Standard Disclaimer: I do not Stranger Things, the show upon which this was based. Bite me.

Hawkins National Laboratory, Hawkins, Indiana

1983

'Is she asleep?'

'Sedated. It was necessary.'

'That won't last forever.'

'Hopefully it will not have to.'

'Brenner, what the hell happened?'

'What I told you would happen from the start. Your precious timetable that you so eagerly cooked up with your friends in the Oval Office pushed her too hard. She snapped. She no longer trusts me.'

'She killed two-'

'I am well aware of what she did.'

'You said you could control her!'

'I could. Until now. I told you it was too early to try a repeat of the SDT.'

'We needed the results – we needed the breakthrough you promised us. The President expects quantifiable results, and the tension is only increasing. He's becoming paranoid the Soviets are trying to emulate our experiments.'

'Let them try. They'll never make them succeed. Mr Heathcote. Attend, for a moment, if you will. In the 1960s, in the heat of competition with our friends in the USSR, President Kennedy set his heart on landing a man on the moon – on landing a man on the moon before the Soviets, and before the end of the 1960s.'

'Brenner, I-'

'And so the Apollo program pushed and pushed, seeking results, and do you know what happened? In 1967, a fire broke out in the Apollo One cabin during a ground test, and all three pilots were killed. NASA investigated, and decided that in the future, all due care and safety should be put at the forefront of the project, rather than a gung-ho attempt at trailblazing which would inevitably end in another disaster.'

'You're saying?'

'I'm saying that this is our Apollo One, Mr Heathcote. And you can tell that to your friends in high places who want to know why we aren't giving them the results I promised. Tell them that if they stop thinking that they can run my experiment better than I can, we may start to make progress again. Who knows, we may even get our own moon landing. Apollo… Eleven.'

'Are you so sure about the girl? She's powerful sure, I think her demonstration earlier proved that, but she seems unreliable. We don't want her to blow up in our faces – well, we don't want her to blow up in our faces again. We don't need another 006.'

'We don't need another 005 either. Her power is what makes her valuable to us. We cannot crush her utility just to make her not dangerous. Besides, she is fundamentally emotional, something I have not been able to sterilise in her. It motivates her and it also controls her. So long as we control her emotional reins, she is no threat to the project or anyone working on it.'

'Tell that to the families of those two security guards I have to write letters to tonight.'

'I have explained twice to you already, Mr Heathcote. So long as I controlled her emotionally, she was malleable. Now I have had to be harsh with her one time too many, force her one time too many, and I have lost her trust in me. She needs someone else to trust in – someone else to follow. Someone who can convince her of their good intentions but who will also be fundamentally working for us. Someone… untainted with the lab and its activities. Two years, Mr Heathcote, between 1967 and 1969. Two short years.'

'You're asking to hold the project for two years?'

'Don't be ridiculous. It is an analogy. My point is that I can get the project back on track. Quickly. I just need a complete free rein over the procedure and methods.'

'Back on track? How?'

'Recruit someone from outside – someone she will have never seen before. Someone like her. Someone she can relate to. Harness her emotionality, and channel it back into the project.'

'No promises, Brenner. You know I can't promise you anything. But… I'll see you get time. And control. And then you'd bloody well better deliver.'

'You need not concern yourself with that.'

'I still don't understand how this will help.'

'You are no longer required to understand. That is my problem. Now if you will excuse me, I'm sure you have two letters of condolence waiting to be written, and I have a flyer I need to draw up.'

Ω

Wanted: Child not above the age of twelve, with keen interest in science and ability to be discrete. Successful candidate must be empathic and will show initiative and ability to follow orders.

Apply for paid part-time work experience in national laboratory on cutting-edge scientific developments of a confidential nature. Hours non-negotiable. Apply by post to the Department of Energy, Hawkins National Laboratory, Hawkins, IN, addressed to Head of Personnel and Acquisitions. Expect interview and scientific/technical exam. Reference not required.

The four boys clustered excitedly around the small, muted poster that had appeared on the wall of the AV room over the weekend, the radios momentarily forgotten.

'Holy shit,' said Dustin in awe. Lucas was squinting closely at the poster.

''Cutting-edge scientific developments of a confidential nature,'' he read. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

Dustin pushed past him to read the message again. 'I don't know, it doesn't say.'

'No kidding, dummy,' replied Lucas sharply, shoving Dustin out of the way again. 'That's what 'confidential' means'.

