Chapter Text
Seven Weeks post Doom’s Day
“All-Father Doom, Sheriff, we have arrested a boarder-crosser,” a Thor announced as he and another Thor marched into the room with their prisoner.
Stephen gritted his teeth and tried not to grimace as he laid eyes on the young woman and felt a surge of recognition. She was definitely a Loki. She was dressed in a mishmash of styles (green, of course) that he supposed would overall be considered “gothic” and smiling cheerfully. Rather than being restrained or dragged, she was happily holding a hand of each of the Thors escorting her. She brightened even more as she made eye-contact with Stephen. “Doctor, you look fantastic!” she exclaimed. “The old cape was getting tired. You were due for an extreme make-over and this look is you, it really is!”
A chill ran down Stephen’s spine and he swallowed back shock and dread. No, she didn’t remember, not really, she couldn’t, no one did. She was just being Loki, playing with words and trying to glean information from him. “Name of the accused?” Stephen demanded, turning his eyes to the ranking Thor.
“Are you being coy, Doctor?” Loki wondered.
“She doth call herself ‘Loki’ and ‘Storyteller’,” the Thor answered. “We... are unsure what barony she hails from.”
Stephen let a small frown slip through. “Then how do you know she has illegally crossed boarders?” he asked.
“Because she hath arrived on Doomgard’s doorstep,” the younger Thor answered and then they both flashed embarrassed, guilty looks. “... Thrice.”
“Well they kept giving me free drinks,” Loki replied with a shrug and an innocent hum. “And you know what they say about feeding strays.”
“... She did not seem to understand the boarders,” the older Thor said awkwardly, not meeting Stephen’s eyes. “We scolded her and explained why she must not cross them and sent her back from whence she came.”
“You scolded her,” Stephen sighed. He really shouldn’t be surprised; a Loki who couldn’t talk a Thor in circles would hardly be a Loki at all. “After a few rounds, of course.”
“She lives up to her name,” Victor said from his throne, a note of amusement coloring his voice.
“I take full responsibility for this lapse,” the older Thor announced, dropping down to a knee and lowering his head, awaiting a sentence.
“No no, his scolding was quite firm, I’m just not very good at being scolded,” Loki said, bouncing once on the balls of her feet. “But I am very happy to see you gentlemen. I wanted to give my compliments on what you’ve achieved here. I suppose it’s terribly sad that the old world and trillions upon bazillions of people died, but I really like what you’ve done with the place.”
Stephen drew a sharp breath, staring at her for a moment before glancing at Victor, whose eyes were narrowed suspiciously. He looked back at Loki, who was continuing on in a chatty tone, seemingly oblivious to the tension in her audience. “And you Victor, well you were quite the pinch-hitter, weren’t you? I’m sure nobody saw that one coming. I mean, you always did want to be God, but I sort of assumed you’d go for the great-and-terrible kind of God, not the savior type. Well I was surprised anyway. Would you say it’s Miss Richards’ good influence that’s turned you around or was it getting punched by a man named after an insect?”
“Clear the room,” Victor commanded suddenly, rising to his feet. “Doom has spoken.”
“You two as well,” Stephen ordered, when the Thors looked unsure. “Leave her.”
The room was a flurry of motion for a minute as the court hastily exited. Loki stood on the spot, curiously watching everyone funnel out and the doors slam shut behind them, before turning to look back at Stephen and Victor, her head tilted to the side. “I’ve said something wrong,” she noted.
“How much do you remember?” Stephen asked sharply, walking toward the Loki and examining her more closely as Victor glared down from his perch.
“Everything. My predecessor gave me all of his memories, no editing or abridging,” Loki replied, taking note of Stephen’s scrutinizing gaze and turning a circle in place to display herself. She was a full adult, godly stature evident as she stood a few inches taller than Stephen, but still quite young; perhaps the equivalent of twenty. Older than the Loki of their world had been before his disappearance. Yet she spoke with seeming knowledge of the Earth Stephen and Victor had come from. But maybe the key to that was in her last statement.
“Your predecessor?” Stephen asked.
“The third Loki, Loki the Third, Loki the Very Confused,” she shrugged and waved a hand parallel to the ground a little shy of six feet up. “Teenager-ish, social-media savvy, had a very sassy mouth on him. Victor turned him into a decorative statue for a while.”
