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“I’m not entirely sure why I’m here,” Loki said, arms crossed tightly over his chest. He propped his legs up on top of the seat in front of him and turned his gaze over to Mobius. They were in the mockery of a courtroom that Loki really hadn’t wished to revisit in however long he’d be stuck in the TVA. He wouldn’t admit how the hairs on the back of his neck prickled at the thought of possibly being condemned to pruning after all as soon as Mobius had guided him to the room.
“I would think it prudent to continue listening to Miss Minute’s droning for the rest of the day.” He only hid half of his disdain for the both sentient and insentient entity as he spoke its name.
“Something about the way you said that makes me think you actually don’t think it,” Mobius replied without answering the question. A knowing smirk spread annoyingly easy across his lips and Loki wished he didn’t find it slightly amusing himself.
He still rolled his eyes anyway. “Was it the use of words or the tone?” He shook his head. “Are you going to tell me why we’re here?”
Mobius shrugged and looked forward. “Remember yesterday and the day before and the day before that how you said something about us being biased towards you and how you were sure we don’t take in any Avenger variants?”
Loki wrinkled his nose at the memory, knowing his disdain was still completely valid no matter how many times he had to make it known. “You hadn’t deigned to explain that away as you had with multiple Starks. Not even a ‘they never break the unknowable laws of the sacred timeline.’”
He would expect some sentiment about this is why putting him through the incessant hours (or minutes as “time worked differently”) listening to the orange clock with an increasingly annoying drawl, but Mobius said, “Because I didn’t want to lie to you,” instead.
Loki raised an eyebrow. Truthfully, he couldn’t remember the last time someone had said that to him, even if he felt like it was a little ironic coming from a place that’s purpose was lies and inaccuracies based on one timeline. At least that was the defense Loki held tightly to in his head and one he could only assume this other variant he was hired to catch would prescribe to too.
“We’ll have S1297 arriving,” Mobius began again before Loki asked any more questions, “in three… two… one.”
As soon as Mobius said one, the ceiling opened up and the variant dropped down, right on the stand. Loki narrowed his eyes as soon as he recognized the blond hair, shoulder-to-waist ratio, and perfect behind.
“Oh, I see,” Loki said, glaring at Mobius. “This is an elaborate ruse to get me to cease my whining.”
“I wasn’t going to exactly call it whining, but since you just did,” Mobius replied with a shrug. “This isn’t a ruse. It’s a very real example to prove you wrong.”
“You expect me to believe sickeningly perfect Captain Steve Rogers was dragged here because of a crime against the sacred timeline?”
Mobius nodded but didn’t reply.
Loki tried to narrow his eyes even more, but he knew he’d be closing them before long. “What did he do? Salute the wrong flag on his way to preserve freedom?”
“Nope,” Mobius said, still looking ahead.
Loki opened his mouth to ask what it was that Rogers did again, but he finally tuned in as Rogers raised his voice.
“I don’t understand why I’m here, he would’ve died if I didn’t do anything,” he said and Loki tilted his head.
“That is how it’s supposed to be,” Judge Renslayer counteracted in a slightly less stern tone than Loki was spoken to with, in Loki’s opinion. “Anthony Edward Stark is supposed to die using the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos.”
“No, no… no he’s got a family. It would make sense if it was me.”
Renslayer glanced down at the file in front of her for what Loki assumed was emphasis more than anything else. “You’re supposed to return the stones and return to Margaret Carter where you live out the majority of your life with her.”
“That’s…” Rogers shook his head. Loki swore he could feel Rogers’ confusion from where he sat almost more than he felt his blood run cold from the new information he was learning from beyond his death. “No, it should’ve been me. Tony had a life… so did Peggy… without me.”
Loki knew - as much as he’d experienced in his own processing through the TVA system - it was predictable for someone to throw claims about the timeline not making sense or not being how it was supposed to be. He believed more than anything it was because such claims were true even if it was for his own interests and survival. He would more readily admit that was what caused him to reach the conclusion that he needed to save Rogers from pruning rather than any of the sentiment over the deep sorrow the Captain hid behind his firm determination that he was right.
Not that Loki was really going to admit to any true intentions for why he turned to Mobius with a sharp turn of his head. “I need him,” he said.
Mobius raised an eyebrow. “No you don’t,” he disagreed with a slow but even tone.
“I do. His entire purpose is to stop me.”
“No, it’s not… you just heard what-”
“You must admit he would be useful.” Loki bit his bottom lip as his gaze turned to watch as the hunters started towards Rogers to escort him to be pruned.
“I guess, but he’s really-”
Loki stood up. “We need him.” He started to shuffle out of the bench in front of Mobius’ legs. “He’s vital to our investigation.”
“Mobius,” Renslayer said, sounding impatient, but the hunters stopped escorting Rogers.
Mobius sighed, rounded Loki, and approached the bench. Loki followed along after him, stepping up beside him, but took a step back in a false display of earnestness when Renslayer glared down at him.
“I agreed to Loki because you said we could use him, I’m not assigning two variants to you just because he asks you to,” she murmured.
“I was brought in to consult,” Loki chimed in, smiling smugly before he turned away to face Rogers’ direction. Rogers looked back at him with a measure of confused disbelief.
“He does have a point even if I don’t know why,” Mobius said behind him.
“All the more reason to send S1297 along to pruning,” Renslayer added.
Loki glanced over his shoulder to watch Mobius do a nod, shrug, and head shake combo. “I am curious enough to see where this is going,” Mobius said. “And it’s pretty low risk.”
Satisfied, Loki started to approach Rogers and the two hunters that managed to effectively guide him. “Why would you help me?” Rogers asked.
Loki shrugged even though he knew the reason. “I decided you’d be useful,” he said before he made eye contact with the hunter on Rogers’ right. “To hunt a variant of me.” He looked back at Rogers. “As I’m here for.”
“Which I really hope is the truth,” Mobius said, coming up beside Loki.
Loki would say something about how he’d yet to lie to Mobius, but technically he’d gone beyond half-truths when he stated his reasoning for saving Rogers. He couldn’t feel bad if they were accepted and he got what he wanted.
The hunters let Rogers go and he looked at Mobius and then at Loki. Loki felt a bit examined like Rogers already didn’t believe his reasoning. In truth, that was a bit relieving because it would save him time, but it left him all the more curious about this man he thought he’d perfectly figured out when they’d first met. He’d blame the cursed scepter and stone for his cloudiness and lack of good judgment which he hadn’t bothered to address since being dragged to the TVA. They - including Mobius - had already made their judgments of him and if he hadn’t revealed the truth to Thor, he wouldn’t bother with anyone else. He would either appear weak or not be believed.
