Prologue
One of the US government's best kept secrets are the Numbers. Eleven people with amazing abilities that you couldn't even begin to imagine. Children taken from their parents and experimented on since a young age, becoming stronger, and more controlled by the doctors in charge of them. After the Second World War, the government realized that the world would not survive a nuclear war so they opted for a different kind of weapon, enhanced soldiers that could topple a tank, withstand a direct hit from a missile, and defeat an army single-handedly.
The experiments failed again and again until finally they found the right formula that would allow them to accomplish what they worked so hard for. The test subjects, veterans of World War II that never quite fit in after they returned home, longing to find something that would give their lives a purpose, readily agreed to the experiments, believing they were doing their duty. They were wrong. The experiments ended terribly, most test subjects dead or wishing they were. The experiments were stopped, or so the higher officials believed.
A small group of scientists continued their work in secret for years, believing that they were close to achieving what they had waited so long for. Then, in the late 70's, they did it. They found the right formula to create the most powerful beings the world had ever seen in all of its history. This time, they used children, for the scientists found that their bodies were more adaptable to the experiments. They created five in all, powerful children each with a unique, sometimes volatile ability. The small group of scientists realized that they could not show what they had done until they were sure that they could control them and keep them from becoming a danger to everyone, not just their enemies.
But then the Cold War began, a war fought not with weapons, but with espionage and propaganda, and they realized that they needed a different kind of soldier. They created a new formula, one that focused more on the power of the brain than the power of the body. They needed soldiers that could infiltrate any organization, any mind and be able to extract information or turn a blind eye to any activities that the government or Soviets might not want them doing. They did it, they created six more enhanced children whose powers were easier to control and much more powerful than they had planned. Doctor Brenner, the lead scientist in charge of the new psychological experiments, brought forward a proposal to his employers involving the use of these six children. His bosses decided to send representatives to evaluate the powers of the children and see if they could be controlled. But then one of the children, Eleven, encountered something unknown and dangerous, and opened a gate that they should never have opened.
Due to the gate being opened, the town of Hawkins, Indiana was threatened by forces from another dimension, and a little boy went missing. It is now two years later, and now Eleven has to go to school.