Battle Strategies | Tony Stark [1]

5

"I'll do more than shoot you, Hermes, if you don't leave this apartment now."

Athena's voice boomed throughout the apartment, her presence seemingly grew to match her loud and powerful voice. Hermes merely raised an eyebrow at her, uninterested with her threat of annihilation. Athena's frustration only grew at his lack of reaction, and her patience dropped to the floor. With the speed and strength that only a god could possess, she held him by the neck up against the wall. "I want you to leave."

Hermes chuckled uncomfortably, his hands grasping at her own but he did not possess the strength to break her grip. "And Zeus wants you home."

"Well, tell him you couldn't find me." Athena snarled, but then frowned. "How did you find me."

Hermes laughed, his eyes brightening. "Not so much a good idea to associate yourself with the most talked about person when your trying to hide, Thena."

Athena released her grip and took a step back from the amused messenger of gods, but remained silent. Hermes stepped away from the wall and studied his older sister, taking note of how comfortable she appeared to be in the mortal world. Hermes frowned at her. "You have grown fond of the mortal man?"

Athena's eyes snapped up to meet her younger brother's, desperately trying to keep a calm demeanor. "Why do you ask?"

Hermes smiled, amusement glistening in his eyes as he watched her body language. "Oh, Aphrodite is going to have a field day with this one. Athena has actually grown fond of a mortal man."

Athena's jaw tightened in annoyance, her retort forming on her tongue as she sneered at his teasing. Hermes was slightly taken aback by how defensive she was, and was looking forward to her retort but it never came. The shrill sound of a phone echoed from Athena's coat pocket. Athena glanced at Hermes and held a finger up, as a gesture to wait a moment. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the latest to date phone and answered.

"Is this Athena? This is Agent Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Oh, yes. I'll redirect you to Ms. Potts then, shall I?" Athena said distractedly watching Hermes intensely.

"Yes, that would be most appreciated but I was hoping to talk to you about-"

"I'll forward her number to this number, shall I? Is that it?"

"Well, no. As I was saying-"

"Fantastic. We look forward to seeing you, then." Athena ended the call, and snapped at Hermes. "Don't touch that."

Hermes fingers left her handbag and played around with her diary, flipping it open to look at the multiple meetings that Athena had penciled in. "My, my... you are a busy girl or should I say Tony Stark is a busy man?"

Athena grabbed the diary from his hands as he looked at her curiously. "Aren't you his lab assistant? Not his personal assistant."

"It's none of your business." Athena snapped before she sighed. "What do you want?"

"Zeus wants you back at Mount Olympus."

"I know that, but what do you want? To say that you couldn't find me." Athena said, willingly to give him anything if that meant he would lie for her.

"For you? Nothing." Hermes said nonchalantly.

"What?"

"I lied earlier. I've been checking in on you every few years for the last century." Hermes admitted. "But, I've got to say that this is the happiest I've ever seen you."