Prompt:The magic trio fighting to see who is the strongest mage while the rest of the Avengers watch after Endgame but with Tony and Natasha being alive.
Word Limit: 1600-1700
Word Count: 1746
A/N: Oh, I have returned after two weeks. I'm only going to update this if I get motivation, but it is complete otherwise. I own nothing. Thanks to reviewer Miva for the prompt.
"Loki, I know that it's just a projection of yourself breathing down my neck," Wanda rolled her eyes, not looking up from her book. She was currently in the main living room of the newly rebuilt Avengers Compound, sitting in on one of the many squishy armchairs whilst reading Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It was a fairly interesting read. Wanda could sense Loki sneaking up behind her, hoping to startle her into attacking him, but being immune to attack because it was only an incredibly realistic projection of himself there. She wasn't falling for that again. Loki (the real one this time) came around the corner where he was hiding.
Everybody had thought Loki to be dead. Even Thor, the most hopeful of them all. Well, Stephen knew that he was alive, but he kept so many secrets that Wanda was beginning to lose count. So it was rather surprising and disconcerting to see him show up on the doorstep one day, pleading a truce with the Avengers. As it could turn out, he was alive this whole time, but was drifting between dimensions without any sense of who he was, as his appearance would change from stress at random moments. Loki still had not a clue how he got back, but Tony was working on some theories with Bruce.
Wanda and Stephen had mostly ignored the arrival at first, finding the newcomer to be arrogant and frustrating, choosing instead to host private intellectual debates over these German literature books Wanda had found in the local library. After all, they didn't need some new person intruding on their rather content friendship. But, eventually, Loki had worked his way into the situation and the three became inseparable. On missions, they were their own little magic squad, as Tony had nicknamed them. And that brought them to now, with Loki trying to surprise Wanda without any success.
"I'm never going to get you again, am I?" Loki asked in exasperation. Wanda shook her head and marked her place in her book before putting it aside. She then stood up and flicked Loki in the face to test if it was the real him. It was.
"You are very predictable," Wanda shrugged, "It's kind of sad." Loki huffed in annoyance and grabbed his book from the side table. Wanda snapped her fingers and the book rushed through the air to her. Loki glared at her and she smiled slyly. "So predictable," Wanda whispered ominously before flinging the book back towards Loki, who caught it with a scoff.
"I bet I could beat you in a duel anytime," Loki muttered, pretending to read but really looking up over the top of his book to see Wanda's reaction. She scoffed and stood up, conjuring a portal with the sling ring Stephen had been training her to use. Stephen then tumbled through the portal to land on one of the couches. Wanda stepped up to him and snapped in his face, causing the older man to abruptly stand up. It was still early in the morning, so he must have still been sleeping when Wanda formed the portal.
"Wanda, I told you to not portal me anywhere before six o'clock," Stephen groaned, "What do you guys need?" Loki looked at Wanda in confusion, to which she returned a devious smile.
"Loki has decided to challenge me to a magic duel and I just really would hate for you to get shut out of this situation, dearest Stephen," Wanda said innocently, flicking her wrist, successfully shoving all of the furniture against the walls to make a huge open foyer. Stephen rolled his eyes at the two.
"Okay, whatever, just let me get coffee first," Stephen muttered, stumbling a few paces before straightening out and walking towards the kitchen. Loki looked at Wanda in disbelief.
"Really, Wanda? That isn't what I meant," Loki tried, but Wanda ignored him. Once she had her mind set to something, it was nearly impossible to deter her. Also, Loki did know deep down that, by suggesting that he would win a duel, he was provoking a duel in the first place. Wanda grabbed her phone and typed something into it, making it so Don't Stop Believing looped through the speakers at maximum volume. Within a minute, all of the Avengers had stumbled into the main living room feigning frustration at the loud noise that woke them from their sleep.
Wanda knew that it really wasn't sleep. She knew that Tony and Bruce were hiding from all of their problems in the lab, that Natasha was distracting herself with S.H.I.E.L.D. filing systems, that Rhodey was working on government reports, that Steve was rereading his books on psychology for about the tenth time, that Clint was exploring the air vents, that Thor was exploring YouTube, that T'Challa was going on extra missions as the Black Panther, that Sam was polishing and re-polishing his wings, and that Loki was simply staring off into space. Stephen was the only one who didn't wait until he passed out from sheer exhaustion to sleep, but Stephen's astral form was still active whenever his body wasn't. Wanda just stayed up reading and trashy, fluffy novel she could find. It wasn't healthy, but none of them wanted to be a hypocrite and call the others out for something they always did.
