Chapter 10: The Tesseract Unleashed
Two hours later
Ravonna Renslayer sighed in relief. It would seem that she was going to live for another day.
In the relative safety of their makeshift outpost in this alien warehouse, she swept her eyes across the wide open space where the two dozen hardened survivors of this disastrous op had gathered. Out of the seven dozen that had arrived on this miserable rock, only they were left.
Guarding the entrances with grim eyes, nursing their wounds or sitting against the wall asleep from exhaustion. This op took a toll on them all.
And though, it was tragic that she couldn't say the same for a lot of her subordinates. What she was left with were hardened veteran Minutemen.
The sight of so many black and red uniforms of the TVA Minutemen reassured her that this long day was now at a close. All that was left to do was Prune this Variant that had killed so many of them.
Her dark brown eyes glared at the prisoner that had the gall to not only stand tall, but also smile like she did. A smirking blonde with blue-green eyes that twinkled with mischief- this Variant couldn't have been any taller than she was, and yet she managed to kill so many of her troops. And to add insult to injury, the Variant was even disguised as one of her own TVA Minuteman.
Ravonna narrowed her eyes at the sight- somewhere out there was one of her subordinates' bodies- stripped naked and of their dignity. The utter gall of this Variant could not be understated.
Despite the strange ornamental staff that her Minutemen had oddly allowed her to keep hold of, the Variant didn't look so tough now flanked by two Minutemen and with a chronokinetic collar around her neck.
"Variant," she addressed her- voice resounding throughout the warehouse, "by direct order of the Timekeepers, I hereby sentence you to be Pruned from the Timeline."
"My name is Sylvie Laufeydottir. I wonder if you still remember me." the Variant introduced herself, a hardened edge in her voice as blue-green eyes narrowed in anger. "I was that little girl that stole your tempad and ran away from before the Judge."
"You…" Ravonna hissed with narrowed brown eyes.
Of course she remembered this brat. It was one of the few truly notable black marks in her service record. After all, how could her superiors entrust her with more responsibility when she couldn't even detain a little girl? That fiasco stalled her career for decades.
"Yes, I was the same one who you kidnapped from her home before erasing it from existence." The girl, now a grown woman, affirmed with a frown, "Did you feel like a big hero back then? Dragging a little girl away from her toys, collaring her and destroying her home?"
"It was the right thing to do. Don't you understand what we accomplish at the TVA?" Ravonna responded with more than a hint of condescension like she was talking to an idiot child asking stupid questions. Which she certainly felt appropriate for this conversation.
"We preserve ALL of reality." She made certain to stress- nice and slow for the Variant, "And by your very existence, you threatened everything and everyone from every existence. And if it isn't clear enough for you, that 'everyone' also includes you."
Ravonna turned to the two Minutemen holding the Variant and gave them a curt nod.
"Prune her." Ravonna sighed with a roll of her eyes. It's been a long day- she was done arguing with the short-sighted.
"Prune, don't prune." the Variant mocked, her smooth voice dripping with contempt and disgust, "You have never even attempted to find an alternative, didn't you? Why would you when it wasn't your homes and families you were torn apart from!?"
"Your ignorance and selfishness only makes this easier. Just prune her." Ravonna snapped at the three Minutemen that were restraining the Variant.
"That isn't possible anymore, I'm afraid." the Variant muttered darkly.
And suddenly, the entire warehouse was filled with the sound of fighting. Whipping her gaze around, Ravonna could only gape as Minuteman turned on Minuteman as a full half of her remaining forces turned on the other.
A brutal bar brawl had broken out amongst the ranks, and as she saw one Minuteman lift up another high over his head before slamming him down head first with a brutal crack…
She could see that one half was the one winning, and she had a feeling that it wasn't hers.
"Enchantment." The Variant explained curtly with a fox-like smile, "My mother discovered that I had a knack for it, and encouraged me to study it under her tutelage, but it was your Minutemen that gave me a chance to actually practice this magic."
"It was straining me to control this many people at once. But thankfully…" She trailed off just as she raised her staff- a fork of green lightning blasting out from the head of her staff and to a pair of her Minutemen. Ravonna could only look on in horror as their flesh shrivelled up to mummy-like husks before collapsing dead on the floor,
The Variant turned back to her with a sinister smile on her pink lips, "...I have all the energy I need right here."
