Y/n's pov
"Is it just me or does this office keep getting better and better?" Mobius says.
"I know right!" I say, chuckling.
"Hey where'd you get that one, the snow globe?" He points to the snow globe, on the shelf with her helmet, a shoe, and a pruner.
"I love those, I don't remember brining back that case." Mobius says.
"Oh! I remember that one!" I say.
"Your not the only analyst working for me." Ravonna says.
"But would you say I'm your favorite one?" Mobius asks.
"Uh no! I'm her favorite!" I say.
"And why do you get to keep all the trophies from my cases in here, you don't think I would love having that roller skate there sprucing up my cubicle"
"Because I approve the missions."
"Good point." Mobius says.
"Speaking of which, let's just talk about the one you two just botched. You might need this for our discussion." She hands us a glass with wine in it.
I sigh "I hope it's a double." Taking a sip.
"This variant is..." she flips her papers, "insubordinate, stubborn, unpredictable." She puts her papers down "sounds like someone else I know."
"I was just thinking it sounds like someone I know." Mobius says, as they both look at me.
"Well..." I start, taking another sip, hiding my embarrassment.
Mobius also takes a sip, and place's it on the table right next to him.
"Mobius?" Ravonna says, furrowing her brows.
"What?" Mobius starts "Those rings were already there!"
"And there all from you!" Both me and Ravonna say in union.
"Maybe, it's from your other favorite analyst." Mobius says.
Other favorite?
"Listen, Ravonna, I'm sorry I realize that, you know, my methods with this Loki are controversial, but..."
"Towing a dangerous Variant into the field is controversial." Ravonna interrupts Mobius.
"Yeah, it didn't go exactly how I wanted it to today, but here's what we did find out, the variant likes to stall for time, and eventually we'll catch the other one doing the same thing because understanding this Loki helps me get closer to the one we're chasing." Mobius takes a deep breath. "Right?"
"Look, I know you have a soft spot for broken things." Ravonna starts.
"I don't think so." Mobius shakes his head.
"Yea, you do." I say.
"Thank you, see. Look, Loki, is a evil, lying, scourge. That is the part he plays on the Sacred Timeline."
"We'll, maybe he wants to mix it up, sometimes you get tired of playing the same part. Is that possible? He can change?" Mobius says.
"Not unless the Time-Keepers decree it. And then it shall be so."
"How are the Time-Keepers anyway?" I ask.
Ravonna sighs "How do you think?!"
"I don't know. I've never met 'em." I shrug, taking another sip of wine.
"The Time-Keepers are monitoring every aspect of this case. I've never seen them so involved. They want that variant caught." Ravonna takes a deep breath.
"So do I!" Mobius and I say in union.
"And this will be the last chance you get with this Loki."
"Great, that's all we're going to need." Mobius says.
Mobius, I, and Ravonna get up, she hands Mobius some papers to sign "Thank you, R Slayer." Mobius says, taking the papers and signing them. "I don't remember this, this must be from that analyst you keep on the side." Mobius says, looking at the pen before handing it to me, for me to sign. "Stay focused." Ravonna says, as I hand the papers back to her.
"Eyes on the road." Mobius says.
"Y/n? Mobius?" Ravonna says, as we're leaving.
"Come on, we were almost gone!" Mobius jokes.
Ravonna rolls her eyes "You really believe in this variant?" She asks.
"Not really. But if Mobius does, then I guess I do, all we can do is give him a chance." I say.
"Mmm. Luckily he believes in himself enough for the both of us. And hey if it doesn't work, we will be more than glad to delete him." Mobius opens the door and adds "He's really arrogant." Before we leave.
Mobius whistles for Loki to get up, and gesture's with his hand for him to follow us.
He gets up "Your probably wondering what happened out in the mission." Loki begins, and I roll my eyes. Here we go again.
Loki runs after us, "That was your first lesson in catching a Loki. Expect the expected. See, half the fun of being a trickster is knowing everyone knows you're a trickster, and then, many of your tricks can come from exploiting the fact that you know that they know-" "Okay J-J-Just shut up!" I say, annoyed at him, he talks way to much.
"Please!" Mobius adds. "What happened to that guy I met on the elevator? Didn't like to talk? Remember him? Now we're stuck with this guy who won't stop yacking away about what makes Loki a tick!" Mobius says.
"What? Isn't that precisely why I'm here?" Loki asks.
"No! I don't care what makes you tick you're here to help us catch the superior version of yourself." Mobius says.
"Hang on-" "That's it!" I spat pointing to Loki.
"Im not sure 'superior' is actually quite the right word." Loki goes.
"See? There it is, right there." Mobius says, and we stop to an elevator.
"I believed, stupidly, that insecure need validation would motivate you to find the killer, not because you care about the TVA mission or being a hero, but because you know this Variant is better than you." Mobius says.
