Loki is in the archive when Ayshi rushes in, Mobius on their heels, "Hurry, get ready. It's happening today," Ayshi says.
Mobius checks his TemPad, "I heard them talking. They're coming for the archive. There's also a team in the field and they're going to be resetting a whole timeline in just a few minutes. If we're lucky, that'll distract Alioth long enough for us to survive."
As he is speaking, Cyd, Tam, and Iris rush around the work room, pulling things from secret compartments, even from hiding places in the back of the desk in the outer room. They quickly toss their contraband into bags, sling the bags over their shoulders, and in a matter of minutes, the four archivists stand ready in front of Mobius. The archive door swings open and he whirls to face this new arrival, switching on the pruning wand in his hand, crouching as though he is ready to launch himself at whomever enters. But it is only Hunter B-15.
"Let's go. They just planted the reset charges." She activates her own pruning wand.
Cyd and Tam step forward holding hands, "Alright," Tam says, "We're ready."
Hunter B-15 and Mobius stand in front of Cyd and Tam, pruning wands armed. They tap their friends' shoulders and they begin to disappear. Tam gasps, face crossed with pain while Cyd grimaces, their expression pinched. Mobius nods to Hunter B-15. Iris steps forward and he taps their shoulder moments before Hunter B-15 prunes him. The wand clatters to the ground. Hunter B-15 looks to Loki- this plan has been in place for weeks, but she still gives him a moment to change his mind. But he shakes his head and Hunter B-15 prunes herself.
Loki turns to Ayshi, "Are you ready?"
"Just give me a moment to start the tribute," Ayshi says walking into the work room and giving it one last look. They make a few adjustments to the TemPad they have patched into their computers and executes the command they've had at the ready since they decided the order in which they would be pruned. Music starts playing. Another song from a musical, queued up to the chorus.
"Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again..."
Ayshi takes a deep breath, "For Judith." Loki winces as he taps their shoulder and watches Ayshi dissolve into light.
And then he squeezes his eyes closed, turns the wand on himself and whispers, "For Judith," as he hears the footsteps in the hall growing closer, minutemen shouting at one another over the song playing loudly throughout the TVA.
Tam and Cyd wake up together in the shelter of some sort of large decrepit vehicle being reclaimed by the land. They crawl out of it and stretch, looking around. They've been told to look for telephone lines and a ridge overlooking the plain into which they were deposited. Finding it, they adjust their bags on their backs, take hands once again, and start running, hoping Alioth doesn't spot them. Something roars behind them and Cyd looks back in time to see a what looks to be some sort of cityscape start to materialize a little ways from the cloud monster.
"Don't look back, remember?" Tam says, tugging on Cyd's hand, "You might stop running and you might fall." Cyd turns back, nods at Tam, and they bolt for the ridge.
Mobius wakes up alone in the bus shelter and he immediately takes in his surroundings. He figures out where he last saw the pizza car and runs in that direction. It appears to still be there and intact.
Hunter B-15 sits bolt-upright as soon as she can move and scans her surroundings. Explosions ring out around her and she realizes there is a new reality materializing just to her left, the horrifying cloud creature roaring as it tries to consume it. Something crackles and lighting tears through the purple billowing smoke that seems to make up Alioth. She wonders if a reality can bring its weather through with it. She starts running, glad for the distraction, whatever it is. As she runs, she scans the land around her. She can see a pair of figures running for the ridge. They seem to be doing fine and she turns her attention elsewhere. A car starts moving across the grass, bouncing wildly as it accelerates. She assumes this is Mobius. To her right, she sees someone in a familiar tunic stumbling as they run, freezing every so often as they glance back to see what Alioth is doing. Hunter B-15 shifts her direction and heads for this person, knowing they won't make it if no one shepherds them along.
Iris stands frozen in place, horrified by the destruction around them, their knees quaking as they turn and try to run, tripping over the uneven ground, tears streaming down their cheeks. They try to keep their fears quiet and push themselves forward. They fall, tumbling into a ruined car. Exhausted, they pull themselves up and try to run toward the ridge. They can see two people running ahead of them and take a deep breath, trying to motivate themselves forward. They don't want these two to see them die, so they use that to propel them forward.
A voice comes from behind, startling them, "Keep going! You've got this!" and they recognize it is the voice of a friend, of Hunter B-15. She scoops up the pack falling off Iris' shoulders, throwing off their balance, and then takes their hand, "Come on. We've got to keep moving. I'm not leaving you."
Loki wakes not far from where he did the first time. He sits and watches Alioth descend on the pruned reality, lightning flashing from above. It isn't like anything he's seen before. But he knows he can't linger, for Alioth will finish the job and turn to the other easy prey fleeing for the hill. Loki looks for his friends. He sees Mobius' car jolting through the grass as it approaches a person in black and a person in a familiar archivist's tunic. The car skids to a stop and someone throws open the door. The two fleeing people dive in. Loki sighs, at least there's a chance those friends are safe. He starts toward their meeting spot, praying to any god that will listen that maybe the others will make it, too.
