Loki's in the midst of preparing for the talent show when Sylvie and Beatrice finally come back. He beams at the sight. Great, now they're all together! Maybe they can run the number once before they have to leave. He's been feeling a lot better about this show since he found out that everybody else sucks. It means they can suck, too, and nobody is going to think any less of them. Who cares if their routine is hot garbage when all the other routines are just as bad?

But Sylvie's all business, and, if the sheer determination on his face is any indication, this is about something far bigger than the talent show. His suspicions are confirmed when she grabs his arm and drags him out of the room, completely ignoring poor Mobius's attempt to say "Hello."

"Will you let go of me?" Loki asks, exasperated. "You know you could just ask me to come with you."

Sylvie ignores that, though once they're alone in the privacy of her bedroom, the door closed behind him, she does finally drop his arm.

"What?" Loki asks. "What is it?"

"It's Dottie."

Loki stares at her blankly. "What's Dottie?"

"This!" Sylvie gestures emphatically to their surroundings. "All of this! Dottie's the one behind all of it!"

Loki furrows his brows. "How do you know that?"

"Something happened," Sylvie says. "Something weird."

"Yes, well, that's kind of the new normal, isn't it?" Loki remarks. If things stopped being weird, that would be weird.

"No, something really weird," Sylvie says. "Somebody tried to talk to us — somebody on the outside."

"On the outside?" Loki repeats. "You mean outside of Westview? Out of the wobble wall?"

"That's what it sounded like," she says. "They told Dottie to stop." She beams at the thought. "Loki, she can put a stop to this. We can make her stop it."

Loki's brows shoot up. "Wait, back up. Someone from the outside was talking to you?" He scoffs. "So somebody knows about this! Somebody must be trying to stop it from the outside!" He grabs Sylvie by the shoulders, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. "It has to be the Avengers," he says. Who else would it be? The Avengers, Fury with SHIELD, somebody. Somebody he knows is trying to get them out of here. That is a huge relief.

Sylvie stares at him blankly. "The who?"

"The Avengers!" Loki says again. "The world's most powerful heroes; the best of the best." He never thought he'd say that without an ounce of sarcasm in his voice, but right now, he's really glad they're here. "Once upon a time, that meant Thor, too. He could be outside this town right now!"

Sylvie's eyes go wide. "Thor?"

Loki nods emphatically. "He went back to Asgard a decade ago, but he came to Midgard to find me once. He could do it again."

A smile creeps up on her face. "You think Thor's out there?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was," Loki says. And if it's not Thor, it's Thor's teammates, and, despite their rough history, he'd like to think they won't try to kill him or his friends for that reason alone. They'd wait for Thor to come back and take them home.

... Wherever home is now that Asgard's gone.

He hadn't thought about that.

"Then we need to finish this!" Sylvie says eagerly. "We need to kill Dottie and—"

"I'm sorry, we need to what?"

Sylvie's excitement fades at the question. "We need to kill Dottie. So we can stop this."

Loki scoffs. "We don't know if that will stop it!" he says, incredulous. He can't believe she'd even suggest it! "We don't even know that she's behind this!"

"Yes, we do," Sylvie says. "She's behind this. I know she is."

Loki rolls his eyes. Fine, whatever. His best guess was Wanda and Vision, but he supposes a message from the outside is better proof than a fake magic act in a talent show, so if she's sure, he'll go with it. It doesn't solve the real problem, though. "What if killing her doesn't stop it?"

Sylvie furrows her brows. "Of course it will stop it."

"Or she'll just be dead," Loki says, "and then there's nothing we can do anymore because we've killed the only person who could fix this."

Sylvie narrows her eyes, but, after a few moments, she reluctantly concedes. "So what do we do?"

Loki shakes his head helplessly. "I don't know," he admits. "We figure out a plan, and until we do, we keep playing along."

