Sorry it has been a while since I last updated, but in my defense, it is summer. I have been quite busy and haven't been able to find much time to sit down and write. I finally forced myself today though, just for you.

It's an extra long chapter because I felt guilty.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter

10

Unknown Location

3:46 AM

Casey held her breath in abated apprehension as a loud booming voice suddenly filled the arena from all sides.

"Welcome!"

The people began searching for the owner's whereabouts but couldn't find whom or where it was coming from.

"You are not going to find me. My voice is coming from speakers located across the arena, so stop searching and listen up." The voice commanded. It was female.

The whole arena became silent in seconds as the voice continued to speak.

"As you may know, each of you has been elected to become a part of the secret alliance known as The Collective, but only a select few will be chosen in the end. You are all master assassins from around the world, prove your determination and skills we require in The Collective and be one of the last ones standing in this arena. You have one hour starting when I say go. Whoever remains alive at the end of the hour will become a part of the family. This whole underground arena and its tunnels are yours to hide and to hunt."

Casey gulped as she looked around at the rest of the assassins, the REAL assassins. Everyone was eyeing each other up, already choosing whom they planned to kill first. A large black man with a scar down the center of his left eye and huge muscles was standing a few feet away from her. He noticed the fear betrayed in her eyes and grinned maliciously.

"You will be an easy one." The man spoke to her.

Casey realized she needed to become Phoenix, she needed to let her alias take over or she really would be an easy kill.

Her expression hardened instantly and she replied, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

The man was shirtless with a large red and black tattoo across his broad, scarred chest. It was some kind of symbol that she didn't know the meaning of. He also had a sword strapped to his back and to be even more intimidating, he reached behind and pulled it out. The blade was huge and extremely sharp. She even noticed freshly dried blood coated the tip. He'd killed recently.

He pointed the blade towards her and winked.

Great... I'm his first target.

Instead of being afraid, however, she glared back at the man and shook her head with a chuckle. He was too cocky. She'd dealt with cocky men before. They usually think because she's a woman, she's an easy target. He was about to be proved wrong.

Casey began to stretch out her muscles and prepare for the moment the competition began. Without the aid of her team, this would definitely prove to be even more complicated than she initially perceived but she had faith in herself.

You can do this. Just stay alive.

The mysterious voice reverberated around the arena once again, "Oh and just so you all know, there are cameras located everywhere. You will be monitored at all times, and don't even think of trying to escape. It's pointless. There is no escape until you win. As a second challenge, whoever survives and kills the most within the two hours, will gain a second reward in the end. Now... Enough of the chit-chat. You may begin."

The lights suddenly went out and the arena was blanketed in darkness again. Casey was thankful the tech in her eyes hadn't malfunctioned like the one in her ears as the night vision turned on and she pulled out her gun.

She could already hear bodies falling around her and silent blasts from guns with silencers attached. Instead of killing as many lives as she could, she'd be saving them by using her weapons, which meant she needed to get to work and fast.

A blade suddenly flew by her head and she ducked just in time. A tall woman lunged at her and Casey grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to the ground; she then shot a bullet in her head, rendering her unconscious.

One down.

She noticed two men fighting ahead of her and shot both of them before they could shoot each other.

That's three.

The secret agent in disguise scanned her surroundings and noticed that most of the people must've escaped through the tunnels. She took a deep breath in and hastily began to make her way towards the nearest tunnel on her right.

The tunnel was glowing with blue and orange lights that seemed to run along the walls. It was still pretty dark, but there was enough light for those that didn't have night vision inserted in their eyes like her. She was on extra guard and fully alert as she made her way down the narrow passageway.

"You thought you could escape me, little spitfire." A deep voice with an African accent spoke from behind her and Casey spun around to see the large black man from earlier.

Oh great...

"Nope. I was hoping you would follow me." She grinned.

"Your small frame is no match for me." He laughed bitterly.

"We'll see."

Casey readied herself as he swung his blade towards her, barely missing her midsection. She jumped up when he swung again and went over his sword. She landed to the side of him and was about to fire her gun when he knocked it out of her hand with his fist and grabbed a hold of her wrist, twisting it. She let out a cry of pain as he pulled her towards him and spoke, "I guess you do have some fight in you. It's too bad you have to die now."