Ayshi wakes and sits up slowly, the pins-and-needles tingling that comes after being pruned still lingering in their limbs. They shake their head and try to focus their eyes on what's happening around them, the roar of the monster shocking them awake.
"Hey, get up. It's going to find us sooner, rather than later, if you don't," a young voice says. A hand reaches for them and they accept it. A child helps them up, "Follow me."
Ayshi scans this new person. Green and gold. A reptile hurrying alongside.
"You're a Loki, aren't you?" they ask.
The child glances over at them, perplexed, "How could you know that?"
"Because our Loki's been here before and he told us to look for you and for the creature that's your companion. He told us we could trust you to get us to safety."
"But nobody leaves here," he says.
"One Loki did," Ayshi answers. "And so did a Mobius."
"Yeah, you're right. A Mobius did. I didn't know a Loki made it out, though," he says. "But yeah. I'm one, too."
"It's going to be interesting when you two are both in the same place. You're going to both answer to the same name," Ayshi says.
"He's here?"
"Yes. So is Mobius. Hunter B-15. And three other archivists like me," Ayshi answers.
The young Loki nods, "Well let's hope they all survive. Are you supposed to meet them somewhere?"
Ayshi points to the ridge and to the figures they can see running up it, "Over there. I think those are my friends."
He adjusts their course, "Then follow me. I'll get you there. So long as Alioth stays busy." A crackle of lightning pierces the grey sky followed by a sharp rumbling of thunder, "And that's new, so I hope it keeps it occupied for a while."
Mobius drives as fast as he can towards the people running up the ridge. When he comes alongside them, Hunter B-15 throws open the door and they vault inside, climbing in on top of their friends. Iris huddles against Hunter B-15, still terrified, shaking, their hands pressed over their ears. Cyd clambers over the front seat and drops beside Mobius.
"So...you seen the others?" Cyd asks.
"Not yet," Mobius answers, "But I'm still looking." He launches the car up the ridge, the suspension groaning as the car slams over the edge, the undercarriage scraping against the dirt. He cranks the wheel and drives along the ridge looking for the others.
Cyd spots Loki first, "There! He's alive!" Mobius hits the gas, sod flying up behind the tires. He glances over to Alioth. The reality is gone, but there is still lightning keeping it occupied.
Loki sees the car and runs toward it, trying to keep a low profile and still make himself seen. When the car turns toward him, he knows he's been spotted. When it arrives, Tam flings open the door, jumps over the back seat into the luggage compartment, and Loki slides in where they were sitting.
"Have you seen Ayshi yet?" he asks.
Tam shakes their head, "No sign of them."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Mobius says, "Maybe they've figured out how to hide."
"Or maybe a cloud monster ate them," Iris whispers.
Loki reaches over and rests his hand on Iris' arm, "Don't think like that. Please. We'll find them."
"It's hard not to."
"I know. But we also aren't the only ones in this world. Remember. There are friends here as well."
"Not many," Iris replies.
Hunter B-15 sighs, "Yeah, but a few are better than none and as of right now, that would make Ayshi in a better place than we are, if they've found a guide."
Mobius sees the lightning fading and yanks the wheel, dropping the car over the opposite side of the ridge, "Well whatever's happening, we need to be out of sight."
Ayshi sees the car drop over the edge of the ridge and points it out to their young friend. Once again, he adjusts their course. Then he looks around and ducks quickly behind an upended phone booth. He lifts open the door and steps in, crawling to where it is embedded in the ground. He gestures for Ayshi to follow.
"Where are we going?"
"To the other side of the ridge. This is a shortcut. We found it a few years ago." Ayshi follows the boy into the tunnel, allowing the alligator to go ahead of them. They carefully close the phone booth behind them and head into the dark. It is a frighteningly complete blackness.
"I'm sorry if I tread on your tail," Ayshi whispers, "Please don't eat me."
Young Loki laughs, "Oh, he won't. He's been eating pretty well lately."
"Do I want to know what that means?" Ayshi asks.
"Probably not." They crawl again in silence, Ayshi trying not to let the sounds of her guide's crawling get too far ahead of them.
After somewhat of a distance, Ayshi clears their throat and asks, "So...how long has it been since our Loki was here?"
"It's been a few years. Time is kind of fuzzy here, but I've tried to keep a tally of the days. We found these tunnels after he was gone, though." He pauses, "How long has he been back, in your time?"
"Only a few months," Ayshi answers. "Not even a year."
"Why did you get pruned?" he asks.
