Battle Strategies | Tony Stark [1]

NINE

Athena had spent the last few days in SHIELD's impressive labs, researching and experimenting with different elements which she hoped would fix Tony's Palladium problem. She was slowly losing hope in science and was beginning to consider the option of consulting her Aunt Hestia for a solution. But just as she was about to give in and ask for help, her pride kicked in. It was one of Athena's many flaws, and one that was often the reason for the arguments and disagreements she had with Ares.

Just as the result came back with using the element Cerium as a substitution, Athena's phone rang. She looked at the computer screen and when seeing the experiment had failed, she answered the phone, feeling bitter.

"What?" She snapped into the phone, not knowing who she was talking to.

"Jeez, what crawled up your ass and died today?"

Athena rolled her eyes and using her left foot, she pushed it against the desk and let the wheeled chair she was sitting on roll backwards. "What do you want Ares?"

"I was dumped with delivering this weapon Hephaestus made for you but you're not home." Ares quipped back. She could practically feel the annoyance ooze off him through the phone. "Where are you?"

Athena rubbed her ear and scrunched up her nose. "Eh, some government labs."

"Great." He said sarcastically. "Now leave and come back here."

"I can't. I have stuff to finish here." Athena protested. "You come here."

"Fine." He growled before hanging up on her.

Athena sighed and glanced at her research from afar with annoyance. She had a sneaking suspicion that no discovered element would satisfy all the multiple equations and that a new one would have to be discovered.

A flash of golden light filtered through the room and Ares stood proud and tall in the middle of the room. Then, screeching alarms and lights flashed throughout the building making the two gods wince at the loudness due to their sensitive hearing. The door to the lab was flung open and Fury stormed in, followed by two agents. One Athena recognized, a certain red haired agent, but the other was unknown. Athena covered her ears and glared at the three.

"Would you turn that off? Some of us have sensitive hearing here." Athena sassed, not even trying to justify why Ares was in their labs.

"Not until we know who this is." Fury commanded, glaring at Ares, who watched him with a bored expression.

Athena scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It's just Ares and he's only dropping something off."

Fury said nothing for a few seconds before raising a finger to his ear. "All clear here. Turn it off."

Immediately the alarms and flashing alarms ceased and Athena relaxed slightly. She eyed Fury and then grinned at Natasha, who kept the same blank expression on her face as she remained tense. Athena turned on her heel and faced Ares, ignoring the presence behind her. "Give it to me. Gimme."

Ares rolled his eyes at her childish behavior before reaching into his jacket inner pocket and handing her a bracelet. Athena took the bracelet and looked at it skeptically before figuring out what it was. She slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and admired the way Hephaestus had crafted the electrum into such a beautiful weapon. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver that can be found naturally in the earth. It has been known and used since the time of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Athena noted inside her head. Once she finished admiring the craftsmanship, she flicked her arm to the side, activating the weapon.

Natasha, who had been watching the blonde goddess bored, stumbled backwards, along with her partner and boss as the bracelet suddenly transformed into a staff. Natasha was stunned still as she heard Athena laugh in excitement as she twirled the staff in her hands with expert precision and perfection. Her partner, Clint, slowly reached over his shoulder to retrieve an arrow to notch into his bow but was stopped by Fury himself.