Teleporting in a beam of light felt strangely similar to burning up from the inside out. When they arrived at the scientists' base, it felt like being dosed with a bucket of icy water.

"Where are we?" Katrina asked. They were in a bustling lobby with a beam of white light identical to the one back in the arena behind them. Scientists were stepping out of the light every couple of seconds, barely giving the two of them a second glance as they headed towards a security checkpoint.

Celia grinned at Katrina. "Welcome to the Lab." Celia headed towards the checkpoint along with everyone else and Katrina hurried to keep up, not wanting to get lost in the maze of scientists.

They filed into line and waited, shuffling forwards slowly. As they reached the front of the line, the guard held out his hand.

"Identification?"

Celia pulled her necklace off and handed it to the guard. As the guard scanned it, Celia told Katrina, "That necklace doubles as identification. When you get yours, use it whenever anyone need to identify you, or when you need to get through locked doors."

Katrina nodded as Celia was returned her necklace. She snapped it back onto her neck magnetically as the guard looked at Katrina expectantly.

As Katrina stammered for words, Celia came to the rescue. "Katrina York, Deviant in Arena 6. She's been chosen as the new AD."

The guard quickly entered the information into the database, verifying the accuracy of Celia's words. A moment later, he nodded, waving them on.

Celia grabbed Katrina's wrist and dragged her past the guard, where scientists were milling about. The two of them headed towards an elevator, squeezing in along with a couple other people. In a few moments, they were zooming up.

"Where are we going?" Katrina asked.

As the elevator dinged, opening its doors, Celia replied. "We're going to meet the scientists in charge of Arena 6, in other words, the scientists in charge of us."

Celia took Katrina down a couple of hallways before finally stopping in front of a door with the number six. She ripped off her necklace once again and waved it in front of a black panel next to the door. A second later, there was a whirring sound and the door opened.

Katrina gasped as she caught a glimpse of the inside. There were large screens on all sides, making Katrina feel like she was back inside the arena. Scientists were running about, talking to each other.

"Miss Hall!" Celia shouted gleefully, gesturing at a young woman. The scientist came hurrying over, her light brown ponytail swinging in the air.

The woman grinned, her smile lighting up her face as her eyes met Katrina's.

"Miss York! It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she chirped, shaking her hand enthusiastically, surprising Katrina with her friendliness. "I'm Anabelle Hall. You'll fit in wonderfully with the rest of us!"

"Hold back on the greetings," Celia warned. "Miss York is probably quite exhausted and confused over the events that happened."

Hall nodded dutifully. "Of course. Follow me, please." Hall went striding away as Celia and Katrina scrambled to follow her.

The three of them went into a small room with only a desk and a couple of chairs. As Katrina and Celia sank onto the seats, Hall grabbed a couple of items out of her desk. Dragging a chair to the opposite side of Katrina and Celia, Katrina felt intimidated, much like she was being interrogated.

Hall slid one of the items across the desk towards Katrina. She picked it up, finding herself holding a round, silver necklace identical to the one on Celia's neck, except for the design on the pendant. Instead of a map of the arena, hers depicted a scythe.

"That's your new necklace," Hall explained. "The scythe tells everyone that you're an AD, and the silver color tells others that you're a Deviant. A golden pendant means that you're a normal scientist."

Katrina nodded as Hall continued. "As an AD, you're expected to do anything the scientists tell you to do without question. We'll give you the name of the person, a picture of them, some facts, and you should murder them within 24 hours."

"What if we don't want to murder them?" Katrina interrupted. "What if we don't want to work for you guys at all?"

Hall laughed it off. "Why wouldn't you want to? When you become a scientist, then you'll get anything you ever wanted in life- money, reputation, and the status as a legal Deviant."

"But what if we just don't?" Katrina insisted.

"You can't refuse the offer," Celia replied. "It's accepting the offer or death, for both you and your loved ones."

Katrina's jaw dropped, unable to believe the unfairness of it all. She slammed it shut with a click as she slowly nodded. "Fine."

Hall clapped her hands together. "Wonderful!" She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh my, look at the time! We don't have much time left, so we'd better hurry."

Hall took the pendant from Katrina and held it between them. "This pendant will allow you to teleport anywhere you're allowed to, as well as help others identify you. It's also our main form of communication. When you need to get through a locked door, scan the back of it-"

She flipped the pendant over, where Katrina's name as well as her abilities were engraved into the metal, "and the door should unlock. If it doesn't, then that means you aren't authorized to be able to enter that place."

"How do we teleport?" Katrina asked, curious. "And where am I authorized to go?"

"When you need to teleport, just hold the pendant in your hand and concentrate," Hall explained. "When it starts feeling warm, a beam of light will appear. Then, just step into the light and think of the place that you want to go to."

