Poseidon fired a beautiful beam of magical energy from his legendary trident, enveloping the detectives and transforming them temporarily into Atlanteans. Their skin turned pale blue, and a pair of gills formed around their necks.
When the transformation had concluded, Poseidon dove down under the water once more, and Loki, Sylvie, Mobius, and Casey followed him. They swam quickly past a wide variety of sea creatures, the increasing water pressure completely unaffecting them as they struggled to keep up with their royal client. As they reached the lower depths of the Atlantic, their eyes automatically adjusted to the darker atmosphere. Many miles later, Poseidon led the Time Detectives through a secret underwater passageway, until at last they reached the sunken city of Atlantis!
"Time Detectives, welcome to Atlantis." Poseidon told them in his native language, and they understood him thanks to the trident's magic. "It is an extremely rare privilege for those from the surface to see our magnificent city, and much more so my royal palace, so count yourselves honored."
They looked around in awe of the glittering, magnificent city. Loki and Sylvie spotted the royal palace immediately, sizing it up in comparison with their childhood home, the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf. Mobius enjoyed incorporating the tricks he performed on his jet ski into his augmented swimming, trying out flips, spins, and strokes until he got dizzy. Casey marveled at the passing schools of fishes and Atlanteans. A few of the Atlantean people stopped and said hello to Loki, mistaking him for their prince, but their king corrected them as Detective Loki chuckled and politely greeted them.
As they entered Poseidon's home, he checked to see if his youngest was home, and as he wasn't, the Atlantean king had his servants lock and guard the door from both sides before he took his place on the grand throne. "Good, now we can discuss your case further. I was told by one of his brothers that Loki snuck out to one of my brother's wild orgies, and now I suspect he's carrying the child of someone in my brother's family!"
Loki furrowed his brow. "Just to be clear, did you mean your brother Zeus or Hades?"
"Zeus, of course! Who would attend an orgy in the land of the dead!?"
"Oh, you never know. So you'd prefer that your Loki didn't become romantically involved with one of Zeus's children since they would be cousins, even if not by blood. Curious, does he know that he was adopted as a baby?"
"Yes, when he was young, I told him the story of how I found him and transformed him into my Atlantean son with my trident's magic: he still loves hearing that story!"
"Really? Does the whole kingdom know?"
"The whole kingdom of Atlantis, yes, but neither of my brothers' kingdoms. Our underwater utopia may be a well-guarded secret from the surface world, but I have quite the reputation among my people here already: I have children of goddesses, nymphs, giants, horses, and even mortals from many different mothers, so an adopted Frost Giant son hardly stands out from the family!"
"I see what you mean." Loki smiled.
"So, shouldn't the first place we would be looking for clues be in Olympus, or wherever Zeus held his orgy?" Sylvie suggested.
"I'd prefer you begin your search here, see what evidence you can find before I send you to Olympus. The Olympians are even more restrictive about letting in outsiders than we are, and you'll need to be extraordinarily stealthy to not get thrown out, or more likely, killed on the spot."
"Then we're most thankful to you for allowing us to visit here and bestowing these wonderful powers upon us." Loki respectfully thanked him.
"You're welcome."
"But back to the case at hand, of all the participants in your brother's wild orgy, how would anyone be able to know which of them is the mother of your future grandchild?"
"That is your problem to solve now; I wouldn't have hired detectives if it were a simple task."
"Will your brother Zeus not tell you anything either or help you find out which of his daughters is the mother?" Mobius wondered.
"I'd rather he didn't suspect me. You three, on the other hand, wouldn't draw as much attention as I, so that is why I will send you four to Olympus in my place when you finish here, if you require more evidence." The regal Atlantean looked thoughtful. "But in actuality, the fact that one of you resembles my son so closely could work to your advantage: if any of my people know anything, they wouldn't be afraid to discuss it with you, and you might even be able to fool the Olympians afterward… what was your name?"
"My detective name is Mr. Ouroboros, but you've been so very forthright with us, I believe I should tell you my true identity in return: I am Loki Mobiusson, a doppelgänger of your son, but from another universe. After my Laufey abandoned me, my universe's Odin took me in instead of you, and after his miserable failure, this mortal man, Mobius, took his place and officially adopted me."
