Variants

Mobius sat in the library, trying to organize various Loki nexus event files into some sort of comprehensible order, when Judge Renslayer peaked her head around the stacks. “How’s progress?”

He looked up quickly, smiled slow. “Hey, not too bad. Just trying to work through this.”

Renslayer hummed. “I heard you were the one who requested we pull the psych report from L125 to anticipate the movements of L398. That was good thinking, the Hunters were able to get the drop on the variant well before the branch reached redline.”

Mobius put a hand on the back of his neck, a bit sheepish. “It was just a thought I had. Trying to make some similar pairings now, see if we can’t repeat.”

“Looks like it’s slow going.”

“It is. Honestly pairing these guys is nearly impossible. I need a better filing system.”

Renslayer grinned. “Should I requisition a bulletin board and some red string for you?”

He smiled underneath his mustache, laughed quietly. “Nah, nah I think I’m good. Don’t need to go full conspiracy brain yet.”

She nodded. “Put a pin in that work for now. Come with me, I have a new project for you.”

Mobius looked up, surprised. “What happened? I wasn’t aware of any new L spikes.”

She rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Mobius, I know you’ve been on the Loki track for a long while, but there are other dangerous variants out there. We’re putting a great team together for this one, and there’s been interest in bringing you in. I know you like it down here, but if this case is successful...well let’s just say it could put you on a leadership track.”

Well that had his attention. Mobius looked up at her, leaning back slightly in his chair. “What’s the case?”

A glint lit behind Renslayer’s eyes. “Thanos.”

Mobius entered the briefing room nervously. He looked around at all the different species waiting for the presentation to begin.

He’d never worked with so many different types of agents before. His work lately had been pretty hyperfocused on Asgard and it’s so-called ‘Nine Realms.’ Occasionally he’d get Xandar or Sakaar thrown in. But this...this was multi-galaxy spanning work. This was a universal case. .  

The lead on the case, Agent J’Kar, stood up at the front of the Time Theater. Mobius had to crane his neck a little to see his face. 

“Hello everyone,” J’Kar began. “Please find a seat, and we’ll start the briefing.”

There was a great shuffling around the room as people rushed to comply. The lights dimmed.

“As most of you know, Thanos is one of the most key figures in the sacred timeline. His choices drive the direction of every part of the universe for the entirety of the timeline after his birth.”

If anything, that was an understatement, thought Mobius. Entire planets fell and rose because of Thanos’s choices. The death toll from his conquering days alone…

Mobius shifted uncomfortably, trying not to think too hard about the quintrillions of people Thanos effected. He tried to bring his mind back to the task at hand, to the presentation in front of him.

“Any and all diversions from his set path reach redline points in less than five units. Furthermore, he is perhaps the most difficult and dangerous variant to take in and control.”

Well, that was subjective. Kinda denigrated everyone else’s work. But this was a big case, so Mobius would let it slide. 

“Now, as most of you know, all Thanos variants are processed through the Titan TVA sector. We more than have the capability to hold him there once he’s collared and in TVA space. However, as always, the major difficulty arises in getting the collar around him out in the field.”

Mobius noticed one of the Titan hunters shifting a little, looking insulted. Agent J’Kar cut his eyes over to him before continuing.

“Of course, our agents at the TVA are always up to the most difficult of tasks. But Thanos is an especially difficult case. Especially at the height of his powers.”

J’Kar pressed a button, and an image of Thanos appeared on screen, glowing stones in hand.

“Usually, in the rare cases where Thanos does diverge, he does so at an earlier point in his timeline. He’ll almost die in childhood, he’ll almost get killed in battle, he’ll feel glimmers of guilt at the treatment of one of his children, that sort of thing. However, this Thanos has diverged late in his timeline. He has decided not to complete his stated mission of destroying half the universe after he already had all infinity stones in his possession.”

A click brought a fresh slide, an image of the infinity stones, all heavily labeled.

“Now, I realize that these are essentially trash. And I know the Records Department has been sending out memos for months to stop taking so many in, we’re clogging up their system. But you must remember that out in the field, these can make for an incredibly dangerous combatant. Which is why we need to refresh study of their capabilities, in order to predict the Thanos variant’s movements.”

J’Kar was already moving on to discussing the mathematical principles that drove the space stone. Mobius frowned. 

This might be a little out of line. But he didn’t want the moment to pass without anyone saying anything. 

He raised his hand. 

It took a moment for Agent J’Kar to notice. When he did, his speech stuttered a bit, and he squinted towards Mobius, one hand shielding his eyes from the light of the projector. 

“Yes, the humanoid agent in the third row? You have a question?”

Mobius stood, trying to quiet his nerves. “Yeah, sorry for interrupting. Just wanted to ask about a potential psych workup for this Thanos variant.”

J’Kar paused. “We usually don’t do psych evals for Thanos. His purpose and state of mind are fairly common knowledge. Brute force is generally the easiest way to bring him in.”

“Yes, I know the hunters in this sector do great work. It’s just that you said yourself that he’s at his full power, which’ll make him hard to beat. And you also said yourself that it’s unusual for him to break from his plan so late. If we get a psych eval on him, get a better sense of why this variant went off track, it’ll give the hunters more info going in. I've been doing this with my own cases, gotten some pretty good results.”

J’Kar looked thoughtful. "You were the one who handled the L398 case Renslayer told me about?"

Oh wow, the Judge was telling people about him. That was more than a little intimidating. "Yes sir."

The agent hummed in approval. “Get a report together, quick as you can. I’ll hear your briefing before the mission, see if we can make use of it.”

