Chapter Text
Waiting sucks. That's something everyone can agree on, and yet our entire lives seem to revolve around it. The average human being will spend six months of their lives standing in line, marking time. As Verity sat staring at the muscles in her left hand twitching almost nervously, she considered how in all her time in the service of the Time Variance Authority, she must have spent significantly longer than that in her own limbo. Then again, she wasn't even certain if moments spent there counted as actual time. The TVA was weird like that.
Sighing, she pushed a lock of deep brown hair that had fallen out of the slightly messy bun on top of her head behind her ear. She never was that great at styling her own hair, and the jumping muscles in her fingers certainly didn't help. Still, she wanted to appear at least somewhat competent for her client. It wasn't exactly an everyday thing, being assigned a literal god, and this god could very well be the key to repairing the very fabric of the shredded multiverse. So, no pressure.
Verity took a sip from one of the red aluminum cans that sat on the table in front of her. 7-Up Gold was one of Mobius' favorite beverages of all time. Many lunches had been spent listening to the gray-haired man lament the demise of the late 80s soft drink that she was certain only he remembered. Verity had disliked it at first, finding it to be just a spicier version of Dr. Pepper, but the taste eventually grew on her thanks to Moby's insistence that she drink one each time he did. Mobius was weird like that.
A soft click alerted the woman to the door finally opening, and she watched curiously as Mobius led the raven-haired Asgardian into the theater. It felt so strange seeing him in the flesh. As a chronomonitor, she had been witness to his entire life from birth to death, so naturally she felt as if she already knew him. But, as they spoke, it became clear that this Loki was indeed a Variant, and her experience from here on out would be entirely new.
The first thing she noticed was beige and orange were not his colors. Then again, they weren't really anyone's colors, were they? The second was the power inhibiting collar around his neck. She barely suppressed a wince in sympathy. The third thing was his demeanor. She'd seen him wear this mask before. It was the same one he wore during his so-called trial in Asgard, when he'd chosen to play the part of the villain rather than admit the truth to those he considered his former family. This wasn't going to be easy. Knowing she would need the help, she reached up to her glasses, small and slightly purple tinted rectangles that partially obscured her dark brown eyes, and activated them.
“Loki this is Verity. She’s the chronomonitor for Timeline 19999. Your old timeline.”
Truth
The word flashed onto the lenses as her boss introduced them.
“Interesting,” Loki spoke before the woman had a chance to. She could feel his eyes inspecting her, judging her. Her brow furrowed in question. “You’ll have to forgive me, Lady Verity, but I was expecting someone a little more -”
“Serial killer vibes?” she helpfully provided. The others were a bit unsettling. It's hard to trust anything without a face.
Loki nodded.
Truth
“Long story. Please, sit down, Mr. Odinson.”
"That's not my name!" The god suddenly shouted.
Truth
He truly believed his own words. A pang of sadness went through her chest, but she moved on quickly. A lot depended on her performance here.
“Call me when you’re finished,” Mobius interrupted before Verity could formulate a response.
“Will do. Thanks, Moby,” she replied, grateful for the change of subject.
Mobius waved as he exited and Verity could hear the distinctive sound of a lock turning as the door closed. She briefly wondered how the trickster in front of her felt about the fact that they felt comfortable locking him in with her alone. Did it speak more about him or her?
“So, how much of what happened did Mobius explain before bringing you here, Mr. - “
Remembering the file she'd been given on Loki before making her way to the time theater included his booking paperwork, Verity opened it up to read the answer he had given when the receptionist had inevitably asked him for his name.
“ - Friggason? Good one.”
Loki's reaction was subtle, but the chronomonitor could sense the discomfort she had caused immediately. Wanting to reassure him she continued, “I mean, I like it. I’m sure she’d be happy to know you still like her enough to use her name.”
“Can we please just get whatever this is over with?” He snapped in obvious annoyance.
She really was bad with people.
“Sure thing, Andy Dufresne. Welcome to Time Theater 5, your personal window into your past, present, and would-be future if not for a series of unfortunate events over which you had no control but will inevitably be blamed for anyway.”
Loki dropped his forehead into one of his shackled hands and rubbed as if he felt a migraine coming on. Yeah, she's definitely not good with people.
"Look, Moby and I could sit here talking until the cows come home, but experience has taught us that visuals have a much more visceral impact, so that's what we're doing."
Verity began to explain in what she hoped was a more concise manner. Reaching over the table, she flicked on the orange machine in front of her.
"This is Miss Minutes. Say hello, Missy."
"Woo, doggy! Nice to meet ya, L1130!" Verity inwardly cringed at the sing-song Minnie Mouse-esque voice. Why the higher ups decided on that voice, she'd never understand.
"Missy, don't be rude. Please address our guest by his name, not his designation."
"Ooh! My apologies, tee hee! Nice to meet ya, Loki! My name is Miss Minutes, but you can call me Missy if you'd like."
Loki did not seem amused.
"Sorry about her," Verity grimaced. "Missy is the artificial intelligence that essentially runs this whole place. I think the voice is meant to make her sound friendly, but it usually just comes off as unsettling. No offense, Missy."
"None taken, sugar!"
"And sorry about the whole L1130 thing. Every prisoner here has a number designation, but I'm personally not a fan of dehumanizing inmates. From what I've seen, that never leads to anything good."
"Can we please get to the point?" Was Loki's only response.
"We're getting there. How's the head, by the way?"
"What?"
"The head. How's it feeling? I can't imagine it's stellar after the beating you took from the Hulk."
The god narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know about that?"
"I know just about everything about you, Loki. It's my job. So? How's the head?"
