-Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Stranger Things.

A/N: Okay so, I want to apologise in advance, there is A LOT going on in this chapter, it's choppy due to the fact that everyone is all spread out and there's a lot of unanswered questions. I hope it's okay!

Xx pixie dust

Chapter 11: "People aren't just numbers"

"911, what is your emergency?" A voice asked quickly but calmly-- too calmly.

She obviously had no idea what he had just seen- what had just happened. He stood shaking for a moment, his arm resting on the top of the payphone, hoping to reduce the amount of weight that his legs were struggling to support. As the memory flashed before his eyes once more and the immediate fear and shock begun to rattle off slightly, he began to see one thing clearly,

No one would have ever believed him.

No one.

What the hell was it, some sort of monster that lives under the bed?

No. it was evil.

What had it done to him? Poisoned him? It had put something into him, some sort of secretion, consuming his entire face. It's instrument? Some sort of complex snorkel, suctioning onto him until it had finished its exchange. It had been terrifying, the whole ordeal, from being pulled down the stairs, to crawling out the door to make his escape, not knowing if he would even make it back to his car before it came out and reeled him back in.

"What do you want!?" He shouted desperately, to find that there was no one there to answer.

-

"Hey! I said what do you want!?" He shouted again.

-

"I SAID WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He shouted one final time. He became silent after that, peering into the thick fog in front of him, red lightening flickered through the sky and as It did the mist began to clear the way in front of him, relieving tall and unknown figures in the distance.

An army,

An army of replicas, replicas of him.

What he hadn't known was that he wouldn't even need to ask them what they wanted, because they would show him. He would be forced to become a part of everyone's undoing, he was the key. –

Find the girl and deliver her to him, even if he didn't want to. He wished he had just stayed home that night, done anything but get into his car. He knew very early on, that the girl, would be used as a vessel, just as he was and once she had become fully taken over, 'the flayer' would be unstoppable, there would be no force within existence that would be able to stop his cause.

--

Billy was surprised how easily the wall crumbled; it only took a few sharp blows for most of the area to collapse on itself. He hadn't hesitated for even a moment, tunnel vision took over him in an instant, he needed her back and that's what he was going to do. He held the bat by its middle as he gallantly made his way in, the area now big enough that he only needed to slightly strain his neck to pass the threshold.

Once he was in, all his memories of his possession came spiralling back-- expect this time it was different, he was in control of himself, the flayer wasn't running the show this time.

His first instinct was to check his surroundings-- hoping to hell that she hadn't gotten far, but upon his inspection noticed that this wasn't going to be the case.

Pain in the ass.

She was searching for the sheriff, so wherever he would have gone; is where she would have gone?

What if something has already happened to her?

What if I'm too late?

Could have just not been a dick this morning and none of this never would have happened.

IDIOT, Focus.

Bringing himself back to his task, he began to walk further, the ash causing his breathing to Hagger slightly, but not to the point it had to Hopper. He was after all; only eighteen and aside from his horrible chain-smoking habit, he was a physically fit young man, he could handle the slight sting in his eyes and nose and well the cough, was something that he should probably grow accustom to anyway.

He was glad in a sense that he had gone on his date that evening, if he hadn't, he would have most likely still been wearing his swim shorts from work earlier that day. Because he had changed, he was now in a pair of jeans and his normal sturdy boots, providing protection from the unstable ground beneath him. He noticed that with each further step he took the vines under him snaked between and under his feet, but they didn't attack… as if they had known that the flayer had once been a part of him, that he had once been an accessory to all hisplans.

He continued to carefully watch his surroundings careful to ensure that the traitorous ground didn't suddenly turn on him, his steps crunching on the vines and leaves beneath him, his ears becoming accustom to only that sound, until his foot came in contact with something else— a "ding."

Metal?

He crouched down to the ground to inspect the foreign sound further, his heart sunk and fluttered all at once.

Bullet shells, no doubt from a Glock,

Hoppers gun.

The shells said two things; that Hopper had at some point been in danger, which required him to use force; the second being, that he was heading in the right direction.

Billy picked up the shells and carefully examined them, hoping they might give off more clues as to where he should head to next.

They felt warm to the touch, but then again everything that wasn't from the upside down felt warm in comparison to its frigidness. Billy sighed as he looked down at his hands, they were unreliable clues. As he slowly raised himself up from his squatting position, he noticed something unusual amongst the grey and gloomy setting, at first he thought it had just been the flashes of scarlet light in the sky but as he looked closer it was clearly light, normal light, like the light you would find in an office or a school. And then he thought, if he had seen it, then hopper would have seen it, which would mean that El would have seen it. With that thought in mind, he cautiously made his way over to inspect closer, when an unfamiliar voice came from behind him.

--

Something became indisputably clear to El in the moments leading up to her journey into the upside down.

--He had never been on her side.

It was like she was looking at him with fresh eyes, eyes that had once been blind; clouded over with a thick haze, a haze of lies and manipulation. He was the reason she couldn't stand to be told a lie and he was also now the reason that she could see one from a mile away.

"Eleven, you've found me, what's taken you so long to make your way back to papa?" He said to her with a smile and open arms.

