Chapter 9
The project data wasn’t just stored in the wrong folder, under an unclear name, or otherwise misplaced. It was gone, just as a certain goddess of mischief who hadn’t been seen since the end of the lunch break. Good thing Mobius had felt some mischief in the air and had just barely beaten her to the chase. “So, we can just reupload everything from my tempad.”
B-15 smiled wryly, as if watching your cat trying to shove something too heavy for them off the coffee table. “She deleted everything?”
“Dates, times, calculations, theories,” Mobius said. “I think she means it this time.”
“But did we actually lose anything?”
“Some calculations she made on paper before putting it on her tempad, but I think O.B. held on to those. But let’s just not tell anyone.”
B-15 raised an eyebrow. “Why? The others need to know what to expect before she tries something else. Besides, it’s not like she stuck around to suffer the fallout.”
“I guess,” Mobius conceded. “Are you going to tell them?”
“Hell, no. You’re the Loki handler.”
To disagree was everyone’s right, but to force matter to adhere to her will through blatant sabotage had crossed the line by far. He didn’t even care what had brought about her latest abrupt change of mind. “Where is she?”
“Like a thief in the night,” Mobius said, utterly unbothered. “To be fair, I’d make myself scarce too if I pulled something like that.”
Well, if someone was so convinced of their point of view that they’d do something like that, they should have the nerve to look you in the eye and defend that viewpoint. “How are we going to find her?”
Mobius hummed and grabbed a notepad. “Let me just make a list of reasons why that’s a bad idea. One, she is very good at hiding and it will take ages to find her, if we find her at all. Two, even if we find her, we’re not going to bring her in without a fight I’m not willing to initiate. Three, what are we even going to do? Make her apologize?”
“She can’t just get away with this.”
“Oh, come on. No harm, no foul.”
“If you had not foreseen this, there would’ve been quite some harm.”
“But I did, which makes this no more than an extended lunch break kind of inconvenience. No big deal.” Mobius blew out some air. “We all knew she’s a Loki. These are the kind of things you can expect. I mean, if she hadn’t pulled a big trick on someone sometime soon, I would’ve gotten worried about her.”
Thor still wondered about the exact manner of relationship this man had to his brother. It was plain as day that- confirmed a bit earlier- he held love for Loki, despite any such faults. In fact, he seemed to be in love. Given the apparent embarrassment earlier, it was, at best, unspoken. Probably, unreciprocated. At worst, part of a game.
Loki had always enjoyed those games, making someone fall for him. Thor had watched it happen before. But it was always just a game. He never had the intention to follow through or stick around once it became boring. Mobius did not deserve that.
Just because Thor did not wish to listen to Sif’s insistent and repetitive warning did not mean he did not see reason in them. Loki had a long history of toying with people. It could not be completely discounted that Loki had tricked the TVA into backing him. But the kind of unwavering loyalty this man seemed to have, to game with that? Then again, even if experienced in stringing someone along, Loki couldn’t possibly have prevented it from happening of its own accord.
Mobius frowned. “What?”
Thor realized he’d been making faces. “When we met, you said Loki was your friend.”
“Let’s keep it at that, shall we?”
“Would that be what you’d choose?”
“I’d choose to close the subject of this conversation, yes.”
“You seem to know my brother well.”
He sighed deeply and loudly. “Oh, boy.”
“I guess well enough to know his lesser sides. His tendency to…not be entirely truthful… or all that sincere and, you know.”
“Please, just get to the point. If you really have to.”
“You, and everyone else here, are doing so much for his sake. Even now when things are starting to seem….other than you thought they were.” Alright, this was going everywhere except to the point. “You did me the favor of tempering my expectations so I wouldn’t end up disappointed or hurt and-.”
“Got it,” Mobius interrupted. “You were about to go looking for Sylvie, right? Let’s find you a place to start.”
“Didn’t you just say that’d be a bad idea?”
“I changed my mind.” He wrote “reasons to do it anyway”, underlined it and added underneath “Will rid me of two nuisances in one go”.
If nothing else, Loki would have appreciated this man’s sense of humor.
“Wait, when you said a female version of Loki,” Brunnhilde said. “You actually meant a female version of Loki? That’s like literally Loki, with the only difference being that she’s a she?”
“There’s actually a noticeable difference,” Sif said. She should’ve known something was about to happen when Sylvie had stormed off, but this was the first time they had to account for the schemes of two Lokis at the same time. Difficult to keep track. “But yes, she is in essence an alternate version of Loki.”
