"Okay, y'all! Let's review what we've learned!" The cheery voice of Miss Minutes encouraged. Olivia rolled her eyes, stretching her arms and legs in her chair while her head rested in Loki's lap. She was careful to not punch him while he carelessly flipped through a magazine he had found in one of the drawers by Mobius' desk. "What happens when a Nexus event branches past Red Line?"

"Very bad things." Loki replied in a bored tone, not looking up from the magazine.

"Come on, Loki, what is it?" Miss Minutes pressed, a little more aggressively. Olivia turned to look at the sprite sitting on a stack of papers.

"It's when the TVA can no longer reset a Nexus event. Okay? Boring." She replied.

"Right! And that would lead to the destruction of the timeline and the collapse of reality as we know it."

"Can you hear us?" Loki asked, closing the magazine to look at Miss Minutes. "Are you a recording or are you alive?"

"Uh, sort of both!"

"Ah." Loki rolled up the magazine as he took his feet off of Mobius's desk, forcing Olivia to sit up properly in her chair. Loki smirked at her before swatting at Miss Minutes with the rolled up magazine. The orange clock jumped away, landing on an hourglass.

"Watch it! Where are your manners?" Miss Minutes chastised. Loki swung again, missing the sprite for the second time. "Hey, quit it!"

"Loki, please." Olivia took the roll of paper from him, jerking it out of his hand. Miss Minutes seemed to smile in thanks, jumping on top of the old computer screen displaying a multiple choice word problem that neither Loki nor Olivia had bothered to solve.

Olivia took this as her chance to swat at Miss Minutes herself.

"Hey! That is not nice!" The clock scolded, jumping back into the computer from whence she came. "Jerks."

"You can't hide in the..." Loki started to protest before Mobius arrived to his cubicle.

"Training goin' well?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah! We-" Olivia said quickly.

"Is that my jetski magazine?" Mobius pointed to the rolled up paper in Olivia's hand. "Put it down, come on, gear up. There's been an attack, let's go."

Olivia let the magazine uncurl as she set it on the desk, Mobius handing both her and Loki plastic packages with some kind of brown fabric. They opened them up to reveal two types of outer-wear in each package. Loki had a brown wind-breaker type jacket, Olivia holding a blazer in a similar color. Both had the circular crest of the TVA on the left breast area. Loki slid his jacket on, popping the collar with a satisfied smile. Olivia slipped her blazer on, adjusting the orange and yellow kerchief around her shirt collar.

Mobius led the pair to the Minute-Men locker rooms of sorts where a small group of Hunters were already gathered, B-15 at the head of the group. Loki, Mobius, and Olivia shuffled into the circle awkwardly as B-15 began her briefing.

"C-20 and her team went dark shortly after they jumped into the 1985 branch. All signs point to another ambush. We've grabbed enough temporal aura to know that it's our Loki Variant. But which kind of Loki remains unknown." The Hunter started with a serious tone.

"They're the lesser kind, so we're clear." Loki jumped in. Olivia snorted next to him. B-15 made a similar noise in response.

"Let me see the backs of your jackets." She said. Confused, Loki and Olivia turned around and attempted to look over their shoulders. In bright orange letters, the word 'VARIANT' was written across the backs. Some of the other Minute-Men suppressed chuckles.

"Very subtle." Olivia said sarcastically, turning back around.

"I don't want anybody out there to forget what you both are."

"Your only hope at capturing a murderer?" Loki asked.

"No, cosmic mistakes."

"That's enough." Mobius sighed.

"Lovely." Loki replied.

"Here's the deal. When we get out on the branch, we're not just looking for a Time Criminal, we're looking for a Loki. A variation of this guy. A type we should all be very familiar with because the TVA has pruned a lot of these guys, more than any other Variant. And no two are alike." Mobius projected images of various versions of Loki in front of the team. Olivia looked at them earnestly, seeing everything from Loki winning a bike race to being in his natural Jotun form. "Slight differences in appearance or not so slight. Different powers, although powers generally include shape-shifting, illusion projecting, and my favorite..."

"Duplication casting." Loki interrupted. Mobius looked up at Loki with a hard expression.

"Illusion projection."

"No, they're two completely different powers, actually." Olivia added.

"How?"

"Illusion projection involves projecting a detailed image outside of oneself, which is perceptible in the outside world, whereas duplication casting is entails recreating an exact facsimile of one's own body in its present circumstance, which acts as a true holographic mirror of its molecular structure. But you already knew that." Loki explained rapidly, barely pausing to breathe.

"Okay, take a breath. Noted." Mobius said, putting his hand out as if to calm Loki down. "We're gonna break into two teams, including myself, Dream Goddess, and Professor Loki."

"Why?" A Hunter asked.

"Because whoever this Variant is, we haven't been able to find him. So let's bring in an expert."

"That's me." Loki pointed to himself with his thumb. The rest of the team rolled their eyes and split off to finish getting ready. They all seemed to shoot Loki annoyed glances whenever he passed by. "Do we get weapons?"

"Nah." Mobius said, dismissing the question.

"Well, we'll have our magic back. Is no one concerned about that?"

"Of what?"

"Us betraying you?"

"No."

"Why not?" Olivia spoke up, a little uneasy.

"Because you already know that we can catch you and how's betraying us getting you any closer to the Time Keepers?" Mobius said simply.

"Wait, an audience with the Time Keepers is on the table?" Loki asked.

"Keep that focus." Mobius led Loki and Olivia through one of the golden Time Doors with the rest of the Minute-Men. They appeared right in the middle of a Renaissance Faire, people dressed in dresses and tunics while eating overlarge turkey legs.

