A string of bad choices

Sometimes she made bad decisions. Sylvie was aware of that - after all, she was currently traipsing around a magical forest topless. Bad decisions just kinda seemed to follow her around.

Still, she recapped it for herself - this was a place called Ta Lo, there was a battle due soon which ought to help cover her tracks from the TVA, and now there was some magical ghost-spirit-thing that was talking to her by making her see Ava. Plus topless, her mind reminded her again. It was annoyingly difficult to forget that detail.

"So. Rewind," Sylvie said. "You're imprisoned?"

Her arms were still crossed, a hand over each of her breasts, fidgeting irritably as she made her way through the forest. She turned her head on occasion, keeping an eye on distant signs of movement, and the rustle of branches. Running into anyone else while she was like this would be... not ideal.

'Ava' was a few steps ahead of her. She wasn't always there, Sylvie knew, though she hadn't been able to see the figure appear or disappear. It only seemed to happen when she looked away.

Her voice never faded.

"Trapped," 'Ava' said. "For now."

"Why?" Sylvie said.

"The forebears of the civilisation here chose to seal me away," it said. "Do such people need reasons?"

Sylvie faltered. She remembered Asgard, remembered the TVA sweeping in with barely a word.

She kept walking, quick and purposeful. She only slowed as she came to the edge of some lake; she lingered there, a little less comfortable being out in the open and out of the tree cover. There was a mountain to the far side of the lake, and the distant lights of a village to her right.

Day was waning now, but the lamplights and starlight in this realm seemed more than bright enough. A bird that shone with a fiery light arced past overhead.

"The seal is on the other side," the... thing said. "Please."

"And when I find it?" Sylvie said. "I'm Asgardian, kind of, I'm strong but I don't know if I'm that strong."

"Your portal device," it said. "You can use that to open a gateway for me to emerge through, can't you? You can save me."

It looked at her with Ava's face, eyes wide and pleading and all too familiar. Sylvie looked away.

"Don't look like her," Sylvie said. "You can do that, right?"

"I need an appearance to talk to you," it said.

"It doesn't have to be her," Sylvie said. "If you want me to free you, you've got to look like something behind whatever seal there is, right?"

"I've dwelled in darkness for so long, I can't remember," it said.

Still, it shifted. Ava's face faded, her insistent gaze wiped away. Sylvie wasn't sure whether she felt relieved or not at that. Still, she lingered where she was on the edge of the lake, musing on how to get over.

She didn't feel like swimming. For one, that would mean either undressing more, or leaving her pants sodden, and she was getting really sick of losing garments. For two, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what kind of creatures lived in the water of this realm. That left purloining a boat or something from the village: it was annoying, but it ought to work.

Sylvie shifted her attention slightly. She was walking along the lakeside, navigating the tangled up roots, leaving one arm over her chest as she helped balance herself against sturdy tree trunks, when her companion reappeared.

She faltered.

Now it looked like Thor - and not the twit she'd seen on her later trips to Asgard, before and after all of this. Really Thor, as she'd known him centruies ago, in the timeline that the TVA had plucked away. Her Thor, her brother.

"It isn't far to go," 'Thor' said, giving a confident smile that almost made her forget that none of this was real.

Sylvie didn't answer. Reluctantly, she drew closer to the edge of the village, trying to keep to the outskirts; most of the village seemed to have gathered in the middle, for whatever battle they thought loomed. It was quiet enough beyond the cover of buildings.

Another faceless, winged ball of fur chirped at her. She glared, annoyed, down at it until it chirped sadly and ambled away - she remembered her last encounter with one of the things.

"You're powerful?" Sylvie said.

"They wouldn't have sealed me if I wasn't," Thor said.

He grinned, flexing in an almost-familiar mannerism.

"Some things don't work at the TVA's base," Sylvie said. "I've seen infinity stones fail there. How do you know if you can help?"

"If I can lift a limb, I can swat them aside," it said. "I am not this... small, in the flesh."

