[A/N] Heyo everyone! It's been a while since I updated, I know. I'm not going to apologize for it because my own life has taken a plot twist, I'm planning on transferring Universities for one, and I have also been working 40 hours a week too, s when I plan on writing during the day, I'm just too tired to. Luckily, University starts on Wednesday and I'll likely have more time to dedicate myself to writing.
Now back to the book! This chapter, I legitimately rewrote completely like 3 times because the direction I want to take it changes day to day. So this was by far the best version I could come up with without going insane.
I found it really humbling for y'all to want me to update as soon as possible, which makes me feel good inside. Again, I am still looking for advisors as well, so if you want to be a part of the writing of this fic, please let me know, I'm actually a really nice person most days!
Anyways, here you go! It is the 5th out of 8 chapters of the season. Have fun!
CHAPTER V
THE GIRL WITH THE FLAMING SKIN
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[Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, outside of Pripyat, Ukraine SSR | April 26th, 1986, 1:02 am]
'
(In Russian) "Sir, you have a phone call from Comrade-General Stepanov." A Russian guard notified one of the mains scientists under the power plant.
The scientist grabbed the phone. "Comrade-General." he greeted without enthusiasm.
"We need you to let it go. The plant needs to be turned off." The commanding officer spoke through the hunk of metal.
"But sit, it will leak if I do…."
"That is an order, there are trucks waiting outside for you and your team." the Comrade-General hung up the phone, leaving the scientist alone in the room outside of the reactor.
If this reactor blows up, the radiation could wipe out the whole continent. He thought long and hard about the decision he was about to make. Suddenly, armed guards flooded into the room and stood on standby, waiting for the man to turn off the switch.
Fun fact, the actual plant was above the base, that was where they managed and allocated nuclear power, but this secret floor under the base was used for testing and other laboratory terms. The scientist had been working for the Soviet government ever since he graduated from university, but never did in any of his studies did they ever come out with a scenario where he was ordered to shut off a nuclear reactor
"Why are you hesitating? Turn it off!" one of the guards shouted from the doorway.
"I-I can't." the scientist concluded.
"How about I shoot you then turn it off myself, eh?" the guard pointed the machine-gun right at the scientist.
"Okay, okay, I do it." The man paced over to the wall where a Soviet banner was positioned. Behind it, was a safe embedded in the wall.
He pushed the banner out of the way and turned the knob to the safe, eventually opening the door. Inside was a key, which the man swiftly grabbed and walked over to the massive control panel in front.
Outside of the glass separating the room and the reactor, looked down over the massive hunk of metal. All around it, scientists were in hazmat suits who were working as if nothing could go wrong.
Before he turned the key to shut the power plant off, the man pressed the button to the intercom.
"Fellow Scientists, Comrade-General Stepanov has ordered me to turn off the reactor, we need to leave the premises immediately. Out front, there are Soviet trucks who will transport us away from any disaster."
Chaos directly ensued, scientists were running around, getting out of the reactor room as soon as they could. He then pushed the alarm buttons, making a loud urgent ringing to echo down the halls and in the reactor room.
He turned to the armed guard behind him. "We wait two minutes until my team gets out."
"One minute and then I shoot you and turn that key." the guard seemed very anxious to shoot someone.
After about a minute, the scientist turned the key as the guard escorted him out of the building.
'
The scientist was in the backseat of a military truck as he briefly looked back at the power plant. The whole building was soon engulfed in smoke as the sound of explosions occurred.
"This is not good." the scientist spoke to no one.
'
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[Wabash Middle School, Indianapolis | 6 hours before | April 25, 1986, 12:11 pm | Radio: Paradise City - Guns n' Roses]
'
"Okay here's the plan." Will slammed a rather large piece of paper with random scribblings and lists on the table.
Around the table was the party, along with its new addition, Suzie. Everyone was in the school cafeteria. It was the last day of school before spring break which meant, yes, you guessed it, endless DnD.
Will and El had teamed up and planned a thirty-eight hour DnD campaign for around a month now.
"Starting monday, we are going to start a weeklong campaign, we completed it just last night." he motioned at El who was sitting next to Mike.
El still didn't have her powers, but she was beginning to accept it. The last three months were definitely a bit of a challenge for her, she'd been enrolled into Middle School, making it quite difficult for her to meld in with thousands of other teenagers. She stuck quite close to the party, being that it felt like they always sheltered her from the madness. Everyone has helped her with homework and studying, taking turns sometimes, or doing a group session, but they were all very helpful with keeping her on track. Her grades had been progressively getting better, but weren't really 'getting into the cheerleaders' worthy yet.
"Mom and Hop have allowed us to use the basement as our base of operations. If you want, I can get her to call your parents for convincing." Will continued.
Joyce and Hopper had been living together in Indianapolis ever since winter break. Being that Hopper didn't have anywhere to live because, you know, he was 'dead' for six months. He'd gotten a job at the police station as a detective and was quickly rising up through the ranks.
