The TVA
Thor felt the air rushing around her. Lightning flew freely from her hands and crackled along her body. She threw her hand out in front of her and let her eyes drop closed. The rushing of the wind in her ears slowed and turned into faint drumming in the back of her head. She held all of her focus in the palm of her right hand as she called Mjolnir. She felt the lightning around her come alive in sharp focus and a sharp tug in her gut - it was here. Thor's eyes flew open and there it was. In the dark of the void glinted Mjolnir as it flew towards Thor like a dog to its master.
The warm familiar grip of the too-short leather handle was almost within range of Thor's outstretched hand when the world changed. It was like falling through a warm fuzzy pocket that seeped into every fibre of your being until your insides itched and groaned. Mjolnir slipped through Thor's fingers as everything went black.
The world came and went in short and sharp bursts of white light. Voices murmured and called from all around her as she tried to pry her eyes open. The glaring light wasn't kind on her sensitive eye and Thor immediately screwed them shut. The sounds around her grew clearer and more distinct as she began to make out their voices. They spoke in a language she understood to be the human tongue of English.
Forcing her eyes open she looked wearily at the white-clad humans "Loki..." She gasped trying to moisten her dry throat "Where is he?" None of the Doctors seemed to have heard her so she tried again pushing herself up from the bed.
Thor's weak attempt to stand was shut down by a rough gloved hand pushing her back. "You need to lie back down before you hurt yourself even more," A doctor said before quickly moving on to consult another white-clad human. Thor didn't stop.
Thor grasped the doctor with her remaining strength "I need to see him."
Easily batting her away the doctor sighed "He's not here."
The last of the fatigue was replaced by fear. Where was Loki? How had she gotten here? Was father still alive? Who were these people? "Where am I?" Thor choked out.
Though she was weak this newfound fear fueled her as she to push the doctors off. Her feet had barely touched the ground when a dozen rubber hands grabbed her shoulders, arms and torso and forced her back towards the bed. She began to fight. "Can I get a sensitive over here?" A doctor cried and a sharp pain pierced Thor's neck.
"What did you do?" Thor cried clasping the wound in her neck. Suddenly she was dizzy and could barely stand. The doctors gently eased her back into the bed and the darkness claimed her once more.
Again Thor flickered in and out of consciousness. She felt a gentle touch as someone tended to the scratches on her face. A cool sting danced on the skin of her left hand as they removed shards of glass from her fingers and disinfected the wound. The pain acted as an anchor and Thor fought through the fog of her mind and tried to peel her eyes open. Her body fought her every step of the way as it tried to sleep and heal. Her struggle must have caught the attention of the doctors "She's waking. Put her back under."
When Thor next opened her eyes, the bright fluorescent lights were gone. They had been replaced by a gentle golden glow that dappled across her eyelids. It was warm like the sun, though if this really was the case or whether it just the blanket Thor couldn't tell. Testing her limbs Thor found them freely moving in the warm grass. Her eyes fluttered open and slowly she sat up. The hospital was gone and in its stead was a forest perched on the edge of a meadow - just like the one south of the castle in Asgard. The wildflowers were out and Sif and the warriors three were trampling them under their feet as they chased each other with sticks, just like they had done when they were all young. Thor rose to join them. Before her foot landed in the meadow a flash of gold caught her eye.
Sat under a tree was a young Loki, he held a charcoal pencil in one hand and a piece of parchment in the other. He traced a delicate lilac flower onto the piece of paper before him. Thor couldn't tell if Loki was any good or not. It just looked like a flower to her.
"Will you join us?" Thor asked picking a small yellow flower and offering it to Loki.
Loki took the flower and inspected it closely "No," he said, "It's too hot for running about." Thor scoffed at this, Loki always thought it was too hot "And Thor, you'll want to wash your hands when we get home - the sap from this flower is poisonous." Thor looked down at her hands and cried out in shock. Little tiny shards of rainbow glass riddled her fingers and cut deep into her palms. Rivers of blood ran down the side of her fingers and onto the ground. When she looked up Loki was gone as well as her friends. She was all alone in the dark.
"We can't keep doing this." A voice called from far away "We'll have to wake her up eventually."
"Sure, a battle crazed god is just what we need right now." They sighed "She's not ready."
Thor woke with a start. She didn't know how long it had been since she last woke up. She tried once again to move from the bed but saw thick black chains keeping her down. Anger flared deep inside her as she yelled in frustration and yanked on the chains hard. They held fast.
"You fight in your sleep. It was a necessary precaution." A voice said from the corner of the room. Looking around Thor found the room empty besides one tired-looking doctor. She was slumped in her chair and held a paper cup in her hands. Thor tried to speak but found her voice unwilling. The doctor groaned as she stood. She disappeared from view for a moment but reappeared with another paper cup "Here, you'll need this." She held the cup to Thor's lips. She hesitated. Was she really about to trust this strange woman? The doctor sighed and pushed the cup closer to her face. Giving up Thor drank the thing in one go.
