Chapter 8

The Grandmaster had built a huge, multileveled arena in the centre of the city to host his Contest of Champions. In the time they had been on Sakaar, Abi and Loki had yet to step into the arena or watch any fight. But that was about the change. They were escorted into the Grandmaster's personal box, high above the ground. Loki grabbed two drinks and passed her one as they took their seats near the window.

There was a series of warm up fights before the main event: Thor vs the Grandmaster's Champion. Throughout the smaller fights, more and more people started to flood into the stadium until it was nearly bursting with people.

As the loser of the last fight was dragged out of the arena, drones started circling, projecting a giant hologram of the Grandmaster. "Wow! Look at all of you. What a show! What a night! Who's having fun?" The audience all cheered in response. "Please, I'm your host. Big round of applause for all of our undercard competitors who today died so gruesomely. Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for, and so have I. And now, without further ado, it's main event time." The crowd got louder and more restless. "Making his first appearance, though he looks quite promising, got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. I'll say what more, see what you think. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Lord of Thunder!"

Thor walked out into the arena and both Abi and Loki leaned forwards in their seats. His armour had been repainted, half his cape ripped off, and most shocking of all, his hair had been chopped off. They had armed him with a steel baton and a shield. He looked around as the crowd booed.

"Watch out for his fingers, they make sparks." The Grandmaster's hologram carried on talking. "Okay, this is it. Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes." The Grandmaster rubbed his hands together as people started cheering and green smoke bombs started going off. The whole stadium started to shake and rose up another level. Thor pulled on a helmet. "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. He's undefeated. He's the reigning. He's the defending. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, your...Incredible...Hulk!"

The Hulk came smashing through the doors and into the arena wearing a feathered helmet and armour, carrying an axe and a war hammer. Thor cheered. The crowd stopped cheering, confused by Thor's apparent joy. Abi and Loki both shot to their feet in disbelief.

"Bruce?" Abi's voice was barely above a whisper.

"I have to get off this planet." There was fear in Loki's eyes as he started towards the door, instead walking straight into the Grandmaster.

"Hey, hey, hey. Where you going?" The Grandmaster ushered Loki back to his seat.

Abi sat back down as the Hulk riled up the crowd and Thor tried to get the Grandmasters attention by waving his arms in the air. "Hey! Hey! We know each other! He's a friend from work!"

The Grandmaster's smile dropped as he looked across at Abi, whose eyes were still trained on the Hulk, and Loki, who looked like he was about to throw up.

"Where have you been?" Thor turned to the Hulk. "Everybody thought you were dead. But so much has happened since I last saw you. I lost my hammer. Like, yesterday, so that's still pretty fresh. Abi's here, in space! Loki. Loki's alive. Can you believe it? They're both up there." He pointed at them. "Abi! Loki! Look who it is!"

Loki froze in terror.

"Banner, I never thought I would say this, but I'm happy to see you." Thor looked around as the crowd started chanting 'Hulk'. "Banner! Hey, Banner!"

"Don't." Abi muttered, knowing it was futile and the fight was about to start.

"No Banner! Only Hulk!"

"What are you doing? It's me. It's Thor."

The Hulk growled, ran forward and launched himself into the air. Thor rolled to the side just in time and the Hulk brought down his hammer where Thor had just been. But as Thor was getting to his feet, the Hulk swung around and gave a direct hit to Thor's shield with his axe. Thor went flying backwards, used a knife to slow himself down and pushed himself back to his feet. He reached behind him and unsheathed two swords.

The Hulk roared and clashed his axe and hammer together.

"Banner, we're friends." Thor tried to reason. "This is crazy. I don't want to hurt you."

The Hulk jumped again but Thor countered the strikes from his axe and hammer with his swords. The Hulk tried again and managed to warp one of the swords before kicking Thor into the side of the arena.

"Here we go." The Grandmaster smiled with glee.

Loki shot him a worried look before glancing at Abi's hands. They had flashed blue as Thor was thrown into the wall, but she had curled them into fists and it had dissipated.

Thor climbed out of the hole he had created in the wall just before the Hulk's hammer went flying into it. The Hulk started to charge and Thor swung himself onto the hammer embedded in the wall. He managed to pull it free just as the Hulk reached him and swung it with all his might. It hit the Hulk square in the chest and sent him flying down the wall of the ring, causing even more damage.

The Grandmaster looked on in confusion. "What?"

Loki and Abi both winced.

Thor walked over to the Hulk, hammer ready. "Hey, big guy. The sun's getting real low." Thor held out his hand as the Hulk pushed himself up. The Hulk extended his hand and Thor rested his on his palm. "That's it, the suns going down. I won't hurt you anymore. No one will."

"It won't work." Abi shifted onto the edge of her seat.

And she was right. The Hulk gripped Thor's hand and slammed him into the floor, over and over again while the audience cheered. He then threw Thor across the length of the arena.

"Yes! That's how it feels!" Loki shot to his feet and cheered, as the rest of the people in the box looked at him with confusion. "I'm just a huge fan of the sport." He answered the Grandmasters questioning look.

The Grandmaster seemed to accept that answer and started laughing.

The Hulk roared to the crowd as Thor got back to his feet. "All right, screw it."

The Hulk ran at him and swung the axe. Thor ducked and swung the hammer into the side of the Hulk's knee. As the Hulk dropped to one knee, Thor swung into his face. The Hulk went over backwards and Thor took the opportunity to bring the hammer down onto the hilt of the axe, snapping the handle clean off.

"I know you're in there, Banner. I'll get you out." Thor walked forward as the Hulk stumbled, and swung the hammer into his hip. The Hulk once again hit the floor, much to the displeasure of the crowd. That made him angry, and he ran at Thor in a rage and managed to hit the hammer out of his grip. But Thor right crossed him on the jaw. "What's the matter with you? You're embarrassing me! I told them we were friends!"

The Hulk swung his fists but Thor ducked and landed two hits to his chest. The Hulk tried again, Thor threw him off balance and then punched him in the square of the back. The Hulk tried to turn and grab him but Thor swung onto his back and wrapped both arms around his neck. Thor used his momentum and pulled him over backwards. The Hulk's arms flailed and slammed into the floor as he tried to escape Thor's grip. He managed to roll off to one side as Thor grabbed the hammer again. He brought it down in an arch but the Hulk caught it.

Abi, Loki and the Grandmaster leant forward, almost in sync.

The Hulk got to his feet and punched Thor across the arena once again. The crowd went wild as the Hulk jumped and started punching Thor in the face.

Abi got to her feet; she could feel something. Power building

"What's wrong?" Loki asked.

"I don't know." Abi said, her eyes trained on the Hulk still punching Thor. She felt the electricity charging before anyone else could see it. She clenched her hands into fists as Thor's eyes turned silver and electricity jumped around him. As Thor used it to punch the Hulk off, Abi accidently let out a pulse that shattered the window in front of them.

The Grandmaster stood in shock, looking between her and the Hulk who was lying on the floor.

"I'm sorry." Abi muttered as Loki pulled her back into her seat.

Thor looked at the electricity running across his arms as the Hulk managed to get back to his feet. They ran at each other and Thor landed a punch on the Hulk's jaw and a energy pulse displaced most of the dirt in the arena. As the Hulk hit the ground, the chants in the arena changed to 'Thunder'.

The Hulk got to his feet and Thor started walking towards him to end it, but the Grandmaster pressed the button on his stick and the device on Thor's neck sent him falling to the floor. The crowd booed and Abi and Loki gave the Grandmaster a scathing look. But they didn't do anything as the Hulk delivered the final blow.