Things go well... right?

"Mobius said you'd come back," Ravonna said. She paused. "I didn't actually believe him. He ought to get a promotion."

A still-flushed Yelena pinned Ravonna, keeping the once-judge on the ground. Sylvie crouched by Ravonna's head, eyes narrowed. Outside, the sound of the Ultrons coming through an open portal could still be heard.

"The Timekeepers run this place, right?" Sylvie said. "I saw your presentation. I'd like a word with them."

"You think they'd talk to you?" Ravonna said.

"Don't know. Don't really care," Sylvie said. "Where are they?"

Ravonna glowered. Then yelped as Yelena started to try and untangle her smart blazer.

"Yelena. Focus," Sylvie said.

"I am focused. You can do your thing, I can do my thing," Yelena said.

Sylvie sighed. Ravonna wriggled, making a valiant attempt to keep her jacket pinned down to the floor beneath her. Still, Yelena made a little progress in freeing it.

Content with her own garb as a TVA guard, Sylvie continued to talk to the judge.

"Are you going to answer me?" Sylvie said. "Or would you rather have a chat somewhere in the timeline? No chance of being interrupted there."

"You want to know where to find the Timekeepers?"

"Is what I asked," Sylvie said.

"I know. Just wondering if that's really what you came here for," Ravonna said. "Our cells are almost full to bursting - your last jailbreak wasn't really a huge success, was it?"

Sylvie flinched, then masked her expression. She wasn't sure if everyone would have been kept alive, kept in their cells, or if they'd have been pruned as soon as she'd gotten away. She-

Focus. Sylvie's expression set. Well, there were two of them again, and a spy seemed a better fit for this than Hela's powerlessness in the TVA. Sylvie thought quickly, and said nothing.

"Timekeepers," Sylvie said.

Ravonna's gaze settled on her.

"You won't make it to them," Ravonna said.

"I don't know, I think your security's a little distracted right now," Sylvie said.

Ravonna paused; Yelena finally succeeded in freeing her jacket, quickly slipping the long garment on over her bare body, leaving Ravonna in a formal blouse and pants. Ravonna gritted her teeth, then sighed.

"Two floors up," Ravonna said. "Past the library. Door marked emergency. It isn't like you'll be able to hurt them."

"If they were as much gods as you think they are, they wouldn't need you to do their dirty work," Sylvie said. She looked over to Yelena: "Any keys in those pockets?"

Yelena patted herself down for a moment, then pulled out a card; Sylvie took it gratefully. Then she looked down at Ravonna, and pulled the cuffs off her own TVA guard outfit.

"Take the rest of her clothes. You'll blend in more," Sylvie said.

Ravonna's eyes widened.

"I can tell you where the cells are," Sylvie said. "Make your way there - hopefully the robots will be keeping everyone distracted. And if they don't, me getting to the Timekeepers should. Understood?"

"Get everyone free? I can do that," Yelena said. "Huh. Feels weird to be on this side."

She reached down to start unbuttoning Ravonna's top. Ravonna's face warmed, as Sylvie moved back to the room's door; she peered out the crack, making sure no one else was out there.

Okay, she was improvising, but she felt like she owed it. She could get to the Timekeepers, the TVA's bosses, while Yelena could get to the cells and the prisoners Sylvie still barely believed were still alive. Yelena could free them and use the chaos to get them back to New York during the Chitauri invasion - Yelena's choice, and a decent stopping-off point as they sought a better apocalypse to hide in. They'd picked it as a rendezvous in case they got separated; it was easy to choose to bring a few others as well.

Including, hopefully...

Sylvie turned her attention back to the present. Sylvie looked back, to see Ravonna cuffed and naked on the floor, looking mildly annoyed. Yelena hadn't strictly needed to take her underwear, but apparently she'd been feeling petty; with her hair pulled back, she could easily pass as a TVA bureaucrat.

"Ready?" Sylvie said.

