It's been a long time, I know. I haven't given up on the story; life has just gotten even crazier for me right now. I became the guardian of my little sister, so I don't really get a lot of ME time anymore, but I'm happy to have her nonetheless. I love the kid more than anything and am glad she is safe.

I will still try my best to upload when I can though because I do enjoy writing this story.

So without further ado...

Chapter

12

Unknown Location

12:23 PM

Her fist collided with his jugular and the ninja coughed out in pain as he grabbed at his throat and fell to his knees. Casey took the opportunity to pinch an area on the back of his neck that rendered him unconscious immediately, a trick Karma had shown her in their Swan training together.

Another masked man came at her from behind and slashed at her with his blade. She moved just as it grazed her ear and blood trickled out. She ignored the sting and grabbed on to the railing behind her, vaulting herself backwards and then swinging forward again to knock the sword from his hand. She then kicked out again and hit his chest hard. While he was stunned, the young agent landed on her feet again and punched him in the face and then the gut. He managed to throw a punch at her midsection, knocking her back a step.

She heard a shout and glanced back to see Ronin trying to fight off three ninjas at once, they had her surrounded. She knew it could blow her cover if she helped but at the same time she couldn't let her be killed. It was against everything she believed in, assassin training or not.

First, she had to take care of her own ninja problem as the masked man attempted another blow to her body, this time she managed to dodge his fist and twist his arm behind him.

"Aahh!" Ronin cried and Casey looked just in time to see one of the ninjas pull back his sword from where he'd struck her forearm; blood was already trickling out of the wound and covering her exposed skin.

While she was distracted, the ninja in her arms threw his head back and smashed it against Casey's, causing her hold to loosen on him and giving her a major headache. He did a flip in the air and made a grab for his sword on the ground but Casey recovered quickly and before he could grab it, she did her own flip and knocked him out with one hard kick to the skull.

Not wasting any time, the young agent grabbed the discarded weapon and hurried towards Ronin before she was stabbed to death.

(=)

The Swan Headquarters

12:27 PM

"What is she doing?" Agent Morvis exclaimed while watching the screen that displayed everything Casey could see. She ran towards the young blonde woman who was surrounded by three ninjas and started fighting them. "She will jeopardize her cover and the mission if she assists that woman!"

"She can't help it. It's just who she is." Derek defended.

"Besides, it may not ruin the mission at all." Ben added.

"They could become suspicious of her." Dominic grimaced while running a finger over the scar on his neck.

Derek shuddered at the thought and tried to distract his mind as he diverted his eyes back to the screen where Casey was still kicking some serious ninja ass. She knocked out one of the ninjas and threw a sword to the blonde woman who caught it and then stabbed a second masked warrior in the chest, killing him instantly. The duo continued to fight the advancing ninjas together and suddenly a third party joined them, a tall and very large muscled African man, just as Casey was about to be struck from behind. He knocked the assailant out with one hard blow to the head and stabbed him through the chest.

"They're working as a team. Casey must've had some kind of affect on them to cause this kind of unity in such short time." Ben clicked his tongue while impressed with his partner.

"That's my girl." Derek grinned proudly.

(=)

Unknown Location

12:28 PM

Casey couldn't believe her eyes when Mutawa suddenly stepped in, saving her from being killed and began assisting her and Ronin to fight off the masked men. The large man had managed to grab his own sword from one of the ninjas he'd taken down and stabbed it into the shoulder of one while Casey knocked him out with her boot.

Ronin was becoming weak due to the injury in her arm and Casey noticed she was losing the will to fight much longer. Too much blood was being lost.

She hurriedly ripped off a piece of her shirt, grabbed the young girl's bloody arm and tied the cloth around her wound. Ronin gave her a puzzled look, and Casey realized she might have gone too far this time. The protective older sister in her was coming out too strong. It didn't help that the young girl reminded her so much of Lizzie.

Just as another ninja lunged at the undercover agent to stab her, a loud voice interrupted, yelling, "Enough!"

The remaining ninjas immediately dropped their weapons and fled the scene without looking back, leaving behind a very confused trio of assassins.

"Congratulations! You passed the second round." The same feminine voice from the underground arena spoke but they had no idea where it was coming from.

"So it was another test." Ronin ground out through clenched teeth as she tried to ignore the seething pain from her arm.

"We needed to see how well you would work as a team, especially without the use of your own weapons. The three of you did splendid."

