'I'm disappointed in you, Eleven'
Papa raised the night-stick, and delivered another blow to his back.
'You had so much potential; so much promise'
The police baton connected to his side this time, causing El to wince.
'But you should never have done that, Son. You now have knowledge that weakens you: makes you vulnerable to the enemy'
'But worse still-'
He turned, and traded the club for the nearest Guard's hand gun.
'-You've failed 'me'. I have always considered your predecessors my greatest failures; but i was wrong'
Loading a round into the chamber of the 9mm, Dr. Brenner aimed the gun at El's head, and slowly began to squeeze the trigger.
''You' are. You possessed the will, the endurance, and the raw, killing power that none of your pitiful brothers and sisters shared. But even you have failed me, subject 011'
Suddenly, the gun was no longer pointing at El's head, but at the Doctor's heart instead.
As fast as they could, the security team were all drawing their side-arms...
...but not fast enough.
The sickening crack of ten necks snapping at once filled the air, and the lifeless bodies fell to the floor in unison.
'Impressive. Perhaps i was wrong about you after all, Eleve-'
The floating gun rammed itself into his stomach, causing him to double over onto his knees.
'LIER!'
'What-' cough '-what exactly do you hope to accomplish, Son? Do you honestly think that you can ever be 'normal'? You and i both know who you are, Eleven. Don't deny it'
The gun was now pressed against his heart again.
'Yes' he said, a look of determination on his face. 'My name is Byers: William Byers'
The bullet ripped through the man's chest, and 'Papa', the demon who had owned El's every waking moment and had stolen his childhood crumpled to the floor, holding his chest, a look of agony and surprise on his normally emotionless face.
'Goodbye, Papa' said the dark reflection of Will Byers, and he began to walk away.
'Cough- n-not 'Byers''
He stopped.
'What?'
Brenner coughed again, spitting up blood...a vital fluid that he was losing fast.
'Why do you t-think-' cough '-made you c-call me Papa?'
A cold feeling began to well up inside of El, and he pointed a shaking finger at his old tormentor.
'Stop lying'
Brenner shook his head.
'Not-lying. Your last name-' cough '-isn't Byers'
'It's Brenner...Son'
El shook off the painful memory. He couldn't let himself be distracted by such things, not while he was preoccupied with something so vital, and especially not by memories he wanted to remain hidden from his better self: the bright reflection of all that he wasn't...
He had tainted Will's innocence enough.
But more than that, El was afraid:
Afraid of what Will would think of him if he knew the truth in its entirety, un-filtered by the false, heavily modified memories he had given him.
Afraid that his good-hearted Brother, a better person than he could ever be, even after the unforeseen cross-contamination of their psyches, would look on him as the monster he truly was.
No. He could never let him know what he had done; how he had deliberately opened the gate for the monsters to destroy the facility, and eat the cruel and abusive scientists alive.
He and Will would go to their graves at a ripe old age, and El would die happy, knowing that he had at least spared him the terrible truth: that he had caused the genocide of an entire world.