"That still doesn't explain the paper." Lucas motioned to the large piece of paper on the table.
Will didn't answer. "So who's all in?"
"Obviously Mike. Right Mike?" El squeezed his hand getting his attention.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah sure." he agreed, not knowing what he was agreeing to.
Mike was training at the compound until late last night, Owens was getting him to do things with his powers that just made him straight up tired. What was disappointing was that his powers weren't really getting stronger, but they were still 'explode a man' strong. He had been going every Tuesday and Thursday, his parents were convinced he was going to tutoring, or to El's house then, but no, he was wasting his energy on destroying punching bags and crushing vehicles.
Apparently, Owens was developing a new serum, one that wasn't necessarily stronger, but didn't take as much energy out of the user when their powers were activated. It was basically an addition to the ones he had already. Of course, he hadn't taken the vial yet, but he knew it was coming.
"Hey Mike, you okay?" Dustin lisped.
"Yeah, just tired, that's all.
"Okay, well I hope it's not just Mike coming." Will asserted.
"We will be there." Max bumped Lucas in the arm with her fist.
"Ow!" Lucas winced.
"Dustin?" Will asked.
"I don't know, if Suzie can't go I won't."
Suzie had been quiet the whole time. Her parents had moved to Indianapolis only a couple of months ago, but she wasn't used to going to public school. Back in Salt Lake City, they had a Mormon school where she went, but the closest one to the city was in Bloomington next to the University. Her parents her always busy too, they had been volunteering ridiculous hours at the church, leaving her with her older sister to take care of her, and even then she went out and partied all night anyways.
"I'll have to ask my sister." she finally stated.
"Is your sister in charge of you?" Max interjected.
"Well, no but…."
"But you're coming with us. It'll be fun! When we are breaking, we can go shopping or something. Will's mom gives us family and friend's discount when we go, so." Max encouraged.
Life for Max had been difficult since they had moved, her Mom had gotten a job at the Gap as well and had been supporting the two of them. Luckily, Max had been distracted by school and friends, so the ongoing divorce that her mom went through wasn't heavy on her mind.
"Okay, sure." Suzie confirmed. Suzie was amazing at anything nerdy, including DnD. Although the party had never played a game with her.
"Alright there we go, it's all settled then!" Will folded up the monstrous piece of scribbled on paper.
"What is that even for?" Dustin mentioned. Will still didn't answer.
Will was still in his child phase, he had accepted that growing up was for adults and not children, and he still considered himself a child. He didn't want a girlfriend, at least, not yet, which is saying something for how he had acted about it for the past year. Everyone at the table except him was in a relationship, but it didn't bother him.
"Hey girl, you should come and sit with the cool kids." A hunky teen with a big 'W' on his 'jocket' approached the table, directed at El.
"Um, I'm fine here, Anderson." she looked at Mike who had his head down, not making eye contact with him.
"Are you sure? I mean, your friends aren't very welcome to this school anyways, you know, being NERDS and all." he pressed.
"I'm good with being a nerd right here." she said again.
"Well being that I wasn't asking you, you should come with us." he reached for her hand as she pulled away.
"Hey dude, leave her alone!" Max stood up.
"Shut up nerd." the jock continued to reach for El who was struggling to remove his hands off of her.
"Please leave me alone." she repeated.
Mike couldn't take it anymore, he slammed his fists on the table and stood up, facing the guy eye to eye. "That's enough! Leave her alone!"
"Oh no, the nerdy boyfriend is gonna save the day." he mocked. "I'm so scared!"
Mike got up right in his face and challenged his authority. "Leave. Her. Alone." he stated once again.
The jock reached his hands up and attempted to shove Mike into the table, but Mike stood still like rock, not budging, thanks to his powers of course.
The lights in the cafeteria began to flicker, as Mike continued to get angrier. The floor shaking the tables little by little.
"GO. AWAY!" he ordered once again.
"Mike, please stop, you're going to hurt someone." El touched him arm.
He started to settle down, the lights no longer flickering, and him coming to his senses again.
"I-I'm sorry." he muttered as she looked right into his eyes.
The jock had already disappeared to the table with the other jocks. Everyone sat back down as Mike had gone silent.
"Why were the lights flickering like that?" Suzie asked Dustin.
'
'
[The Gap, Downtown, Indianapolis | Same time | Radio: Never gonna give you up - Rick Astley…. Yes you've been rickrolled.]
'
"I'm sorry miss, but I can't return your jeans unless you have a receipt." Joyce was manning the 'returns' till until the employee got back from her lunch.
"Can you not see the tag? It says it was purchased at the Gap." the old woman on the other side of the till was giving Joyce a hard time.
"Yes, but you still need a receipt," Joyce repeated.
"May I speak to your manager?" the woman asked.
"I am the manager." Joyce had gotten to the point of impatience with the lady.
