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Almost… there… thought Gwen, padding cautiously and noiselessly along the ventilation duct, panther-like and agile even within such a confined space.
Despite the restrictiveness, it had fast become her preferred method of solo traversal throughout the TVA, ever since she came to grow comfortable with her new situation here. And so long as she kept out of trouble and didn’t break anything, it surprisingly seemed to be tolerated by most. This was the new-and-improved TVA after all, as everyone continually insisted, and in addition to now recruiting a variety of consenting… well, ‘assets’ such as herself from the timelines, there was also a newfound flexibility in the collective attitude of upper management; an open-mindedness with regard to keeping recruits and permanent TVA workers alike content and thriving.
Granted, she wasn’t exactly sure whether what she was currently doing qualified as ‘keeping out of trouble’, but if she remained undetected, no one would be any the wiser, and no harm would be done.
Passing the grate prior to the one she was heading for, Gwen glanced down below to find Judge Gamble at her desk, flipping through some papers and looking understandably harried.
It’d been a strange day-cycle that had passed, since Nightmare was defeated; the TVA initially in utter chaos, unlike anything she had ever seen. When she’d said as much to OB, however, he’d simply smiled at her indulgently, whilst nearby Casey scoffed and mumbled, “Two words… temporal meltdown.”
Still, the widespread damage from the magical confrontation between Nightmare and the Scarlet Witch was no laughing matter, and search and rescue was still well and truly underway for anyone who may have been trapped in the resulting rubble.
Gwen had been assisting, of course, but was relieved for a break not long ago, and when she’d asked where Mobius was, feeling a compulsion to check in on him, she’d been informed he’d just headed off to B-15’s office for a brief private meeting.
And sure enough, she could make out their voices now, as she crept along to the adjacent vent.
She had to admit, the words ‘private meeting’ resounded in her head even as she settled into position, evoking not a little guilt and shame at so brazenly listening in like this. But then, there wasn’t really such a thing as a private meeting in the TVA, given that most of it was constantly being… surveilled?
Is that even a word?
Anyway, the point was there was no true privacy within the TVA, apart from particular areas such as bathrooms and living quarters, thankfully. So if she were being objective, Gwen could easily argue that her current eavesdropping was no different from some snoop in Security turning the volume up on the monitor for B-15’s office whenever they wanted.
Technically they had clearance to do so, but whatever.
“... heard that there had been twenty-three survivors found so far, is that right?” she heard B-15 saying, and she edged even nearer to the grill to peer down at the scene below.
B-15 was lowering herself down to sit behind her desk, and Mobius paced in front of it, hands in his pockets as he briefly lifted his gaze from the floor to look at her.
“Yeah, so far,” he confirmed with a nod, but lowered his eyes again as he continued, “There’s eighteen unaccounted for in that sector, but still a fair bit of ground to cover too, so hopes are high… for the time being.”
Nodding distractedly, B-15 snapped her tempad closed after quickly checking something, then regarded Mobius thoughtfully for a moment as he continued to move back and forth across the space before her, clearly agitated.
“What about you?” she asked quietly after a long moment, and Gwen shuffled a bit closer to watch and listen intently.
This is why she’d been wanting to catch up with Mobius anyway, why she’d tracked him down. He’d been acting kind of strange since the attack, and even though it could be attributed to the fact that he was still very much recovering from that awful stabbing incident, it seemed to be more significant than that.
“What about me?” Mobius shot back at her; abruptly, though not quite rudely.
“Are you okay?” B-15 pressed, tilting her head in concern. “You’ve been acting a little bit off since everything went down… which, like, fair enough, I suppose. But even so.” Her tone then shifted, becoming sharper, as she leaned towards him with a sudden urgency. “You weren’t- you weren’t hurt again, in the fight, were you?”
She appeared to be horrified that the thought hadn’t yet occurred to her, and Gwen felt a flash of remorse for the same reason.
But immediately, Mobius stopped moving, turning to meet her gaze properly this time, his face lightening with a smile that was subtle and… and wistful?
It was hard to say, from her lofty vantage point, but there was definitely something melancholy about it. Not unfamiliar, she conceded, for Gwen had definitely seen similar expressions from him before.
Come to think of it, she realised, usually whenever he was talking about-
“I’m okay, B, I promise. Loki made sure of that.”
… Loki.
