Chapter 2A: The Variant

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

1985

Things were lively at the Renaissance fair, with upbeat music playing loudly in the background and a healthy crowd of individuals all dressed in costumes depicting knights,

monks, etc. The TVA Time Door emerged behind one of the buildings; Hunter C-20 and her squadron of Minutemen emerged from it.

A woman dressed in a tavern uniform took notice of the soldiers and their uniforms. "Hi!" She waved. "What's going on? You guys aren't dressed right."

"Variant detected, Commander." One of the Minutemen said to C-20, ignoring the woman.

"Let's move." C-20 ordered, heading towards the tent up ahead.

The woman sighed as they departed. "Some of us need, this you know."

The squadron entered the tent. And began surveying the area.

"No Nexus energy yet, ma'am." One of the Minutemen reported to the Commander.

The four of them continued to scour the tent until a loud noise began blaring over the speaker. The Hunters looked up in shock.

"It's a trap. Watch your backs!" C-20 shouted.

"My lords, my ladies, welcome and thank you for joining us here at the castle." The announcer spoke from the speaker. "Please, settle into your seats for a great battle is about to commence. The prize? Our princess. Will evil prevail, or are we holding out for a hero?"

A sillouetted figure in a hood stalked from behind C-20. A hand reached out to touch her face and suddenly a flash of green light shimmered from the Hunter eyes. Her eyes turned pale as the posession took her over. Unbuckling the strap to her helmet she placed it and the Time Stick on the ground. She proceeded forward attacking the first hunter unaware from behind, kicking his knee and twisting his neck in one fell swoop. She then approached the next officer.

"Commander?" The other Minuteman asked, readying her Timestick, uncertainly.

C-20 grabbed one of the wooden javelin props and approached the other officer, jabbing her with the prop and sending her backwards. From behind, the hooded sillouette slitting her throat from behind with her weapon. C-20 looked to the final officer. With a quick succession of jabs C-20 overpowered him easily, pulling him into a grapple.

"What are you doing?" He exclaimed.

"Having some fun." She replied, before the green light in her eyes faded and she collapsed to the ground. The Minuteman in confusion, knealt down to the officer, checking her pulse. He turned at the sound of footsteps behind him before sprinting towards the sillouette. Before he could even respond the figure stabbed him with their blade, causing him t fall to the ground in defeat.

The hooded figure produced a tempad from their cloak and pressed a few buttons on it. A Time Door suddenly emerged from it. Then without further due, the cloaked figure grabbed the belt of reset charges from the Minutemen, then grabbed the limp unconsious body of Hunter C-20 and dragged her through the Time Door.

***

"Okay, ya'll. Let's review what we've learned." Miss Minutes said, hovering in the air. "What happens when a nexus event branches past red line?"

"Very bad things." Loki uttered with disinterest. He sat at the cubicle with his legs kicked up on the desk, absorbed in a magazine. Power. Performance. Quality, it advertized while depicting a man on a jet ski.

"Come on, Loki." Miss Minutes urged. "What is it?"

Loki sighed then glanced up from the magazine for a moment. "It's when the TVA can no longer reset a Nexus Event. Okay? Boring." He said before looking back down at the magazine.

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

Loki lowered the magazine for a moment. "Can you hear me? Are you a recording or are you alive?"

"Uhh," Miss Minutes lingered. "Sorta both?"

"Ah," Loki said, rolling up his magazine for a moment before bending over and smacking the space where Miss Minutes stood.

Miss Minutes leaped just before the magazine connected with the desk, gasping. "Watch it! Where's your manners?"

Loki smiled and then swatted with the magazine again.

"Hey! Quit it!" Miss Minutes exclaimed.

Loki swatted one more time before Miss Minutes dipped again. "That is not nice." She said before warping into the computer module. "Jerk."

"You can't hide-"

"Training goin' well?" Mobius emerged.

"Uhh, yeah!" Loki reacted.

"Is that my jet ski magazine? Come on, put it down." Mobius pointed, then handed Loki a plastic wrapped uniform. "Gear up, there's been an attack let's go."

Loki accepted the plastic wrapped package and stood up from the desk, tearing off the wrapping as he followed Mobius.

"Put it on." Mobius bid.

Loki pulled out the khaki-colored jacket and threw it on, popping up the collar as he looked at Mobius.

"Good, yeah. Smart." Mobius approved.

Loki and Mobius met up with Hunter B-15 and her squad of Minutemen in the locker room, everyone encircled for a briefing.

"C-20 and her team went dark shortly after they jumped into the 1985 branch." Hunter B-15 said. "All signs point to another ambush. We've grabbed enough temporal aura to know it's our Loki variant, but which kind of Loki remains unknown."

"They're the lesser kind, to be clear." Loki chimed in.

B-15 scoffed. "Let me see the back of that jacket?"

