____________________________________
Reina sat in the cafeteria, endlessly stirring her soup. A cold soup she couldnât eat.
Mind, sheâd tried to eat it, but it had repulsed her to the point of gagging. Especially since she was plagued by the memories of those around her.
See, mutation was different than magic, and therefore wasnât restricted by the dampeners.
And since her magic closer resembles mutation than magic itself, it works just fine.
âŠshould probably check the Archives againâŠ
âŠdid I ever finish those reports?...
âŠtake forever to find that particular variantâŠ
Thoughts like those, normal TVA thoughts that invaded her ear and headspace were normal. They werenât the ones she was singling out.
âŠdodge, weave, jump, strike. Donât let him hit you. Shit, donât fall, donât fall, donât fall, donât fall! Stay away from that corner, his left ankleâs weak. StrikeâŠnow. Heâs down, maybeâŠpinned! I winâŠ
This particular voice was baffling to her. His voice was masculine, and his mind was concerning to her.
She often heard him chanting the same words over and over, and sometimes his head was just full of white noise.
The most concerning was when all she heard was screaming. Raw, loud, screaming that didnât end for hours.
Even more concerning; if she ever looked directly into his mind, she saw Sylvie.
This man, with his constant screams and vivid pain, had Reinaâs new friend embedded into his mind and memory.
âŠno. another mistake. Iâve made too many today. Yeah, thatâs what I thought. Donât cry, donât cry-wait, what am I telling myself? I couldnât cry if I wanted to. Thatâs the thing, isnât it? They took away all the humanity I ever had. And now theyâre taking moreâŠ
Reina dropped her spoon. She wanted to stop listening. She did. Because she knew this was the part where he started screaming.
And yet she kept listening, not because she enjoyed it.
But because he relied on it.
She was the only one who knew he was there. And if his thoughts let slip his location in the TVA office, she could help him. She could find him, get him out, and see why he has Sylvie in his memories.
She could be his hero unlike all those other people sheâd interacted with.
When she was in the Red Room.
She had heard his thoughts since his first day there. She knew he had no memories, and that they (whoever they were) had corrupted his mind, leaving him broken on the inside. Unable to think for himself, believe in himself.
Unable to do anything except obey orders.
She could sympathize to a point. The Red Room had done something similar to her. She could still remember the pain. And though she had no idea who he was, she knew what it felt like to be under someone elseâs control. To have everything inside ripped out and replaced by something worse. To have no one who could hear your voice, your screams.
To be silenced and trained to do nothing but kill.
So, she feels some kind of sick, twisted, chaotic, and generally useless kinship toward him. Even though she had no idea who he was.
âŠtake the cup and drink, 2924, you idiot. No point in fighting nowâŠ
Reina lifted her head from the table. She sat forward on her elbows and focused harder on his voice, trying to make out more than just a few snippets.
âŠthe lashings are nothing compared to this. But you will not break. Break, and you risk dying. Theyâll kill you. They will. You have to keep being strong, staying useful, oh, make it stop. Stop. Stopstopstopstop. STOP! It hurtsâŠ
The tears flowed freely as the words turned into thoughtless screams. That was all she could hear now. The horrible shrieking sounds of a man in pain and anguish. Followed by the sounds of glass shattering.
He was screaming so loud that the glass in his environment was breaking.
How did no one hear him? How could no one know he was suffering?
And how could a person be cruel enough to do this to someone?
Did âTheyâ have no compassion? No empathy?
Reinaâs tears turned to sobs, and her head fell into her hands, his screams filling her ears.
She didnât even notice Sylvie gently setting down in front of her.
âReina?â Sylvie asked, voice clearly concerned. âWhatâs wrong?â
âŠMAKE IT STOP PLEASE! JUST MAKE IT STOP! I NEED IT TO STOP IT HURTSâŠ
âThere is someone here in the TVA,â Reina said. âI can hear his thoughts most days.â
âBut magic doesnât work here,â Sylvie sounded confused.
âMutants donât have magic, itâs different,â Reina uttered through sobs. âI can hear him.â
âWhat does he say?â Sylvie asked.
