Timetrial

"Lileth!" A voice outside the simulation called. I gave the slightest groan.

"Pause." I spoke aloud, watching the pixels of my holographic opponent and the background fade to black. Two vertical red bars appeared on the screen, indicating a pause rather than full stop. I pulled the headset off and tucked it under my arm. "Yeah?" Roxy - one of my partners hopped onto the platform with me.

"Bri is back. She has a new assignment for us." There was a hint of a smirk on her lips as she placed one hand on her hip, the other waving for me to follow her. "You ready?" I dropped the headset - GENTLY - on the ground and scampered down the stairs and into the hall with her. Then headed into Brianne - er, Agent Hope's - office. Lucy, our third assignment partner, was already waiting.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." She side-eyed us, I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Which one of us is the cat?" I asked, but she just shook her head at me. Roxy and I took a seat. Hope was talking with Aspen, another supervisor, he noticed us first and gave her a nudge.

"Ah! There you two are!" I squirmed in my seat, eyes flitting around the dark room before landing on the briefing screen, then an excited jolt ran through my body. An Artifact... I almost said out loud as I recognized the sculpture displayed. My brain began to register a strange buzzing sound, I quickly realized that sound was Hope speaking.

"-It's going to be hard to get to-" My hand shot up.

"Can you repeat the uhhhh... first part? Of the uh... everything?" Lucy sighed but Agent Hope forced a smile, she gestured to the screen behind her.

"This is one of the artifacts in the line we've been archiving. It seems to have some sort of energy barrier around it, perhaps to protect itself, perhaps put there by someone else. Said barrier puts you through a 'trial' of sorts to see if you're worthy to pass completely through, we assume. None of our scouts have been able to get through. Yet." She cleared her throat and gave me a meaningful look, just to be sure I was still paying attention. "SO, it's going to be hard to get to. But that's why we picked our best."

"BEST?" I gasped, flattered and unbelieving.

"Best?" Lucy repeated, in a far more exasperated tone than me. Aspen seemed to sense the contempt and stepped forward.

"You three are young, adaptable, and creative. Two of you have faced near death experiences and lived to tell the tale, so, yes. I'd say the best." He crossed his arms and stepped back after speaking.

"So when do I get to face near death and live to tell my tale?" Roxy joked. Lucy snorted. Honestly I hoped she never had to - it really wasn't that great - but I don't know how Lucy's experience was.

"Ha, ha." Agent Hope tapped her watch. "Time is of the essence. We don't know when - or if - the Artifact will disappear, and you'll need to Timeshift to get to the right spot. So fire up your Regulators and hop in one of the jets with the right equipment. Aspen will accompany you to the field, but only you three will go in. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" We said in unison before exiting the room. Aspen the expert pilot was right on our heels at first - then I heard his footsteps stop.

"Hey. Keep an eye on Lileth. We need to know if -" my feet didn't stop in time for me to eavesdrop the rest. I took a few quiet steps back, taking my brain off of metaphorical autopilot to do so.

"Got it." From Aspen was all I heard, then it seemed to be over. My heart quickened, I rushed to my partners before he could notice me.

We reached the hangar quickly, Roxy and Lucy chattering the whole way there. Ah, childhood friends... at first I took a seat at the back of the jet, watching my assignment partners take the two in front of me - the middle seats of the jet. Aspen climbed in, starting to the front, then stopped beside me.