Sylvie sighs. "I was afraid you were gonna say that."

~~~

"I can't do this."

Loki sighs. "Sylvie–"

"I can't do this," she repeats, her shaking voice matching her unsteady hands. "I seriously cannot – I can't do this."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Loki insists. "You'll do great!"

"Loki, I don't perform," she hisses.

"It's two minutes," Loki says. "We've practiced it a hundred times. You'll be fine."

"First of all, we practiced it four times this morning and once in the parking lot, so don't give me that 'hundred times' bullshit," she snaps. "But I don't perform. I don't want everybody staring at me." She's spent her whole life living in the shadows. She's not ready to step into the spotlight. Just the idea of it is so alien to her. She can't handle it. She really can't do this.

There's only one act after theirs: Wanda and Vision's (though the latter isn't here yet, and the former has been nervously pacing back and forth for the last few minutes waiting for him). That leaves the four ex-TVA residents alone with Wanda and Geraldine, though with Mobius and Beatrice excitedly discussing their routine and Geraldine so busy watching the performance onstage now, Wanda's the only one who notices this little side conversation.

She walks up to them, the nervous wringing of her hands coming to a temporary halt, and says, "For what it's worth, I think you'll be great."

Sylvie offers her a small, mostly insincere smile. "Thanks." It must be easy for her to say that. She's been mind-controlled by some sort of sorcerer into enjoying these kinds of things. Sylvie hasn't had that luxury.

Wanda lowers her voice and adds, "And I don't know if you've been watching the other acts, but I think it would be really hard to be the worst one here."

Sylvie's smile grows a little more sincere at that. "So we might be the second-to-worst act instead."

"You're going to be great," Wanda assures her. "I'll be cheering you on the whole time."

"Thank you," Sylvie says, though she doesn't believe it for a second. That will doubtlessly change when she sees how bad their act is, but it's nice to know that there's somebody cheering her on anyway. The only reaction that really matters is going to be Dottie's, but she does find herself hoping Wanda doesn't absolutely hate it.

Sylvie looks at her curiously. "Where's your husband?" It's getting pretty close to their time.

Wanda sighs, throwing her hands down by her sides in exasperation. "I don't know. I haven't seen him all afternoon." She brings her hand to her mouth, chewing on her nails absentmindedly. "I hope he's okay."

"Vision was fine when I saw him a few hours ago," Loki assures her. "He wouldn't leave you to do this by yourself. He'll show up."

Wanda smiles gratefully. "I hope you're right."

Geraldine looks back at them from her position behind the stage. "Alright, you guys are up."

Sylvie had expected Mobius and Beatrice to be excited. They've been brainwashed into enjoying this just like everyone else in this godforsaken town. But Loki? Why is he grinning like an idiot over this? This is why she liked the old Beatrice. When Loki was acting like a child and Mobius was egging him on, she could always count on Bea to agree that they were being ridiculous. Now she's the only sane one in the group.

"Let's go!" Loki whispers eagerly, grabbing Sylvie's arm and pulling her along with him.

Sylvie manages to pull her arm free just before they reach the curtains, so nobody can see him dragging her along when Loki pushes them open. Beatrice follows close behind, and Mobius is the last one on stage, because he had to prepare – get this – his electric guitar. Where did he even get an electric guitar?

Everybody takes their positions. Loki is, of course, center stage, like the attention whore he is. Mobius is to his left, his guitar hanging from his shoulders. Beatrice is on the other side, seated at the piano. (Whose bright idea was it to combine piano and electric guitar, by the way? It sounds ridiculous.)

Sylvie knows where she's supposed to stand. She's supposed to be off to Loki's side. It's easy. She has the entire half of the stage to choose from. Hell, she could probably choose either side of the stage. It won't make much of a difference.

But she can't move.

Her eyes scan the audience in front of her, all these familiar faces just staring at her. And, okay, a lot of them are looking at her friends. Most of them are actually looking at Loki, given that he's front and center. But everybody can see her. Everybody could look at her at any moment. God, this is terrifying! Why did she let Loki talk her into this? They already know who stuck them here! It's Dottie! Why can't they just kill her and move on, save everybody the hassle?

Loki glances behind himself, confused, and Sylvie looks at him with wide, frantic eyes, a silent get me out of here! Loki just gestures for her to come stand by him, like it's that easy – like that's even something she wants to do.

Finally, Loki gives up waiting and walks up to her. He takes her hand, as though he's going to pull her along with him, but the look of fear she wears is enough to change his mind about that. He brings his lips to her ear, keeping their conversation strictly between the two of them.

"It's going to be fine," Loki whispers. "It'll be fun. And if it's not fun, it's just two minutes, and then we're done. Then we can go home and Beatrice can bake cookies and we can start planning our next move and pretend this never happened. Okay?"

Sylvie hesitates, but even though she dreads even the thought of this, it would probably be worse just to walk off. She's already out here, in front of everybody. If she left now, she'd draw even more attention to herself, and in a worse way. They'd be worried, or, worse, they'd pity her, and if there's one thing Sylvie is not, it's pitiable.

So, with a single reluctant nod, she agrees. Loki doesn't drop her hand, and a part of her wants to pull it free – seriously, why do they need to hold hands right now? – but with all these people watching, she'd feel weird doing it. Fortunately, once they reach their positions, he does drop her hand, and she wipes it against her dress. (And, for the record, she hates that she has to wear a dress.)

Here goes nothing.