"I see you've found this magnificent hole… It's small now, but it will grow with time… You see, it seemed to reform, from one of those superb creatures making its way through… and well now, it connects both our worlds." He added, still holding the grin on his face.

"Aren't you going to give your papa a hug Eleven? It's been so long." He said walking towards her, his arms still open to embrace her.

"No." she said, with a single tear streaming down her face.

"I'll tell you what, you come with me, you let me give you a tiny little injection and I will send my team in to remove your sheriff from that horrible place… do we have a deal?" He asked coolly.

"NO!" She shouted furiously, but her face was filled with apparent vulnerability.

"Haven't you wondered my dear Eleven, why your powers have been so inconsistent?" He asked menacingly.

"You were so busy with your little friend at the mall over the summer, that you didn't even notice one of my associates peg you-- did you?" He questioned already knowing her answer.

His presence alone made her stand frozen, feelings of fear, helplessness and anger consumed her. She couldn't help the silent tears that stream down her face, how after all this time, how was he was still able to hurt her? How could she possess the power to control everything with her mind but not be able to block out the feelings of helplessness that he was able to control her with?

She turned back around to observe her friends they all seemed to be staring back at her dumbfoundedly, they were looking to her for guidance, should they attack? Should they run? They were ready for whatever it was that they needed to do, they were there for her—they were un mistakably loyal.

Family.

Papa wasn't family, he was a toxic sucking parasite, unable to live without a host.

They were surrounded by what appeared to be some sort of secret military, accompanied by an array of different scientists, their purpose clear, no one was leaving until they had what they wanted.

"This is my fight." She said looking back to them,

"I want you all to go." She said turning back to Brenner.

-

"I don't need you; I'll get dad myself." She hissed, her eyes looked almost black--rage, fury and hate tore through them, his reaction to her was obvious, he was surprised—she had changed, but Eleven was still in there, he could see it.

"RUN!" She shouted, turning back to dismiss her friends, with a face of desperation.

"NO, EL! WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE YOU HERE!" Max's erupted from all the rest of the voices behind her.

"GO!" El shouted again, her body straining to push out enough power to hold back the numerous attackers.

Everything happened very fast after that, the sounds of broken necks and blood curdling screams filled her ears like nails on a chalkboard, she'd been forced to act upon instinct, to protect her friends and to protect herself, it made her heart heavy as she looked down at the bodies on the floor-- she'd had no choice. She was thankful the rest of the room seemed to cower from her and retreat.

She watched as her friends made their way out the fire exit door and a sigh of relief overcame her. It was only 'papa' and her now.

"Eleven, please, you wouldn't hurt your own papa, would you?" Brenner said pleadingly on his knees.

She exchanged no words with him, she only pierced through him with her still blackened eyes, striking him only once, to send him flailing into the concrete wall across from them.

-

And when he came to, she was gone.

--

"Hey" An exhausted voice said from behind Billy, prompting him to jump from the surprise.

"You must be Billy?" "Said, an unmistakable Hopper, appearing ready to fall over from where he stood.

"Hopper," Billy replied in a shocked whisper, he couldn't seem to accept the image before him, but as it sunk in, his heartbeat pounded in his ears and his vision became fuzzy.

Please for the Love of God—

No.

"I'm going to need you to take her, 'kid', I can't carry her anymore… We don't have much time— we've got to move; I'll explain once we're out." Hopper said urgently, as he placed a lifeless Eleven into his Billy's arms.

--

"Doctor, it would appear that you haven't been completely honest with your agenda, we now have two kids in a cell, unable to release them because of the probability that they will talk, one kid is 'MIA' and number 011 has somehow- with apparently no powers, killed four of our men and has decided that she would rather die than assist you.—"

Oh, Dr. Cohen, you are still very young and have a lot to learn about the world, sometimes great sacrifice needs to be made for rewards… perhaps number 011 entering that world of hell could work in our favour…" Dr Brenner stated, as he leaned back in his chair.

"—there is a much bigger picture here than you are seeing, my young friend. That 'thing' in there, won't kill her, until it gets what it wants from her. I would imagine it thinks that if it takes her over it will inherit her telekinesis and then be able to successfully take over our world again. But with the appropriate drug doses we will be able to control her, which in turn means that we control it—we just need to administer the correct dosage of drug PBA. I believe our trials have proven to be successful." Dr Brenner informed, appearing not be worried in the slightest as he continued to fumble his paperwork on his desk.

"So, in the meantime, while you're playing your little game… what are we supposed to do with TWOentry holes? Continue spraying them down with fire? Hoping that nothing else tries to come out? Another one of those hounds perhaps?" Dr Cohen exclaimed.

"Science is all about trial and error, a small error won't be the end of us, it wasn't before- it won't be this time." Brenner said as he looked up to the young doctor smiling.

"Those trials were different— we also don't know enough about this other world, to even be able to make a call like that… Despite years of studies done on her, we have also learnt tonight that we don't know enough about her- look at this catastrophe she has caused... She doesn't trust you anymore--."

"Be careful Cohen, I have dismissed my apprentices for far less. —If she didn't trust me, she would have killed me, and yet here I still stand." Brenner stated coldly.

