Clock's Ticking

Breifing

Loki agrees to help us, although it is a bit odd that he hasn't made any demands yet. If I had to guess I'd say he wants to meet the time keepers, like Ranslayer would ever let that happen. But we do get him set up at a desk so that he can go over the training material for the TVA. I don't know why he has to do this at my desk and why we couldn't use Mobius', but he gets stuck at my desk. While Loki is training, Mobius and I are going over files when we get word of another attack, "hey, why don't you go get the big guy?" Mobius doesn't even look up from the file.

"Why?"

"Because I'm your boss and I asked you to."

I stand, "you know it's funny, we're equals until there's something you don't wanna do."

"Are you gonna go get him or not?"

"Yeah, I'm going."

"Thank you." When I get a few feet away, Mobius calls out, "and I do plenty that I don't want to do."

"Paperwork doesn't count, chief."

I make my way back to my desk, which isn't far from Mobius'. When I get there I see Loki swinging a rolled up magazine at Miss Minutes. I know I shouldn't say this but he's almost cute when he's happy. I walk up to him and take the magazine out of his hands and hit him on the back of the head, "leave her alone." I look at the computer screen that Miss Minutes is now hiding in, "I'm sorry, Miss Minutes." Miss Minutes just smiles and waves at me, before I hit Loki again, "and what do you think you're doing going through my stuff?" I roll my eyes, "come on, we don't have time for this." I hand Loki a special TVA jacket, he isn't the first to wear one, but I hold out hope he will be the last. I sigh as I walk away and Loki follows behind me, putting the jacket on. I look over him as he puts the jacket on, noticing I'm getting a bit flustered, "good. Yeah, smart."

We head to the briefing with Mobius, B-15 and a handful of others, when we get there they are ready to begin, "C-20 and her team went dark shortly after they jumped into the 1985 branch. All signs point to another ambush. We've grabbed enough temporal aura to know it's our Loki Variant. But which kind of Loki remains unknown."

"They're the lesser kind," Loki looks around and his gaze stops on me, "to be clear."

B-15 sighs, "let me see the back of that jacket."

Loki turns, before some of us start to chuckle, it's now that he realizes 'Variant' is written on the back of his jacket. He sighs, "very subtle," he looks down to me, "well done."

I shrug, "you're the God of Tricks, thought you'd enjoy it."

"Mischief, God of Mischief."

"Kind of the same thing."

"No, they're not the same thing."

"Are you two finished?" B-15 raises her eyebrow toward us and I just nod. "We don't want anyone out there to forget what you are."

"Your only hope at capturing a murderer?"

"No. A cosmic mistake."

"That's enough," Mobius raises his head, having been queuing up his part of the briefing.

"Lovely," Loki glares at B-15.

"Here's the deal. When we get out on the branch, we're not just looking for a Time Criminal. We're looking for a Loki. A variation of this guy. A type we should all be very familiar with," Mobius brings up images of Loki's they have apprehended in the past. "Because the TVA has pruned a lotta these guys, almost more than any other Variant. And no two are alike. Slight differences in appearance, or not so slight," Loki looks on in shock at the different versions of himself. When he sees the huge Loki, one I like to refer to as the Loki Hulk, his jaw almost hits the floor and I have to hold back my laughter. "Different powers, although, powers, generally include; shape-shifting, illusion-projections, and my favorite..."

"Duplication-casting," everyone looks at Loki once he interrupts Mobius.

"Illusion-projection."

"No, they're two completely different powers actually."

"How?" I cross my arms.

Loki looks over to me, "illusion-projection involves depicting a detailed image from outside oneself, which is perceptible in the external world. Whereas duplication-casting entails recreating an exact facsimile of one's own body in its present circumstance, which acts as a true holographic mirror of its molecular structure." I chuckle a bit and put a hand over my mouth, "but you already knew that. Didn't you?"

"Yeah," I nod, "I did."

Mobius nods, "okay, take a breath. Noted." He then looks to me, "please stop torturing the poor guy." I nod and put my hands up for a moment before putting them on my hips, "we're gonna break into two teams, including Kamaria, myself, and Professor Loki"

"Why?" One of the hunters questions.

"Because whoever this Variant is, we haven't been able to find him." Mobius puts his hands on his hips, "so let's bring in an expert."

Loki takes in a very long, deep breath before pointing to himself, "that's me." Once the briefing is over we start to get ready, Loki walking with Mobius and myself, "do I get a weapon."

"No," I shake my head.

"Well, I'll have my magic back. Is no one concerned about that?"

"Not as much as they should be."

"Why not?"

"Because you already know that we can catch you," Mobius gestures around with his hands. "And how's betraying us gonna get you any closer to the Time-Keepers?"

"An audience with the Time-Keepers is on the table?"

I shake my head, "not yet, big shot. But keep that focus."