Mischief and Enchantments

Chapter 2: Mobius

"I'm gonna burn this place to the ground," Loki muttered as he followed the man down the hall.

"I'll show you where my desk is, you can start there." The man joked.

Loki turned his attention to what was outside the window.

"Have a look." The man told him. Slowly Loki stepped towards the window. Outside, there were what seemed like hundreds of spires, and in those spires were what looked like circular rooms. Different types of ships flew around everywhere you looked.

"Home sweet home." The man sighed, walking up beside him.

"I thought there was no magic here," Loki said, growing confused.

The man smiled. "There isn't." They shifted their gazes back to the sight before them.

"That's not real," Loki said firmly.

"It is, and, unfortunately, so is all the paperwork." The man ushered Loki along. "Good tinder for your fire, though. Come on."

"This place is a nightmare." Loki groaned.

"That's another department." The man replied. "Now that department I'll help you burn down."

They entered an elevator, and in that elevator were floors with numbers and letters that Loki didn't understand. LK3, GYE, FE3–he didn't try to make sense of it. He stopped trying to make sense of anything about this place a while ago.

"I'm Agent Mobius, by the way." The man—Mobius—extended his hand out to Loki, wanting him to shake it. Loki just stared at it and Mobius put it down.

Loki decided to get straight to the point. "Are you taking me somewhere to kill me?" He asked.

"No," Mobius answered. "That's where you just were. I'm taking you someplace to talk."

"I don't like to talk," Loki said bluntly.

"But you do like to lie, which you just did." Mobius pointed out. "Because we both know you love to talk."

Mobius looked Loki in the eyes. "Talkie-talkie." He teased.

This man was starting to get on Loki's nerves. "How long have you been here?" He asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I don't know," Mobius answered. "It's hard to say. Time passes differently here in the TVA."

"What does that mean?" Loki pressed.

"You'll catch up."

Eventually, they came to a room that had two chairs and a table that had a strange-looking machine on top of it. Beyond the table, was a wall that seemed like it was made of glass.

"For the record, this really does seem like a killing-me kind of a room," Loki told Mobius.

"Not big on trust, are you?" Mobius asked as he turned on the machine on the table. The machine projected the TVA logo on the glass wall.

"Trust is for children and dogs," Loki replied. "There's only one person you can trust."

"Yourself?" Mobius guessed. "I like it. Slap it on a T-shirt."

"If the TVA truly oversees all of time, how have I never heard of it until now?"

"'Cause you've never needed to. You've always lived within your set path."

"I live within whatever path I choose." Loki snapped.

"Sure you do," Mobius said. "Okay, come have a seat."

Loki didn't take a seat. Instead, he stepped towards Mobius. Mobius pressed a button on a device and the collar around Loki's neck set him back to where he was before. That was why Loki hated that collar. If he took one step out of line, the TVA agents made sure he stayed where they wanted him.