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❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴊɪᴍɪɴ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴀɴ
ᴜɴʟɪᴄᴇɴsᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇʀᴀᴘɪsᴛ ꒱　


❝ AND HOW DOES
THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? ❞

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The Time Door opened in a random corridor of the T.V.A., which made Loki, Mobius and Jimin go on a quick search for where the Variant had gotten to. He was standing at the end of another hallway with B-15 as he took in the sights around him. He was still clutching his bag to his chest as if it were a security blanket, which Jimin could understand. It hadn't been that long ago when these changes had been happening to her and she could remember how off-putting they were— still are, really.

Timely held out his hands defensively at their approach. The slight tremor in his voice remained, even as he raised it to order them: "just stop!"

Both men held up their own hands appeasingly. Mobius tried to reassure him, "it's okay. It's all right."

"What do. . . What do you want with me?"

Loki stepped forward and even he couldn't hide the desperation on his face as time continued to slip through their fingers. "Come with us. . . and we'll show you."

Victor remained wary, adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder. "That didn't sound as reassuring as you hoped it would."

"Listen, Professor, I can only imagine what Renslayer and Miss Minutes have been saying about us, but it's not true." The analyst paused to add, "unless they said something good."

Jimin thought about their last encounter with Renslayer and made a face. "That's highly unlikely. How about this for reassurance? I used to hate him—"

She pointed at the Asgardian, who let out a quiet protest of, "hey!"

"—but now I don't," she continued, ignoring the interruption. "I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.; I know you don't know what that is, but we only— well, we try to work only for the good of the world. I wouldn't be in cahoots with these two if they're as bad as your other friends are saying they are. You don't have to trust us, but the fact is that we're running out of time and we need your help."

Although Victor seemed to listen to her words, he was prevented from replying immediately as he caught sight of the final member of their group: Sylvie had finished with Renslayer and had returned to the T.V.A. They couldn't blame him when he seemed to become a little more nervous as he greeted her, "oh, it's a party. Hello. The more the merrier. And you all want me. Ms. Ravonna wants me. The effervescent clock-lady monster thing wants me. I should have some say."

"I don't disagree," Mobius allowed.

However, they could not give him the luxury of choice; the groaning from outside grew louder so they could hear it in the heart of the T.V.A., not just in the control room. The lights flickered around them, taking a moment to become steady again. A woman's cool, automated voice spoke faintly over the speakers as she announced impending doom.

"Is that. . . my Loom?" the Variant asked hesitantly.

"Yes, that's your Loom," Loki replied. "And you're the only one who can help us fix it."

"Well, la-di-da."

✧✧✧

They made their way as fast as possible to where O.B. and Casey were working on the Throughput Multiplier, but they kept getting waylaid by a very inquisitive Timely. Every bend in the halls piqued his interest and he would turn down the corridor to see where it went, forcing them to keep him on track. Not for the first time, Loki guided the man back on the right path. "Here. This way."

"So, I built all of this?" Victor wondered, gazing around in awe.

He was met with an uncertain, "well. . ."

"Or I did?"

Jimin glanced at Mobius, wondering how to best explain the situation to a nineteenth-century man who had yet to even hear of television. "Well—"

"Or I will, and I did?"

"Almost," Loki put in. "You, but not you. This way."

Timely was too curious for their already short schedule as he pleaded, "can't we just take a look?"

Sylvie cut him off from going down another hallway by grabbing his arm. "No. Trust me, it's not that great, and we don't have time."

Mobius softened her harsh words by adding, "listen. You're here to solve one of many problems, then you're free to wander around all you want."

When they arrived, Casey and O.B. were at the same computer, frowning as every outcome they tried, failed. The Asgardian wasted no time in introducing the Variant to the two T.V.A. workers. "Victor. . . This is Casey and O.B."

"O.B.?"

"Ouroboros."

There was a sharp intake of breath as Timely stared at the Asian man. Almost in disbelief, he repeated, "Ouroboros."