"What about Hane? Where did he end up?" Casey asked, curious about the bitter fourth assassin they'd arrived with.

"His skills are no longer required in The Collective. He didn't know the meaning of teamwork and was no match against our fighters on his own."

"So he's dead?"

"Yes. That is what happens when the requirement isn't met."

"So is this some kind of Hunger Games where there's only going to be one person standing in the end?" Casey snapped irritably. "How many more rounds do we have to go through before we even know who is speaking to us?"

"Only one more. It will begin in three days. For now, you can relax. You are a part of The Collective and we welcome you."

"Some welcome." Ronin mumbled under her breath sarcastically.

"If the three of you will make your way to the rooftop, a helicopter will be waiting for you. You will then be forced to wear a blindfold and transported to your new home."

"How do we get to the rooftop?" Mutawa asked.

"Any way you want, but you better hurry because your ride leaves in ten minutes and this place won't be standing for much longer, if you catch my drift."

"What do you mean?" Casey asked but there was no reply.

The three of them stood there for a moment with uncertainty as they glanced at each other and their surroundings. The sound of an engine starting directly above them broke the silence and a loud beeping sound began to count down from all around them.

"Is that a…?" Ronin couldn't even formulate the rest of her sentence as the blood drained from all of their faces at the predicament that they now faced.

"They're going to blow up this place." Casey deadpanned. "And we have less than ten minutes to find a way to the rooftop."

"What are we going to do? The stairway could be anywhere in the building!" Ronin cried over the noise of the chopper.

"It sounds like the helicopter is directly above us." Mutawa explained. "I know a way." The man said before making a run towards the balcony. The concrete railing sat just under a hanging roof, he climbed on top of it and then jumped up, grabbing a hold of the thick vines draped over and pulled himself up.

"It is a bit of a climb but I can see the helicopter. This is the only way!" He yelled down to them while beckoning with his hand. "Hurry!"

Ronin shook her head and grasped her injured arm, "I can't do that! My arm is killing me enough as it is!"

"You have no other choice, Ronin!" Casey said while pulling the young girl towards the railing. "I'll help you!"

The Australian slowly nodded while biting her lip apprehensively as Casey gave her a hand getting on top of the railing and then jumped towards the roof. Mutawa managed to catch her and pull her up by her good arm.

The agent undercover wasted no time following their lead but when she made a jump for the roof a loud feedback sound pierced through her left eardrum, causing her to cry out and lose her footing.

"Phoenix!" Ronin shouted in alarm as the young woman crashed to the ground.

Her body was in pain but at least nothing was broken as Casey quickly regained her footing while touching her ear, realizing the sound must've had something to do with the tech imbedded inside her flesh. The ear was ringing, which resulted in temporary hearing loss, hopefully not for long.

"You… Hurry!" A distant voice shouted and she looked up to see both Mutawa and Ronin yelling at her with frantic expressions. She couldn't make out every word they said but enough to catch their drift at least.

"Two minutes… Leaving… Hurry!" She barely heard and lunged for the railing again.

"Go on without me! I'll catch up!" Casey commanded them.

The two assassins wasted no time in arguing as they began running up the slanted roof towards the helicopter getting ready to take off.

Casey jumped for the roof once again and was able to grab a hold of the vines this time while using all the strength she had to hoist herself up. She saw Mutawa and Ronin make it inside the helicopter just as it began its ascent into the sky.

"No!" The young agent cried. "I will not let it end like this!"

She gained her footing and began running up the steep slope. The two assassins onboard were hanging out the door screaming for her to go faster as the copter continued to rise. The aircraft was too high for her to get to, there was no way she would make it.

Just as doubt and failure began to set in, the copter made a sharp left turn towards her. She began running for it, knowing where it was headed and hoping she could make it. Her intentions were completely insane but she had no other choice. There was no way in hell she was giving up that easily.

(=)

The Swan Headquarters

12 Minutes Before

"Where did all the ninjas go? Why did they stop fighting?" Derek asked while they all stared at the screen in confusion.

"I don't know." Agent Morvis replied. "Something is going on. They're all glancing around like someone is speaking to them."

"I wish we could hear with this damn thing." Derek growled frustratingly. "How come it's only showing video but no sound?" He glanced at Ben.

"How should I know? I'm just as confused as you. At least it's doing something."

"But it's not enough. They're talking about something and looking really uneasy right now but we have no idea why."

"Taiki," Karma turned towards the young Japanese man. "You got the video to work, can't you figure out the sound too?"