"What about my second question?" Katrina prompted.

"Anywhere you aren't forbidden to." After an eyeroll, she continued. "You're allowed to teleport to the Lab, obviously," Hall replied. "There is also the Assassin Base, also known as the AB, which you'll visit later, as well as the arena where you were. Anywhere, really. Most big cities have a Shaft-"

"Which is the beam of light we use to teleport," Celia interrupted, gesturing for Hall to continue.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Wang. As I was saying, you can teleport anywhere with a permanent Shaft. But as of now, you have to stay in the arena, or sometimes the Lab and the Assassin Base."

Katrina nodded as Hall continued. "And to communicate, just speak normally while concentrating on the person who you want to talk to. When we reply, you don't have to hold the pendant up to your ear or anything. The words that you hear can only be heard by you."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Katrina said, feigning enthusiasm. "What happens if I leave the arena?"

"You die," Hall said simply. "I entered a tracking device into your wrist when you entered the arena, and that tracking device doubles as a poison container. You disobey our rules, we release the poison, and you die slowly and painfully."

Katrina shivered as her plan for escaping gets ruled out. Even with her new, handy gadget, Katrina didn't think there was any way to escape. Unless-

"And don't even think about giving that pendant to other people," Hall said. "If anyone else attempts to use it, then they'll die too."

Katrina struggled to keep her face straight as Hall basically read her mind.

"Shall we introduce her to Mr. Hades?" Celia asked.

"Yes, you go ahead," Hall replied distractedly, listening to whoever was talking to her through the pendant. "I'm needed elsewhere."

Hall stood up and dropped the pendant into Katrina's palm before striding off towards the door. Right before she closed the sliding glass panel behind her, she looked back, nodding farewell, before disappearing.

"You'll get used to that," Celia said, filling up the silence. "Whenever you're having a conversation with someone, they can suddenly start talking on their pendant. It's kind of annoying."

Katrina nodded as Celia continued. "Anyways, I should introduce you to Mr. Hades. We'll have to teleport there, so it'll be good practice for you, too."

"So, um, what happens if I do it incorrectly?" Katrina wondered out loud. "Like will I lose an arm or something?"

Celia rolled her eyes. "No, teleporting using Shafts is way safer than apparating in Harry Potter. The only thing you risk is getting lost and ending up in the scientific base in Antarctica."

"Oh, well, that's good then," Katrina replied, fingering her new necklace. She put it on, the claps magnetically connecting with a small click. "So, I just concentrate and think about the Assassin Base?"

Celia nodded encouragingly. "Yep. Go ahead and try."

Briefly, Katrina wondered whether she should just make a run for it. She could go anywhere with this useful teleporting gadget. However, Katrina shook her head when the poison tracking device embedded in her skin flew into her mind.

She held up her pendant, like she'd seen Celia do, and concentrated. A second later, the pendant started heating up and vibrating slightly. A Shaft appeared in front of her.

Celia nudged Katrina towards the Shaft gently as she created a Shaft for herself.

"It's now or never," Celia said. "The first time is always scary, but you'll get used to it."

Katrina nodded, and slowly stepped into the Shaft. In a moment, she popped out in a bright room. She gasped as she saw the weapons hanging on the walls.

Knives, swords, spears, poison, axes, you name it. She spun around slowly in a circle as Celia teleported to her.

"Why- why are there so many weapons?" Katrina asked. The room was so clean and elegantly designed, almost like it was trying to hide its true, dark nature.

"It's the AB, what did you expect?" Celia asked. "The RB- Recruiting Base, that is- is way better. I mean, the RB and AB are basically the same, except we have supplies, such as food and medicine here instead of weapons."

"The Bases are pretty small," she continued. "The teleporting room always doubles as a supply room so that people can get their supplies quickly, and it's also our dorms when we aren't on missions."

Celia sighed, undoubtedly longing for her own dorm instead of the arena. "Come on, let's go meet Mr. Hades before Ted and the others wake up and wonder where we went."

The pair walked towards the door, where Celia scanned her pendant and held the door open for Katrina. They entered a large common room. There was a large kitchen on the left and a sitting room on the right, where a couple of people were lounging comfortably. A fake fire crackled in the fireplace. There was a hallway in front of them that led to the dorm rooms.

"Um, does anyone know where Mr. Hades is?" Celia cautiously asked. Katrina was surprised at Celia's nervousness; Celia usually acted very assured.

"Here."

Katrina and Celia both whirled around, finding an old man walking towards them. He was covered in ashes.

"Make it quick," he said, his voice gruff. "I need to take a shower."

"This is Katrina York, a new AD," Celia introduced. "Katrina, this is Lucifer Hades, an AD. He's a pyrokinetic."

"You bet I am," he replied, gesturing towards the ashes on his face. "I wouldn't be alive today if I weren't."

