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❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴡᴇ ʙᴜʏ ᴄʜᴇᴇsᴇʙᴜʀɢᴇʀs
ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ɢᴏᴅᴅᴇss ꒱　


❝ ALL THIS UNIVERSE-SAVING
BUSINESS MAKING YOU
MISS YOUR DAILY GOSSIP
MAGAZINE INTAKE? ❞

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The last place they expected Sylvie— a former goddess of Asgard and someone who has lived at the end of a hundred worlds— was to settle in Broxton, Oklahoma in 1982. It was even quieter and less interesting than London had been, which had already been an unlikely place to find the missing goddess. Grassy fields stretched for miles underneath a bright blue, cloudless sky. A small line of trees bordered the nearby plains, but they were pretty much the tallest things around except for the McDonald's sign above their heads. The attached restaurant was a few feet away, but was otherwise the only building in the area, surrounded by a parking lot half-filled with cars.

It was almost. . . odd being in a place so normal after so many strange things had happened to her. Jimin could remember the last time she'd eaten fast food like it was yesterday— she'd never been much of a cook so she often grabbed dinner to-go after work when she wasn't on a field mission. As it happened, the last time she'd eaten out was the night before Loki had attacked New York. She frowned as she looked around, wondering if Brad was just playing for time.

Mobius clearly shared her concerns because he warned the other man in a low voice: "Brad, I'm telling you right now, if you're wasting our time, you're going right back in the Gizmo."

"Would you like getting scrunched up in the cube?" Loki added.

"Hey, hey, hey! Okay. All right," X-5 quickly jumped to his own defense. He put a guiding hand on each man's back to push them towards the restaurant. "Look, she's in there, all right? She's in there. So, why don't you guys just head on in and remember that I'm the one who brought you here, and a deal's a deal. All right? So, you go ahead, I'm gonna head on back."

Jimin quickly slid in front of the brunet to cut of his retreat, pinning him with a stern expression that would have made a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent of lesser rank quake in their boots. "I don't think so, Brad. We're all in this together; you're our collateral if this goes south."

"She's right," the gray-haired man agreed. "You'll be staying here awhile with us. Why don't you just settle down? Your jumpiness is making me nervous."

"I'm not jumpy. I'm not nervous."

The Asian woman raised an unimpressed eyebrow at his obvious lie. In a falsely concerned tone, she observed, "y'know, Bradley, it seems like your acting is going by the wayside. After just a few hours away from Hollywood your skills are getting rusty?" She let out a disapproving tsk. "That probably won't be good for business once you go back."

"Exactly," the Hunter said, desperation creeping into his tone. "I have to go back as soon as I can. You promised my old life wouldn't be affected—"

"And it won't be," Mobius told him soothingly. Then, he paid his coworker no further attention as the trio turned to face the building. "What do you think?"

"It's unlikely," the brunette commented. "But then again, apocalypses are overrated. Maybe she wanted peace and quiet in her retirement."

"If she's here, I have to find out what she knows," Loki put in. "I'll do the talking. Be ready."

They entered the building, which immediately made Jimin's eyes hurt by the explosion of orange and yellow. Literally everything from the floor to the ceiling was in varying shades of those two colors, including the employees' uniforms. She grimaced at the brightness of it all. "Well, the '80s definitely weren't known for their diverse color palettes."

The god remained quiet, his eyes having settled on the person they'd been searching for: Sylvie stood at the counter dressed in the lurid McDonald's colors. She had a genuinely happy smile on her face as she spoke with her coworker before she turned to help a customer. It seemed like she'd been there long enough for the regulars to learn her name, as the man used it when he took is food from her. However, her content expression faded when her attention turned to the quartet by the door.

It was like shutters being closed over a window; her smile fell as her lips pulled into a frown. The light behind her eyes faded into a look that bordered on distressed. Her relaxed posture tensed at the sight of them, stiffening into the fight-or-flight response she'd had to learn long ago. Brad was unsettled by these changes and he cleared his throat to break the mood. "This feels tense. What do you say we leave them to it? We head on back to the T.V.A.."

Mobius waved off his concerns. "What are you talking about? No. I'm not going anywhere until I get some apple pie."