"And you promise to help?"

"If these people are what your mind says, then they are partly to blame for my imprisonment," it said. "I might have been freed centuries ago, if they thought it acceptable. I want them gone as much as you."

"Not as much," Sylvie said.

Still, she nodded, grimacing. Hopefully this wasn't another bad decision.

Something in the back of her mind was prickling, though she did her best to ignore it. On Asgard, she'd heard tell of creatures that had been sealed away, monstrous things that fed on the damage they did and on the lives they took, demons and nightmares and terrors alike. There were never tales of good things being sealed away.

Then again, history was written by the winners - and besides, who cared? Maybe this thing was a monster, but if it could tear down the TVA...

Which monster was worse? Sylvie did her best to focus, mildly impressed at her own ability to ponder such things with her boobs out. She peered her head out around the side of a house, and when she saw no one looking her way, darted over to the cover of the next building.

The boats were a little way in. Still, if she made it to one, and made it over to the seal, she'd be able to calculate the coordinates for a short-distance portal to free whatever this thing was. If nothing else, she could send it directly to the TVA. She could deal with the consequences after.

She glanced around; the apparition was gone again, for now. Slightly flushed, she crept past the back of the building, looking down the lakeside towards the moored boats. She ought to be able to cross the lake on one - and if anyone sought to follow her, well there was a battle coming apparently, that should distract them. At the very least, it would delay them.

Then she'd find the seal, and... Sylvie hesitated.

Well, she'd worry about that when she got there. She just needed to sneak ahead, and once she could dart to the boat, she'd be well on her way to making it without being noticed

"Oh, hi there! Still, er, having trouble with that shirt situation?"

It took Sylvie a moment to remember the woman's name - Katy, still in that odd red armor, still with a far-too excitable grin, talking to her like they were friends rather than strangers.

Sylvie blushed a couple of shades deeper.

"I think they hand out the mail somewhere over there," Katy waved vaguely. "I'm, like, eighty percent sure there's some left. Sixty. Well, a lot of people were getting it so you're a bit late. Though this whole look does kinda suit you if you ask me, but you probably do want to think about getting something proper before the bad guys come."

Sylvie, for a moment, shot a look over towards where Katy gestured - yeah, the apparent-armory was too far away from her to want to go just now. Sylvie shrugged.

"I think I'll take yours," Sylvie said.

"Huh?" Katy said. "No, mine's for-"

Sylvie grabbed her hand.

Her mind was... annoying. it wasn't necessarily resilient, but it pushed back - or rather, the scale-armor she wore did. Sylvie hadn't felt its like before. When she tried to slip in, it was like the scales wrapped around her mind as much as her body: still, she was able to slip into Katy's memories without much more effort than she did a usual strong mind.

San Francisco, a borrowed car. Being a valet could be dull, so Katy livened it up when she could - a patron had checked in with a sports car, something swanky and expensive, and Katy had immediately known she wanted to give it a go. A minute later and here she was, speeding down the street in a car she'd probably never be able to afford for real.

The thrill was exhilarating. She grinned, and cheered, and rolled down the window to let the wind breeze in.

Then she glanced sideways; Shaun wasn't with her this time. Times like this, she had her own way of boosting the thrill. Kicking the speed up a notch, Katy turned onto a nice straight section of road, kept one hand on the wheel, and quickly worked on unbuttoned her waistcoat and shirt - the hotel insisted on certain uniforms, and all things considered she was always glad to be rid of them.

She slipped it off one arm, then swapped which hand she kept on the wheel to discard the garments, more practiced than she'd ever admit at the gesture. She cheered again, revelling in the thrill of the high-speed ride: she pressed down on the accelerator for a moment, then quickly shimmied in her seat to slide down her panties, grinning to herself at how the leather seats felt against her bare butt.

