Chapter Text
It all happened so fast.
Everything had been going well. They’d found a He Who Remains variant called Victor Timely and had managed to take him back to the TVA, with only a minor setback caused by Ravonna Renslayer. His temporal aura had worked and opened the doors, just as they’d hoped.
What they didn’t account for is quite how bad the radiation would be. OB had told them it was bad, but this? Well, it was safe to say that Loki had not been expecting it to lead to Victor’s immediate death.
The Loom had exploded seconds later.
Bright light was all Loki had been able to see for a moment, the intensity of it forcing him to close his eyes and look away. But the light slowly died out and as he opened his eyes it was not the Temporal Loom that stood before him. No, it was the Avengers.
Loki looks around the park that he’s stood in and he frowns. He half expects this to be some kind of illusion cast by Sylvie that she would take away at any moment and he’d end up back in that room again, but nothing changes. Thinking about it now, he’s not even sure she’s able to cast illusions.
So this is real then. He must have been sent back to the Sacred Timeline; that’s the only explanation that makes sense. Though- he doesn’t remember this part. This must have happened after he was arrested by the TVA.
He looks forwards at Thor as his brother walks towards him with a case that carries the tesseract inside it. It has two handles - one on either side - and he holds one side out to Loki.
He stares at it for a second, then looks back up at Thor.
The familiar feeling of the metal plate on his face reminds him that he cannot speak and he frowns. How in the Gods’ name is he supposed to get out of this situation and save the whole universe if he can’t even talk?
As much as he hates to admit it, he knows he won’t be able to get out of this situation without the Avengers’ help. There’s no magical escape with the tesseract this time, and he certainly isn’t going to be able to fight against six of Earth’s mightiest heroes while handcuffed.
Thor moves the case closer to Loki pointedly, waiting for him to take it. He doesn’t.
This situation already seems impossible and it will be even harder to get out of it if he’s in a cell in Asgard. So, he waits. He has no other option, really.
It feels like an hour has passed - though it was likely only a minute - before Thor frowns and finally speaks, “Loki, what are you doing?”
Loki points at the metal on his face, clearly trying to show him that he wants him to take it off. When Thor doesn’t get the message and just stares at him blankly, his saviour arrives in the form of Natasha as she speaks up, “I think he wants you to take that off.”
Loki nods enthusiastically and looks at his brother hopefully. Thor just sighs, his eyes filled with distrust as he looks at him, “Will you tell me why you are being so frustrating if I do? No tricks?”
Again, Loki nods.
With that confirmation, Thor hands the Tesseract case to Steve Rogers to free his hands and takes the muzzle off of Loki’s face. He looks at him pointedly, waiting for him to speak.
For once, the God of Mischief, known for his silver tongue, doesn’t know what to say. How does he explain the past week - or however long it’s been - to these people? Even he hardly understands what happened.
He takes a deep breath, and just goes for it, “I’m not your Loki.” Ignoring the confused and unamused looks he receives, he continues, “I was.. arrested by some very powerful beings. The Time Variance Authority, to be specific.”
Tony Stark opens his mouth, likely about to make one of his sarcastic remarks, but Loki glares at him and he shuts his mouth. He continues,
“It probably happened.. about an hour before now? In another timeline I had gotten hold of the Tesseract and escaped, which, as I have now been informed, was not what was ‘supposed to happen’.”
He pauses for a breath and to think about what he should say next, then speaks again, “A lot has happened since then, but all you need to know is that this world as we know it is in grave danger. The Temporal Loom, the thing that keeps all of the timelines alive, has exploded. It’s gone. I opened my eyes and suddenly I was here. I need to find my way back to fix it.”
There’s silence for a moment as everyone takes this in, looking at each other with a mix of both confusion and distrust. He can’t blame them, really. It sounded ridiculous to him when he’d first heard of it as well.
“That’s the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.” Clint Barton.
Murmurs of agreement sounded and this time it’s Tony Stark who speaks, “Are you sure the Hulk didn’t hit your head a little too hard? This is a really stupid attempt at trying to escape, even for you.”
“Oh trust me, I know how insane it sounds.” Loki huffs a laugh, “But it’s no escape attempt. I truly mean everything I just said. I need to go back and somehow fix this, otherwise everyone and everything will-”
Suddenly, the world blurs and for a second all he can feel is pain. He yells as his body pulls itself back together, doubling over and breathing heavily once it passes, “No.” He gasps, “Not this again.” He can’t start timeslipping again. He can’t-
He feels a hand on his shoulder and barely manages to hold back his flinch, looking up to see that Thor is standing closer to him now, his eyes filled with worry despite his brother’s actions from what was only an hour ago for him.