"It's none of your concern. You know nothing about me." He snapped. Not surprising. It's a safe bet that no one would be comfortable learning someone else has watched their life play out in secret.
"I really, really do," she countered. "I know you were born on Jotunheim in 965 AD, found abandoned by Odin Borson and taken with him back to Asgard in the hope of uniting the two realms one day. I know Odin abandoned that plan the moment his wife Frigga took you in her arms and called you her son. I know the young Thor Odinson was jealous from the first moment he saw you because he thought his mother loved you more. I know you were jealous right back over the love of your father."
"Stop this!" Loki screamed and stood from his chair suddenly. "You know nothing!" He repeated, leaning toward the woman over the desk.
LIE
"I know your jealousy never overshadowed your love for your brother," Verity continued without hesitating. Loki began pacing around the room in frustration. "And neither did his overshadow his love for you. I know your mother treasured you and taught you how to wield magic like her when it was clear you were struggling to keep up with the other kids physically. I know how special it made you feel because you finally had something you didn't have to share with Thor. I know everything you did when you sat on the throne of Asgard, you did to prove your own worth to your father."
"He's not my father," she heard Loki hiss under his breath, but she ignored it, even as the word TRUTH appeared in front of her.
"I know Odin's words hurt you so deeply that you tried to take your own life."
"Why?" The god turned to face her again and she thought maybe there were tears forming within them. "Why say these things to me? To mock? To gloat? What is the point of all this?"
"Time is broken, Loki, and you're one of the reasons," Verity replied. "If it isn't fixed or at least stabilized, the timelines will collide and the multiverse will collapse. The only certainty in our futures is chaos, destruction, and death. We need you to help us fix it."
"Why me?"
"We'll get there. I promise. But first we need to get through your orientation. If you'd just sit back down, please?"
To her surprise, he did.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I need you to be honest with me."
The trickster audibly scoffed.
"Yeah, yeah, God of Lies. I get it, but I'm going to be able to tell when you're lying to me, so you might as well just stick with the truth."
"You really think you can see through my deceptions? Arrogance is unbecoming of you."
Lie
"How Shakespearean, but it's not arrogance. It's science. The glasses aren't just to accentuate my features. They can analyze everything about you, such as body language, speech patterns, heart rate, etcetera etcetera and tell me with 99.99% accuracy whether you're being truthful or not. Pretty cool, right? Made 'em myself. "
"To what end?" Loki asked, intrigued.
"You're not the only messed up kid with trust issues, princess," she winked. "Now, I know the attack on Earth wasn't your idea, but -"
Loki's whole body stiffened.
"Pardon?"
"Seen it all, remember? Well, most of it. That's what I'm trying to get at here. The TVA has eyes quite literally everywhere. They see everything that ever has happened or will happen, however, there's a little over a full year of your life that's completely missing from record, and according to Missy, it was never there to begin with. The logs show you falling from the rainbow bridge then you appearing on Midgard a year later with an infinity stone powered scepter. So my question is, what happened in that missing year?"
The Asgardian's whole demeanor shifted in an instant.
"You listen and you listen well, you spineless drone! I owe no explanations to you nor anyone else in this wretched place. I was warned about you. I know what you do here. This organization is nothing but spies, politicians, and abductors whose so-called authority only they believe is beyond question. Well, I will not stand for it. I refuse. What difference could one missing year possibly make in whatever punishment you plan to bestow upon me?"
"That bad, huh?" Verity replied calmly. Loki gave her an odd look, as if not expecting that particular response, but said nothing. "I get that I'm asking a lot, I really do, but believe it or not I'm trying to help you."
The trickster scoffed once more.
"You're going to be put on trial," the woman continued. "They're going to want to know why you did what you did. Your motivations could be the difference between life, death, or worse."
The brunette tried to suppress her shudder at the thought of the worse option but failed. The tremor in her hand increased and she moved to hide it under the table but was stopped by a large hand around her forearm. His grip was firm but gentle, so hurting her didn't appear to be the goal. Looking up into the trickster god's bright green eyes, Verity knew she'd not chosen her words carefully enough. With one swift motion, he took a hold of the cuff of her bright yellow blazer and pulled it down to reveal her wrist. Or at least it would have, if not for the thin, rune encrusted band wrapped snugly around it.
"Very interesting," Loki smirked. Frustrated, she yanked her arm from his grasp. "I suppose that explains their willingness to lock us in together. A prisoner has a much lower value than an employee."
Truth
"First, don't ever touch me without my permission again," Verity threatened. "Second, prisoners have no less value than anyone else."
"Are you sure about that?" His smirk widened. She knew he didn't need any technology to sense the hesitation in her voice.
"I'm sure I'm rapidly losing my patience."
"Then tell me, why would an organization such as this trust someone imprisoned by them with such a supposedly important task?"
"How would that help me maintain my patience?"
"How about a story for a story?"
It was Verity's turn to smirk.
"How about no?"
Loki didn't seem phased by her rejection.
"Then I suppose we find ourselves at an impasse."
Truth
"I disagree."
The god's eyebrows raised with intrigue. The woman continued,
"You don't have the luxury of an ultimatum right now. I don't think you understand what's at stake here. You don't care about the timeline, fine. How about caring about yourself? You said you already know about this place, but do you really? Do you have any idea what they do to people like us? Like you?"
"By the looks of it, give you gainful employment," the Asgardian mocked. The chronomonitor was not amused.
"At best, they're going to lock you in a time cell, and trust me when I tell you it's much worse than it sounds. At worst? Your new timeline is discontinued and they merge you right back into the original you in your original timeline."
"And why, may I ask, would you consider that to be the worse option?"
Verity gave him a sad smile.
"Let me show you."