“Then you really should’ve seen this coming.”
“So I’ve been told.” Thor leaned against the window frame, arms crossed, and looked outside. “We’re lucky someone did.”
Love raised her hand. “Can I meet that Loki?”
‘Well, no,” Thor said. “She ran away and is hiding someplace, sometime, we cannot begin to guess.”
Brunnhilde laughed dryly. “So now you’re chasing down two lokis?”
Thor shrugged. “One is enough to handle. We’ll deal with her later.”
Or just leave it be altogether, which was what everyone advised. What would they even gain from hunting her down? But Thor wouldn’t be able to just let it go, not as if it were anyone else. Even if it wasn’t the Loki they knew, but rather as if Laufey had created a duplicate. A twin of sorts? “The time wizard thwarted her plot. There is no more harm she can do.” To nudge the conversation to a somewhat less dispiriting direction, she asked, “But what did you do that exasperated him towards you instead?”
Thor nodded awkwardly. “I inquired into his relati- ties he has with Loki and to…manage his expectations. I may have misphrased.”
“It is a difficult subject.” Her current definition of less dispiriting had been low already. It still missed the bar. At least, the subject of Sylvie had been put to rest for now. “Still, someone had to tell him and he would not have taken it coming from me.”
Despite the evidence of him agreeing, his expression turned aggravated. “It may not be what it seems.”
She pushed down a sigh. “We both realized, separate from each other, what this man’s feelings are.”
“Loki might not have.”
“I think he would have.” Loki could read people like a book and Mobius was not subtle in that regard. “And he would be perfectly capable of shutting it down. He clearly didn’t.”
“He may have wanted to be sensitive about it and didn’t really get the point across.”
It could be possible. Loki did have his better moments, but in her experience, one could hardly not notice his expressions of disinterest. Something about cutting their hair off before the next daybreak. “I think he knows how to get the point across.”
“Yeah well, do you know what happened anyway?”
He clearly thought the same she did, or he would not have told Mobius just that. So why were they even having this conversation? “I suppose I do not. Do you?”
Love suddenly slurped loudly on her juice pack. “Maybe he liked him back?”
She did not think it likely. Even if Loki had genuinely attached himself to someone at very long last, she’d imagine it to be someone less…normal. Or mundane. Someone controversial. Fair enough, On Asgard it would’ve been controversial enough that it was another man. But this was Loki. Flouting societal norms was his first instinct and favorite pastime. No one would’ve batted an eye at just that. Also, he hadn’t exactly been secretive about any such past dalliances.
“I’m just guessing, but I don’t think that’s his type,” Brunnhilde remarked. “Does he remind anyone else of a field mouse? Or a beaver. A sparrow?” That was one way to put it.
“First of all, that’s uncalled for,” Thor replied. “And also, that man has a good sense of humor. Loki can appreciate that. He likes jokes.”
At the last sentence, she laughed. That was an understatement, which was understating it.
Thor sighed. “Let’s just find him before we start judging him.”
—----------------------------
“What do you mean, you don’t have it? I saw you put it away.” Mobius took a deep breath. “Did you lose it?”
“I don’t lose stuff. I keep everything perfectly organized,”O.B. said, standing in the midst of his personal basement junkyard. “It must’ve been that horrible squirrel again.”
“Squirrel?”
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” B-15 chuckled. “O.B.’s being haunted by a squirrel. It makes everything disappear and breaks all kinds of stuff. Stuff that’s laying scattered on the floor by the way. And did I mention O.B.’s the only one who’s ever seen it.”
“I know what I saw,” O.B. stated. “There’s definitely a squirrel in here.”
“For the last time, we searched the entire floor three times over for you,” B-15 responded. “There is no squirrel.”
“Okay,” Mobius said. “We know these have been trying times for you and no one blames you for dropping the ball now and then, but could you please just look for that paper?”
“If the squirrel ate it, it’s gone,” O.B. persisted. “But I remember the general concept. Though chances are those calculations would’ve only worked for that specific anomaly and we should not disturb that anomaly again. Anyway, we probably didn’t lose much.”
“Ah, so that squirrel isn’t even that bad?”
“Don’t ever speak to me again.”
“Okay, I'll take that back,” Mobius said. “But now what? Do we just keep trying until something sticks? How long would that even take?”
“Depends on what’s really going on here,” O.B. said. His eyes glazed over. “Used to be, I always knew what was going on.”
