Spy Games Ch. 29

Ebony Maw leans forward with anticipation as Cull Obsidian makes his way out onto the field below, entering the arena at a low lumbering gait and swinging his massive multi-tool hammer from side to side to pick up speed. His eyes are on the prize, as they well should be, and Ebony can't help but slaver just a bit in anticipation of the accolades to come.

"You certainly seem excited there, friend. You sure are confident that your buddy down there can handle my Champion."

Not even the Grandmaster's amused, irreverent tone is enough to ruin Ebony Maw's mood. Flicking his fingers out dismissively, the floating telekinetic chuckles.

"A simple wolf, even one of sizable proportions, is nothing compared to Cull Obsidian. Indeed, our father the great Titan Thanos has done much to train us in matters of battle. While it does… displease our father to be forced to wage war on the cosmos, he accepts the necessity of such things and has prepared us accordingly. I have full faith in my brother's abilities, Grandmaster."

As they speak, Cull Obsidian stops a few feet away from the wolf, who in turn looks to him with glittering eyes. The lips of the primitive, savage creature pull back to reveal rows of sharp fangs as the wolf glares Cull down and growls menacingly. Or what it probably thinks is menacing. Really, as if a Child of Thanos would be even remotely intimidated by such a base and simple creature's pathetic attempt at intimidation.

"Huh. That's funny, because I have full faith in my Champion's abilities as well. I guess we'll have to see, won't we? Who's faith will be rewarded, hah!"

Ebony can't help but grimace ever so slightly. He was excited beyond belief and eager to see the battle done so that he could oversee the transport of the wolf's corpse back to his father alongside the army of thralls that they'd come here for in the first place. Even if it meant leaving Cull behind, it was for a good cause… and they could always come back and retrieve his brother immediately after his father had assimilated three infinity stones into his gauntlet.

Yes, ultimately, there was nothing left to do but wait. Except, Ebony Maw wasn't a fan of waiting. With a snarl, he leans forward and calls out to his brother.

"Kill the creature, Cull! Finish it!"

For a brief moment, the hulking Child of Thanos glances up at him. Then, he nods and turns to face the wolf, tightening his grip on his hammer and snarling at the primitive creature himself. With a vicious and earth-shattering roar, Cull leaps forward, his hammer swinging down in an overhead strike. Ebony's breath catches in anticipation, and he stares down at the scene, not wanting to miss even a single second.

Therefore, he certainly doesn't miss it when the wolf's eyes flash and long lines of purple, red, and yellow energy shine through its fur. He certainly doesn't miss it when the thing moves too fast for words to describe, leaping into the air as well and easily slipping past Cull Obsidian's defenses. He doesn't miss it, but he still can't quite comprehend what he's seeing at first when his adoptive brother's head is torn from his body in one grotesque and gory bite of the wolf's too-powerful jaws.

The two entities sail past one another, Cull's head in the wolf's maw as his body continues forward for a moment, landing and even taking a step before finally the trauma of decapitation catches up with it. The hammer slips from nerveless hands and the hulking headless body of Ebony's brother drops to its knees and then all the way to the ground with a crashing sound.

Ebony can only stare in disbelief at the sight, eyes wide and jaw agape while the crowd populating the arena goes absolutely wild with excitement and happiness. The cheering is deafening, but Ebony barely pays it any mind, completely shocked. The wolf… the wolf should not have had such unmitigated access to the fucking stones. No simple beast should have been that capable. No… ANIMAL should have had the ability to use not one but three Infinity Stones in concert!

Of course, no animal should have been able to swallow three Infinity Stones in the first place, but in his greed and his excitement, Ebony Maw had been all too willing to overlook that simple truth. Now he was floating there gaping like an idiot as the wolf tossed Cull's head into the air for a moment before letting it come down once more into the waiting maw where a sickening crunch could be heard throughout the arena.

One, two, three chews and the wolf swallows before tilting its head back and howling its triumph.

"Well now, I suppose my faith was better placed than yours, friend."

