"This... this doesn't look right." Sylvie said. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Do you know what you're doing?" Mobius asked back.
"No, I'm not the one with the manual who worked with TemPads for a living!"
"I've never actually used the manual, we had a specialist who fixed them for us. Besides, you used one on-and-off for well over a thousand years without taking it in to the repair guy, so why aren't you an expert by now?"
"Mine never needed fixing until Loki came along, and I certainly never needed to make my own until now! You're the smart analyzing numbers guy, aren't you? You worked with them for eons; how do you not know how to make one by now!?"
"I don't build things, Sylvie, I analyze them and solve mysteries by noticing little details that other people miss. I'd normally ask Casey to help me with something like this, but oh wait, he's an Atlantean now, and we'd need a TemPad to reach him!"
"You don't have to get all snippy about it."
"I do when there's a cranky expecting she-Loki breathing down my neck. Look, Loki took all the TemPads with him for a reason: he obviously has a plan, like he always does! Let's take a breather and let him carry it out."
Sylvie exhaled. "I just have a bad feeling about him is all."
Mobius nodded. "Yeah, it's probably the baby hormones, but I told you, Loki can take care of himself. Watch, he'll come back here through one of his Time Doors and greet us with some posh how-do-you-do like it's an average Tuesday for him."
"Right."
Suddenly, a Time Door appeared in the middle of the room, but instead of Loki, a black blob with green accents slunk through it.
"Is that Healer?" Sylvie noticed. "Where's Loki?"
"He's got one of our TemPads, but he's in his mini squishy form. They must have gotten separated somehow." Mobius added, waiting for him to answer her. "Huh, do you think he can only communicate through Loki?"
"It seems like it."
The blob then gave them the TemPad, showing a message that he typed while they discussed him. "It is Healer, separated from Loki! He needs your help! Knull will kill him without my healing! Come to New Asgard Earth!"
"Well, there you go! Problem solved!" Mobius said. "Lead the way!"
"Take us to Loki!" Sylvie urged. The Symbiote climbed onto her arm, bonding with her on their way out the door.
As they arrived on the battlefield, Sylvie masked their presence from their enemies as they snuck around.
"He's over there!" Sylvie's new Symbiote pointed out. "With the Thorsss and the other spellcasters!"
"Then that's where we're going!" Sylvie announced.
"So what's the plan?" Mobius asked her. "Are we gonna fight from the shadows or just bring Healer over to him?"
"Just bring me overrr to him, and I will take care of eeeverything!"
"Then we'll fight if it comes down to it." Sylvie planned.
"Fair enough."
Knull struggled against the magical bindings that held him while Loki and his brother's variants attempted to weaken him with light and lightning magic! The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak didn't hold him for long, and before Loki could open another Time Door, he burst free by his sheer strength, preparing a counterattack!
"It's just as we feared; he is even stronger than Thanos!" Wong assessed. "Even six against one doesn't give us the edge!"
"As long as he threatens the multiverse, we can't let him get either of those Symbiotes he's after!" Clea recapped.
"Much easier said than done." Stephen Strange countered. "If we didn't have these spells of light to shield us, though, we'd be long past dead, so we do owe you one for that, Detective Loki."
"You can thank me when Knull is long past dead." Loki replied. "For now, we need a plan, and we need it fast!"
"LOKI!" A female voice telepathically rang in his head from a distance.
"Sylvie!? How- what are you doing here!?"
"Don't worry, we're hidden from sight! We've brought back Healer to help you win!"
"What? What do you mean, 'brought back Healer?' Healer's here inside me, as always!"
"Yeah, I'm Healer, and I've been here with Loki the whole time! So I am very confuuused!"
"What!?" Sylvie looked down at herself. "Then who-what did I bond with?"
"Is he the Healer from this timeline?" Mobius guessed. "But why would he say he got separated from Loki when..."
The Symbiote in question then revealed himself, his head sticking out of Sylvie's back. "Hello again, 'Healer!'"
