"I don't trust that kid." Billy huffs one day after school, pacing the length of his room. He had brought Elizabeth home while Max was helping El with a project, hoping to vent to the only person who'd allow it. She rolls her eyes, sitting back against the wall while she rested on top of his dresser.
"It's okay to be protective over her, Billy. You're her older brother, but you have to understand heartbreak is normal. She is going to date and get hurt but you have to let it happen." She tries to explain, stiffening when he turns quickly to glare at her.
"No, I don't. Just because no one was there for you doesn't mean I have to let some shithead use her." He snaps, humming to himself in regret. She laughs, choosing to ignore the outburst for the time being, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, so this has nothing to do with Lucas. You don't want her to be taken from you unless you throw her away." She challenges him, tilting her head arrogantly. "You don't want her to be like your mother and leave you once you accept responsibility for her like a good older brother." He stalks toward her, shifting in between her legs to trap her.
"Don't talk about my mother." He warns her, picking up a cigarette from the pack that sat near her. She nods, taking his lighter to light the cigarette for him.
"I'm not trying to hurt you, Billy, but this isn't okay. You can't chase every guy off because you don't want something that may not even happen to occur." She lifts her free hand to trace his sinuses with her fingers gently, trying to calm him down. He nods, taking a long drag before slowly letting it billow out from between his lips.
"You also can't be one of the guys you want to protect her from while simultaneously demanding better for her." She hums, lifting his chin slightly. He tilts his head to study her, admiring the way her smile seemed to sparkle even after he had lashed out at her. He exhales regretfully, nodding as she leans back once more.
"I'll make you a deal, okay? If she ever comes to us about some shitty thing that's been done to her, I'll help you hide the body." She teases, smiling at the devilish glint in his eye at the thought of hurting someone. It should've been scarier than it was, but she found herself biting the inside of her cheek at the way his features darkened in a sick approval of the idea.
Over the next few days, Billy and Elizabeth tried to keep the banter between them playful while she helped him work through his everlasting current of emotions. She had become his cheerleader in a sense, coming to support him as well as her boyfriend at any basketball game she could. She was so proud of even the smallest moments of progress he had been making by using his performance to work off the steam built up by his father. She didn't even mind being used as a joke for him to watch Ryan squirm when asked about the cut his father so lovingly busted into his bottom lip.
"Does Lizzie not bite your lip when she wants you to go harder?" He torments the boy, smiling wide at the rosy hue that consumed her features. She had patted Ryan's chest and kissed his jaw, telling him it was just a joke of course, but Billy secretly wanted to test the theory. Even more so after Ryan decided to prove she was his by brushing his hand up the side of her neck to grip her jaw. The control he commanded over her forced a shiver from her, making Billy jealous as she whined for him to release her, gripping his sweaty shirt. It wasn't until he finally did release her that she realized how blown Billy's pupils were. She bites her lip, bowing her head as Ryan cuts between them to make his way toward the locker rooms, but before either could scramble to recover from the tension built between them, Billy's latest date cuts between them. This, thankfully, gave her the out she needed to find Max and the kids.
"Are you coming over tonight?" She asks the kids, sitting next to El at the picnic table in the lot. "El mentioned something about a movie night?"
"Yea, I think we are going to do that tomorrow. Dustin just got a new dog and apparently, he got out so we have to go find it." Mike explains, nudging Max. She looks up at her between Mike and Lucas and nods, forcing a smile.
"Yea, but I should be home later if you wanna come over and help me with my English paper." She smiles wider, hopefully. Elizabeth laughs and nods.
"Of course. If anything, I just might need my Walkman back for my own project. If I miss you, do you think your mom will let me grab it?"
"Yea, of course. She loves you. I'll try to keep track of the time so I don't miss you though." Max laughs, shifting her skateboard in her lap.
After spending most of the night on the phone with friends discussing the upcoming project and making plans for it, Elizabeth finally gets off the phone to get to work.
"Hop, have you heard anything from El about when the kids will be back?" She calls from her room in the cabin.
"No, but I'm assuming she's just with Max." He shrugs from his recliner in the living room.
