Case 11: An Ice Cold Reception
As the young woman was carried on horseback through the snowy mountains of Norway to the safety and warmth of the castle, her red hair turning white in the process, the detectives watched in concern.
"Yes, this is much different than the Snow Queen story I read 167 years ago!" Loki remarked.
"It was only inspired by The Snow Queen: we call it Frost, though the Americans who made the movie call it Frozen." Røskva told him. "I can't believe the story's that old!"
"It is: I got the book as a present for the Christmas after my 879th birthday." Loki bragged. "Mother even had it signed by H.C. Andersen himself to surprise me!"
"Whoa! Did H.C. Andersen know that the infamous Loki was a fan of his!?"
"I doubt he'd have known it was the real me, probably just suspected my mother was a fan of Norse mythology."
"You really do have the sweetest mom." Sylvie complimented. "No wonder you want to name the baby after her so much." She put a hand to her chin. "Speaking of the baby, you have any ideas what you'd want to name a boy, just in case?"
"Actually, I have decided. I'd like to name our child after my mother, regardless of what gender he or she turns out to be. If it seems more appropriate, I could name our boy something like Friggir."
Sylvie smiled. "Sounds good to me."
"By the way, I meant to ask you…" Røskva's dad glanced at the Muspel trio, who shared a bowl of Muspeppers as they watched the animated film. "Why are these guys here again?"
"I hope they don't burn my couch!" Røskva's mom expressed.
"Oh, Fiamma, the princess of Muspelheim, still has her lump-of-coal heart set on matching herself with a Loki, and since our last case, she's started following us."
"So you don't leave me out of another Loki meeting like you did with your last case." Fiamma clarified.
"And we're here because the goddesses of thunder found out our sister was broken out of prison, and we had to leave our universe so they can't find us!" Logi explained. "Those girls are relentless!"
"My grandnieces." Loki told the Madsens.
"Hence another reason for us to follow you around: the sooner Fia finds a match, the sooner we don't have to any longer." Logi swallowed a handful of peppers, offering them to Loki. "Muspepper?"
Loki winced. "No thank you! I still remember the last time you made me eat those volcano seeds, and I am truly thankful that it was the last time!"
"You got that right!" Healer telepathically agreed. "If you didn't have meee in you back then, those demon peppers would have killed you for certain!"
"Oh Healer, you exaggerate."
"I do not, they are naturally poisonous to your Jotun biology: if I hadn't been expelling the poison, you would have diiied!" Loki gulped. "Feel bad about trying to get rid of me now?"
"You're one to talk, that frozen dairy disaster you fed me not only made me sick, it gave me a stomachache for the rest of the day!" Logi responded. "Didn't it, Gnista?"
Gnista continued to watch the movie, ignoring him.
"Hey, you got soot in your ears, Gnista? Tell him!"
"Shhh!"
Logi rolled his eyes at his sister, and they all continued to watch the movie until Mobius's TemPad rang, which prompted irritated protests from those around him.
"Yeah yeah, this isn't a movie theater!" Mobius grumbled. "Time Detectives, on your case!"
"Detectives, it's an emergency!" A familiar voice answered him. "My brother has gone missing: no one can find him anywhere!"
Mobius sighed. "You've gotta be kidding me; haven't you learned your lesson with the prank calls, Loki?"
"Uh, oookay? This isn't a prank call, but how do you know me by my voice? Do I know you, gumshoe?"
Mobius furrowed his brow and checked the readings from his screen. "Oh wait, you're not Loki Simpson, you're from a completely different universe! Sorry about that, there's a doppelgänger of you we know from another universe that made an annoying habit of prank calling us a few months back, and I mistook you for him. So, you said your brother is missing? I assume you mean Thor?"
"That's him, my brother from another mother! His friends informed me today that he's been missing for three weeks! They said they saw his hammer somewhere in one of the enchanted forests of Alfheim, but they need help finding him! Even old eagle-eyes Heimdall can't see him!"
"Wow, you don't say! Then we'll meet you in Alfheim, alright? Okay, goodbye." Mobius hung up. "Did you hear that, Lokes, a variant of your brother is missing; another variant of you just told me so!"
"So the legendary Thor himself needs rescuing?" Røskva summarized. "That's a twist!"
Loki stretched as he got up from the couch. "Well Røskva, when you've lived as long and seen as much multiversal weirdness as I have, at this point nothing would surprise me!" He walked to the door, but as he turned his head to say farewell, the next scene of the film caught his attention.
"Oh Anna." Prince Hans cupped her chin, seemingly about to kiss the dying princess, until he released her with a smirk. "If only there was someone out there who loved you."
Loki's mouth hung open in shock and he turned back to the film. What?! Had he heard that wrong? It must be some mistake, a wrong line or dubbing error, perhaps! He sped back to his seat, his eyes glued to the screen as the traitorous prince revealed his diabolical plan!
