"What's this? Next step of your manipulation?" Loki asked as the elevator opened.

"No this is the final step." Mobius stated. "Your last chance." He looked at Loki, not Wanda.

"Oh and what does our desperate last chance require?" Loki asked, sticking his hands in his pocket.

The three walked out and down the hallway, Mobius leading them to the next spot.

"Work." Mobius stated.

"Work?" Loki asked, confused.

Mobius led them inside of another elevator, one that had an open window so all three could see how far up they were.

Wanda stayed towards the back of the elevator, not looking out the window and definitely looking a tad bit uneasy.

"What's the problem?" Loki asked.

"I don't like heights apparently." Wanda replied.

"Don't you literally use you magic to fly?" Loki scoffed.

"And here I don't have my magic so if this thing breaks, I can't help."

"It's not going to break." Mobius assured her.

Once they landed, Mobius stepped out first and Loki followed him, Wanda following Loki.

The new room they were in was much much taller than the previous rooms they were in, and had three large statues at the entrance.

"The time keepers. Hmm." Loki hummed before Mobius began talking as he led them forwards.

"I need you, Loki, to go over each and every one of the Variant's case files and then give me your... how do I put it? Your unique Loki perspective." Mobius said. "Wanda, I need you too look at the files after him and proof read everything then give me your witch perspective. And who knows? Maybe there's something that we missed."

"Well you're idiots. I suspect you probably missed a lot." Loki replied simply.

"Well that's why I'm lucky I got ya for a little bit longer."

The three reached an area with desks and bookshelves and Mobius stopped them.

"Let me park ya at this desk and don't be afraid to really lean into this work. Here's a good trick for you, pretend your life depends on it. I'm gonna get a snack." Then Mobius walked off.

Loki watch him exit, then turned to the desk with the files. Wanda went over and sat down, looking at the files, then Loki joined her, sitting across from her.

"If you're an Avenger then these file works should come easy to you. How about you start?" Loki gave a smile.

"Mobius requested you start, have fun." Wanda replied, pushing a small stack of papers and folders in front of him.

Loki groaned but opened the first one. He flipped through the papers and picked up one to read it while Wanda took the ones that he tossed to the side.

"Oh my goodness. Don't tell me the Variant ambushed and killed another team of Minutemen." He gasped dramatically. Wanda raised a brow but didn't stop him. "And stole their reset charges as well!" The sarcastic exclaim faded as he moved the paper in front of Wanda to read another.

"Shh!"

Wanda looked behind Loki and saw a woman who was reading different file work. Loki raised his head from the papers and turned around to see who spoke to him.

"Shh."

He said back, very maturely.

After a bit more looking through- and by that I mean glancing at before pushing it to Wanda- the paperwork, Loki got up.

"Where are you going?" Wanda asked.

"I'll be right back." He said with a smile.

"Loki-!" Wanda whisper yelled.

But Loki was already on his way away. Wanda scoffed.

"Men." She muttered.

Loki approached a woman who was clicking away at a computer a few bookshelves down.

"Hi."

The woman ignored her, still typing on the computer.

"Hello?"

There was a small bell that sat at the edge of her desk, and Loki glanced at it before moving his hand down to click it, causing it to give a small ding.

The woman turned to face him.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm on some important TVA business. Follow-up to a field mission. You know how it goes. We red lined near the apex, and uh .. well, it's never good." He said with a chuckle at the end.

Wanda watch him from a distance, rolling her eyes at his performance. He was such a trickster, note the sarcasm.

"Um, I'd like all files pertaining to the creation of the TVA, please." He finished.

"Those are classified." The woman stated.

"Okay. I'd like all files pertaining to the beginning of time then."

"Those are classified."

"Okay, the end of time."

"Those are classified."

"Okay, what files can I have?"

The woman stared at him for a moment before standing up and leading him down the path. They passed Wanda on their way and Loki gave a smirk to her as if saying ‘ha, in your face’.

The woman reached a specific shelf and pulled out a small pack of files before putting it in Loki's hands.

"Happy reading."

Then she left the shelf.

Loki watched her leave before looking at the files with a hint of excitement, hoping they'd lead him to anything about the TVA.

TVA Variant Case File.
Variant Name: Laufeyson, Loki

Loki sighed and returned to the desk.

"Find what you were looking for?" Wanda smirked, seeing his annoyed face.

"Shut up."

"Oh, also I found this." Wanda handed him a paper.

DESTRUCTION OF ASGARD

"Thought you'd want to read it." She gave a small frown.

Loki took it and started reading it, actually paying attention unlike with the others.