"Nexus signature is at its apex, ma'am." One Hunter said to B-15, looking at the device in his hand.

"Let me ask you this: Why can't we travel back in time to before the attack? When the Variant first arrives?" Loki asked.

"Nexus events destabilize the time flow. This branch is still changing and growing, so you've gotta show up in real time. Did you watch any of the training videos you were supposed to?" Mobius explained.

"Well, as many as we could start." Olivia answered.

"Your TVA propaganda is exhausting." Loki added.

"Then what do these do?" A Hunter asked, showing the pair a couple of the Reset Charges. Olivia sighed and put on a too-big smile.

"Reset Charges prune the affected radius of a branched timeline, allowing time to heal all of its wounds!" She said, imitating Miss Minutes' high and excited voice.

"Which, by the way, sounds like a nice way of disintegrate everything in its vicinity." Loki added.

"They're on it!" Mobius said, leading the group into one of the colorful tents erected in the middle of the faire.

"We watched the videos! I mean, some of them."

Inside the tent, a few broken jousting sticks lay splintered in pink and white pieces next to a few bodies of Hunters and a helmet with the digits 'C-20' written down the front.

"So he's taking hostages now?" B-15 asked.

"The Variant's never taken any hostages before." Mobius agreed.

"Maybe he's upping his game."

"Or he pruned her." Another Minute Man suggested.

"A Loki couldn't have gotten the jump on C-20."

"I think you underestimate them, actually." Loki spoke up.

"Fan out and search for her." B-15 ignored Loki's quip. "And hurry up because we're approaching three units to the Red Line."

"Come on." Mobius said to his Asgardian colleagues.

"Wait." Loki interrupted. "If you leave this tent, you'll end up like them."

"What do you see?"

"I see a scheme, and in that scheme, I see myself. We have a saying in Asgard. 'Where there are wolf's ears...'"

"'Wolf's teeth are near.' Olivia finished with him. "It means to be aware of your surroundings."

"Which is absurd, because our people are, by nature, gullible fools. A trait that I, the God of Mischief, exploited time and time again simply by listening. My teeth were sharp, but my ears, even sharper."

"We're running out of time, Mobius." B-15 cut in.

"Hold it, just give them a chance." Mobius replied.

"You remind me of them." Loki continued. "The Time Variance Authority and the gods of Asgard, one and the same. Drunk with power, blinded to the truth. Those you underestimate will devour you. You underestimate us, just as you underestimate this lesser Loki, which is why you walk in from one wolf's mouth into another."

"Two units, he is wasting our time." B-15 spat.

"Okay, come on, Loki, make a long story short." Mobius encouraged.

"We need to look for C-20."

"That's exactly what the Variant wants you to do." Olivia said as if it were obvious. "It's a trap, they're waiting for you outside of this tent."

"Should I secure the Reset Charges?" A Minute-Man asked.

"No, they want me, I'm the key to their plan." Loki said. "They know that I'm stronger than they are."

"Almost one unit!" B-15 announced.

"And they rightly believe that the three of us together can overthrow and rule the TVA." Loki gestured to himself and Olivia when he said this. "But that's not what we want. I have a new purpose. We are servants of the Sacred Timeline, and knowing what I now know about their tactics, we can deliver you the Variant. But we need assurances."

"Yeah?" Mobius asked.

"Assurances that we won't be completely disintegrated the moment the job has been done." Olivia said quickly.

"Right..."

"We'll need to speak to the Time Keepers at once." Loki's voice was now in a whisper. "They're in graver danger than we realized.

There was a tense few seconds of silence as B-15's remote beeped.

"They're lying. Just playing games. There's no one out there." Mobius said, B-15 rolling her eyes and snatching a Reset Charge.

"Reset the timeline." She snapped.

"You had me for a second. My ears are sharp, too." Mobius said, swiftly following the others out the tent as a Minute-Man planted the charge. Loki and Olivia shared a look before following Mobius out.

***

In what can only be described as two children waiting outside of the principal's office for their parent to finish speaking inside, Loki and Olivia sat on a sofa outside of Judge Renslayer's office, labeled as such above the double doors decorated with hourglass patterns. Mobius was inside with her right now, probably deciding if they had had their last chance and would be reset or not. Olivia shifted uncomfortably, picking at her lip so the inside bled with a slight sting.

Mobius finally left Ravonna's office with a new file in his hand after what seemed like an eternity. It could have been, for all they knew. Mobius whistled at the two to get them to follow. Loki was quick on the uptake, leaping up almost immediately.

"You're probably wondering what happened out on the mission." He said quickly, rushing to catch up with Mobius turning a corner. Olivia wasn't far behind, nearly sliding into Loki. "That was you first lesson in catching a Loki. Expect the expected. You see, half the fun of being a trickster is knowing everyone knows you're a trickster and then many of your tricks can come from exploiting the fact that you know that they know--"

"Okay, just shut up! Please!" Mobius begged as they turned another corner. "I mean, what happened to that guy I met on the elevator? Who didn't like to talk, remember him? Now I'm stuck with this guy who won't stop yaking away about what makes a Loki tick. Why can't you be more like your girlfriend here, she never talks!"

"I can annoy you in other ways." Olivia said cooly.

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Wait, isn't that precisely why I'm here?" Loki asked.

"No! I don't care what makes you tick. You're here to help me catch the superior version of yourself. That's it!" Mobius snapped as they turned one more corner, an elevator at the mouth of the hall.

"Hang on! I'm not sure 'superior' is actually the right word." Loki argued.

"See? There it is. Right there. I believed, stupidly, that insecure need for validation would motivate you to find the killer. Not because you care about the TVA mission or being a hero, but because you know that this Variant is better than you and you can't take it." Mobius said the last part with a slight sing-song voice, leading Olivia to roll her eyes with a very audible scoff.