Loki turned around so that his back was facing the group. Light chuckles arose from them. Loki inspected it; the word VARIANT sprawled across it's back in bold orange letters.

Loki turned back around and sneered. "Very subtle. Well done."

"We don't want anybody out there to forget what you are." B-15 stated.

"What? Your only hope of catching a murderer?" Loki shot back.

"No. A cosmic mistake." B- 15 spat.

"That's enough." Mobius intervened.

"Lovely." Loki added.

"Here's the deal." Mobius said. "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." Mobius continued, pointing to Loki before producing a holographic image with his tempad. "A type we should all be famliar with because the TVA has pruned alot of these guys, almost every other variant."

The hologram cycled through a range of varying depictions of Loki. Prince, politician, eldritch beast...olympic sprinter.

"And no two are alike." Mobius continued as the hologram cycled further. "Slight differences in appearences, or not so slight. Different powers, although, powers generally include shapeshifting, illusion projection..."

"Duplication casting." Loki cut in.

Mobius looked up to him. "Illusion projection."

"No, they're two completely different powers." Loki said. "Illusion projection involves depicting a detailed image from outside oneself, which is perceptible in the external world, whereas duplication casting entails recreating an exact facsimile of one's own body in its present circumstance, which acts a true holographic mirror of its molecular structure...but you already knew that."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Okay, take a breath." Mobius said, holding his hand out. "Take a breath. Noted. We're going to break into two teams, including myself and Professor Loki."

"Why." D-19 asked.

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

Loki pointed his thumb towards himself. "That's me."

Once the briefing was over, the group broke off to prepare for the mission.

"Do I get a weapon?" Loki asked as he walked with Mobius.

"Nah." Mobius said.

"Well, I'll have my magic back." Loki said. "Is no one concerned about that?"

"Of what?"

"Me betraying you." Loki answered.

"No." Mobius said.

"Why?" Loki asked, almost insulted.

"Because you already know that we can catch you and how does betraying us get you any closer to the Time Keepers?"

Loki stopped and turned to Mobius. "An audience with the Time Keepers is on the table?"

"Keep that focus." Mobius encouraged.

The Minutemen walked through the Time Door and immediately exited into the 1985 branch.

"Apex of nexus signature located, ma'am." One of the Minuteman stated as they entered the Renaissance fair. The squadron headed in the direction of the Minuteman's tempad reading.

"Let me ask you this." Loki asked Mobius. "Why don't we just travel back to before the attack, when the Variant first arrives?"

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

"Well, as many as I could stand." Loki replied. "Your TVA propaganda is exhausting."

"And what do these do?" Another Minuteman asked, holding up a grenade looking object.

"Reset charges, prune the affected raidus raidus of a branched timeline, allowing time to heal all its wounds." Loki explained, impatiently. "By the way it sounds like a nice way of saying, disintegrate everything in its vicinity."

"He's on it." Mobius said, enthusiatically before following the other Minutemen into the tent.

"I've watched the videos." Loki said. "Some of them."

Mobius and the rest of the TVA entered the tent.

"So he's taking hostages now?" B-15 questioned, looking down at a discarded helmet labeled C-20.

"The Variant's never taken a hostage before." Mobius stated.

"Maybe he's upping his game." B-15 suggested.

"Or he pruned her." Another Minuteman said, bluntly.

"A Loki couldn't have gotten the jump on C-20." B-15 said confidently.

"I think you underestimate, actually-" Loki began to chime in.

"Fan out and search for her." B-15 continued. "And hurry up because we're at 3 units before red line."

The Minutemen mobilized, preparing for the search.

"Wait..." Loki stopped them.

The squad of Minutemen froze at his words.

"...if you leave this tent you'll end up like them." Loki finished.

Mobius walked over to him. "What is it? What do you see?"

"I see a scheme." Loki said, turning to him. "And in that scheme I see myself."

"We have a saying in Asgard." Loki said, walking over and crounching by the fallen helmet. "Where there are wolf's ears, wolf's teeth are near. It means to be aware of your surroundings. Which is absurd because my people are, by nature, gullible fools." Loki said, standing up from his position. "A trait that I, the God of Mischief, have exploited time and time again simply by listening. My teeth are sharp, but my ears even sharper."

B-15 looked at Mobius impatiently. "We're running out of time, Mobius."

"Hold it." Mobius said. "Just give him a chance."

"You remind me of them. "Loki proclaimed. "The Time Variance Authority and the gods of Asgard, one and the same. Drunk with power, blinded by truth. Those you underestimate will devour you. You underestimate me, just as you understimate this...lesser Loki. Which is why you walk into one wolf's mouth after another."

"Two units. He is wasting our time." B-15 said as her tempad beeped, turning away from Loki.

"Okay. Come on, Loki. Make a long story short." Mobius said to Loki.

"We need to look for C-20." B-15 protested.