RAGNAROK (Class Seven Apocalypse): Total planetary destruction
Casualties: 9,719 (Entire Civilization Annihilated)
Zero Variance Energy Detected
DISPLACED by 000:000:002:162

"I'm.. sorry." Wanda said as Loki read it.

Suddenly he looked up, not at her but as if he just realized something.

"What is it?"

Loki quickly shut the files and picked them up before standing up.

"I have an idea." He said.

Wanda stood up as well and followed him to wherever he was off to.

He went into the elevator that was in the direction that Mobius had gone. Wanda didn't ask the idea since she figured he was going to tell Mobius and she didn't want him spilling out all his ideas to her then not remembering it in a few moments.

The elevator door opened and the two exited out of it and towards the table where Mobius sat, eating a salad.

"I found something." Loki said proudly, going to the chair on the opposite end of the table from Mobius.

"No, I said, 'Don't bother me until you've read all the files'."

"I have."

"Every file?"

"Yes."

"Pertaining to the Variant?"

"So has she. The answer isn't in the files. It's on the timeline."

Loki sat down in the chair and Wanda pulled up another chair on the middle section so she was between the two.

"They're hiding in apocalypses." Loki stated.

"Which apocalypse?" Mobius asked, annoyed that the two had crashed his snack break. "Any time in history? There's, like, a million of 'em."

Loki ignored him and continued.

"Ragnarok. Are you familiar?" He asked.

"Yes. The destruction of Asgard and most of it's people. I'm sorry."

"Yes. Very sad. Anyway, it got me thinking." He paused and looked at Mobius.

"Go ahead."

"Nexus events happen when someone does something they're not supposed to do, right?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated, but, yeah."

"Great. And then that thing they're not supposed to do, cascades into a whole range of other things that aren't supposed to happen. And so on and so forth, until eventually a new timeline branches. Yes?" Loki continued.

He used hand signals to mimic what he was saying while Wanda and Mobius just stared at him.

"Chaotic alterations of a predetermined outcome."

"Exactly! So let's just say.."

"What are you doing-?"

Loki took Mobius's salad to demonstrate.

"Your salad is Asgard in this scenario."

"It's not Asgard, it's my lunch."

"It's a metaphor. Just hang in there."

"I want that salad."

Loki ignored him.

"I could go down to Asgard before Ragnarok causes it's complete destruction and I could do anything I wanted."

Loki picked up some salt.

"I could, let's say, push the Hulk off the Rainbow Bridge."

Loki poured in the salt in Mobius's salad.

"There he goes."

"The salt's Hulk?"

Then Loki picked up pepper.

"And I could also," He started pouring it. "Set fire to the palace."

"No, just stop. Don't set fire to the palace." Mobius sighed as he watched his salad get abused.

"Okay? I could do whatever I want to do and it would never matter." Loki started pouring both simultaneously. "It wouldn't go against the dictates of the timeline because.."

Loki picked up an empty can on the table and shook it for a moment before holding out a finger to the two and getting up. He went to the table next to them which just so happened to have Casey.

"Excuse me." Loki said.

"You!" Casey replied, not too happy.

"Nice to see you." Loki smiled. "I just need this for a second." He took a milk box from Casey and hurried back to Mobius's table. "Thanks."

Mobius looked at Wanda with a concerned look and she just shrugged as Loki sat back down.

"Because the apocalypse is coming. Ragnarok. Surtut will destroy Asgard no matter what I do." Then Loki poured the milk into the salad.

"No don't do-!" Mobius stopped himself with a sigh.

"There's the apocalypse." Loki said proudly.

"That's the apocalypse?" Mobius grumbled.

"Ragnarok obliterates the salt."

The milk emptied and Loki gave a happy smile to the two, very proud of what he discovered.

"Ragnarok." He set the box back on the table. "There it is!"

"What am I lookin' at?" Mobius asked.

"Okay, it was a clumsy metaphor. But you see what I mean. It doesn't matter. It could be any apocalypse. It could be a tital wave. It could be a meteor. It could be a volcano, a supernova. If everything and everyone around you is destined for imminent destruction, then nothing that I say or do will matter, because the timeline's not gonna branch. 'Cause it gets destroyed. Hence, the variant could be hiding in the apocalypse and do whatever they want and we wouldn't know!"

Mobius nodded at Loki's ending.

"I see professor Loki's back." Wanda commented.

"Not bad." Mobius said.

"Take me to a real apocalypse, take me to Ragnarok, I'll show you!" Loki exclaimed.

Mobius chuckled. "Yeah, so you can run away back to your homeland? No."

"No, I'm not going home. We can go anywhere."

"I'm not taking you for a stroll along the promenade, much less an apocalypse."

Loki gave a groan. "Oh, Mobius, come on! What could possibly go wrong? We gotta properly test this theory."