“Because it’s part of the illusion. It’s a cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear.”
It was true in the way Loki let it be understood, but it was also true in another way that someone so versed in him should know well. It was a trick conjured to protect him. If people believed the trick, then they wouldn’t be disbelieving the truth. It was an elaborate trick conjured by Loki over the years to control how everyone around him perceived him.
But then here was Rogers seeing through that. Loki told himself it was because that’s how he wanted it to be.
“So what did this variant do?” he asked, not turning his gaze from Loki.
Steve knew he was supposed to agree with what he was shown as the course of his life, but he was also supposed to not join the army and he was supposed to sign the accords. The sacred timeline was full of things he was supposed to do just like it was filled with the things he did instead. Telling him that this was how it was supposed to go wasn’t going to work, but he learned as soon as Loki saved his life, that he had to hold his tongue and take orders from the TVA (most specifically Agent Mobius) until he learned how to otherwise.
It was an uncomfortable situation - a bit like the weird off-white shirts they gave him - and he couldn’t see how he could get out of it in the foreseeable future. The questions kept stacking up to make it even more uncomfortable too. The big and obvious one was why Loki had chosen to speak up in the joke of a court hearing.
It’s not as though either of them had ever had a moment to really become friends according to how the sacred timeline was supposed to go and as far as Steve had been told the Loki he was now a somewhat partner with was from back in 2012 where he (and Tony, Scott, and Bruce) had gone back and caused the mess with the Tesseract themselves. The detour Steve and Tony made to the seventies as a result was supposed to happen, but Loki taking the Tesseract (the very instigator of the event) was not. Steve bit his tongue so hard it bled - in a metaphorical sense - as he thought about how unfair it seemed.
Still, as unfair as Steve figured out that the timeline was to Loki (and he was starting to guess several others in his life), it still couldn’t possibly give him an answer as to why Loki chose to speak up. He didn’t want to just assume some sort of altruism because it didn’t look like Loki was saving anyone else around there. He could only guess there was some idea tucked in Loki’s calculating brain and that Steve happened to just be the lucky familiar variant that Mobius took Loki to see. At least until the day Loki decided to enlighten Steve.
If Loki ever decided to enlighten Steve.
A clink of metal and a long scuff drew Steve out of his stupor. He was looking over the training manual at about twenty percent effort considering his thoughts had better use thinking about what Loki could be planning. He’d managed to convince the TVA that he’d rather have paper copies, leaning heavily into the “I’m from the forties and hate technology” stereotype about him just to get out of listening to Miss Minutes talk. It worked considering he was supposed to be in the forties.
He didn’t belong in the forties. He didn’t belong in the TVA. Maybe he didn’t quite fit in the twenty-twenties either, but he knew it felt right making the snap for Tony so he could go back to his daughter and Pepper. But what felt right didn’t exist anymore and he was left with the forced alternative that the inventor made yet another in a long line of greatest sacrifices and Steve could never make up for what he’d done.
His eyes looked beyond the training manual, trailing the table until he saw the can of Josta with a hand that had long thin fingers over the top. He didn’t pause to question the brief thought he said about how he found Loki’s hands attractive as he looked up at his face with bright green eyes that were more mystifying.
He wondered if this was an Asgardian thing considering Thor also had that quality about him that drew Steve in. He really didn’t have anyone to compare notes with because he was hardly going to ask anyone around the TVA that would drag him to a solid pruning for such a question.
Besides, Loki was a bit different. Steve was entirely aware that it was dangerous to have these thoughts about him - antagonistic acquaintances or not - but truthfully, he wasn’t even sure if this was anything more than an acknowledgment that he found an attractive being attractive. They hardly knew each other anyway and Steve wasn’t about to develop an instant complex over his “rescuer.”
“Do you not enjoy Josta?” Loki questioned with a curious tilt to his head even if his tone suggested he didn’t like it either. He held another opened can in his other hand anyway.
“Coke is better,” Steve said with a shrug but smiled. “Thank you, though.”
Loki withdrew his hand before he took the seat across from him at the table, rolling his eyes as he did. “Don’t thank me because it’s the polite thing to do. I agree with you, however, my options were limited to this and a mockery of apple juice.”
Steve shrugged, reached for his can, opened it, and took a drink all before he paused as he swallowed. “Wait, you’ve had a Coke?”
Loki nodded. “I have been to Earth in other instances besides… the incident with New York.”
Steve nodded and took another drink from the can. He eyed Loki, wondering if the other was waiting to be prompted to say something he clearly wished to. He could imagine Loki liked to let the silence prolong for dramatic effect too.
“I assume this wasn’t just because you wanted to be nice,” Steve said, setting the can down beyond the still-open training manual. “Just like rescuing me a few whatever days are here ago.”
“Am I not able to do something altruistic?” Loki asked, tilting his head again.
“I don’t know, are you able to?” Steve shook his head, knowing that came out ruder than he really meant it. All antagonisms between them aside, they were both still on relatively similar playing fields. “I mean-”
“You mean you are speaking with and about the God of Mischief.” Loki nodded as if he knew the assumption better than the back of his hand.
Steve shook his head. “I mean people, in general, don’t do something just for the sake of altruism.”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “You sound rather distrusting for Captain America.”
“I’m a realist. I guess you made the assumption I’m an optimist?”
“An idealist.”
Maybe, in some ways, Steve was one of those, but he wanted that to mean it controlled how he lived his life personally.
“It was how you spoke in the courtroom,” Loki admitted, turning his ton just a little softer.
Steve regarded him quietly again before he narrowed his eyes. “Anyone could have said the same things about their lives.”
“ Anyone has said similar things, but I didn’t witness anyone .” Loki took a drink from his own can and scrunched his nose as he swallowed.
“You really want me to believe this is just a ‘right place, right time’ scenario?”
Loki snorted. “No… actually it’s relieving you don’t.”
Steve sighed. He felt unsure if this provided some clarity or confused him even more. As much as Loki made his words dance circles around blunt truth, Steve could at least tell where Loki stood in some sense.
“You really want to stop this variant of yours?” he asked, making his voice quieter too. He suspected he already knew the answer.
Loki didn’t answer but hummed neutrally instead. Somehow the way Loki quirked his eyebrow answered anyway.