"Odin of Asgard, you say?"
"The very same. And this is my fiancée, soon to be the mother of our first child, Sylvie."
"So I see." Poseidon remarked, having already noticed she was visibly pregnant.
"Yeah, I'm technically a Loki too." She admitted.
"Many congratulations, taking loving yourself to a whole new level! Ahaha, that's so bizarre, I'm impressed, well done! If only my Loki were as honest with his sexual relations with me as you are." He looked at Casey. "And who are you, Asgardian Loki's adoptive brother?"
"Uh, no, I'm just one of his friends from work. I came to see if there were mermaids."
Poseidon laughed. "Oh I am sure, and who wouldn't?" He then called one of his subjects forth, an Atlantean with the characteristics of a purple jellyfish. "Detectives, this is my trusted servant, Ozoa: she'll accompany and aid you as you search the palace for clues."
"Whoa, is she a mermaid?" Casey asked while she glowed bright purple at the compliment.
"No, but you might just encounter some if you catch their interest."
"Hi, my name's Casey."
"Oh, nice to meet you." Mobius greeted their guide.
Loki nodded. "Pleased to make you acquaintance, Ms. Ozoa." Sylvie gave her a nod.
"Yes. This way, detectives." She led them around the palace until they reached the Atlantean Loki's chambers, and they immediately began to inspect the area.
"Did you ever search for clues underwater during your eons at the TVA, Dad?" Loki inquired. "Perhaps seeking to prune a tuna fish for escaping their fate of becoming someone's dinner?"
"Very clever, Prince Smart Aleck. No, I don't remember arresting any fish, but there was this vampiric octopus man we took in who had an appetite for people: we did that on land, though."
"In that case, I'm not sure how to go about this." Loki took a deep breath until he smelled something that didn't seem to belong. He followed the source, and between his variant's mattresses was the invitation to Zeus's orgy, written on a majestic sturdy golden parchment.
"Hm. You look pretty sure to me." Sylvie remarked.
"I can smell the whiff of some kind of… earthy fragrance on this invitation." Loki took another sniff. "It smells of fresh vegetables and grains."
"You got a trail to point us toward, Bloodhound Loki?" Sylvie teased.
"Is there a little goddess trapped in a well somewhere?" Mobius sassed with her. Loki ignored them.
"Pardon me, but that sounds like the perfume that Demeter wears." Ozoa told them. "She is the Greek goddess of harvest, crops, grains, basically food in general, and fertility, including life and death."
"Yes, I know of her. Seeing how she's your prince's adoptive aunt, I doubt she's the one. Perhaps she sent the invitation on behalf of her favorite daughter, Persephone?"
"Persephone?" Ozoa looked baffled. "Her favored daughter is Kore."
"Yeah, Kore was her birth name, and the one she goes by in her role as goddess of springtime, nature, and fertility, but while she rules the underworld with Hades, she's known more commonly as Persephone." Mobius explained. "So if her latter name doesn't ring a bell, she must not have gotten abducted by her creepy uncle in this timeline."
"What- what are you talking about?" The Atlantean servant questioned.
"Or maybe…" Loki brainstormed. "Maybe our dashing Loki rescued her from her kidnapper before she was forced to stay in the underworld, and her mother invited him to the orgy in gratitude?"
"She fell for her rescuer, and they hooked up at the party." Sylvie theorized.
"What does this Kore lady look like? Is she beautiful?" Casey wondered.
"She's gorgeous: she has long blonde adorned hair, skin as fair as silk, slender ankles, and… well, you'll probably see for yourselves soon enough. She's turned down hordes of lovers, some desperate for a single glance at her."
"Is she fun?" Loki additionally questioned. "Does she get into mischief?"
"Not that I know of."
"So there's a good chance this Kore is the child's mother?"
"Well, her mom's the one who invited Loki to the party, but that doesn't necessarily make Kore the mother." Mobius pointed out. "Demeter has three daughters, right?"
