"Soren… Thor will be alright, won't he?" Freyja asked as they moved through the neon-lit streets of Sakaar. She kept looking back toward the arena as if expecting the Hulk to chase them down.
Thor's unconscious fall replayed relentlessly in her mind.
"He'll be fine," Soren answered, though his tone was more focused than comforting.
His mental power cast a wide net across the city, tracking Thor and the Hulk as they were transported into one of Grandmaster's fortified facilities.
Every corridor and every security field was laid bare to his senses.
The building was less a hospital and more a containment vault… thick plating, reinforced walls, and a dozen overlapping suppression systems.
Not to keep intruders out.
To keep the Hulk in.
Inside, both Thor and Hulk were placed on medical beds, their bodies smeared with iridescent Sakaaran healing gel.
Primitive compared to Soren's Everlife, yet effective enough especially with the Hulk's absurd regeneration. Thor's injuries were already kniting together at visible speed.
"He's recovering," Soren murmured. "Give him a few minutes."
By the time they reached the towering facade of the building, blazing with advertisements and holograms Freyja was already halfway up the steps.
"Then let's go in! Thor was unconscious if anything happened, Asgard~"
Soren squeezed her hand gently, grounding her panic. "Relax. I'll take us inside."
A heartbeat later, they vanished from the street slipping between folds of space.
The interior shielding was impressive by Sakaaran standards, dense with exotic particle-jammers and dimensional locks. None of it slowed Soren for even a moment.
They appeared inside a dim recovery room.
"Thor!" Freyja gasped. He lay unconscious on a wide bed, breathing steadily.
She rushed forward only for a hostile growl to sound through the room.
A hulking silhouette detached itself from the shadows, green skin catching the dim lights. The Hulk towering shoulders heaved.
"Who are you?" He rumbled. "How… you get in here?"
Freyja's immediately raised her guard, golden energy gathering in her palms.
But Soren stepped between them.
"Bruce. Banner?" he asked probing.
Something flickered in the Hulk's eyes…
Actual… fear.
A strange sight to behold on a creature worshipped for rage.
"I… I know you," Hulk muttered, taking a step back. His booming voice softened into something strangely small. "Seen you before."
His memories were fragmented, scattered like broken glass. Bruce Banner was nowhere in sight only the raw, childlike force of the Hulk remained.
Yet somewhere deep inside, Banner's instinctive fear of Soren lingered enough to signal Hulk.
Soren observed him carefully. "It seems you really have become someone else entirely…"
"Do you remember Earth? Tony Stark? The Avengers?"
Hulk blinked hard, trying to force loose the fragments in his mind. Only blurred impressions surfaced… loud voices, frightened faces, gunfire, pain, solitude.
Finally, he hung his head.
"Earth hates Hulk," He said with a surprising hint of sadness. He thumped down onto the ground heavily, legs folded beneath him like a sulking child.
"People scared. Don't want Hulk."
Freyja's defensive stance slowly eased.
Soren let out a small sigh. Standing before him wasn't a monster, only an abandoned child in the body of a titan.
"Ahhhh…" Thor's eyes fluttered open, the haze of unconsciousness slowly lifting. His body, healed by the strange Sakaaran medicine, every ache faded with each breath.
As he focused, familiar voices reached him… voices that stirred hope.
"Soren? Freyja? This… this can't be real!" Thor rubbed his face in disbelief. But as his vision cleared, he saw them standing there… Soren calm yet ever watchful, and Freyja filled with concern.
"It's really you!" Thor nearly leapt from the bed. "Why are you here? Were you… caught by that pervert too?"
"We're here to save you!" Freyja snapped, a flash of exasperation in her eyes. "Me? Caught by the Grandmaster? Are you serious? Don't be ridiculous!"
Relief surged through Thor. With Soren here, he finally felt the grip of the cursed championship battle loosening.
Soren's mental energy rippled outward, scanning Thor's body. His eyes immediately locked on a small, glowing device clamped around Thor's neck… the insidious tool that had forced him into the arena.
With a sharp motion, Soren reached out, and the device sparked violently before exploding with a small pop.
Thor hissed in sudden pain as the shards of energy fizzled away. He grabbed the smoldering fragments.
"That thing!" Thor roared, his voice echoing off the walls. "If it weren't for this damn device, I would have torn that Grandmaster apart!"
"Thor," Freyja said softly, stepping closer, "Soren already told me everything."
"Asgard… the fight… the whole time, we've been tracking you. We came straight here the moment we could."
Thor's fists clenched, his fury now redirected at the orchestrator of his torment. "That sister of mine… that monster!"
"She only saw me as a target to destroy, not as family. I should have ended her when I had the chance! We need to return now! Stop her before she does anything else!"
Soren's eyes softened slightly, observing Thor's resolve.
The storm of battle in the arena may have passed, but the war for justice and vengeance was far from over.