“You keep impressing me, captain,” Loki said, but it didn’t sound condescending to Steve.
“Steve,” he corrected. “It might help us if we at least pretend we’re a united front.”
Surprisingly, Loki nodded. “It will make it easier to survive.”
The understanding between Loki and Steve wasn’t exactly silent, but it certainly was based on assumptions. The assumptions were based on parts of a conversation and emotional reactions to things said. Loki could trust his own ability to read people, however, he knew it would be foolish to think that much of Steve. The captain continued to surprise him and he supposed he could give him some credit for at least following and guessing some of Loki’s intentions.
Given how little they could actually be frank within the TVA where anyone could possibly overhear, it was amazing they could make any progress in understanding at all. Perhaps Loki was lucky enough that Mobius had decided to make his point using a Steve variant. Loki suspected Stark may have been insightful or self-preserving enough were it him instead, but beyond that, Loki couldn’t be too sure if this would have worked. It wasn’t as if he could convince Mobius to take him to another trial until he found one that was agreeable.
Luck was still relative considering the situation the two of them found themselves in. Loki could argue this misfortune had to do with fate after all and anyone in the TVA would concur despite believing it was simply their job to erase the free will of possibilities. Loki liked crediting luck about as much as he liked relying on assumptions between him and Steve.
The problem, in truth, was they still hardly knew each other. Loki didn’t consider resolving that problem and felt entirely fine with using what he’d heard in the courtroom, his minimal personal interactions with the man, and what he knew about Steve from before New York and what he learned about after. Yet, he knew it was a problem and that he was ignoring it.
The whole idea of a united front and one he agreed to continued to roll around in his head and he worried he’d sour it into regret. Steve “Captain America” Rogers and Loki “the God of Mischief” Laufeyson as a “united front” was laughable at best. Maybe it would work in their favor when it actually came to testing this alliance or maybe they would simply implode from the pure nature of it. Determination alone would keep Loki from allowing the latter to happen because the alternative was hardly pleasing.
Still, his preservation held him back from doing what most would consider key for any alliance to work. He would not let Steve know - with any truth or certainty - what actually lay within his motivations and fears.
Their relationship continued to be started by Loki providing a peace offering to start a conversation because part of masking vulnerability kept him from simply striking up one with Steve naturally. He’d taken note of what would be better from last time and, despite what may have seemed like a failure on the excursion out to the Midgardian Renaissance fair in 1985, he now had knowledge about the limits of Mobius’ patience and the still decently chilled bottle he slid across the table to Steve.
“A Coke?” Steve asked, lifting his eye from the files in front of him.
Wise enough, Mobius knew to only take one of his variants with him and the team to the nexus event caused by this other Loki and set Steve to the task of reading over the files about all of the Loki variant’s attacks. Wiser still, Loki was now getting punished with the same thing. At least everyone at the TVA was still not wise enough to simply prune him.
“You’re getting punished over stealing me a Coke?” Steve asked, but picked up the bottle anyway.
“No,” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “No one noticed that.” He sighed and scooped up a file from one of the piles. If it was one Steve already looked over, he didn’t say. “Besides, why do you assume I’m being punished?"
“You wouldn’t be here.” Steve looked back down at his file. “And I overheard Mobius on your way over. You really didn’t protest much though.”
"Are you meaning to ask why I didn't? I should think the threat of a prune would be enough."
Steve nodded, but still looked unconvinced. Loki didn’t find it irritating since he was hardly hiding anything. It felt refreshing to have an agreement with someone so perceptive.
“While I think that’s true,” Steve began and opened the bottle of Coke. “It’s nice to be relatively alone without having to try.”
That really only confirmed Steve’s perceptiveness. Of course, it was mostly with things Loki openly allowed him to notice, but he’d known a great many not to catch on this quickly.
Loki turned and glanced behind himself to re-confirm no one was at the table behind him before he peered between the files on the shelf behind Steve to make sure no one hand moved in between the shelves since he walked by.
“Have there been any around here since you arrived?” he asked gently, looking back down at the file he’d pulled from the stack.
“Really only one at the table behind you.” Steve looked down at his file again. He matched his volume to Loki’s. “Do you think they planted listening devices on us?”
“If they were smart.” The corner of Loki’s mouth quirked up. “I suspect they would have separated us after our prior conversation had they.”
“Or sent me away for my pruning in the first place.”
And Loki had no idea how he’d managed to prevent that. Maybe it was because he really hadn’t had anything to lose besides an opportunity. Truthfully, that’s still what Steve was even if there were more risks involved as this partnership grew. Loki had also refrained from planning any sort of betrayal thus far so it meant any plan had to include the both of them.
Between this, obtaining a preferred beverage for Steve, and agreeing to drop formalities, Loki would worry he’d grown soft, but that would imply he’d never been soft. What Thanos had done had rendered him ruthless and uncontrolled, but before that, anything else had been a carefully constructed farce. Perhaps what he truly should worry about was becoming too obvious. He relied on his potentially ill-educated assumption that Steve wasn’t observant enough to notice more than anything intended. Or Loki’s assumption that - above all else - the man would think the worst of him first and foremost.
Loki pursed his lips together briefly before he looked back down at the first file he’d taken. “Have you learned anything of much use in the monotonous?” he asked, sure of what the answer would be.
“Not much more than we already knew: the variant ambushes and kills a team of minutemen,” Steve begins, even tracing the part in the file he had in front of him for emphasis. “And steals a reset charge. Over and over.”
Loki found the part in his own file and sighed. Truthfully, it was unhelpful for both actually helping the TVA catch his variant and to for any plans to escape as well.
Instead of dwelling on the issue, he decided to get something useful anyway and returned his gaze to Steve. “Are you certain you’re not inclined to actually assist our captors in finding a killer?”
Steve blinked and looked up at Loki. He didn’t respond right away like he was trying to figure out a favorable answer and one Loki would believe or like he was trying to get answers from Loki’s features on his own.
“Are you trying to figure out the limit of my morals when it comes to my own survival?” he asked instead of answering. “Or how I judge someone else’s answer to that question?”
Loki narrowed his eyes slightly. “Both.”
Steve sighed and sat back in his chair, looking away for not more than a minute, but it felt like a long time to think. It didn’t irritate Loki. He actually liked to know care was taken into account in dire moments. This conversation could seem trivial, yet it was one that painted a more complete portrait of Steve’s choices for Loki as they went forward. It was worth the risk on the partnership and on Steve’s opinion of him moving forward.