"That's exactly what the Variant wants you to do." Loki iterated. "It's a trap. He's waiting for you outside this tent."

"Shall we set reset charges outside of the tent?" One of the Minuteman suggested.

"No, he wants me." Loki stopped him. "I'm the key to his plan. He knows that I'm stronger than him."

"Almost one unit." B-15 said, checking the tempad.

"And he rightly believes that we can overthrow and rule the TVA." Loki continued. "But that's not what I want, I have a, new glorious purpose. I'm a servant of the Sacred Timeline and now knowing what I know about his tactics I can deliver you the Variant."

He turned to Mobius. "But I need assurances."

"Like what." Mobius said.

"Assurances that I won't be completely disintegrated the moment the job has been done." Loki said, his voice lowering to a whisper. "I'll need to speak with the Time Keepers at once, their in graver danger than we realize."

Mobius paused for a long moment to contemplate before turning back to B-15 and the rest of the squad. "He's lying. Just playing games, there's no one out there."

B-15 rolled her eyes. "Reset the timeline." The Minutemen went to work.

Mobius pointed at Loki. "You had me for a second. My ears are sharp too."

After the reset charges were set and activated around the area, everyone left through the Time Door to return to the TVA.

***

A statue stood at the back of Judge Renslayer's office looking down upon everything else in the office. Therimin music played in the background.

"Is it just me, or does this office keep getting better and better?" Mobius commented from the couch. Somewhere behind him a bottle uncorked. "Where'd you get that one, the snow globe? I love those. I don't remember bringing back that case."

"You're not the only analyst working for me." A woman's voice said. Behind the couch, she poured a bottle of brandy into two seperate glasses. It was the same women who had presided over Loki's trial.

"But would you say I'm maybe your favorite one?" Mobius said as Renslayer walked in front of him with the two glasses. "And why do you get to keep all the trophies from my cases in here, you don't think I'd love having that roller skate there sprucing up my cubicle?"

"Because I approve the missions." Renslayer said.

"Good point." Mobius conceded.

"Speaking of which," She continued. "Let's talk about the one you just botched." Handing Mobius one of the glasses. "You might need this for the discussion."

"I hope it's a double." Mobius said, accepting the glass and taking a sip.

"This Variant is..." Renslayer said, reading from a field report document. "...insubordinate, stubborn, unpredictable. Sounds like someone else I know."

"I was just thinking that sounds like someone else I know." Mobius said, setting the glass down on the end table next to the couch directly onto the wood.

"Mobius." Renslayer said, motioning towards the glass.

"What?" Mobius said, gesturing towards the stack of circles etched into the wood. "Those rings were already there."

"And they're all from you." Renslayer urged.

"Maybe it's from your other favorite analyst." Mobius said, placing the cup on a coaster. "Listen Ravonna, I'm sorry. I realize my methods with this Loki are...controversial, but..."

"Towing a dangerous Variant into the field is controversial." Renslayer cut in.

"Yeah, it didn't go exactly the way I wanted it to today, but here's what we did find out." Mobius defended. "The Variant likes to stall for time, and eventually we'll catch the other one doing the same thing. Because understanding this Loki helps me get closer to the one we're chasing. Right?"

Ravonna squinted, "Look, I know you have a soft spot for broken things..."

"I don't think so." Mobius denied.

"Yes, you do." Ravonna said. "But Loki is an evil, lying, scourge. That is the role that he plays on the timeline."

"Maybe he just wants to mix it up." Mobius said. "Sometimes you just get tired of playing the same part. Is that possible? He can change?"

"Not unless the Time Keepers decree it." Renslayer said, sitting back and taking a drink of her brandy. "And then it shall be so."

"And how are the old Time Keepers?" Mobius asked.

Ravonna sighed. "How do you think?"

Mobius chuckled. "I don't know. Cause I've never met em'. Thankfully. Although, I shouldn't say that. That one there looks like he's-"

"The Time Keepers are monitoring every aspect of this case." Renslayer said. "I've never seen them so involved. They want that Variant caught."

"So do I." Mobius said.

"This is the last chance your going to get with this Loki." Renslayer said, writing something down along the case file.

"Great." Mobius said. "That's all I'm going to need."

Renslayer handed Mobius the case file and the pen. He accepted the paperwork and signed his name at the bottom then looked inquisitively at the pen.

"Huh. Never seen this before." Mobius commented before handing it and the paperwork back to her. "This must be from that analyst you keep on the side."

Ravonna put on an amused look. "Stay focused."

"Eyes on the road." Mobius said, heading towards the door.

"Mobius?" She called to him.

"Almost gone." He said, turning back to her.

"You really believe in this Variant?" She asked him.

"Mm." Mobius shrugged. "Luckily, he believes in himself enough for the both of us. And hey, if it doesnt work, I'll delete him myself." He said, reaching for the knob. "He's really arrogant."