I watched Xavier gliding away in his hoverchair, ignoring the curious glances of several of the Imperial Guard being sent my way. The human-looking fellow with purple hair in red, white, and blue seemed particularly interested in me.

Well, I was taking a lot of alien challengers, so why not Shi’ar Imperial Guard? He’d have to initiate, however.

“Hey, MJ,” I bent down to her as she watched them go, too. She also was getting interested looks from several of the Imperial Guard who weren’t particularly interested in the brutal fights at the top of the power scale. “Ask if I might be allowed to handle Jarnbjorn for a minute or two. I was going to ask in Antarctica and never found the right moment.” She slid her eyes over to glance at me inquiringly. “En Sabah Nur has challenged me. I mean to school him hard. Artificing Infusion, Celestial-Cleaving, on my fists. Need a reference point.”

The corner of her mouth drew up in a grim smile. “She’ll send it over for you to fondle and admire in private.”

I smirked as well. “Smiths,” I muttered, waving my hand. “It’s the blood of a freaking god which was important there!” Which was naturally the province of alchemy... although I was sure Sama had her Rune Chemistry all the way up.

“You DID see her chop that Celestial in half, right?” she asked me directly.

“Ho, yeah.” Duh, she’d done basically the same thing I was intending to do to make the cut easier. I hadn’t even thought about it. “Please tell me it’s not Legendary.”

MJ glanced away. “She says you might want to establish a link to the Axe instead.”

“By the power of Jarnbjorn!” I shouted under my breath theatrically, I HAVE DA POWER!

Definitely didn’t say that last out loud, nope, nope.

“She said it’s a +IV stacking on Bane of Legends, but you need a Legendary Weapon to hold it, regardless.” She reached down to touch the hilt of the soulsword at her side. “Talk about expensive special-use enchantments!” she muttered to nobody in particular.

“Yeah, like taking Vorpal just on the off-chance you run into a jabberwock, or a kaiju or something.”

MJ blinked at me. “Jabberwocks are real?” she asked, almost in disbelief.

“Haven’t read up on the primeval realms of the Fey?” was my reply.

She slapped her forehead. “Sorry, I inherited some stuff dealing with old gods and ancient races, and the serpent-men in particular. The nature spirits were just something I propitiated, I only dealt with a couple who had gone rogue, and certainly nothing in Dreamtime.” She paused a moment. “Bandersnatches? Jub-jub birds?”

“Yep. Frumious and otherwise.” I eyed her in amusement. “You’re dueling assorted rabid alien weapon and unarmed combat enthusiasts, and complaining about Alice in Wonderland?”

Her sudden smile was very wide and unfeigned. “Being able to look at all this from Sonja’s point of view is so wonderful. It doesn’t change, so all this is always awesome and new no matter how many times I see it. It’s like living in an era of gods on Terra...”

“Helped by having actual gods around?” I muttered, as we both looked at Hercules, who was staring down the Imperial Guards without effort.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt,” MJ replied with a sly smile, as there was a lot to admire there. “Although Thor is almost embarrassing himself without Mjolnir. He’s almost broadcasting the fact that you want to get him to drop the Hammer.”

He was strong, fast, and powerful, and could brawl decently, but he’d not been able to get past 15th on the main challenge line. Sure, with Mjolnir in hand, he was a total badass at Hercules’ level, but in straight fisticuffs, well, the arts of hand-to-hand combat had advanced a lot, and godly strength and reflexes only went so far.

He had been shocked when he pissed off Jennifer Walters, and the She-Hulk had raged up and started kicking the crap out of him. That’s where he was sitting, just below her on the Rankings after she had gone all rage-happy on him and kicked his arse with her superior defenses.

Over on the weapon side of things, he was using a big hammer the arena had supplied him, and doing okay just on weight and mass and speed of things. However, he’d lost to several masters of the spear and sword, as the hammer was definitely not meant as a dueling weapon, and brutal power only went so far when your opponents were also superhuman and could spit you like a fish.

Pointedly, MJ had stuck him right through the heart, to his absolute astonishment. She was absolutely nowhere in his class in power, but all she had to do was outreach him and get close enough, and she’d cut him down. Thor wouldn’t even finish in the top twenty there, and had lost to several Students with weapons as well.

“Do you not wield a weapon?” MJ asked suddenly, glancing at me. “I can’t remember you ever pulling one out...”

“Oak and Willow form, stick and spear. I don’t use it unless there’s real cause, and so far, there hasn’t been real cause.” I pointed over my shoulder. “It’s stuck to my back under my hair. Powers my Hands as Weapons.”

“Ah!” she said, enlightened. “Are you good?”

“I’m as good with stick and spear as I am with my hands,” I stated calmly, and she nodded slowly, doubtless able to judge that. Definitely not as skilled as she was.

“Not a devotee, then. Then again, you’ve a tremendous amount of power to call on in other areas.” She smiled suddenly. “You should challenge Thor and beat him down. His ego took a huge hit when Jennifer beat him. The Gamma Crew is no joke!”

“Yeah, you got that right, but no. It’s fun seeing him waddle around doing something he’s not a master of, but I prefer to keep things friendlier. If he wants a match, I’ll agree, but I doubt that’ll happen.”

