No one moved.

Loki reached for Stephen's shoulder and gripped it. "Strange, that isn't your friend," he muttered. Strange ignored him, stepping forward, so Loki tightened his grip on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Listen to me," he hissed. "You know I'm right."

Mordo's eyes were oil-slick black. His gaze shifted from Strange to Loki. "You've made a new friend, I see, Stephen," he said.

His voice grated on Loki's ears. There was something wrong about it.

Hesitantly, Strange held out a hand to the other sorcerer. "Karl," he said. "Let us help you."

Mordo laughed and all three of them flinched at the sound. Nails on a chalkboard. Metal against metal. The darkness of another dimension. "Help me?" he asked. "I'm not sure what your help is worth. I've seen you upend the natural balance with my own eyes, and yet now you profess to be dedicated to it. Or are you?" His gaze found the Eye of Agamotto, then moved to Wong. "I'm disappointed in you, old friend," he said.

"The feeling is mutual," Wong said.

Strange held out a hand again. "Look, whatever Ultimus has promised you, it's a lie. C'mon, Karl, you want to talk about upending the natural balance? He's destroying this universe. You know that. I know you know that."

The other sorcerer's black eyes flicked to Loki, who shifted his grip on his daggers. "Do you know what I came to realize, Stephen?" Mordo said conversationally. "After we learned of The Ancient One's betrayal? I realized that what this planet has—" He took a step forward. "—is too many sorcerers. Somehow, I'm not surprised you've taken up with one of the spares." His mouth curved in a hard smile. "I come with a message, Loki of Asgard. Your sister Hela can't wait to meet you."

Loki bared his teeth and tensed, but a warning look from Strange kept him in place. With another laugh, Mordo said, "Oh, Stephen, you've tried so hard, haven't you? And you don't even know. You don't even realize—your problem is right in front of you. Or should I say, it's standing next to you." Both Strange and Wong looked at the only natural place to look after a comment like this: at Loki, standing between them, at their sides. Mordo's expression slackened, then his face seemed to undulate, like something under the skin was trying to break free. His hands twitched and his neck jerked, but then he looked at Strange again. "The bill comes due," he said. "The natural order has been destroyed, and the bill comes due."

Behind him, the portal flickered and changed. Neither Strange nor Wong seemed to notice, but Loki did, watching as Asgard and the Bifrost vanished into blue-tinted darkness, swirling snow, and a ruined city.

And something else.

Loki's eyes widened and he snarled, "We need to move, now!"

There was a roar, and with a blast of icy wind, a Jotunheim Frost Beast hurtled out of the portal. It landed with a crunch in the parking ramp, its clawed feet digging into the concrete and gouging deep furrows in it.

Loki, Strange, and Wong dove out of the way. Loki landed on his shoulder and rolled, coming to his feet with his daggers in his hands, as though they were going to help against a Frost Beast. He well remembered the destruction one of these things had wreaked on its own homeworld during that disastrous trip to Jotunheim all those years ago; the mayhem it could cause here was immeasurably worse.

Of course, he could worry about that later. Right now, he just needed to concern himself with surviving the thing's attack on him and his friends.

Friends. What a time to realize it.

The Frost Beast roared again and charged Strange and Wong. Loki flung a blast of magic at it. It would do nothing to hurt it, but perhaps it would annoy it enough so that it turned away from the Masters and allow them to find their feet.

The animal's head swung and it caught sight of him, its nostrils flaring. Loki held out his arms in invitation. Really, it was a shame that his Frost Giant heritage hadn't seemed to come with any useful powers, besides the ability to use the Casket of Ancient Winters. He would very much appreciate having some sort of homeworld bond with this creature right now.

With a snort, the Frost Beast came towards him, bellowing as it gathered speed. He narrowed his eyes and dodged out of the way, drawing it away from Strange and Wong. As he approached one of the parking ramp's purple support pillars, he sent an illusion of himself away and ducked behind it. The Frost Beast followed the illusion and Loki pushed his hair out of his face, turning back the way he'd come.

A crack of energy made him jump back. The air sizzled inches from his ear as a flail of golden magic whipped past him. Loki flipped his knives in his hands and faced Mordo, who was holding a glowing staff. "You know my sister, then," Loki said conversationally.

Mordo spun the staff and sparks flew off of it. "One meets strange bedfellows in the service of Ultimus."

Loki thought of his friendship with Strange and Wong.

Friendship probably wasn't the right word to describe what he felt for Strange.

"Or in service of the opposite," he said, smiling with sarcastic crookedness.

Mordo took a step back, then extended the staff in front of him. "You've doomed this universe."

Loki's smile got harder. "I've heard worse," he said, then charged Mordo, daggers slashing.

The blades hit the staff, biting into the wood, and Mordo threw him off. He swung it in one hand and the flails appeared from the end of it again. As it cracked through the air, Loki ducked and spun away.

There was a roar and the Frost Beast came thundering back towards them. Its tail whipped out, destroying a pillar. Then, suddenly, ropes of orange magic unfurled, wrapping around the Frost Beast's legs and neck. Mordo glanced at it and Loki took his opportunity, diving for the other man. Mordo sidestepped him but Loki turned on the ball of his foot in a maneuver that would be impossible for a Midgardian. If Mordo knew Loki's sister, then he should know—Asgardian gods were more agile than any human, even if they weren't Asgardian by birth.

He sunk a blade into Mordo's shoulder and shoved him hard into the pillar, hearing a crack of bone as his head slammed into the concrete. Then, he pulled the knife out, blood spraying off it, and ran for Strange and Wong to help them with the Frost Beast. When he got there, Strange looked at him and said fiercely, "I have to help him."

