Escape?

Hela had been pruned. Sylvie was still thinking quickly; she had a chance to run, she had a TemPad, but if she ran, she’d be running. If she stayed…

If she stayed she’d be saving those in the cells. She’d kept telling herself that. But by now, either she was doubting or she desperately wanted to be a little bit more self-serving - or at least, she wanted time to think. She had a lot to think about, and too little certainty about the TVA’s motives or her own thoughts.

So she used the TemPad, and portalled to the first place she thought of. It was good to see Asgard again, the real Asgard without Hela’s influence - even if she quickly ducked to hide her naked body behind a pillar.

The TVA would find her. Still, she had a few ideas for apocalypses to hide in, or at least things to look up. If she could get away.

Shockingly mundane guards walked down the length of the hallway. Sylvie squeezed into the narrow gap between the pillar and wall, hiding in the ornate details of Asgard and holding her breath, cool marble pressed tightly against either side of her bare body.

Well, there was no variance until she was caught anyway. Hopefully.

As the guard went by, she squeezed out the far side of the pillar, and silently tiptoed on bare feet down the smooth floor. At least she knew her way around.

Maybe she ought to head to one of the rooms. It’d probably be easier to break into a wardrobe than **** a guard of Asgard.

Judge Renslayer looked at the monitor in front of her. Gone were those hateful parallel lines - now, as ever, there was the single sacred timeline, inviolate and perfect as ever. She smiled, pleased.

And inevitable as anything, a small branching point emerged. She glanced at the co-ordinates - Asgard, towards the tail-end of King Odin’s reign. It figured.

“Ma’am?” Mobius said, opposite her.

“My orders were followed in regards to the prisoners?” Ravonna said.

“Every one,” Mobius said. He hesitated. “You’re certain?”

“We have our duties, laid down by the Timekeepers,” Ravonna said. She nodded to him. “I hope we won’t need a Loki specialist again any time soon. I’ll deal with this one.”

She picked up her TemPad, and pruning baton, and opened a portal.

She went through alone, keeping her distance, and keeping her eyes on Sylvie. The blonde, unsurprisingly still nude, was towards the edges of someone’s bedchamber, apparently planning to rummage around. Ravonna stepped through, closing the portal behind her, and holding out her weapon.

“You tried to get away,” Ravonna said.

Sylvie turned around stiffly. Awkwardly, she held a bundled-up robe over her breasts, blushing.

“I didn’t exactly want to make my grand return the way Westview left me,” Sylvie said. She glanced down at herself, bare legs shifting, and patted down the bottom of the robe to vainly try and cover a little more skin. Her hips and sides were left completely exposed.

“You’re sure that’s it?” Ravonna said.

“We had a deal, right?” Sylvie said. She sounded uncertain. Ravonna, meanwhile, inclined her head. “Then, good. Take me to everyone.”

“A pity,” Ravonna said. “A promise to a variant means nothing.”

Sylvie’s eyes widened; Ravonna moved quickly, lifting her baton. The tip pressed dangerously close to Sylvie’s bare throat, sparking.

“All the aberrations you created have been dealt with,” Ravonna said. “The variants purged from the timeline. Did you think we would want such poison at the TVA? When you are gone, it will be as though none of this ever happened.”

“You lied.”

“You shouldn’t exist. A lie to you doesn’t matter,” Ravonna said.

She pressed the baton closer; there was a flash of light, and Sylvie cried out as her skin turned to sparks of light, and vanished to nothing. The robe she’d been clutching fell to the ground.

And then, content, Ravonna turned around, opened a new portal, and returned to the TVA. She’d send a reset charge after her, and then all this would finally be over.