"And you can't take it." Mobius and I say in union, in a teasing tone.
Loki smirked. "Very nice. I mean, it's adorable that you think you could-" he fixes Mobius tie "possibly manipulate me." "I'm ten steps ahead of you! I've been playing a game of my own all along." He puts his hands in his pockets, and smirks.
"What? Charm your way in front of the Time-Keepers, hustle them, and seize control of the TVA?" I say, and Loki paused.
"Are we getting warm?" Mobius and I say in union.
"A double cross by history's most reliable liar." Mobius says, pushing a button on the elevator.
"Okay, why are you in there sticking your neck out for me?" Loki asks.
"I'll give you two options-" Mobius says while walking up to Loki "And you can believe whichever one you want. A, because I see a scared little boy, shivering in the cold, and you kinda feel bad for that ice runt. Or B-" I hear the elevator ding "I just wanna, catch this guy and I'll tell you whatever I need to tell you."
We walk inside the elevator. "I don't need your sympathy." Loki says once we're inside the elevator.
"Good, cause I'm running out of it." Mobius says, while pushing a button.
We start going up, the trip in silence.
"What's this? Next step of your manipulation.." Loki says once the elevator dings, and we get to our destination.
"Nope, this is your final step. Your last chance." I say, as we're walking.
"Oh, and what does my desperate last chance require?" Loki asks.
"Work." I smirk.
"Work?" Loki furrows his brows.
We get to where we need to. "I need you to go over each and every one of the Variant's case files, and then give me your.... How do I put it..." Mobius starts before I interrupt him "Your unique Loki perspective."
"Right! And who knows, maybe there's something we missed." Mobius adds.
"Well, your all idiots, so I suspect you probably missed a lot."
"Hey! First a clown, now an idiot!" I start.
"That's why we're lucky we've got ya for a little bit longer!" Mobius says, eyeing me to shut up.
We stop, "Let me park you two at this desk and don't be afraid to really lean into this work, and here's a good trick for you, pretend you life depends on it. I'm going to get a snack." Mobius says.
"Wait, why me? Can't I-" I start, before Mobius walks away, away from ear-shot.
Loki and I stand there for a moment, before grabbing some files, and starting to go through them. "Making me go through files." I grumbled to myself, while Loki is flipping through the files.
He picks up a file and reads it through for a moment.
"Oh my goodness." He says "Don't tell me the Variant ambushed and killed another team of Minutemen." He furrowed his brows, then gasped "And stole their reset charges as well!" He said in a teasing tone, to which make me snicker.
"Shh!" A lady behind us said. Me and Loki furrowed our eyebrows, and turned around.
"Shh!" We both said to the lady in union, while putting our finger to our lips.
We both get up, then walk towards a lady on a desk to get some more files. She is ether playing solitaire, or actually doing work, who knows.
"Hi." Loki says, and she just ignore's him, still looking at the computer, now I'm convinced she's playing solitaire.
"Uh hello? Are you playing solitaire?!" I asked.
"Hello?" Loki asks, once again, trying to be polite.
We found a broken bell, and Loki pushed it.
She finally stopped what she was doing, and looked up to see us.
Finally. I rolled my eyes.
"Can I help you?" The lady asks. Yeah, you can actually.
I open my mouth to say something, but Loki put his hand over my mouth.
"Yes I'm on some important TVA business." He takes his hand off my mouth, which I did think about licking.
"Follow-up to a field mission, you know how it goes, we uh, we red lined near the apex, and uh.." He trails off, while the lady and me are not amused.
"We would like all files pertaining to the creation of the TVA." I said, just wanting to get this over with.
"Those are classified." The lady says.
Me and Loki took a deep breath. "Okay, we'd like all files pertaining to the beginning of time then." Loki says, a bit of annoyance in his tone.
"Those are classified." The lady goes again.
"Okay the end of time." I say.
"Those are classifi-"
"What files can we have then!" I spat, annoyed.
She sighs, taking us to the files we can have.
She gives us a small pile of files. "Happy reading." She says, then walks away.
Me and Loki scoffed.
Variant Case File. Variant number, L1130, Variant name: Laufeyson, Loki. It said.
Loki sighed, looking down from the file.
We sat down where we were originally, and start looking through the boring files.
Destruction Of Asgard, was one of the files's covers, written in red.
Event details:
Ragnarock (class seven apocalypse) total planetary apocalypse.
9,719 (Entire Civilization Annihilated)
Zero Variant Energy Detected.
DISPLACED by: 000:000:002:162
Asgard (File: IPB-ASG-001)
Casualties 9,719
I look up to see Loki's eyes tearing up.
"Oh Loki..." I say. "I-I'm so sorry." I stutter.
He shakes his head after a moment. "Never mind, come on. I have an idea." He says, taking the files and going into an elevator to find Mobius.