-8-
The Mind Trio.
By TimeTraveller-1900.
-8-
Eleven was terrified; she had grown close to this young boy ever since he had been kind to her, helped her, given her advice…all until she had torn the chip out of his neck. Kali and Harry had told her to be careful, even if they'd been determined to get out, much like she had (she wondered what had happened to her brother and sister; if this monster before her, this mad monster, had hurt them both, then she would kill him gladly), but she had acted on impulse, but they had decided to chance it.
If he was telling the truth, then they could make their way out of the Lab.
To freedom.
Eleven had heard stories about the outside world. Harry and Kali had both been kidnapped as children and brought out here. But Harry's stories about the world beyond had been strange; he remembered some green light, some…one leaning over him, and then there was that flash of green light. Harry's next few years were spent in a place where he was hurt regularly before he escaped from the 'family' he was left with, even if he had made it clear they were not any family of his before he escaped.
His time in the Lab had been a little better, but she could hardly argue with that. Their lives were painful. Every day they were subjected to test after test, forced to 'see' what Papa and the others were, and forced to carry out experiments with the mind.
Was it any wonder they always dreamt of freedom? Was it any wonder they had nothing but hope that they would escape this place, and move beyond this Lab, papa, and everyone who worked here?
But she had never imagined her hope for freedom would turn out like this, and the newly discovered 00-1 was so plausible. But out of the corner of her eyes, the results of One's rampage through the Rainbow room, the twisted, bloodied corpses of her 'brothers and sisters' as they lay on the ground, like the guards and orderlies and scientists outside the room, twisted outside.
"W-where's Harry and Kali?" She asked shakily, barely able to hide her terror. Please, she begged, please say they are both still okay. I don't think I can live with myself if they're hurt, or dead…
"I haven't seen them," One's face contorted with anger, as his monologue was broken. "But I will, and I will get you all on my side. You see, I found a nest of black widows living inside a vent," One went on in a voice no louder than a whisper, "Most people fear spiders. They detest them. And yet, I found them endlessly fascinating. More than that, I found a great comfort in them.A kinship. Like me, they are solitary creatures," One went on, unknowingly including Eleven, and every other child in this dreadful place who'd suffered so much pain as they were pushed day after day, into expanding their powers, with nothing but a shaven head and a tattoo cut into their skin, but whether he actually knew there were others like him who were solitary and alone, but he sounded like he was the only one who was genuinely alone. "And deeply misunderstood."
"They are gods of our world. The most important of all predators. They immobilise and feed on the weak, bringing balance and order to an unstable ecosystem."
Eleven was still paralysed with fear. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and run. Run and find Kali, find Harry, and hope they could escape One, and from whatever he was planning.
One turned to face her, the stark white of his uniform splattered with blood, reminding her of what he'd done. "But the human world was disrupting this harmony."
Yes, she didn't like where this was leading up to; somehow she had a nasty feeling that the slaughter she had just seen was going to be nothing compared to what he was saying…
"You see, humans are a unique type of pest, multiplying and poisoning our world, all while enforcing a structure of their own," One went on while Eleven just stood, listened and wondered just what One had in mind although she didn't like the ideas, "A deeply unnatural structure. Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket. A cruel oppressive world dictated by made-up rules," he finished
Eleven didn't let One see it, but she could not help but feel that One had a strong point there; ever since her powers began manifesting themselves, Papa and the others had gone out of their way to make them focus on and kill those they called traitors, enemies; Eleven didn't know who those people were, but she had no choice but to focus on them and several of them had died, murdered by her.
It was either that or be punished severely, by being thrown into a dark room.
And for what, for a country, she had never even seen?
For being locked in this place, and experimented on every single waking moment?
Some of the orderlies and scientists called them weapons, for justice.
