"Then it's now or never: we must strike while Gorr is weakened!" Thor exclaimed.
"But we need a plan first; for all we know, he could be setting up an ambush for us, and if not, he's far too fast and powerful for us to rush in blindly!" Detective Loki protested. "Besides, we can't leave New Asgard unprotected while these monsters run amok! Fandral, Bill, Fiamma, you stay here while we finish off the butcher. Maui, Sylvie, King Loki, we're going to create a glorious illusion together!"
"What about me?" Mobius wondered.
"Return to the Null-Time Zone; I'll bring you back once it's safe."
"Lo, you can't sideline me! I can fight: you taught me, remember?"
"Mo, earlier this week I saw you cut yourself on a piece of paper!"
"That… was one time-"
"A piece of paper, Mobius! You're too… human! Um, no offense, Mighty Thor."
"I'm your partner in crime-solving: we look out for each other!" Mobius pressed. "You've seen how crazy strong Gorr is, Loki: he could kill any of us in an instant! If anything, I'll be safer than anyone, since I'm not godlike."
"And if he changes his mind, as with the Asgardians? No, I already let Sprite die: I won't make the same mistake with you."
"He won't get the chance with me." Mobius disappeared through a TemPad door and returned with The Brazier of Bom'Galiath, confidently holding the cannon upright. "Cuz we're gonna burn him to the ground!"
Detective Loki smirked, shaking his head while King Loki pouted enviously. "You must stay hidden, no matter what. Use any cover you can, even if it's me, do you understand?"
Mobius nodded as Thor also made an envious frown. "Got it: fight sneaky, like a Loki!"
"Like a Loki!"
"That goes double for you, Loki." Sylvie added. "You make Grievance shield you if he has to."
"I will." Grievance said out loud, reappearing in full view, and King Loki jumped backwards as he saw the terrifying Symbiote coming out of his variant's back. "I love him more than all of you do."
"What in Odin's name is that creature!?" King Loki asked.
"Grievance is an alien Symbiote from the planet Klyntar, like All-Black, except he can't corrupt my mind, and he's on our side."
One of the Asgardians added, "It ate the Valkyrie king's brain!"
"She wasn't using it!"
"Yes, he has an appetite for brains, but I won't allow him to harm any of us! Like he just said, he won't eat your brain if you're still using it." Detective Loki assured them, yet he turned and gave Thor a concerned look afterwards. "Although, you might want to wear a helmet, Brother."
Thor glowered at him. "You keep that up and you'll need Grievance to pull your head out of your ribcage, Brother!"
King Loki made a disturbed face. "And… does All-Black eat brains as well?"
"…does he?" Detective Loki asked Grievance.
"No: only the awesome Symbiotes eat brains." They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"So…" Sylvie began. "…are we all in?"
"I don't know…" Detective Loki crossed his arms and faced his fiancée. "I might need some incentive to survive this…"
"Hm, I guess great Lokis do think alike." Sylvie smirked as they kissed for a good long moment, and the other Loki averted his eyes. "Well, it worked for me. You?"
"Oh, yes!"
"I'm going back to Mount Olympus to protect my followers." Hercules said.
"Sif, Korg, Miek, Guardians, you guys defend New Asgard with the others!" Thor commanded. "Jane?" She nodded, ready to fight by him.
"…Loki, wait!"
"What now, Grievance?"
"I need to tell you All-Black's other weakness: if you directly bombard him with a sound between 4000 and 6000 Hertz in frequency, it should momentarily separate him from his current host!"
"And why didn't you inform me of this weakness before our earlier battles?"
"Because it is a weakness we both share. I was afraid you would use that weakness to get rid of me."
"Ah, a logical conclusion, I'll admit, but we're in this together now! We can work around it."
Detective Loki extended his hand, and Mobius placed his on top, followed by Sylvie and the others, piling their arms in a team fashion. After they made their plan of attack, King Loki tucked his hair back into his horned helmet and opened a green portal for them to the area he'd seen All-Black and Gorr. Maui and the three Lokis combined their magic before they entered the lair under the cover of darkness.
"Ahhh, you've done well to bring me the sons of Odin." Gorr complimented the dark creatures that held Thor and Loki, who appeared to be badly bleeding and barely conscious. "I want to finish these two off myself." He looked around maliciously at the minions of darkness. They drew near him, but Gorr instantly slashed at the dark, disguised monsters instead of the Odinson illusions, and they were forced to duck the blade. "A fair try, but I have an unbreakable bond not only with All-Black, but with its offspring! You cannot fool my senses with your optical illusions, Loki, god of mischief and magic."
The dark creatures looked at each other, and Detective Loki undid the illusion, revealing them to be himself and his brother, along with Sylvie and Jane. "Well, so much for that plan, Brother, but at least he's learned my proper title!"
"That's fine by me, Brother!" Thor eagerly stated. "I'd much rather cut him into electrocuted pieces anyhow!"
"Time to kick some god butcher ass!" Sylvie exclaimed, cracking her knuckles.
