Chaos - Loki x Fem!Reader

Close Call

"So, the timelines branching now?" Ouroboros asked the three of you. All of you walked back through the tight hallway in single file, you in the middle of Loki and Mobius. "I bet that's what's causing the power surges. And maybe the time slipping"

"Really?" Loki questions. "How?"
"Things are a mess upstairs, Mobius. This better be important" B-15 came through the elevator as you all carried on walking. Mobius carried the extractor and you felt lucky that you were the only one out of the trio carrying nothing.

"It is" Mobius informs her.
"The branching is overloading the Temporal Loom" Ouroboros tells you all.
"Temporal Loom?" You question.
"That's bad" B-15 points out.

"You know, the Temporal Loom. It's in the TVA Guidebook" Ouroboros explains.
"The what?" Loki asks him.
"There's one on every desk at the TVA," Ouroboros opens a safe door, taking a Guidebook from his pocket and throwing it back. Loki caught it easily.

"It's a detailed index of every mechanical classification and maintenance routine in each sector, on each device, and inside every computer program at the TVA" the man explains. The four of you behind him stop briefly, giving you time to look down at the book in Loki's hands.

"Can't say I've had the pleasure of reading it during my stay" you tell him, only slightly sarcastically.
"That's a shame. I wrote it myself" Ouroboros smiles, opening the door and the group of you carry on walking.

"Okay, O.B, this piece just came off right here," Mobius panics, looking down at the extractor. "Is that important?"
Before Ouroboros can explain, the group of you come to a large red door. O.B walks towards it, opening it to reveal a very bright, white coloured room.

"Jesus, that's bright" you groan as you all walk in. You take a quick look around, your eyes landing on the huge prune-stick-looking machine outside. Your eyes almost widened in shock. "That's huge" you gasp, walking down towards the window to get a better look.

"The Temporal Loom is the heart of the TVA. It's where raw time is refined into physical timeline. And it's not constructed to weave together so many new branches, so it's overloading" Ouroboros explains, slowly walking to the window beside you. "I've never seen it like this."

"It looks like a disaster" Loki points out, coming up behind you and placing a hand on your waist. He was worried and you knew he was being protective, even if it wouldn't do anything.
"It is a disaster" O.B told him.

"You don't get down here too much, I guess" Mobius calls out from behind.
"I never had to. Miss Minutes took care of everything. I just ran diagnostics every few hundred years" he explains.

"So, O.B, what do we do?" Loki asks, making O.B turn to you both.
"How do we stop it? The meltdown?" You finish for him.
"We need to prune those extra branches" he tells you.

"That means the death of countless people. We can't do that" B-15 says.
"Then I'll need to close the blast doors to protect the TVA while I figure out how to retrofit it to handle those branches."

"What about the time slipping?" Loki asks.
"Once those doors close, we won't be able to re-sync you, so it's now or never."
"I beg your pardon?!" You snap, looking out at the Temporal Loom for a moment. "Oh my god. We're gonna die."
"No we're not, don't say that" Loki quickly replies.

He quickly activates the prune stick, turning to you quickly and holding it to you. "Now!" He says and you don't flinch, letting him do it. Ouroboros, however, quickly stops him.
"Wait! It's now, but now isn't for a little bit. We still gotta get Mobius into position!"

"I don't understand you" you sigh, putting your head in your hands. "You're too smart.. my head.."
"Thank you!" O.B cheers, turning to Mobius. "Mobius, to fix their time slipping, you'll go out there and launch the Extractor, which will pull them from the time stream before I need to close the blast doors."