“You’ll figure it out.” Mobius patted his shoulder. “You’re smart.”
B-15 cleared her throat. “But just to get all cards on the table, what are the chances Loki is doing this on purpose?”
“More likely than timelines branching way after the nexus event.”
Mobius did not see how those things were mutually exclusive. Also, this was getting just a bit childish. “Remind me, why shouldn’t we disturb that one anomaly again?”
“Oh, Mobius can be so funny when he wants to. Such silly jokes. Pure nonsense everytime.” B-15 fake-laughed for three seconds before turning dead serious again. “But anyway, we’ll have to account for Loki not cooperating then.”
O.B. eyed them both suspiciously, then shrugged. “Isn’t that what you’re keeping Thor around for?”
That was mostly because sending him away now with no answers would be kind of shitty thing to do, but that was also a good point. “Let’s just pick a new anomaly to dissect.”
B-15 elbowed him the second O.B. turned to the console.
Chitauri sanctuary, 2011. Timeline 616- Ex.Dev. 01(Leg); Negligible(/ In.Dev 01 integrated 97%). Composite 12B(Dormant)
This was a part of the story Mobius had largely skimmed over. For one, the biological details didn’t seem relevant at the time. But actually, he just didn’t have the strongest of stomachs. In short, Loki would be seeing things anyway in the state he was in. He must’ve missed the part that had made B-15 insist they’d stop by a room a few corridors away first.
“Here it is.” B-15 grabbed something off a metal slab table in the cold, gray laboratory slash operating room. She turned a dial on the cylinder. “That should knock him out good.”
“What are you doing? What is that?”
“The reason we know he was hallucinating anyway.” She raised an eyebrow while she put it back in place. “I thought you’d read all of it. I raised the dose, so there will be no risk of him seeing us at all and if they do notice something’s off, they can just blame it on a clumsy chemist or something. Let’s go.”
“Ah, that stuff.” He suppressed a grimace and opened a timedoor to the exact place and just before the exact time of the anomaly. On the other side, his not so strong stomach turned. There was no blood or gore, or anything resulting in marks that would cause inquiry into their existence. Still, hanging from the wrists was more painful than it looked. And that was disregarding his current body core temperature. “Can’t break the ropes, can we?”
B-15 sucked her teeth. “On the upside, he’s not feeling anything right now.”
And that was what the Black Order wouldn’t want. You see, Thanos was all about that balance. That nice balancing point of compliance, without tipping over into desperate rebellion. But you also couldn’t have them thinking, well that could’ve been worse. You really wanted to be right on top of that balancing point. Unconscious just wouldn’t cut it.
“We knew this happened,” B-15 said. “It already happened and there’s…where’s our Loki? Did we get the time right?”
“Exactly according to the calculations.” There wasn’t much they could’ve altered in this room, barring the dosage of the venom. Anyway, it all still seemed to go according to script. And there wasn’t much in the way of furniture Kang - or Loki for that matter- could’ve been hiding behind. “But yeah, O.B. said it was all still theoretic.”
Sif hadn’t bothered to remember the details of the wild goose chase Casey leading Thor on. She already knew where the real quest would be taking place. Given that Casey was on Thor-sitting duty, it was unsurprising to find Ouroboros and Victor monitoring the screens, gauges, and whatnot in the basement workshop.
They didn’t seem to hear her approach, despite it being silent as a grave. She stayed back and watched as the anomaly crept towards the perpendicular line. The screen glitched and the horizontal line flattened out. The anomaly didn’t reappear further back on the line. It had simply vanished. “What does that mean?”
Victor looked over his shoulder, barely surprised and wholly unbothered. Their distraction efforts must not be aimed at her. Given that they’d already sent her out to the past once and had continued to involve her, she probably should’ve been able to guess that. “I am unsure.”
“Something went wrong,” Ouroboros stated. “Someone should go check that out. But neither me or Victor are qualified to enter a possible emergency scenario on the timeline. Especially Victor. We should call for backup. I hope it’s not urgent, because that will take a while.”
“I’m back-up,” she decided and reactivated the tempad on the counter and copied the coordinates from the screen. She entered and ended up one step away from walking into Mobius. An uncontrolled collision would’ve sent an ordinary Midgardian flying. But she’d bumped into a TVA member who’d come running around the corner the other day. He’d been fine. A couple of tests had indicated the furniture in the TVA was just as heavy as on Asgard. Altogether, it depended entirely on whether it was feature bound only to the place or also to the people that determined whether she would’ve severely injured Mobius. But that was hypothetical. She hadn’t actually bumped into him.