"Yeah, that's me."

He seemed stunned as he reached into his bag to pull out a very familiar orange book. "You wrote the T.V.A. Handbook."

O.B. was a little flustered by the recognition as he answered, "well. . . yes, I did. But I learned everything I know from a brilliant nineteenth-century inventor named Victor Timely. If he'd had the resources, he would have been bigger than Einstein." He froze. "What did you say your name was?"

"Victor."

Ouroboros' mouth dropped open in shock as he looked between the pages of his open handbook and the man in front of him. Loki leaned forward with confused interest. "So, if your work is based on his work, and his work is based on your work. . ."

"Grandfather paradox," Jimin announced smugly, relishing her next words: "I told you so."

"I never doubted you for a second," Mobius told her (even though he had.) "But which came first?"

"Well, that's kind of the thing about the grandfather paradox—"

O.B. breathed out, "it's like a snake eating its own tail."

"I told you!" the agent exclaimed, pointing at the R&A employee. "The alchemical symbol!"

He blinked at her as realization settled over him. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"I did— oh, never mind," she said, deciding it wasn't worth the explanation.

Victor took the momentary silence as an opportunity to hold out his own copy. "Mr. Ouroboros, would you inscribe my handbook?"

"Only if you inscribe mine," the man insisted, switching books with him.

"I was living in your engineering descriptions," Timely exclaimed.

O.B. reached for a pen as he countered, "me? The way you explained the electric bypass system. . ."

"The bypass."

"Poetry, just poetry."

Jimin sighed and leaned on the desk in front of her, resting her head on her hands. "Oh, god, there's two of them now."

Sylvie seemed to agree with her— or at least remember the more pressing issue— as she cut in, "guys, sorry to break up this bromance, but can we fix now and sign later?"

Thankfully that got them to refocus quickly and they returned each book to its previous owner. "Yeah, let's go."

"O.B., how's it going?"

"Uh, we have a. . . We have a good plan." He moved around the counter to where a lumpy object covered in a heavy cloth sat waiting off to the side.

"Okay."

As he pulled the tarp off, he continued: "it's a pretty good plan. We have a plan. Casey?" The two men wheeled over each part of the replica. "Here's a model I mocked up of the Loom. Forgive the shoddy and slapdash work. It's not to scale. I only got one coat of paint on there. I haven't been able to carve out figures to represent all of us."

"The Loom," Timely noted as Casey moved it into position.

Sheepishly, O.B. admitted, "I'm honestly embarrassed that Victor's here to see it."

"You're being hard on yourself. It looks great," Mobius encouraged him.

"All right. What's the plan?" Loki asked.

O.B. picked up the small figure he'd made and used it to help demonstrate his explanation: "It's simple. One of us will have to take our Throughput Multiplier down the gangway. Load the Throughput Multiplier into the launcher. Then, they'll need to hit the green button and launch it towards the Loom. It will dock with the Loom, where it will scale the Loom's capacity to manage the backlog of branches that was created when—" Here, he paused to glare at Sylvie with unexpected venom. "—someone killed He Who Remains and released all those branches and ruined my life."

Of course, it wasn't simple at all, and Jimin had gotten lost at the words 'Throughput Multiplier.' The visual did help, though, so at least she knew what to do even without the technical jargon. Loki held up a hand. "Hang on. What's the connection between the Throughput Multiplier and the Loom?"

Casey lifted his hands to form a circle to illustrate his reply. "The rings of the Loom aren't wide enough."

"That's correct," O.B. confirmed. "We need to make the rings bigger, so more branches can fit through. But there's one gigantic problem."

"Big."

"What's that?" the Asian woman questioned them carefully, not sure if she could process any more time travel-related vocabulary.

Ouroboros waved his hands around the gangway area of his miniature. "There is much, much more Temporal Radiation through here than there was when you went out there, Mobius."

Casey nodded. "Yeah, so much more."

"More?"

"Yes."

