a million years would Tony admit to just how absolutely terrified he actually felt in that moment, so much so that he even began to lift his cell phone, a small flip phone, to make that exact call, his thumb just over the call button, Steve's name on the screen...when he heard a noise outside.
He looked over at the others standing in the room, noticing how Doctor Strange's and even Athena's hair was shifting in a non-existent breeze, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"
"Not at the moment, no," Doctor Strange responded.
Tony gripped the cell phone tight as he looked up at the hole in the ceiling, spotting pieces of metal flying past. He quickly made his way to the door and opened it, stepping outside and into open chaos as people fled from something down the street.
"Thanos," Athena nearly growled she pulled her sword out of the table and strode down after Tony.
It appeared yet another battle for New York had begun.
A/N: Athena, I think, is feeling very numb and in shock right now, but it is slowly making its way into anger, as can be seen by her discussion with Tony. She's firmly trying to hold onto her soldier mentality, to try and compartmentalize what happened and see the mission done, but she's breaking. She's very much on the verge of breaking... :'(
And yes, she is a bit hypocritical to tell Tony to basically 'suck it up' and call Steve while she is also not really 'sucking it up' herself in her loss of Thor, sometimes when you're hurting it's hard to see past your own pain and be a comfort to others. That's happening here with Athena, her way of coping is to fixate on stopping Thanos, not just in revenge for Thor but in a larger scale not wanting others to endure that pain she is at Thanos's hand. Still very much to do with losing Thor, but she's really trying to focus on getting to Thanos. If she takes him out it's a win-win, Thor is avenged and others are safe. To her, the 'squabble' Tony has with Steve is nothing compared to how much others will suffer and lose if Thanos wins :(
Some notes on reviews...
I was heartbroken to separate Athena from Thor both because, logically she'd think he died, and also because imagining Drax and Quill encountering Athena would be amazing :) But you never know, she may end up with Iron Man on the ship, we'll have to wait and see ;)
I'll be focusing mostly on Athena, but there will be some Thor moments that pop up where he thinks on or speaks of Athena :)
Cora will actually be the next story I'll be catching up :) After this story I'll be posting my Steve/Olivia version of The Avengers, and after that we'll get Cora's Beyond ;) So, if all goes well, Cora should be the end of July or (latest) beginning of August ;)
Very interesting ideas, you're not the first to suggest a Will/Elizabeth style wedding for Thor and Athena, all I can say is that the wedding and the vows will be an important part of the series, whether it happens mid-battle or a just after the battle or in the next story I can't say ;)
That was one reason I had to split them, to really showcase how they hold their own alone. They HAVE been together from almost the start, and now they're separated without really knowing if the other is ok :( We'll see how they handle their 'grief' and what that leads to, how they view and rationalize situations without the input of the other. I can say there is one moment where the time they were together shines through because they've picked up tricks from each other and great minds think alike ;)