Mobius quickly turned and frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“The anomaly disappeared,” she explained. “We thought something went wrong.”
“Gone.” Mobius groaned and walked away. “Of course it is.”
As he walked out of her line of sight, she drew her sword and cut the ropes hanging from the ceiling. Loki fell from them like a ragdoll. She hooked her elbow behind his head to prevent his skull from cracking open on the solid metal slab serving as floor. He dragged her down with him, but no bones were broken. The floor was giving off heat, as was Loki himself. “What is this?”
“Black Order specialty.” Mobius grimaced. “What are we going to do about those ropes?”
What? What did those matter, now they were severed?
“We can try and make it look like they snapped,” B-15 said and began fraying away at the edges with the tip of her magic spear. “But I think we’ve got ourselves a new timeline here.”
“Why, indeed,” Sif said. “We have an overheating frost giant over here. To my knowledge, that tends to kill them quickly. It seems the assassin was successful this time. Are we going to stop him from dying before we find out what that does to the multiverse?”
“He wasn’t dying…just melting a little,” Mobius said awkwardly. “We knew this happened and we know he survived. This….Never mind. I think we can sort this under time travel-related disturbances.”
“I sure hope we can.” B-15 spared a moment to look at her tempad. “We’re leaking variance potential all over the place. Who even let her in here?”
Oh, shit. “What’s going to happen now?”
“Nothing,” Mobius said. He hid his mouth behind his hand, but he sounded amused. How was this funny? “It’s probably fine. These kinds of things happen all the time. Right, B-15.”
“Time travelers are a pain in the side, I’ll tell you that,” B-15 said and then paused for a moment. “You don’t want to know how many time travelers we have to deal with. Anyway, the multiverse is still standing.”
“One new timeline doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of-.” A snicker escaped him. “Excuse me. Sorry. Let’s just get out of here.”
“Yeah, just a moment. These things are made out of concrete or something.” B-15 had moved onto fraying the ropes still dangling from the ceiling.
“Better hurry up,” Mobius said. “I don’t want to deal with someone seeing us.”
“I know,” B-15 said. “You think I want to deal with all that? I’m trying to help over here. Better that we knock this branch back into place.”
Mobius nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, but let’s not make it worse.”
Sif knew when people asked this question, it was usually in a brazen sense. But she was dead serious when she asked, “What is the worst that can happen?”
“That an alternative Thanos travels to the future again to destroy everything,” B-15 said calmly. “Would you move?” She proceeded to drag Loki to right underneath the ropes, so it looked like he’d fallen there. “And now we clear out.”
On the other side of the portal, Mobius started reporting. “Alright, so we had a little deviation in there, but I think it’s okay. I mean, she did it, so it’s technically time travel. Anyway, is anything imploding over there, guys?”
Victor blinked. “Sorry, I don’t follow.”
“We probably got ourselves a new timeline out there. How’s it looking? Stable?”
“I don’t see a new timeline,” Victor answered. “Are you sure you created a new one?”
“I guess not.” B-15 leaned over the counter to see the screen. “Looks like we got lucky.” She calmly proceeded to take people’s coffee orders.
These people had appeared careless with interfering with time, but it appeared the events just now were harmless to the flow of time. Sif wasn’t sure what to look for, but studied the screen herself. Best she could tell, no alarms were ringing and the lines were running straight. “What happened out there?”
“Let’s get one thing clear,” Mobius said. “You did not just almost break the multiverse. You’re free to assume nothing you can do will break the multiverse. It’s all fine.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Although, that was good to know. “What happened on the timeline?”
“The Black Order. Thanos. Not nice guys, you might’ve heard.” He inhaled deeply. If you really want to know the details, it’s in Loki’s file. But I didn’t even want to read that, and back then, it was like reading a novel for me. And it was my job to read that novel.”
Whatever those details were, Thor could never know about them. He carried enough guilt as it was. And as just vividly reiterated, nothing could change what had already happened. A movement on the screen caught her attention. A new anomaly set in, making the line move like a ribbon twirling up and down. It crystallized within a moment.
Mobius groaned. “Well, look at that. The second after we left.”
“It probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d stayed,” she pointed out. “I think. Or not yet?”
