"The way he looks at her. Like she's the most important thing in the world to him." "I think she is."
Experiment X - that's was she was known as. A dangerous weapon that belonged to a lab in the Soviet Union. An assassin. A spy.
A seventeen year old...
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— SOLACE —
"WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?" Mike asked Eleven, who was in the make-shift tub trying to find Irina.
"I think I am in a memory." Eleven muttered. "An Irina memory." She elaborated.
El looked around at the long corridors that looked remarkably like the ones from the lab she was in with Brenner and Owens not long ago. Just scarier. She heard voices from down the corridor that sounded angry. They were speaking Russian.
"Can you see her?" Will asked.
"No. But she's here. She has to be here." Eleven answered.
The lights in the corridor flickered as Eleven came to an opening. It was a rather large room with big metal walls and a group of Russian soldiers gathered at on end of the room. They seemed to be observing something at the other end of the room. Eleven turned her gaze in the direction of theirs to see a young girl, no older than ten years old, clad in black cargo trousers, a black long-sleeved top and boots, stood with two knives in her belt and a rack of larger blades weapons beside her. She was staring dead ahead at some dummies yards away from her in a disciplinary manner. She hadn't an ounce of emotion on her little face.
"Начинать (begin)." One of the Russian soldiers commanded. Irina took a knife from her belt and held it by the blade, raised it, took a deep breath, and threw it. She hit the head of one of the dummies perfectly.
"Irina." She muttered to herself and walked closer to her, but Irina didn't acknowledge her.
"I found her. But she's young, and she can't see me. Can't hear me." Eleven said to the others around her.
"Do you see anything weird in this memory? Any sign of Vecna, o-or the Mind Flayer?" Will asked.
"No. It's exactly how she described her... childhood." Eleven said, looking around the room when something caught her eye. "There is something... that doesn't fit. I think it is another memory." She observed. Outside the door to the room she was in, there were lights. Not ordinary lights. They looked like car headlights.
"A memory within a memory?" Argyle questioned.
Eleven walked out of the room and towards the headlights to see that there was, in fact, a car in the corridor, faintly playing music out of it. Eleven recognised the car. It was Steve's. This was definitely another of Irina's memories.
***
Lucas was at the window giving signals to Max and Erica while Steve was glued at Irina's side, holding her hand firmly. There was no way he was gonna be even a foot away from her with how quickly she levitated last time. What if he wasn't fast enough to get the headphones on?
Irina paced down the two flights of stairs to try and escape Vecna. She jumped down the last few and flung the front door open to see that it was boarded up. She took a few steps back, prepared to kick the damn thing down if she had to, but Vecna's voice from only a few metres away startled her.
"Where are you going, Irina?" He questioned.
"Вдали от твоей уродливой задницы (away from your ugly ass)." Irina hissed before sprinting into another room to find a way out. She ran around and tried at lease three doors that all ended up being boarded on the other side until she flung a fourth one open to see a metal door with a square window in it. On the other side we're a bunch of Russian guards attempting to bust the door down. She remembered this. It was on the night she escaped. They'd almost caught her, and probably would've if it wasn't for her uncle Enzo using a stolen keycard to lock it.
The sight was still scary though. Brought back a lot of memories that weren't so nice. But that's what Irina had to do - hide in the light. She took a few steps away from the door and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and thinking of her happy memory.
A few droplets of water hit Irina's head, making her furrow her brows and open her eyes. The water droplets became heavier and more frequent. This made a large grin push its way onto Irina's face, especially as she took in her surroundings. She was in a restaurant parking lot, stood directly in front of Steve's car, which was faintly playing music. Her happy memory - their first date.
"What is taking them so long?" Steve hissed under his breath.
"They're not responding." Lucas clenched his jaw out of worry.
"What do you mean?" Steve groaned in frustration but then the two of them heard footsteps. Both their heads snapped in the same direction to see Jason slowly approaching them. His eyes were glued on Irina in shock.
"Jason, you can't be here right now, man." Lucas's warned.
"What the hell have you two done?" Jason scowled, eyes still on Irina. Steve was quick to his feet and joined by Lucas at his side.
"Listen, you need to leave." Lucas repeated.
"Is this what you did to Chrissy?" Jason asked, crouching down near Irina.
"Hey, back off, man. Keep your hands off her." Steve warned, shoving Jason's shoulder so he stumbled away from Irina.
"Back up! Back up, man!" Jason demanded, pulling a gun from his pocket and pointing it between the two boys.
"W-wait, wait, w-we don't have to do this." Lucas told him. Both him and Steve had their hands up, not in surrender, but in an attempt to calm Jason. He seemed worked up and the last thing they needed right now was an angry distraction.
"I hope you're right. Is there anyone else in the house?" Jason asked.
"It's just us." Lucas answered. Steve couldn't keep his eyes off Irina. If she began levitating now, he'd have no chance of getting to her in time.
"Turn around. Both of you." Jason commanded.
"Jason-"
"Turn around!" He shouted, cocking the gun. "And empty your pockets." Both Steve and Lucas turned around, emptying their pockets.
"Lucas, if she..." Steve whispered, trailing off.
"It's okay, man. I've got this." Lucas whispered back in reassurance.
"Now, I'm gonna back away to the top of those stairs and watch as you wake her up from whatever the hell this is." Jason stated.
"I wish I could, man, I really do, but I can't." Steve snapped.
"If we wake her up too soon, we all die." Lucas told him.
"No, if you don't wake her up right now, then you die, Sinclair. You and then Harrington." Jason said.
