Loki took a few moments to adjust to his situation. He had all of time, all universes, everything that was or would be depending on him. Somehow he had to balance free will against evil and make the right choices.

Timeline branches were occurring even as he learned what he could do. But it wasn't as difficult as he had feared. Most of the nexus events were just not very significant, and he could rejoin the branches they created with their original timeline with no great difficulty. Only the variant knew anything strange had happened, and it was over so quickly they often weren't sure and thought it merely a daydream or momentary lapse of attention.

A few branches were truly so bad his only choice was to remove them. The one where the Dark Elves killed Thor and began putting out all the suns, destroying all light and life was one he quickly pinched off and let wither away.

There were a few significant branches that were neither particularly good or bad, just different, and those he allowed to develop. He found the more he observed the timelines the more he could see happening in them.

When things were slow and he had time, or decided to make time, he found he could locate anyone he wanted in any timeline and watch them. His family and Asgardian acquaintances were favorites to follow. Of course, he checked on his friends at the Time Variance Authority periodically too. Any time he saw a reborn He Who Remains he alerted the TVA and kept on eye on them. Some were like Victor Timely and became leading scientists or excelled in other fields, but when any of them started gathering an army, he called in the TVA to nip it in the bud.

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Thor quickly became one of his favorites to watch. His brother was more of a rule-follower than he was, but there were still a number of variants as well as the original and they got up to all sorts of things. And he didn't feel so lonely watching him; it was almost as if he was there too.

The villagers on Vanaheim led the Asgardian prince through the trees to a large field. It was covered in grass and weedy plants, with a few small trees here and there around the edge as the forest worked to take it over. Thor was much taller than any of them and carried both a hammer and a huge axe, and they were hopeful he could rid them of the monster.

Thor turned to them and asked, "So this creature, what does it look like?"

The village elder replied, "It is nothing we have ever seen before. It does not belong here on our world at all. It is very big, a bluish-gray, runs on four feet, but can sit up and look around. Taller than four men, claws, many sharp teeth, a long tail. It eats our people and our livestock. None of our weapons have been able to penetrate its hide. We cannot fight it."

"Don't worry, my friends, I will take care of this for you. Return to your village and stay inside until I have finished. You are sure it will come to this field?"

"Oh yes, every day when there is sun it comes and sleeps here. But do not be deceived, we have tried to sneak up on it but it always senses our approach and wakes before we get very close."

"It will get no nap today. Go now."

The villagers gave him little bows and hurried away. Thor looked at his two weapons. He probably wouldn't need both, but he hadn't been sure which would be more effective so he had brought Mjolnir and Stormbreaker. He leaned the axe against a tree and hefted his hammer. It was his favorite weapon and the one he had had the longest, so he would start with that.

He didn't have long to wait. He could hear the thing coming long before he saw it. The treetops swayed on the other side of the field and then it emerged. It was fully as large and terrible as described, which delighted him. A worthy foe and a glorious fight!

The Asgardian walked out in the field toward the creature as it ambled through the grass and weeds. It spotted him when he was still across a good stretch of ground which told the warrior its eyesight was keen.

"So, you look like something from Niflheim. How did you get here?" Thor asked softly, thinking out loud.

The monster sniffed at him and then broke into a run. Thor had expected it to be slow and lumbering but it ran powerfully and fast. The God of Thunder spun Mjolnir and leapt, flying to meet it.

The thing raised its head and opened its mouth, displaying rows of pointed teeth as long as a man's hand, and eight fangs as long as a man's forearm. The flying god aimed at the head and struck it a mighty blow between the eyes.

The creature flipped its head up, sending Thor tumbling through the air, and followed at a run. The Asgardian hit the ground and rolled, came up and aimed at the thing's front leg, trying to cripple it with a blow to the knee. When hammer and knee met, the creature staggered sideways, but the hammer rebounded too, pulling Thor back to the ground.

This wasn't going as well as he had expected. Thor tossed his hammer at the creature and held out his hand for Stormbreaker. The axe flew to him, slapped into his hand, and he approached the creature. The hammer had given it a blow to the chest, with no apparent result. It turned and moved toward him, limping a little but still effectively using the slightly injured leg.

Thor leapt and brought his axe down with a blow to the neck. It cut the skin a little, but that was all. The creature grabbed Thor with its mouth, shook him, and tossed him in the air. He landed not far from his hammer and took it up again.

Lifting it to the sky, he called the lightning. Fully charged, Thor aimed it at the monster and let loose a terrible bolt. The creature looked startled. Then it began wiggling happily as the electricity danced over its hide. Asgard's greatest warrior stared in astonishment.

Thor realized he was in trouble. He called Stormbreaker back to him too. He was running out of ways to attack it. He could escape, Mjolnir could fly him out of danger, but that wasn't why he was here. Odin had promised the villagers relief from the monster that plagued them as was his duty as their overlord, and Thor was his emissary. His duty was to kill it or die trying.

It sat up on its haunches and looked around. There was nothing in the field aside from it, the odd creature it had been playing with, and the nice soft grass and plants. It wanted to be done now. That last tingly bit the little man-thing had done had been oddly pleasant, but it had no more patience and it wanted a quick snack before a nice snooze. It came down on all fours and charged.

Thor backed up a little and prepared himself for one last effort with all his strength and both weapons. Then something odd happened.

As the creature ran toward him, it looked like a small slab of rock lifted out of the ground. The thing stumbled on it and pitched forward, its mouth hitting another rock that shoved up through the ground just at that moment and that exact place. One of its fangs broke off, and the tip flew through the air and stabbed Thor in the side.

He stared at it. It had curved in the air in an unnatural way just to strike him. It wasn't a serious wound, he easily plucked it out and tossed it aside, but it gave him a strange, eerie feeling.

The monster was getting up, but there was an odd noise in the air and a shadow was growing and moving quickly across the field. Thor looked up and saw a dark spot getting larger and larger and then SPLAT!

A huge flaming rock hit the monster on the top of the head, drove it to the ground and broke open its skull. Brains, blood and other smelly fluids burst forth and drenched Thor from head to foot. He faintly heard an odd sound.

"Heheheheheheh."

Thor froze, then quickly wiped the goo from his eyes and glanced around. There was no one there, and the hair rose on the back of his neck. He looked down and saw the line of the glop that had soaked him ran directly from the creature to him, and nowhere else.

He spun completely around but he was alone in the field. Thor said quickly, "It was just chance. Insanely long odds, but just a random event. That was not laughter. I heard the wind in the trees, it was air escaping the thing's body, it was, it was . . . NOT LAUGHTER." He ran.

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Loki decided his new job wasn't all that bad. In fact, some of it was fun.