32ND FINALS: THOR VS. SKURGE THE EXECUTIONER

The place for the next match in the Contest of Champions tournament this time was not held on land...but rather on the season, more specifically, on a platform the size of a battleship hovering over the Norwegian Sea. Suddenly, two flashes of light appeared out of nowhere and formed into the two participants of the match-up; Thor, the God of Thunder, and Skurge, the mute Executioner.

Thor gripped his hammer, lightning surging through his veins. "Be warned, barbarian," he snarled, pointing Mjolnir at Skurge. "I know not of the reason why you took Osborn's word over mine, but I will give, nor ask for a quarter in this combat, not that I need to."

Skurge growled and hefted his ax. Though he knew that Thor was the most honorable of all the Asgardians, he still viewed him as a being, in his mind, just as arrogant. So much so, he wanted to take his head clean off his shoulders so that the Enchantress would be his as soon as he found her and free her, but bitterly chose to keep his word to Osborn, in that he needed to beat Thor, but not kill him.

Suddenly, a small compartment open in the middle of the platform, and a Ref Bot, with the announcer's face on the screen, hovering into the view. "All right gentlemen," said the announcer as the Ref Bot floated in between the two men. "I'm sure you are both are familiar with the rules, as well as not to use your weapons for lethal means. However, this time, for this match, we are going to be doing things a little bit differently. For in this match, there are now two ways to win. You can destroy your opponent's belt buckle, of course, or you can knock your enemy off the platform and into the sea below. Any questions?"

Neither Thor nor Skurge answered for they were too busy staring at each other with hellish intent.

All in which left the announcer no choice but to take it as a yes. "All right then, let's keep things clean!" With that said, the Ref Bot floated up into the air to get to a safe distance. "BEGIN!"

Taking the ax in his hand, Skurge wasted no time in charging towards Thor, who at the same time took the sparking Mjolnir and ran towards the Executioner at ramming speed. Once the two got close enough to each other, they both wound their respected weapons back, and both threw a strike, with both the hammer and the ax colliding and causing a massive shockwave that could be heard throughout the whole seas.

While in the air, the Ref Bot activated a small force field projector which protected it from the wave, but still nearly got blown away. But it stayed put to continue its duty of viewing the match for the viewers watching worldwide.

Back in the match, Thor took his still charged hammer and went for Skurge's head, knowing that he was strong enough to take the blow, and thus would only stun him long enough to leave him open for a more punishing attack.

However, Skurge saw this, and thus took his ax and performed an inward slash to deflect Thor's hammer attack. Afterward, he fought back by throwing a left, vertical slash, with the target being the Thunder God's belt buckle.

Luckily for Thor though, he bent down and jumped backward to save his belt buckle from getting sliced in two. He then raised his hammer above his head, concentrated and at that moment, massive dark clouds appeared in the sky, as well as the sound of thunder. Moments later, lightning struck and hit Mjolnir, charging it up. "HAVE AT THEE!" yelled the battled readied Thor, then pointed his hammer forward and fired a lightning blast, aiming for Skurge's belt buckle.

Seeing this attack coming his way, Skurge concentrated and caused his ax to burn with fire. With his weapon now 'fired up,' Skurge threw a right upward slash, hitting and dispersing the lightning blast. The Executioner later went on the offensive by holding his still burning ax over his head then threw a downward slash, which results in the ax to hit the floor, and in the process, created a massive wave of fire that was heading straight for the Thunder God himself.

Thor's eyes grew wide with shock at the sight of the fire-wave coming towards him and soon dashed to the left side to avoid it. However, the Asgardian received yet another surprise when Skurge came running in, with great speed for a man his size and threw an overhead chop. But thanks to years of training and battle experience, Thor anticipated this and with Mjolnir in his right hand, struck Skurge's az out of his hands, causing the Executioner's feared weapon to go flying and stop at the edge of the platform, almost going into the sea. Afterward, Thor then goes to strike Skurge's face again, but this time, throwing his hammer in a backhand-like motion.

However, Skurge spotted this and thus used his left hand to catch Thor's wrist, stopping the attack. He then squeezed the Asgardian's wrist so hard, that it caused him to scream in pain and force him to drop Mjolnir. With the Thunder God now without his trademark weapon, and more importantly, in his grasp, Skurge wound his right fist back and gave Thor a sturdy right hook to the face, knocking him loopy. Keep a good grip on the now limp Thunder God's wrist, Skurge utilized his great strength once more as he lifted Thor up and slammed him into platform chest first like a ragdoll. Upon lifting the dazed Thor up, Skurke caught a glimpse of his opponent's belt buckle, and thus decided to end the match by winding back his right fist and going for a straight punch.