"That's what I'm afraid of. Neil Hargrove is an asshole." She sighs, more so to herself as she pulls on her denim jacket before leaving for her house.
"Oh, hello Lizzie. You haven't seen Maxine have you?" Susan forces a smile as she opens their front door.
"No ma'am, she said she was going to be out with friends but I was actually coming over to see her. I think she may still have my Walkman and I need it for a project." She smiles, trying her best to gauge the uneasiness that radiated off of her mother. Had Max not gone home after school? Did she not tell her parents where she'd be? Susan nods slightly but doesn't offer to let her inside as she normally would. Instead, concern washes over her soft features as shadows dance across the hallway walls followed by the booming voice of her husband. Both women flinch at the sound echoing throughout the house alongside the sound of crashing objects.
"Oh Lizzie, please don't." Susan pleads with her softly as she brushes past her into the house, the fear in her tone only spurring her on down the hall after the source of the shadows. At the end of the hall, Neil kept Billy pinned to his shelves by his leather jacket, degrading him about his role as an older brother. Without much thought, she gets between them. With her palm brushing the cotton of Neil's sweater over his chest, she can feel it heave under the struggle to adjust to her unknowing gaze. He couldn't really think I was oblivious to his abuse, she couldn't help but wonder if he was that stupid.
"How sweet. Yet another stupid whore having fallen for my son." Neil snarls, his voice low as he grabs her throat to pull her into him as he steps back from his son. "I put my son in your path. I made him entertain you to appease Maxine's fascination with you and this is the thanks I get?" Billy blinks away the tears, his resolve hardening once more as she struggles against his hold forcing her onto her toes.
"Your family deserves better." She hisses, gripping his wrist. He chuckles darkly, pinning her to the wall opposite Billy.
"Is that right?" He smirks, leaning in to taunt her just as Billy pulls himself together enough to step up to his father.
"Let her go." He tries to put as much commanding energy into his tone as possible, but Neil saw through it. He turns to face his son with a dangerous gleam in his hazel eyes, begging him to take a swing.
"Or what, boy?" He steps closer, daring him once more. Elizabeth had had enough, watching Billy step back as he became the scared child his mother left behind in his father's eyes once more. She tightens her grip on his wrist, pushing her power into him slowly until he groans in pain. Billy watches as he drops to his knees before finally releasing her. She takes Billy's hand and pulls him behind her, motioning for him to get out of the room as she leans over his father.
"Sleep." She whispers, letting him fall limp to the floor in a heap.
Billy throws the paper ball he held tightly in his hand and curses under his breath, flinching when Elizabeth turns to brush the tears from his cheeks. He sniffles to regain his macho facade and goes to push past her when she grabs his hand.
"It's okay, I'll find her. You should go on your date." She suggests, hoping that the next girl on his hit list could help distract him from his father's abuse and what he had finally witnessed in her. She pulls away to make her way to the front door when he grabs her arm.
"Look, I don't know what you just did but don't think for a second anyone will believe you if you tell them what you saw." He hisses, towering over her, trying to be intimidating as he had seen his father do countless times before.
"I'd never do that. I just wanted to keep you safe." She shakes her head, pulling her arm out of his grasp. And no one will believe what you saw, she thought to herself sadly. He rolls his eyes, shutting down emotionally as he pulls away and throws open the door, walking out to his car in a hurry. That was the first time Elizabeth had been present for the attacks, let alone having her get between them. It made Billy feel weak.
"If I don't come home with her, it'll be worse." He sighs in aggravation, ignoring her comment about his safety and the warmth it threatened to consume him with. He was confused, both by the emotions she managed to bring out in him and by whatever the hell he had just witnessed. His mind struggled to understand what had happened and he knew he wasn't handling the situation correctly, but he needed to get away from the house before his father woke up. He had to get her away from his father.
"If you're coming, get in." He snaps, the sound of the door unlocking ringing in her ears as he gets in. She hurries to retrieve her bag from her car before climbing in, just barely being able to shut the door before he's speeding off down the road. After what felt like hours of driving around to her friends' houses to still wind up empty-handed, Elizabeth runs a hand through her hair with a low sigh as one final idea comes to mind. She opens her bag and pulls out the walkie El had stolen from Mike to use to talk to the group and turns it on.
