Thanks again for the love for this story, guys; I'm having fun writing this, making the scenes in my head. As promised, the initial negotiations and the first punches thrown. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Mettle Tested

Hera, he is handsome.

By the All-Father, she is beautiful.

The thought flew into her mind before she realized it. She scolded herself internally, for this was the enemy, the intruder who was literally trashing Themyscera; with the strength that she had only seen in the Man of Steel himself. He was a threat, a danger, a foe…

But a handsome one at that, she reluctantly admitted. He held a firm body, adorned with powerful muscles that she could see through his armor. But she was most attracted to his eyes, magnificent blue orbs, like Bruce's-BRUCE! She mentally slapped herself, forcing her focus to return to the task at hand.

Thor was also…slightly distracted by how attractive this flying Amazon (at least he thought that was what they called themselves) was. Yes, he had had his fair share of attractive women, having seen more so in his time on the Avengers-Spiderwoman, Mockingbird, Tigra, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel (that was Spiderman's territory)-but this one…by the gods, there was none like her, her perfect figure, her pleasing ample breasts…

No, Thor! he told himself. Focus! You have a home to return to. And your heart already belongs to another…

A few dozen seconds of silence echoed across the island as the Amazons watched their champion and this intruder stare each other down, unrelenting. He had not responded to her demands, and she had not relinquished her lasso's hold on his hammer.

"I will not ask again, intruder. Either tell me who you are or I will hurt you, bad," Wonder Woman snarled, giving him a glare that would've made Batman proud.

Thor highly doubted she could take him, but now that he was thinking a bit more clearly, he sensed that the flying woman held a type of authority, one that even their Queen asserted to.

"Are you the leader of these people?" he asked.

"I am one of the leaders, as well as their champion and the protector of this island."

"Then I would have words with thee."

Diana was shocked at the cold authoritative tone he used to her. She was never, EVER spoken to like that. The Amazons also knew this, and saw this as a violation of the honor of their champion.

"You dare to speak to MY DAUGHTER like that?!" Hippolyta fumed. "You shall-"

"Mother, please calm down," Diana said to her. Returning her focus to Thor, she replied, "You have decimated not only my people, but my home. Is there a reason I should not just smite you right now?"

"The most obvious reason is that you cannot 'smite' a god."

At those words, Diana had nothing to say. Not due to his arrogance-no, she was used to her opponents being thick-headed and full of themselves; an everyday occurrence. What had silenced her were his words: did he just proclaim himself a god? He dared to compare himself to Olympus?! Diana became infuriated-not only was this intruder threatening her home, her sisters and her own mother, but now her gods as well!

"The other reason is that despite how I may have…introduced myself these last few minutes, I came to island in peace, simply seeking a way home, for I am not of this world," Thor continued. "I wish to make it known that when you soldiers first came to me, I tried to reason with them, explain to them my purpose here, but they refused to hear me and attacked. I merely acted in self-defense. I hope you, fair maiden, are more reasonable than they are, being you say you are one of their leaders."

Although her lasso was not touching any part of his body and just the hammer, Diana sensed he was telling the truth. Although she wanted to beat him into submission for speaking blasphemy against Olympus and decimating Themyscera, it was just instinct to her to be unbiased and seek the truth, not to mention being of any help she could. Thinking this over, she decided to go along.

"Very well, warrior, I will hear your case."

"Diana-" Hippolyta began to protest.

"I sense he is telling the truth, mother," Diana interrupted. "Let us give him the benefit of the doubt." Turning back to Thor, she spoke again: "On the condition that you lower your weapon. I don't wish for any unnecessary force to be used here."

Thor took one look at Mjolnir, certain that no one could possibly use it against him and that it would quickly come to his aid when he called, then back at Wonder Woman. "Very well, I shall oblige your demand." With that, he dropped his hammer to the ground.

Because of the enchantment, only those deemed worthy can lift Mjolnir; the rest are unable. As such is, once Thor's fingers released it, nothing remained to try to support it, save Diana's lasso. So, of course, it came crashing down from where it was raised, a massive clink of metal echoing out, the ground easily dented. The sudden force jolted Diana, causing her to lose her grip on the lasso and to fall down a few feet. She stared at the hammer curiously. 'Could that be the magical element J'onn spoke of?' she thought.

"Unarmed," Thor spoke, regaining Diana's attention. She flew down, retrieved her lasso and walked over to him.

"I am Thor, the Son of Odin, prince of Asgard, a realm you have most likely never heard of. Where I come from, I am known as a hero, among the team known as the Avengers. I doubt you have ever heard of them."

"No, I have not," Diana replied. "I am Princess Diana of Themyscera, the island on which you stand on. In Man's World I am know as Wonder Woman, a member of the Justice League, the heroes and protectors of this planet."

"It would seem we have something in common then," Thor said with a small smile. "We are both heroes of our world."

"Seeing what you've done to Themyscera makes me wonder what passes for hero on your…world."