The woman was visibly caught off guard, not expecting Joyce to say that. Joyce continued to look down at her with a mischievous smirk. Unfortunately, that's how retail went. If customers could be complete idiots, they would be without hesitation.
"Hmmph. Well. I won't be shopping here again." the woman stated as she marched off and out of the store.
Thank god.
The next in line at the till just happened to be her boyfriend of four months. It's true, ever since they 'done' it in the bathroom at Denny's, they had been going out. It didn't come without challenges though, Hopper at first refused to move out of Hawkins, even though he had literally nothing there, and then Joyce kinda pulled an ultimatum on him 'either come with, or goodbye' kind of thing, which he caved. The next being when he had moved in with her, he needed to go get a job instead of sitting around and watching Magnum P.I, or M.A.S.H all day. He initially refused, as he proceeded to get another beer out of the mini-fridge next to the TV, but once again, she said something along the lines of 'get a job or get out'. Which he caved.
Speaking of which, Hopper got a rather noble job of detective at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police. His record spoke for himself, being the chief of police for nearly twenty years in Hawkins, making him very suitable for the job. Also after risking his life for many lives, he was regarded as a hero, which made him more desired for the position.
"Hey Jo." he approached the counter.
"Hey Hop." she reached out and kissed him right on the lips, brushing past his thick moustache.
"Brought lunch!" He held up a bag from Wendy's.
"I'm sure the till can manage itself for a while." she bounced back.
"I'm sure." he smiled.
They had taken station in her office, she pushed away the mountain of papers on the desk as they proceeded to sit down. Hop unloaded the paper sack, which contained two baconator combos with a root beer.
"Well I have some news, I think you're gonna like." he teased.
"What is it? You better not be growing that god awful beard again." she warned.
"No no, don't worry, those days are over." he stated. "The commissioner is appointing me, Captain of the downtown precinct!" he unwrapped his burger
Joyce squealed in excitement. "Oh my god Jim! That's fantastic!"
"Hold on, I'm not finished." he said before taking a bite. "We can move to a much larger house with the expenses straight from the city itself." he took a sip.
She brought her hand to her mouth in an excited fashion as he continued.
"The kids won't have to switch schools or anything either, so they'll definitely be happy to hear that. Besides, I don't want Mike going full Terminator on me if I had to tell him."
"Good point."
It's true, ever since Mike got his powers, Hop had been scared to tell Mike 'no' to sleepovers or playdates or whatever they do. If Hopper had given Mike any flack at all, who knows what would happen if he got angry, the biggest possibility was that Mike would unintentionally blow Hop's brains out. Joking aside and everything, he still didn't want to take that chance.
This sequence of events forced Hop to have the talk with both of them. Luckily, Joyce had done most of the talking with Hopper just nodding his head in agreement, but it still worked.
"So, how's work? He broke the silence as they were eating the classic American meal.
"Well, it sucks, but I'm making money, so."
Hopper's pager went off before he was about to respond.
"Well, it looks like they need me." he looked sad.
"Go ahead, I will just finish my lunch with Greg from Macy's." she retorted.
"Yeah sure, whatever." he frowned his usual frown.
"See you tonight."
"Love you."
"Love you too." Hopper left the room.
'
'
"Do you think this is where you want to go?" Nancy asked Jonathan as they were walking down the path.
The two were touring the Indiana University campus in Bloomington. Jonathan had sights to go to university for photography, and this particular university had a well-renowned arts program, especially for visual arts. It was Jonathan's dream to become a professional photographer and actually make a living on it. If only he could afford it.
Nancy was currently enrolled in a private school to become a private investigator, and was doing quite well. By the summer she would most likely get her license to become one. With Jonathan's photography skills and her intense intuition, they could likely run a very successful business.
"I don't know, I mean, it's really pretty and all here, but I don't know if I can afford it." Jonathan was skeptical about the whole thing.
He didn't want to leave his mom and Will alone, especially for what they've gone through, it just didn't feel right. On the other hand, the school would give him anything and everything he needed to pursue his dream, but it was just too much to think about.
"Well, we could alternate weekends, you come visit me, I come visit you….. I just… I really think you'll like it here."
"Yeah maybe." he drifted off.
The two traveled down the stone walkway until they reached the parking lot where Jonathan's car was.
"It's not that I don't want to go here, Nance, I've just always wanted to go to NYU, and I can't leave you or my family to do that. If I go here, the likelihood of me becoming a photographer for the New York Times or something is slim, and, I guess I just want to be somewhere like NYU and be with the people I love at the same time." he admitted.
"Well, unfortunately, I can't decide that for you." she said as she opened the passenger's door to his car.
The two crawled in the vehicle, both frustrated.
"Nancy, come with me." Jonathan stated.
"What do you mean?" Nancy knew where this was headed.
"Come with me to New York, we could rent a loft or something while I go to school." he added.
