Chapter Text
Mobius felt the cold bite of winter before he fully stepped through the timedoor. He shivered and pulled his TVA issued winter coat closer, already wishing he’d been sent somewhere warmer. He looked down at his TemPad.
Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania. Earth. 1979.
“Variant is here. Span out and identify,” Hunter B-15 directed the crew of hunters and minutemen. “Judge Renslayer wants this dealt with immediately.”
Mobius nodded and began to search. The forest around him was quiet. The only sound he could hear was the ice crunching beneath his boots. A harsh wind sent a cascade of snow into a line of hedges. And there, in the underbrush, Mobius saw a flash of red– the color bright against the white and grays of the forest.
Mobius crouched down to find a young girl. She was shivering and clutching a tattered stuffed animal rabbit. His TemPad flashed “VARIANT.” Dammit. He hated missions like this.
“Hey there,” Mobius smiled, kneeling down to the girl’s level. She stared up at him with large blue eyes.
“I'm lost,” she sniffled.
“I can see that.”
“Are you here to help me?”
Mobius’ heart twisted. This is wrong, some distant part of him whispered. He shook the feeling away. This was his job. This was what needed to happen to protect The Sacred Timeline.
“I’m here to make sure everything turns out okay. My name’s Mobius, what’s yours?”
“P-pepper Potts.” She gave a full body shudder and Mobius draped his winter coat around her.
“What’s this guy’s name?” he asked, gesturing to the rabbit.
“Coco,” the young girl– Pepper– said. “We saw a family of rabbits today,” she continued excitedly, “Coco wanted to visit them tonight but...we couldn’t find them.”
Mobius glanced at his TemPad. They were approaching the redline. He turned the words over in his head. Traipsing after a family of rabbits? That was her crime? Mobius stopped his current line of thinking. It didn’t matter. He had a job to do.
“Let’s get you out of the cold,” Mobius said. “Hey guys! Found her!”
Out of the woods B-15, J-16, and D-90 approached. D-90 took a step towards Pepper with a timecollar in his hands and emotionless eyes. Pepper stepped behind Mobius with a small whimper.
“Woah, hey, hold on.” Mobius held out a hand to stop D-90. He turned and crouched back down towards Pepper, tightening his coat around her.
“Pepper, these are my friends. We’re going to take you somewhere warm, okay?”
“No. I-I want to go home. Are you taking me back to my mom?” Pepper looked nervously between the hunters before she launched into a rehearsed dialogue. “My name is Pepper Potts. I live at 3725 Oakwood Drive. My phone number is-”
Mobius fought the rising bile in his stomach. This is wrong, that nearly forgotten part of him roared until his head felt like it was about to split open.
“Mobius, we need to go now,” B-15 commanded.
Mobius turned back to Pepper. He shouldn’t promise anything. He knew better at this point. But Pepper was young, impressionable. Maybe Mobius could convince Ravonna that she deserved a different fate.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Pepper,” Mobius promised, holding out his hand. “Trust me.”
A relieved smile crossed Pepper’s face. She slipped her small hand into Mobius’ and together they stepped through the timedoor.
D-90 yanked Pepper away the second they returned.
“Hey!” Pepper yelped.
“D-90, enough!” Mobius growled, pulling Pepper back. “I can take her through processing, okay? Relax. She’s just a kid.”
“She’s a variant,” D-90 sneered, “and that’s against protocol.”
“Look, if you have a problem-”
“Mobius!” Ravonna’s voice echoed through the crowded processing center.
Shit. “Oh, uh, hey Ravonna.”
Ravonna stopped in front of him, an exasperated expression on her face that Mobius knew all too well. “What is going on here?”
“Agent Mobius would like to accompany the variant through processing,” D-90 answered. “Which is against protocol.”
“The kid’s scared. I thought…” Mobius took another look at Pepper. Her blue eyes were swimming in barely restrained tears. He promised her he wouldn’t let anything happen. If Pepper had any chance, now was the time to speak up. “I would like to argue her case.”
“What??” D-90 laughed in disbelief.
Mobius ignored him. “Her case. I’d like to argue her case.”
“You don’t think she’s guilty?” Ravonna asked, pulling up Pepper’s case on her TemPad.
Mobius looked back to the ground. No. Pepper was definitely guilty. He’d seen the TemPad readings. Now, he didn’t know why her decision to run after some rabbits caused a Nexus Event. The why didn’t matter, it never did.