“Look,” Steve started again, returning his gaze to Loki. “I’m not going to tell you that I always know the better answer or even the good answer to everything. People seem to make that assumption about me and-”
“Assumptions about you are trivial, answer my question,” Loki interrupted what he was sure was a nicely thought-out preamble.
“I know the difference between senseless killing and having little to no choice.” Of course. The soldier. “One I don’t condone and the other one I do a lot to avoid.”
“Having lived through it,” Loki began without much time to even breathe after Steve’s answer. “All of the destruction and death. If you had the opportunity to avoid it by simply ending my life, would you do so?”
Steve stared back at him for a few moments, but Loki could tell his silence wasn’t in thought because by the time he answered it was firm and even, “I think you’ve figured out one of my flaws.”
Loki didn’t reply, just stared back as Steve continued to stare at him. Someone could say the clever answer could be seen as an affirmative just as much as it was Steve saying he wouldn’t do it, but Loki knew it was the latter. The response sent tingles across his skin until they reached the back of his neck and his hair raised.
The easy response to this - as it had been from the beginning - would be to simply make his plans relying solely on himself and betray Steve eventually. The easy response would be to work under the assumption that he would need to be alone. His choices often were ones that Steve fought against even if it meant the betterment of another party and so it would only prove that he’d be abandoned. That was his nature: to go it alone through acts of betrayal or be abandoned himself.
And yet, Steve chose to save him in this hypothetical without having to think about it.
Loki only had time left to internally curse this soft weakness the Norns fated him with before Steve broke his side of the steadfast gaze.
“I’d say I assume you get to eat and sleep with this weird punishment,” Steve said, slowly pushing himself back from the table. “And I mean ‘time works differently’ but I’m thinking about dinner.”
Loki supposed he was hungry, but the opportunity for a stretch of true alone time crossed his mind and he shook his head. “I’m alright,” he said, figuring it went without saying that he would simply continue to spend his time with the files around their table.
Steve frowned but nodded. Between their prior conversation and any possible worry for Loki’s well-being that could be behind the expression, Loki didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he turned back down to the file until he was sure Steve had turned away and then watched him leave. He watched the elevator in the distance move down before he stood and started making his way past all the shelves to the front desk.
The woman there didn’t look up as he slowly approached. He cleared his throat in an attempt to get her attention first to no avail. “Pardon me,” he said, still getting no response.
Sighing, he tried looking at what she was doing to see what had more importance than answering his questions but then spotted the menial bell right in front of him. Rolling his eyes, he gently dinged the bell and the woman finally regarded him.
“All files pertaining to the creation of the TVA, please,” he requested, pushing back his annoyance behind a stiff grin.
“That’s classified,” the woman replied.
Loki blinked once but didn’t let the grin waver. “Files on the beginning and end of time.”
“That’s classified.”
His grin dropped then and he took in a sharp breath through his nose. “What files can I have, then?”
All but rolling her eyes, the woman pushed back from her desk and stood, walking towards the shelves without so much of a motion for him to follow, but he did anyway. She headed directly towards an isle, a shelf, and one singular file, pulling it from its place before holding it out to him.
He took the file, looked down at it, and spotted “Loki Laufeyson” right away. He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to inquire further about other possible files he could view, but the woman was already gone by the time he looked in her direction again.
Sighing once more, Loki headed back to the table that now only he was working at, took another quick glance to see he was alone, and settled into his chair with a file he was sure wouldn’t hold more answers than he already knew. He opened the file, flipping one page over, then the next, and then another before one further towards the back slipped up and spotted the words “Destruction of Asgard.”
Before he could think twice, he pulled the paper forward and started skimming for details he wished weren’t there. “Total planetary destruction” hitched his breath, “civilization annihilated” welled his eyes, and the casualties at 9,719 caused tears to spill over. He swallowed hard over the lump in his throat as he tried desperately through an increasingly blurry vision to find finer details. He couldn’t find more beyond the bland facts and nothing beyond the term “Revengers” as a cause with a list of more file names.
Wiping his eyes swiftly, he narrowed them, gripped the paper tightly with one hand, and rose to demand the actual file on the event.
Loki didn’t end up showing up for food even with Steve extending his time in the commissary as long as he could manage without looking too strange. There was a part of him that wondered why he was so concerned about his begrudging partner but with their prior conversation still on his mind, he knew the answer just as quick as he thought to question it.
He’d attempted to find Loki where he’d left him at the table but didn’t see Loki and - in relief - assumed the god was finally getting some rest.
He had an easy smile that settled on his face as he headed for his room until he spotted Loki leaning against the wall just to the side of his door and holding a file in a shaking hand. Loki’s eyes stared down at the floor in front of him until Steve got closer and he looked up and narrowed them. Steve noticed they were a little red and puffy.
“Did you know of this?” Loki asked, closing the distance between them. He shoved the file against Steve’s chest without showing him the cover as if he already knew the answer to his question.
Gaining his bearings from the forceful shove, Steve carefully took the edges of the file before Loki removed his hand and noticed the “Destruction of Asgard” title right away. Swallowing, Steve took the initiative to open his door and started inside. “I thought they would’ve told you,” he said, turning back to watch Loki follow him in and shut the door behind them. “I really only know what Thor told us… which wasn’t much because he didn’t want to talk about it.”
“I suppose because my final act was destroying our…” Loki shook his head and turned away from Steve. “...his home.”
“He told us it was the only way to stop your sister.” Steve frowned and opened file to understand what Loki said in comparison to what he’d heard. “All of you saved who you could.” He found the section Loki did and saw the blunt fact that the event was triggered by him. “There’s gotta be more to it than the file says. Maybe we could go to a theater-”
“He told me I’m one born to cause pain and suffering and death and he wouldn’t tell me this?” Loki laughed humorlessly.
“He?” Steve tilted his head and closed the file. “You mean someone here? Mobius?”
“It’s in my nature,” Loki continued without answering. “I suppose that’s true.”
Steve sighed and shook his head once, twice, and again until he could think up something to say. “If this is something the TVA is telling you then it’s something they constructed about your life based on-”
“Then I suppose he doesn’t think I’m a villain either even if it is by all words and meanings what I am. It’s why I wasn’t pruned. Though I suppose he assumes I’ll merely do anything to survive and believes the TVA has enough threat to keep me in line.” Steve watched Loki’s right hand ball into a fist. “Perhaps he’ll get to become the best version of himself in stopping me from destroying all they have here.”
