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˖*°࿐ chapter fifty-four. liv. thor v. hulk
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE COME TO SPECTATE THE LARGE FIGHT, the so-called "God of Thunder" and the Hulk, dozens of ships parked on top of the arena to spectate from above. In the VIP luxury suite, the golden ladies are lounging, waiting for the fight to start, Loki lounging on the large sofa while taking wagers on the fight card he gripped in his hand. The Grandmaster walks out into the center of the arena, suddenly growing to a tall height of almost 60 feet. This enlarged projection of the man addresses everyone in the crowd. "Wow! Look at all of you. What a show, WHAT-A-NIGHT! Who's having fun? Please, I'm your host. Big round of applause for all of our undercard competitors. . . who died so gruesomely. Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for and so have I." Applause erupts from the onlookers. "And now, without further ado. . . it's main event time!" The applause becomes louder. "Making his first appearance, though he looks quite promising, got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. I'll say no more, see what you think. Ladies and gentlemen. . ." the audience laughs, "I give to you. . . Lord of Thunder!"
Thor, in a gladiator's attire, though it was just his regular armor that had been painted and his cape ripped off, walks out into the arena, hair now shortly cropped and his beard trimmed neatly. Two swords were strapped to his back, a giant mace in his right hand, a spiked shield in the other. "Watch out for his fingers. They make sparks." Thor looks up at the screaming fans, putting on his helmet, which was a badass gladiator variation of his classic winged helm. "Okay, this is it. Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes. He is a creature. What can we say about him? Well, he's unique. There's none like him. I feel a special connection with him." The floor beneath Thor's feet lowers, a slow tension-building grind as a door on the opposite side appears, growing bigger and bigger each passing second, the entire crowd standing on their feet. Palpable anticipation, spotlights changing to bright stadium lights.
"He's undefeated. HE'S THE REIGNING. . . HE'S THE DEFENDING. . . Ladies and gentlemen. . . I give you. . ." Exploding through the door is the champion: Hulk. He wears an armored shoulder guard and a Spartan helmet, carrying a warhammer in one hand and a battleax in the other. Hulk pounds his chest and roars, further energizing an already frenzied crowd. Meanwhile, the sight of Hulk makes Thor's arms drop to his sides along with his jaw dropping to the ground. And then: "Yes! We know each other! He's a friend from work!" Everyone stops and stares at him.
Loki is frightened, "I have to get off this planet." His face is ghostly white, memories of being slammed into the floor by the Green Giant flooding his mind as he begins to walk away. When he turns around, the Grandmaster stops him by putting a hand on his chest, "Where are you going?" Grandmaster sits Loki down on the sofa, walks to the other side and sits down as well, Loki trying to hide his face with his hand. Thor was currently talking Hulk's ear off, "Where have you been? Everybody thought you were dead. So much has happened since I last saw you. I lost my hammer. Like, yesterday, so that's still pretty fresh. Loki! Loki's alive. Can you believe it? He's up there." He points to VIP box, Hulk's stare turning to face him. "Loki! Look who it is!" Loki is petrified. "Banner, I never thought I would say this, but I'm happy to see you. Banner. Hey, Banner!"
Hulk's face grimaces and contorts, suppressing puny Banner, "No Banner! Only Hulk!" Hulk charges at him, insanely fast, "What are you doing? It's me!" Thor dodges the first few attacks, but then Hulk shatters his shield and sends Thor flying. Thor draws a sword and stabs it into the ground to slow his momentum, drawing the other sword and faces off against Hulk. "Banner, we're friends. This is crazy. I don't want to hurt you!" They engage again. Hulk kicks Thor, sending him slamming into the wall, Thor jumping down just in time to avoid Hulk's warhammer, which hits so hard that it remains lodged in the wall. With Hulk charging again, Thor rips the warhammer out of the wall and wallops him with it. Hulk goes crashing alongside the arena. He ends up sprawled out in a pile of rubble, slightly dazed. "What?" Thor advances on Hulk with all the swagger, taking off his helmet and calls out to Hulk, provoking him. "Hey, big guy. The sun's getting real low." Hulk takes off his helmet. Scowling. Teeth grinding. "That's it. The sun's going down. I won't hurt you anymore. No one will." Hulk has Thor by the leg and is whipping him against the arena floor, over and over and over again.
In the VIP box, Loki jumps up, "Yes! That's how it feels!" He feels Grandmaster's confused glance. "I'm just a huge fan of the sport."
Thor is smashed into the floor face first, Hulk roaring and rushing Thor with his ax. "All right, screw it. . . " The giant weapons clash, now Thor and Hulk are fighting warhammer versus battleax, and Thor is winning. He's getting the better of these exchanges, using Hulk's aggression against him. Thor continually knocks Hulk off his feet while evading all of his best attacks. "I know you're in there, Banner. I'll get you out!" One particularly vicious blow disarms Hulk, and Thor breaking the giant's ax with the warhammer. Thor then bashes Hulk in the chest, beating him to the ground. "What's the matter with you? You're embarrassing me! I told them we were friends!" Growling, Hulk stands up and hits Thor with a straight jab that sends Thor tumbling across the arena. He immediately leaps after the God and lands him, Hulk now on top of Thor as they slide across the arena, just pummeling him with punches. Left-right-left-right. Thor's head snaps back and forth. In the carnage, Thor sees visions of his father.
His eyes glow white with electricity.
Like an instinctual defense mechanism, Thor suddenly hits Hulk back with a blast of lightning, seething with the electricity, Thor springs to his feet and then hits Hulk with a massive punch, lightning bursting all around them. He is launched backward and Thor hits the ground hard. Now the crowd is cheering for Thor, yelling 'Thunder' with intense voices. They've never seen something like that before.
Hulk and Thor stagger to their feet. Thor looks at himself, a little surprised; there are still small charges of lightning crackling through his veins. Meanwhile, Hulk is rumbling towards Thor and they're at it again, close-quarters boxing. Thor is winning the exchanges, landing brutal punches to Hulk's body. The Grandmaster shocks him with the disk, Hulk jumping into the air, rockets out of the arena and into the sky, and at the apex of his jump, he clenches his fists and begins his missile-like descent. Down below, Thor groggily turns over, doing so just in time to see Hulk coming at him like an atom bomb, no time to avoid the punch. Right before impact, Thor's eyes go lightning white, Hulk hitting Thor like a meteor. The hit knocks the God unconscious.
