Chapter Text
Jane Hopper.. or really just El, awakens in the backseat of a car after a restless nap. Not sure of her whereabouts, she looks around until Sam Owens catches her eye then it all comes back to her. She remembered agreeing to come with Owens to a secret lab in what appears to be in the middle of the desert so she can save her friends back in Hawkins. El wasn’t sure what this new threat was. At all. That’s what makes it even more terrifying. She and her friends shut the gate multiple times... how many more times is this evil from the Upside Down going to come back up?
“Hey Kiddo, get some rest?” Owens asks as he turns his body to face El.
She nods even though she really didn’t after everything that has happened in the past 24 hours. Hitting Angela, the unbearable fight with Mike, and getting arrested. How can she rest after all that? She doesn’t know anybody who would.
Owens nods. “Good. Feel like you’re gonna need it. Long drive huh?”
“Yeah... are we.. almost there?”
“Yep. Coming up to it any second now.” As soon as he said this, the car comes to a halt. Owens exits and El hesitantly follows him out. The driver turns and leaves as El follows Owens to a big door. All of a sudden, El got a weird feeling in her stomach. She watches Owens unlock the door with his key password and then they enter.
“Watch your step. If you trip and break something I will definitely be blaming myself.” Owens chuckles as they walk down cement stairs. “Here we go” he says as they enter the elevator and head down.
“This place.. was always underground?” El asks as she tried to distract herself by the elevators surroundings.
“Well it used to be a nuclear launch site.. do you know what that is?”
El shakes her head.
“It was a holding place for a bomb which was commonly used during war and so on. Missile silo if you want the short term but there’s no bomb here anymore. It was pretty much empty when we rebuild it as something more.”
“More?”
“A place where we can help get your powers back. A place filled with people that believes in you and what you can be capable of. It’s strong enough to hold you too. Like I said, you’re our only hope to defeat whatever keeps coming back from that other side.”
El doesn’t know if that should be reassuring or make her even more nauseous. Elevator comes to a stop and opens back up very annoyingly loud. Her and Owens step out and right away El notices all eyes on her from these people. Doctors so it seems.
“Sorry for the stares.. you’re kind of a celebrity down here.”
“I am”
“Oh yeah. I mean you’re bigger than Madonna to them. Your dad told me all the amazing things you did when you had your powers. Like I remember when you saved me and all of us a year ago back at the lab. These people gave up their lives to see those in action again and help.”
Hopper. El’s broken heart cracked a bit more. Was that normal she thought? Or was she getting sentimental again for no reason? Getting sentimental is what led to her hitting Angela over the head at the roller rink. God she didn’t imagine she would ever regret doing that.
“Do you think he would be proud of me for doing this?” she asks Owens quietly, suddenly regretting it.
Owens stops walking with her and stares. Unsure of what to say. “You know what Kiddo, I think he would be. Very proud. And you should be proud of yourself too.” She smiles in return to that reassuring response and they continue to walk down the corridor. It’s a very dark atmosphere, El thought to herself. Very different from the bright light hallways back at the lab she spent her childhood in.
They reach a room containing a huge tank with “NINA” on it. “There it is”
El looks at it bewildered. “What is it?”
“It would ruin the surprise if we told you.”
El recognized that voice right away. Fear struck through her like lightening if that’s even possible. It was coming behind her too. She side eyed Owens but he was turned away like he knew he was in deep shit. She turned around slowly and came face to face with the man she escaped away from 3 years ago. Papa.
“Look at you.” Brenner says with a contented look on his face. Owens clears his throat. “I was just about to-“ Brenner cuts him off. “I don’t think it would be wise to tell her how the program is going to work so early on Sam.” He faces El again and starts walking closer to her.
“Stay away.” all of El’s memories rush back to her like a snow storm. Dark. Cold. All of her memories from the lab. Going into that tank, being forced to kill small animals, being punished if she was disobedient. Every. Single. Thing.
“Martin I don’t think it’s wise for you to be doing what you’re doing.” Owens nervously says as he looks between El and Brenner.