Okay, there were a few things she didn't want to get back to the owner. Just so long as she had fun with the adrenaline rush of-

Katy blinked a few times, day turning to night and high-speed engine roars turning to the soft sound of water. There was a topless blonde in front of her, kneeling to pick up a fairly fashionable, odd-looking set of garments, and... and it was awfully cold suddenly.

Sylvie bit her lip to keep from chuckling. Honestly, of all things she hadn't expected to unearth a memory like that in Katy's head - still, it did its job. She heard a rather familiar-sounding squealing yelp as Katy realised she was naked, crossing an arm over her chest and holding a hand over her core, her eyes going wide: she looked from Sylvie, down to herself, then back to Sylvie, open-mouthed.

It was odd. So many women made such similar noises when they found out they'd lost their clothes, Sylvie reflected. Then blushed as she remembered she'd been one of them.

"What is it? Katy-"

Someone, drawn by the yelp, turned around the building. Katy whirled around, yelping again: a stranger drew an arrow, nocking it in a bow and eyeing Sylvie.

"Stranger," he said.

Katy squealed and barrelled for cover behind a crate. Sylvie awkwardly lifted Katy's armor in one hand, her other arm over her breasts.

"Okay, I know how this looks," Sylvie said. "And... okay yeah, I thought I was going somewhere there."

She tried to kick: an arrow went wide, annoyingly knocking Katy's top out of her hand. Still, she disarmed the stranger, spinning into a punch - enchantment would take too long on someone wearing that armor.

Still, she could pick up Katy's shirt and get in the boat and-

And-

"Quickly! You're almost here." Thor appeared, just a few steps away.

And free the thing that promised power, and used the shapes of people she cared about to talk to her. She hated the fact she saw the similarity - one of the easiest ways to enchant people, to get into their heads, was to insert herself into fond memories. Find people they cared about, insinuate herself, and they'd do anything. Tell her anything. Help her.

Maybe it was just that enchantment was fresh on her mind, but suddenly she saw the manipulation, far too clearly.

Sylvie froze. The... thing in Thor's form lingered in front of her, waiting. Sylvie faltered, wishing she could will herself to just move, to just do it, damn the consequences. But if it wouldn't help her, if it was just... well, if it was just like her, just a manipulator, just getting into her head and reminding her of what she wanted, then what? She knew it was trying to get to her. She hadn't let herself see it, but she _knew _it.

"Sister?" 'Thor' said.

"No," Sylvie said eventually.

It stared at her.

"No," Sylvie said. "I've made bad deals before. Bad people."

She hesitated, and tried not to think back.

"Nice try," Sylvie said, at last. "But you can't trick a trickster."

The illusion in front of her faded. She took a deep, deep breath, trying to clear her head, and took a step forwards-

"This way!"

Sylvie looked over her shoulder as a spear whistled by her side - there was a very naked, very flustered-looking Katy at the head of, well, an army. Dozens of armored people with weapons that shone with an eerie light, all bearing down on the intruder to Ta Lo. Idly, Sylvie wondered if Katy would be able to dress before whatever battle was due here was over. If not, well, the TVA would show up eventually.

Katy's clothes were on the ground, a step away. Sylvie almost moved for them,when she saw just how many arrows were pointed towards her.

Oh for... if that thing hadn't distracted her.

She quickly tapped her TemPad, activating the preset coordinates and opening a portal between her and the army. Arrows shot through the portal, missing her, and clattering against a wall in the SHIELD base behind her: Sylvie walked through, and quickly closed it, looking back irately at the weapons.

She didn't know if it would be safe to keep relics like that here - it would be too likely to cause variance. She'd need to think.

Still, she needed a moment. Topless, arms crossed, Sylvie sat down and slumped against the wall. She closed her eyes.

Stupid. Stupid, she shouldn't have trusted it. She was learning that too much. First Hela, then that thing, and...

She exhaled. Someday, she told herself. Someday she'd strike back at the TVA. Somehow. Then all this would be over.

She looked down at herself, and shifted. And she probably ought to get a shirt first.