CHAPTER 4

[picks up a few hours after chapter 3]

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Mobius buttoned up a fresh shirt, looking at himself in the mirror as he fastened the top button snug against his neck. He was spending some time in his unit refreshing after Loki and he had returned from Pylea. TVA agents don't need much in the way of amenities; his unit was little more than 100 square feet. It had the basic necessities: a bed, a micro-washroom, closet, mirror, a desk with a lamp, and just enough floor to walk to each feature. Mobius rarely came back to his unit, never needing much sleep in a timeless place, but he liked taking a moment to clear his head and grab a clean suit. This time Mobius valued this time in private to think through the tangle of ideas in his head. What was "Sylvie" up to? He learned from how she talked that she hated the TVA. Was this a personal vendetta? That wouldn't be too surprising - she's a Variant and even if she hadn't been killing Minutemen she would've been deleted after a swift trial. It seems like more than just that. Why steal the reset charges? Grabbing his tie and placing it on his neck, he scanned his memory for everything she said. One thing in particular had been playing on repeat in his head since he got some privacy: 'A TVA agent, out here in an apocalypse, without anyone to protect him? Breaking all his precious rules? And a Loki that cares about someone besides himself?... You two are an odd pair.'... His mind immediately wandered: 'We might be an odd pair,... but I think we make a good team.'...

Mobius lost his place while tying his tie. He frowned and took it apart to try again. What kind of Loki says something like that? He remembered how sincerely he had looked at him saying those words, and the sheer joy he showed him when he took his hand in his. Wait, where did the loop go again? He took the knot apart again, this time sighing. Focus.

He looked in the mirror. He didn't seem to be quite himself. He chuckled, remembering the recent misadventures that old-Mobius would've never allowed. Loki really did have an effect on people. No matter what you say about a Loki, they are always agents of change and chaos. Even in the TVA, he was transforming the people around him. Or 'person'. Mobius didn't feel quite the same anymore. Order didn't seem as necessary, the red tape more annoying, and the walls didn't feel as close together. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing. The TVA was made to maintain order, consistency, and reliability. No one 'changes' here. Change was what they were fighting. If he was changing, was he getting too involved with his Variant friend? Maybe he needed some space. Keep things professional. Keep things the same. Yeah. That would probably be safe for everyone.

'You leave everyone to die.' Sylvie's words rang out in his mind. He knew what she meant. He and Loki did that when they left the people on Pylea and saved themselves. He knew it was just how it had to be, but for the first time he began to feel something about it. He remembered the crimes Sylvie laid at his feet, 'Resetting innocent people… children.'...

He realized he'd been standing there just looking at his tie for several minutes. He slid it off his neck, frustrated.

'Children…'

He remembered the young boy in Aix-en-Provence. That boy had no idea what was about to happen to him. Mobius had tried to keep him calm. Where was he now? Before the guilt could completely settle, Mobius remembered something important.

"Come on, wake up." Mobius rocked Loki's shoulder side to side. Loki was hunched over Mobius' desk, resting his head on his folded arms. He had told the prince to wait for him there, he must've lost track of time. The analyst tried not to think about the shape or firmness of Loki's shoulder, easily felt through the tight fabric of his shirt. "Sorry for the wait, but we gotta go." Mobius was anxious to get Loki moving, they finally had something to work with.

"Mobius. What is it?" Loki stirred from his nap. He sounded sleepy, but pleased to see his friend again.

"Kablooie."

"What?"

"Grab your stuff, come on, I'll show you." Mobius gathered Loki's jacket and gave it to him as he rose from the chair, confused and a little groggy.

Mobius sped off towards the evidence archives. Loki followed him, waking up.

They got to the archives quickly, Mobius was practically jogging. "I forgot, but Sylvie had left something behind at an old crime scene. A candy box at a cathedral. An obvious anachronism, so I gave it to Analysis, but they couldn't find anything real." Mobius referenced an evidence receipt in his hand to the numbers on the stacks which were full of evidence from past cases.

"What does that mean to us?" Loki asked as Mobius found the evidence box he was looking for.

"Well, we only had one variable before, but now we have two." Mobius unlocked the box, "Apocalypses and… Kablooie." He showed the prince a little blue rectangle of candy.

"What's that?"

