Chapter 142
Arc 9 - Ch 9: Journey Into Mystery
Location: The Void at the End of Time
The Void stretched endlessly beneath a clouded sky, littered with the discarded remnants of realities, all mixed together across barren earth. Perpetual twilight bathed the landscape in sickly yellow light. Broken skyscrapers jutted from cracked streets, overgrown with vegetation. Abandoned cars sat crushed beneath fallen debris or perfectly preserved, as if their owners had simply vanished mid-journey. At the heart of this ruined metropolis stood a warped version of New York City. Most striking was the tower dominating the view, shaped like Stark Tower at the Battle of New York, but emblazoned with bold lettering.
QENG.
At the edge of the city, where crumbling asphalt gave way to wasteland, Loki stirred. His eyelids fluttered. The clouded sky swam into focus. Three figures stood over him, silhouettes backed by perpetual twilight.
A child to his left, wearing a crown resembling his own. Beside the child, a large Black man with crossed arms. And directly above him, an elderly man whose face was framed by familiar curved horns extending from a golden helmet. On the ground, hissing, was an alligator, also wearing miniature horns.
Loki's head throbbed. His body felt pulled apart and hastily reassembled. "Am I dead, or is this the beginning of a very bad joke?"
The old man tilted his head. "You're not dead. Yet."
Pushing himself onto his elbows, Loki winced. The ruined city came into sharper focus, and in the distance, massive shifting darkness devoured the horizon.
"What is this place? Where are we? Who are you?"
The old man extended a hand. "This is The Void." He gestured at the wasteland, then pointed toward the moving darkness in the distance. "That's Alioth." His expression grew grave as he grabbed Loki's arm. "And we're his lunch. Come on!"
The black mass at the horizon coalesced, taking form like a dragon composed entirely of roiling shadow. Its massive body blotted out the sickly sky. Glowing red eyes emerged from the darkness. The creature opened its mouth and released a roar.
Fleeing for minutes, the group crested a hill, dust kicking up from their footsteps. Alioth's distant roar echoed across the wasteland.
"I suggest we take a breather, so I can ask several thousand questions."
Old Loki shook his head. "Gotta keep moving so we don't die."
"Okay, but what's your plan?"
The muscular Black Loki simply said, "Don't die. We're damn good at it."
"Okay, but beyond that?"
"Don't die," Old Loki repeated, already continuing down the other side of the hill.
"That's not a plan." Loki threw his hands up. "It's a general demand of living. If you're Lokis, you should always have—"
Small blue birds squawked as they ran by. He stopped mid-sentence, staring.
"Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Look, it's been a very, very, very trying past few days. Months? I don't even know how long it's been since New York. All I know is, I got pruned, and I woke up here, and now I'm surrounded by variants of myself, plus an alligator, which I'm heartbroken to report I didn't find all that strange. And now we're running from God knows what to God knows where. When I need to be trying to find a way back to the TVA."
Low rumbling rolled across the landscape. The ground trembled. The alligator Loki hissed.
Kid Loki waved his hand. A golden sword materialized from nothing. He pointed it at Loki, who stumbled backward and fell.
The young variant stood above him, sword tip hovering inches from Loki's throat.
"Stop wailing, or you will signal Alioth."
"You mean the monster in the sky?"
Kid Loki shook his head, exasperated. The sword vanished. He offered his hand.
"Thank you," Loki said, rising and brushing dust from his clothing.
"This is the place where the TVA dumps its rubbish, everything they prune." Kid Loki's eyes scanned the horizon. "And Alioth, he ensures none of it ever returns."
The large black Loki swept his arm across the landscape. "It's a living tempest that consumes matter and energy. They send entire branched realities here that are devoured instantly. We're in a shark tank. Alioth is the shark."
Loki's gaze drifted to the alligator crawling alongside them, its movements oddly deliberate. "Hang on, you three, I get. You're telling me that thing's a Loki, too?" He pointed at the alligator wearing horns that matched Old Loki's but were properly sized for its small head.
"Oh, yes," Old Loki confirmed.
"Okay, fine. Willing to accept that." His brow furrowed. "Why are there so many of you?"
"Because Lokis survive. That's just what we do." Old Loki's voice carried weight. "We don't escape the void. All of us were arrested by the TVA and pruned, just like you. And just like you, we all stood around making bad plans that went nowhere."
"But we could use a TemPad."
The group erupted into laughter. Even the alligator made a sound resembling a reptilian chuckle.
"Oh, the one thing that could get us out of here, yes," The tallest Loki, said between laughs. "They're all over the place, right, guys?"
"Fine. What about causing a Nexus-Event?"
"The TVA doesn't care what happens here. Survival is all there is. All there ever was."
"We're done talking," Kid Loki declared. "Let's go. Just do what you want."
Thunder rumbled. The alligator hissed more urgently.
"Okay, wait, wait, wait." Loki called as the others began moving away. "Why do you all let the child command you?"
Old Loki turned back. "You'll do well to respect the boy. This is his kingdom."
"Right." Skepticism colored Loki's tone. He studied Kid Loki with newfound curiosity. "What was your Nexus-Event, Your Majesty?"
Kid Loki stopped walking. The others grew still. Slowly, the young Loki turned to face his older variant.
"I killed Thor."
The words hung in the air. No elaboration. No justification. Just the simple, devastating truth.
They continued until reaching a hatch in the ground. Climbing down, they entered what appeared to be a bowling alley with lanes sloping downhill. At the bottom sat mismatched furniture and a throne with a neon 'L' sign above it.
"Welcome to our humble abode," Old Loki announced with a theatrical sweep. "Not exactly Asgard, but it keeps us hidden from Alioth."
Kid Loki strode to the throne and settled in. The alligator waddled toward a large bowl of water, slipping in with a small splash.
"Make yourself comfortable," Boastful Loki said, gesturing to a worn couch constructed from car seats stitched together.
Loki lowered himself onto the makeshift furniture. "How long have you all been here?"
