Chapter 44
Steve tried to fill Scott in the best he could while balancing the line of not freaking him out while also not wanting him to feel too left out of the fun.
“So wait we’re talking about that same guy with the horns who showed up with the aliens?” Scott struggled to reconcile the benefactor of two infinity stones with what he’d seen on TV nearly a decade earlier.
Steve sighed, “Yeah, but I guess he’s been through the time ringer and come to terms with his mistakes—”
“I’ll say,” Scott scoffed cartoonishly and Steve could only chuckle.
Scott eventually seemed to come around when Steve likened him to a reformed criminal, urging him to give the guy a second chance. Lang nodded absently and agreed to try to be open-minded.
They went upstairs to join the group and saw Natasha and Thor had returned. Scott excitedly said hello to everyone and took a seat like an eager kid on the first day of school.
Bruce started to explain the destinations in time they had settled on, pausing to nod and raise a hand to Loki and Sylvie as they quietly came in. Scott felt nervous but nodded politely as well, hoping to appear as cool and collected as the others.
“—so that being said, thanks to Loki and Sylvie we should no longer need to send a team to space—”
“—Except to Asgard,” Thor cut in proudly.
“Yes of course, except for Asgard—therefore we shouldn’t need to pull anybody off-world into this trip.” Bruce said as he clicked the cap back onto a dry erase marker.
“Breaking into an alien palace made of gold to stab Thor’s ex with a needle and hope no one notices, what could go wrong?” Natasha said skeptically.
Loki and Sylvie both fought not to chuckle, Loki far more successfully than Sylvie.
“Do not trouble yourself, Natasha, you shall have two princes to show you the way, and no one knows Asgard’s secret entrances like my—” Thor’s face fell when he turned to place a hand proudly on Loki’s shoulder but saw his pained expression, “brother? What is it? You do not wish to go…?”
“It isn’t that…” Loki said sadly, “I just—”
“Ohhh, because you are supposed to be locked up in the dungeons, right yes…” Thor filled in without waiting for confirmation.
Loki closed his open mouth making a small humming sound of confirmation despite the fact he had forgotten that detail.
“Alright. So does anyone have any others questions…? No? Then I’ll meet you all downstairs in an hour,” Bruce said hoping to change the subject.
Most of the group dispersed, Tony going to call Pepper while Steve agreed to show Scott to the commissary.
“Uh, Dr Banner?” Sylvie walked over to where Bruce was collecting his notes.
“Please, Sylvie, call me Bruce,” he said warmly.
“Alright, Bruce, I have something for you—it’s an algorithm for tracking when nexus energy becomes unstable—it will be happening a lot more now, but hopefully this should allow you to gage if any other branches fold back onto this one or… cross dimensions…” Sylvie said looking slightly troubled.
Bruce looked stunned but attempted to catch up, “uhh yeah! I mean, yes please! I’m sorry my brain is melting, and you said earlier nexus energy comes from… variant—?”
“Variations in the predetermined timeline, yes, silly I know, but when they overlap too much in one place the barriers between dimensions can become unstable, and you never know what might come through,” Sylvie shrugged.
Bruce stared at her slightly horrified but began opening software and gestured for her to input the data.
Once Sylvie finished helping Bruce thanked her profusely and headed down to the labs to run a few tests. She returned to where Loki was struggling to explain to Thor the reasons why they weren’t going on the mission at all.
“Ah, Sylvie, surely you must recognize this as madness?!” Thor addressed her confidently.
“Thor, would you give us a minute?” Sylvie said gently.
“Yes, of course! Convince him of his errors, I shall be with Rogers and the little fellow, Lang,” Thor announced before heading off down the hall.
Sylvie watched Thor go for a minute then urged Loki to sit.
“Wouldn’t it be a good idea for us to go with them? In case something goes wrong and they need your magic or a portal to get back?” Sylvie asked looking slightly concerned.
Loki sighed, “Perhaps, though according to the TVA their mission is “supposed” to happen, so I don’t know that we ought to involve ourselves further…”
“I’m surprised… After everything on Asgard I would have thought you’d be in favor of going along,” Sylvie said still somewhat confused.
“I would have before, but you convinced me otherwise… showed me that I can’t control everything that happens on this timeline without being just like the TVA…”
“So you want to what, just sit around waiting for them and hope for the best?” Sylvie’s voice held some exasperation at the thought of abandoning the first real friend she’d ever had.
“Not at all, but I believe if I am to retain any sense of objectivity here… that I must step back from this part of the mission.” Loki urged her to understand and Sylvie realized she had allowed herself to become too attached to this time and place.
Sylvie nodded a little ruefully, knowing this timeline didn’t belong to her. She sighed absently, “we’ve certainly interfered enough…”
“We have…” Loki nodded softly, eyes empathetic, “we did what we came here to do, and were I to do more, I believe I would have trouble knowing where to stop…”
“I’ve never really known when to stop…” Sylvie trailed off with a somewhat distant smirk.
“Neither have I, but I’m trying,” Loki said gently.
Sylvie looked at him fondly, “When did the ‘God of Mischief’ become so practical and levelheaded?”
Loki laughed softly, “I don’t know, I suppose you could say I have a new voice in my head…”
Sylvie smirked, “and what pray tell does this ‘new voice’ suggest we do while everyone is gone?”
“Well there’s one thing I’ve been meaning to do for some time, and Earth seems as good a place as any,” Loki said with a soft smile.
“Oh yeah?” Sylvie grinned at him arching her eyebrows mischievously.
Loki huffed a surprised laugh, “That as well, but I did have something else in mind. I was referring to my desire to take you out properly—to dinner.”
Sylvie looked puzzled, “we’ve eaten plenty of meals together…?”
His eyes softened further, “yes but none of them have been proper dates… on Asgard a potential suitor might woo their intended mate for quite some time—”
“‘Woo’?” Sylvie looked at him skeptically.
“You know what I mean—demonstrate their intentions respectfully with food, drink, and occasionally dancing—sometimes even the odd ballad…” he grinned.
“‘Odd’ indeed,” Sylvie teased but smiled anyway, “it’s quite a touching sentiment… I’ll admit having grown up on the run, the benefits and necessity of conventional ‘dating’ somewhat ellude me… though truthfully my curiosity is indeed peaked.”
“Well it isn’t necessary if you don’t want to…?” Loki sounded somewhat crestfallen then, like a teenage boy afraid to ask a girl to prom.
Sylvie smiled at him fondly, “Oh you impossibly sappy git, how could I say no?”
Loki smiled and flushed slightly, “I’ll never understand how your insults turned ‘to terms of endearment…” he smirked.
Sylvie grinned playfully, “that’s the secret to my magic.”