"Jayden, it's been like 20 minutes since you called the others. What's the holdup?"
"You took 25 to get here, stop complaining."
"You forgot to call them in the first place."
"Shut up."
With a chuckle, I lean against a wall, looking in the direction of the 'hole.' My suspicions had been confirmed. Looking at it calms me down.
I don't know why it calms me, but to be safe, I had my HUD censor it. After all, I still had to look in its direction to make sure no one made any more attempts to get "Isekaied," to quote the crackheads. Still don't know what they were on about.
Well, on another matter, a few scientists showed up. One of them won't sit still. The others are quietly discussing and typing into data pads, while that one is visibly vibrating in what I think is excitement. I've been keeping an eye on that one.
"So Jayden, how did you get here so fast? Were you out harassing store clerks again?"
"UUUUGGGGHHHH, that was ONCE."
"You still did it."
"I was drunk, you ass."
"And I told you to get off the alcohol. Anyways, answer the question."
"I was on a walk and saw it form."
I look at him for a moment. "I literally told you I saw the recording of it forming."
"Fuck. Alright, fine, I was doing maintenance on my suit, and it detected an energy spike."
"Why would you lie about that?"
"'cause you brought up the incident."
"Fair enough, I guess."
A familiar voice suddenly rings through the comms. "Alright, you two, what'd I miss?" It's Izaiah, our resident connoisseur of being done with everyone's bullshit.
"Oh, nothing much. Just that we've been assigned to guard a hole in space, maybe even in time, too." I say, trying not to chuckle, I wonder how he's going to react to this.
"... You've got to be kidding me. Like, even for you two, this is creative."
Checking my HUD to confirm his location, I see that he's heading over to our location. "Even if you don't believe us, we're still assigned to deal with this."
"Tch. Fine. But if you're lying to me, I'm going to punch you."
"Got it."
Cutting the line, I give Jayden a side eye. "Did you not tell him you forgot to call him earlier? He was remarkably calm, for someone late to whatever this is. Plus, you were silently staring at the wall during that entire conversation."
"David, I have a survival instinct. He would genuinely shoot me."
"Yeah, and he's going to shoot you more when he finds out. How many times do I have to tell you to just be honest about mistakes? Sure, it hurts your pride, but it hurts a lot more when you have to go to the medics for severe bodily harm."
"I'll be fine. He won't actually kill me, we're friends."
I just sigh. "Yeah, he won't kill you, but he's gonna be pissed at you."
"We'll cross that bridge when he gets here."
"Nope, I'm watching this time. Time for you to face the consequences of your actions."
"...Oh."
A few minutes later, Izaiah, in his combat armor, rounds the corner, freezes for a moment, and then opens the comms again. "What did you two do?"
With a chuckle, I push Jayden forward slightly. "Go ahead. Explain."
Jayden glances back at me. I can almost see his pleading expression through the helmet. My only response is a gesture for him to speak.
"...We didn't do anything." He gestures to himself and then to me. "We're just assigned to make sure no one tries to mess with whatever that thing is." He points vaguely in the 'holes' direction.
"Then why was I only informed that, whatever that is, exists when I called you 3 minutes ago? Speaking of which, why are only you and David here? Where are Nathan and Oscar?"
"Due to technical difficulties because of the hole in reality behind me, I was only able to contact David until whatever this thing is calmed down."
"That's a fancy way of telling you he forgot and is making up excuses that never happened."
Jayden turns his head so fast to glare at me that I think I hear his neck pop. "DAVID."
I grin at him from behind my helmet.
After several moments of silence, Izaiah finally speaks again. "If not for the emergency and the fact that I don't want to be court martialed, I would have shot you 5 times by now. I know you can be forgetful at times, but genuinely, how? That is a literal tear in space-time. How did you manage to forget to call your squad for help? Actually, I don't even care, I'm here now, so it doesn't matter."
I silently watch as Izaiah walks past me and stares at the 'hole.'
"Be sure not to look at it too much, I don't know how, but it messes with your head."
"Good to know. Did you tell the scientists over there?" He half points in their direction.
"They're smart enough to figure it out."
"I'll go tell them then."
Watching as Izaiah walks over to the scientists, I open a private channel with Jayden.
"Was that really so bad?"
"I'm spiking your coffee with laxatives."
"Love you too."
After laughing at Jayden's expense, I realize something. I can literally just check to see Nathan and Oscar's locations. After all, since Jayden has supposedly called them, they should have their armor on by now. Still annoys me that the armor can only connect to other armor.
With the console on my arm, I pull up their locations. They're about 5 minutes away and moving together. With a click, I call them.
"If you two were heading over, why didn't you call us?"
Nathan responds first. "'Cause I know you two. There's at least a 40% chance that when I call either of you, you're gonna pull out some bullshit lie about our mission as a joke."
"Jayden's at least 35% of that."
"Yeah, so what's the joke this time? Oscar's got 30 bucks on a space-time anomaly."
"..."
"David?"
I blankly stare into my HUD, feeling my jaw drop slightly. "You're not gonna believe me."
Oscar bursts into the conversation. "I KNEW IT!"
A faint, dull impact echoes through the comms, followed shortly by Nathan's voice. "Stop yelling so damn much."
"Ow..." I hear Oscar's pained voice.
After finally regaining my voice, I speak, bewilderment lacing my every word. "Oscar... how the fuck, do you keep doing that?" My voice rises as I continue. "This is the EIGHTH TIME YOU'VE DONE THIS."
"I... guess I'm just lucky?"
"Then you've got better luck than the devil himself. If you keep this up, I'm gonna start asking you about government secrets."
"Don't even think about it, David."
"You're no fun, Nathan. I'm gonna tell the others that you guys are almost here."
I cut the connection and open one with Jayden and Izaiah.
"Yo, guys. The others are about 3 minutes away."
"Noted. Can you help me with Natalie?"
Jaden cuts in. "Who is Natalie?"
"The excited one."
"How do you get the name of every woman you meet within, like, 2 minutes?" I ask in exasperation.
"How would I know?"
"You're the one they talk to."
"Are you going to help or not?"
"Yeah, gimme a sec," I say, pushing off the wall and beginning to head over.
As I walk over to Izaiah, something happens. My HUD flashes an "Unknown energy spike" warning as it automatically uncensors the 'hole.'