𝙴𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗 ~ 𝙴𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚡

《𝟸𝟷》

August 26, 1985
8:15 AM

Hawkins National Laboratory

On the other side of the town, the gate to the one and only Hawkins lab opened, letting a black car with one-way windows in the back drive into the highly guarded property. When the car drove all the way to the parking lot, a man in a army uniform stepped closer to it, stopping it. He then knocked on the window with the weapon he was holding, making the driver roll it down.

~ "Identification." The guy blankly said, watching the man inside the car reach for his wallet with a sigh and pulled out a card. He was getting annoyed at the stupidity of these guards. And as the driver predicted, the second the guard saw his ID, his eyes widened and an apologetic expression filled his face.

~ "Oh, Dr. Brenner. I apologise for-" The guy got cut off.

~ "I'm in a hurry." The man with white hair said blankly, rolling his window back up and parking the car in the parking lot a few metres further. He just drove for four hours straight, and was exhausted. There was no time for sleep now though. He's finally got his team back in Hawkins again. Under the highest secrecy of course. He couldn't afford to make or repeat any more mistakes. For the people in the town, the lab was still shut down. It's best to make them think that. Brenner then stepped out of the car, going to the back door and opening it. And there he was. A sleeping, four years old boy with a number 012 tattooed on his wrist. His most promising subject of all that he had left. The man had some experience with pyrokinetic abilities before, which allowed him to avoid any possible complications in the program. 012 was for sure special and compared to others, quite cooperative. He was a huge jump forward in Brenner's research of human mind. The little boy was now awoken by the sound of the car door opening and blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the light before looking up at the man who started undoing his seat-belt.

~ "This is a very special day, Twelve." Brenner said to the boy once he got up from his seat and carefully stepped out of the car, looking at him with his usual grey, confused eyes after. He wasn't very expressive as far as talking goes, so Brenner just ushered him towards the entrance of the lab. When they entered, a team of doctors in lab coats were already waiting by the reception to welcome Brenner right at his arrival, eager to be at his good side. None wanted to enemy the man.

~ "Dr. Brenner. We were expecting you." One of the men stated the obvious.

~ "Dr. Owens. It's good to have you back." Brenner stepped closer to the man when he held out his arm, accepting and shaking it after. He then noticed that Twelve was no longer at his side, instead standing on his tip toes by the reception table and trying to reach a small plush and old-looking lion that one of the receptionists decorated the room with. It was a bit strange since the lab was only ever entered by it's scientists. Twelve finally managed to make the lion drop from the table, taking it in his arms while Brenner walked up to him, putting his hand on the boys shoulder to get his attention.

~ "We need to go." He told the boy, making him press the stuffed toy to his chest. Brenner didn't say anything, practically owning the whole place. The toy belonged to one of his former subjects anyway. He led the boy through the white, lightened corridors while the scientists walked behind him.

~ "Is everything ready to restart?" Brenner asked Dr. Owens, wanting to make sure. The other man walked faster to even their pace and nodded.

~ "Everything is already running, sir. The program is ready to start." Dr. Owens assured him.

~ "What about the man?"

~ "We're working on it, sir." The other doctor answered when they stopped by a door with a rainbow sticker on the door-frame.

~ "How long until it's done?" Brenner asked again, making the other obviously nervous.

~ "I-I can't really tell. It might take a while." Owens stuttered.

~ "I was expecting her here by the end of the month. Every day might be crucial." The man in a black tuxedo said, knowing he had to be patient but hating to wait.

~ "I...yes, sir." The other nodded, watching Brenner open the door to the rainbow room for 012.

~ "I'm counting on you, Dr. Owens. Don't let me down." Brenner ended the conversation with a blank voice, closing the door behind him.

- - - - - - - - -------- - - - - - - - -

The three girls made it to the gym on time. Few students were looking in El's direction since she was new. She looked back at all of them. She's never seen any of them before. Well...except for one. She recognized the boy that peed his pants because of her two years ago and glared at him, stopping in her tracks. He made Mike jump off a cliff. He was a bully. And yet, he was just standing there and looking at her like he had no regrets. It was a long time since, but it was still making the brunette's stomach twist in disgust. If she wasn't there that day, Mike would be gone forever. Max noticed the change of expression in El's face and was about to ask what's wrong, but didn't have the time to. A tall, dark-skinned man walked into the gym, making all the students stop chatting and turn their heads to him. Max pulled El's hand once again and made her step closer to the others.

~ "Alright guys, let's line up!" The teacher clapped with hands above his head while some of the students started whispering. El managed to catch a few words and it seemed like the others were mocking the man behind his back. She didn't understand why though. He seemed nice. When Everyone was standing in a line, the man stood in front of them.

~ "So...freshmen now. How does it feel finally being in High school, huh?" He asked enthusiastically, earning a few "goods" and "hmms". The students were obviously very excited to learn something new.

~ "Yeah, I see. My name is Mr. Lee. I'm gonna be your PE teacher for this school year, which I suppose some clever individuals are already aware of." The man joked, making Max roll her eyes a little but actually, he thought he's kinda cool. He looked like one of these highly productive and active athletes, so she guessed that the PE isn't gonna be as easy as it used to be before. She didn't mind though. She liked most of the sports except for...

~ "So, I was thinking we might run the holiday laziness out of our legs today, what do you say?" Mr. Lee said, the tone of his voice telling everyone that the sentence wasn't really meant to be a question, but a statement. The students tried to protest by sighing and crossing their arms in disagreeance, but there was no use to it. And while Max was cursing the entire universe for making her suffer like this, El didn't understand what everyone was so annoyed about.

~ "What's wrong?" The brunette asked, tapping the redhead's shoulder. Max turned her head to her with a painful expression.

~ "We're running laps. You never want to run laps." The other explained.

~ "Why not?" El asked, getting nervous about the whole thing.

~ "It's like...the biggest ordeal you can get into in PE." Max whispered back as Mr. Lee silenced everyone by another clapping

~ "But before that, I'd like to know your names. Write them on these stickers and stick them to your shirt please." The teacher gave everyone white rectangle-shaped stickers to write their name on while waiting for the black marker to arrive to them. El had the sticker in her hand, looking around the gym when she felt someone tap her shoulder from behind. She turned around and saw a tall, dark brown-haired boy...Troy. El stepped a bit back, a frown beginning to appear on her face when she noticed he was holding the marker towards her. She took it from him without a word, walking closer to Max and leaving him confused on the spot. She then wrote Jane/El on the sticker, sticking it to her chest like the teacher instructed before, hardly supressing her smile when some of the boys wrote Wonder Woman on their sticker and stuck it to their butt, which the teacher didn't appreciate and made each of them do 5 push-ups before they headed outside and towards the track.