Hey everyone! Got the next chapter up quickly this time, so you won't have to be waiting as long as you have for some of them. This is a really long chapter, but enjoy!

When we were close to the city, I could barely hold my excitement. For once, I was finally far away from the base of my home. The Hydra base had always held a dreary, yet painful air to it, and although the guards seemed to bring a bit of that atmosphere with them, it wasn't nearly as noticeable as at home, if the base could even be called a home. The pilot landed the plane a few miles away from Paris in a nice, concealed area so that it wouldn't be noticed. Then, the guards led me to a normal looking car where we drove the rest of the distance. When we reached the city, I stared in total awe at the new world around me. There were so many people bustling around, working, playing, or even relaxing and shopping. I had never seen so many people before, and it was so much happier and more colorful than Hydra. Why couldn't I be born here instead? The driver of the car we were in pulled into a nearby restaurant and parked in an empty space. We exited and I finally got a really good look at the city. I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. Paris was nothing like the small world I had been brought into, and suddenly it dawned on me that this city, this seemingly large city, was merely a small point on the Earth. That fact made me feel even more small and insignificant than I had already believed myself to be.

I looked at all of the guards, each of them dressed in ordinary clothes to disguise themselves among the people and look like every day pedestrians. They seemed unfazed by the sheer size of the city, or its Eiffel Tower. I didn't know what the Eiffel Tower looked like, but I had a feeling that it was the large, metal, pointed tower in the far distance that greatly loomed over the rest of the city. How could people build such large structures? I jumped slightly when the most seasoned guard in our group elbowed me lightly to get my attention. I turned to face him, my mind still somewhat on the tower I had seen. "While we're here, we must keep in disguise," he said in a hushed tone, "To make it convincing, I am to pose as your father, and the others are random citizens. You're not to speak to anyone, and if you must speak, speak to only the guards, including myself. Speak in hushed tones only, if you must, because if any native citizen hears you, they'll immediately know where you're from and that could potentially jeopardize the mission. Understood?"

I nodded and opened my mouth to reply, but stopped and closed it instead, remembering that I couldn't talk at this time.

"Good," he said, and started walking down the sidewalk, with me following closely behind him. "We'll take this time right now to brief you on your mission, so pay attention."

I nodded, but couldn't help the fact that my mind instantly started wandering again as we walked through the magical city. I was so excited about my new surroundings that I didn't even hear him and was busy staring at the new sights. I noticed, shortly after reaching the city that the people here spoke an entirely different language than in Russia. Were there even more languages than this new one I discovered? How many languages were there out in the world? Did every country speak a different language? I was longing to find out.

"Hey!" the veteran guard beside me said, snapping his fingers in front of my face, "You paying attention, or what?"

I jumped slightly and looked up at him, "What? Oh, sorry! Could . . . could you repeat the briefing please?" I said quietly, remembering his rules, and looked down at the ground sheepishly. I really needed to stop spacing out.

He sighed and repeated himself, "You're infiltrating an enemy base to receive a tan file with important and beneficial information in it. You need to also avoid getting caught."

I nodded, and remembered that I still couldn't read anything, let alone anything that could potentially be written in a foreign language, "How will I know if I have the right file?"

"When you look inside of it, you should see a picture of an odd, crystalline object with box-like markings."

I nodded. And then, another question formed in my mind due to my bad case of curiosity. I never did know when to stop asking questions. "Why is the Headmaster sending a little kid like me to do the job?"

The veteran shrugged, "He wants you to prove your worth to Hydra by completing missions like this one. Plus, he's a firm believer in learning on the job. Think of it as part of your training." I nodded, and we continued walking, with me being silent and the guard telling me as much as he could about the base. We soon reached a darker part of the city when my escort spoke up again, "We're close to the location now. This is where you must go alone from this point. It's past that alleyway," he pointed to a dark alley across the street from us. I gave him a brief nod before heading towards the alley, but stopped when I heard him add, "And remember, we are always watching." As if to prove a point, a few well-disguised, muscled men gave small nods in my direction. Wow, they were really good at blending in! I didn't even notice them until they gestured at me.

I turned back slightly to face my escort and gave him a brief salute before continuing my trek towards the alley, towards my target. As I walked, I sighed sadly. There went my escape plans. They'd know if I went missing without me even knowing where they were. Besides, I did not feel inclined to invoke the Headmaster's wrath again. I shuddered at the memory of three years ago when I had eavesdropped on him again. What would he do if I tried to escape and they found me? I couldn't bear to think of such consequences. I looked up at the ominously looming buildings around me and suddenly felt utterly overwhelmed. I felt so small and tiny, as if the city itself could swallow me whole. I had never seen buildings so tall before, for I had hardly even seen the Hydra base from the outside. I shook my head and weaved my way carefully through the citizens, not even paying attention to the odd language they spoke. Soon, I found the back alleyway in the city and silently entered that way, the directions the guard had given me during our walk repeating over and over in my mind.