âŠthis is punishment for my failure. I never shouldâve shown my weakness. I got what I deserved. Soldiers donât falter in battle. So neither do commanders. Iâm a commander so this is what I getâŠ
âIâve been hearing him for about a year,â Reina finally looked up her hands. âHeâs been experimented on, tortured, and trained to believe heâs nothing. He calls himself expendable, weak, broken, the works. Sometimes the words in his thoughts turn into screams. And they stay that way for hours. He screams for hours, because theyâre hurting him. Someone where he is did that to him. They hurt him every day.â
Sylvieâs normally severe expression hardened into rage. Pure, unaltered rage.
âHe mentions lashings, knives, a chamber where itâs just pure pain,â Reina continued. âThey use it as his punishment, if he falters in training. He fights others to train, so heâs never not in pain. A few months agoâŠthere was a glitch. Some of the others like him started to kill the doctors, and he killed them all. Twelve of them.â
Sylvieâs face now dissolved into horror, as if fear had penetrated all the way to her core.
âBut as he laid in the blood and corpses, he just felt like a monster,â Reina started crying again. She could remember his words even now. âAnd thenâŠthat motherfucking Breeding Program.â
Her voice cracked as she recalled the torturous words heâd thought, forcing himself to control the instincts they had forced on him in the presence of those helpless girls. The disgust when heâd realized what they wanted him to do, and the pain when he refused.
âThat fucking program,â Reina forced out. âThey wanted him to hurt those girls, and when he refused, they tortured him even more than usual. And even now, he suffers. He suffers so much and his thoughts are more screams than words these days.â
âWhat?â Sylvieâs voice cracked, her eyes now glimmering with unshed tears.
âŠif only she could see me now. If I did really ever know her. What would she think of me now? What am I even asking. Sheâd hate me. Anyone would. No one wants someone like meâŠ
âAnd thereâs more,â Reina said, her memory jogged by his comments. âHe knows you.â
âThatâs not possible,â Sylvie stood rapidly. âThereâs no way. Everyone I know here is safe. I see them every day.â
âHe knew you,â Reina insisted, knowing what sheâd been hearing for the last year. âHe dreams of you. Every night, Sylvie. Heâs haunted by you. All the time.â
âWhat do you mean by that?â Sylvieâs face turned back to horror.
âHe dreams of you, Sylvie,â Reina said, voice lowering as the implications sink in. âHe dreams of you every night, but he has no memory of knowing you before.â
âWhat does he look like?â Sylvieâs voice turned panicked. âDo you know?â
âNo,â an inevitable sadness pierced Reinaâs heart. âI can only hear his thoughts, and he never describes himself.â
Sylvie went quiet. Reina concluded from her face that she was pondering possibilities.
âBut I do know what he sounds like,â Reina said quietly. âAnd his voice? I could recognize it anywhere. And thatâs all we need at this point.â
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reina paced in front of B-15âs office. Sylvie was inside, explaining the situation. Reina had chosen to stay outside, hoping to get more information about 2924. Anything else.
Anything they could use to get him out.
âŠI hate this place so badly. If only I could get out and see the rest of the building. This canât be all there is, the food comes from somewhere. I just have toâSHIT. Nonononononononononononononono! Turn it off turn it off turn it off! Control panel, red wire, donât get caughtâtoo late. Act normal. You idiot. You should have known the door had a combination lock and alarm systemâŠ
âŠcome on, youâve broken into worse. Protection spells are so much harder to bypassâŠ
âŠWHO THE HELL ARE YOU?????...
âŠah, I forgot. You donât rememberâŠ
 Reinaâs head shot up out of her hands.
He has split personalities.
âŠIâm you. But older. They took me out and put you in. Naturally, they didnât know they did it, our seidr is at fault. It protected me from experiencing this, and made youâŠ
âŠso, what does that mean?...
âŠit means youâre not alone in this. I know who we are, and if you let me, I think I can get us outâŠ
âŠI have a plan. I canât really explain it, but you should be able to hear it in my thoughts, hopefully, I donât really know how this works. But all you have to do is keep being exactly what youâve been, do what youâve been doing, and let me take control exactly when I tell you toâŠ
âŠdo you really think itâll work?âŠ
âŠdo you have a better plan? Either we get out or they kill usâŠ
âŠor they decide to torture us moreâŠ
âŠand then weâre alive to try again. Either way, weâre getting out of this placeâŠ
âŠyou never told me our nameâŠ
âReina, come on in,â B-15 called from the office.