When Mobius set himself to a task, he never let it go until he finished it. He poured over Thanos variant footage, dug up some of the oldest dustiest files in the library. Even lucked out and got a temporary reprieve for a variant of one of his adopted daughters, was able to sit down and talk to her about Thanos’ state of mind.

She was a little further off the timeline than he’d like, a bit...young. But it was still illuminating. 

He tried not to think about the accounts he read of the suffering caused by Thanos’ chosen path, of the spreadsheets outlining the sheer damage, of the look in the little Gamora variant’s eyes when she earnestly asked ‘You’re asking me these questions because you’re going to stop him, right? How can I help?’

Because this was the job. Preserving the timeline was necessary. The TimeKeepers knew all, and the best he could do was submit to their wisdom. 

So he ignored the dread that curled around his stomach, and put his report together. Told himself it was the right thing.

It was rare for the higher-ups to watch variant extractions. Whenever they did, it was a sign of just how important the particular case was. 

They didn’t let Mobius be in the room to watch the feed of the variant’s capture. But they did allow him to wait down the hall. He leaned against the wall, flexing his fingers, waited for word, tried not to be nervous.

Eventually Judge Renslayer came around the corner, practically vibrating with excitement. And he knew the extraction had been successful. 

“You are a genius, Mobius!” she grinned, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “A genius!”

And the other higher ups were nodding in approval, agreeing, telling him he did a good job. Agent J’Kar clapped him on the back, nearly knocking him over. 

Mobius didn’t think he’d ever seen Renslayer look so proud. 

He tried to feel it too, tried to feel satisfied in a job well done. 

The feeling wouldn't quite settle.

She was still gushing when he went to finalize paperwork in her office later. “Mobius, I am telling you, everyone is very impressed. You really outdid yourself here.”

He nodded. “Good, good. Thanks for saying that.”

Renslayer was beaming. “You deserve it. And I meant what I said before, you are a genius. Playing to his emotions like that, bringing up his daughter, catching him off guard with guilt? Worked like a charm. Honestly, this case is going to revolutionize the ways we look at psych profiles, it’s a whole new way of dealing with variants.”

That ugly feeling in his stomach twisted. “Good. Glad to hear it.”

She poured him a drink, leaning back. “You know, you really availed yourself with this case. At this rate, you’ll get promoted to judge in no time. And I’ll have the pleasure of bragging that you were my protégé.”

He tried to smile as he took the drink. “Protégé, huh? Sounds fancy.”

Renslayer held up her glass. “A toast to a job well done?”

“Yeah,” Mobius said, clinking her glass. “Yeah, of course. To a job well done.”

Across from him, the judge was drinking. But Mobius just found himself staring at the glass of whiskey. At the slightly red tones mixed in with the brown. 

“Judge,” he began pensively. “Can I ask you something?”

He could see her smiling out of the corner of his eye. “If you keep your job performance at this level, you can ask me anything.”

Mobius rubbed the back of his neck. “Has anyone ever successfully lobbied the TimeKeepers for an event change?”

The room suddenly seemed too silent, all of the air leaving in a rush. Mobius heard the small ‘click’ of Renslayer’s glass as she set it on the table. 

“The timeline is sacred,” she said finally, voice quiet. “It cannot be changed.”

Mobius traced a finger around the edge of his glass. “I know, but the TimeKeepers do have authority over the proper flow of time. Has anyone ever tried to make a case to them to change an event?”

The silence stretched again. “Mobius,” Renslayer said finally. “What brought this on?”

He sighed. “I mean, eventually Thanos will die too early or fail to get all the stones or have a crisis of conscience again, right? Why not just leave it be? We could have that branch take hold instead, make that the new timeline standard event.”

He chanced a glance up. Renslayer’s eyebrows were practically at her hairline.

Mobius looked down as he kept talking. “Quadrillions die because of Thanos.”

“Which is the proper flow of time. They get returned, it all works out. You know this.”

“I’m not talking about the people he snaps out of existence. I’m talking about kids who starve because their parents vanished, and people caught in fatal accidents, and suicides. Hell, the property disputes, the wars this kicks back up! The reignition of the Kree Xandar conflict alone-”

“Mobius,” Renslayer said firmly. “It’s what’s supposed to happen.”

He deflates, looks down at the carpet. Tries to make out a pattern in the dust. “Yeah. Yeah I know.”

After a few moments, the pressure on the couch changes, Renslayer coming to sit beside him. “I know it’s hard sometimes,” she says gently. “But we have to trust the wisdom of the TimeKeepers. You do trust them, don’t you?”

“Of course,” he says automatically, without hesitation, head whipping up to meet her eyes. “Of course I do.”

She seems to search his gaze for a minute before smiling. “Good,” she says finally. “You really should be proud of yourself Mobius. This was impressive work.”

He smiles tightly. “I know.”

She squeezes his knee. “Could you run the paperwork down to records for me? I have a few other things to get done.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” he says, standing and taking the file. But as he starts to walk away, Renslayer called him back.

“Take this too,” she said, pressing a thin white paper into his hand. “An appointment with PsyOps.”

Mobius groaned. “Really? I thought we were celebrating here.”

“Just want to make sure everything is standard. Cases like this can be rough, and we want to make sure our agents are taking care of themselves.”

He sighed, but followed it with a smile. “Then I will endure PsyOps, for your sake.”

“For my sake?”

“And the sake of the timeline, of course. For all time, right?”

Renslayer smiled once more. “Always.”

As the door clicked shut, her smile froze and shattered. 

She opened her desk, flipped through her personal personnel files. Found ‘Mobius M. Mobius.’

Renslayer clicked her pen, and began to take notes.