"Very nice." Loki replied as though someone young had just called him something childish. Choosing to be petty, he undid the knot in Mobius' tie so the two ends would hang loose. "I mean, it is adorable that you think you could possibly manipulate us. We're ten steps ahead of you. We've been playing a game of our own all along."

"What, half-assedly charm your way in front of the Time Keepers in ways that would only make her knees wobble--"

"Excuse me?" Olivia cut in, mildly offended.

"--Hustle them and then take control of the TVA? Am I getting warm?" Mobius ignored Olivia as he continued, going to press the elevator button. "A double cross by history's most reliable liar and his loyal girlfriend."

"Okay, why are you in there sticking your neck out for us?" Olivia asked.

"I'll give you two options and you can believe whichever one you want. A, because I see a scared little boy and girl shivering out there in the cold. And you kinda feel bad for that little ice runt and the orphan companion that go to each other for comfort. Or B, I just wanna catch this guy and I'll tell you whatever I need to tell you."

The elevator dinged open, the three of them piling inside as the doors squeaked shut.

"We don't need your sympathy." Loki snapped.

"Good, cause I'm running out of it." Mobius replied with equal animosity. The rest of the ride down was spent in tense silence until the doors slid open again.

"What's this, the next step of your manipulation?" Loki asked.

"No, this is the final step. Your last chance."

"Oh, and what does our desperate last chance require?" Olivia asked sarcastically.

"Work."

"Work?" Loki asked, the word sounding odd to him. One more corner turned and suddenly they were in an expansive archive, almost like an oversized library.

"I need you both to go over each and every one of the Variant's case files, and then give me your... how should I put this, your unique Loki perspective. And who knows, maybe there's something that we missed."

"Well, you're idiots; I think you probably missed a lot." Olivia spoke up. Mobius glanced at her after her quip, but didn't say anything. He would rather her take a jab at him than Loki for the hundredth time.

"Well, that's why I'm lucky I've got you guys for just a little bit longer. Lemme park you at this desk, and don't be afraid to really lean into this work. Here's a good trick: pretend like your life depends on it. I'm gonna go get a snack." Mobius gestured to a table with three stacks of files at one end before heading in the direction of what was presumably food. Loki and Olivia shared one of their signature glances before sitting across from each other with files strewn between them. Papers and papers with no face to the Variant number all basically the same thing. Loki expressed as much as he opened another file.

"Oh my goodness! Don't tell me the Variant ambushed and killed another team of Minute-Men." He said with the heaviest sarcasm Olivia had ever heard him use (which was saying a lot). She took a similar paper out from the file she had opened and moved her hand to her cheek as if seeing something shocking.

"And stole their reset charge as well!" She exclaimed with a gasp. She and Loki made eye contact over the papers in their hands, chuckling like school children at each other.

"Shh!" Someone said from another table. Loki looked over his shoulder as Olivia tilted her head to the side, spotting a woman sitting at the table next to theirs, gazing at them flatly.

"Shh!" Loki shushed her back before turning around to attend to the files again. Olivia suppressed a giggle at the response. She opened another file, flipped through more papers, then slammed it shut.

"This is getting us nowhere. They all say the same thing, no rhyme or reason." Olivia banged her head down on the desk, letting out a long groan. Loki stood up with a start, leaving files strewn about where he was sitting.

"I'll be right back." He said, walking past Olivia and around the corner. She rolled her eyes and continued examining the file in her hands about one of the Variant's hits in 1939 in the wake of a cyclone.

Loki came back shortly thereafter with two more files under his arm. Olivia perked up and held her hands out as if asking to look. Loki passed her one of the files with pursed lips, sitting back down. She looked down at the papers and saw her own likeness staring back at her, the mugshot in her prison uniform on arrival.

"Is this what you wanted to grab?" She asked Loki, showing him the unflattering picture of herself with sand still in her hair.

"I wanted other files, but that old tart would only let me have these." Loki said flatly, showing her his own likeness in a jumpsuit against the height measurement, the top of his head cresting a little over the six foot line.

"Well, you're a Loki Variant, so maybe it'll give us some kind of insight. Meanwhile mine might give us some outside information." Olivia flipped open her own file, seeing assorted black and white pictures of herself, some of them set next to Loki as well. Flipping further through, she even found pictures of two children, a boy and a girl. She even found attached birthdates. Olivia flipped the pictures over to see two information files paperclipped to the back. Oliviadottir, Lyanna. Lokison, Edmure.

"This doesn't make any sense." She whispered, frantically looking through more files.

"What doesn't?" Loki asked, holding two sheets of paper in his hands.

"They have what I think are our children on file, or what would be our children." Olivia said, holding up the pictures of the boy and girl.

"But we don't have children."

"Right. Yet their birthdates are several years after your apparent death in the film. That film was cut with scissors at the end. Clearly someone didn't want you to know what happens next, yet they forgot to clean out our files of what happens after." Olivia pointed to the two dates on the back of the images. "Somehow you survived the encounter with Thanos and the TVA doesn't want you to know."

Loki took the pictures in his hands, examining them closely. Sure enough, the girl shared his nose and sharp cheekbones, while the boy seemed to have the markings of a Jotun bleeding through his skin.

"But why?" Loki asked, passing Olivia the pictures.

"I don't know, but I don't like it. They're hiding something from us that's not showing up in the files." Olivia slipped the pictures back inside the beige file.

