The walk itself seemed endless, but I suppose part of the reason was because the dungeon-like base was enormous. There were many different floors, each with countless rooms for countless purposes. The entire basement itself was dedicated entirely to science. I was only able to walk in the basement with a supervisor because they assumed that I would destroy the experiments with my grubby fingers. What I saw down there was alien to me, and I couldn't even fathom how Hydra managed to make such weird weapons. Some of the weapons looked like they belonged on another planet, another dimension, anywhere but Earth.

I looked absently at the walls, my heart pounding in my tiny chest. I was frightened on seeing the Headmaster, for he constantly haunted my dreams and turned them into horrible nightmares. The conversation that went on between my escorts during the walk only made me feel worse. The tall man had looked at me in disgust, his hazel eyes almost as cruel as the Headmaster's own icy gaze. "Why are we even going through the trouble of training her?"

The shorter one looked at him in shock, obviously not expecting his outburst, "You dare to question the Headmaster?"

The first man shook his head, his short black hair shifting a bit from the movement, "No, of course not. I know what happens to those who question him. I am simply stating that she doesn't seem to be the weapon material we all hoped for. I mean, look at her!" he pointed at me as if I had done something wrong, but I tried to block out his harsh words, "She looks like she can barely walk on her own two legs!"

I narrowed my eyes, staring at the floor beneath me. My legs looked perfectly capable of holding me up. So what if I was tiny? Why did he care? I clenched my tiny fists in anger, my knuckles turning white and my nails digging into my pale skin, "I'm not that weak," I muttered quietly through clenched teeth. I spoke without thinking, and once I realized what I had said out loud, I silently hoped they didn't hear me. Speaking out for myself would only get me killed.

Thankfully, they didn't seem to hear me as they continued the conversation. The short man looked to the other man, "She will be stronger after her training. The Headmaster seems to believe that she has some potential; besides, it took many years to develop the genetic makeup of Project Z. He's not going to completely say she's a lost cause without training her first."

I looked up to the hallway before me, my eyes widening in surprise. A compliment from the cruel murderer? Maybe he wasn't as bad as everyone said he was. The tall man's smooth voice broke me out of my thoughts, "I hope you're right, because, right now, I have a hard time believing it."

"Silence," the short one hissed under his breath, "We're here."

I looked up at the two huge, mahogany doors leading to the Headmaster's room. The tall man rapped on the door, and I heard the familiar cold, muffled hiss of the Headmaster, "Enter."

The two men opened the door and, before I knew it, roughly shoved me into the room, not daring to walk in with me. I let out a squeak of surprise and stumbled, almost falling flat on my face. Thankfully, I caught myself just in time and stood up, now close to the center of the large room. I looked around for a moment, the room was so magnificent that I was overwhelmed by all of the riches I saw.

The ebony floor was covered with soft, intricate rugs and the walls were filled with imperial tapestries and paintings. There were gold goblets on a dark, mahogany table in the very center of the room. The table was long and large, with many chairs surrounding it, probably for meetings of all of the Headmasters of the Hydra bases scattered throughout the world. In one corner of the room, there stood a large, black chest filled to the brim with gold coins and valuable jewels. Compared to Anya and I's dim, dreary, gray looking room with cold stone floors and just one hard bed with a thin, tattered blanket, the Headmaster lived like a king.

"What are you gawking at, girl?" I heard the Headmaster growl, his voice like ice. My eyes snapped to him, and I suddenly realized that my mouth had opened from the shock of all of the valuable items I saw in the room. The Headmaster himself sat on a rather comfortable looking red velvet chair. It was almost like his throne. He was just as I had remembered him from my infancy. Tall, with dark brown hair that was gray on the sides, and those sharp, calculating, cruel ice blue eyes.

I widened my eyes and closed my mouth before saying in a rather tiny and insignificant voice, looking at the floor, "N-nothing, honorable Headmaster."

"I see," he said, his voice betraying the fact that he didn't believe me, "Do you know why I called you in here?"

"For training," I said quietly, not even looking up. I didn't want to look at him anymore, he was scary to me.

"Stop mumbling and say it louder, you weakling!" he snapped.

I jumped a good distance in the air from the sudden loud voice and looked up, still avoiding eye contact, "For training!" I said, much louder and more clearly than the first time.

"Good, you were paying attention." He stood up and walked around the table, coming to a stop in front of me. He easily towered over my small, child height and I had to crane my neck back just to look at his face, that horrible, frightening face that haunted my dreams. He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes in disapproval, "You're rather scrawny," he said scornfully, "This will take longer than anticipated." He walked towards the large doors, "Follow me."

I nodded and scrambled after him into the hallway. "W-where are we going?" I squeaked.

He glared at me, "Are you really that dull to not already know?" I stayed silent and looked away from him before getting the terrifying shock of him roughly hitting the back of my head. The impact was so hard that I almost fell over. "We're going to the Training Room, you dumbass!" he hissed, still walking and not even bothering to see if I'd follow.

I stopped walking for a moment and quickly wiped away a tear that leaked from my eye, rubbing the back of my head. It was already pounding from the hit. I glared at the back of the Headmaster's head, my eyes narrowed to tiny slits. Okay, there was absolutely no way this cruel man had a heart! Once again, my hate and fear of him seethed in massive waves. After recovering a bit from the smack, I scrambled after him to catch up before struggling to keep up with his long, swift strides. My only prayer was that I would survive the training session. I still didn't know what he had in store for me.