Loki returned with his fiery foe and gallons of Death by Chocolate ice cream, protected by his icy magic from the intense heat of Muspelheim. They sat back at opposite ends of the competition table, each taking half of the ice cream containers and a trusty spoon.
"I'm still surprised he was able to stomach that much heat from all those Muspeppers!" Sylvie remarked.
Mobius's expression didn't show any shock. "He's been through worse."
"It all comes down to dessert!" Gnista narrated to her audience of two. "On your marks, get set… eat!"
All it took was one spoonful: to give Loki relief from the burning in his mouth and to give Logi enough of a brain freeze to send shivers down his flaming body. While the Fire Giant grimaced, his Jotun rival quickly finished his first gallon of ice cream, happily moving on to the next. Each gallon Loki finished not only soothed the molten spiciness in his digestive system but improved the mood of both him and his symbiotic companion. Logi Surturson could barely finish half of his first gallon before he threw up, while Loki heartily wolfed down his fifth!
"The winner of round three, and the eating contest, is the frosty boy from Jotunheim, Loki Laufeyson!" Gnista announced as Loki's partners applauded his victory and Loki blissfully continued eating. "Wow, I can't believe Logi lost at eating, and I don't think I've ever seen him puke up his food!" She took a small taste of the ice cream and immediately spit it out, shivering. "Ptooh! No wonder…"
"So…" Loki stood and walked over to his friends, taking his dessert on the go. "Where do we find this sister of yours, and why is she burning down people's buildings?"
"Fiamma's looking for the Twilight Sword: it was last rumored to have been hidden on a cold planet by your adoptive brother, after he killed our youngest sister in battle."
"The infamous sword your father used to obliterate entire worlds and realms!?"
"That's the one. Last she said she needed a high-tech space suit built for her, one that could contain the oxygen she needs around her, while simultaneously keeping her Muspel biology and that oxygen from causing explosive combustion in the planet's atmosphere." She glanced at Logi, who stopped puking but still clutched his stomach. "Explosive combustion that would be even deadlier than my brother's after he eats chili!"
"Would you give it a rest?!" Logi snapped.
"Fiamma most likely went to the Ataraxians: they specialize in containing the power of stars, so building an oxygen-infused suit for her would be no problem for them! You might want to stop by and see if she's still there first, and if not, get yourself some space suits."
"Right. So planets with high levels of hydrogen with methane, but not enough oxygen to set off said chain reactions…" Mobius pondered as he and Sylvie grabbed spoonfuls of Loki's ice cream. "Those kinds of planets are found in the, uh, late Earth's solar system… coldest planets would obviously be the two 'ice giants,' Neptune and Uranus."
"Is Neptune is guarded by Poseidon still?" Loki queried.
"It is." Gnista responded. "Then next she'll be setting fire to Uranus."
"I think those Muspeppers beat her to it."
Loki's face wrinkled in disgust at the disturbing thought Grievance put in his mind, as the Fire Giants chuckled at Loki's lone facial reaction.
"At least that is what it will feel like in a couple of hours."
"Okay Grievance, I get the message!" Loki then spoke out loud, "We certainly can't allow her to claim that sword!"
"Well, let's prepare and meet her when she gets there!" Mobius agreed and took his teammates to Ataraxia via TemPad. The residents there explained that their culprit had left for her destination already, but they quickly prepared three space suits for the detectives after they politely requested so. Mobius opened another door to Uranus, giving him and his friends safe passage.
"That must be her!" They approached the other suited-up figure in the distance and found they were correct.
"Hello. Fiamma, I presume?" Loki greeted.
She took a good look at his face as well. "And what business does a Frost Giant have with me? Who are you?"
"I am Loki of the past. My business is of the private detective profession, and we're here to stop you from taking the Twilight Sword and spreading more fires throughout the galaxy."
"So it is here?"
"Don't ask us, we were only following you." Mobius admitted.
"But you're not getting any further." Sylvie threatened.