"Candy." Mobius was simply met with the same confused expression from the Asgardian. "Don't you have candy on Asgard?"

"Yeah. Grapes, nuts."

Mobius looked at him with a little pity and threw a quip at him about that being why the god was so bitter before speeding them back to their favorite research table, still furnished with all their files.

"So Kablooie was only sold on Earth between 2047 and 2051. All we gotta do is cross-reference where Kablooie was sold with every apocalyptic event that occurred during those years." He divided up the folders between them. "Alright, here we go, these are the only doomsdays that occurred between 2047 and 2051 on Earth."

Loki followed along, growing more enthusiastic.

"You wanna make this a competition?" Mobius offered, in a good mood.

"Sure."

"What should we bet? Winner gets bragging rights? Loser owes the winner a Josta?" The agent had a glint in his eye Loki found irresistible. The god nodded happily at the weak stakes.

"Okay, let's get to work!" Mobius was exhilarated by the chance to crack this case. His mind never felt as clear as in times like this. Today, he loved his job.

Mobius tirelessly flipped through each file, meticulously scanning each page for a mention of any kind of store or market that might have been a distributor of Kablooie candy. Loki, on the other hand, was having more trouble focusing.

Loki wanted to help, he wanted a chance to see this Sylvie character again and to help the agent with his work, but he found himself distracted. Mobius, in his concentration, had seemed to have lost awareness of his research partner's legs. Loki had noticed a few minutes prior that the analyst's foot was outstretched between his own. A harmless, everyday occurrence, Loki knew, but he couldn't take his mind off of it. He had been re-reading the same file for the past 10 minutes. Loki's mind wandered to the moment Mobius flinched away from his touch on Pylea and the nervousness that radiated from him as Loki had touched his shoulders. The prince had experience with people who were attracted to him, he was, of course, beautiful and desirable to many on Asgard as well as many Midgardians who weren't accustomed to seeing gods. He knew how people behaved when they wanted him - at least in a carnal sense. They would flutter in almost the same way Mobius had when he touched them. Although he had rarely indulged, Loki had found the occasion for intimate encounters once in a while. It was never borne from anything more than physical attraction or a means to a mischievous end. Usually, after recognizing how another might glance, flinch, or flirt around him, he and they would dance around one another until a collision, a tryst, and then it would evaporate into nothing. What Loki had never experienced was the aching confusion of not being sure if someone was attracted to him, and the subsequent poisonous, all-consuming thoughts that cloud the mind when one wants to be wanted.

It had never occurred to him until this moment that there could be a creature that wasn't, in some way, attracted to him. He was well aware of how narcissistic that assumption was, but it had never been proven wrong before. He found himself hoping that it would hold true for this one person he couldn't stop thinking about. He didn't know why he wanted this so much, but in the hours since returning from Pylea, Loki had kept revisiting thoughts of Mobius - not of his encounter with another Loki or even about how to escape or overthrow the TVA. Instead, he had fixated on how it felt to be around Mobius, how much he wanted to see him again, how it felt to touch him. The prince realized it must've been a form of attraction, but it was an attraction he had never felt before, it ran deeper than the typical lust or boredom that had usually motivated him in these pursuits. He wanted something more, something that made him nervous, but he had no idea what it was.

He caught himself daydreaming about reaching out and gliding a hand along Mobius' shoulders, neck, chest. Was it just lust? No, he actually wanted Mobius' smile, conversation, and company more than anything. Was this just friendship? He'd never had a friend before. Loki re-read the same sentence for the fifth time, anguished. He peered down under the table for a moment, Mobius' foot still squarely in between his. He glanced up at Mobius, who was very seriously and attentively consuming every detail of the multiple files he was cross-referencing. Loki considered how handsome the man was when he was concentrating. He appreciated the rugged bridge of his nose and his kind, clever eyes. He wanted his attention. He wanted to know Mobius felt something like this, too. Some kind of connection that wasn't just in his head.

Why did the god of mischief feel like such a juvenile; searching for confirmation from this man?

As if catching up on lost time, Loki sat there burning with new worries of unrequited attraction all at once here in the dreary TVA library and for the weary analyst across from him who held the would-be king captive.

Wait.

