Meteors continued to fall to the surface of Lamentis.

Loki ran to keep up with the Variant as they traversed the lunar terrain. "So what's the plan?"

"There's a town near here." She answered. "And can you shut up? Just because I have to work with you doesn't mean I want to hear your voice."

"Alright, well slow down..." Loki protested. "...Variant."

"What part of emminent death confuses you?" She said, throwing her hands up to gesture around her. "And don't call me Variant."

"I'm sorry but I'm not calling some faded photocopy of me Loki." Loki proclaimed, catching up to her.

"Good. Cause that's not who I am anymore." The Variant responded. "I'm Sylvie now."

"Oh you changed your name? Brilliant."

"It's called an alias."

"It's not very Loki-like." He regarded.

"Oh yeah? What makes a Loki, a Loki?"

"Independence. Authority." Loki began then added. "Style."

"So naturally you went to work for the boring, oppressive, time police."

"I don't work for them..." He said. "...I'm a consultant."

"You don't know what you want." She regarded.

"Oh yeah? What about you?" Loki countered. "Your years in the making plan was to tear the place down, create the ultimate power vacuum, and then just walk away?" He stopped. "I'd never have done that."

"Oh yeah?" Sylvie said, turning back to him. "Well I'm not you. Can we get on with this now?"

Loki took in a seething breath before begrudgingly following her again.

They arrived at the town shortly afterwards.

"It looks like everyone already fled." Loki commented on the empty buildings and streets.

"If they did it was in vain." Sylvie replied.

"How long do we have?"

"Twelve hours or so." Sylvie answered. "Things down here are only gonna get worse. More meteors. Gravity quakes. And of course, the collapse of society in the face of annihilation."

"Could that charge the Tempad?" Loki asked, pointing to a shining neon sign.

"Maybe?" Sylvie said, approaching the sign, scanning it up and down. Loki planted himself firmly away from her.

"Just checking the coupling." She said. "Making sure it can connect."

"Right." Loki said skeptically.

"Okay." She said, reaching to him with her hand. "Hand it over."

Loki scoffed. She placed an agitated hand on her hip.

"Pitiful. I'm not giving it to you. You're going to have to try harder than that." Loki said.

Sylvie walked up to him. "Then don't give me your "tech savy" ideas either. The Tempad requires a massive power source, not a night light."

Upon brushing past him, the two left town. The meteors continued to shower down intermittently. In the distance, they could see an old mobile home in the middle of the lunar desert. The two of them climbed the steps and carefully approached the door.

Sylvie drew her cutlass, Loki grabbed her arm before taking another step.

"Brute force is not substitute for diplomacy and guile." He advised.

"Noted." She said sarcastically, before brushing off Loki's hand.

Sylvie kicked the door open, the smile on her face vanished as a sudden wave of energy came bursting out of the doorway, sending her flying thirty-feet back onto the ground.

Loki snickered. "It's remarkable that you ever made it as far as you did." Loki snickered then turned to the doorway, remaining out of sight. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be." A woman's voice said from within the home. "I enjoyed it."

Loki chuckled. "Oh...uh...I did too. But I can assure you despite my...acquaintence behaving like an animal, uh, we mean you no harm. We're simply weary travelers."

"Sure you are." The woman with the energy cannon sitting in front of the doorway said.

Loki looked inside of the house. On the table was a picture of a woman and an old man. In a shimmer of light Loki shapeshifted into the man's image in the photo. He stepped into the doorway in front of the woman.

"Hello dear." He greeted with a soft voice.

"Patrice?" The woman questioned.

Loki produced a sob as he nodded. "It's...it's been a long time. You're as beautiful as I-"

Before he could even finish his compliment the woman fired another concussive blast of force at Loki, knocking him back right next to Sylvie, his shapeshifted appearence dispelled.

"Patrice never said a thing that nice in 30 years." The woman yelled from the house. "You're no travelers. You're devils."

It was Sylvie's turn to snicker. "Which one was that? Diplomacy or-"

Loki raised a dismissive finger. "Don't. Just don't."

