Mabel drew her sword from her back out of some sort of ancient muscle memory. She swung it around in her hand and took hold of the hilt.

No one was expecting a battle. Not like this. The TVA exuded absolute authority, and time sticks and time collars were the most effective weapons she'd come across. But now without those things, the danger factor seemed to multiply. She glanced at Mobius.

"Zabu, protect Mobius if you can."

Zabu looked up at her with an I won't leave you kind of expression.

"Please. He's not used to being without devices."

He growled and stalked over to Mobius and began pacing in front of him.

"I'm not exactly incapable Mabes," he shouted to her, as Kid Loki threw him a dagger.

She smirked a little and put her focus back on task. Her Valkyrie training was mixing with her TVA training.

Sylvie had drawn her sword. Scarlet had taken two electric batons from the cache of weapons at the bowling alley and had them positioned in front of her. Kid Loki had his daggers out, and the elder Loki's hands were glowing green with magic. They were each formidable in their own way.

Still, this wouldn't be easy, eight to twenty.

"Last chance to back out," she said to her friends.

"We're doing it for both of you," said Mobius.

"Quit trying to get rid of me," said Scarlet with a wink.

Mabel took a deep breath. She set her eyes on her timeline Loki, and her stomach tightened. His eyes bored into hers. The look on his face was filled with amusement, as though this situation was a delightful surprise, instead of a complete nightmare.

Those eyes. Even when they were together in her world, they looked like that. She had been naïve, thought it was love. Now she knew the difference. These eyes were a trick. A hoax. She'd seen the real thing from the same set of blue eyes, and she would be damned if her ex-husband in front of her was going to keep her from the real thing.

"I thought you were dead," he called out.

"I chose a different path," she yelled back. "Where are you keeping him?"

His eyes filled with jealousy for a moment, then his gaze smoothed back to calm collection. "Ah. Interesting. I thought you were coming to take my throne, but now I see this is a rescue mission? Oh Sigyn. He's not worth your time."

"Neither are you."

"Come, come wife. Join me. There's a place at my side."

"I'll never trust another word you say. You're a liar."

"You think he's not? We're all the same, all of us."

Mabel looked at Sylvie. She looked at older Loki, Kid Loki. They smiled at each other. She looked at the alligator in the grass. Alright, she didn't know about him. But the other three, all choosing different paths. Not broken. Healing.

"I'll never believe that," she said.

His gaze went dark. "Kill them," he said.

The Variants looked back at him in confusion. "That's Sigyn," they called back.

"So?" he said. "Do it, or I'll string you up like the cowards you are!"

Before they could charge, Mabel heard a commotion coming up the hill behind her. She turned quickly, and saw the other Loki army, weapons out, being led by the boastful Variant with the makeshift hammer. Relief washed her from head to toe. He nodded at her, and set the hammer above his head, ready to throw.

That seemed to galvanize the other army. They started running at them, loud whoops and yells coming from their throats. Mabel ran forward, hitting one in the head with the hilt of her sword, and swiped his legs, knocking him to the ground. She looked at Scarlet who had just dropped a Variant with her batons. Scarlet nodded toward the city. "Go," she mouthed.

The battlefield was complete chaos. It was hard to tell who the good or bad Loki's were. She glanced at Kid Loki who was holding his own, and Classic Loki who'd hidden himself behind a rock, and was completely confusing the other army with projections of himself and others from their party.

"Go find him," called Sylvie. "We'll hold these off."

Mabel nodded and ran toward the precipice.

Before she could get there, something large and green knocked into her and she landed on her side in the grass. She looked up, as a giant green Variant with actual horns coming out of his head loomed over her, his fist pummeling toward her on the ground.

As she flinched, Zabu leapt upon Hulk Loki, and bit into his arm. He yelped in pain and threw him off. Zabu hit the grass a few feet away.

"Zabu! No!" cried Mabel.

Alligator Loki slithered through the grass, and nudged Zabu with his nose. The tiger pulled himself to his feet and shook his fur. The alligator wound his way up the green monsters leg, biting all the way up. Zabu hurled himself at him again and both together forced Hulk Loki to the ground as he whimpered.

Mabel blew Zabu a kiss and took off running again. She hopped over the precipice and jumped from concrete boulder to boulder down to the rubble below.

She closed her eyes. Where are you? she asked.

The light sparked in her core. She pulled at it, and let it flow down her limbs, and settle back up in her brain. Tell me where you are.

Sigyn.

She felt his consciousness meld into hers and she gasped. He was in pain. And so lonely.

I'm coming to find you. Stay with me.

The amount of energy it took to keep connected with him like this was enormous. She focused her mind on his voice. It was becoming louder, and she knew it was because she was getting closer.

How I wish you were real.

I'm real, I'm coming.

She rounded a decrepit city bus and then she saw it. The only completely upright building in this whole place. She knew in an instant that's where he was.

She took off running, the connection draining her. Her legs slowed, but she willed them to keep moving. A crack in the concrete opened next to a door, and she could see stairs leading downward to a parking garage. She dragged herself through and stumbled down the steps.

"Loki? Loki!"

She called his name as she entered the huge open area. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. A fire in a trash can had burned down, just the remnants of a glow remained. She ran over to it and threw in some debris and a couple of logs, the flames catching and rising. She turned her head and her breath caught.

"Loki!" Relief and despair washed over her in equal measure.

He was chained to a large concrete boulder, his back stretched, arms pulled by bonds, eyes closed. His forehead was burned down to his cheek.

"Darling!" She staggered to him and yanked at the chains, but they wouldn't budge. She pulled her sword from her back, lifting it high over her head. It barreled down and hit the shackles, bouncing off causing no damage. No wonder he couldn't pull free, they were magic, likely made by her ex-husband. How could he fight against his own type of sorcery?

"Sigyn?" he asked weakly.

"I'm here." She crawled up to him, stroking his cheek with her hand, kissing his temple. He was ice cold. His head lolled, his eyes barely open. "Oh Loki, I'm here."

He suddenly winced as a drop of liquid hit his face from above. She looked up into the dim light. Some sort of acid or venom dripped from a pipe. His poor beautiful face. It was burned, sizzling coming from the spot where the fluid had dropped.

She looked around desperately. There was a discarded and chipped bowl on the ground. She grabbed it, and climbed back onto the boulder, holding the vessel under the venom. It hissed as it hit the dish.

"Darling, hang on. I'll find some way to free…" She couldn't finish her sentence, as a bolt of green energy hit her, and she flew into a pillar, her helmet clattering to the ground a few feet away.