"Max? Kids, can you hear me?" She sings into it, trying to be as gentle and caring as possible.
"Lizzie?" Max's voice comes from the other side after a moment of silence.
"Max! Oh, thank God you're okay. Everyone is looking for you. Tell me you're okay?" Elizabeth hums, sitting up straight, gripping Billy's forearm instinctively at the development in the situation.
"Uh yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." Max answers again, unaware that she was letting the background noise of the kids screaming and metal screeching come in with her response.
"Okay, everything will be fine as long as you're safe. Just tell me where you are." Elizabeth lies smoothly, biting her lip in anticipation at the noises she had heard, hoping it was just the kids playing some game.
"Are you fucking stupid?" Billy snaps, seemingly unable to control himself as the fear of the unknown and the anger stemming from his father builds to a boiling point within him, tearing his arm away from her just so he could reach around her to grip her hair. He pulls her close, tugging her head back roughly until she groans. "Why the fuck would you say that like she doesn't need to come home right the fuck now? Do you have any idea how dangerous my dad is? If I come home without her, especially after whatever psycho bullshit you pulled, he'll kill me."
"Let me go." She growls, gripping his wrist. He chuckles and pulls her closer, forcing her to strain against the seatbelt before she finally clicks it undone.
"Or what? You don't scare me, freak." He murmurs with a smirk, watching as her eyes widen. Her breath wavers at the sting of his words, her jaw tensing.
"The old junkyard." Max's voice barely registers between them.
"Only daddy does right?" She bites back, rolling her eyes as she lifts her free hand slowly between them.
"You were doing so well." She whines softly in disappointment. The sadness in her tone tore through his chest much more than he expected was possible.
"I understand you're upset. You must be confused and angry but you need to let me go." She breathes, trying to remain calm and patient with him despite the pain radiating through her chest.
"You may choose to ignore what I've so stupidly exposed you to in order to keep you from enduring any more of Neil's shitty parenting, but make no mistake I am much worse than he could ever hope to be." She adds, allowing her power to consume him and force his hand from her hair and back onto the steering wheel peacefully with a slight wave of her hand. His eyes soften through the vast array of emotions flashing within them, his actions catching up to him at the sharpness of her disappointment in him. He seemed to realize then, ringing the steering wheel tight in his fists as he fought the urge to look over at her and apologize, just how close he was to being just as terrible as his father, nodding once her power released him.
"What are you?" He whispers before he could stop himself, taking note of how the simple question made her shift uncomfortably.
"Step on it, Hargrove, let's go get your sister." She snaps, shifting further back into her seat, keeping her eyes on the road. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her rubbing her thigh and flexing her fingers to maintain her composure. He fucked up badly this time. Was she crying? Fuck. He tenses his jaw, waging a war against the part of himself that chose to be just like his father rather than something better.
"Behave." She barks, her angelic features shadowed in such a harsh dominating light that it almost made him shiver to see her so commanding, getting out of the car to look around for the kids. Her eyes were cold. Dark. Dead. What had he done to her?
"You brought Billy?!" Dustin groans, popping his head out of the bus window.
"It wasn't my idea, now what's going on? Did you find the dog?" She calls, leading the way in an attempt to keep the kids from Billy and whatever tantrum still resided in him.
"Will you two hurry up and get on the damn bus?" Steve groans, wringing the neck of his studded bat, leaning out of the door as they pass the trail of raw meat leading toward a mound.
"What the fuck is going on?" Billy barks, watching the kids hunker down below the windows as he climbs onto the bus after Elizabeth.
"Dustin adopted a demogorgon." Mike snaps in annoyance, turning to glare at his curly-haired friend.
"What?" She questions, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Dart won't hurt us! He likes me." Dustin shouts defiantly.
"He ate your cat!" Mike shouts back, trying to get him to understand how dangerous this situation was. Elizabeth pulls Billy into a seat, murmuring to herself as she paces the aisle of the bus.