âMOTHERFUCKING SHIT!!!â Reina screamed out. âI was this close!â
She shoved her fingers in B-15âs face, showing how close sheâd put them together.
âI was THIS CLOSE to finding out who he is!â Reina continued.
Reina didnât care. She had been on the edge of knowing his name, who he was, and now sheâd missed that opportunity.
âI have information for you,â Reina said, sitting down on the chair next to Sylvieâs.
âFire away,â B-15 set down a recording device.
âHe has two personalities,â Reina began.
She saw Sylvie turn to look at her from her peripheral vision, but didnât dare look at her companionâs expression.
âOne is older,â Reina continued. âHe still has the memories of the life he led before. He was just about to say the name when you called me in.â
B-15 moved to interject, likely with another apology, but Reina held up her hand, silencing her.
âHe mentioned seidr,â Reina continued. âHe said that was why the second personality was made, to protect the original from experiencing the experiments. And if he mentioned seidr, then heâs likely Asgardian. Or at least familiar with Asgardian magic. Heâs worked with it in the past, he mentioned heâs broken into areas with protection spells, so heâs been in proximity to other magic before.â
B-15âs gaze lowered to the table, brow furrowed as she thought through this information.
âAnd the best part?â Reina leaned further forward. âHe has a plan to break out. I donât know what it is, but heâs going to get out. He has a plan, an ally in his own mind, and all the materials he needs. We can use that to our advantage. We can use that to find him.â
âHow often can you hear him?â B-15 asked.
âAnytime I wish,â Reina responded, furthering her point by doing so.
She sifted through the cacophony of the millions of voices in the TVA, and focused on his. She knew what he sounded like, so it was relatively easy. Even though his thoughts were unusually quiet.
The new personality was much louder, so that helped.
âŠI thought I told you to let me take care of itâŠ
âŠI only just found out you existed; you really expect me to trust you?...
âŠI gave you a way out, didnât I?...
âŠjust shut up, pleaseâŠ
âŠyou have no idea how often Iâve been told to do thatâŠ
âŠwhat, shut up? Good, then you should know how to do itâŠ
âŠI do know how, but that doesnât mean I like to do soâŠ
âŠyou really like to hear yourself talkâŠ
âŠIâve been told that tooâŠ
âŠis there anything I can tell you that you havenât already been told?...
âŠwhen you live as long as I haveâŠnot really, noâŠ
âŠbloody hell, youâre just as pretentious as you are chattyâŠ
âŠIâll take that as a compliment, even though I know itâs notâŠ
Reina snorted, and got a dirty look from B-15.
âSorry, were you saying something?â Reina immediately started panicking. âI was listening to himâwell, I guess itâs them now. I was listening to them. Their bickering is utterly hilarious.â
âHow long do you think it will take to get him out of there?â B-15 asked.
âIt depends,â Reina said, still listening to 2924âs thoughts. âThey seem to have a plan, and I can continue to listen for more. Any information he lets slip.â
âŠby the way, I can sense someone here in the TVA with abilitiesâŠ
âŠwhat kind of abilities? And what the fuck is the TVA?...
âŠI forgot that you donât know anythingâŠ
âŠhey! Rude! Iâve kept us alive this long, havenât I?...
âŠI can sense magic, and someone here, in this building called the TVA, is using it, which is odd, because magic doesnât work here. I wonder how theyâre getting away with itâŠ
âHe can sense me!â Reina gasped, interrupting B-15 again.
âWhat?â Sylvieâs head whipped to her, expression written with confusion.
âOne of the personalities, he can sense me using my abilities to hear them,â Reina put her fingertips to her head and continued listening.
âŠanyway, point is. Give meâseventy-two hours or so, and Iâll have us out of hereâŠ
âŠwhat do I have to do?...
âŠwhen they take us for injections, we need to break out of the containment chamber, then you need to let me take control of the body, and I will find us a way out. They work here, so there has to be a TemPad somewhere, or I can hotwire the elevatorsâthat works tooâŠ
âŠif it involves wires, metal, and motherboards, I can do anything with it. Hack it, hotwire it, design it, build it, fix it. Iâm your guyâŠ
âŠso your plan is to fight and nerd your way out?...