Ouroboros shoved his way past them. “That’s a complicated matter. And it doesn’t matter. Let me see that.”
Sif stepped aside. “Also, I think the anomaly set in backwards. The line changed from right to left.”
Ouroboros frowned at her. “I doubt it.”
Chitauri sanctuary, 2011. Timeline 616- Ex.Dev 1(Leg).In.Dev. 01.1; aggravated (/ In.Dev 01.0 integrated 91%). Composite 12B(Oscil).Destabilised
He hadn’t recalled much of this particular stretch of time. How could he have? His brain had been melting, which he didn't know or wanted to know was possible. Fortunately, his molecular structure had always been on the flexible side. Even if it had taken several supposedly lethal mishaps to figure that out.
From the shadows of time, he watched and listened while the timeline took an unnatural bend and its unstable branches wobbled their way through the tree, forcibly creating space that wasn’t there and that may very well collapse in on itself once this all had run its course. This was not the first unnatural timeline he’d seen. It wouldn’t even be the first one that would survive harmlessly. However, even after all this time, he’d never seen anything quite like it.
It was indeed all but unprecedented. An internal deviation was usually harmless. Interference by the TVA was usually harmless. The first would cause the timeline to split to maintain its integrity, and if possible, follow a parallel course. Interference by one unattached to time hindered the formation of a new timeline, even if time would still find a way to restore itself if necessary. But it was not an exact science. More like the weather, only predictable to a certain degree. He waited to see if the skies would clear or turn into a tempest.
“This is…unlikely at best.” Ebony Maw- ridiculous name, frankly- yanked the jagged end of rope, unperturbed by the arm still attached to it. “I suspect sabotage. We must investigate.”
Proxima Midnight- An equally ridiculous name- cocked her head. “Very few have access to this place. There are no signs of forced entry. Whom do you suspect?”
“Perhaps…,” Ebony Maw began. “I have noticed a growing reluctance in Gamora. I admit I fear her heart is no longer in our mission.”
“And that this is her idea of mercy? If she wished to be merciful, she would’ve slit his throat, not the ropes. This is a clumsy, pointless form of sabotage at best.”
Ebony Maw produced the syringe from his sleeve. “Cutting the ropes indeed seems pointless, but the mercy you refer to seems to have been the intention. One more half-turn on this dial and we would’ve seen what it looks like if an Asgardian melts. It would’ve killed his father. Gamora did not care to be briefed on the details, did she?”
Proxima Midnight nodded ever so slightly. “Do you intend to accuse her?”
“A rope broken under an Asgardian’s disproportionate weight and a miscalculated dosage, Father need not be bothered with such trivia.” That was blatant nonsense. That kind of rope was used to anchor and tow spaceships. Designed so it could be cut in case of emergency, but never to give out under any kind of physically possible weight. It would not be an unnatural timeline if the contrived scene would’ve been possible. “Now, if he thinks there’s some sort of savior for him….it would be a nuisance. I shall put him back up before he awakens.”
He’d almost forgotten just how lovely these people were. But B-15 had been clever with her precaution. From his old version’s point of view, nothing had gone differently than it had. Rewinding after disposing of the so-manyth Victor-clone would not even have been necessary. Alas, some people wished to do good, yet failed to fully grasp the concept of the flow of time. It was a process.
The aforementioned inquiries could hurt quite a bit in reality. The lady Gamora had the wish to do good as well, even if at this point of time, that wish was still twisted through indoctrination. But if the doubt growing within her was discovered before the time was there, this timeline would become unmanageable, as the erratic pattern of growth in the new branch reflected. This had turned out to be a tempest, but it was still salvageable.
At least Sif had been as considerate as to have the only witness to her interference be those particular ropes. Or had not gone out of her way to gather more. The room was perfectly isolated and B-15 had already incapacitated the only potential witness.
He stepped back through the shadows and rewinded the ropes. Time’s tendency to restore itself put his former self back in place. An odd sound alerted him to another presence. He turned to look into eyes much like his own. Of course, the disturbance would’ve been quite noticeable for him.
“I was just about to call you. You see, I forgot to bring the superglue. Got any?” he said nonchalantly. “What happened here anyway?”
“One of the TVA’s new guests dropped by and found this…sufficiently disturbing.”
“I found this new branch sufficiently disturbing. Sounded like a dozen off-key trumpets trying to outdo each other.” He paused. “Is this not the time to send them a message? Explain?”
