Author's Note: I do apologize for the delay in posting. Things have been extremely busy. Hopefully, I'll have a bit more time to write in the next few weeks… but to make up for it, here are two chapters!

Chapter 25: Where's Waldo? I mean… Loki?

Thor felt his body being lifted off the ground. "What?" Blackness enveloped him for several minutes, then he was unceremoniously dumped on his arse. He winced, then looked at his surroundings discovering he was in the Bifrost chamber. "Heimdall!" his shout reverberated through the room.

Just as the last echoes of his shout dissippated, Heimdall crashed onto the floor next to him.

"Welcome back, my friend. Where were you?" Thor asked him.

"Midgard," the guardian of the Bifrost replied. "Some place called New Orleans and then Lost Wages."

"I think you mean Las Vegas, but lost wages is probably more appropriate!" Thor chuckled. "I understand my brother still lives. Have you seen him? Can you find him?"

"Yes to the first, and I am uncertain to the second," Heimdall rose, offering his hand down to Thor.

Thor grasped it and stood. Rubbing his backside, he grimaced. "That was a rough landing."

"I concur," Heimdall had moved to stand at the window of the Universe, staring out into it. "I am sorry, but I do not see Loki." He turned away from the window.

"How was he? How did he survive for I swear that blade of Kurse killed him," Thor asked.

"He said something about thinking he was dead, and had arrived in Hel, but then discovered he was very much alive. When last I saw him he was with two elves…"

"Elves? Dark Elves? We destroyed all of them!" Thor interrupted.

"No, not dark elves. These two were of a place called Middle Earth. I have never seen this place, I still cannot. Perhaps that is where your brother has gone." Heimdall returned to the window, staring out. "I cannot find this place, but it appears there is a tenth realm out there, hidden..." he paused, then jerked his head sharply to the right. "I believe Loki has appeared again."

"Where?" Thor asked eagerly.

"Back on Midgard, although he definitely was not there a moment ago."

"In Vegas?"

"No, a place called San Diego," Heimdall replied. "I assume you wish to travel there?"

Thor nodded, walking briskly towards the Bifrost. Heimdall opened it, watching as Thor entered it.

Thor looked around the parking lot Heimdall had sent him to. He noticed several large buildings off to his right with throngs of people traveling between them. As he neared the crowds, he spotted a familiar figure amongst them. "Loki!" he shouted.

The figure turned to stare at him. "Thor? Wow, that's a great costume. You entered in the contest tonight?"

Thor realized his error at once. There was no way this was Loki for the man was too short. "Sorry, I thought you were my brother."

"Oh, your brother is here? He's dressed as Loki? If his outfit is half as good as yours dude, you guys are gonna win!" the Loki replied.

"I, ah, hope my brother is here. Have you seen another dressed as Loki," Thor held out his hand to match his height. "About this tall?"

"No, man, but if I do, I'll let him know you're looking for him," the Loki replied.

"Thanks." Thor looked at the others in the crowd. Some were dressed in costumes, while others were in the regular clothing that humans wore. "Well, Heimdall said he's here…" he ventured into the closest building.

His eyes did not adjust to the darkness of the building, causing him to almost run into a group of storm troopers.

"Hey, anyone seen Jeff? He's late and we need the Emperor if we're going to make an appearance at the Star Wars panel," one of the white storm troopers asked.

"Mike!" A woman wailed as she joined the party. "I told you this didn't fit anymore!"

Thor's eyes almost popped out as he stared at the woman. She was dressed in a brass bikini top with a matching g-string thong with flowing red silk skirts and red high-heeled boots. Unfortunately, she had several rolls of fat popping out over the bikini. As he watched, she caught the heel of one of the boots on a strip on the floor and tripped, falling flat on her face.

One of the storm troopers laughed. "Hey, it's Jabba the Hut!"

"Steve, shut the hell up!" The woman rolled over, struggling to get up. "it wasn't my idea to wear this. I told Mike it didn't fit anymore."

