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The Time Variance Authority has a responsibility to the whole of the multiverse to keep the timeline intact. That's why Agent Mobius, and many other agents just like him, keep a running list of individuals who have the potential to royally screw everything up.
Mostly this list includes the ever-changing keepers and guardians of the Infinity Stones—no surprise there—as well as beings with great power, or access to great power, like sorcerers or rulers or superheroes.
Now, maybe this is a bit unprofessional of him, but Mobius has favorites.
Time passes strangely in the TVA. He doesn't know how old he is, or how long he's been working there, and the fact that his job typically only involves monitoring and filing makes him rather inclined towards boredom. He is very easily entertained, once something—or someone—exciting catches his attention, but most of the cases that cross his desk are not that special variety of exciting. Run of the mill genocidal maniacs like Thanos are worrisome to the timeline, but not personally interesting to Mobius. He's not impressed by average genius heroes like Tony Stark, or noble, martyring icons like Steve Rogers. He doesn't see the appeal of fearsome warriors or powerful witches or any of the usual stock he's keeping track of.
But every once in a while, as rare an occurrence as it is, he finds himself fascinated by someone truly special.
The newest case on his desk reads LOKI ODINSON in neat uppercase type. Risk factor: HIGH.
Loki. Lo-ki. What a nice name. Rolls right off the tongue.
His profile shows a pale, angular face with sharp cheekbones, slicked back curls of black hair, and green eyes so bright and intent they leap starkly off the page. Agent Mobius has to make himself look away before he—god forbid—starts ogling, or something even more unprofessional.
When he'd first started out, it had felt a little too voyeuristic for comfort to have a person's entire private life story laid out just for him to idly peruse like a newspaper, but in the intervening years it had ceased to bother him. He leans back in his chair, slides the stack of papers closer, and starts to read.
A frost giant born to Laufey, King of Jötunheim. Adopted son of Odin All-Father and Frigga All-Mother. Adopted brother of Thor Odinson, self-proclaimed God of Thunder, and Hela Odinsdóttir, self-proclaimed Goddess of Death. Quite the family tree.
Mobius follows tales of childhood adventures and adolescent rebellion, of Loki's growing skills with magic and combat prowess. It's all standard stuff, right up until he reaches Thor's coronation.
It's not the most sordid or gruesome story he's ever read, but he finds himself inexplicably engaged with the convoluted plans Loki draws up to murder his birth father and earn Odin's approval. It's over-the-top, sure, and doesn't cast a great light on Loki's moral compass or lack thereof, but Mobius' job has never been to pass judgement on someone's poor decisions.
Loki's time in the Void with the Chitauri is laid out in excruciating detail. Mobius has to pause a few times to get up and grab another glass of water before he can continue—he's not always the best at maintaining objectivity.
The invasion of New York is interesting, considering what Mobius knows about Loki. (And he knows a whole lot.) Unable to dissent from Thanos' plan, but understanding that delivering two Infinity Stones to that lunatic would spell catastrophe, Loki plays the long game: he riles up the Avengers, bringing the attention of Asgard down on himself and ensuring that the All-Father's immediate heir retrieves the Tesseract. He doesn't exactly intend to be crushed into the floor by the Hulk, Mobius notes with a little laugh, and it's his arrogance that gets himself captured at last.
Sentenced to the dungeons. Losing his mother. Taking revenge on her killer, then faking his own death, then booting his father to waste away on Earth. It's cold and cunning, and Mobius is ready to read several pages of bloody conquest and war with Loki on the throne of Asgard, but instead he just... watches theatre.
Loki does nothing with nigh unlimited power. He watches theatre, gets servants to hand feed him grapes, builds a few libraries and schools, and of all things turns out to be a sybaritic hedonist.
Everything this guy does is an enigma.
Mobius is almost annoyed when Thor comes and disrupts everything. Odin dying, Loki getting stranded on Sakaar (the Grandmaster is also on Mobius' list), Asgard going up in an apocalypse of fire and brimstone. Quite literal fire and brimstone. Loki nabs the Tesseract on the way out—Mobius isn't surprised at this point—and then returns to the Statesman to help Thor rule. They spend a few weeks floating in space.
Then Thanos arrives, slaughters half of the Asgardian refugees, takes the Space Stone, and crushes Loki's neck.
Mobius sets down the last sheaf of paper with a sigh. With the trajectory of Loki's life, from the moment he was born, Mobius isn't sure why it took so long for something like this to happen. Like, the guy practically spent his every waking moment tempting fate.
From here, he usually clips the papers back together, writes up how likely it is for the individual to break off from their original timeline, ships it off to the next department, and calls it a day. But instead he flips his way back to the beginning of Loki's life, and starts to read it all over again.
Despite himself, Mobius is—well. He's intrigued. He loves a good mystery, and figuring out Loki Odinson might just be the very best mystery he's encountered yet. Every inch of him seems contradictory. He's a challenge. A cheat and manipulator who flatters and lies like he breathes. A skilled sorcerer and combatant. An amazingly conflicted individual about seemingly cut and dry stuff like "is it wrong to kill people?" A screwed up little brother with inferiority complexes a mile wide who's almost transparently desperate for someone to see through his bullshit. A giant knotted bundle of arrogance, hatred, love, self-loathing, cunning intelligence, and every screwed up emotion under the sun, and Mobius can't help himself—he wants to pick Loki's brain, figure out exactly what makes him tick. He wants to know Loki, inside and out, in every way possible.
He wouldn't say he's hoping that Loki does something so drastic it forces the TVA to intervene and bring him back here so Mobius can meet him face-to-face.
... But he's not not saying that, either.
