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❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙʟɪɴᴅᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ
ʟɪɢʜᴛ ꒱　


❝ TIME TO BE BRAVE ❞

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"How we looking?" Mobius asked as he and Jimin returned to the control room.

Victor seemed pleased by the results so far. "Everything is going according to plan."

"Good."

Timely gave them a curious look due to the cups they were drinking out of. "What is that?"

"This? A little Mobius pick-me-up, courtesy of the hot cocoa machine."

"Hey!" the Asian woman protested. "I thought we had a pretty good therapy session."

"We did," he reassured her. "Sometimes I just want a little hot chocolate."

Her lips quirked slightly in amusement. "So good that I should schedule a weekly meeting?"

The analyst shook his head. "Not that good. Maybe you should get a license first."

The Variant seemed stuck on Mobius' words about their drinks. He leaned forward, unable to believe what the other man had said. "Did you say hot cocoa. . . machine?"

"Machine? Yeah."

O.B. turned away from the Multiplier for a moment to catch their attention. "Mobius, can I see your TemPad?"

He handed it over without a thought as Timely's interest continued. "You have a machine for that?"

"Everything has a machine," Jimin told him. "We're even trying to get cars to drive themselves now."

His eyes widened in awe. "Amazing!" Seeing as they didn't have any cars in the building, he returned to the previous topic. "About this hot cocoa machine. . . Could I take a look?"

Ouroboros frowned as he fiddled with Mobius' Tempad. "Weird. This one's not connecting either."

This news distracted the analyst and he waved off the man's question. "Can you sit tight for just a second? What do you mean?" This was directed at his colleague.

The Hunter with the low voice, who'd been sitting off to the side when they'd returned, stood. "I can take him."

"Can you? Okay. Professor, he'll take you."

O.B. got on the computer to investigate the problem further, his fingers tapping away at a speed even Jimin envied. "So strange. All your files are being corrupted in real time." He glanced up at Mobius. "Did you download unauthorized games again?"

Offended, the gray-haired man exclaimed, "no! I'm not gonna make that mistake twice."

"Something's messing with this thing," Casey observed, still trying to get the TemPad fixed. The digital clock appeared and tsked at him disapprovingly. "Yours wasn't working either."

"Did you try turning it off and then on again?" the Asian woman asked sarcastically. The two tech guys gave her an unnervingly similar irritated glare.

"That only works on the coffee maker on level three," O.B. informed her shortly.

She took a sip of her hot coco. "Oh, of course. My mistake."

"It's Miss Minutes," Ouroboros explained. "She's taken control of the systems."

Mobius was already on the move. "That's why the TemPads weren't working. Grab the Multiplier and let's get Timely."

✧✧✧

Unfortunately, they did not find the Variant at the hot chocolate machine. Instead, they found a discarded cup of the spilled drink on the floor, but no one in sight— except for when Loki and Sylvie rejoined them.

"What's wrong?"

"Timely's gone," the analyst said. "And Miss Minutes is back."

The elevator dinged behind them to announce B-15's arrival. She looked shaken as she shared her own bad news: "Dox and her team are dead."

"What?"

"Yeah," the Hunter confirmed.

Sylvie didn't need any more information to come to her own conclusion. "It's gotta be Renslayer."

The building shook around them, the rumbling getting more intense each time. The lights flickered overhead, casting them briefly in shadow. B-15 glanced around anxiously. "Is the Multiplier ready?"

"Theoretically," O.B. replied, still holding the device. "I haven't had time to test it, but without Timely, it doesn't matter. Without his Aura, I can't open the blast doors. We're locked."

"Okay, well, we gotta find out who took him back to the timeline. Where else would they have gone?" Mobius guessed.

"No," Loki disagreed as he bent to pick up the pruning stick from the ground. "Renslayer doesn't want him. She wants the T.V.A.. They're still here."

✧✧✧

Sylvie, Loki and Jimin ran down the curved hallway towards the elevator. The god got there first and hit the button to call the lift, but Jimin wasn't that patient. She started for the stairs without waiting for them. She figured with the flickering lights and Miss Minutes' interference, any electrical-related travel options wouldn't be a good idea.

The metal-on-metal screech was enough to make her ears bleed and she winced, nearly missing a step as the noise startled her. A hand on her arm caused her to whirl around, her own hand going for her jang bong.

"Whoa, it's just me!" the Asgardian said, hastily letting go of her.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I thought you were taking the elevator."

He shook his head as they continued onward. "It got jammed. Sylvie's on her way down in it, though. We'll meet her there."