“That Loki disappeared after the Red Skull incident,” Victor said, his tone suspicious, not quite accusing but close to it. “There was evidence to suggest he had been killed.”
“Well, that might not be quite the right verb,” Loki said, clicking her tongue and seeming to consider. “It would be a bit more accurate to say he killed himself, I think. But it wasn’t just suicide,” she amended quickly, waving her hands. “There was a purpose to it! He wanted to build something new, he wanted to be something new, and he realized he couldn’t build on a crumbling foundation, so he decided the only real solution was to burn the whole thing down and start over.”
“... You’re saying that that Loki sacrificed himself in order to create you,” Stephen said slowly, trying to decide if that sounded even remotely feasible. Well, yes, it sounded feasible since the original Loki must have done something similar to create the boy, but feasible didn’t mean probable, what seemed far more probable was that the God of Lies was lying.
“Well, he was very tired of the whole ‘God of Lies’ thing,” Loki said with a shrug. “It was limiting as much as it was alienating. Victor was the one who started this whole thing,” she said gesturing loosely to Victor.
“How do you reach that conclusion?” Victor rumbled, narrowing his eyes.
“You taunted the first Loki. You called him predictable and that irritated him,” Loki explained, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking on her feet. “He’d actually developed some respect for you, for your intellect and opinions, and so he took your comment into serious consideration and decided that you were right and that it was unacceptable.” She gave a shrug and dipped her head a bit. “But he had too much ego to give it the whole nine yards, he didn’t want to end, so he half-assed it and instead of giving his progeny a fresh start, he just gave him a restart of the same old game. Thus, instead of making something truly new, he just made a new God of Lies with depression, imposter syndrome, and crippling self-doubt. Fortunately that same self-doubt meant that my predecessor didn’t have so much ego holding him back and he gave himself over fully and gladly to the end of his own story.”
Stephen looked at Victor, who seemed to be interested and seriously considering Loki’s explanation. But there was a hole in it, and Stephen replayed Loki’s words in his mind to identify where it lay. “You called your predecessor ‘Loki the Third’,” Stephen said, looking back to the young goddess and frowning. “What happened to Loki the Second?”
“Well that was a great and terrible secret,” Loki replied with a smirk on her lips and sadness in her eyes. “Loki the First saw one of the great turning points in his life, one of the moments that defined him as a god and a person, as the moment he became a murderer. When he killed an innocent out of jealousy and spite. And, as he believed this to be a very important, self-defining detail, when he decided to recreate himself, he felt it important to recreate said detail. Loki the Second was murdered, and Loki the Third was born with blood on his hands and a stain on his conscience which hobbled him and sickened his soul through every moment of his life. Which he kept as his most closely guarded secret and lie out of debilitating shame.”
Victor nodded slowly. “And in time the guilt would have driven him mad,” he mused.
“You told him that you saw how he would turn out, once he cracked under the pressure,” Loki noted, tilting her head and looking Victor over carefully. “He caught a glimpse of it too. And when he fully realized the extent of it, when he believed in the inevitability, that was when he decided to go all in and gamble on me.” Loki glanced down at the floor and pursed her lips. “... But you know, the timing was also significant,” she said quietly.
“... After the inversion period,” Victor said. Stephen glanced at him and then back at Loki.
“Yes, the inversion,” Loki nodded, gaze still downcast. “He was one of the ones who didn’t revert properly. And he wasn’t standing behind Tony Stark like the others. He got broken because in some ways gods are far more fragile than humans. He was not able to rebound. He got stuck halfway between. A god of lies who could not lie and was unable to face the truth.” She looked up finally, and there was a mild, accusing glare in her eyes. “He was broken by what you and Lady Maximoff did. He killed himself because of it. Your comments were the inspiration that caused Loki the First to create him; you had a hand in his birth and in his death.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed and he glared back down at the goddess. “... Tell me you are not stupid enough to have come here seeking revenge. If your story is factual, then you would not now exist if your predecessor had not destroyed himself.”
Loki shrugged her shoulders and put on a mild grin. “Revenge? Of course not, Victor. What use is blaming God? No no, I’m here to inquire as to whether Victor von Doom is the sort of god or man who settles his debts.”
“Loki, you are treading on very thin ice,” Stephen said quietly, watching Victor’s eyes narrow again behind his mask.
“I always am,” Loki replied.