The stand-off had mostly ended, with the bristling Imperial Guard relaxing and wondering what to do now. Hercules, still smiling bluffly, caught sight of the two of us leaning there, and wandered over to greet us.

“Fair Lady Champions of the Arena Lists!” he greeted us with his usual over-the-top godly cheerfulness.

I straightened up and bowed low. “Master Hercules,” I returned his greeting, and Mary Jane repeated the bow. His brown eyes flashed, and he toned it down some as he realized neither of us were fooled by his act.

“You are masters of your own styles and in your own rights, Dynamo, Red,” he replied in a milder voice, “although I thank you for the honor.”

“Well, ONE of us is a master.” I elbowed MJ, who grinned. “I’m just cheating, sir.”

That seemed to amuse him more than anything. “Well, then, I must say you cheat magnificently, Dynamo!” he returned amiably, grinning cheerfully. “Really, from all I’ve heard, a competition like this, ah, cramps your style?” he asked pointedly.

“I can do fisticuffs, sure, but my strong suit is energy projection. I’m only cheating because I can’t use my Fists.” I held up my hands and shrugged. “They don’t have a universal answer to my style out there yet, so I’ve been doing okay.”

“The sticking hands style is indeed annoying. How strong is your grip?” he asked, curious now.

“Basic three times Might rating, although I can juice it.”

His thick eyebrows went up. “Very strong, then.” He tapped his broad and rippling chest with his thumb. “If I may?”

“Certainly.” I stepped forward and put my palm against his chest, Attract activating and locking me to him.

He tensed his muscles under my fingers, stronger than steel cables, but that didn’t break the lock. I pointedly lifted him up, and he slammed himself back down to the floor with heavyfoot. The floor here wasn’t as strong as the arena and protested the pressure for a moment before I let off.

He struck my arm to force it away, and nearly knocked himself over, while I shifted angles to avoid a broken forearm. He tried to grasp my hand, and grinned widely when his fingers slid up and down my arm, unable to get a tight grip as I Repulsed his fingers away.

“Hah, most interesting! And you’ve a magnetic variant, if I saw your fight against that old fart Gilgamesh correctly, right?”

“Yes, although I’d need my gauntlets on to generate the spiral to set up the electromagnetism,” I confirmed. I wasn’t wearing them right now, of course.

He reached up with one finger, plinked my arm, and ki shearing sliced through the Attract at the same time. My arm was knocked away easily, and I withdrew it with the casual ease of someone who’d been expecting the move. He nodded as I did so, seeing how I had anticipated it.

“How did the old fart deal with it?” he asked me curiously. He and Gilgamesh were old friends, but the Eternal was naturally far older than he was.

“He sort of blew cosmic energy out his cells, interfering with the bond or stopping it from forming outright. Some finely controlled TK could do something similar.”

Hercules rubbed his bearded jaw. “Yes, that would be a good way for the Eternals to handle it,” he mused thoughtfully. “I see by your expression you don’t consider it that powerful a move.”

I just snorted. “Red.” I reached over and stuck my hand to her forehead, lifting her off the floor effortlessly.

MJ just rolled her eyes slightly, flicked her finger to my wrist, and the ki shearing dropped her back on her heels, leaving my hand above her. “Aye, a powerful move it is, Lord Hercules,” I said with a straight face.

He guffawed, but his eyes were shrewd. “You can use it on a Forsaken of Red’s level,” he noted in a low voice. Whoops! “That she can foil it is minor, true enough. Yours is much more powerful than the norm, but sticking hands techniques are not unique,” he acknowledged.

“Exactly so, sir,” I agreed. “Soon enough there’ll be people trying to imitate the moves, and others will come up with ways to foil them. Actually, they probably use actually sticky stuff for the purpose, combined with ropes or webs or nets and such.”

“This is true. Taking chemical baths to get that gunk off of you is never fun,” he sighed theatrically. “Can Ben Grimm and Hill foil it?” he asked me pointedly, knowing of my relationship with the two.

“Yes. Instant polarity reversals via Earth-power. They can do the same to my Repulse to grab me, too.”

His eyes opened a fraction at that news. “Ho, that is indeed clever. I shall work on something similar, then,” he nodded, more to himself than to me. “What think you of the newest arrogant challenger?”

“Apocalypse? Very powerful combat shifter, very experienced, probably at least as old as you, if not so experienced, and probably hasn’t really fought many people in his power range. However, that’s Celestial tech that made him what he is.” Hercules’ eyes narrowed. Celestial Tech was totally no joke. “Jarnbjorn, Thor’s Axe, can chop his armor like paper, and he might even have Anointed it with his blood for specifically that purpose.” I let my eyes fall to his arms, pointing at his hands. “I think if you let your fists bleed a bit, you can show him exactly what a God of Strength can do to him.”

“Hoooo...” he mused thoughtfully, unfolding his brawny arms and turning them over to stare at the back of his hands, a cunning light that very few people ever saw coming on in his eyes. I saw the shadows of Runes at play on the back of his fists, quickly concealed by the bronze skin there.

I had a feeling En Sabah Nur’s other challenge match tomorrow was going to be instructive to him.

Which reminded me that I’d better invite Grimm and Mr. Hill over once Jarnbjorn arrived, so they could get a feel for the effect, too.