A Sense Of Belonging (Marvel's LOKI)

Chapter Nine (THE VARIANT)

Oshkosh, Wisconsin 1985

Stepping through the Time Door, Sarah Kane followed the leads of Hunter B-15, and the other Minutemen. On the other side, was the location of The Variant's last attack. Somewhere in Wisconsin, in the 80's. As she trailed just slightly behind Loki and Mobius, she looked around. Her brows furrowed. The surroundings appeared to be some sort of park. But from what she had known about the 80's from her reading, she picked up on the atmosphere. The way people were dressed, and the way they were speaking and acting. If she didn't know any better, by all of the costumes and artifacts, she would say this was a Renaissance Fair. A social gathering for people to recreate the era known as the English Renaissance. It certainly seemed like a odd thing to her. But as she spotted some of the children running and playing, it seemed to be something people or all ages had enjoyed.

"This is a Renaissance fair." Sarah pointed out.

"Yep." Mobius nodded his head. "Very popular social gathering. A lot of people like these sorts of things."

"What's a Renaissance Fair?" Loki looked around. "Whatever it is, these Midgardians sure seem to enjoy it. Dressing up in these clothes and pretending to be people they're not."

"That's the fun of it." Mobius looked to Loki, grinning. "It's a way for people to get away from their boring and stressful lives, and have a little fun."

"Fun is playing pranks, not looking ridiculous." Loki remarked.

Agent Mobius shakes his head. "Well me and you have different definitions of the word 'fun'."

"Apex of nexus signature located, ma'am." One of the men looked to B-15.

Sarah nervously bites down on her lower lip. If this was the Variants last known location, then there could have been a chance that they would run into them. Then what? She was sure chaos would ensure.

But nevermind that. She was here to shadow Mobius, so she needed to stay focused. 

As the Minutemen then began to walk through the crowd, Loki has turned to Mobius. "Let me ask you this.m, why don't we nurse travel back to before the attack, when the Variant first arrives?"

"Nexus events destabilize the time flow." Mobius replied. This branch is still changing and growing, so you gotta show up in real time." He shakes his head. "Didn't you watch any of the training videos you were supposed to?"

"Well as many as I could stand. Your TVA propaganda is exhausting." Loki huffed. Loki wasn't wrong about that one. Sarah could agree on that. From the ones she had been forced to sit through, that were extremely boring and overwhelming. "And what do these do?" Loki gestured to the devices being carried.

"Reset charges prune the affected radius of the branched timeline, allowing time to heal all its wounds." Mobius told him.

"Which is a nice way of saying disintegrate everything in its vicinity." Loki remarked.

"That's a way to put it, yes." Sarah told him.

"He's on it." Mobius smirked.

"I watched the videos." Loki defended. "I mean, some of them." Loki then entered the tent, Sarah and the other's directly behind them.

As Sarah, Loki, Mobius, and the various Minutemen entered the tent, the entire atmosphere seemed to change. From playful and charismatic. To dull and gloom. Letting out a breath, Sarah looked around. At the bodies of the unit that The Variant had attacked. And the helmet that was on the ground. Belonging to that of... C-20. The young woman who been abducted by The Variant.

"So he's taking hostages now?" B-15 quizzed.

"The Variants never taken a hostage before." Mobius pointed. Sarah thought to herself. 'Why start now?'