“And what debt do you imagine you are owed?” Victor demanded.
“Loki the Third helped save Latveria from tearing itself apart under the Red Skull’s influence,” Loki replied, lifting her chin and looking confident and blithe. “You had attacked and imprisoned him. He had no reason to do anything for you. But he still put himself in great personal discomfort helping Miss Richards break the Red Skull’s influence over your people in the belief that it was ‘the right thing to do’. Because he so desperately wanted to remake himself as the sort of god and person whom Thor might be proud of.” Loki crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. “He potentially saved the lives of hundreds of your subjects. You owed him for that. He is no longer able to collect on that debt, but here I am.” She smirked, eyes half veiled and smug. “So Victor, what kind of god are you? One with honor, or a capricious bully?”
Victor rose from his throne and descended the dais slowly until he was standing right in front of Loki, glaring back into her smirk. “And what favor would you ask of Doom?” he hissed.
“I want a job.”
“What?” Victor and Stephen said in unison, staring at her.
“I want a job,” Loki repeated. “I want a place in your brave new world. I want a rank and a shiny shiny badge and something interesting to do. I want to have official license to cross borders at will and I want to be able to walk into Doomgard’s mead hall without the Thors being like ‘uh, you really can’t be here.’” Her smirk faltered for a moment, her brows drawing together as she bit her lip for a fraction of a second. “And- and I want to know which one of them is mine. I’ve talked to a dozen or more and... none of them have been quite right. It’s hard to tell when so many of them look so much the same...”
Victor exchanged a glance with him, and Stephen could see consideration and calculation in his eyes. “... And why would I trust the God of Lies with any task?” Victor challenged.
“Well to start with, I’m not the God of Lies, that was the whole point of my predecessor sacrificing himself,” Loki replied, wrinkling her nose. “And secondly, why should you even need to trust me? You’re God! If I get too sassy, you can smite me!”
Victor and Stephen exchanged another glance. “... Thus countering the reasons Doom should not grant your request,” Victor said slowly. “Now explain why I should.”
Loki’s smirk renewed and she bounced a little on the balls of her feet. “So now I compliment your reorganizing of the heavens, because really, Thors make fantastic beat-cops. They’re courageous and selfless and uncorruptable and tough as all get-out, and they inspire the children,” she said, eyes bright. “But as excellent as they are at being noble pillars of justice, there are certain arenas where they’re bound to fall short. The thing about Thor and Loki, the thing that bonded them together and made them so much closer to each other than either of them were to any of their other siblings, is that they were opposites. Where Thor falls short, Loki excels and vise versa,” Loki explained, folding her hands together and appearing to try very hard to stand still. “I can do things a Thor just can’t. I can go places a Thor can’t. I can talk to people a Thor can’t. On those rare occasions when a Thor just isn’t going to cut it, when there’s something weird and sinister and tricky afoot, you need a Loki. And I am the Loki for the job.”
There was a long moment of quiet as they digested Loki’s pitch, then Victor turned to Stephen, the skin above one eye stretched to show that his eyebrow was raised beneath his mask. “Your thoughts, Stephen?” he prompted.
Stephen nodded slowly, arms crossed and tapping a finger against his elbow. “... You said that you aren’t the god of lies,” he said carefully. “What are you the god of, Loki?”
“Stories,” Loki replied, turning her eyes to him. “And the derivatives. Poetry, art, mythology... magic.”
“... Interesting,” Victor said, looking Loki over carefully as though only just noticing her.
“... And does that have something to do with how you’ve managed to retain your memories of the old world?” Stephen asked.
“I am the God of Stories. I could never forget one. Stories end, and maybe they’re buried by time and forgotten by the world. But not by me,” Loki said, her voice a bit softer, a slightly wistful hue coloring it. “I am stories. They are me. Forgetting would be death, and I’ve only just been born.”
Stephen nodded again, ruminating for a moment before turning to Victor. “There is the matter of that particular... discordance. Loki may be the ideal party to investigate the matter.”
Victor looked back at him and gave one quick, sharp nod. “Agreed.”
“I can investigate!” Loki declared excitedly, seeming much younger than her appearance indicated, but then, she was brand new, wasn’t she? “I’d be a great detective! I’ll detect so well!”
“Then we will test the earnestness of your proposition,” Victor said in a stern, commanding voice. “And hereby Doom’s ledger is cleared.”