Loki remembered. He's the God of Mischief. Like a switch in his mind, he tapped into an instinct from his old self. Loki had almost forgotten his best strength. A roguish confidence soothed his previous panic as the trickster developed a secret bet with himself.

Scanning the Location Notes in the file he was searching, Mobius spotted a gas station that was hit in the 2051 cyclone, he switched folders to reference the Kablooie distribution properties but before he could locate the list of locations he felt something brush against his leg. Emerging from his mind, he looked under the table and saw Loki's left leg leaning against his own. The inside of their shins were touching. Mobius' heart and stomach jumped sharply. He snatched his leg from between Loki's. "Sorry." Mobius apologized while clearing his throat. He glanced at Loki, who had already been looking at him. Loki shook his head casually, 'don't worry about it'.

Mobius, not noticing Loki's calculating stare, rearranged his mind, waiting for the adrenaline to wear off. He did his best not to think about what just happened. Where was that distribution list?

"Can I have the Krakatoa Disaster file again?" Loki's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Uh, sure." Mobius retrieved the Krakatoa file from a pile to his left and offered it to Loki without looking, "I already looked this one over, I couldn't find anything-" He stopped abruptly, he felt Loki's smooth, slender fingers on his own. He looked up at his fingers and then to Loki. Again, Loki shot him an apologetic smile. Mobius' heart was beating fast again, but he only nodded, expressionless, and looked back down to his work.

Loki opened the Krakatoa folder and pretended to read it. He replayed Mobius' blank reactions to his touch. The trouble-maker thought he could sense tension in Mobius' posture, and was his breathing more shallow? The agent's face hadn't betrayed any sign of nervousness or desire. Loki fixated on any kind of reassurance that could win his bet with himself to find proof of Mobius' alleged attraction.

Maybe he had to make the agent reveal it, himself? After about 5 minutes of "research" Loki launched his next attack.

Mobius had just closed the file on a 2048 landslide when he heard Loki adjust in his seat. The Asgardian stretched with a low, breathy groan that almost sounded inappropriate. Mobius' attention was seized unwillingly. Loki took off his jacket again, he folded it and placed it on the table. He then proceeded to unbutton his cuffs slowly. Mobius watched absent-mindedly as Loki's fingers undid each button. The prince rolled up his sleeves carefully up to his elbows. He lifted his chin and carefully pulled at his tie, loosening it a little. Mobius glanced at the god's arms and neck. He felt an electric lightness in his chest. He forced himself to stop looking. Focus. Loki then ran his fingers through his hair, leaning his head back. Loki knew exactly how his body must've looked - these TVA suits were quite flattering for such a dingy, want-less place. They were tight enough that with just a stretch not much would be left to the agent's imagination about Loki's form. Mobius watched the prince stretch from his peripheral vision, he almost indulged in appreciating the Asgardian's lean, muscular frame. Stop. Frustrated, Mobius turned away, Loki now completely out of sight. This wasn't happening. Alarmed, Mobius realized he had never been this distracted by another person before. He wanted to get back to focusing on the case.

Loki finished preening. He had noticed Mobius' eyes on him for a few moments longer than necessary during his performance. He still wasn't satisfied.

Mobius kept forgetting what he was reading. All of his senses kept going back to god on the other side of the table. Why couldn't he focus? He interrogated himself. He'd seen Loki almost every hour since he got here. Before that he'd seen literally everything about the god. None of this was new. He understood, logically, Loki was beautiful - but why was it affecting him now? Why did his heart jump with every touch or glance at him now? Why did he want to reach out and touch him? Why did he want to run his hands…. He zoned out.

"I'm gonna go get us some coffee, did you want some?" Loki asked nonchalantly, interrupting Mobius' crisis. The man jumped a little, as if afraid Loki could read his mind. He barely glanced at him, trying not to fall into any other traps.

"Sure, yeah. Cream, two sugars." He said, toneless. Since when did Loki offer to get him anything? Mobius was too tired for this. He can't investigate the case, himself, and Loki. He had to pick one and it had to be the case.

