"What's going on then, Strange?" asked Loki as Stephen walked back over them. They were still at the banister of the platform, and Strange walked up to meet them.

"Well... they're playing Coin Dozer to save their lives," Stephen started, scratching his head. Wanda and Loki looked confused, but Scott understood.

"That old mobile game?" he asked, disbelievingly. "I let Cassie play that when she was four."

"What's Coin Dozer?" asked Loki. He may have been on Midgard for 5 years, but Stephen was seriously tempted to force him to read an encyclopaedia most of the time.

"It's this game," Strange murmured. "It's like an arcade game."

Scott pulled his phone out his pocket. "I'll see if I still have it installed. Cassie was so happy when she won the limited edition golden fish."

Wanda only just caught on, as though she too remembered the limited edition golden fish. "Oh, yeah, I remember that game. Why's Mephisto got them playing that?"

Strange shrugged. "Near as I can figure, if they win, Mephisto will let them go, no torture involved."

"Huh." Wanda wandered down the stairs, looking at the nearest person's machine's screen. She turned back to Stephen. "There was something like this I was reading. I mean, not this, this."

Strange leant on the banister and gestured for her to continue.

"Sometimes Mephisto would trial the souls before they went to torture-ville. The book didn't say exactly how, but I have a feeling it wasn't this originally," Wanda continued. She walked back up to join them again. "Looks like he can't be bothered to fill up all the torture slots he's reserved for you and Loki at the moment."

Strange smiled weakly. "Looks like it. But, it's rigged, right? Mephisto wouldn't let them win."

Wanda frowned. "That's what I thought. So... any ideas how we stop it?"

"What do you mean? Save everyone?" Strange asked.

"Yeah," Wanda said, like it was obvious. She gestured to the rows of Vegas citizens with her spare hand. "We can't leave them here, or they'll all somehow end up in hell. Well, we are in hell now. But we're in, like, the astral hell. This is so confusing."

Stephen's mind felt, for approximately the 18th time that day, like it was melting and combusting at the same time. But, as usual, he ignored it. "Uh, not really."

He turned around to face Scott and Loki, who were both looking at Scott's phone (how did he have signal here?) which he'd opened the Coin Dozer app on. Scott was showing Loki how it worked, and Loki didn't look impressed.

"I don't get it," he said, crossing his arms. "What's the point?"

"There's not really a point. It's something to do when you're bored or for a bit of fun," Scott explained.

"What's so fun about tapping a screen and nothing actually happening in real life?" Loki countered. Scott didn't know how to answer that.

Stephen was secretly a fan of the odd video game every now and again, but he guessed if he'd been born in the 10th century he probably wouldn't understand the point either. However, he decided to interrupt them before Scott could get too carried away trying to win the legendary pink yo-yo or something.

"You two got any ideas how to save everyone?" he asked.

Scott and Loki looked up, exchanging a quick glance as they did so, which made Stephen feel slightly awkward, but he tried to ignore it. Scott put his phone back in one of his many pockets.

"What, you mean to get everyone away from the machines?" asked Loki, leaning against the banister next to Strange. "Can't we just tell them there's an exit?"

Stephen frowned. "If you want to try it, by all means."

"OK. YO!" Loki shouted the last word so loud Stephen, Wanda and Scott covered their ears. "Y'ALL! THERE'S A GIANT EXIT SIGN HERE AND FOR GOD'S SAKE IT'S A MUCH BETTER ESCAPE ROUTE THAN PLAYING A RIGGED ARCADE GAME! GOING ONCE! GOING TWICE!" He turned back to them, and they found it safe to uncover their ears again. "They don't seem interested."

"Couldn't we hack the system?" asked Scott. "If there is a system to hack, that is."

"Or Wanda use mind control," Loki suggested.

"Hm, I could try," Wanda said, messing with her hair as she spoke. Strange noticed she did that a lot when she was nervous. "But I don't like to use it really, not after... not after the last time I used it on a wide scale."

"This is different," Loki reassured her. "You'll be in control of your own emotions this time."

"Wait, wait," Stephen interrupted. What were they talking about? "What are you talking about? What happened?"

Wanda sighed, and pulled her hair absently. "Now isn't the time. We'll find another way. Let's try hacking."

She stalked off down the stairs, seemingly anxious to get away from them. She started walking down the aisle, no one paying any attention to her as she searched for a control panel or other similar instruments. When she was out of earshot, Strange looked at the other two: Scott was looking as confused as he was, but Loki sighed.

"Worth a shot," he murmured, shrugging.

Scott looked between them for answers. "Uh, so... I'm missing something as per usual then?"

"We all are," Strange told him. "Well, Loki knows more than I do. But basically Wanda's had a troubling last few months."

"How do you mean?" asked Scott.

"Uh, I don't know," Stephen confessed. "Wanda told Loki not to tell anyone."

"Oh?" Scott said, turning to Loki with raised eyebrows. "When was this?"

"Last week," Loki said, running his finger across the wood of the banister absently. "When we were planning and stuff we were having a telepathic conversation and she told me about what's been going on, as she thought I'd probably find out soon anyway, with the telepathy and everything. She was really insistent I tell neither of you anything though, and I have no desire to go against her trust."

"But you also said she might be studying dark magic," Stephen pressed.

"Yes, and I can't tell you any more than that, because I don't actually know," Loki answered, lowering his voice even though Wanda was but a mere red-and-black clad speck in the distance. "Just don't ask her about it. She's been really distressed about it."

That just made Strange want to ask more, maybe proving his dark suspicion (oh, gods he hoped not), but Wanda started to make her way back to them and he decided he better not.

"Hey, guys! Think I've got an idea!" Wanda called, beckoning them over. Scott gave Strange one last look, then they went to meet her.