"We need to go home, Max. Now. Let's go." He barks, standing up. Elizabeth sidesteps between him and Max and forces him back into his spot, letting her power chain him to the seat. She leans down to his eye level, her cold eyes emphasizing her rage.
"Sit until I say otherwise." She demands, her nails digging into the leather of the worn back behind him.
Before he could respond, Elizabeth pulls away to accompany Steve as the living bait. They do their best to scan their surroundings, listening to the twigs break around them.
"There's more! Steve, watch out!" Lucas calls out the window, gesturing toward the demogorgons climbing up the junk surrounding them on all fours.
"Run!" Max calls, running down the aisle toward the door when Elizabeth's power shifts off of Billy. He stands quickly, taking her hand and pulling her behind him protectively as he pulls the handle to open the door.
"Move your ass, Harrington." He calls after him, watching Steve swing the bat at a dog that snarled at Elizabeth as she lifts her hand to push them back away from the bus. With one hand out toward the dogs, she grips Steve's jacket and pushes him toward the door of the bus, ensuring he got on safely before she did.
"Max!" Billy yells as she screams up at the snarling open-faced head of a demogorgon. Steve pulls her out from under the hatch opening, jabbing his bay up into the hatch at the dog as Elizabeth focuses her power into a dome shape around the bus.
"Get away from the windows!" She calls out as the dogs start throwing themselves against the windows, trying to find any weak point possible through her barrier. Straining, she leans against the nearest seat with a low groan until she can't take much more and falls to her knees with one final release of her power. Max runs to her and hugs her in a panic, whispering about how the dogs have retreated for the time being.
"I'm fine. Is everyone okay?" She huffs breathlessly, leaning into the seat for support as she wipes blood from her nose.
"Does anyone wanna tell me what the fuck is going on and how the hell you're able to do this bullshit?!" He yells, walking cautiously down the aisle toward where she sat on the floor in Max's arms. On the other side of her sat El who played with her hair, whispering to herself that she'd be fine. Elizabeth holds her hand, squeezing it to let her know she was okay.
"She's special, Billy." Max answers him, rubbing her arm.
"She's a superhero, asshole." Dustin bites back, but before Billy can say some lame insult about his missing teeth or whatever it was that came to mind, Steve shoves a crowbar into his chest and pulls him out of the bus to double-check that her stunt worked.
"Can't you just make him understand?" Max asks softly, running her fingers through Elizabeth's hair as she rests back into her.
"Honey, this isn't something I can just make him understand because you want me to. It's not fair to Billy." She explains, rubbing her temples to ease the intense throbbing within her skull.
"What's not fair, babe?" Billy grunts as he climbs back onto the bus behind Steve, lighting a cigarette as he struggles to be as gentle as possible with her publically. His eyes dance between Max and Elizabeth as the anxiety from what he had just witnessed within him builds, taking a long drag off his cigarette before blowing it slowly out his nose like an angry bull in a Saturday morning cartoon.
"Elizabeth can show you what we're talking about." Max blurts out, standing and shifting toward her brother. Elizabeth sighs and nods as his eyes fall on her once more for clarification. She lets her hands fall outstretched at either side of her as her eyes close, lying back against the cool metal flooring.
"You lied to me. You shouldn't have come out here by yourselves." She sighs softly, looking up at the kids.
"We didn't want to keep bothering you with this." Max explains, sitting back down beside her.
"Honey, this isn't safe for you." She tries to reason with them.
"But we weren't alone. We had Steve and El." Dustin tries to minimize the situation, smiling innocently. She groans in annoyance and throws her arm over her sore eyes.
"Yes and not only did you endanger El knowing she doesn't fully understand these things any more than you do, but you dragged Steve into this." She shakes her head, wincing as the room starts to spin.
"You brought Billy." Lucas interjects as if it were nothing, squirming as she removes her arm to glare at him.
"It wasn't my idea. We had a few issues and I had to bring him or he would've torn this place apart looking for you because you didn't bother to tell your parents where you'd be." She sighs, looking at Max. "Or even me." She adds sadly, squeezing her hand, just glad that they were all alright.