Katrina shuddered, understanding the implication. She knew that AD's killed people, but seeing one made the horrifying truth dawn upon her.

"How much experience do you have killing people?" Hades asked.

"She's killed a guy in her arena, as well as a deer," Celia told him. "A bit squeamish, but it'll go away once she gets the hang of murdering."

"Preferred weapon?"

"She's an illusionist and clairvoyant, and found that by combining the two abilities, she can make one's heart stop, so I guess that would mean her preferred weapon are her abilities."

Hades nodded. "Your dorm room is number fifteen. You're going to be bunking with Thea. She's also a new AD and her power is death."

"Wait, death?"

"Yep. She can kill on touch, which makes her a perfect candidate for our new mission, along with you. Once you two get trained and go on a few practice rounds, that is."

"Anything else we need to know?" Celia asked. "We're running short on time."

"Be back here tomorrow at midnight. That's when I'll train you and Thea."

"Got it. Let's go get you settled into your dorm room," Celia said.

She led Katrina down the hall, arriving at dorm room fifteen.

"Go scan your pendant," Celia ordered. A requested, Katrina tugged the pendant off her neck and quickly waved it in front of the scanner. The door clicked open and Katrina entered, Celia right on her heels.

"This is, well, not was I was expecting," Katrina said, awed. She was expecting to find a small room with bunk beds, not a luxurious hotel room.

The two entered Katrina's new dorm, which consisted of a sitting area and kitchen, identical to the one outside except smaller in size.

To the to either side, there were two doors, leading towards the bedrooms. A balcony was in front of them, the sliding glass panels open, allowing fresh air to cruise through the room.

"The balcony's fake," Celia told Katrina. "We're underground, so all the windows you see here are screens. They also have fans filtering fresh air into here whenever you open a window."

"Hello?" someone asked.

Katrina's head snapped to the left, where a willowy girl was exiting the bedroom.

"You must be Thea," Katrina said. "I'm Katrina, your new roommate."

"Please to meet you." They shook hands. Katrina was surprised at Thea's friendliness; it was definitely not what she was expecting from a girl who could kill with a touch.

"Are you a Deviant?"

Katrina nodded. "Illusionist and clairvoyant."

Thea's eyes widened. "You have two abilities?"

"Don't sound so impressed," Katrina replied. "Having two abilities isn't all great. It allows me to stop people's hearts, which is something I'd rather not know how to do."

Thea nodded in sympathy. "I understand."

"Um, I hate to break up this meeting or anything," Celia interrupted, "but Miss Hall just told me that Ted is stirring, and will wake up at any second. Katrina, let's just go on a quick tour of your bedroom before we go back."

Katrina nodded. They went into the bedroom, which resembled a big hotel room with its white sheets, large bathroom, and walk-in closet.

"Come on, we need to go," Celia said, grabbing Katrina's hand. "Focus on Arena 6," Celia told her. "You don't want to accidentally end up in another Arena. I'll see you there." With that, Celia made a Shaft and disappeared.

"Bye, Thea," Katrina said.

"See ya."

Katrina held up her pendant and stepped into her Shaft. In a moment, she arrived next to Celia.

"This isn't the arena," she observed, glancing around. They were in a big, white, round room, with nothing in sight except for the Shaft behind them and a couple of chairs nearby, resembling roller coaster seats. There were poles with ladders spread out everywhere, too, leading up towards trapdoors.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Obvious," Celia replied sarcastically. "We're under the arena. You see those chairs? They'll take us to the exact location. Then, we climb up the ladders and into the actual arena. What do you think the scientists would do, create a permanent Shaft in the arena where people can mess with it?"

"Oh," Katrina mumbled, feeling dumb. She followed Celia as she climbed into a chair, pulling down the safety rails.

"Just imagine the place you want to go to," Celia called over to her. "And the chair will take you there."

Katrina nodded and did as she was ordered. With a small jerk, the chair started sliding forwards smoothly and quickly. She accelerated until everything was a blur. Suddenly, the chair slowed down to a stop, leaving her in front of a ladder.

Katrina lifted off the safety rails and hopped off, waiting for Celia who was right behind her. Katrina climbed up the ladder and opened it using her pendant. Standing up, she found herself in some bushes, not too far away from where camp was.

"Go back to the camp and sleep," Celia hissed at her, already moving away. "There are still a couple of hours until the others wake up, so you might as well catch up on some lost sleep now."

Katrina jogged to catch up, taking care to avoid stepping on twigs or leaves. By the time she slid into her cabin, she was exhausted, her eyes drooping.

The thoughts of the day ran around in her head, quickly tiring her mind. Without further ado, Katrina drifted off to sleep.

...

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

How often would you like me to update? Be realistic, please.