President Loki returned to the White House with the security camera footage of their suspect.

"Good news, my replacement hand is working smoothly: not only was I able to swipe the footage from one of the busiest shopping centers in the world, I even picked out this little jewel for myself without anyone realizing!" Loki bragged, holding out a little emerald crown for his vice president to see.

"Why do you need to steal?" Verity Willis responded. "You're the president: you could buy that easily on your salary."

Loki clicked his tongue condescendingly. "Darling, beggars steal out of need; tricksters steal for fun!"

Verity raised an eyebrow. "If only my job was that exciting... well, we've got a bunch of guys from over the years that have the both right physical characteristics and mental abilities. Ahura Boltagon, Akihiro, Benjamin Deeds, Daniel Rand…"

"Splendid! You pull them up, I'll play the footage, and we can compare them side-by-side."

"Yeah, let's see what this lady whisperer looks like."

Loki started the video, displaying the dark-haired man while he talked the shopkeepers into giving him and his posse of ladies a load of free goods, and Loki paused the film as it closed in one his face. "Does he match any of the profiles you found?"

Verity scrolled down the list. "Ummm... no, he doesn't look like any of these guys. Now what?"

"Now..." Loki put a hand to his chin. "If he wasn't in Earth's database... he must be in the database of another world! Let me at that computer..." President Loki took Verity's place at the computer and typed quickly yet meticulously for many minutes until many other databases were imported onto the screen. "Just a bit of Asgardian-level hacking, and voila, your search field has been widened to the horizon!"

"Wow, you do have a knack for human technology! Kinda scary thinking of all the ways you could take over the world."

Loki smiled. "Indeed. But first, we need remove my competition, so let us find this would-be Loki with haste!"

Verity sighed and scanned the databases for anyone whose appearance matched the screenshots from the footage. Loki grabbed a computer and searched with her this time, determined to prove himself. After over an hour of no results, she turned to Loki again. "What was your friend's name?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your friend who was vaporized in front of you: what was their name?"

President Loki was silent for a long moment. "You aren't going to let me alone until I talk about her, are you?"

"Correct."

Loki sighed. "Her name was Erin; I met her during my initial campaign in the universe I originated from, the one that was erased from existence. Allow me to start from the beginning. After my falling out with Asgard, due to my attempt to end the war with Jotunheim and save our people by annihilating the Frost Giants, apparently 'the wrong way' when I do it, I fell into a wormhole, which transported me to a frightful place I won't dare mention! After my narrow escape, I made my way to Midgard, specifically America. Naturally, my oaf of a brother found out..."

"Loki, what are you doing here on Earth!?" Thor questioned his brother, speaking to him through Heimdall's powers, in the flashback. "I thought you dead... we all did!"

"Sorry to disappoint you. I usually reserve that sentiment for Odin."

"Disappoint... what? Have you come seeking revenge, then!?"

"On the contrary, I have come seeking redemption... a fresh start. I know what I did to you was wrong, Brother, and I would like to make amends."

"Then come home, Brother. Make those amends at home with your family!"

"I have no home; Odin has told you of my true heritage, has he not? I'm not one of you. But for your past crimes, you were fortunate enough to be banished here among friendly Midgardians who helped set you back on the right path, correct? With any luck, perhaps I can do the same here, find the same peace among the humans that you have. Who knows, maybe I'll even find a Midgardian maiden of my own?"

"Loki..." Thor shook his head. "I am glad you are remorseful and want to make peace again, but..."

"You wish to return here yourself to see your sweetheart, but you require my knowledge of the hidden passageways across realms to do so, with the Bifrost destroyed."

"...Right."

"Wrong! Not if you use the Tesseract to rebuild the Rainbow Bridge, and I just happen to know who has it! I'll retrieve Odin's treasure for you, and we can both come and go from this realm as we please once the repairs are finished! Think about it, Thor, you won't have to choose between being king of Asgard and being with your woman, and you and Mother and everyone else who wishes to can visit me whenever they please; it is, as the people here term, a win-win!"

Thor pondered his little brother's idea and sighed. "Your silver tongue is sharp as ever, Brother. Very well; return the Tesseract to Father- our father- and we have a deal."