He’d certainly captured B-15’s attention along with Gwen’s; her frame perceptibly tensing as she straightened, looking at Mobius as though he’d sprouted a second head.
“Loki?” she queried incredulously, her brow furrowing, “What has Loki got to do with anything?”
“I saw him, B,” Mobius said, quiet but impassioned, “Just before Maggie ate Nightmare.”
He took a brisk couple of steps over to the swivel chair in front of her desk, swiftly sitting and leaning forward with his elbows propped on her desk, earnest with repressed excitement.
“He was there. As a bird… as a- a magpie, I think. He distracted Nightmare, swooped around him all crazily. Set him off-balance, until Maggie was ready to attack.”
His voice was near shaking now, and Gwen was transfixed, desperate to hear more. An elated little voice inside of her was squealing with glee at being right.
Loki had been here, after all. Just not quite in the way she’d suspected.
B-15, however, was regarding Mobius pityingly.
“Mobius,” she began, oozing with empathy, her demeanour softer and more tender than anything Gwen had witnessed from her, until now. “You said yourself that he wasn’t here. You told Gwen as much, in no uncertain terms.” An eyebrow was raised at him pointedly. “What in the worlds has made you go back on that? I mean, there was enough godsdamned magic swirling around in this place that you could have seen anything.”
He was already shaking his head though, before she’d even finished speaking.
“No, I know it was him,” he insisted. “I can’t really explain it. But really, the biggest giveaway was the fact he took the form of a magpie.”
With a frown of interest, B-15 inclined her head again, inviting him to continue.
“Long story short, there’s a Loki variant I’ve read about, a kid, who transformed the spirit of his past self into a magpie. Well, he thought he had, but it actually turned out that-” he cut himself off, waving a hand in impatient dismissal. “Uh, look, that’s beside the point. What’s important is that there is a preexisting connection in at least one universe between Loki and magpies, and on top of that, there was no one else with us in R&A who could’ve conjured such a thing.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just… seeing what you wanted to see?” B-15 asked him, wincing a little at her own question.
It was all Gwen could do to not huff audibly. Mobius wouldn’t make something like that up. He missed Loki terribly, that was for sure, but he was by no means unstable or delusional.
Fortunately Mobius didn’t seem overly offended, merely rolling his eyes and tsking in vague annoyance. He gave her a Look, and she was suitably chagrined.
“I had to ask,” she muttered with a one-sided shrug.
Taking a long moment to mull everything over as she stared vacantly at her desktop, B-15 eventually raised her eyes back up to an expectantly-waiting Mobius.
“If this is true,” she began, “Then Loki’s been-”
“Watching us,” Mobius finished with a wide smile, and Gwen couldn’t help but mirror it, never having seen him look so happy. “He’s been watching us. Which means he’s alive. He’s- he’s okay.”
His breath caught, and he swallowed thickly, chin dropping as he inhaled with forced calm.
“And he saved us. Again.”
It was all Gwen could do to not burst through the grating, drop nimbly onto B-15’s desk, and prance around in their faces, gloating about how incredibly correct she’d been.
Somehow she didn’t think it would go down too well… not least of all because she’d been horrifyingly nosey just now, and, unbeknownst to them, unforgivably intrusive.
But now, she’d heard all she needed to hear, satisfied that Mobius really was okay — possibly better than okay — and so she drew away as silently as her arrival had been, creeping through the ventilation system until she reached the nearest balcony that overlooked the main atrium. Swinging herself over the edge, she scaled the wall until she was at the right height to launch herself across to the shoulder of Loki’s statue, standing regal and proud as it surveyed the fruits of Loki’s sacrifice… said ‘fruits’ perhaps a little worse for wear, after this latest insanity, but still intact, and still bustling with life and purpose.
“He’s onto you,” she said, crouched down next to the statue’s ear. “Can’t pull the wool over Mobius’ eyes.” Under her cowl, her face split into a conspiratorial grin. “And I bet you knew that, when you appeared in that form. You’ve never exactly been subtle, from what I’ve heard.”
Pausing for a moment, she sobered a little, composing her next thoughts into words of care.
“But he knows, now, so. Don’t keep standing him up, huh? And don’t let me down.” She side-eyed the statue, the sharp cheekbone in her peripheral vision carved to perfection. “Mobius is a sweetie. He deserves all the good things.” She sighed, now wistful herself. “And that includes you.”
Rising to her feet, Gwen reached out, placing a hand on the cool, smooth stone of his jawline.