"Once we found out all of us at the TVA were just collected variants, we decided to look for our own lives in the records. One of our friends found out exactly who we were, what our names were, how our timeline was supposed to go on the Sacred Timeline, and what we did to create our nexus event. It felt like the entire TVA betrayed us. She wanted to fight back. So she decided to make sure everyone knew we were all variants and to take some of them out with her. She died- they killed her. They took her body and left us the blood- Tam scrubbed it off the floor the next morning. Loki and Mobius were afraid they were going to come for us now that they knew we'd learned who we were. They thought the TVA might prune us and we'd end up here and just...die, too, just like Judith did. We wanted to take our lives back. So we prepared ourselves carefully, stealing things to help us survive, hiding it in the archive. We pruned ourselves all at once while the minutemen were coming for us and we knew a timeline would be dropping here."
"How did you know it was them, not just someone passing in the hall?"
"Mobius told us. He got word it was coming and we put our plan into action."
Ayshi's companion nods, "Yeah, that makes sense." There is a long stretch of silence before he speaks again, "Reach ahead a little bit before you put your weight down- there's a pretty big dip here and you don't want to fall into it face-first."
"Oof, that sounds unpleasant."
"It sure was."
Ayshi stretches out their hand and brushes the alligator's tail, "Oh, sorry- hope I didn't startle you."
The alligator makes a short sound and young Loki translates, "He says you're fine."
"You can understand him?" Ayshi asks.
"Mostly. The old man could do it better. But he's been gone since he died saving your Loki and I've had to learn it since."
Ayshi finds the dip in the ground, "Found the spot."
"Good. Just keep going- we're almost there."
Not long later, Ayshi hears the quiet groan of metal hinges and freezes as a sliver of light appears around the edge of the door, the intensity of it blinding after so long in complete darkness. Loki slips out of the tunnel and holds open the door. The alligator darts into the light. Ayshi pulls themself out into the open air and sits, tired, against the back of the van, deeply embedded in the side of the ridge, they've just crawled out of.
"Can we take a minute?" they ask.
Loki nods, "Sure. Just not for too long. It's not safe out here."
"There's a place here that is safe?" Ayshi asks.
He sighs, "You have a point. I used to have a hideout- me and a few of the others. But then one of them betrayed us and brought other Lokis to the door and it all went to shambles pretty quickly."
"How many other Lokis here are there?"
"Too many," he answers, "And some of them are absolutely nasty."
Ayshi sighs, "So how do I know I can trust you?"
He shrugs, "You don't. But I can tell you that neither my friend nor I want to kill you, so there's something we've got going for us."
Ayshi laughs, "Yeah, you're right." They unsteadily stand, stretching, "Well...I suppose we'd better go find everyone else."
Loki nods, "Sure. But...I don't know about me meeting everyone else."
"Why not?"
"Well...I just don't. I've been by myself for a few years now. I'm a little...rough around the edges, let's say." The alligator makes some more noises, "And he says he doesn't know if they'll like him."
Ayshi tilts their head and looks at the alligator, "Well if it's any consolation, you've given me no reason not to like you, so I don't think that you'll have a problem with my three fellow archivists." They pause, "I mean...former archivists. Besides, our Loki always seemed excited by the idea of finding you again. He said he hoped we'd meet...how was it he put it? 'A very resourceful young person with a reptilian friend.' He said if we got into trouble and couldn't find him, you'd be the best person here to help us survive."
He smiles, "Well, I'll do my best to get you back to him."
Ayshi looks around, trying to find their friends, "So...where do we start?"
Loki points toward a battered blue car a short distance away, "I'm going to be that's them...unless the cannibalistic pirates changed vehicles."
"The what?"
"Cannibalistic pirates. Among others. That's who usually comes in cars. Some sort of cannibal. But that one...I think that one's going to be your people."
"And why do you think that?"
He shrugs, "Because that's the car Mobius was driving last time he was here."
"And you don't think someone else had it in between times?" Ayshi asks.
"Oh, I know they did. But I also know they're dead, so...odds are just as good it's someone we like as it's someone we don't."
Ayshi tosses up their hands, "Guess there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
"Dunno- we could wait and see if they get out. Or we could go knock on the windows and see what happens."
Ayshi crosses their arms, "Well I feel better about the former than the latter. At least if we're a little bit away, maybe we have a better chance of not getting eaten."
"Tends to be the way I like to do things," Loki says.
They watch as the car doors open and the first of the occupants tumble out, "It's them!" Ayshi says, excited.
"But you can't see their faces very clearly at this distance."
"I know. But look at what they're wearing- it's just like mine!" Ayshi says, tugging at the edge of their tunic.
"I suppose that's as good a logic as any." The alligator grumbles, "Well, what else do we have to go on? We can stay here and guess or we can get closer to see if it's really them."
Ayshi shakes their head, "No, look- I'm sure of it. The person in black, that's Hunter B-15. And there's three of us!" They start running toward the car, "Come on!"
The alligator starts after them first, glancing back to the young Loki left behind, "Guess we're running toward them, then," he says, wondering what it's going to be like to be with a rather decently sized group of someones who aren't other versions of him.