"Well, here's something I found." Loki handed her a thin sheet of paper with blue letters stamped along the lines. At the top, in big red letters, it read 'DESTRUCTION OF ASGARD' and circled. Olivia took the paper, her lips parted in mild shock. Casualties in the thousands, sentences saying things like 'Entire Civilization Annihilated' and 'Total Planetary Destruction.'

"Ragnarok?" She whispered, looking at the date at the top. 11-3-2017. "Ragnarok comes in five years?"

"Yes, but look." Loki pointed to another blue sentence near the top of the paper.

'Zero Variance Energy Detected'

"What's that supposed to mean?" Olivia asked, ignoring the sudden clench in her chest. Loki took the paper back with an oddly excited smile. "Why are you so happy about this? Our entire home obliterates in a few years."

"It's a major apocalyptic event, yes?"

"Yes?"

"And no Variance energy was detected?"

"Yes?"

"And what did the files on our Variant say about their locations?"

"One was in Kansas during a cyclone, another in an earthquake in Japan--"

"And no Variance energy was detected in those places, yes?"

"Yes, where are you going with this?" Olivia asked. Loki just looked at her with a slight head tilt. Suddenly it clicked in her mind. Olivia snatched the report about Ragnarok and pulled Loki out of his chair. "We have to find Mobius."

***

The detective was calmly sitting at a table by himself in the middle of the expansive cafeteria, a fork in his hand with a few leaves of lettuce stuck on the tines and his jetski magazine open in front of him. Olivia and Loki ran inside, ignoring the smell of food having not eaten much in a while. Olivia tapped Mobius on the head with the paper in her hand as Loki took a seat across from him, Olivia between the two to Mobius' right.

"We found something." Olivia said with a big grin.

"No, I said 'don't bother me until you've read all the files.'" Mobius said, his mouth full of lettuce.

"We have."

"Every file?"

"Yes!" Loki said.

"Every file pertaining to the Variant?"

"The answer isn't in the files, it's on the timeline." Loki took the paper from Olivia and held it in front of Mobius. "They're hiding in apocalypses."

"Which apocalypse?" Mobius asked. "Any time in history? There's like a million of them."

"Ragnarok. Are you familiar?" Olivia asked, pointing to the paper.

"Yes, the destruction of Asgard and most of its people, I'm sorry."

"Yes, very sad." Loki said, before shaking off the sorrow. "Anyways, it got me thinking."

"Go ahead."

"Nexus events happen when someone does something they're not supposed to do, right?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated, but, yeah."

"Great. And then that thing they're not supposed to do cascades into a range of other things that aren't supposed to happen, until so on and so forth until a new timeline branches, yes?"

"Chaotic alterations of a predetermined outcome."

"Exactly! So, let's just say..." Loki reached for the small salad in front of Mobius and put it in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Mobius asked.

"...Your salad is Asgard in this scenario."

"No, it's not Asgard, that's my lunch."

"It's a metaphor. Just hang in there." Olivia said, waving away Mobius' complaints.

"I want that salad."

"And we could go down to Asgard before Ragnarok causes its complete destruction, and we could do anything we wanted." Loki picked up the small salt and pepper shakers and started to shake the salt into the salad to Mobius' displeasure. "We could... push the Hulk off of the Rainbow Bridge? There he goes."

"The salt's Hulk?"

"And we could also... Set fire to the Palace?" Loki then shook the pepper into the salad, adding to the small mounds of salt laying on the leaves of lettuce.

"No, just stop, don't set fire to the Palace."

"Okay? We can do whatever we want to do, and it wouldn't matter." Loki began shaking both the salt and pepper into the salad. "It wouldn't go against the dictates of the timeline because..."

Loki grabbed for the can of Josta in front of Mobius and found it empty. He looked at Olivia who nodded and got out of her seat.

"Oh god." Mobius groaned seeing Olivia tap the unfortunate Casey on the shoulder.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"You!" Casey exclaimed.

"Nice to see you. I just need this for a second, thanks." She grabbed the white juice box labeled as a BoKu drink from the clerk and sat back down, passing it to Loki, who showed the box to Mobius.

"Because the apocalypse is coming." He continued. "Ragnarok. Surtur will destroy Asgard no matter what we do."

"No, don't do--" Mobius protested before Loki began to pour the BoKu into the salad, soaking the lettuce in it.

"There's the apocalypse."

"That's the apocalypse?"

"Ragnarok obliterates the salt." Loki grinned and showed Mobius the squeezed bottle of BoKu before setting it down. "Ragnarok. There it is!"

"What am I looking at?" Mobius sighed, staring at his ruined salad sadly.

"Well, it was a clumsy metaphor, but you see what I mean. It doesn't matter! It could be any apocalypse. It could be a tidal wave, it could be a meteor."

"It could be a volcano or a supernova." Olivia added. "If anyone and everyone around you is destined for imminent destruction, then nothing that we say or do will matter."

"Because the timeline's not gonna branch. Because it will all be destroyed." Loki started shaking the salt and pepper into the soaked salad again. "Hence, the Variant could be hiding in an apocalypse and do whatever they want and we wouldn't know!"

"Not bad." Mobius said, nodding.

"Take us to a real apocalypse! Take us to Ragnarok, we'll show you!" Olivia pressed.

"Oh, yeah, so you can run away back to your homeland? No."

"No, we're not going home, we could go anywhere!" Loki said excitedly.

"Look, I'm not taking you on a stroll along the promenade, let alone to an apocalypse."

"Oh, Mobius, come on! What could possibly go wrong? We have to properly test this theory!"

"Well, here's a fun theory! You lure me out into the field and then you stab me in the back. That's a theory I don't want to test."

"I'd never stab anyone in the back!" Loki replied indignantly. "That's such a boring form of betrayal."

