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Moments later, the pair were flung against a series of wooden chairs and tables in a dark saloon. Stunned onlookers watched as the pair scuffled, Loki doing his upmost to pry the crown from Lydia's fingers.

However, Loki froze when he heard the sound of a gun cocking and something pressed against the back of his head.

"That aint no way to treat a lady." The whiskey breath of a cowboy caused the hairs on Loki's neck to rise. He slowly started to realise that the pair had travelled somewhere, and Lydia was grinning like a banshee underneath him. "Gerrof her."

Loki raised his hands and stood to his feet. Taking in his surroundings, he noticed to his left mortal men smoking thin cigarettes accompanied by large glasses of ale and playing cards. He saw out of the corner of his eye a fairly old mortal woman dressed rather scantly, and he wasn't impressed when she offered a wink in his direction. He turned, absorbing the look of the man who had threatened him. He had a bushy ginger beard and light blue eyes. His clothes were ragged and dusty, along with his hat that hid greying ginger hair. Loki merely grinned. "She is no lady."

Lydia stood, dusting herself off and placed the crown in a satchel she wore around her waist. "You can say that again!" Inwardly, she was thankful he did save her life. Perhaps now was a time to repay that debt. "Okay, fellas? My buddy and I are going to leave here real quiet like. So, you can put your gun down. I appreciate the chivalry, but I can look after myself."

"You trust a man in that getup?" The cowboy laughed, as did the others. "Girlie, he looks like someone from one of them travelling freak shows!"

"I really wouldn't say that if I were you..." Lydia mumbled under her breath. Then, she was suddenly amazed. Loki had somehow cloned himself so there was one of him in each corner of the room. She was lost for words. It really was him. And he had saved her life.

"Freak show?" Loki's words filled the room as did stunned silence. The old woman let out a tiny squeal before ducking into a nearby room. His clones were watching on, eyeing everyone in the saloon, almost tasting their fear. "You mortals clearly do not understand the power of a god."

A cowboy panicked and shot one of the clones as it shimmered out of view. Loki was angered, as he stared the man down. "You really should not have done that."

Slightly panicked, Lydia tugged on Loki's jacket. "Come on, let's get out of here..."

"Oh... we're not leaving yet. I'm just getting started." Loki's face fell when suddenly twenty guns were trained on him. His clones disappeared. "Perhaps it is a wise decision to make..." dodging bullets, the pair fled from the saloon as fast as their feet could carry them.

"So, why did you need the crown anyway?" Lydia asked Loki, as the pair walked further from the town and deeper into the desert. "My contact should be here by now." She rubbed the back of her neck and drew in her lower lip, worry etching across her face. "I wonder what's keeping her?"

Loki watched her for a moment as realisation kicked in that he actually had travelled somewhere with the aid of her wrist device. The planet still was Earth, but a different time – unlike the time he had seen his brother galloping about with that woman. No... it felt earlier. He gazed about the emptiness of the desert, as the wind started to pick up and the taste of sand lingered on his tongue. Perhaps he could pry the device from this woman. He knew he'd have to tread carefully for she appeared to be quite acute in her senses, and then it occurred to him that he didn't even know her name. She appeared to completely trust him now, his earlier trickery bringing faith to her that he held up to his introduction. He was Loki, there was no question about that. No one had ever doubted his name before, she was the first and it continued to bother him. Finally, he picked up that she had asked him a question regarding the crown and then she proceeded to mumble something about a contact. "My purpose for the crown is clearly different to yours. I merely wish to possess its power."

Lydia turned to face him. "Possess its power?" She repeated, letting her hand drop to the satchel around her waist protectively. "If you truly wish to enslave humanity, why did you spare my life?"

"A moment of weakness in which I'm quickly regretting." Loki growled, his eyes falling upon the satchel. "Give it to me, woman."

"No." Her other hand held a pistol, a bullet lodged in the barrel and pointing directly at Loki's chest. "Listen. I'm all for repaying your debt, but if you're gonna act like a twat... the crown stays with me."

Loki was growing increasingly tired of those pistols being pointed at him. In more concerning news, she had mentioned the word twat. It was clearly an insult of some kind, but he wanted to know the meaning of it. He merely met her eyes and merely chuckled. "You attempt to insult me with words that have no meaning, and you threaten me?" Loki's lips turned into a thin smile. "I don't threaten."

"You're right about that word. It's a meaningless word." She holstered her pistol and scratched her forehead. "Where is she?!"

Finally, the pair looked on as from deep within the sandy storm, a woman was emerging. Clad in a black cloak that clearly covered her face, she fought off the storm with grace. Lydia swallowed, glancing briefly at Loki for a minute before he had to squint due to the sand bothering them.

Loki took the opportunity of the low visibility to clone himself again, quietly appearing beside Lydia and dipping his hand into her satchel. The clone glanced at his real form once his fingers grasped the crown, and the clone disappeared as Loki grasped the crown firmly in his hand. He tucked it securely in a pocket. He could already feel the crown possessing him, and he looked at Lydia darkly.

The woman approached the pair and removed her hood. She appeared to be an old crone, her face wrinkled but her eyes hinting at decades of powerful knowledge. "Come, child. Have you got the crown?"

Lydia nodded, patting the satchel. Her words suddenly froze in her throat when she felt the satchel to be misshapen. The crown was gone! "I err... yeah! I do, hang on..."

Loki watched on, smirking the entire time. He had the crown now, he could have done anything he wanted, but in all honesty he wanted to watch her squirm.

"Uh... I thought I did..." Lydia was beginning to panic. She was certain the crown had been in her possession the entire time. The satchel itself was incredibly secure with reinforced stitching. "I'm sorry... I don't have it."

The woman's eyes narrowed to the point where even Loki was becoming nervous. "You promised me the crown, child. I have your reward. Are you playing me for a fool?"

"No! No. Never. Obviously a slight mishap, um..." Lydia patted herself down. "...I apologise for wasting your time. I was confident that I had the crown, but, clearly I do not." In the meantime, her hand had slipped around the butt of her gun and the old woman had noticed this.

"Time Agents... never trust them..." The old woman hissed.

Lydia fired two bullets squarely in the old woman's chest. She fell to the sandy ground, as Lydia looked directly at Loki. "Time to move."

Loki glanced at the woman on the ground, blood seeping from her wounds as the sand started to cover her. His gaze lifted to Lydia, as his lips pressed into a smirk. "I never asked for your name."

"My common name is Lydia Hart." She holstered her pistol, shaking her head in regards to the dead woman. "I was quite certain I had that crown."

"Short sightedness is a difficult ability to deal with." Loki pouted. "Lydia..." He repeated. "Common name? For what purpose? Concealing the past isn't welcoming."

"Shut up, Loki. No doubt there will be a time where we can angst, but right now isn't the time! Hang onto me." Lydia made a gesture with her fingers that made Loki quite curious.

"My brother told me to shut up once..." Loki recalled, as Lydia suddenly grabbed him around the waist and the pair were once again sucked into the power of Vortex Manipulation travel.