"Are you sure about this?"
Hunter B-15 snorted in response. "More like are you sure."
Despite her words, her face was nervous. She tried to hide it, but Mobius could tell. He always had a knack for knowing how people felt.
Mobius, Loki, and Hunter B-15 were standing on a tidy city street of red brick buildings and young maple trees. In earth years, it was 2035.
"Of course I'm sure, I just don't want to need to come back here and pick you up if you get bored," Loki replied easily, but there was tension in his brow. He was wearing a white tank, green basketball shorts, and his hair was pulled back. He looked absolutely ridiculous, but had insisted on that disguise. "It makes me look very Midgardian." Mobius was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans, y'know, like a normal person.
The most shockingly changed appearance, though, was Hunter B-15, wearing shorts and an orange blouse. Mobius could barely recognize the former minute-man.
The trio stood awkwardly in the dappled shade, watching the building across the street. Hunter B-15, Shane, her name is Shane, turned to Loki.
"Give it all back," her voice was urgent.
"What?" Loki asked loudly, before lowering his voice, "I- I can't. You might not remember anything from after your nexus event if I do that."
She turned to look at the house again. In the window, a little girl was coloring at a desk, grinning in the afternoon sunshine. Hunt- Shane's face was unreadable. "I know. I don't want to remember."
Mobius felt his stomach lurch, and his arms fell from where they had been crossed over his chest. "You-"
"It's too hard… too much to keep in my head… The whole point of this was to give me another shot."
"But what if an alternate TVA comes after you, you need to know how to defend yourself?" Mobius was flustered, and Loki, for once, was silent.
"The ones we haven't already got off our backs are too distracted with the literal millions of branches to notice me. Plus, Shane- I mean I- technically have military training," she answered, her tight-lipped smile unconvincing. "Look. It's a risk I'm willing to take."
Loki nodded slowly.
Mobius turned to him. "Loki-"
"Mobius, it isn't really our choice. Shane can handle herself, and deserves to live a life where she doesn't flinch every time someone says her name."
Shane rubbed her arm nervously, looking at Mobius. He had never seen her act so vulnerable before.
Of course, Loki's aggravatingly right.
Mobius looked down at his feet, green converse. A style choice made by Loki. They made Mobius feel like he was pretending to be a kid.
"Fine…" Mobius replied in more of a sigh than a voice.
Loki bit his lip, looking down for a second before whirling to face Shane. Everything the god did was quick, whirling, like he couldn't stand still.
"Truly apologizing in advance if I permanently ruin your mind," Loki's voice was light, but it obviously wasn't a total joke. Shane's eyebrows drooped.
"Um, apology not accepted."
"Fair enough." Loki went to reach for her hand, freezing outstretched. "Last chance to say no."
Anxiety bubbled in Mobius's throat. Inevitability.
Hunter B-15, in the last moment she would ever respond to that name, just smiled in response, making eye contact with Mobius.
"It was nice knowing you."
Loki grabbed her hand, her eyes flashed green and the veins around her temple glowed emerald. Mobius had watched them do it a dozen times, trying to delicately unlock her past. But the display of powerful magic was still frightening.
Sylvie taught him that.
Mobius clenched his fist, scanning their surroundings instinctively to check for danger. A group of little boys were playing hopscotch up the road, and a young mother in a peach sundress was pushing a stroller. A few cars whirred by softly. In 2032, electric engines were perfected. By now, they were practically silent. Mobius always preferred the throaty hum of a gasoline engine.
He sighed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Mobius felt bare.
They tried extremely hard not to take any TVA devices out with them on missions anymore. The danger of it falling into the hands of someone who would weaponize it was too great. Mobius still wished he had something other than an errant god of mischief as a weapon, though.
Loki's eyes were closed, head tilted down. A curl had fallen from his tiny ponytail. Mobius had the bizarre desire to tug on it, to open Loki's eyes. The god always looked so vulnerable when he did this, despite the fact Mobius knew he was at his most dangerous.
