Not for long

Sylvie was just fastening the breastplate when she stepped through the portal. Anywhere would be better than there, especially now she was actually dressed. Well, mostly - the outer layer of the armour, and the layer of fabric that went beneath, were decent enough. She had grabbed the rest, but lost them making her way through the battle.

This was at least decent though, even if she could feel her legs rubbing against each other beneath. Still, she had looked up to the Valkyries. It was hard not to.

She came through elsewhere. No sooner had she taken a breath and tried to take in her surroundings, than did she feel herself yanked off her feet by some unseen ****. She crashed into a wall, and found herself stuck there; she tried to pull herself forwards, and failed.

Oh for...

"Come on!" she shouted, annoyed at the universe in general. Some kind of magnet, and a powerful one by the feel of it. Her stolen armor was caught.

She was in some kind of lab. It was an odd mishmash; there was technology, advanced by the standards of a primitive world she supposed, and more technological that magical. At the same time, it was all set up in a room that didn't look like much of a lab. The walls were wood, and there was a noticeboard peppered with stray notes and photos.

She groaned again, trying to get out from the grip of the magnet. It was no use - she couldn't even reach the clasp on her breastplate, arms trapped as they were. And the TemPad was on the floor in front of her.

At least she was alone. The TVA wouldn't show up until she'd actually affected something, which meant being found. Hopefully by then she could convince whoever owned this place to let her go, and she could be off.

The door at the far side of the lab opened. It was another human, for some reason she seemed to keep ending up in their company. He stopped as soon as he saw her.

"Well. You shouldn't be here," he said.

"Yeah, great, can you let me down?" Sylvie said.

She wriggled again, straining against the magnet. The man took a couple of steps closer; he glanced at the machine behind her almost guiltily.

"Didn't mean to leave that on," he admitted. "What are you doing in here, anyway?"

"Getting stuck. To your thing," Sylvie said.

"I'm not going to let you down if you're a thief or something."

"Do I look like a bloody thief?"

She rattled again, the armor sticking place, but it was sufficient to show off how far-from-subtle her outfit if. She opted to not mention the fact she had stolen it.

He nodded, conceding the point. He took a step closer, then stopped, looking down - her TemPad was discarded on the floor. He frowned, and crouched, picking it up.

"This yours?"

"Don't!" Sylvie said.

The last thing she needed was for him to fall through a time portal and leave her trussed up for the TVA to find. He tilted her head.

"Is it dangerous?" he said.

How much to say...

"It's a time machine," she said. "You'll end up trapped somewhere."

"Time machine?" he said. His eyebrows shot up. "Why is everyone talking time machines these days? Can see why you'd want it. Not sure how I feel about it."

He pondered a moment, looking down at the TemPad. Sylvie gritted her teeth, trying to get free still. No luck. Still, he seemed less than enthused by the prospect of time travel, whoever he was. That was promising.

"You're in danger," Sylvie tried.

"Is that a threat?" he said.

"Not from me," she said. "There's a... group hunting that. I'm keeping it away from them. Or I would be, if you would just let me down."

"None of which explains why you're in my house," he said.

"Does this look remotely planned to you?" she said. "Turned it on. Ended up here. Got stuck."

She wriggled again, trying to shift her weight. All she succeeded in doing was making her tunic ride up, reminding her of just how short it was, and just how little she had on beneath. She saw his eyes dart down; flushing, she fidgeted again to try and make it drop again.

"Don't know if you've heard, but I'm a married man now. That's not going to work," he said.

"_That _was accidental, trust me," Sylvie said, reddening further. "Besides, I haven'the faintest idea who you are."

"Time travel. Right," he said.

He took a step closer, carefully putting the TemPad down on a desk. He hesitated, as if she was going to kick him; tentatively, he tugged her tunic down for her, covering her crotch again and offering her a little modesty.

"There. Now can you turn this thing off?" Sylvie said.

"It takes a bit to power down," he said. "That metal thing, how does it undo?"

"Clasp in the middle," Sylvie said.

The prospect of parting with a hard-won article of clothing wasn't a good one, but it was better than staying stuck there. He reached in, fiddling with the join in the armor. It clicked open; gasping in relief, Sylvie fell forwards, pulling her arms through. She stretched, glad to be freed.

When she made a move for the TemPad, he got in the way.

"Now hold on," he said. "If that's a time machine, you can't expect me to just hand you free reign to change the past. I get why you'd want to, believe me, but..."

"I haven't got any idea what you're talking about," Sylvie said.

He blinked.

"Thanos?" he tried. "Half the universe getting erased? Kinda a big deal?"

"Never heard of it. I'm not from around here," Sylvie said. "Now if you don't mind..."

She pressed a hand to his shoulder to try and get him out the way, sending an enchantment his way as she did so. She came away with her head ringing. Ugh. She'd run into that a couple of times experimenting, a few elements could interfere with spells, though had to be rare stuff to mess with mind control. Something in his blood.

Then she hesitated. Okay, enchantment seemed to be out, but the TVA wasn't back yet, and he was at least talking to her. If she could get on his good side, maybe she'd be able to borrow more of a wardrobe. Better than an ancient Valkyrie tunic at any rate.

"Sylvie," she said, after a moment, offering a hand. He frowned at her.

"Tony," he said. "You're really not kidding about not being from around here, huh?"

"Certainly not. Now..."

There was a familiar sound, something she couldn't quite put a name to, but made her freeze. A time portal; she glanced back just in time to see an orange rectangle opened, and immediately dove to the side. Tony was in the way of getting to the TemPad, which gave her onloy one other choice.

She ducked down, to hide, sliding to the side of the magnetic machine. An instant later, and TVA agents walked through the portal. Sylvie crouched low, hoping they didn't see her.