Glorious Purpose

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Marvel and of the Beeb. I wish they were, maybe in another life or a different universe. However, not in this one. Please leave a review if you have enjoyed what you have read. Thank you for taking the time to read my work

Chapter 1

Loki sat on the floor mentally exhausted. Reeling from what Mobius was telling him about the TVA, he breathed heavily from landing heavily on the hard linoleum. The Time Twister only moved him, not the furniture apparently. Mobius looked down at him with contempt, "You weren't born to be king, Loki, you were born to cause pain and suffering and death. That's how it is, that's how it was, that's how it always will be. All so that others can achieve the best versions of themselves."

Loki gritted his teeth as the individual Avengers were projected on to the wall to the side of him. Mobius appeared to like making grandiose speeches. Loki wasn't the only one in the room who liked to talk. Loki shook his head and looked away as Mobius approached him, his shoes clicked on the floor. He offered him a hand to help him up. Loki felt insulted, disoriented and confused. Looking around Mobius at the Avengers montage that was continuing to play behind him. "What is this place?" he breathed.

"Come on." said Mobius, wriggling his fingers encouragingly. Loki sighed as he leant forward resigned, reaching for Mobius' hand. As he was pulled to his feet Loki took the opportunity to reach in to Mobius' jacket pocket. He pulled out the first thing his fingers touched. At that moment the door behind him banged open, creating a welcome distraction. Hunter B-15 marched through the open door.

"What are you doing?" she asked, observing the scene in front of her.

"My job. Is it yours to interrupt?" Mobius replied tersely.

"We have a situation..."

Mobius sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There's always a situation." He pointed at Loki and said "Don't go anywhere". Then moved towards Hunter B-15 before he turned back to Loki "It's just getting good. Spirited." He jogged out of the door, as it banged shut once more.

Loki quickly looked at the tiny device he had fished out of Mobius' pocket. He didn't have much time to dally about; he could hear Mobius arguing on the other side of the door. Loki used his thumbs to press two of the small buttons simultaneously. His vision briefly blackened, accompanied by a faint feeling of nausea. He appeared in corridor lit by overhead lighting. Surprised, he looked around him in an attempt to get his bearings. A rectangle of light appeared behind him, he stiffened in case he needed to run. The couple exited the portal and carried on down the opposite end of the corridor. Ahead of him Loki noticed the clerk he had handed over The Tesseract to earlier. He was busy pushing a trolley filled with confiscated items. Loki moved after him, with a small smile playing on his lips. This was going to be easy...

He turned the corner he reached a wooden door at end of the corridor. Loki hurriedly opened it into a room that was dimly lit, filled with desks. He spotted the clerk nearby and called out "hey".

The clerk turned looking surprised, he pointed at Loki (this happened a lot) "Hey" he replied "I know you. You're that criminal with the blue box!"

Loki pulled the cowering man to the floor, behind a desk, shushing him all the while "ow" said the clerk. He continued to gawp at Loki, his mouth hanging open. Encountering escaped criminals didn't appear to happen often. Loki felt a glimmer of pride as he glowered at the fearful clerk beside him.

He asked "what's your name?" there was no need not to be polite, after all.

"Casey." Replied the clerk in a scared, high-pitched voice.

"Give me the Tesseract, or I'll gut you like a fish, Casey." He snarled

"What's a fish?" asked a bewildered looking Casey. Asgard give me strength thought Loki as he, once again, shushed the terrified man. "What's a fish?" repeated the clerk, whispering. Loki straightened himself out while staying hidden.

"How do you not know what a fish is?" He quietly blurted out.

"I've lived my entire life behind a desk..." Casey began to explain.

"Well, what difference does that make?" Loki asked.

"...I want to know exactly what I'm being threatened with before I comply" Casey continued.

"Death, Casey. Violent, painful death." Hissed Loki as he bared his teeth.

"Okay, Okay. I comply, I comply," said Casey raising his hands in a gesture of appeasement. He stood saying "I comply. Jeez". Then moved towards a filing cabinet and opened a draw. Loki moved beside him as Casey lifted The Tesseract out and handed it over. Loki gave a sigh of relief; it was once again in his grasp. Loki looked beyond the glowing blue box, into the filing cabinet draw. It seemed a strange place to keep such an important object. Inside were multiple infinity stones, chucked in along with other items of unimportance.

"What?" asked Loki

"I thought you must be the other guy with The Blue Box, these are so commonplace I didn't understand why it would be so important to you to find these." Casey burbled nervously, gesturing the infinity stones. "We have so many of them some of the guys even use them as paperweights."

Loki gasped as he grasped just how unimportant the infinity stones were here. Everything that was happening in his timeline was utterly inconsequential. He moved over to where a screen was displaying The Sacred Timeline muttering "'other guy with a Blue Box...'". Casey moved to stand beside him. Together they looked at the Timeline, as other TVA workers carried on their work as though he was of no consequence.