Steve sighed and tossed the file on the bed behind him. “Look, I’m trying to follow as best as I can but you really need to back up and explain a bit,” he said and kept his tone calm.
Loki’s shoulders drooped, but he didn’t unclench his fist. “I really do not enjoy hurting people,” he said. “Or killing senselessly.”
Steve looked down at the floor and closed his eyes briefly. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you by that, I’m sorry.” He looked back up at Loki.
Loki’s shoulders stiffened again before he turned swiftly to face Steve. “You? You’re apologizing to me?” He raised an eyebrow before he nodded his head to the file on the bed. “Anything you’ve said is truly not on my thoughts.”
Sighing, Steve turned and picked up the file again. “This really doesn’t tell the whole story and wasn’t the last thing you did.” He held it up for emphasis and then lowered his arm again. “You tried to stop Thanos and saved Thor in the process. That makes you a hero.”
Loki laughed the same humorless laugh. “Heroically throttled.”
Steve closed his eyes again. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to be saying to make Loki feel better and wondered if he was making things worse instead. In truth, he wasn’t really sure why Loki had come to him with all of this anyway. They still weren’t close by any means even with the topic of conversation they’d had earlier in the day. He doubted saying he wouldn’t kill Loki was enough to get him to open up. If it was, then it seemed like there were deeper things at play.
Maybe that was the whole point of it? They both could pretend this was a simple agreement they had between each other only to survive, but the very decision Loki made to save Steve had something deeper to it than that.
“Bruce told us that Thanos was behind New York and just kinda left it at that,” Steve began, cautiously. “And I really didn’t think much about it at first but we found Thanos, found out there wasn’t a way to save the universe, went home…” He paused. “...a year passed and then another one and I caught myself thinking about how the Avengers started and New York and you. You didn’t just make some deal with Thanos to rule Earth in exchange for the Tesseract, did you?”
Loki stared back at Steve, frame stiff, both hands clenched into fists at his side, eyes a little wide. He reminded Steve a bit of a stray cat he once got a black eye from a neighborhood kid for protecting. He remembered the scratch he got on his arm too from claws that swelled a little.
When Loki finally responded, his voice was low like a growl, “I was born to cause pain and suffering and death. That’s how it is, that’s how it was, that’s how it will be. All so that others, especially you and the other Avengers, can achieve the best versions of themselves.”
Steve could tell, as poetic and showy as they seemed, the words weren’t Loki’s and he wanted so desperately to see all that happened with Loki in the TVA before he got there so he had some answers on how to respond. Maybe he didn’t hate Mobius because - as Loki has said - he saw something else than the words he said, but all of this - more than he already felt - gave him more of a reason to hate the TVA. They fit everyone into exactly what they said they were supposed to be.
He didn’t say anything about what a mess the Avengers became years after New York and not because he wanted to avoid talking about how much he was to blame, but because he wasn’t sure if that would help Loki even a little.
“They’re clearly fabricating the truth even about the timeline they swear by,” Steve said, shaking his head.
“You’re presuming to know what you cannot,” Loki said, eyes narrowing.
“I’m giving you an opportunity to clear things up. Even if it’s just us.”
Loki was quiet for what felt like a minute before he scoffed. “New York and Thanos are irrelevant.” He stepped up to Steve and took the file from his hand. He turned around, headed for the small table in the room, and laid it out. “I came here for…” He trailed off, standing up straight.
Steve stepped up beside him. “For information on something you weren’t told about?”
Loki sighed and bent forward slightly over the file, eyes flitting across the page open. “Clearly all information necessary is here.”
Steve could’ve argued that everything exchanged between the two of them since Steve came back to his room proved that wasn’t true, but Loki was already retreating back into what Steve imagined was his perfectly constructed emotional armor and he let him.
Steve watched as Loki re-read the document. He took the moment to really think about Loki finding out about all of this alone and not actually knowing what it was like to live it. All he had were the raw facts with none of the extra details. Sure, it was more than a tragedy even with details and there was another set of emotions that came with living it, but to just have numbers and the cause being something he did? Steve was just glad he’d turned up outside his room so he could say what he could.
This Loki didn’t have the experiences that led to Thor losing his brother again, but this happened to be the only Loki that Steve had really met. Still, it didn’t escape his notice that New York seemed far away from this Loki who had experienced it however short it had been ago.
“Perhaps even more necessary than I thought,” Loki murmured next to Steve before he picked up the piece of paper from the file he’d been looking over. He held it up to Steve and pointed to a line on the page. “Zero variance energy detected.”
Steve looked over the line himself and then up at Loki’s expression which had softened into something more like excited determination. “I mean I guess that makes sense considering there’s no one there to create a nexus event,” Steve said, still trying to figure out the point.
“And there isn’t anything that can be done that will matter because it will soon be destroyed.” The corner of Loki’s mouth turned up.
Steve’s mouth slowly opened as the words hit him. “So you could take a walk around the palace?”
Loki shrugged. “I could set fire to the palace so long as it didn’t impede me from awakening Surtur.”
Steve grinned and Loki grinned back. “There are more apocalypses than we dare count,” Loki added. “There I would hide.”
“That’s where you’re hiding,” Steve replied.
“It’s where we will hide.” Loki set the paper down on the file before he pursed his lips together.
“But we still need a temp pad.” Steve bit his bottom lip.
Loki hummed and started tapping his fingers on top of the papers in the open file. “We tell Mobius about this and once he believes this they will seek out my variant and we should have our chance then. There will be chaos as they attempt to stop him and we should be able to commandeer two tempads then.” Loki’s delight returns. “Even if they know about where we’re hiding it will be impossible to find us because they will never know when we are.”
“This is the answer.” Steve grinned back until the gravity of it started to hit him. This - what was the only solution - meant he wasn’t going home. Neither of them were and by the sounds of it, Loki planned on going it alone like his other self was.
Steve looked up at Loki and noticed his expression had fallen and he tilted his head to the side in question. Steve shook his head and grinned, hoping to cover up his change in mood over his thoughts. Anything was better than being trapped in the TVA.
Loki smiled, tentatively and slowly. He opened his mouth once, shook his head, and started gathering up the file. “We’ll find Mobius and insist it cannot wait,” Loki said.
Steve reached out and put his hand on Loki’s arm. “It can wait until whenever morning really is,” he said. “You should get some sleep before we do this.”
Loki paused in his movements but didn’t stiffen. “They could prune me at any moment and I will not allow that to be while I sleep.”
