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

08 - sea cave recon.

Roxanne never found herself to be a fan of physical challenges, but this was different.

Mainly because she go to jump off of a cliff. Actually, mostly because she got to jump off of a cliff. She was finally partners with her man, she had a large chip on her shoulder, and she got to jump off a cliff for fun.

Here's how it was going to go: two teams at a time would dive off of a thirty-foot cliff and retrieve a "bomb" from the water below. They would then swim through a sea cave to retrieve a second "bomb", hop on a WaveRunner, and get dragged to a buoy. From the buoy, they would swim to shore and place their "bombs" on a podium. The team with the fastest time would be the new Agency. No puzzles, no crazy obstacle courses, no explosions; pure speed in the water would win.

Usually, that was Roxanne "Pop-Rox" Martin's worst nightmare. But she was itching to get in there and go.

TJ's explanation was clear enough. Two by two, teams began to go at a random draw.

- - - - - - -

"I'm looking at the cave, I'm looking at everyone jumping in, getting on the jet skis, getting the job done and I'm like, please, TJ! Please let us do this now!" Roxanne laughed, in her confessional with CT, who pointed at her, mouthing.

"She's crazy."

- - - - - - -

Roxanne and CT finally came up with Big T and Tommy. It was a lot higher than it looked, and suddenly, nerves began to creep up on Roxanne as she looked at the water below. CT looked at her, raising his eyebrows.

"So much for wanting to go right away, huh?" he laughed, holding his hand out to her, which she took with pleasure and gripped rather tightly.

"Shut up, Christopher!"

"You did this to yourself, baby!"

Before Roxanne could get another word in, the air horn went off. CT jumped into the water with Roxanne close behind him as they both went to search for the first bomb. Roxanne was ignoring whatever Big T and Tommy were up to, locating the bomb at the same time that CT did. He signaled to her that he would get it and she gave a thumbs up, coming up for air and starting the swim to the cave over as soon as CT came up with the first bomb.

"It's dark in here, TJ!" Roxanne shouted, even though she knew he probably couldn't hear her. "I feel like I need to play Marco Polo!"

"Marco!" came CT's voice, just as Roxanne came across the second bomb.

"I got it!" she grabbed the bomb and both of them started swimming back towards the WaveRunners. CT laughed, and she could hear TJ's distinct laugh from above as well. "Not now, TJ!"

"That was fantastic timing!"

"Shut up!"

CT and Roxanne held on to the back of the first jet ski and it took off rather abruptly. Roxanne screamed, holding on even tighter to both the board and the bomb.

- - - - - - -

"This thing takes off, right? I'm excited. Yay, I feel like someone out of a Bond movie. As soon as it starts moving, there's be, like, a freeze frame on my face and a record scratch. Yep. That's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation." Roxanne laughed. "Most fun I've ever had? Yeah. Scariest fun I've ever had? Also yeah."

- - - - - - -

The jet ski approached the drop-off point and both CT and Roxanne got off, beginning the swim towards the shore as, even though neither noticed, Big T and Tommy began to fall very, very behind. As soon as they hit the beach, they stood and made a break for it, sprinting to their platforms to put the bombs down. The horn went off and Roxanne breathed a sigh of relief, meeting CT's offer for a hug with soaking wet, yet open arms.

"That was good, baby," he spoke, patting her on the back. "That was good."

"That was terrifying."

CT laughed. "Still think it was fun?"

"Something can scare the shit out of you and still be fun! You ever been on a rollercoaster?"

It didn't take much longer (though still, a hefty gap between them) for Big T and Tommy to come up. It also didn't take long for anybody and everybody watching to realize that not only was Tommy clearly completely out of it, but the bottom of his wet suit had come off. Everybody started laughing and shouting, and Roxanne stood there with a mix of pure horror and pure concern. He was incomprehensible and didn't seem to know where he was. Is that why they had fallen so far behind?

As soon as their bombs were put down, Tommy was whisked away by the medical staff. After a brief pause, the challenge continued as normal. CT and Roxanne, having gone about halfway through the pack, simply watched the rest and tried to analyze their time and how they handled the situation.

- - - - - - -

"I think we did good." Roxanne looked at CT. "Did we do good?"

"I think we did good."

"Good."

- - - - - - -

"Alright, agents, great job today." TJ clapped, addressing the group. "You all killed it. But there was one team who soared above the rest. And that was-"

TJ's signature pause-for-suspense moment he did before every reveal killed Roxanne every single time, no matter what the outcome was.

"-CT and Pop-Rox."

Roxanne and CT immediately reacted, sharing another, adrenaline-fueled, excited embrace. Roxanne grinned. "And it wasn't a puzzle!"

TJ laughed. "You two are now the Agency. The rest of you are on the chopping block. I need you to go back to Headquarters. Deliberate and nominate one team. Then, our Agency will nominate one man and one woman from any team to take on our compromised agents. Good luck, agents. Get out of here."

- - - - - - -

Roxanne grinned, looking at CT. "And everything works out in the end."

- - - - - - -

a/n

surprise! i'm back! did you miss me?

sorry it's been so long!! i've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff, from starting my junior year of high school (ugh) to a cancer scare to a knee injury to working two jobs and everything in between. i'm sorry to have left you all hanging like this, i know a lot of people asked me when it was going to be updated, so now you have our answer!

i will definitely not make you wait a year for another update on this thing! thank you all for the continued support even in my absence. i love you all :)

all yellow everything,

wiley xx