BLANK SLATE || the challenge: spies, lies, and allies

06 - flipping agents.

Roxanne seemed to zone out almost the entire deliberation. It wasn't as dramatic or as big as the last one, but it did consist of Josh calling out Kelz, telling lie after lie to get him under the bus.

Here's what Roxanne agreed about: Kelz was a threat. But she did not  agree that the way to go about this was to lie. No. Kelz had a point—Josh should've just said that he thinks Kelz is a threat and left it at that.

She didn't want to turn her back on her alliance.

But nobody would know, right?

She found herself voting for Josh and Amber. Nobody saw it—but looking up, she made eye contact with both Devin and CT, who seemed to give her the same look. She gave a nod and a shrug, mouthing "I had to" and leaving it at that.

The compromised agents were Tracy and Kelz. Oh well—hopefully the vets could get together and they could figure this out. Maybe she could plead her case. But she knew there was no changing Josh and Fessy's minds, about anything, ever. If it was set in stone, then that was it.

— — — — — — —

"Damn." Roxanne laughed. "Okay. Not what I wanted, but I don't know what I expected. I just gotta... I just gotta wait and see what happens next, because I do not  want to be going in there. I know Fessy and Josh are talking, I know they have all the blood on their hands, but it's... it's just nerve-wracking. I don't think I'm the only one who's anxious."

— — — — — — —

Fessy had managed to get most of the vets together—himself, Josh, Amanda, Ashley, CT, Devin, Kyle, Aneesa, and Roxanne, as well as Esther—just as Roxanne had predicted. 

"We wanna throw in Ed." Fessy started, and Esther nodded, as well as Josh. "That's for the men. A hundred percent."

"So Emy?" Aneesa raised her eyebrows. "For the women? Or—who?"

Fessy and Josh made eye contact, before both of their eyes turned to Roxanne. At that point, everyone else's had, as well. It was like a slow realization, everyone slowly figuring out what they wanted to do. Roxanne sighed.

"Why me?"

"You can take them out. You and Ed can take them out." Fessy nodded, looking at Josh for a split second. "You're both geniuses. If it's something strategic, then they'll be left in the damn dust."

"And if it's something physical?" 

"Ed has the muscles."

Roxanne sighed. "This isn't about me being a Layup, is it? Like, you can just get rid of me? If me and Ed lose, it doesn't matter?"

She knew what she was saying. She knew that was exactly  what this was about. And in a game of hiding your expression, hiding what you think in these situations because it would put a huge target on your back—Fessy, Josh, Amanda and Ashley amazingly  failed, sharing slightly panicked looks with each other before any of them spoke, Josh taking the floor this time.

"It's a matter of we need to get Kelz out, and you're the best option. We don't know how strong these rookies are yet, or even what kind of contest this is. Someone like Berna, or Priscilla, or Emy may not be a good idea for this one."

Roxanne inhaled. "Okay. I know that's a lie, but okay. Cool. I'll go."

"What do you mean, it's a lie? How do you know?" Josh, instantly, seemed to get a little bit pissed. All Roxanne did was put her finger up to get him to stop talking.

"We can have this conversation later, Josh. I'm fine with going in if you really  don't think any of the rookie females can do a good job."

That was where the conversation ended.