Chapter Text
It was a Saturday around noon and it was a safe bet that someone would be home, so when the doorbell rang it wasn’t a surprise. It had to be a friend dropping by, or maybe it was the new battery Jack was expecting and he had to sign for it. He couldn’t wait to pop that baby into ol’ Suzette and take her for a spin on the lake tomorrow. The weather was supposed to be superb.
“Jack!” Alice called from the foyer. “It’s for you!”
He cursed, his hands deep in dishwater. “Can you sign for me, honey? I’m in the middle of something.”
“It’s not a package,” she said, now from the archway behind him. “She says she’s a colleague. Whatever she wants, couldn’t it have waited til Monday?”
That couldn’t be right. Was there an accident at the shop? They should have called him immediately! He was already prepping his reprimand for their breaking from protocol but it would only be for show. Everybody knew that for the manager of recreational vehicle sales, he was as far from a hardass as one could get. He tugged off his apron and dried his hands with it, tossing it haphazardly onto the counter as his fiancée shot him a look that said, I hate when you do that.
He gave her a kiss on the cheek as he passed. “I’ll get rid of her.”
The figure waited at the still open door just passed the threshold. She was dressed so ordinarily that Jack didn’t recognize her at first: a navy pantsuit and white undershirt with a frilled collar. As he stopped in the middle of the hollow entryway, a chill swept over him that had nothing to do with the autumn breeze.
“Mobius,” she said by way of greeting.
The sound of the name he had shed ages ago snapped him out of his shock and he hurried out the door, shutting it gingerly behind him.
“What the hell, B?” he hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“I would have preferred to give you a warning, but your TemPad is turned off,” B-15 replied, vexed.
“You can’t just show up here like this! Not that it isn’t good to see you, but damn!”
B-15 aimed a raised eyebrow at the door. “I thought you were going to tell her.”
“It hasn’t come up yet.”
She pursed her lips. “Clock’s ticking.”
“Alright, alright. What is it? What are you doing here?”
“We brought him back, Mobius.”
He shook his head, understanding her meaning immediately but disbelieving it. “Brought—”
“Loki. He’s back.”