Ravonna had seen a lot over her decades of service, and she knew when she was out matched.
With Time Doors no longer functioning, she would have begun running like hell if not for one detail: The trio of Minutemen that were restraining the Variant simply stopped and let go of the smirking blonde.
Immediately after, they charged at her- their armoured bodies tackling her to the ground in a dogpile and holding her down.
"Snap out of it! You're Minutemen of the Time Variance Authority!" She shrieked as they wordlessly held her down. She grunted and huffed as she tried to squirm her free of their grip. But she was not superhuman, so throwing off three of her men with a combined weight at almost 400 pounds was beyond her.
But Ravonna had that one last ace up her sleeve.
A weapon from one of the secure storage vaults in the TVA HQ that she had requisitioned for 'study.'
The only reason why she hadn't pulled it out sooner was that this 'ace' was liable to cause a massive Nexus Event that could make the Sacred Timeline spiral out of control. She'd be causing the very thing she had sworn to prevent- endangering the Sacred Timeline for her own means.
But she had little choice now.
Sometimes you had to break the law to prevent an even bigger crime from occuring. It can't be any worse than this Zeta-class Nexus event that this Variant-bitch caused, and it was more than likely that the Variant will go on to cause more Nexus events after this should she go unstopped.
If this ace of hers caused a Nexus event, she'll gladly prune herself.
"I wish I didn't have to use this, but you leave me no choice!" She growled out at the Variant just as her hand managed to slip out of the enchanted Minuteman's grip long enough for her to plunge into her hat bag that was clipped to the side of her pants. Her scrambling fingers found their grip around the definitely non-regulation item.
And with an errant twitch of her will, a massive burst of cosmic energy sent arcs of blue light exploding from her body, and throwing the Variant off her feet. The three Minutemen holding her down were less lucky: They were eradicated from existence as every atom in their bodies disappeared in a flash of blue light and black smoke.
Bright blue light lit up the dim warehouse interior as she pulled out her hand from her hat bag.
But gone was the standard issue black glove of the TVA uniform; instead, a metallic black and red gauntlet encased her hand, and on the back of her steely armoured hand, glittering like a blue star, was a brilliant stone of immense power. The electric-like crackle of power arced from the stone- shooting across her twitching armoured digits.
"What... " The Variant groaned from her place on the metal flooring of the warehouse- no doubt nursing bruised ribs. "...was THAT?"
"It's the Tesseract. One of the six Infinity Stones that exists in every variation of the Sacred Timeline." Ravonna explained as she aimed her clenched fist to the stumbling Variant. "In another time, in another life. You would have wielded the Tesseract in a bid to rule Earth."
"You would have failed in that attempt." Ravonna gave a cruel smile of fake-pity at the Variant. "Just as you'll fail now."
"No, I won't!" the Loki shouted back- green magic enveloping her staff.
With a roar of unknowable energies, a wrist-thick beam of blue light brighter than the sun shot from the gauntlet's stone and headed straight for the Variant.
But the beam was met by a counter-force from the Variant.
Green lightning that shot from the head of her staff and the energy beam from one of the greatest powers in the Timeline was stopped dead in its tracks by the Variant's staff.
And to Ravonna's surprise, the green lightning started to push back- eating at the Tesseract's beam and coming closer to her.
And for a brief moment, Ravonna thought it was all over for her. But...
"Aaagggghhh!" the blonde woman screamed as her staff clattered to the floor- blue and green lightning arcing across her body- the smooth pale skin of her face seeming to have cracked under the strain of the energies.
Ravonna shook her head in relief as she watched the Loki writhe painfully on the ground: she should have expected this to happen.
"You had me worried for a second there," she admitted to the still twitching woman, "but I guess Lokis will always be destined to fail."
She aimed her gauntlet at the fallen Variant and just as she was about to blast her into atoms...
"FUS!"
An explosion of something boomed right beside her. Ravonna didn't know what hit her, but it did send her tumbling across the floor like a rock skipping across water.
Groaning, she felt the bruises all over her body forming already, but still she staggered up to her feet. It didn't matter- with the Tesseract, she'll still overpower whatever reinforcements the Loki had swindled into her service. At least that's what she thought as she looked up.
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