0 0 1 ━ [ 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 ]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟾: 𝚂𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚠𝚊𝚑

Mr. Munson stared hard into Dr. Brenner's eyes before sighing and shaking his head. "Show me her then."

"She is not currently in our custody..." Dr. Brenner said quietly, preparing himself for Mr. Munson's response.

"What?" Mr. Munson fumed, his red face blocking Dr. Brenner's view as he threw himself towards him.

"We're working on it!" Dr. Brenner reassured him. "She had an episode three days ago. We intercepted and planted a doctor to examine her. When we scanned her brain we found strange anomalies. Supernatural anomalies."

"And how do you plan to take her if she has a family?"

"Our doctor informed her parents that she has cancer," Dr. Brenner answered. "This ensures that she will be taken in regularly to be examined by us. And in a few months time, we say that the cancer has progressed too far and fake her death. Then she's ours."

Mr. Munson quietly considered what Dr. Brenner had to say. After a few moments of contemplation he bit his lip and sternly said, "You've got a year. If that girl is not intercepting Soviet Commie information with whatever supernatural abilities she has in a year, you won't only lose your funding, you'll lose everything. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Eight years?" Mike exclaimed. "H-How is that possible?"

The party began to pester One with a barrage of rapid-fire questions.

"What did you eat?"

"Did you kill any demogorgons?"

"Can you show us your scars?"

"Wait, if she was in the Upside Down this whole time, why couldn't El sense her?" Will asked last, turning to his friends. "Like she sensed me?"

They all looked to Eleven, who replied with a shrug. It baffled her too. A lot of things about this baffled her.

"I wasn't here," One offered an explanation for her.

"Right, you were in the Upside Down..." Dustin reiterated, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but I wasn't here," One emphasized, trying to think of a way to make them understand. "You have to remember that that place...the Upside Down...is a mirror image of our world. Our whole world. Not just Hawkins." She was still unsure about calling it "the Upside Down". She had always just referred to it as Hell.

"So where exactly were you?" Max asked.

"Minnesota," One replied. "Well, Upside Down Minnesota."

"Atosennim..." Dustin whispered with wide eyes, pronouncing the word backwards. The rest of the group turned to look at him. "SNIKWAH!" Dustin shouted as he figured out another one.

"What do you remember," Eleven gently reached out to touch One's arm. One flinched at first, but allowed Eleven to flip her arm over to reveal her inner wrist. "about this?" Eleven finished her question as she traced the "001" etched into her skin.

One pulled down her sleeve to cover the tattoo and cradled her arm protectively against her chest. Eleven reached out again, determined to help her feel understood. This time she placed One's hand on her own tattoo and it was One's turn to trace the "011" on her wrist.

"Papa," One whispered, staring straight into Eleven's eyes. She could see something familiar in them: pain.

"Papa," Eleven nodded. One looked around again at Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Steve. She was once more uncomfortable and unsure about what she should share with them. "It's okay. They know," Eleven reassured her.

"My earliest memory is of the Lab," One recounted after a few moments of gathering some bravery. "I was young. I remember him, Papa, making me do things that I didn't understand, but things that I knew weren't good."

"What kind of things?" Will asked.

"I can...um." One struggled with what to say. "Well I--here."

One stood so that she could see the white wall better over everybody's heads. She searched for any inconsistencies in the paint, any nicks, scrapes, dents...Something she could focus on. When she finally found a long scratch she concentrated all her energy on it and pictured a place. She picked the front of the arcade, where she had first met them.

A whirling circle appeared on the wall and grew larger and larger with each breath. Through it, the arcade parking lot became visible. One shut it when the portal was about the size of an apple, weary of drawing attention from the other side. Everybody's mouths dropped in shock and Steve just about fainted.

"Was that a portal?" Max asked. One nodded.

"Cool." Dustin smiled after registering what he had just seen.

"Wait, why didn't your nose bleed? El's bleeds almost every time she uses her powers," Lucas pointed out.

"It bled at first..." One answered. "But I've done it too many times now." This answer drew some concerned looks.

"Keep telling us the story," Eleven redirected the conversation.

"He made me make those...portals...so that he could spy on people," One continued. "He even sent people through them."

"So that's how you got in and out of the Upside Down..." Lucas realized, putting two and two together.

One took a few moments to respond.

"...Yes," One confirmed hesitantly. She was unsure of how they would react. "But something is wrong with them, with me..."

"What do you mean?" Eleven asked.

"I...When I was in the Upside Down, I couldn't..." A small tear formed in the corner of her eyes as she recalled some gruesome memories. "I couldn't get out. Until I came here, to Upside Down Hawkins—"

"Snikwah," Dustin corrected her.

"To Snikwah..." One amended her statement, giving Dustin a weird glance. "My portals wouldn't work. It's like I was meant to come here."

Eleven nodded her head in agreement to One's last statement. She had felt the same way since she saw the "001" tattoo on her arm. They were meant to find each other.

"But what about before?" Steve finally piped up, making everyone snap their heads back to look at him. After One's display of her powers they kind of assumed that he was unconscious.

"Before?" One asked in confusion.

"Before the Upside Down, before Hawkins Lab," Steve clarified. "Do you remember your life before all that? Do you remember your family?"

"No," One shook her head with a blank gaze. "Nothing."

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