They didn’t have any reason to do that unless they were actually listening to them, but Steve understood the feeling. “I won’t let them. You can stay here.”
Loki raised his eyebrows. “What of your rest?”
“I slept for seventy years, I still have a lot stored up.” It wasn’t even good enough to be a lie or anything more than a joke, but Steve had yet to see anything to assume Loki had rested in a long time and possibly even before the TVA. “Only if you trust me.”
Steve started to take a step away to give Loki space before he felt Loki grab his forearm. “I trust you,” Loki murmured.
He turned toward the bed and started undoing his tie. Steve looked away to give him privacy for however undressed he wanted to be and re-opened the file Loki left laying there on the table. He thought about how Earth’s had to be down in the library somewhere and decided he didn’t want to know the date even if the timeline went as it should, he would be long gone before then. He wondered how what Thanos had done was documented. It would only make sense that there was a file.
“Apologies for leaving you with grim reading,” Loki mumbled from the bed, sounding already half asleep. It only confirmed the god’s need for sleep.
“Anyone left settled on Earth, created New Asgard,” Steve turned towards Loki who was under the covers already. “Does the file say that?”
“No,” Loki sighed barely above a whisper. Steve heard light snoring minutes later.
Mobius needed some convincing, but Loki wondered if the shred of ease he found was due to Steve’s belief in the theory too. Steve’s reputation remained pristine and it only had Loki grateful Mobius hadn’t decided to make the Avenger another passion of his to know everything about. It was an advantage of Loki’s to know Steve didn’t follow an order he didn’t believe in.
With a preliminary demonstration on Mobius’ salad - which joyfully earned several smirks and one snicker from Steve - and a live demonstration in Pompeii that Mobius - smartly - only brought Loki along for, they set about the task of finding the Loki variant.
Mobius found it by remembering a clue left behind by the variant and Loki now had ideas for where he and Steve could escape to as soon as he had his hands on a tempad. The obvious trap - considering he knew he wouldn’t leave such a clue without purpose - didn’t concern Loki as his thoughts traveled to how it would be useful for his own plans.
The apocalypse that marked deaths and a destroyed Roxxcart became the ground for his plan he didn’t bother to wonder if Steve trusted him with. They hadn’t had the chance alone since they approached Mobius and then the risk of increased scrutiny would be too high. If Steve didn’t trust him or he thought to betray him, he didn’t take action by the time they were out of the rain.
Of course, no one necessarily trusted him, but slipping the tempad off of B-15 would certainly be easier if he was alone with her. The trouble was being separated from Steve once again as he followed along with the rest of the team led by Mobius. Loki had his magic, but Steve was otherwise unarmed. The thought that self-serving would be easier crossed his mind then and - even if he disregarded the thought just as quickly - he felt colder than he did when he was covered in the downpour moments ago.
“Hey!” B-15 called beside Loki and he quickly realized his mind had been drifting back to Steve and the direction the other group had gone. If B-15 had noticed his silence, she clearly didn’t feel it necessary to draw him out of his stupor because she tried to get the attention of someone else.
There was a man standing beside shelves of greenery with his hands up. Loki narrowed his eyes as he looked him over. He was relatively unassuming, but that only made him more interesting.
“What are you doing?” B-15 asked.
“Shopping for plants,” the man replied.
“In this storm?” Loki questioned, though he already knew this was either his variant or someone working with them.
“It’s a hurricane sale. Azaleas are half off.” Clever. That was him with absolute certainty.
“Could that be you?” B-15 asked and Loki could reply with surety but chose to be coy.
“I mean, I probably would have worn a suit, but, yes, maybe.”
B-15 didn’t waste another moment on debate and moved forward which Loki hoped only made his task of retrieving her tempad easier when his variant took the advantage. There was himself to deal with in that case, but if he could appeal that they were on the same side then it would position him nicely for the opportunity to locate Steve.
The man B-15 approached took hold of her arm and Loki caught the trace of green magic transferred between their touch before the man dropped. The green told him it was his even if the magic itself was only barely familiar.
“Is he dead?” Loki asked, eyes trailing over the unconscious man on the floor.
“No, they usually survive,” B-15’s voice said. He looked up at her. “So, you’re the fool the TVA brought in to hunt me down.”
Loki had to remind himself too early not to get irritated. “Me, I presume,” He replied.
“Please, if anyone’s anyone, you’re me.” His variant (as B-15) grinned.
He grinned back if only to hold the burning of his rising annoyance in his throat. He was sure he wasn’t convincing. “How nice to meet you.” At least the sarcasm felt satisfying.
His variant didn’t reply and merely turned away. Loki wished he could only say he followed to get his hands on B-15’s tempad, but curiosity was something he’d contended with more than once.
“Enchantment is a clever trick,” he murmured, sliding a little spite onto his tongue. “Cowardly, a bit amateurish, but clever.”
“Almost as cowardly as working for the TVA?” the variant returned.
Loki didn’t think quick enough to stop the wince from crossing his face. The things he did for survival still stung when accusations were said. “I’m working for me,” Loki defended, sounding sterner than he wanted. Truthfully, he was getting unraveled quicker than he wanted.
“You really believe that, don’t you?” Maybe they were right, but not for the reasons they thought. “And here I was worried they’d found a better version of me.”
The variant turned away and Loki felt his eye twitch in tune with his fingers. There were curses that came to his mind easily and much he could summon around him that would lay devastation in the middle of the aisle they were in.
“Hi, are you guys looking for the disaster shelter?” a worker from the store asked and approached the variant.
“No,” the variant replied, taking the worker’s arm. In an instant, the enchantment transferred from B-15 and she dropped to the ground.
The gathered energy from the forming attack Loki had started to summon left his hands as he eyed B-15’s unconscious form until he spotted the pouch that had to contain the tempad. He paused, waiting for the variant to step away before he crouched down next to B-15.
“Oh, bless,” the variant said through their new thrall. Loki looked up to them, stopping himself from retrieving the tempad in front of them. “Are you going to call your little friends for help?”
The taunt sparked Loki’s pride again and he started calling his energy back to his hands, taking the spell back to where he left off and thought to continue as the variant even turned their back. But he let them continue to walk away until they’d made it to the other aisle before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The variant was doing what he would do: get a rise out of him for uneducated assumptions.
He took in a deep breath and let it out once more before he took out B-15’s tempad and tucked it away in his pocket. He looked down at her from his crouched position and remembered that were the others from the TVA to find him, there would be no second thought about whether he was the cause or not. The tempad in his pocket would only be further proof.