Mobius let out a regretful breath. "Okay, well, I mean, Loki's really gonna have to hoof it then, right?"

The god turned to him sharply. "Hang on a second. Why is it suddenly me having to hoof it?"

"Well, because it's your turn," the analyst said reasonably.

"Says who? Why? Why is it suddenly me?" Loki demanded.

"Well, because clearly this isn't me."

"Just because it isn't you, it isn't me."

Jimin groaned, annoyed by their incessant bickering. "Fine, if you two can't decide, I'll do it."

Loki shook his head immediately. "Absolutely not. You're a mortal."

"What's that got to do with anything? So his he!" She gestured to Mobius.

That earned her an irritated look from the gray-haired man. "Hey, don't conscript me into this! I've already done it once."

"I wasn't conscripting you! I was just pointing out that you're not a god either."

"But he's at least three hundred years old," the Asgardian argued. "You're young, you're only thirty! You shouldn't risk it if you don't have to."

(Of course, he didn't say that the thought of Jimin going out there into that radiation-filled void, desperately trying to make it back in time, maybe not succeeding and turning into spaghetti right before their eyes made his stomach tie in unfamiliar knots.)

She glared at him in return. "I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent— I've trained my whole life for missions like this. I know the risks and I'm prepared to accept them. If I die in the field then at least it will be an honorable death."

(Of course, she didn't say that she'd already lost one person she cared about to a mission that, in the end, had failed, and she didn't know what she'd do if she lost another. She didn't say that she would rather die than see that happen to anyone else. She didn't say that the thought of Loki going out there made her heart twist in her chest.)

"You go on and on about being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent like it's your whole personality," Loki snapped. "There's nothing honorable about wasting your life, which is exactly what you would be doing if you gave it up so easily."

"Uh. . ." O.B. tentatively broke into their argument. "It doesn't matter who it is. It's doable. But this person just needs to be super-fast." He made the minifigure whoosh quickly down the gangway.

"Okay, great," Sylvie said. "So, what are we waiting for? Let's do this."

Even when she spoke, neither Jimin nor Loki broke their gaze away from the other. The Asian woman's arms were crossed against her chest as she stared challengingly up at the god— a rather humorous sight due to their height difference. Loki's jaw was tense as he met her gaze, his hands curled into fists as a release for the anxiety her insistence brought him.

"There's another problem," Casey added.

Finally, Loki looked away from the brunette to inquire, "what's that?"

O.B. confessed, "this whole plan is only theoretical because our Throughput Multiplier does not yet work."

"Why?"

"It doesn't work?" Sylvie echoed, almost in disbelief.

"Wait. Let me guess," Victor started, studying the mockup of the Loom. "The Loom's temporal decay outpaces your Multiplier's throughput capabilities."

"Every time, yeah. How did you know that?"

"Because I had the same problem with my Loom... until I made this." He took out a small device from his bag. It looked a bit like a bobble head, minus the body. It had a spherical metal orb on top of a narrow base. He pressed a button and the curved part of the machine opened to reveal its inner gears. "It's a prototype. . . still."

"O.B., it'll work?" the Asgardian wanted to know.

"Integrating them, if that would even work, would take a long time," Ouroboros answered, which wasn't exactly what they were hoping for but it what-if was better than flat-out no.

Victor remained optimistic and offered the other man his hand. "Mr. Ouroboros, if anyone can, it's you and me."

✧✧✧

They left the trio to work. As they made their way to the elevators, Mobius suggested, "all right, let's have a little pie while we wait."

The lift dinged to allow the doors to open, they didn't even make it inside. Instead, Sylvie turned to face the man with an incredulous look on her face. "Pie?"

"Yeah."

She stormed towards him. "What is the matter with you? You dragged me back here begging for help, so you must have some idea of what's happening. Everything is turning to shit and you want to leave it to them while we go and have some pie? Great idea, Mobius."

Loki retraced his steps to be closer to the analyst case the goddess decided to do something rash. "Sylvie, wait."

