"A lot of times freedom doesn't mean being free. It is not a right, but a choice. Anyone can be free if they want to. Telling someone to be free is taking away their choice to be free. You don't take away decisions."
A story in which Lilly Richards...
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Thudding in Lilly's head still hasn't stopped.
She has been walking around the hall for some time now, without a soul to be seen. "Where the heck am I?"
She turned left and right for a hundredth time now. "I think I'm going in circles,..."
After a while, she sat on the floor. She pushed her knees to herself and wrapped her hands around her legs. "Why is this happening to me?"
"Lilly?" A familiar voice called her. She looked up and at the far end of the hall she noticed someone standing. "Lilly is that you?"
"Steve? What the heck? Am I going crazy?" She thought to herself.
She slowly stood up. "Steve?" She said quietly. A silhouette walked towards her. She extended her hands, stopping him.
Up close, she saw it was him. But how? He is probably somewhere on Earth, not in the universe. "Am I going crazy?" She asked herself more so than him.
"What do you mean?" Steve lifted her chin up, gazing into her eyes. "I'm here."
She stared back. She didn't know how to feel. It felt so ... surreal. "Lilly?"
She looked back and forth between his lips and eyes. If that was the real him, she wanted to kiss him badly, hug him, feel him.
"Is that really you, Steve?" She asked him once again. He leaned closer, their faces inches apart. "Yes."
With that, she punched him hard in the stomach. "THAT'S what you get for playing me!" She said proudly.
A silhouette slowly loses Steve's form.
Loki.
"What the heck is wrong with YOU?!" She yelled at him. "Are you nuts!? Don't you know I'm your sister!"
"Adopted."
"Still. Why did you do this, you snake?" Loki got up, his hand still on his stomach. "I thought you'll hit harder than that." She knew he was asking for trouble at this point.
"Where's Thor?" She asked him. An evil smile spread across his face. She glared at him. "I think you'll want to see this." With that she followed him.
After a while, they stopped before the iron door. "This is where we part, darling," he said turning to her. She grimaced at his words. "Ew, don't ever call me that."
"Alright, I shall not call you that." Lilly remained quiet.
"I meant as in calling me pet names not 'that'."
"You weren't specific, so..." Before she could punch him, he already disappeared. "Idiot."
On her right she noticed few people standing, cheering. She walked closer, wanting to see what grabbed their attention.
A man was standing in the middle of the arena. There were thousands of people watching him, yelling and cheering. Whatever it was, it was big.
Suddenly, a big hologram of a sketchy dressed man pops up.
"Wow! Look at all of you. What a show, WHAT-A-NIGHT! Who's having fun? Please, I'm your host. Big round of applause for all of our undercard competitors... who died so gruesomely. Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for and so have I," a man says, while all the spectators cheer and clap. "And now, without further ado... it's main event time!!" He ends, earning even bigger applause.
"Making his first appearance, though he looks quite promising, got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. I'll say no more, see what you think. Ladies and gentlemen...," spectators started laughing, "I give to you...Lord of Thunder!"
"Thor!?" Lilly said out loud. Thor entered the arena. He looked different. He cut his hair, trimmed his beard and had a ... tattoos?
Lilly was speechless. She noticed his weapons and a shield. A shield.
The memory of her fight with Steve at the airport came back. The fact that he threw his vibranium shield at her, was shocking. If she ever sees him again, she has to make sure she gets revenge.
Lilly shook her head. What was totally unexpected is who he was fighting against.
"He's undefeated. HE'S THE REIGNING...HE'S THE DEFENDING... Ladies and gentlemen... I give you...," the man stopped talking, as he was interrupted by a loud noise.
Through the door 'walked' out ... Hulk? "Oh my,..." She observed him. He was armoured just like Thor, except instead of a shield, he held a battle axe.
He roared loudly. The crowd went wild.
"YEEESS!!" Everyone went silent.
Hulk stomped around proudly, encouraging the crowd to cheer for him.
"Thor, what have you gotten yourself into...," Lilly said to herself.
She watched Thor happily chat with Hulk. "That's not the Hulk we know, Thor."
"I can't wait to see our Champion walk over this handsome guy," a creature next to her said. "Yes, I heard anyone who challenges him, digs himself a grave. Or herself." The two creatures laughed loudly.
"Loki! Loki's alive. Can you believe it? He's up there!" Thor exclaimed and pointed to a place, where Loki was lounging. "That bitch left me down here, while he gets a VIP treatment?" Lilly said, not believing what she just saw.
"Loki! Look who it is!" Thor exclaimed happily, while Loki looked like he wanted to die instead. "He should've spanked him as well," she thought to herself.
As she looked back to the arena, Thor and Hulk were already attacking each other. "I can only hope that both of them make it alive."
The fight was intense, until Thor punched Hulk across the wall of the arena. Lilly knew exactly what he was doing, when she saw him walking towards Hulk very cautiously. "The lullaby." She thought. That is how Nat calmed down the Hulk, helping Banner transition less horribly.
He touched Hulk's palm very slowly, as if he'll break under his touch. He smiled at him and in the next second, the Loki attack came. "Oh no,..." Lilly thought. She looked up to a VIP place, seeing Loki cheer on his brother's misery. She clenched her fists. She wanted to punch him.
As the fight continued, the two of them started using fists instead of weapons. It got ugly very quickly.
"Thor!" She screamed. Hulk threw him across the arena and landed on top of him, smashing his fists into his head. "Fuck!" She looked around, helplessly. "I bet this goes against the rules, but,... it's worth a try."
She focused all of her energy into her fists. Small flames started dancing around her fingers. She smiled widely, knowing her power is still here. She laughed out loud, looking like a maniac. People around her screamed, causing everyone to turn their head her way.
"Stop attacking my brother!" She screamed as she let her flames hit the back of the Hulk, only to be flicked off of him. Her smile dropped into a frown. "What the—" Before she could finish her sentence, she felt something smash against her head.
