Now, Stephen never really paid any attention in Geography in high school, but he had always been under the impression the higher up you went the cooler it got. (Geography Student of the Year right here.)

The Casino Mephisto had obviously not been to the same high school as he had. The temperature must've increased to at least 70 degrees. That was good for basically no one but Mephisto.

Another negative of their mission? Security doubled the last floor every floor they went up. The four of them saved each others lives so many times and it was way too close for comfort. A couple of times a monster had managed to get to their walkie talkie and both times Wanda had telekinesis-ed it out of their hand only just in time before they called for backup.

Scott loved using his new shrink gun – at least 21% of the monsters they'd encountered had been sent subatomic. (Or not quite subatomic Scott had told them. He'd sent them just small enough to be about the size of something someone called Janet called "tardigrades" and apparently these would eat them. Strange had no clue what a tardigrade was.)

There was like a 17% of monsters that either Wanda or Stephen had taken care of. These methods included either throwing them out the window (making sure the pavement had been truly trashed by dust before being satisfied the monster was dead), into the fire (where they burned to ash) or Stephen reluctantly using magic to end the monster's life (for another century or so) himself.

Then that left the last 62% Loki had taken care of single-handedly. The temperature might have been draining him more than he would admit, but the god seriously had some mad murder skills. The monsters just couldn't keep up with his knifework and magic fighting style, and a couple had actually jumped out the window to get away, which Strange thought was a pretty stupid idea. (Though really he couldn't blame them. But he wasn't going to tell Loki that.)

After about 10 minutes or so, the four of them made it up to Floor 199, so far their Rough Idea going as well as they could've hoped. Above them they could hear loud voices that weren't all speaking English, a lot of shouting and laughing, and a lot of thudding, like footsteps. It sounded like a very raucous party. Which Stephen had almost zero experience in. (Cough cough.) Despite no one but themselves being around, and the loud noises covering up their voices more than effectively, they thought it best to whisper as loudly as they dared.

"How we going in?" asked Strange nearly inaudibly, unable to stop himself from checking over his shoulder. The movement of the flames were playing tricks on his eyes. "Sneak in, then attack?"

Wanda nodded, tying up her long ginger hair as she did so. "I think that'd be best. Loki can go invisible, Scott can shrink, and me and you, uh... can... sneak in unsuspiciously. Is unsuspiciously a word?"

Scott raised his hand hesitantly, then when he had their attention, awkwardly used his hand to flip back his helmet. "I have two things I'd like to add. Er, yes, unsuspiciously is a word. And I've just remembered I have some earpieces that I did not steal from Hank we could use to talk to each other if we, I don't know, get separated at any point." He unzipped one of his many millions of pockets and took out three earpieces.

Stephen took his and smiled at Scott amusedly. "What else do you have in your pockets?"

"Uh..." thought Scott, handing Wanda and Loki theirs. "My phone, a shrinking getaway van, the shrinking/growing guns, the remote for the van, a few sets of handcuffs, may or may not have cards in there for emergency card tricks, emergency comb and my lucky My Little Pony hair clip."

They stared at him.

"I get the first few," Strange said, putting his earpiece in place. "The cards did come in useful last time, I'll admit. But what's with the last two?"

Scott looked defensive. "You never know when you might have need an emergency comb. And the hair clip was the first birthday present Cassie ever chose for me."

Stephen and Wanda still looked confused, but Loki nodded like it made complete sense. "I grew up with Thor. He always had an emergency comb on him just in case he should ever need it." He held up his earpiece, looking at it confusedly. "So, what's with these?"

"Put it in your ear and turn it on," Scott instructed. "They'll allow us to communicate with each other without yelling."

Loki nodded, impressed. "You humans sometimes come up with surprisingly clever ideas." He noticed the look they gave him and added hastily, "I mean the human race has developed a lot over time, OK? It's a compliment, guys. Honestly."

Wanda put on her own, making sure every strand of hair was neatly in place before saying, "Is everyone ready?" and if Strange didn't know better, he'd say she sounded nervous.

Loki must've picked up on the nervousness too, as he said, "We'll be fine, Wanda. Remember if you need any help at all, just tell us and I'll introduce Mephisto's face to my knife."

Wanda gave a laugh, though she still looked nervous about her momentous, dangerous task up ahead. "Thanks, guys. But I think I got this. Now let's go kick some ass."

Only stopping for enough time for Loki and Scott to hi-five Wanda, they made their way stealthily up the stairs, towards absolute chaos, a demonic horde and the looming prospect of murder.