“That’s not the point-” Mobius began.
Ravonna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. They’d discussed this before. This wasn’t the first time Mobius had asked Ravonna for change. Though now that he thought about it… Mobius couldn't quite remember the details of their last conversation. He pushed down the headache that always happened when he thought too long about his past and focused on the present.
“Come on, Mobius,” Ravonna sighed, “let’s talk in my office.”
“You’ll hear me out?” A dangerous hope took root in Mobius’ chest.
“Just hurry up.”
Mobius couldn’t believe it. Finally, after all this time– however long it was– Ravonna might actually listen to him. He wasn’t wasting this chance. Mobius knelt back down to Pepper’s eye level.
“You’re leaving me?” Pepper whimpered.
“I’m going to go talk to my friend Ravonna. But I promise, I’m going to be here waiting for you when this is over.”
“Okay,” the young girl sniffed. “Can you… can you take Coco? I want you to keep him safe.”
Pepper held out the tattered rabbit to Mobius. It was muddy, missing an eye, and its left ear was hanging on by literally just a few threads. It was clear Pepper never went anywhere without it. It was also exuding mass amounts of displacement energy. Mobius glanced back at the processing desk. They wouldn’t let her keep it. He took the rabbit carefully into his arms.
“Sure. I’ll keep Coco safe for now. He’ll be back with you before you know it. When you’re done all three of us can get some hot chocolate. Sound good?”
Pepper gave a shaky nod before B-15 stepped in and took her to the next station. Mobius turned back to Ravonna and the pair made their way to her office.
Ravonna’s office was quiet, the heavy carpet muffling the noise of the TVA hard at work outside her window. Soft orange light filtered in through the blinds and cast elongated shadows around the room. Mobius automatically sat down on the couch while Ravonna poured him a drink from her bar. It was their routine. They’d been friends for… Mobius didn’t know how long exactly but a long time.
Ravonna handed him a glass of whiskey that Mobius downed in one sip. He needed the courage. For so long he’d followed orders to protect The Sacred Timeline, remaining the loyal, dutiful, never– okay maybe not never but rarely– questioning TVA agent. And for as long as he could remember he’d ignored that voice in his head that whispered maybe there was another way. It wasn’t his place to make recommendations. He wasn’t a Time-Keeper; he wasn't a judge. He was just an analyst. But if Ravonna was choosing to listen to him, maybe he was onto something this time.
“I’ve been thinking about a few changes,” Mobius began. He nervously twiddled with the stuffed animal’s already tattered ear. “Some of these variants, let’s be honest, they just got into a bit of bad luck. They were late to work or turned the wrong corner by accident. You know not every guilty variant that comes through here is evil, Ravonna. So, I was thinking, maybe, for those variants, we can help them. Either re-insert them on the timeline-”
“That’s impossible and you know that.”
“Or they could work for us. I’ve been around variants a long time and they’re not so different from us. Some of them are pretty smart, helluva lot smarter than me some days. We could use their expertise. Liven this place up a bit.”
Ravonna didn’t answer. Her eyes seemed fixated on a blue pen on the table in front of them.
“Look, I know you don’t like variants,” Mobius continued.
“That’s not what I was- it doesn’t matter. Mobius, I’m sorry, but you can’t help her.”
Mobius felt a lead weight drop into his stomach. “What?”
“Pepper Potts. Her role is to grow up and apply for a position at Stark Industries.”
Mobius shook his head and set his glass down on the table in front of him, his palms slick with sweat. “She’s just a kid.”
“You know kids don’t get any special treatment. They’re just as guilty as any variant.”
It was true. Mobius had seen it time and time again.… How many times had he seen it? How long had he been working for the TVA? It was weird he didn’t know. Memories pounded against the edge of his consciousness. Memories just like this. Mantis. Pietro. Wanda. Eric. He pushed those memories aside. Those memories didn’t matter. What mattered now was Pepper.
“And her Nexus Event?” Mobius asked. “Do you even know what it was? She was going after a family of rabbits. I’d hardly say that’s nefarious. She can help us. She could grow up here and help us get into the mind of variants. She could-”
“And what if she ran into herself one day?” Ravonna snapped. “What then?
