A few at a time, the other party goers in the forest soon noticed the tragic scene as Detective Loki cradled his dead brother, crying as Healer patted his back. He shakily reached for his TemPad. He then attempted to calm himself, breathing in and out until his voice was as steady as currently possible. "M-Mobius, Sylvie, come back to the Enchanted Forest right away: Thor, he's… he's just been m-murdered."

"NOBODY EAT THE FOOD HERE: IT HAS BEEN POISONED!" Healer announced over the chatter and the music.

"Murdered, Thor?" Mobius repeated in shock. "To be honest, I thought your brother was basically un-killable!"

"I was there, Mobius! I was right there with him, and I couldn't do a thing to help him!"

"Man, I'm sorry Loki. Hold on, we're on our way!" Mobius and Sylvie rushed to his side, inspecting his brother's body as Loki hesitantly stepped aside.

"He was poisoned. Healer… he said there was snake venom in the food. I should have died with him, but Healer was able to neutralize the poison I ingested."

"Well, thank goodness he was able to save you!" Sylvie exclaimed, hugging him tightly and stroking the back of his head. "Good job, Healer!"

"And no survivor's guilt: Thor's family needs you alive and well to solve his murder and bring the killer to justice." Mobius convinced him. "So, snake venom? That's a bit peculiar… like in the old Norse story of Ragnarok? Do you think the two murders were orchestrated by the same person?"

"I don't know."

"Where did you get the poisoned food from?"

"My variant, he brought them. He said… he picked them in the Sugar Woods."

"You don't think…"

Loki shook his head. "I don't know."

"Well, someone has a major grudge against Asgardians. First Heimdall, now Thor…"

Suddenly, Loki's eyes widened in realization. "We have to warn my mother! Her and Odin both: if someone is targeting Asgardians, they could be after either of them right this moment!"

He opened a Time Door to Asgard and bounded through it as his friends followed, searching frantically for the king and queen until they found the royal duo, instructing the guards to maximize the security of their palace.

"Mother, Allfather!" Loki got their attention, and the Time Detectives made their way to his parents' variants.

"What is it, Asgardian Loki?" Frigga innocently asked. "Have you found any leads on the killer?"

"I-I have dire news. Your son… my brother…" Loki's lips quivered as he prepared to tell her, but one look at his body language and she knew in an instant.

Frigga gasped, covering her mouth and shaking her head in disbelief, but Loki somberly nodded. Her eyes clouded with tears, she turned to her husband, his eyes also full of grief. Without a word, they rushed to Heimdall's old post, where Odin thrust Hofund in place, transporting them all back to Alfheim.

As they returned, they came across a large crowd of mourners, particularly Jane Foster, Lady Sif, and Thor's aunt Gullveig, and the Goddesses of Thunder, comforting each other over their emotional loss. Frigga teleported herself over to her son, breaking down in a sob at the sight of the once energetic young Thor lying motionless. Her sister, Jane, and Sif grieved with and comforted her while Loki watched with deep regret.

"I promised her… I promised her I wouldn't let anything happen to him…"

"Hey, you said it yourself: there was nothing you could do." Mobius comforted.

As a tear dripped from the Allfather's eye, he suddenly stood and banged Gungnir against the ground, a booming echo resounding throughout the area.

"People of Alfheim, Thor Odinson, my only son, has been murdered! There is a killer on the loose somewhere in this realm!" The party goers began to scream and flee in a panic, but Odin silenced them with another bang of his mighty weapon. "And no one leaves until this villain is found and brought to justice!" The frightened crowd froze in place, most having never seen this side of the Allfather before, but one human stepped foward and faced him.

"King Odin, Dr. Selvig and I are scientists." Dr. Jane Foster explained to him. "We could analyze this poison for you and see if it matches anything known on Earth or Asgard, if you have any toxins for us to compare."

Odin nodded. "We have our own people who can match it against Asgardian venoms, but your assistance with Midgardian ones is appreciated, young mortal."

Jane turned to Detective Loki. "And you… how did you manage to survive the venom without even any visible side effects?"

"I have a… well, an alien inside my chest who specializes in healing."

"Hey, this is serious!"

"I am being serious!" Loki returned her shout, offended. "Healer." He urged his Symbiote to slowly and shyly emerge from his chest, not wanting to frighten the bystanders any more than they were.

"It's trueee, I could only save Loki because of our bond." He quietly explained.

"Incredible!" Jane exclaimed as she approached them. "A symbiotic alien that can neutralize poison: maybe if I can take a sample from this 'Healer,' we can develop an anti-venom, or-"

"Jane, stay away from him!" Selvig warned, coming between them. "Don't you see it, this Loki being the last to see Thor alive, having been alone with him, and just happening to have a poison-immunizing alien inside him!? He's the murderer: he killed his own brother!"

"What!? No, I did not kill Thor!"

