-8-

"You got yourself into quite the little predicament, didn't you?" Owens said conversationally after they sat in a small off-road diner. "Y'know, I relocated you guys to Lenora because I thought, you know, safe town, small, dull, far from Hawkins. Nothing can happen here. Now, what was it, a roller skate, or something?"

Jane was about to retort when the waitress approached with a small fixed smile. "Ready to order some food?" She enquired.

"Yeah, I think some more coffee, and, um," Owens looked around, spotting the menu board, "I'll have the club special, please." While the waitress made the note of the order, Owens turned to Jane, "Whatever you want, kiddo, its on me."

Jane looked at the board closely. She was tempted to just order some waffles, but that would make her think of Eggo's, and Mike. No, she couldn't think about him, it was too painful right now. "I'll have the club special too, please," she said.

The waitress smiled as she made the note. When she was gone Jane turned back to Owens, her curiosity about why he was even here overridden by the need to answer him.

"I didn't go out of my way to look for trouble, Dr Owens," she took a sip of her drink, "I was struggling at school and I made an easy target. When Angela went too far, I snapped."

"I heard," Owens nodded. "I also heard you were being sent to juvie."

"Do you think I would have survived?" Jane asked.

"Yes," there was no hesitation in Owens's face or voice. "You're a survivor, kid," he lowered his voice, "with or without your powers. You've survived all sorts of things most ordinary people couldn't."

"Am I in trouble?" Jane asked.

"You mean the roller skate thing? No, we'll make that go away. Don't even worry about that."

While she wondered what Angela and her friends, not to mention Angela's family would do when Owens and his people got going although she truly did not care, Jane was still curious.

"So why are you here?" Jane asked, her gaze becoming intense. Owens, despite himself, shuddered a little; he still had nightmares about how he had first laid eyes on this girl a few years back. He had been lying on the ground in a stairwell, wounded, and covered in blood when Chief Hopper came, followed by this girl, who was considered to be a legend in his line of work. Seeing her, dressed in dark colours, hair slicked back, gazing intently around with a calm expression, sent shivers down his spine.

But over the years, Owens had come to know that underneath Eleven's skin, there was a young, beautiful spirit trapped within, locked away for years by the pain she had been carrying all this time. He wasn't going to play games. He had broken a pledge to keep her away from the chaos in Hawkins, a town he and his people still kept a close eye on because he felt she had been owed that much and they had no right to demand more.

"To be honest with you, kid," Owens gazed at her with respect, "I wish it was. Last night….," Owens took a steady breath as he remembered what he had seen, something he had dreaded for years, but if he was back then Eleven needed to know if she didn't remember, "I saw something, something I've been dreading for some time. I don't know how to say it, so I'll just say it," with that, he took a deep breath, "Hawkins is in danger."

Jane reeled back. "What do you mean? And…what do you mean about a something you've been dreading for some time?"

Owens closed his eyes for a moment. "I'll get there in a moment," he said. "But this evil, it's like a virus. A war is coming to Hawkins, and if our suspicions are correct, then the whole world is in danger. I know it's not fair to ask more of you, but we can't this fight. We never could, and if our suspicions are correct, then we can't fight what's coming, or rather who. But I wouldn't be here if I didn't think this was the only way if I didn't think you were the only one who might have a shot to hit this thing so hard it can't get back up."

Jane stilled, she had been listening with growing fear, worry, and even annoyance, that was the second time he had admitted to having an idea of knowing who and what was coming, but what made her even more worried was the implication there was something new, something horrific, something worse than the Mind Flayer.

Slowly she leaned forward, and in a slow voice as if she were addressing a slow child, uncaring if she annoyed or upset Owens, she said, "I don't have my powers."

To her surprise, Owens just smiled back. "What if I told you there was a way? A way to get them back?"

Jane had to use all of her control to maintain her calm persona, but inwardly she was yelling in delight. When she had lost her powers after that Mind Flayer bite which left that thing in her leg, she had assumed her depression was because of Hop's death, but as time passed and the sadness went away but still lingered, she realised there was another reason. She had continued to try using her powers, but nothing happened, and she had felt more depressed each and every time.

She had become so used to using her powers to fight back when Angela jeered and mocked her for the gestures she made to guide her telekinetic throws, now that she couldn't, she had felt lost.

It was funny. At first, she had thought the loss of her powers meant people like Brenner and Owens to a degree would just simply stop hounding her and would just leave her alone to lead her own life, but deep down Jane was depressed, upset, lonely even without her powers. She had assumed she hated them growing up because they were partly the reason why Brenner had her mother's head fried in the first place, but they were a part of her, they were a gift from her mama and papa.

It had not taken her long before Jane admitted the truth to herself.

She wanted them back.

She wanted her powers back.

And ever since the police told her she was going to juvenile hall, and she had made her plans to leave the Byers' and go off on her own, disappearing into the crowd, she had needed to be realistic and decided to learn how to fight because she didn't know how to get her powers to come back. But now she was hearing this, and now she was even kicking herself for not even considering asking Owens if he knew of a way of helping her get them back, but back then she knew it wouldn't have occurred to her, that she was better off without them.

How times changed.

"I believe they're wrong," Owens went on, "I believe you're the cure, and that's why, if we're really gonna do this, I'm going to ask that you leave with me now."

"My friends, in Hawkins…are they in danger?" Jane asked. She might not know where she stood with them, but she still cared about them.

Owens bit his lip - not a good sign - and he looked away, and she had her answer.

