SHORT CIRCUIT. [STEVE HARRINGTON]

CHAPTER EIGHT.

CHAPTER EIGHT.
IVES.

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HAWKINS LABS WAS powerless. At least, for the moment.

All electricity had been lost, leaving the building almost completely dark, with only the dull emergency lights glowing at the end of each hall. This wouldn't have been half as concerning if a.) there wasn't an eighth grade boy acting as a mole for a supernatural being, and b.) if Doctor Sam Owens knew what to do.

In all fairness, Owens did have an idea. It involved the breakers in the basement and the locks of the lab. Was he sure that it would work? He'd give it a seventy/thirty chance. So, at least there was that.

But the reality was that the labs hadn't lost power like this in a little over three years. Owens remembered the day. He remembered the moment that it had happened, but not what they did afterward. It was all a bit of a blur.

How Owens thought that this was an acceptable response was beyond Jim Hopper.

"What the hell do you mean you don't remember what happened after?" Hopper asked.

Owens shook his head. "You wouldn't understand," he said.

Hopper neared the older man, eyes narrowing in his direction. "I just watched a monster slide-tackle an armed military agent and dive into him like it was Thanksgiving Dinner," Hopper hissed. "Tell me what the fuck I wouldn't understand."

"That day!" Owens countered. He finally made direct eye contact with Hopper. "Listen, we've done some things I'm not exactly proud of. We've created weapons that—"

"Human weapons?" interrupted Mike Wheeler, standing up from his position beside Will Byers. Owens whipped his head toward him, eyes wide. "We know about those, asshole. It's not a secret."

"You know?" Owens asked. He looked to Hopper. "You know?"

Hopper nodded. "We all know, Owens. Well, I mean," He looked toward Bob Newby, "not all of us."

"Fine," Owens surrendered. The man released a heavy sigh, running a hand down his face. "That day, one of our... weapons escaped."

"What were their powers?" Hopper asked.

Owens looked hesitant. "Electricity manipulation," he answered. "Electric blasts, forcefields, absorption, generation, hell, we even tested out electrical healing."

Hopper's blood ran cold. The girl in the middle of the road. The shock. The static. She kept reappearing. Of course she was a lab experiment. He knew that this was karma's way of biting him in the ass for ignoring the matter.