"Time works differently in the Void." Old Loki shuffled toward a stack of crates, retrieving a box of Roxxi wine. He poured purple liquid into mismatched goblets.
The black Loki settled into a chair. "You know, my Nexus-Event was quite spectacular. I vanquished Captain America and Iron Man, then collected all six Infinity Stones."
The alligator growled from its water bowl.
"Liar."
Boastful Loki flushed. "At least my Nexus-Event wasn't eating the wrong neighbor's cat."
Kid Loki laughed, then pointed his goblet at Old Loki. "Tell them your story, Loki."
Old Loki shifted uncomfortably, wine swirling in his goblet. "Me? Nobody wants to hear about that."
"I would, actually." Loki leaned forward. "It's just I've been wondering, because I'm... Well, we're supposed to die, right? Thanos kills us after Ragnarok."
"Thanos?" Old Loki's weathered face grew solemn. His voice took on a distant quality, as if recalling events from centuries past. "In my timeline, everything proceeded correctly, my entire life, until Thanos attacked our ship."
"So, you didn't try to stab him?"
Old Loki chuckled, the sound hollow. "Certainly not. Take no offense, my friends, but blades are worthless in the face of a Loki sorcery. They stunt our magical potential."
"But they look awesome," Boastful Loki interjected, miming a stabbing motion.
"Oh, yes. Especially when they clatter to the ground just before your neck is snapped." The simple statement forced the mirth to die down.
"I cast a projection of myself so real, even the Mad Titan believed it. Then hid as inanimate debris." He paused. "After I faked my death, I simply drifted in space. Away from Thor, away from everything."
The memory of Thanos's ship flashed through Loki's mind, the TVA projector showing his own death.
"Thought about the universe and my place in it, and it occurred to me that everywhere I went, only pain followed." Old Loki's voice dropped. "So I removed myself from the equation. Landed on a remote planet, and stayed there in isolation, in solitude, for a long, long time."
The underground hideout had gone completely quiet. Even the alligator had stopped moving in its water bowl.
"How did the TVA find you?"
Old Loki's eyes glistened. When he spoke, the words came with unexpected emotion.
"I got lonely." He laughed, but it sounded more like a sob caught in his throat. "To tell you the truth, I missed my brother. Wondered if he missed me, if anybody else did. But as soon as I took my first steps to getting off the planet, the TVA arrived."
Here was a Loki who had found the one path to survival, and yet loneliness had still found him in the end. Even removing himself from existence hadn't been enough to escape the fundamental truth of what he was.
Old Loki raised his goblet high. "Because we, my friends, have but one part to play. The God of Outcasts."
"The God of Outcasts," the other Lokis echoed, raising their drinks. Kid Loki took a long sip from a Hi-C box.
Loki set his wine glass down and stood abruptly. "I'm going."
Old Loki looked up. "Going where?"
"Out of this place, out of The Void, back to the TVA." Loki straightened his shoulders. "It's the ultimate power in the universe; they use Infinity Stones as paper weights. I need to get out of here to overthrow the Time Keepers."
Old Loki shook his head. "You won't do either. You'll be murdered."
"Well, so be it. That was my destiny to begin with."
Kid Loki studied him from the throne. "You're different. Why?"
"No, I'm not, you see? I'm the same, really. I'm the same as all of you." He paused. "Have any of you met a woman Variant of us?"
One by one, they shook their heads.
"Sounds terrifying," Kid Loki muttered, taking another sip.
"You said Alioth is what keeps us here. You said it's a living thing. You said it's a shark." Determination gleamed in Loki's eyes. "Well, if it lives, it dies. So I'm gonna kill the shark. I'm gonna kill Alioth, and I could use all the help I can get."
The hideout fell silent for a heartbeat before erupting into uproarious laughter. Boastful Loki doubled over, slapping his knee. The alligator made a strange hissing sound that somehow conveyed mockery. Kid Loki nearly spilled his drink.
Old Loki fell back into his recliner. "Yeah, baby. Yeah," he managed between gasps, wiping tears from his eyes.
Without another word, Loki turned toward the makeshift staircase leading up through the bowling lanes.
"Where are you going?" Boastful Loki called after him.
"To do what none of you have the courage to try."
The alligator growled something suspiciously like "fool," but Loki ignored it. He reached the top of the stairs and began ascending the ladder to the surface.
The clouds came into view as he pushed open the hatch.
A ragtag band of disheveled men in tattered patchwork clothing with "Vote Loki" pins affixed to their lapels surrounded the open hatch, blocking any retreat.
At their center stood a variant that resembled Loki himself, though dressed in a suit that had once been expensive but now showed wear. A campaign button adorned his chest, and a confident smirk was plastered to his face.
"Ah," President Loki said, his voice carrying the same silky tone. "Hello, which one of us are you?"
Loki muttered, "This is a nightmare."
— Rogue Redemption —
Mobius settled into the chair across from Judge Renslayer. "I thought maybe I'd interview the other Variant."
"Oh, no. Just stick with Tyson and figure out what that nexus spike was."
"I know, but I think I can get there faster if I work 'em both together. You said we have a part to play, and the part I play—"
"Absolutely not. She's just too dangerous."
"Too dangerous? Come on, Ravonna. This is what I do."
"And this is what I do. Nobody speaks with that Variant. Work with Tyson and figure out how he stopped that apocalypse. The Time-Keepers are watching, Mobius."
He stood. "They're always watching. That ought to be my mantra."
On his way to the time theater where Tyson waited, he passed the room containing the Loki variant. Hunter B-15 stood outside with a team of Minutemen, her usual confident stance replaced by something more uncertain.
"You all right?"
B-15 responded with a tight nod, fingers gripping her weapon more firmly than usual.
"Is she in there?"
"Mm-hmm." B-15 shifted her weight. "Aren't you supposed to be interrogating the Nexus-Being?"
