Upbeat pop music played in the background of the bar and grill.
C-20 sat at one of the tables, wearing a red t-shirt with her dreadlocked hair down, dancing from side to side as she glanced at the menu. "We could do potato skins or buffalo fingers..."
"Or we can eat somewhere else..." The blonde-haired woman at the other end of the table said.
"Why do you hate this place?" C-20 asked.
"I don't hate it." The other girl replied. "I fear it. Do you know how many times the health department has closed this place down?"
"Well the drinks seem fine." C-20 said, taking a sip of her orange margarita before squirming. "Ohhhh god. Brain freeze."
The other girl chuckled. "You know what brain freeze is, don't you?"
C-20 sighed. "Here we go..."
"It's when you sip something so cold..." The other girl began.
"Brain freeze associated with coldness." C-20 interrupted. "Got it."
"Wait! I'm being serious." The other girl urged. "So it permeates the roof of your mouth and it freezes the synapses in your brain. So, your memories are literally frozen in place."
C-20 nodded to her slowly. "...that is absolutely not true."
"It is!" The other girl convinced. "Okay. Try it. Whatever you're thinking about will get frozen in place. I'm gonna ask you a question and you won't be able to answer until the synapses have melted."
"Challenge accepted." C-20 agreed. Taking a big sip of her drink before starting to squirm again. "Okay, ask."
"How many people are guarding the Time Keepers?" She asked.
C-20 paused. "I'm sorry what?"
The setting around them took a sudden shift from day to night. C-20 looked around in confusion.
"Hey." The other girl said placing a hand on her. "How long have we been best friends?"
C-20 ignored the feeling. "Too long." She answered.
"Seriously, you know you can tell me anything, right?" The other girl said.
"Of course."
"So why won't you tell me how many people are guarding the Time Keepers?" She asked, flatly again.
"Oh, well, there's..." C-20 began, but stopped and looked around her. "This place, I...I remember, I know this place." Then turned to the other girl. "But I don't know you."
"It's okay." The Loki Variant said with an undertone of frustration. "You're just tired."
Outside of C-20's mind, in the surveillance room of Roxxcart shopping center, The Variant Loki placed her hands up against a comatose C-20's forehead, a flash of green emitted from her fingertips.
"Yeah, I'm probably just tired." C-20 mumbled in agreement.
"How do I find the elevators?" Female Loki asked.
"They're gold." C-20 answered.
Loki smiled and removed her hand from C-20's head. But the smile slowly vanished as she looked up to the surveillance screens to see the TVA emerged from the Time Doors at the parking lot accompanied by a strange looking man in a jacket labeled Variant.
***
Back at the TVA, just as the Minutemen exited through the Time Door, the Loki Variant entered through her own. Storing the Tempad into her pocket, she tied her hair up into a half-ponytail before exiting into the cooridor outside of the locker room. She immediately spied a Minuteman on the phone, approaching from behind while he was preoccupied. Touching a glowing hand to his temple, the energy quickly fizzled out in an instant. Loki looked down at her hand in confusion as the guard turned around promptly, upon seeing Loki he activated his Timestick. Before he could attack, she kicked him in the helmet then disarmed his Timestick and prodded him with it, causing him to vanish in a spray of sudden color.
The other guards noticed her at the end of the hall and immediately move in to intercept her. With a smack of her hand the Timestick flung out of the first guards hands, flying onto the ground. She intercepted the other guard with another quick punch, knocking him down to the ground. She turned around quickly to catch the Minuteman behind her, knocking him down before successfully dodging another Timestick swipe from another Minutemen. Grabbing his helmet she shoved him into the wall then kicked the incoming assailant before vaulting from the wall. Wrestling the Timestick from the guard she sprinted forward at the recovering Minuteman and stabbed him with it, causing him to vanish from reality too. She dropped the Timestick with a smile and progressed.
***
Loki stumbled through the Time Door that his Variant had created, it closing behind him as he did. He scanned the locker room and made way for the cooridor leading out before stopping to look back pensively at B-15's locker.