"Oh come on, I'm Norwegian: I know all the stories about you, including the accounts of how you killed Heimdall at Ragnarok and your other brother, Baldur!"

"Those are old myths, you idiot! I didn't kill Heimdall; he was dead before I even arrived in this realm, and there is not, nor has there ever been, a Baldur in the royal family of Asgard!"

"Spoken like the mythological liar himself! Jane, stay behind me, I told you he was dangerous. And he's the father of Jörmungandr, the fabled venom-spewing serpent of Midgard; you think it's also only an old myth or a coincidence that Thor was killed by snake venom? I saw him bring Jörmungandr here moments before Thor's death!"

"Hold on a second." Jane argued. "We only knew Thor died because this Loki told us all, and he was in tears when it happened, just like the rest of his loved ones! In the story you told me about Baldur, that Loki was the only one who didn't cry for him when he died! I'm sure he wasn't faking it!"

"The Loki from the Prose Edda didn't cry because doing so would bring Baldur back to life, undoing his plan to kill him in the first place! This Loki needed to cry to appear emotionally distraught and avert suspicion! He's a trickster, Jane, that's just who he is!"

Loki looked back down at his brother's corpse, refusing to face his accuser any longer as another tear dripped from his face. Then a sudden realization hit him. "The Jotun Loki: he brought us the food! Has anyone seen him?"

"Oh, so you're blaming him now!?"

"No, I'm saying if he's not the one to blame, then there's a good chance he's died of poisoning too, and if he hasn't, then he likely still doesn't know about Thor! We have to warn him before it's too late!"

"Wait, how do we know you're not going to kill him too, now that he's isolated?"

"He said he was heading to Honeywine Falls; if you don't trust me, then by all means, bring a mob along with me!"

"I will accompany him!" Frigg volunteered. "Sisters, you keep an eye on his team!" They nodded as Loki opened a portal to Honeywine Falls.

"While they do that, let's take a sample of that gigantic snake's venom and run analysis to see if it matches the murder poison!" Jane suggested.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Selvig wondered, terrified of the beast.

"Here, allow me: he likes me." Mobius offered. "Hand me a container." They did, and he stepped up to the Midgard Serpent. "Jörmungandr, could you spit some venom into this for us? It'll help clear Loki's name, convince these people that he's innocent!" Jörmungandr gave a short flick of the tongue and stuck one of his teeth into the glass held before him, dripping venom into it until it was nearly filled.

As they arrived at Honeywine Falls, Loki and Frigg looked around, not finding anyone until Detective Loki noticed a chill in the air, leading them to a cold sheet of ice, hidden under the rushing water of the falls. They dove into the ice cold waters and found a spiky icy structure at the bottom. Frigg struck it with her hammer, cracking it enough for her and Loki to create an opening. The Jotun Prince fired an icy blast, attempting to freeze Frigg, but when he saw Detective Loki motioning for him to cease fire, he realized that they were on his side, and he turned the water beneath them into a pillar of ice that pushed them up to the surface. As they gasped for air, Detective Loki and Frigg noticed the sword-shaped wound in Jotun Loki's neck, the only thing preventing his bleeding out being another covering of his ice, and the rest of his body was covered in minor burns.

"Who did this to you?" Frigg asked him.

"Ih… ih wah hhr, th-the Mu… th-th-th…" He gasped, still struggling to breathe.

"First of all, let's heal you." Detective Loki prioritized.

"Yes, we can do that." Healer affirmed as he healed his Jotun variant. The wound quickly closed up, prompting the Jotun prince to remove the frozen covering from his neck while his variant healed his less serious burns.

"Thank you! Oh, you're a sorcerer, like Frigga and her sisters? Tiny Thunder must have gotten a kick out of that, he loves magic!"

Detective Loki squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm so sorry; Thor was murdered not long ago."

Loki Laufeyson's jaw dropped, and he shook his head in disbelief. "No, no way, not Thor! He's… he's the strongest guy I know, that's not possible! If this is some kind of prank-"

"It isn't; I wish it were, but I saw it happen right in front of me."

"Did you see who did it?"

"No, he was poisoned. You said you got those candies from the Sugar Woods, correct? Did one of the elves lead you to them? Did you see anyone add anything to them before you got to us?"

"Poisoned!? But… come to think of it, I did meet a young Light Elf maiden who directed me to the area in the woods where I found the candy! She had bright purple hair and pink eyes, and she wore a bluish green cloak! But I didn't see anyone mess with the snacks!"

"That's very good." Frigg told him. "Now, can you describe what happened to you just recently, who attacked you, how, and possibly why?"

"I was on my way to the falls to meet up with my Ice Bros, and then… with Thor when he caught up, but on the way, out of nowhere, she grabbed me from behind and stabbed me in the throat with a superheated sword before I could call for help!"

"Superheated… again, it would seem our culprit knows their victims well." Detective Loki surmised. "How did you get away?"

