Thor raised an eyebrow and spun Mjolnir in his palm, its head tracing a silver-blue arc through the air.
He stepped back twice, his boots leaving deep marks in the training mat, and took his stance with a smug smile that said, You're about to find out what the real thing feels like.
"Come on."
Natasha wasted no more words.
She drove her right foot into the mat, leaving a dent in it. Then she shot toward Thor like a spring released after being compressed to its limit.
Her red ponytail streamed straight behind her, and flowing patterns of light rippled across her silver-blue armor as she charged.
Thor shifted half an inch aside. Mjolnir swept in from the flank, wrapped in dazzling blue lightning, and struck straight toward Natasha's waist.
Natasha brought the Square Hammer across her side and met the blow head-on.
The instant the two hammers collided, a blinding blue-white flash exploded above the Training Ground!
Boom!
A shock wave burst outward from the point of impact, sweeping scattered protective gear and towels off the mats and sending them tumbling into the glass dome.
The glass shuddered under the fading shock wave, and fine dust sifted down from the gaps in its frame.
The force of the rebound knocked Thor's wrist back slightly. His pupils contracted.
That force...
Something's wrong.
A knockoff couldn't withstand a strike at full strength, much less send the recoil all the way into my wrist.
Natasha gave him no time to process it. She twisted halfway around in midair and swept the Square Hammer upward toward his jaw, its head wrapped in silver-blue lightning denser than before.
Thor tilted his head out of the way, dropped his hammer to block the strike, and drove a knee toward Natasha's side.
They darted across