A/N: I'm sorry this is so late. I went to a post-4th barbeque yesterday and I think I ate something that really did not agree with me :( I may not get to post Sadie for DW today, but I'm hoping I'll get it up tomorrow with the next chapter of Thor :(

~8~

Digging Up the Past

Athena stood with her back resting against a wall of the quinjet, her shield on her back, as she worked on wrapping her left arm where it had been scratched with more bandages. It was both to tend to the wound but also to ensure that none of the other Avengers noticed the graying of her skin. Even with how little they knew of Olympians and of her, she was sure even they would know that it was not a good thing. She couldn't risk them holding her back from this mission. The Children of Thanos killed her people, killed the man she loved, she was going to slaughter every last one of them.

And if that meant she'd have to go through the Avengers to do it, so be it.

But she still had enough sense to know that she didn't want it to come down to that.

"I thought we had a deal," Natasha was saying as she lifted the open ramp of the quinjet as Sam began to start it up, "Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances."

Wanda flinched at Natasha's words, knowing they were directed at her and Vision, "I'm sorry. We just wanted time."

Athena closed her eyes at that, trying to keep her thoughts from drifting to Thor, feeling exactly that pain. But she also knew that no matter how much time you had with someone you loved, it would never be enough when they were taken from you. That was one of the few things keeping her on track, that notion that his people were still out there, that and the thought that stopping Thanos would keep others from feeling that same pain she was feeling now. Her desire to avenge Thor was a very large part of her going after Thanos, but there was more to it thanthat. She had to keep telling herself there HAD to be more to it than JUST that or she was sure she'd break down entirely from the truth she was trying to avoid.

"Where to, Cap?" Sam called back as he began to lift off the ground.

"Home," Steve said.

"No," Athena cut in, looking over at the man, "Not yet. There is still one more Child of Thanos left on this Earth. We need to stop him, before he can return to Thanos."

She doubted Cull Obsidian would be able to leave Earth quickly, Wong had managed to cut off the arm that held the teleportation band, but she would not risk him finding someway to arrange for another ship to get him before SHE could get to him.

"You know where he is?" Steve asked.

Athena gave a firm nod which he returned.

~8~

Steve flinched, Sam beside him letting out a hiss of empathetic pain, while Natasha merely watched with an analyzing expression on her face, All of them merely standing there in the middle of the snow as they looked upon the battle taking place a few feet away. Vision and Wanda were still on the quinjet, recovering from their last fight. And it was a good thing too, Steve was quite certain they didn't need to see this.

Athena had given them the location of the last Child of Thanos, but with the understanding and stipulation that, when they landed, SHE would be the one facing it down. She cited that she was the one most wronged by the Children of Thanos for the destruction and retribution was owed to HER. They were only to step in if she was in danger or could not handle the child any longer. Watching her attacking the brute, Steve was quite sure neither was going to happen. Despite how injured Athena was, how much she was clearly being weighed down by a deep grief in her loss of Thor, which Banner had told them about when he called them earlier, despite how exhausted she must be, she fought with all her strength against the very large threat that was Cull Obsidian.

Steve couldn't help but frown though as he watched the battle take place. There was something off about Athena's style. Granted he hadn't witnessed Athena battling other people very often, he knew she and Natasha would spar at times, he had caught glimpses of her on the battlefield in New York with the Chitauri, and also against Ultron's minions. But what he did know of her and her style, it didn't match up with what he was witnessing now. She wasn't just fighting with Cull Obsidian, she wasn't just taking out one of their enemies...

She was soundly beating the creature along the way.

There was a cruelness, a coldness, a rage, in her movements that he could see even from there. She wasn't just fighting, she was aiming to inflict as much pain as she could before she actually took out her enemy. She was landing blows that were sending the creature flying into snow mounds, but leaping right after him to continue her assault without giving him a chance to get to his feet. She was slashing her sword at his legs and his arm, any piece of his body she could find, but not in a sense that it was meant to stop him but more to cause him immense pain. She was exhibiting so many moves and different tactics that he had never seen on a field of battle in his life. Not even from the Black Widow or the Winter Soldier.

She was out to kill, yes, but it was clear she also wanted to make the man suffer first.

He had tried to call out to her, only moments ago, telling her to just finish him already. It wouldn't do anything for them if she were to get hurt or wear herself out during this battle. They would need everyone at their full strength if this Thanos creature was truly coming to Earth. But it was almost as though Athena couldn't hear him, like she didn't even notice they were still standing there in the frigid snow, watching as she landed blow after blow, kick after kick, driving this creature to his knees. In a vague sense he could understand the mentality she must be in, in battle you couldn't afford distractions, you had to focus on the enemy and the attack that was coming. But this was not something he was familiar with, how truly focused she was on this battle.

