"Now that we know you can talk, how about you run for me?"

Zero couldn't stand how casual he spoke to her just after making her stomach do somersaults. She frowned, watching him walk around her to sit in the chair that was previously hers. He walked like he was on top of the world; like no one could lay a finger on him.

Except maybe Mother Miranda.

She thought about his request. No, this was an order, of course. Run for him, though? This felt stupid to do. Though she hadn't exactly run from anything yet, she was sure she would be able to run.

Heisenberg laughed and waved his hand. "Go on. Try to run as fast as you can, now. We don't have all day."

Though this trial was tedious, it was clear it needed to happen; he was testing her abilities, after all. Zero let out a little hum before walking off several feet away from the audacious man, but still in view. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Stretching her arms this morning helped their mobility a lot, so she decided to take a moment to do this with her legs; holding each one out as she did so, then planted them firmly on the ground.

Her eyes opened. Fine. He wanted her to run? Then she would go as fast as she possibly could.

She started off with a light jog. This was just to get her muscles used to the motion. Gradually she picked up speed. The movement made her feel free in some sort of odd way, and she found herself laughing lightly. Laughing with her new voice. Filling up with joy, Zero sped up even faster; the world around her turning into a slight blur. With a quickness, she spun around on her heel as she started running with the same speed back to where she had started. Stopping, she turned to Heisenberg with a grin.

He was standing up now holding his glasses in one hand. His eyes were wide, brows furrowed, and his mouth was agape. There was shock, sure, but it was laced with something else. Something she couldn't quite place.

Zero's face fell. Did she do something wrong? Tentatively, she started walking back towards Heisenberg; holding her own hands as she did so. "I'm... sorry," her words were soft.

He blinked at her a few times before busting out in a sharp laugh. "Ha! Sorry? Why are you sorry when you're fast as fuck," he told her.

She wasn't exactly trying to impress him this much. She was only trying to prove that she would be able to run, but he seemed elated with her abilities. "I...am?" She sounded unsure.

"Hell yeah, you are. You're promising, I'll tell you that," Heisenberg walked to her, giving her shoulder a hearty pat.

Zero looked up at him. The grimace was slowly turning around on her features. "You want... me to run... again?" She asked, once again having the urge to see something from a different point of view; to be able to see how fast she really was.

He waited for her fragmented speech to end rather patiently before he spoke. "Nah, we can move on to something else. I want to see what else you're capable of," his eyes had a new glint to them as he turned to the table. She wished he was looking straight at her so she could see it better.

"Running was just a... short test; something to get your heart really pumping," he said as if he wasn't breathing on her neck right before asking her to run in the first place. Actually, she was sure that moment made her heart beat faster than running did.

The various weapons began floating above as Heisenberg looked them over. After a moment, all of them- save for a few knives- sunk back down to the table. They twirled around him as he faced her, the sunlight reflecting off the polished blades.

"We'll start with these," he decided, plucking one out of the air. "Follow me."

And she did. She followed him far out from the targets, but now directly in front of them. Heisenberg gestured to the knife, indicating that he wanted Zero to pay attention. Then he threw the knife towards one of the targets. It hit the bullseye perfectly.

"Now, your turn," his tone was curious. One of the knives hovering around him moved in front of her.

She lifted her hand. As she enclosed around the hilt, she felt its weight shift, indicating that Heisenberg let go of his paranormal hold on it. Passing it between her hands to get a feel for it, she decided on using the right hand. Then she looked ahead at the targets.

"Can I... hit a... different one?" she questioned, still having to feel around for her words.

"Sure thing, darlin'," he pulled out his cigar; ready to observe.

She set her sights on the one next to it. Taking a deep breath, she aimed-trying to mimic Heisenberg's stance while doing so- and threw it at the target.

Though she was trying her best to hit the middle as Heisenberg had, it didn't work out as she wanted. It had hit right between the bullseye and the ring around it to the left. This was discouraging. She was hoping to excel immediately like she had when running. She looked sheepishly at him.

To her surprise, he didn't look as disappointed as she felt. No, there was no disappointment, but he now appeared to be thinking deeply about something.

"Not bad. Not bad at all for a first," he sounded guarded, stroking his chin with the hand not holding his cigar. His brow dipped for a second, then he smiled at her; almost like he was forcing it to look much too enthusiastic.

"Throw another one."

They trained like this for a couple of hours. After Zero got good at hitting the bullseye with one weapon, Heisenberg would give her another. Eventually, they move on to close-range combat; using swords. He said he wanted to see if she could think as fast as she could move, at least that is what he said. He started out wielding the sword with only his hands, but would sometimes jump back and use his abilities to make it slice through the air.

They both quickly learned that for some odd reason, Zero had the upper hand. She was faster than him. Whenever he tried to strike, she was immediately blocking and pushing back on his blade with her own.

The final time this happens, their eyes locked just as their swords were.

His eyes were peering over his glasses, but she could see that they were wide with confusion and bewilderment.

Hers surely mirrored the same emotions, though probably for different reasons. Of course, she was confused about her just being really good at this stuff. She didn't know why she knew how to do it; didn't know why her body felt like it instinctively knew exactly how to move before she would even finish the thought of action.