"What do you need at this lovely hour?" Tony asked sarcastically. Wanda could see the question visible on the other's faces. Stephen entered the room again, now wearing his sorcerer robes and the Cloak of Levitation, casually sipping his coffee out of the mug that had the Dungeons and Dragons logo on it.
"We're having a battle to see who's the strongest mage," Wanda stated cheerfully, "Loki gave me the wonderful idea just a few minutes ago." Loki looked like he was about to protest, but saw that there was no use in getting everyone out of bed for nothing at all. Tony looked resigned and collapsed onto one of the couches that was shoved against the walls. The others rolled their eyes and followed suit.
"I bet on Maximoff. Two dollars," Clint muttered to Thor, who looked extremely offended that Clint wasn't thinking that Loki would win.
"I bet Loki," Thor decided. Loki rolled his eyes at his brother's obvious bias. Stephen drained the rest of his coffee and set the cup down on one of the many side tables. The magic trio came to stand in a triangle around the room, equal distance between them while the Avengers continued to place bets on who would win the fight. Wanda raised her hands for attention, and silence fell almost immediately.
"Rules, okay, um, you can gang up on each other, don't kill or maim or seriously injure each other, yield or whatever if you feel like it, and winner gets bragging rights," Wanda stated, looking around the room, "I think I got everything... Oh, also don't kill, maim, or seriously injure innocent bystanders 'cause that would suck for them. Nat, call out start when you feel like it." Natasha grinned at the younger girl. She hadn't placed any bets, but Wanda had the power of the Mystic Arts and red energy harnessing mind stone magic on her side.
"Go!" Natasha yelled, and the fight commenced.
Wanda and Stephen shared a glance, agreeing in a split second to team up to take out Loki, who was probably able to resist a one person attack but wouldn't expect two people to be casting spells at him at once. Wanda picked up her book with her magic and chucked it at Stephen, who portaled it away. Wanda then opened a portal above Loki's head and the hardback book was dumped onto his head. Loki yelled out in pain, and Stephen used the distraction to conjure magic ropes to tie him up. He broke through them almost immediately, but he had to recover for a few seconds. This allowed Stephen to conjure shields around him and Wanda.
Loki began pelting spells at the two, and they were slowly breaking down the barrier, but Stephen ran across the room and downed the rest of his coffee before rushing back to reinforce the shields. However, Wanda had already let them down.
Her plan was to make it look like she was teaming up with Stephen, but then turn on him, use his shock to defeat Loki, and then battle it out with him. It seemed to be working so far, as Loki had begun to pelt spells at Stephen, not noticing Wanda pelting spells at him. Eventually, Wanda was able to throw Loki into the other room and lock the door using her magic, as well as stop his teleporting abilities.
Now, it was just Wanda and Stephen. They stood still for a moment before hopping into action, building shields to prevent the other from incapacitating them, but still breaking down those shields almost immediately. It was a very impressive display to the audience.
Wanda then noticed Stephen making the hand motions to create a portal behind her to take her by surprise. With a flick of her hand, Wanda removed the sling ring from his hands and slammed it against the wall, causing it to break into a ton of pieces. Stephen gave her an annoyed look, as he would now have to get yet another one from Wong, who hated when he lost important stuff. Wanda was planning on recording the conversation to watch with Natasha later.
However, Wanda still had her sling ring and opened a portal behind Stephen. He turned around almost immediately, but she was able to use her mind control to make him fall to the floor, sleeping. Then, Loki burst through the door confining him and yelled, "I surrender! I yield! Oh, Stephen lost? Nice, I get five bucks from Natasha." Natasha rolled her eyes at him. She hadn't made a bet with him, and she never would have bet on Stephen.
Wanda woke Stephen up and asked, "You yield, right?" Stephen swallowed hard and nodded. Wanda smiled and stepped up to face the rest of the crowd.
"Exchange your bet money or beg Tony for some now, I'm going to finish my book," Wanda stated, picking up her book and heading to her room. Everybody turned to Tony expectantly, who rolled his eyes and stood up.
"This is on you guys," Tony stated, leaving the room. Everybody in the room groaned.