Case 14b: Return to the Cage
"So now you're going back to fight Knull again?" Mobius asked in concern. "You think learning light magic will make that big of a difference?"
"It's the only thing that has worked thus far, other than Thor's lightning, and he has a counter to that!" Detective Loki answered. "I can't just stay here and hide while my family, let alone the multiverse, is in peril!"
"That is more like it, detective!" Red Thor commended. "Just bring me to him, and he will be up against two Thors this time!"
"Eddie, are you coming back now?" Dylan asked.
"Yeah. Lethal or not, I'm your protector! Just stay with your mother for now, and I'll be there soon!"
Loki scrunched his eyebrows after the Brocks finished their phone conversation. "Hold on, did you just say his mother? Dylan told me his mother was dead."
"Yeah, that's what I was told too. Long story short, Grandpa Brock is a lying, manipulative asshole who screwed up my son's childhood and treated both of us like dirt!"
"I'm sorry." Loki replied.
"You can empathize with the lying, manipulative dad bit, huh?" Mobius asked his adoptive son. "With Odin, of course, not me."
"I have to warn the King Thor and the others!" Loki dialed his number and warned the royal brothers about the situation, telling them everything that had happened so far. He warned Thor in particular about Knull's ability to block his access to the sun and clouds, and he warned his variant of his suspicions about All-Black's codex inside of him! After a few more calls, the detective contacted that same Earth's Wong and Doctor Strange.
"Before we answer, is this magic business or doctor business?" Wong asked. "Because Strange says he isn't taking any more doctor calls."
"I was planning on not taking any more Loki calls." Stephen Strange corrected. "It is Loki, isn't it?"
"Yup." Wong replied.
"This is important! Your universe and countless others are in danger!" Loki reasoned. "Knull, the god of Symbiotes, is coming to your world to retrieve All-Black and kill anyone who isn't born of darkness!"
"Symbiotes, as in, the talking alien tapeworm you asked me to remove?" Strange clarified. "His god is coming here?"
"Watch it, Strangeee!"
"Yes, a primordial being that can travel through time and space by his own powers!"
"Peachy. And... what is an All-Black?"
"The sword that Gorr the god butcher wielded whilst he slaughtered gods!"
"The god butcher, huh?" Strange echoed. "Now all you need is a god baker and a god candlestick maker, and you can all set out to sea..."
"This isn't a joking matter, Strange! You recall Sprite, the Eternal with the appearance of a young redheaded girl, who came to your Sanctuary for help months ago?"
"Yeah. Her friend's killer, I take it?"
"Not just her friend's, Gorr killed her with his Necrosword afterwards, he slaughtered the last remaining Valkyrie of legend, and he would have killed me, if not for my Symbiote's healing powers! Knull created that sword to kill Celestials, and he's done so for eons! Even without All-Black, Knull is already nigh invincible, and it took our strongest team and everything we had just to destroy that blade... without a wielder!"
"But if you destroyed it, how is this Knull going to reclaim it?"
"From the remnants of its symbiotic DNA in New Asgard, but you need to be prepared to defend your home as well, or he will kill everyone! Knull seems to have a weakness to light magic and the godly lightning that my brother commands, so if you haven't learned any spells of light energy, now would be the opportune time!"
Stephen exhaled. "Wong?"
"I know a book with the magic we need." Wong responded. "Just tell me one thing: why is it when there's a multiversal threat, we always hear about it from you? You are like a multiversal jinx."
"I'll take that as an anxious thank you." Loki replied.
"And you, detective?" Stephen wondered. "I suppose you'll be joining our magic lesson to help us fight him off?"
"I'm going to the Light Elves to learn: I helped them out during a case a while ago, and I know their magic is extremely powerful! I'll join you shortly, my friends, but for now, I'm sending you a red-haired Thor to hold him off for you!"
"Well, that's thoughtful. Thanks for the heads up, anyway."
"You're welcome, and goodbye for now."
"Okay then, let's go protect our homes!" Eddie exclaimed.
