Chaos - Sequel to 'The Lonely Widow'

Part 5- Insanity at it's Finest

When Absantine opened her eyes she found her self in a large field surrounded by junk. She stood up and heard a loud growl behind her. She turned quickly to see a large purple cloud like beast heading straight for her, devouring everything in its path.

She scrambled to her feet and began to run as fast as her legs would allow her. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

She heard a yell behind her, at first she ignored it in favour of fleeing the beast. The yell got louder and she looked up to see a older man wearing a green Cape and a golden horned helmet. He seemed to be calling her and beckoning her towards him.

She glanced back at the beast and decided that this odd looking man was a better alternative so she took off towards him.

By the time she reached him the cloud had been left behind and the man looked at her with a mixture of nostalgia and shock. Only then did she notice that he was not alone.

Beside him stood another man and a child dressed similarly. "Absantine" the older man breathed out, she looked at him quizzically "do I know you?" Absantine asked. The man shook his head slightly "I fought you many years ago, alongside the avengers, I've just never meet a variant of you, or any one from my own timeline" she nodded slightly before glancing around her "um, where exactly are we - " she paused indicating that she wished to know his name.

"Loki" said the man before gesturing around to the other two people with him "we are all Loki variants" Absantine sighed "great".

The older Loki explained as they walked that they were in a place called the void, which the younger one described as the place where the TVA dumps their rubbish.

The conversation was interrupted when something else landed a few feet away from them. At first they ignored it until the child pointed out that it was a variant of Loki.

It was only then that Absantine noticed the 'Variant' written on the back of his jacket. She began to walk towards them despite the others warning her that he could be a dangerous variant.

She knelt down beside him while the rest hovered awkwardly around her. She grabbed his shoulder and turned him over so that he was facing her and proceeded to slap him rather hard across the face.

His eyes snapped open with a groan and he took in his surroundings "am I dead" he asked.

He sat up and noticed the woman before him "so this is hell" he remarked. Absantine rolled her eyes " pleasant as always" she replied while holding out her hand to help him up.

"Where are we" asked Loki "This is the void" supplied old Loki causing Loki to jump slightly. "Are you....." "you, yes" finished Child Loki "right...."

"Can we focus one the matter at hand?" Interrupted the irritated Widow "right, um yes" agreed Loki "which is....?" Inquired the Loki with the hammer "finding a female variant of us and a TVA agent" Said Loki only to be meet be silence.

"A TVA agent?" repeated the older variant "why would there be a TVA worker down here?" Asked the child "well you see -" began Loki but Absantin interrupted him to prevent the god from launching into what was bound to be an unnecessarily lengthy explanation.

"Ravonna Renslayer is a back stabbing bitch, full story later that could is headed straight for us we need to move" she said curtly "yes, right follow me" said Old Loki.

~~~

The three Loki variants led them too a sort of underground bunker where they were reassured that 'alioth', as the Lokis referred to it as, could not reach them.

They five variants sat around the bunker, the child on a makeshift throne a factor Loki and Absantine decided not question.

"So, after I vanquished Captain America and Iron Man, I claimed my prize, all six Infinity Stones." Procalimed the one with the hammer triumphantly completeing his ridiculous story while the others watched him in disbelief clearly not believing a single word he said.

The alligator growled "That's alligator for growling and saying "liar" at the same time." Translated the older one.

"At least my nexus event wasn't eating the wrong neighbor's cat." Shot back the hammer one.

After successfully preventing any lost limbs the child gestured to the older one.

"Tell them your story, Loki." He demanded "Me? Nobody wants to hear about that" dismissed the man "I would, actually. Um... It's just I've been wondering, because I'm... Well, we're supposed to die, right? Thanos kills us after Ragnarok. Thanos? In my timeline, everything proceeded correctly, my entire life, until Thanos attacked our ship. So, you didn't try to stab him?" Absantine watched curiosity sparking in her eyes.

Loki had told her what happened in his timeline and she had done the same but was now equally intrested in how this Loki had aged when he should have died young.

"Certainly not. Take no offense, my friends, but blades are worthless in the face of a Loki sorcery. They stunt our magical potential." Continued the man "But they look awesome." Said the one with the hammer "Oh, yes. Especially when they clatter to the ground just before your neck is snapped." Said the old loki sarcastically causing Absantine to snort and Loki to shoot her an offended look which just made her dissolve entirely into laughter.

Once she calmed down the old loki continued "I cast a projection of myself so real, even the Mad Titan believed it. Then hid as inanimate debris. After I faked my death, I simply drifted in space. Away from Thor, away from everything. Thought about the universe and my place in it, and it occurred to me that everywhere I went, only pain followed." That hit hard.

"So I removed myself from the equation, landed on a remote planet and stayed there in isolation, in solitude for a long, long time." He finished "that sounds... lonely" said Absantine soflty, she knew how that felt, she knew that feeling a little too well.

"It was" agreed old Loki "it was".
"How did the TVA find you?" "Like I said, I got lonely." He chuckled slightly.

" To tell you the truth, I missed my brother, and I wondered if he missed me, if anybody else did. But as soon as I took my first steps to getting off the planet, the TVA arrived." Absantine was starting to notice the painful similarities between her life and Loki's.

"Because we, my friends, have but one part to play, the God of Outcasts. Nothing more." He raised his class and the others copied the gesture.

"That's sad" commented the widow "what's your story then" asked the child "mine?" He nodded "I don't know what you want to hear" she admitted "well why are you at the tva then" "I killed someone, the winter soldier and the Avengers were supposed to catch me and I would die alone in my cell when hydra infiltrated shield, but I escaped and the TVA took me".

The room was silent for a moment until Loki spoke "what about your sister?" He pushed "she dies" the woman said bluntly "sacrifices her self on Vormir for the soul stone, I'm already dead by then".

The child opened his mouth to speak again when he was cut off by a banging noise.

The hatch opened and a man in a tailored suit climbed down. He turned around to reveal himself as yet another Loki variant.

"Oh god" muttered Absantine "Not another one".