Brenner unsurprisingly ignores him and continues to walk towards El and soon as he’s in front of her, he pulls her into a hug.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve last been together, Eleven. I’ve missed you very much and I’m here to help.”
El doesn’t even know what’s happening and hyperventilating sounds very good to her right now. She tries to push away from him but his hold just gets tighter on her and tighter. Another figure comes into her view and she then feels a sharp pain in her neck. What the hell? Everything becomes blurry and echoey as Brenner lays her down on the floor while she droops.
“Let me go...” El can barely get out while the energy was leaving her body. She noticed the person who stabbed her holding the tranquilizer gun in their hands. If El had her powers, she would wack that bitch against the stairs leaving her with a concussion like Angela. Papa strokes the top of her head reassuring her everything would be alright. Cradling her like she said a baby when she was far from it.
“I’m going to help you feel better Eleven. You’re not alone anymore.”
She was never alone... she had a real family back home waiting for her... she wants to go home. She can’t even think anymore or move from being paralyzed. She falls into a deep sleep as she hears Owens arguing with Papa.
“This is the wrong way Martin. Not the way to handle things.”
“She’s my daughter and you left it up to me how we would handle things if it didn’t go well.” Brenner waves over the doctor with the tranquilizer gun. “She needs her hair cut. Preferably shaved to the scalp. Changed into the suit and once that is all done I would like brain scans to be done. Several.”
Daughter? El heard that vividly and she wish she didn’t. Papa never called her that... or she doesn’t really remember exactly.
“Yes, doctor.” A couple of soldiers come over to El and pick her up with one soldier on each end of her body and they carry her down the silo corridor into a room.
Owens wasn’t expecting Brenner to take action so rashly instead of just talking to El instead drugging her. “You should’ve taken it slowly and not have bombarded her like that.”
“You don’t know her as well as I do. She would not have complied either way. So I suggest for your peace of mind to just leave her in my hands and you go along with the training accordingly like we planned.”
Owens felt stuck. Extremely stuck. He did leave it up to Brenner regarding how it’s going to go down but he didn’t expect him to throw Owens aside completely and not consult with him on anything. This was not the plan nor was shaving Eleven’s head. He followed Brenner down the corridor where they took her. She was placed on a medical exam table in the next room and Owens watched Brenner go in so he followed.
“Don’t you think we should give her some privacy and let her be alone with the nurse? She’ll be right out in a few minutes anyways.”
“I asked for brain scans and that is what we are doing. It’s an essential requirement before we start, don't you think?”
“I understand that but-“
“No buts. Denise please make sure her hair is fully shaved to the scalp. Better to have a clean cut so there’s no fuss moving forward.”
The doctor with the short brown hair takes a pair of shears and starts chopping off chunks of El’s hair. Owens felt sick to his stomach. He NEVER told her this was going to happen and he never intended for this to happen. The poor girl is going to have a meltdown when she wakes up.
“This is very much thick hair, Dr. Brenner. This is going to take awhile.”
Brenner nodded in satisfaction. That sick bastard Owens thought to himself. “That’s fine. We’re in no rush. You know, she always had thick hair ever since she was little. I thought it would thin out by now but it appears not.”
Brenner sits himself next to the medical table and starts setting up the MRI machine behind it. Owens is debating whether or not to stay and watch this violation so as soon as he turns towards the door to leave he hears mumbling coming from El.
“M-mike” El says as the doctor turns the clippers on. Brenner shushes her while touching her cheek.
“Mike? Who’s Mike?”
Owens responds quickly. “I uh- that’s her.. boyfriend I believe back home.”
“Doesn’t matter. He is irrelevant.” Brenner firmly says.
If this is how it’s going to go on from now, Owens fears this might’ve been a mistake. Brenner is going to just dismiss her family and friends just like that and that’s not going to give El any support whatsoever. Best thing to do now is just work as quickly as possible with this man in helping El get her powers back and then let her take off and go back to Hawkins. He hopes it will be that easy but his gut feeling is telling him it won’t be.