Kali and Harry hated and resented them for it, and they made so many plans to escape, but they had stayed at the Lab, for her, but they planned to escape soon. They'd had it all worked out, but Eleven had been hesitant since this was the only world she had ever really known. But she was going to leave, anything to escape these people and their view of justice. Eleven didn't know what justice was, but she didn't like it.
In her head, she pictured people like Papa just making up rules as they went along, giving them the excuse to punish those who broke them by shoving them into a dark room as they did with her whenever she got something wrong.
"Seconds, minutes," she had to return her focus to One again, she wished he'd get to the point because she wasn't sure how much longer she could take this; she only wanted to know why he was doing this, using her, "hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades. Each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce and die," One's voice rose higher and higher with each and every word until he was shouting.
"Everyone," One went on, slowly walking towards the increasingly terrified Eleven, who was only just starting to realise the threat One posed; she could see it in his eyes, the threat he was levelling towards everyone outside who didn't even know him, or what he even wanted, or why he would kill them in the first place, "is just waiting. Waiting for it all to be over. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day. I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the madness. I could not pretend. And I realised…I didn't have to," he finished with a malevolent smile as he loomed over the terrified Eleven. "I could make my own rules. I could restore balance to a broken world."
Eleven was starting to realise, there were few differences between One and Papa.
Papa was not like everyone else outside, pretending to be kind-hearted while he was evil, believing himself to know all and was wise, but he was in fact deeply cruel and wanted everyone here for himself. One, on the other hand, believed so strongly in what he was saying he did not see that what he was planning would likely destroy everyone else.
"A predator," he went on, staring unblinkingly down at her; Eleven wished she could look away, but she knew if she did that then he might attack her for her weakness, "but for good."
Eleven wanted to scoff.
For good?
Was it for good that he had done all of this? She knew she had made a fatal mistake in tearing the chip out of his neck, believing in his story at face value, but she was disgusted with what he was telling her, justifying all he had done by saying it was for some kind of good.
Now he was like Papa and those he worked for; they justified everything by claiming it was for some kind of 'greater good,' a greater good that Eleven and the others had never certainly known.
As for One.
All of that talk about being different, about being alone…
He was different, but he had likely chosen to become alone in a way that Eleven, who craved company from outside, would never want, nor understand.
"As I practiced, I realised I could do more than I possibly imagined," One was confusing her now, and she wondered what he had done, even if she wondered just how he had practiced and how it was different from what happened here, in the lab, "I could reach into others, into their minds, their memories."
"What?" Eleven gasped in horrified shock as she suddenly realised how he had killed everyone here. He had done more than physically torture them, he had mentally shredded them alive.
"I became an explorer," One smirked when he saw her reaction and he turned away, "I saw my parents as they truly were," he said, further chilling Eleven to the core as she guessed where he was going with this, horrifying her even more when he went on with what he was implying, "to the world, they presented themselves as good, normal, people," he spat the words with an emphasis and disgust that only confirmed he was too far gone - Eleven wondered when and what One had done before Papa and the others had put that chip in his neck to stop him using his powers, a control she'd destroyed - before he went on, "like everything else in this world, it was all a lie. A terrible lie. They had done…things, Eleven. Such awful things. I showed them who they really were. I held up a mirror. My naive father believed it was a demon cursing them for their sins. But my mother somehow knew. Knew it was I who was holding up that mirror."
As One took a moment to gather his thoughts, Eleven wondered how his mother had known what he was doing while she conjured up an image of a loving family who'd loved him, only for him to repay their kindness with cruelty. She wondered if One's mother had powers to a lesser degree; it was possible, and it sounded likely to her.
"You killed your own mother?" Eleven whispered. She had longed to know her mother, her real mother, and her real father. She knew Papa was not her real papa.
"And she despised me for it," One finally hissed. "She called a doctor, an expert. She wanted him to lock me away, to fix me," he spat with a bitter rage Eleven understood too well, "even though it wasn't I was broken. It was them. And so she left me with no choice. No choice but to act. To break free."