“Agreed,” Loki gave a little bow of her head. “Glory to Doom, long may he reign.”
“Do not mock me,” Victor growled, eyes narrowing.
“I’m not. I’m adjusting myself to the new paradigm,” Loki said. “What you were is not what you are, anymore than I am any of the Lokis who came before me. I’ll need to behave appropriately toward my Lord God. Probably dropping the first-name-basis assumption is a good place to start.”
“Mm. Indeed,” Victor considered her another moment, trying to decide if he detected any sarcasm, before turning to Stephen. “Give her her assignment. Have her begin immediately.”
“Of course. I’d like to see this matter resolved as quickly as possible,” Stephen agreed.
000
“Sheriff. This is unexpected,” a very old Thor (who looked more than a little like Odin) said, pushing himself to his feet and standing at attention. “How may I serve you?”
“Lawspeaker, this is Special Agent Loki,” Stephen said brusquely, gesturing to Loki as they stopped in the middle of the office, which was a little more ‘Asgardian audience hall’ than ‘police chief office’. “She is going to be taking over investigation of the Loki murders. I will be walking her through the files now to get her started. Please give her access to the Thors who have worked these cases and assign her a temporary assistant to take her over the crime scenes.”
“I get my very own assistant-Thor?” Loki tried not to squeal. “Also- ‘Loki murders’: wat?”
“You asked for ‘tricky’, if I recall,” Stephen cast her a raised eyebrow.
The very old Thor gave Loki a scrutinizing stare and managed to look both unimpressed and suspicious. “As you order, Sheriff,” he agreed in an exceptionally grudging tone. “She’ll have the resources. I’ll find her an ‘assistant’.” Clearly Loki’s assistant would be either someone old-Thor didn’t like or didn’t think much of.
“I have a request on that,” Loki said, looking at Stephen and biting her lip momentarily. “Regarding the second thing I asked for.”
“Not here, Loki,” Stephen replied, refusing to look at her. “Come along. I need to brief you and get back to my duties in Doomstadt.” He turned around and started back out of the office.
Loki chased after him, feeling both a flush of frustration and a chill of dread. “Do you think that I don’t know avoidance when I see it, Stephen?” she hissed, grabbing his arm and pacing him as they continued down the hall. The Thors dotting the way stared at her, looking shocked. They hadn’t done that on the way in, so Loki had to conclude that it wasn’t because they were recognizing her as a Loki, but rather because one does not grab the Holy Eye and make demands of him.
“... Loki, I have not had the time to catalogue all the Thors,” Stephen said in a low voice. “I don’t know which one might be your brother.”
“‘Might’?” Loki dug her claws into that word.
“... Your brother was not on Earth when the end came,” Stephen’s voice went even quieter, so that Loki had to strain to hear it. “He was not part of any universe. He was lost in the void... I don’t know if he made it.”
Loki was silent for a few minutes, staring at the doctor and letting him lead the way as her feet kept moving, though she couldn’t focus on where she was walking. “... That is unacceptable,” Loki whispered at last.
Stephen sighed. “Loki, I don’t know for certain--”
“No. It’s unacceptable. I don’t accept it. You’re wrong,” Loki snapped, tightening her grip on Stephen’s arm and seeing him wince. “I’m going to find him, and I’m going to shove your face in it. This is my story, and I say my brother is alive, and I’m going to find him, and he’s going to love me and be proud of me!” She was rambling. She knew she was rambling and that she sounded a little hysterical.
Stephen stopped walking and turned to face her. “I hope that you do,” he said, looking her in the eye and putting a hand on her shoulder. Loki stared back at him for a moment, and then let him go, dropping her arms to her sides. “... And if you’re working out of Doomgard, that will give you the best opportunity to search. Some of the Thors work primarily out of Doomgard, some of them have assignments in the baronies and only come in every few months, but if you’re here long enough, I’m sure you’ll meet all of them eventually.”
Loki nodded, pursing her lips and clasping her hands behind her back. She felt shaky and weak suddenly. Which was stupid, because her Thor was not dead, and she was going to find him. “... So. ‘Loki murders’. That sounds interesting,” she murmured. “Is a Loki murdering people or are Lokis being murdered?”