The minutes felt like hours. Mobius scuffed the white rubber toe of his left shoe into the concrete.
"I look like I'm trying too hard to be cool."
"Oh come on, just wear the shoes, they're pretty."
"You know Loki, one day I'm going to have to start drawing the line."
"By all means, go ahead. That makes it even more fun."
Giving Loki that tracking chip, when he was captured the second time, was the best decision Mobius ever made. It seemed like all his morally gray choices actually worked out best. Maybe Loki was rubbing off on him.
But if Mobius hadn't been able to find Loki after the multiversal explosion, or vice versa… Mobius rubbed his forehead with the back of his wrist. It was hot today.
When he had found Loki, the Asgardian had been on the verge of completely falling apart. In all honesty, Mobius wasn't sure if he was actually stable now, or just pretending to be. Nothing like a powder keg that needs a therapist. God, we all probably need therapy.
Suddenly, Shane gasped, and Mobius's heart started pounding uncomfortably. Loki opened his eyes and took his hand off of hers, stepping back slowly like she was a grenade about to go off. Shane shook her head, then looked at them.
"I-" she started, then stopped, and glanced around. "I swear I was just on a plane over here…" she said to herself, trailing off.
"Oh you fell asleep, you must still be a bit groggy," Loki started. Completely effortlessly. A fabulous liar.
Hunter B-15- Shane, Mobius, Shane- looked up like she had just noticed them.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"We were on your flight, I think you might've been fighting a bug or something, you were really out of it," Loki lied, patting her shoulder. Mobius stood, mutely. Let Loki do his thing. "So we helped you get home."
"Oh, thank you… where's my luggage?" Shane's voice was faint, as if the suggestion of sickness had actually given her a fever.
"Already inside," Loki flashed a dazzling smile. Mobius felt a distorted pang of jealousy and expertly ignored it. None of the lie made, like, any sense, but apparently it was confusing enough to work.
"Gosh I must still be fighting something, I have an awful headache. Thank you both so much for giving me a ride, uh-" she put a hand to her head, and a spasm of brief concern crossed Loki's face.
"Louis and Daniel Rarebeck, and no worries," Loki put one arm around Mobius's shoulders, and used the other to shake Shane's free hand.
"Well, I better get going…" Shane said, completely dazed. She waved and crossed the street, looking both ways. The little girl saw her from the window, and jumped out of her chair. Mobius watched the door open, the kid bound into her mother's arms. His eyes burned.
Shane lifted up her daughter with a laugh, and they disappeared inside. Mobius blinked furiously, then noticed Loki's arm was still around him. He didn't do anything to dislodge it.
Clearing his throat, Mobius spoke. "Mr. and Mr. Rarebeck?"
Loki shrugged, and patted Mobius's chest with his free hand before beginning to walk down the street, Mobius in tow. "Eh, why not."
For once, Mobius didn't have an answer. He moved on. "What was all that about a plane?"
Loki's face fell a bit before replying. "In everyone's favorite sacred timeline, Shane's destiny was to get mugged on her way back from the airport after seven months deployed overseas. They leave her body in a dumpster. Since we brought her here, no one will realize she's been killed. Our very own Hunter B-15's nexus event was actually not dying. Very her of her."
Loki's voice was easy (always easy, always light, even more so since Mobius found him), but Mobius couldn't suppress a shiver. Loki's arm tightened around him. (Loki gave out physical, non-romantic affection like it was nothing, and a secret part of Mobius was convinced it would kill him.)
"That's awful."
Loki just hummed in response. They both knew how awful it was, how awful everything was. At every given moment Mobius was convinced the very fabric of reality would start unravelling around him.
It was easier not to talk about it.
The afternoon was gorgeous, robin-egg sky and cotton ball clouds. The sun shone through the canopy of leaves so they looked luminescent. Mobius took a deep breath, tilting his head back on Loki's arm. They matched each other's pace.
"I can't believe I'm never going to see her again," Mobius said, releasing his breath.
