Chapter 17: Raise a Little Hell

The crowd's cheers could be heard from the deeps of the halls inside the Grandmaster's compound. The shouts and horns cut Dara's tour of the compound short, though neither her nor Loki were complaining. She couldn't help but feel relieved, sick of having to show him around the large building as the show had begun, the Grandmaster telling them to come up to the booth as the main event began. There was only so much of "this is where we keep this set of prisoners" and "this is where we put the bodies of the contenders who lost" that she thought either of them could take.

She hadn't straight up pushed the fact that she knew their sister, but had tried to be as subtle as she could. She asked things like how he ended up here, where you are from, simple questions like that only to get answers that were clearly lies. Wasn't her brother meant to be the God of Mischief or something like that?

She could hear the Grandmaster's opening speech before the final fight of the night begin as the pair approached his private booth. Loki had a smirk on his face, as if he knew something she didn't know. It unsettled her, was he actually happy that his brother might possibly die today? He took a deep, almost satisfying breath in as he grabbed a drink from one of the attendants. He joined her on the large couch that sat before the wide window overlooking the arena. Just as the pair of them sat down, one of the doors below opened, revealing Thor with a new haircut. He was put together with random pieces of armor, the Grandmaster never investing in new gear for anyone besides herself and most of all his beloved champion.

The crowd booed as he stepped out. They weren't here for him, they wanted their champion. They wanted to see this Lord of Thunder stomped on, something Hulk used to wipe the floor with. The Grandmaster built him up match after match, making his people fall in love with the giant green rage monster and hate anyone else who entered the arena. He'd done this with champions before, each only getting dethroned once he found a good enough replacement for them though.

"Now it's time to welcome this guy," The Grandmaster said, his hologram overlooking the theater rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

The crowd slowly began to show their Hulk pride, setting off green smoke bombs from high above, raising signs of praise that they hoped their champion would see. They lost all their senses as you could feel him approaching, the ground shaking beneath them as he approached the arena. There was nothing else like him in this world and Thor was about to find out as the crowd got even louder. Within a second, the doorway across from Thor's was broken open, ripped right in half as the incredible Hulk charged out. He shouted out, yelling to the top of his lungs to get his opponents fear to spike along with the crowds energy. He gripped onto his warhammer tighter, shaking it up in the air, enjoying the cheers and shouts it earned him.

Dara usually rolled her eyes at his theatrics, having once been in in Thor's shoes and still thinking that this entrance was over the top even then. But now knowing the Hulk, it was hilarious how he was such a child and this was something of a simple game to him. He lived for the praise and relished in it. He was just a big child looking for approval. It was slightly adorable except someone usually always died at the end of it. Though, now Dara noted something new. Unlike everyone else who was thrown into the arena with Hulk, Thor didn't quiver in fear or try to escape. No, he simply froze before throwing his arms up in the air and shouting,

"Yes!" He exclaimed, his face looked rather excited.

Thrown off, Dara looked up to the Grandmaster as he had now joined them, walking over to sit down next to her. Turning to Loki, Dara saw him look the way Thor should be right now. He was frozen in shock and fear, his body tensing up and his mouth gaped open.

"I need to get off this planet." He muttered, trying to get up to leave.

"Hey, hey, where you going? It just started!" The Grandmaster spoke, gently shoving him back down onto the couch as he took as seat now next to Dara, leaving her to sit next to Loki.

The confusion of Thor's reaction caused most of the noise from the crowd to die down. They loved when the contender tried to escape or shit themselves. Grandmaster noticed this, his smile faltering and turning into a line as he waited to see what would happen. Hulk was still chanting his own name, refusing to let the crowd stay silent, as he ignored the man. He wasn't going to let the Lord of Thunder ruin what he had worked so hard for.

"Hey! Hey!" Thor shouted, waving his sword above his head, trying to get the Grandmaster's attention. "We know each other, he's a friend from work!"

The Grandmaster gritted his teeth together, slightly confused by this. He turned his head to face Loki, who now held a hand to his lips nervously biting at his nail. Dara noted how this was something Skadi did when she herself was nervous or anxious. Dara wanted to question what Loki knew but couldn't as the Grandmaster was sitting right next to her.