"Think again!"

The young agent managed to punch his jaw hard, causing his grip to loosen enough for her to twist free and jump back. She lowered herself to the ground in search of her gun as he swung his blade at her head.

She spotted the weapon a few feet away, against the wall and kicked at his legs. The man lost his footing and fell against the wall as Casey hurtled herself in the direction of it.

The blade suddenly sliced down between Casey and her gun, just missing cutting off her fingers.

The man then shook his head and bent to retrieve her weapon himself.

"You pack quite the punch for a female." He spoke with a grin as he touched his sore jaw. Blood was forming from a cut on his lip.

"Don't underestimate someone just because of their gender." She scowled his way.

"I like you." The man laughed and aimed the gun at her.

Inwardly, Casey was panicking. If he shot her it was all over. She wouldn't die, but her mission will have failed, and she could not let that happen, not after everything she'd recently been through.

He stared into her eyes for a moment and then let the gun drop.

"How about we make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" She stared up at him warily.

"I will not kill you and you will not kill me. They said there can be multiple winners, so as long as we stay out of each other's way, we will not have a problem."

He was letting her live? Casey's eyes widened slightly.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"I am a man of honor. I keep my word. I hope you will do the same."

"Fine, but I bet I can take out more people than you." Casey grinned wickedly as she stood to her feet.

The man matched her grin, "I accept the challenge." He reached out to shake her hand and she took it. "What is your name?" He asked.

"Ca-Phoenix."

"I am Mutawa. It was a pleasure trying to kill you, Phoenix. You are lucky. I do not like most people."

"I'm still deciding if I like you or not."

He chuckled. "Fair enough. We must part ways now if either of us is to win in the end. Good luck." He said and was suddenly gone, running out back the way he'd come.

That was weird... Casey thought as she started sprinting down the tunnel once again, in search of lives to save before Mutawa or anyone else got to them first.

(=)

The Swan Headquarters

6:21 AM

Leaning on only three hours of sleep, Karma Hesston marched into the training gym and stopped in front of the doors to sweep the large enclosure with her eyes. She spotted him across the room sparring with a young man and hurried towards them. She couldn't waste another minute.

"Agent Kessler, can I have a moment please?" The young woman hollered over the noise of the gym as she approached the middle-aged man with short cropped graying hair. The young man he was sparring glanced in her direction and Kessler took the opportunity to punch him in the gut and knock him off his feet.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of a lesson?" Agent Kessler said as he placed his weight on top of the trainee with his foot and held him down.

"This is important."

The trainee grunted as he tried to pry the foot off of him and knock his trainer to the ground. Kessler knelt down, putting more pressure on the young man's chest.

"What is so important that you have to interrupt my training session…" he paused to look at her, "Agent Hesston…?"

"I would rather we speak in private."

"You can speak now, or leave."

Karma let out a frustrated sigh as she glared at the man and watched him release his hold on the trainee and let the young man get back to his feet.

"You have one more try, Marcus." Agent Kessler warned his opponent, as the two got ready to fight once again. He glanced back at the young woman and spoke, "Are you going to talk, or what?"

Karma forced back the words she really wanted to say as she clenched her fists at her sides and got right to the point. "You were assigned to keep tabs on Agent Venturi, right?"

"I was." He replied while taking a hit to the ribs.

"Do you know where he is now?"

Kessler blocked another punch, spun and then kicked Marcus in the stomach as he answered her question, "The last I saw him he was headed back here to apologize to his girlfriend for being an ass."

"Are you sure?"

He sighed with irritation, "Yes. I followed his cab." He said while the young man advanced on him with multiple punches to the face and ribs. He managed to block the last one and threw his fist into the trainee's face. "What is this about, Agent Hesston?"

"He never showed up to speak with Casey and we believe Casey is in danger."

"What are you talking about? I watched him pay the cab driver and enter the parking garage the other night. He was dead set on seeing her."

"Well then where is he?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Agent Kessler shrugged and blocked another blow with his fists.

"It was your job to keep an eye on him! You should know!" Karma snapped. She was getting really sick of his insolence.

"Look, Agent Hesston, I did my job. I got the kid to return to headquarters and speak to his girl. What more do you want?"

"I want you to help me find him."