"Just stretching my legs." He glanced at the door. "You know, we brought in Kree, Titans, vampires. Why is it a Loki and an Avenger that're such a pain in the ass?"
B-15's face softened slightly. "Mobius? Can I be in there when you interview him?"
"Sure, come on then."
Mobius entered the time theater with B-15 in tow. Tyson sat relaxed at the table, his muscular frame making the standard-issue TVA chair look comically small. The screens displayed footage of the Lamentis apocalypse, frozen on images of insectoid creatures swarming across the barren landscape.
"Welcome back. You've caused quite the stir around here."
"Just another day in the life."
"Speaking of life." Mobius tapped his fingers on the table. "Remind me, what is your godly portfolio?"
"Prophecy, Life, Death—"
"Mischief, Betrayal, any of that?"
Tyson chuckled. "I missed the part where I betrayed you?"
"You went with the Variant."
"I was the one who told you where the variant was. And you still didn't take the collar off me. And then you pruned Loki, right in front of me. What was I supposed to do?" He leaned forward. "Prophecy, remember? I even told you this was going to happen. My last words were, 'it's all gonna work out.' And it did. I'm back here in the TVA, you've got the variant captured."
Mobius studied him for a long moment. "Let's pivot for a second. How did you cause that Nexus-Event?"
"You were the ones who called me a Nexus-Being. Doesn't that mean I'm the only one who can legitimately change stuff on the Sacred Timeline? Well, I changed something." He grinned broadly. "I made out with the variant."
"Oh, ha ha ha."
B-15 stepped forward. "We detected the largest Nexus-Event the TVA has ever recorded. It nearly collapsed the entire branch."
"We were trapped in an Apocalypse. You found out for yourself that you could do anything in an apocalypse, and it wouldn't cause a Nexus-Event." Tyson spread his hands. "So we needed something big."
Mobius tapped a control panel. The screens shifted to display footage of massive insectoid creatures swarming across Lamentis. "Let's talk about the Annihilation Wave. Do you have any idea what you were up against?"
The footage showed the swarm consuming everything in its path, buildings crumbling, land turning barren.
"Annihilus consumes galaxies. Entire civilizations, planets with defenses far beyond Earth's capabilities, have fallen in hours." He paused the footage on a particularly gruesome scene.
Tyson's face sobered as he studied the screen.
"So how did you kill him?"
"I put one of your collars on him. Then I stabbed him through the top of his mouth."
B-15 exchanged a glance with Mobius.
"That's it? You put a collar on a cosmic entity that's destroyed entire galaxies, and then stabbed him?"
"It was your collar." Tyson shrugged. "After that, he was just another big bug with tough armor. I admit, I hit him with my best shots, and it didn't do much. Without the collar, I think it would've been a long stalemate until his army rejoined the fight. I couldn't have won in the end."
"Okay, how did you survive the Annihilation Wave?"
"I used my magnetism to create a giant blender and just kept it running until they stopped coming." Tyson mimed a spinning motion with his finger.
"A blender," B-15 repeated flatly.
"Yeah, spinning metal blades. Very effective against bugs." He leaned back. "Look, I know you don't trust me. But I'm not your enemy. I've been more forthright with you than you have with me."
Mobius went to argue, but Tyson interrupted. "I came with the Minutemen voluntarily. And you collared me anyway. I cooperated with all your procedures and even encouraged Loki to cooperate. When Loki escaped, I told you where to find him. When you were looking for the Variant, I told you where to find her. And I played along still, after you again, left me collared. Then I went and got the Variant, and pretty much delivered her to you, and yet again, I let you collar me."
"You let us?"
Tyson leaned forward, his massive frame casting a shadow across the table. "The first time, I couldn't stop you. But this time? Do you actually think you got the drop on me? That I was so infatuated and invested in my kiss that I overlooked a platoon of Minutemen. Please."
Silence filled the room. Mobius turned toward B-15.
She cleared her throat. "He did defeat Annihilus, even with the collar. That wouldn't be easy." Her fingers tightened around her weapon. "With something like that, prune first, ask questions never."
The screens flickered with images from Lamentis. Tyson standing over the fallen form of Annihilus, the cosmic entity rendered powerless by TVA technology.
Mobius drummed his fingers on the table. "Okay, let's say I believe you. Give me something on the variant."
"Give, give, give. I'm getting tired of being collared, and I've been patient with you. But I had a ton of fun on Lamentis, so I will give you one last tidbit." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Besides, the game is almost over."
"Is everything a game to you?"
"This has been a fun little excursion. I suppose it isn't a game because my timeline hangs in the balance, and I like all my people there."
He leaned close. "I saw what was in Sylvie's mind. She's been in their heads." He gestured to B-15. "And the other one. C-20. The one we were looking for at the Ren-faire." His gray eyes locked with Mobius's. "Everyone working for the TVA is a variant. They all have memories from before the TVA, from their lives on the timeline."
Mobius recoiled slightly. "It's a lie. She lied to you. She used Enchantment on you. I was created—"
"By the Time Keepers." Tyson shook his head. "No, sorry, I know this is hard to accept because it shatters your worldview, but the Time Keepers didn't create you. You were taken, and your memories were wiped. But Sylvie can still access them."
The color drained from Mobius's face. "Sylvie?"
"That's the Loki Variant's name." His gaze shifted to B-15, who had gone very still. "If you don't believe me, ask her."
Mobius turned toward the hunter with disbelief.
B-15 swallowed hard. "When she was in my head, I saw something. A life that I never had."
The confession hung in the air.
Tyson spread his hands wide. "So what's next, Mobius?"
Mobius leaned back, fingers steepled in front of him. "So all I have to go on is your word. Over images you pulled from the Variant's mind, and B-15's vision, which the Variant could've also implanted."
"I don't know Enchantment, but if I touched Sylvie, I could learn it. But still, neither of us could use magic within the TVA. We would have to go down to the timeline." He tapped the collar around his neck. "Otherwise, I might be able to access those memories in a different way with my powers. But you'd have to disable this collar, which you haven't seemed interested in doing thus far. And you'd have to trust in what I saw, because it would be me replaying the memories, not you experiencing them yourself."
