Hidden in Plain Sight

"Can you make bird noises?"

Flashback to 79 AD, that's where they were, testing out Loki's theory on a historic natural disaster: Pompeii.

"Bird noises?"

"Yeah, bird noises," Mobius repeated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Like some, wooshing noises, you know? Like, coo, coo, coo-"

Loki cut him off with a scoff and ran out into the street.

"Loki!" hissed Mobius. "Loki!"

Loki wasted no time in creating chaos. First, he let lose a cartful of goats who were more than happy to run away. "Go! Be free! Be free, my horned friends! Be free!" Then he began addressing the townsfolk in their native tongue, introducing himself and the others, telling the people exactly what they were doing.

Now it was Mobius's turn to scoff. "Is he always like this?" he asked, once again looking very unimpressed.

Sigyn was quick to answer. "Oh, yes."

"Enjoy your last meal while you can!" Loki began hurling food around at them. "NOTHING MATTERS! Nothing has any consequence! Dance while you still can - come one Sig!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out into the street, twirling her around.

BOOM!

There was the volcano...

"Right on cue!"

Mobius looked down at the TemPad in his hands. "I don't believe it: zero variance energy and no branching in the timeline!"

"They'd be hiding right in plain sight," Sigyn said. "Brilliant!"

"The TVA would never even know we were here," Loki stated matter-of-factly. "If this were me, this is where I would hide." He beamed at the success of his venture, although this was strange against the exploding volcano and screaming townsfolk in the background.

"Well, it is you."

"Exactly!"

"Doomsdays! Our Variant has been ambushing our soldiers and hiding out in doomsdays to cover his tracks!" Mobius practically burst through the portal back to the TVA, Loki and Sigyn in tow.

"You're welcome."

"Yeah, but in order for this theory to hold, the disasters have to be naturally occurring, sudden, no warning, no survivors."

"Well how many of those disasters could there possibly be?"

"I don't know but we're gonna find out-"

"Anything?"

"No, nothing."

"How long has it been?"

"Kablooie," Mobius suddenly said.

"What?"

"It's candy, do you have that on Asgard?"

"Yes, of course: fruit, nuts..."

"No wonder you're so bitter..." Mobius went to go retrieve some more files to look through.

"What does 'Kablooie' have to do with any of this?"

"A kid in 16th century France had some, a gift from our Variant. Okay, so Kablooie was only sold regionally on Earth from 2047-2051. All you've got to do is cross-reference that with every apocalyptic event."

"Well that narrows down our search considerably," Sigyn devised.

"Yeah, I mean how many apocalyptic events are there that fit our description?" Loki agreed.

"Eh..." Mobius, on the other hand, didn't seem so convinced. "We'll see..."

"Got him!" Sometime later - all three had lost track of time, once again (Mobius was right, time did work differently here) - Loki's sudden cry was music to their ears.

Alabama, 2051 - that was where they were headed. Now they knew where they had to go - the only catch? It was in the middle of a hurricane that would soon wipe out the city.

"Doomsdays, huh?" sighed Sigyn.

Loki nodded. "Doomsdays."

"Oh, we're doing some good work today!" Mobius very nearly had a skip in his step as they headed to ready themselves for the mission. "I'm telling you, you actually help us catch this Variant, and who knows, my friend..."

"What, good enough for a face-to-face with the Time-Keepers?" Loki asked.

"I didn't say that. One step at a time."

"Do I get a weapon?" Loki asked.

"Just in case." Mobius handed him a pair of daggers. The look on Loki's face upon receiving them was priceless.

"Absolutely not!" Almost immediately after being handed them, Hunter B-15 snatched the daggers right from his hands and instead, handed them over to Sigyn. "Here you go."

"Oh, thank you." She flashed a grin at Loki. "We can share. And what's this about meeting with the Time-Keepers?"

"A reward for helping the TVA."

"I know that look... I've seen it so many times..."

Loki was grinning now.

The whole team gathered for a briefing before stepping out into the field.

"If you see a Loki, prune it," ordered Hunter B-15.

"The bad Loki, preferably," Loki clarified.

They were met by a fierce storm as soon as they emerged from the portals and set foot on the branch - everyone was soaking wet from the rain by the time they entered the warehouse.

As soon as they entered the warehouse Mobius and B-15 started arguing about who Loki would go with. Finally, they settled on that he would go with Hunter B-15.

"Keep an eye on him," Mobius bade Sigyn.

"Always," was her response.

At first, the warehouse seemed empty, eerily so. That was until they reached the garden section - Sigyn's personal favourite.

A man stood there, one of the civilians trying to find safety in the warehouse. Hunter B-15 reached out to him and when she did, he fell to the ground, limp and motionless.

"Is he dead?" Loki asked.

"No, they usually survive. Usually..." She whirled around and shoved him backwards. "So, you're the fool the TVA brought in to hunt me down."

"Me, I presume."

"Oh please - if anyone's anyone, you're me." The Variant as B-15 flashed a large grin before switching bodies again.

"What? Too shy to meet me face to face? Show yourself!"

"Loki!" Sigyn cried.

"Yes?" Both turned to face her.

"Loki?"

"Sigyn!"

"Sorry Darling, but you need to stay out of this," said the Variant.

"Oh I hate it when you do that!" She stormed over.

"I said stay out of it!" They shoved her just as she reached them, and she was thrown back, landing right near Hunter -15 who was stirring awake. She appeared very shaken.

"Hey-" Sigyn reached out and gently touched the soldier's arm. "Are you all right?"

Loki was still trying to get the Variant to uncover something, anything about themselves and what they were doing. "What is this about?"

Finally, the figure revealed themselves - their true self - reaching up and removing the hood of their long cloak to reveal:

A blonde woman, a small horned headpiece atop her head, one of the horns broken off. When she spoke, it was a hiss. "This isn't about you."

"Right..."

"Well, I admit, I wasn't expecting that," Sigyn exclaimed.

The Variant had a TemPad in her hands and used it to open a portal. She gave Loki a cheeky little wave, and blew Sigyn a kiss, and then she disappeared.

Sigyn knew exactly what Loki was going to do - again, that best friend connection they shared.

"Loki!" Mobius was charging down the hall towards them, Hunters in tow. It seemed the TVA Agent had guessed Loki's next move as well. "Wait, Loki wait! Wait!"

"Loki, no, don't-" Sigyn was inclined to agree with the Agent on this.

But they were too late, or acting in vain, or both. There was no stopping him.

He dashed through the portal and it sealed shut behind him, once again cutting them off from each other.

"Damn it!" cried Mobius.

Once again, Sigyn was all too inclined to agree with him.

Just have to say that I love Sophie Di Martino in this show! ;)

Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)