"Talk to Inez."

"She is occupied at the moment."

"Well so am I." He said and kicked Marcus to the ground once again.

Before the young man could find his footing, Karma stepped on to the mat and punched Agent Kessler in the face. She then spun around and knocked him to the ground with a kick to his gut and pressed her foot down hard on his chest as he tried to gauge what just happened.

"My friend's life is in danger right now and my other friend is missing, so you are going to help me find him right now!" The young woman growled bitterly while glaring menacingly into his eyes.

"Did you try turning on his tracker?" Kessler coughed out.

Karma stepped back with confusion, "His tracker was removed when he decided to leave The Swan."

"Inez knew he would return, so we only made it look like it was taken out." He sneered at her.

"How do we turn it back on?"

"You need an access code, which I don't have."

"Then help me find someone that does."

"What exactly has happened to Agent McDonald that's got you all worked up?" He asked while getting to his feet.

"I'll explain later. Just help me figure out what to do. I need to find Derek, I have a feeling something has happened to him."

"Fine, but I never want you to embarrass me like that again."

"Embarrass you?"

"You kicked my ass in front of my trainee!"

"You deserved it." Karma snapped back as the two left the gym in a hurry to track down Derek.

7:08 AM

"I can't turn on his GPS without an authorization code and the only people that have access to that information are the heads of the agency," Agent Kessler said as slammed his fist down on the table inside one of the locator rooms. "Most of them are busy trying to figure out what happened to Agent McDonald's GPS to even worry about the whereabouts of her rookie boyfriend."

"We have to do something! Are you sure there isn't another way?" Karma insisted as she bit her lip nervously.

"Not without authorization. Even the best hacker couldn't get into the locator system without it. The whereabouts of our agents is extremely confidential. If the information got into the wrong hands then none of us would be safe."

"I know something happened to Derek. I can't just sit around. Plus he needs to know about Casey."

"I'm sorry, Agent Hesston, but there is nothing I can do."

A throat cleared from around the corner and a nervous Japanese man stepped out.

"Taiki?" Karma looked at the young man with confusion.

"Um... Hey... I couldn't help overhearing your conversation... and I think I can help."

"Unless you have the authorization code in that head of yours, kid, there is nothing you can do." Kessler dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

"Just wait. Let's give him a chance." Karma glared at the ignorant man.

"I don't know how to explain it... But I already know where Derek is. I was able to turn on his tracker the moment I heard you two talking about him."

"That's impossible." Agent Kessler scoffed.

"I can prove it."

Karma stared at the young man warily. She hadn't really gotten the chance to get to know him that well but she knew that Casey trusted him, so that was good enough for her.

"Where is he, Taiki?"

"He's here."

"What do you mean?"

"His signal is coming from below us."

"The only thing below us is the holding cells for criminals. How would he have gotten down there?"

"I don't know, but he is there."

Karma glanced at her fellow Agent to gauge his thoughts; he stared back with a baffled expression and shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"You have access to the holding cells, correct?" Karma asked Kessler.

"Yes. I have worked here for twenty-five years."

"Then let's see if our friend here is right."

Agent Kessler sighed, "Fine, but if he is wrong, then he needs to stay out of our business." He grumbled and began walking towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

(=)

Holding Cell Level

7:18 AM

"Let me out of here." Derek breathed out. His voice was raspy and slowly fading from all the yelling and screaming he'd been doing while trapped.

Guilt was eating away at him for not returning sooner. He shouldn't have left at all. Casey needed him to be there for her and now she probably hates him, more than she already did.

"She'll think I don't love her anymore."

His eyes were slowly drifting closed. Exhaustion was overtaking him once again. He almost busted his ankle from kicking the door so hard, to no avail. He knew that if he ever got out, he would need his strength to track down Casey, so he forced himself to stop kicking and continued to scream instead. Even that vantage was slowly fading from him, as his voice got weaker and weaker.

The least those bastards could do is bring me some water. He thought angrily as another dry cough took over his throat.

A noise sounded from outside the door and Derek perked up, pressing his ear against the cold steel.

Ha! Maybe they heard my thoughts…

Begrudgingly, he moved away from the door, knowing there was no use putting up a fight, as a code was entered into the wall and the door was opened.