The woman stepped out of the house, gun raised. "What do you devils want with me?"

"We just want to ask you a question." Sylvie said, raising a hand in surrender. "Where is everyone?"

The woman cocked her head. "The ark."

Sylvie and Loki looked at each other in confusion then back to the woman.

"The evacuation vessel?" The woman answered, deliberately.

Sylvie turned back to Loki. "Something like that would have enough juice to repower the Tempad."

"How do we get there?" Loki asked.

"Train station's at the edge of town." She answered. "But you'll never get a ticket."

"Come on let's go." Sylvie said. Loki followed behind her.

***

The train station was less of an actual train and more of a futuristic hovercraft. A crowd of clamoring people lined up, eagerly awaiting for the chance to board. Guards in blue uniforms and visors waited at the gate to escort a select few of the passengers on board.

"Well this looks fun." Loki commented as soon as they arrived.

"Come on." Sylvie said.

"We can't fight our way onto that train." He said.

"Who said anything about fighting?" Sylvie replied.

"All your plans involve fighting." Loki said.

"Not this one." She said. "I'm going to enchant a guard, have him lead us through the crowd, and if anyone gives us any trouble..."

"Make him start shooting?" Loki finished. "And what, kill every guard and then hijack the train?"

"Whether or not there's a fight is entirely up to them." Sylvie said.

"We're doing this one, my way." Loki said. With another shimmer of green light his clothes transformed into one of the uniforms of the train guards. "How do I look?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Like someone with a shit plan." She replied.

"It's a great plan." Loki encouraged.

"Mmm." Sylvie hummed skeptically.

"Just follow my lead." Loki said, holding Sylvie's hands behind her back and making his way through the crowd.

"There only giving tickets out to the wealthy!" One of the line dwellers shouted. "What about us?!"

The walkway leading onto the train was near. After a couple gave the guard their tickets, Loki and Sylvie attempted to board when the guard quickly stepped in front of them.

"Whoa! Hey!" The guard said.

"Taking this one to Shuroo." Loki said.

"Okay. And the tickets?" The guard asked.

"Orders come from the top to get her on this train." Loki said. Sylvie eyed him with skepticism.

The guard looked away from them and called to another guard. "Sir, this..."

Sylvie quickly reached out and grabbed the guard by the arm, enchanting him instantly with a flash of green energy.

"Everything okay?" The other guard approached.

"Yeah." The enchanted guard said. "Everything's fine. Yeah I just remembered that headquarters radioed in their request for them this morning."

The other guard looked at them with uncertainty before conceding. "Okay."

The guard waved them towards the train.

"Okay." Loki concurred as they boarded.

They entered into a dining area with several different high class individuals along with a bar.

"Good evening, passengers. Hi." Loki greeted awkwardly as they arrived.

Sylvie took a seat at one of the booths.

"Uh..." Loki stammered. "Look, I can't go backwards on a train."

"Well I never sit with my back to a door." Sylvie replied.

Loki squinted in puzzlement. "What? There are doors on both sides?"

"Oh just sit down."

Loki conceded, taking a seat.

"Fyi," Sylvie began. "That wasn't even a plan."

"Oh really?"

"Plans have multiple steps." Sylvie said. "Dressing as a guard and getting on a train is just doing a thing."

Loki produced a look of shame.

Sylvie looked away from Loki and yawned. He smirked. "Oh, you a bit tired? Feel free to, you know, get some rest."

Sylvie turned back to him. "I can't sleep in a place like this."

"You can't sleep on a train?" Loki surmised.

"No. I can't sleep around untrustworthy people." Sylvie sneered.

"Oh, right. That me?" Loki said.

"But you feel free to take a nap."

"Nice try."

"I'm not going to bother rooting around for the Tempad when someone taught you fairly decent magic."

"My mother." Loki said matter of factly.

Sylvie smirked and looked away for a moment. When she looked back her gaze softened. "What was she like?"