"Loki, I've studied almost every moment in your entire life. You've literally stabbed people in the back, like, fifty times!" Mobius exclaimed. Loki took a pause with his jaw hung open.

"Well, I'd never do it again! Because it got old!"

Mobius chuckled at Loki's burst before relenting.

"Okay."

"Okay, look. You don't trust me, but you can trust one thing. I love to be right."

***

Pompeii, Italy. 79 AD

The people we're milling about a small marketplace with baskets and goods to be bought and sold. A distant volcano rumbled slightly, causing some heads to turn, but remained largely ignored. There had been small quakes and rumbles for a few days now and no one really thought much of it.

Hiding in a corner, Loki, Olivia, and Mobius looked at the volcano mere minutes from eruption, the citizens none the wiser to the imminent destruction or their presence.

"Here we go!" Loki whispered excitedly.

"Shh, any minute now." Mobius said, bouncing on his feet apprehensively.

"Until this entire town is wiped off the face of the planet. Imagine! All that volcanic ash, the destruction..."

"I know, but we don't wanna get too giddy."

"Oh, come on, it's cool!"

"Yeah, it's cool, but it's just... not in good taste, y'know?

"They're all gonna die anyways." Olivia said.

"I know. Now listen, I'm gonna watch the TemPad for any variance energy."

"Okay."

"Okay, because we've gotta be careful. If you're wrong, and there's a good chance you are, anything we do could create a huge branch."

"Oh, Mobius, you make even the end of the world sound boring!" Loki said.

"Listen, okay? We're not meant to be here! Okay?"

"Okay."

"Anything we do can impact the course of history. Do you get that?"

"Yes, yes."

"Okay, so we're gonna start with some very small disturbances."

"Very small."

"Can you make bird noises?"

"Bird noises?" Olivia asked skeptically.

"Yeah, bird noises, like whooshing noises? Like a Hoo Hoo?" Mobius imitated some sort of hooting noise. Loki groaned, took Olivia's hand, and bolted into the middle of the marketplace. "Loki!"

Loki unlatched the back of a cart containing goats and started gesturing them forward.

"Go! Be free, my horned friends! Be free!!" Loki crowed, the goats leaving the cart in a hurry. He then turned to address the now curious crowd. He chose to speak in Latin rather than All-Speak. "My name is Loki and this is my Lady Olivia. We are agents of the Time Variance Authority. We bring you all dark tidings. All of you!"

"You're all about to die! That volcano is about to erupt! We would know because we're from the future!" Olivia continued, also in Latin. The people seemed to disregard the pair, going about their daily chores with laughs. Mobius threw up his hands in defeat and then looked at the TemPad. Olivia directed her next words at the Agent in English. "We are from the future, right? What is the TVA, I mean, it's from the future, it sounds from the future. It's pretty future-y?"

Mt. Vesuvius then let out a loud rumble, a plume of dark smoke curling from the top.

"Right on cue!" Loki called as the people started to run away screaming. He lept off the cart and started for the food stands, throwing cabbages and corn ears, playing target practice using the people alongside Olivia.

"My cabbages!!" The owner of the stand cried before being pelted with his goods. He ran off after that, also partially to get away from the smoke.

"Enjoy your last meal while you can! Nothing matters! Nothing has any consequence! Dance while you still can!"

Loki started doing a do-si-do with Olivia, throwing cabbages in the air as the marketplace became deserted. Mobius looked up from the TemPad with a shocked expression.

"How'd we do?" Olivia asked, letting go of Loki's arm.

"I don't believe it. Zero Variance Energy, no branching of the timeline." Mobius replied, a mix of shock and excitement in his tone.

"The TVA would never even know we were here." Loki pointed at Mobius with the small stick of wood that held the back of the cart in place as the ash and smoke rolled closer. "If it were me, this is where I would hide."

***

"Doomsdays, the Variant has been ambushing our soldiers and hiding out in doomsdays to cover his tracks." Mobius said as he, Loki, and Olivia burst out of the elevator and ran for his desk, all of them grabbing a few files from it.

"You're welcome." Loki said.

"Yeah, but in order for this theory to hold, the disasters have to be naturally occurring, sudden, no warning, no survivors."

"How many of those disasters could there be?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out."

***

Hours seemed to have passed, files strewn all over the table as if someone had set off a small bomb. Mobius yawned with a file in his hand, Loki asleep with his head resting on one of his arms on the desk, the other being used as a pillow by an also dozing Olivia. A file was on her face, having fallen after she fell asleep.

Mobius tapped Loki's arm with one of the files, the god stirring awake sleepily. Olivia was rudely awakened by Loki's arm moving, the file on her face sliding onto the floor.

"C'mon, let's go take a walk." Mobius said, leading the tired pair down to the cafeteria. A few other people were sitting inside, quietly eating whatever meal they were at. From one of the food stands, Mobius grabbed a cup of coffee off of one of the carts. Loki and Olivia, not having eaten in a while, loaded a tray with a few assorted foods. Loki grabbed a bottle of water while Olivia grabbed a similarly colored bottle of something called Crystal Pepsi. They found an empty table in a mostly deserted area of the cafeteria.

They ate and drank in silence for a while, slowly finding it easier to stay awake the more they consumed. Once the food was gone, Olivia put the tray and extra dishes away, just leaving the half empty drinks at the table.

"By the way, at your desk, that magazine?" Loki asked, cutting the long held silence.

"Yeah, the one on jetskis?" Mobius asked.

"Yes. Why do you have that?"

"Because they're awesome."

"I suppose they are."

"Yeah. You know, some things... actually most things in history are kinda dumb and everything gets ruined eventually. But, in the early 1990s, for a brief, shining moment, there was a beautiful union of form and function which we call the jetski, and a reasonable man cannot differ."

