Trials and Tribulations

The Megopteran

Sofi lightly tapped her right foot against her left. She was sitting in the passenger seat of the ARC issued SUV, her feet propped up on the dashboard, beside her, in the driver's seat was Ryan, while Jayden was in the back. All three were silent, but Jayden couldn't deny the tension he felt coming from his Captain and best friend.

"I know it's not my place," Jayden said, leaning forward. "But, are you two okay? It's just, I sense some tension." He added quickly, as Ryan lifted his gaze to meet his through the rear view mirror.

Sofi swallowed and glanced at Ryan from the corner of her eye. Since they're little disagreement during the Dracorex incident, where she had explicitly told him that she wasn't the Sofi he remembered, things had been uneasy between them. Sometimes she wished that she could take back what she said, but there was also a part of her that knew that she hadn't said anything that wasn't true.

She wasn't the Sofi he had left behind after passing through the Forest of Dean anomaly into the Permian, she wasn't the same nineteen-year-old that he had fallen in love with all the months ago, and yet, she also was - at least, on some level. His Sofi was a nineteen-year-old Genius working out of the Home Office of England, alongside her father, Christopher, where as she was a nineteen-year-old Genius that worked with her step-brother at a secret government facility funded by the Home Office.

The only things that were similar about her and the Sofi he knew were their age, background, work ethic, and intelligence. Everything else was different.

"As you said, none of your business," said Ryan.

Jayden looked ready to argue with a second SUV, this time silver, jerked to a stop beside them. The occupants inside jolted forward and then fell back into their seats.

"Was that really necessary?" Abby asked, climbing out of the car and glaring across the hood at Danny.

Danny shrugged. "My car, my rules," he said, simply.

"I hate it when you pull rank," said Conner.

"Yeah. Well, I hate sitting in the back," Becker complained, rolling his shoulders.

"You sat in the front last time," said Conner.

Becker rolled his eyes. "Who keeps count?" he asked, looking around as Sofi, Ryan, and Jayden joined him and the others.

"Conner does," said Abby, grinning.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Sofi, stopping the others as they continued to pass through the barrier.

Conner frowned at her. "Why not?" he asked.

Before Sofi could answer, a loud, fast, hammering on plastic echoed and the team turned to see a man in a neon yellow jacket waving at them from a station window.

"Oi! You can't go in there!" the man called, waving them back.

"Friendly around here, aren't they?" Conner asked, waving back.

Sofi rolled her eyes. "He's trying to save you from certain death," she said. "This is a race track, and on a race track, very fast cars happen."

"I know - woah!" Conner squeaked, as two racing cars sped past.

"Don't say you weren't warned," said Sofi.

"Hey, isn't that the -"

"The 2011 Aston Martin V12 Vantage Zagato?" Sofi asked, nodding. "Yeah. It is."

"And the other?"

"Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale," Sofi answered. "Both insanely fast, and only been out a couple of months. What I would give to get behind the wheel of either one of them."