Loki paused for a moment to process the question. "She was, uh... a queen of Asgard. She was good. Purely decent."

Sylvie nodded, then scoffed. "You sure she was your mother?"

"Oh, no, she's not actually, I was adopted." Loki said. "Is that a bit of a spoiler for you. Sorry about that."

"Nope." Sylvie said with an assured tone. "Knew I was adopted."

"What?" Loki leaned in. "They told you?"

"Yeah, did they not tell you?"

"No." Loki said.

Sylvie gritted her teeth, producing a silent wince.

"I mean, they did eventually." Loki said. "Hang on a second. So, tell me about your mother."

"I barely remember her." Sylvie said. "Just blips of a dream at this point."

"You know when I was young, she'd do these little bits of magic for me." Loki said. "Like turn a flower into a frog or cast fireworks over the water. It all seemed impossible. She told me that I'd be able to do it too because...because I could do anything. You wanna see?"

Loki opened up his palm releasing a plethora of tiny fireworks.

Sylvie stared at them as they exploded from his hand. She sniffed her nose and then turned away. "Not bad." She regarded.

Loki smirked and closed his palm, dispelling the magic. "She was the kind of person you'd want to believe in you."

"Sounds like she does." Sylvie said, quietly.

"Well...she did." Loki said, his gaze falling to the table for a moment before looking back up to Sylvie. "So, where'd you learn to do the... you know the..." Loki made a gesture with his hands, alluding to mind control. "...whatever it is?"

"I taught myself." Sylvie said, amused at his demonstration.

"You taught yourself that magic?" Loki stated with surprise.

"Yeah, I did." She said with a nod.

Loki shook his head in bewilderment. "What, do you just..." He began gesturing with his hands again. "...go into their minds and project some sort of illusion?"

"Maybe it'd be easier if I just..." Sylvie said with a smile as she leaned forward with her hands.

"Enchanted me and make me give you the Tempad, then leap out the train?" Loki said with disdain. "No, thank you."

"Well then don't ask."

"Okay."

"Champagne." The bartender asked.

"Ah, yes. Thank you very much." Loki appreciated, grabbing a glass.

"No, I'm good." Sylvie declined after the server turned to her.

"Oh, I'll take hers. Thank you." Loki said, grabbing the other glass from the tray. The server nodded and returned to the bar.

"Cheers." Loki said, clinking both glasses together. "To the end of the world." He downed half of the first glass. "A pity the old woman chose to die don't you think?"

"She was in love." Sylvie said.

"She hated him." Loki corrected.

"Maybe love is hate." Sylvie suggested.

Loki paused with thought as if to ponder what she just said. "Should probably remember that." He said, conjuring up a page and quill before jotting random things down. "What was that? Love is...love is hate."

"Oh, piss off!" Sylvie spat

Loki produced a mischevious smile before dissipating the quill and parchment. He then poured the remainder of his champagne into the other glass. "So, on the subject of love...is there a lucky beau waiting for you at the end of this crusade."

"Yeah, there is actually." Sylvie answered.

"Oh." Loki said with amusement.

"Managed to maintain quite a serious long-distance relationship with a postman whilst running across time from one apocalypse to another." She continued. Loki chuckled.

"With charm like that, who can resist you?" Loki regarded.

"Well, people are quite willing in the face of certain doom." She said.

"I'm sure they are." Loki agreed.

"It was only ever just to keep me going. How about you? You're a prince. Must've been would-be princesses or perhaps another prince?" She said raising her eyebrows deviously at the last part.

Loki smirked. "A bit of both. I suspect the same as you, but nothing ever..."

"Real?" She finished.

Loki nodded, taking another sip.

"Love is mischief then." Sylvie concluded.

Loki paused, as if struck by the statement. "No. Love is...uh, something I might have to have another drink to think about."

"You do realize we're about to try and hijack the power source to a civilization's only hope?"

"I do." Loki said.

"It's not going to be easy. We should rest." She suggested.

"All right. You relax your way and I'll relax mine." Loki said.