Loki then opened a Time Door to Eddie's house back on Earth 688, and he rushed through to rejoin his family.
He opened a Time Door to Earth 199999 next, where Thor eagerly charged through to New Asgard, elated to be able to use his stormy powers again!
Loki sighed, hoping with all his heart that this plan would be enough to give them a fighting chance. He opened one more Time Door to Alfheim and noticed Mobius and Sylvie standing right behind him. "Hm? What is it?"
"We're going to learn light magic with you, that's what!" Sylvie responded.
"What!? You two need to stay here!"
"You said light magic could hurt him. We can learn, same as you." Mobius argued. "That way we can all protect each other."
"But Sylvie, you're heavily pregnant, and Mobius, you don't have the experience or the natural ability with magic that we have! Besides that, Knull isn't fooled by my presence-concealing ability, and if he lands one hit on either of you, you're as good as dead!"
"So? He's so powerful, the same is true for you, isn't it?" Sylvie countered. "So we bombard him with light magic until he's toast!"
"Actually, Knull found us because he could sense me." Healer stated. "I don't think he can see invisible things without codices in them, but he has been around a very long timeee, so I cannot say for sure."
"And I can conceal myself now, plus the baby!"
"We can't risk it! If anything happened to you-"
"It won't!" Sylvie assured him. "I won't give 'em the chance!"
"We've got your back, Loki! We're family, just as much if not more than the Asgardians, and we're the freaking Time Detectives, so let us fight by your side!"
"You go, we go!" Sylvie summarized.
Jörmungandr slithered next to them and expressed his support too, and an emotional Loki nodded, replying to his serpentine friend in the silent snake language.
"I really have the greatest, most loyal family in the multiverse." Loki affectionately told them, holding back tears. Jörmungandr then coiled himself around Mobius's and Sylvie's legs while his owner turned to leave. "That's why I can't let either of you come to harm. I'm sorry."
"HEY!" Sylvie struggled to slip free in vain as the enormous golden snake swiped their TemPads with his mouth and tossed them to Loki! "You said you wouldn't betray us, you liar!"
"I'm not, I am protecting you!" He turned his head back towards his fiancée. "And by the way, if you do count it as one, now we're even!" He gathered up the rest of the TemPads and hurried to Alfheim!
As soon as the Time Door closed, Jörmungandr released them and slithered away. Sylvie slammed her fist into the nearby drawer, knocking it over while Mobius just sighed and shook his head.
"Oh just lovely, he's trapped us here!" She shouted.
"Well, to be fair, you did something similar to him back at the Citadel." Mobius reasoned. "But he didn't have to restrain me with his snake too, and it sucks, because I can't even ride my jet ski here!"
"That's what you're focusing on!? We have to find a way out of here to help him!"
"Well, we're pretty clever; we could figure something out if we keep calm and think things through, but I can't say I blame Loki for not wanting us to join him; you've gotta think about what's best for your little Loki Jr too."
"Not growing up without a father, that's for sure!"
"True, but it would beat not growing up at all, if worse came to worst. Anyway, throwing a hissy fit at the furniture won't help anything, so we might as well have some faith in Loki; he always finds a way to survive."
Sylvie sighed and nodded, taking a seat back on the couch. "If anyone can find a way, it's him."
"It wasn't a betrayal." Healer told his Loki as they stepped onto Alfheim. "Betraying someone involves hurting them, or letting others hurt them, doing something you know is wrong to those who trust you; you did the exact opposite, kept your family safe!"
Loki nodded. "I know."
"Sylvie was the one who would have betrayed the baby if she went, right?" Loki didn't answer. "Riiight?"
"Knull is after you... perhaps I should have had you stay with them, where he can't find you."
"No! Then he would do horrible things to you to find me! He would torture you, and when you don't tell him, he would kill you! I am the only one who can heal you from his attacks!"
"That's true, even I won't be of any help to my people dead. Let's pick up the pace, shall we?"