That actually sounded like a good idea to Jimin, so she made a mental note to order some as she followed Loki up to the register. The atmosphere was no less stiff the closer they were to the goddess, and there was an awkward pause before the agent offered a cautious, "hi."

"Hi," she returned the pair's greetings, only for them to fall into another uncomfortable silence. Finally, she'd had enough and informed them shortly, "listen, I haven't got all day. You gonna order something or what?"

"Or what," the Asian woman replied, hoping to lighten the air between them a bit. Unfortunately, she had never been very good with jokes and received blank looks from both Lokis.

Then, the god followed up with, "can we talk?"

She watched them warily for a second but decided that neither would leave unless she gave them what they wanted. "My break's in five minutes."

Before she walked away, Jimin lifted a finger. "Actually, could I also order something?"

Her question was met with a slight softening of Sylvie's face, her expression becoming a fraction more welcoming as she turned her gaze on the other woman. "Of course. What can I get for you?"

✧✧✧

Once she'd gotten her food, Jimin took a seat next to Mobius to let the Lokis hash out their differences. As she unwrapped her burger, the gray-haired man cast her an interested, sidelong glance that she tried to ignore. He chose not to heed her wishes and asked, "so, what's the deal with you two?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the Asian woman replied blithely, taking a bite of her food.

He jerked his head towards the window where they could see the Lokis talking outside. "You two. You and Loki. You're not at each other's throats so much anymore."

She raised an eyebrow, wondering if he really wanted to go there. "Would you prefer that we argued more? That can be arranged, I believe."

"No, no," Mobius declined her offer quickly, removing the wrapper from his dessert. "I prefer it like this. . . I think. It's just that you guys looked rather cozy when I came to get you for pie not too long ago. What gives?"

Brad gave the woman a disgusted look. "You're into that?" he demanded, gesturing towards the window with one hand. "Geez, you're more messed up than I thought. You know he's a cosmic mistake, right?"

Jimin turned her gaze on the Hunter, and it was so flat and dark that he couldn't help but flinch away from her slightly. His own eyes dropped to his drink to avoid her stare. "Don't call him that. I would rather be in a room with ten Lokis than even one of you." She paused. "Actually, I was, and I take that back, but the point still stands."

Her response made Mobius smile with faint amusement. "You know, it's interesting how time changes everything," he commented casually. "I'm pretty sure the Jimin I first met wouldn't have rushed to Loki's defense. In fact, I remember you stood by while B-15 called him the same thing."

She shrugged, going back to her food. "I didn't know him then and had no allegiance. Now I do."

"Just allegiance?" the analyst pressed. "Not anything more?"

The brunette shot him an irritated look. "What's it to you? All this universe-saving business making you miss your daily gossip magazine intake?"

"Hey, there's no need to get defensive," Mobius said, in the (sometimes) infuriatingly calm tone he used. "I'm just making conversation."

"I'm not getting defensive," Jimin retorted defensively. "And I'm not getting bent out of shape about it either."

"I didn't say you were."

"I could feel you thinking it," was her irritated response. "Can we please talk about something else?"

By now, they were mostly done with their food so, he allowed her this as he let out a satisfied sigh. "I thought you were setting us up for an ambush. Hell, you were just setting us up for a great meal. Thank you."

Brad, who'd been wonderfully quiet up until this point (after the Asian woman shut him up), finally decided to speak again. He glanced out the window as the two Asgardians were still talking, though it clearly wasn't going very well. "What is happening right now? It's like they're going over every detail of their relationship that's ever happened."

"Look," Mobius began, "it's a complicated relationship, okay? There's a lot to unpack when you're basically trying to get along with yourself."

"This whole thing is weird," X-5 said with a grimace, turning away from the window. He pointed at the brunette. "Don't even get me started on your questionable taste in men."

"And women," Jimin corrected him easily. "I go both ways. Get it right if you want to insult me."

"Whatever. I held up my end. I brought you Sylvie. I did that. You hold up your end of the bargain."

"I will," the gray-haired man promised earnestly.

The Hunter wouldn't let it go so easily as he insisted, "and you get me back to the Sacred Timeline like you said."