He glanced over at Natasha, the woman's face a mask of stone, but he could tell just in the smallest way she shifted her body weight that she was not comfortable with watching Athena in this attack. Even she could tell something was truly off about the goddess.

He looked back at the battle when he heard a roar of pain, to see Athena had managed to drive the creature to his knees again until he fell onto his chest in the snow, struggling to find the strength to push himself back onto his feet. It would be impossible, he could tell just from the various wounds Athena had been able to inflict on Cull Obsidian without the creature being able to land a single blow on her. There were cuts and slashes and stab marks riddled throughout his body, he was missing half his leg, all the fingers on his sword hand, and was missing a piece of his shoulder. Athena took a step to back away from the creature as though daring him to get back onto his feet, as though taunting him that the battle wasn't finished.

But as soon as the creature managed to lift himself just onto one of his elbows, Athena strode forward, lifting her sword above her head with both hands and bringing it down with all her might, cutting his head right off.

Steve swallowed hard at the gruesome sight, "Athena!" he called over to her, trying to be louder than the wind whipping around them.

Athena just stood there looking down at the head that she had just removed, contemplating finding some way to teleport it straight to Thanos. It would be fitting, it would only be right that the man be returned something so precious as his child's head on a pike. But now that the battle was over, she could feel her senses starting to return to her, she could feel the cold whipping around her, a minor annoyance, she could hear the wind howling, could hear the engines of the quinjet behind her. She could also feel the gazes of three people on her back.

She lifted her sword just a moment, looking down at her reflection in the top part of the metal, closest to the hilt, seeing something red flash in it that was not blood. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steel herself, trying to focus and center herself once more. Her eyes opened a moment later and she looked down at her sword once more, seeing only herself looking back in her reflection.

She nodded and turned, striding back towards the three Avengers and the quinjet.

"That was some fight," Natasha remarked, eyeing the woman.

"Thanos killed Thor," she reminded them, "He and his Children teleported to our ship and proceeded to slaughter everyone who was standing. This is no more than what he deserves."

"Not really your right to decide that, was it?" Sam began to question, but Athena shot him a narrow-eyed glare, and he actually took a step back from the sheer coldness in her eyes, "Or it is," he backtracked, "You're the goddess of law and justice too, though, right? So, yeah, I guess this is something you do."

Athena just stepped past him and moved back into the quinjet, leaving the three Avengers so share concerned glances with each other, looking ba ck over at the fallen body of Cull Obsidian before they followed her into the jet.

~8~

Athena sat in the back of the quinjet, nearest to where the ramp would descend, her head resting against the cool metal, her left arm was curled up close to her body, between it and the ramp, with her right arm draped across her middle, her right hand resting on her upper arm is it lightly stroked the skin there, lost in thought. She glanced up for only a moment when Steve sat down across from her, resting against part of the ramp himself.

"Anything you want to talk about?" he asked her after a few minutes of silence.

"There's nothing much to say," she replied.

Steve gave a small nod at that, but looked back at her, "I know it's not the same thing, I wasn't as close to..." he trailed off, thinking of an almost-love he'd lost once, "As you were to Thor, but I do know what it's like to lose someone you love. I know what it feels like to want revenge against something for hurting you, but you can't let it get inside your head. That back there, what you did to that creature, why'd you do it?"

"It had to be stopped, the Children of Thanos are his most powerful weapons. Four of them attacked our ship, three of them are dead now, one hopefully will be soon enough. That is four advantages Thanos will no longer have."

"I get that, but why'd you draw it out so long?"

Athena looked away, though there was not much to look at. She could either look at the rest of the Avengers sitting in the quinjet, knowing that Natasha and Sam were on edge with her around now after what she done, and watching Wanda fret over Vision, still having her love with her. Or she could look at the bleak medal of the ramp door...she chose the door.

"...I couldn't stop myself," Athena admitted after quite a while.

Steve frowned at that, hearing more in her words than he knew she intended to reveal. She wasn't saying it in a sense of that something was just too tempting, but almost as though she literally could not keep herself from fighting in any other way than the way she had, "What do you mean?"

Athena looked up, appearing to Steve as though it were a move made to try and keep from crying or revealing emotion, but there was absolutely no tears in her eyes. Eventually she did look back and him, "What do you know about my people?" she asked him, "About the Olympians?"

He shook his head, "I know there's a Pantheon...or a Parthenon...something a-non. I know that you were thought to be gods and goddesses while you were on Earth, like Thor's people, and then you left. I know that you were the Goddess of Wisdom, and there are other gods that handle different things. The underworld, the ocean, love, war. There's something about a war with a giant horse..."

