Chapter Text
'As irritating as the setback may have been, it was only one lab which had to be shut down. Now we can say we shut our operation down, show doubters the evidence and then continue work here.' The voice chilled her to the bone, sending shivers down her spine. She thought she would never hear that voice again. So soothing but so terrible. She remembered the things that voice had asked her to do. Then she heard another.
'What about the experimental setbacks?' She didn't recognise this voice.
'It is irritating that the experiments escaped, so few even survived let alone exhibited anything of interest. More can be created but there is one I want reclaimed. The potential is immense. I want subject eleven reclaimed, it is the pinnacle of our work thus far.'
She could barely stand to listen to the voice but she couldn't stop. She was trapped, stuck listening to that smooth, dangerous, voice demand her return. Call her an object, just something to be tested, improved, or discarded as he saw fit.
She felt a new presence, heard a sound, barely perceptible in the silence left after that monster had stopped talking. She felt herself being dragged away from him, away from the darkness. As she opened her eyes she saw Mike, worried face being blurred by the tears streaming from her eyes.
'El, are you alright. It was just a dream, none of it was real. It's going to be alright.
'I heard him.' She choked out through her loud sobs.
'Heard who?' Came back Mike's anxious voice.
'Papa.'
There was absolute silence for a few seconds before Mike began to protest, 'It was just a dream El. Brenner's gone, the Demogorgon got him.'
The slight waver of his voice didn't reassure her. 'We don't know that, what if he escaped. He said he wanted.' She had to stop speaking for a moment to compose herself. 'He said he wanted me back. He was talking to someone else about the lab, saying that there were others. Talking about starting the experiments again.'
'El, the lab was shut down a year ago. Brenner has been gone for two years. It's just a dream, a really messed up dream.' He didn't sound sure of himself as he said this.
'What if he's not Mike. What if you're wrong. If he comes after me he might come after you too. He might come after the others as well. I need to know for certain.' She was scared to suggest it. She had banished the thought whenever it appeared, far to scared of what she might find.
'What are you suggesting El?'
'Looking for papa.' She said with a slight waver of her voice.
'If it'll calm you down then ok, do you need anything?' He asked apprehensively. He definitely thought this was a bad idea.
'I'll need a sensory deprivation thing. Do you still have that paddling pool we used last time?'
'No, I think the lab guys took it from the school when they raided it.' Mike said with a look of intense concentration on his face.
El looked over to the small digital clock on her bedside table, it had just gone seven. Maybe they'd be able to get hop to help. It was a weekend so they could probably go to the school and use the de-icing salt again.
She was about to suggest this when she heard hop's heavy footsteps outside her door and then it hit her. Mike was supposed to be sleeping on the couch. He had ended up lying in her bed comforting her. She barely had time to brace herself as she heard hop throw her door open and release a loud, angry proclamation of 'Wheeler, my one rule was you sleep on the couch so what the hell are you doing in my daughter's bed!' He looked ready to kill.
Mike on the other hand looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Completely terrified and unable to speak. His mouth moved but no sound came out.
Hopper noticed El's red puffy eyes and immediately forgot about Mike. 'What's wrong? What happened El?' He said in a worried tone as he hurried over to her and pulled her into a tight hug completely ignoring Mike who was still looking terrified and seemed to be trying to disappear before hop's attention turned back to him.
Choking up once again she said 'I saw papa.'
He had the same reaction as Mike but she knew it wasn't a dream. She needed to know for certain so she took a deep breath and asked.
The moment she asked about the kiddie pool hop knew exactly what she wanted to do. 'Ok, if this'll help you with putting that psycho behind you I'm in. I'll get the pool at eight then we'll go to the school at nine, there shouldn't be anyone there at the weekend.'
She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, 'Thank you.' She said.
As hop was about to leave her room he turned back and said 'Wheeler, out. Don't think I've forgotten about you.'
Mike gingerly climbed out of bed and slowly walked towards hop and out of he door. She listened intently, trying to hear what hop was saying. She climbed out of bed and moved closer to the slightly open door.
'I'm not going to kill you this time Wheeler. You did the right thing going to comfort her but I'd better not find you like that for any other reason, you hear me?'
El barely heard Mike's terrified and quiet 'Yessir.'
It was a few hours later when El was standing next to a mostly full pool of water, gently placing an egg into it and hoping it float. She had lost count of the sheer volume of salt they had poured into the pool.
She was far more excited by the sight of an egg floating in water than she should have been. It was all ready, the goggles had been made, the radio sat ready. All that was left was El. She slowly took of her socks and shoes and lay In the pool, the strange feeling of weightlessness enveloped her as she put the goggles on and heard the crackle of static fill the air.
She stepped out into the inky expanse of the void, water splashing as she stepped forward. She thought hard and turned. Her chest tightened. Her head felt light.
She was right.
Outside of the void sitting by the pool both Mike and Hopper's faces became ashen as they heard the tinny sound coming from the radio.
'Surveillance on the area will begin again on Monday, we are assuming experiment eleven hasn't moved far. We should be able to pick up information about her before long. I assure you gentlemen, that I shall have as much if not greater success in the new facility.'
Hopper's face paled at the silky smooth voice oozing from the radio. Mike's face took on a look of horror, he had been wrong.
El sat up tearing the goggles from her face, tears streaming from her bloodshot eyes. She had suspected he was alive but this... this made it real, no longer just a hunch, an unwelcome thought but concrete evidence. She had seen him, his severe face more lined than she had ever seen it but the smooth, hateful, voice was unchanged.
What was she going to do? how would she deal with this? She had no idea. The deadline of Monday was terrifyingly close, almost surreal in its immediacy. She clambered out of the pool and fell into the warm embrace of hop. His checked shirt slowly soaking through as he held her wet frame to himself.