Chapter Text
Mabel felt a crackle under her skin. Something she’d never felt before. Something akin to electricity, but not painful. Just charged and pleasant. She stared at the new Variant from across the room.
He was extremely tall and probably what most beings would call handsome. On the face of the observation it confused her. Her kind weren’t created to have attraction. Which was why her interest in this one was particularly alarming. Interest was the only word for it even though it seemed inadequate.
Maybe the Time-Keepers had given her a gift in their infinite wisdom. Someone who might be able to help her understand her assignment better. She cocked her head to the side following the long lines of his torso. His arms lean and muscled under his jumpsuit. Black hair shining in curly rivulets, cascading down his neck.
She shook her head.
Most likely he was going to be reset. She shouldn’t be thinking about asking him…
“What are you doing?” asked Scarlet next to Mabel making her jump. Her best friend followed Mabel’s train of sight as she pulled her long flowing red hair in a ponytail. The two of them had come up as Minute Men together, and once they were promoted to under managers they’d stayed close.
Mabel jumped. “Oh, just observing the new Variant.”
“Ah,” said Scarlet nonchalantly. “Loki Laufeyson? L1130.”
Mabel nodded. So many Loki’s had come through here, but she’d never been around to observe. It was strange, especially since Mobius was the one who always hunted them. She would think him being her mentor meant he would share more information about them with her. He must be so sad having to disintegrate so many.
“We still on for lunch?” asked Scarlet, breaking Mabel out of her reverie.
Mabel smiled. “Of course.”
“I’ll see you then.” Scarlet turned, her long red hair swishing behind her.
Mabel looked back at L1130 and cocked her head to the side. She played with the ends of her platinum shoulder length bob while her eyes roamed over him. He looked proud and haughty as they marched him to one of the courtrooms. It was a shame. Sometimes, what she and her coworkers did here broke her heart. She believed in the mission of course: Order, rightness, protecting the sacred timeline. When they were done and the Timekeepers had completed their task, it would all make sense. They would all meet together at the end of time. But she was one of the only agents who actually hated disintegrating Variants.
The Loki Variant looked up and met her gaze. Some new pulse flew down her body. New, and yet in the back of her mind, anciently familiar.
His eyes looked confused, defiant, but behind the bravado, she detected fear. This is what she hated about her job. That look. His gaze bored into her as if he were searching her face for something. They blinked at each other, and heat crept up her neck making her flush. Finally their eye lock broke and he turned away. Mabel’s hand rose over her heart. This wasn’t her case, but she felt so intrigued by him that an overwhelming urge to go down to his sentencing left her breathless. But she had so much work to do. She couldn’t, though the inclination almost moved her feet toward the staircase.
She headed out of processing, up the elevator to her desk. She sat down and cracked her knuckles over the keys. Her stack of paper work was laying on her huge desk calendar and she flipped through the papers.
More ‘crimes of passion’ to log and report. There weren’t many of them, but they were all unsavory. She was told she was assigned to them to get her feet wet once she’d moved up from minuteman. A young managers type of assignment.
Perusing the papers, she bit her lip. They all involved one party catching the other party in a relationship cheating. And sometimes, murder. Murdering the partner, murdering the lover, sometimes both. But always some decision by the Variant to come home early for some reason or another. The details could vary. Just someone stepping away from their path.
If there was a murder, it was always nice to know that time would be reset before that. Although, some murders still happened, they were just supposed to happen on the sacred timeline, and not early regarding the Variant’s strange choice changes. No one knew why these particular choices created a Nexus event, but her job wasn’t to question. Just reset.
The only thing was, this assignment was killing her. The anger and rage she witnessed was horrible. But the absolute worst was watching partners cheat on each other. It cut her to the quick every time. Faithfulness and fidelity didn’t exist in her particular job. It was strictly a human experience, and yet, they misused and discarded the notions all the time.
After her paperwork pile was down to the bottom, Mabel headed to the break room and sat at the edge next to the window. She pulled out her lunch. Grapes, nuts, pita with hummus and roast chicken. She smiled and took a bite. It was the simple things.
She almost dropped her sandwich when Scarlet plonked down in the chair opposite her. “You’ll never guess,” she said, taking out her soup canister.
“What?” asked Mabel, leaning forward.
“Pita again?” said Scarlet, her eyebrows raised.
“Scarlet, tell me.” Mabel put her sandwich down.
“I mean seriously, that’s the fourth time this week…”
“Scarlet! Focus please. What is it?”
“See how it feels?” asked Scarlet, taking the sandwich from Mabel’s hands and biting into it.
Mabel sighed. She tended to talk back and forth between her thoughts. It was a habit that seemed to vex the other agents.
