Mobius POV
Mobius was busy shuffling through papers and files at his desk when Hunter B-15 walked in, looking displeased. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes were narrowed at him. He gave her a small, mostly forced smile.
"I see Renslayer talked to you about our new mission?" he asked. The word "mission" tasted bitter on his tongue. Killing someone he cared about was never something he thought he would ever consider part of a mission, but here he was.
Hunter B-15 nodded in response. She pursed her lips together.
"I don't like you," she said bluntly, getting straight to the point. The corner of Mobius's mouth quirked upward in surprise despite the situation.
"I feel a 'but' coming."
" But I do like working with you." She glared at him. "You're smart, calculated, and confident, which is exactly what's needed on the field."
"I'm flattered you think so."
The Hunter ignored him.
"Unfortunately, you're also unpredictable, not unlike the two Variants we need to catch. I'm not sure I can trust you enough to see this task through."
Silence filled the room for several long moments as they stared each other down. The words " not unlike the two Variants we need to catch " replayed over and over in his head. Mobius was faintly reminded of the conversation he had with Renslayer when requesting permission to hunt down the Evil Loki Variant. They had both accused each other of being similar to Loki, and thinking back on it, perhaps Renslayer had been right to. And maybe that similarity was what drew Mobius to Loki in the first place. Maybe that’s why the idea of killing him hurt so much.
Mobius shook his head to clear his thoughts. When it became clear that Hunter B-15 wasn't going to back down, he sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"You have every right to doubt me. But let's not forget who was with Lo- the Variant - when he escaped."
Mobius mentally cursed himself for the slip up of words, praying that Hunter B-15 hadn’t noticed. However, she seemed too caught off guard to care. She took an uneasy step backward, her eyes growing a fraction wider in surprise.
"If we had just pruned him when I suggested," she said, quickly recovering. "we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
"Pruning isn't always the solution,” Mobius said defensively. It still isn’t , his mind added, but he didn’t dare voice that opinion.
"Then why are we here? Working together to prune not one, but two highly dangerous Variants all because you couldn't let go of a little crush."
Mobius rarely lost his temper, but after everything that had happened recently and his current state of intense stress, he was bound to snap. He stood up suddenly, fist slamming into the tabletop, the books on his desk clattering to the floor with a loud thud.
"That is not what this is about."
"Then what is it about? You can't accept that you were wrong? Is that it?"
"We're wasting time arguing." Mobius grit his teeth together so tightly he thought they might crack under the pressure.
Hunter B-15’s face morphed into something akin to pity. Her next words were softer.
“You're right,” she said. “And if it’s any consolation, I truly am sorry for what happened. I’m willing to take on this mission myself if it’s too much for you-”
“No.”
Mobius closed his eyes, taking a moment for himself to breathe. It would be so easy to say yes to the Hunter’s offer, so easy to let the responsibility of killing Loki fall onto someone else’s shoulders. But this was a promise he had made to Renslayer, to himself , and he had to see it through. No matter what.
He opened his eyes, brows knitting together in determination.
"Let's just get started trying to find the Variants.”
"Fine."
She motioned to the mess of papers on his desk.
"What have you got so far?"
Mobius glanced down and began to stack all the files, hoping to create some semblance of organisation. Hunter B-15 watched him carefully.
"Trying to figure out where the Variants are hiding out,” Mobius answered. “Unfortunately, they quite literally have all of time on their side. They could be anywhere. The only reason we were able to find the Variant’s hideout the first time was because we possessed evidence.” And had Loki on our side , the traitorous part of his mind reminded him. He told it to shut up.
Hunter B-15 only hummed in response. She picked up the closest folder and flipped through it, eyebrows raised.
“Asgard?” she asked, holding up the folder, where maps of Asgard were laid out. Mobius shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
“Ah.”
“Why don’t you take that stack? See if there’s any indication of where they might be. I’ll take this one.” A ghost of a smile teased on Mobius’s lips. Then in a flash, it disappeared and was replaced with a sad, faraway look.
“We’ll make it a competition,” he said quietly.
Hunter B-15 rolled her eyes, exasperated.
“You and your games. Just give me the stack.”
Mobius passed her the folders, and they both lapsed into silence as they got to work. After an unknown amount of time without finding anything, Mobius was about to give up. Then, out of the corner of his eye, something caught his attention. It was the files he had assigned Loki to look into about his counterpart’s crimes. He looked through it, then glanced over at his computer screen, where the list of the time bombed cities were still flashing. His brow creasing, he looked back and forth between the two records again. Then, he let a small sound of excitement slip between his lips. Hunter B-15’s head snapped up at the noise.
“I’ve got it!”
“Really?” There was a hint of doubt in her voice. Mobius hesitated.
“Well, I’m still not sure where exactly they are, but I found something else. Look at this.”
Mobius turned around the files and screen so that they were facing Hunter B-15. She analysed them for a moment, then frowned up at Mobius.
“What am I looking at?”