When they got to the same corridor a level below, Timely wasn't there, but that was to be expected. Instead, there were two figures at the far end: a short woman and a taller man with their backs to them. It was hard to pick out any details in the gloom, but there was something. . . disconcertingly familiar about the pair. Jimin pulled out her weapon and snapped it into place in case they were enemies while Loki readied his pruning stick.

The elevator doors slid open as Sylvie presumably arrived, but they couldn't see her since the couple was in the way. The Asian woman decided that's what they were since they were holding hands. It was only once they got closer to the duo that she began to realize why she seemed to recognize them.

The woman had dark hair that was cut into a severe bob around her chin. She was well-built and on the stockier side, dressed in a dirty T.V.A. employee's uniform. The man had shoulder-length, curly, raven-black hair. He had broad shoulders and was wearing a similar outfit, though his had leather straps around his shoulders. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed— or maybe a little self-conscious— that the man she'd been holding hands with was also right next to her. She avoided looking between them and mentally kicked herself for assuming that they were a couple. (Where had that idea even come from?)

Jimin's stomach did a funny, swooping feeling at the sight of seeing herself from the past. She didn't dare make a sound so that the pair wouldn't turn around; all of the horror stories about seeing yourself in two places at the same time kept her from speaking.

"There you are," Sylvie said, an echo of her words from what felt like a long time ago.

Then, Loki (her Loki— no, the one beside her— no, the present— oh, forget it) jabbed the pruning stick first into his past self, and then Jimin's. Once they were safely gone from view, the Asian woman smirked slightly. "Wow, you stabbed yourself in the back— I bet no one saw that coming. Way to get a taste of your own medicine, am I right?"

He huffed. "I don't do that anymore."

"Well, yeah. I guess after you do it to yourself there's no one left," she replied, but her words had a teasing lilt to them so he knew she wasn't mocking him. Since the pair turned out to not be a threat, she put her weapon away.

Sylvie stared at them in confusion. The god gave her a reassuring look. "I promise you this will make sense."

"Huh?"

The phone rang again, the sound distinctly jarring after the previous events. Sylvie pushed herself out of the elevator by prying to doors open. The three of them stared at the phone without picking it up— Jimin, at least, wasn't sure if it was rigged to a bomb or something. Then, Loki reached out to pick it up. "Hello?"

"'About time. What's taking you guys so long?'" Of all things, it was O.B. on the other side.

"O.B.?"

"'Hurry,'" Mobius told them.

"Miss Minutes is sabotaging everything, slowing us down."

Ouroboros was quick to offer, "' I could take her offline if I reboot the system.'"

Mobius agreed, "' Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reboot the system.'"

"'But we'll lose the entire safety system.'"

"We're all about to die anyway," Jimin said, leaning closer to the Asgardian to speak into the phone. "What's the point of safety?"

(Which was something she'd never thought she'd say— there was no question about it now; she'd been spending too much time with Loki.)

"'The security protocols will go down,'" O.B. warned them.

"'Like what?'"

"'Like the dampeners that prevent people from using magic at the T.V.A.. We would have to turn that off too.'"

The two Lokis didn't hesitate to shout: "turn it off!"

✧✧✧

Jimin couldn't deny that it was a bit (okay, more than a bit) humiliating to have to wait outside while the Lokis enacted their plan. But, as a non-magic user, she'd only have gotten in the way as Sylvie used her enchantment powers to take over X-5's mind.

Brad slid into the room, now under the goddess' control. Renslayer looked up in concern. "X-5, what's going on?"

"This is cozy," he observed. He made his way over to the woman and took her by the arm to lead her away from Timely, as if to talk in private. "Come here for a second. Come here. Come here. Come here."

"What is going on?"

The Hunter leaned forward, almost mockingly. "I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

Jimin, however, did get to participate after the magic had been put in place, and she ran into the room with Loki to grab Timely. "Victor! Let's go right now. Now!"

'Brad' pruned Ravonna, making sure she wasn't a threat to them anymore. The Variant jerked, startling at the sight of them. "What?"

"Let's go. Go, go, go, now."

Luckily he followed them without question, excluding when they got to the hall. "Which way, wizard and his lady?"

"This way. Elevator."

The Variant paused to say gratefully, "you saved my life."

Loki patted him on the back. "Time for you to return the favor. Let's go."

✧✧✧

"O.B., he's here," the Asgardian said as they entered the room.

Ouroboros abandoned what he was working on to bring their attention to a roundish, white device that had a black interior with bright lights. "Come on. Hurry. Right here."

"Victor, this way. What do we need to do?"

"The Throughput Multiplier is waiting in the airlock," Casey answered. "But first, we need Mr. Timely's Aura scanned so we can get the blast doors open."

"Okay, let's go."

O.B. gestured to the opening. "Just put your head in the scanner."

Victor hesitated. "Is that safe?"

