King Poseidon Aegaeus was pleased to see the Time Detectives return to his palace once more, especially with his Loki and his most trusted servant.
"Ah, so you've really brought me my youngest son this time, or did he bring you?"
"Father, we really need to talk." Loki Aegaeus responded. "First of all, you have some nerve sending detectives to snoop on your own son! You treat me as if I'm some sort of criminal, when all I've done is go to a party, have a good time, and fall in love!"
"Oh Loki, don't be so dramatic, I only want to know who the mother of my future grandchild is; I'm not trying to imprison you or put you on a torture rack! Two hundred and seventy two years old and still in his moody teenage phase, I swear-"
"And it's stressful enough for me with my first baby on the way without having to deal with these foreign spies sticking their noses into my business!"
"I asked you myself, but you refused to tell me. It's not as if I can read your mind! Well Son, are you finally going to tell me?"
"Yes, I am going to tell you." Loki sassed. "Just don't overreact yourself when I tell you, Father."
"Do not speak to me as if I am the dramatic adolescent here, just tell me."
"Fine. At Uncle Zeus's orgy, I fell for Eris, goddess of chaos and discord, and she's the one who's going to be the mother of my child." Ozoa and the detectives shot him a perplexed look, but he paid them no mind and continued the tall tale. "I didn't want to bring a load of commotion, all the gossip and fear that would emerge from the deities of mischief and chaos having a child together."
"He's protecting Ozoa from his father? Or is he just twisting the situation to his advantage so he has a valid excuse to be with Eris?" Mobius whispered.
"More than likely both." Detective Loki answered.
"More than likely." Mobius and Sylvie both replied.
"Discord…" Poseidon gasped.
"The one and only." Poseidon glanced at the talking dolphin, recognizing her voice, and she playfully waved her fin in response.
He sighed. "Out of all the fair goddesses, Atlanteans, and mortals, you would have to choose the troublemaker, wouldn't you?"
"And I'd gladly choose her again, given any chance! So, now that you know the story, what will you do? Will you allow her to be with me, or are you going to try to take her from me?"
Poseidon paused, and then he handed the detectives a sack of Atlantean gold. "Detectives, you may return to your time: your services are no longer required."
"No thank you, we came to help you with your family matters, and we intend to stay until they are resolved." Detective Loki refused.
Poseidon pointed his trident at them. "I said leave, or I will force you to."
Detective Loki and Sylvie raised their hands defensively in response. "You can try, but we can shapeshift at will."
"And we're masters of Asgardian magic: we can defend ourselves if need be."
"Wait!" Atlantean Loki raised a hand to divert their attention. "I do have a solution to our family dispute: you wouldn't refuse me a good contest, would you, Father?"
"What sort of contest?"
His Loki smiled. "A Contest of Chaos, I call it. The objective is simple: each of us will attempt to woo the mortals by whatever means we see fit, and whoever wins over the most mortals shall win. I aim to prove that chaotic gifts can be just as loved as more traditional ones."
"Well that… that sounds like fun. You little scamp, you know I can't refuse a good challenge! So, what are your conditions?"
"If I win, Eris can stay here and you won't touch her, agreed?"
Poseidon raised his brow aghast. "I had no intention of touching anyone! I only intended to turn into a horse and chase your little lady around a bit: no harm done."
"Well no chasing either!" His Loki demanded. "None of your horseplay, please, Father."
"Very well. And if I win, what would you offer your old man?" Poseidon pondered for a moment. "I know: if I win, you stop sneaking off to visit your uncle Hades."
"What? Why?"
"Because you're picking up his sarcastic attitude, that's why! He's just a bad influence on you!"
"He's not a bad guy, he only has a bad job!" Atlantean Loki argued.
"Do we have a wager?"
His son Loki hummed. "It seems now I have two family members to endear to you; indeed we do!"
The participating Atlanteans and detectives ventured back to the surface, and Poseidon reverted Casey to his more humanoid form as his friends did the same. Ozoa watched her king and prince from the water, while the detectives joined Loki Aegaeus.
"After you, Father."
Poseidon grinned. "Let your old man show you how it's done!" As he entered the nearest European village, he searched around for inspiration, and he came to a halt as he found an enormous stable, full of strong, beautiful horses. "This could work… the underground sea I bestowed upon the people of Athens in my last contest wasn't as well-received as I'd hoped, but this… yes, they're going to love this!"
The Atlantean king commanded the water from the seas to form a showy vortex around him, and he used it to spin an impressive entrance for all the villagers to see. "Good people, I am Poseidon, god of oceans, storms, earthquakes, and horses, and I have come to your village today to bestow upon you a magnificent gift, as part of a spirited competition between Loki, my youngest son, and myself! Behold!"
Poseidon raised his trident in the air, and a magnificent burst of energy was released! It traveled in the direction of the stable and scattered over the horses, enveloping them in a bright blue glow. When it faded, he led the horses to the surrounding waters, where they galloped across the surface of the sea as smoothly as on a paved road. The people were amazed at the gift, and they called their horses back to them, riding the waves on their backs.
"This is amazing!" They exclaimed as their steeds carried them to the other side.
"Now we don't have to waste time preparing the boats to cross the rivers!"
"Best gift ever!"
Poseidon grinned. "I've learned from my last competition; there's no way I can lose with this one!"
"We'll see." Atlantean Loki replied, hiding his discouragement.
Many of the horse owners of the village continued to cheer, but suddenly, a few others began to shout after their animals, who crossed the water without them to escape to their freedom.
"Our horses… they're running away over the rivers and oceans!"
