I am escorted down the hallway, my hands tied behind my back. The rest of the people who rebelled walk beside me, the guards guns pointed at our backs. They are taking us to the interogation chamber, then to the Pit.

I sigh. Why did I have to be so stupid as to walk into this? Why couldn't I have been a casual onlooker, instead of getting myself involved? Now I was going to be executed because I had stood up.  

All four of us are escorted to the dungeons with our hands tied behind our backs. When we get there, the bonds are cut off and we are shoved into the cell.

"It's useless," the girl that I didn't know was an agent, Lindsey, says.

"Why aren't we allowed to help if someone is pointing a gun at someone's head for no reason?" Keavin snaps.

"Because they don't know that we don't work for the Resistance," I reply. I look over at Lindsey and a boy named Marc, another agent who is Lindsey's brother, I believe. "But you guys do."

Marc shrugs. "Nothing we can do about it now."

"That's not reassuring," Lindsey says coldly.

We sit in silence for a while.

So a nice, slow, painful death. They'll torture us and then put us in the Pit to experience even more torture. This is great. Just what we all wanted. But the guards won't note my sarcasm.

Suddenely, a guard opens the door and walks in, accompanied by two other guards.

"What's going to happen to us?" Lindsey blurts.

Marc glares at her, but the guard laughs. "If you must know. First, the highest and worst setting of the Fear Simulator. Next, torture, then torture again, and then to the Pit you go. That's what you get for working for the Resistance."

I'm about to say that Keavin and I don't when I stop myself. We did the right thing anyway, Resistance or not, so we'll be killed no matter which side we're on.

"But now the matter of who to start with," the guard says, smirking.

Keavin and I automatically look up at the guard. In battle strategy classes, we took a course on phsycology, and we're most likely to direct less attention to ourselves if we make eye contact, or at least look at him. 

But Lindsey and Marc don't. They're a little newer, or at least they haven't been around for as long as Keavin and I have. They may have missed the phsycology course.

The guard looks at Marc. "We'll start with that one."

Keavin, Lindsey, and I jolt up as the guard takes a fighting Marc away, slamming the cell door behind him.

"NO!" Lindsey screams. She's crying now.

Keavin and I slam against the bar doors of the cell, but Marc's dragged out of the dungeons, his lasting screams echoing throughout.

We try out best to comfort Lindsey, but nothing can really be done. We all know that Marc is done for.

A next guard comes back.

"Are you- is Marc-" Lindsey sputters.

"Who, the other kid? Oh, he's still up in Fear. We're just taking some more of you," the guard scoffs.

He looks at all of us, then directing his attention towards Keavin and I. 

"But we've got a different plan for you two," the guard says.

Keavin and I look at each other. What does he mean?

Suddenely, a guard grabs the collar of my shirt, doing the same to Keavin, and once more leaves a screaming Lindsey as we are taken away.

We are both escorted down the hallways, and we split off into two different rooms right next to each other.

I enter a white room with a couple of scientists.

"Here," one says gruffly.

I look down. Battle clothes.

"Change in there."

The scientist points to a dressing room, and pretty soon I'm in the battle uniform. I step out, and walk up to the scientist.

"Why am I in these clothes?" I ask.

The scientists keeps on doing what she is doing but replies. "The Arena."

"What?" I ask, confused. We got a sentence, I don't think we're going back to school.

The scientist ignores me, and I'm escorted once again out of the room and to the Arena.

A minute later, Keavin steps beside me to the doors of the Arena, in battle clothes also.

Oh no. Now I know what's happening. They want Keavin and I to fight to the death in the Arena. Against each other.

I look at Keavin wide-eyed, and he stares back. He too knows what is going on.

I watch as a teacher uses the control pannel to set the Arena to Forest Mode.

My strength. Keavin's strength.

"You have two minutes before we start," the teacher says, looking at both of us. He leaves.

Keavin looks at me. "Well, this didn't turn out the way I thought it would."

I smirk and hold back from crying. "It could be worse."

"How?" Keavin says.

I shake my head and wipe away a tear. "I guess it can't."

Keavin nods. "Guess we'll be friends 'till the end now, won't we?"

I nod and smile shakily.