"This is the dangerous shit you and your shithead friends do all the time?" Billy half chuckles in disbelief, disturbing the gentle moment she was trying to share with the kids, shaking his head as he turns toward Steve.
"How the hell did you get pulled into this, King Steve?" He grunts, wiping a hand down his face as he sits in the driver's seat. Despite staying at the head of the bus, he leaned forward into his knees to keep Elizabeth in his peripheral vision.
"I walked into it, actually. Nancy and Jonathan Byres were fighting a fully grown demogorgon in the Byers house and I didn't want Nancy to get hurt so I chose to stay and fight." He shrugs as if it was nothing, flipping the bat as if it was a prize he won for the fight.
"But Lizzie is right. She might be able to show you what we've witnessed but that decision is up to you. You can still walk away, man." He clears his throat as his eyes shift toward Elizabeth who was obviously uncomfortable with the idea.
For a moment, he sat there letting his cigarette burn between his fingers as he studied Elizabeth. Her tired eyes may have been much warmer now than they had been after his tantrum, but the exhaustion in them worried him. He wanted to hold her and apologize until the life in her eyes shined again like the sunset over the waves, but he couldn't. Not in front of all these people and he knew even if he tried to touch her, she'd have every right in the world to bring him to his knees for what he had done to her. He swallows thickly, letting his head fall forward, rubbing his forehead to feign stress before he looks back up at her.
"What are you?" He asks once more, his words barely audible even in the silence of the decrepit bus. Max shifts around her next to Steve, helping her sit up comfortably against the seat he had once occupied per her demand.
"I am a freak." She nods slightly, agreeing with the harsh name he spat at her in the car as her thumb rubs over a small black smudge he hadn't noticed was hidden under her scrunchie. "I am something much worse than Neil Hargrove. That's all you need to know." She breathes, wrapping an arm around Max. She kisses her hair as she leans into her, her eyes flickering back up to Billy apologetically. He nods nevertheless and stands, walking towards them.
"Show me enough to keep me safe." He hums, squatting in front of them. He offers her his hand and nods that it was okay to do whatever crazy shit she had to do to show him this new world. "I might as well be able to protect myself. I can't depend on Harrington all the time like you little shits do." He chuckles, smirking slightly. He had intended it to be a joke, hoping it'd get a smile out of Elizabeth even just for a moment, but instead, it seemed to piss her off more. The cold glass that consumed her doll eyes comes back as she reaches forward quickly to take hold of his face. He chokes back a grunt in surprise as she pulls him down to sit on his knees in front of her, both her hands losing their traction in his hair as the ridges of her palms rest against his temples. His vision blurs into a sheet of bleak darkness filled with the sounds of disembodied screams and monsters out of nightmares. He struggles against her hold as a nine-foot-tall grey-skinned humanoid creature with a flowered head splits open to roar at him with row after row of teeth barred at him. Behind him stood the Hawkins Lab building where military troops poured in and out from.
"This is only a glimpse into the Upside Down." She breathes, slowly bringing him out of the trance. Once again she slumps back against the seat, blood dripping from her nose as Max hugs her tight.
"The only way to kill it on this plain is to trap it and set it on fire. If you ever see one without me, your best bet is to just hide. Don't run, it will get you. And if you're bleeding…" She breathes heavily, groaning as her head starts to pound again.
"Watch out for flickering lights. Especially if they get abnormally bright first. The demogorgon seems to be exposed by electrical currents." Max explains, taking the scrunchie from her wrist to pull her hair out of her face for her.
"3?" He asks softly, looking down at the smudge stamped into her skin. She pulls her wrist close to her chest protectively before standing. "Are there more people out there like you? Can they do this shit too?"
"I'm 11, but there were more." El hums softly, allowing Elizabeth to step between him and the children with a warning glare.
"This stays between us. No one will believe you and if I find out you're making her feel less than human like you did me…" She keeps her tone low, the intense threat oozing from her words despite not finishing the sentence.
"Let's get you home. Steve, are you okay keeping an eye on the others?" She wraps her arm around Max's shoulders, bending down to kiss El on the head before he could even respond. With a nod from Steve, she shoos Billy down the aisle.