"I don't know what you want from me, Mobius. You're the man on the inside. Maybe you can dig something up. I'm just a guy with powers, who's currently a guy without powers."
Mobius stared at the footage of Tyson standing victorious over Annihilus. The contrast was stark. A being capable of destroying galaxies, brought low by a single man who now sat calmly collared before him.
Mobius cycled through disbelief, consideration, and uncertainty for several minutes.
Tyson could end this right now, tell Mobius everything he knew. Three sentences and he'd shatter everything Mobius believed. But a handed revelation never stuck. People rejected truths they didn't discover themselves, especially truths that demolished their entire worldview. Mobius needed to arrive at this knowledge through his own investigation, needed to feel the betrayal personally before he could move past denial into action. If he forced the revelation prematurely, Mobius would rationalize it away, would find reasons to disbelieve, would retreat further into the comfortable lie. So Tyson sat with the knowledge. This was the burden of prophecy, the burden of metaknowledge; knowing the right answer but understanding that giving it would be wrong.
Finally, B-15 spoke up. "We could take her down to Roxxcart, let her show us our lives and decide for ourselves."
Mobius looked up sharply. "You're on his side now?"
B-15 glanced at Tyson before turning back to meet Mobius's gaze. "Mobius, I saw it. It was me. I know it was." Her voice carried conviction that hadn't been there before. "And he's right, he's been straight with us."
"You're sure she's not creating these memories?"
"Loki, the Loki that was pruned, was trained in magic. He might be able to do something like that, though I never saw him use Enchantment magic. I've encountered an Enchantress who could manipulate people, and she was far more adept than Sylvie." Tyson continued thoughtfully, "Sylvie is self-taught. I'm unsure she could do that with any kind of finesse."
B-15 nodded. "The memory felt real. It wasn't like being controlled. It was like... remembering something I'd forgotten."
Mobius glanced between them, weighing their words against everything he thought he knew. The foundation of his existence, created by the Time-Keepers to serve the Sacred Timeline, was being challenged not just by a variant but by one of his most trusted hunters.
"The Time-Keepers created the TVA after the Multiversal War. They created us to protect the Sacred Timeline."
"That's what they told you," Tyson said quietly. "But have you ever actually seen a Time-Keeper?"
"Of course not. Only Renslayer and a select few have that privilege."
"Convenient."
B-15 shifted uncomfortably. "I've never questioned it before. But now..." She trailed off.
Mobius stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. "I'm going to see Renslayer." He turned to B-15. "Don't do anything until I get back."
Mobius settled onto Renslayer's couch. The office had always been a sanctuary, a place where the rigid protocols of the TVA softened just enough to allow for something resembling friendship. She handed him a tumbler of amber liquid.
"Mobius? You okay?"
He swirled the drink in his glass. "Yep, I'm good. Case closed. Cheers." He raised his glass with a forced smile.
"Cheers." She clinked her glass against his. "To putting all this behind us."
"Amen." He took a long sip, savoring the burn.
She leaned back, relaxing. "If you could go anywhere, anytime, where would it be? You know what I mean."
Instead of answering, he asked, "Why wouldn't you let me interrogate Sylvie?"
Her posture stiffened slightly. "Sylvie?"
"The Variant, that's what Tyson calls her. Why wouldn't you let me, you know, question her?"
"I told you, we couldn't risk her escaping again. The other Variant got away during your first interrogation, didn't he?"
"Ouch." He chuckled, though the barb stung.
"Come on." She softened. "Anywhere and anytime on the timeline. Where'd you go?"
"I like being here now, with you, doing the work."
"I received word from the Time-Keepers. They want to personally oversee the Variant's pruning. And they want you there, too."
He straightened. "It's about time. Great." He paused. "When... When did you first notice what was going on with C-20?"
The air in the room thickened. Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Mobius, what is going on with you? We did it. The Time-Keepers are happy. Mission accomplished."
"Mission accomplished." He nodded, but couldn't let it go. "It was just that she seemed fine when I... When I saw her. I mean, a little freaked, but fine."
"Well, she quickly wasn't fine." Her words came faster now. "C-20? The Variant? All these questions, what are you getting at?"
Mobius held her gaze, searching for the woman he'd known for decades, or however long had passed in the TVA's timeless bureaucracy. He wanted to see the friend who'd covered for him when he'd spent too long researching jet skis instead of pruning timelines. The ally who'd trusted him with impossible cases because she believed in his instincts.
Instead, he found something else in her eyes. Something careful and calculated. The way her hand hadn't moved far from her TemPad. These weren't the actions of a friend having a difficult conversation. These were the actions of someone preparing for betrayal.
When had they stopped being on the same side? Or had they ever been, and he'd just been too loyal to notice?
"I don't know. I... Something just seems a little off."
She set her glass down and leaned forward. "Fine. You want the truth? I'm trying to protect you. Would you normally interview someone like that? Yeah. But the Variant scares the hell out of me, and I didn't want to see anything happen to you." Her voice grew intense. "C-20 lost her mind. She couldn't even form words by the end. I couldn't deal with that happening to you or anyone else. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
He met her gaze steadily. "Yeah, if it's the truth."
"You've been spending too much time with Lokis."
"Yeah." He chuckled, a hollow sound. "I definitely have been spending too much time with Lokis."
She took a breath, her face softening. "What we do here matters. When we're out there fighting for the fate of the Sacred Timeline, we're also fighting for this. For us." She gestured between them. "Friends against time, allies to the end. You've seen all of existence, same as me. So, you know, friendships like ours are uncommon. And worth fighting for. Same as the Sacred Timeline."
He nodded slowly. "It was a good speech. I knew I was your favorite analyst." His lips quirked into a half-smile. "Was that so hard to admit?" His gaze drifted to Sylvie's sword sitting on the coffee table. "What are you gonna do with that trophy? Where's that gonna go?"