"That is not me, that is Malice!" Healer shouted.
"Why is he bonded to Sylvie?" Loki wondered. "What's he plotting?"
Malice smirked. "I'm just joining the winning side is all, and getting some well-earned revenge while I am at it!"
"What do you mean? Why have you brought them here!?"
Malice then counteracted Sylvie's active powers, revealing the presence of Loki's two loved ones. Knull watched with curiosity at what his traitorous child was planning. "This has turned into a very fortunate turn of eventsss... for me! I was cast out by my human tribe because you killed my host's child... I think it is only fair that I return the favorrr!"
Loki's eyes widened. "No! No, that's not fair! Sylvie and that child are innocent!"
"He's right, I'm the one you want revenge on, and I didn't even kill that kid on purpose!" Healer argued. "I just wanted... I was just desperate to bond with someone before I died of starvationnn, and you never helped me when I needed it!"
"Oh wah wah wahhh, I told you I do not care about you and your whiny little needs! This is about what I want, and I want you and your host to suffer!"
"Then carry out your revenge on me!" Healer proposed.
"No, not when I have this helpless little girl all nice and ready to be torn apart by my teeth!" Malice taunted. "Ohhh, that's right, you probably didn't know yet: you were having a girl!"
Sylvie focused her magic, trying to burn her Symbiote off, but he attacked her nervous system first, painfully halting her movement! "AAAH!"
"STOP!" Loki shouted. "You bastard, leave my family alone!" He moved his hands into position to summon a high frequency sound against Malice, but Knull bound his arms together with dark tendrils, closing his hands once more while his attention was on Sylvie.
"Loki!" Party Thor called while he, his variant, and the human sorcerers attempted to help him, but they stopped at Malice's warning.
"Oh no you don't! The next non-Symbiote who moves causes the death of Loki's little daughter!"
"That asshole! Maybe I could set him on fire..." Mobius silently brainstormed. "But my fire might not be strong enough to hurt him, and if it doesn't, or he dodges it, he'll kill the baby! Damn it!"
"You coward!" Red Thor growled at Malice.
"Better that than a loserrr."
"Malice, I understand you want me dead, but you must understand that my friends and I need to put an end to Knull's reign, just as you and your allies did before!" Loki reasoned. "Surely you'd rather wait for his demise than let him enslave you again!"
"No, I was wrong about hosts, every one of them. I was wrong to side with them over the creator: they are the ones who have truly caged me with their weak, fragile little bodies! I need a body of my own to be free, but even before that, I need vengeance!"
"Then take your vengeance on me! I'm the one who burned you with my flaming sword!"
"Nooo, me!" Healer argued. "Leave Loki and his family alone!"
"You really want to take her punishment, 'Healer?' Wellll... maybe if you give yourself up to the creator, I'll let these two go. You made me lose my host, I make you lose yours... suuure, that sounds fair!"
"But- but without me, Knull will kill Loki!"
"I genuinely hope so!" Malice sneered. "Unfortunately for me, you are too valuable to the creator for me to kill, so it has to be one of them. Either way, someone you care about is done forrr, so I suppose it's a win-win for me!"
"Rrrr! You must promise not to harm or kill Loki and his family, and then I will do it. Promise!"
"I promise you I will devour little... what's her name?" Malice coyly spoke as he searched Sylvie's mind. "Frigga! I will devour little Frigga if you do not surrender yourself to Knull. This is my ultimatum: either she goes or you do!"
"Healer..." Loki said, desperate to come up with an idea to save his daughter.
"I know. I wish there was another solution too, but there is no other wayyy. It is... just not worth the risk. I- I have to leave you. I'm sorry, Loki. I am sorry... for everything."
"Healer, no... I promised I wouldn't let him take you. I promised you... that you would never have to suffer alone again! This- this isn't..."
"Lokiii... I brought this on myself; I see that now. Regardless of how others view youuu, you will always be my hero; let me be your hero today."
