Fait Accompli

The portal is beneath a bridge. It hovers a few centimeters from the ground as cars pass over it. A low swishing sound emanates from it as Liam and his friends stand in front of it.

It’s the first portal Liam has seen in real life and he can’t help but feel in awe. Looking at pictures of portals hasn't prepared him for standing in front of one, even though they were supposed to. There's just something about the bright colors and the sound coming from the huge vortex that can't be experienced with looking at a picture.

"Alright," Louis announces as he dumps the duffel bag he has been carrying for the five minutes they walked from the car to the space beneath the bridge. "Let's get dressed then."

There are clothes along with weapons in the brown bag. They can't go around wearing clothes from the Tudor era - it would turn a few heads and that's something they don't want - so they're still dressed in modern garb.

"These are for you," Louis tells as he throws a collection of clothes in Liam's direction, which he catches before they can fall in the mud. Liam is used to Louis's careless attitude, so he doesn't raise an eyebrow.

Liam starts to entangle the clothes as Louis gives Zayn his bundle of clothes. He flinches as he sees the hoses he's going to need to wear. It looks like it's going to fit extremely tight, especially around the crotch. This is going to be one uncomfortable mission.

But Liam knows he has to wear the clothes, she he turns around and starts to undress. The cold spring nips at his skin as he puts on the hoses. Just like he thought, it fits tightly around his crotch but thankfully not as tight to cut of circulation. - otherwise it wouldn't be just an uncomfortable mission but a very painful one.

He puts on the rest of the clothes and turns around again. Zayn has finished getting dressed too but Louis is still putting on his coat. Like with every outfit he wears, Zayn looks good in his costume but the same can't be said about Louis. The clothes look to big for him, especially his coat. Liam hopes he himself looks better.

"Well, shit," Louis curses as he tugs at his own coat. "I think they gave me the wrong one. I'm drowning in this."

"I don't think it looks too bad," Zayn reassures him. He takes a step closer to his friend and joins Louis with pushing and pulling at the red coat. "It doesn't make you look any less of a noble, which is what we're going for."

Liam, Louis and Zayn are going to impersonate two noble men and their servant - Zayn will be the servant because of his skin color, which to Liam's surprise hadn't faced Zayn. When he had asked him about it, Zayn had told Liam he knew it was how it worked in Tudor times, their bosses didn't mean anything by it.

"Maybe so, but a look a bit ridiculous," Louis mutters. He ignores Zayn's protests as he starts pulling his coat off and puts it under his arm. "So, that's better."

"You can't just wear your coat under your arm, you're going to lose it," Zayn protests, which prompts Louis to roll his eyes.

"Did I ever lose something, Zaynie?" the older male asks, one eyebrow raised in a challenge. Zayn's cheeks are painted red with the nickname his friend just called him. Liam feels ashamed for Zayn at how obvious he's being. It's beyond him how Louis hasn't caught on yet. Maybe it's for the best, though, because Liam thinks Zayn is going to explode with embarrassment if Louis ever found out.

"No, but there's a first time for everything," Zayn fires back. There's a slight edge to his voice, which is contradicting with the small smile that curls the corners of his mouth. This isn't the first time Zayn's a walking contradiction.

"Well, not today. Now, stop talking," Louis cuts Zayn off as he opens his mouth to protest again. "Are we going to sit here and talk like a group of old spinsters or are we going to catch us an Intruder?" The Intruder is used for everyone who goes into a time vortex, either on purpose or accidentally. It's not really original but Time Agents were never known for being original.

"Liam," Louis calls the youngest boy to attention as he shifts through the duffel bag at his feet. "I think it's best that I give you a dagger or do you rather have a sword. I think you can handle a sword with muscles like that."

Liam can feel his cheeks heat up at the compliment. He knows he's toned and that his muscles are bigger than most of the Time Agents' but he has never received a compliment about them. All people talked about when they talked about his muscles back at the Agency was how to make them bigger of who has more than him. It has always been a competition on who had the bigger muscles and there was always someone with bigger ones, so someone appreciating his muscles is a new thing.

"I would like a sword," Liam tells Louis and a few second Louis's hand reappears from the bag with a sword gripped tightly in it.

"This one is too heavy or too difficult to yield," Louis supplies as he hands the sword over to Liam. "Give it a twirl."

Liam adheres to Louis's request and starts swinging the sword in figures of eight. The iron weapon is indeed light and cuts through the air easily.