âŠnot if I can get my hands on a knife to cut out the computer chips in our neck. They restrict our memories and magic. With them out, weâll be able to do anything we need toâŠ
âŠyouâre distracting me! Weâre going to get punished for thatâŠ
âŠoh, piss off! At least I have a plan! You seem perfectly satisfied sucking up the bureaucrats who stole everything from us! Our life, our humanity, our agency, our home, our purpose, our voice! They made it so we donât even matter, and you donât even seem to want to get out from under it! Youâre patheticâŠ
âŠand youâre going to get us killed!...
âŠWE CANâT DIE YOU IDIOT! PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO KILL US SEVERAL TIMES, IT NEVER WORKS! DONâT YOU KNOW THAT? OF COURSE NOT! YOU NEVER QUESTIONED THEIR WORDS! YOU BELIEVED EVERYTHING THEY SAID AND NEVER EVEN STOPPED TO CONSIDER THAT THEY MAY BE LYING TO YOU! YOU BENT OVER BACKWARDS OUT OF A FEAR OF PAIN! PAIN WILL BE THE LEAST OF OUR PROBLEMS IF WE DONâT GET OUT! DO YOU REMEMBER HOW IT FELT WHEN YOU KILLED THE OTHERS? HOW YOU FELT LIKE A MONSTER, COATED IN THE BLOOD OF THOSE YOU SLAUGHTERED? DO YOU WANT THEM TO FORCE YOU TO DO THAT TO INNOCENT PEOPLE? CHILDREN? PEOPLE WHO NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG? DO YOU WANT TO BE THEIR LAPDOG? THEIR PET? THEIR SOLDIER? THE MONSTER THEY SAY YOU ARE? DO YOU WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT OVER AND OVER AND OVER EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? BECAUSE IF YOU DONâT YOU NEED TO TRUST ME!...
âŠdo you really think this will work?...
âŠif it doesnât, I will take control of the body and suffer in your place. You wonât have to feel that pain ever againâŠ
âŠfrom the core of YggdrasilâŠ
âŠthen weâd better get to workâŠ
âHe says he needs seventy-two hours to escape,â Reina said, looking up at B-15. âHis plan will take seventy-two hours at most, and then heâll be out.â
âThen weâd better prepare,â B-15 stood up.
Reina couldnât agree more.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Naturally, Reina knew exactly what was going on when the alarms started going off.
CODE RED! CODE RED! ESCAPED PRISONER IS LOOSE IN THE TVA! CODE RED! Called the voice of Miss Minutes, encouraging everyone to follow protocol and stay put until the escapee was caught.
Wonderfully, Reina had orders from the top to do the exact opposite.
With her headphones in, she bolted down the hallways to find 2924. She raced down staircases, across catwalks, and through corridor after corridor.
âŠcome on, come on, COME ON! Why is it so hard to find a scalpel in a lab?...
âŠare you sure you know what youâre doing?...
âŠplease. Knives of any kind are my specialty. I just have to â aha!...
She finally arrived where the tracking beacon had led her. Â
Sublevel 19, three floors below O.Bâs workshop, corridor nine.
In front of the sleek white door to a lab.
She stopped for a second, and held her hand to the cold metal. The purple energy she knew all too well expanded until it covered the surface, showing her the interior of the room.
He was definitely in there.
She slowly edged open the door, gold sword held out in front of her.
And was immediately struck by the metallic stench of blood.
Stepping into the room, the scene awaiting her was gruesome.
There were bodies all over the floor, covered in blood and gore. Some of them had been violently ripped open, so their internal organs littered the floor around them. Others had melted, boiled skin, from the acid that had seemingly been thrown onto their faces. There were several broken bones, some crushed skulls.
One had a scalpel embedded in their eyeball.
And all of them were wearing the shredded remains of white lab coats, stained red with their own blood.
Reina felt the bile rise in her throat, threatening to release everything she had ever eaten.
She had been on dozens of battlefields throughout her long life, had killed her own fair share of people.