"Uh, Loki, we've got a case, let's go!" Loki didn't seem to hear Mobius as he called. "Loki, your brother needs your help!"
"Uh-huh-"
"Loki, for Odin's sake, it's a movie: we can play it back from where we left off when we get back!"
"Yes, Father…" Loki blankly replied, still refusing to part his gaze from the screen.
"Leave this to me." Sylvie offered. She opened a Time Door to December 16th of 2011 beside her fiancé. "If you can't bring the detective to the door-" She teleported to his other side and tossed him through the Time Door. "-bring the door to the detective!" She leapt through after him, followed by Mobius and the Fire Giants as Røskva and her family waved goodbye.
As they reached their rendezvous point, they immediately spotted their client Loki, who towered above the detective trio as any Frost Giant would! Contrary to Detective Loki's previous boast, they were all very surprised to see this Loki with icy blue skin, tribal markings, piercing red eyes, and a tall crown of ice atop his head, wearing only a green cloth around his waist, fingerless gloves, knee-high boots, an ornamental green necklace, and a long green cape.
"Now that's what I call a Loki!" Fiamma exclaimed.
The Jotun Loki looked down at his variant. "So this must be the 'doppelgänger' your friend spoke of over the phone? Hello, handsome! Are you single?"
"Actually, he's a different variant than I was talking about." Mobius clarified. "This Loki is my partner in the detective business, and he's also my adopted son."
"And no, I'm spoken for by another Loki, as fate would have it." Detective Loki added, gazing up at his counterpart. "And you… how did you get so tall!?"
"Uhhh… puberty?" Jotun Loki sheepishly answered.
"Well yes, but no, I mean… were you… were you not born small?"
"Everyone is born small: that's how birth works, genius! Unless…" Jotun Loki gasped. "You're a clone!?"
Detective Loki facepalmed. "No, I'm not a clone, you-! What I'm asking is, were you raised on Jotunheim by Laufey?"
"Was I, Loki Laufeyson, crowned prince of Jotunheim, a 12-and-a-half foot tall blue giant, raised by Laufey on Jotunheim? Dang, we've got a real detective on our hands here!"
Detective Loki scowled. "Sheathe your sarcasm and let me explain: you said Thor is your brother, did you not?"
"I did."
"So that means Laufey must have raised Thor alongside you, correct?"
"What? Oh no, we're not blood-related brothers: he's my brother from another mother. But what about you: why do you look Asgardian?"
"Ah, let me just start at the beginning: when I was born, Laufey abandoned me because I was born a runt. Or at least that's what Odin told me."
"Odin?"
"Yes, he adopted me before Mobius re-adopted me, but for most of my life, he made me believe I was Asgardian by changing my form, until I found out I was Jotun for myself."
"Ohhh, no wonder you're so confused! And that explains why you're so serious… and tiny: did you know we Jotuns can shrink if we're exposed to warmer climates for too long? At least that's what my dad's warned me about to keep me from staying out too long."
Detective Loki slowly nodded. "And your mother? What's she like?"
"She… she died when I was little. I remember… she had the most beautiful singing voice…"
"I'm so sorry."
"Then I guess both of us have something in common." Sylvie spoke up. "I was raised by Odin and Frigga too, but I was taken from them as a little girl, and they were both erased from existence not long after."
"Erased from existence?!" Loki Laufeyson repeated. "That's some freaky sad backstory you've got!" He cleared his throat. "By any chance are you single?"
"I'm the Loki he's spoken for!" She replied, gesturing to Detective Loki. "But we have a nice single Fire Giantess here who'd love to get to know you."
"But we'd best focus on finding your brother first." Mobius reminded him.
"Right. Well, little Asgardian me's, let me take you to where Thor's friends found Mjolnir!"
As the crowned Jotun prince led the Time Detectives and company through the enchanted forest, Sif and the Warriors Three approached from the opposite direction.
"Ah, there he is!" Volstagg exclaimed as he saw Loki. "What in blazes has taken him so long?"
"The question is, who are those people he brought with him?" Hogun wondered.
"Shall we go and find out?" Fandral proposed.
"I thought you'd never ask!" Lady Sif replied, marching ahead of her friends towards the detectives.
"Hey Asgardian quartet, I've hired these detectives to help us find Tiny Thunder!" Jotun Loki greeted them.
"Oh, isn't that… resourceful."
"Right? Alrighty detectives, let's get cracking on this case!" The Warriors Three looked nervously between each other and Sif as Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie inspected the scene.
"What do we tell them? They're likely to be quite miffed when they find out!"
"Sh! How was I supposed to know he would go and hire detectives?"
"They'll spoil everything!"
"I knew we should have kept an eye on him. Let's just keep watch for now and see what happens."