"Good." Louis nods his head before turning his head towards Zayn. "Do you have your own dagger or do you need one from the bag?"

Liam didn't know Zayn had his own dagger, one who apparently fits in the Tudor time period. It must have cost Zayn a fortune to buy an authentic Tudor weapon.

When Liam voices as much, both Zayn and Louis turn their heads in his direction. He sees nervousness in both pair of eyes. "That's right, you don't know," Louis mutters.

"What don't I know?" Liam asks. The pitch of his voice has gone up a bit because he doesn't like that his friends have apparently held a secret from him. Did they think Liam would judge Zayn if he discovered he was rich, for some absurd reason? Is it because his family doesn't have a lot of money, despite working for the government? Because he wouldn't. Liam hates judging people on something as shallow as money.

Louis sighs and lays a hand on one of Zayn's shoulders. "Zayn, here, has taken a dagger with him the last time we went to the Tudor era. It feel in love with it or something and couldn't leave it behind."

"What," Liam yells as his eyes go as big as saucers because Louis has just admitted Zayn has committed a huge violation. They aren't allowed to take anything with them to the future but Zayn has. If Liam would tell their bosses about this, Zayn would be sacked and could risk jail time. "Why did you do that?"

"No one would miss it, so I thought why not," Zayn admits with a shrug of his shoulders. Apparently, he doesn't understand he has done anything wrong. "It's not as if it's a vital dagger that will change the course of history."

"You know you can never be sure about that," Liam protests. "Maybe someone would have stumbled on the dagger while he was fighting someone else and would have saved his own live with it. Maybe that man that would have survived if you left the dagger where you found it, was a really important person later on in history." Their trainers have constantly pressed upon them how important even the littlest things are. You can't take something with you EVER, even when it doesn't seem important.

"No need to fret, dear Liam," Louis tells Liam, a smile on his face. He waves his hand in the air, as if to sweep away Liam's concern. "Like you might have noticed, nothing in the present has changed. Zayn's dagger wasn't as important after all."

"But you didn't know that back then."

"But now we do, so that's that," Louis cuts the conversation short before turning back to Zayn. "So, you're using your own dagger."

"Yeah, I think I will," Zayn confirms.

Liam shakes his head, which no one sees because both Zayn and Louis are not looking at him.

Louis's hand disappears into the bag again to get a weapon of his own. His had reappears with another sword. This one looks lighten than the one Liam's holding but it's probably more effective.

Liam's eyes wonder to the sword in his hand. He silently wonders if maybe Louis stole this sword from the Tudor ear like Zayn had with his dagger. He can't know for sure because the Time Agency is very good at making their weapons look authentic. It's one of the reasons why they're being paid the big bucks by the government.

A large amount of the money goes to designing the weapons and they have a lot of them. For every Time Agent there are four weapons stored in the armory. When he saw the armory for the first time, he had looked at the vast amount of weapons with wide eyes and open mouth before asking their instructor why they needed so many.

The balding guy had told him it was because for every era they needed other weapons. Throughout history, the way people designed weapons changed - that's why archeologists can tell so easily tell which weapon comes from which era -, so for every era that agents go to, they need different weapons.

"So, now that's all sorted, it's time to go through the portal," Louis announces as he zips up the bag again and throws it a few feet away. After they've gone through the portal, another agent will come and get it.

"Liam." Louis turns around she he's facing the younger boy. "When we go through the portal, you might experience some dizziness or maybe you get sick. That's completely normal. Zayn over here threw up his first time."

Zayn reacts to his friend's accusation with a shrug of his shoulders, apparently not feeling embarrassed about it. Liam would have thought he would be, considering who's telling it. It isn't the first time Zayn has taken him by surprise and Liam doesn't think it will be the last.

"Alright. Thank you for the heads-up," Liam tells Louis with a nod of his head. He swallows with difficulty as he stomach turns in anticipation. He's finally going to do it, he's going to time travel.

"I will go first," Zayn announces. He takes a step closer to the vortex before turning around again. He nods in Louis's direction. "Louis will follow after you, Liam. I think it's best if you go second."

"Alright," Liam agrees. Zayn knows what he's talking about so he's just going with whatever Zayn says. "See you on the other side, then."

"Okay. Goodbye for now," Zayn greets before stepping inside the vortex. Liam can hear a sucking sound over the whirling noise of the time portal and suddenly Zayn is gone.

Notes

So, here it is, the second chapter. Please let me know what you think.