"And smash his creepy sword into scraps!" Mighty Thor followed.
Thor and Loki exchanged proud expressions just before the team aimed their combined fire and lightning assault at Gorr. He shifted All-Black's form into a full-body shield and fired back a flurry of swords, but they passed harmlessly through the four fighters. Gorr looked around him, and instead of the warriors of Asgard, he saw an army of Thors and Lokis around him, all preparing their elemental attacks. Even the setting around them changed from the dark of the cave to a bright, sunny beach-like atmosphere, despite them being miles underground!
"This trick again?" Gorr showered them all with a barrage of Necroswords, but they were all stopped by an invisible barrier of flame, which not only pushed the dark blades back at Gorr, but it forced him to shield himself again as the fiery walls engulfed him. The shrouded Detective Loki, Sylvie, and Frelsir kept up their fiery forces against their foe, until they burned through enough of his armor so that his ears were visible, at which point King Loki banged a large gong in one of Gorr's ears and Maui, shapeshifted into a howler monkey, screeched in another. All-Black's form began to fluctuate at the noises, losing his rigidness as he tried to escape the sound waves. Soon, All-Black couldn't take it any longer and relinquished his armored protection of his host, sending one black spike each at King Loki and Maui, crushing the gong of the former and wrapping around the throat of the latter, stopping both obnoxious noises.
Gorr smiled in relief and triumph at finally hitting solid targets, and he faced the Polynesian hero. "Well well well, if it isn't Maui, legendary god of the ancient Pacific! Ahaha, last I heard, you died thousands of years ago between an enormous goddess's legs!"
"Well…" Maui managed to speak as he resisted the tendril that squeezed his neck. "you know how people exaggerate stories, but… of all the ways to go, that doesn't sound too bad!"
"Yesss, you deserve a much less pleasant death!" All-Black spread its darkness into Maui's mouth, rendering him unable to speak. "And I'm more than happy to give it to you!"
Still hidden, Jane and Sylvie struck Gorr with another lightning and fire combo, loosing All-Black's grip enough for Maui to shapeshift into a firefly and fly away. Gorr shot another tendril at him, but he lit up with dozens of flashing lights around Gorr, the maddening illusion disorienting him while the others surrounded him again.
"So much for that plan. Well, if we can't separate Gorr and All-Black with sound, we'll have to do it the old fashioned way: by force!" Thor quietly told Detective Loki. "Any more bright ideas?"
"Just keep distracting him like the rest of us. Our best bet is still to confuse him and strike while his guard is down!"
Thor grinned. "Hey, wanna do get help?"
Loki blinked. "'Get help?' What's that mean?"
"You know, 'get help!' It's a classic!"
"Hm, sorry, I don't know what that is: I didn't have that in my universe."
"Really? I can show you how to do it, or you could see from my mem-"
"Nope, sorry, no idea what you're talking about!" Loki quickly replied. "Okay, I'd better-"
"Just let me show you-"
"No, no time for that, gotta go be a worthwhile distraction, bye!" Loki teleported away before Thor could get another word in.
"Liar." Thor pouted.
One Loki used his power of illusion to create the sound of a wailing siren that echoed throughout the cave. The other Loki created the illusion that lighting was coming down from the sky, which Gorr dodged. When Gorr saw through the illusion and stopped evading, the two Thors called down real bolts of lightning, and Gorr was struck off his feet. The others blasted him while he was down, and they could see All-Black's armor weakening against their combined forces!
As they kept up the plan of repeatedly disorienting and burning the villainous duo until All-Black couldn't protect Gorr anymore, and he speedily fled from the oncoming attacks.
"This game of yours is getting old. Why don't we play one of mine?" Gorr panted. He raised All-Black, and darkness spread throughout the entire cave. It closed around everyone inside, their illusions rendered useless as the pitch black engulfed everything inside! Black tendrils quickly took advantage of their inability to see and snatched away their weapons. "I call it 'snuff out the gods!'"
"No! He's got Mjolnir!" Jane Foster shouted before she transformed back into her sickly self, coughing as she lost her balance.
"Awww, not as fun when it's your senses that are obscured, is it?" Gorr mocked. "But for me, here comes the really fun part!" The darkness began to fill up the inside of the space the gods were trapped in and choked the life out of them.
"Jane…" Thor struggled, though he didn't even know where she was. "Stop, she's defenseless!"
"Yes. Now you arrogant, oh-so-powerful gods know what it is like to be mortal!"
Watching from above, Mobius held out his candle and lit The Brazier of Bom'Galiath, hitting the dark cage with a powerful fireball. Detective Loki felt a bit of the heat from the collision, but the trap around them remained intact. His eyes lit up with an idea.
"Mobius, when I say 'fire,' blast him again!" Loki telepathically told his partner. "We'll find a way to blast from in here!"