As Loki's footsteps faded into the distance the clouds in Mobius' head cleared. He confirmed that the tsunami file he'd been stuck on didn't feature any distributors of Kablooie. Exhausted, he grabbed the next file, "Roxxcart Disaster: Haven Hills, Alabama 2050". Without even checking, it suddenly clicked. Roxxcart. A huge warehouse. It would have more than enough supplies and hardware for anything Sylvie was planning. He hurriedly looked at his list of distributor locations. "Roxxcart: Alabama". That's it! Excited, Mobius turned in his seat, looking towards his left, ready to flag down Loki.

"Here you are." Loki's voice said in a particularly smooth tone from his right, making the man actually jump this time. "Cream, two sugars." Loki was standing by his side with a coffee in each hand. That was fast. He offered Mobius a cup.

Mobius took it with a wary, "Thanks." He was careful not to touch Loki's hand during the transaction.

Loki didn't return to his side of the table, instead he leaned against the tabletop beside Mobius, half-sitting on the edge. His hips were mere inches from Mobius who was now eye-level to Loki's chest. The agent's nerves were fraying. "Did you find something?" Loki asked in a soft voice.

"Uh, yeah, take a look at this." Mobius put down the coffee and immediately grabbed the Roxxcart folder, happy to talk shop.

"What is it?" Loki pushed off from the table, putting his coffee down, and leaned directly over Mobius' right shoulder to get a closer look at the file in his hands. Being so close to Mobius filled Loki was so much energy, it took a lot of willpower -sharpened by his nervousness of whether he'd be reciprocated- not to lean further down, grab the man's chin, and take the confirmation he wanted. The proximity alone was almost too much for Mobius, but what ended up actually being too much was the feeling of Loki's hand grazing his upper back with an open palm. Mobius had never received this kind of attention, let alone from a god, the panic it gave him felt like knives in his stomach.

Mobius flinched away so obviously he had to say something. "Hey, okay, that's it! What's up with you?"

"What?" Loki's face dropped.

"You're all over me. It's driving me up a wall." Mobius snapped.

Loki smiled widely and let out an obviously nervous chuckle, "You know this is how I am, Mobius." His voice said, it's not just you, but it was. "I'm a charmer."

He knew better than most how charismatic Loki was, but Mobius could also tell he was lying. "... A 'charmer', sure, yeah."

"It's just for fun." Loki defended lightly.

"It's dangerous." Mobius rebutted too quickly. "... If anyone sees you acting like that- People already think I'm too soft on you."

"Do they?" He gave a cheeky grin.

That was too much.

"Loki, that's enough." Mobius ordered.

"Fine. Fine." Loki backed away from Mobius a few steps, his hands went up playfully. Maybe he had been wrong, the prince worried under his grin. "But it's called flirting, Mobius. People do it all the time for fun. It isn't serious." He backpedaled, insecure.

"This is serious." Mobius pointed at the file in his hand. "This is life and death, Loki. We have to keep our heads straight. I need you to keep your focus on the case."

"Alright." Loki surrendered. "I'll do my best to behave." He promised, his smile waning slightly with embarrassment.

Crisis momentarily averted, Mobius held out the file in his hand, "Now look at this."

"Roxxcart, Alabama. 2050." Loki read aloud.

"Yeah. A hurricane. Class 10 armageddon. Roxxcart was a major warehouse store. Enough supplies for anything Sylvie could be planning. And one of the only places to sell Kablooie. This is the perfect setting for a long-term hideout." Mobius explained, regaining composure and returning to normal.

"This looks promising." Loki agreed. Distracted.

"That's what I was thinking," Mobius was excited again, "This could be it. We might catch her there. We just need to take a team, grab her, bring her back for a little interrogating, and we might close the case right then and there." He was growing more zealous. He'd been on this case so long, the idea of closing it now, so easily, seemed too good to be true. He smiled up at his partner.

Loki lost all of his remaining excitement but wore it on his face still. The agent didn't seem bothered at all about what the end of the case meant. Loki was the only one who remembered what was supposed to happen when the investigation was over. He toyed with the realization that maybe all Mobius cared about was the case. He quietly and expertly prepared himself for another in a long history of betrayals and abandonments. He handed the file back to a spirited Mobius.

"Okay, I'm gonna get my head together, set up a proposal, and talk to Ravonna about getting a team together!" Mobius stood up and quickly gathered the file and the distribution list. "Meet me outside Ravonna's office, okay? We're doing good work!" Mobius didn't even look at Loki as he jogged off, leaving Loki and the forgotten coffee behind. Loki didn't say anything or think to stop him.