"Wait," He huffs, trying to stop her from leaving the bus. She laughs and snatches his keys off his belt loop.
"Either you drive or I do. In case you forgot Sunshine, my car is at your house, and as you so lovingly pointed out, Neil very well may be worse tonight after my little stunt so I'm not about to subject you or Max to that." She forces a smile that seemed more wolfish than it did as a mask of happiness, leaning into him just to push him into the driver's seat again. "Problem?" He knew he fucked up with how he had snapped at her, but watching her close herself off to him completely made him feel hollow. It was an odd sensation as the chill of her tone settled into his chest. He wasn't necessarily oblivious to how he was grouped in with Max under her care but knew he wouldn't be coddled like she would. Especially after how he hurt her. He could only nod and follow her back toward the Camaro for a painfully silent drive home.
It wasn't until days later that he finally broke free from the silent treatment she had been giving him, grabbing her hand as she made her way back to Max's room one night. She stopped abruptly to look at him, her cold eyes struggling to hold contact with his own.
"Can you say something?" He asks softly, his fingers sliding slowly from their vice around her forearm down toward her palm before she pulls away completely.
"What is it you want me to say?" She asks, tilting her head to the side as she crosses her arms over her chest. He sighs, leaning into the doorframe shamefully.
"I exist, you know." He hums, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants. He stood shirtless before her, uncomfortable for the first time under her gaze as she shifted her weight to the side.
"And I do now?" She scoffs, arching a dark brow. "I am nothing more than a freak, remember?"
"Jesus Christ, Elizabeth, I didn't say that. I-" Billy snaps, running a hand through his hair. She rolls her eyes, stepping up to him.
"How the Hell else am I supposed to feel when you call me a freak, jackass?" She pushes at his chest, struggling to contain the tears dancing on her lashes.
"What the fuck else was I supposed to say when I see what you're really capable of?" He growls, straightening to meet her in the hall, taking every hit effortlessly. She averts her eyes, knowing he was right, suddenly nauseous with guilt for putting her hands on him no matter how frustrated and hurt she was. He sighs, reaching out to brush his fingers down her bicep to get her attention. After a moment, she finally looks up at him as tears fall from her lashes. He steps closer, reaching up to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
"I'm sorry." He whispers softly, apologizing for every foul thing he had said and done to her, watching as she leans into his chest. Moving painfully slow as to give her plenty of time to reject him, he glided his fingers up her arm to take her hand.
"Will.." He begins, clearing his throat of the lump that formed behind his windpipe. "Show me the truth." He blurts out before his brain could make him pause any longer. She pulls away, rigid with anxiety, looking up at him. How could someone so strong seem so small at that moment? He offers her his hand, trying to resist the urge to pull her close against what she obviously wanted, and turns to the side to allow her to come into his room. He watches her eyes dart between Max's door and that of his parents' before stepping past him.
"Why? It's not something you need to know to protect yourself." She reiterates what he had permitted her to show him on the bus. He nods, watching as she begins pacing the length of his room just as he had. He bites his lip to keep from smiling, noticing how her pajama shorts hung low on her hips and the tank top she wore pushed its way up to expose her hips and navel the longer she walked. Her long legs crossed over each other fluidly, her thick thighs gliding over each other tauntingly as if begging for his touch. It hadn't been the first time he'd seen her in these black cotton shorts with the tiny red hearts scattered all over them, but for some reason, they were his favorite article of clothing she possessed tonight. She runs a hand through her long dark hair, pulling it up quickly as her anxiety overwhelms her in a heat that flushes over her chest and cheeks. He hums softly, timing it just right to where she turns at the wall into him, wrapping an arm around her waist as she meets his chest.
"You keep us safe. Shouldn't I know the truth about you then?" He tilts his head, smiling sheepishly. She rolls her eyes and laughs softly at the cheesy explanation, pulling out of his arms to sit on the floor against his bed.
