I don't own anything mentioned.
"Ok so, can we just ask you some questions?" Mike asked her as he pulled away. She nodded and wiped the blood from her nose.
"So, you're from Hawkins Lab?" He asked holding eye contact. She nodded again.
"How old are you?" He sat on the chair across from the couch, Deca sat on the couch next to Dustin.
She shrugged, she didn't celebrate a birthday like everyone else and Papa never said how old she was.
"Do you know Eleven?" He asked, this time he looked very serious.
"Only from Dustin's memories." She spoke softly. Mike looked at Dustin and furrowed his brow.
"What kind of powers do you have?" Mike asked and leaned in. Deca felt uncomfortable, all of them looking at her and thinking about her made her palms sweat.
"I can hear thoughts, see memories, feel things. I could feel your love for El, and your pain." She looked at him and felt like she might cry. Mike looked sad for a moment and then he looked angry.
Can you hear this? Mike thought. Deca nodded. How did you feel it? He asked in his mind.
"Through touch, I can hear thoughts from far away. Well sometimes, its easier if they're close. But I have to touch you to see inside." She said to him, the rest of the group listened with curiosity.
"She's reading your mind?" Max asked Mike, her mouth hung open a little. Mike nodded, Max's eyebrows went up and she looked over at Lucas who returned the look.
"What do you mean by 'see inside', like into my head?" He asked, his tone was stern.
"Your memories, thoughts, dreams, all of it." She replied looking down at her hands in her lap.
"Dreams?" Dustin asked, his cheeks red. She replied with a nod.
"Hey Dusty, any dreams you want to share?" Lucas teased. Dustin raised his middle finger in response.
"Can I meet El now?" She asked Mike. His attention was taken away from Dustin and his smile faded.
"How do we know you aren't trying to lead the bad men to her?" He frowned. She didn't know what to say so she just stood up and lifted the sweatshirt to show her abdomen. Across her stomach and on her ribcage, there were little round pink scars in sets of two.
"What are those?" Mike asked frowning.
"Scars, when I didn't do what they wanted they hit me with the electricity." She put her shirt back down.
"They tased you?" Dustin's mouth hung open. She nodded and the whole group stayed silent.
"I'm not bad. The bad men are gone, Papa is gone, no one can hurt her or me." Deca sat back down. Mike nodded and looked at her with sympathy.
"I have to ask Hopper and talk to El but I think she'd want to meet you." Mike gave her a small smile.
'"You could radio El." Dustin said breaking the silence after Mike spoke.
"I don't know if-" Mike began.
"Can we just go to her and Hopper's place." Dustin suggested, he smiled at Deca. This made her get excited.
"I don't know if the chief would like a surprise like this." Lucas added.
The party started discussing what they should do and finally came to agreement on radioing Hopper to come to Dustin's house ASAP. They would tell him about Deca and then ask him what to do. He was good with this stuff and he would handle, according to Dustin anyway.
"You call him." Dustin handed the walkie to Mike. Mike looked unsure then finally nodded. He turned it on and switched the channel over.
"Come in, Chief, this is Mike. Over." Mike bit his lip. The group stood around for a moment exchanging looks of uncertainty.
"Yeah kid, what is it?" Hopper's voice growled from the radio. Mike's eyes widened, he didn't know what to say.
"Uhh, its an emergency. You should come to Dustin's house. We need to show you something. Over." Mike replied. He exhaled, he was hoping Hopper didn't ask further questions.
"I can be over in fifteen. Over and out." Hopper spoke after a moment of silence. The party exhaled in relief.
"Will El come too?" Deca asked.
"No, you've got to meet Hopper first. He'll know what to do." Mike said, exhaling. Deca could tell she was starting to annoy Mike with all the questions.
The party sat together in Dustin's living room waiting for Hopper to come. Max and Lucas were sitting next to each other, Lucas was sitting cross legged on the carpet and Max was sitting on her skateboard.
They weren't speaking, just exchanging glances. Deca smiled at their thoughts of each other. Lucas thought Max was pretty, he immediately smiled after thinking that.
His smile's pretty cute for a stalker. Max thought to herself, causing her to grin.
"What's a stalker?" Deca asked Max, breaking the silence. Max blushed and rolled her eyes, Lucas smirked.
"You can't just read people's minds without permission." Max frowned, her cheeks were red.
"Dustin said it was badass." Deca replied. She didn't know she was being bad.
"Yeah, because he likes you." Lucas added.
"I do not." Dustin retorted. Deca turned to see his cheeks red.
"But you're my friend." Deca spoke softly.
"Yeah, I am, I just don't like you like that." Dustin explained, his cheeks burning brighter.
"Like what?" Deca asked, she found this confusing.
"I don't like like you. Like a girlfriend." He tried to explain further but Deca wasn't understanding. Max and Lucas were giggling.
"But I'm a girl?" Deca sought clarity.
"You're my friend that's a girl, not my girlfriend. Girlfriends are pretty and you want to kiss them and stuff." His voice raised, and he talked fast.
"In your dream you thought I was pretty. Am I not anymore?" She asked again. She felt her own cheeks burn. Max and Lucas were trying to hold in their laughter.
"No, no. Its not like that. I can't control what I dream." Dustin wanted her to understand so badly.
"Papa said that dreams are made up of behaviors the con-conscious mind repre-represses. Does your conscious mind repress me being pretty?" She remembered Papa telling her about dreams after she started going into the bad men's. Max laughed, Dustin sighed and was about to speak.
"Papa as in Dr. Brenner, right?" Mike asked. Deca nodded.
"Was he at the lab?" Mike was very serious and spoke fast.
"Papa's gone, he's been gone for a long time." Deca answered.