"Have you ever been on one?" Olivia asked with a tired smile.

"No. I think a TVA Agent showing up on a jetski on the Sacred Timeline would cause a branch for sure." Mobius replied, a little sadly.

"It'd be fun, though." Loki replied.

"Yeah, it'd be really fun."

"So why read about them?"

"Just... helps remind me of what we're fighting for." Mobius said. There was a short pause before Loki broke it.

"I mean, you really believe in all this stuff, don't you?" He asked.

"I don't get hung up on 'believe, not believe.' I just accept what is."

"Three magic lizards?"

"Time Keepers."

"Created the TVA and everyone in it?"

"Right."

"Including you?"

"Including me."

"You see, every time I start to admire your intelligence, you say something like that."

"Okay, who created you guys?" Mobius asked, chuckling.

"A Frost Giant of Jotunheim." Loki replied.

"Iri Avyadottir and General Aemon Kynson of Asgard." Olivia added.

"And who raised you?" Mobius asked.

"Odin and Frigga of Asgard."

"Odin, God of the Heavens. Asgard, mystical realm, beyond the stars, Frost Giants, listen to yourself!" Mobius said.

"It's not the same, it's completely different." Loki said with a laugh.

"No, no, no, no, no, actually, it's exactly the same thing because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, we sound kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos, nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all of this. My own glorious purpose. 'Cause the TVA is my life and it's real because I believe it's real."

"Fair enough." Loki started. "You believe it's real."

"Yeah."

"Everything is written. Past, present, future. There's no such thing as free will." Olivia continued for Loki.

"Well, I mean, it's an oversimplification." Mobius replied.

"So, in fact, in a way, those of us at the TVA, we're the only ones who are actually free."

"Where are you going with this, Olivia?"

"How does it all end?"

"That's a work in progress."

"Oh, those lazy Time Keepers, what are they waiting for?" Loki asked, miming checking a watch.

"Au Contraire, no because while we protect what came before, they're toiling away in their chamber, untangling the epilogue from its infinite branches."

"Ah, I see. So, when they're finished, what happens then?"

"So are we. No more Nexus Events, just order, and we meet in peace at the end of time. Nice, right?"

"It's a bit bleak, don't you think?" Olivia said, taking a sip from her drink. "The end of time?"

"I like to think of it peacefully. Everything becomes orderly and ideal."

"Only order?" Loki asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"No chaos? It sounds boring." Olivia added.

"I'm sure it does to you."

"You know, you called us scared little children."

"I called you a lot of things."

"You did."

"You're wrong, though." Loki continued. "You see, we know something children don't."

"What's that?" Mobius queried.

"No one is bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good."

Mobius took a second to digest this.

"Scared little children..."

"Yes, it was quite quite patronizing. I thought it was a bit too far, actually."

"You're very clever." Mobius said, standing up and leaving his half empty cup of coffee behind.

"I know?" Loki said, confused, yet standing up all the same. Olivia followed close behind, taking her drink with her. She chugged the rest of it, throwing the bottle away as they boarded the elevator back to their research desk.

"The Variant left something behind at an old crime scene. A cathedral, a candy box." Mobius explained as he led the pair to a shelf holding several boxes. Mobius unlocked one in particular, fishing around in it. "Obvious anachronism, I gave it to Analysis, but they couldn't find anything real."

"Why does that matter?" Olivia asked.

"Because now we have two variables. Apocalyptic natural disasters and..." Mobius pulled a small plastic bag out from the box, a smaller box inside with a blue devil on the outside with blue letters. "Kablooie."

"What's that?"

"Candy. Do you have candy on Asgard?"

"Yeah. Grapes, nuts."

"No wonder you're so bitter." Mobius brushed past the pair with a sigh. He then had Loki and Olivia clean up their table a little bit before he came back with a large stack of other files. "Okay, Kablooie was only sold regionally on Earth from 2047 to 2051. All you gotta do is cross-reference that with every apocalyptic event. We'll split this three ways and let's make it a competition, see who finds it."

"Sure." Olivia agreed, Loki nodding.

"You wanna bet something?"

"Yeah." Loki said.

"Yeah, let's play for pride. Okay, may the best man or woman win. Go."

All three of them frantically started opening and analyzing files, reading and looking for any events that could connect to a place with food nearby.

"Anything?"

"Uh... it's not the climate disaster of 2048." Loki said, tossing a file away.

"Or the tsunami of 2051." Olivia added, tossing a file.

"Okay good, let's go, let's go." Mobius said, hyping them up while tossing a file behind his back.

"Uh, 2050... the extinction of the swallow. Is that a thing?" Olivia asked.

"Completely screwed up the ecosystem."

"Krakatoa erupted in 2049 as well, no Kablooie." Loki said, tossing more files behind him.

"Well, not that kind of Kablooie." Olivia said, throwing another file away.

"God, it's just one damn thing after another, isn't it? Cyclone, famine, volcanoes, floods--"

"Got it!" Loki announced. He showed Mobius and Olivia a file describing a hurricane. "That's where they are."

"Alabama, 2050." Olivia read.

"You're gonna take my job if I'm not careful." Mobius said teasingly.

***

Yet another wait outside of Renslayer's office was in order as Mobius was trying to persuade the judge to approve the mission. Loki and Olivia waited, antsy for the final decision. It took a while for the consensus to be reached, but eventually Mobius left the office with a smile.

"We're on." He said. Loki and Olivia lept off the sofa and shared a high-five as they followed Mobius to the locker rooms. "We are doing some good work today."

"I thought so, too." Loki replied.