"What do you expect me to do there, Jonathan? The competition for P.I's there is ridiculous, and I can't just sit around all day waiting for you to come home so I can make you dinner. I refuse to be that person after Steve, because that's exactly what he wanted." she was getting frustrated.
"I know, and I wouldn't expect that of you…." he tried.
"I just….. I can't…. I have a life to live too." she pouted.
The two had stayed silent for what seemed like hours before Jonathan eventually spoke.
"Nevermind, I shouldn't have said anything, I guess I just realize I can't live a life without you in it." he started the car.
"I love you Jonathan, and I'm sure we will figure it out, but I can't drop my life to make you my new life, I just can't do it." she concluded.
"I'll tell them that I'm going here, I mean, the whole University is breathtaking." he tried to lift the mood.
Nancy stayed silent as the two drove back to Indianapolis.
'
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[Downtown Indianapolis | 3:32 pm | Radio: Get it right - Aretha Franklin]
'
"I want to go to the Museum!" Lucas exclaimed at Max who was alongside El.
"Yes, but we want to go shopping!" Max countered.
After school was over, the group decided to head downtown to do some shopping or sightseeing, they hadn't really decided, but they were there. The argument had split up into two factions, the boys wanted to go the Children's museum, but the girls weren't really interested in fake dinosaurs and other random uninteresting objects. Except, Suzie didn't get in the middle of it, she was silent as the fury of words poured out of everyone's mouths.
"Suzie, do you want to go shopping?" El pressed.
"I'm not interested in fighting you any of you, so no." she said point-blank.
"See? The majority of the party agrees we just go to the museum!" Mike piped up.
"Yeah, it's a democracy, four to two to…. One?" Dustin looked at Suzie.
"Yeah, a majority of men. We're going shopping, you can come with us if you want." El turned to Max as the started walking the other direction.
"They can't just disobey the law like that!" Will stated.
"Yeah, but they just did." Mike began following them.
"Where are you going?" Lucas drilled.
"I'm not letting them out alone in downtown." Mike turned to face them, walking backwards.
"Well, Suzie, it looks like we're going shopping." Dustin halfheartedly reached his hand out for hers, which she took.
"Dustin, you too?"
"Sorry Lucas."
"Well I guess it's just us." Will commented.
"Yep, it's just us."
"Do you want to follow?"
"Not really you?"
"Not really."
The two began walking in the same direction out of reflex.
"Well it looks like we're going." Lucas pointed out.
After they caught up to everyone else, the boys just pouted, not really wanting to do anything with the girls where they had to carry bags of stuff the girls would never wear. Mike thought about it and remembered they had a family and friends discount at the Gap, and knowing Joyce, she'd likely pay for most of it.
The party circled through a few blocks until the reached an alleyway, which was a shortcut to the mall. The grungy, moldy smell hit them in the faces as they continued through, hoping not to accidentally slip in fryer grease. The walked past a dumpster when they noticed a girl about the same age as them curled up, dirty and shivering.
"Whoa, are you okay?" Dustin asked.
The girl didn't respond, just looking at the sky as if she was waiting for something. She had long blond hair, and hazel eyes, but the odd part was that she was wearing a hospital gown.
"Dude, she has a hospital gown on." Lucas bumped Mike's shoulder.
El recognized the pattern of the gown from Hawkins Lab when she was held captive. Immediately, she begun shivering to the core, not from being cold, but rather anger. She approached the girl and grabbed her wrist, making the girl flinch.
'012' it read, El practically threw her arm away and backed away.
"S-She's a test subject." El stammered.
"What do you mean a test subject?" Suzie asked.
Suzie had been oblivious to everything that had happened over the last few years, the group had decided not to tell her because she was still a very religious person, and telling her about the Upside Down and Demogorgons would likely destroy her. Dustin had asked everyone to keep the discussions down when she wasn't around so that things wouldn't spiral out of control.
But with this, this was something they could try to keep silent, but after this point, someone would have to tell her what was going on.
"Are you hurt?" Mike asked the blond girl.
She shook her head as if to say 'no'. She appeared to be genuinely terrified, but how she ended up in an alley in downtown Indianapolis was concerning.
Will reached his hand down to her to help her up, a gesture that she understood but didn't take. El rolled her sleeve up and showed her '011' tattoo to the girl, making the girl come to her senses.
"You…. too?" she muttered.
"Okay good, she's not mute." Lucas retorted. Max immediately hit him in the stomach causing him to grunt in pain.
"Ow…"
"Yeah, me too." El responded. She reached her hand down to help her up, this time taking the offer as El helped her stand.
Will couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, the bright almost fluorescent locks of blond hair and her shining hazel eyes just captivated him (A/N Insert: if you want to find an actor that I'm modeling after, look up Veronika Bonell.) Something about her intrigued him and he had a hard time denying it.
"Alright, what is going on?" Suzie exclaimed.
The party looked back and forth to each other, considering if they should tell her, but Dustin was furiously shaking his head 'no'.
