Hidden Within the Shadows

mental mind manipulating powers

Adrian's powers grew. They continued to do so, expanding more than what Adrian thought possible. Dr Brenner was certainly excited and praised Adrian for how far he had come in such a short time. It meant getting rewards, and one of those was the surgery Adrian wanted - the removal of his breasts.

It resulted in thick scars under what would become his pecks, and he was receiving regular shots of testosterone. It ... was alright, all things considered. Adrian got want he wanted, and Dr Brenner had a subject who didn't lash out. As much as Adrian wanted to fight back, he knew he couldn't.

But there was still a plan working in the back of Adrian's mind. That once he was strong enough, he could fight his way out of there. It would be taxing - crushing plastic bottles and shattering glasses were hard enough - so he had to be careful.

Adrian was able to find people in the Void, just like Eleven could. They were never used together, as Brenner always said Adrian was the backup. In case shit went sideways with Eleven, he would be waiting on the bench for his turn. Brenner wanted him trained separately, and with every mistake he made with Eleven, he was sure to change it up with Adrian. The fewer fuck ups the better, he wanted the best of the best when it came to superhuman capabilities.

It was also quite jarring, being called Twenty. He'd already had a hard time getting rid of the association with Nina fucking Wheeler. He'd done everything in his power to find a new name for himself and learn to associate it with himself. Now, with Brenner and the rest of the doctors never referring to him as Adrian, and instead Twenty ... well, it felt close to disassociation. His name had been taken from him, and he'd been marked with this new name.

As the days passed, Adrian felt a little lost in himself. He wished Eddie was there to know that he'd progressed and had gotten hormones and surgeries. He wished that he'd never been taken, but now he had, and he had to be careful. He wanted to be back with Eddie so badly it left something aching in his heart. Adrian wanted to be with Eddie, sitting around on his bed, listening to whatever the metalhead wanted, smoking weed or just simply lazing around.

He missed how Wayne would tease them, do his best to cook up a good meal for them, and try and give them pointers on whatever topic they were on in the conversation. The trailer had been cramped with the three of them, but it had been home. It had been the place where Adrian had been safe, had learned more about himself than ever before. It had been where he had found a family, as hectic and weird as they were.

Sometimes Adrian got some time in the rainbow room. There were a few aimless games to do, predicting where a coin would end up, chess, and many others. Adrian took to using the crayons and drawing whatever he wanted. They were crude drawings since he wasn't good with crayons, but it kept his mind busy. On the odd occasion, he'd draw a very crude depiction of an Iron Maiden album cover from memory. But those memories were getting foggy, and so were the ones with Eddie's face in them.

Adrian was scared of the day that he couldn't remember Eddie's face.

More tests came.

A guinea pig was in its small cage in front of Adrian. The EEG was on his shaved head, and he felt very small.

"I want you to kill the guinea pig," Dr Brenner said, voice tinny as always over the intercom. The guinea pig was minding its own business, sniffing and squeaking. "Twenty. Kill it. We don't want to have to punish you, do we?"

Sometimes Adrian thought he was developing Stockholm syndrome. But did worrying about him having it mean that he didn't? He certainly fucking hated Dr Brenner and the assholes who drugged him and experimented on him. However ... some things he did feel thankful for, but those were the demands he'd made.