Thor, on the other hand, was quick enough to recover and thus took both of his feet and gave Skurge a powerful double legged mule kick to his chest, forcing the Executioner to release his grip and stagger backward a few steps. As he landed safely in a couching position, Thor saw that Skurge was still standing, and saw that Mjolnir was nearby. Though he could mentally summon it to win this fight, especially since Skurge was now without his ax, both Thor's sense of honor and Asgardian pride prevented him from doing so, and instead, the Thunder God chose to charge towards Skurge head-on and engage him in hand-to-hand combat.

A recovering Skurge spotted Thor coming his way, as well as throwing a right jab, and thus he held up his right hand to block and push Thor's fist outward. He later attempts to counter-attack by throwing a left hook.

Luckily for Thor though, he spotted this quickly and ducked underneath the punch to avoid it. While bent down, Thor made his move by throwing a left uppercut underneath Skurge's exposed armpit, causing the Executioner enough pain to bend down to the left slightly. Seeing this as another opportunity, Thor pulled his left fist back and gave Skurge an uppercut, forcing him to stand straight back up in a daze. The Thunder God then tried to end the match by throwing a right middle punch at Skurge's buckle.

Skurge, on the other hand, quickly recovered and saw this attack coming, and thus threw his right arm downward to successfully block Thor's punch and pushed it outward to make room for a left uppercut, which connected to Thor's jaw. With the Thunder God disoriented, Skurge went for a victory blow and threw a left legged front kick, with Thor's belt buckle in his sights.

Luckily for Thor, though, he recovered just in to to see the kick and stopped it by using both of his hands to catch Skurge's foot. Then, with all of his might, Thor spun the Executioner around at such incredible speeds and released him, sending him flying across the platform and hoping to throw him off the platform and into the sea, thus winning by ring out.

Miraculously, Skurge recovered by flipping backward so he can be facing forward, then raised his right hand and rammed his fingertips into the platform, which slowly stopped him while leaving deep fingernail marks into the sleek steel surface. Then, as Skurge finally came to a complete stop just inches away from the edge, he saw through the corner of his right eye to see that he was right next to his ax. Without wasting another moment, Skurge picked up his weapon, got up and charged towards Thor, with his ax raised over his head.

As for Thor, he pointed his open right palm to where he dropped his hammer, concentrated and mentally summoned it, causing it to fly from where it was sitting and into the Thunder God's open hand. With Mjolnir back in his possession, Thor charged towards Skurge, and just as the Executioner swung his ax, Thor threw a hammer strike which not only blocked the slash but also caused a loud, thunderous bang with the two weapons collided, one that echoed through the entire ocean.

Back in the Garden, everyone inside the stadium watched Thor and Skurge's match with pure excitement, all cheering as they watched the two powerhouses from Asgard battled it out. The Avengers, they looked worried at first, but soon cheered when Thor used his hammer to parry a right downward slash from Skurge, then responded with a left front kick to his abdomen. The most verbal out of the Avengers was that of the Wasp, who made her joying seeing Thor gaining the upper hand well known. "YEAH! THAT'S IT, THOR!"

The next to cheer the Thunder God on was Spidey, who held up both of his arms in happiness upon seeing Thor gain the advantage. "OH YEAH! IT'S HAMMER TIME!" he exclaimed, while also realizing how dated that phrase sounded, and how it earned him awkward stares from his teammates. "Okay, I admit that was corny, but you all get my point!"

Hawkeye was just about to say something demeaning to the embarrassed Web-Head but looked through the corner of his eye to see Thor throw his hammer in a backhand motion and nailing Skurge in the face, causing him to refocus on the match. "That we do, bug boy," he said with a smirk. "Doesn't mean it wasn't geeky to say, kid."

Spidey disguised his embarrassment to Hawkeye's remark with a sheepish laugh. "Point taken," he replied, then looked back up at the screen to see Thor standing over Skurge, who by this time was down on one knee. "But still, this is the best thing any of us have had all day," thought the Web-Head, and moments later, his joy turned to worry when he took his attention off of the screen and straight forward at the Thunderbolts themselves, who were all angry at seeing Skurge down and yelling at him to get up. All except for the Patriot, who watched the fight with a calm demeanor and with both of his arms crossed. "Especially since bad jokes are the least of our worries right now."