Athena actually snorted at the last one, for his description of the Trojan War and how it lasted 10 years and all he recalled from it was there was a horse. Steve cracked a smile though, pleased he managed to get something out of her that wasn't cold and distant.

"Did you ever wonder why we left?" Athena asked though she could tell from Steve's expression that he had never given it much consideration. She let out a long breath as she debated whether or not she should actually tell him, or how much she should. But with Thor gone, it would be best that at least one person knew the truth, could understand why she acted so.

"No," Steve finally answered, "But I guess maybe new religions moving in?"

"We became corrupt on the power we held over the humans," Athena stated bluntly, absently rubbing her arm, "And, eventually, that corruption became wanting to have more power over each other. We became cruel and heartless and greedy. We were heading towards a war amongst each other that would have devastated the humans...and we wouldn't have cared," she said the last part so simply, but Steve could hear in her voice just how ashamed she was of it, "Luckily for them, something happened and we realized where we were heading, and we were able to pull ourselves away. We locked ourselves in Olympus and swore to never have anything to do with humans ever again, to avoid the temptation they brought to us."

Steve nodded slowly, understanding there was likely far more to the story than what she was saying, but understanding it was a deeply personal and shameful one for her to even begin to share with him, "That couldn't have been easy."

"Understatement of the millennia," Athena spoke, shaking her head at the memory, "Some of us fought it, some of us raged against it, some of us became so disgusted with what we saw in our reflections that we spent the rest of our lives trying to make up for the pain we caused. We call them the Dark Days, a time that proved to us that we were even more flawed than the humans we lorded over. It is our deepest shame, but our greatest reminder of exactly what our weaknesses are, of just how easily the darkness can infect us. Rage and pain and grief and loss..."

"Thor," Steve finally understood, "Losing him, how you feel, it's reminding you of those days."

"Yes. I'm trying my best to resist giving in to the temptation to cause that harm all over again, because of how much hurt I feel," she knew she was failing at that, her last round with a Child of Thanos was proving it, "It's hard. I haven't had time to stop since this began."

Steve swallowed at the crack in her voice, realizing she really hadn't had time to properly mourn or grieve in her own way, it had just been fight after fight, and he knew it wasn't over yet. As much as he wanted to, they would need her too much when Thanos finally arrived to let her rest even now, "I am sorry for your loss," he finally got to tell her.

Athena could only nod, and rest her head back on the ramp in a sign that the conversation was over.

~8~

Steve held up a hand as the Avengers slowly made their way down the hall of what had once been their base. They could hear Rhodes, War Machine, speaking to someone from within the main center of the base. Steve had briefly explain to Athena what the situation was with Tony, what had caused the Avengers to disassemble. It was more than just Iron Man fighting against Captain America over the fate of what was called the Winter Soldier. It was more than just the Winter Soldier being brainwashed into killing Tony Stark's parents. Apparently the fallout from Sokovia and Ultron had been something that the Avengers were being blamed for, all the death and destruction. There was an agreement that the government wanted all of the Avengers to sign and, from what she understood, granted she'd only half been paying attention, Steve had been against it with about half of the Avengers, Tony had been for it along with the other half.

Eventually it had led to a massive showdown between both factions, something that ended with those who opposed the agreement being locked away in cells and treated as criminals. Apparently the only ones who had escaped this prison sentence was Natasha, Sam, and Steve. Everyone else was expected to take a deal or serve out their sentence. Wanda might have escaped as well, though she was expected to report in her whereabouts to Steve to make sure she wasn't in danger.

But the Avengers were not allowed to assemble again was the basics of what she'd gathered.

"Still no word from Vision?" they could hear a man speak as they approached the opening into the room at the end of the hall. Athena could make out a hologram of sorts, an older man with white hair speaking to Rhodes. While she didn't know much about Earth, she did know that, for a man to be dressed the way he was and have access to the Avengers base the way he did, he must be an official of a government.

"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh," Rhodes reported, though he didn't appear to notice the group silently making their way towards him.

"On a stolen quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals."

Athena narrowed her eyes at the man's words, not quite understanding the situation or the context for them. From what she understood, the Avengers had assembled because people higher up who had power wanted a group of heroes to be there to defend the Earth. And yet these people were being targeted now for doing exactly what the governments of the world had wanted them to do in defending the Earth. Did they not understand the concept of battle? Did they not understand that destruction would follow whenever major battles took place? What did they expect to happen if the Earth was invaded by outside forces and they had someone there to fight back?