Eleven gasped, wondering why she was so horrified and so surprised; hadn't his story been leading up to this point? But, just hearing about the wanton cruelty of it all, the way he justified his acts…
It made her sick.
"With each life I took, I grew stronger. More powerful," One went on, smirking gleefully at the memory of how he'd killed his own mother, "they were becoming a part of me. But I was still a child. And I did not yet know my limits. And it nearly killed me."
Eleven knew how that felt. It was easy to push the limits of your power when you were younger, but their powers grew as you became more practiced. A part of her wondered how it would feel should she push the limits of her power, and use them as he did.
No.
She would never do that; while she didn't doubt she would feel sympathy for Papa or the others in the Lab, she drew the line towards killing people who'd done her no harm.
"He was arrested, blamed for the death of my sister," Eleven bit her lip, truly disgusted at the glee in his voice as he spoke about the death of his sister as if it was of no consequence to him, that she didn't matter, and she remembered Kali - Eight, her own sister whom she still loved and thought of day after day, and she knew Thirteen-Harry, would never want her to do this, any more than Kali did, "just as I had planned. But I was far from free."
Eleven wondered if this was the part where Papa came into the picture.
"I woke up from my coma to find myself placed in the care of a doctor," One went on, confirming it in Eleven's mind; it was the only thing that made real sense, that Papa would have taken one look at One's records and realised what he was and taken him to the Lab, "the very doctor I had hoped to escape. Dr Martin Brenner. Papa. But the truth, the truth is he did not just want to study me. He wanted more. He wanted to control. When Papa finally realised he could not control me, he tried to recreate me. He began a program."
Eleven gasped in realisation.
A program?
Did that mean…?
No. It couldn't be, could it?
Had Papa started experimenting with children…because of One?
"And soon, others were born," One said, confirming the horrifying truth. All of this - the experiments, the tattoos, the constant work with the mind, it was all because of One. All because Papa had failed to control him. "You were born. And I am so glad you were, Eleven." He said, looking down at her as she began to cry, realising her hopes of freedom were being dashed right now; she did not doubt she would be lucky to get out of here alive, "So very glad."
Eleven looked away, focusing on one of the twisted bodies lying on the ground. One followed her gaze. "They're not gone, Eleven," he turned back to face her, "They're still with me." She looked at him curiously, wondering what he meant, to which he tapped his skull, "In here."
And then she realised One had taken all of their thoughts, their memories….their very minds.
The idea was sick, but at the same time she wondered what it would be like to learn from others outside; all her knowledge was controlled by Papa, and he was very careful about what he let loose.
But right now Eleven was focusing on one truth - she would think about what he'd just said later - while she gathered her energy. "You tricked me," she whispered, making him look down at her with a frown, while she was wondering why he hadn't just killed her.
"Tricked you?" He repeated, with a shake of the head. "No, I saved you. You are a prisoner here, just like me. To your papa, you are nothing more than an animal, a monster," he said, unaware of how that affected Eleven; if Papa saw her as that, how would everybody else? Could she be free and have a life for herself, or would she be defined by those terms? She had a feeling that yes, she would, "A Lab rat to be tamed. But the truth, Eleven, the truth is just the opposite."
One gestured to the bodies of the other subjects, the other children Papa experimented with. "You are better than they are," he said, his words making her look down and bite her tongue to stop herself from sobbing. "Superior. That is why you frighten him."
Eleven knew he'd made a good point; how many times had she caught the fear flashing across Papa's face whenever she did something he had not expected? How many times had her power level shocked and awed him, only for him to quickly try and regather his composure?
"If you come with me," One said, and Eleven wasn't really surprised; she had been wondering why he hadn't killed her yet, "for the first time in your life, you will be free."
She looked him in the eye, trying to wonder if he was delusional or insane, or if he was being sincere.
A part of her was tempted. She could escape the Lab, do what she wanted, whenever she wanted, she could learn more about her powers, herself and about the world.