Thor found her voice "Where am I?" she asked giving her chains another tug.
The doctor took an uneasy step back, good she was scared "You really need to stop moving -"
"Do-" Thor started to make a threat but fell back down on her pillow. Her head was spinning and her vision was cloudy "What's wrong with me?"
The doctor forgot her fear and sat on the edge of the bed "It's the drugs - as I said you fight in your sleep." The doctor took a sip from her old paper cup and gagged "This can't be mine."
Thor wasn't listening, she looked around at the room full of white tiles and metal machinery. The shadows loomed and the lights flared in her moving vision "Where am I?"
"The TVA." The woman said chucking her cup in the bin.
Thor opened her mouth to speak again but the door opened with a squeal a man dressed all in black stepped in. The doctor jumped off the bed "Doctor, you should have called." The man said scowling.
"No, she's not ready yet."
"He'll want to know." Their words became blurry and distant. Thor's vision slipped away, and her limbs became lacks. She tried to fight the fatigue, but it only dragged her deeper into sleep.
Thor knew it hadn't been long since she slipped away. Though the sleep was deep it was restless and plagued with strange dreams. When she opened her eyes again, she felt her mind was clearer than before. She flexed her fingers and found her arms free of chains. She went to move her legs but was not so lucky. The chains around her ankles held fast. Still, she could move and pushed herself into a sitting position, this time no one stopped her.
The room was empty, and the lights were dim, they'd left her to sleep. Thor reached down and wrapped her hands around the black chains. She pulled them as hard as she could, and though she felt the bed creak and groan they still held fast. Looking around she saw a tray of tools resting on a table. They were small and flimsy and much further away than she would have liked but it was something. Moving so she lay on her stomach Thor stretched herself as far as she could to reach the table.
Her fingers were perhaps thirty centimetres away when the door flung open and the doctor from before walked in. She scoffed when she saw Thor's pathetic attempt at escape "Hi, Princess." she called and kicked the table, it skidded away on its flimsy wheels far out of reach.
Thor groaned like a child and shuffled back over to the bed where she lay defeated. The doctor chuckled to herself and sat. Thor let a brief silence fall before asking "Are we on Midgard?"
The woman shook her head "No. You mean earth, right?"
Thor narrowed her gaze on the woman looking her up and down "Are you mortal?" She looked human enough.
She chuckled under her breath and took out a colourful tablet from her coat "We can't all be gods." She began to type.
"Where is my brother?" Thor demanded.
She shook her head "Complicated."
Thor cleared her throat and demonstrated the best impression of her father she could muster "Where is he." she demanded.
"We all want to know that one," she said not looking at him.
Thor dropped the act "Where am I?" She didn't answer. Suddenly she remembered her journey here. How close Mjolnir had been to her grasp before she was swallowed up "What happened to my hammer?"
"Not my department."
Anger flared inside her and sparks rained from her fingers "Release me now!" She cried but her words fell to deaf ears "I need to leave. I need to go home."
The woman sighed and then laughed at something on the tablet "Don't we all."
Thor began tugging on her chains again with more anger and ferocity than before "You don't understand - my realm is in great danger."
She shook her head "So will my job if I let you go-" Thor exploded with anger.
"Why don't you give me a clear answer?" She yelled "I must leave this place now! My family needs me!" Tears pricked her eyes.
The woman looked up and put the tablet down frowning "No." she said with clarity.
"No?" Thor couldn't believe it.
"No." She said again with an authority Thor didn't know she held.
Thor shook her head "You don't understand."
"I do actually." The doctor snapped back "I've read all about you and your family dramas - I had to if I was to properly look after you."
"Read?" What had she read other than books of myth and lore? Those were far out of date and hardly accurate.
"Yes, your file."
"File?"
"Christ." The doctor exclaimed and stood shoving the tablet back into her pocket "Look I'm done babysitting. Agent Mobius will be in soon to ask some questions then you are out of my hands." The agent walked to the door; her hand rested on the doorknob.
Thor called out one last time "Why am I here?"
The doctor hung her head before meeting Thor's eyes "That is certainly a big question." She said. And then she left.
Thor was left in the room for what felt like hours before two soldiers dressed in black walked in. Between them, they carried a beige cloth and a black collar. Thor tensed on their arrival but saw no immediate threat. Tired of talking she watched them lock the door and arrive at the foot of her bed. One of them tossed the fabric on the bed while the other walked towards her swiftly. Thor raised her arms to fight. The soldier saw her attack and brought a rod down on her arm quickly. A dull ache reverberated through her body. Seeking to retaliate she lunged at the soldier before her, but it was as if she was drugged all over again. Her body listened and acted out her demands, but it was as if it was all happening in slow motion - no it was happening in slow motion. Her mind whirred as fast as it might normally, but her body was sluggish and lazy.