"Healer... thank you."
Healer gulped and slithered away from his host, the unbonding process taking a moment before they were fully separated. Loki gasped, the sudden separation from him sending him into shock, and he could barely watch in horror as his partner slowly inched his way towards his creator.
"That's it... come to Father!"
"Please... do not kill my Loki."
"Still begging for that pathetic creature's life? It's almost touching, your unwavering loyalty to your captor, just like your brother's to that Brock human." He turned his head to Sylvie's womb. "Who knows? The Brock child inherited extraordinary abilities from his father's bond with my child... maybe she will in time as well? Perhaps with the right breeding, these humans may have a purpose in my new kingdom after all!" Loki tensed up at his suggestion, though Knull turned back to Healer and stretched out his arm. "But for now, I will consider your request. Come."
Healer reluctantly obeyed, latching onto Knull's hand before bonding with him, and in an instant, he was gone.
"Now get the Hel out of me!" Sylvie demanded.
"Oh nooo, I said I wouldn't hurt or kill your baby, but I didn't say I was going anywhere."
"Oh, big surprise, you're too afraid to come out!"
"Think of it this way: now that I have rejoined the creator's side, he shouldn't harm any of us as long as I am inside of you. He would not harm his child who won him the battle, would he?"
Knull's grin sank a notch at Malice. "You, won me the battle? Arrogant little opportunist, you think I could not have taken him back without your simple-minded scheme?" Knull sped in front of him and Sylvie, the latter of whom unsheathed her sword and defiantly stared him down. "I would reprimand your arrogance right now, but I have more important matters to take care of!"
Knull then focused on Detective Loki again. "Fine, maybe I don't have to kill you yet. Those hands of yours are the real nuisance!" Before anyone could react, he constricted the tendrils around Loki's hands, and they dug into them while Loki recovered from his loss!
When the ends pierced his skin, the dark energy wrought havoc inside of his arms, causing him agony as it spread and crushed his bones and tendons from the inside out!
"Loki!" His friends shouted as he seethed from the additional pain! Sylvie struggled as hard as she could, but Malice's paralysis nullified her every attempt to help her Loki!
"There, that's better, no more of those obnoxious spells from you! I'd like to see you try to heal from that without my youngest child's help, but I have a busy schedule: the next child of mine on the list is All-Black, so I will give your future variant your regards, Detective Loki!"
Knull called his dragon, flying back into the heart of Asgard, while Sylvie, Mobius, and the others rushed to Loki's side.
"Are you okay?" Sylvie asked. "What did he do to your arms?"
"Long story short, he crushed them beyond repair."
"What about the Healer from this timeline, or Grievance, or whatever he calls himself?" Mobius asked. "Could he heal your hands?"
"No, he cannot heal like yours could." Malice stated. "That is why the creator prized your Healer so much: despite his lack of fighting prowess, he was one of a kind."
"He was." Loki agreed. "Thors, follow Knull; get to my variant around the town square! I'll be fine, but he can't stop Knull with only one Thor by his side!"
"Right!" Red Thor took to the sky, with Party Thor on his tail, learning to fly without his hammer to guide him.
In the heart of Asgard, Kings Loki and Thor continued operation cloud bombers, incapacitating every foe they encountered with their elemental energy, until speeding towards them upon his dragon, Knull struck, evaporating their ride and sending the brothers hurtling down from the sky!
As they smoothed their landing, Thor with his flight and Loki with his telekinesis, Knull placed an ice cold hand on the latter's back. "Now, let's pick up where we left off; I won't promise this will be painless, only quick!"
"Right, you want that sword of yours... and just how do you plan to take it from me, by separating it from my DNA with your ancient powers of darkness?" King Loki snarked, masking his terror.
"Oh no, don't be ridiculous." Knull coyly teased. "I'm just going to pull out your spine."
"Not while I'm here, you won't!" Thor threatened, his body and axe crackling with electricity! "This ends here and now!"