'Something so secret they don't even put it on the flyer,' said Mike in a low voice. 'What do you think it is?'

Will frowned. 'What kind of top-secret stuff would the Department of Energy be working on? They're not exactly the CIA or Homeland Security.'

'I don't know,' said Dustin warily. 'You can do all kinds of things with energy.'

'A new type of power source,' theorised Lucas. 'Nuclear energy – or something else entirely.'

'Or it could be how they're using it,' suggested Mike. 'What they're powering.'

'Why would either of those need a kid working on them?' asked Will in some confusion.

'Only one way to find out, I guess,' replied Dustin, gazing past the flyer into the middle distance. 'Paid work experience for working on top-secret science. I am so shooting for this.'

Mike looked around. 'We all should. All four of us.'

'Not me,' said Lucas gloomily. 'I turned thirteen last week. 'Not above twelve', it says.'

'Lie,' said Dustin immediately. Lucas rounded on him.

'You think they don't check these things? It's the government, man. They'll have records.'

Dustin was undeterred. 'School records? 'Cause I bet we could change those if we tried-'

'Nah, like birth certificates and stuff.'

'Pretend to be my cousin.'

'Which part of 'birth certificates' do you not get? Unless you're saying I'm your cousin who got left by the storks?'

'You could not know who your parents are. Like Luke Skywalker-'

'If I didn't know who my parents were I'd have bigger things to worry about than a job at Hawkins Lab!'

Mike ignored the squabble breaking out behind him and turned to Will. 'What do you think?' he asked.

'I'd have to check with my mom,' said Will thoughtfully. 'She's a bit clingy – and this is a whole part-time job. It'd take a lot of time.'

'Yeah, but if you could… would you go for it?'

Wil grinned at Mike. 'You bet I would.'

'Alright,' said Mike louder, turning back to the other two and shoving Lucas and Dustin away from each other. 'Shut up, you two! We're all going to do it. Lucas, you can't apply, but you can help us try and get in, and if we do we'll split everything. Money, information, secrets… whatever we get out of this we'll split four ways, deal?'

Dustin raised a finger. 'How much money? Because if I get this and it's a lot, my new X-Men comics are coming before you lot. Sorry.' Will smacked Dustin on the arm. 'Ow!'

'I don't know how much money this'll be,' mused Lucas. 'I can get a two quarters an hour for mowing old man Barker's lawn during summer.'

'This is doing ground-breaking scientific research for the government,' said Mike emphatically. 'They're going to pay better than old man Barker.'

Dustin considered for a moment. 'Person doing the work gets a double share, how's that? That's fair, right?'

'I agree with Mike,' put in Will. 'It's like D&D. We split the loot evenly, no matter who does what. Lucas doesn't get extra XP for being the one who killed the Beholder last campaign. It's the same thing. We're a party.'

'We all killed the Beholder,' muttered Dustin, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. 'Alright, guys.'

'Great!' said Mike excitedly.

Lucas punched Dustin cheerfully on the shoulder. 'Only one of you're going to get the job anyhow, even if no one else does. You've just tripled your chances of making money from this.'

'Forget about the money,' said Mike in exasperation. 'This is so much more than that. 'Cutting-edge scientific developments of a confidential nature.' Just think what secrets are going to be stashed in that place.'

'It won't be easy to get in,' warned Will, looking over the flyer again. 'Interview, technical exam. You have to have initiative and obedience, whatever that means.'

Mike frowned. 'Empathic,' he read curiously. 'Why do you need to have empathy to work in a science lab?'

'Androids,' said Dustin suddenly, snapping his fingers in revelation. 'That's what it is. They're hardwiring robots-'

'And they need a kid to care about them?' finished Lucas sceptically. Dustin shrugged.

'Don't ask me how the government works.'

The bell rang suddenly, and all four of them started.

'Shit, we need to get to class,' said Dustin. They slung their bags over their shoulders and hurried to the door, where they paused.

'Dustin?' asked Will. Dustin was back by the wall, prying the flyer up and shoving it in his pocket.

'What?' he said, glancing up to see the other three staring at him. 'I'm showing initiative. The fewer people know about this, the better our chances are.'

'Oh, come on,' sighed Mike, and Dustin ran after them as they jogged to class, leaving the door to the empty AV room to slam shut behind them.

So I have plans for this fic but make absolutely no promises about how much or how often I will update. Because I never manage to keep them. Just a warning. For general reference, this is rated a T for canonically-consistent swearing, violence and cruelty to kittens. Still, should be fun, right?