"What other guy with a Blue Box? Another Tesseract? Another me?" He asked a now calm Casey. Perhaps they could work together...

"No, we don't know his name. The Minutemen have never managed to bring him in, we only know him as The Doctor" Loki pondered this information and tapped his chin. "and he has a Blue Box like mine?"

Casey shook his head "Not like yours; his looks like a police telephone box but it's actually a time machine." Loki raised an eyebrow. Now this man sounded like someone he should get to know.

A ding sounded as it announced the arrival of an elevator. Loki turned quickly, in time to see, Hunter B-15 rush from the elevator. She raised her pruning baton. Loki pulled Mobius' device from his pockets and did as he had done before. A brief blackness, a pang of nausea enveloped him. He fell back into the room he was in previously with Mobius. He landed on his backside, inelegantly panting. Again.

Loki stood up and flung Mobius' Time Twister device on to the table with the projector on it. It was still showing the Avengers. He sat himself down at the table where Mobius had sat and scrolled through the videos that were stored on the projector. He found the one he was looking for; an image of Frigga inert on the floor. His throat constricted with emotion as his breathing became ragged. He scrolled further finding a video of Odin smiling benevolently as he said "I love you, my sons. Remember this place. Home." Odin died evaporating into golden dust motes. Loki breathed deeply trying to reign in his burgeoning emotions, tears began to fall down his face. The video continued on; showing the conversation he and Thor had after Odin's death. Loki usually tried not to think about memories that caused pain. He preferred to live in the moment. The projection moved through more interactions with his brother. It caused him to laugh quietly as the video started to show his ultimate confrontation with Thanos. He stood moving closer to the projection of himself being choked to death. He realised how utterly pointless all this was in the face of the TVA. He didn't need to die; countless others hadn't needed to die. The TVA had hundreds of Infinity Stones; they could have changed the course of history anytime they liked. He had never felt so inconsequential, never so unimportant. He heard his neck snap on the video and felt sick. He drew in ragged breathes to stop a wave of sickness that threatened to wash over him. He watched as Thor began to mourn the death of his brother. As the reel ended, Loki began to snigger quietly at first, then louder and louder.

The door behind him banged open, in walked Mobius. "What's so funny?" he inquired, annoyed, closing the door behind him.

"Glorius Purpose" he responded. Not bothering to turn round. Instead, he held his head in his hands, then sat on the floor feeling bereft. "I can't go back, can I? Back to my timeline". Loki took a deep breath, using it to take a moment to analyse his feelings. Something he didn't usually spend any time doing. He lifted his head and looked at Mobius, "I don't enjoy hurting people. I... don't enjoy it." he sighed "I do it because I have to. Because I had to..."

"Okay. Explain that to me." Asked Mobius, looking intently at Loki.

"Because it's part of the illusion. It's a cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear." Loki elaborated

"A desperate bid for control. You do know yourself," Mobius smiled as he let the pruning baton fall to his side.

"A villain."

"That's not how I see it," Mobius said kindly.

Loki dropped his head allowing the feeling of guilt to flood through him. He picked up The Tesseract to examine it. "Even Infinity Stones are useless here... This Blue Box is useless. And yes, before you ask, I have tried to use it. Many times." He sighed as he dropped it on to the floor. He looked up saying "back in the office, before you and Hunter B-15 shows up, Casey mentioned that I wasn't the most dangerous criminal with a Blue Box. He said that was someone called The Doctor?" He watched Mobius' response carefully. Mobius stilled ever so slightly then swallowed before answering.

"The Doctor is one of many criminals we are hunting who have committed crimes against The Sacred Timeline." he answered shrugging, seemingly nonchalant. "In my experience The TVA is formidable, and we will capture anyone who tampers with it. Look, I can see that you 're at the beginning of an existential crises here, I can't offer you salvation. Though I may be able to offer you something better... A fugitive variant has been killing off our Minutemen."

Loki stood. Noting Mobius' evasion of his question, he approached the older man slowly "And you need the God of Mischief to help you stop him?"

"That's right" confirmed Mobius calmly

"Why me?" queried Loki

"Because the variant we're hunting is... you."

That stopped Loki in his tracks, he raised his eye brows "I beg your pardon?"

~o0o~

Loki played in her sun lit bedroom, in The Royal Palace of Valaskjalf, in Asgard. She was playing with her favourite toys; Valkyrie and a dragon. Discarded toys lay around her as her imagination took flight "Dragon swoops towards the palace, Valkyrie flies over, defeats the dragon and saves Asgard...". The young girl was so engrossed in her play that she was unaware of a golden rectangle of light that appeared behind her. Minutemen poured out, headed by Ravonna Renslayer. Loki turned her head towards the sound of footsteps, as Renslayer scanned the girl with a Tempad.

