A week passes, and while Thor and Loki's interactions are often brief, they make progress towards rekindling the friendship they once had, the affection for one another clear to the other members of the family. The younger Loki slowly becomes more playful around Thor, little tricks of magic peppering the days. The older Loki can't help but smile- this is how he once was as well. While he rarely uses his magic beyond practical things, he wonders if he could some day once again embrace this type of play without it reminding him of the home he has lost. In his heart, he still misses Asgard and he grieves the loss, even if he knows that in some timelines, it still exists. In his, and in Thor's, it doesn't.
When Loki starts laughing with Thor, it is a little thing, but the younger Loki's mischief causes so many giggles and moments of mirth that it becomes easy to let go of the hurt of the short amount of time between Thor's coronation and when everything went so wrong. He starts to feel lighter and then, one day, he sends a little surprise of his own to their play and the way Thor's face glows with joy tells him all he needs to know, all he needs to have affirmed, even though he has been told it time and time again. Thor loves him. Thor has held out hope for him. Thor will not leave- there will be no one telling him no as he hangs over the edge, confused and in despair.
One day, during their play, they see something coming on the distant horizon. The younger Loki tenses, eyes wide.
"What is it?" Thor asks.
"Them. They're coming. We have to get out of here. Hide."
Hunter overhears and calls out, "We've got to bug out! Move!" It is something they've arranged and rehearsed- if anyone makes that call, everyone has a role to play to tear down the entire hovel.
Loki starts with the tarps that he conjured on their arrival, pulling them back into the pockets of his magic into which they came. Ayshi, Iris, Tam, and Cyd work seamlessly, bundling their belongings, the things they've scavenged in packets and piles and cobbled-together crates near the car. The long poles that have held up their home are lashed to the top of the station wagon with ropes Thor pulled from the rigging of a tattered tallship. The entire hovel has disappeared, save for the few walls that were already standing when they arrived, in only a matter of minutes.
All their soft bundles form cushions in the rear compartment of the station wagon and on top of them sit Ayshi, the younger Loki, and their alligator friend. Thor closes the hatch and quickly attaches the platform to the hitch he and Ayshi welded to the frame, snapping bracing to the rack over the top of the car. He and Hunter quickly pack everything into the box that fits snug on the platform and heave it in place, a piece of one of their walls strapped on as a lid. Smaller things come into the car with the family, held on laps and tucked around legs. Hunter, Iris, and Tam sit in the middle seat. Mobius takes the wheel, Loki in the passenger seat, Cyd wedged between them. Everything packed, the site scanned for anything left behind, Thor carefully situates himself on the top of the car, gripping the superstructure they built around the frame from steel scavenged from decrepit skyscrapers. He faces backwards, watching what is approaching. Cars. He can't tell who is in them. But one of them appears to have a pair of golden horns arching upwards from the fender over the hood. He sighs- these are the Lokis his youngest brother warned them about. The car lurches forward, the engine ill-suited for the weight they added and the number of people therein.
Mobius concentrates on the terrain ahead. They have a plan, although it isn't a very good one- head along the ridge, keeping their pursuers where they can see them in the mirror or Thor can see them from above. Thor will fend them off, if needed, but all of them know their getaway car won't be fast and any chase will attract the attention of Alioth, if there is nothing else to distract it.
Bouncing along the rough terrain, everyone in the car is silent, the rattling of their belongings and the groans of their vehicle keeping them on edge. In the back, the younger Loki keeps glancing out the window, his heart pounding, eyes wide, breaths short and quick.
Ayshi reaches for his hand, "We'll make it," they say, gently squeezing his fingers, "I don't know how, but we will. We've got Thor now."
He swallows hard and nods, "Maybe. Maybe that'll make the difference. But also...maybe it won't."
"You've met them before?"
"Yeah. Though you never know exactly whose going to be in the cars. It might be ones you know. It might be worse."
"Do you need a hug?" Ayshi asks.
Loki nods and curls up against them, the alligator on his lap.
In the middle seat, Tam and Iris hold hands, Iris looking more pale than usual. Tam weaves their fingers with their friend's. Hunter feels helpless. This is not a fight she could win alone, at least not if what she's been told holds true. Magic and mayhem can be dealt with, but without a pruning wand and with only Judith's gun as a long range weapon, outside of what Thor can do, Hunter is at a loss as to how to protect the family she has built. But watching her two friends, hands clasped, exchanging glances that say they are both frightened of whatever comes next, she resolves that even if this ends her, she will protect them.
In the front seat, Cyd glances back over his shoulder, trying to see what's coming, "Are they getting closer?"
Mobius nods, "Yeah, unfortunately. This car's not going to go fast enough. Not that it would have before, but we're kinda testing it."