“What was that?” Thor demands, the worry seeping into his voice.
Loki takes a deep breath to calm himself and stands properly again, “Time slipping. It- that’s not supposed to happen now. Me and Mobius fixed it. We stopped it…” His voice grows quieter towards the end, talking to himself now more than he is to Thor.
“And who is this ‘Mobius’?” It’s Natasha that speaks this time.
He fights back his smile as he thinks about the man who has saved his life time and time again, “He’s my best friend.. I met him at the TVA. He was one of the analysts there.” He knows there’s plenty more he has to say about Mobius, but he won’t be saying any of it to the Avengers. He may have a different view of them now than he did at this point in the Sacred Timeline, but he certainly doesn’t like them.
“I’m sorry, are we just going to skip past the fact that you literally just started to become spaghetti there?” Tony Stark crosses his arms and Loki turns to him, now.
“Time slipping.” He corrects him, “And yes, I would rather we forget about that. It’s not a very pleasant thing for me to think about.”
“So..” Steve Rogers finally speaks, looking thoughtful, “How do you want us to help you? It’s hardly like we can time travel and take you back to before this ‘Temporal Loom’ exploded.”
Loki nods slowly, thinking, “I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. I need to find my friends again somehow, but for all I know they could have been killed when the Loom exploded.” He tries not to think about that possibility, not wanting to believe that they could really be dead.
Clint frowns, looking around at everyone, “Are we really just going to believe this?”
Thor considers this for a moment then turns to Clint, “My brother may be good at lying, but I do not believe that he would lie about something like this. He must know how far-fetched this all sounds, why would he make up a lie that he knows we will not believe?”
Loki’s mouth twitches into a small smile at Thor’s words. He knows that in this moment on the timeline his brother doesn’t trust him, yet he’s still helping him instead of just throwing him into the Asgardian prison like he should be doing.
Loki and Thor had loved each other like brothers should, once. But all of that changed when Loki realised he was never truly Thor’s equal; just a pawn to be used for Odin’s own gain. He still does love his brother, he really does. But he’s not sure that Thor would agree. Especially right now, when Loki had just held New York hostage and tried to kill his friends mere hours before.
So it warms Loki’s Frost Giant heart to hear his brother willing to help him despite everything.
“Alright.” Tony Stark claps his hands, “I guess we’re helping the guy who just tried to kill all of us. Great. Okay. I think it would be best if we figure this out inside the Tower, yes?”
Steve nods, gesturing to Loki, “I doubt any civilians would like to see us helping the enemy.”
So, they all head inside the Tower. Loki is in the middle of the group, which makes sense. He knows that what he said is true, but the Avengers don’t exactly have any real reason to trust him yet. He gets it.
They all walk into some kind of meeting room - it reminds him a little of the Time Theatre, just with a much bigger table and more chairs - and sit down, Loki sitting between Thor and Steve. Again, he understands why. They’re likely the only two in this room who could take him down on short notice if he decided to pull anything, asides from maybe Natasha.
“So, explain it all again. More detail this time, though. We need to fully understand what you’re talking about.” Tony Stark says, nodding to Loki.
He sighs, then begins to explain again, “So, basically, there’s this guy who wrote all of time. He Who Remains, as he called himself. He chose everything that was supposed to happen on the Sacred Timeline. Anyone who veered off of their chosen path and did something he hadn’t planned were arrested by the TVA, which he created.”
“After they arrest these ‘variants’, the timeline is reset and everything goes on as it should. Which is why you’re not aware of the fact that I escaped. So, they arrested me, stuff happened and now the thing keeping all of the timelines alive has exploded. My time slipping is likely the reason I’m here now. Any questions?”
The silence drags on after he’s spoken, until Natasha says, “What exactly is time slipping?”
Loki hums as he thinks about how to explain it, “I mean- it’s basically just being pulled through time? Between the past, present and future. It happened to me before, after Sylvie killed He Who Remains, but OB helped me and Mobius fix it. I assume that now the Loom is destroyed I have nothing to stop me from time slipping again.”
Bruce Banner, after being silent the whole time since Loki arrived, finally speaks, “Hypothetically, would you not be able to time slip back to before this ‘Loom’ exploded? It sounds like it should be able to do that.”
