Chapter Text
Will came back to himself slowly.
The sound came first, he heard a high humming sound, that made his head hurt and his eyes burn a little and one he knew far too well. It reminded him of the upside down, but he couldn't be in the upside down because the military was guarding the entrance to it...
Then motion came back, his body rocked very gently up and down, as if he was being carried by someone, only he knew he wasn't being carried because he felt he was half-sitting, half-laying down on something. The position he had woken up in had made his body ache with soreness and with every bump he felt made it even worse, and sent pain through his skull. It made him groan softly in pain, but apparently not that softly because all of a sudden he heard someone yell that he needed to shut up. The sound of someone's voice surprised him, so far he had thought he was alone, but then it clicked. As all of his senses started to kick in better, he realized he was in the back of a military Humvee, that was driving through the upside down.
The adrenaline that arose because of this discovery made him lift his hand, or at least try because he actually couldn't, they were tied behind his back. That same adrenaline turned into panic very quickly, his breath hitched as he desperately tried to get his arms free, the plastic restraints digging deeper into his skin with every attempt. The whole situation made him even more distressed, he was back in this place, something he never planned on being.
"Mom?"
The word just came out of him intuitively, he trusted her the most, if there was anyone on this whole planet whom he trusted, it would be her. Well, next to Mike though. At the thought of his best friend his heart stopped beating for a few seconds, what had happened to him? What had happened to his mom? And the kids? And-
That's when he remembered. They were all at the MAC-Z, trying to get the kids to safety, but then everything went from and demogorgons started showing up and then Vecna was there as well and... He had taken them all out, and saved his friends. He remembered his mom and Mike sitting by him as he was still a little slouchy after using his new-found abilities.
He had unconsciously closed his eyes, and when he opened them back up he heard someone say:
He's awake, what do I do with him? Can he see all this?
He tried to sit up more straight, but lingering dizziness crushed him back down and he saw starts appear in his vision, his head was throbbing. He wanted to say something, had questions, but he couldn't utter a word. The Humvee slowly came to a stop, and although Will couldn't really see anything outside of it, he sensed he was somewhere very dangerous. The opening and slamming doors caused a ringing in his ear, and the throbbing of his head to get worse, but he didn't have any time to recover. The door on his side of the vehicle opened and rough hands grabbed him, he didn't have any strength left in him to fight, to be honest he never had. When he was dragged out, his legs barely responded and he just let himself be taken.
The air immediately felt colder, and little dust particles floated in the air, he remembered those, even though had tried for years to cancel out everything from this desolate place. His feet almost didn't even touch the floor as he was hauled through the eerie corridors of what he had assumed was the military base they had been avoiding during all their crawls. The fluorescent lights blinding him and making his already throbbing head even worse.
Goosebumps started to appear on the back of his neck, something in here was connected to the hive mind, he could literally feel it, as he was part of it too. For a second he thought it could be vecna, but the military couldn't be holding him, because he had literally walked through the gate and back without anyone stopping him. No way that the military even stood a slight chance against him, he had taken out at least half their men.
Will was tired, and after walking for what felt like an eternity, they came to a stop. One of the soldiers grabbed a key card out of his pocket and slid it through the lock, they entered an entirely grey room, with all sorts of medical equipment he didn't know the purpose of, and a chair. They sat him down hard in the chair, the pressure of their firm grips finally releasing. He was relieved he could finally sit down, his body able to recover for a second, but then his arms, chest and legs were caught by straps, securing him to the chair.
His breathing started to grow uneven, he really didn't know where this was going. Yes, he apparently had powers, but he had used them to save people, it wasn't his fault half the military was stupid enough to even try and fight vecna. He hadn't done anything wrong, he didn't even know about these abilities until an hour ago. He wanted to go back to Hawkins, to his mom, to El, to Mike.
Please, I didn't do anything. I didn't mean to- I was just- I was trying to-
He whispered to the soldiers, who were doing a very good job of ignoring him and just standing there. It was as if they were waiting for someone, it wasn't until a few moments later that a blurry figure stepped into the room. He recognized the woman from somewhere, he felt like he had seen her in pictures before when they were gathering information for their crawls. It was Doctor Kay. As she walked into the room, she studied him with interest, her gaze not unkind, but not human either. He felt like some science project, like he was almost done, but something about him still needed to be solved.
You did very well out there William. We didn't expect anyone else like Eleven.
Will was trembling, his heart sank. He was at a loss for words, or maybe his vocal chords had just stopped working entirely because of the fear. He tugged at the restraints, knowing it was useless but still doing it anyway.
I didn't know what I was doing, I was just helping...
He said truthfully, even though that didn't matter to Kay at all.
We know that, it's what makes you so valuable to us. You see, we want to understand your powers, don't you? I mean, I assume you discovered them very recently, otherwise we would've known about them a very long time ago. Kids walking around with abilities like these don't just go by unnoticed, you're all quite sloppy with them. But you're different William, I want to help you understand this, so that you can help us.
His stomach turned, he couldn't believe she expected him to help them, he assumed she knew he was working with El, so why would he ever agree to help them? She made some kind of sign to the soldiers that dragged him in here, and they approached him with cold pads that they placed against his temples. He flinched at the touch, the humming in his head intensified.
No, please- stop - please - I want to go home... Where is my mom? Where's Mike?
His voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes, he tried to pull away as they placed them but he was helpless.
You'll see them again, but first you need to understand who you are.
The machine attached to the pads powered on and the high pitched noise he had been hearing this entire time grew louder and louder, as he screamed in agony.