"Just as I felt the blade pierce my neck, I held it in place with ice, and then I burned her wrist with frost! She let go of the blade and I blasted her back with ice! While she was recovering from that, I removed the sword, stopped my neck from bleeding out with more ice, ran like mad, and dove underwater before she could stab me again, but she got me with a burst of flame just before I got to safety!"

"That sounds like quite the ordeal. It's a relief to see you survived, at least."

"And how long ago was this?" Frigg questioned. "How long were you hidden underwater?"

"Uh, maybe about… 5 minutes, give or take? I could freeze the water around me so I didn't drown. …Who are you?"

"I am Frigg, Thor's eldest granddaughter from the future."

"Ah."

"What of your Jotun brothers?" Loki Mobiusson wondered. "You said they were to meet you at the falls, but I didn't see any dead bodies around."

"They're not my actual brothers: 'Ice Bros' is more of a nickname, a term of endearment for my close friends, and I haven't seen them either."

"You said 'she' and 'her': you could tell your attacker was female?"

"I could tell you who she was!"

The detective raised his eyebrows."Who was she then?"

"It was that Muspeless you introduced me to, Fiamma!"

"Fiamma? Are you certain?"

"I couldn't see her very well; she was shrouded by some sort of bright, warm light! I could tell by the cry of pain from when I fought back that she was female! And she did try to kill me with a burst of flame earlier when she saw me dancing with her sister!"

Loki shook his head. "But she was put in restraints after that; by the time she would have reached you, she couldn't do that again. Even with a sword, her hands are bound… unless she found a way to free herself. What do you think, Frigg?"

"Those are Ataraxian construction, 75th century heat-dampening restraints: I highly doubt anyone could slip those, though she has proven to be very crafty when she has… outside help."

"You think her siblings might have helped her remove them?"

"It's very unlikely, but we can't rule it out. Let us go and find out!" Frigg faced Jotun Loki. "We'll escort you back to the others in case your assailant tries to strike again." He nodded, and they went back together.

When they arrived, Dr. Jane Foster and Dr. Erik Selvig were waiting for them, along with Thor's family. The Ataraxians had an electrified net around Jörmungandr, while Frigg's sisters and the Asgardian guards surrounded Mobius and Sylvie.

"My son, you are alive and safe!" Laufey proclaimed with relief as he joined him. He turned to his suboordinates. "You are to stay by Loki's side until Thor Odinson's killer is either captured or dead." They complied without hesitation, immediately encircling the targeted prince.

Loki Mobiusson approached his pet. "Why have you trapped Jörmungandr? Release him at once!"

Jane walked over to oppose him in response. "We've compared the poison in Thor's body to Jörmungandr's venom, and it's a perfect match. Dr. Selvig was right about you: you did murder your brother!"

"I did not!" Detective Loki vehemently protested while his variant stared at him in appalled surprise. "Jörmungandr, did someone extract any venom from you?" The giant snake silently answered with his tongue movements, being careful not to let it touch the net. "He says the only venom that was extracted from him was for your analysis! Now release him!"

"Or what, you'll kill us too?" The chief scientist of the Ataraxians responded. "We have no reason to believe your lies anymore, Loki!"

"I trusted you, Great Uncle Loki; how could you?" Ellisiv asked him.

"Did you slip some anti-venom to your giant Loki accomplice so he wouldn't die?" Selvig assumed.

"I didn't know the candies were poisoned, and it was that crazy Fire Demoness who tried to assassinate me before the other me and Future Girl found me!" Jotun Loki testified. "He healed me again when he did!"

"Then that monster of Muspelheim is your accomplice!" Dr. Aristophanes deduced.

Selvig nodded. "She gets revenge on the Loki who 'betrayed' her, Asgardian Loki gets revenge on Thor and the other Loki for tricking him into thinking he was on a missing person's case, and now he gets a real case to solve: one that he set up for himself! Well, am I right?"

"No, you are grossly mistaken!" Detective Loki insisted.

"I told you, our Loki isn't like that, he's good!" Mobius argued.

"He's completely trustworthy, more than most others!" Sylvie added.

Frigg sighed. "I want to believe you, but… if the poison that killed Grandfather matches your serpent's…"

"Then he's guilty!" Atli brandished her axe. "How about a good old fashioned execution to avenge Grandpa Thor!?"

"All the evidence points to you!" Jane argued. "You're the only one here with reason to kill him!"

"This is completely absurd! I have no reason to kill Thor, certainly not over some misunderstanding! If anything, I was relieved to find he was alright before the party began, and- and I was enjoying his party and his company!" Detective Loki fought to keep from crying again as he defended himself. "I didn't get to spend much time with him, and even though he's not from my universe, I love my brother, and I promise you, I will find his killer; they will not escape punishment for his murder, nor for Heimdall's or anyone else's!"

Before anyone dared counter this, Queen Frigga walked over to him, looking into his eyes as she came within arm's reach. "Your eyes speak the truth, Loki of Asgard; now let me see if your mind does."