"True." Loki concurred. "Lokis are a charming and cunning breed: perhaps my variant used Kore as a means to receive his royal Olympian invitation, and he was after someone a bit more… mischievous? Besides, even if Demeter and Kore favored Loki, that doesn't restrict him to only partying with her. For all we know, he could have made love to every goddess on Olympus: that's the point of parties, after all, to have a good time!"
"Amen to that!" Sylvie agreed. "And I definitely wouldn't put it past him; son of King Poseidon, loved by his people, baby of the family, this Loki's probably spoiled rotten!"
"I wouldn't say that." Ozoa disagreed. "He's always been very kind as long as I've served him."
Mobius turned to Ozoa. "You know him pretty well, any idea which goddess he likes best?"
"Uhm…" She turned red. "He d-doesn't discuss such things with the help."
"Right, I guess not. Honestly, it's possible even this universe's Loki doesn't know who the mother is!"
"So our best bet would be to go to Olympus and find out from the Greek gods and goddesses, right?" Sylvie reiterated. "It'd be a lot quicker to just interrogate them there instead of wasting our time here, looking for nonspecific clues!"
"And if none of them know, then what?" Loki countered. "Until the child is born, I don't see any possible way to actually solve this case."
"What if I discreetly entered the suspects and took a little DNA sample from each of them?" Healer proposed. "I could then do the same for the Loki Jr. still in the womb, and that way we would know for certain!"
"Wow, you're really on top of this detective work, Healer!" Mobius praised. "Hey, maybe you should be the lead sleuth of our team instead of Loki or me with those tracking skills!"
"Oh, go on!" Healer soaked up the encouragement as his host's eyes flashed with a twinge of envy. "Thank you, Dad."
At that, Loki could no longer hold his tongue. "Now just hold on, you-"
"I live in your body, so Mobius adopted me too." He asserted. "Right, Dad?"
"Well this got weird." Mobius remarked.
"And it is a genius idea, isn't it?"
"I said hold on." Loki stopped him. "We need to be absolutely certain that entering my variant's womb and taking the DNA sample doesn't harm the baby in any manner."
"It will absolutely not harm anyone. I would never hurt my host's family, even though he is not the you I am bonded with! So, are we agreed?"
"Hey, it's alright, Ms. Ozoa!" The gang heard Casey calm their guide down as she cowered in fear of Loki's Symbiote partner. "That's Loki's alien friend, Grievance, or Healer is his detective name: he looks super scary, but he won't hurt you if you're not a criminal."
"Are-are you sure? It looks like it bites!" She replied.
"He won't bite you, I promise: he's good." Casey assured her, swimming between them, but as he did, the Atlantean Loki entered, very obviously showing in his pregnancy, and surprised to find a lookalike of himself and three strangers in his room.
"Hey, what are these people doing in my room!?" Loki Aegaeus asked Ozoa. He then noticed his party invitation in his variant's possession. "Oh, I see, my father sent you, didn't he?!"
"Yes, he did. We're detectives, but you're not in any trouble." Detective Loki explained. "Your father only wishes to know who his future daughter-in-law might be."
"Well now, you're quite the looker yourself, but if you think that's all there is to my father's motives, you're quite clueless as well."
"You mean there's a mystery behind the mystery?" Casey wondered.
"He means there's an ulterior motive, as per usual with kingly fathers." Detective Loki deduced. "If you please, could you tell us more?"
Atlantean Loki smiled at Ozoa, who ducked her head in response. Then the adopted son of Poseidon began to sing in a low voice. "What I can't tell with words, I'll sing the story of my family.~"
The detectives felt their eyes grow heavy, finding it harder to keep them open as the Jotun-Atlantean's gentle, melodious voice carried on. "Healer, now's your chance to take the sample." Detective Loki telepathically told his Symbiote, but he didn't get a response, and he guessed Healer was asleep.
"I attended a party, met beautiful ladies, who led me to pleasures I'll never forget, and~" As Atlantean Loki continued to sing, the detectives struggled to stay awake, but in a matter of seconds, everything went black.
