September 27,1986
The Party was sitting by Hopper's lake the day the world ended. It was a peaceful end of summer type of day where it wasn't to hot and it the leaves were not ready to fall yet. Max Mayfield was shooting cans with her own wrist rocket while Lucas was gently instructing her. Dustin was repairing his radio after a mishap with Will and a slingshot lesson. Will had an art book and was drawing nature, and his best friend and step sister. El was sitting down with her boyfriend, Mike. The two were snuggled together, Mike writing in his notebook campaign ideas while El read over his shoulder.
Mike looked over his shoulder and smiled at his girlfriend reading over his shoulder. He quickly kissed her cheek. She smiled and began stroking his hair. The pair looked out to their friends and smiled. The past few years had been a challenge with the threat of the Upside Down finally ending. Now they just had to worry about teenage hormones and homework.
"Hey, Mike, if you and El can stop being disgustingly adorable, you think your going to have that campaign ready be next week?" Dustin called while putting knobs in place. "Yea, it should be ready. Just fine tuning a few things" Mike said. "And I'm helping!" El said excitedly.
"Make out sessions are not help." Max said with a laugh. She fired her rock at the can but it diverted away, Max looked over to see El wiping her nose. "Oh you bitch." Max said as El gave her a shit eating grin.
Dustin kept messing with the knobs in his radio. A signal came in.
"We found the subject, preparing for extract." A voice came in over the radio.
Everyone stared at the radio as the voice came in, they all turned over to Mike. "We need to get to get to Hop." Mike said. They gathered their things and bolted away from the shore.
The group ran, then split off in multiple directions. Will and Dustin went one way, Lucas and Max another. Mike and El made a beeline for the cabin. They could hear people coming from behind trees. El used her powers and flung them out of their way.
Mike held onto El's hand as they saw the cabin in sight. They rushed forward to the cabin. They had prepared for this, Mike and El had a couple of backpacks with supplies so they could go on the run if the government returned. El used her powers and unlocked the door. They reached the door and pulled it open, coming face to face with Martin Brenner.
The pair stepped back as Brenner's smiling face stepped out of the doorway. Behind him, a soldier came out with Joyce and Hopper handcuffed. The soldier threw them to the ground and trained a pistol on them.
"Don't try anything else. I hate to cause anymore pain today," Brenner said. He then delivered a swift kick to Hopper's side. El glared at him. "Leave them alone you bastard." El said. Brenner seemed to smile wider.
"You have a lot of nerve showing your shit eating face again." Mike snarled. Brenner began laughing, especially when his men came in dragging the rest of the Party. "I forgot how much spirit youth had." Brenner said approaching El and Mike.
Brenner pulled a paper from his suit and handed it to El. "This is what makes what I do legal." Brenner said. El snatched the paper from his hand and both Mike and El read it.
It was an order from the President to retrieve subject Eleven by any means necessary. The US Government had just declared her as property. Mike was seething with rage. Brenner continued to smile.
"I showed you that, so you know the steps I will take if you don't come willingly. I will execute each of these people, starting with this surrogate mother of yours." Brenner said kicking Joyce in the side. "You wouldn't be so smug if I wasn't handcuffed." Joyce snarled.
"If you keep defying me, well, look up." Brenner said. They both looked to the skies and saw it, a plane circling Hawkins. "That plane has a massive payload that I will authorize to wipe out this ignorant little town." Brenner said, his smile now becoming more feral.
Tears welled in El's eyes as she saw these men were ready to kill innocents, just to get her back. She lowered her head and faced Mike.
"No, this isn't fair." Mike said, tears coming down his own face. El pulled Mike into a hug. He held her for dear life, wishing he could take her far away from this nightmare.
"It's ok Mike. I'll be fine. I won't let others die for me. I can live knowing you all are safe." She said. Mike looked down at her and with his courage waning, delivered a deep passionate kiss to her. When they broke apart, El reached for her necklace, a charm Mike had gotten her for Valentine's Day, and handed it to him. "I love you El. I will always love you." Mike said. She smiled sadly. "I love you to." She said. She then walked over to Hopper and Joyce. Using her powers, she set them up. Brenner motioned for his men to stand at ease. He knew he had won.
One of the soldiers was disgusted by his actions. He was holding a curly haired boy at gun point and he felt like shit. He looked over at his fellow soldiers and they had similar looks on their faces. He looked at the kid's backpack and found a Dungeons and Dragons player book and remembered him and a few friends playing the game.
He watched the two teens embrace each other, saying goodbye and he realized his employer was wrong. "No." He muttered. His fellow soldiers looked at him. "No, fuck no, nope." He said loudly, letting the teen go. The others did the same and pointed their weapons at Brenner and the men he had brought with him. "You dare?" He said. The soldier, a lieutenant, nodded. "These are just kids, American kids, I didn't fucking sign up to hurt Americans." The Lieutenant said. Brenner glared at the man while his own men were disarmed. "Then I'll bomb this town to oblivion." Brenner said as he pulled up the radio. Before he could call the plane, a sniper shot the radio out of his hand. "Thanks Weatherford." The Lieutenant said. The teens were huddled together in a protective pile around the girl looking at him suspiciously. He just walked past them.
