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MidReal Story
The Loki Variant Conspiracy
Scenario:Reports show extra Loki variants across the world spreading mischief
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Mia Chen
tech expert for the team, mentored by Tom and friends with Sarah, petite with glasses, vibrant red hair in a pixie cut, witty and innovative
Sarah Jennings
undercover agent, allies with Tom and Mia, short black hair, sharp green eyes, intelligent and resourceful
Tom Richards
lead detective, friends with Sarah and mentor to Mia, tall with rugged features, brown hair streaked with gray, authoritative and cautious
Chapter 1
The first time I saw a Loki, I was in the middle of a sting operation.
I’d been undercover for weeks, working my way into the good graces of a local crime lord.
We were at a nightclub, and I’d just slipped something into his drink when the world went sideways.
One moment, I was standing at the bar, watching him from across the room.
The next, he was right in front of me, his hand closing around my wrist in an iron grip.
I tried to pull away, but he held on tight.
"What did you do?" he demanded, his eyes wide with panic.
"Nothing," I said quickly.
"I didn’t do anything."
"You’re lying," he said, shaking me.
"I can feel it. What did you do?"
"Let me go," I said, trying to tug my arm free.
"You need to go to the hospital. You’re paranoid."
"No!"
he shouted, and the club around us disappeared.
It was replaced by a grand cathedral, with high vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows depicting Loki’s most famous tricks and deceits.
I looked at the crime lord and gasped.
He didn’t look like himself anymore either.
Instead of his usual human form, he looked like an ancient Norse god—tall and muscular, with long hair and a beard.
I’d been working this case for months now, and I knew every inch of his face as well as I knew my own.
But this was not the man I knew.
This was something else entirely.
I tried to pull away from him again, but he held on tight as the world around us continued to shift and change.
I made it out of his grip long enough to stumble toward a side door in the cathedral, hoping it would lead me back into the club somehow, but when I opened it and stepped through it led right back into the same room I’d just left.
"You did this," the crime lord growled as he stalked toward me, each step sending echoes throughout the grand chamber that should have been completely empty except for us.
"You put something in my drink. What is it?"
I cried.
"The only thing I put in your drink was truth serum. You were supposed to tell me about your plans for tonight so we could arrest you after everything went down. Nothing weird!"
"Of course you would say that," he said darkly.
His eyes were wild, and I could see the fear in them as he looked at me.
I remembered the first time we met, when I’d approached him at this very club and tried to get close to him through any means necessary, including a little truth serum in his drink.
I couldn’t blame him for being paranoid, but even if I had done something to his drink—and I hadn’t—I knew it wouldn’t have caused this.
The door opened again, and a man walked through, dressed in an outfit that looked like it belonged in some medieval renaissance faire instead of a nightclub or a cathedral.
He sauntered toward us with a chalice in his hand and grinned at the crime lord.
He stepped out of the massive magic portal that had appeared out of nowhere, looking completely at ease as if he’d just stepped off a bus or train instead of through an interdimensional gateway from Asgard or some other realm entirely He was an elderly woman now, with twinkling eyes and a sweet smile on her face "Oh dear," she said, shaking her head as she stepped down onto the pavement "My poor child! So many people to tend to. I hope everyone’s safe." My heart raced as I watched him approach us from down the street His footsteps made no sound as they hit the ground And when they did, they turned the asphalt underneath them into solid gold The gold spread across the pavement like water pouring down a hillside It covered cars and buildings, stretched out in every direction until it disappeared past the edges of my vision
Horns blared as cars skidded on the slick golden road Pedestrians cried out and scrambled for higher ground as their feet slid out from under them The gold shimmered even more brightly under the sunlit sky "Don’t you worry," Loki said cheerfully as they passed us by "It’ll be back to normal soon enough."
The crime lord and I stared after him as the gold road continued to stretch out before us, gobbling up the pavement and buildings until there was nothing else left "What. The fuck. Was that?" the crime lord asked, his voice shaking with fear and anger "I…I don’t know," I said, my heart racing in my chest
My mind whirled with everything I’d just witnessed—the grand cathedral appearing out of nowhere, the sudden change in the crime lord’s appearance, and of course the old woman who’d just turned Manhattan into a city of gold
Loki might be the Trickster God, but this…
I needed to get away from here, and fast
If I didn’t make it back to my agency to report what had just happened they would never believe me
But if the crime lord found me missing from our rendezvous, he’d know something was up.
And if that happened, not only would my life be in danger, but all of this would have been for nothing—I couldn’t blow this case wide open like we’d hoped.
Unless…unless I caught Loki first.
It was a reckless plan, and honestly, one that wasn’t worth the risk.
But after everything I’d seen tonight and everything I had to lose if the agency found out what had happened here, it was a risk I was willing to take
With a deep breath, I turned away from the crime lord who still stared after Loki with wide eyes and held up his hands as if he could undo what he’d just done
I broke into a run down the street toward Loki’s retreating figure.
My high heels were not made for running, so they slowed me down considerably.
By the time they finally snapped off my feet, though, we were almost even with one another—him at the end of the street about to turn a corner into an alleyway that branched off from the main street.
