p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Loki reeled backward through the shimmering doorway, heel catching on a hard edge, and he fell unceremoniously onto his arse. He looked down at a biting sensation from the palms of his hands, finding himself sitting in a narrow stairwell, the serrated treads of industrial steps beneath him. He rubbed his hands together, scowling as his companion stepped casually through the time portal. It quickly shrank closed behind her, sealing them off temporarily from their pursuers./spanstrong id="docs-internal-guid-dd744b0a-7fff-a2f7-bc5c-47a4b64528c7" style="font-weight: normal;"/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You didn't have to push me," he muttered, rising to his feet and brushing at his trousers as if to remove the dust, a hopeless effort given the layers of grime now embedded in the TVA-issued fabric. Sylvie didn't notice, her attention fixed on the TemPad in her hands. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""If I hadn't, you'd still be nattering on." She poked at the Pad and it gave a few chirps as it dialed in their next destination, but then a descending tone warned that another jump was out of the question. Sylvie huffed her exasperation. "Low power again. Who designed these things?!" For a moment it looked as if she were ready to throw the Pad to the floor, but she composed herself enough to slip it into a pocket at her belt. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Where are we?" Loki asked, then turned in alarm as he heard the heavy thunk of a door latch and footsteps quickly descending the stairs. A young man in a crisp blue service uniform rushed by with a clipboard in his hands, barely noticing the two time travelers who backed themselves against the wall to let him pass. Loki's eyes followed him suspiciously./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""2344," Sylvie replied, hurriedly grabbing Loki by the arm and pulling him the opposite way. They ascended the stairs two at a time. "Aboard the Sol system starliner, Majestic. We have about twelve hours before she's destroyed by an asteroid impact over Jupiter."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Great, another imminent catastrophe. So what's the rush?" Loki wrenched his arm away but kept pace a stride behind her, stretching out an arm to hold the heavy hatch door as she opened it. They emerged into a warmly lit corridor, finely appointed with crimson wool carpet and wall sconces dripping crystals. It looked like the hallway of a ritzy hotel. Sylvie looked quickly in both directions, then darted down the right side corridor. Loki hurried to follow./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not everyone dies." She tucked herself against the wall as they came to a junction and peeked around the corner, her hand smacking Loki in the chest to keep him out of sight. The muffled sounds of laughter, conversation, and clinking tableware suggested they were near a banquet hall. Judging the coast clear, Sylvie took off again, continuing down the hallway./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What do you mean?" Loki asked as he struggled to keep up, brow furrowed in frustration. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not everyone dies," she repeated, checking room numbers as they quickly progressed down the corridor, passing rows of brushed stainless steel hatch doors with wheel-like gold handles. "The Majestic explodes in a fiery disaster, but there will be a few survivors. We need to be careful."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're saying, there's a chance we could initiate a Nexus event and alert the TVA to our presence here?" Loki watched as Sylvie pressed a few keys on the dying TemPad and held it to the scanner beside a nondescript door. The hatch's handle spun slowly to the right, there was an audible click, and the door eased open with a gentle hiss. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes," Sylvie said simply, and Loki followed her inside. The door hissed again and clicked shut behind them, and Sylvie flicked on a light. They were inside what appeared to be an economy class cabin, much like a small hotel room, with a pair of full size beds, vanity table, and a cramped bathroom./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You've been here before." Loki surmised as he glanced around. There was no sign of habitation in the room, no luggage or trash, the towels were folded, and the beds were still neatly made. "Why not somewhere, er… some /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"time/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;", that's safer? Like you did before, choose complete devastation so nothing we do will make a difference?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We don't know what this new TVA knows… how much they know about /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"me/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". They might already be looking for us in a catastrophic event. Either way, we should be safe as long as we don't do anything to interfere with the timeline or make a life-changing impression on anyone. Only a handful of people survive anyway." She shrugged, loosening the baldric from her hip and tossing her sword onto the nearer bed. "Besides, the Majestic's reasonably comfortable and the food's good."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about the TemPad? How are we going to get out of here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""There'll be a massive systems monitoring failure after the asteroid collision. We should have about eighteen minutes to charge the TemPad from the backup power converters and open a portal before the engine core goes. Plenty of time."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And between now and then?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Eat, rest, and clean ourselves up." Sylvie sniffed pointedly in Loki's direction, eyeing his filthy, bloodied clothes. "Not necessarily in that order."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Point taken," he replied with a flicker of a smile, but his expression fell again as she turned back toward the door. "Where are you going?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'll find us some clean clothes. Go ahead and shower first. I'll be back in a few minutes." Before Loki had a chance to object, Sylvie ducked out into the hallway and the door hiss-clicked closed behind her. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Loki was alone, and he stood in a momentary daze. The events of the last few days (Weeks? Hours? It was so difficult to mark the passage of time when timelines kept shifting out from under him.) were a confused blur, punctuated with brief moments of respite and intense violence. Finding Sylvie again after they were separated on return to the TVA, after the death of He Who Remains, after the creation of this alternate reality, he'd only thought to share what he'd learned. But, as usual, Sylvie had other ideas. She'd purged three guards and stole a TemPad, and now, here they were again, running from this newly minted, deviant TVA. And what would be their eventual goal? Kill Kang again? And again? And again? Hoping for some different outcome? /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Loki shook his head and walked into the bathroom, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Sylvie was right, he looked awful. His TVA-issued clothes were layered with grime, torn and bloodied. He had a large smudge of mud over his left cheek, blood in his greasy, bedgraggled hair, and a bruise on his jaw already turning green as it healed. Dirt had settled darkly into the creases around his eyes, mouth, and forehead, and he frowned at the spectre of age staring back at him. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached into the narrow shower chamber and turned on the water, waited until the steam rose in mushroom clouds to the ceiling before he stripped and stepped in. He stood in the blast of the low volume, high pressure jets, watching puddles of muddy brown water swirl around his feet and then stream away down the drain, much as his past was draining away from him now. Who was he, if his entire history was erased and gone? Who did he want to be?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached for a tiny bottle that was presumably shampoo, opened it and gave it a sniff. It had a synthetic odor of cucumber and mint; acceptable. He lathered his hair and let it rinse away, fingers probing a cut on his scalp that had bled copiously not long ago, already sealed by his accelerated healing abilities. He explored the other wounds that had been steadily accumulating since his first encounter with the TVA, none of them proving serious. The gash on his arm was healing, albeit a bit more slowly, with a thick crust of black blood and filth preventing the edges of the wound from closing. He grit his teeth and scrubbed until it was clean and bleeding freely, then leaned back against the vinyl shower wall and waited for the pain to subside./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He didn't know how long he remained there, endless hot water needling his skin until he was numb. When he finally reached for the tap, he wondered how long it might be until Sylvie returned. So strange that things still seemed to progress forward, that time still had meaning./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He dried himself with a small, bleach-smelling towel and wrapped it around his waist, taking a second one to dry his hair and leaving it draped and dripping over his shoulders as he left the bathroom in a rolling cloud of steam. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He was still alone in the cabin, and it was silent except for the gentle whir of the air circulation system and nearly imperceptible heartbeat thrum of the engines many decks below. Sylvie's sheathed sword lay on the bed where she had left it. He puzzled at it for a moment. He knew she had removed it so as not to raise suspicion if she encountered passengers or crew, but it was also an outward act of protection and trust. She had entrusted her weapon to him. He smiled and walked past it to the second bed, reclining against the pillows to wait for Sylvie's return./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You didn't have to push me," he muttered, rising to his feet and brushing at his trousers as if to remove the dust, a hopeless effort given the layers of grime now embedded in the TVA-issued fabric. Sylvie didn't notice, her attention fixed on the TemPad in her hands. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""If I hadn't, you'd still be nattering on." She poked at the Pad and it gave a few chirps as it dialed in their next destination, but then a descending tone warned that another jump was out of the question. Sylvie huffed her exasperation. "Low power again. Who designed these things?!" For a moment it looked as if she were ready to throw the Pad to the floor, but she composed herself enough to slip it into a pocket at her belt. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Where are we?" Loki asked, then turned in alarm as he heard the heavy thunk of a door latch and footsteps quickly descending the stairs. A young man in a crisp blue service uniform rushed by with a clipboard in his hands, barely noticing the two time travelers who backed themselves against the wall to let him pass. Loki's eyes followed him suspiciously./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""2344," Sylvie replied, hurriedly grabbing Loki by the arm and pulling him the opposite way. They ascended the stairs two at a time. "Aboard the Sol system starliner, Majestic. We have about twelve hours before she's destroyed by an asteroid impact over Jupiter."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Great, another imminent catastrophe. So what's the rush?" Loki wrenched his arm away but kept pace a stride behind her, stretching out an arm to hold the heavy hatch door as she opened it. They emerged into a warmly lit corridor, finely appointed with crimson wool carpet and wall sconces dripping crystals. It looked like the hallway of a ritzy hotel. Sylvie looked quickly in both directions, then darted down the right side corridor. Loki hurried to follow./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not everyone dies." She tucked herself against the wall as they came to a junction and peeked around the corner, her hand smacking Loki in the chest to keep him out of sight. The muffled sounds of laughter, conversation, and clinking tableware suggested they were near a banquet hall. Judging the coast clear, Sylvie took off again, continuing down the hallway./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What do you mean?" Loki asked as he struggled to keep up, brow furrowed in frustration. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not everyone dies," she repeated, checking room numbers as they quickly progressed down the corridor, passing rows of brushed stainless steel hatch doors with wheel-like gold handles. "The Majestic explodes in a fiery disaster, but there will be a few survivors. We need to be careful."