"Yeah well, if we've learned anything, never say never," Loki replied, voice grimmer than Mobius had heard it in a while.
They turned into a park. Loki was still holding on to Mobius.
"I was right," Mobius started as their ship came into view between the trees. He turned to face Loki, whose arm fell from Mobius's shoulders. "You look pretty dumb in that get-up."
Loki scoffed. "Well no one noticed us, so it worked. What would you prefer?" The god stopped, shook himself, and in a quick flash of green light was wearing an expertly tailored tuxedo. He tugged his hair out from the elastic, fluffed it up, and posed mockingly. "This better?"
Mobius swallowed. Yes.
"Hardy har," Mobius turned towards their ship. It blended in with the park perfectly, Loki said it was designed so that if you didn't know it was there, you couldn't see it. Mobius had no idea where it came from. A couple days after the multiversal explosion, Loki just… Had it.
"Don't ask questions."
"But- you know what, fine."
"No no, really," Loki teased, voice low. It drove Mobius crazy. It was like after whatever happened in that Citadel, Loki had become 10 times more sneaky, powerful, and charming. And emotionally distant. "What about this!" He jumped in front of Mobius in a speedo.
"God, Loki," Mobius huffed good-humoredly, closing his eyes and looking up. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You're right, I am a god. Very astute."
"You're something, all right." Mobius's voice was low. He put his hand to the side of the ship, and with a gentle mechanical schlick, a door opened. He pulled himself up. Behind him, Loki was still wearing a speedo, Mobius could see it in the reflection of the Aeyhle (the ship's Loki-given name). "Put some clothes on, would you?" Mobius said, sighing, plopping himself into an armchair.
The Aeyhle was more like a flying house than a ship, to be frank. Shaped like a cylinder with a nose. The cylinder part was four floors (four floors, how did it even-) and the nose was the control room. In all honesty, Mobius had never seen the entirety of the ship's exterior at one time.
Loki strutted up to Mobius, stopping in front of the chair. He leaned down, hands on the armrests. Mobius shifted back, clearing his throat and trying very hard not to look directly at Loki, as if he was the sun.
"Oh come on, someone has to be appreciating this body," he was smirking. His head was cocked to the side. It was all so funny to him.
Mobius shoved him off the chair, getting up and making for the stairs (stairs in a ship? seriously? what is this? house ship ex-machina?).
"Can you not?" Mobius snapped, "I just lost someone."
"You didn't lose someone," Loki sneered. "She just got her life back." He at least had the decency to put a shirt on. It looked like he was about to go swimming.
"Oh what, so I have no life just because I'm not in my original timeline?" Mobius stopped, poking a finger at Loki. Loki tried to speak. "Y'know what, no. Just, just stop. I'm sorry that Sylvie kissed you then betrayed you after you speedran a character arc for her, so now you want to rediscover your roots or something," Mobius nearly ran out of breath. "But I'm not your test subject. Can you just… stop for a minute? Pick a personality and stick with it man."
Stop flirting with me when you don't mean it.
Loki was just staring at Mobius, mouth open. Pantsless. Mobius started laughing. He sunk to the ground, back against the corner of the wall and the stairs. He put his head in his hands. He heard Loki walk past him, up the stairs. The footsteps stopped.
"I'm plugging in the coordinates for the most dangerous current 'he who remains'," Loki's voice was stony. Mobius felt bad… but also didn't. It felt good to yell. Like it was concrete. He knew he shouldn't feel sorry for himself, either, but it was almost hard not to.
Cool and collected Mobius falling apart, just because, what? He lost a job? Turns out he fell for a trick? Too bad. Get over it.
They had more important things to do, anyway. Like eradicating every last man and woman that could even realize there was suddenly far, far more than just one timeline. There was chaos.
.
Thanks for reading, please please give me feedback in the reviews! This is going to be multiple chapters, so any advice or comments are welcome! Also, I sort of see this happening after another little fic I wrote,"In the Ashes and Sun", so go check that out if you haven't!