His second thought was he needed to find Steve before that happened. Once again, his mind reasoned it would be easier to take this moment to get away and this time it reasoned that there would be no reason for them to prune Steve with another Loki variant on the loose. Then Loki remembered Steve offering his bed. He remembered Steve admitting to making revelations he’d long since passed about New York.
“Loki,” Loki heard Steve say barely above a whisper. He was close but in another aisle and in the direction the variant went.
“Hi, do you need help looking for the disaster shelter?” the variant mimicked the worker they still had under their enchantment.
"No… I'm looking for someone," Steve answered.
“Could I assist you with that? What do they look like?”
Loki's heart lurched before he rose to his feet and rushed over to the next aisle. The variant was already reaching for Steve when they came into view.
Loki threw his hand up and dragged the variant back, but it was the unconscious body of the worker he caught. He turned his gaze to Steve and watched the green cross over his blue eyes.
Loki lowered the worker to the floor before he stepped over his body and towards the variant who now was in control of Steve. "Release him," he said as both a command and a warning.
"Oh, this is interesting," the variant replied. "Have you grown attached?"
"Release him," Loki repeated, feeling a growl at the back for his throat.
"This is one of those… Avengers that stopped you, isn't it?" the variant questioned before humming. “I’m sure you’ll tell me this is a case of claimed kill?”
Before Loki could think deeper, he raised his hand once more and lifted one of the disc shaped vacuums from the shelf and hit the variant on the side of the head.
The variant wiped the blood from Steve’s mouth, turning their head forward once more and laughing lightly. “This one is strong for a Midgardian,” they said. “Though, I think you should know that all fury you unleash on me is on him.”
Loki clenched his fists at his sides. “I tire of repeating myself,” he replied.
“I’m sure you believe he and you could rule over the TVA together. Do you truly think he could accept that or you?”
Loki’s heart pounded. The words felt wrong coming from Steve’s voice. “That’s not what I want.” The words felt pathetic leaving Loki’s mouth and were hardly a solid defense. He closed his eyes. “You appear to be concerned I will impede you.”
The variant narrowed their eyes. “None of this is about you.”
“Then why continue this torment?” Loki sighed, knowing his variant still expected him to get in the way despite what they would say otherwise. He unclenched his fists before he retrieved the tempad he’d taken of B-15.
“All I wished for was this.” He held it up. “I wished to be free of the TVA’s whims and to take him with me.”
The variant tilted their head. “You know it would be easier to leave him.”
Loki would have already left were he truly intending to. “We will not impede whatever it is you’ve decided to unleash upon the TVA. I know this is a trap of sorts and I’ve ensured they sprung it.”
“And now you wish to run?”
Loki nodded and suddenly the aisle was left to the sounds of the heavy rain hitting the roof and sides of the building. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until Steve dropped, hitting the ground before Loki could reach him.
Loki dropped to his knees next to him, ignoring the ache he felt as a result, and checked his pulse before he bent his head to hear his breath. He released another breath he held when he determined Steve was alright.
He heard steps behind him and he turned to see a woman with blonde hair, gold horns rested on her head, and a black cloak over her armor. There were enough telltale signs to know who she was.
Nodding to her, Loki turned back to Steve before he started entering in one of the apocalypses he had memorized into the tempad. He opened the door to it and spared one last glance at his variant. He thought to ask what her plan was or what to expect in the future from her actions, but he decided he didn’t need to know so long as he and Steve continued to move faster than anyone pursuing them.
He dragged Steve with him through the door onto rocky ground. The door closed behind them and Loki tucked wonder about his variant to the back of his mind.
The dream Steve fell into was a bit like the one Wanda had given him years ago, but he still felt just as out of place. Peggy told him he was home more than once and it felt emptier with each passing of events. He’d be lying if he didn’t say this didn’t reawaken because of the TVA telling him this was how his life was supposed to be, but this dream was something different. It felt forced and like a trap. His fear of not fitting into the past, the future, and the present didn’t evolve so specifically on its own.
He just couldn’t remember how he’d gotten trapped in it at first. It took him a while to remember he’d been looking for someone and even longer still to remember he was looking for Loki.
Loki. The idea of Loki felt right.
His musings gave way to dreamlessness even if it seemed a little waking. He didn’t know if Loki had managed to find a tempad or if they managed to make it out of the Roxxcart before the TVA caught up. The thought of Loki hightailing it on his own didn’t bother Steve either. Loki didn’t owe anything to Steve.
Steve knew he wasn’t dead even before the scent of hot rocks or pavement and humid dampness filled his nose. Neither he nor Loki really ever spoke of a plan and Steve had been resolved to that too. All he knew before he opened his eyes was he wasn’t in the TVA or Roxxcart.
He blinked once, but the space was dimly lit so his eyes adjusted quickly. Loki was sitting a bit away and perfectly still, but was directly across from him. Their eyes met and somehow Loki stiffened even more.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Steve blinked again. “Sorry?” he questioned before he pushed himself up into a sit. There was a ball of light above them that he assumed Loki had made and there was light coming in from a large opening a ways away. He lifted his hand to find some pebbles stuck to it and he brushed them off. When he leaned back, he felt a rocky wall behind him and that confirmed they were in a cave.
“Where are we?” Steve asked.
“A planet called Phiri-6,” Loki replied and Steve looked back at him to see he hadn’t relaxed any. “It became practically uninhabitable two years prior to our arrival and there is no one left to notice us.” He swallowed. “This cave will keep us free of the heat, however there are no resources.”
“But it gives us some time.” Steve took in a deep breath, but regretted the scent that filled his senses. He doubted they would be there long enough to get used to it, but he also decided it could have been worse.
Besides, they were free of the TVA.
“I’m sorry,” Loki said again and Steve looked back at him to find him just as tense as he was when they made eye-contact.
“Why are you sorry?” he asked considering the plan worked and Steve wasn’t imprisoned or pruned by the TVA at the moment.
Loki paused before lowered his legs from their bent position and picked up the tempad from his lap. “I only managed to obtain one.”
Steve looked between the tempad and Loki. “I think I’m going to need more of a reason why that’s a problem.”
Loki tilted his head to the side before he shook his head. “You may have it, I can find my own way.”
“Your own way?” Steve questioned before the realization of what Loki was talking about hit him. “You thought we were going to split up.”
Loki nodded. “We have fulfilled our plans. It’s only natural that you would wish to part from me.”