Loki emerged into the hallway, daggers clenched firmly in hand. As he turned the corner he twirled one of the daggers into a reverse grip and gazed down at the throng of unconscious bodies littered across the floor then followed them to the other end of the hallway.
***
Female Loki entered the hallway leading to the elevator. As C-20 said, the entire cooridor was golden including the elevator.
Two guards stood in front of it. "Hey! Stop!" they ordered.
As soon as Loki approached them she sent a fist directly towards the first, then twisted the guard's arm into an impossible angle before throwing him in front of the second guard's Timestick, becoming it's new target. After he dissipated she knocked the second guard out with a firm kick to the head. Before entering the elevator, the Variant looked back to see Loki entering the room, daggers brandished. Loki flipped them in front of her, prompting her to unsheathe her weapon. A curve-bladed machete.
"Few questions." Loki said, pointing his daggers at her as he stepped forwards.
"Have you really got nothing else better to do?" The Variant asked impatiently.
"Rude." Loki regard, before brandishing his daggers in a combative position. "Are you sure you're a Loki?"
"You're in my way." The Variant responded.
"You are my way." Loki said.
The Variant slashed at Loki's dagger with her machete. Loki followed up with a thrust from his other dagger before The Variant dipped left, sending him stumbling across the room.
Loki recovered. "I thought we could work together."
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The Variant answered with another firm kick to the abdomen.
Loki sheathed his daggers. "But now I see, you lack vision."
The Variant rolled her eyes and began walking to the elevator.
Loki followed close behind, grabbing her by the shoulder. "So either you'll come willingly..."
The Variant spun around twisting out of his grip and transitioning into a punch.
Loki intercepted her fist, using her arm to pin her into a grapple. "...or you won't. Either way that's how I get to meet the Time Keepers."
"Oh, shut up!" She yelled, rolling out of the hold to send them both onto the ground. The moment both of them recovered they were ready to strike.
"Hey!" a voice yelled in interruption.
Both Lokis looked over to the end of the hallway to see Renslayer, accompanied by two Minutemen.
The Variant took advantage of the distraction to grab hold of Loki, blade at his neck. "Come any closer and I'll kill him."
"Go for it." The Judge beckoned without an ounce of concern.
Loki quickly reached inside of the Variant's cloak and pulled out the Tempad from it. Renslayer advanced. Loki pressed a few buttons on the device; Renslayer swiped at both of them with the Timestick before a Time Door suddenly emerged beneath their feet. The two Lokis fell through, Renslayer hitting nothing but air.
***
Loki and the Variant suddenly fell through the Time Door, landing on a set of mattresses in what appeared to be a camper. Female Loki's eyes widened as she spotted the Tempad next to her, immediately lunging for it. Just before reaching it, Loki tugged on her legs, pulling her back as he lunged for the Tempad himself.
"Get off my leg!" She screamed as they both wrestled each other for control.
Just as Loki managed to grab the Tempad she slammed his head into the nearby cards table, knocking him out.
She quickly snatched the Tempad and began rapidly pressing buttons on it. "Goodbye, Variant."
The Tempad beeped.
"You're out of juice." Miss Minutes said.
"It's not working." The Variant said, frantically.
Loki got to his feet. The Variant shifted her attention to him, drew her machete and slashed, hitting nothing but air as Loki shimmered into obscurity with a flash of green light. She looked around the room for him. With another green flash, he emerged right behind her, throwing her into a rack of random assortments.
"Right." He said reaching down and picked up the Tempad, analyzing it inquisitively.
The Variant got to her feet in an instant. "Just give it back to me, you don't even know how to Recharge it."
"Of course I do." Loki proclaimed. "You're not the only tech-savy Loki."
"Don't ever call me that." She said with contempt.
"Tech-savy?" Loki questioned.
"No. A Loki." She said, snapping forward with her hand for the Tempad, but it vanished into a shimmer of green as soon as she reached for it. Loki smirked at her.
"So you're just fully a magician, then?" She regard.
"Fine. For my next trick." Loki said, brandishing daggers with both his hands and his eyes. "I'll make you disappear."