“The Variant you were observing earlier while he was getting processed?” said Scarlet through a full mouth.
“Loki?”
“Yup. Mobius pulled him out before disintegration, and now he’s working for us!” she cried through a mouthful of food.
For some reason, Mabel’s heart gave a loud thump. She’d never felt anything like it before. Excitement over a Variant? He was staying… Time and space… “Why?” she asked.
“You know that Variant that’s been killing our people?”
“Yeah…”
“It’s him. A multiverse version of him. I can’t believe Mobius didn’t tell you himself.”
Mabel bit her lip. If that was true then L1130 was more dangerous than she had previously realized. She couldn’t ask him for help now. Although, now that he was here, he couldn’t use magic, and he would be prevented from doing anything truly crazy. But the thought of them working together with what she had in mind was feeling a little… indecent. But then again… Her thoughts bounced back and forth so much she was dizzy before Scarlet was through telling her what happened.
“Anyway,” said Scarlet, “I thought that was so crazy I had to come and find you. What’s wrong? Your big innocent doe eyes look like they’ve seen a ghost.”
“What? Oh. I’m just thinking…”
“About what?” asked Scarlet screwing her face up.
“Nothing… I just. That’s unheard of.”
“Right!”
“I have to go. You want the rest of my lunch?”
“Sure!”
Mabel scraped her chair against the linoleum floor and darted through all the other agents filing in for their breaks. She had to think this through where she wouldn’t be disturbed.
………………………
She opened her apartment door and dropped her small purse on the ground. It felt so good to be home. She heard the scramble of feline claws on the wood floor from the other room and got on her knees to greet her cat. Her Sabre tooth tiger Zabu, came careening down the hallway and pounced on her, paws on her shoulders. He gave her cheek a long lick with his rough tongue.
“Hey boy! Miss me?” she asked, digging her nails into his rough fur and scratching his huge neck. He mewled and lay with his full weight on her. “Hungry?” she asked. “Sorry I’m late.”
She’d lucked out with Zabu. In some timelines, he was an Avenger, in some, just a primordial beast. But when animals were involved in a Nexus event, they weren’t always disintegrated, since Managers had such a soft spot for them. There were a few Zabu’s around the TVA, but Mabel’s was definitely the best.
She pushed him off, and went to the refrigerator, and took out a huge steak. “Here you are my love.” She dropped it in his bowl and Zabu tore into it. She patted his head and grabbed her watering can from under the sink. Filling it, she moved around her apartment watering her many plants covering the living room.
“Hello, my lovelies, you must be thirsty.” Once her green babies were satisfied, she sat down heavily on the couch. Zabu climbed up next to her and rested his gigantic head on her lap and started to purr.
She scratched him and leaned her chin in her other hand.
So. The new Variant was going to be sticking around, which meant she could still ask him for help. He would probably be reset after Mobius was done using him, which meant he wouldn’t be around to remember her request. It was unsavory, but still, this was for the good of the timeline and the TVA overall. Not to mention the strange heat the prickled under her skin when she thought about him.
Decision made.
…………………
She stood in front of the Variant’s apartment door. She didn’t get nervous very often, but she felt a small pang of it down her spine. What would he say? She knew what a human would probably say, but Asgardians were completely new to her.
Well, there was no time like the present. Ha, time. She chuckled to herself at her joke.
She knocked on the door and held her breath. Swift clomping strides echoed toward her from inside. She sucked in a little more air. The door flew open, and there he was.
Loki, Variant L1130, standing over her in a gray dress shirt and tie, administered by the agency. He must have been trying it on. The tie was a little off kilter as if he’d struggled to tighten it.
“What is it now?” he said crossly, staring over her head. His gaze drew downward until he met her eyes with his ice blue irises. His brow knit together in confusion “Oh, hello…?”
“Mr. Laufeyson?” she said staring up at him. He was so tall and broad, about a head taller than her. She took the ends of her hair and twisted them in her fingers.
“Yes…?” he asked, looking annoyed. But she detected curiosity behind his eyes.
“My name is Mabel, I work in the Time Variant Crimes of Passion division.”
Loki raised his eyebrows at this. She could tell he was definitely curious now.
“I’m sorry for the intrusion,” she said, “you must be extremely tired after your ordeal this morning—”
“I know you,” he said suddenly. He put his index finger to his lips in concentration. “You were staring at me while I was being processed.”
“Yes sir, that was me.”
A wide grin split his face. She couldn’t tell if it was attractive or terrifying “Sir?” he said with a hint of pride. “I like that. Well Mabel, what can I do for you?”
“It’s really a simple thing. I’d just like to understand my job and the Variant’s I work with better. I wondered if you wouldn’t mind fucking me.”