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're saying, there's a chance we could initiate a Nexus event and alert the TVA to our presence here?" Loki watched as Sylvie pressed a few keys on the dying TemPad and held it to the scanner beside a nondescript door. The hatch's handle spun slowly to the right, there was an audible click, and the door eased open with a gentle hiss. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yes," Sylvie said simply, and Loki followed her inside. The door hissed again and clicked shut behind them, and Sylvie flicked on a light. They were inside what appeared to be an economy class cabin, much like a small hotel room, with a pair of full size beds, vanity table, and a cramped bathroom./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You've been here before." Loki surmised as he glanced around. There was no sign of habitation in the room, no luggage or trash, the towels were folded, and the beds were still neatly made. "Why not somewhere, er… some /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"time/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;", that's safer? Like you did before, choose complete devastation so nothing we do will make a difference?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We don't know what this new TVA knows… how much they know about /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"me/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". They might already be looking for us in a catastrophic event. Either way, we should be safe as long as we don't do anything to interfere with the timeline or make a life-changing impression on anyone. Only a handful of people survive anyway." She shrugged, loosening the baldric from her hip and tossing her sword onto the nearer bed. "Besides, the Majestic's reasonably comfortable and the food's good."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What about the TemPad? How are we going to get out of here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""There'll be a massive systems monitoring failure after the asteroid collision. We should have about eighteen minutes to charge the TemPad from the backup power converters and open a portal before the engine core goes. Plenty of time."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And between now and then?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Eat, rest, and clean ourselves up." Sylvie sniffed pointedly in Loki's direction, eyeing his filthy, bloodied clothes. "Not necessarily in that order."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Point taken," he replied with a flicker of a smile, but his expression fell again as she turned back toward the door. "Where are you going?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'll find us some clean clothes. Go ahead and shower first. I'll be back in a few minutes." Before Loki had a chance to object, Sylvie ducked out into the hallway and the door hiss-clicked closed behind her. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Loki was alone, and he stood in a momentary daze. The events of the last few days (Weeks? Hours? It was so difficult to mark the passage of time when timelines kept shifting out from under him.) were a confused blur, punctuated with brief moments of respite and intense violence. Finding Sylvie again after they were separated on return to the TVA, after the death of He Who Remains, after the creation of this alternate reality, he'd only thought to share what he'd learned. But, as usual, Sylvie had other ideas. She'd purged three guards and stole a TemPad, and now, here they were again, running from this newly minted, deviant TVA. And what would be their eventual goal? Kill Kang again? And again? And again? Hoping for some different outcome? /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Loki shook his head and walked into the bathroom, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Sylvie was right, he looked awful. His TVA-issued clothes were layered with grime, torn and bloodied. He had a large smudge of mud over his left cheek, blood in his greasy, bedgraggled hair, and a bruise on his jaw already turning green as it healed. Dirt had settled darkly into the creases around his eyes, mouth, and forehead, and he frowned at the spectre of age staring back at him. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached into the narrow shower chamber and turned on the water, waited until the steam rose in mushroom clouds to the ceiling before he stripped and stepped in. He stood in the blast of the low volume, high pressure jets, watching puddles of muddy brown water swirl around his feet and then stream away down the drain, much as his past was draining away from him now. Who was he, if his entire history was erased and gone? Who did he want to be?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached for a tiny bottle that was presumably shampoo, opened it and gave it a sniff. It had a synthetic odor of cucumber and mint; acceptable. He lathered his hair and let it rinse away, fingers probing a cut on his scalp that had bled copiously not long ago, already sealed by his accelerated healing abilities. He explored the other wounds that had been steadily accumulating since his first encounter with the TVA, none of them proving serious. The gash on his arm was healing, albeit a bit more slowly, with a thick crust of black blood and filth preventing the edges of the wound from closing. He grit his teeth and scrubbed until it was clean and bleeding freely, then leaned back against the vinyl shower wall and waited for the pain to subside./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He didn't know how long he remained there, endless hot water needling his skin until he was numb. When he finally reached for the tap, he wondered how long it might be until Sylvie returned. So strange that things still seemed to progress forward, that time still had meaning./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He dried himself with a small, bleach-smelling towel and wrapped it around his waist, taking a second one to dry his hair and leaving it draped and dripping over his shoulders as he left the bathroom in a rolling cloud of steam. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He was still alone in the cabin, and it was silent except for the gentle whir of the air circulation system and nearly imperceptible heartbeat thrum of the engines many decks below. Sylvie's sheathed sword lay on the bed where she had left it. He puzzled at it for a moment. He knew she had removed it so as not to raise suspicion if she encountered passengers or crew, but it was also an outward act of protection and trust. She had entrusted her weapon to him. He smiled and walked past it to the second bed, reclining against the pillows to wait for Sylvie's return./span/p