But never in her life had she seen something this morbid and grisly.
Sheâd seen mass graves with three times this many corpses.
But sheâd never seen bodies this mangled, all spread out so their insides came out and leached on the pristine, sterile floor.
This was something else entirely.
She knew better than to check for pulses. They were all dead. No one could survive something like that.
She made her way across the room, slipping in the blood, and trying not to notice the squelching as she stepped on someoneâs innards. She was trying not to look at her feet.
The scene was filthy enough without her own vomit in the mix.
She finally reached the only body still breathing.
A male, around six feet in height based on the way he was lying, with short, ragged black hair that had been badly and hastily cut, sharp features, and a long chiseled jawline enhanced by the sunken cheekbones.
He looked half-starved, with his ribs visible through his loose, light mintâŠscrubs? Thatâs what they looked like, at least. His entire body was riddled with scars, so many that there didnât seem to be an inch of skin that wasnât coated in them.
Including a fresh one over his left eye.
But he wasnât wearing a lab coat, or shoes like the corpses. And he seemed uninjured.
Except the long, jagged slice down the back of his neck, and the blood soaking his hands all the way up to his mid-forearms.
The same mix of iron, plasma, and cells that had splattered over his clothes and painted the walls and floor.
Both of his fists were clenched, one wrapped around a blood-stained scalpel, and the other clutching something too small for Reina to see, hidden in his closed palm.
She didnât have to hear his thoughts to know it was him.
Before she could convince herself to do otherwise, she took her right hand and pried open his left eye.
A sea-green iris stared back at her, before it shifted to a deep ocean blue, and then a brilliant emerald-green.
âReina!â Sylvieâs voice sounded far away, and Reina turned around.
Her eyes found the doorway just as Sylvie slid into it. Reina watched Sylvie take in the scene, face rapidly turning to disgust and horror.
Sylvie convulsed, starting in her abdomen, and clamped her hand over her mouth. She then turned to the side and gagged.
She turned back to Reina once she finished retching.
âWhat did you do?â she asked.
A temporary pang of hurt laced Reinaâs bones. She didnât blame Sylvie for thinking sheâd done it, though. Sylvie couldnât see that 2924, lying in front of Reina, was coated in blood he had spilled.
In response, Reina held up her hands and sword, showcasing the significant lack of blood.
She watched the realization dawn on Sylvieâs face.
âI didnât,â Reina stood up, and moved to the side, revealing 2924 to Sylvie. âHe did.â
âOh my godsâŠâ Sylvie trailed off. âIs that really him?â
âItâd have to be,â Reina looked back at the man at her feet. âThere were no other survivors.â
âIs he injured?â Sylvie stepped forward, but immediately retreated, convulsing again with the need to vomit.
âI think he cut open the back of his neck,â Reina said, examining the jagged opening.
He had clearly been in a hurry, and whyever he did it, he seemed to have accomplished his mission.
âWe need to get a medic in here,â Reina called out, now using her fingers to hold the wound closed.
Reina whirled around to face the new voice.
Analyst Mobius stood in the doorway for two seconds, before ducking out of view.
Reina could hear him spitting up his salad, even from across the room.
âWe need to get a medic in here for 2924,â Reina continued. âDonât bother for the doctors. Theyâre all dead.â
âIâd hope so!â Sylvieâs eyes scanned the carnage, observing Reinaâs conclusion that not a single victim had non-lethal injuries.
The medics were there in a matter of minutes, pulling 2924 onto a stretcher and wheeling him away for medical attention. Reina made sure to warn them that he was an experimentally enhanced individual, and that âregularâ lab results may not apply to him.
Sylvie and Mobiusâs eyes lingered on his form, and Reina knew better than to dismiss the brief flicker of recognition in their eyes.
But she also knew better than to listen to their thoughts, so she didnât try to understand it.
Instead, she focused on hacking the lab computer.
Within minutes, she had pulled up 2924âs medical history and lab statistics. She printed a copy and gave it to the remaining medic, who promised to take it to the doctors.
Reina had been right, his statistics were a far cry from ânormalâ, in fact, not a single aspect of his body fit standard levels.
But by then, she didnât care. She couldnât wait to find out who he was, and talk to him properly.