"I-I don't even know that it was me who did it… It just happened." Taiki replied timidly while raising his hands defensively.

"Now they're running! Why are they running?" Derek questioned, watching the screen intently.

They watched as the African man jumped towards the roof and pulled himself up, followed by the young blonde woman.

"It seems like they're running towards something, not from it." Agent Morvis pointed out.

"What?"

"I'm not sure. They must be running out of time though by the way they are hurriedly beckoning Agent McDonald."

Karma turned towards Taiki again with a pleading look in her eyes, "You're the only hope we've got at retrieving the sound on this thing. Please, Taiki, just give it a shot. I believe you're more capable than you think."

Taiki let out a breath and nodded his head, "Fine, I will try. I can't guarantee anything though." He closed his eyes and began concentrating his mind while the rest of them watched Casey climb up the balcony railing, getting ready to jump.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A loud feedback sound pierced through the silence of the room, causing everyone to cry out and cover their ears.

"What did you just do?" Ben looked at Taiki in confusion.

"I…"

Agent Morvis interrupted the young man and gestured towards the screen, "He must've done something because Casey missed the jump and fell."

"She could've just lost her footing. Once a klutz, always a klutz." Derek replied.

"No; look, she's holding her left ear where the tech is. I think she heard the same thing we did and it startled her."

"So then why is there still no sound?"

"I don't know, but it did something at least."

"They're still shouting for her to hurry. I have a really bad feeling about this." Karma commented while chewing on her nails apprehensively.

They watched Casey jump for the roof again and this time she managed to grab a hold of the hanging vines and pull herself up. That was when they noticed the reason they were in a rush and climbing on the roof.

"A helicopter." Derek breathed out with a grimace, flashing back to memories of Casey's unconscious body being lifted into the sky by the same type of aerodynamic machine in Germany two years ago. He shivered at the thought and shook his head to rid it.

"Why isn't the helicopter waiting for her?" Ben questioned with wide eyes.

Casey was running up the steep slope of the ancient shingled roof but the chopper wasn't waiting for her. It was slowly lifting into the air. They watched it shift to the left and head towards her direction.

"She's chasing it!" Karma exclaimed.

"No," Derek gasped out while moving closer to the screen. "She's not going to do what I think she's going do, is she?"

Karma knew immediately what he meant and turned away from the video while hiding her face in her boyfriend's shoulder and saying, "I can't watch."

"Casey, no!" Derek cried just as the helicopter cleared the roof and she jumped.

(=)

Unknown Location

12:59 PM

Her hands gripped tightly holding on to the metal bars underneath the helicopter as her legs swung wildly below her in the wind. She was crazy but she'd made the jump nonetheless. However, Casey knew she'd better figure out her next move before she lost her grip completely and plummeted to the jungle floor below and was swallowed up by the bomb about to go off.

The copter continued to fly higher into the sky, ignoring the fact that she was swinging below it, trying to figure out how not to kill herself.

A large brown hand suddenly swung down in front of her and a deep voice shouted, "Take my hand, Spitfire!" It was Mutawa!

Casey tried desperately to grab him but at the same time was terrified to let go.

"I can't!" She hollered back over the screaming sound of the engine and roaring propellers above.

"You made it this far already! Now grab on and I'll pull you up!"

An image of Derek flashed across her mind and she knew she couldn't give up, not when she'd come so far already. She needed to prove that she could do this. She was the right person for the job and she will succeed!

"You won't be able to hold on once the blast from the explosion goes off!" Mutawa yelled while still reaching out for her.

With all the courage she could muster, Casey took a deep breath and reached out as far as she could with her right hand and grabbed a hold of Mutawa's.

Suddenly there was a loud BOOM! And she glanced down to see the ancient building erupt into flames. She could feel the heat from the blast on her legs as she wrestled to hang on to Mutawa's hand. The chopper began to shake violently and her other hand lost it's grip on the bar.

"Aaahh!" Casey screamed as she dangled in the air, her only support was the African assassin's hand gripped tightly around her wrist. "Don't let go!"

Sweat dripped down Mutawa's face and the veins bulged in his arms as he struggled to maintain his grip and not drop her, "I am going to count to three and then pull you up! Get ready!"

"Hurry!"

"1… 2… 3!" He yelled and swung Casey up with all the strength he had. The young agent gripped the edge of the helicopter's opening while Mutawa hoisted her up with one last pull and they both collapsed on top of the metal floor, completely exhausted.

