Summary: "'I have some unfinished business with the TVA.'" The other Loki variants struggle to trust Mobius. Loki takes it into his own hands to solve the problem. One-shot. Can be viewed as a sequel to In A Pizza Car At The End Of Time and/or a prequel to To Change The Corrupted.
Setting Things Right
As soon as the group had settled to enchant Alioth rather than to kill it, a silence befell them.
Both the eldest and the youngest Lokis were watching Mobius curiously, having no doubt realized that he wasn't exactly one of them. His own eyes glanced over at them, unphased by their obvious curiosity of who he was. Loki glanced between them nervously, clearly unsure as to what would happen. Sylvie merely huffed in annoyance, shifting impatiently beside Mobius as she shot the alligator a glare of distrust. He wanted to laugh.
"Well?" He prompted, keeping his voice light and tilting his head slightly at the odd trio. He almost smiled. "Say it."
"You're from the TVA." The eldest finally said, his voice void of any malice.
Mobius offered him a small nod of confirmation. "Yeah."
The boy's eyes narrowed at the testimony. His voice was sharper than the elder's. "What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Sylvie fired back, taking half a step forward.
Loki's shoulders visibly tensed.
"Easy." Mobius murmured, reaching out to grasp the female variant's shoulder. "They're fine."
She shook his hand from her, though she seemed to obediently deflate at the gentle tone of his voice. "They don't trust you."
"They shouldn't." He huffed, almost amused.
The youngest Loki's mouth opened, as if to say something, but he closed it with a firm nod of approval, as if the exchange between Mobius and Sylvie was all he needed for his doubt to extinguish. He glanced up to the Loki variant beside him.
There was a flash of something akin to understanding in the old man's eyes, and he turned back to the others. "We should find shelter, get some rest before the time to face Alioth comes."
Everyone else seemed to relax at those words.
The old blue pizza car bounced along the endless grasslands of the Void, making good time despite being over-capacitated.
Beside Mobius, the child Loki rode shotgun with the alligator in his arms, his distant gaze looking out over the lands. Loki himself sat directly behind Mobius, Sylvie in the middle, the eldest Loki on her right. It was uncomfortably quiet, other than the sputter of the engine and the roars of Alioth in the near distance.
"What will you do?" It was the eldest who asked, meeting Mobius's eyes in the mirror.
Consideringly, he said,"I have some unfinished business with the TVA."
"You're going back?" Loki questioned, flabbergasted and no doubt disapproving.
Mobius grimaced, but nodded nonetheless. "Someone has to set things right. B-15 can't do it alone."
"What if you get pruned again? You were lucky to escape Alioth once, there's no way you'll do it again."
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen." He promised. He glanced at Sylvie. "You said you stole Ravonna's TemPad?"
She nodded, silently holding the device up for him to see.
"Good. I'll need that."
"How do we know you won't betray us?" The boy asked.
The alligator let out a throaty growl, evidently sharing the same doubts. Or it was simply bothered by a rougher jerk of the car.
Mobius smiled, because the answer was obvious. "I'm not a Loki. Besides, it's more of your guys' thing." To humor them, he added,"Betrayal's too complicated for me anyway."
Loki decided to take it upon himself to settle the situation. "He got pruned on my behalf. He's the most trustworthy of us all."
Sylvie blinked at Mobius, a mix of surprise and appreciation crossing her face.
There was a glimmer of respect in the eldest's eyes.
The boy averted his gaze, distantly looking out the window again.
Mobius offered them a tight smile, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel and looking ahead once more to scan the landscape for anything that could pass as shelter in such a barren place.