The fight began moments after. Thor had tried speaking to the Hulk, Dara unable to make out the conversation besides Thor pointing out to Loki, causing the God of Mischief to quiver in his boots. Dara watched as Thor was tossed around like a rag doll as the fight first began. He was too concerned with trying to talk to the green rage monster verses actually just fighting him. But once Thor got the point and saw that Hulk was interest in talking, the fight began to shift.

Everyone watching sat in disbelief as Thor managed to actually lift the Hulk-sized hammer and swing it effortlessly. The hammer connected to Hulk's face, crashing him into the siding of the pit and causing him to barrel across it. The crowd let out a grasp as their champion destroyed the arena wall. Dara had never heard the arena so quiet and had never seen the Grandmaster look so dumbfounded. Granted, Thor wasn't the first to hold up their own against the Hulk, she was, but that was only because of the use of her powers. She used her telekinesis to toss the giant creature around only faring well if she kept him at a decent enough distance.

The Hulk tried shaking the hit off, clearly never being hit that hard before. Thor slowly approached him, appearing to be talking as he did so. Confused as to what was happening, Thor outreached his hand, as did the Hulk. Thor gently swiped his hand against his, still talking words no one could make out from their distance. Something shifted though, Hulk's sudden calm face changed, into one of anger. He grabbed Thor's leg and began tossing him to and form like a rag doll, tossing him to the other end of the arena once he was pleased.

Dara surely thought he was dead the moment he smacked against the ground but was surprised when she was him still rustling. She couldn't look any longer, jumping in her skin as Loki suddenly shouted, throwing a fist up in the air, "Ha! That's how it feels!"

Grandmaster and Dara exchanged a look startled by Loki's outburst. Sheepishly but still excitedly Loki replied, sitting back down to watch the show, "I'm just a huge fan of the sport."

Dara couldn't tell how long the fight when on seeing as this was the longest fight she'd ever witnessed with the Hulk. Thor stood evenly matched, throwing hit after hit to the champion. The crowd cheered, but not for Hulk. Hulk didn't like that one bit, managing to stop Thor from blowing another hit with the hammer. With one hand grasping the hammer, Hulk used his other to stand Thor flying across the arena with a hard fist. Without relenting Hulk jumped after him, dealing blow after blow, punch after punch while Thor was down on the ground unable to move, unable to fight back. Dara knew for sure that he was dead. There was no way he could get out of this one. The Hulk wouldn't stop until the crowd was forever shouting his name in victory. He didn't care if this was an old friend, he wouldn't stop.

"What the hell," Dara muttered, shocked as the Lord of Thunder lived up to his name.

A loud boom echoed through the arena as a large lightning strike left Thor's fist, shooting the Hulk up into the air and landing motionlessly on the ground. His helmet was thrown off of him, as the crowd could hear his groans of pain as dust kicked up from the ground on his impact. The Grandmaster stood up, angry that the Hulk was so easily tossed around by this nobody. The crowd felt uncertain as Thor now stood, lightening zapping all around his body, as his eyes glowed. He felt power like he never had before and stared as it flowed through his fingertips. Hulk finally stood, heaving in fury before charging at Thor again. They pair charged at the other, smashing into each other and setting off a giant boom throughout the arena.

The crowd started chanting again, as the dust from the impact settled. At first it took a few seconds for the three onlookers in the booth to realize that they were chanting "thunder" instead of their usual chant. The Grandmaster grew nervous. He didn't want this, he wanted Hulk to rein supreme; this was unacceptable and couldn't happen. Thor was going to win, as he stood up as if the hit did nothing to him whereas the Hulk seemed tired and shaky. The Grandmaster hated intervening, or did he really? Regardless he felt nothing but satisfied as he pulled out a small device from his pocket. Clicking the button on it he watched as the shock disk on Thor's neck activated, causing the Lord of Thunder fall to the ground in pain as his body twitched about.

Dara frowned, knowing that what had happened. This was the exact same thing that happened with her in her fight. She stood up, saying she was going to go get another drink. She didn't want to watch as Hulk now had the opportunity to deal one final blow to the fallen Lord of Thunder.