"You're right." She grabbed the sword and placed it on her bookshelf, among other artifacts collected from various timelines.
"Looks perfect. You're running out of room there." He drained the last of his drink and stood. "All right, I will see you later on."
"One drink?" Her eyebrow arched.
He glanced at his empty glass. "I had two, didn't I?"
"Mobius!" she called out as he moved toward the door. "This is a career case. You sure you're okay?"
He paused, his hand on the doorknob. "I'm just exhausted, dealing with all these Lokis. Let's finish this."
"For all time."
"Always. I'll see you up there. Thanks for the drink."
— Rogue Redemption —
Tyson sat cross-legged, waiting, relaxed as Mobius entered.
"What did she say?" B-15 asked, her voice tight.
"The Variant is going to be pruned. The Time Keepers are going to oversee it themselves, and they'll decide what to do about him." He nodded toward Tyson.
Tyson unfolded his legs and stood. "Great. We're off to see the wizard, then."
"You seem awfully chipper about this."
"Everyone wants answers. You two aren't sure if you're variants. Loki wanted to meet the Time Keepers; too bad he's missing out. Sylvie wanted to kill the Time Keepers, and I wanted this collar off." He tapped the metal band around his neck. "I think we're all going to get what we want shortly."
"Is that wishful thinking, or prophecy?"
"Guess we'll find out." Tyson smiled, his eyes crinkling.
Minutemen flanked them on all sides, weapons at the ready on their walk through the TVA corridors. The institutional beige walls gave way to rich wood paneling inlaid with gold trim as they approached the ornate elevator. Sylvie stood there with Renslayer, also escorted by a squad of Minutemen. Her hands were bound, but her posture remained defiant.
When Sylvie spotted Tyson, her face softened. He positioned himself beside her, towering over everyone present. Mobius and B-15 stood slightly apart.
"You okay?" Sylvie whispered.
"I'm fine. Missed you."
Sylvie smiled despite the gravity of their situation. The gesture transformed her face, revealing a glimpse of vulnerability beneath her hardened exterior.
Tyson winked. "Everything is going to be fine."
"We'll take it from here." Renslayer gestured for B-15 and Mobius to join her in the elevator with Tyson and Sylvie. The doors slid open with a soft chime.
The five stepped in, the space cramped with Tyson's bulk. The doors closed with a palpable finality.
"Do you remember me?" Sylvie asked, her voice steady but charged.
Renslayer turned to face her. "I do. What do you wanna say to me, Variant?"
"What was my Nexus-Event? Why did you bring me in?"
"What does it matter?"
"It was enough to take my life from me, leading to all of this. Must have been important. So, what was it?"
"I don't remember."
"That's some cold shit." Tyson reached for Sylvie's hand. "Her life was ruined, and you won't tell her why."
Renslayer's finger moved to the Temp-Pad at her belt, activating Tyson's collar. His form blurred momentarily, then reappeared standing straight.
"Well, that was rude, and side note, also pretty trippy. Anyway. If she won't tell you, I will." He turned to Sylvie. "I saw the moment you were taken in your memories, when you kissed me."
"Isn't this sweet?" Renslayer interrupted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Tyson continued undeterred. "You were playing with a pegasus. Saying the Valkyrie swooped in and defeated the dragon." Sharing this memory felt like a violation, like he was exposing something Sylvie might have wanted to keep private. But she deserved to know why her life had been stolen, deserved to understand that her crime had been nothing more than being determined.
He met Sylvie's eyes, silently asking permission to continue. The memory struck something deep within her. Tears welled up. She'd been so young, playing in the palace gardens, imagining herself as one of Odin's legendary warriors. It had felt so real in that moment, the certainty that she would become something greater than what anyone expected. And then the TVA had come, and everything had ended before it could begin. She gave the smallest nod, and he caught both gratitude and pain. This was going to hurt her, remembering that little girl who'd believed so fiercely in her own future, but not knowing would hurt worse.
"I think you were inspired. You were going to be a Valkyrie. That's why you were pruned." His voice gentled. "If you became a Valkyrie, you couldn't do all the things that the God... Goddess of Mischief was supposed to do. And your conviction was so strong that your path was set at that moment. You were pruned so young because you're so determined, it was certain you would become what you wanted to be."
A tear slipped down Sylvie's cheek. She didn't wipe it away.
Tyson drew himself to his full height, his voice taking on a formal, almost ceremonial quality. "This is what I, Valravn, God of Prophecy, believe to be true."
The elevator doors opened.
The Time Keepers' Chamber stretched before them, all gray stone walls at odd angles. Smoky fog drifted throughout the space, obscuring distant corners and creating an atmosphere of mystical reverence. Glowing red symbols adorned various surfaces. Staircases led everywhere, defying gravity and logic. Some led upward only to curve back underneath themselves. Others extended into nothingness before abruptly turning back into themselves. Several staircases connected and ran in impossible ways.
The massive red symbol, glowing against the stone, loomed at the center of the back wall. Three figures in ornate chairs hovered before it.
The Time Keepers.
Their bodies were disproportionate, with elongated limbs and oversized heads featuring somewhat humanoid faces.
"Gracious Time-Keepers, as promised, the Variants," Renslayer announced.
Tyson and Sylvie walked ahead of her. Several TVA agents stood at attention throughout the space. Unlike the standard Minutemen, these guards wore military formal uniforms with crisp lines and ceremonial details, suggesting their elite status.
The Central Time-Keeper's voice resonated through the space. "After all your struggle, at last, you've arrived before us."
His metaknowledge had prepared him for this. Everything the TVA was, the trials, the pruning, the erasure of timelines, all of it had been orchestrated.
Tyson had followed the script, knowing it would lead to this moment.
The Left Time-Keeper tilted its massive head. "What do you have to say for yourselves before you meet your end?"
