The Multiversal Road-Trip: Book Five

19

The first step of Stephen's new plan went perfectly to plan, pretty much.

Well, that was if you counted "Perfectly" as they returned to their own dimension without a single hitch apart from the fact that got caught in limbo for a couple of minutes before Stephen got them back out (Wanda kept saying she'd heard voices, but no one else had heard anything). If perfectly was sling-portal-ing to Las Vegas and celebrating because they weren't actually dying of heat this time. If perfectly was getting to The Casino Mephisto, getting called Mr Doctor by the receptionist again (how hard was it for people to understand what his name was?) and having to get Scott to take over because he came here more often and for some reason he was more recognisable. But overall, they managed to get into the casino free of charge and now they were on their way to speak to the devil.

So... yeah. Perfectly.

But before they went to go speak to Mephisto, it was time for a look around.

"Well, this is quite the trip down memory lane," Loki said as they wandered through the lobby. "Can't remember it looking like this last time though. There are actually humans in here."

"I know right? It's changed so much," Scott said. Then his eyes lit up – or maybe it was the light of the fire reflecting in them – and he added, "Oh! I forgot to mention – I have to show you the awesome new thing they put up for us. Come on."

Scott led Stephen, Wanda and Loki through the crowd of, yes, humans in the fiery lobby (the flames were harmless now – their magic was still going strong on that part) and they received a surprising lack of recognition – only a few glances their way. He led them right to the very back of the room, where there was a solid stone wall with doors leading off further into the casino, but the wall was also adorned with something else that hadn't been here the last time...

"Is that..." Wanda started, but Scott finished off.

"Yes. It's a shrine for us," Scott nodded.

OK, well, Stephen wouldn't have used the word shrine. It wasn't quite a shrine. But the wall was covered in framed photos of not only the casino, but them – snapshots of the four of them at the court case wearing their suits (and in Wanda's case a not-quite-suit), blurred photos of them while they were sorting the public out afterwards and even random profile shots of them that they'd got from who knew where (though Loki didn't have one of these). In every single photo, Stephen noted, he was always pulling a face.

Why couldn't he be normal in photos?

In the centre of the photos, there was a big plaque that read:

Thank You to Mr Stephen Strange, Ms Wanda Maximoff, Mr Scott Lang and Mr Loki for imprisoning Mephisto and allowing us to enjoy this fantastic casino – Untitled Casinos

Why? Just... why?

"How dare they?" Stephen practically growled, and the other three looked at him.

"Uh, this is a good thing, no?" Wanda said, eyebrow raised at him.

Stephen couldn't help thinking that yes, this was good because Wanda was clearly better. "Well... yes. But they got my name wrong. It's Doctor, not mister. They always, always, always, always, always do this."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you want us to do about it? Get them to change it to Mr Stephen Doctor?"

Scott spluttered, but Stephen just rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Mr Loki."

It was Loki's turn to roll his eyes. "Why the hell did they put that? They could've at least had the decency to find out my surname. Or made one up."

"No-Middle-Or-Last-Name," Scott said, and Wanda just looked a bit confused. But she got past it quick.

"Well, at least they're still giving us recognition," she shrugged, and then some tourists walked past, also looking at the shrine thing. (OK, not shrine. Maybe a dedication to their services?) Wanda's expression darkened and she edged closer to Loki as though trying to get further away from the people. He guessed social situations still weren't great.

"They're so cool, aren't they?" they overheard the lady say to her friend.

"Not as cool as Iron Man," the other lady pointed out.

Loki cleared his throat, shocking the two women. "Heard that."

"Oh my God!" the two women exclaimed, then promptly, forgetting the initial shock, asked for a selfie.

Stephen, Loki and Wanda just stood there emotionless while Scott and the women held up peace signs. Afterwards, they tried to engage them all in conversation, but Stephen and Loki immediately dismissed this, telling them they had somewhere to be.

"We should take a selfie together, you know," Scott said, as they made their way down into the basement. "We could have it printed. Or we could make a scrapbook! That'd be cool."

No one dismissed the idea, but that might have just been because they didn't want to hurt Scott's feelings.