"No, I won't wait," she retorted. "Come on. Let's go and get some pie. Why not? It's a great idea. Does it matter that the branches are dying? Clocks don't tick at the T.V.A., do they? You found out you're a Variant, and you haven't even looked, have you? It's just another bad day at the office for you. Timelines are just lines on a monitor. Doesn't matter if a few disappear. Because you've never bothered to look if one of them was yours. Who cares if a few just disappear? Enjoy your pie."

As she stalked away, Jimin looked over at the Asgardian, who sighed. "I've got her."

She nodded to Mobius. "I've got him."

Loki went after Sylvie while she pinned her gaze on Mobius, who let out an even deeper sigh than the god had. Sliding her hands into her coat pockets, Jimin regarded him with an even stare. "So, what's your deal with pie?"

The gray-haired man met her eyes with an unimpressed look in his own. "I'm not Loki, Jimin. You can't psychoanalyze me."

She smirked, amused. "You're a man, no?"

"Uh— yeah?"

"Then I can." She paused to add, "well, I suppose women can be, too, but it's easier with men. So, what's your deal with pie?"

"I just like it, okay?" They began to walk with no certain direction, just for something to do. "There's a lot of options. You want fruit? There's apple, blueberry, lemon. You want sweet? There's chocolate, Oreo, pecan. You want savory? Shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, Cornish pasties. If there was one food I had to choose to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pie. It's the only dessert that can be eaten for every meal."

She studied him thoughtfully as she pondered his response. "I guess what you're saying is the reason why you don't want to look into what your previous life could've been like is that you're afraid of having to stick with the decision you made?"

His head jerked towards her, startled by her suggestion. "What? What does my liking pie have to do with any of that?"

"Psychoanalysis," Jimin answer, her dark eyes glittering in a way that was eerily similar to Loki's mischievous look. "I know the reason why you're not interested in learning about your past is because you could be missing out on something good. But what if there's another dessert out there that you like better than pie, but you're just afraid to try it?"

He scoffed. "You're reading too much into my pie preferences. I just enjoy the variety it offers. Life is short; why limit yourself to one flavor?"

Jimin shook her head. "But that's where you're wrong. You're not just talking about pie. You're talking about life choices. The fear of missing out on something better— or finding something worse— might be holding you back from exploring your past, from understanding who you really are."

Mobius shook his head, dismissing her words. "You're stretching it. My past is my past and I've moved on."

"Have you, though?" the Asian woman probed, her gaze still sharp. "What about all those jet ski magazines you read? What if that's a lingering imprint leftover from old memories? You're suppressing your curiosity because you're afraid it might disrupt the balance you've created for yourself."

"Look, if this is about what Sylvie said—"

"Of course it's about what Sylvie said," the brunette cut him off. "I mean, I know if I found out I was a Variant, I'd want to at least know what my real name was. You just took her words lying down. How did they make you feel?"

"I don't know," he admitted, his tone quieter. "Sylvie. . . she's got her own agenda. I've been doing this job for a long time and I've learned to detach myself from the past. Maybe too well. But it's not about pie or jet skis. It's about avoiding the uncertainty that comes with facing who I used to be."

Jimin wasn't great with emotions, especially other people's, so when things got to be touchy-feely, she was out of her element, which was why she repeated, "and how does that make you feel?"

Mobius gave her an unimpressed look. "You already asked me that."

She held up her hands placatingly. "Hey, I'm new to this therapy stuff; I'm just making it up as I go. I watched Freaky Friday once with Katrina and that was what one of the main characters asked the patients. I suppose I'm just trying to say that if you ever were interested in finding anything out, you wouldn't have to do it alone. We could figure things out one slice at a time."

When they reached the end of the hallway, there was a hot chocolate machine nearby. He chuckled at her continued metaphor. "And here I was thinking that I'm just a guy who likes pie." He nodded to the machine. "Hot chocolate?"