Even during the time she and her family had been on Earth, battles took place and cities and civilizations suffered for it. Then again, she didn't have all of the facts, there might be more to the situation than either Steve or Tony had told her. History was written by the victors, though it didn't appear that either side had won in this battle.

"You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?" Rhodes asked the man, seeming to be of the same mind as Athena.

"My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own," the government official responded with a scoff.

But Rhodes wasn't finished, "If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."

"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."

"That's right. And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that."

"Do you have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore."

Rhodes looked over as he heard someone approaching, to see Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Athena in the doorway. He took a brief moment to look at them, drawing the attention of the hologram over to the group at as they gathered. Athena was sure they must look something quite alarming judging by the expression on his face. She certainly knew that Steve, Natasha, and Sam did not at all appear how she last remembered them.

Steve had grown his hair longer, growing out something of a beard as well, his uniform nearly black with age and wear. Natasha's trademark red hair was gone, replaced by very short blonde hair, her uniform equally as black. While she had only met Falcon recently, having first being introduced to him at Tony's party just before Ultron attacked later that night, she could tell he looked a little more battle-worn as well. Wanda and Vision both had cuts and scrapes on their face and bodies, Vision's a little more noticeable in his middle section as he leaned heavily in between Wanda and Sam. And she was sure she herself must look a state, she had thrown herself into battle against the Children of Thanos and she hadn't stopped to take care of herself beyond wrapping her arm in a bandage. She had shifted the small cape that she wore in the back of her armor just over her left arm so that the others wouldn't be able to see how her skin was gray up to her shoulder now.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve greeted as the hologram came face-to-face with them.

The man gave him a hard look, his lips pursed in a show of disgust, shaking his head in disappointment, "You got some nerve. I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha countered, stepping up to Steve's side in a show of solidarity.

"The world's on fire," the hologram turned so it was nearer to Rhodes, but still keeping the Avengers in sight, "And you think all is forgiven?"

Steve just shook his head, "I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way...we'll fight you, too."

Athena couldn't even muster a smirk when she heard Sam mutter that they should let HER at the man if he tried to stop them. Any other time she would have smiled and been proud, made a remark in the affirmative or some sort of veiled threat to the hologram. But right now, it just made a pit in her stomach.

The man seemed a cross between glaring and scoffing as he turned to look at Rhodes, "Arrest them."

"All over it," Rhodes muttered, before waving his hand at the hologram and casting it off, disconnecting the call. He took a moment to turn to the Avengers, releasing a deep breath, "That's a court-martial," he told them, before smiling and stepping towards Steve, "It's great to see you, Cap."

Steve gave him a firm nod, reaching out to shake his hand, "You too, Rhodey."

"Hey," Rhodes continued as he turned to give Natasha a quick hug, nodding his head in greeting at Sam and the others, "Well, you guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."

Sam scoffed at that, "Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star."

"I think you look great," a voice spoke behind them and they turned to see Bruce Banner slowly making his way into the room, clearly having been able to make it to the Avengers' Base as Athena had instructed him, "Yeah..." he said slowly, noting their shock, "I'm back."

Natasha swallowed hard, "Hi, Bruce."

Right, Athena nodded to herself, she knew she'd forgotten to tell the others something in all the chaos that was Thanos and his Children...

"Nat."

"This is awkward..." Sam murmured behind them, earning an odd look from Vision for the phrase.

Banner stepped closer, as though he were going to try and hug some of his friends, when he caught sight of Athena, " Jeez, Tina. You ok?"

Athena's jaw clenched, her grip on her sword, which she had yet to let go of or set down since the quinjet landed, tightened, "What have I said about calling me Tina?"

Banner just held up his hands in surrender, earning a small chuckle from a few of the Avengers.

~8~

It was solemn and tense in the Avengers' base after all of the information that they had gathered about Thanos had been revealed, all of his plans and information about the attacks that had happened. Athena was able to tell them about the attack on the sanctuary ship, how the Space Stone was in the Tesseract which Thanos had taken, how he already had the Power Stone. Banner went on to continue by explaining the last attack in New York, how a Child of Thanos had managed to take the Time Stone along with an ally up to its spaceship, Iron Man and Spider Man going with it to try and save him. Wanda and Vision added in their own intel from their time in Scotland, the attack that had happened against them in an attempt to get the Mind Stone.

"He has the Power Stone and the Space Stone," Athena summarized, absently taking an angle in her stance that kept her one side out of view of the others, "He may have the Time Stone now, the Soul Stone has been hidden as far as I am aware, but the fact that Thanos didn't come to Earth himself for the other two stones makes me fear he has gone after the Reality Stone."

