My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

Flooding Back

I scrambled back onto my butt and turned to see that I was right. 002 and his posse were stood in their usual triangular formation, with 002 at front, of course.

Glancing back at 011 for comfort, I noticed her stare fixated on 002. She was about to hurt him back.

"Eleven," I said, grabbing her arm. "No. You'll get into trouble."

011's glare loosened, and she spared me a small smile.

"You two think you're so much better than everyone else," snarled 002.

I furrowed my brows. "No."

"Yes you do. You sit in the corner away from everyone thinking you're so superior."

"No," said 011. "We sit in the corner because of what you do."

"And what do I do?" said 002 with a smirk.

"You hurt us. With your powers," said 011.

"That's because yours aren't strong enough to stop them," said 002, "are they?"

011 looked at me, reluctant to agree with him. I nodded at her. It didn't matter what 002 thought. In all honesty, we were equal to him, but it didn't bother us. He was clearly the only one insecure.

But that was what Dr Brenner's laboratory did to us. It gave us no identity outside of our powers. Our entire worth depended on them. It pinned us against each other, and made for some very harsh competition.

"Say yes. Or they'll get a lot worse," 002 commanded.

"Yes," whispered 011.

*

I hadn't lived in Hawkins Laboratory all my life, but I was very used to the routine. I was at that part of the routine where I'd be shut in my bedroom for the night, or as I see it now, my cell.

At the time, I was under the impression it was for my own good. Before I lived at the lab, I had lashed out at someone, hurt them with my powers, which had ultimately caught the attention of Papa...or as I see him now, simply Dr Brenner. Then, he took me.

Since living in the lab, I had become that of a woman, no longer a girl. In the dark little toilet suite attached to my small, square bedroom, I lifted up my white patient nightgown to relieve myself, but I caught my reflection in the open toilet seat. My hips had never been so round. I lifted it further and observed more places my body had curved, too.

"It's okay, I won't look," a smooth voice startled me from behind.

I dropped the dress back down over my body and whirled around. Mr Ballard stood in the doorframe between the bedroom and bathroom. He didn't lie—he wasn't looking...

But, God, how did he know not to look in the first place?

"What are you doing?" I managed after gawking for a moment.

"I came to talk to you," he said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have intruded when I saw you weren't in your bedroom, but I had to check in here in case you'd escaped."

"...Escaped?"

"Yes. May I look, now?"

I nodded, then remembered he needed an audible answer. "Yes." He turned his head. "Escaped?" I repeated. "Is that possible?"

Mr Ballard was quiet for a few seconds, cautious, I thought, before saying, "I don't know."

"But why would I do that?"

As I have mentioned, at the time I thought the laboratory was good for me. I will say, though, I had mixed feelings on it.

I once had a life before the lab which, although was a difficult one, I missed. It was difficult because, understandably, I was an outcast. I didn't feel like I belonged, and that feeling was right. There was no one else like myself that I knew of. That was, until Dr Brenner found me and brought me to the lab.

It wasn't so much my personal life I missed...it was more the world itself. As you can imagine, I missed the sun. The sea. The trees. The calls of birds in the morning. After being admitted to the laboratory, all of that was gone. It happened so suddenly, too, that I didn't have a chance to take it all in one last time. Even if I was made aware in advance, I would never have known that Dr Brenner would have us locked up all day and night inside the walls of the lab, though, so it wouldn't have made a difference.

But all of that, I managed to put to the side of my mind for the sake of 'my own good'...or so Papa told me.

"Why would you not?" Mr Ballard countered.

When I had asked him why, I truthfully wanted to hear him confirm what I had been thinking as of those past few weeks. "This is the only place I can express who I am."

Mr Ballard furrowed his brows in a look which transitioned from shock, to frustration, and then anger. He laughed, then, but it wasn't a happy one. He took multiple steps closer. "Do you think this," he said, tugging my dress hard, "and this," he added, gesturing to the dismal bathroom and bedroom outside, "is self expression?"

My breathing sped up and I took a step backwards away from him, but he advanced again.

"Well?" he asked.

"No," I whispered.

"Can I trust you?" he asked suddenly, towering above me, his voiced lowered.

"Yes."

***

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