If anything is going to catch him right now,
it’s going to be me,
I spun around to face my partner in the mission, an edge of dread coiling within me.
But it wasn’t Mia who’d called out to me.
No, I was not alone in facing down the powerful crime lord.
A tall man with rugged features stood beside me, dark eyes narrowed as he gazed down the alleyway from which we’d just come.
"Sarah," Tom Richards said, his voice grim.
"I was wondering where you’d gone off to."
Tom was my boss, and one of the lead detectives at our agency.
I hadn’t even realized that I’d given away too much about myself to the man beside me—hadn’t realized that Tom had been following me all along.
He'd been worried about my safety and knew I was headed into a dangerous situation.
As my mentor, Tom had been there for me from the beginning.
I was grateful for all the ways in which he had helped me, but I couldn’t stop an edge of irritation from seeping into my tone as I turned toward him and glared up at his chiseled features.
"How long have you been following me?" "Long enough," he said with a grimace.
He reached for his phone that buzzed in his pocket and checked it quickly before letting out a curse.
"Sarah…"
I followed his gaze as a sick feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
His phone screen displayed reports of the same incidents we'd just witnessed happening across the globe—Loki variants appearing out of nowhere, wreaking havoc wherever they went
And now, it seemed that there was more than one Loki causing chaos at once.
As if things weren’t bad enough already "They’re multiplying," Tom said with a frown as he continued to scroll through the data on his phone.
Whatever their intentions were, it couldn’t be anything good—or anything with the best interests of humanity at heart.
A sudden hum pulled me out of my thoughts and I turned around to face Mia’s holographic projection as it appeared before me once again, her red hair glowing in stark contrast to the dark alleyway around us.
"Guys! You need to hear this!" she said urgently, her voice nearly drowned out by the noise coming from her computer speakers "I’ve been tracking these anomalies ever since you first mentioned them and…there’s more."
"Mia…what do you mean?"
Tom asked with a frown as he turned toward her projection and crossed his arms over his chest "The way I see it…this is an attack."
"On who?"
I asked grimly
Mia’s holographic projection shook its head slowly from side-to-side
Chapter 2
I turned to face her, a frown creasing my brow as I did "What do you mean you’re not coming with us?"
"It’s too dangerous," she said, gesturing toward the destroyed club around us "I’m going to keep analyzing the data from here and see if I can figure out what’s happening. You guys need to get back to LA and find Rachel."
"Mia…"
Tom began again, but I cut him off this time
"She’s right Tom. We have no idea who—or what—we’re dealing with here, and if Rachel is somehow behind all of this…"
I let my voice trail off, leaving the rest of the statement unsaid
We didn’t know what kind of technology she’d been working on after she’d left INFINITY OS for good, or how far she’d go in order to achieve her goals.
If she was responsible for these anomalies…
"Alright," Tom said finally, his jaw set in determination as he pulled out his phone and began dialing a number "But we’re getting to the bottom of this one way or another. I don’t care what else happens along the way—Rachel Bryson is going down."
As much as I hated to admit it, Mia was right—if Rachel was somehow behind these Loki variants appearing throughout the world, then we were dealing with an enemy unlike any we'd ever faced
And if that was really the case…
"But Tom…"
I began, my voice tinged with concern
"What if Rachel isn’t behind this? What if they’re after her too?"
Tom shook his head grimly and turned toward me, his dark eyes narrowed"I don’t care what she’s after. If we can find Rachel, then we can stop whatever it is that’s happening. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do."
Rachel Bryson had been one of the most brilliant minds at INFINITY OS, and had been in charge of developing their latest—top secret—software: INFINITY OS 2.0.
A few months earlier, however, she’d abruptly quit her job and disappeared without a trace.
No one knew where she’d gone or what she’d been working on since leaving the company behind—and that made her an immediate person of interest in our investigation
If anyone could be behind these anomalies, it would be Rachel
We all shared a collective glance, unease passing between us for a moment before Mia let out a sigh and nodded grimly"We’ll follow your lead," she said finally
"Alright then," Tom said with a nod as he shoved his phone back into his pocket "Mia, I want you to start analyzing the data from Rachel’s last known location here in LA. See if you can figure out anything else about these anomalies and how we can stop them."
"Got it," Mia said with a nod as I followed Tom back outside into the alleyway
As soon as we were outside again, he pulled his phone back out and began dialing another number
"I’m going to call in a few favors from some of my contacts back in LA," he said grimly as he held the phone up to his ear "See if I can find out anything else about these anomalies and what we’re dealing with here."
"Alright," I said with a nod as we continued down the alleyway, our voices falling silent as we neared the end of the narrow passage.
As soon as we were out on the main street again, Tom hailed a cab and we piled inside
It was time to get to work.
Tom and I headed straight for Los Angeles, where we planned to start our investigation into Rachel Bryson once again.
I glanced out the window as the city came into view and let out a sigh—there was no telling where Rachel might be hiding now, or how much trouble she might be causing along the way.
And so, it was up to us to stop her, no matter what.
A short while later we'd made it back to LA and were heading toward The Patch—a secretive underground club that catered to tech enthusiasts and hackers alike
I nodded grimly as I scanned the area, my eyes narrowing in concentration as I searched for any sign of movement.