"And so, I lived for over 15 years among the citizens of Minnesota, as it reminded me of Asgard the most of the then 50 states. I learned much of your culture, including that the requirements for becoming your leader were all achievable! That was when I met Erin Greenburg: she was a genealogist I met at the library while researching the position, and she was actually the one who helped me discover how I came to be in Alaska as a baby and showed me how to find my family history and get it certified! Eventually, I made Erin my campaign manager, taking advantage of her helpfulness and friendliness. And then she showed me the fun aspects of American culture, such as ice cream, pizza, movies, video games, and karaoke, and over the years, we grew close: closer than I've ever been with... anyone, save my mother and brother! And that's when they came..."

"The guys that arrested you?"

"Yes, the TVA: just before the election results came in, they assaulted me with their time-manipulation weapons and... struck Erin down right in front of me." President Loki recalled the look of horror on his face as he watched his friend painfully vanish before his eyes. "They took me to be judged... told me I was supposed to live my life as the villain of everyone else's story until I died at the hands of Thanos, the monster who tormented me in that frightful place I mentioned. They sent Erin to the void at the end of time to be devoured by a monster, merely because she was my friend, that it was a crime against the 'sacred timeline' for a Loki to have a friend, and my doing so erased her from existence!"

"That's horrible! They're the ones who killed your friend, and then they gaslight you into believing it was your fault?!" Verity paused to take it all in while Loki tried to mask his surprise over her understanding and concern. "So... how did you escape?"

"They sent me to the void like they did with Erin, but I escaped the timeline-devouring monster and survived there by my own wits. I gathered an army of fellow Lokis from other universes; I told them my nexus event, the timeline-breaking crime I committed, was becoming president, another lie to prove myself, and after they betrayed me, following a few betrayals of my own, I decided that I was done trusting everyone, even myself! So I escaped yet again after the multiversal war to this timeline, long after the death of everyone I ever cared about, so I could forget them all and chase the power I desired, and now..."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want your sympathy!"

"Yes, you do. You've been wanting someone to hear your story, to understand and empathize with you, but you were afraid to trust anyone since Erin, am I right? I understand; I never had any friends growing up either."

"Naturally, you didn't want to be around liars, like myself. I get that." President Loki presumed.

"Not just because I was lied to, but because no one wanted a friend who couldn't be lied to or fooled. No one wanted someone around them who wouldn't lie or cover for them, who would tell them hard truths they don't want to hear instead of comforting lies, who was such a know-it-all... without ever trying to be..."

"Hm, that's rather ironic... I never had any friends as a kid for the exact opposite reasons: no one wanted a lying trickster, a troublemaker, a 'cowardly spellcaster' as a friend in a strapping society of warriors. You, on the other hand, might have enjoyed growing up on Asgard: the Asgardians valued straightforwardness among their list of virtues, in spite of their own duplicitous, hypocritical king."

Verity snorted. "Well, they sound like a bunch of elitist jerks! That must be where you got your stuck-up attitude from."

Loki held back a chuckle. "From Odin, for the most part; you're quite insightful. In actuality, you remind me a bit of Erin. You're the only person I've been able to honestly talk to since her... maybe it's the glasses?"

"Or maybe it's the fact that you literally can't lie to me."

"Well, I'll admit that helps. But what about you... can you yourself lie?"

She frowned. "I've tried- lying to myself, that I'm fine alone, that I'm happy. But... I can never fully convince myself."

Loki nodded back. After another bout of silence, he spoke again. "Despite our opposing talents, we seem to have a good deal in common. Who knows, perhaps if we grew up on the same world... we might have become friends?"

Verity shrugged. "Maybe. I don't see why we can't now." Almost believing her, President Loki looked Verity in the eyes for a second. She did the same.

Both of them then suddenly turned back to their monitors. "Okay, back to the manhunt..."

"Right."

The unlikely duo continued to work at finding their culprit, eliminating countless names from world upon world. As the hours passed by, they were suddenly interrupted by Verity's stomach rumbling, and President Loki's stomach soon grumbled back in consensus.

"Well, that's at least one part of the body that is always truthful!" Loki quipped. "Shall we order ourselves some pizza pies?"

Verity chuckled. "I thought you'd never ask! Hey, have you ever tried a mac and cheese stuffed crust pizza?"