"Is that to be the fate of my timeline, then? Prune me, reset the whole reality?"
The Right Time-Keeper shifted forward. "You and your bravado are no threat to us, Nexus-Being or not. You have no power here."
Sylvie took a step forward. "Oh, no, I don't think you believe that. I think—"
Renslayer immediately raised her remote. Sylvie's body returned to its previous position.
"I think you're scared."
The Central Time-Keeper's face contorted with what might have been anger. "No, Variant. You're nothing but a cosmic disappointment." It gestured dismissively. "Delete them."
Tyson suddenly burst into laughter. Everyone paused, guards tensing and Renslayer's hand tightening around her remote. Even the Time Keepers seemed momentarily taken aback. He turned toward Mobius, who stood with conflicted eyes.
"I tried playing nice." A dangerous smile spread across his face. "Time to lift the curtain."
Tyson's hand moved to his throat. He'd worn this collar through arriving, interrogations, investigations, through Roxxcart, through every moment in TVA captivity. It represented everything they'd tried to make him, powerless, controlled, dependent on their mercy.
The adamantium claws emerged, talons extending from each fingertip. Before anyone could react, he slashed through both his neck and the collar around it. Blood sprayed briefly from the wound as the collar fell to the ground with a heavy clank. The gash in his flesh knitted itself closed almost immediately, erasing all evidence of injury.
Renslayer's eyes widened in alarm as she aimed her Temp-Pad at Tyson, but the collar already lay useless on the floor. He extended his hand and tore the device free from her grasp under his magnetic pull. The device flew across the space into his waiting palm. He deactivated Sylvie's collar, and the device fell away from her neck.
The TVA agents all drew their weapons, the devices humming to life. Tyson and Sylvie took defensive postures, back to back in the center of the space, surrounded but finally unrestrained.
"Protect the Time Keepers!" Renslayer shouted.
"Do you really want to do this? I killed Annihilus, and you're sending some mall cops after me? Really?" His eyes scanned the room, counting the agents already spreading out to surround them.
The TVA agents stopped and glanced at Renslayer. She gestured toward the variants. "You heard the Time-Keepers. Prune them."
He shot out webbing from his wrist, binding the nearest TVA agent's foot to the ground as the man stepped toward him. When the agent looked down in confusion, Tyson launched a punch to the jaw, knocking him unconscious. Tyson caught him on the way down, lowering him almost gently to the floor, grabbing the fallen weapon. These agents were victims too, memories stolen and replaced with lies. They needed to be defeated, but didn't deserve cruelty.
As the next agent moved into striking range, Tyson yanked the weapon from his hand using magnetism. It flew across the space, leaving the agent stunned. The man wasn't sure what to do, but put up his arms in a defensive stance. It didn't matter. Tyson was too strong, and three punches to the body were all it took to have the man doubled over.
Sylvie held her own against two TVA agents even without weapons, but she hadn't made any headway yet. Her movements focused on blocking strikes while looking for openings. She ducked under a wide swing.
Tyson magnetically moved one weapon toward the agent on his left. The agent was forced to back away and use his own weapon to defend himself, like he was having a sword fight with a ghost. His face contorted with confusion and fear as the weapon slashed through the air toward him.
With only one enemy to focus on, Sylvie quickly defeated the agent she was fighting, landing a devastating kick to his sternum that sent him sprawling. She turned on the second agent and overwhelmed him while he was distracted. Her elbow connected with his temple, and he collapsed unconscious.
The space fell silent except for heavy breathing. The bodies of the TVA agents lay scattered across the floor, some groaning in pain, others completely still. Renslayer stood frozen near the Time Keepers, her hand hovering over her holster. With all the Minutemen defeated and Tyson and Sylvie unharmed, all eyes turned to the Time Keepers.
The central Time Keeper leaned forward. Its voice was softer now, almost conciliatory. "You're a child of the Time-Keepers, too, Sylvie. We can talk."
"Oh, now you want to talk, fine." Tyson's voice dripped with contempt. "I want my timeline spared..." He paused, then added with exaggerated formality, "For all time, always," mocking their sacred mantra. "I want to take Sylvie back with me. Then we'll call everything even, parting ways. You keep doing what you're doing. You just leave me and my home timeline alone."
"That wasn't the deal," Sylvie said below her breath, her eyes never leaving the Time Keepers.
Tyson turned slightly toward her, keeping the Time Keepers in his peripheral vision. "Look, it spares my timeline." His voice softened. "You can return with me and see Asgard, Odin, and Frigga. It's not a perfect solution, I know. And I know how much you've lost. You spent your entire life running and hiding and fighting. But now you don't have to anymore. We can go back, and you can be home."
He paused.
"It's a lot of lost time, but I'm pretty sure you're ageless, so it's not too late."
Sylvie's face betrayed her emotions. Longing, doubt, and deep-seated anger warred across her features. For a moment, her hardened exterior cracked, revealing the child who had been ripped from her home so long ago. The possibility of returning to Asgard, of walking those golden halls, of hearing her mother's voice, it pulled at something buried so deep she'd almost forgotten it existed.
Renslayer stood with calculating eyes, her hand still hovering near her weapon. She glanced at the Time Keepers, waiting for their response.
"Your request is denied, Nexus-Being."
"The Sacred Timeline matters," the left Time Keeper stated flatly. "Individuals do not."
Sylvie took a step forward, her momentary vulnerability replaced by familiar rage. "And who gave you the right to decide that? Who made you gods?"
The central Time Keeper's face remained impassive. "We are not gods. We are custodians of what must be."
"Oh, we understand perfectly," Sylvie interrupted. "You're afraid of anything you can't control."
The central figure raised its elongated hand. "Enough. Your bargaining is futile. The Nexus-Being will be reset, and the Loki variant will be pruned."
"I don't think you understand the situation." Tyson's voice was dangerously calm. "I'm not asking for permission. I'm telling you what's going to happen."