He's escorted down the hallway and to the other side of the Arena, while I'm left standing by the other door.

Suddenely, the bell rings, and the doors on both sides of the Arena open.

I walk in, and on the other side, though I can't see him through the dense trees, walks in Keavin. Two friends to fight to the death in the Arena. 

*after trasmission of revolt acadamy*

Guys We need to send back up! 

We walk throught the desert untill my fortress rises from the sand. Grey steel covers it, and airships amd soldiers swarm all around it. 

When inside, I look through the number of deaths, orisoners captured, and weapons stolen. Everything was going to plan.

Sadly, I still could not talk to Alexandria.

In one of my labs, I watched a scientist work in my sample of blood. What use is one shadow angainst fifty? 

I help to oversee the soldiers in squadron B. A tough group, all filled with self-filled teenage boys. They may have the muscle, but not so much the brain. 

As they line up for drills, one boy looks me up and down.

"Pipsqueak here is commando?"

All of them laugh.

"How's a chipmunk gonna fight in the front lines? Didn't know they recruited shrimps for the army now."

I smirk and step forward.

He gives me a mocking look.

I then punch him so hard in the jaw that he goes crashing down, groaning in pain on the floor.

"Ah, looks like we've already started," I hear a voice say behind me.

Poe Allen.

I turn around and greet him. "Any progress with shadow's samples?"

He nods. "Yes. The art of cloning will be amazing in battle."

"It's an art that they will never perfect," I respond.

He lightly laughs and shakes his head, looking down.

He looks back up when he snaps his head back down again, looking at my leg.

"What?" I ask, looking at my leg also.

Where the bullet hole is spreads an intiracte pattern of black liquid underneath my skin.

So. Poison. 

Poe Allen,

What rank am I in your army? Also, just to let you know, Theodora, the new person you wanted to recruit, responded to your message.

Alexandria 

Oh, Alexandria, could we maybe call you Alexa or Xandra or something? It's okay if you don't want that, but your full name is a little long.

This is an optional post directed towards Shadow, and you'll see why.

I slowly scroll through the Classified Files from SOCS. Not SOCS School, SOCS Training Academy, but SOCS itself. I hacked into it after a few hours, and boy do they want it to be kept secret. I hadn't seen that big of a security system or coding pattern ever. 

I had looked up, "Alexandria," and a single file came up.

I click on it, and up pops a document.

Student files

Name: Alexandria Lilly Brown (Reguex)

Gender: Female

Species: Human

 Record: #4839120

Information: Part of the Child Assasin Program (CAP).

Background: Taken from parents who worked for BIG, older brother turned into mutant, older sister ran away.

Current information:

Brother found and imprisoned, parents terminated, sister turned to mutant working for Resistance.

Misc. Information:

Sister turned into mutant with wings, part of the Homo Sapiens Aves Program (HSAP)

Alexandria graduated the top student of the school and now is a soldier for Elliot's Army, creating the New Republic.

More loading...

I close out and stare at the wall.

All of this-

This is all connected to one link. 

I run to the far end of the forest. The Arena wasn't very big, but I needed some time to think.

I knew that Eliza would go to the treetops, as that was where she was most comfortable. She would probably wait for me to pass under her, then attack. I had watched her in the Arena before. I knew her tactics.

I reached the far wall and stopped, panting. The survalence cameras didn't work very well in the forest, so that would give me some extra time. I knew that I could not go through with their plan. Eliza was my friend, and I would not kill anyone for them anymore.

My hand touching the wall, I start to walk around the outer rim. I knew that there had to be a place to exit. I had watched secret hatches open when they felt like challenging us with animals. The only problem was finding those before Eliza killed me. 

I couldn't. I can't hunt him down. His strength is to go into hiding, and no one ever finds him. But it's not only that. He is my friend. I can't be expected to do this.

I need to find Keavin.

I follow the steps I think he would take, when I realize I would have a better view in the trees. So I climb every tree when I finally see a flash against the wall.

"Keavin?" I ask.

There's a pause. "Yes?"

I swing down and there he stands.

"Look-" we both say in unison.

"Go ahead," he says.

"I can't kill you," I say. "But we're running out of time."

He smiles. "I have an idea."