“The TVA has records for thirty-six attacks made by the Loki Variant, all of which had a singular time bomb stolen. But you were in that warehouse with me. You saw how many bombs there were- definitely more than thirty-six. And if you cross reference that with the places bombed, there’s at least over one hundred places.” Mobius took a deep breath. “Therego, this Variant has been around for far longer than we originally thought.”
Hunter B-15 said nothing. She just stared at the data disbelievingly, then back up at Mobius.
“How?” was all she said. Mobius shrugged.
“With someone containing that kind of power, anything is possible. The Loki Variant is a shapeshifter and a manipulator. They could have very easily had a spy at the TVA for years now, and we would never know.”
Hunter B-15’s eyes lit up.
“Hunter C-20.”
Mobius frowned.
“You think Hunter C-20 is a spy?” He asked, confused. Hunter C-20 had been one of the TVA’s most reliable and skilled agents. That was, until she was captured by the Variant and driven mad.
Hunter B-15 shook her head.
“No, of course not. I’ve known Hunter C-20 for my entire life. There’s no way she would betray the TVA.” Mobius opened his mouth to interject, but the Hunter continued before he could. “But she’s the only person to come into close contact with the Variant and emerge alive. If anyone knows anything about their plans, location, or a possible spy, it would be her.”
Mobius nodded slowly in agreement.
“I hate to say this, but you’re right,” Mobius admitted. “We need to schedule an interview with C-20 immediately.”
“She’s in the Medical Ward-”
“And the fate of the Sacred Timeline is at stake.”
Hunter B-15 clamped her mouth shut. She appeared to be contemplating his point.
“Alright, you win. Let’s go pay Hunter C-20 a visit.”
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The Medical Ward was completely barren other than Hunter C-20, who was sitting propped up in a bed in the corner. She still wore the same glassy eyed and dazed look she had when they first found her, though her cheeks were noticeably less pale and ghostlike. Mobius gripped a cup of coffee in his hands as he led the way towards her, trying to smile as pleasantly as possible. When Hunter C-20 finally spotted them approaching, she jolted backward, her eyes growing wide with fear.
“Don't worry, we’re not here to hurt you,” Mobius said calmly. He held out the coffee. “Here, I brought you something to drink.”
Hunter C-20 looked at it skeptically, then hesitantly reached out to grasp her clammy hands around it. As soon as she began to sip from it, her body became more relaxed. Mobius waited patiently for her to stop drinking before asking his first question.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like hell,” Hunter C-20 answered, chuckling without mirth.
“Well, you seem to be making excellent recovery progress.”
The Hunter scoffed.
“I will never recover from what happened. None of us will,” she said, and Mobius frowned.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked.
Hunter C-20 looked up at him suddenly, her eyes piercing. Her tone became very cold and lifeless.
“She showed me things I didn’t even know were possible.”
“She? Who is she?” Hunter B-15 finally made her presence behind him known by speaking up. Mobius glanced over at her for the first time since entering the Ward, only to be surprised by the well hidden anguish in her features. I’ve known Hunter C-20 for my entire life , Mobius remembered her saying. Of course she was in pain seeing her friend reduced to something like this, despite her pretending to be heartless. For the first time, Mobius actually felt bad for the Hunter.
“The Loki Variant.”
All the blood drained from Mobius’s features. How could he possibly overlook a detail like that? Loki was genderfluid . He frequently switched between genders, presenting as both male and female and everything in between at will. The TVA had spent all this time under the ridiculous assumption that they were searching for a man, when Lady Loki could have been hiding right under their noses and no one would have batted an eye. They were so stupid .
“Did she show you where she was planning on going next?” Hunter B-15 asked. Hunter C-20 began to shake her head, then paused.
“She did mention a small town in England. Newhaven, I think? Oh, and a year! 1932.”
Mobius and Hunter B-15 exchanged a look.
“A trap,” they said in unison. There was no doubt that Lady Loki was setting a trap for them by revealing this information, but they didn't have any other options.
"Did she show you anything else?"
Hunter C-20’s body began to shake a little. The grip on her coffee cup slipped, and the rest of it spilled onto her pearly white bedsheets. If the coffee was hot, she barely reacted.
“It’s real," she muttered, reverting back to the crazed state they had found her in at RoxxCart.
“ What’s real?” Mobius pressed.
Tears welled up in Hunter C-20's eyes. The shaking and convulsing of her body worsened and she tried her hardest to form words, but only choked on broken sobs. Mobius placed a gentle hand on her back and began to rub circles in an attempt to calm down.
"It's- it's real," she managed to get out. "The multiverse. It's real."
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What are your guys' thoughts on the Loki show? Do you have any theories for what's going to happen next?
YOU ARE READING
A Guide to Fixing Broken Things
Fanfiction"I'll kill Loki!" Maybe in hindsight, Mobius promising to kill the Variant he had grown unreasonably attached to was a bad idea. He had been told he had an affinity for broken things. And maybe that was true- after all, he had placed faith in Loki...
