QUARTERFINALS: MS. MARVEL VS. LUKE CAGE
The location for the third match-up of the Contest of Champions tournament was now the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Here, a thirty-foot hovering platform floated over the pond and also had floating holo-screens above it so the thousands of spectators, be it from behind the energy ropes stationed around the pond or to the people watching on the Lagoon Bridge, could watch the match. Finally, both Ms. Marvel and Luke appeared on the platform, which caused the spectators to applaud.
For Ms. Marvel, this was a pleasant surprise, seeing is how that this was her hometown and tried to soak it all in as she looked around the park to see all the cheering Avengers fans, even allow a smile to appear on her face. "I'm home!"
Luke overheard Ms. Marvel's astonishing words and thus gave her a curiously raised eyebrow. "You don't say?" asked the Hero for Hire, causing the Warbird to turn and face him. "Well, no offense, but I got friends that I need to save," Luke then proceeded to pop the knuckles in both of his hands. "And to do that, this is going to have to be the town where you get beat."
Ms. Marvel replied to this by pounding her fists together. "Don't be too sure, 'Power Man," said the Warbird, for she not only had comrades of her own to save, the Wasp chief among them, but her more competitive tomboy side took this as a challenge.
Meanwhile, back in the Garden, the crowd watched both Ms. Marvel and Luke arrive in Boston and were itching with anticipation for the upcoming match.
One person who seemed to be the most invested, besides the Avengers, was that of the Iron Patriot, who kept his narrowed eyes at the screen. "Well, I suppose I should be furious that no traps were installed in the Boston battle station," he thought to himself, then smirked behind his faceplate. "But it doesn't matter. They're both Avengers, meaning whoever loses this match will be one less annoyance to worry about. And I'm fully prepared to deal with whoever wins." Suddenly, the Patriot heard a beeping sound coming from inside his helmet and grunted in aggravation when he saw the photopic of Maria Hill, knowing that she must the one calling him. "Armor, answer," he ordered, and at that moment, the pic disappeared and replaced by an icon showing Maria herself broadcasting from the main bridge of the Helocarrier. "Whatever it is, Hill, it better be important!"
"Sir," said a somewhat reluctant Maria on the other end. "We may have a problem."
Back in Boston, the announcer, via the Ref Bot, had just finished in making sure that Ms. Marvel and Luke understood the rules, and at that moment, mentally commanded the bot to fly up high into the air as always. "BEGIN!"
Upon hearing those words, both Luke and Ms. Marvel got the match underway by charging towards one another with both of their right fists cocked back. It wasn't long before they each threw a punch, and their fists collided, causing a massive bang, and while Luke backed away and shook his hand in pain, Ms. Marvel took the shock of the impact and continued her assault by dashing towards Luke and went for a left uppercut.
Luke, on the other hand, spotted this attack and quickly leaned back, avoiding the blow. Wanting to end this quickly, the Hero for Hire through a left legged front kick, aiming for Ms. Marvel's belt buckle.
However, Ms. Marvel quickly saw this attack coming and held both of her arms down in an 'X' fashion over her belt buckle. While she succeeded in blocking Luke's kick, the force of the blow managed to send her reeling back a few feet and stopped herself from going over the edge and off the platform.
Luke saw that Ms. Marvel had inadvertently left herself open while trying to regain her bearings, and as much as he hated to do so, he knew that he had to win the match and get one step closer to saving Iron Fist and Ant-Man. And so, with a reluctant sigh, the Power Man charged towards the disoriented Ms. Marvel.
Fortunately for the Warbird, though, she looked forward and saw Luke coming her way, and as he got close enough, threw a straight punch towards her buckle. Acting fast, she jumped up into the air and over Luke's head, where she then made good use of her flying ability by staying airborne and hovered towards the center of the platform.
A startled Luke barely managed to stop himself from going over the edge. In an impressive show of balance, he managed to turn around, look up and see the airborne Ms. Marvel, and thus used his sturdy legs to leap towards the Warbird with the intent of tackling her down.
However, Ms. Marvel saw Luke coming her way, and once he was close enough, she used her hands to grab his right arm and gave him a judo shoulder throw, sending him down hard on to the platform. Moments later, she dived down feet first, going to plunge the bottom of her boots into his belt buckle and win the match.
But while on his back, Luke had managed to shake the cobwebs out, and as he looked up, he saw Ms. Marvel coming down towards him. He thus rolled to the right side, causing the blonde-haired Avenger to ram her feet into the platform instead, which resulted in her creating a significant dent beneath her feet. After saving himself, Luke immediately got back up and ran towards Ms. Marvel, who by now was floating up back into the air.
