How Does One Really Reason with a God?
None of this made sense. Of all the events in his life, all the decisions he made, none of those had triggered this… What did they call it? Nexus event. But the Avengers going back in time and losing the Tesseract and it landing at his feet and him seizing the opportunity, they were telling him that was “against the sacred timeline” and he was to blame? It was outrageous, he couldn’t believe the accusations against him. Sure, you could point out how he had just tried to overthrow Midgard and rule as their King, but this was ridiculous. And the treatment he was getting was just as preposterous.
Loki was a God. A rightful King. Burdened with glorious purpose.
Arms crossed before him, he listened to this “TVA” agent as they called themselves go on and on about his short comings. Maybe Loki did experience failure at times (one might argue most of the time) but nothing changed the fact Loki was supposed to be glorious, he deserved to be respected. He would accomplish that, despite this mere Mobius thinking he has him all figured out.
Loki, in a way, was desperate to hold onto his initial thoughts of this place and the situation he was in. But in all honesty, a bit of that was washed away after Mobius played a portion of his file, in particular the video of his mother. Frigga was… No, is a part of him, he respected her. She is his mother, despite the truth. Loki couldn’t believe himself to think otherwise, but there it was, he denied her. The question remained as to why.
You weren’t born to be king.
You were born to cause pain and suffering and death.
Loki determined he wouldn’t sit around anymore, or listen to this any longer. He was determined to have that freedom he often said he wanted to revoke. And his opening was the moment Mobius left the room, and Loki was able to snag this odd device, which was able to open the yellow portal and put him back into one of the main halls. He could make out the chatter of those idiot agents on the hunt for him after a few moments, and he needed as much time as he could get.
Another Loki variant. It was a clean cut op, but apparently one Hunter B-15 didn’t think you were qualified for, and in turn, Judge Renslayer. Frustrated, you would admit, you were left to your own devices which really meant on stand-by for a “lesser” Nexus event. One that didn’t have a volatile variant, apparently.
You were created by the Time Keeper’s to protect and ensure the correct flow of time, but at times it felt as though you were a mistake, though you wouldn’t admit that to anyone, not even one of your only friends, Mobius. You often required reconditioning and according to your file, your mind had been wiped on three separate occasions due to, as it was worded, your difficult nature. You were always brought back up to speed on your time at the TVA, but the actions of your “difficult nature” were never mentioned, not even by Mobius. You wondered at times if he knew you had been reconditioned, but he must have known so you never questioned it further.
This Loki variant was different from the others you had read about. Trickster Loki, Frost Giant Loki, Tour de France Loki, Viking Loki, Hulk Loki, there was at one point an alligator Loki too. Each one seemed to lack the… Charisma this Loki had (for lack of a better word). You were aware of it the moment you caught his glance as Mobius escorted him to a Time Theatre.
So when you heard the hushed threats further down the corridor you had an inkling. Straightening yourself at your post you tightened your grip on the baton that hung on your waist, and glanced at your counterpart that stood at ready on your side.
“I’ll be back,” you excused yourself. Hunter E-30 gave you a nod of understanding and you turned down the hallway you swore you heard voices down. The corridors round one another, almost like a spiral around the heart of the TVA, but when you came to one of the item requisition offices where a worker named Casey normally works and he was nowhere to be seen, you hummed a bit to yourself. Coming up to the desk you picked up a stray pen left on the counter and tapped it lightly and glanced around. Spotting another pen on the ground, you looked to the hallway that leads to another section of requisitions and tapped the pen on the palm of your hand.
Bingo.
Taking the pen with you to tap on your leg, you started down the hallway. You wondered what his endgame was, how exactly this Loki planned on getting out of here, and how would you subdue him? Maybe… Maybe this was your chance to show Hunter B-15 and Judge Renslayer that you were more than capable of handling more prominent Variants. That’s why when you finally entered the Requisitions logging room you had to stop to ponder what you would do, and you twirled the pen in between your fingers when you realized what you should do.
How does one really reason with a God anyway?
“Loki?” You called out which made the Variant look up in surprise. He stood quickly and readied the Temp-Pad he must have stolen, and you noted in his other hand was the item known as the Tesseract. It was a fairly common item taken during requisition, you could recount at the minimum three humans who had possessed it, and at least another Loki variant. You had taken a few careful steps forward as this Loki attempted to figure out the Temp-Pad, but as you came up to his side and didn’t try to apprehend him he stopped his movements. You had instead focused on the variety of Infinity Stones that lined the bottom of this drawer.
“That won’t work here you know,” you said in regards to the Tesseract he was holding. Loki glanced at the glowing cube in his hand before looking over to you, who had plucked one of the Infinity Stones, in particular the Soul stone. Loki scoffed which made you glance his way.
“What, because of your no magic rule here?” Loki asked and you in turn shook your head.
