-8-
The night times was her favourite time of day here; there was usually always a cool breeze that still carried a touch of the daytime heat, and the colours of the setting sun cast beautiful shades over the desert sand, making it appear multicoloured in parts. She was allowed to come out here 2-3 times a day, but they didn't allow her to go too far, and she was always under observation both from the internal security system and from the guards and a couple of doctors 'voluntold' to the job.
The guards and scientists watching her had been keeping their distance, and while they would speak to her whenever she wanted to talk to someone, they hadn't bothered to really get to know her. She wasn't bothered about that.
They didn't trust her not to try to escape, and she didn't bother to persuade them it was pointless since there was nowhere to escape to, and she would likely get lost and suffer from dehydration if she wasn't picked up. Dr Owens had been honest with her, which was quite scary; if that went on she would probably be having tea with Brenner himself and he would tell her stories about this and that and told her about an army officer who was convinced she was behind the deaths in Hawkins and was currently looking for her right now, so as much as she hated to admit it, she was better off in the safety of the new lab, and she didn't spend too much time outside, about an hour or so each time.
Jane had been at the lab for the last 3 days now, entering the NINA bath and surrendering herself to the sensory deprivation inside and watching footage of herself from video tapes Brenner and the other scientists at Hawkins had meticulously recorded. At first, she hadn't seen the point of watching herself, but that quickly faded when she actually began remembering little details from that period in her life the videotapes had missed; it was impossible for Brenner to record everything, and she actually remembered details not featured in the videos.
But the videos helped her recall dozens of details she had forgotten; it was a shock to see a version of herself more articulate than what she remembered of herself when first met Mike, Dustin, and Lucas.
And not just articulate, but knowledgeable as well; they'd all believed she had been deprived of a basic education during her imprisonment in the Lab to make them all dependent on Brenner and everyone working with him, but the videos disproved the theory. The reality was everyone in the Lab, every kid who'd been kidnapped, was encouraged to learn things from reading, writing, even drawing and listening to music on occasion.
Jane could understand why; Brenner and the scientists working for him back at Hawkins were trying to develop things like telepathy, telekinesis, and other powers with the mind. They couldn't do that if there was nothing in their mind. It was also a disheartening thing to discover she had been bullied in the Lab as well as the real world, despite the fact it was obvious she was more powerful than they were, but what happened to the other kids?
After seeing what they did to her, Jane didn't like them, but she didn't want them hurt never mind dead. She had found out already Kali had already escaped from the Lab, but she didn't know when, and she realised Brenner was showing her tapes recorded from a later point since she appeared as she had when she had first left.
As more memories sparked in her mind constantly, Jane had asked Brenner and Owens if it was possible for them to show her tapes of her earlier years at the Lab, telling them little memories were coming back. She had always been aware she'd lost memories ever since she had left the Lab, and the fact had only grown when she had met Kali; she had been more than a little worried she didn't remember her mother bursting into the upper Rainbow Room even if she hadn't even known it was her mother at the time, and she had been wondering how and when Kali had left the Lab in the first place but Jane had never had the time to ask Kali why she hadn't taken her away at all.
Brenner hadn't liked it, but Owens, deciding to be the peacemaker, found a way to compromise by having at least one video playing inside NINA while Brenner showed off what he wanted her to see. Fortunately, Brenner was in a generous mood and as she watched the videos, memories sparked.
Jane knew enough about memory to know if you forgot something, it was subconsciously remembered. They just needed something like a book, an image, or a video recording to make you recall them.
Sitting on a small rock, idly swinging her legs while she ignored the dimming light, Jane thought about the last sessions where her younger self was befriended by a tall blond man, an orderly who seemed to know how to help her, and just generally looked out for her while she was in the Lab.
Everything was focused right on him, but while she watched the scenes from within the tank, Jane was left wondering while her brain sparked with memories she had forgotten how he even knew some of the things he knew.
While she was curious about who the orderly was and how he figured in the grand scheme of things, Jane decided to think about other things.
News from Hawkins was coming through to her, and it did not look good.
Jane grimaced, just thinking about Hawkins. The news was getting worse and worse, and it was making her more hopeful her powers would return soon. The quicker she got them back, the better.
What were Powell and Callahan thinking by giving too much information to the people of the town? Jane had spent enough time listening to Hopper's grumbles about the two men, even taking potshots at them for their stupidity at times to know they were the worst candidates imaginable to become chief of police, but Powell was the only one senior enough to take the job.
But to endanger her friends….!
Powell and the Mayor had hosted a press conference when the gruesome murders started to get out of hand, and the mysteries behind them just deepened more and more; instead of keeping things vague, the two men for reasons that didn't make sense had painted a bullseye on Eddie Munson and his friends by claiming they were performing weird satanic rites.
Jane had known Eddie Munson. She had met him when she was allowed to see her friends; at the time she had gone to see Dustin, who was hanging around Eddie and his band. Dustin, Mike and Lucas had started drifting off, to pursue newer interests. Will hadn't liked it, he had wanted to keep things as they were, but his friends were growing up.
When she had met Eddie, Jane had been a bit confused by him, but he was actually very friendly and kind. Sure, some of his interests were embraced bombastically, but he wasn't a murderer. Eddie and Dustin shared some interests, and he was very nice, if a bit strange, but he wasn't a murderous psychopath. That didn't seem to matter to the residents of Hawkins, and now Jane was terrified for her friends - just because she didn't know where they stood anymore didn't mean she didn't still care about them - now there were gangs out hunting Eddie down.
