Vibranium: Agent 007

Chapter 6: Team Work

"Sonia, can you hear me, are you alright?" Ricky called out through the walkie-talkie. 

"Yes, I'm alright." Sonia confirmed. "But Brendan…I-I couldn't reach him." She added. 

"We couldn't reach him from here also." Ricky replied.

Sonia started to snivel, looking very sad.  She closed her eyes as tears came running down her dusty cheeks. 

"You were right, I shouldn't have let this happen. Brendan could be dead and it's all my fault." Sonia continues sobbing. 

"Don't say that, we are not sure yet. He is a tough guy and-and I'm sure he'll pull through." Ricky said, trying to spark a little hope but he didn't even believe in his own words. The look on his face right now is similar, yes that's right. A few years ago he lost a crew to this course. He never wanted all of this happening but that's the deal he signed up for. It's like a contract with the devil that is irrevocable. 

"I-I'm scared." Sonia whispered under her breath. 

"What about the others?" Ricky asked. 

"We were separated when I wanted to go back for Brendan. Now I'm stuck in between these giant rocks." Sonia sighs sharply in frustration.

"You went back for him, just by yourself?" Ricky asked looking surprised and proud. 

"Yeah, I had to. Seems the rest didn't care at all, Ryan was all concerned about himself. Though the captain did ask us to leave him behind but, I was…" Sonia paused. Some rocks fell to the ground like someone or something was trying to break through. 

"Sonia, what's the matter?" Ricky hastily asked. 

"I-I'm not sure, but I think something is behind the rocks." Sonia gasped. Her face turned pale and cold sweat formed on her forehead. 

"Stay calm and back away from the rock slowly. You got this okay?" Ricky rushed down to the control center and started working on a computer drone. "I'm sending help but it's going to take some time to find your location." 

A sudden blast like a wave swept through the rocks and somehow it disrupted the frequency connection of the walkie-talkie. Ricky could no longer reach Sonia online and now it would be more difficult for the drone to find her. 

As the blast occurred earlier, it was so strong it pushed Sonia off balance. She crashed and bumped her head hard on the ground as pain flooded her entire body. 

A few minutes later, Sonia hears footsteps approaching. Her body is still soar and unresponsive to take a look or even move a limb. It felt like someone was coming to help her, but at the same time, she was scared to the bone marrow. Because if it was the amagrok, that would be the end for her. 

"What do we do now?" Sasha muttered. 

"I don't know, but we can't just sit here and do nothing. Is either we move forward or find them." Jasper said. 

"You think they are still alive?" Ryan scuffs. 

"What do you mean by that, Ryan? You know, Sonia was right, we were supposed to stick together as a team but you! All you ever think of is your f*king self!" Sasha attacked him. She seemed fed up already with Ryan's 'I don't care' attitude he's been displaying right from the start. 

"That's not true, I-I did what's best for all of us." Ryan defended himself, but deep down he knew Sasha was telling the truth. He is so scared of dying and only thinks of himself. 

"You did what was best for you. So go on, keep running like the coward that you are. I'm going back to look for them." Sasha stood up and turned around. 

"She's right. We should be working together as a team and not the other way around." Jasper said and followed Sasha. 

The rest of the team followed suit, leaving Ryan behind. 

"Hey, are you coming or what?" Kaleb waved at Ryan who seemed to be lost in thought. 

"Yeah, I'm right behind you." He replied. 

Back at the Mother ship, Ricky was trying everything possible to reconnect with the team outside, but the frequency was still glitchy.

"Any good news?" Drummond suddenly came into the control room. 

"No, nothing yet. I'm trying to fix the radio signals but it keeps jamming." Ricky replied out of frustration. He continuously taps his fingers and paces around the control room. 

"So what now?" Drummond started grumbling within himself. "I have to get that Vibranium no matter what! All these years gone to waste, this is my only chance to fulfill my destiny."

"Drummond?…Hey!" Ricky had to call him more than twice before he snapped out of his trance.

"Hmmm. W-what were you saying?"

"What are you thinking about?" Ricky glared at Drummond with a questioning look. 

"It's nothing, just stressed about the whole thing (Sighs) I'm tired." Drummond admits. 

"Look, I don't know if this whole thing is going to work. But if we have a chance, then we need to work with the team." Ricky spoke.