Eventually, I found the base I had to infiltrate and hid behind a nearby dumpster, peeking up tentatively and taking in my surroundings. There was a large, chain link fence topped with cruel, twisted barbed wire and guards in blue uniforms posted all over the place. There were watchtowers with spotlights that swooped in large arches, and in the center of all of the organized chaos lay the base, heavily guarded. I furrowed my brow in frustration. I had to go through all of that? Was the Headmaster trying to kill me, or what? I cleared my mind of my troublesome thoughts and focused instead on the task at hand. Get in. Get the file. Get out. And, of course, don't get caught. Would I truly be able to do this? I scanned the area for an open spot and once I found one, near a few parked vehicles, I snuck my way over to the fence, using anything in the area to hide myself.

I studied the fence carefully and lightly shook it, trying to reduce any noise. I found it was loose at the bottom here. I carefully pulled up the fence there as quietly as possible and thankfully, due to my small size, I was able to crawl under the fence without making too big of a hole. The smaller the better. Small was unnoticeable. Once I was on the other side, I hid behind one of the parked machinery. I peeked around it carefully and studied the entrance. I stared at the guards by the entrance, there were two of them, as far as I could see. I wondered how I could quietly eliminate them. I considered using stones to temporarily distract them, but that wouldn't work with the time I would need to get past the watchtowers. Breaking the lights would draw too much attention. I sighed, there was another option, but it involved killing the guards and I didn't know if I could pull it off. I took a deep breath and though back on my training, remembering the secrets to my flame-conjuring abilities. If I simply imagined where the fire was, how hot it was, and willed it to be there, then my wishes would become reality.

I stared intently at the guard posted closest to me, visualizing his body structure and, more importantly, his throat. I imagined a rather gruesome image; one of flames growing inside his throat and fusing it shut so he couldn't make a noise or breathe. That exact same thing happened to the man. I knew, because I saw him clutch his throat, his eyes filled with an immeasurable amount of pain and a light underneath his skin. He choked out sick, gurgling sounds, his panic rising until he stood no more. I smirked slightly at my success, my dementia taking over as I mercilessly did the same thing to the other guard.

When both of them were dead, I waited until both watchtower lights were away from the entrance before dashing across the grounds, using my flames to help me break through the door quickly and silently. Once I was inside the base, the rest of the route was pretty straightforward. I snuck around the halls, keeping to the shadows and trying to avoid being seen at all costs. I had to check every room in the hall due to my illiteracy, but I finally found a room that seemed to be one to hold files like the one I was looking for. It looked like a conference room, but it was filled with cabinets with many drawers, each of them potentially being able to hold a file and each being able to hide a seemingly infinite number of them in my eyes. I sighed dejectedly. This would take a while. I went to the end of the room and slumped against the wall after looking and seeing all of the filing cabinets. In my frustration, I grabbed a painting on the wall next to me and threw it off of the wall. To my greatest luck and surprise, a safe was hidden behind the painting, tucked in a small hole in the wall. Perhaps the file was in there. It made sense, since the file was seemingly important. I stared at a spinning dial marked with odd characters on the safe. I couldn't unlock the safe that way, so I simply drew a circle on the door with white hot flames and pulled out the circle, setting it aside and taking out a tan file. I opened it, seeing the picture that the veteran guard had described to me. I smiled in triumph and held the file close to me as I made my way back out.

I took a route similar to my way in by staying in the shadows. Once I was well away from the base, I went to the street where I had last seen the Hydra guards where I found my escort, the veteran, who led me back to the car, which we decided would be our rendezvous point since all of the guards were spread out and hidden very well. There, we continued conversation on the mission as I handed my escort the file. "Excellent," he said while leafing through the folder, "You got the right one. Did anyone see you?"

I shook my head and dusted a bit of dirt off of my dress. It was nice and I wanted to keep it for a while longer, since it wasn't itchy or dirty like my potato sack of an old outfit.

"Good. Let's get out of here before anyone notices that it's missing." At that, we all swiftly entered the car and drove to where the pilot had landed the plane, boarding it and making our way home. I looked out of the window and sighed, watching as Paris shrunk before my eyes. I was leaving the magical city of light and returning to my dark, dreary prison of a home. The whole time I couldn't help but think of a question that nagged constantly at my mind. What was so important about that file?