One of the gangs was a mob of Hawkins High School jocks - a group Lucas was a part of, and Jane didn't even want to know how he was taking things since he was on opposite sides of the whole mess - led by one who was actually the boyfriend of the first victim, a girl called Chrissy Cunningham. Jane had no idea what was going to happen with Lucas, she only hoped he would not suffer too much if he did something to make his new friends turn on him.
Sadly Owens didn't have any news from Russia, but what she knew already was sporadic. Owens people had only been interested in Russia when the Russians showed more interest in the Upside Down, despite the enormous failure of the underground research facility topped by the Starcourt Mall as a cover. They had found out about Hopper by chance apparently but they hadn't been able to get them out.
Jane did not believe that. There was no doubt in her mind they had deliberately left him there and were using him as a bargaining chip for her so she would be rewarded like a good girl; her disgust towards Brenner and Owens knew no bounds.
"Jane," someone called and she turned and saw a dark-haired woman calling her. "Jane, it's time to go back in."
Jane suppressed a sigh. "Okay," she had made it a mission to smile at the scientists since they seemed nice. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to have a few favours in future.
-8-
Shooting in and out of consciousness was never a nice thing, especially after you'd been submerged in a sensory deprivation tank, and while she was trying to become awake, Eleven saw people moving around her. They were speaking, she just had an extremely hard time hearing anything they had to say, and they were moving like black shadows.
Demogorgons.
"….you're safe now," Brenner was saying, but Jane, who was rapidly coming back to her senses, didn't hear what else he had just been saying. She was too shaken by what she had just discovered to really pay Brenner any attention, but now she was coming to terms with everything she had seen.
Ever since she had got to this place, Owens and Brenner had been showing her tape after tape of her time in the Lab at Hawkins, and focusing on the time some orderly paid her more attention than he should have done.
Speaking of Brenner….
Jane reached out a hand weakly but with growing strength for some sort of weapon. Ah, these people had been watching TV and they found the wrong lessons from it. It was amazing what defibrillator paddles could do, they even made lovely weapons…as Brenner quickly discovered, when she slammed them into the face of the man who'd tormented her, she leapt off the bed she was on, and rushed out leaving behind a stunned crowd. She wasn't trying to escape, which was what Brenner and Owens likely thought, she wanted some time to herself and get her brain back into waking working order.
She stopped as she reached the T junction where the lift was only a few yards away, and she was about to sit down and rest when three guards intercepted her.
"You're giving us one helluva workout," one of them said.
Jane sighed. "I'm not running away," she said but she knew she was wasting her time, but she just wanted to explain herself. "I just need a few minutes of peace."
She was right, they didn't believe her.
"No, leave me alone," she said, backing away in a panic wishing she had learnt how to fight hand to hand - if she ever got out of here, she'd give it a priority since she never wanted to go through with this ever again.
"Just come with us," one said, and she was soon wrestled to the ground in a struggle.
"No, no, let me go," she cried as she began panicking while they held her, but their grips were just too strong for her to resist. As they wrestled Jane to the ground, she felt her desperation grow, and with it so did her anger. Anger towards herself for creating the very monster who had slaughtered her brothers and sisters in the Lab, anger towards Brenner for touching her even if she knew he was only trying to help her. But when she thought about the last few months; the way she was treated at school, Angela's bullying, Jonathan's nonchalance, the lack of contact from the others in Hawkins, Mike's dismissal and the way he saw her….
Dimly she saw the lights were flickering whenever they did whenever she was experiencing her powers, but she barely paid attention to that thought as she yearned to throw the three soldiers holding her to the ground off, and she screamed as she did, and her scream was so loud in the cramped corridors she didn't even hear if the men made a sound themselves, even as the walls themselves shook, and buckled under the telekinetic blast.
Jane didn't care.
She stared in shock as the men were thrown around. She looked down at them, realising what happened. She fell on her knees, and then she started to laugh.
It had worked.
It was a miracle.
She had her powers back.
"Remarkable, it worked."
She looked up and saw Brenner. He looked shaken and there was blood trickling from the corner of his mouth from where she struck him. He walked towards her.
"Stay away from me, Doctor," Jane warned him. "I just need a minute to think. That's why I ran."
But Brenner did not listen to her. He just walked towards her, getting closer with each step.
Jane got to her feet, angry he wasn't listening to her. "I said stay away!" She shouted, throwing her hand out, visualising him being thrown down the length of the corridor and not caring if he got injured in the process. It was a beautiful picture in her mind, but nothing happened.
Shock clouded her mind, and she gazed down at her outstretched hand in frustration.
"You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?" Brenner had slipped a handkerchief out of his pocket and used it to dab the blood away from his mouth.
Jane looked at her hand and the three guards. "They're still there, in my head, aren't they?"
"Yes," Brenner replied.
"They were always there."
"Yes."
"I never lost them. I need to go back, don't I?"
"Yes, but you've lost one or two of your privileges. Did you really think there wouldn't be any consequence to attacking me?" Brenner's gaze was cool despite the paternal smile on his face.
Jane looked down. "I attacked you because I wanted to," she answered. "I wanted time to think. I couldn't do that with so many hanging over me."
"Sorry if my presence hurts you, Eleven," Brenner purposefully said her name, knowing it would cut her deeply and it did, "but I am trying to help you."
Anger towards herself, towards this man, boiled away within her. "I know," she whispered before she sighed and offered him her hand, and he led her away.