"Alright." Mobius prepared to fire another round, but All-Black shot an appendage at him, knocking the candle from his grip and snatching the ancient cannon while Jörmungandr protected Mobius. "No, hey! I need that! Aagh, what do I do?" Mobius watched anxiously as his cannon was held at bay by the monster, but he calmed himself and breathed deeply. "Okay, focus Mobius, focus. Remember what Loki taught you. Concentrate all my willpower on the target. Whoo… wait for it…"
"Fire!" At Loki's signal, and with a wave of his hands, Mobius cast his first fire, igniting the cannon and the mass of All-Black simultaneously as Loki and his team managed a blast from the other end, and All-Black reverted to its sword form as it went up in flames. Gorr grunted in exhaustion and frustration as his enemies were freed, yet just as tired as him. Maui laid unconscious while Jane, barely awake, reached out for Mjolnir, struggling to return to her super-powered self.
"Jane, don't! You can't take another transformation! You'll die!" Thor warned. She ignored him and reached with all her might. All-Black mustered a blast of dark energy, but Sylvie teleported between them, taking the hit.
"No!" Her fiancé shouted as she fell unsconscious. The hammer shook and flew over, but to Jane's surprise, it landed in the grip of Detective Loki.
The others stared in disbelief, particularly the other Loki. He opened a TemPad portal next to her and gently pushed Sylvie, Jane, and Maui through it with telekinesis. "Mobius, they're safe at the New Asgard hospital!" He communicated telepathically. "Please see that they get healed at once." Mobius nodded, and he and Jörmungandr disappeared to meet them. The remaining trio faced Gorr and All-Black, pondering their next move.
"Here, Brother." Detective Loki handed him Mjolnir.
Thor looked puzzled. "You proved yourself worthy: why don't you use Mjolnir?"
Loki shook his head and held up a hand. "No thank you. I don't need your hand-me-downs. Grievance, now might be your best chance!"
Grievance sprung at Gorr's head, spreading his mouth wide open, but the butcher wearily raised All-Black, and Grievance's teeth clamped down on the blade. The two Symbiotes struggled, but Gorr's proved stronger as it shook off its adversary.
"Now what?" Thor wondered as Grievance slunk back to his host. "How do we get that sword?"
"We can't: their bond is too strong!" Detective Loki stated.
King Loki's eyes widened as he watched Gorr and All-Black, staring the Asgardian trio down. "Then why are we still here? Our numbers just got cut down to half in a matter of minutes: we need reinforcements!"
"Go if you want." Thor said. "The worthy Loki and I will stay and fight! We need to end this, here and now!"
"Thor, just for once, could you not be a reckless fool!? You always do this: you stay and fight every battle, regardless of whether you, and whoever is unfortunate enough to be at your side, can win! This time you need to listen to me, you thickheaded oaf! What good will you be to Asgard, dying for nothing, you and this Loki you're trying to replace me with!?"
"Replace you!? That's crazy, how could I replace you?"
"Oh come on, look at him! He's found love, he has friends, he's happy… for Odin's sake, he can lift Mjolnir! Don't think I don't see how well you two get along, how much you prefer him to me!" Tears formed in King Loki's eyes. "He's a damned hero, and compared to him… I'm nobody."
"Two gods quarreling while their people suffer… this is why all gods must die." Gorr gripped the Necrosword, but he found himself unable to point it at his foes, stuck in the ground.
"Loki…" Thor shook his head. "That's not true! You have people here who care about you, I care about you!"
"Thor's right." Detective Loki agreed. "You and I, we're the same: the only difference between us is our more recent experiences!"
"Our experiences?! You're from the past: how, why have you experienced more happiness than I have?" King Loki questioned. "Why are you so loved, while I've remained alone!?"
"Loki, you're not alone anymore, you're the chosen king of Asgard! Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I told you, you don't understand…"
"But I do, Brother! I understand you now, what it's like to be lied to by our father about who I am, who he was, and… I know what it's like to be alone."
"Pfft, alone? You, the most beloved and worshipped champion of Asgard and Midgard, for whom they roll out the red carpet and worship the ground you walk upon wherever you go? The prodigal son of Odin? Oh, you pOor tHing! You don't know the meaning of the word alone!"
"Yes, I do! Loki, you're far from the only one in Asgard who's lost everything!"
"Perhaps not, but you're the one who's ambushed by a mob of adoring fans wherever you go! You, the golden child! Did your biological father throw you away like a piece of rubbish when you were a baby because you weren't big enough for him!? Did you grow up, live 1000 years of your life, unknowingly being the son of the monster that gave you and your people nightmares!? Were you the only one in the entire kingdom… w-who wasn't allowed… AT YOUR OWN MOTHER'S FUNERAL!?"
As the present-day Loki screamed at his brother, Gorr gave All-Black a perplexed look as the sword shook in its fixed place and, suddenly, it vanished.
"You… could NEVER understand what I have been through." Loki snarled, angry tears dripping down his face. He flexed his hand, and he felt the Necrosword enter his grip. "But now…" He smirked, the whites of his eyes turned pitch black. "Perhaps I can show you."