"Maybe Thor can fly us to safety, you know, one at a time," Cyd suggests.
"They're coming too quickly. He couldn't carry us all out in time," Loki says, turning to Mobius, "But we could send those who can't fight. We could buy them some time-"
"No," Cyd says, "You're not doing that. I can't watch you die while I'm being flown to safety."
"And I don't want to watch them kill you, Cyd. So what option do we have?"
Mobius shakes his head, "Nobody's going to be doing any dying today. We have TemPads, remember? We can set them to the same point in time and get through. I don't know if we can drive a car through one of the time doors, but I'm willing to find out. Or we could set up the doors, grab whatever we can carry, and throw it all through. Tidy up on the other side."
Cyd shakes his head, "The TVA'd just find us. You remember what we heard about old Loki? The minute he set foot off that rock, they caught him."
"I could try to enchant Alioth," Loki says, "Perhaps together, Loki and I could do it."
"That's a huge risk," Mobius says, "You might not make it and then what? You're eaten and we probably are, too."
In the back, Ayshi has Loki shift and digs down into one of the top bags, drawing out a glowing blue cube.
"What's that?" Loki asks.
"Something that could get us out of here," Ayshi answers, "And keep us moving so they TVA can't find us." They pass it over Tam's shoulder, "Send this up front."
Tam takes it and taps Cyd's shoulder, "This might help."
Cyd takes it and very carefully presents it to Loki, "Remember...we have this."
Loki gingerly takes it, "Oh my...I'd forgotten. But the TVA will still find us, no matter where we go. I don't think we could possibly all escape quickly enough should they decide to pursue us."
Mobius takes a deep breath, "Well...there's one place they can't get to us."
Hunter furrows her brow, "Where?"
It dawns on Loki where Mobius is indicating they should go, "The Citadel."
"Could you do it? Could you take the whole car, everybody in it, Thor on it, through?" Mobius asks. "Bypass Alioth?"
"I...I don't know," Loki says, "I've never moved something so large before."
"Yeah, but you did open a portal to an alien hellscape, so we know that thing's powerful enough to take us all through at once."
Loki shakes his head, "It needed a power source to hold the portal open long enough for them to come through."
"But we don't need an army to come through," Tam says, "We just need a rickety old car carrying ten people to make it in before it closes."
Cyd looks over his shoulder again, "They're getting closer."
Mobius looks at the dashboard, "And we're slowing down. I don't think she's going to last very long."
"Somebody's going to have to tell Thor what's going on so he stays put," Hunter says.
"I'll do it," Tam offers, unbuckling the seatbelt. They crank down the window and grab the top of the door, pulling themself out the window, their legs inside, their hands reaching for the structure that's holding Thor.
He notices them, "What news?" he booms.
"They're getting closer and the car's dying," Tam says, yelling above the din, "We're slowing down, they're catching up. And when we first came here, we archivists thought to grab the Tesseract. It was only a night light at the TVA, but here..."
"Here Loki could take us all somewhere else with it."
"Yes. In theory. He says he's never moved something so big with it," Tam shouts.
Thor nods, "Then I suppose we find out if he can."
"Stay attached to the car- if you leave, even to defend us, he might not be able to come back to get you."
"Unless things get dire- then I will fight."
Tam lowers themself back into the car, "Do it. He'll stay as long as there's no reason he needs to fight."
As they crest the ridge to try to use downhill momentum to put a little more distance between them and their pursuers, Alioth turns toward them. It roars. Thor turns around and raises Stormbreaker, ready to unleash lightning at a moment's notice. Alioth slowly advances.
Loki stares at the Tesseract, hands trembling as he realizes both the enormity of the task and exactly what is at stake if he fails.
Cyd rest his hand on Loki's thigh, "You can do this. I know you can."
Alioth grows closer, and the first of the other vehicles gains enough they can see the driver- it is most definitely another Loki at the wheel. A bolt of lighting strikes the hood and the other car careens out of control.
Loki can hear Thor twirling Stormbreaker before his brother shouts, "Do it now, Loki! Before I have to fight!" Another car behind them is engulfed in sparks. Thor turns his attention to Alioth as it once again roars, mouth agape, ready to consume them.
Loki holds the Tesseract in front of him, eyes closed, hands clasped around it, brow furrowed in concentration.
On the top of the car, Thor watches the pursuing vehicles descend from behind and the black wisps of Alioth encroach on the front, he grips the handholds as Mobius yanks the wheel, trying to dart to the side to escape the beast, but there is little left in the car to evade them. Grey curls of another kind wrap up the sides of the car, twisting inward, consuming it.
Thor flattens himself against the roof of the car and yells, "Keep going, Loki! It's working!"