"I have chosen the warrior named "Mario" for this journey," Thor declared as they set up for the next round. Since Tony won the first round, he insisted on going again, along with Clint, Bruce, and Thor.

"You know, Thor, I think you're the only person I know who's ever actually had Mario as their first choice," said Tony, amused. Thor seemed quite puzzled by this.

"But that seems quite illogical! Does thee jest me, Tony Stark? For the title of this game is "Mario Kart," is it not? It seems to me that this "Mario" would be the one best suited for this journey!"

"You know, he does have a point," said Bruce, looking vaguely impressed by Thor's reasoning.

Tony chose King Boo again, and Clint selected Dry Bones, muttering "I've always wondered what actually makes Dry Bones' bones so dry."

Everyone was a bit confused by Bruce's choice of driver.

"Really, Bruce?" said Natasha, trying not to laugh. "Toadette?"

Bruce shrugged, slightly indignantly.

"It's a perfectly reasonable choice," he began to explain. "Toadette is classified as a small driver, which means that her karts will be much more agile - "

"Are we just ignoring the fact that you turn into a giant green rage monster when you get angry?" Tony interrupted. "I mean, come on. You should have picked Bowser. Or I would have even been okay with Luigi, because he's green, at least."

"Toadette's vehicles have high acceleration and good off-road stat!" Bruce protested, stubbornly crossing his arms and refusing to change his character. Tony sighed as he began the race, glancing over at Bruce every so often and shaking his head in silent disappointment.

Bruce got the honor of choosing the first race. He selected Moo Moo Meadows, which went surprisingly well - excluding Thor's detours to puzzle over "the strange Midgardian milk-producing creatures."

Tony chose Coconut Mall, where again Thor was the main source of entertainment for the others. Thor ended up driving in frantic circles around the fountain, water shooting up from the top.

"If this fountain so closely resembles the end of the Bifrost, then why am I not being transported? Ay, I should be given a faster path, because of my innovation!" Thor exclaimed.

"Is anyone else getting déjà vu from that time we took Thor shopping?" Peter muttered under his breath.

Clint's track of choice was Maple Treeway, a common favorite.

Steve raised an eyebrow at the screen.

"This is the biggest damn tree I've ever seen in my life."

"This is what it's like in Canada," said Tony as he drove through a pile of maple leaves and they exploded around his car like confetti with a little poof. "Except instead of caterpillars walking around, there are moose."

"There are not even trees this large in Asgard," Thor agreed, frowning as he saw the giant caterpillars. "Nor are there insects so grand."

By the time those three rounds were over, Clint was beating Tony two to one, with Bruce getting generally decent scores. Thor probably would have done quite well if he hadn't kept getting distracted.

Thor chose Mario Circuit for the final round, to no one's surprise. Nobody had the heart to tell him that he probably didn't have a better chance of winning just because he was playing as Mario.

They all took off at the sound of the starting buzzer, the main competition to watch in this round pretty clearly being Tony and Clint.

"This palace reminds me fondly of Asgard," declared Thor, pausing at the side of the track to admire the stone castle which was part of the scenery. "Though far smaller, and not nearly as grand." Thor tried to drive his kart forward, but couldn't advance any further past the fence at the edge of the track. "Why may I not enter the palace?" he demanded, voice rising. "I am a king; I should be graciously welcomed!"

"It's not real, Thor, oh my god..." muttered Natasha, rolling her eyes.

"I am aware that I am a god!" Thor retorted, lowering his controller to his lap to glare at Natasha.

"Shut up, both of you," Tony growled, swerving to avoid a strategically placed banana peel, his concentration focused on the screen.

Bruce was feeling much less competitive than Tony or Clint, and he pulled over to the side of the track by the stretch of grass that preceded the tunnel where the Chain Chomp was tethered.

"You know, I feel kind of bad for this guy," he said thoughtfully, which earned him a couple of eye-rolls. He ignored them.

At that moment, Clint hit the back of Bruce's kart with a red shell, laughing loudly as he passed the scientist.

"HOLLA, sucks for you, my brotha!" he yelled.

Bruce glanced at Clint in irritation as he started his engine again, refusing to reply. However, the attack had pushed Bruce's kart into the reach of the Chain and he was promptly attacked by it.

"He ain't no holla back girl, Clint," Peter quipped, while shaking with laughter to himself. All of the Avengers stared confusedly at him, apart from Tony and Clint, who were completely engrossed in the race.

"Sorry, pop culture reference. I forgot all of you were old."

"I'm not old! I've been taking college classes, and I fit right in!" Steve defended himself. The group groaned in unison at Steve's second mention of his community college classes.

"Getting back to the point, you really don't need to gloat, you know," Bruce grumbled to Clint, as Tony kicked Clint hard in the leg to try to make him swerve onscreen. Clint kicked out his leg to get Tony back, eyes still trained on the screen, and ended up kicking Loki instead.

"You fool!" Loki shouted, standing up and towering over Clint.

"Dude! Move!" Tony yelled, as he was unable to see the screen around Loki's cape.

Peter got up and dragged Loki back to his armchair, and Steve grabbed Peter's arm and frantically tugged him back.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" cried Peter as he fell sideways over everybody's lap.

"He's dangerous!" said Steve, glaring at Loki as everybody else grumbled at the sudden intrusion of a teenager on their laps.

"You're dangerous," Tony shot back at Steve, irritated by interruption of his concentration.

"Leave him alone..." Natasha muttered, rolling her eyes again. "You're all idiots."

"Excuse me?" retorted Tony.

"You heard me."

"I AM STILL NOT GRANTED ENTRANCE INTO THE GRAND PALACE OF MARIO."

"Nobody cares!"

"NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR PUNY BRAIN, MORTAL."

"Okay, that's it..."

"God, you're all insufferable..."

"Say that to my face."

"You're insufferable!"

"You're going to die!"

"Clint, put those knives away!"

"Stop being such a little bitch."

"You're the little bitch."

"Yeah, shut up, Salt-tasha!"

Everybody stopped bickering and turned to stare at Bruce.

"What?" Peter finally said into the silence.

Tony suddenly laughed, and Bruce turned to him in relief.

"See? Tony gets it!" said Bruce, gesturing at his friend.

"Just tell us what it meant already," said Natasha, crossing her arms.

"Na-tasha...Na is the periodic symbol for sodium...sodium is in salt...Salt-tasha..."

Tony high-fived Bruce, but everybody else just stared at Bruce for a moment longer before shaking their heads and turning back to the game. They had all finished their final lap (Clint edging in just ahead of Tony to steal the win), except for Thor, who was still sitting by the entrance to the castle in defeat.