“The TVA exists outside of normal reality,” you explained and looked back at the stone you held between your fingers. There weren’t a lot of pleasures a TVA agent could enjoy, being guardians of the sacred timeline and all and almost always having Nexus events to fix, but you could understand the fascination with these stones. “The Infinity Stones are only powered in their respected realities… So when they’re brought here-“
“They become useless,” Loki finished your thought for you. You gave him a nod and set the stone back into the drawer and watched as Loki slowly set the Tesseract back into the box he got it out of. You could see the many emotions coursing through him cross his face, and you turned to face him and crossed your arms over your chest.
“What’s your endgame with that?” You asked and motioned to the Temp-Pad in his hand. He laughed at you, which you could just roll off your shoulders, but it made you grin a bit. Finally someone you could banter with (besides Mobius).
“Get out of here, of course,” Loki said and started to type on the pad again. You suddenly realized that Loki… Oh he didn’t know. Your face fell into a frown, one he wouldn’t ever see, and you had to force a more neutral expression before speaking.
“Loki,” you said, which didn’t stop him from his insistent typing. “You… Can’t go back. There’s nothing to go back to.”
That seemed to get through to him. The Loki variant stopped his typing and looked at you and must have been trying to search your face for something, an answer to what you had meant. You fought hard to keep that neutral look, and Loki turned to you suddenly and got in your face which really was a classic Loki attribute you had been warned about: intimidation.
“What do you mean?” Loki asked you and you shrugged your shoulders a bit.
“After you were pulled from your Nexus event, that timeline was reset back to the original, sacred timeline point which was your capture by the Avengers. That Loki goes on to live in the timeline until 2018… There’s no alternate timelines, no going back to that point because Loki already existed alongside the universe,” you explained. Loki’s expression fell with each word you said, and when you stopped speaking he began to compartmentalize it. You watched as he rested himself back on the desk, sitting there and thinking over what you had just told him.
You felt a pang of remorse for him. You couldn’t imagine being a variant, and being told you can’t go back, couldn’t see your family and friends anymore. Maybe for that you were great full for the Time Keeper’s creating you for this life mission, you wouldn’t have to know that pain. But you could offer some condolences at the very least. So you sat yourself next to him against the desk, both of you leaning against the metal surface and you shook your head a bit.
“I’m… Sorry,” you offered. You could see from the corner of your eye the Loki variant looked your way and shook his head, immediately pushing himself up from his spot.
“You don’t have the right to say that,” Loki spatted at you. You fought the urge to roll your eyes and would have to add onto the Loki files that he was indeed annoying. “You’re a part of the people who take whom you determine as Variants from their lives.”
As he spoke you took your personal Temp-Pad from your pocket and input the information for the Time Theatre Loki had been kept in before his half baked escape. Lucky for you, Loki variants are talkative. By the time he finished explaining how terrible of a person you and the TVA are, you had opened a portal behind him, which he had to take a second glance at. You pushed the Temp-Pad back into your pocket and walked past him to the portal, but stopped before entering to look back at him.
“Coming?” You asked. Loki thought his choices over, and in a split second decision tossed Casey the stolen Temp-Pad and entered the portal. You took a deep breath before entering yourself, walking into the darker Time Theatre and the portal closing behind you. Loki was staring at you and threw his hands in the air as you walked past him to the unoccupied table.
“See? Can’t even be trusted to take me somewhere useful,” Loki argued as you sat yourself down in the chair in front of the computer controls.
“Just sit down,” you said casually. Loki shook his head with a sigh and looked up to the ceiling and muttered something to himself. You listened to his footsteps echo in the room as he picked up a haphazardly strewn chair and set it upright and took a seat in it. You hummed in victory and Loki scoffed.
“Don’t enjoy this,” Loki said.
“Oh I’m not,” you replied and glanced his way. Loki held your gaze for a moment before looking away and crossing his arms over his chest. You finally found what you were looking for amongst this Loki’s vast file, and sat back as the recording sequence your picked began to play on the wall.
“Loki died with honor,” Thor’s voice radiated in the room. Loki’s head snapped to the wall the image played on, and you in turn watched his expression. “I shall try to live the same. Is that not legacy enough?”
Orin’s face in the recording shifted. Instead of sitting upon a throne he sat upon a stone alongside Thor and Loki on either side of him, staring off into the distance. There were faint sounds of ocean waves, and the surroundings looked a bit gloomy like it had been storming. Odin looked at both of his sons, and gave a grim smile.
“I love you my sons,” he said. Loki blinked at the revelation and actually smiled, though you could swear you could see a bit of wetness in his eyes.
The scene changed, where Loki and his brother now stood in an elevator. You watched Loki lean forward in his seat as if to see the image more clearly.
“Loki, I thought the world of you,” Thor said, to which Loki’s face in the recording visibly changed. Surprise? Maybe more so it was solace that crossed his face. “I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever. But, at the end of the day, you’re you and I’m me. I don’t know, maybe there’s still good in you.”