As Thor struggled to retake control command of her body the soldier clasped the black collar around her neck. After checking it was secured appropriately the soldier stepped back and time resumed its regular pace.
"Don't try anything funny alright." The soldier barked out. They waited for her nod of confirmation before releasing the chains on her legs.
Immediately Thor lunged from the bed and grasped the soldier around the neck with a fierce yell. As her fingers made contact with the soldier's soft flesh time pulled her back into the bed. Thor clutched her stomach and resisted the urge to throw up "What is this?" Thor gagged.
"Time loop." The soldier said casually "Now don't try that again or..." He raised the remote in one hand and threatened to turn back time once more "Yeah, I did that."
The other soldier walked over and took the place of her companion. Once again, they took the beige cloth and handed it to Thor "Put this on - your old clothes were burned." she said. Watching the soldiers for an attack the entire time Thor tried to get changed as quickly as possible. The beige bodysuit buttoned up to a collar and in bright orange letters, the acronym TVA was printed on her front and back "A solider will be with you at all times - or at least someone with this remote. Try fighting us the way you did when you arrived, and we'll send you right back to square one." The woman nodded to her companion and left.
Thor sat back down on her bed with a huff. She crossed her arms and stared at the remaining soldier. This repetitive telling off was beginning to get incredibly annoying. Thor itched to fight and demand answers but the soldier sensing this rebelling building raised his hand threateningly towards the remote "I won't hesitate."
Thor slammed her fist down on the bedsheets "What is it with humans and incredibly tedious military." She exclaimed.
Suddenly the door burst open and a silver-haired man walked in. He had a file in one hand and a box of biscuits in the other. He spied Thor sitting dejectedly on the bed and smiled "She's awake! Sleep well?" She said nothing "I thought we could sit here." He gestured to the two chairs and table at the end of the room "I brought biscuits." He rattled the box enticingly over his head. Again, Thor said nothing. The silver-haired man sighed and sat down in the chair not waiting for Thor to join him "Well, you are certainly less chatty than I was told to expect."
He opened the box of biscuits and took one himself. He opened the file on his knee and settled back, waiting for Thor to join him. Slowly she stood and walked towards the empty seat. Gingerly she sat across from them. After a moment she asked, "Why won't you let me leave?"
The silver-haired man looked genuinely offended "Sheesh, we haven't even started talking and you already want to go?"
Thor grasped the arms of her chair and growled at the man in front of her. She saw the soldier at the door grip the remote, but she didn't care "I've had enough of this indifference! None of you appear to understand the danger I have left my home in." Thor rose from her seat and towered over the silver-haired man "I thought I had left for Valhalla to join my ancestors and now I am in a mortal realm with people who won't tell me anything!"
The man raised his hands in surrender "Before you say anything else just sit yourself down and I'll explain everything... well everything that's not classified. You just need to let me explain"
Thor didn't sit, instead, she reached forward to grab the lapel of the strange man in front of her. Again, she felt the harsh snapping of time as she found herself back into her seat "Where is my brother?" she yelled as she slammed against the chair.
"What did I just say seconds ago?" the man said with a sigh.
Thor's simmering anger made way to confusion as she stammered "Not to say anything?" she questioned.
The silver-haired man smiled "Well done here's a biscuit." He handed her a biscuit which she tentatively took "Eat that and shut up." He cleared his throat "My name is Agent Mobius. I work with a department called the TVA. I assume you've never heard of it? Don't worry there is a video I can show you later. Anyway - my job is to clean up and maintain the timeline/universe so peace can be maintained. Now the reason you are here is that you fell through the cracks of the timeline - that wasn't supposed to happen. You are supposed to be dead." Thor opened her mouth the speak but Mobius held up a finger so Thor put the biscuit in her mouth instead "However, instead of killing you and restoring the proper order of things, we have decided to keep you here."
"Why?" She asked through a mouth full of biscuit.
"Because Loki is a pain in the arse, and we need help finding them" Mobius explained taking a second biscuit for himself.
Thor stopped chewing and frowned "He is on Asgard," she explained "Take me there and I'll stop him from whatever he is planning."
Mobius laughed "Oh yeah? How’s that worked in the past?" He shook his head "No, we are looking for a different Loki."
Thor snapped to attention. Another Loki? How was it possible? She only had one brother and he didn't have a twin... that she knew of. "Yeah, time to freak out there is more than one - twice the headache, right? Well, this one isn't your brother. This Loki is hiding in the cracks of time and killing our minute men - the people charged with protecting the timeline. And as luck would have it you fell through the timeline, just the person who will know Loki better than all of us. And unless you want to be erased you are going to help us find them."