"Dusty-bun? What's going on?" Dustin couldn't handle it, if he told her, she'd think they were all nuts, think he was nuts, but she'd leave if he didn't tell her.
"Mike, can you do me a favor?" he spoke finally.
"What is it?" Mike responded.
"Could you do something with your powers to help me convince her?"
"Umm, sure?"
Mike reached his hand out and grabbed a tin garbage can with his mind and lifted it into the air, twirling it and doing tricks with it.
Suzie had a look of pure shock and confusion on her face. "H-he's moving it with his mind!" she murmured.
The blond girl did the same, she hadn't seen another person able to… do things with their mind
"Yes, now it's just the beginning of what I'm about to tell you."
'
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[Indianapolis Government Compound | 3 months earlier, January 17th, 1986]
'
"Alright, Ms. Nicole Howard, please step up." A scientist ordered.
The girl stepped up on the scale as the scanner turned side to side recording the girl's weight, height, health and other things as well.
Nicole had volunteered for human testing for the government. Around a week ago both of her parents had died in a horrific car crash. With no family or friends to care for her, she was put in the system, something she could hardly stand. The bullying, the food, even the beds were ridiculous.
A man named Sam had come into the place where she was being 'kept' and told her about an experiment he was working on that made children 'happier'. That it would relieve all of the pain that she had gone through, and get her out of the system for good.
She really hoped it was true.
The scanner beeped allowing her to come out on the other side of the machine, where Sam came into view. He was by a monitor on the side that recorded her information as he noticed Nicole coming out of the machine.
"Well hello there Nicole!" he beamed, he reached from behind him revealing a red lollipop, which she gladly took.
"We have lots to talk about my young friend." he led her to an examination room down the large curved hallway. The walk was silent, and the further down the hallway they went, the creepier it got.
Inside of the room was a hospital bed right along with a briefcase on the stainless steel table next to it.
"Sam, where are we?" she innocently asked.
"Well, we are in a lab room, and we're going to make you all better." he calmed with a bubbly demeanor.
"Okay, but how?" she pressed, something didn't feel right to her and she was having a hard time believing this man could cure her of the pain she felt.
He reached in his lab-coat pocket for another lollipop as he ripped the plastic packaging off and stuck the lollipop in his mouth. He looked off in the distance as Nicole waited for his response.
"Do you like comic books?" he asked her. Something that seemed like an oddball question for where she was at…. Or was it?
Things were beginning to make sense, but she needed to get to the bottom of his intentions.
"You mean like superhero comics, like Wonderwoman or the Black Widow?" she asked yet again.
He chuckled. "Sure. Which one is your favorite?" he wasn't giving her much to go off of.
She thought about the question long and hard as she stuck the lollipop back in her mouth.
"I guess probably The Human Torch….. You?" she continued.
"Well, I mean, I've always liked Iron Man or Batman, especially the show with Adam West, I used to watch that all the time in the sixties. It's still on TV you know?" he sat down on the hospital bed.
"I hated Batman, he's just always so intense, and corny." she stated. She thought about the conversation they were having. Why was he asking her questions about superheroes, was he just a nerd like her, and trying to manipulate her by finding something she was interested in, or…..
"Are you going to give my superpowers, sir?" she asked bluntly.
The question caught him off guard, but wasn't surprised.
"Well, that's up to you. Do you want them?" he countered.
"I've always wanted them, but never thought my parents' death would be the reason I got them." she stated.
"Well, it looks like you're a more like Batman than you thought." he responded. "If you want them, I can give them to you, but you need to think about what kind of powers you want, because that's a choice you have to make in the heat of the moment," he added.
"Okay then, are you sure it works?"
"It works."
'
She had gotten situated on the bed as a nurse tied her arms and legs down with leather straps. After this, the nurse attached an IV to her arm, sticking the needle in the inside of her elbow. She winced in pain as the drip started. Soon after, her index finger was clamped by a heart rate sensor.
"Nicole, have you ever wanted a tattoo?" Owens asked.
"Well, when I was ten I wanted a tattoo of a treble clef on my arm, but she wouldn't allow me. Why do you ask?"
"Because we need you to have one on your arm."
"What is it going to be?"
"The number 012"
'
'
[Current]
Hopper had been called to a crime scene where apparently, a man had burned to death. He was in his police cruiser as he pulled up to the scene littered with first responders.
His opened the door and crawled out of the vehicle, he reached into his front pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes. He lit one and continued his trek towards the scene.
As he approached the yellow police tape, Robin was waiting for him on the other side.
"Hey Chief!" she greeted.
"So what's going on here?" he crawled under the tape as they proceeded past the ambulances and police vehicles.
"Well, the coroner says man was charred instantly." she informed
"So if he burned to death, why am I here?" they approached the body, which was covered by a tarp.