"Oh my gosh! Derek!" A familiar female voice gasped and the young man felt hands on his face and misted blue eyes gazing into his.

"Casey?" He rasped out.

"Who did this to you?" She asked while inspecting his bruised and bloody knuckles.

He was too tired to respond and just mumbled under his breath with a groan.

"Help me get him up! We need to get him some medical assistance immediately." The voice that he now recognized as Karma said to a couple of figures standing behind her.

They didn't waste any time as the figures rushed to Derek's side and placed each of his arms around their shoulders and hoisted him to his feet.

"Don't worry, Derek," Karma said as she swept the hair from his face affectionately, "Whoever locked you up in here won't get away with it."

"I need... to see... Cas..." Before he could finish the sentence, the young man completely blacked out.

(=)

Unknown Location

5:00 AM

"Time is up!" The voice boomed over the arena just as Casey slashed her knife against a man's throat and he fell unconscious with fake blood pooling on to his shirt and the ground.

"If you are still alive, return to the arena at once. Arrows on the walls will guide you from the tunnels. If you happen upon anyone on your way, do not harm them; they are now your allies. You have ten minutes starting now." The voice instructed.

Green arrows suddenly appeared on the walls around her pointing back the way she'd come and Casey didn't waste any time following them.

She passed by a few bodies here and there on the way. Some she had "killed" and others were actually dead. She tried not to dwell too much on the ones she couldn't save and forced herself to keep going. After a few minutes, Casey arrived back at the arena where many bodies lay strewn across the place and two people stood waiting.

Mutawa grinned when he saw her approaching. A part of Casey was relieved to see that her new ally had survived. A tall blonde girl stood beside him. She was covered with blood and carried a dagger in her right hand. Her hair was long and tied into a French braid hanging over her shoulder and her green eyes glared Casey's way.

There was a digital clock counting down on the wall ahead of her and Casey noticed it was almost out of time. She'd just made it. There were ten more seconds and she watched with a beating heart as it counted down.

Just as the clock hit one second, two men burst through the tunnel on the right. One was short with blonde hair and the other was average height with an athletic build and brown hair. They both ran towards the rest of them and let out sighs of relief when the clock hit zero and a buzzer sounded.

"Congratulations. You have all passed." The mysterious voice spoke. "However, The Collective only requires four new recruits, so the assassin who killed the most will now kill the assassin that killed the least."

Casey's heart started beating rapidly. She started trying to count in her head how many people she'd taken down and it seemed like plenty but now she wasn't so sure.

"Phoenix, step forward." The voice commanded.

She tried not to show her fear and keep a straight face as the secret agent took a step away from the others. If she had the least, she'd be killed, but if she had the most, she had the chance to save one more life in this hell-hole.

"You managed to kill twelve other possible recruits. You now hold the highest record in our auditions. Now, however, you must kill the one that only killed 2 people. That person is Jack Bryer."

The short blonde haired man let out a startled gasp and was about to pull out his weapon but Casey was much quicker as she already had her gun out and instantly shot him in the head.

Everyone gaped at her as the man's body fell to the ground and the young agent replaced her gun at her side and took her place next to Mutawa.

"You all must be exhausted. Follow the green arrows, they will lead you to a room where you can get cleaned up and have some refreshments."

The four began walking without a word spoken between them.

Casey couldn't understand how these people could actually take another life like it was no big deal. Mutawa, at least, seemed like a good guy. He let her live and even formed an alliance with her. If he only knew her real story.

"I am glad to see you alive," the large man whispered in her ear as they walked side by side. "I definitely underestimated your power."

"Never underestimate the power of a woman." Casey winked and strode ahead.

The arrows stopped at a wall and it suddenly opened up to reveal a metal door. Everyone just stood there, not sure what to expect when they opened it.

"Do you think this is legit?" The blonde girl asked. She had an Australian accent and seemed way too young to be a ruthless killing machine. She couldn't be more than twenty years old, the same age as Lizzie.

Casey glanced at the three of them. The girl seemed uncertain, Mutawa ushered her to take the initiative and open the door, and the other man just glared at her like she'd done something to offend him. The young agent let out a sigh as she stepped forward and twisted the knob, seeming, as no one else was willing to.