"You made it!" Ronin grinned as she helped a weary Casey into the seat beside her and buckled her in.

"Why… would you help me?" The agent undercover breathed out through raspy breaths as she turned to the large man with an inquisitive frown.

Mutawa took the seat across from the two women and swiped his forearm against his sweaty brow with a deep sigh.

"We… are a team now." He replied simply through abated breathing. "Besides, that was… some jump you did… back there. Anyone crazy enough to attempt that… deserves a chance." He smirked.

"I agree." An attractive man with an English accent suddenly spoke and poked his head out from a curtain in the front. He was white with short dark hair and scruff around his jaw and his eyes were a deep hazel color. "That was quite impressive indeed." He grinned at Casey.

"Who are you?" Ronin asked while cradling her injured arm with a hard stare.

"You can call me Blaize." He winked and then tossed them folded black bandanas. "Now, if you could be so kind and tie those around your heads so that you cannot see, we can get on with our journey."

The three hesitated for a moment but were honestly too tired to argue and tied the blindfolds around their eyes.

"No peeking, or I will surely have to kill you." Blaize said and Casey had a feeling the mysterious man wasn't kidding.

Let's hope that jump was worth it...

(=)

The Swan Headquarters

1:06 PM

Derek ran his hands through his hair for the seventeenth time and tried to control his breathing from the near panic attack he'd just had while watching the love of his life almost die in front of his eyes on a screen

Everyone else had left the room when they realized it would be a while until that blindfold was removed, so they got to work on other things. Dr. Shepherd took Taiki back down to the lab to figure out what else he could do with that chip in his head, Agent Morvis went to get a coffee and inform Olivia on everything they'd just witnessed through Casey's eyes, and Karma took Ben aside to discuss their next move.

"D, she made it, you need to calm down." Ben said when he re-entered the room alone and placed a reassuring hand on his partner's shoulder.

"I can't calm down!" Derek yelled and pulled away from him with a menacing glare. "I knew this was a bad idea! I knew something like this could happen!"

"Casey's not dead, Derek, so quit acting like she is."

"But she could be!" He screamed with rage. "She may have survived this time, but who's to say that the next time she won't? She's in way over her head!"

"It's too late for her to back out now. There's nothing we can do."

"Well I can't jut sit around watching her risk her life on a damn screen every day! We have to do something! She needs our help."

"You were watching that screen," Ben narrowed his eyes. "She doesn't need our help, at least not yet. This is the only thing we can do at the moment until we find a lead to go on, which we'll hopefully get by watching. We may not have sound, but we do have visual. Kar is already working on a facial recognition of the two assassins and that man in the helicopter, so just sit tight and wait."

He shook his head, "I can't just wait, Ben. You don't get it." He limped over to a chair and sat down, letting his head fall into his hands. "She did this to spite me. If I had only been supportive, maybe I could've talked her out of it somehow…"

Ben snorted, "You actually believe that? Have you ever been able to talk Casey out of anything once her mind was set?"

"No," he glowered and let out a sigh. "I just… I feel so helpless right now, Ben. I didn't even get to say goodbye or tell her how much I love her and that I'm sorry."

"Speaking of that," Ben said as he grabbed a seat and sat down in front of the former hockey star. "How the hell did you end up locked inside a cell?"

Derek averted his gaze and stood to his feet, "It's not important." He said and began to limp away. "I need to see if the doc has any crutches I can use. Let me know when the blindfold is removed."

Ben grabbed his arm and stared into his eyes with concern, "Is there something you're not telling me? Why don't you want to tell me what happened to you?"

"Look, just drop it; ok?" Derek snapped. "All that matters is I'm fine."

A look of hurt flashed across the blonde's eyes before he covered it up and spoke,

"You know Inez is going to want to speak with you about it, right?"

"Well right now I think her hands are tied up with other matters. Anyway, what happened to me is the least of her concerns, especially when it involves Casey, and I feel the same way. So please, Ben, just let it be." He replied and hobbled out of the room without another word.

"How can I?" Ben spoke aloud to himself. "There's a reason he refuses to talk about it and I'm going to find out what it is."

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I'm also curious to know if anyone is actually still enjoying this story as much... It's about to get even more interesting, I promise, and there will be a surprise twist coming up. But yeah, just let me know your thoughts or concerns. Thanks.

Also, have a safe Halloween this weekend.