"Because it wasn't an accident, somebody burned him. There are no traces of gasoline in the area, or any other substance. He just… caught on fire." she continued
Hopper bent down and lifted the edge of the tarp to view the head of the body. He had seen nothing like it, at least not while being a cop. He remembered back in Vietnam, flamethrowers caused people to look like this, but this was much worse.
"Holy shit." he muttered.
"Pretty gruesome right?" Robin piped.
For some reason, this kind of thing enthralled her, seeing things that had no apparent explanation, it made her want to get to the bottom of it.
"I've only seen this type of thing in Vietnam." he commented. He stood up and waved over an officer. "Get him out of here." he ordered.
The man went back to the coroner's van as they proceeded to lift the body away. Hopper stood and watched as a shiny metal object appeared under the body. He bent down once more and picked up the object.
It was a name tag, but not any normal type of name tag, it came from the government compound.
"What is that?" Robin questioned.
"It's a name tag from the compound." he discussed.
"What?"
He considered his options for a second, if he submitted it as evidence, nobody would ever know, especially since the government could make it disappear, but he needed to get to the bottom of why a secret government agent or scientist had been burned to death in a back alleyway
"I suppose we are going to be taking a trip then aren't we." Robin admitted.
"I suppose so." Hopper placed the name tag in his pocket.
The two proceeded to his car as the two got in and drove off, the destination being the Government Compound.
'
'
[45 minutes later]
Hopper and Robin approached the set of metal gates to the compound. He pulled the car up to the booth as he rolled down his window. The man in the booth stuck his head out of the window.
"Identification, please." he requested.
"Antique Chariot." Hopper answered.
"Blond Mustang." Robin answered from the other seat.
The officer looked through papers for a good minute before asking "Why are you here?"
"We need to speak with Owens."
"Owens is out of the facility right now, he won't be back for another thirty minutes."
"Where is he?"
"I cannot give out that information."
Hopper sighed and glanced at Robin.
"Is there a possibility that we could wait inside?" she asked.
"Yes, just proceed until you get to the front of the building." the man pressed the button, opening up the gates as Hopper thanked him and continued through.
As they drove through, they passed greenhouses, buildings, and lots of government personnel. They eventually reached the front of the main building which was at the end of the road. Hopper stopped and parked outside.
"Well, I guess we wait."
After around thirty minutes a motorcade of black vehicles pulled up to the front as well as they all stopped. Owens' got out of one of the vehicles as did Hopper and Robin. They approached each other and eventually met.
"Well, something very big must have happened for you to come here voluntarily." Owens stated.
Hopper did even answer, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the name tag.
"He was one of yours." he handed it to Owens who observed the tag. A slight look of disappointment flashed across Owens' face. "He burned to death in downtown….. Now I wanna know why one of your men was there in the first place, and why he burned without any reasonable explanation whatsoever." Hopper pressed.
Owens sighed and took a minute before speaking. "Follow me." Owens turned around and continued to walk towards the building. The other two followed.
"After the events that occured before Christmas, the Government decided to 'up the ante' so to speak. The Russians are trying harder than ever to reopen a gate into the Upside Down. And since they were using Demogorgons to power their teleportation technology, they need it more than ever." they approached the elevator to go down. "Unfortunately, the Government has begun doing the same. Throughout the rustbelt, they have scientists trying to open a gate as well."
Both Hopper and Robin gasped as they processed the information. "So there are machines like the one under Starcourt Mall to open up gates all over the country?!" Hopper drilled.
"I'm afraid so." Owens confirmed. "There are rumours that the Soviets are planning on blowing up one of the biggest nuclear power plants in Europe in order to create the energy to open a portal. Basically, if we don't do it first, they will."
"Mother of God." Robin swore. This was much bigger than she had anticipated. The group got in the elevator as Owens pressed the bottom-most floor 'B47'. Owens scanned his identification card on the scanner next to the floor buttons. The elevator went down.
"My facility here however isn't doing anything like that. Our focus is not the gate, but something much dangerous." Owens added.
"What could be more dangerous than hundreds of gates into the Upside Down?" Hoppe asked.
"We are working on developing weapons, human weapons, like Mike Wheeler."
"You're doing testing on children?!" Robin exclaimed.
"Yes, but only voluntary testing. We can't kidnap children anymore."
It was beginning to make sense to Hopper. "So your scientist burning in the city was because one of your subjects escaped and your goon followed them and got burned to death." Hopper concluded.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure, but something along those lines, yes." The elevator opened to a massive laboratory with scientists running around everywhere. The lab had to have been about ten football-fields in size and a good two in height. They were definitely upping the ante.
"We currently have five underage volunteers that wanted superpowers, we are just giving that to them." Owens excused.
"Your morals are twisted." Hopper accused.
"Even so, Jim, if I stopped, I would disappear. Do you expect me to give up my life's work in exchange for morals, and do you expect the government to lose the war because we refuse to do something immoral?" Owens countered.