The central Time Keeper's voice boomed. "You do not dictate to us what the proper flow of time should be. Only those who exist outside of time itself may do so."
Tyson frowned. The Time Keeper's words may have seemed like mystical babble, but because he knew how this story ended, it had deeper meaning.
Sylvie glanced at him with a silent question in her eyes. He gave her an almost imperceptible nod. She launched herself toward Renslayer, who barely had time to draw her weapon before Sylvie was upon her. They grappled briefly before Sylvie gained the upper hand, twisting Renslayer's arm behind her back and forcing her to her knees.
Renslayer's face contorted with defiance. "Do what you will. I serve the Time Keepers."
"Do you?" Tyson asked, stepping closer to the hovering figures. "Or do you serve something else entirely?"
He reached out with his magnetism.
"Stop!" Mobius pleaded.
All eyes turned to him as he walked calmly into the center of the room, positioning himself between the variants and the agents.
"Mobius, what are you doing?" Renslayer demanded, still restrained.
"Something I should have done a long time ago. Asking questions."
"I need to know. Did you create us?" He gestured to himself and the other TVA agents. "Or are we all variants?"
The central Time Keeper spoke, "Agent Mobius, your loyalty has always been exemplary. Do not let these variants poison your mind with doubt."
"That's not an answer." The remaining TVA agents shifted uncomfortably, their weapons still raised but their resolve visibly wavering.
The right Time Keeper leaned forward. "You were made to serve, Mobius. Questions are not part of your purpose."
The central Time Keeper's voice took on a harder edge. "This line of questioning serves no purpose. Return to your duties, Agent."
"B-15 remembered. She saw her life before the TVA. We deserve to know who we are."
Renslayer added, "The Time Keepers have guided the TVA, have protected us from the chaos of the multiverse war. That is all any of us need to know."
"Is it? Because I'm starting to think there's a lot more we should know. Like why our memories were taken. Why we're told we were created when evidence suggests otherwise."
The left Time Keeper's voice boomed. "Enough! This insubordination will not be tolerated!"
Tyson stepped forward, coming to stand beside Mobius. "They're not going to answer you. Because they can't."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Tyson replied, raising his hand, "they're not what they appear to be."
With a flick of his wrist, he sent a pulse of magnetic energy toward the central Time Keeper. The figure jerked unnaturally, its head twisted and a metallic grinding sound emanated from within its body.
"What are you doing?" Renslayer cried, but Sylvie tightened her grip, preventing any interference.
The central Time Keeper continued to twitch and jerk. Sparks began to fly from its neck, and a thin trail of smoke rose from its joints. The other two Time Keepers remained motionless, frozen, trapped by Tyson's magnetism.
"They're machines. Sophisticated androids, nothing more."
Mobius stared in disbelief as the central Time Keeper's movements became increasingly erratic. Its voice distorted, becoming mechanical and garbled. "Pr-pr-protect the Sa-Sa-Sacred Timeline. For all ti-ti-time. Always."
The remaining TVA agents lowered their weapons, shock and confusion spreading across their faces. Some backed away, while others stepped closer, unable to believe what they were witnessing.
With a final surge of magnetic power, Tyson tore open the central Time Keeper's chest, revealing a complex array of circuitry and mechanical components. The figure slumped forward, its eyes flickering before going dark.
"No," Mobius whispered. His legs went weak. He'd spent his entire existence, or what he remembered of it, serving these beings. Had analyzed countless timelines, pruned infinite variants, all because the Time Keepers had created him for this sacred purpose. Every decision, every sacrifice, every moment of doubt pushed aside because he'd trusted in their divine authority.
Lies. All of it, lies wrapped in mysticism and ceremony.
He stared at his hands as if discovering them for the first time. Whose hands were these? What had they done before the TVA? Before his memories were stolen and replaced with their purpose? He'd erased people from existence believing he was protecting reality.
The weight of it crushed down on him. Not just what he'd lost, but what he'd done.
"This can't be. All this time. All the variants we pruned. All the timelines we reset. For what? For whom?"
Sylvie moved to the other Time Keepers, examining them. "They're puppets." She turned to face the others. "Someone's been pulling their strings."
The remaining TVA agents turned to Mobius and Renslayer for guidance, their worldview shattered.
"This changes nothing. The Sacred Timeline must be protected. Without it, we face the multiverse war again."
"Or is that just another story we've been told? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like everything we know is a fabrication."
Sylvie addressed the room. "The Time Keepers were never in control. They were a front, a façade to keep you all in line while someone else pulled the strings." She gestured to the broken android. "The question isn't whether the Time Keepers created you. The question is, who created them?"
The space fell silent as the implications sank in. Decades, perhaps centuries of service, all based on a lie. The TVA agents appeared lost, their purpose stripped away in an instant.
Sylvie's eyes fixed on Renslayer. "You know something. You've always known."
Sylvie leveled her weapon at Renslayer's throat, her fingers tight around its grip. The judge raised her hands slowly.
"What if I said Loki wasn't dead? Not yet, anyway."
"I'd say you were lying." Sylvie's voice carried an edge sharp enough to cut.
"Maybe. Or maybe we want the same thing."
"How is he still alive? And how will saving him get us closer to who's really behind the TVA?
"I want to know who's at the top of this. I want to know who lied to me." Mobius stepped closer, his attention fixed on his former superior. The scattered TVA agents hung on every word.
"When we prune a branched reality, it's impossible to destroy all of its matter. So we move it to a place on the timeline where it won't continue growing. Basically, the branched timeline isn't reset."
"It's transferred," Tyson finished.
"To where?"
"A void at the end of time. Where every instance of existence collides at the same point and simply stops."
"Why?"
"I don't know. The dogma states that the end of time is still being written, that the Time-Keepers are transforming it into utopia."
"That's nice. Super believable."
"Whatever the real reason..." Renslayer's gaze swept across the space, taking in the broken androids and the shattered faith of her agents. "Nothing ever comes back from there. I didn't create this system. I just enforced it, like everyone else here."