Thor could easily sense the doubt and mistrusting attitude in Wonder Woman's words, but he decided to ignore them. In all honesty, he'd feel the same way if she had come to his world and created this much destruction in Asgard.

"I understand your skepticism, but as I said, I only tried to defend myself-"

"And attacking the Amazon army here was self-defense?"

"What would you do, maiden, if you came across an entire army came upon you with a thirst for your blood and you had no idea whatsoever as to why? Would you not defend yourself also?" An image of Wonder Woman taking on the entirety of Asgard itself came to his mind, eliciting a small smirk. Unfortunately, Diana saw the smirk, and interpreted a whole other way.

"You believe this to be a game, Thor? You find it funny to have hurt my sisters?! I should smite you where you stand for proclaiming yourself a god, alone! Finding humor in-"

"I do not proclaim myself to be a god. I AM a god," Thor responded matter-of-factly, simple as if he were stating the sky was blue. "I, Thor Odinson, am the God of Thunder as well as the Prince of Asgard."

Diana simply stared at the warrior before her, her anger inside quickly reaching its limit. She was Olympus' champion, the favorite of the Gods. She knew them all by name and could call upon each no matter what: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis and Apollo…the only exceptions were Ares, God of War and Hades, God of the Underworld. This man before her, he who DARED to count himself among their number and elevate himself to their level, she knew was no god. As far as she knew, there was no such thing as a God of Thunder.

"There is no such thing as a God of Thunder," Diana said icily. "There is a God of War, Goddess of the Hunt, God of the Underworld, Goddess of Love, King of the Gods, God of the Sun-"

"Actually, it is the Goddess of War," Thor countered, much to the shock-and unbelieving anger-of the Princess. "I wouldn't consider Hela a goddess, just a ruler of the Dead. My mother is the Goddess of Love, and I don't believe there is a god or goddess of the sun or the hunt. As for the King of Gods, call him by his title: Lord Odin Borson, All-Father of Asgard."

There were no words left to say as Wonder Woman stared at the Thunder God with a shocked expression.

"Now that that is cleared up," Thor continued, "I was saying that I came here to your island because my hammer had detected the existence of a weak point between the magic barriers of dimensions here on your island-"

"Leave at once, or I will force you to leave, intruder." Diana's tone was deathly, and it stopped Thor in his tracks. Five minutes ago, she had been willing to hear him out, and now she was demanding that he leave? What had he said?

"I'm sorry…what?"

"Everything you have just told me-your 'godhood,' the statuses of the gods-those are all lies. Everything you have just said about the gods contradicts everything that is Olympus! Why, therefore, should I believe your story about another dimension and coming here to try and find a way home?!"

Now, Thor had not been in this alternate realm for five hours, and he had already risen in anger. He had been attacked by that watchtower, he had been followed on his way here by someone who might have tried to battle him, and he had been met with nothing but hostility since he set foot on this now hated island. Now, this woman was questioning his power, his divinity…his word?!

"You dare question the validity of my word?! I have been nothing but honest to you!" Thor roared, signifying how furious he had become, enticing the thunder to rumble once more in the heavens. Hippolyta and the Amazons looked skyward, suddenly nervous. The queen suddenly wondered as she remembered the words "god of thunder" in her mind. Was he perhaps…? No, she remembered, there was no god of thunder in Olympus.

…Or was there a new god in their ranks? Would she not know?

Diana was too occupied with the man in front of her to worry about the weather. "You show up attacking my people-and don't even try the self-defense excuse!-and now you claim to be among the Gods of Olympus! Lies, blasphemer," she roared back, her eyes now burning with anger. "How did you expect me to believe such deceit?"

Suddenly the rumbles in the skies ceased, and now dark storm clouds began to slowly and gradually form over Themyscera. In his own universe, anyone who knew Thor that saw this meant that they should stay out of his way if they valued their lives-he was going to have his way and anyone who tried to stop him-usually a supervillian-would be on the receiving end of his hammer. In this universe, no one knew that, and he had forgotten that detail.

"I am done speaking to you. This…Olympus, as you call it, is home to these 'gods' of yours? Very well, then I would have words with them." His cold tone and dark glare shocked Diana, as did his words. He was unfazed. "Do not try to stop me." He began walking to Diana, to make past her, but she stopped him with a hand to his chest.

"You will go nowhere, let alone speak to Olympus-"

"Olympus is not the home of the gods, woman. The home of the gods is Asgard, the Realm Eternal."

With this, Diana lost all patience. "You will go nowhere-" she started, using her strength to force him back. She didn't expect him to grab her arm with his powerful and strong hand and thrust her aside like a rag doll, and she landed on the ground. All around, the Amazons, including Queen Hippolyta, gasped in horror and astonishment at what they had just seen-a man had just pushed their princess, the Champion of the Amazons, the most proud woman on Themyscera onto the ground as if she were nothing. So great was their shock that they didn't have the typical Amazon sense to immediately kill him.