The Frost Beast lunged and Loki raised his hands, weaving magic through the air to slow it. He glanced over at Mordo, who by all rights should be dead. There was blood on the ground, running from the back of his shattered skull, but Mordo was pushing himself to his feet.

Looking back to Strange, he said, "Stephen, listen to me. His mind is gone. You can't save him."

"What are you suggesting?" Strange said, his voice tight with the strain of holding the Frost Beast.

On the other side of the parking ramp, Mordo had regained his feet. Loki sighed. "I suppose you don't want him dead." The expression on Strange's face was answer enough.

The Frost Beast bellowed and snapped its bonds, and Mordo was coming towards him, whipping the staff in his hands in a circle, so that the flails were a deadly blur of golden light. The three of them fell back and more ropes of magic shot from Strange's and Wong's hands, attaching to the ceiling and floor, stretching from column to column.

"Fine," Loki said, an idea solidifying in his mind. "Would one of you mind using your sling ring to allow me to—what's the expression? Get the jump on him?"

Despite everything, a sardonic smile twitched at Strange's mouth, and he did as Loki asked.

Loki stepped through the portal and appeared next to the other sorcerer, who jumped back and snarled in surprise. "I'd just like to say, Mordo," he said, extending a hand and gripping the man's arm. "I've heard so much about you, I wish I could say it was a pleasure to finally meet."

Mordo's mouth opened in surprise, his black eyes widening, but Loki was already holding the Tesseract. A black portal opened behind him and Loki shoved Mordo. The man yelled in surprise and fear as he fell backwards into the portal, clouds of blue and black billowing around him.

Then, the portal snapped shut and Loki vanished the Tesseract. He turned and sprinted for the other side of the parking ramp, where Strange and Wong were holding the Frost Beast at bay. "Send it back to Jotunheim!" he shouted, skidding to a stop beside them.

The Frost Beast roared and snapped at the magical bonds holding it. If Loki could have used the Tesseract to send it away, he would have, but that would have required getting close enough to touch it, and he didn't fancy getting torn apart tonight. Not, at least, here, on level six of the East Mall of America parking ramp. Perhaps another time.

Strange narrowed his eyes, his jaw working as he struggled to wrap more bonds around the Frost Beast, but he glanced at Loki and said, "Yeah, great idea, except I can't open a portal to a place if I have no idea where it is."

"Oh, is that all," Loki said, the nonchalance in his tone losing a little something, considering how hard he was breathing. His hand shot out and he pressed his fingers to Strange's temple. Strange jerked back, but Loki didn't break the contact. If he couldn't give the intergalactic coordinates verbally, then the only way was to put the information directly in Stephen's mind.

Strange blinked, then sucked in a breath. "Hold it there for a second, Wong," he said.

"What do you think I've been doing?" Wong demanded.

Strange broke his own spell and extended one arm, while the other spun and his sling ring sparked. A portal opened up beneath the Frost Beast, spinning larger and larger, and then, with a yelp that shook the parking ramp, it fell through. With a twist of his wrist, Strange closed the portal, leaving nothing but a few glowing sparks on the concrete, winking out one by one.

The three of them stood there in silence, their shoulders heaving, before Strange turned to Loki. "Mordo?" he asked, his face and tone betraying nothing.

"I sent him elsewhere," Loki replied.

Wong's eyebrows twitched. It was almost a facial expression. "Elsewhere?"

A hard smile flitted across Loki's face. "I don't imagine either of you have ever heard of a place called Sakaar?" The Masters glanced at each other. "No? Didn't think so. Suffice it to say, it has a reputation as a dumping ground for all lost things. And your friend Mordo seems very lost."

Strange let out a whoosh of air and ran his hand through his hair, but he didn't object to this. "You didn't kill him?" he asked.

Loki met Strange's eyes. It would have been smart to kill him. But he knew that Mordo meant too much to Stephen. "I didn't kill him," he said, inclining his head.

Nodding, Strange said. "Okay." He hesitated. "Thanks."

There was no point in repeating that Mordo, the friend that had brought Stephen into the fold of Kamar-Taj, was gone. Perhaps this was something that Strange simply couldn't accept, at least not consciously. Or perhaps he just couldn't say it out loud yet.

The portal that Mordo had come through was still open, and Loki turned to face it, sending out a swirl of magic. As he suspected, his spell rolled off it, like water hitting oil. Licking his lips, he said, "I can't close this."

Wong stepped forward and cast a spell, which traced around the portal, flickering faintly. "I think this is beyond us, too." When Strange glanced down at the Eye of Agamotto, Wong shook his head. "Mordo was right about one thing, Stephen. The bill comes due when we violate the natural order. Using the Time Stone will only destabilize this universe further."

The Time Stone? Loki looked sharply at the two of them and Wong glanced at him, as if he knew what he'd said and had been wondering if Loki would catch it.

Strange made a face and said, "You're right. But we have to do something about this."

"We'll have to bind it."

"And what, get mall security up here?"

Wong shrugged.

After a second, Strange nodded his agreement to this plan, though 'plan' seemed a generous term. Loki arched an eyebrow. "Would you like me to get a mall cop while the two of you do that?"

Strange chuckled tiredly, then said, "If you don't mind."

When Loki nodded, Strange brushed a casual hand across his back, then gripped his shoulder. Loki looked at him, then jerked his head once and went to find someone to police tape the area off.

The universe had started to crumble, and this was where it started.