In the Thunderbolts corner, the Patriot watched closely at the match as his teammates continued to scream and curse at Skurge for losing. Even when they see the Executioner recover and use his ax to block Thor's next hammer strike, something in which caused the Thunderbolts to now cheer enthusiastically, the Patriot was still stone-faced behind his faceplate. The fact that Skurge would reject Osborn's extra gadgets to win the match in favor of his own ax, and for that matter, his Asgardian pride, caused the Patriot nothing but aggravation. True, he went through the trouble of having S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sneak into the Avengers mansion and retrieve the ax from their trophy room, the armored leader of the Thunderbolts still felt that a warrior's code of honor was no substitute for a 'Plan B.' As such, whether Skurge won the match or not was of no consequence to the Patriot, for he felt that the Executioner would be a liability for his plans in the future and would eventually have to deal with him once the time was right.

Meanwhile, back in the Norwegian Sea, both Thor and Skurge both go for a strike with their respected weapons, and in the process, they collided one more, and this time, resulting in another sonic boom and having both warriors of Asgard to now be in a deadlock, wrestling for control. As he pushed forward with Mjolnir to try and overpower Skurge, Thor looked deep and hard into the Executioners eyes with both anger and disappointment. "How I pity you, barbarian," said the Thunder God. "Surely, you know that vile villains like Osborn cannot be trusted! Yet you still chose to believe him when I already gave you my word in helping you find Amora!"

Hearing thor mention his beloved mistress's name is more than enough to cause great anger within Skurge, so much so, that the mute Executioner pulled his head back and delivered a massive head-butt to Thor's face, knocking him senseless. With the stunned Thunder God now wide open, Skurge took advantage of this by striking with the bottom of the halve of his ax, nailing Thor in the jaw and sending him down hard on to the platform and on his back. Now with the upper-hand, Skurge raised his awe over his head, channeled his willpower into the ax head, causing it to burn with fire once more, and threw a downward slash, with the intent of slicing Thor's belt-buckle in two!

Fortunately for Thor though, he spotted this attack coming and thus rolled to the right side, causing Skurge to dive his fiery ax into the platform instead.

Upon popping back up, Thor saw Skurge quickly pull out his ax then go for another right-sided slash, which prompted the Prince of Asgard to hold Mjolnir outward and block the slash, all the while staring a hole into his mute opponent once more. "It seems that becoming Osborn's minion has made you forgot who you were dealing with!" Thor said with disgust in his voice, which was then followed by sounds of thunder and the skies darkening. "Now, I shall remind you that you face the God of Thunder!"

At this point, Skurge's eyes grew wide with shock, and even a little bit of fright, which caused him to desperately pull his ax back and go for another overhead slash.

Thor, however, countered this by throwing a right hammer strike and knocked the ax right out of Skurge's hand before the edge of the ax could even touch his face. Then, he counters by throwing an upward backhanded hammer strike, nailing Skurge in the chin and sending him up high into the air. With his enemy airborne, Thor twirled his hammer and threw it upward while still holding on to the strap, which sent him up into the air and after Skurge. Once in the dark clouded sky, the battle-hardened Thunder God raised Mjolnir over his head, allowed lightning to strike it and once it was fully charged, held his hammer in front of his being and shot a lightning blast, which ended up hitting and destroying Skurge's belt buckle, as well as sending him downward and splashing into the sea below.

After defeating his foe, Thor floated back down the platform, which in the process, caused the clouds to disperse, and cleared the skies, allowing the sun to shine down on the Norwegian Sea once more.

Moments later, the Ref Bot soon hovered down to the victorious Thunder God, and in turn, activated the screen showing the announcer's face. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! HERE IS YOUR WINNER! THE GOD OF THUNDER HIMSELF, THOR!"

Thor could hear the reaction from the crowd in Madison Square Garden from the Ref Bot's speakers, and though he would normally welcome the cheers of the roaring public after achieving a hard-fought victory, he couldn't help but focus on Skurge, who by this time was not only frozen via yellow energy but being carried out of the water by two smaller hovering droids. A sight in which disappointed and saddened Thor even more. "He may be my enemy," thought the Thunder God. "But I still gave him my word of honor." Soon, Thor's disappointment turned to anger as he silently made this vow while gripping tightly on the base of his hammer, which now caused streaks of electricity to course through it. "And for robbing me of that opportunity to make good on my word to a fellow warrior, Osborn, you shall face the wrath of Thor!"

WINNER: THOR