Mischief and Enchantments

Chapter 1: Time Court

Could this day get any worse? Loki thought to himself as one of the Time Variance Authority's hunters pushed him into what seemed to be a courtroom.

He was so close to conquering Midgard, when his brother and his idiotic group of "heroes" foiled his plans, and a dull green creature smashed him into the ground.

It was always Thor. Every time one of his plans failed was because of him, or Heimdall, or any other Asgardian who wished to watch him suffer.

This failure was different from the others, though. This time, he would've most likely spent the rest of his days in Asgard's dungeons for all the damage he'd done. But, by some miracle, he'd managed to get ahold of the Tesseract and escape his brother.

He didn't question how he'd gotten it, even though he saw two Tony Starks in that room. He didn't think time travel could be possible. Loki didn't care, though. He just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so he could get a second chance at revenge.

But his luck was short-lived when the Time Variance Authority showed up and arrested him for crimes against the Sacred Timeline, whatever that was. Next thing he knew, a collar was put around his neck, he questioned if he was a being with a soul and not a robot, and now he was in a courtroom preparing to plead his case. He didn't even know what he was defending himself against.

"Laufeyson." The woman who Loki assumed was the judge was reading off a file. "Variant L1130, AKA Loki Laufeyson, is charged with sequence violation 7-20-89."

"How do you plead?" She asked, looking up at him.

Loki chuckled, trying to hide the fact that none of this made any sense to him, and said, "Madam, a god doesn't plead. Look, this has been a very enjoyable pantomime, but I'd like to go home now."

The judge ignored him. "Are you guilty or not guilty, sir?"

Loki scoffed. "Guilty of being the God of Mischief? Yes. Guilty of finding this all incredibly tedious? Yes. Guilty of a crime against the Sacred Timeline? Absolutely not, you have the wrong person."

"Oh, really?" The judge questioned. "And who should we have?"

"I suspect, the Avengers." Loki accused. "You see, I only came into possession of the Tesseract because they traveled through time, no doubt in a last-ditch effort to stave off my ascent to God King."

"That's quite an accusation." The judge said.

"Oh, believe me, you can smell the cologne of two Tony Starks," Loki added. "You speak of Time Criminals? It's they you should be after. Perhaps you could provide me with a task force and resources, and I could return and eliminate them for you."

"We're not here to talk about the Avengers." The judge said firmly.

"Oh, no?"

"No." The judge confirmed. "What they did was supposed to happen. You escaping was not."

Well, that isn't fair. "Right." Loki laughed. "'Not supposed to happen'? According to whom?"

"The Time-Keepers?" The judge said as if the answer was obvious.

"Oh, the Time-Keepers. Right." Loki replied. "Well, perhaps I should speak to these Time-Keepers, gods to gods."

The judge smirked. "I'm sorry, but they are quite busy."

"Oh, they are? What are they doing?"

"Dictating the proper flow of time."

"I see. Right. And then what do you do?"

The judge seemed to be growing frustrated. "Dictate the proper flow of time according to their dictations. How do you plead?"

"Guilty..." Loki said, "of this." He stretched out his arms to his sides and fisted his hands.

Nothing happened.

He tried again. Nothing happened. Quiet laughter could be heard throughout the room.

"What's going on?" Asked the judge.

"Hang on," Loki said. "Everyone quiet."

He tried again. Nothing happened.

"He's trying to use his powers, ma'am." Explained the hunter.

"Don't rush me." Loki snapped.

He tried again. Nothing happened.

Loki banged his fist against the glass podium where he stood. "D*mn it!" He shouted. "Why won't it work?"

"Magic powers? They're no good in the TVA, Mr. Laufeyson." The judge said. "The court finds you guilty, and I sentence you to be reset." She slammed down her gavel. "Next case, please!"

"'Reset'?" Loki repeated as TVA Minutemen began to grab him. "What does that mean? What, is it bad? What does it mean?"

The Minutemen began to drag him away. "Hey!" He shouted. "You ridiculous bureaucrats will not dictate how my story ends!"

"It's not your story, Mr. Laufeyson." Said the judge. "It never was."

"You have no idea what I'm capable of!" Loki screamed.

"I think I might." Said a voice. All eyes turned to a gray-haired man who stood up from one of the seats in the room.

"Have an idea of what he's capable of." He finished.

"Approach the bench." Said the judge. He walked up to the judge and, after they exchanged a few words, the man turned to Loki and gave him a small smile.

Loki narrowed his eyes. "And who are you?"

This chapter was a lot like the first episode, but don't worry, the next one's going to be a little different.

—Blue 💙