“We-we can keep her away from Processing. She could stay in Analytics and-”
“Do you know how often Pepper Potts comes through our system? She’s a Class-A variant. Her role is critical to the timeline. Other variants… Maybe. But, Mobius, I’m sorry, there’s nothing you could have done. Not with her.”
Nothing he could have done. Past tense. Mobius felt the blood drain from his face.
“You… you pruned her?”
Ravonna refused to meet his eyes.
“Why… why did you even ask me up here when you knew, you knew, there was no chance?”
“I thought it would be easier if you didn’t have to witness it.”
Mobius shook his head, gripping the tattered rabbit tightly in his hands. What a fool he was to think he could have protected Pepper. What a fool he was to think he could change the Time Variance Authority, to think he could change anything at all.
“You lied to me,” Mobius choked out. “You were never going to listen to me. You never are.”
“That’s not true,” Ravonna protested. “I did listen- I am listening. Maybe you’re right. Maybe some variants can work for us.” She began playing with that strange blue pen again. “I think that’s a good idea. If you trust me-”
“Trust you? After what you just did?”
“Mobius, please. You don’t understand, I’m trying to protect you from-” Ravonna snapped her mouth shut and took a deep breath before continuing. “Let me talk to the Time-Keepers about your idea, okay? Don’t ask any more questions or tell anyone else about this. We can work through this, together. You and me. Just like we’ve always done. For all time, always, right?”
Mobius slumped and put his head in his hands. Friends across time; allies to the end. That’s what they told each other. That’s what they promised. But…
“I can’t do this anymore, Ravonna.”
“Don’t say that. Maybe this next case will be different. Maybe you can bring on a variant as a consultant and test it out. I’ll help you. Just… give me some more time.”
Mobius shouldn’t. How many times had she asked him to trust her? Hadn’t he and U-78 brought almost this exact idea after returning from Vanaheim that one time? He hadn’t seen U-78 around since then actually… Where-
“Mobius? Can you trust me?” Ravonna’s voice hitched and Mobius paused. She looked afraid. Mobius had never seen Ravonna afraid. Why was she afraid? This was different than the last time they chatted. Right? Why couldn’t he remember?
“Fine,” Mobius sighed after a moment. He rubbed at his temples in an attempt to stall his growing headache. “I guess I’ll go finish up that paperwork.”
Ravonna gave a relieved smile before her eyes landed on the item in his hands. “That will have to get pruned. You can’t keep it.”
Mobius looked down. He was still holding Coco. Tears sprung to his eyes. He had promised Pepper he would keep Coco safe. But it didn’t matter. None of it did. None of it ever would.
“Mobius? Hand it over.”
He didn’t want to. Mobius couldn’t explain it but suddenly he wanted to do nothing more than take the item and leave the TVA behind, burning everything down on his way out.
He didn’t. That flicker of hope and rage returned to nothing more than a dying ember. Mobius returned the rabbit to Ravonna, processed Pepper’s prune orders, and clocked out– the ever-dedicated TVA agent.
***
Mobius rolled over and glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was that weird part of night in between too late and too early. He should probably go back to sleep, but he couldn’t, not after that dream. Mobius tried to remember it but the dream was already drifting away. Ravonna. An argument. The feel of a small child’s hand in his. He wiped at the tears on his face. It was probably the same as all his other dreams. Memories of the countless lives he couldn’t save, didn’t save, the lambs he led to the slaughter.
Mobius took a shaky inhale, in for four and out for eight, and grounded himself against the onslaught of memories and panic. He wasn’t at that TVA. He didn’t do those things anymore. He was free.
Beside him, Loki mumbled something in his sleep. The god stretched his arms unconsciously towards Mobius, as if he knew what thoughts were plaguing his partner. Mobius smiled softly. Loki saved him. He and Sylvie defeated He Who Remains and together they were all building towards a brighter, better future.
Loki scooched closer to Mobius’ side of the bed with another mumble and Mobius examined the god’s face. Loki looked peaceful. Finally. It had taken a long time for Loki’s nightmares to subside, and they still weren’t gone entirely. Sleeps like this were rare and in between. There was no need to wake Loki for something as silly as a dream he couldn’t remember.
Mobius quietly slipped out from under the covers and made his way to the living room. He grabbed some case files from his briefcase, made a fresh pot of coffee, and settled at his usual nook in the corner of the room. Mobius rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and began to work.