All of that aside, she was more confused as to why he was so shocked. Was this not what he wanted? Did he not want to see her abilities? This is what he asked of her, she was only trying her best, but any thrill he might have felt was overshadowed by deep-rooted thought.

These speculations only lasted a second before Heisenberg took a heaping jump back, thrusting the pointed end of his sword in the ground.

"Alright, that's enough," he growled.

This wasn't like his previous rough tones. This one was deep, almost guttural. His eyes no longer looked confused or out of sorts. He looked angry and he was glaring at her over his glasses now; head inclined.

Zero was about to ask what was wrong before she stopped short. He was suddenly stalking towards her.

"How the fuck are you able to do all of this shit with no memory?" he roared this. His arms shot out to shove her.

She knew now that she could probably shove him back, but she didn't. She didn't want to. However, she did stand her ground; not allowing herself to be pushed to the ground. She just kept backing away and holding her hands up in a defensive position.

"I-"

"Shut the fuck up!" he jammed his finger in her face, still advancing. "I'll tell you how. It's because you never forgot anything," he threw these accusations at her like blazing coal.

She was stumbling now, but she still hadn't fallen.

"I think you remember everything, and that you've been sent here by-," he sputtered for a moment. "- by fucking someone to fuck us all up!"

Zero's face screwed up in horror as she desperately shook her head from side to side. "No, no-"

"No? No, what? No, I found out about your little scheme, or are you going to try and sell me your dementia plot again?" he demanded.

Everything was happening so fast that she didn't realize she had started crying, and the tears were pouring down her face now. "Please-"

"I said shut the fuck up!" he grabbed hold of her shoulders now, so she could no longer evade him. He pulled her close and towered inches over her face. His next words were a seething whisper. "There is absolutely no fucking way you can have so much dexterity and not remember how you got it."

She wanted to look away, wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and give up. She wanted to run and hide; to scream and shout. But she kept her eyes glued on what was visible of his. They were wide. They were. Begging.

They stared at each other for a long time.

Finally, Zero got the courage somewhere to speak. She knew she should listen to him and stay quiet, but she didn't want to die; not now. Not right after she practically just started her life. No, she had to speak. She had to.

"Lord Hei-Heisenberg," her voice was soft, airy. "I swear...," it turned to sobbing. She wasn't able to control her voice with these emotions. "I don't remember anything," it came out as a slow, pained cry. She had to blink away tears from her vision. They fell down her cheeks, tumbling in a steady stream.

"Bull. Shit," he gave her a few jerks back and forth as he said this.

"I don't-"

Then everything changed in an instant around her. She was no longer in the hands of Heisenberg, but by some other man. He had short, brown hair; glasses that were different. No longer outside, but in some sort of strikingly white room. Locked in. Contained.

And she was no longer in control of anything. She had no choice but to let it happen.

She was screaming now in hysterics; no longer passive. Screeching at the top of her lungs, "I don't remember! I don't remember!" over and over and over again.

The man was shaking her by the shoulders urgently. His eyes boring into green eyes boring into hers. They looked tired like he hadn't gotten enough sleep in weeks; months, even.

"You have to! You have to, Circe! You have to remember!" he was saying this like it was life or death. He was trying so hard. "We don't have enough-" Zero, or Circe, apparently didn't care, because she let out a resounding lament.

"I don't remember!" she continued. "I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't!" the last word came out in an ear-splitting snarl. A noise she never knew she could make. It frightened her.

But then she shut her eyes and the air around her shifted. Her ears began to ring with a singular high-pitched note. A blast of what felt like pure energy shot from her body, and she heard the man cry out in surprise; anguish.

She opened her eyes just fast enough to see him violently soaring away from her, hitting the back of his head on the metal door behind him with a deafening crack. He slumped to the floor, unmoving. Dead.

Zero (Circe?) blinked a few times before she slowly stood up from the bed. She didn't remember being this short, but she only came up to be eye level with the door handle across from her.

"Doctor...Doctor Kramer?" her voice sniveled. She was walking forward now; hand reaching out in vain to help, but blood was pooling around his limp body. "Doc-"

The door swung open suddenly, causing Doctor Kramer's body to fly behind it like a ragdoll, dead weighing in an awkward position. She stumbled back into the bed after crying out in surprise.

Two men in full gear stomped in. More waited outside the door. One of the men inside the room regarded the dead man casually, then pulled out a walkie-talkie, holding it up close to his helmet.

"Kramer didn't make it."

No response.

The other man jabbed the gun in her face abruptly, not speaking.

"I didn't mean to-" she started to say.

"Be quiet, Circe," the man with the walkie-talkie said. Then he ignored her and went back to the walkie. "I repeat, Kramer is dead. But Circe seems stable now. I don't know what Kramer did to make her do this, but-"

The walkie talkie cut him off. "Sedate the subject."

It was final. An order.

The voice made her freeze. "No! No, I didn't mean to, Lyle, please!" she begged.

Walkie-talkie man, who was now known as Lyle, shook his head solemnly. "Sorry, kiddo. Gotta follow orders. Just like you do," he told her, right as the other man who had the gun suddenly stuck her arm with a syringe.

Things began to blur. The floor swayed beneath her. Her eyelids felt heavy. "I didn't mean to kill him...," she sobbed, her voice growing weaker. "I liked... him..."

Her words trail off with her vision and she is plunged into complete darkness.