They walked on for about another mile through the streets until Strange's magic GPS decided they were close. If they'd thought it had been quiet when they'd arrived, it was positively deserted now. That was strange, especially for a day in July. Maybe this wasn't a particularly touristy spot. Or very densely populated.

They stopped at the side of a deserted-looking building to look at the map. It looked like Mordo was inside the building, and they were only about 300 metres from where he was standing. He couldn't sense any magic security charms nearby, nor could he see any security cameras, so Stephen knew one of two things: he either wasn't expecting guests, or it was a trap. He didn't see how it could be the latter however; what was a better hiding space than another dimension?

"OK then, everyone," whispered Stephen, despite the lack of security measures. He pressed against the wall of the building and Scott and Wanda did the same. "We need to get inside somehow. If one of us can get inside, maybe they can report back and we can formulate a plan. Any volunteers?"

"No, I snook into the Sanctum, but I don't want to sneak in here," Scott whispered back.

"Why not?"

"Any of you can fight back with magic if you go in there and get found out. What am I going to do, throw cards at them?"

"Good point," admitted Stephen. He turned to Wanda, who shook her head.

"I can't conceal myself in there. I'd need to use magic to get in and it isn't subtle. Unless I borrowed Scott's suit."

"No."

Wanda gestured, like, see?

"Why can't you go in, Stephen?" asked Scott.

"Same reason. Besides, Mordo knows me and I can't imagine I'd be welcomed back with open arms. It'll have to be one of you."

"I'll be back," announced Loki, before he vanished before their eyes.

"What?" Strange, Scott and Wanda all said, surprised at his sudden disappearance.

Strange looked around the corner of the building hurriedly. "Loki!" he hissed. There was no reply. A window on the front of the building, one of those small ones you opened in summer to let in a breeze, miraculously opened seemingly all on its own, without a sound. It stayed open for a moment, then closed itself to again.

He turned back to Wanda and Scott again, who both looked as surprised as he felt. "Did you know he could do that?" asked Wanda, which seemed like a very unnecessary rhetorical question.

"No," Stephen replied. "But at least we don't need to argue about who's going to sneak into places anymore."

"Isn't there a spell you can use to turn invisible?" Scott whispered, intrigued.

"None that I know about. Unless you count astral projection, but that separates your soul from your body temporarily, nor are you actually solid at that point," Strange answered, not being able to stop himself from turning around to check whether Loki was back yet, though he knew that was completely pointless.

"You know, I know I've seen him before," Scott insisted. "It's really bugging me that I haven't figured it out yet."

"I'm sure it'll come to you," Wanda assured him. "You've probably heard of him because he's Thor's brother."

"No, seriously, I know I've seen him recently. Like in the last couple of months or something. But where?"

Whilst Scott was puzzling over this, Strange kept looking around the corner of the building instinctively every time he thought he heard a movement. How would they know if Loki was in trouble? Or if they needed to help? He should've thought this through better. For something to do, he conjured some more water for the three of them, and they stood for what seemed like an age, waiting.

After about 45 seconds of silent waiting, Stephen turned to Wanda and whispered, "Do you think something's wrong? It must've been about... 5 minutes, surely."

"It's been 1 minute Stephen, if that," Wanda whispered, slightly exasperatedly. "Stop worrying."

"I know, I know, but what if Loki's in trouble?" Strange fretted. "And we need to help? Or they use the time stone on him? Or just, any magic?"

"Stephen, Loki's a god. I'm sure he's escaped worse," Wanda replied. She sipped her water thoughtfully.

Stephen did a sigh. "Yes, but still-" Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind and he nearly jumped a foot into the air as he tried to ready himself to attack. Wheeling around, however, he didn't see any enemies, just Loki, who was laughing his head off at Strange's reaction. "Loki!"

"Sorry Strange, I couldn't resist," Loki laughed.

"Giving me a heart attack was hardly necessary though was it?" Strange argued. He waited until Loki stopped laughing, which, to be fair, wasn't that long, before asking, "So, mission report?"

"Well, he's in there. Through the window, down the staircase to the basement, with a bunch of wizards. No one suspected I was there, or that we're out here."

"The time stone?"

"He's got it. He had a necklace with it in for some reason."

Strange coughed pointedly. "The Eye of Agamotto is not a necklace."

"Well, it sure looks like one." Before Stephen could protest, Loki continued, "I counted about 20 other wizards, so I guess we'd be able to get in there and take them out."

"Wait, only 20?" asked Wanda, peering at him over the top of her glass. "Anyone else starting to think this is too easy?"

"That's exactly what I thought," agreed Loki. "We might want to make a backup plan just in case. I'm telling you, I went in there and there was no magic protection at all. Anyone could just go in and rob the place. But I'm suspicious... if he can steal the time stone in the first place, he can find a way to protect it better than simply hiding in the same dimension it was taken from."

Even Scott agreed with them, so Stephen supposed that, if the God of Magic, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man were agreeing about something, the Sorcerer Supreme could agree too. "Alright then guys, so how we gonna do this?" he asked, seriously.

Scott had adangerous-looking grin starting to form on his face, and suddenly Strange wasstarting to be a bit scared of him. "Oh, I might have an idea..."