"Macaroni in a pizza?" Loki repeated. "No, but the thought does pique my curiosity... my favorite flavor has pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, olives, onions and peppers... so many tasty toppings on one pizza... how about one of each?"

"Sounds good to me."

After a great deal of security inspection, the pizzas were successfully delivered. Before they both grabbed a slice of each variety, Verity rolled down her sleeves, and Loki noticed an array of bright green tattoos on her arms. They featured a bed of roses, with a beautiful woman with dark wings on her back hovering over them.

"Those are lovely tattoos; my favorite color, even." Loki complimented. "Is that a sprite emerging from those roses, maybe a fairy or pixie, or perhaps a forest nymph?"

"A combination of them. I know, you're probably surprised at me getting tattoos of creatures that aren't real... wait, you just gave me a genuine compliment!?"

"Are you that astonished? I was known as Silvertongue back home for a reason! Oh, and they're all real: fairies, nymphs, sprites, pixies, and much more!"

"They are?"

"They are indeed, mostly found in the realm of Alfheim, but I've heard some lucky souls here have seen rare glimpses of those visiting the forests of Earth!" Loki recounted. He took a bite of the macaroni and cheese pizza. "Mmm, that is delicious!"

"I know, right? Why did it take them so long to make this a restaurant-wide pizza topping!?"

"No idea, but it is my new favorite! And nothing beats a stuffed crust!"

"Nothing!" Verity affirmed. "So, your favorite color is green?"

"It is, it's the same color as my magic, see?" President Loki's hands lit up with a bright green aura, and he juggled a green ball of magical energy after finishing his next slice of pizza.

"You're president, you have Asgardian-level strength, you're a master thief, you hack, sing, and do magic... you're pretty talented!" Verity complimented.

"Thank you. The magic juggling bit always impressed Erin as well."

Verity thought for a moment after she took another bite. "Erin... you said her last name was Greenburg, right?"

"I did, what of it?"

"It's just that the first missing woman the detectives investigated had the last name Greenburg too." She pulled up the file. "Tiffany... do you think she could be any relation?"

Loki paused his chewing. He searched the family on a genealogy website, using the skills his friend taught him to find her family history, and sure enough, he discovered the two were indeed related.

"She's Erin's great great great great granddaughter..." He bit his lip. "Come on, let's find the cretin who took her from her family!"

Verity nodded. They finished their pizza while resuming their online search until finally, Verity found a match!

"I found him!" She exclaimed. "His name is Eros, and it says here he has the ability to manipulate people's emotions just by being near them. 'His powers stimulate the pleasure center of a person's brain, making them calm and euphoric, and when he makes eye contact with someone, it causes them to fall in love with him.' Creepy..."

"Agreed. Which planet does he hail from?"

"He's from the planet Titan, son of A'Lars and brother of..." Verity's eyes widened as she read the name. "Thanos."

President Loki froze, his eyes unconsciously blinking in trepidation upon hearing that name. "Thanos... Thanos has a brother!?"

"Apparently. He doesn't look like him... oh, it says he was adopted by Thanos's family when he was created."

"Created?"

"Yeah, he was a part of a super-powered group called the Eternals, created and put on a bunch of different planets to serve something called a Celestial, before they broke up. But adopted or not, he still has god-level empathetic powers, especially if he really did turn the other Loki and his team to his side! What kind of strategy could we use to beat someone we can't even get close to?"

Loki put his hands into his pockets and stared at the ceiling. "I honestly don't know. Besides that, we don't know where he is anymore, and we have no known method to track him. ...I need time to think up a plan."

"Alright. Hmmm... for now, I could contact Detective Loki's sick friend and tell him what happened, just in case he starts to wonder about them." A look of realization then hit Verity. "Oh, and we'll need to make sure any attacks we throw at this Eros guy can't put Sylvie and her baby in danger!"

"Yes, that could turn problematic... if Eros is anything like his brother, he could use the pregnant Mrs. Loki as a shield while she remains infatuated with him. Yes, I absolutely think it would be best if you inform the therapy mortal of the situation, Verity! Perhaps he could even help us track down his friends, if he's feeling up to it?"

Verity nodded and dialed the Time Detectives' number, hoping he would be well enough to answer as her partner silently brainstormed ideas.