| TIME IS AN ILLUSION | Loki

006. DOOMSDAYS

TIME IS AN ILLUSION

❝ And at this point, you might as well be an arsonist with how many times you burned things in this place. ❞

THE TWO ASGARDIANS sit down at the table Mobius is sitting at, Devlin dropping the stack of papers down in it.

"We found something." Loki says, him and Devlin sitting down adjacent to Mobius.

"No, I said, 'Don't bother me until you've read all the files'." Mobius repeats, his mouth full of food.

"We have."

"Every file?"

"Yes."

"Pertaining to the Variant?"

"That answer isn't in the files, it's on the timeline, Mobius," Devlin states. "The Variant is hiding in apocalypses."

"Which apocalypse? Any time in history? There's like a million of 'em."

Loki points down at the paper about the destruction of Asgard. "Ragnarok. Are you familiar?"

"Yes. The destruction of Asgard and most of its people. I'm sorry."

"Yes, very sad. Anyway, it got me thinking..." Devlin pauses, waiting for a nod from Mobius to continue. Once he gets it, he says, "Nexus events happen when someone does something they're not supposed to do, right?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated, but, yeah."

"Great. And then that thing they're not supposed to do, cascades into a whole range of other things that aren't supposed to happen. And so on and so forth, until eventually, a new timeline branches. Yes?"

Mobius nods, following Devlin's words. "Chaotic alterations of a predetermined outcome."

"Exactly. So, let's just say..." Loki reaches over, grabbing Mobius' salad, much to the man's disappointment. "Your salad is Asgard in this scenario."

"No, it's not Asgard, that's my lunch."

Devlin rolls his eyes. "Just get a different lunch, Mobius. Besides, it's just a metaphor."

"I want that salad."

Loki grabs Mobius' drink as well, then continues, "Let's say, I could go down to Asgard before Ragnorak causes its complete destruction, and we could do anything I wanted," Loki holds up a small jar of salt, pouring some onto the salad. "I could, let's say, push the Hulk off the Rainbow Bridge. There he goes."

"The salt's Hulk."

Devlin ignores Mobius, and grabs the jar of pepper, pouring some into the salad as well. "And I could set fire to the palace."

"What's with you and fire? Don't set fire to the palace."

Loki and Devlin set the jars down, the latter saying, "Look, we're saying that we could do whatever we want to do, and it would never matter. It wouldn't go against the dictates of the timeline because..."

Devlin trails off, grabbing the soda can. When he feels that it's empty, he looks around the room.

Sitting behind him is Casey at another table. Devlin lifts his hand, and the juice box next to Casey floats towards him.

Casey turns back to him, instantly seeing Loki sitting next to Devlin. "You!"

Loki smiles sheepishly. "Nice to see you. We just need that for a second."

The juice box lands in Devlin's hand, and he turns back to Mobius, continuing, "Because the apocalypse is coming. Ragnarok, Surtur will destroy Asgard no matter what I do."

Devlin pours the drink into the salad, causing a disappointed sigh from Mobius.

"There's the apocalypse."

"That's the apocalypse?"

"Ragnarok obliterates the salt and pepper."

Both Devlin and Loki goofily grin, Devlin setting the empty juice box down on the table.

"There it is!"

Mobius looks down at what used to be his salad. "What am I lookin' at?"

Loki sighs. "Okay, it was a clumsy metaphor. But you see what we mean. It doesn't matter. It could be any apocalypse."

Devlin lists off, "It could be a total wave, it could be a meteor, it could be a volcano, a supernova," Devlin lifts up the salt and pepper, pouring them into the salad again. "If everything around you is destined for imminent destruction, then nothing I say or do will matter, because the timeline's not gonna branch. 'Cause it gets destroyed."

As Devlin puts the salt and pepper down, Loki continues, "Hence, the Variant could be hiding in the apocalypse and do whatever they wanted and we wouldn't know!"

"Not bad." Mobius comments after a moment,

"Take us to a real apocalypse. Take us to Ragnarok, we'll show you!"

Mobius chuckles. "Yeah, so you two can run away to your homeland? No."

Devlin shakes his head. "No, we're not going home. We could go anywhere!"

"I'm not taking you two for a stroll along the promenade, much less an apocalypse."

"Oh, Mobius, come on! What could possibly go wrong? We've got to properly test this theory."

"Well, here's a fun theory. You lure me out into the field, and then stab me in the back. Or maybe you'll burn me to a crisp. And those are theories I'd rather not test."

"I'd never stab set fire to you!"

"I'd never stab anyone in the back! That's such a dull form of betrayal!"

"Loki, I've studied almost every moment of your entire life. You've literally stabbed people in the back, like fifty times," Mobius looks at Devlin. "And at this point, you might as well be an arsonist with how many times you burned things in this place."

Devlin and Loki share a glance, then look back at Mobius, the latter shrugging and smiling at the man. "Well, we'd never do it again."

Mobius chuckles, unbelieving. "Okay."

Loki leans forward. "Okay, look, you don't trust me, you can trust one thing. I love to be right."

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