It was becoming clear that the big threat wasn't the Russians or the Mind Flayer, but their own government once again. They needed to figure out how to get out of there for one, because they were now in danger.
"It's a shame, Jim, I really thought you would understand all of this especially after everything I've done for you." Owens was turning on them.
"We need to get out of here!" Robin exclaimed as she turned around to go back to the elevator.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You know too much now, I've said too much." Owens condescended.
"You fucking asshole!" Hopper yelled as a large group of uniformed militia surrounded them.
Hopper pulled out his pistol as he pointed it at Owens.
"I would put that down if I were you." Owens calmly suggested. Just then his face began melting and he became slightly taller and skinnier. Hopper looked in disgust as the face of the scientist before him was bubbling and turning. After a few seconds or so, the face of the man because clearer. Hopper couldn't believe what had just happened, and anger followed his whole demeanor.
"Brenner."
"I'm surprised you didn't find out sooner, Jim."
Hopper pulled the trigger as the bullet flew towards the evil man before them but it disappeared. It didn't ricochet, or even penetrate Brenner. It just disappeared. With the snap of his fingers, Brenner made both Hopper and Robin pass out.
"Get them out of here." he ordered.
'
'
[Byers'/ Hopper Residence | 6:03 pm]
Joyce had gotten home around forty minutes ago and prepared dinner, but nobody was home, well except Jonathan and Nancy, but they were upstairs in Jonathan's bedroom, hopefully not doing the thing.
She had gotten impatient, Hopper was supposed to be home at the same time she was, and if he was going to be late, he always called to inform her of it. But this time he didn't. She sat at the dining room table with a chicken and mashed potatoes, which were getting cold, all by herself.
Will and El were supposed to be home too, but no trace of them either. Quite frankly she couldn't handle not being in charge of where her family was, or at least knowing.
Just then the phone rang throughout the house, startling her as she jumped out of the chair and picked the phone off of the wall.
"Hello?" she answered.
There was a long pause in the line.
"Hello?" she repeated.
"JOYCE BYERS." the voice had one of those deepening voice distortions on it, attempting to hide the voice of the caller.
"Who is this?" she drilled. This was no ordinary call, and it already gave her chill bumps on her arms.
"WE HAVE JIM HOPPER. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY WITH US WHEN WE PHONE YOU, WE WILL SLIT HIS THROAT."
At first she thought it was a prank, but it was too personal to be a prank.
"First off, I have no proof that you have Jim…"
"Joyce? Joyce!" Hopper repeated on the other end.
"Jim?! Are you okay?!" she panicked.
"Don't trust them! It's Brn…" the voice was muffled.
"THE MEETING PLACE IS THE MALL WHERE YOU WORK, IN THE FOOD COURT AT THE TABLE NEXT TO THE GOLDEN ARCHES." the voice ordered. "BE THERE AT TEN AM SHARP WITH ELEVEN OR YOUR PRECIOUS BOYFRIEND DIES." the phone clicked followed by a dial tone.
Tears began forming out of her eyes as she slid down the wall next to the phone. She couldn't believe it, Jim was in captivity yet again, and she couldn't do anything about it. They wanted El, in exchange for Hopper, but how could that work in the middle of a crowded place? Even so, giving a child up to kidnappers as ransom wasn't the most moral thing to do.
"Mom?" Jonathan came down the stairs and noticed her on the floor. "Mom, what's going on?!"
"They called… they have Jim *sob* and they want me to *sob* give El up to them!" she was practically not understandable.
"Who has Jim?"
"I don't knoww." she sobbed.
Jonathan bent over and pulled her in an embrace as if to comfort her, but nothing could comfort her at all.
'
'
[Steve and Robin's Apartment | Same time]
The group had been planning on what to do for the last two hours, unsure of how to deal with the fact that they had another test subject on their hands, with a number. The odd thing about the number was that Mike didn't have one, and it was like he didn't exist between '011' and '012'.
Twelve, or as she likes to be called, Nicole, opened up to them after they took her get fed at the Panda Express in the Mall, El also had a change of clothes in her backpack that she gave her to wear as if to not draw more attention than necessary. She told them about 'bad men in lab coats' hunting her down and that they all needed to hang low. But that was the extent of what she had given them.
Quite frankly, trust wasn't one of Nicole's strongest traits at the moment. She had gone through three months of being a lab rat, and her parents dying. Being trapped in a small room with nothing but a bed for, and only to be taken out for testing did something to your brain, and it definitely wasn't good.
"Alright this is it." Dustin pointed at a building just off of downtown Indianapolis.
The building housed Steve and Robin, which was the best place to lay low for a bit. Luckily, nobody had attempted to interrupt or try to kidnap anyone, at least, not yet.
They arrived at the front door before opening it and walking through, only to come across the second door being locked. Lucas tried opening the door through force by shaking it.
Max walked over to the section of the wall as she searched for 'Harrington' on the list, which she spotted and then pressed the button.
"It's here dumbass."