"I'll say," the storm trooper replied. "We still got no one for the Chewie costume, you could wear that."

"I refuse to be a Wookie!"

"A cookie?" Thor asked, completely confused by the conversation.

"You've got cookies?" The woman's eyes landed on Thor. "Oh man! You're hot! AND you've got cookies?"

"No, I do not have cookies, I was just asking why you wished to be a cookie," Thor replied.

"No, honey. Ain't you never seen Star Wars?"

"Sorry, I have not."

"Man, you must be the only one on the planet that hasn't seen it. If you want to join me, I'm going to the viewing later. They're showing all six episodes – back to back!"

"I am sorry, but I must find my brother. Perhaps you have seen him? He is dressed as Loki," Thor explained.

"Ha! There has to be at least a dozen Loki's. Good luck with that."

"Well, thank you anyway." Thor turned and moved down the hall, trying to get as far away from the group as he could.

Thor wandered down the hall, eventually arriving in a large open concourse. Hundreds of people, mostly costumed, milled around pausing as other took pictures of their outfits. One lady dashed up, camera pointed at him.

"Can I get your picture? That costume is awesome!" she gushed.

Thor simply nodded as she snapped a photo.

"Harold!" she shouted. "Get over here! I want my photo with this Thor…" she grinned up at Thor. "If only there were a Loki as good as you! That would totally make my day."

"Have you seen my brother?" Thor asked as another man joined them. The other man took the camera from the lady. She promptly scooted up next to Thor, wrapping her arms around his waist as she posed seductively.

"No, sorry, haven't seen any Loki's today. Did you get a good one?" she asked Harold.

"Yeah… here – " he held out the camera, "take a look."

She grabbed the camera and stared at it a second. "Wow! This is fantastic. Thanks!" Grabbing Harold's arm, she pulled him back into the crowd.

Thor watched them disappear. As he looked across the room, his eyes caught sight of another figure dressed in the familiar black, green, and gold his brother wore. Uncertain if it was his brother, he headed over to check. As he neared the figure, he realized it wasn't his brother, but he continued to approach 'Loki' in hopes that this one might have seen his brother.

"Thor! Cool… you're just in time, I've been looking for you," Loki spoke up.

Thor's eyes widened, as the voice coming from this Loki was distinctly feminine. "You're a woman?"

"Oh, you're not the Thor we're looking for. Sorry, as you're definitely a dude, right?" Loki asked.

"Uh, correct. You mean there is a female version of me?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, haven't you seen the comics? Although my Thor looks just like the male version of Thor. We've also got one who looks like the female version," Loki replied.

Thor considered the comments and realized he was more confused than ever. Deciding not to pursue this line of conversation, he returned to his main purpose. "You wouldn't happen to have encountered a male Loki, about as tall as me?"

Loki shook her head. "Nah. Ain't seen one that tall. Most are too short. I gotta admit, you've definitely got the height for the part." Two Thor's and a Tony Stark joined them.

"Damn! Where'd you find this one?" The male Thor asked.

"He came over, I thought he was you," Loki explained.

The female Thor stared dreamily up at him. "You are soooo cute, I could just eat you!"

"Belinda!" Tony snapped. "Behave yourself."

Thor stared at the figure. The voice indicated this one also was a woman, but she looked exactly like Tony Stark.

"You're no fun," Belinda sulked.

"Well, ladies, if you will, um… excuse me," Thor backed away, accidentally bumping into someone. He turned around, finding himself face to face with a zombie. "I'm sorry…" he stared at the blood dripping off the zombie. "I did not mean to hurt you. Here, let me help you." He reached out towards the zombie.

"No! Don't touch! It's not dry yet… took me two hours to get just the face done!" the zombie shrieked.

Thor realized his mistake, this was another costume. He sighed, shaking his head ruefully he walked away. He had reached the opposite side of the room when he saw another Loki. This one stared directly at him, making eye contact for a second before suddenly darting out of the room. "LOKI!" Thor bellowed.