tangled (mileven au)

i need you

He didn't say a word, but even if he had tried, she wouldn't have let him. She had things to say and he was going to hear them.

"You told me everything you did was to keep me safe, but what you make me do at the lab, what you do to me... That's not keeping me safe, it's only hurting me and other people and I won't put up with it any longer."

"Papa would never hurt you, Eleanor." He finally spoke again, the soft spoken lie only fueling her anger.

"Liar! You're not even my real father!"

"This is nonsense!" Brenner shook his head, clearly dismissing everything she was saying. "You know, something was telling me to come check on you, that something was wrong and I'm certainly glad I did. I believe you've gone mad, Eleanor."

"Believe what you want, but I know the truth about everything... and I'm leaving."

"And where will you go, huh? With that little boyfriend of yours? It may seem exciting now, but what are you going to do when he finds out you're just a freak?"

"He already knows about me and he doesn't care! He doesn't even want me to use my powers because he's afraid I'll get hurt by them! He cares about me!"

Brenner laughed once more, the sound of it really starting to bother her. There was nothing funny about any of this, nothing at all.

"Fine, go with this boy." He sighed, an unsettling grin spreading across his face. "But I'll find you. You know you can't escape me."

"Yes I can. And even if you do stop me now, I won't give up. I'll never stop trying to get away from you."

El meant every single word she'd spat at him. She wouldn't spend the rest of her life being controlled and used by him. She would fight as hard as she could to keep that from happening, even if it killed her.

"Guess I'll have to do something about that then." He muttered as he came closer, reaching out to grab ahold of her hair and dragging her right out of her room.

She winced at the pain that shot through her scalp, a pain that only subsided when he roughly shoved her down to the floor, causing her whole body to ache.

"You're not leaving me. There's still so much to be done... And when that boy gets here to try and take you away from me, I'm going to kill him just like I told you I would."

"No!" El screamed and for the first time in her entire life, she raised her hand and used her powers on him.

Not once had she ever wanted to do such a thing because he had always been her protector, the only one she could depend on. That was no longer true. He had hurt her and he had threatened Mike, which was more than enough reasons to fight back.

In an instant, she had him thrown back against the wall. He hit it hard, knocking everything around them to the floor. His body instantly slid straight down to join the fallen objects around them. A defeated groan escaped him, but she knew he could get back on his feet any second now.

While she had the chance, El rushed over to the phone, dialing the number she had memorized by heart. It rang, the dull tones filling her ear as she so desperately hoped he would answer.

•

It had been hours since Mike had last spoken to El on the phone and it wouldn't be long until he left to go get her. He'd ditched school today, not caring that he was already failing at his attempt to have better attendance. El was far more important than school, so that was the last thing that mattered to him right now.