📰 GRAND COLOSSEUM NEWS

SKELETOR SUMMONS THE GRAND COUNCIL

HULK HOGAN ERUPTS AFTER GRUNE SURVIVES EXILE

THE GRAND COLOSSEUM | Behind the sealed doors of Skeletor's council chamber, the most powerful alliance in the realms gathered for an emergency meeting.

At the head of the table sat Skeletor, now master of the Binding Crystal and controller of the portals.

Around him sat his Grand Council: Shao Kahn, Shredder, Kingpin, and Hulk Hogan.

But this was no ordinary meeting.

Hogan was furious.

Grune was supposed to be gone.

Instead, Grune was becoming a problem.

"YOU TOLD ME HE WAS FINISHED!"

Hogan slammed both hands onto the council table.

"You told me Grune was dealt with!"

Nobody answered.

Hogan pointed directly at Skeletor.

"You opened the portal. You sent him away. And now I'm hearing he beat Scorpio!"

Skeletor remained perfectly still upon his throne.

Hogan continued.

"I didn't ask you to give Grune another wrestling promotion! I asked you to get rid of him!"

Kingpin leaned back in his chair.

"Technically, you asked that he be dealt with."

Hogan turned toward him.

"Stay out of this."

Kingpin smiled.

"We're sitting at the same table, Hogan. There is no 'out of this.'"

Shredder quietly watched the argument while Shao Kahn appeared almost amused.

Then Skeletor raised one hand.

The room immediately fell silent.

SKELETOR REVEALS THE TRUTH

"Grune was supposed to lose."

Hogan stared at him.

Skeletor continued.

"Scorpio has destroyed warriors from a dozen realms. Grune should have been another broken body beneath his feet."

Shao Kahn leaned forward.

"But he wasn't."

Skeletor's glowing eyes turned toward him.

"No."

Shao Kahn grinned.

"Then perhaps the human is stronger than you believed."

Hogan immediately snapped back.

"He's not stronger than me!"

Shao Kahn slowly turned toward Hogan.

"I did not say he was."

The tension at the table thickened.

Shredder finally spoke.

"The issue is no longer whether Grune survived. The issue is what he knows."

That changed the room.

GRUNE HAS FOUND KANE

Skeletor touched the Binding Crystal.

Purple energy spread across the center of the table, forming a moving image.

Grune appeared.

But he wasn't alone.

Standing beside him was Kane, another wrestler taken from Earth.

Hogan stared at the image.

"Who the hell is that?"

Skeletor answered.

"Kane. A warrior from the Soviet Union."

Hogan frowned.

"The Soviet Union?"

"From another time," Shredder said.

Skeletor enlarged the image.

The council watched Kane and Grune walking through the corridors beneath the Grand Colosseum.

"They have discovered that they are both from Earth," Skeletor explained. "They have also discovered that they were taken from different periods of its history."

Kingpin's smile disappeared.

"So now they know the portals travel through time."

"Precisely."

Hogan slammed his fist down again.

"THEN SEND GRUNE BACK!"

Skeletor slowly turned toward him.

"No."

Hogan froze.

HOGAN CHALLENGES SKELETOR

Hogan stood.

"What did you say?"

Shao Kahn's hand moved toward his weapon.

Shredder shifted slightly in his chair.

Kingpin simply watched.

Skeletor did not move.

"Sit down, Hogan."

"You brought me onto this council because you needed someone who understands Earth and its wrestlers."

"Correct."

"Then listen to me. Grune is trouble. Send him back to Italy, send him into another century, send him to the end of the universe. I don't care. Just get him out of here!"

Skeletor stood.

The Binding Crystal suddenly blazed purple.

Every torch in the chamber extinguished.

Hogan found himself staring across the table at the ruler who now controlled the pathways between worlds.

"You misunderstand our arrangement."

Skeletor's voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"You advise me."

He stepped toward Hogan.

"You do not command me."

For several seconds, Hogan said nothing.

Then he slowly returned to his chair.

SHAO KAHN HAS ANOTHER IDEA

Shao Kahn broke the silence.

"Why destroy Grune?"

Hogan looked at him.

"Because I want him gone."

Shao Kahn laughed.

"That is emotion. Not strategy."

He pointed toward the magical image of Grune.

"He defeated Scorpio without magic. He survived being thrown into a realm he does not understand. He has already found an ally."

Shao Kahn looked toward Skeletor.

"Test him."

Shredder nodded.

"Agreed."

Hogan looked around the table in disbelief.

"You're all seriously talking about keeping him here?"

Kingpin answered.

"I'm talking about finding out what he's worth."

Then Shredder added something darker.

"And whether Kane and Grune can be turned against one another."

Skeletor smiled.

THE GRAND COUNCIL VOTES

Skeletor returned to his throne.

"Then it is decided."

Hogan immediately interrupted.

"I didn't agree to anything!"

Skeletor looked directly at him.

"This is not a democracy."

Silence.

The Binding Crystal rose from Skeletor's chest and hovered above the table.

Dozens of portals appeared around the council chamber.

Inside them were warriors.

Some human.

Some monsters.

Some magical.

Some mechanical.

Some appeared to come from ancient civilizations.

Others seemed to come from futures that had not happened yet.

Skeletor spread his arms.

"Grune will not be sent home."

Hogan's jaw tightened.

"Then what happens to him?"

Skeletor's skull twisted into a grin.

"We see how long he survives."

BUT HOGAN HAS HIS OWN PLAN

The meeting eventually ended.

Shao Kahn departed first.

Shredder disappeared into the shadows.

Kingpin left without saying another word.

Hogan remained behind.

He stared at the magical image of Grune.

Skeletor noticed.

"Something troubles you?"

Hogan looked toward him.

"If you're not going to eliminate Grune..."

He paused.

"...then I will."

Hogan walked from the chamber.

Skeletor didn't stop him.

Instead, the Supreme Overlord sat back upon his throne and began laughing.

Because Skeletor understood something Hogan didn't.

Every rivalry.

Every betrayal.

Every warrior pulled through the portals.

Every battle inside the Grand Colosseum.

It was feeding the power of the Binding Crystal.

And now Hulk Hogan had unknowingly volunteered to give Skeletor exactly what he wanted.