He didn’t bring work home often anymore. Loki had argued with him about the habit relentlessly until, for the most part, the case files stayed in his briefcase. But on nights like these, work was the only thing that could keep Mobius grounded.
He was good at it. The work. It’s what he had done for eons. It’s what he had been groomed for. Hunting innocent variants had been his purpose, participating in the erasure of entire cultures, peoples, worlds had been his purpose, murdering children had been his purpose. The words blurred before him and Mobius took another deep breath – in for four, out for eight. That wasn’t his purpose anymore.
Things were different now. Sylvie had forgiven him. Loki had forgiven him. Mobius kept the multiverse safe. He used his skills to only track those who sought to eradicate their freedom rather than those who simply threatened He Who Remains’ power. And maybe, if Mobius worked hard enough, his good deeds would even out the bad. Or, so he hoped anyway.
“You’re awake.” Loki stood in the doorway to their bedroom. He was clothed in a silk emerald robe and his hair was adorably mussed from sleep. His mouth turned down in annoyance as he took in the sight of the case files spread across their coffee table. He met Mobius’ eyes with a knowing gaze. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“It was just a bad dream. Some old memory. Nothing important.” Mobius shuffled his papers as Loki sat down on the couch next to him. Loki’s eyes were locked on Mobius’ face in a way that made him uneasy.
“It doesn't seem like nothing,” Loki countered. “This is the sixth bad dream this month that I know of. I imagine there are more. Perhaps you should start seeing Dr. Kaplan again. We can schedule an appointment with her and-”
“I don’t need to see Dr. Kaplan.” Mobius stood up abruptly and began to put some of the case files back in his briefcase.
As soon as they had all returned from their battle at The End of Time Mobius had strongly suggested everyone start seeing Dr. Kaplan and her team. Loki, Sylvie, and B-15, or Adedayo as she went by now, benefited greatly from their sessions and soon Mobius made it a top priority to ensure all workers at the TVA had access to the best mental health professionals across the multiverse. After the horror they’d witnessed, experienced, and committed they certainly needed it.
Dr. Kaplan was one of the best. She helped Mobius come to terms with what he’d done as Alan Clark, his Sacred Timeline self, and what he’d done as Agent Mobius M. Mobius, TVA analyst. She helped him see how those actions, those mistakes, could guide him to be a better man. She helped him realize the potential for Mobius M. Mobius, Executive Director of the new Time Variance Authority Coalition. Granted, she didn’t offer much insight into what he could do to fix his mistakes. She just framed his life as a series of “learning experiences” before launching into a monologue about “self-forgiveness” and “taking time to heal.” Mobius supposed it was up to him to fix it. To work harder.
Work certainly kept him busy. New threats to the multiverse popped up every few minutes and he owed it to the countless lives across the multiverse to be their protector after all he’d done. Mobius missed one session, then the next, until he stopped going entirely. And… he was fine. He didn’t need to see Dr. Kaplan anymore. He just needed to keep working and figure out where to go from here. He could do this on his own.
“You don’t need to see her if you don’t want to,” Loki continued, “but I think talking about these dreams-”
“There's nothing to talk about.” Mobius felt a familiar headache begin to form as he tried to remember his dream to no avail. It was already locked away. He turned to take a large sip of coffee. He needed to stay awake; there were too many cases left unsolved.
“Obviously there is something to talk about,” Loki said, his voice clipped with frustration. “Or you wouldn’t be awake in the middle of the night going over Victor Timely files.”
“I didn’t get a chance to review them yesterday. As soon as I’m done, I’ll go back to sleep. I just gotta get through this one-”
“You won’t though. Stop lying. This isn’t about the work, which you could easily delegate to any number of agents, this is about you avoiding these dreams. You hardly sleep anymore and it’s worrying me. Maybe if you talk about them-”
“Loki, stop,” Mobius pleaded. “There’s nothing to talk about because I don’t remember. I can’t remember any of their faces or their names.”
Mobius’ face grew hot with the admission. How was he supposed to talk about his feelings, own up to his sins, if he didn’t remember them? Every time he tried to remember, the faces would just blur before him. Gwen. Soren. Sigyn. Bucky. They spun round and round his head until he grew dizzy and made himself sick.