"It's only been about a week since your tantrum, Billy. What's the real reason you want to know?" She asks, looking down at her hands as her legs crossed underneath her. Her fingers glide over the black smudge on her left wrist delicately as if the imperfection still hurts, pressing her thumb into it as it slides down away from her wrist into her palm in hopes of wiping it away. He steps closer, stopping when suddenly she sits up out of her trance and grabs his hand. Her eyes were wide as she squeezed his hand gently. "You're not scared of me, are you?" She asks, her voice quivering at the thought. She tries to clear her throat, watching him slowly crouch to sit across from her. In the softest moment of his life, doing his best to let her see just how much of an effect she had on him, he laces his fingers through hers and brings her hand to his lips to kiss before covering it with his free hand.
"You're my Saving Grace, Lizzie. I'm a train wreck, but you haven't stopped trying to help me since we met." He smiles to himself at the thought, tracing the pale blue veins under her skin. "I've never been more myself with anyone, so no." He chuckles, looking up at her with a boyish grin. "Your psycho-science experiment powers don't scare me. You don't scare me." He hums, watching her fingers shift from within his grasp to pull his hand into her lap to trace the lines of his palm. He smiles wider, the gesture becoming more and more natural the longer he sat leaning into her as she thought about what he said.
"You're still an asshole, Hargrove." She teases, looking up at him from under her lashes with a gentle smile of her own. "Your pretty words can only get you so far." She laughs as she lets him go, relaxing back against the bed frame. She shifts slightly to pull a pillow from atop his bed and lays it in her lap, patting it as her eyes find his again.
"This is going to be a lot of information. I'm going to do my best to keep you comfortable, but please understand I've never let anyone else see this much at one time. I need you to tell me if it's too much for your senses to handle, okay?" She explains, watching him get comfortable on the floor. With his head in her lap, she gently places a hand on either side of his head. She technically could show him anything she wanted just by touching him, but this seemed to be the safest option for her to stay as in control of the outcome as possible.
"Close your eyes and focus on your breathing." She instructs softly, closing her own eyes. He watches her breathe in through her nose and out slowly through her mouth, shivering as her fingers absentmindedly wander into his hair to cradle the back of his skull. Breathing in the scent of her floral body wash, he closes his eyes to follow her lead. With his hands resting at his sides, he clears his throat at the odd sensation of her power flooding him inside and out slowly. It was almost like going underwater, he could've sworn if he had tried to lift his hand once her power fully consumed him, it'd be the same as that strange resistant buoyancy that the ocean tugged at his limbs with.
"Camilla!" A man's voice calls out into the same open void that he had been introduced to the fully grown demogorgon in.
"Raymond!" A woman responds as armed guards slowly appear within a white-painted hall. The badges on the guards read 'Hawkins Lab Security' as they marched on either side of a tall brunette man in black slacks and a bloodied white button-down shirt. Billy struggled to keep up with the men as they weaved in and out of security clearances and locked doors and pushed through a crowd of doctors assembled around a woman on an operating table. Sedated as she may have been, the man seemed heartbroken to see her so vulnerable under her dark hospital gown.
"This isn't what we signed up for." The man grumbles, squeezing the woman's hand as the doctors shift around them to prepare her for some sort of operation.
"It is exactly what you volunteered for, Raymond. I assure you, Camilla is in excellent care." A man with snowy white hair smiles, motioning for the guards to escort Raymond back out of the OR. "Your daughter should be here soon. See to it the nursery is ready, won't you?" He adds just as the doors close in front of him.
Before Billy had time to really register what was going on, he noticed Elizabeth standing in the reflection of the darkly tinted glass in front of him. Turning to face her, she steps into him to cover his ears as the piercing wail of a baby rattles the technology laid out around them. Holding on to her, Billy watched as year after year the little girl was exposed to experimentation. The years flew by in the lab until around 1983. It was almost alarming how calm the married couple seemed to be as they came into the room, peering through the two-way mirror to the children below. Letting him watch, Elizabeth stood beside him as he struggled to stomach the torment she and countless others endured. Elizabeth seemed to be given less leeway than the other experiments. She was beaten for her wrong answers and had excruciating tests done when she thought staying quiet would work better. He watched as she forced herself to go mute unless spoken to directly while pushing herself to meet every expectation laid out for her. Her screams of pure agony brought him to his knees as he entered the OR behind another set of surgeons, unknowingly accompanying them to perform another round of tests on her. Her ability to heal herself was gauged by strapping her down to a table to be repeatedly stabbed with needles and scalpels. It wasn't long before her blood coated the white tiled floor, causing the scientists around her observing her progress to slip. This unfortunately included her emotionless parents.