The scene changes once again, the recorded Loki walking up behind Thor who was examining an injury in the mirror, only to cover his hurt eye with a patch. The Loki beside you sat back in his chair, almost concealing a smile by the looks of it.
“It suits you,” Loki said to his brother, who turned to face him and smiled at him.
“Perhaps you’re not so bad after all, brother,” Thor confirmed. Loki gave a shrug of his shoulders.
“Maybe not,” Loki replied. Thor picked up something from a table and turned it over in his hands.
“Thank you, Loki. And if you were here, I might even give you a hug,” Thor said. He threw the dish at his brother, but instead of it phasing through him like an illusion, Loki caught it easily and Thor looked surprised. Loki looked at the plate in his grip and then back to his brother.
“Do we have to hug now?” Loki asked and Thor grinned, before coming closer and clasping a hand on his shoulder. You once again looked over to find Loki smiling to himself, you wondered if he ever would’ve thought he would finally have that brotherly relationship again. That’s what made the next sequence that played suck.
“Almighty Thanos,” Loki’s voice rang through the room. Your attention was drawn back to the recording of Loki coming up to the great Titan on the destroyed Asgardian refugee ship.
“I, Loki, Prince of Asgard,” Loki pauses for a moment and looks over at his brother, who was entrapped in bracers.
“Odinson,” Loki said pointedly to his brother. He looked back at the Titan and continued forward to him. “The rightful King of Jotunheim. God of Mischief. O hereby pledge to you… My undying fidelity.”
It was evident the dagger he had made materialize, but he braced himself and thrusts the weapon upwards with lightning speed, but it was to no avail. Thanos was able to freeze his body and motions, but you didn’t want to watch it any further. You paused the recording, before Thanos got his grip on Loki’s neck, and you looked at the Loki sitting across the table. It was a lot you just showed him, and you knew that. Loki finally looked over to you and then to the controls.
“Finish it,” he instructed you and you shook your head.
“I don’t think you should see how it ends,” you told him and Loki held your gaze, testing you in a way. But Loki was impulsive, and he faced the computer controls towards him and resumed the video. You didn’t watch, opting to stare at the table. The audio was the only thing that made you look up, and it was Thor’s cries over Loki’s body. Only then did the recording end, the end of Loki’s file. You looked at him as he processed it all.
“So that’s it?” Loki asked and you thought about his question for a moment. Because you didn’t have an immediate response, Loki looked your way with a raised brow. You shrugged your shoulders a bit.
“You keep saying you’re burdened with glorious purpose so… Your story isn’t over entirely,” you said before motioning to the door. “Mobius has taken an interest in you. Let him help you, don’t fight it. He’s a good guy.”
“He asked me if I enjoy hurting people,” Loki said and looked away from your gaze. You raised a brow at his statement but let him continue. “I don’t enjoy it. I do it because I have to, or because I’ve had to. What if that was all wrong?”
“Then do something now about it,” you said. Before Loki could poke your brain further the doors opened to reveal Mobius. You stood from your place and Mobius stepped into the room and gave you a nod which you returned. As you came to the door and Hunter B-15 stood in your way, you all but moved on from the discussions with Loki variant L1130 as the door to the Time Theatre closed shut.
Mobius returned to his seat across from Loki and let out a pent up sigh, and set his hands on the table laced together to stare at Loki, whose attention hadn’t diverted from the door. “Yeah that’s not gonna happen again.”
“Who was that?” Loki asked, finally meeting the man’s gaze across the table. Mobius raised a brow and looked back at the door, and then back to Loki.
“Who? Hunter G-21?” Mobius asked and Loki sighed.
“Do the hunters have actual names or are they really boiled down to letters and numbers?” Loki asked and Mobius shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s a system,” Mobius answered and Loki scoffed.
“It’s an insult,” Loki corrected and Mobius rolled his eyes.
“Why do you care? Weren’t you sitting here earlier telling me about how choices lead to the wrong paths taken and you would take away free will?” Mobius asked and Loki sighed, looking at the wall he had just watched what would have been his life unfold on.
Loki told Mobius he was just curious, and though Mobius only half believed that he didn't push Loki on the matter any further. But in all honesty, Loki was… Intrigued in a way. All the other hunters referred to him as just Variant, but you spoke to him with his name, you didn’t choose to demean him. You came to him as an equal, even if he was a God he could at the least appreciate that notion.
Mobius offered him a “better” deal. The TVA was hunting down a Variant, apparently another Loki variant, with which they needed his help with. He was an expert after all, but that was besides the point. Loki accepted with two thoughts in mind. One, he would take down the TVA and the Time Keepers and become the most powerful being ever (he did have glorious purpose after all). And two, something felt a bit off with his… encounter with Hunter G-21. And Loki was determined to get down to the bottom of that, and this whole scheme.