"So, Dr. Owens did the experiments to you after Papa left?" He spoke slower.
"No, after Papa they put me in the room. They said I was a risk, they didn't cut my hair anymore or make me go in people's minds. They left me alone." She said softly. She didn't enjoy the experiments but being in that room all alone was torture.
"Were there other kids there? Like you?" Mike leaned towards her.
"I just knew my brother, they let us be together. We were stronger together. But he got out, he's gone now. There was just me." She replied.
"You had a brother? Did he have a number too? Were his powers like yours?" Mike's eyes got wider and his words sped up.
"Nine, he had nine on his wrist. His power was different." Deca whispered remembering his face and the things Papa made them do.
"How were they different?" Mike asked softly.
"I can go inside people's minds, I can find things. See, feel, hear what they have. He could go in people's minds and change things." She thought of her brother.
"He could take away memories or put new ones in, make them forget things, make them feel things or do things they didn't want to." A tear fell down her cheek.
"Papa made him do bad things, he made him hurt people." Deca hugged her knees to her chest. She hated thinking of what Papa made them do.
"It's ok, it's alright. Shhh." Dustin moved next to her on the floor and hugged her. She let her tears fall. She breathed in deep and just focused on Dustin's thoughts.
It's gonna be alright, you're safe now. You don't have to bad things ever again. He repeated inside his head. He was a good friend, she was thankful for him. The tears stopped, and she wiped her face on her sleeve.
A knock at the door startled her. Lucas got up and looked out the front window.
"It's the chief." He opened the door and Deca felt afraid of the large man standing in front of it. He stepped inside and looked down at her.
Dustin moved his arms off her and stood up. Hopper was wearing a uniform, he was big, and he looked mean. She started shaking.
"Who's this?" Hopper asked, moving the toothpick around in his mouth. All four kids were trying to find the right words when Deca stood up. She pulled the sleeve up and showed him the number on her wrist. Hopper's head flooded with thoughts.
"We found her in the woods by the lab last night." Dustin told Hopper.
"What in the hell were you doing in the woods by the lab? Ya know what, not the point." Hopper sighed.
"Are you alright? You've been in those woods for what? Three days." He looked down at her. She nodded.
"Can you speak?" He asked, his voice was softer than it was when he first came in the door.
"Yes." She replied. He was lost for words for a moment. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Kept repeating in his head.
"I don't know." Deca shrugged her shoulders, her voice shook a little with fear. Hopper was intimidating.
"What?" Hopper asked raising his eyebrows.
"I don't know what the fuck you're supposed to do." She answered plainly. The kids tried to hide their laughs, Hopper was puzzled.
"She reads minds." Dustin chuckled.
"Of course, she does, great." Hopper let out a small chuckled and then sighed.
"All right, let's go." Hopper said, he put his hand down towards her.
"No, I won't go back." Deca leaned away from his hand. She wouldn't let him take her back to the lab.
"No, no, kid. We're going to my house. You can meet Eleven and get some clothes that fit." Hopper knelt down in front of her, he spoke to her at eye level. You're not goin' back there, kid. He thought while holding eye contact.
"Ok, I'll go with you. Dustin comes." She stood up and looked at Dustin, who smiled when she said that.
"Alright." Hopper nodded and stood up, exhaling.
"And the party." Deca added. Her tone was serious, demanding. Hopper rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I suppose." Hopper turned towards the door. They smiled at her, even Mike who hadn't really smiled the whole time. She followed Hopper outside, the ground was cold on her bare feet.
She sat in the middle of the front seat, Dustin sat next to her. He kept thinking good thoughts for her to listen to. He was a good friend, he reassured her that everything was going to be fine.
She was excited to meet El, she wondered if El knew about her or her brother or about Papa. Hopper parked his truck at the start of the woods. They all got out and started walking.
"Where are your shoes?" Hopper turned to Deca.
"Don't have any." She replied and kept walking.
"Your feet don't hurt?" He asked.
"A little, not bad. I'm fine." She shrugged her shoulders. She didn't enjoy walking barefoot through the woods, the pine needles poked her feet and she had to be careful where she stepped but it was fine.
Hopper didn't ask any more questions, the walk to the cabin wasn't too long. The small cabin was surrounded by trees, it had boards nailed to every window, so she couldn't see inside.
Hopper walked up the steps and did the special knock on the door. There was sounds of unlocking from the other side of the door and it opened.
The girl standing on the other side was short and thin with a mess of curly brown hair. She smiled, and her eyes widened at the sight of Hopper and her friends. She moved so they could all come in.
"Mike," She sighed as she wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, this hug made Hopper roll his eyes.
"Are you doing ok?" Mike asked as he let go of her.
"Still tired." El replied. She looked towards the open doorway at Deca.
"This is Deca, she's-she's from" Mike was looking for the right words. Deca stepped towards El and pulled up her sleeve to show her number. El looked at it and pulled her own sleeve up showing the number 011.
"Sister?" El whispered to Deca. Deca nodded, El put her arms around Deca and brought her into an embrace. Deca squeezed her back. Hugging El felt nice, warm, El's cheek was against Deca's neck.
Through this contact Deca could see into El's mind, she saw memories of Papa and the bad men and the bath and even this dark place. This place scared Deca, it was cold and dark and wet, El was scared there too.
She saw memories of the gate, she felt El's strength and her anger and her fear. Closing the gate took a toll on El but it made her stronger too. El was so strong and she was good too.
El let go of Deca and saw that her nose was bleeding. Deca went to wipe it with her sleeve but El handed a tissue to her from the pocket of her overalls. Deca took it and wiped her nose. She looked around the room and saw everyone staring at them, silent.
"Sister." Deca whispered back to El.