This was not how it was supposed to be. There were not supposed to be distractions. No reasons to leave this all behind. To abandon the multiverse to war, collapse, and ruin. “I’ve told you before, no.”
“This isn’t sustainable,” he said in a low voice, as if he wanted but knew he wouldn’t be heard. “Alas, stubbornness runs in the blood. Should I at least try to get the good lady out of the equation? How many times has she time traveled yet?”
“Not often enough to warrant drastic measures,” he stated. “Her interference can be managed.”
“Not in combination with the TVA’s interference, it cannot,” he countered. “And I wasn’t suggesting anything drastic. I just gathered she wasn’t exactly fond of you. Maybe I can explain and convince her to back out.”
“She isn’t exactly trusting of anything involving me. She’ll drag me from the tree if given the chance.”
“Her and I both.” He paused. “Anyway, it’s what you said about the Strange guy too. He was chill.”
“He understands the nature of time. Sif evidently does not.” Besides, Strange was a walking, breathing emergency that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. If that man seriously needed to learn to let things go. And if he caused one more incursion event...
The door to the cell opened. His company made himself scarce. Ebony Maw entered and proceeded adhering to the natural flow of time. It seemed they were done here.
Sif watched the brand new anomaly. She would’ve sworn it moved in backwards, but she must’ve seen it wrong. She was hardly an expert. “Are we going back to that one?”
“Timeframe’s too narrow. We’d risk having to fight off the Black Order, or risk running into ourselves,” B-15 said. “I don’t know what the latter does, but I don’t really want to find out.”
Mobius tossed a file on the counter. “We were right there, when the anomaly happened. How did we not see anything?”
“It moved,” Sif pointed out. “It’s not the first time that happened. It appears it simply does that in response to a foreign presence.”
“It is true that the anomalies tend to reappear the moment all foreign presences have cleared the area,” Victor said. “Perhaps, hunting these anomalies is futile at best. Disruptive at worst.”
Mobius nodded reluctantly. “This is like making a jigsaw puzzle in the dark and half the pieces are missing.”
“Indeed. Now imagine if someone were to hide the other half.” Thor walked in, smiling sharply. “Don’t trouble yourselves explaining the latest developments to me. Casey was already kind enough to.”
Sif imagined Casey was trembling under a desk somewhere. But it was difficult to tell just how much he’d told Thor, when the latter hid everything under a smile. All the same, Casey couldn’t have known anything about the last half hour or so. “Did he say where we went?”
“We?” Thor squinted at her, as if just now realizing she was there. “No, where?”
“I don’t know.” She’d probably been better off keeping her mouth shut. Now, how to make sure he wouldn’t care to pursue the answer? “That’s why I asked.”
Mobius threw her a sideways glance and cleared his throat. “She wasn’t supposed to be there. Just happened to stop by here when it looked like something went wrong out on the timeline, but it was a false alarm.”
Thor crossed his arms. “Okay, so where was it?”
“A spaceship.” Mobius shrugged. “I can give you the coordinates, but it was pretty in the middle between nowhere and wherever.”
“That’s why it was all metal.” It appeared Mobius wasn’t just deflecting the question, he was fully corroborating her omission of the truth. It was convincing too. He might not be as mundane as they had thought. “Everything was made out of metal.”
Behind Thor, Mobius made a short swiping gesture by his throat and scrunched up his face. Put into words, stop. Thor looked over his shoulder- Mobius swiftly returned to a neutral posture- and back to her, squinting deeper. “What happened precisely?”
She pointed to the screen. “This anomaly disappeared too and then reappeared further down the timeline. Similar to the previous one.”
Thor sighed and nodded at the exit. “Can we speak alone for a moment.”
“Alright.” After he turned to the exit, she looked back to the others. Mobius made a face conveying disappointment and that he had given up. B-15 was pursing her lips and raised an eyebrow. Victor suddenly found himself enthralled by some scrap metal on the counter. Ouroboros stuck his head out of the adjacent control room and pulled it back after a single glance. She was on her own for this. Ought to be fun. Was there any way out of this without Thor learning the truth, if not by lying? Oh well, she’d find out in a bit.
“What were you even doing down here?’ Thor asked when she caught up.
Because something had clearly been happening. “How long did it take you to realize nothing Casey said made any sense?”
“Nothing here makes any sense. I try not to think about it too much.” He dropped his shoulder. “Why did you not tell me?”
