Out of touch (1)

f o u r t e e n

When Loki walked back through the time door into the interrogation room, he did not expect to see darling Anita sat empty in the corner.
Her frail body looked tired and her face held an image of exhaustion and horror. She was suffering so badly and he desperately wants to go and sit by her, tell her he is there and that he will protect her for all of time. She is lost to them. He doubts she can understand what's happening around her.
"Leave her, she won't take any of this in" Mobius snaps before the man can even advance towards her.
"Fancy technology, threatening interrogation tactics, seems like you and I are in a loop of our own"
"Well there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then"
"Certainly has"
They pause for a minute and his eyes flicker back down to the black haired girl in the corner. Her head is leaning against a wall and her eyes are closed. He assumes she must be sleeping. He can't imagine the mental strain she has gone through, she had been terrified for hours thinking she was going to lose her life.
"Why is she in here?"
"She was breaking down, it wasn't safe to leave her on her own"
"So you brought her to the room where the most dangerous variant was?" He scoffs at the mans carelessness.
"Thought it might keep you both calm" he explains and the God nods as he keeps his eyes on the girl.
He is more than worried about her.
"Okay you said the TVA is lying to me, go ahead...or is that just a cockroach's survival mechanism kicking in?"
"Let me out of this place, stop beating me up and I'll tell you" Loki snaps.
"Cockroach, got it" Mobius notes writing it down on a piece of paper.
"How long have you been working for the variant?"
"Me? Working for her? Please"
"If you're not working for the variant then what is it? You're partners and you decided to bring along the assassin for backup?"
"Absolutely not, she's difficult and irritating, not to mention that she put her and I in so much danger" he says motioning to Anita who is still fast asleep at the side of the room.
"She tries to hit me all the time, definitely not partners, no, I wouldn't consciously partner with someone who could kill one of us"
"I guess you don't do partners unless of course it benefits you and you intend to betray them at some point"
It was clear that Mobius was still upset about what had happened days prior when Loki not only left him, but managed to take the younger girl with him.
"It was a means to an end Mobius, welcome to the real world, down there, we're awful to get what we want"
"Now I gotta have a Prince tell me how the real world works? Why don't you just tell me what caused the Nexus event on Lamentis"
"Let me say this again, I'm not going to tell you just so you can turn around immediately afterwards and prune me"
"I guess we've reached a dead end then"
"Okay it's over"
"I'm going to miss these little tête-à-têtes"
"Me too"
"One guy playing chequers, you, old Mobius playing chess but yeah give my regards to Lady Sif" he says opening the door to the time loop for Loki to go back through.
He starts pleading for him not to do that knowing he can't go through the loop anymore. It is already taking a toll on him. He needs to make something up, save himself and then save the girl. He may not be a hero but he wanted to be hers. He wanted to be the reason she got out so that one person, just one good person, would remember him for the good things he did instead of being the power hungry God of mischief that he was.
"Of course it was me pulling the strings all along, she came to me on Asgard a long time ago and then she took me to one of her apocalypses and that's where we hatched our plan together"
"Which is?"
"Coming along very nicely thank you"
"And the variant?"
"Doesn't matter, she's a pawn"
"And her?" He says pointing to the sleeping girl behind him.
Loki couldn't admit to this man that he cared for her, it may put her more at risk of their schemes.
"Just needed something to distract you with, if you were worried about one the paranoid getting out, you'd have less time to look for us" he shrugs but Mobius knows this is a lie.
"Something very, very big is going to happen and when it does, I'll dispose of both of them, she's the easy one to get rid of"
"Well we can save you the trouble there, Anita will be taken back to her cell and will be isolated for the rest of her time here, you will be a mere memory in her mashed up brain as she slowly fades away"
Mobius hated that she would have to face that punishment. He knows that he wouldn't be allowed anywhere near her and she would slowly drive herself insane before she finally kicked the bucket.
"Hang on what?" Loki asks, his voice leaking sadness and despair.
He thought that if he lied about her, they would set her free or realise she wasn't worth much. He didn't want her mortal self to spend the rest of her days dying alone in a glass cell like a museum artefact.
People would walk past and marvel as one of earths best assassins was going insane day after day before they would all see her lifeless body lying there with no one to tend to it. His heart hurt and he tried to stop his face falling, wanting to avoid vulnerability.