But at the same time she was sickened by what One had done, how he had killed his entire family who'd truly done nothing, but be too normal for his own liking.
"Imagine what we could do together," One didn't know this but Eleven had started to picture herself with One, killing everyone they met while others tried to stop them only to fall to the ground, blood pouring from their faces as their brains were slowly destroyed, their memories torn out, "We could reshape the world," Eleven conjured up images of plants, and people being torn apart, something she did not and would never want, "remake it however we see fit. Join me," he urged her, and she looked into his face, seeing his welcoming expression.
Eleven was tempted by the offer. She hated the lab, hated how Papa experimented on her, punished her, and used her for his own ends. Eleven had always known she had greater powers than the others, and had worked to suppress them a little to not stand out, but it was impossible; she had only done that because she did not want to be Papa's favourite since it carried with it too much pain and everyone would pay a price. Exploring her power under someone as powerful as herself was compelling. But she could not deny One was ruined and he was evil; who was to say what he would do, even with her around?
More, she could not join someone who wanted to destroy the world she wanted to see, the people she wanted to meet.
But what truly scared her the most was what he could and would do to her, he might be sincere right now, but she was sure it was a ruse. He wanted her for her power.
Now he was truly no different from Papa, and she wanted to escape from that/this life.
She wanted to see the world.
She wanted to meet people, to learn.
More than that, she wanted to fall in love. She could never do that with One around. His wanton cruelty and contempt for life made the prospect disgusting for her. She wanted to do all of that with Harry and with Kali.
She didn't want to do it with One. He'd sooner destroy it all.
"No," she shook her head, waiting for her reply to reverberate in his head before she struck out and threw him telekinetically across the room, bouncing off of the floor and into the mirror, where he landed with a groan. She was a little bit surprised by how unprepared he was, but she knew he would be on the offensive now.
With a groan, he slowly pushed himself up. He looked darkly at her, and Eleven knew now she was right not to join him; he was too evil to be trusted. She wiped the blood out from her nostril, and walked towards him as he stood up. They advanced on each other, gathering their power before they stopped and studied each other, they struck at the same time, pushing with their power. Eleven felt herself being pushed back, and she groaned with the effort of holding him back, but he was so strong. One had discovered his powers years ago, and he'd simply practiced as time passed, and the way he'd been stopped from using them, hadn't diminished his strength in the least.
She was losing, awed by his strength, but then unbidden, a memory of their earliest moment together, when he had offered her advice on how to use her powers came to her mind. She remembered how he had given her advice on how powerful she could become if she found something that made her both sad and angry, and she had them in abundance.
Deep inside her mind, she pictured that woman being dragged off, the woman who'd burst into the rainbow room upstairs while she'd been playing with Eight, yelling "No! No! Jane!" At the time she had wondered who that woman was, but now knew her to be her mother.
Her mama.
Gone.
She took the memory, and the horror she'd felt when she'd found her brothers and sisters, dead, bloodied, twisted into unnatural shapes…she took it all, and-
Eleven screamed in shock when One, clearly bored with their game, threw her effortlessly against the door, and she landed painfully on the ground. She barely had time to sob, to move to see what kind of damage she'd taken, before she found herself screaming as she was telekinetically yanked around the room before she could even stop it.
This carried on for a short time before she found herself being pulled towards One, only to be lifted painfully off of the ground, levitated up towards the ceiling. She screamed as she was turned around, to find One looking up at her with his hand upraised. "It wasn't supposed to end like this," he said, and Eleven screamed in agony as she felt her bones breaking under the force of his grip, her arms and legs twisting….
She felt something probe her mind before barging inside, and she struggled instinctively to keep him out, but it was pointless.
It started to go dark, and then Eleven found herself in a kind of limbo, with bright flashing lights before a memory, so buried deep within her mind, emerged of the woman she knew was her mother, saying, "Jane, I love you…."
