→ EIGHT!

◜ sticks and stones◞

EVERYONE WENT SILENT. Amber seemed to watch Hulk fly from Thor in slow motion with her mouth hung wide. When Hulk smashed into the teal sand, the crowd erupted in a mixture of cheers and boos.

The Grandmaster stood abruptly from his chair, walking towards the glass window. Loki leaned forward in his seat with his brows furrowed, as if he's never seen this before. Amber still stood shocked, frozen in her place.

Thor stood to his feet, looking at his body as zaps of lightning surrounded him and his eyes glowed brightly. He stole a look at Amber from across the stadium, seeing how wide her eyes were as if she almost feared him. Looking back at Hulk, he watched as Hulk stood, now missing his large helmet.

Hulk gritted his teeth before lashing out at Thor. Thor sprinted towards Hulk. When the two gladiators were close enough, they jumped into the air; fists reeling back.

When their hands collided, a shockwave of electricity rang out, shoving back Hulk, Thor, and Amber. Amber was smacked by the wave forcefully, flying back and harshly hitting the ground. She rolled a few times before landing on her stomach.

Amber gasped as she flicked her hair away, staring at the battle before her. By now, the crowd was chanting thunder.

Thor approached Hulk with confident strides. Suddenly, she and Thor jerked in their places, as an even more waves of electricity and shocks ran through them. As Amber was thrashing in the sand, she managed to spot the Grandmaster holding a similar rectangular box that Valkyrie had.

Hulk grunted in response, before launching high into the air. Amber's eyes followed his body and quickly realized what he was doing.

Thor stared helplessly up at Hulk as he came down fast. Reaching up a hand, the last thing he heard was the sound of Amber's voice screaming out to him.

⌁ ⌁ ⌁

THOR AWOKE WITH A YELL, SCARING OFF A FLEAT OF GIRLS WITH OILS AND CLOTHS SURROUNDING HIM. He watched as they all ran off through the large door-less opening before sitting up and ripping the cloth off his bare torso.

Panting loudly, he looked around the grey room, spotting Amber sitting on the edge of the large bed, twirling a dagger in her fingers, looking vexed. "I was starting to think you weren't gonna wake up."

Thor, still panting, stood up. "Oh yeah? Afraid you can't live without me?"

Amber tried to scoff in denial, but it only came out as a sharp exhale. "No."

Thor smirked, noticing how Amber obviously roamed Thor's torso with her eyes, not really bothering to hide it. His eye caught his armour, and he slipped it on. "Where are we?"

Amber didn't answer. She raised her finger, directing Thor to turn and look at Hulk sitting across the room in an indoor hot tub, staring directly back at him. "Oh."

Thor slowly raised his hands, showing his palms to Hulk. "Are we cool?"

When he didn't respond, Thor broke into a grin, moving to the window. "It's a Hulk in a hot tub. So, how long you've been like that?"

Amber raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Thor glanced at her before gesturing towards the green giant. "When we fought against Ultron, the big guy jumped into a Quinjet and took off. Haven't seen him since."

Hulk moved in the water, creating echoes of splashing. He repeated Amber's question, "What do you mean?"

"Like this; big, green...stupid," Thor asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Hulk moved his face into the light. "Hulk always Hulk."

Thor pursed his lips before looking down at his feet and out the window once more. "How'd you get here?"

"Winning," Hulk replied in his baritone voice.

Thor spun around a little too quickly and raised his eyebrows at Hulk. "You mean cheating?" He pushed down his collar, exposing the small disk on his neck. "Were they wearing one of these, huh? When you won? How'd you arrive here?"

Amber laughed at Thor, who in return shot her a glare. "Who knew the God of Thunder was such a sourpuss!" She forced another laugh, jabbing her small weapon in his direction. "You are so sassy! Maybe I should be calling you Princess now."

Hulk gave a rumble of a chuckle before looking back at Thor. He raised his arm before diving it into the water, mimicking his Quinjet experience. Thor nodded, pointing to him as he looked to Amber. "See? My point exactly."

Thor eyed Hulk, taking a few steps towards the large tub. "Now, where is the Quintet?"

Silently, Hulk stood from his place. Amber's eyes lit up as she kept her eyes trained on Thor, his words clicking in her head. The two Norse gods adverted their eyes to the green monster as Hulk stood fully up, quickly to look elsewhere as they realized Hulk was naked.

Thor forced a laugh, holding his hands in front of him as his eyes studied the ceiling. "That's...ah...naked. Very naked."

As Hulk strutted past Thor with no shame, Thor squeezed his eyes shut. "That's in our brains now..."

Hulk raised his finger. "Quinjet."

Thor rushed past Hulk as he approached Amber, who was respectfully holding out a large, large towel for him. Thor stared at the slightly damaged jet, which sat in the middle of garbage below.

Thor smiled widely, walking back to put on his leather wrist gauntlets. He glanced at Hulk, who now sat beside Amber on the edge of his bed. "I'm gonna get us out of here! Out of his awful place. You're gonna love Asgard. It's big, golden; shiny."

Amber's perfectly groomed eyebrow perked up as she poked a finger at her chest. "Are you pitching this to me, or to him?"

"Both of you."

Hulk shook his head, biting into a large root. "Hulk stay."

Thor stopped his actions, approaching the bed. "No, no, no. My people need me in Asgard. We must prevent Ragnarok."

"Ragnarok?" Hulk asked, sounding out the confusing word.

Thor nodded. "Prophesied death of my homeworld. The end of days. It's the end of–"

Thor was cut off by Hulk groaned loudly in annoyance, tilting his head back. Amber chuckled, watching him. "If you two help me get back to Asgard, I can help you get back to Earth." Thor said with a smile, directing the last part to Hulk. His blue eyes flicked to Amber's mismatched ones. "And you too...if you'd like."

"Earth hate Hulk." Hulk said, his mouth still full of food, and producing bits of pieces to fly out when talking.

Thor shook his head. "Earth love Hulk! They love you! You're one of the Avengers; the team. You're one of our friends! This is what friends do. They support each other."

Hulk took another bite of his snack. "You're baddest friend."

Thor's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not baddest friend! I prefer you."

"Baddest friend!"

"I don't even like Banner!" Thor shook his head frantically. His raised his fingers, poking at the air mockingly. "I'm into numbers, and science, and stuff!"

Amber frowned sharply. "Hey! Don't make fun of Bruce."

"Thor and blondie go. Hulk stay."

Amber pouted, slouching forward. "Aw. I thought we were really building a connecting over the awkward silence while Thor was unconscious."

Thor's faux happy expression dropped. "Fine. You stay here. Stupid place. It's hideous, by the way. The red, the white. Just pick a colour. Ridiculous." Thor sassed as he walked away with Amber reluctantly following.

"Smash you." Hulk called after him. Thor turned as he walked away.

"You didn't smash anything.  I–We won that fight!"

Amber raised an eyebrow, staying silent to watch their amusing bickering. Hulk sat up. "I smashed you."

"Sure, sure..."

"Baby arms."

"What?"

Hulk hurled his food at Thor, who ducked from it as it smashed into a mush in the hallway. "Baby arms!"

"You're...a big child!"

"Thor go!"

"I am going!" Thor yelled back. The two walked towards the opening, only for a translucent barrier flash red, electrocuting the two gods.

The two crumpled to the ground. Thor looked at Amber, who shot him a death glare. "Why do I always end up in your mess?"

Thor groaned, rolling onto his back, exhausted.

⌁ ⌁ ⌁

(a.n)
it's funny how the god of thunder gets taken down by electricity.