"Yeah, she'll lose herself and her life here but as you said she's nothing to you"
"Yeah, good riddance" he sighs looking over to where the girl still sat.
Mobius starts laughing at him. He has seen right through the mask he is trying to wear. Loki may be mentally strong but he clearly struggles to hold up a barrier to protect his feelings.
"What's so funny?"
"Look at your eyes, the way you are staring at her, you like her, you care for her"
"What?"
"You like her, does she like you?"
"What is it going to change?"
"No wonder you have no clue what caused the Nexus event on Lamentis, you were swooning over her, you both were, you're not supposed to fall for people, you are not meant to be capable of a love like that, and yet you fell for the only other scared child stuck in the body of a broken person which could only cause chaos because it is so ridiculous, she's just like you in every sense of her background, oh that really is sad isn't it"
"What are you going to do with her? Are you going to keep her locked away and watch her die?" Loki shouts angrily making Mobius stop in his tracks.
"I'll do what I can to help her" he whispers and the raven haired man sighs sadly.
"Now back to the variant, was infiltrating the TVA always sort of the grand plan?"
"Our interests are aligned"
"Overthrowing the Time Keepers?"
"Maybe they need to be overthrown"
"I ought to box your ears"
"Mobius listen, if what Sylvie told me about this place is true, it affects us all"
"Here we go, now you've already told me about fifty lies in the past ten minutes"
"I'm not lying!"
"Now I'm supposed to believe something another variant of you said?"
"It's the truth"
Mobius is having none of it though and proceeds to tease him about Sylvie and how it's so narcissistic for him to befriend and trust someone who is basically himself.
"You're all variants!" Loki shouts loudly making Anita stir in the corner.
They both look to her but stop themselves from going to sit by her. This wasn't her fight.
"Everyone who works for the TVA, the time keepers didn't create you, they kidnapped you from your timeline and erased your memories" he continues to angrily tell the analyst, his voice significantly quieter than before so he doesn't wake the girl.
"Memories that she can access through enchantment so before this you had a past, maybe a family, a life"
They pause and just stay quiet as they look at each other before Loki notices the girl stretching her arms in the corner, clearly awake now.
She looks up and sees the god of mischief already looking at her and she pushes herself upwards so she can walk to him. She is however stopped by Mobius who places his arm in front of her, letting her know she can't go closer. They stare into the others eyes and though they are in pain, they are relieved to know they are both okay.
"Nice try" the man in the suit says to the scared little boy who is sat in front of him.
"Well I'm gonna have to close this case now cause I don't need you anymore, yeah or as you might say, our interests are no longer aligned" he smirks and Anita turns her head to see two guards coming in to grab onto the god.
She tries to walk over to stop them but feels her wrist being caught in someone's hold and turns to see the analyst holding her firmly so she can't aid him.
"You know of all the liars in this place, and there are a great many, you're the biggest"
"Why? Because of what I said about Nita here?"
She looks to them both confused. Why had they been talking about her?
"No, that I can respect, I mean the lies you tell yourself" he says before he is pushed through a red glowing door, shutting as soon as he's through.
"Why were you talking about me?" The girl asks, turning to him with a stern look on her face.
"It doesn't matter"
"It does and you're going to tell me" she says leaning down to stare him in the eyes.
"I told him about what was going to happen when we're done here, what we're going to do with you"
"Which is what exactly? Are you going to prune me? Kill me on the spot?"
"They're planning to keep you in your cell and isolate you from everyone, you will drive yourself insane and then you'll waste away"
"I won't"
"Anita-"
"No, I'll find a way out, I've done it before, I'll do it again, I'll run with him and I'll never stop running" she growls.
"He's going to be pruned" Mobius tells her and she shakes her head.
"You're lying, you want me to believe I'll be alone, so I'll give in and suffer, well I'm built differently Mobius, I didn't run away for nothing, I will claim my freedom" she shouts and he has to admit that he is impressed by her strength.
It was clear that when she wanted something, she did everything she could to accomplish it. She would keep fighting against them and even if they did get rid of both variants, it would only fuel her resistance.
"I am not going to die here and I won't let him either" she says shaking her head as she starts to pace around the room.
"You really care about him huh?"
She stops in her tracks and looks to the analyst who almost seems confused as to why she will keep fighting for him. He knew how the god felt but they were all naive to little Anita.
She walks over and looks into his eyes solemnly.
"I would follow him to the end of time if I could save us both"