And they're the world's most skilled assassins? She scoffed inwardly with a roll of her eyes.

The door opened to reveal a table with four bottles of water, various fruits and protein bars on top. Two other doorways were across the room. The one on the left had a sign that said: "Men" and the other said: "Women".

"There better be a shower in there. I cannot wait to wash this filth off." The Australian girl said as she grabbed a water bottle and bee-lined it for the door that said: "Women".

Mutawa and the other man headed straight for the food and began eating and drinking the water.

"Isn't anyone else curious as to where we are and what they have planned for us next?" Casey voiced aloud the thoughts that began taking over.

"Just be happy you are still alive and relax, Spitfire." Mutawa instructed as he tossed her an apple.

"My name is Phoenix."

"I like Spitfire. It suits you." He smirked as he bit off a piece of the protein bar.

Casey didn't bother arguing. After living with Derek for years she was used to getting called ridiculous nicknames.

Derek. Her heart ached at the thought of his name. If he had just shown up to see her off… Why hadn't he? She tried not to dwell on it too much as she took a bite of the apple and grabbed a bottle of water from the table.

The first part of her mission was a success. Not only had she gotten into the Collective but she'd beat the high score – so to put it. It was like Babe Raider come to life. She chuckled inwardly at the thought of the discriminating video game she'd gotten sucked into in her high school days.

"I am Mutawa and she is obviously Phoenix," Mutawa began to say to the other man in the room. "What is your name?"

The man just shook his head as he downed his water and chucked the empty bottle on the ground before retreating into the Men's room.

"Well that was rude." Casey commented with a scowl.

"He's probably pissed because you beat his number by two."

"How do you know that?"

"Each of our scores was displayed across the walls of the arena. Did you not notice?"

Casey shook her head. She'd been so focused on the fact that she'd made it, that everything else kind of faded from her view.

"I am guessing his name is Hane. He got nine kills. The young girl is named Ronin; she got five kills."

"And how many did you get?"

"Seven."

Casey finished her apple and took a couple more sips of water before heading towards the Women's room. Guessing by the disappearance of Ronin, the young Australian had found a shower and Casey couldn't wait to step inside of it.

(=)

Unknown Location

5:51 AM

"What did I tell you? I told you she was promising." He grinned triumphantly at her as they stared at the wall of screens displaying the various areas of their secret underground system, specifically the images being played back of Phoenix killing the other assassins in the arena and tunnels.

"Where did she come from? I've never seen anyone kill like her before. She does it with so much passion, like it's the only thing that matters." The woman replied with a perplexed frown.

"Well her life was on the line."

"I don't mean it like that…" She snapped as she watched a close up of Phoenix's face while she shoved a man to the ground and shot him in the head. "Watch her face. It almost looked like it pained her but at the same time she seemed proud, like she'd done the man a favor by shooting him."

"I don't care how she does it, just that she does it."

"Aren't you at least curious about how she maneuvered around the arena so easily? It was pitch dark and she fought like it was day down there and the sun was shining bright."

"Maybe she has had training in the dark…" he shrugged. "Does it matter? She managed to kill twelve trained assassins in an hour. The most one person has gotten in that time was nine. I told you this chick was fierce. She is going to be a great asset to the team. I cannot wait to meet her."

"So you've developed a fangirl crush on the new recruit?"

"Maybe I have." He smirked. "She can not only fight and kill, but she is hot!"

"Keep it in your pants and go retrieve them. The drugs should be kicking in any minute." She ordered while staring at the screen showing the four recruits standing around the table, freshly showered and wearing clean clothes. "It's time for them to meet their new home."

"Ay ay Captain!" He mock saluted before heading out the door with six men behind him.

"Once we're home, the fun can really begin, and then we'll see just how tough you really are, Phoenix." She grinned wickedly at the screen as the new recruits began collapsing one-by-one from the tranquillizer drug they'd placed in their bottles of water. "See you soon, darling."

Just to make it clear, I am aware that I sort of did a Hunger Games thing there, but it honestly wasn't intentional. I'm not even a huge fan of those stories or movies, and I didn't even realize I'd done that till my friend pointed it out to me. So yeah...

Anyway, thanks for reading, following, and reviewing!

Don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts on the story!

I hope you're having a great summer!