Loki had considered that, briefly. But he knows it won’t work. Sure, time slipping back then would probably work, but how could he possibly do that?
“I can’t control the time slipping. It’s random. You’re right, I could probably timeslip back then, but I can’t do that when I don’t know how. The closest I’ve gotten to controlling the time slipping is fighting it, and I’d hardly call that ‘controlling’.”
When no one speaks this time, Loki starts talking again, “Look, I really do need to try to fix this. I know you don’t trust me, but I hope that my explanation of everything has at least helped a bit with that.” He sighs, “If you can’t help me, you need to let me leave.”
They all seem to consider this, because really what other option do they have? They can’t trust Loki, but how do they know he’s not telling the truth? The risk of everything going wrong is too high. But none of them seem to have any ideas on how to help him, either.
“Would we have any way of finding your friends? People on Midgard have a lot of technology for that, right?” Thor says the first part to Loki and the last part is directed at the others.
Stark nods, “Yes, we can do that. Have you even seen the things I’ve created?” But Loki shakes his head.
“No. They probably don’t even have the same names here on the Sacred Timeline, I doubt you’ll have any way of tracking them. Unless…” Loki looks down at the table, thinking. Yes, this could work, “..Sylvie might have the same name. She created her life here and I don’t see why she would change her name.”
“What’s her full name?” Stark asks.
“Sylvie Laufeydottir.”
Thor frowns at Loki and opens his mouth to speak, but Stark beats him to it, “JARVIS? You get that?”
“Yes, sir. I’m searching for her now.”
The voice from the ceiling shouldn’t be shocking to Loki considering the fact that he’s met a sentient AI clock before, but he still wasn’t expecting it. He knew Stark was a genius, but he didn’t think that people were this advanced yet.
They all wait for a moment, before this ‘JARVIS’, as Stark calls him, speaks again, “I’ve found someone matching the name in Broxton, Oklahoma.”
“Working in a McDonald’s, I assume?”
Loki asks, to which JARVIS replies by saying, “Yes, sir.”
Loki nods. Of course she’s there. The time he’d visited her on the timeline was quite a few years before now but she has no reason to leave; she’s obviously happy there.
Thor speaks now that he has the chance, his confusion obvious, “Is she your… sister?”
“What? No. Absolutely not.” Loki doesn’t really want to explain this to Thor, or anyone for that matter, but he might as well, “She’s a different version of me, from another timeline. She renamed herself to Sylvie; she didn’t like being called Loki.”
“So is there an infinite amount of yous just.. out there?” Stark asks.
“Pretty much. I’ve met a few of them. I’ve noticed that I’m not a very pleasant person to be around.”
That gets a few huffs of laughter and Clint scoffs and says, “You’re only realising that now?”
Loki rolls his eyes and he feels the familiar feeling of time slipping again. Pain radiates through his body and he sees a flash of somewhere he knows he’s seen before, then suddenly he’s back in the room with the Avengers, his arms wrapped around his middle as he gasps for breath.
He hadn’t had the chance to fight it properly that time. He’d been too relaxed for his body to react fast enough, but he’s just thankful it only took him somewhere for a few seconds this time.
“-Loki?” He looks up as Thor speaks to him, only now realising he has a hand on his back.
He sighs and sits back up, trying to ignore the lingering pain, “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? Because you fully just disappeared for a second there, buddy.” Stark says, his voice not sounding exactly worried despite his words. But that’s hardly a new development.
“Yeah, that’s what time slipping does. I fought it off better last time so I didn’t actually go anywhere, but this time it appears that I didn’t try hard enough.” Loki can still feel Thor’s hand on his back and he knows that he would normally have pushed him away by now, but he’s missed his brother. He needs this.
Loki sighs, “We don’t need to worry about what’s going on with me, okay? We just need to find Sylvie. How fast can we get there?”
Stark hums thoughtfully, “By plane? Probably about 3 hours.”
“That’ll have to do.” It’s not ideal, but they have no other options. “When can we leave?”
Stark stands up, soon followed by everyone else, “Now.”
Once again Loki is in the middle of the group - minus Bruce Banner, he didn’t think it would be a good idea to be on a small enclosed space in the sky, for obvious reasons - as they walk to the plane that Tony Stark apparently just has? For some reason?
He sits down on the plane, Thor and Steve on either side of him again, and he just hopes that Sylvie will have some answers for him.