Fiamma glanced around her. "Let's discuss this somewhere a bit more… hospitable." She took out a high-tech transportation device and opened a gateway to a remote planet with a comfortably warm temperature, and the three entered behind her. They removed their atmospheric suits. "Ahhh, that's much better. So, you're Loki, son of the Jotun king Laufey, adopted by the Asgardian king Odin?"
"You know your history."
"I do, and I think it's about time you knew mine. I am Surtur's eldest daughter, but unfortunately, Fire Giant birthrights aren't like those with either of your families: we are tested for ruling qualities when we're only 3 years old. Each of my father's children was forced to go without food for thirteen days and offered a choice: a huge pile of food or a cauldron of flames and screaming souls. That one choice, one moment of weakness, and I lost everything. I chose the food, and I failed the test."
"Who in their right mind wouldn't choose the food?!" Mobius wondered.
"Our youngest sister, Sindr. It was she who inherited Father's will and his sword. His golden child." Fiamma then smirked. "But now she's the one who has failed, and soon I will claim what was rightfully mine!"
"You burned innocent people's homes to the ground, some with families trapped inside. The only thing that's rightfully yours today is a good ass-kicking!" Sylvie corrected her.
Fiamma ignored her. "I will finally take my father's Burning Throne, wielding the legendary Twilight Sword, and my subjects and I will set the galaxy ablaze! Soon, everyone in this universe will bow before me!"
"Or be incinerated? Not if we can help it." Loki argued.
She paused, sizing up Loki again. "I've never seen a living Frost Giant before, only pictures. You're much smaller than I expected… and much better looking to boot! And I see you've got your own fiery weapon. Lævateinn, correct? Perhaps I could be persuaded to postpone my quest for the Twilight Sword, if you can provide a means of equal power?"
Loki glanced toward his back. "You want my sword?"
"That's… one way of putting it. Fire and Frost, two giants of equal, yet opposite, powers: the union of these polarized forces would conceive an unstoppable force no world or time has ever seen! I have a proposition for you, Loki: the overlooked oldest daughter of Surtur and the overlooked oldest son of Laufey."
"No thank you. I'm not about to join you in some galaxy-wide crusade, I'm here to stop it."
Fiamma chuckled. "That's not the kind of 'proposition' I meant. I'll be less subtle: I want you as my mate, to create the ultimate children of fire and ice, a class of giant stronger than all others!"
"Gross."
"Absolutely not! I'm proud to say, I have a girlfriend!"
"It doesn't have to be for life, just long enough for our offspring to prove their potential. If my children turn out powerful enough, I'll be satisfied."
"And even if I didn't, that's about the most distasteful proposition I've ever heard! Besides, you seem to be forgetting the fact that you're made of fire: I couldn't even touch you."
"Oh, that? I can crystalize myself, if I choose to, so I don't burn you." She demonstrated, cooling her fingers for a few seconds and relighting them. "And I'm sure you can become Asgardian-like so I don't get frozen. So, are you in?"
"I am not. I love Sylvie too much to betray her for any amount of power!" Loki conjured ice around his hands. "No, you're going to pay for your crimes, end of discussion."
"Let me handle her." Sylvie stepped between them. "I've been waiting to put a Muspel on ice all day. Mobius beat the brainiac, you beat the pig, and I'm going to beat the power-hungry whore!"
Fiamma finally paid her attention. "So, you won some help from my siblings. Then I think it's fitting that I call them here to watch me destroy you and win your lover." She sent a signal through another futuristic device, and soon they had Logi and Gnista among them.
"Well, this should be a interesting matchup!" Gnista remarked after they were told the situation.
"But they're fighting over him?!" Logi asked in shock. "Certainly not my first choice for a brother-in-law, or his!"
"Try telling her that." Gnista whispered very quietly. "You know how Fiamma gets when she's in heat!"
"Eeeah." Logi made a goofy-looking wince.
"Ready?" Fiamma called.