"That's our variant" announced Ravonna. The other Minutemen advanced on the startled child. "On the authority of the Timekeepers, I hereby arrest you for crimes against The Sacred Timeline." The Minutemen handed over the struggling, but silent Loki to her. Holding the child's upper arm firmly in her grasp, Ravonna dragged the girl in the direction of the golden portal. "Reset it" she called over her shoulder.

"Wait!", Shrieked Loki as she was pulled through the golden rectangle. Loki arrived in a lobby, there was an insignia of the Time Variance Authority at her feet. She looked around her in bewildered fear. Renslayer's hand was still firmly around her upper arm. As she was taken through a reception area a man shouted as he struggled against a group of Minuteman holding him. "Help him!" shouted Loki through panicked breaths as she too tried to resist Renslayer's hold on her. Loki's was processed by the TVA; she found herself dressed in a tiny version of TVA overalls, then walked through the scanner to find out that she wasn't a robot. A photo of her temporal aura was taken. Everything happened so quickly, that before she fully understood what was happening, had happened to her, she found herself before a Judge.

"Next case!", he called.

It is in that moment Loki recalled the sparing she practiced with her brother. All the times she played dirty and won. She bit the wrist of the Hunter holding her, twisted in her grasp before stamping on her foot.

"Next case!" the Judge shouted impatiently.

"Right here!" responded Ravonna, irked, turning to the judge. Loki used the distraction to wriggle free from her captor's grip. The Hunter turned back toward the child realising with dread that the child had hold a TemPad. The variant had opened a portal. Loki turned fleeing through the portal into a town square as the portal closed behind her.

Loki turned to make sure the golden portal was no longer there, before she looked around her. The scent of summer filled the air. Warm, low sunlight filled the square. To one side there was a restaurant with people eating food, drinking wine, filling the space with chatter. There was a red-haired man, near the fountain painting the scene at the restaurant. Closer to her there was a boulangerie, already closed for the evening. A grocer had just begun to pack up her barrow. She breathed in a long shaking breath as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She sat herself down on the ledge of the fountain, closed her eyes and pulled her legs up to her chin. She focused on the sound the water made as it spilled through the fountain. From what she had gathered at the TVA, her adopted family and everything she knew was gone. It simply didn't exist anymore. She was alone and from what the TemPad said she was in 1890s Provence. It didn't mean anything to her, she was only a child. The clothing the people around her wore, smell of the food was all completely alien to her. The only people looking for her wanted to harm her.

Loki felt a nudge on her arm and jerked awake, she must have nodded off. She looked about her shocked, the woman with the barrow was offering her an apple. The night had begun drawing in and across the square the café had begun to shut for the night.

"Are you alright, ma cherie? Are you staying somewhere?" The woman asked, drawing Loki's her attention back from the orange lit café. Loki took the apple from the middle-aged woman.

"Merci beaucoup." Loki was always polite to others; Frigga had taught both her and Thor to be kind to those around them. Loki's attention was drawn to the eatery once again as someone inside began shouting.

"Come on! Come on! One Painting for one drink. That's not a bad deal!" said the voice. A man in a black suit and white bow tie emerged carrying a painting, immediately followed by a dishevelled looking man she had seen painting the café earlier.

"It wouldn't be a bad deal," said the Maitre'd, "if the painting were any good. I can't hang this on my walls. It would scare my customers half to death. It's bad enough having you here in person, let alone looming over the customers day and night in a stupid hat. You pay money or you get out". Loki raised her eyebrows, this man obviously liked to hear the sound of his own voice.

"I'll pay if you like." Said a man in a tweed jacket and bowtie, sat at a table. Loki turned from the scene it wasn't anything she needed to concern herself about. Having food and shelter for the evening was the most pressing thing. The woman beside her drew her eyes away from what was going on and looked down at Loki.

"No. No, I'm not. Do you know where I can stay the night, please?" Asked Loki quietly.

"You can stay with me if you like, it's best not to be out on the streets at night, cherie. There have been some murders of late. Rumour has it, he's the culprit." She jerked her head in the direction of the shouting man. Loki nodded her head, she just wanted to feel safe.

"Comment t'appelles-tu?" Loki asked, enquiring as to the woman's name.

"Ma nom est Sylvie," The woman replied smiling kindly. "Come on, it's getting late. Jean will be getting worried". She patted her barrow indicating that Loki should sit on it as she pulled. "What's your name?" Sylvie asked. As they left the square the people at the café appeared to be laughing at the scruffy looking man.

"Ma nom est Loki," she replied. The orange light ebbed the further away from the café, night enveloped them as they moved through the narrow streets, past a police telephone box. Loki usually liked the dark, the better for pulling tricks on her brother and his friends. However, for the first time in her life Loki felt a prickle of fear as the dark swallowed her. There was indeed something stalking the night time streets of the town, she could sense it.