Mobius leaned forward, remarking thoughtfully, "can we just talk for a second, about how crazy life is? I mean, ten minutes ago, you were screaming at me, 'you're nothing!' And then I kind of freaked out and basically tortured you. And now here we are, enjoying a meal like gentlemen and women."

Brad glared at him. "You slapped me in the face. I won't forget—"

"But I got you a shake. Okay? Look, just enjoy this. Tell me about Zaniac."

The other man was still unhappy but took a sip of his drink. "What about it?"

"I wanna know about it."

"Oh, come on," he scoffed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "You don't care about my movie."

"You're right, I don't," Jimin replied carelessly. She balled up her burger wrapper and tried to make a basket into the trashcan, but missed. She shrugged. "And that's why I became a agent instead of an athlete."

She got up to put her trash away properly, taking the excuse to get away from the conversation for a moment. When she returned, Brad was back on his tirade of, "look, why don't we just get this to go? How about that? It packs right up. Let's just get it to go and we get up and we get out of here. How about that?"

The Asian woman groaned at his repetitive nature. "You're still on that?"

"You're like a broken record," Mobius agreed. "It's like, 'get me back to the Sacred Timeline.' Although now it's just, 'get me out of here.' Is this a setup?"

Jimin frowned as she glanced around the restaurant, now suspicious. The patrons continued to talk and laugh with each other as if everything was great. The employees moved about the tables to pick up discarded napkins and sauce packets. There was nothing particularly amiss, so she shook her head. "No, not a set up. A distraction."

"There's nothing going on," X-5 argued uneasily, his own gaze flicking around, never settling on one spot for too long.

✧✧✧

They left quickly after that, rushing to the Asgardians outside to share the news. Mobius started talking before they were even close to them, raising his voice to say, "sorry to interrupt, I think Brad's got something that he might want to get off his chest."

Of course, the Hunter didn't cooperate right away. "Zaniac's getting a sequel. And you're both invited."

"Hmm, that not what you said a minute ago," Jimin commented. "I'll give you a second chance— why don't you try telling the truth this time? We can wait all day."

"No, we can't," he snapped. "We need to talk about this back at the T.V.A.."

The gray-haired man put a firm hand to Brad's chest, pushing him backwards slightly. "No. We can talk here. Now."

"Fine," he ground out through gritted teeth. "If we stay here, we're all gonna die. They're gonna die." He pointed to some people passing by. "Orange shirt, she's gonna die." He pointed again at a couple. "Most importantly, we are all gonna die. This is gone! Unless we—"

Sylvie shoved the brunet against her truck. There was a flash of green magic as she entered his head to watch what he wasn't telling them. She had learned everything that she needed to know in a few seconds, releasing him to announce: "they're gonna bomb every branch."

"Yeah, including this one," Brad pointed out.

Loki looked over at the goddess. "Where do we go?"

"I'll show you," she replied. There was another flash of magic to replace her work uniform with her combat attire. Mobius paged B-15 to let her know that he was returning X-5 before they followed the goddess through the Time Door.

✧✧✧

They arrived at what looked like a storage facility if there was a market for Time Doors. There were more portals scattered through the space than Jimin had ever seen at once and there were just as many T.V.A. agents, both soldiers and analysts. The quartet hid behind a pile of crates to observe their comings and goings as they tried to make sense of it.

"What are they doing with the Time Doors?"

"Looks like they're connected to the TemPads," Sylvie suggested.

"Maybe that's why Brad's was modified."

Hunter B-15's voice sounded through their own TemPad. "'Mobius, they're killing billions. Take Dox down now.'"

"Minutemen are carrying reset charges," Loki noted.

The goddess nodded. "That's how they're bombing all the timelines at once, connected to that control panel."

"That's our target," Jimin said, feeling a wave of nostalgia for what she now viewed as simpler missions from what felt like a lifetime ago, before she'd met Loki, before Fury had summoned her to his office, before they even knew that aliens existed.

"I'll distract them," Loki stated.

