Chapter 2
Loki found himself in a new Midgardian cell, and just like last time it was built for the Hulk. However, this was several levels underground in a high-security S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Most of it was concrete, three of the walls, the roof and the ground to be exact, and the other wall was a kind of bulletproof glass. There was a 3d rectangle attached to the right wall that could be considered a bed, but other than that, there was absolutely nothing in the cell. Loki had not time-slipped in a total of six hours, the same amount of time it took for the Avengers to take him from Stark’s tower to his current location. They found his sudden change in character a trick, but they also considered the possibility of something being wrong with Loki.
On the other side of the glass, all the Avengers, Nick Fury, and a woman called Maria all stood and sat watching him closely. They murmured between themselves, whispering little secrets they did not want Loki to hear. Loki sat on the “bed,” waiting for his time slipping to come back again, or for someone to speak to him, to ask him what was wrong, what was happening. But no one seemed to care, as long as he did not escape, no one cared.
Finally, Nick Fury stepped up to the glass, Loki turned to look at him as he did so. The man took a breath in and then out, “Did you just bullshit us to take you someplace else other than Asagard?” Fury took a short break and then continued, “Because if that is the case then we can consider this done and send you on your way back to space.” Loki looked at the floor.
“I did not lie. It just has not happened again.” Loki did not know what to say, could he explain the concept of time-slipping? Or was it against the rules of time travel?
“Thor described to us what happened to you, to me, it seemed like you could control it. Can you not?” Fury replied.
“No,” Loki answered, “I can not control it. It happens randomly, without my control.”
“Then how come it did not happen during the invasion? It seems to me it only started happening when you lost and got captured.”
“It is a long story.” Loki seriously did not know if he could tell them that he was not the same Loki they knew. He had experienced a whole set of experiences and situations that had changed him from the man who tried to invade New York.
“We got time,” Fury answered sassily but in a bossy manner, “Start talking.”
Loki shifted his gaze to his brother who sat on a chair in the corner of the room, close yet far from anyone else. Thor was staring him down, he wanted Loki to speak, to tell them how all of it could be a long story. Loki looked at the floor, he wanted to tell someone about the TVA, about his friends, but he knew that if he opened his mouth in front of the Avengers none of them would believe him, especially after the events of New York.
However, right at that moment Loki felt it again, the time-slipping. He winced in pain as his body ripped open and back together for what it felt like a thousand times. He felt his environment change; for some reason, he felt his clothes change from Asgardian leather to a TVA uniform, the same one he wore when the temporal loom collapsed. The pain grew and shrank in random patterns, this time it took longer for Loki to be able to open his eyes and see where he was.
Right in front of him was the temporal loom, the rings had failed but for some inexplicable reason nothing was happening. He turned to look at his friends who had just been there, only for the room to be empty. Where did everyone go? He started to walk around, out of the room in which he was in, and up to the upper levels of the TVA. It was a long walk, yet, he did not meet anyone else on his way up. It was like the TVA was a ghost city like it had been abandoned. As he made it to the main floor, he could see someone from far away reading something in the console room.
“Hello?” He asked, however, he time-slipped once more, this time it was quick and easy to recover from.
He was now in the gateway that led to the same room in which he had just been.
He could hear Miss Minutes say through the intercom, “TVA code 1229, fail safe mode initiated,” A pause, “Thank you for your service.”
He made his way in and walked up to one of the desks, where a TVA handbook sat unbothered. He picked it up and started reading, he did not know why he had done so. However, it occurred to him that in the book there might be an explanation of what code 1229 was.
“Hello?” Someone spoke. He turned to see who it was, but they suddenly disappeared. It had been him, just a minute ago.
Suddenly, everything around started turning into spaghetti, very much like Victor Timely. He grabbed the book and put it in the pocket of his jacket. He sat in the middle of the room, hoping for his time-slipping to come back and take him elsewhere. He turned to face the entryway once more, yet, everything around him was barely recognizable. As everything dissolving came closer, he time-slipped again, taking him away from the danger.
Once he opened his eyes again he was on some beach, it was night and he could hear alarms in the background. Loki looked around, he could see people in front of him below the sand dune in which he stood. He made his way down and towards the people. As he got closer he recognized one of them.
“Casey!” He called out, “Casey! Is everyone here?” The man looked back at him as if he was bothering him or interrupting him during something important.