Sylvie begins to stomp her foot. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and again, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. It's a ridiculous opening for a ridiculous "talent" number, but it's the one she's stuck with. Her metal-bottomed shoes ring out against the floor, and she has to remind herself with every step to hit the toes first. The toes, she realized during one of their very, very few rehearsals, are a hell of a lot louder than the heel, and that's her role right now: being loud and setting the beat.

And then Mobius and Beatrice join in, taking some of the attention off of her. It only lasts for a few moments, though, because once the accompaniment begins, Sylvie's choreography gets a bit harder. It's not much; it's actually pretty easy because it's so repetitive. She digs her heel into the floor twice, then pulls her foot back, slapping the metal plate on the ball of her foot against the floor, and then she steps together. Now the other foot: heel, heel, spank, step. Right foot again: heel, heel, spank, step. She just needs to focus on the choreography, and she can pretend there's nobody else here.

Then Loki's part begins. At first, it's just clapping, trying to hype the crowd up. Risking a glance at the tables full of spectators, she can't tell if it's working or not. Though when she meets Agnes's gaze, Agness smiles and winks at her, and she'd be lying if she said that didn't make her feel a bit better.

And now, the real "talent" Loki's here to show off: his singing voice, which is only marginally better than it was the first time she heard it. (Or maybe she's just still bitter about Loki's drunken bullshit nearly stranding them on Lamentis. Who knows?)

"Men trærne danser og fossene stanser..."

Agnes's eyes go wide. She not-so-subtly points at Loki, though her gaze is still on Sylvie, as she mouths something she can't even begin to decipher, though she has to assume it's because of Loki's singing voice – which, loathe as she is to admit it, isn't that bad, objectively speaking. The sight does put the slightest hint of a smile on Sylvie's face. It's nice to see Agnes getting into this. At least someone's enjoying it.

It doesn't take long for him to get the rest of the audience into it as well. Even Dottie seems to be enjoying it, if her slight swaying back and forth is any indication. It's Beverly who begins to sing along first, joining in on the "When she sings, she sings 'come home,'" parts. Next to join in is Norm, and once multiple people have started, it seems to be a sign for everyone else si join in.

Loki doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it. In fact, Mobius and Beatrice seem to feel the same way. Reluctantly, Sylvie decides to let herself try to enjoy it, too. People like this. They like them. Sure, it's really Loki's part that they're getting into, but that just means there are fewer people watching her feet.

Loki very dramatically puts his hands up, silencing the crowd in an instant. Sylvie's tap-dancing slows, and Mobius's guitar-playing comes to a complete halt in a somber shift in the atmosphere that has the audience glancing around eagerly.

"I stormsvarte fjell," Loki sings, his voice much softer now, "jeg vandrer alene..."

Sylvie swallows hard, willing herself to keep a neutral expression. She finds herself wondering, not for the first time, what an Asgardian celebration is like. Loki's tried to explain it to her before, but she's never been able to picture it. Her imagination can't do it justice; that much she's sure of. But she'll never know what she's missed, what she's forgotten through the years of running and hiding. Asgard's gone now. She's missed her chance. The TVA took her chance.

The sudden change in tempo snaps her out of her trance, and she quickly resumes her faster taps, holding the tempo for the others to follow. Loki continues his last verse – chorus – whatever it is – and the audience sings along once again.

Agness jumps to her feet, clapping her hands to the beat of the music. One by one, the others begin to do the same. Though the audience stops singing when Loki does, they don't sit back down. Even Beatrice's piano cessation doesn't slow them down. Their clapping continues, thankfully still on the beat, as all attention shifts to Sylvie.

She must have practiced this three dozen times by now. It's four counts of eight, a virtual solo if Mobius's guitar in the background doesn't count. It's fast – faster than she remembered; faster than she would have liked – but she counts the beats in her head as she dances, thankfully punctuated by the audience's rhythmic clapping. She can do this. She's almost done. She just... has to...

Finish.

Sylvie strikes a pose, a nervous smile on her face as her eyes scan the audience. There's nothing but smiles and applause for as far as the eye can see. Even the competition is clapping, and, though she's never actually been applauded before, she's like to think it's more than an obligatory applause. She'd like to think they actually enjoyed it.

They better have, because that was a nightmare.

After soaking in the applause for a little while – really, it would be very rude not to let the people clap, right? – they head offstage and to their assigned seats (though not before Mobius lets out a celebratory "Kachow!"). Loki, Mobius, and Beatrice all chatter amongst themselves about how fun that was and how much they enjoyed it. Sylvie just sits down and hopes her heart will stop pounding soon.

Agnes "sneaks" over to their table, though there's nothing very stealthy about it, and crouches down in front of Sylvie, beaming. "That was fab," she gushes. "You stole the whole show. I've never seen a crowd reaction like that!"

Sylvie giggles, then bites her lip to force herself to stop. What is she doing? She's not five. "Do you really mean that?"

Agnes scoffs. "Of course I do!" she says. "If you don't win this show, it's because Dottie's still hacked at you for this morning."

Sylvie barks a laugh. "If Dottie chooses the winner, we never had a chance." Partially because of how she treated her, but mostly because Dottie's evil and trapped them in this hellhole to begin with.

"Well, you're the winner in my book, that's for sure," Agnes says. She stands up and pats Sylvie on the shoulder. In a loud whisper, she says, "I'm gonna go sit down before you-know-who starts in on me."

Sylvie smiles and waves her off. As Agnes returns to her seat, Sylvie leans back in her own, heaving a dramatic sigh.

Okay, so maybe today was a little fun.