But before long, my patience paid off—a figure suddenly darted around the corner of one of the nearby buildings and into one of the narrow alleyways
"Over there," I called out to Tom as I took off after the figure, my instincts kicking in once again as I wove through the crowded streets and over fences in pursuit of my target.
But before long, they vanished from sight.
"Shit," I cursed as I skidded to a stop and looked around frantically "Where did they go?"
The entire area was like a maze of narrow streets and alleyways—it would be all too easy for them to lose me if I wasn't careful
So how had it been so easy for them?
"SARAH!" someone suddenly called out to me from behind, momentarily pulling me from my thoughts
I turned on my heel and scanned the area for Mia, but she was nowhere to be seen
"Mia? Where are you?" "SARAH!"
Mia’s voice called out again, this time coming from an adjacent alleyway
But before I could respond, she came rushing toward me at a breakneck speed "Sarah!"
Mia called out breathlessly as she skidded to a stop in front of me, her eyes wide with panic
"Sarah, wait!"
"What is it?" I demanded as I looked at her in confusion
She was panting heavily, as if she’d been running for some time
"What’s wrong?"
Without saying another word, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small USB drive before shoving it into my hand.
"What’s this?" "I found it on the ground over there," Mia panted "I think it might be important."
I gave her a nod of thanks and quickly examined the small device—it was just an ordinary USB drive, like the ones you could buy at any computer store.
But when I connected it to my phone and scrolled through the files that were stored on it, my eyes widened in shock"They’ve been watching us," Tom said grimly as he watched the tiny screen over my shoulder
"And whoever they are…"
His voice trailed off for a moment
Whoever they were, they knew exactly what they were doing.
The footage on the device showed someone who looked remarkably like me breaking into some sort of high-tech research facility in Washington DC—not far from where Rachel Bryson had once lived.
The security there was top of the line, but it didn’t seem to pose much of a challenge for me—I’d managed to bypass it with relative ease, as if I knew exactly what I was doing at every turn.
But there was just one problem with that: I hadn’t been to Washington DC in months
Not since before I’d transferred to Seattle, after being promoted to full-time status there.
So how could that be me?
Was this some kind of deepfake?
I glanced back at Tom and Mia, who were both staring at the tiny screen over my shoulder with wide eyes"I-I don’t know," I said finally "It looks so… real."
"And you’re sure you weren’t in DC recently?"
Mia pressed "Absolutely positive?"
"Positive," I replied grimly "My last assignment there was several months ago. There’s no way this can be me…"
I could tell she was starting to connect the dots, too
INFINITY OS 2.0 had only been deployed to a handful of test devices so far, but if someone had managed to get their hands on it…
That could be very, very bad.
"Agreed," Tom said grimly as he watched the footage again, his brow furrowing "Let’s go."
But Mia held out a hand to stop him "Wait," she said "There—look!"
She pointed toward the alleyway with her free hand, where I could just barely make out the blurry figure of someone fleeing through the shadows.
Tom started after them immediately, but I held out an arm to stop him
"It’s no use—he’s already gone," I said grimly
As much as I hated to admit it, Mia was right
Whoever that person was, they were long gone by now—probably back to whatever hideout they’d emerged from.
The question was: Who were they, and what did they want?
"Come on," I said finally "We need to get out of here before Tom shows up."
Without waiting for a response, I took off running down the alleyway toward our car
Mia followed close behind me, clutching tightly to my hand as we ran for all we were worth.
I didn’t know what that video meant, but I knew one thing for sure: I needed to find out as much about this Rachel Bryson as possible.
If we were going to get to the bottom of this, I had a feeling she was our best shot at making sense of it all—as well as clearing my name.
It was a long drive from Seattle to LA, but the time passed quicker than I expected
Mia sat in the passenger seat next to me, twirling the USB drive around her fingers like a fidget spinner while I kept my eyes on the road ahead
She’d connected it to her laptop a few minutes ago and watched the footage again, but neither of us had any idea what to make of it.
The more we thought about it, the less sense it made—how could someone have managed to bypass that security system so easily?
It was supposed to be completely impenetrable… wasn’t it?
I shook my head grimly and cast another glance over at Mia—who was now staring down at the device with an expression that seemed equal parts determination and worry.
"What do you think?" she asked finally, breaking the silence.
"It doesn’t make any sense."
"I don’t know," I replied grimly "But we’ll figure it out. Somehow."
Mia nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything else.
We rode the rest of the way in silence, the only sounds coming from the radio and the steady hum of the engine as we sped along the highway.
It wasn’t until we finally pulled into the alleyway behind The Patch that either of us spoke again.
The Patch was an underground club in LA where tech enthusiasts—some legal, some not—gathered to discuss their latest projects and inventions.
Some people called it a hive of scum and villainy, but others saw it as a place where brilliant minds could come together without fear of being judged or persecuted.
Either way, it was one of Rachel Bryson’s local haunts—and if anyone here knew how to find her, I was willing to bet they’d be able to point us in the right direction.
"Ready?"
I asked as I turned off the engine and opened my door.