The Grandmaster's amused tone reminds Ebony of where he is and finally takes him out of the moment of his adoptive brother's death and back into the present. Whipping around, the remaining Child of Thanos jabs his finger at the Grandmaster, his face twisting into a snarl.

"You will help me subdue that… that BEAST immediately in the Great Titan's name, or my father will descend upon this pitiful little trash heap of a planet with armadas beyond your reckoning! In the name of Thanos, I demand you kill that creature and amend the stones in it's gullet into my custody NOW!"

The Grandmaster's smile remains in place, while his numerous guards all look ready to attack. But Ebony Maw thinks he can take them. He has to try, because frankly the alternative is too much to bear. His other option is… what? Go back to Thanos a failure? Not just failing to obtain the stones, but also losing Cull in the process?

Returning to Thanos to make sure the information about the location of three of the Infinity Stones might have been the smart move overall, but it was not the most personally enriching move by a long measure. And Ebony Maw, for all his lip service regarding his father's great task, was as selfish as they came. He wanted nothing more than for Thanos to be pleased with him and returning to the last Titan with empty hands would do the exact opposite.

He HAD to secure those stones, he HAD to get them to his father. It was the only option.

"Well now… you seem desperate. I like desperate. How about this… you go down there and fight my Champion next, and we'll see just what happens, hm?"

It was probably his only choice, admittedly. It was either fight the Grandmaster's guards here and now, potentially win, and then go after the beast… or it was go after the beast. However, before Ebony Maw can make EITHER of those choices, there's a sudden feeling of… emptiness somewhere around his middle.

The Grandmaster's eyes dip down from his face and the ancient being's smirking lips curl into a far more honest smile as he claps with glee at the sight.

"Oh my! Or that could happen!"

Looking down, Ebony Maw can only stare blankly at his own heart, still beating a few moments more, held in the grasp of a bloody five-fingered hand attached to an arm that's protruding from his chest. He doesn't… he doesn't understand. He was going to have everything. He was… he was going to make his father proud.

The telekinetic dies a moment later, his abilities failing him as his eyes roll back in his head and his body goes limp on the arm through his center. Pulled back with a squelching noise, the arm stops propping the corpse up and it slumps all the way to the rest of the ground, while Vali Masters stands on the other side, bringing Ebony Maw's heart to his mouth and chowing down.

The Grandmaster just giggles gleefully and continues clapping like an excited child.

"Fascinating! Absolutely fascinating!"

-x-X-x-

I hadn't recognized either of the beings that I'd killed that day initially. But finding out afterwards that they were 'Children of Thanos' had certainly been a bit eye opening. Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw… odd names to say the least, especially when Gamora and Nebula seemed almost normal in comparison. Or maybe I was just being pedantic?

Either way, it had felt like it was about time to reveal a bit more of myself. And so, when my enhanced hearing had picked up on the confrontation taking place up in the Grandmaster's box, I had decided to take matters into my own hands so to speak. Quite clearly.

The owner of Sakaar certainly hadn't minded. Indeed, the Grandmaster was… a nice enough fellow. Even after revealing my sapient status, I'd decided to stick around for a while longer as a result. A Champion who could think and speak was even better than a Champion who could not apparently, and the creation of a new head on the Champion's tower right above my wolf's head had already begun. I was going to be on Sakaar's version of Mt. Rushmore not once but twice going forward, so that was nice.

The reason I didn't move on soon after the reveal was honestly rather simple… I wasn't being told to. For a while now, the stones had been leading me around by the nose (and sometimes the dick) and I had been following their lead. Well, so far throughout my time on Sakaar, once I'd become cognizant anyways, it was like the stones were… happy right where they were? They remained mostly dormant, almost as if to tell me we were waiting for something.

Luckily, that something, or rather, 'someone', showed up within a couple weeks of my reveal, or I might have gotten bored enough to go off and make a mess anyways, insight from the stones or not. Still, when I looked up at the Grandmaster's box one night and saw Loki Laufeyson of all people making nice with the Grandmaster, I knew that the 'main plot' of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had once again caught up with me.

