𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥 || 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕠𝕟

THIRTEEN

-
CANDOUR
-

"ELEVEN."

"MIKE."

The two teens waisted no time embracing one another in a long awaited hug. Eleven shed tears and clung onto Mike's shoulder.

"Is that..." Max trailed off and Lucas gave her a nod.

"I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-"

"353 days." Eleven finished his sentence. "I heard." She added.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asked.

"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper said. "Where've you been?" He asked Eleven.

"Where have you been?" She remarked.

"You've been hiding her." Mike figured out. "You've been hiding her this whole time." He said, shoving Hopper.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's talk. Alone." Hopper ordered, and the two of them went into another room.

Eleven embraced her other friends and found it amusing to point out that Dustin now had teeth. They were all happy to see her. But Eleven kept looking at Irina. At first Irina thought it looked like curiosity, but it started to look like Eleven recognised her.
The words of Brenner filled Eleven's head as she realised who she was staring at: 'Her name is Irina. She's very dangerous, Eleven. You have to kill her.'

"You're I-Irina - Experiment X." She said and Irina's eyes widened.

"How do you know that?" Irina asked. Everyone else was just was confused as her. If not more. What did Eleven mean by 'Experiment X'?

"In the lab. Before I escaped. I saw I picture of you." She said and Irina'a breath hitched in the throat.

"Wait, in Hawkins lab there was a picture of Irina?" Steve asked, very confused.

"Yes." Eleven nodded. "Papa said you were dangerous. I was supposed to kill you." She added. Irina's eyes widened and her eyebrows raised in surprise. So did everyone else's.

"Eleven, sweetie, what are you talking about?" Joyce asked as Mike and Hopper emerged back out from their talk.

"What's going on?" Hopper asked.

"Papa," she started. "Papa showed me a picture of you. I was supposed to find you with my powers and kill you. Papa said you were one of the bad guys. But I couldn't find you." Eleven explained, still staring at Irina.

"Why would the lab want you dead?" Lucas asked. Everyone was staring at Irina now. She couldn't lie anymore. If she didn't say anything, Eleven would have to. She looked at Hopper and gave him a nod, signalling that she was going to tell the truth.

"Because I was in the lab too." Irina said.

"You were at Hawkins Lab too? Like El?" Mike asked.

"No." She started and took a deep breath. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. "It was back in Russia. I was taken when I was small, just like Eleven, but I don't have powers. Instead I was raised and trained to be an assassin and spy." She explained. "Svetlana saved me. She used to work there. She helped me escape." She added.

"Holy shit." Lucas muttered after a moment of silence.

"Y-you're a spy?" Nancy asked.

"N-not anymore. I never wanted to be a spy in the first place. I never wanted any of it. I hated it there." Irina said, quickly, not wanting anyone to think that she was still working for the lab.

"Why did Hawkins Lab want you dead?" Max asked.

"I was ordered to kill an American lab agent years ago. And I did it. That is why they wanted me dead. They tried to kill me. Many times." She answered. She looked at everyone's expressions. Most were just shock. Joyce's was sorrow, and so was Eleven's. Dustin's was a comforting smile. Hopper gave her a nod.

And then there was Steve. She couldn't read his face. His brows were furrowed and he looked to the floor. She couldn't tell whether it was surprise, confusion, shock... disappointment maybe. She saw him take a deep breath and turn his back to everyone, but she could see that he had his hand on his chin in deep thought. She bit her lip nervously and took another nervous breath, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

"You're like me." Eleven finally spoke up, wrapping her arms around Irina. She returned the gesture, enjoying the feeling of being able to relate to someone in some way about her past.

***

Joyce took Eleven to see Will in his room where he lay unconscious after the whole shed fiasco. Hopper approached Irina, who was sat at the kitchen table on her own.

"You did good, kid. I know how hard that must've been telling everyone." He said.

"It had to be done. They we're going to find out eventually." She replied. "I just wish they didn't see me as a monster now." She added.

"They don't see you as a monster, Irina." Hopper said.

"They do. But it is okay. I'm not exactly your average American senior. I am a little bit weird." She said with a sad smile.

"I wouldn't say weird is the word to describe you." Steve took a seat besides her. Hopper took this as his cue to go, giving her one last pat on the shoulder, then walking out of the kitchen to join the others in the bedroom with Will and leaving Steve and Irina by themselves.

"I would've used still badass, still beautiful," he trailed off, making Irina smile. "And maybe a little weird." He finished with a grin, making her giggle.

"You don't hate me?" She asked.

"Irina, I could never hate you." He said. "I told you I had you're back, and that I'm not going anywhere. I wasn't lying." He added and gently took her wrist in his hand. He rolled up her sleeve a few centimeters and ran his thumb over the barcode tattoo on her wrist.

"D-did they do this?" He asked, cautiously, referring to the Russian lab, having now put the pieces together.

"Yes. To know which... subject I was. I had a tracker in my neck too." She said. Steve's eyes widened at her words.

"A tracker?" He asked and she nodded. "I-is it still..." he trailed off.

"No. Me and Svetlana stayed in England for about one week when we first escaped and we removed my tracker there, s-so for all the lab knows, I am in England." She explained. Steve slowly moved his fingers from her wrist down to her hand and intertwined them with her own, placing his other hand on top it too. Irina's heart began beating a mile a minute at the contact. After everything she'd told Steve he was still willing to stay with her.