Sylvie nodded, but before she began, Loki approached her for a quick pep talk. "Keep in mind that she'll be likely to cheat or pull some kind of trick, so I recommend you think like a Loki and have a few tricks of your own up your sleeve."
"Right, strategy." She gave Loki a playful wink.
"Precisely! Don't underestimate your own cleverness: there's nothing I can do that you cannot. What she knows of us, she only knows from her history books: she knows the old Loki, now show her what a Sylvie can do!"
"Not a bad pep talk. Another thing in my favor, I do have someone special worth fighting for."
"Yes, it's almost flattering, having two women fight over me."
Sylvie gave him an uneasy look. "You're sure you're not considering her, two power-craving giants with daddy and sibling issues, joined forces to rule the galaxy?"
Loki smiled. "I'm sure. I know when someone merely wants to use me to an end, and you're not one of those someones. Anyway, you know me: I could never be with someone who hates ice cream!"
"Heh, of course not."
As she turned to face her opponent, Loki grabbed her by the hands and kissed her on the lips. "To strengthen your incentive."
Her incentive strengthened, Sylvie went on to face Fiamma. She shot a frozen blast at her fiery foe, who protected herself with a fiery barrier. The Jotun-Asgardian princess continued with countless volleys of ice, met equally with streams of fire. Fiamma put a hand to the ground, and more streams of fire traveled underground, erupting below Sylvie and forming fiery barred cage around her. As her enemy approached, she pushed two of the flaming streams apart with her frost-armored hands and somersaulted out.
The blue and red royal contenders fought hand to hand, Fiamma blocking icy fists and countering with flaming ones, while Sylvie did the same. Sylvie ducked an elbow and knocked her opponent back with a roundhouse kick, but Fiamma swiftly flipped to her feet and blasted her frosty foe before she could react.
Sylvie steadied herself, brainstorming a plan. She summoned the Casket of Ancient Winters and fired a powerful flurry at the daughter of Surtur, who surrounded herself with another barrier of flame. The daughter of Laufey kept up her frigid assault, eventually cooling the barrier enough to crystallize it, and she followed up with a telekinetic force, pushing the large rocky formation towards its caster. Fiamma leapt over the threatening force of igneous, readying a fiery blast as Sylvie marched forward, but as she landed, the Fire Giantess didn't notice that the Casket of Ancient Winters had frozen the ground beneath her, and as she slipped and struggled to regain her balance, she slid right into the Frost Giantess's chilling grip!
Fiamma grunted in pain as the ice burned and spread around her neck, the casket amplifying the effect. As she felt her neck starting to crystallize, Fiamma swung forward and clamped her feet around Sylvie's sides, burning her in return. Sylvie fought through the pain as she maintained her frigid grasp, readying her enchantment magic, but when Fiamma suddenly spat lava onto Sylvie's strangling hand, she was forced to let go and knocked on her back with a heatbutt and knee combo!
Loki gulped as he and Mobius watched the two combatants shake off their wounds. "If she's strong enough to match the Casket of Winters without the Twilight Sword…" He pictured the scene from Beta Ray Bill's memories, the Korbinite's home galaxy going up in flames. Loki thought of the Fire Demon Surtur, who had done the same to his own home world, and shuddered at the thought of it happening again.
"Sylvie's got this." Mobius assured him. "We've both seen her win out against larger than life odds."
Loki nodded. "Yes, she is absolutely determined and… just amazing! If anyone can defeat Surtur's spawn, it's her!"
"Didn't know I could do that, did you, Jotuness? Fiamma mocked as she caught her breath. "I'd bet my oh-so-perfect sister Sindr couldn't!"
Sylvie grunted in both pain and irritation as she tried to cool down her badly scorched hand, but the burn from the lava had already done its damage. She studied her opponent, who still looked a bit shaky from the ice that once held her. "I just need one more direct hit on her, and this match is as good as mine!" Sylvie thought. "I need to catch her by surprise… think like a Loki…" She looked at the scenery around her and remembered the chunks of rock that crystallized moments before. Sylvie grinned. "That'll do."