He took a sip of his coffee, the bitterness suiting him well in that moment. Loki was more than familiar with rejection, but he needed some time to recover from this one. He chuckled wistfully at himself, looking at the ground. He was ridiculous. Someone showed him a modicum of understanding, talked to him about life and love for a few measly hours, and this is how he reacts - like a dog, begging at his master's hand.

"Desperate." He mumbled, pathetic. He scowled at himself and took another sip.

He would shake this off and get back to planning a solo escape.

"You want me to approve a mission based on a lead you found with a Loki's help?" Ravonna asked incredulously from behind her desk.

"Yes! I feel it, this is where we're going to catch the Variant." Mobius showed her his enthusiasm, trying to sell the mission to her. "All the evidence is pointing us to this Roxxcart apocalypse."

She nodded thoughtfully for a second.

"... And this is the evidence you got from your recent outing to… Pylea?" Ravonna checked a report on her desk for the exact name.

Mobius' head ducked for a moment of disappointment and put his hands on his hips. The excursion he thought he could keep off the books didn't end up staying so secret. He looked at her with a bemused look - how did she know?

"Did you enjoy your getaway vacation with your Loki?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm super relaxed now." He answered sarcastically. There was no point in trying to hide it. The best he could do was try and not make a big deal out of it. "So, what, you're bugging my TemPad now?"

"This is a very sensitive mission, Mobius."

"I know. I know."

"No, you apparently don't." Her scolding tone was familiar, he could tell she was serious about this. "If you did, you wouldn't be breaking the rules like this."

He gave her a look, doubling down. "What's going on, Ravonna? You know these things happen sometimes." He lied. "Come on, we got some good information."

"These things don't happen. You know unapproved field-work is strictly prohibited. I'm surprised you would do something like this."

He was, too. He put his hands in his pockets, ready to take whatever lecture was brewing. He just wanted to get it done with so he could go back to getting a team for Roxxcart. Ravonna looked Mobius over. She sensed her old friend was different. That worried her deeply. Mobius had been as reliable as clockwork for eons. Till now.

"You're different today, Mobius. The two of you. You look like twins, walking down the hallway together, bantering." She segued. She had been keeping an eye or two on him and his Loki.

"... We get along." He tried to play it down. His face asked, what are you getting at?

"'Get along'? 'Get along'?" Her tone raised to a nervous pitch. "Mobius, you're not supposed to be friends with a Variant."

"... You're right." He surrendered, honestly.

She sat up straight and nodded, his serious response made her feel heard. She added, "It's inappropriate."

"Yeah, it is." He nodded, looking down, swaying his elbow nervously. But he couldn't leave it at that, "But he's different - he's changing. He isn't a Loki anymore… Well, he's still a Loki, but he's cooperative. He saved my skin on Pylea. Don't call me crazy, but I think we can trust him. He wants to do better-"

"Mobius." She raised her hand to silence him. "He stole this." The judge picked up a folder by her elbow and tossed it to the edge of her desk in front of him.

"What?" He picked it up and opened it to the cover page. It was the Mission Report for the case they were currently working on. He thought it was still in processing after the last time he met with Ravonna to get the Resolution Proposal signed. "He took this? When?"

"You tell me. You're supposed to be supervising him."

"Listen-"

"No, I'm done listening." She stood up, assuming authority over the space. "You had one last chance with him… consider it spent."

Silence.

"Ravonna?" Mobius tested her, his tone full of disbelief. She didn't flinch, she just stared him down. His face fell and his heart dropped as he understood her full meaning. "No. No, you can't do this."

"Yes, I can…. Remember, you told me, if it didn't work, you'd prune him yourself. Mobius, it didn't work. And we can't risk this getting further out of hand."

He took a step backward, saying nothing.

"You have until the end of shift tomorrow." She ordered. More a judge than a friend.

Silence stretched between them as Mobius adjusted. He came in here excited to get a mission approved and now he was being told to prune the case's best asset. A friend.

He knew he was expected to accept the orders and excuse himself. He considered it, but quickly rejected it. He took a step forward and spoke quietly, "I won't." He looked her in the eye. "He's too valuable to the case. I promise I can handle him. Who knows when we'll get another one like him!"