"How will we ever catch them now!?"
"Great Poseidon, please do something! Bring our horses back!"
Poseidon laughed and shook his head. "Can't you mortals do anything for yourselves? How embarrassing, you can't tame your own horses! I'm not about to do all the work for you!"
As the people continued to beg for help, Atlantean Loki's eyes flashed with an idea. "If you're finished with them, Father, I believe I'm ready to take my turn."
"Be my guest."
His Loki nodded and approached the horses that remained in the village. "Good people, allow me, Prince Loki Aegaeus of Atlantis, to aid you in solving this dilemma!" He fired up his magic, which enveloped the horses in green. He then faced one of them, looking it in the eyes. "Excuse me, lovely mare, but could you and your friends please convince the more wayward horses to return to the village? There's a big bag of carrots and apples in it for you if you do!"
"Carrots AND apples!?" The mare repeated back in the same language. "Everyone, let's go round up our neigh-bors!" The people gasped upon hearing this, and their animals left toward the waters and called out to the others in horse speak, beckoning them with the promise of the treats.
"You have given our horses the ability to speak and understand the language of men?"
"Yes I have, though you might want to be more mindful of what you say around them, as they won't take to insults or abuse as kindly as they did before."
The people exchanged looks, and while they began to excitedly discuss what they could make of his gift, the horses all came running back to their owners.
"What a glorious day!" One of the owners shouted. "Talking horses that can run on water?! We'll be the most powerful, prosperous village in the world!"
"Thank you, great Poseidon and Loki!"
"Our horses are-" The man was cut off as he noticed his horses ransacking his house for food. "Hey, what are you doing? Get out of there!"
"No, you promised us carrots and apples for our help." One of the stallions argued.
"You cannot just take what you want! We are your owners!"
"We can now: we both understand each other now, and we don't think you're so superior to us anymore! From now on, you don't order us around anymore: we make fair compromises, alright?"
"What!?"
The other horses were all agreed on this, taking the best of their humans' food for themselves as their owners complained and tried to argue, but they were equally stubborn. Some of the horses even began to drink their wine, emptying the bottles one by one.
"Well, it looks to be a tie so far!" Eris remarked. "Kudos on the discord and chaos, Atlanteans, you're making me want to join in on the fun, but still, it's nice to watch someone else stir up trouble too! Shall I suggest a tiebreaker?"
"But they prefer my gift to Loki's." Poseidon stated.
"They did not!" Loki countered. "If it wasn't for mine, these people wouldn't have ever been able to retrieve their steeds!"
"But they only had trouble with a handful of them running away; thanks to you, now all of their horses have rebelled against them!"
"Ngh, these mortals… they're impossible!"
"They are, aren't they?"
"I just need to… I… I need…" Loki clutched his abdomen in pain. "URGHHH! The baby!"
"Now!?"
"YES!"
"The contest…" The Atlantean king turned to the villagers, who were still arguing with their talking horses, and to his son, who was taking deep, heavy breaths as the contractions pained him. "The contest will resume after my grandchild is born. Ozoa, you and the other servants bring Loki back to Atlantis at once! I will inform the doctors of his arrival."
"Right away, Your Majesty!" She began to help Loki back to Diplókeros, but Sylvie swiftly approached them.
"We can get him there quicker." Sylvie offered. She opened a portal to Atlantis with her TemPad. "Right this way through the shortcut."
"What happened… hah, to wanting to yank out my vocal cords?" Atlantean Loki sassily reminded her.
"That was just to scare the piss out of you. You wouldn't harm a pregnant woman: admittedly, I feel the same in your case."
Atlantean Loki narrowed his eyes. "Was that an insult?"
"Only if you choose to take it as one."
He cocked his head, weakly smiled, and nodded in appreciation as the servants helped him through the portal, while Detective Loki brought him his narwhal, and he disappeared into one of the grand buildings.
"Whoa, that was sudden! Should we do something?" Casey asked his friends.
"Don't look at me." Sylvie replied. "This is the closest I've been to a newborn baby."
"Mobius?"
"Ahhh, that was a long time ago, and there's nothing I could help him with that the Atlantean doctors wouldn't do much better!"
"Then… then we can help him here, with the contest!"
"The contest? Wouldn't that be cheating?" Mobius asked.
Detective Loki smirked and shook his head. "The contest is specifically between Poseidon and Loki: that includes me, does it not?"
Sylvie smirked with him. "I suppose that includes me as well! Time for us to make some real mischief together!"
"Indeed. If there's anything we've taken away from this case, it's that gods and mortals alike love to party, so let's give these mortals something to dance to. Any requests, my dear Sylvie?"
"I can think of a few real bangers I've heard across time. You probably have a few Asgardian toe-tappers like you sang on Lamentis."
"It might be best to have a mix of genres." Mobius suggested. "Too much of the future or the past at a time could cause problems, even without nexus events."
"Right." Loki's mind then flashed back to his last conversation with Doctor Strange and Wong. "By any chance, do you know any songs by a woman called Beyonce?"
"I do!" Casey admitted. "I even have a playlist of hers on my TemPad."
"Well then, let the music resound!" Loki listened to the different hits that were recommended to him, and then he used his magical powers to play them in the heads of the village folk, one group at a time. They started out with the Asgardian music, easing into the process with songs from a closer time period, and while many of the mortals were frightened at the sounds with no instruments or singers present, they soon began to dance like crazy!
In a matter of minutes, the majority of the people in the village began to dance, and even the naughty horses pranced around them, no one knowing or caring why or where the music came from anymore: they only felt the ecstasy of the moment as they danced their cares away!