Weightless

Chapter 3

---Asgard, present day---

Thor and Odin rushed to the odinsleep cradle. Athena had gone missing. Did someone steal her? No, no one other then family can touch her. Loki didn't get out, did she wake up and run away?

---New York City, present day---

"Try to remember the kind of September. When grass was green... Wake up, dear, and say goodbye to your father" Maria Stark insisted.

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" Howard Stark asked.

"This is why I love coming home for Christmas... right before you leave town" the younger Tony Stark complained. 

"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad" Maria scolded.

"Really, which broad? What's her name?" Howard asked.

"Candice" younger Tony answered. 

"Do me a favor? Try not to burn the house down before Monday" Mr. Stark insisted.

"Okay, so it's Monday. That is good to know. I will plan my toga party accordingly. Where you going?" Tony wondered.

"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway" Maria answered.

"We might have to make a quick stop" Howard admitted.

"At the Pentagon. Right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary" Tony beamed.

"You know, they say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you'll be a great man some day. I'll get the bags" Howard complained.

"He does miss you when you are not here. And frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen. Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it" Maria said as they stopped at the door frame.

"I love you, Dad. And I know you did the best you could" the younger Tony sassed.

"That's how I wished it happened. Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing... or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus... to clear traumatic memories" the older Tony Stark said as the scene froze and he walked onto the stage. He blew on a candle and everything around him shimmers. 

"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport... or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but..." he started as he took his glasses off.

"Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in the right mind would've ever funded it. Help me out, what's the MIT mission statement?" Tony asked begging the students to say it along with him.

"To generate, disseminate... and preserve knowledge. And work with others... to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges" they all said in unison.

"Well, you are the others. And, quiet as it's kept... the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. Plus, most of you are broke. Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment... every student has been made an equal recipient... of the Inaugural September Foundation Grant. As in... all of your projects have just been approved and funded. No strings, no taxes... just reframe the future! Starting now!" Tony announced as the teleprompter showed another line saying 'Now I would like to introduce the head of the foundation: Pepper Potts'. Tony looked at it a little sadly and hesitated before saying:

"Go break some eggs!" Tony stark walked off stage and they started disconnecting his mic. 

"Wow. Wow. That uh... That took my breathe away. Oh, Tony! So generous. So much money! Wow! Out of curiosity... will any portion of that grant be made available to faculty? I know, "Ooh, gross," but hear me out. I have got this killer idea for a self-cooking hotdog. Basically, chemical detonator embedded..." an MIT teacher started before getting interrupted.

"Restroom's this way, yeah?" he asked while pointing in the direction of the bathrooms.

"Yeah. Embedded in the meat shaft" she continued and he walked away.

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Miss Potts had cancelled. They didn't have time to fix it" Tony's assistant apologized.

"It's... fine. I'll be right back" Tony stated.

"We'll catch up later" the same MIT called after him as he walked away. As Tony turned the corner he thought he saw his girlfriend Athena at the end of the hallway but once he blinked she was gone. Tony loitered by the men's room before continuing to the elevator.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people" Mrs. Spencer complimented.

"Ah, they deserve it. Plus, it helps ease my conscience" Mr. Stark admitted.

"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money... break as many eggs as you like. Right?" she joked. Tony half smiles before turning to the elevator.

"Are you going up?" he asked.

"I'm right where I want to be" she said as the woman started digging into her purse but Tony automatically grabbed her wrist without thinking.

"Okay, okay. Hey! Sorry, it's an occupational hazard" he said as he let go.

"I work for the State Department. Human Resources. I know it's boring... but it enabled me to raise a son. I'm very proud of what he grew up to be!" she said as she shoved a picture of a boy at Tony.

"His name was Charlie Spencer. You murdered him. In Sokovia. Not that it matters in the least to you. You think you fight for us. You just fight for yourself. Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead... and I blame you" she said then she angrily walked away.

"Jesus, what was all that about?" a girl asked Tony and she stood next to him, she sounded oddly familiar. He looked at her and thought she was Athena. She was a splitting image of her.

"Something about her son" he admitted before looking at her again and realizing it was Athena.

"Babe!" he freaked as he hugged her and she hugged him. Then he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Who kissed you?"

"It was a bogus story!" she answered and he hugged her again not wanting to let go.

"Tony, I kind of need to breathe" Athena reminded and he let go. They kissed passionately. 

"Don't leave me ever again!" he demanded and she nodded before kissing him a second time.