"Following orders," Mobius said quietly. "That's what we've all been doing. Never questioning who gave them."
The space fell silent as the weight of this realization settled over everyone present.
Tyson took in the fallen TVA agents, the exposed mechanical innards of the Time Keepers, and the faces of shock and betrayal on those still standing.
"So it's settled then? Pruning, find Loki, find who's in charge." He stated it as fact rather than a question, already moving toward one of the fallen weapons.
Mobius and Sylvie stared at him like he was crazy. B-15's mouth hung slightly open.
"What? God of Prophecy, remember? I told you it would work out."
Mobius blinked rapidly. "Pull back the curtain..." he repeated Tyson's earlier words. "You knew the Time Keepers weren't real."
"If Loki is burdened by glorious purpose, my burden is knowledge."
Sylvie kept her weapon trained on Renslayer but divided her attention. "You knew and didn't tell me?"
"Would you have believed me? Or would you have thought I was trying to manipulate you? I figured showing was better than telling."
"The void is a one-way trip. Nothing comes back from there."
"Nothing has come back yet," Tyson corrected as he held up Renslayer's Temp-Pad. "There's always a first time."
Mobius's initial shock gave way. "I've spent my entire existence, or what I can remember, serving a lie. I want answers."
"We all do," Sylvie said, her voice tight with controlled anger. "But can we trust her?" She nodded toward Renslayer.
Tyson took Sylvie's hand.
His thumb brushed across her knuckles, a gesture so gentle it seemed at odds with the stand-off around them.
"On Lamentis, you thought death was certain. But you trusted me enough to let me see everything about you." His voice dropped lower, meant only for her despite their audience. "You showed me the girl who wanted to be a Valkyrie. You showed me every loss, every year of running, every time you had to be hard when you wanted to be soft. That wasn't just sharing memories, that was trust I'll never take lightly."
Sylvie's breath caught. No one had ever understood the weight of what she carried. Tyson saw it as the gift it had been, her choosing to be known, completely and without defense, by someone who might actually understand.
"And now I'm asking you to trust me one more time. Not because I know how this ends." He squeezed her hand. "Because I'm not sure. Whatever happens next, we face it knowing someone sees us for who we really are… You don't need to trust her. It's me you need to trust. And I know you do."
Sylvie's fingers tightened around his.
The vulnerability she'd shown on Lamentis flickered across her face again, raw and unguarded.
Her throat tightened. For centuries, she'd survived by trusting no one, by keeping every wall reinforced. But here he stood, offering her something she'd thought lost forever.
"You don't have to take this next step with me."
He paused, a hint of his usual wry humor returning, trying to lighten what they both knew was goodbye.
"Because it's less of a step, more of a Leap of Faith."
He turned to Mobius, Renslayer, and B-15, each watching with varying degrees of suspicion and curiosity.
"But I'm going to find out what's at the end of the yellow brick road."
Tyson raised the weapon, its end glowing with eerie yellow light. He turned it toward himself.
"Wait."
Tyson paused, the weapon hovering inches from his chest.
"I love you."
Three words Sylvie had never said to anyone in her entire existence. Three words that felt like tearing open her chest and showing him the still-beating heart inside. Her eyes glistened, but she held his gaze, unflinching, letting him see everything she felt.
A smile slowly spread across Tyson's face. His eyes crinkled at the corners, warm and full of amusement.
"I know."
Then he chuckled, the sound incongruously light in the somber space. "Sorry, I can't resist a Han Solo moment..."
"…And chances are, none of you got that reference."
Tyson shrugged, then he winked at Sylvie.
Without further hesitation, he drove the weapon into himself. The effect was immediate and unsettling. His body began to disintegrate, breaking apart into glowing fragments that scattered outward before vanishing entirely. The weapon clattered to the floor, the only evidence that he had ever stood there.
Sylvie stared at the empty space where Tyson had been.
Her hand still tingled where he'd held it moments before. The phantom warmth of his touch lingered on her skin. Her face hardened once more, but something had shifted behind her eyes. Her determination went beyond revenge, beyond survival. She bent down and picked up the fallen weapon, turning it over in her hands. The device that had hunted her across countless timelines, that had erased so many variants like her, now rested in her palm.
She turned to face Renslayer, her eyes cold with centuries of accumulated rage. "I suppose this is always what you wanted, isn't it?"
It wasn't a question. Sylvie didn't give Renslayer the satisfaction of a reply before turning the weapon on herself. The energy engulfed her, breaking her form into fragments that scattered and disappeared just as Tyson's had.
The space fell silent. B-15, Renslayer, and Mobius stood as the only ones remaining, surrounded by the deactivated android bodies of the Time Keepers and a platoon of defeated Minutemen.
Renslayer straightened her uniform, her composure returning as she surveyed the space. "The variants have all been pruned. It's over."
Mobius shook his head. "Like hell it is."
"What would you have us do, Mobius? Abandon our posts? Let the Sacred Timeline fracture? You've seen what happens when variants are left unchecked."
"We've seen what we were told happens," B-15 countered. "How much of that was real, and how much was just another lie?"
"They may not have been what we thought, but the mission remains. The TVA exists for a reason. The multiverse war—"
"—is another story they told us to keep us in line. How can you still believe in any of this?"
"Because the alternative is chaos. Without the TVA, without the Sacred Timeline, everything falls apart." Renslayer's voice took on the cadence of the familiar mantra. "You've dedicated your existence to this cause, Mobius. Are you really ready to throw that away based on the words of variants?" B-15 and Mobius exchanged glances. Decades of service, of purpose, of believing they were part of something greater, all of it called into question in a single moment. "The TVA must continue. We must protect what remains." She paused. "For all time."
The words hung in the air, the sacred oath that had guided their every action now hollowed by revelation. B-15 and Mobius stood silent for a long moment, the echo of Renslayer's words fading. Then, they responded, but their voices lacked their usual conviction.
"Always."