The first hero to respond was Lightspeed, a minor superhero with flight and energy projection, confident in his abilities. He arrived to find a woman standing in the middle of the intersection.
She was six feet tall and muscular, with long, wavy blonde hair. She was wearing a dark purple leather jacket with small metal spikes on the shoulders, and underneath, she was wearing a bright pink leopard print top. She also had a large golden belt around her waist, with light blue denim jeans and tall, dark purple boots fitted with metal spikes at the ankles. She was utterly calm and threw a taxi into a building.
"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to..." Lightspeed started to say.
Titania moved, crossing thirty feet in a second and grabbing Lightspeed by the throat.
"You're fast, but are you also durable?" she asked.
She threw Lightspeed down into the pavement, the impact cratering the concrete. He tried to get up, but Titania stepped on his chest, pressing him down, not enough to kill him, just to pin him down.
You're not who I'm here for. Stay down," she said, looking at the crowd and their cameras, with a helicopter circling above. "My name is Titania, and I'm here to prove my strength," she declared with a smile.
Another hero arrived in minutes. Diamondback (enhanced strength and durability) threw himself towards Titania, power behind each strike. Titania grabbed his fist mid-punch and squeezed, the pain immediate.
"Good power, but weak application," Titania said.
She pulled him forward and headbutted him, the impact sending him backwards and dazed. Titania followed with an uppercut, launching him thirty feet into the air and landing on a traffic light on his way down, still conscious but out of the fight.
Ironclad arrived (powered armour and heavy weapons) and opened fire immediately. Titania walked through the gunfire, the bullets bouncing off her skin, not even slowing her down. She walked up to him and grabbed the barrel of his gun.
She used his own gun as a club to beat him into the ground with three strikes. The armour crumpled on the third, and Ironclad lay in a crater and sparking.
"Next?" Titania called out.
Wonder Man appeared, the crowd cheering. Finally, someone who could match her.
"You need to stop now, before someone seriously gets hurt," he said, landing in front of Titania.
"Someone's about to," Titania replied.
They clashed. Wonder Man hit first, a right cross connecting with Titania's jaw. She rocked backward, catching herself and wiping blood from her lip with a grin.
"Finally, someone who can actually fight," Titania boomed.
She returned the favour, her punch catching Wonder Man in the ribs. He felt it, a sharp pain across the impact.
They traded blows, each strike sending a shockwave outwards, with civilians and reporters scrambling for safety. Wonder Man jumped into the air, diving at her from above. Titania caught him, her feet cratering the street, but she held firm.
She spun, throwing him through a Starbucks window in a shower of glass. He emerged frustrated and angry. Not many people could match him.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"I already said who I was. My name is Titania, and I'm here to prove myself as the strongest woman alive," she declared, advancing.
"You're not even close..."
Titania hit him mid-sentence, a flurry of body shots ending by an uppercut that sent him in the air. He recovered and flew back down, grabbing her in a bear hug, trying to use his ionic energy to disrupt her. Titania laughed.
She headbutted him again, his nose breaking. He released her, and Titania grabbed him by the ankle and swung him like a bat, smashing him through a parked bus and then the building behind it and the next.
Titania stood in the middle of the round, surrounded by the aftermath of her fights, breathing hard.
"Is that it? Is that the best you've got?" she called out.
Silence. No more heroes arrived. All of them were waiting for someone powerful to actually stop her. Titania looked towards the cameras.
"She-Hulk! I know you're watching," Titania bellowed, making sure the cameras caught everything. "These heroes? Weak. They call themselves strong, but look at them now." She gestured towards the destruction. Titania picked up a car, lifting it above her head effortlessly. "You call yourself the strongest woman alive while playing laywer. Acting so casual," she added, throwing the car three hundred feet and crashing into a billboard. "I'm here to prove you wrong and show you this isn't a joke. I'm the strongest woman alive, and I'll prove it by breaking her! You can choose the location, and in twenty-four hours we'll decide for real who the strongest is. Show up, or else everyone will know you're a coward," she continued while walking south.
She leaped, the jump carrying her three blocks, disappearing into the city. Gone before reinforcements arrived and leaving a message that would be all over the news for hours.
Jennifer Walters was sat in her office, watching the footage on her phone. She-Hulk was a public figure, a superhero and a lawyer. This, to her, was just another publicity stunt. Someone looking for attention. Jen dealt with similar situations before and would handle it like before. She called her publicist.
"I saw. Every network is running it. Twitter's going insane. You're going number one worldwide," Marcus said before she could speak.
"Great, so how do we play this?" she asked.
"You could ignore it and let someone else handle her," Marcus suggested.
"Or?"
"You could respond publicly and take the challenge. Throw in some humour too," Marcus added.
"I like that option better. Draft something but keep it light," Jen replied.
"On it."
Jen hung up and watched the footage again. Her strength was impressive, but it was something she could handle. This was just another Tuesday.
Night fell over New York, and Jen finally left her office, walking to her car. It was completely flattened with a note pinned to what remained of the hood.
'TWENTY HOURS. NO MORE JOKES. – TITANIA'
Jen stared at her destroyed car and then at the message. A very clear statement that humour wasn't to deflect.
She pulled out her phone, starting to write something witty, and then stopped. This wasn't someone looking for attention.
This was someone who wanted to be taken seriously. Jen put her phone away and looked at her destroyed car one more time.
"Okay. You want serious? We'll get serious," she said quietly to herself.
...
Mike watched the whole thing start, teleporting to a rooftop halfway through the fight. He'd been in the Marvel universe for two days now.
What's better than a universe of trained and powered-up heroes against an almighty threat? How about two universes of trained and powered-up heroes.
It was time for Sophist to make his debut... again.