"I am not asking. So speaks Thor, Son of Odin," the Asgardian said with ice in his voice that would've frozen Hel before continuing in the direction of which he was going. Suddenly he realized two things: one was that he had no idea how to contact these gods Wonder Woman was speaking of-he was starting to think these weren't Asgardian gods; and two, he had left his hammer on the ground when he had agreed to being unarmed for the negotiations. He turned, hand stretched out, to summon his weapon back to him. "Mjoln-"

KRAKABOOOOM!

He never saw it coming. Wonder Woman, after recovering from the initial shock and humiliation of being thrown away like a toy, struck back. And she did it with a vengeance, not hold back any of her gods-given strength. Her fist, empowered by her strength and the momentum of her speed, connected with Thor's faced, sending him flying the length of the island, past the shores and into the waters a few dozen miles out. The resonating sonic waves from the punch went for miles, forcing Hippolyta and the Amazons to brace themselves by kneeling under their shields.

Once the waves had settled, the woman warriors stood up to see their princess staring at the hammer left on the ground. Diana was…well, curious about this hammer. It was a weapon that she had seen easily devastate Themyscera, manhandle the entire Amazon army…It was a great weapon indeed, she thought.

"My daughter," came the voice of Hippolyta as she walked over to her. "The intruder-"

"He won't be waking up anytime soon, mother," Diana said with a soft smile as she looked back to her mother. "I once knocked out Superman himself with that punch-for a week, AND he was still sore from it for quite some time afterwards." The memory actually relinquished a chuckle from Diana's lips. "He's no longer a threat to us. I will get him in a few minutes and we shall bind him and hold him until the Justice League comes."

Hippolyta smiled. "Very well, my little sun and stars. I am just glad he did not hurt you." She turned to the Amazons. "Begin removing all debris and let's start rebuilding, sisters. Let us make haste and ask the gods to help us in this difficult moment." At their queen's words, the women began toiling away at repairing the damage Thor had caused.

General Philippus and Hippolyta then joined Diana by the hammer. "It is indeed a mighty weapon," the Amazon general spoke.

"Yes, general," Diana agreed. "I can see how that man was so powerful-with this hammer; he could've destroyed the island. We should hold it also until the League arrives." So Diana grabbed the hammer's handle and made to pick it up, only to have it slip out of her hand. It had not moved an inch.

"What the hell?" Diana exclaimed. She tried again. And again, and again…her struggle soon caught the attention of the nearby Amazons working to repair the carnage.

Diana could not lift this hammer. Neither could Hippolyta nor Philippus.

"My lady-the hammer!" the general spoke in surprise, pointing at the hammer. Diana and Hippolyta quickly saw what she meant-words had begun glowing on the hammer's side, clear words that at first were in a dialect that they didn't understand, but soon they switched to English.

Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

"Worthy? What does that mean?" Hippolyta questioned. Diana, though she had heard her, was thinking. Clearly this weapon was a source of power, but according to this inscription, only the worthy could lift it. But that man, he who had attacked them without mercy…HE was deemed worthy, and she wasn't?

"I am not sure, mother," Diana admitted. "But this hammer cannot be left here. Philippus, bring some of your guards and have them dig this-"

FADABOOOOOM!

Diana suddenly found herself on the ground, screaming in response to her back and front searing in pain at the impact onto the hard ground and the impact from a powerful kick to her stomach. All around her, the Amazons began screaming in terror and surprise. Diana looked up to her attacker, and was shocked and horrified. "Hera, no…"

She had used that punch on Darkseid himself a few times, once against Orion and numerous times on Ares. Hell, that punch had felled Superman as she had stated earlier. He should have been out cold.

But there, above her, stood Thor, God of Thunder, his boot on her stomach and his eyes filled with a fire he had not had since he had battled Surtur those many years ago.

"You have made a grave mistake, woman."

With that, Thor let loose a vicious war cry as his fist connected with Wonder Woman's face, causing ripples to release from the impact. Diana had never been hit like that in her life except by Doomsday, Darkseid and Superman. She screamed in agony at the pain she was now experiencing.

Thor never took her eyes on her as he stretched out his hand, summoning Mjolnir to him, all the Amazons shocked at the hammer flying into his hand and at the sight of their all-mighty Princess and Champion on the ground in such defeat.

Once Mjolnir and Thor united as one again, the skies roared to life as lightning decorated the heavens in gigantic streaks, the thunder rumbling. Thor whirled his hammer in his hand, the anger and fury he had felt from the moment he had been attacked on this godforsaken island now finding its outlet.

"YOU DARE STRIKE THE GOD OF THUNDER?! YOU WISH TO TEST YOUR METTLE AGAINST THAT OF AN ASGARDIAN?!" he roared. "THEN SO BE IT!"

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I tried to have a clash of faith here, with Diana not believing Thor at all due to her faith in her gods and her refusal to believe in his divinity, therefore not believing his "story." Hope that came across.

Next Chapter on Monday: The event we've been waiting for-THE BATTLE!

WHO SHALL REIGN SUPREME?!