“Both,” Stephen said, catching her elbow and starting to walk again. “Because many of them have the ability to teleport or otherwise travel unlimited distances, some of the Lokis have become aware of the fact that there are multiple iterations of themselves across Latverian. And a few of them have taken offence to the idea.”
“... They’re going Highlander on each other, aren’t they?” Loki asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Yes,” Stephen agreed, nodding. “And although some of them may be entering these duels willingly, at least two of the four victims so far identified were ambushed and may have been unaware or uninterested in the other iterations.”
They came to a room with a slightly glowing, translucent ‘screen’ in the middle and Stephen started pulling up images on it. Loki watched and listened to the display for a moment, finally deciding that it was a perfect marriage of magic and science. Oh Victor, the beauty of your mad fever-dreams. Once she’d taken in the wonderful techno-magery, she was finally able to appreciate that there was something on the display that she ought to be paying attention to.
Photos of four violently deceased Loki’s were spread out in front of her. Well, three and a corpse that was charred beyond recognition which she could only assume was also a Loki. Stephen was pointing toward the collection of photos in the upper left, which featured an adult, male Loki who appeared to have been pummeled by a blunt object until his chest was thoroughly caved in and most of his body was bruised and mangled. “This Loki appears to have been one of our aggressive factors. Multiple witness accounts of the incident agree that he attacked another Loki in public and broad daylight. Obviously he made a miscalculation of the odds,” Stephen was saying. He then gestured to a group of images on the right. “However, being as the Doom Valley incident occurred after Arcadia, he was clearly not the only predatory Loki.”
“And I’m guessing we don’t know exactly how many might be hunting at this point?” Loki asked, trying not to feel queasy as she looked over the photos of a cowboy-dressed Loki with a basketball-sized hole through his lungs and a somewhat crushed skull.
“We do not,” Stephen agreed. “In addition to investigating the incidents which have already occurred, and putting a stop to further duels and/or slayings, I want you to locate and document all of the Lokis living on Latverian.” He turned away from the screen to give Loki a very serious look. “While this situation,” he gestured at the display, “is the most acute, I believe that you would be inclined to agree with me that Lokis in general are a major x-factor and capable of representing a significant threat to the safety of this world.”
“Because Lokis are dangerous and very frequently mentally unstable, you mean,” Loki said. She glanced back up at the screen. “Of course, if there have been more incidents like this,” she pointed at the smashed Loki, “where an ‘aggressive’ Loki was rebuffed, perhaps even repelled without a death occurring to draw Doomgard’s attention, then when I walk into another Loki’s territory, looking very much like a Loki, I am going to also look very much like a threat. Or, if I happen upon an aggressive element, then I look like a potential conquest.”
Stephen nodded. “It will be dangerous. And I’m not going to tell you that I don’t see value in your potential as bait to lure the aggressive elements out, but you told us that you are the god of magic and mythology.” He looked her up and down slowly. “If I don’t miss my guess, I think that might very well make you the most formidable Loki ever born. And if you don’t feel confident in your ability to defend yourself against an aggressive element, then you are certainly welcome to keep a Thor with you as you investigate and conduct your census.” He glanced at the screen again. “Aside from obviously having a stake in this, I believe you would be the most able to assess the level of threat another Loki may represent to Doom’s law or the people of Latverian.
Loki drew a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out and nodding. “All right. Sounds like something of a plan... So tell me about this Robo-Loki. That one’s really got me curious,” she said, pointing to the images in the lower right.
000
“I got a job!” Loki declared, arms raised in the air excitedly.
Verity stared at her, baffled and skeptical. “You got a job?” she repeated.
“Yes!” Loki agreed, trying for excitement one more time before giving up and dropping her arms. “I am officially a servant of God. I have a shiny shiny badge and everything.”
“... You are a god,” Verity pointed out, wandering over to flop herself on the couch.
“Yes, but Victor’s a God with a capitol G. I’m just pantheonic riffraff,” Loki explained, perching on the armrest.
Verity raised an eyebrow and gave an exaggerated shrug.
“... I’m a detective? I’m detecting things and solving crimes?” Loki tried.
“What kind of crimes?” Verity asked, scooting herself into a more upright position.
“The Loki Murders!” Loki said dramatically, wiggling her fingers.
Verity frowned. “... Is a Loki murdering people or are Lokis being murdered?” she asked.
“Both!” Loki said excitedly.