"Hello?" Steve answered the com with definite irritability.
"Yeah, it's a code red." Dustin spoke.
"Seriously? I was just about to take a shower"
"It's a CODE. RED." Dustin repeated.
There was a loud sigh on the other end before the door buzzed allowing Lucas to open it.
'
"What do you want?" Steve flung the door open before noticed everyone was there, including another random girl. "Who's she?"
"She's a test subject." Max answered.
"Wait like El?"
"Yep."
Nicole held up her arm to show Steve the tattoo on her arm.
"H-holy shit." Steve muttered.
He had been living in peaceful tranquility for months now, without existential interruptions like Demogorgons or mind-flayers or Russians. But not he had something completely different on hand hands, especially not knowing whether or not this kid even had powers. And if she did, well then, holy fuck.
"That's what I said." Dustin walked in. Steve didn't even care as everyone followed suit.
Steve closed the door before turning around to face the group. He noticed Suzie included, and wondered why the hell she wasn't asking questions. As everyone started chatting about theories and possibilities, Steve flagged Dustin off to the side and proceeded to whisper.
"Does she know yet?"
Dustin's face dropped. "Yeah."
"How'd she take it?" Steve asked.
"Well, honestly, I don't know. She… hasn't said a word since."
Steve nodded and focused his attention to the group, he clapped his hands together and spoke.
"Well, one of you is gonna have to explain all of this shit to me right now, because I hate being in the dark, and because I'm officially your babysitter, you don't have a choice, so." Steve announced. "Hey 'Big-nose' get out of my chair." he pointed at Mike who had sat down in Steve's La-z-boy recliner.
'
"Hold on, so you're running from Owens?" Steve questioned.
"Yes." Nicole answered monotonily.
"I thought he was one of the good guys." Steve laid back in his recliner.
"So did everyone else, but apparently we were wrong." Lucas pointed out.
"Huh, so basically if they find you what will happen?"
"They'll put me in a dark cage for a week and then pull me out to proceed with tests."
"Huh." Steve nodded his head. "And what are your powers exactly?"
Nicole held the palm of her hand up around eye level as her whole hand literally caught on fire. It was on fire. The burning flame continued to hold its position as everyone watched in awe.
"Okay, okay. So basically you're a fire-bender or some shit." Steve stated as he wiped his forehead.
Dustin had been teaching Steve some about Dungeons & Dragons lore, so he could speak on the same level as the kids. Steve had refused to actually play it, because it was too nerdy, or something, but he still could keep up with the conversations that involved it.
Nicole nodded. "More like the Human-Torch, I like reading comic books, hate DnD."
"WHAT!" Everyone turned to look at her like she was mentally insane.
"What? I just think it's unrealistic." she continued.
"That's. The. Point." Lucas countered.
"How can you not like DnD?" Mike asked.
"Have you ever even played it?" Will also asked.
"Well….no.." she began.
"Exactly, you need to play a game!" Max encouraged.
"Guys, guys, enough. We need to figure out where to hide her, especially since the government is now after her, so we need to find a safe place because my apartment is not where I want armed soldiers to march in." Steve stated.
"To be honest, they probably march in anyways." Dustin lisped.
Steve nodded before turning away and bringing his hand up to his forehead. "Yep, I'm gonna die."
"No you won't we've got two powered people here." Suzie spoke at last.
"That's true too."
"I know a place where we can lay low for a bit, but he might not like it." El spoke.
"No, no, NO! We're not going to Murray's" Steve ordered.
"Why not it's the safest place to go on lockdown for a while, why wouldn't we?"
Steve stuttered for a few seconds before giving in.
"Fine, whatever.
Just then, an unrealistic amount of pain came over Mike, similar to which came about when he was gaining his powers. He fell onto the floor, seizing up and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Mike! Mike! Are you okay?" El rushed over and bent down to him.
The screaming didn't stop either, he kept rolling around on the floor as everyone tried to comfort him, but nothing helped.
Suddenly, Nicole began doing the same. She collapsed and begun screaming at the top of her lungs as well.
"Nicole!" Will bent down to her before anyone else.
"Okay, well this shit isn't normal." Steve stated.
El curled up next to Mike and began sobbing. The pain he was going through was unrealistic, and she now knew how he felt when she was going through her pain four months ago. She felt helpless and wanted to do something, anything, but her powers were gone, and there was nothing she could do. Mike eventually stopped screaming and passed out on the floor.
The hairs on the back of Will's neck stood up, as the worse possible thing to have happened, happened.
"Guys!" He caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"He's here."
'
'
'
{A/N} Well there you go! I told you it was gonna be a wild one! Did you not believe me? lol. Anyways, I am not going to promise when I'll update next, but I can tell you I WILL be updating for sure.
Please tell me what you think about Nicole, what different trait's I could implement and such, It would be really fun to build the character together for sure.
Anyways, love ya guys, and I'll see you soon!
- Reddinator100