… Or maybe that was just me making excuses for my bout of idiocy that led me to Sakaar in the first place. Certainly, it was easier to believe that it was all cosmically decided for me that I would end up thrown off of Earth, rather than it happening through my own folly, right? Right.

Regardless, having Loki brought to my rooms wasn't exactly a hardship. Even if the squirming worm of a Prince didn't look exactly thrilled to see me again.

"A-Ah… Valiant. A pleasure. I'd ask what you were doing here, but I imagine it might be the same as me? Tossed here by circumstances outside of your control?"

Grimacing, I shake my head.

"Don't call me that. And we're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about you. What are YOU doing here? And where's Thor?"

"Well, you see…"

I can practically see the cogs turning in Loki's head. Once a trickster, always a trickster. Once a liar, always a liar. To be fair, it took one to know one. Indeed, I saw something of myself in the disgraced Son of Asgard. Not enough to be nice about it, however. Reaching out with the Mind Stone, I lock down Loki mentally in a second. In conjunction with Reality and Power, I freeze him physically as well, making him imagine himself in a mindscape without any ability to interact with the outside world.

Then, I start pulling. It's not hard with the Power Stone backing up the Mind Stone. Loki cries out in pain and tries to resist, but it all comes tumbling forth all the same.

Apparently, my attempt to get him off light for his part in the Battle for New York had led to… Loki literally usurping Odin's throne and mind wiping the old man, sending him to an old folk's home on Earth and ruling in disguise in his stead for some years. Which had THEN resulted in Thor finding out about all of that, the two brothers going to Earth to get Odin, just in time for Odin to kick the bucket… and unleash Hela.

No, not Hell, Hela. Literally a Goddess of Death, if Loki's memories are to be believed. But while I certainly wouldn't trust a single word out of Loki's mouth, I do trust my ability to rifle through his brain with the Mind Stone. This is actually what happened, as he knows it.

"Huh. Your sister is pretty hot."

"She's… she's not actually my sister. Adopted, remember."

Chuckling, I shrug as I study a three dimensional image of Hel in the illusionary mindscape.

"Mm, though it's amusing that you and Hela look more alike than her and Thor. If one didn't know any better, just from looking at your family they'd be more likely to say that Thor was the adopted child, wouldn't they?"

"… I suppose so."

Loki is grimacing, looking much worse for wear and none too happy about it. But then, to be fair, I did put him through the ringer just now mentally, and while I could have been nice about it… I hadn't been. On purpose. Ain't I a stinker?

"Well, while all of this is interesting information, it does leave me with the question of what to do with you…"

"I don't… ah, I don't see why that needs to be a question. Surely us parting amicably is in both of our best interests?"

Maybe, but not really. Something told me that Thor was going to arrive soon after Loki. They'd both gotten kicked out of the same Bifrost stream by their diabolical sister. Oh, and that something that was telling me Thor would show up soon was in fact the Infinity Stones, now thrumming with a certain satisfaction. It was obvious that this was what they'd had me waiting for.

A plan for what to do with Thor when he finally arrived was already percolating in my head… but in the meantime, I wasn't just going to let Loki go. No, I'd tried being nice before. I was tired of being nice. In fact…

"I wonder… a shapeshifter like you, surely you've spent some time as a woman, yes?"

Blinking, looking a little alarmed and affronted, Loki clears his throat.

"Well, I… I've spent time illusioned to look like a woman, but not actually shapeshifted into a woman, no. I am firmly in the male category, Vali, I promise you that."

Well, that was a little disappointing. The mythology had lied to me! Marvel Loki was such a bore. On the other hand…

"Let's see if we can change that, shall we?"

Loki opens his mouth to protest, but I'm already working. Mind Stone, Reality Stone, Power Stone. By their powers combined, I was… Bullshit Man, heh. I wanted a female Loki and I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Still, as I began to try and mold Loki into something he most definitely wasn't and make him into a her, it felt like something was pulling at me. Like a muscle I didn't know or understand. I got the impression that… that Reality and Power wanted to do something without Mind's help. And, well, I'd let the stones guide me more than once this far, hadn't I?