The Variant kicked up her fallen sword and held it out in front of her at guard. A moment later, the purple streak of something came sailing through the roof of the camper.
"Is that one of your powers?" Loki asked, looking inquisitively down at the hole created by the debris.
"Where did you send us?" She questioned firmly.
Both Variants left the camper, immediately venturing out into an entirely different world. The entire world shined with bright purple light. Canyons and rocky plains stretched on forever. They looked to be in a mine with craters, campers, and construction equipment littered everywhere. All around them, purple micro-asteroids fell like rain. It was a meteor shower.
"You idiot!" The Variant yelled. "This is Lamentis 1."
"I don't know what that means!" Loki announced.
Nearby an enormous meteorite plummeted, forming a small crater in the ground.
"The moon that planet is about to crash into and destroy." The Variant explained as they both started running to escape the meteors."Of all the apocalypses saved on that Tempad, this is the worst. No one makes it off here. Watch out!"
She quickly pulled Loki out of the way of an incoming meteor.
"I'm sorry, madam." Loki recovered. "I didn't exactly have time to scan the brochure."
They both dived under the cover of an enormous forklift as the next meteor fell.
"By the way." He said. "I thought you wanted me dead."
"I don't know where you hid that Tempad, but if you blow up, then it blows up and then I end up blown up." The Variant said before pointing forward to the next camper. "There!"
"So we're a team now?" Loki inferred.
"Oh, god no." The Variant said as they both broke into another sprint.
"Get down!" Loki shouted, pulling her out of the way before the next asteroid fell.
"I didn't need your help." She snapped.
"You're so weird." Loki yelled as they approached the camper.
Loki threw the door open and both of them entered into what appeared to be in a shack of some sorts, full of mining equipment. Loki and the Variant took a moment, panting to catch their breath from all of the running. Sufficently rested, the Variant looked at him and slowly approached, he was too distracted to notice her advance. As Loki leaned his back against the wall, she came in close to him, gently placing her hands along the sides of his face. A spark of green energy shimmered from her fingertips. She looked at him inquisitively afterwards, as if not knowing what to expect. After a few moments his head slowly tilted up to look at her.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"...what are you doing?" She asked back.
"You trying to enchant me?" He asked before stating. "It won't work."
"Why?" She asked in a disgruntled manner before pulling away from him. "Because you're a magician?"
"No, because my mind's too strong." Loki said.
"Fine." She said defiantly before brandished her sword at him.
Loki conjured his knives in turn before producing a sigh of impatience. "Look, are we really about to do this here? Again?"
"Well what do you propose instead?" She asked.
"I don't know, a truce?" Loki suggested.
The Variant scoffed.
"Listen." Loki said, sheathing his blades. "Neither of us is getting off this rock if we can't get that Tempad turned back on."
"Where do you have it HIDDEN?" She demanded, jabbing her machete in his direction.
"In my heart." Loki remarked with disdain.
"Well then I'll cut it out." She said, derisively.
"Nice. Very droll. Lovely." Loki said, dryly. "Okay, yes, I do have the Tempad, but I'm not going to get very far, IF YOU KEEP TRYING TO KILL ME EVERY 30 SECONDS."
"Well you're full of it!" She shot back. "Because you need me to get that thing recharged. That's the only reason you saved me out there."
Loki stopped and hesitated for a moment. "Maybe. Yeah. I mean sure, that too. Or we could just slaughter each other here in this abandoned mining shack. What do you say?"
"Good for me." She shrugged before pausing. "The plan you interrupted was years in the making. Years!"
"Okay, got it."
"As soon as I turn that Tempad back on, I'm going straight back to the TVA to finish what I started." She declared.
"Good."
"I'll kill you then."
"Or I'll kill you." Loki shot back.
She scoffed at that and began making her way towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"There's power on this moon somewhere." She said, gesturing around her. "We just need enough of it to travel through interdimensional time and space."
Another meteor landed nearby, shaking the entire shack. They both looked around them.
"Jeez." The Variant commented.
"Yep." Loki confirmed, exiting the shack behind her.