"Well Doctor, perhaps you will find someone else to deal with your other problem. --It appears the kids have escaped from the cell…"

"And they had help."

--
Billy stared down at the lifeless brunette in arms, too distraught, just looking at her to ask what had happened--and too afraid to even check to see if she was still breathing.

"…Is she…" He started to ask.

"No Kid, not yet. — but the batteries are real low, lower than I've ever seen them." Hopper said worriedly.

"What happened?" He asked looking to Hop for answers.

"That thing, that tentacle thing, it came…. I tried shooting at it, but of course it did nothing, she used everything she had, completely ran herself on empty- stupid kid—" He said regretfully.

"It just kept coming, and then those things… those devil dogs, became out of nowhere. I thought we were going to die… But then some guy came, he did something…. I don't know, he said to just run, so I picked her up and just kept going." He explained as he ran his hand over his face tiredly.

"That thing was keeping me alive; I don't even know what's going on anymore." Hop added.

"How'd you know who I was?" Billy asked curiously.

"I know who everyone is." Hopper said casually, turning to see Billy rolling his eyes at him.

-

"Look, the door!" Billy said distracted as he pointed towards the light.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He added as they quickly approached the hole in the wall, it had grown over… That was odd, shouldn't it be growing larger? Unless of course there was someone on the other side attempting to contain it?

Billy prepared for yet another unexpectant entry, this time it should have been far safer, but his gut was telling him that something was off with this 'door.'

He threw El over his shoulder so that he would be able to grasp his bat with both hands, he grinded his hands against the coarse wooden staff, he fired into the mucus vines a couple of times until they fell away revealing a clear passage way, he then ducked his head down and made his entry, careful not to knock El's head along the boundaries.

FUCK.

How many are there? 3/4 no more like 5.

Armed?

Fuck.

"Oh, I see you have retrieved my property for me, how nice of you." Br Brenner said smiling to an overwhelmed Billy.

"Oh, and the sheriff, how lovely what a reunion." He added smirking even brighter.

"Given me number 011, and you both can just leave here unscathed."

"No, you sick fuck. What the hell is wrong with you… People aren't just numbers" Billy spat angrily, as he carefully deposited El onto the floor behind him, giving him the opportunity to ready himself for an apparent fight.

"Suit yourself then, it's probably easier to just eliminate the problem anyway." Brenner said, signalling his guys to move in.

-

"BILLY!" A voice said from behind Brenner's men, quickly followed by the sound of a grunt and body falling to the floor.

Steve, crazy bastard came back.

Quickly getting the idea, that he had come back to help them escape Billy quickly entered his all too familiar trance of anger and aggression, not holding back in the slightest, he started swinging, the sounds of broken bones like music to his ears.

Fuck them, they can all go to hell.

He can take her back here, over my dead body.

He soon dropped his bat and began a more primal form of violence, he pounded and pounded into the face of his enemy, until just like before, Steve pulled him off

"Jesus Christ, you need to go to an anger management class dude." Steve said almost sympathetically, before quickly remembering the more pressing matter.

"Come on, we've got to go, more will be coming!" Steve said anxiously as he attempted to pick up a still unconscious Eleven off the floor.

"Give her to me, you help the sheriff." Billy said ripping El from his arms.

"Shit! He's been shot." Steve said, as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding.

"It's in his shoulder, he'll be okay, just help him up. Let's go." Billy said motioning towards the door.

As they turned to leave, Billy couldn't help walking back over to a now cowering Brenner, curled up into the corner,

"I'm going to come back for you later-- sleep with one eye open you piece of shit." He growled, with a still passed out El in his arms, he swiftly adjusted her position then turned around to follow Steve out.

The four quickly made their way through the building, not stopping for even a second to look back behind them, they eventually approached the front entrance, Billy following behind a seemingly organised Steve.

"Are you fucking serious? You let Maxine take my car, are you nuts?" Billy said angrily as they made their way down the steps.

"Hey, we needed a getaway car AND driver." Steve reasoned, as he helped Hopper into the backseat.

"If it makes you feel any better, Dustin's drove mine, with the rest of those little trouble making shits." Steve murmured as he struggled to adjust Hopper into the seat.

"Alright Steve, original plan or new plan?" Max said as she skidded out down the long driveway.

"New plan, Let's get Hopper to a hospital then we'll drop El and Billy to the house." Steve explained, looking back to see Hopper now completely unconscious.

"Fuck Harrington, Look, at her-- she needs a doctor too, she's completely fucked." Billy said in a growl.

"She'll be fine." Batteries just need to be recharged… We've got somewhere for her to hide; the guys are already there getting everything ready." Steve reasoned.

"She's not a goddamn machine, there are no batteries." Billy hissed back, as he continued to gently shake her awake.

--
"I would like to know how… a bunch of teenagers managed to get past 6 armed guards?" Brenner questioned in a hiss.

"They were resourceful doctor—calculated."

"Do you know what else I would like to know?" Brenner questioned deviously.

"How 006, managed to assist the girl."

A/N: AHHH! My own character, I hope you guys don't mind the addition!