"Right. I will just go back the way I came, you just do your thing." Drummond said and was about to step out when Ricky called him back. 

"I'm going to need a helping hand here. Would you mind?" He asked. 

"Me? You mean I should…"

"YES."

Sonia slowly turned around, her back to the ground as a slight groan escaped her mouth. She started rubbing her swollen forehead to minimize the headache, just as she recalled falling unconscious after smacking her head on the ground. 

"Hah, I'm alive." The footsteps! She suddenly remembered. 

"You're awake. How do you feel now?"

The voice sounded so familiar, it was the voice she had been longing to hear for a while now. 

Sonia furrows her brows tightly. Turning to the direction of the voice, she sees Brendan staring back at her with worried eyes. 

"Brendan." She whispered. 

"Yeah, it's me. I guess this is where I say sorry for…" Brendan wasn't able to finish his speech when Sonia enveloped him in a hug. 

"I thought something bad had happened to you when the blast went off. How did you escape that thing?" Sonia asked. 

Brendan sighed deeply before he spoke. "What can I say, it is a long story.

"I want to hear it all." Sonia insisted. 

"Alright. Seems we are stuck here for now, so why not."

Brendan and Sonia sit down close to the pile of rocks as he narrates how he escaped a near-death experience.

The bomb actually went off at a close range, and if not for the force-fill shield Brendan used to cover himself when the Bomb exploded, he would have been blown into a bit. 

Brendan and Sonia started talking about themselves and what they've been through. So Brendan thought of it as the right moment to ask Sonia some crucial questions he's been wanting to ask. 

"Sonia, or do you prefer I call you Agent 005?" He joked. 

"I prefer you call me by my name. I hate those figures like hell. My father always wanted me to be a science freak like him, but I chose to do something different." Sonia explained. 

"Sir Ricky is your dad?" 

"Yes, you didn't know?"

"No, but I guess it all makes sense now. The way he watches over you like a guardian angel." Richard demonstrates this by flapping his hands. 

"Hahaha, why did you say that?" Sonia giggles. 

"It's obvious. He asked me to look after you."

"What! Seriously?" Sonia was overwhelmed, she never expected her father to do something like that. 

"Yeah, you should have seen the look on his face when he told me." They both laughed and Brendan continued "I promised him, so I'm going to look after you. No matter what."

"Thanks, Brendan. You are a really nice person." 

They were both staring deep into each other's eyes for like a minute. 

Sonia bit her bottom lip, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes nervously rolling up and down. 

Brendan couldn't stop staring back at her. He drew closer, sniffing in her scent. 

He is not a shy kind of person but right now his heart pounding behind his chest says the opposite. 

They were about to lip lock when Sasha's voice penetrated through the rocks. 

"Sonia! Sonia! Soniaaaa!"

Brendan took a step back and cleared his throat for some reason. "Guess they found us." He grinned. 

"Yeah, it seems so. I think this belongs to you." She blushed while handing over the V-tech back to Brendan.

"Sonia!!!" Sasha roared. 

"Over here!" She replied. 

"Back online." Ricky rejoiced. 

"Ahh! You just made me work my ass off and you work for me." Drummond turned red. 

"At least now you know what it takes." Ricky replied.

"QASA QASA…Agent 007 reporting, do you read me?" 

"Yes, loud and clear. We lost you for a minute there." Ricky replied. 

"Yes sir. Things got a little bit complicated earlier, but we're good." Brendan responded. 

"That's good to know. A support tech drone will be coming your way anytime soon with some items." Ricky notified. 

"Alright, Sir. We'll keep you posted."

After walking for a while, the team finally reached the end of the cave and followed a passage leading to a wasteland. But in that wasteland everything looked different, the red stars, the purple skies, and even the white sand. 

"Wow, look at this place!" Kaleb dramatized. 

"It's so beautiful." Sasha added, her eyes wide open. 

"Wait a minute." Brendan paused. 

"Oh come on, not another monster!" Davis nagged, his face turned pale as shit. 

"No. I'm getting signals from the V-tech." Brendan said. 

"Really?" Ryan voiced out. 

"Yeah, look." Brendan stretched his arms forward and the V-tech started beeping. 

"Oh my God! It's working." Sonia jumped on Brendan and hugged him tightly, not minding the teammates around.