Ms. Marvel soon spotted Luke coming towards her and throwing a right hook, forcing her to hold both of her arms up to the right side to block the punch, and responded with a quick left back-fist to the Hero for Hire's face. After stunning him, the Warbird threw a right hook of her own, nailing the already dazed Luke in the jaw, which resulted in him staggering backward, but not off his feet. Seeing that Luke was indeed tougher than he looked, Ms. Marvel charged towards him and attempted to bring him down by throwing a left hook.
However, Luke was able to recover quickly and thus held up his left arm to block the punch coming his way.
But even after having her attack stopped, Ms. Marvel pressed on by throwing a right jab, with the hopes of stunning Luke again and leave him open for a much harder blow.
The Hero for Hire, on the other hand, managed to not only use his right hand to block the punch coming his way but also used his left hand to grab the Warbird's wrist, all so Luke could use his other hand to grab onto Ms. Marvel's right ankle and hoist her over his shoulders. Moments later, he dropped backward and drove his blonde-haired opponent down on to the platform hard. After sitting up and getting back up to his feet, Luke looked down at the fallen Warbird, who was still holding her lower back in pain and leaving her belt buckle exposed. This prompted Luke to wind his right fist back and proceed to drive his knuckles towards Ms. Marvel's buckle and end this match.
Fortunately for Ms. Marvel, though, she proved to be just as fast to regain her composure and thus rolled to the right side, causing Luke to punch his fist into the platform, making a dent but not hard enough to drive his entire hand through the steel. Afterward, Luke looked straight ahead to see the newly recovered Ms. Marvel was now right in front of him and throwing a low right legged front kick, forcing him to use both of his hands to block the blow.
Ms. Marvel still refused to give up, and thus quickly pulled her right foot back, all so she could use her left leg to throw a roundhouse kick, aiming for Luke's head.
Luke stopped this attack by holding up his left arm to block the kick and pushed her foot away from him. As he went to stand up, he threw a left uppercut, to which Ms. Marvel avoided by ducking sideways to the right side.
After saving herself, Ms. Marvel made her move by bending her legs and simultaneously shifted to the left side, where she popped up and went for a left cross.
However, Luke anticipated this and thus held up his left arm to block the punch, then managed to sneak in a right middle punch into Ms. Marvel's abdomen, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to bend forward. Luke then place the Warbird's head between his thighs, wrapped both of his arms around her mid-section. Moments later, Luke lifted the winded Ms. Marvel up over his shoulder, all the while holding both of her arms out in a cross position over his head. A split second later, Luke dropped to his knees and threw Ms. Marvel down back first on to the platform. Now in control, Luke stood back up and stood over the Warbird, laying on her already aching back. "You fought a good fight, lady," said Luke, sounding disappointed as he wound his right fist back. "Sorry that I have to do this." The Hero for Hire then droved his fist downward, with the Warbird's buckle once again the target.
Suddenly, Luke's punch was stopped when Ms. Marvel used both of her hands to catch the Power Man's fist before it could even touch her belt buckle. Then, mustering both her physical and inner strength, she pushed Luke's fist upward as she got up, with her entire person glowing the bright golden Kree energy as a result. "I was about to tell you the same thing, Cage," Ms. Marvel retorted, then pushed his fist outward.
Despite his punch being stopped, Luke remained on high alert, and sure enough, he spotted Ms. Marvel had approached him and threw a left legged crescent kick. This caused Luke to act by bending his knees to not only duck underneath the kick, but also shift to his right side, and upon popping up, attempted to counter-attack by throwing a left elbow strike.
The glowing Ms. Marvel responded by not only holding up her right arm to block Luke's elbow, then with her other hand, threw a quick jab into his left side, which caused him to wince in pain as well as bend down slightly to that side. This gave the blonde-haired Avenger the time needed to levitated up a few inches off the platform, all so she could reach down and wrap her arms around the bending Luke's waist. Thanks to her Kree enhanced super-strength, Ms. Marvel lifted him up off the platform and on to her right shoulder, with the Hero for Hire himself lying upright. Seconds later, she fell forward into a sitout position, while Luke himself flipped forward and landed on his belly so hard, it caused his belt buckle to shatter and caused yellow energy to engulf his body and freeze him in place.
All this resulted in the Ref Bot to hover over to Ms. Marvel as she was standing back up on her feet, and the announcer's face appeared on its screen. "Here is your winner…MS. MARVEL!"
As her hometown crowd cheered her on, Ms. Marvel looked down at the defeated Luke Cage sadly, knowing that upon beating him, she sent him to join Wasp and the rest of the Avengers that lost the matches as prisoners of the mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. "You better be ready, Osborn," she thought bitterly. "Because the beatings I gave the Skrulls, Ronan and the rest of the Kree have all just been trumped by the beating I'm going to give you!"
WINNER: MS. MARVEL