Loki

Chapter 3A: Lamentis

Upbeat pop music played in the background of the bar and grill.

C-20 sat at one of the tables, wearing a red t-shirt with her dreadlocked hair down, dancing from side to side as she glanced at the menu. "We could do potato skins or buffalo fingers..."

"Or we can eat somewhere else..." The blonde-haired woman at the other end of the table said.

"Why do you hate this place?" C-20 asked.

"I don't hate it." The other girl replied. "I fear it. Do you know how many times the health department has closed this place down?"

"Well the drinks seem fine." C-20 said, taking a sip of her orange margarita before squirming. "Ohhhh god. Brain freeze."

The other girl chuckled. "You know what brain freeze is, don't you?"

C-20 sighed. "Here we go..."

"It's when you sip something so cold..." The other girl began.

"Brain freeze associated with coldness." C-20 interrupted. "Got it."

"Wait! I'm being serious." The other girl urged. "So it permeates the roof of your mouth and it freezes the synapses in your brain. So, your memories are literally frozen in place."

C-20 nodded to her slowly. "...that is absolutely not true."

"It is!" The other girl convinced. "Okay. Try it. Whatever you're thinking about will get frozen in place. I'm gonna ask you a question and you won't be able to answer until the synapses have melted."

"Challenge accepted." C-20 agreed. Taking a big sip of her drink before starting to squirm again. "Okay, ask."

"How many people are guarding the Time Keepers?" She asked.

C-20 paused. "I'm sorry what?"

The setting around them took a sudden shift from day to night. C-20 looked around in confusion.

"Hey." The other girl said placing a hand on her. "How long have we been best friends?"

C-20 ignored the feeling. "Too long." She answered.

"Seriously, you know you can tell me anything, right?" The other girl said.

"Of course."

"So why won't you tell me how many people are guarding the Time Keepers?" She asked, flatly again.

"Oh, well, there's..." C-20 began, but stopped and looked around her. "This place, I...I remember, I know this place." Then turned to the other girl. "But I don't know you."

"It's okay." The Loki Variant said with an undertone of frustration. "You're just tired."

Outside of C-20's mind, in the surveillance room of Roxxcart shopping center, The Variant Loki placed her hands up against a comatose C-20's forehead, a flash of green emitted from her fingertips.

"Yeah, I'm probably just tired." C-20 mumbled in agreement.

"How do I find the elevators?" Female Loki asked.

"They're gold." C-20 answered.

Loki smiled and removed her hand from C-20's head. But the smile slowly vanished as she looked up to the surveillance screens to see the TVA emerged from the Time Doors at the parking lot accompanied by a strange looking man in a jacket labeled Variant.

***

Back at the TVA, just as the Minutemen exited through the Time Door, the Loki Variant entered through her own. Storing the Tempad into her pocket, she tied her hair up into a half-ponytail before exiting into the cooridor outside of the locker room. She immediately spied a Minuteman on the phone, approaching from behind while he was preoccupied. Touching a glowing hand to his temple, the energy quickly fizzled out in an instant. Loki looked down at her hand in confusion as the guard turned around promptly, upon seeing Loki he activated his Timestick. Before he could attack, she kicked him in the helmet then disarmed his Timestick and prodded him with it, causing him to vanish in a spray of sudden color.