"I see," she whispered.

"I know you feel the need to go to them now, but if you do, then you risk everything!" Owens had rarely sounded so serious, but he was, "Risk, everyone its life as we know it. This is why I'm here because I believe you are our best hope, our only hope."

Jane was almost tempted not to say this, but she couldn't help it. "What if I am not good? What if I am the monster?" She asked. "When I hurt Angela and thought about it later, I realised…I didn't care, and I wanted to hurt her more. What if I'm not the cure you think I am?" She settled back, waiting for Owens to come up with a smart, decent answer to that one.

She had always seen herself as the root cause behind the whole mess, ever since she opened the Gate. As the Mind Flayer said a few years later, she had let them in. And after her recent heartbreak with Mike, Jane no longer knew if she cared.

Owens looked truly surprised by her statement, but he recovered. "I don't know you that well, kiddo, but I'm betting…the fate of the planet," his mouth played as he said this, like a quirk of a smile, "you're one of the good ones. But I know you've spent your whole life being told what to do, by people like me." Jane looked away, remembering all the times Brenner ordered her to do this, or do that, and even to an extent, her own friends.. "I know that, so you say the word and I'll take you right back home."

It was tempting to do that, but the larger part of her soul screamed to help her friends and make some sort of peace with them before going off on her own. It startled Jane she still wanted that, but it was there. But she wanted her powers back, she would need them to survive.

"Or, come with me, now, find out for yourself," he finished with a smile she knew he was using to persuade her more.

Jane bit her lip and looked down at her hands. She wanted her powers back, no question about that, but she wasn't sure if she could trust Owens despite everything he had done… in the end she decided to go for it.

"Okay," she turned back to face him, "I'll do it."

Owens looked relieved, joyful even, but just before he was about to get up, she stopped him. "But first, let's eat. I'm starving, I haven't eaten anything in hours," Jane said.

Owens was surprised and looked a bit perturbed by this, but he accepted it. "Okay, sure kiddo."

When the waitress left them their food and they tucked in, Owens couldn't help but glance at her, smirking as he took in her voraciously as she attacked her food. She was hungry, the poor thing. A part of him wished he had offered to help her restore her powers a year ago, but if that happened then he would have had a helluva time covering it all up.

Speaking of cover-ups…

As he watched her eat, Owens felt nothing but pity for her, for what they were asking she did, with people like Sullivan gunning for her, making assumptions about her character. He had admittedly caught hints she was now becoming jaded, and angry, but he knew she had a right to be. Owens also had a dilemma on his hands. Should he tell her what awaited her at the new lab?

He was scared she would say no, especially if he was back.

The point was, she was going to find out, and he did not want to break what little trust she had in him; Owens knew Eleven did not trust him, and after what she'd gone through, could you blame her? He guessed the moment she saw Brenner, she would not trust him ever if he didn't tell her the truth.

The fact was she deserved to know.

Owens sighed. "Eleven, there's something you ought to know."

She looked up, chewing while she listened.

"I'm not going to be the head of this," he began slowly, gently.

The girl swallowed. "Who is?" She asked.

Here it was.

Owens took a breath. "Brenner."

The girl sat back in shock. Her eyebrows rose, and then her eyes narrowed. "Brenner….?" She repeated.

"Yes."

"No," she shook her head, and she started to stand, then she checked herself and stood up and started pacing near their table. "I want them back, Dr Owens, but why him?"

"Because he insisted on it, and I didn't have the power to stop him."

Tears sprung to her eyes, and she bit her lip as it wobbled. "He ruined my life," she hissed, gazing angrily at him. "He lied to my mother. He tortured her!"

Owens looked down. What happened to Terry Ives was an open secret, and one many were ashamed of although the majority did not care; they saw Eleven as a scientific product they'd patented and owned. "I know, and believe me I've been keeping him away, ever since that thing attacked him; he's been watching you, secretly all this time."

"Of course, he's obsessed."

"True. You're not gonna ask how he survived?"

Eleven scoffed, and a sad smirk crossed her face. "I've seen dozens of strange things. Someone coming back from the dead is nothing."

Owens chuckled before he stared at her. "Fair enough."

It took a moment for her to calm down, but she sent him a wicked smirk all the same before her expression smoothed over. She sat down and started eating again, chewing thoughtfully.

"Okay, I'll come with you," she said at last, "but I'm not doing this for him. And there are going to be ground rules; I'll get to them when I see him again."

"I'll make sure he knows and understands that," Owens promised. Something else occurred to him. "There's something else?"

"What now?"

"I've only just found out, but it relates to why Joyce left," Owens made sure she was looking at him before he went on, "She's gone to Russia. She's gone to rescue Chief Hopper."

If the revelation of Brenner still being alive had shaken her, this almost shattered her. "What?" She whispered, tears already welling in her eyes. "He…he's alive?"

"I've only just found out, but apparently he was teleported to Russia, after that affair at the mall. You ever see Star Wars, where the Millennium Falcon zooms off into hyperspace? Many scientists believe that dimension works like that."

Jane had seen Star Wars. She loved Carrie Fisher, but she had seen a lot of herself in both Vader and in Luke, and she had often tried dong what Yoda said about her powers.

"I think I knew about that already," she commented before she clarified for him, "after stopping the Demogorgon, I was trapped inside the Upside Down, but I moved around in it, and I came out again in another part of the school, but it was much later, and everyone was gone."

Owens was intrigued. First teleportation, now time travel.