"Well here's a fun theory. You lure me out into the field and stab me in the back. And that's a theory I don't want to test." Mobius replied.

"I'll come too." Wanda offered.

"I'd never stab anyone in the back." Loki gasped, ignoring Wanda. "That's such a boring form of betrayal."

"Loki, I've studied almost every moment of your entire life. You've literally stabbed people in the back, like, 50 times."

Loki looked at him with shock, not saying anything for a moment as he tried to come up with something to reply with.

"Well I'd never do it again, because it got old."

Mobius laughed. "Okay."

"Okay look. You don't trust me and you may not trust her but you can trust one thing. I love to be right." Loki gave a grin.

"One time." Mobius warned.

"Yes!"

Mobius pulled out his tempad, which Loki had read about before, and brought Loki and Wanda away. He didn't want to make a scene by casting a portal in the middle of lunch.

He set the area to Pompeii Italy, 79 AD.

Mobius clicked a button and a door portal opened for the three. Loki went in first and Mobius looked at Wanda.

"Don't let him stab you in the back, you're too good for that."

Wanda gave a half laugh.

"You too."

The two went through the portal, Wanda then Mobius. Loki was looking around excitedly at the small town they were in. A volcano was in the near distance, letting out a low rumble.

"Here we go." Loki whispered excitedly.

"Shh, any minute now." Mobius said.

"Until this entire town is wiped off the face of this planet. Imagine. All that volcanic ash." Loki said, his excitement unending.

"I know. We don't want to get too giddy."

"Oh come on. It's cool!"

"No, it is cool, but it's just not in good taste because-"

"Wouldn't it be hot, not cool?" Wanda asked.

"They're all gonna die anyway. And it's both." Loki replied.

"I know. Now listen, I'm gonna watch the Tempad for any variance energy."

"Okay." Loki nodded.

"Okay because we gotta be careful. If you're wrong, and there's a good chance you are, anything we do can create a huge branch."

"Oh Mobius! You make even the end of the world sound boring."

"Listen! Okay we're not meant to be here. Okay?"

"Okay." Loki sighed.

"Anything we do can impact the course of history. Do you get that?"

"Yes. Yes."

"So we're gonna start with very small disturbances."

"Very small." Loki repeated.

"Can you make bird nois- WANDA!"

Wanda shot up a blast of magic into the sky, causing a firework.

"You guys kept ignoring me, it was annoying." Wanda frowned.

The townsfolk looked around, very amazed at what they saw but also incredibly confused.

While Mobius was distracted with Wanda, Loki ran forwards.

"LOKI-!" Mobius whisper yelled. "Loki. Loki!" He yelled a bit louder.

Loki went to where a wagon was before pulling off the back off the wagon and shouting "GOOO" while gesturing his hand outwards to a bunch of goats in the wagon, who were now running out and around.

"Be free my horned friends! Be free!" Loki exclaimed. "Nomen mihi est Loki. Tempus Variance Auctoritate Procuratores sumus. Adnuntiamus vobis omnia obscura. Vos omnes! Moriturus es. Volcano ille erupturus est. Ut cognoscat quia ego sum ex venturo. [My name is Loki. We are agents of the Time Variance Authority. I bring you all dark tidings. All of you! You're all about to die. That volcano is about to erupt. I would know because I'm from the future.]"

Loki spoke in the language of these people while Wanda went out to use her magic to show imagery as he spoke. She didn't understand Latin so she just magiced a new firework every time he gave a dramatic ending to a sentence, causing the audience to gasp and jump back.

"We are from the future, right?" Loki asked after his death monologue. "What is the TVA? I mean, it's from the future. It sounds from the future. It's pretty future-y."

On cue, the volcano erupted and the crowd screamed.

"Boom." Wanda said dramatically, shooting up one more red firework.

"RIGHT ON CUE!" Loki shouted over the explosion. "Enjoy your last meal while you can!" He started tossing food around while the crowd ran around, trying to hide. "NOTHING MATTERS! NOTHING HAS ANY CONSEQUENCE! DANCE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" Loki shouted.

He grabbed Wanda's hands and spun her around once before shouting "WHOO-HOO!"

He finally stopped and turned to Mobius who was looking at the Tempad with a shocked stare.

"How'd we do?" Loki asked with a grin.

"I don't believe it. Zero variance energy. No branching in the timeline." Mobius replied.

"The TVA would never even know we were here." Loki stated.

Explosions ensued around them from the volcano. Wanda's smile remained and she moved back over to Mobius who was just looking around in some shock.

Loki gave a thumbs up to the two and finished his statement.

"If it were me, this is where I would hide."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

My favorite quote of this chapter: "It's not Asgard, It's my lunch."