Steve shook his head and sighed. “That’s not what I want.”
“I promise I do not think less of you for feeling that way.”
“But I don’t.”
“As we know, I’m not particularly pleasant nor do I have much promise in morality or virtuous intent. Truthfully it would be advised-”
“Loki,” Steve interrupted. “I didn’t plan on leaving you. I’m not going to leave you here, no matter if you think you can manage to make it out of here or not.”
Loki pursed his lips together and his eyes looked way too wide and confused for Steve to think he fully believed him.
Steve sighed again. “I wasn’t there for everything they said to you back at the TVA and I can’t know what your brain is telling you either, but I really don’t think you’re as prone to doing awful things as you keep saying.” At least not enjoying it.
Loki swallowed. “It’s my nature,” he murmured as if it was a truth he had to convince Steve of. His eyes told a different story.
Steve looked down and tucked one of his knees to his chest. “Do you want to separate?” he asked, looking up at Loki.
Loki looked surprised by the question before his head drooped towards his shoulders. Steve wondered if the god already had his answer read, but wasn’t sure if he should give it or build up a wall to replace the one that had crumbled. Steve didn’t like making these assumptions any more than he hated what Loki thought he, himself was deserving of, but his mind kept working ahead to figure out how to put Loki at ease.
Loki returned his gaze to Steve with a sharp intake of breath. “No, I don’t wish to be alone,” he said before quickly looking down to the ground.
Steve nodded, resting back against the cave wall behind him. “I didn’t plan on leaving.”
The corner of Loki’s mouth curled up slightly despite not looking like he relaxed. The hint of a smile was gone just as quickly. “Destruction and chaos follow me despite what my intentions may or may not be.”
“You really sound like you want me to change my mind.”
Loki shook his head. “No.” He sighed and made eye-contact with Steve. “I merely wish for you to be absolutely certain you understand you’ve made an alliance with the God of Mischief.”
“I’m not changing my mind.”
Loki’s eyebrows drew together. “Why did you take to trusting me with such ease?”
“Why did you save me twice?”
Narrowing his eyes briefly, Loki looked toward the opening of the cave. “I think you know.”
“I think you know my answer too,” Steve replied.
“By the norns, you’re impossibly stubborn.” Loki turned his gaze back to him. “You’ve no idea if your assumptions about me are true.”
“I know some of them are already and the rest won’t change my answer.”
Loki pursed his lips together, but nodded.
Steve thought to say more and solidify the unspoken agreement they finally had, but he let the silence creep in and found some peace at the cool air from the cave filled his airways. No matter where they were, even if they entire planet was probably a wasteland outside of the cave, they were away from the TVA right now and likely forever.
“You were right about Thanos,” Loki said, the words echoing a little. “I cannot explain more of it right now, but I will one day.”
“You don’t have to,” Steve began as a promise. “I believe you.”
He watched Loki’s eyes well up before the god let out a shuttering breath and suddenly he wasn’t as stiff as he was before. Steve sat up enough to move closer until he was seated near Loki. Slowly, he reached over and took Loki’s nearest hand and Loki didn’t pull away.
The grass tickled Loki’s cheek as she laid back into it. The air smelled like spring and not just because of the fresh wildflowers woven into her hair.
“Mummy, you’ll smush them!” whined the sweet voice above her head.
She slowly slid her eyes open to see the pout clear across her daughter’s face. She was named Alexandria after the the place she was born in amid battle and fire. Loki would wonder if that was how Alexandria received her fierce nerve and stubbornness, if Loki didn’t already know she had gotten it from her father.
“Oh, but I wish to count the clouds,” Loki murmured, grinning.
Alexandria groaned a little before laying right beside Loki. “All I see are branches,” she said before she sat up.
They were deep in the forest, but not far from the cottage they made home in. It had been luck Loki remembered this place hidden away on Asgard that was far from the palace and would be undisturbed after her fall until Ragnarok. It continued to be luck that it was the best solution to keep out of notice of the TVA and safest to raise Alexandria. The spells kept them hidden to do as they wanted in the area and Loki remained rather inconspicuous in this form when they needed supplies. As a result, Asgard felt more home than it ever had.
“I wish to show dad your hair at dinner,” Alexandria said, nudging Loki’s side.
She smirked gently before she relented and sat up once more. “Very well, but you’re next so save some,” she said, turning her head so Alexandria could reach the back again.
It was a common occurrence for time they spent outside to weave flowers into braids and curls. Their hair was so similar, but Alexandria shared her eyes with her father.
“What’s that?” she asked and Loki followed her point. Her heart sank seeing the telltale orange doorway about fifty feet away just before she watched Mobius step through. “Who’s that?”
Loki gripped Alexandria’s hand before she rose to her feet and stepped between her and Mobius who had started to close distance. “Go to your father, now,” she said, voice dripping with urgency.
“I’m not here to disrupt anything,” Mobius called to them before Alexandria even moved.
“You already have,” Loki said, narrowing her eyes. She let go of Alexandria’s hand to motion to urge her on.
Mobius sighed, but nodded. “I came to tell you, you were right.”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “I know,” she answered without even asking what she was right about.
He laughed in return. “The TVA won’t be chasing you. I won’t be chasing you. I came to tell you you’re free to live somewhere even more stable than this.” He shrugged. “Or cause chaos by suddenly making your presence known.”
Loki looked in the direction of the palace even though she couldn’t see it from where she should. This was infinitely more appealing than there. “About now I would be impersonating Odin and I wouldn’t wish to ruin that.”
Mobius shrugged. “Sounds like fun.” He turned and opened up another doorway with his tempad. “Turns out I’m just a variant too, searching for my lost jetski. Maybe shaker of salt too.”
Loki scrunched her nose in confusion before she shook her head. “Thank you for dragging me to the court that day.”
Mobius nodded. “Can’t take all the credit.”
Loki laughed through her nose and shook her head. “Where should we go?”
He tilted his head from side to side. “Rogers might have some ideas.” He nodded his head beyond Loki.
Loki turned and saw Steve standing a ways back, holding Alexandria. He had grown a beard and his hair out a little which Loki decided suited him well.
She looked back after Mobius to find he’d already left.
“What ideas?” Steve asked and Loki felt him grip her hand with his free one.
“When and where we’ll create unanswered nexus events,” she replied, grinning. “Preferably abundant with wildflowers and the chances for healthy amounts of mischief and chaos.”
“I think we can manage both.” Steve kissed the side of Alexandria’s head and then Loki’s lips.
