Chapter 64: Sylvie: This Is the First Move in the Endgame
"I actually can't do it myself."
Loki simply spread his hands. "I must remain on this throne, ensuring the proper flow of the timelines."
"I am... a machine. A cog. Just like the TVA itself."
"At a certain point in the future... for Sylvie, for all of you... for everyone... this is the only god I could choose to be."
"But the price is that I can never, ever leave this seat."
He let out a long breath, and the smile returned. "Lynn, I know your nature. I know the life you want."
"But if we do nothing now, then in the future—maybe fifteen years, maybe sooner—this entire universe will be annihilated by one man."
"A man whose name the multiverse will come to fear…"
"That name…"
"…Victor von Doom."
"He seeks to save the multiverse, but he cannot be allowed to do so at the cost of our reality."
"Therefore, I must make preparations. And the very first step... requires your help."
Loki leaned forward, his gaze serious. "You don't want to just enjoy your life for a few years, only to have Doom shatter it, do you? To watch every living thing erased, leaving you to float alone in the endless, dark void? Because you, Lynn, you would survive."
"Trust me. That kind of existence... no time, no space, no light... just an endless, suffocating darkness. A loneliness so absolute it becomes despair. You do not want to experience that."
Hearing Loki paint that picture...
...Lynn's skin crawled.
'If that was his final fate, then his immortality wasn't a gift. It was an eternal curse.'
Still, Lynn didn't trust him. He couldn't. This was the God of Lies, after all, even if he'd rebranded.
'He always finds a weakness. He's a master of manipulation and temptation.'
As if sensing his doubt, Loki tossed him a golden, oval gemstone.
"What's this?"
Lynn caught it, turning it over in his hand. It felt like an Infinity Stone.
'But... it wasn't one of the six. Wrong color.'
"The Ego Gem. Also known as the Ego Stone. The seventh Infinity Stone, formed from the consciousness of the cosmic entity Nemesis. It is self-aware, and it can influence the mental state of its wielder."
"Of course, it poses no threat to you. In fact, in time, it will become your greatest asset. Consider it... payment for your services."
Lynn stared at the gem. It was glowing, and he could almost feel a... a warmth... a familiarity... coming from it.
His gaze on Loki sharpened. "First you threaten me with Armageddon, now you're bribing me with an Infinity Stone."
"It seems, Loki, that whatever you want me to do... it's incredibly dangerous."
"Not necessarily dangerous," Loki mused.
"I need you to save Howard and Maria Stark."
"In the grand design of the plan I am weaving, their survival is... absolutely essential."
Lynn's brow furrowed.
'Save Howard and Maria?'
'Natasha's vision. Her seeing me standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Howard Stark. It was all coming true.'
"And don't worry about the timeline. You won't be changing the future. I've already prepared for that."
The office doors slid open, and Mobius walked in.
"Mobius. Are the preparations complete?"
"They are."
Mobius nodded, his expression weary. "I just... I still can't believe we're doing this. Meddling with another universe's timeline... hoping it breaks that god-awful, disgusting loop."
Mobius led Lynn out of Loki's office.
As Lynn pulled the door shut, he glanced back. Loki was already seated on his throne, alone, strands of time weaving around him.
He looked at Lynn and nodded once. His lips moved, forming one silent word.
Lynn read it clearly: Please.
***
Inside the TVA.
The place was a hive of activity. Minutemen herded lines of Variants, pruning them from the timeline.
Lynn spotted a Stephen Strange, a Captain Carter, and even a loud, obnoxious Thor being processed.
"These are all people who shouldn't exist on the sacred timeline," Mobius explained, noticing Lynn's curiosity. "Their existence creates branches, threatening the stability of their universes."
He led Lynn to a transparent temporal stasis chamber.
Inside, the bodies of Howard and Maria Stark lay perfectly preserved.
Their clothes were torn, their faces still caked with the blood from their assassination.
"These... Sylvie and I—that's Loki's variant—we retrieved these from a parallel universe."
"That universe... it was fine, at first. Then a meteor hit. And all the superheroes who were supposed to save the world... they all became zombies."
Hearing this, Lynn's mind flashed. "So... Loki wants me to save this universe's Howard and Maria... and use these bodies as replacements?"
"Exactly."
Mobius smiled. "The killer is Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier. All you have to do is get the Starks out of his hands. We'll do the rest."
"We're ready, Mobius."
"Bucky Barnes" walked into the room. "Is this the man Loki sent for?"
"This is him, Sylvie."
As Mobius spoke, the Winter Soldier's form shimmered and dissolved, revealing Sylvie. "Hi. I'm Sylvie."
"Lynn." He shook her hand, pocketing the Ego Gem. "So, what are we waiting for? The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can go home."
"I still have no goddamn idea what's really going on."
'The last part, of course, was bullshit. He had to play the part of the confused amateur. His timeline wasn't supposed to know any of this.'
At his impatience, Sylvie and Mobius shared a look.
Sylvie raised her TemPad, keyed in the coordinates, and a shimmering, orange, rectangular portal opened.
"Let's go. The first piece of the endgame is about to be played."
She stepped through.
Mobius and Lynn followed.
The next second, all three of them were standing in the freezing cold of a snowy night.
December 17, 1991.
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HAND OVER YOUR GODDAMN INFINITY STONES!!