"I'm telling you, you actually help us catch this Variant, and who knows, my friends?" Mobius said, opening a locker and removing his outer suit jacket.

"What, good enough for a face to face with the Time Keepers?" Olivia asked hopefully.

"I didn't say that. One step at a time."

"Alright, one step at a time." Loki repeated.

"And just in case." Mobius pulled out two long daggers from his locker, probably taken from a previous Loki Variant they had caught. Loki took them excitedly. "Yeah, don't those feel good--"

"Absolutely NOT!" B-15 said, coming up snatching the knives from Loki's hands and shoving them in her own locker. Olivia chuckled at the interaction and Loki's dejected expression. "Everyone gather around for a briefing."

The other Minute-Men assembled around once they had gotten into full armor, Mobius even donning a bulletproof vest over his button up shirt, a long raincoat over it all. Loki and Olivia didn't have any other armor to use other than the day clothes on their backs.

"Roxxcart is a vast superstore common to the era. It consists of a series of sprawling sections, including a large warehouse. This warehouse is being used by civilians as a shelter to try and ride out the storm. Remember, this is a class ten apocalypse. While the Variant shouldn't know we're coming, he could be hiding anywhere and be considered hostile. So stay alert. Every time there is an attack, the Variant steals a Reset Charge. He's planning something. We just don't know what. So keep an eye out for the missing Charges. And if you see a Loki, prune it." B-15 explained at length.

"The bad Loki. Preferably." Loki threw in at the end.

The Time Doors opened outside the front of the Roxxcart storefront, busses and shopping carts overturned and damaged in one of the worst storms Olivia and Loki had ever seen. And, growing up with Thor, that was saying a lot. Lightning struck trees and nearly everything that was stuck skyward, a massive flood slowly creeping its way up the shore.

"Anything?" Mobius called out to B-15, yelling in order to be heard over the rain and thunder.

"Nothing yet!" B-15 replied. "Move out!"

The Minute-Men led the charge as Loki, Mobius, and Olivia brought up the rear. Once they were inside, everything seemed to quiet down. Loki used his magic to dry himself off, Olivia following his example.

"The hell was that?" B-15 asked.

"That was us using magic to dry our clothes so we don't announce ourselves with every squeaky footstep like the rest of you." Loki said shortly. A bang of thunder rumbled through, the lights inside the store flickering off, then on again.

"Take both teams and sweep the storm shelter." B-15 ordered one of the Hunters.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, Loki, Olivia, and I are gonna check out the Green House, we'll meet back at the showroom--" Mobius started.

"No." B-15 cut him off.

"No?"

"You go with D-90, they stay with me."

"What are you talking about, they're under my supervision."

"This is my field op, Mobius. If they're not threats, then it won't be a problem."

"Of course they're threats. Do you not remember the Time Theater? That's why I want them with me!"

"You are more than welcome to go back to the TVA and litigate with Renslayer, but right now--"

"We're here, there's no going back. The Variant is here--"

"Mobius, it's fine. It's fine." Olivia interrupted. "You can trust us. We understand that we have to earn that, so we will."

She elbowed Loki as she looked to B-15, to which Loki agreed with a short nod.

"Why is it the people you can't trust are always saying 'trust me?'" Mobius asked. He turned to B-15 with a sigh. "Okay, try to hang onto your Time Collar this time?"

"We'll see you in the showroom." Hunter D-20 said, following Mobius as he stalked away.

"So? Shall we?" Olivia asked. B-15 rolled her eyes and led both her and Loki to the greenhouse, her baton drawn and energized. Various plants were stocked on the shelves, the lights flickering making the eerie silence creepier.

"I for one am glad we're getting to spend this time together." Loki spoke up."

"Quiet!" B-15 hissed.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot--"

"Shh!"

B-15 turned in the direction of a noise she heard, Loki and Olivia following her gaze to another aisle. The Hunter led the way, finding a young man browsing the plants.

"Hey!" B-15 called.

"Hey, woah, woah! It's okay." The man said, raising his hands in surrender.

"What are you doing?"

"Shopping for plants."

"In a hurricane?" Olivia asked.

"It's a Hurricane Sale. Azaleas are half off."

"Could that be you?" B-15 hissed at Loki.

"I mean, I don't wanna assume, but yes, probably." Loki replied. B-15 carefully approached the man, baton drawn, Loki and Olivia lagging behind. The man suddenly grabbed B-15's wrist, a green energy passing into her. The man dropped to the floor unconscious. B-15's whole demeanor suddenly changed, her posture far more relaxed.

"Is he dead?" Olivia asked.

"No, they usually survive." B-15 turned to the pair with her hands behind her back. "So, you're the fools the TVA sent to hunt me down?"

"Me, I presume?" Loki asked, realizing what was going on.

"Please. If anyone's anyone, you're me." B-15 replied with a grin. Loki mirrored the expression, Olivia picking her lip nervously.

"How nice to finally meet you." Loki replied. B-15 started aimlessly wandering around the aisles, Loki and Olivia following her around as she did so. "Enchantment is a clever trick. Cowardly and a bit amateurish, but clever."

"Almost as cowardly as working for the TVA." B-15 mused.

"We're working for us." Olivia spoke up.

"Oh, you really believe that, don't you, darling?" Olivia's lips twisted. "And here I was worried they had found a better version of me."

"Hi, are you guys looking for the disaster shelter?" A store attendant asked.

"No." B-15 said, grabbing the man by the wrist to transfer control again. She slumped to the floor, Olivia running over to see if she was alright. Loki crouched down next to her as Olivia checked for a pulse.

"Aww, bless. Are you going to call your little friends for help?" The Variant, speaking through the attendant, asked. Loki stood up with Olivia, both of them with hard stares.