He had no idea how many there even were. He had no idea how long he’d worked for the TVA. Dr. Kaplan told him it didn’t matter, she told him not to look, but Mobius couldn’t stand not knowing. He had to know just how far he’d gone; how many he’d doomed to death. He needed a number to work towards. He needed a number that would definitively prove Mobius M. Mobius finally did more good than bad. But the files were insurmountable. He didn’t know where to begin.
Mobius hated not being able to remember, but most of all he hated the sick feeling of relief that came from not knowing. He knew, deep down he knew, there was no amount of good he could do to make up for the bad. The souls he’d pruned were innumerable. As long as he kept himself in the dark, as long as he didn’t remember, he could trick himself into thinking hope was possible.
“It’s not your fault. We’ve talked about this.” Loki threaded his hand into Mobius’ own.
“No, I know.” Correction, he knew Loki and Sylvie thought that. “Just don’t know what to talk about with Dr. Kaplan, that’s all.”
Loki fixed Mobius with a penetrating gaze for a long moment. If he detected a lie he didn’t press.
“Alright then. Come on, let’s head back to bed.”
“You go, I’ll be fine.”
“Those cases can wait. Come back to bed, I miss you.”
With those words, Mobius let Loki lead them back to bed. Mobius settled into Loki’s arms as Loki insisted upon reading to him. He focused on the rumble of Loki’s chest as he read in that silken voice. Here, in Loki’s arms, he was safe. He was free. He was loved. The tension eased from Mobius’ shoulders and the headache cleared from his mind. It wasn’t long before his eyelids began to droop and Mobius’ bad memories were simply that, memories in the past, buried deep where they couldn’t hurt him. He was fine. So he thought.
***
“I still don’t understand why we have to go on this mission,” Loki complained the next morning, picking disdainfully at the fruits on his plate. “Surely someone else can do it.”
“You don’t have to come, you know,” Mobius replied between rushed bites of his nutrition bar. “I can handle it on my own.”
“If you’re going, I’m going too,” Loki replied firmly. “I’d just… rather we not go at all.”
“Well, Adedayo and D are caught up hunting that Galactus variant and no one else knows Stark Industries like I do at this point. I mean who am I supposed to send in to stop the Mandarin’s new super soldier army from releasing the Soul Eaters? Casey?”
“Casey isn’t completely helpless. He could be trained, as could a lot of agents if you’d let them help you. Why can’t Donna from Analytics do it? She processed that awful Stark variant who wouldn’t stop singing ACDC songs.”
“Yeah, okay, I don’t think processing one Tony Stark makes someone an expert,” Mobius chuckled.
Loki’s eyes narrowed. “And how many Tony Starks have you processed? I thought you were a Loki expert not a Tony Stark expert.”
“No need to be jealous, kitten. You were always my main portfolio,” Mobius said with a kiss to Loki’s forehead, handing the god the case file. “But I ran into him enough times to know you weren’t being all that dramatic about his cologne.”
Loki snorted into his coffee as he glanced over the file. “It will just be him we’re dealing with today? No self-righteous Steve Rogers or Hulk Bruce Banner? Just him and who’s this? His… girlfriend? Pepper Potts, have you ever met her?”
A sharp pain cut through Mobius’ temple.
“Mobius, are you okay?”
“Fine, just tired.” Mobius replied automatically, waving Loki away.
He poured a bit more coffee into his mug. It was going to be a long day if his headaches were starting already.
“If you’re not feeling well, we should stay home.”
“Loki, please,” Mobius groaned. “I just want to go to Timeline 72967, get Tony to convince Maya to create an anecdote for those super soldiers, and come home to sleep.”
“We could sleep now. Besides, Tony Stark hates me. And who knows about this Pepper Potts. I really think-” Loki continued babbling as the pounding in Mobius’ head grew louder.
The image of a young girl in an oversized coat fluttered through Mobius’ mind but was gone before he could grasp it. Mobius took a shaky breath and wiped at the sweat on his brow.
“Mobius, are you sure you’re okay?” Loki asked, pulling Mobius back to the present. Mobius shook the memory from his head and straightened himself back up. Lack of sleep. That’s all this was. He was fine. He couldn’t afford to take a sick day. There were too many threats out there.
“Yup. Just need some more coffee.”
Loki raised a skeptical brow.
“Really, Lokes, I’m-”
“Fine,” Loki grumbled. “I heard you the first time.”
Loki didn’t sound convinced.