“So get your butt back here, ASAP.”
With that, she leapt from his shoulder, and in freefall flung a web out towards a nearby tower, swinging herself around to head back to the scene of her current task of assisting the units still searching amongst the rubble-strewn chaos.
A break time well-spent, she reflected, If not exactly restful.
For the light she’d seen in Mobius’ eyes was infinitely more rejuvenating than all the pie in the automat.
“Mobius! What is that?”
Gwen heard the god’s voice before she’d even reached the panel in the ceiling over Mobius’ desk, elation bubbling within at finally getting to meet him.
“What? You don’t like it?” Mobius responded, sounding so ridiculously happy that Gwen could hardly stand it… in the very best of ways, of course.
“LOKI 4 EVR??”
The undisguised revulsion almost made her giggle and ruin her surprise entrance, but she managed to contain herself as she lifted the panel silently, poking her masked head out over the edge to catch her first glimpse of the object of Mobius’ affections.
The supremely magical super-powerful saviour of the multiverse was clad unassumingly in TVA shirt and trousers, his arms folded as he glared at the cute little poster that Mobius had been gifted from B-15, Casey and OB.
“I didn’t make it,” Mobius replied with an easy shrug, the delighted grin on his face a thing of beauty.
“Well. You have the real thing back now,” Loki drawled, “So you can be rid of that.”
“No freaking way!” Mobius laughed. “It was a gift. I like it.”
He sidled closer to Loki as his amusement faded to something softer and more intimate, the two of them brushing against each other in a way that wouldn’t fool anyone who happened to glance their way.
Which right now, included Gwen, and Gwen alone.
“Anyway, the sentiment is accurate, if perhaps a little basic,” Mobius was saying, running his hand down Loki’s arm to clasp his hand, their fingers intertwining with nauseating tenderness. “More than ever, I’d say, after last n-”
Having witnessed and heard more than enough, Gwen chose that moment to drop down into the cubicle, landing lightly behind them on one knee, and flicking her face up to find two pairs of eyes trained upon her… one in fond annoyance, the other in mild shock.
Though Loki recovered with enviable swiftness, she had to admit.
“Spider-Gwen, I presume,” he smirked. “A pleasure to meet you at last… in the flesh, I should specify.”
Gwen lifted her cowl, eyeing him warily, whilst Mobius looked between them with mounting confusion.
“Likewise,” she said, casting her eyes over him appraisingly.
They held each other’s gaze for several seconds, then broke into matching grins.
“I’m sorry, do you two know each other?” Mobius broke in, sounding extremely put-out at not having a clue what was going on.
“Mmph. Miss Stacy has partaken in some rather enlightening one-sided conversations with yours truly, since her arrival here,” Loki elaborated. “The most recent of which may or may not have been catalytic in nature, with regards to… what was it? ‘Getting my butt back here, ASAP?’”
“Aw, you heard me,” she simpered unseriously. “Shame you couldn’t have found it within yourself to get your butt back here in time to stop Mobius from being stabbed…”
“It was not that easy, as I’m sure you’re well aware,” Loki grumbled. “Besides, I think I redeemed myself soon after, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Oh, by becoming a little tweety-bird?” Gwen mocked. “Yes, so impressive, getting a flerken to do the job for you.”
“How do you kn-” Mobius burst out, then tossed his hands in the air as he turned away, muttering to himself as he sullenly pretended to be sorting papers.
“I believe her chosen method of ambulation may provide opportunities for observational insights she mightn’t otherwise have been privy to,” Loki supplied, and Mobius immediately rounded on her.
“You’ve been spying on us?”
“Hey, I wouldn’t exactly say- I mean, ‘spying’ is… is such a harsh word,” she laughed unconvincingly, and Mobius frowned sternly, hands on his hips. “Anyway, I just remembered I was supposed to be, uh, meeting up with, um … uh, so yeah, gotta run!”
As she fairly flew up into the ceiling, landing in a low lunge and sliding the panel back into place, she heard Loki chuckle softly.
“I like her,” he admitted, and Gwen grinned as she heard Mobius sigh exasperatedly.
“I should have known,” he lamented, “Birds of a feather, the two of you.”
“I do look forward to cheering her on when she trounces you in basketball,” Loki dared.
A rather undignified yelp from the God of Time echoed through the duct, and Gwen did giggle this time, buoyant in the wake of Mobius’ happiness.