She circled her desk to approach him. "...The Mobius I considered my friend would've known better than to deny the orders of a superior. Take this as evidence that L1130 is a corruptive influence." She folded her hands in front of her.

He said nothing, not accepting what he was hearing. She could see his dedication wavering. She'd never seen that before. Mobius had always taken TVA orders to heart. Fear struck her. She couldn't let him even consider not following orders - she had to be firm. "If he isn't pruned by the next time I see you,... I'm afraid I'll have to consider your integrity as an agent of the TVA compromised."

That woke him up. He knew exactly what she meant. If he didn't get rid of Loki, he'd find himself in a collar and jumpsuit shortly after someone pruned Loki behind a closed door. He might end up getting the same sentence. He understood that she wasn't his friend in this moment, she wasn't going to listen to reason, she was acting as a judge.

"Yes, Judge Renslayer."

He turned to leave.

"Mobius." Ravonna's voice called him before he left, guilt seeping into her voice. "... Maybe you could ask B-15 to do it. Take some time off. Come back when you have another lead, when you're rested." She offered, trying to be a little compassionate.

"... That's a good idea." Mobius agreed with a weak, false smile. She saw dread in his face that she'd never seen before.

"For all time?" She tried to reconnect.

"... Always."

She nodded, dismissing him.

Mobius opened the door to leave her office, numb. The numbness quickly gave way to a punch in the gut when the moment he stepped through the door he saw Loki looking up at him from the bench, eyes wide. It was obvious he had been waiting anxiously to see him. Mobius solemnly closed the door behind him.

"Well?" Loki asked expectantly, "Are we in the clear? Are we going to Alabama?"

The agent couldn't talk.

"Mobius, what is it?"

Mobius flicked his fingers, gesturing for the variant to follow him. He picked up his pace, but he could hardly walk straight down the hall. Things didn't feel real. How was he going to do this? Trick him into a Time Cell until he could muster the strength to do it? Loki would make it as hard as possible. He couldn't have anyone else do it. That felt wrong. It all felt wrong…. Would he need to apprehend him? With what strength? Loki could defend himself easily. Maybe he could gather a team to take him down. To what? Prune him in front of everyone, scared and betrayed? Imagining what Loki would feel in that moment, imagining seeing him evaporate, Mobius' breath hitched in his throat. He stopped, reaching out and steadying himself on the wall.

"Mobius? Are you okay?" Real concern in the prince's voice, a tone he had almost never heard before. He remembered Loki's concerned expression during their encounter with Sylvie. Why couldn't he just be an evil asshole again?

Loki reached out to touch his shoulder, Mobius moved away from his hand. Loki remembered Mobius' orders from earlier. He put his hands in his pockets, a little wounded.

"Loki, um, we have to talk." His throat was dry.

"What's wrong?"

Mobius looked at Loki's face and realized he had accidentally alerted him. The agent couldn't let him know to expect anything. Mobius fixed his face and voice, he couldn't make this obvious. He let out a fake chuckle and a smile, "Oh, nothing. I just overdid it back on Pylea. It's catching up with me. We're not all so spry." He pushed off from the wall and fixed his jacket, keeping an eye on the others passing through the hallway, suddenly aware that Ravonna might have people watching them. Without looking at Loki directly he lied, "We just need to talk about the mission. Ravonna had some new information for us. We might not need to go to Roxxcart after all."

"Alright…." As a professional liar, Loki knew when he was being lied to.

"I, uh, I gotta take it easy and get some more files put together. Lots of paperwork. Will you be okay on your own for a while?" Mobius asked, already starting to take a few backsteps in the opposite direction.

"Sure."

"Just come see me in a couple of hours, ask the guys where to find my unit." The agent watched others pass by.

"Fine." Concern and humor replaced by wary confusion.

"Thanks. Phew, gonna be a long night." Mobius walked away, leaving Loki behind again.

"Wait! How can I tell what time it is here?" Loki called at him, Mobius kept walking anyways. Loki gave up. With a long last look at Mobius, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. He was troubled by the sudden shift in mood and plans. What was Mobius up to? Whatever it was, it felt as if Mobius was really done with him.

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[Next Time: Confrontations and Crossroads]