"This is what I do," Yelena said, accent shifting to mimic Ravonna's own. "Tell me where to go."

Five minutes later and a guard hurried back down the hallway, blindly stabbing at a half-dozen drones that were pursuing them; they just managed to prune the last, and caught their breath, before straightening. They looked around the corridor for a moment, then glanced into the nearest doors to see if any other robots had made it this far.

Empty, empty, naked Ravonna Renslayer-

They did a double-take. Ravonna squirmed against her bonds.

"Don't just stand there!" she said. "Uncuff me!" she paused. "And give me your jacket!"

Yelena was on her way to the cells; she carried herself with more confidence than Sylvie felt able to pull off. Still, with her helmet on, and with the sound of a scuffle, no one looked at her twice. She picked up the pace, turning Ravonna's directions over and over in her head. She could almost taste it. Free everyone, take down the Timekeepers...

Sylvie saw the door marked 'emergency,' and inside the helmet, smiled. It figured the TVA would used their gods as some kind of last ditch option. Still, so long as she could get close...

Barely thinking of anything more than her long sought-after ****, Sylvie used a borrowed keycard, and opened the door to step inside.

The room wasn't quite what she'd expected. It was bigger than a mere closet, but it may as well just been one - blank walls, with an almost imperceptible crease in the floor and ceiling.

She paused. She'd been too caught up in the momet - of course Ravonna would have given her the wrong directions. It had made sense to her to imagine 'emergency' meant contacting the TVA's bosses, not-

There was a shift in air pressure, and Sylvie unwittingly stumbled forwards. She grimaced; or maybe it was just an emergency room to send variants too. That figured.

The ceiling opened up; Sylvie glimpses a robot, and stumbled backwards into the now-sealed door. For a moment, she was young again, remembering her first time in the TVA, remembering being scanned, slid into a TVA jumpsuit, and dropped down into that maze of bureaucracy that ended in-

There was a flash of light from the robot. The TVA guard disguise she'd gone through so much effort to get was wiped away in the time it too her to blink, leaving Sylvie with the all-too familiar sensation of air against bare skin, the dusty TVA atmosphere comfortably warm, but still something she was too conscious of.

Sylvie's eyes widened - instinct made her draw her arms inwards, before the floor fell away. She reacted instantly, sticking her arms outwards with a grunt.

She remembered how this went - old clothes removed, dropped into a prison uniform, sent through the TVA's system. Not again, she told herself, not even again - she caught herself, arms and legs outstretched to press against the sides of the chute, jamming herself in place for a moment.

And for that moment, she was still. She bit her lip, legs wide open, straining slightly, a gentle flow of air falling with her and brush past places she was not comfortable feeling that much of a breeze. She wriggled, feeling her breasts shift as she barely made any progress, too focused on keeping herself from falling.

She felt the muscles in her arms and thighs start to protest; Sylvie grimaced, mind racing to try and think of an out that wouldn't mean erasure.

There wasn't much light, but she could see a little way down the chute - her gaze caught on a ridge in the side, not far from where she assumed the jumpsuit would normally be. Now, she could only see a suit crumpled on the floor far below her.

She'd missed her chance to get it. She grimaced, butaccepted it - better nude than pruned.

She adjusted herself, sliding noisily down a little way. The outfits had to come in from somewhere; as soon as she made it to that level, her fingertips brushed a catch in the side of the chute. Bracing herself, Sylvie took a breath, and transferred all her weight to that hand - she swung her other hand up as a shard of metal plating came away, a hatch opening. It was just big enough for her to quickly pull herself through.

And she fell down in some dingy maintenance, feeling her chest hit the barely-carpeted floor. She scrambled back to at least sit, butt just as uncomfortable against the uneven ground, and dragged herself sideways to hide behind an annoyingly empty hamper.

Deep breath. Sylvie steadied herself. Naked in the TVA. That was... not ideal.