"What's the matter? Are you too scared to face us face to face?" Loki asked. "Show yourself. You know, gaining their confidence was no mean feat."

The attendant stopped in his tracks, turning to face the pair.

"Oh my God. You went undercover." He said with an amused smile.

"If you could possibly sheathe your smarm for a moment, we have an offer for you. That's why we found you."

"Go on."

"We're going to overthrow the Time Keepers. Cards on the table. We could use a qualified lieutenant."

"And I assume you mean... me?"

"What say you... Loki?" Olivia asked, approaching the attendant. His face contorted in disgust.

"Don't call me that. You can call me..." The attendant looked down at his electric name tag. "Randy."

"God, now I understand why Thor found this so annoying." Loki sighed under his breath. "Listen, enough with you're games. We've been trying to help you. We kept them vulnerable at the Renaissance Faire for quite some time."

"Oh, gosh, and that was just so nice of you. But after eight to ten seconds of consideration, my answer is no. I'm not interested in ruling the Time Variance Authority." Randy turned around and started walking away, forcing Loki and Olivia to chase him again.

"If you don't want to rule the TVA, then what do you want?" Olivia asked.

"It doesn't matter. You're too late." Randy said.

"Oh, I think you'll find I'm well ahead of schedule. I found your hiding place like that." Loki snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. "I'd say that makes me the superior Loki, wouldn't you?"

Loki then noticed one of the Reset Charges attached to a few wires behind a few boxes of appliances on the shelves.

"I see. That's your plan. Lure us all here so you can blow the place up?"

"Well, not exactly." Randy darted forward before taking Olivia by the wrist, passing out on the floor. Loki's eyes went wide as the Variant took control of Olivia as well. She rolled her shoulders and examined her surroundings.

"This is interesting. She's quite strong, I don't think I can keep a hold of her for very long. Luckily I don't need much longer." Olivia said, chuckling.

"Let her go. Leave her out of this." Loki said.

"Mmm... no. I don't think so. See, the fun thing is that the Hunter or the mortal don't have anything other than physical strength or lack thereof. But with your lady here?"

A green burst of magical fire formed in Olivia's hand, which she promptly blasted in Loki's direction. He dodged out of the way, standing up next to a display of various vacuums.

"Okay, Olivia, my darling, listen, I need to to fight them. I need you to wake up. You're stronger than they are--" Loki pressed, Olivia dropping down to kick Loki's legs out from under him. She muttered mockingly at him.

"You really love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" She said.

"I would never treat me like this!" Loki said, standing up and using his telekinesis to summon a round vacuum from a nearby stand. Olivia grabbed it and tried to wrestle it out of Loki's grip. "I know you're in there, I need you to wake up."

Olivia growled and blasted the vacuum to pieces, sending plastic and metal pieces scattering around. Reluctant to hit Olivia, Loki dodged out of the way of the next bursts of energy she let out.

"You won't win by dodging out of the way and not fighting back." Olivia taunted.

"If you had any honor, you'd fight me as yourself." Loki spat back.

"I have shit to do." Olivia hissed, releasing a rather large burst of magical energy, sending Loki crashing back towards a towering display. He groaned on impact, unable to get up right away. A small robotic dog from one of the boxes yipped and ran into his head gently.

Assuming Loki was dealt with for the time being, Olivia went over to whatever contraption the Variant had built, setting a TemPad down on a stand with a countdown mere minutes from reaching zero displayed on the screen. She tightened a few wires and rearranged a few things methodically

With his hair messed up, Loki finally stood up and darted towards Olivia, applying the finishing touches to the contraption.

"What do you want from me? What is this about?" Loki roared, approaching with heavy footsteps. Olivia stood up with a deceptively innocent smile.

"Brace yourself, Loki." She said, before laughing and then collapsing. Loki ran to catch her before she hit the ground, cradling her unconscious body. Unlike the others, Olivia had the capacity to fight the residual effects of the control, so she stirred rather quickly. She looked up at Loki with heavy-lidded eyes, Loki grabbing her hand tightly.

What do you want from me? What do you want from me? What do you want from me? What is this about? What is this about? What do you want from me? What is this about? Loki's own voice rang in his mind, directing him to a certain point in the store.

Before them stood a hooded figure with green magic at their fingertips. The magic powered down before the Variant removed their dark hood.

It revealed a blonde woman with a horned circlet, one of the horns broken off.

"This isn't about you." She sneered.

The lights then flickered off, an electric spark igniting from the TemPad device. Several Reset Charges lit up orange at once, their inner chambers changing to purple one right after the other. There were far more Charges than any of them realized, the whole store lighting up purple. As Loki pulled the still weary Olivia to her feet, small Time Doors opened up below the charges, sending them all away to unknown locations.

The emergency power lights turned on, bathing the whole store in a deep red glow. The Loki Variant grabbed the TemPad from the stand carelessly and pressed a few buttons. A Time Door emerged in front of her, the only other source of light in the store. She waved at Loki and Olivia lightly before passing through.

The door didn't close right away, however.

About half of the normal lights turned back on, some of them still glowing red.

"LOKI!" Mobius called, he, D-90, and B-15 running straight for them with batons at the ready. "LOKI, OLIVIA, WAIT!! WAIT!!"

Loki and Olivia looked at Mobius, then to each other, then to the still open Time Door. They turned back to each other and made a mutual decision, no words passing between them. Despite Mobius' protests, Olivia grabbed Loki's hand and they ran through the Time Door together, not knowing and not caring where it would take them.

They had to find the Variant.

The Time Door shut behind them, leaving Mobius and the others behind.