And so, I stop trying to warp Loki's mind, and instead focus on warping his reality. The Power Stone pulses inside of me as the Reality Stone draws and draws on it's might. It's sucking a bit out of me as well to do so, which hadn't happened in a long, long time. And yet, I'd been eating REALLY well of late. I had the energy to spare. So why not go full tilt, yeah?

Loki was screaming in the background, but I didn't give a shit. Sorry, not sorry. Nice Vali is gone, only Mean Vali now. With one final almighty pull, I tear free whatever it is Reality Stone wants me to tear free and with a pop, I find myself out of the illusionary mindscape and back in my rooms in the Champion's Tower.

However, Loki is nowhere to be seen. In his place is… a woman, just as I was aiming for. Only, if I had to guess what a female Loki would look like, she wouldn't be it. She's a fair bit shorter than the male Loki she just replaced, and with blonde hair to boot rather than the black I would have expected.

Still, the green cloak she has on and the tight, form-fitting armor covering her rather delectable body is very Loki. And more than that is the circlet upon her brow. One small golden horn, and one broken off. It positively SCREAMS Loki as she blinks and looks around, staring down at herself and then at her surroundings, before finally looking to me.

"What in the blood hells?! Where am I? Who are you?!"

"… Lady Loki?"

She stiffens at that, letting me know that I've both gotten what I wanted and made a social faux pas. Gritting her teeth and glaring daggers, she stomps forward.

"Don't call me that. Now, you're going to tell me where I am. Are you working for the TVA? No matter, I'll know soon enough."

And then her eyes glow green, and her hand comes up to my temple, glittering green magic wafting off of her fingers as she tries to get into my mind. My mind, which shares space with three Infinity Stones.

-x-X-x-

In what was supposed to be a closed off section of the universe, in the Citadel at the End of Time, a certain dark-skinned man stares down at the sheet of paper in front of him.

"And then the variant Sylvie Laufeysdottir is replaced with a different variant Loki entirely. No… no, that's not right."

"Isn't it?"

Looking up, He Who Remains stares at the man sitting across from him who wasn't there a moment before.

"Who… who are you? How did you get here? This isn't… this isn't in the script!"

"Hm? Are you sure? Look again!"

Pointing down, he redirects He Who Remains' gaze back to the paper, where their exchange is filling itself out a bit too slow. After a moment, the dark-skinned man lets out a bark of laughter.

"You're the one who snipped off a section of the timeline a while back, aren't you?"

"That's right. I wanted to play a game and honestly, your TVA would have gotten in the way of my amusement. It's been better this way, having things separate. Ah, but now… isn't this quite fun as well?"

He Who Remains ponders for a moment, already seeing how things will change… but also ultimately remain the same. In the end, it's inevitable. There will just be one male Loki to confront him in the end, instead of a male and female. And he honestly doesn't know how that will turn out. But he already didn't know how it would turn out, right? So, all in all… it was fine.

"I suppose I should have known that would come back to bite me in the ass. But you're right, it is a little fun! A bit of a shakeup, after all these eons! Exciting!"

Chuckling, the other man inclines his head.

"There you go then. Everything is fine."

As he turns to go, He Who Remains reaches out to stop him.

"Oh! Would you mind sticking around for a little while longer? I don't get much company. We could chat, if you want."

Turning back, the other being hums and then inclines his head in agreement.

"Very well. I can split my focus for a little while. What did you want to talk about?"

And so, the Sacred Timeline is both disrupted and not… but that's altogether irrelevant to Vali Masters and his story, because his omnipotent patron had made sure that his version of the universe was sequestered from the Sacred Timeline and the TVA's meddling long ago, when he'd first deposited him in it.

After all, an organization of middle-management bureaucrats sticking their noses where they aren't wanted and don't belong? That doesn't sound like much fun at all…

-x-X-x-

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