But first, she was going to collapse onto her bed.
Before she left the room, however, she took one last look at the butchery littering the once-white tiled floor.
How can one person be trained to do all this? Was the only thought in her mind.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
âBeautiful isnât it?â he turned to look at her from the top of the hill.
âOnly you would say that about your own work,â Reina shook her head as she laughed, joining him at the precipice.
The green hill turned into a jagged cliff of rock, dropping hundreds of feet down the mountainside, giving way to a gorgeous green valley riddled with mahogany trails.
Trails that all led to the glittering golden city encased in an orange dome, in the middle of the valley, surrounded by tens of mountains in a ring in every direction.
âQueen, you of all people would know that I didnât build it,â he joked, looking at her. âI only designed the buildings. Drew the blueprints. I didnât even expect them to use them.â
âStill your handiwork, Keys,â she bumped his shoulder.
Well, it was more like his side, since she was a good foot shorter.
âI canât wait for Set to see it,â his glowing emerald eyes glimmered with pride.
âSheâll be proud of you,â Reina responded.
Suddenly, a cloud passed over his face. His brow furrowed in confusion as he examined her. His lips parted as he struggled for words.
âWhat?â she demanded.
âReina?â he spluttered out, taking several steps back.
âYeah, dumbass,â Reina responded. âWho did you thinkââ
She raked her eyes over his form.
Ragged black hair, more tame than she saw it five seconds ago. Glowing emerald-green eyes, shifting to ocean blue. Dozens of scars, the one on his eye far more healed than it was.
She glanced down at his right arm.
â2924?â she looked back up, and saw the panic lace his bones.
âReina, how are you alive?â he took a step toward her, and she retreated in response.
âHow do you know my name?â Reina was confused now. âWeâve never spoken.â
âWhy did you call me 2924?â he asked. âYou know who I am.â
He took another step forward, and she retreated again. Pain and hurt flickered across his face. Panic swelled in her chest.
âReina, itâs me,â he whispered. âItâs me. Iâm so sorry. Please, donât hold it against me. I lost control. Please, Reina. Forgive me. I never meant to hurt youâŠI never meant to killââ
A horn blared in the distance. His head whipped to it, face frozen in momentary horror.
âTheyâre back,â he muttered. âHoly fucking shit. They were supposed to stay away for another week! The wards made sure of itâŠâ
â2924, what is going on?â Reina screeched.
âReina, listen to me,â he gripped her shoulders. âSylvie. You need to tell Sylvie.â
âTell her my name is Loki Odinson,â his eyes pierced hers, and she froze.
She knew that name. Everyone knew that name. But which Loki variant was it?
âTell her that what makes a Loki a Loki is that we donât die,â he continues. âWe survive. Tell her that, sheâll know what it means.â
âWait, 2924!â Reina called.
But it was too late, her vision blurred and faded to black.
Reina sat upright in bed, shaking in the aftershocks of the dream.
She took a few minutes to recalibrate, before standing up and wrenching open the door to her room and bolting to the infirmary.
âSylvie!â she burst through the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her friend standing in the room. âHallelujah to Valhalla, youâre here!â
âReina, whatâs wrong?â Sylvieâs face voiced confusion.
â2924 spoke to me in a dream,â Reina came to stand in front of Sylvie. âI think it was in the future.â
âWhat did he say?â Sylvie was paying attention now.
âThat his name is Loki Odinson,â Reina started.
Sylvie let out a bark of laughter.
âHe could be any Loki variant from anywhere in the multiverse, Reina,â She said.
âHe told me to tell you, âthat what makes a Loki a Loki is that we donât die,ââ Reina kept going. Sylvieâs face paled significantly. ââWe survive.ââ
Sylvie took several steps backward; eyes now trained on the unconscious form of EESS 2924. Her back hit the wall; eyes glazed over with apparent panic.
âItâs him,â she whispered so quiet that Reina barely heard. âHow can it be him?â
âWho?â Reina demanded, now thoroughly confused.
âOur Loki,â Sylvie muttered. âTHE Loki.â
âThe Ttjyngmredjeck,â Reina whispered. âThe Multiverse Master.â
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bum ba da da dum!!!!! Chapter four and the shenanigans begin!
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