Of course, by 'I'll,' he meant 'we'll' as all four of them jumped into battle. Jimin drew her jang bong from underneath her jacket and snapped it together to create one long staff. She twirled it expertly between her fingers (perhaps unnecessarily showy, but who could blame her for trying in front of magic users?) before she swung it down to the nearest Minuteman. It landed with a satisfying crack against the joint between his shoulder and neck, causing him to crumple.

As she began to get into the swing of things (literally), Dox noticed their arrival and called out to her employees: "our mission is compromised. Set off what you can!"

The Asian woman fell into the familiar dance she'd done what felt like a thousand times, spinning around her opponents as her staff followed, each time coming down with a crack, crack, crack. Her short hair whipped around her face, blurring her vision slightly but she trusted her instincts enough to not be bothered by it. There were occasional flashes of green magic around her, taking out the soldiers she couldn't get to in time.

She didn't pay much attention to what the others were doing but she knew they were there thanks to the shouts of the T.V.A. workers. This was what she liked so much about field missions: being able to get lost in the fight and letting impulse take over while trusting her teammates to take care of the rest. Her mind went soothingly blank as the lessons her father had imparted on her came to the surface (one of the few good things he'd ever done for her.) Swing, duck, turn, swing, duck, turn, repeat.

A large green blast signaled the end of the fight as both Lokis combined their magic to take out the remaining men. By the end, Jimin was panting and sweaty, her dark hair sticking to her face, but she felt better than she'd had in days. She felt more like herself, the woman who'd made being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent her life's work.

A Minuteman from their side appeared through another Time Door to take in the remaining soldiers. "Is this all of Dox's loyalists?"

"Everyone who didn't escape," responded his colleague, dragging Dox with him.

B-15's voice sounded over the TemPad again. "'Mobius, you should come back.'"

"Loki, Jimin, we need to go," he informed the pair. The Asian looked up from where she'd been leaning on her staff and nodded, folding it back down so it could slide under her jacket.

When they entered the T.V.A., the control room was so quiet that you could've heard a pin drop. The analysts sitting on front of their computers looked up at the main screen with varying expressions of dismay and horror. The timeline was now back to being one single, glowing orange line across the screen, perfectly between the two red bars. Sylvie walked through the portal seconds later to be met with the same scene, her face going slack at the sight of it.

Jimin's eyes stayed on the monitor as she watched all of the branches disappear. She thought about everything, how much they'd risked by letting Sylvie kill He Who Remains, all for nothing. All of those people, all of the choice made with free will were gone. She felt a strange sort of emptiness inside of her, something that felt terribly like defeat. As a mortal, she'd always known her part in the universe would be small. No matter how much her parents had wanted her to have a glorious purpose, she knew that she wouldn't amount to anything lasting. But seeing all of those lives erased so easily was unsettling, knowing that it could happen to her at any time. It didn't matter what she did, what accomplishments she would make, they would all disappear, somehow. In the face of that, what was the point of anything?

"Those are people," B-15 said in a broken voice, summing up their feelings well. "Those are lives."

Conversely, a voice in Jimin's mind argued, sounding all too much like Katrina's optimism, what was the point of anything? When nothing mattered, any choice made could never be a mistake. Everything was the right option, there was no risk, because it could be erased and you could try again. Why not make the effort? Why not try? It might never last, but it would for that moment, for that instance in time. It would be in her memory and in the memory of anyone she shared it with. After all, Katrina was gone, but Jimin remembered her accomplishments, her warmth, her kindness, even if she was the only one who did.

The brunette's gaze slid over to Loki, her dark eyes becoming thoughtful. She had always been afraid to make the wrong choice—the root cause of her hesitation— especially after the mission that had taken her lover's life. She had chosen to be alone because what if something like that happened again? But what if there was no risk? She glanced down at the god's hand, only inches away from her own.

"Uh, guys," Casey spoke up, breaking them out of their stunned (or pensive) stupor. "I got a hit on Renslayer's TemPad."

The moment was gone and Jimin did not take Loki's hand, but the seed had been planted. She shook herself from her thoughts and joined them at his station. 

A/n: did Percy Jackson inspire this chapter title? Yes :)

Also, I finished writing all of act II in 11 days (not including the 1.5 month break I took, lol.)  that means I'll publish the rest of the chapters tonight so you guys can binge read if you want to!