"And if his kids failed," Rhodes continued, seeing the next course of action, "We gotta assume he's going to come for the Mind Stone himself."

"If his Children could find us, I don't doubt Thanos can as well," Wanda sighed as she rubbed her forehead, careful of a scratch there.

"We need all hands on deck," Banner began, "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal," Natasha explained, "It's too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant Man," Steve answered.

"There's an Ant Man and a Spider Man?" Banner looked around, but it was Rhodes who nodded.

"Is that really a matter of concern right now?" Athena cut in.

"Right, right," he nodded, "Thanos has the biggest army in the Universe. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets Vision's stone."

"Well then, we have to protect it," Natasha said, as though it were simple as that.

Athena opened her mouth to say it would be better to destroy the stone, only for vision himself to say the same thing, "No, we have to destroy it," everyone looked over at the robot as he continued to speak, "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something...very similar to its own signature," he began to make his way over to Wanda, "Perhaps...its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you with it," Wanda reminded him, "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"It is a wise strategy," Athena mumbled, not pleased to have to say it, but feeling it needed to be said. The last thing she would want is for Wanda to lose the man she loved either, so there had to be some way to get the stone without harming Vision...there HAD to...

But Wanda shot her a fierce glare, "It's also too high a price."

"Only you have the power to pay it," Vision said quietly to Wanda, however the woman turned and strode away. Vision sighed, "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve argued, "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, 70 years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?"

"Because you might have a choice," it was Banner who answered, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just a stone?" Wanda asked, hopeful.

"I'm saying that...if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

Natasha frowned, "Can we do that?"

"Not me. Not here."

"Well you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodes reminded them, "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

Steve nodded to himself, "I know somewhere."

"Even if we extract the stone and somehow manage to destroy it before Thanos can obtain it," Athena began, "He is still in possession of at least two, possibly four other, Infinity Stones. That still makes him the most powerful being in the universe just possessing two. When he comes for the Mind Stone, how do you expect to fight him?"

"Well, where we're going, we may have an army," Steve remarked.

"If he gets possession of the Time Stone, with a snap of his fingers he can freeze your army in time and pick them off one by one," Athena reminded him, "If we have any hope of facing down Thanos when he comes for Vision, we're going to need a weapon."

It was only thing she could think of. No strategy in the world would be enough to face down Thanos if they didn't have a weapon to fight him with in the first place. But there weren't enough resources on Earth that could forge a weapon like that fast enough or get them to Nidavellir, which was the only place in the universe she could think to find a weapon strong enough to fight off the titan. She could try to contact her family, but for Hephaestus to make that powerful a weapon...

She straightened at that, as a thought hit her, which must have been obvious to the others for Natasha spoke, "Do you know where we can get a weapon like that?"

Athena hesitated to answer, swallowing hard. If she did this...if she got them that weapon...it stood a very good chance of making everything that much worse in the end.. But Thanos would be destroyed. She would have saved the Asgardian people and avenged her fallen love. That last one alone was enough to make any risk worth it.

She nodded slowly, "I just might," she looked up them, "But I'm going to need a jet."

A/N: Lol, great minds think alike :) Both Thor and Athena are going to be going after weapons to take out Thanos ;) ...I wonder what weapon Athena's thinking of...hmm... }:)

As for Cull Obsidian, in the movie it appeared that the Children came to Earth on 2 ships, Ebony Maw took one away and Proxima-Corvus had another. I figure there was at least a reasonable window/gap where Cull was stranded in the arctic long enough (before he somehow escaped and reunited with Proxima in the movie), where Athena could get to him. I think she took quite a bit of her frustrations out on him :( The other deaths were just too 'quick and painless' compared to the destruction and hurt they put her through.

Athena, while the goddess of Wisdom and Battle, also technically has a role to play when it comes to law and justice too, Sam has done his homework lol :) But who loves Steve for trying to check on Athena and talk to her about what's wrong? I know I do :')

Some notes on reviews...

While Corvus Glaive may be able to come back if his weapon exists, this is going to be largely based on the movies where they don't specify that detail. We didn't technically see Glaive die in the movie so we can assume Proxima lied to Cap and Natasha when they went to negotiate and that's how he came back in the movie. This is a reinterpretation of the movie and, in that sense, Athena officially ended him :( She's not playing around anymore, no fight to submission, it's all fight to the death for her from the moment Ebony Maw took Strange :'(

We're a little more than halfway through the story so we'll find out, for sure, what the gray is very soon ;)

Athena definitely may have terrified the Avengers in this chapter }:) She's certainly not letting Thanos keep any advantage if she can help it ;)

A big alteration with the death of the Children, yup, we'll have to wait and see what the end will be }:)