“Who’s Casey? Who are you?” Casey asked. Loki’s stomach fell hard onto the floor.
“No, not again,” He said with agony. “You know me, Casey.”
“Are you the man with the boat?” Casey asked angrily, “Man you’re in the wrong place!”
“Boat, what boat?” Loki asked confused.
“If you don’t have a boat then how did you get here?”
“Here, where is here?”
“Alcatraz!” Casey was desperate, it seemed he wanted the conversation to end.
“What?” Loki looked around, no wonder alarms were sounding in the background, and Casey and his companions were breaking out. “I don’t know how I got here, that is the problem, I don’t know what’s happening Casey.”
“Frank, why is this man calling you Casey?” One of the men asked Casey. “I’ve been calling you Frank.” Casey turned to look at the man.
“That’s because my name is Frank, I don’t know this guy.” Casey turned to look at Loki once more, “I don’t know you.” Loki did not say anything back, it was clear that this version of Casey did not know him, and therefore he could not help him. The group of men ignored him and got together to push what seemed to be a sort of raft into the water, Loki simply stayed back and watched. However, the time-slipping kicked in again, he winced in pain as his environment changed and he ended up someplace else.
It was now daytime, he was in a parking lot he was sure he had been in before. He turned one hundred eighty degrees and faced the establishment Sylvie worked in. But, before he could move he slipped through time again and this time ended up in another parking lot. He was facing the building, it was large and very American. Parked outside were jet skis and other water sports vehicles. He slipped through time again before he could do anything other than inspect his surroundings. This time as soon as the slipping finished he flipped his hair back and looked around, it seemed to be a hospital hallway. At the other end of the hallway stood B-15, who had an unexplainable look on her face, most likely due to having just witnessed Loki time-slipping. Loki raised his eyebrow, out of every career he had expected B-15 to have being a doctor was not even on his list. Before he could do anything he time-slipped once more into a TVA time theater, it was number 25, it was empty and silent, and he time-slipped again. This time back to the high-security cell in New York.
When his slipping finished he leaned on the wall across the “bed,” he fell to the floor, panting, absolutely exhausted from all the time slipping. When he opened his eyes he saw that his clothes did not change, he was still wearing the TVA brown suit. He looked over at the glass only to see all the Avengers standing up and facing him, weapons drawn, ready for an attack.
“How did you do that?” Fury spoke up, he had his gun drawn ready to shoot at any moment.
Loki sighed, “I don’t know,” Loki paused and took a deep breath. “It just keeps happening, I cannot control it.”
“When that happens.” Tony Stark pointed at all of Loki, “Do you go somewhere or do you just float around in nothingness?”
“I go to other places through space and time,” Loki answers.
“Time?” Stark asked.
“Yes, time.” Loki looked up at the Avenger, “In the last 30 minutes I have been to a place called the TVA which happens to be outside of time, Alcatraz in 1962, a McDonalds in 1982, Broxton Oaklahoma, a random water vehicle shop, a hospital, back to the TVA, and now here.”
“What is this TVA place? How can it be outside of time?” Natasha Romanoff inquired. She now had her arms crossed and looked suspiciously at Loki.
Shit, he had fucked up. He did not know if the Avengers or if anyone for that matter could know what the TVA was. However, that was the least of his concerns at the moment, what concerned him was the fear of telling them and putting them in danger. What if he told them everything he knew about the TVA and then He Who Remains came for them? It was a silly thought, but it still worried him.
“I...” Loki paused, “I can not tell you.”
“Why not? You’ve got allies there that will come for us or what?” Clint spoke up, he had his bow drawn he was ready to shoot at any moment.
“I-I do not have allies there that will come for you, I just can’t share what the TVA is,” Loki spoke calmly, he did not want the situation to escalate. However, Thor had a different idea, because as soon as Loki finished saying his sentence he smashed his fist on the glass, not enough for it to break but enough for the lights to switch off and back on.
“Loki, enough! I am tired of your games and your lies!” Thor screamed at his brother, “You are bullshitting us and I know it! Enough, -” Thor was cut off mid-sentence by Loki time-slipping again.
Loki appeared to be in the same parking lot of the water vehicle shop from before. He took a deep breath before doing anything else. He looked into the shop, workers were trying to sell the vehicles and customers going around. Yet, when he looked at the counter from outside he saw a familiar face.
Mobius.