"Okay Brenner, you can either walk away or I bury you in an unmarked grave." He said. Brenner stood tall. "If I don't respond they will bomb the city soon." He said. "Now, finish your mission and take the girl into custody."
The Lieutenant pulled out his own radio and called the plane. "Hey, you guys okay up there?" He asked. The radio staticed for a moment before responding. "We are bingo for fuel and honestly, I ain't comfortable with all this." The pilot said. "Okay, get out of here. We will clean up down here." He said. The pilot sounded off before the flew away. "Got any other trump cards asshole?" He asked. Brenner was sweating nervously as the soldier stared at him.
"You mind uncuffing us?" Hopper's voice broke the stare down and the soldier nodded to one of his men to begin letting them go. "I have presidential authority to retrieve Subject Eleven, you will be going down for disobeying a direct order." Brenner said as he was handcuffed. The driver, a vicious looking man that was named Saverio, was also detained. Brenenr's own soldiers surrendered without a fight and the army unit took them away, leaving the Lieutenant and his own squad at the cabin.
"Why did you help us?" The tall kid with unruly hair asked. The Lieutenant figured he was about ten years older than this kid. "Something about this didn't smell right. And don't worry about any more guys coming around. I'll make sure no more shit rolls down here." He said. Hopper was shaking hands with one of the other soldiers when the Lieutenant approached him. "So, no more bullshit?" Hopper asked The Lieutenant nodded. "I know some guys, might call a few CIA spooks I know. Brenner is done. If not, well I know a few remote places he won't be looked for." He explained. Hopper nodded as he looked at his fiancé checking the children over. "God, she is just trying to have a normal life and this would have broken her." Hopper said. The Lieutenant merely nodded.
"Hey we have incoming. It's the NSA." A soldier said from the radio. The Lieutenant nodded and urged everyone to hide.
A black helicopter came around and landed in a clearing before several high ranking military officers came out, all with displeased looks on their faces. The Lieutenant was well versed on annoying brass.
"Do you want to explain why you and your men have disrupted a high priority retrieval mission?" A General asked. The Lieutenant snapped to attention before responding. "Sir, last I checked we protect Americans, not imprison them, sir." He said. The General glared at him. "That subject is a one of a kind weapon that we need." The General snarled. The Lieutenant glared at him before answering. "She's just a damn kid sir." He said.
The generals and admirals looked at the soldier and saw that he had his own men taking defensive positions. One of the Generals, a man named Parker, held up his hands. "Let me speak with her." He ordered. The Lieutenant nodded and took him inside the cabin.
General Parker was an older man who just celebrated his grandson's fifth birthday and had an issue with the details of the mission. Especially when he saw a group of teens huddled together, a large man and a smaller woman standing guard. Parker held up his hands. The girl in the middle, a young woman with long brown hair, was shivering. Parker's own heart broke.
"I'll speak with the others. I don't think we need to force the issue." Parker said to the group. Everyone was still tense as the general stepped out. He walked to the others and told them to shove off. "We have a presidential directive." One Colonel said. Parker glared at them. "Brenner can rot for all I care. That little girl isn't going anywhere." Parker barked.
And with that, the military left. The Lieutenant stayed to clear up some things but soon enough, a car came for him. As he left, the young couple approached him. The brown haired girl, Eleven, hugged him tight. "Thank you so much." She said. He merely patted her back as he smiled at her. The tall boy shook his hand in gratitude. "Who are you anyway?" He asked. The soldier smiled before pulling the tape off his name tag. "My name is Jericho." He said and just entered the car and was driven off.
Dr. Brenner was placed on trial for high treason. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. His subordinates were given life to twenty year sentences for various crimes. Jericho himself brought the news, leading to Eleven breaking down in tears.
The group had no more adventures, with the exception of camping trips and the drama of high school. Hopper was elected Mayor as he was the best man for the job. His whole family moved to the Mayor's residence but loved to spend their free time in the cabin out in the woods.
Mike and Eleven loved each other the entire time, having usual relationship issues. During College, Max and Lucas had a child, a boy they named Harrison. Mike and Eleven tied the knot their junior year of college and had a child a few years later once they settled into their careers. Eleven became a doctor that specialized in pediatric care. Mike was working in tech, making software for the next generation. All of this because Brenner used a military unit that had morals.
AN: So, this was a fun thing I whipped up to show a what if situation for chapter 1, like if Eleven wasn't taken by the government. Or rather, Brenner's weird top secret program to take over the world.
I wrote this for fun and never intended to publish it since well, it was just a means of getting my juices flowing again. I also wrote an alternate what if for "We Used to be Close" if anyone is interested in that.
So, Season 4…. Holy shit do I love it. It has its downs, namely the California crew seemingly having a different tone from the rest of the series, but I have overall enjoyed part 1 of season 4. July 1st can't come soon enough.