"I haven't tested it. Theoretically. . ." the Asian man trailed off as the god put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right," Loki reassured him bracingly. "You'll be fine."

Timely went over to the front of the device and took off his glasses, folding them carefully as he looked around for a place to put them. Mobius offered his hand. "Here, let me hold those."

When the Variant put his head inside, there was a pulsing noise that was accompanied by a low beeping sound. The lights flickered in a wave down the tube. A male voice announced: "'welcome, He Who Remains.'"

A buzzer ran through the room to signal the blast doors opening. The metal shutters slowly lifted, revealing even more chaos than before. Sparks of light burst outside like fireworks as the Loom struggled under the weight of so many timelines. The golden ropes that encircled the T.V.A. seemed to glow brighter than before— brighter than the sun, almost impossible to look at. However, as beautiful as it was, O.B. was not pleased.

"It's worse than I thought. We have to move fast. Who's it gonna be?"

"I'll do it. I'll put the suit on," Loki offered.

Jimin turned sharply to him. "Don't be stupid, I'll do it."

"As I told you before, darling, absolutely not."

She started at the nickname and wondered if he used it on purpose to distract her. Her eyes narrowed. "Like you said," she began, "I'm a mortal. What's my life compared to a gods'? It would be no waste if I failed."

Before the Asgardian could argue back, Timely interrupted them, "wait. It should be me."

The pair looked at him and snapped, "stay out of this!" in unison, glaring at each other.

"But I can't," Victor countered calmly. "It should be me, because something wrong could happen and I know how the Throughput Multiplier works."

Loki and Jimin shared a look, seeming to come to an unhappy compromise. "Okay."

The glow of the Timelines grew brighter, pulsing with energy as they struggled to form order and the room shook harder from the blasts. O.B. hurried over to the Variant to guide him to the stairs. "Okay, let's go. Come on. Okay, okay, no time to argue. Hurry. Come, follow me. Listen. Get in, get suited up. When those doors open, get down the gangway as fast as you can. Load the Multiplier, launch it and get back. Got it?"

He nodded. "Got it. Okay." More quietly, he murmured, "time to be brave."

"Good luck," Ouroboros told him.

Victor headed down the steps, muttering, "time to be brave."

"How long will he have?" Sylvie asked.

"Not long."

"He'll make it," Loki promised.

However, Mobius wasn't convinced. "Yeah, I don't know about these radiation levels. It's worse than when I was out there."

B-15 echoed the god: "he'll make it."

"'Ready,'" Timely's voice sounded through the intercom.

The gray-haired man clapped his hands. "Come on, let's go, let's go."

"Come on, let's move," the Hunter agreed.

However, all of their planning was for nothing: the second Victor stepped outside, he let out a scream as the radiation hit him full-force. In the next second, his body literally turned into strings of spaghetti.

Jimin felt like she was going to be sick.

Sure, she'd seen people die on missions. She'd been the reason why people died, too. But she'd never seen someone get vaporized like that. She couldn't help it; she let out a horrified gasp at the sight of the Variant dissolving into nothing.

That had almost been her or Loki.

The brunette glanced over at the god next to her, who had an equally horrified expression on his face. No one spoke for a second, all too shocked to even form words. Then, Mobius wondered, "what happened? What. . . Where is he?"

"He's gone," Sylvie spoke softly, in just as much disbelief as the rest of them. "It's over."

"What—"

"Is he dead?" B-15 gasped, her voice shaking.

"What did we do wrong?"

"I don't know," Casey said helplessly.

Mobius could only repeat one question: "what happened?"

"I don't know. It wasn't me."

Jimin's stomach lurched and bile rose to her throat. Oh, god— she really was going to be sick. It was just too much. All of this was too much. It was then, for the first time since Loki had whisked her away to the Gobi desert, that she regretted taking this assignment. What she wouldn't give for a normal life, a normal childhood, a normal everything. No time travel, no omnipotent overseer, no sci-fi organizations.

There was a shrieking, wailing blast that definitely didn't sound good. The Asian woman swallowed, trying to force the contents of her stomach back down. She squinted against the blindingly bright glare of the collapsing timelines as the Temporal Loom imploded.

Although she was Korean— not Japanese— she had studied enough history to know the terrible impact of the Atomic bomb. That was what this flash of light reminded her of; the radiation and the subsequent explosion were only added factors.

A primal fear filled her, more paralyzing than what she'd felt even at Katrina's death. At least she wouldn't die alone, she thought, glancing over at Loki. To her surprise, he was already looking at her, his emerald eyes bright with unshed tears. Acting on instinct, she reached a hand out towards him, needing an anchor against the terror that filled her.

Loki stretched his own hand out, his fingertips nearly brushing hers when the detonation came.