Shifting scenes once more, Billy suddenly stood in the middle of the woods he drove through every day on his way home from school. Mirkwood or something like that is what Max and her friends had liked to call it. Icy rain soaked through his pajama pants as he walked through the darkness, listening to the faint sniffling of a woman crying nearby when he suddenly trips over a root. There, next to where he lay in the leaves, shivered a soaking-wet Elizabeth covered in dirt and blood. Once the searchlights and the calls for Will Byers have died down, she pulls herself out of the decaying tree she had climbed into and pushes herself further into the night. He walked with her until she found a cabin that he now recognized as Chief Hopper's cabin. Soon after the door shut behind her, the dreamscape fades and she slowly releases him. He opens his eyes, taking hold of her hand as she slumps her head back against his mattress, her chest heaving through the aftermath of the marathon she had just pushed herself through. He sits up slowly, careful to breathe through the dizziness that threatens to consume his senses as he slides up next to her. Without much effort of his own, she crumbles into him for support, sniffling to regain control over the blood dripping from her nose. He shifts slightly to hand her an old shirt of his, smoothing her hair as she cleans herself up.
"The lab was never shut down after making progress through the MK Ultra program. They were raising soldiers with powers that could tip the scales of any war in any direction we needed." She sighs, looking down at her tattoo. "They had great success with one test subject they couldn't quite control and several other children who were raised in the lab that fed their egos far too much to lie low." She clears her throat before resting her head against his arm thrown over the mattress behind her, turning slightly to look at him.
"I am the daughter of two scientists who saw their chance to make history and took it. I am genetically modified to meet the success of the lab's first accomplishment and be obedient enough to submit to whoever they were hoping to sell me to." She explains harshly, lowering her gaze to her hands picking at the bloodied fabric in her lap. "I'm a weapon but they forced us to open a gateway to the Upside Down." She bites her bottom lip and sniffles, trying to control herself at the thought of what else could be on the other side she doesn't know about.
"I-I've done my best to protect El and the kids. I'm not a monster, I promise." She says softly, more so to herself when the tears become far too much to handle and a sob wracks through her. He pulls her into his chest, smoothing her hair as she cries.
"How did you get out? Did you take El with you?" He asks, tilting her chin up slightly. She regretfully shakes her head.
"We found out the first success was a man named Peter who worked as a guard in the lab. He was trying to teach us how to control our power so we wouldn't get hurt anymore, but after El and I were able to take his tracking chip out he showed us his power and killed every child inside. We didn't know. El and I were able to kill him, but she was so little…she needed more help than I could give her so I-I had to leave her there until she got better." She whimpers sadly, hating herself for abandoning the little girl despite El having repeatedly reassured her she wasn't mad at her for it. "When I got out, Hopper took me in when he realized his dad's cabin wasn't vacant anymore. Then when El was found, he was happy to keep us together as long as I helped her adjust to living outside of the lab." She pulls away to look at him, shaking at the realization of just how vulnerable she was with him now.
"I know this changes things, but…" She starts, her voice quivering just as it had when she called out for her father in the lab. He takes her hand and squeezes it, shaking his head.
"It's gonna take some getting used to, but you're still the annoying friend of my pain-in-the-ass little sister that I for some reason enjoy being around. That won't change." He teases, winking in an attempt to get her to laugh. He didn't want anything to change. He wasn't lying that knowing all of this would be a struggle to adjust to, but if these children and Steve fucking Harrington could do it then why couldn't he? Before either could say anything else, he shifts slightly to pick her up and carries her back to bed in Max's room across the hall.
Fuck, what do I do now? He couldn't help but wonder as he climbed back into bed. What the fuck was this town?