"ELEVEN!" A voice yelled.
"SISTER!"
Eleven twisted her head backwards, and to her horror she saw Kali and Harry standing there, both of them dressed in the typical gowns as everyone else. Harry was a huge contrast to everyone else in the Lab; his hair was thick, messy since no matter how many times they tried to shear it off, it grew back overnight. Harry was also younger than she and Kali, he had been brought here as a young boy, and he was still a young boy. But what really surprised them were his powers; they were nothing like anyone truly understood. The only reason he hadn't escaped yet was because of his love for her and for Kali.
One growled at the sudden intrusion, but he screamed in shock when he was suddenly blasted with lightning. Eleven gave out a strangled crying gasp, she would have fallen, had Harry not held up his hand and levitated her.
"You never harm our sister," Harry spat.
Kali rushed over to her, and helped her stand up. Eleven collapsed into her elder sister's arms, before she turned her gaze towards One; he was trying to break through Harry's defences, but while Harry did struggle from time to time, he held his own.
Eleven gently pushed Kali away, focusing and concentrating on summoning up her reserves of power. Feeling the love she had for her adoptive siblings, as well as her mother's love for her, gave Eleven the strength she needed to rally all of her remaining reserves, and she began to attack One as well, to his shock and horror as he realised just how far he had badly underestimated her and Harry, before she screamed, throwing him backwards through the mirror and into the wall inside another room. All of the children knew the mirror was a fake, that the scientists watched them without needing to disturb them as they played and honed their mental talents.
The lighting flickered on and off, leaving the room in moments of darkness while she and Harry slowly stalked towards One, who was pinned against the wall, unable to move. Harry held out his hand, and a small spark of flame was conjured suspended in mid-air above his palm, and it grew larger and larger before Harry hurled it at One.
One barely managed to jump out of the way in time, but then he had to duck again, as the walls exploded and imploded in on themselves; Eleven turned to Harry, who smirked back. As they walked towards him, she realised he was right, she was superior; while he felt nothing but anger, fury, and contempt for the world and everyone in it, she was capable of feeling such love and receiving that love from Harry, from Kali, and from her long lost mother.
And she pitied him, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.
One was struggling to free himself with all of his power, but to his clear rage and horror, he couldn't do it. Sharing a look with Harry, Eleven screamed as she threw out her hand, wanting him to just go, to die….
Harry joined her, throwing out his hands, blasting him with blue, green, and purple light.
One screamed in agony, and a faint but brightening light appeared on and in his chest before he exploded, pieces of his being splintering away from him; she didn't know, or understand what was happening, all she wanted was for him to just go. A quick glance over at Harry showed he was just as determined to get rid of One for good. He screamed as his body had just disintegrated.
Eleven continued to hold him up, refusing to stop as she began pushing him deeper and deeper into oblivion. She let out a terrifying scream as she gathered her remaining strength, and pushed.
Finally with a scream of his own, One vanished, leaving behind an ugly, gaping red hole that cleared itself up, with long things that seemed alive, in some malignant way. Everything was starting to go black for Eleven, but Harry was instantly by her side.
"It's okay, Eleven," he murmured, twisting his neck. Kali was there a moment later.
Harry closed his eyes, and he gently waved his hand over Eleven while he used his powers to heal her. Once more, he cursed Brenner for making sure he was constantly gassed first thing in the morning and injected with drugs to make it harder and harder for him to properly use his powers to their fullest. Harry knew he had powers that were greater than anything Brenner was used to, and the older man was scared of them because of that reason, and what he was scared of, Brenner tried to control.
At that moment, Papa burst into the room. For a moment, he gazed around in stunned disbelief before he focused on the trio.
He gazed at her with shock and anger. "What have you done-?"
Harry narrowed his eyes. He gently waved his hand over Eleven's forehead and she went to sleep.
-8-
The End.