Because she’d thought it for the best. They had to have had some kind of reason not to involve him and they were right. Quietly exploring by herself first had been the best course of action. “I suspected it, but I did not wish to make unfounded accusations.”
“A heads-up would’ve been nice.”
“This concerns matters we barely understand. I try not to cause disturbances.”
Although reluctantly, he seemed to accept the answer. “Alright, what was on that spaceship?”
“Space.” Be it annoyance or nerves, it was out of her mouth before she’d noticed. That was a juvenile response. “I mean, very little. Empty corridors.”
“Loki wasn’t there?” He asked, sarcastically. “I thought he was the center of the anomalies. Did I misunderstand that?”
Now, she suspected it would’ve been easy to overwhelm him with nonsense terms and complicated sentences. Casey had already demonstrated that perfectly. But frankly, she had no taste for this cat and mouse game. “Is this an interrogation?”
“That they keep me in the dark, I can handle.” He leaned closer, going as far as to jab a finger at her. “But you too, Sif?”
She was mildly tempted to just break that finger. “Don’t point at me.”
“I’m sorry.” He dropped his hand. “Just, can you stop trying to lie to me? For one, you’re horrible at it.”
Not even a handful of times had she had hidden anything from him - successfully at that- and only when she’d truly thought it for the best. “After all this time, do you not trust that if I hide something, it is for a good reason?”
“Do you not trust me?”
“This is not a matter of trust.”
“Now it suddenly isn’t?”
“You tend to go on instinct,” She pointed out. “Which is good for many things, but it doesn’t go well with the complexity of these matters.”
“Oh, but you’re so well-fitted to said complexity?” His voice grew tense. If one was inclined towards cliche comparisons, it was like a cloud growing heavier until it broke. “And thus, you assist them in keeping me in the dark, where it concerns my brother. How is that not about trust?”
It had grown rare, she hadn’t heard it in years, but she recognised that tone well enough from times past. It had never been aimed at her before. “Don’t shout at me.”
“I’m not shouting.”
“You’re about to.”
Suddenly, all the held-down anger poured into his expression. “Yeah well, this is about my brother!” He paced away and came to an abrupt halt a couple of yards away. He sighed and chuckled. “You know me well. Well enough to know I won't be sidelined in this.”
She knew, alright. She breathed in and looked away. It didn’t feel right to just walk away, but she wasn’t going to stand there and let herself be treated like the enemy. “You speak to the wrong person. It’s for your sake that I am even here.”
“I am not forcing you to stay. I didn’t even do as much as ask. That was your decision.”
Should she have left him to whatever fate might’ve been waiting for him in this fortress outside of time?
Mobius knocked the wall as he turned the corner. He held up a file. “We’re trying to sort out this anomaly. Could you come confirm the timestamps on that latest misadventure?”
The tempad would’ve kept better track of those than she had. Whether Thor realized that or not, he did realize he was being played. He voiced said realization as, “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously.” Mobius' eyes narrowed and he gestured in Sif’s general direction. For the first time since he walked away, Thor looked back.
“Alright. Alright,” Thor mumbled and looked away. “That sounds like it can’t take long. I’ll go wi-.”
“Actually, you sounded pretty stressed when I heard you around the corner. Oh, and the lady’s right. You’re complaining to the wrong person. I manage the complaints around here.” He paused. “And I think we can best manage this one by reducing stress. So why don’t you go home for a bit and, just an idea, but I heard long walks are relaxing. Why don’t you go try that?”
In Midgardian terms, go take a hike.
Thor, though indignant, did leave. While waiting for the elevator to come down, he sighed deeply and lightly touched her elbow. “I’ll go home for a bit. Will I see you there?”
“Maybe.”
It were an awkward two more minutes before the elevator arrived and the doors closed behind him.
“For what it’s worth,” Mobius said. “I think you’re right. He isn’t suited for any of this. Just doesn’t have the right temperament for it. The one time he did time travel, well. It’s a good thing his mother had a better understanding of these things than he does.”
“I figured you did.” She sighed, wondering if only he’d been listening or the entire group had been able to enjoy the entertainment. “From the fact you and the others have implied that several times.”
“Right.” He chuckled. “Anyway, sorry for putting you in the crossfire. Next time, just send him straight to me.”
“I can handle myself.”
“I know, but why would you? When I’m so good at blowing people off and very much enjoy it too.”
Who could argue with that? Thor had been right in one matter, this man did have an enjoyable sense of humor.