The Connection They Share

The Variant

I come too and feel the vibrations of people walking around the tent. A pair of footsteps stop near my face and I sense someone crouching next to me, I feel my hair being moved and a whisper "Avery"
I immediately recognise the voice, it can't be. I struggle to open my eyes when I feel some more vibrations stop by my head "You had me for a second. My ears are sharp too." a new guy says "Who's this?"
"Avery, I knew her before New York and she fought against me" Loki explains lightly touching my face, again.
"Is she dead?" the guy asks, I feel Loki lean down towards my face and I finally get my eyes open. I take in his appearance, he hadn't changed one bit but something is off. When explaining to Mobius he only mentioned New York, why? In a second I had shot off the ground and grabbed him by the neck with my powers. There was a commotion but I focused solely on the imposter in front of me "I think it's safe to say, you're not dead"
"Shut up" I hiss "Who are you?"
"Loki" he chokes out, I scowl and tighten my grip.
"Liar..." I spit but I'm interrupted by the guy I heard earlier.
"Miss, please put down the Loki" he calls whilst facing one of those glowing sticks at me. "Believe it or not but we need him."
I look around and see more of those soldiers and also those orange doors, maybe I can find out why I was dragged here. I drop 'Loki' onto the floor and raise my hands above my head. Another agent marches up to me, she wraps a collar around my neck then grabs my arm "We need to go, now"  Then she drags me through the orange doors, the others following behind us.

We come out into a reception type area, we go up to the front desk where a young man sat signing people in. I see the white haired man drag Loki away from us and I catch the word Variant written across the back of his jacket. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when the woman threw me into an isolated room, I stand up straight to see a robot in my face. It reaches out to grab my clothes but I slap it away, I try to use my powers but there was only a spark before nothing. Damn it, I can't use them here. The robot makes some noises before my clothes are erased "Hey!" I shout before a door under my feet opens and I fall. I realise that a jumpsuit had materialized on my body, I jump slightly at the sight of a man sat behind a desk. He pushes a large stack of papers toward me "Please sign to verify this is everything you've ever said"
I frown in confusion and see the last word I spoke was "Hey" a second ago. I look at the corner to see A1. I grab a pen and sign the first sheet, I'm then thrown downwards and appear in a room with a metal detector like object in the center. "Please confirm to your knowledge that you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do in fact possess what many cultures would call a soul." a man states not even looking at me.
"I confirm?" I say hesitantly and he finally looks up at me.
"Thank you for confirming. Move through." he orders gesturing to the machine, I slowly step through looking away as a bright light flashes in my face. A photo comes out but he hides it before I can see and he ushers me through another door. I come out into a wide room with dividers. "Take a ticket" a soldier orders and I take one then put it in my pocket before moving through the isles. I watch the introduction video but couldn't help think that, that wasn't how I ended up in the timeline. I arrive quite quickly at the front and present my ticket to the guard that is there. He takes my upper arm and walks me in front of the judge, I look around to see this is the exact place 'Loki' was trialed, I'm thrust into a circular podium and I'm forced to look up at the judge.

"Variant A1, AKA AV-3 also known as Avery Barnes charged with breaking the scared timeline." she shuts the file close and sighs "How do you plead?"
"Not guilty" I say with a straight face.
"Miss, don't make this difficult. You were not on your determined path when we found you..."
"Where was I supposed to be? New York" I interrupt and the lady looks at me in annoyance. "Err...Yeah. Tried that, didn't quite work out. You see I was on my way to New York but I got sucked through space and time instead." I straighten up with a fake smile "But you knew that already"
The woman let out an exasperated sigh "Are you sure you're not a Loki" she looks behind me and I turn only now noticing Loki and the white haired man.
"Perfectly sure, I just happened to have known one for an extended amount of time, I guess you could say I picked up a few things."
Obviously she had had enough "Wipe her and put her back into the timeline" I panic as two guards grabbed me by the arms and pull me off the podium. I try and pull myself free but they were incredibly strong. All of the sudden the white haired man interrupted and spoke quickly and quietly to the judge, they seem to be more than work associates. He came over to me and guided me out of the hall and down some corridors with Loki hurrying behind us. He sat me in a darkened room and sat on the other side of the desk along with Loki.
"I have a proposition for you" he started "I'm trying to track a murderous Loki variant" My mind immediately goes to Sylvie but I don't say a word "Due to your past experience with a Loki, I was wondering if you could help us out."
I lean back and cross my arms "What if I say no?"
"You get erased" Loki states but I ignore him. White hair shakes his head "Actually, no you wouldn't be erased, just put back into the timeline." Both me and Loki frown, "Why?" I question.
"That I don't know, that information is above my clearance." White hair explains.
"Alright, it's not like I have anything better to do" I agree and the guy smiles "First things first though, what is your name" I ask.
"Oh Mobius" we all stand and he extends his hand, I shake it and we all walk to the elevators.

After a few minutes of silence, we come out at some archives. Mobius sorts Loki out with some work then takes me to some sort of changing room. He hands me a pack of clothes and directs me into one of the changing rooms. I unfold them and lay them out, I quickly threw on some short pants then tucked the white shirt in. Over the top I pulled the dress/coat on and rolled up the sleeves, I turn to see the words Variant on my back, I let out a sigh, I guess some things never change. I take the tie and instead of putting it around my neck I tie it around my waist to make the coat more fitted. I put my hair into a plait that draped over my shoulder then grabbed my jumpsuit before exiting the changing rooms. "You know a tie is supposed to go around your neck" Mobius states as he gets rid of my jumpsuit.
"I know and I don't care. Is it okay if I go help Loki with his research?" I ask with a smile.
"Yeah sure, I'm going to get some lunch" Mobius then walked away, rubbing his face due to tiredness. I guess Loki's been stressing him out.
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I walk into the archives to see Loki reading a file with a sad eyes, what's gotten into him? "Hey" I say softly and sit down next to him, he looks up from the file "What's wrong?" I ask with a smile.
"Were you there? At Ragnarok" Loki asked, letting a little worry slip into his voice.
I sigh sadly "Yes, anyone who was left on the surface...wouldn't have survived" I look down at my hands "We only managed to get a few people aboard the ship before Surtur destroyed the planet"
"I'm glad you managed to get yourself and some of the population out of there." I look up at Loki in shock, he sends me a smile the focuses his attention on the file. I lean over and notice the words 'Zero Variance Energy Detected' I guess that means there was no variants in Asgard at that time. I also noticed that it mentions the whole planet was destroyed...wait a minute. I look up at Loki to see him already looking at me. "We need to tell Mobius" Loki states then runs off with the file with me chasing after him with a massive grin on my face. Loki's making friends.