Chapter 10

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A month later...

Kiara takes off the wig and places it in the box with the other elements of her disguise. Instructor Habib had tasked them to change their appearances to match the profile assigned. She then gave the class twenty minutes to do it and then proceeded to give out pointers and advice.

Kiara heads to the ground floor with the rest of the trainees for their next class: Combat. It has become one of her favorites and has been harder than she initially thought. Each of her classmates has a different style and having to figure out how to gain the upper hand has been stimulating. She has also learned a few tricks by observing the rest.

She talks with Doug and Ethan, while warming up and stretching. Soon enough, Instructor Anderson gathers them around to begin.

"Today we'll be practicing disarming technics" Instructor Anderson says. "Except Agents Lopez, Starling and King. Your three have been summoned to the Simulator."

Kiara glances at Patrick Lopez and Olivia King. Patrick howls in excitement while Olivia looks nervous. Kiara gives her a reassuring look, but Kiara can't stop ginning. She didn't expect to be called to the Simulator so soon. From what she has gathered from the other agents, it takes years of training to be begin that part.

They make their way to the second floor and when the elevator opens, a huge room greets them. In the other end stands Agent Frost in training cloths. He has a wooden staff in his right hand. Behind him stands a small pedestal with a flat disk on top. The disk in no larger than Kiara's hand. There is also a clock on the wall telling the hour. The rest of the room is empty.

"Welcome Agents" Agent Frost projects his voice through the room as they step inside. "Your objective is to take the disk behind me by any means necessary. Bonus points if you manage to grab this one."

He shows them a disk half the size as the one in the pedestal. Then, he places it in his left pant pocket.

"Any questions?"

Olivia raises her hand. "That's it? We only have to grab the disks from you?"

Kiara studies the bare room. She feels like there's more to it than Agent Frost explained.

"Yes, as a team." Agent Frost emphasizes. "But don't worry, I'll put up a fight. Any other question?"

Kiara hesitates, but shakes her head. Then he grins eagerly.

"You have 45 minutes to complete the task. Now, let's begin. Computer activate the course."

A beep sounds through the room and the floor below Kiara, Patrick and Olivia rises a few feet. This also happens to Agent Frost and the pedestal. The windows become shaded, and the lights turn brighter. Throughout the room, there are different heights of flooring creating obstacles to jump over, climb and scurrying under. From the ceiling, sprinklers pop down in certain areas and spray what's underneath with a green substance that looks like slime.

Kiara studies the course, observing the best paths. After she goes over, they make a plan and advance. They jump from their platform and walk, having decided to conserve energy for when they reach Agent Frost.

The first few obstacles they manage to dodge easily. But then they reach a climbing wall a few feet taller than them, forcing them to make a jump before pulling themselves up. However, the top part is covered in the green goo, some of it dripping down. Kiara rubs some between her thumb and forefinger.

"It's slime." She confirms to her team. "It'll make everything slippery. Can you give me a boost?"

Patrick steps near the wall and turns around to face them. He interwinds his hands and bends a little. Kiara steps on his hands and they both push up. Kiara is now chest level with the edge. She reaches over and places her hands over. After making sure her hands won't slip, she lifts herself the rest of the way.

She tries to shake as much of the slime from her hand, before helping Olivia climb up. But as she leans backwards, her feet slip, and she tumbles down on her back. Luckily, Olivia was already halfway up and managed to climb the rest of the way. Both of them were now covered in slim: Olivia in front and Kiara behind.

They help Patrick up and then they continued. For the next obstacle they have to jump over different platforms. With their shoes covered in slim, the landings were slippery and not graceful at all, but funny to watch, not suffer. However, the slime was useful on the parts where they had to go under platforms, allowing them to slide faster.

Twenty minutes into the exercise and they finally arrive at Agent Frost's platform.

"What's the plan?" Kiara says as she helps Olivia climb the rest of the way to the platform. "Patrick?" She asks when there is no answer.

"Yeah, he's gone." Olivia says and points behind Kiara.

Patrick was already trying to get past Agent Frost, but he was too fast for him. Agent Frost's staff pushed him back when he got to close.

Kiara sighs. "I'll help distract Agent Frost," she whispers to Olivia.

"And I'll sneak by and grab the bigger disk." Olivia says.

Kiara nods and runs full speed at Agent Frost. Her goal is to push him to the left leaving the pedestal clear for Olivia to grab the disk. Just as she is about to reach him, Agent Frost pushes Patrick in her way and they stumble.

Kiara moves forward and barely avoids the tip of the staff on her abdomen with a last-minute spin. But that leaves her open for Agent Frost to push her sideways with the side of the staff. Her foot slips and she tucks into a roll that puts her further away.

She tries again with the same result and changes tactics. She coordinates her attack with Patrick, but Agent Frost manages to stay in the same spot and block Olivia's attempt to grab the disk.

Agent Frost exaggerates a yawn. "Is that all you've got agents?" he taunts.

Patrick shouts in frustration and approaches in rage. Agent Frost quickly intercepts him smoothly, using his momentum to spin around and push him back towards Kiara and Olivia. They give it another shot, but before they know it, time runs out. Agent Frost deactivates the simulation and gathers them around.

"Your tactic at the beginning was a good one," he says. "Though next time, I would advise to avoid the slime as much as possible."

"Yeah, we figured that out the hard way" Olivia comments sheepishly.

Agent Frost turns to Kiara.

"Your coordination was off because of the slime, but you should have used that to your advantage when you faced me"

Kiara nods. He looks at Patrick.

"Don't let your emotions get out of control. That makes you sloppy. And wait for your teammates"

He then directs his feedback to Olivia.

"I noticed that your task was to get the disk, but you need to be more persistent and creative on your approach. But overall, your first attempt was good."

"Will we get another chance?" Kiara says.

"Another day" Agent Frost promises with a grin. "Now, go clean up."

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